Swensen Sentral

Today is Rick's birthday.  It was a good day. Got a babysitter and took him to get some new Rx sunglasses, he's SO excited about them!  Got some cool manly stuff from his parents (tools & outdoor stuff), some money from my parents (I'm sure he'll love spending it), and a big football cookie for a birthday cake decorated by the best kids in the world!  We also saw Tintin in 3D, he liked it, I was too tired to even follow what was going on most of the time (baby didn't sleep well last night). Had BBQ chicken pizza for dinner (his favorite) and played games with the kids.  Good day. Happy Birthday babe!  So happy to have you in my life :)

I'm a good mother.  I'm not saying that to brag, mostly because I need to hear myself say it.  I think I have this ideal expectation of myself and I realize I fall short a lot.  But today I realized that I'm a good mother.  I love my children.  I play with them.  I teach them.  I discipline them.  But overall, I just way deep down inside love them.  And that makes me a good mother. We had a picnic outside today, it was fun.  I helped them ride bikes.  It was fun.  It was simple.  I was happy.  They were happy. I can't get enough of my cute little Stelley girl.  I just want to eat her up.  And my Soy boy is so stinkin' cute!  Amelie was so sweet this morning doing my hair and Chase is a gentleman.  Thank you Lord for the 4 little blessings in my life.

Sawyer loves Christmas lights, this is what he says about them. "Oh m'gosh! So pitty! Ki-mus tree!"

I know it's not much, but it's the first time we've ever put lights on our house, so I have to be somewhat excited. (Although I have done lights on the porch before, but for some reason this just feels more official) The light in middle of the garage is a star, you just can't tell in the pic because it's hanging sideways.

It is my new commitment to keep more updated with my blog.  I've been wrestling back and forth between facebook and blogging, and right now I think blogging is more for me.  I'm a crafty artsy person and I like the personal nature of the blog better than fb, and how you can make it "your own".  It's like my own little space on the internet.  And I don't like how when I get on fb I get "sucked in" and hours later I'm like "what have I been doing?"  I guess it's just a weakness of mine that I'm not strong enough to avoid yet.  Plus, I really believe in journaling and I just can't find the time in life right now to keep a separate journal for me and all my kids and my family and document our life visually through scrapbooks and stuff.  So for right now, blogging is going to be it: my journal, my family journal, my kids journal, and our family scrapbook. My kids are growing up too fast.  I know, I know, I've recently been ...

We finally got it done.  Guess it makes us official. Bye bye Utah :(

Chase came home from school yesterday and told me that a girl in his class teased him during recess that he and his friend had big butts, and then he says "and it broke my heart".  Awww, isn't that the cutest?  I told him she probably just wanted to play with him so not to worry about it, but inside my heart was melting for my boy.  He is so sweet.

My sweet children asked me... (Chase) Mom? If it doesn't snow here, are we still going to have Christmas?  (Amelie) We can still give Christmas presents right, even though there's no snow? This is going to be an interesting winter.  NEVER EVER been in a place that doesn't snow much of the winter season.  It's what I grew up with.  I'm used to it.  Although I am looking forward to no snow shoveling or slippery driving, it will be different to not see a "winter wonderland" outside.  I hope Christmas comes anyway!  (For my kids sake, not mine....ok, ok, I'm just as giddy as they are ;)

We moved to SoCal July 18th, and today was the first "non-sunny" "non-perfect" day of weather, it rained.  That's 79 days in a row of near perfect weather.  I'm looking forward to this milder winter season.  Hopefully it means less sickness, more playing outside, and NO shoveling snow!  Although I am worried that I might miss the snow a bit.  We'll see, time will tell. 

So, I've started a new blog .  Not a new family blog, just a blog about the reality of being a mom. Mama in Real Life   My hope is that it can be a place for moms to share stories about daily happenings of motherhood, both good and bad.  I'm also hoping it can be a place that feels "real".  Too often I look at other moms and everything in their life looks perfect: dressed up cute, perfect hair and makeup, clean and tidy house, well groomed kids, yummy meal on the table by 6:00, looks like they're doing fun things all the time, library trips and park visits and volunteering at school, etc, etc, etc.  I know that's not how their life really is, but that's all I see.  So I wanted to start a blog about real life motherhood.  I call it "Mama in Real Life".  I don't enjoy seeing others fail, but I fully admit that it makes me feel better knowing that I'm not alone in this struggle, that other mothers like me aren't perfect and i...

This boy is a chocolate lover, no wait, let me rephrase that...a sugar lover.  Just finishing up a healthy lunch of nutella bread. This post is a trial run of my new updated blogger. Finally figured out how to change the background, center the header, and update to the NEW blogger so I don't have to resize every photo I add.  But I'm still working on getting a photo behind the blog title that's not ginormous, and arranging the pictures in my post side-by-side in kind of a collage fashion, instead of just vertically displayed (if that makes any sense).  Anyway, keep the tips coming!

I've taken a short vacation from blogging because I've been frustrated in figuring out how to give my blog a facelift. I'm still figuring things out so bear with me....If anyone has any great tips or websites you like for "cute-ifying" your blog by all means do share! Also, my blog only allows me to upload photos the are downsized (or small), which is a pain to resize my photos all the time. Do any of you have that same problem? And I hate the order that it posts the photos in. How do I change that?

The story of her birth (if you're interested): I went in Monday morning to be induced one week early, hoping to have a smaller baby. By 8:15am I had my IV and pitocin started, but my stats weren't very good (1+ cm dialated, 40% effaced, -3 head position). I opted to get an epidural this time around just to put my mind at ease about the birth. I talked to the Anesthesiologist about my bad experience with Chase and what I was hoping for this time around, and he was great about it. Around 10:00, he gave me what I consider "the perfect epidural". I could still move and feel everything, but the pain of my contractions was dulled enough that I couldn't feel them. It was great. My midwife broke my water right after that to help get things going since I wasn't progressing very quickly, especially for a 4th time baby. By 1:00 I was still only 3cm dialated. I attribute my slow progress to the fact that I was induced one week early (my body is always ready at 40...

Born June 6th, 6:53pm, 7 lbs 15 oz, 20" long, healthy and beautiful! All went well.

So...I've never been one to schedule an induction. I always like to wait until I go into labor on my own (which is always 3 days after my due date), but this time I decided to try something different. Mostly because Rick was supposed to be out of town and I wanted to have the date set in stone so he knew when to fly home for the birth, and the other reason is because I always have big babies (9lb 7oz was my biggest) and I just didn't want that again. So I scheduled an induction one week earlier than my due date, and tomorrow is the day. I'm a little nervous about being induced early, and hoping that my body will remember what to do, and that all will go well and the baby will be healthy. Wish me luck! I'll let you know how it goes!

Jesus suffered, bled and died That the law would be satisfied Lifting the burden of my sins If only I would remember him He only asks for a willing heart That we sincerely do our part There's only one condition for us Forgiveness to everyone is a must

Here's all about milk according to Nina Planck, author of Real Food: What to Eat and Why Whole Milk - Why it's good for you Butter fat helps the body digest protein in milk (something lactose intolerant people need help with) Bones require saturated fats to lay down calcium Cream contains vitamin A & D which increases calcium absorption, which is why skim, 1% and 2% must be fortified Contains special fat that protects against gastrointestinal infection Powdered Milk Powder is created by a process called spray-drying which damages the milk cholesterol, which increases the risk of atherosclerosis (plaque build-up) Dried milk is added to lots of milk products including skim, 1% and 2% milk. In fact some skim milk is made entirely from milk powder and water. A study was done by a Dr. Pottenger who treated patients with raw milk, cream, and eggs and didn't find one case of high blood cholesterol or plaque. His conclusion: cholesterol is not the problem, the problem is what...

Up until now I haven't been much of a proponent for flu shots, but boy have I changed my mind. Chase caught the flu last weekend and ended up in the hospital again because he was having trouble breathing. It turns out he has asthma, which we didn't know until now. So he is at high risk for flu complications in the future. The rest of us have all caught the bug, and I tell you I was sicker than sick yesterday and in bed. I don't ever remember feeling so awful! I had every symptom in the book: body aches, fever, nasal congestion and runny nose, watery eyes, ear pressure, extremely sore throat, cough (which didn't help the sore throat), mucus in my lungs, yep everything except a stomach ache. YOU DO NOT WANT TO CATCH THIS! And to top it off both Amelie and Sawyer now have it so I can't even have anyone watch them so I can stay in bed. And Rick is at the hospital with Chase. My sweet sisters have subjected themselves to getting sick in order to help me out. I ...

More from Real Food: What to Eat and Why... The Cholesterol Theory . The myth is: eating cholesterol and saturated fat raises blood cholesterol and clogs arteries. Milk is rich in cholesterol and saturated fat, so it must not be very good for us. That's why we buy 1% or skim. With this new information, and a conscientious effort to eliminate these from our diet, why has cholesterol and heart disease risen in Americans? Real Food quotes studies done of Masai shepherd communities and Swiss dairy communities where people eat whole milk, cream and butter, and are in excellent health. Interestingly, when Americans began the transition from saturated fats to unsaturated fats in the early 1900s, that's when heart disease and cholesterol began to rise. At that time we began creating our own "better" kinds of fats like margarine, shortening, and refined vegetable oils (what the book calls "industrial" fats ) instead of butter, cream, beef fat and lard ( ...

I've been reading a book called Real Food: What to eat and why and it's really got me thinking about the foods that I eat. As a mom and someone who is struggling with health problems, I have been feeling motivated to eat better. This book has changed my perspective on what is healthy and I'm just so excited about it I want to share it with you all. The premise of the book is about going back to our roots, to traditional, non-processed, fresh food from the earth, the way God sends it to us. You may be shocked by what is presented in this book as healthy for you, and you may or may not agree. But it feels so right to me, that the healthiest food is the least changed from the way God made it. I thought I would write some summaries of what I'm reading for your benefit. And if you are enticed enough, maybe you'll pick it up. Milk We've all been taught that the best milk is the lowfat milk. Sure, fat makes it taste better, but the less fat you can withstand ...