A little piece of heaven

…for a stronger back, not a lighter load.

I saw that on a church billboard, and how it struck me.

So very very true.

We tend to ask God for life to be easy peasy and everything nice and rosy.

But I find that growth often comes from challenges.

And, most importantly, with an open heart and a faithful mind, even if we are weak when we receive our load, God helps us find strength and as we walk we become stronger and stronger.

I am so grateful for my delightful package of goodies!

Nathan’s been on the verge of getting sick for the last few days. He started sounding raspy last Wednesday. By thursday he woke up a bit warm and sounding like he could possibly be sick. So we started Marcela therapy.

I went to Whole Foods and purchased some homeopathic remedies, which we started giving him every hour on the hour. Then we started using our sinus cleanse to wash out his nostrils. We mega dosed him on Emergen-C to increase his vitamin C levels. We rubbed a natural vap-rub on his back and chest.

By Friday afternoon he was almost fully recovered!

Unfortunately Saturday we went out and about to Santa Monica again and on Sunday he went to Disneyland with his dad and cousing (Belle, Catalina, Cybell and I are going this week) and by the time he got back last night he was almost sick again.

Last night he woke me up with a very wet cough and a ton of phlegm in his chest, so I started his “treatment” all over again. This morning he woke up well enough to go to school.

I’m happy that so far we’ve been able to keep him from getting too sick. Later on I will round up what I’ve been using so I can write a post on my “alternative cold treatment” in case it can help your kids too!

We also went to Dr. Kenny and it became clear that most of these issues are happening to Nathan again because we’ve been cheating on his diet. When Belle was born we fell off the GFCF diet bandwagon and he’s been eating pretty much anything. We also did this to try and help him gain weight. But the result has been the opposite. Breaking the diet has made him more mucusy, which makes it harder for him to eat and swallow, and also weakends his immune system.

The conclusion – the diet is not just helpful but ESSENTIAL for Nathan’s health so we are now re-committed to it and certain that we made the right choice to begin with. I’ll keep you guys posted about how he’s doing!

Do you see it?

But do you see it?

Can you see it now?

Yes, our little Belle is growing up! She got her ears pierced today!

Cybell couldn’t miss out on the jewelry fun, could she…

And while Belle grows and gets her bling bling, we all continue to have the blastest of blasts. We’ve been swimming in the mornings:

And this little one already knows how to kick…go under water…blow bubbles…

There’s nothing she doesn’t like about the water…

She loves her friend Catita, who loves her back!

And Catita and her mom are loving the warmth of an LA summer while their friends and family freeze during the coldest part of winter in Chile!

And Cata kicked and played and laughed..all by herself!

And Belle and I cheered her on

And after mornings in the pool, afternoons are for outings..

Here we are at the Santa Monica pier..

And through it all…the princess has been..well…a total princess.

And you know what I’ve learned after 4 years of motherhood and 2 kids? The most important thing is this: