October has been yet another busy busy month. I started school in August to become a Wellness Consultant. I have learned so incredibly much and I've been studying so much I can hardly believe it. I have dark circles under my eyes from the lack of sleep lately. I've wondered if I could have made better grades in college if I'd just been interested in what I was learning. Any spare moment I have I pull out the books. I've gotten 100 on both of my exams so I feel really good about it. I have 13 practice clients I'm working with now and it's helped me learn so much more. For the first time I'm really and truly excited to be doing something that follows my passion and I feel like I can really help others.
I feel so fortunate to have found my practitioner and teacher Wanda Boone. Through her we've made so much progress in the whole family. I don't do a lot of blogging about Cooper's health because most of what we do is not mainstream and it's hard enough learning ourselves and we end up having to explain or defend what we are doing. But if you look back at old pictures of Cooper you will see him all taped up and covered in a rash. Sometimes just looking at the pictures I can't believe how far we've come. I wish I had learned what I know now when I was pregnant with Cooper but I try hard to accept this was how it was supposed to be and as long as I do better when I know better I can be ok with it. He is a totally different kid now. He is 95% rash free and no longer is taped up. Those days seem like a distant memory. It's totally normal now for him to walk around in just a diaper.
We still have some work to do. He has a systemic Candida/yeast infection that is really hard to turn around. (So does 98% of America it just shows up in our family on our skin.) Candida/yeast is the only organism that will kill it's host so it's imperative you do it slowly and you turn the balance around. I push it from time to time and then he breaks out all over so I take a deep breath and know we are doing the right thing for him in the long run. It's really hard when things like Halloween come up and everyone tells me he will be eating all that stuff in pre-school that will cause him to break out. I just can't buy into that. Sugar will only feed his infection and make him sick. I'm trying hard not to live in the future and worry about it. But really if I hear about how I just have to give in for him to be accepted by his peers well I might scream. If he's considered different because he doesn't eat junk foods well then I guess he can hate me as a kid for it. His health is my responsibility and I won't give in on that. We've come too far to give in to mass marketing and peer pressure. I'd love to specialize in children's health in the future because I believe our kids are so much sicker than they need to be and we have control over it.
I also just started my certification course to become an Iridologist. The iris of the eye reveals structural defects, latent toxic settlements, inherent weaknesses, and the activity of the organs of the body. It's one of the most fascinating things I've ever studied. I have pictures of all these eyes up all over the walls and Jim comes home and shivers with all the eye balls looking at him. I'm getting set up with my gym to start doing some free readings for practice so I'm nervous but really excited. Just seeing my own eyes and knowing why I've always had issues in certain areas has helped me get motivated to work on my on health more! Next year I plan to get certified to do blood analysis on a dark field microscope so I can show clients what is happening in their blood as well. That part just cracks me up- my grandma used to tell me I needed to become a nurse and I just kept telling her needles scared me too much.
Jim has been more than busy at work. He has worked every weekend for the last two months and he's on tap to do the same in November it looks like. We miss him that is for sure. He has been so busy at work and then he comes home and still finds time to help me because I'm trying to study. The job that opened up in Charlotte was only opened for someone else that was already there so it seems as if our potential to move to Charlotte any time soon with this job is not so hot. We've been having discussions as to what is next. Jim talks a lot about going back into the military or doing some deployments. He has a strong passion for the military and to help others. It's hard for him to be around all these other military guys who've all got combat patches. Those who know me wouldn't recognize me when I say I'm just staying open to whatever happens. This last year has been one of the hardest I've ever had. I don't want anyone to live with any regrets and if that means Jim has to get deployed then so be it. We can make it through anything together so what will be will be. No matter what we need a bigger place. The boys need a yard and room to run.
Cooper is now bilingual. With me so busy studying I have definitely used the TV a lot more as a babysitter. They don't seem to mind but I love it because Cooper now uses all these Spanish words when I least expect it. On Monday coming out of the day care there were a big bunch of kids at the door waiting for the mom's to open it. Cooper busts through the group and starts banging on the door, "Abre, abre, abre!!!" (Open) We open it and he runs out into the gym and yells at the very top of his lungs, "We did it, we did it, we did it!!" I asked the other mom, "Can you tell he watches Dora? They do everything in three's I guess to get the kids to repeat it. Coop has this fun game of yelling, "Help me" when I put him in the car seat or when I put him in the crib. He sounds so pathetic like I'm killing him it's so funny. Yesterday he was yelling, "Aiudeme." I don't know how to spell it in Spanish but it's help! He has a little Dora, Swiper and Boot's play set. He walks around saying, "Do you see Swiper? If you see Swiper saaaaay Swiper." If we say Swiper he yells at us. In fact he still hates it when I sing- not sure if I can not let it hurt my feelings much longer :-) When he eats on his place matt there are all these different animals and things. He will say, "Do you see duckies? If you see duckies saaaay duckies." It's really very cute. He also throw in abajo (over) from time to time. Not sure why he says it but he likes to mix it up.
When Coop wants to watch tv our conversation goes like this.
Cooper- "Wonder Pets?
Me- "No honey not right now."
Cooper- "Dora?"
Me- "No we've had enough tv for a while let's play a game."
Cooper- "Go?" (That means Go Diego go.)
Me- "How about we do some coloring?"
Cooper- "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh"
Get him all calmed down. About 30 seconds of silence.....
Cooper- "Wonder Pets?"
These kids are so persistent it is truly amazing!
"Cooper do you want to take a nap?"
"NO!" big yawn. He doesn't like to go to sleep at all. He tries to distract us with reading him books. He will keep us up for as long as possible reading if he can. His favorite thing right now is to go through all of the picture book and name things. The funniest is when he sees anything with polka dots on it then he calls it a pizza.
Bear likes to walk around and find his reflection in things and wave. He has all sorts of words now. Bird, truck, train, car, circle, Momma. Oh yeah- he says momma all the time :-)
We also had a big switch over of clothes. Grandma Kathy and Bebba hooked the boys up with some fall/winter clothes and now they are styling and growing. Cooper is wearing 3T tops now and Bear is in 18 months clothes. We also did a little bit of organizing and packing of stuff. I figure if we start acting like we are moving then we will so I'm packing whenever I get the chance!
Now Cooper's new little phrase is to cup my face with his little hand and say, "Ohhh Mommy," and walk away. He's done it to Bear a few times as well. If Bear is sleeping Cooper will say, "Oh Bear I love you." Seriously I'm not sure how much more cuteness a mom can take!
