The reason and not the excuse...a word about my new mom body.

The reason and not the excuse ...a few words on the "mom" body.

Before I got pregnant , I had the body of the average woman. I was 5'4,145 pounds and a size 8-10( depending on the store). I have always had body image issues, many of my friends weighed less and were a few inches taller , they had incredible genes which gave them an incredible metabolism. I was pretty jealous until I went to college and got to busy and I focused my mind on Jesus rather than being in vain about my body . A year and a half later , I was married, I had lost about 5 lbs before my wedding because I was busy with school and spent a lot of time on my feet. Three weeks after my wedding , I got pregnant and for the first few months I gained hardly anything . And then we moved to America just in time for the holidays...and thus started the downward slope. The day I gave birth to Jeremiah, I weighed in at ( inhale) 210 pounds... I wanted to sob. Now here I am three months later at 180, and I still avoid cameras,mirrors and shopping . I hate my body. I miss not having love handles . I miss my flat tummy. I just miss my old body

Now.

I would not trade my son for anything, no amount of stretch marks can make me wish his smiles away. No ache could make me wish the sparkle in his eyes when he discovers away. I know my body will never fully be the same, and I am still coming to terms with this , but that does not need to be the excuse. It needs to be the reason

But I am done with my current state , I want to be healthy and strong. I want to be proud of this masterpiece that God has created. I want my son to know that eating healthy is to be a way of life and not a passing fad. I want him to know that by exercising and putting good things in our bodies,we are honoring our temple.

I have never been a fan of sharing workouts on Facebook , I follow the rule of "unless you fell down on the treadmill, I really don't want to hear about it". But I do want to share my progress and I want this endeavor to be God- honoring, I want to share my progress because I want to be kept accountable and I want and need encouragement in this journey. If any of you want to be my accountability partner, please let me know. As for diet, I am going to eat crazy stuff like chia seeds and flax, I'll eat loads of fruits and veggies, I am going to cut out processed junk as much as possible and when I do have a treat, it'll be homemade. I am not interested in any fad diet . Just good ol' fashioned good eating and getting my lazy booty off the couch!


Thanks for your support !

Much love,

Autumn

The Best Kid Ever : Jeremiah

Jeremiah

So, many of you have been asking about Jeremiah and his condition , I want to describe his condition so you know exactly what he has and how you can pray for Him ! But first I want to tell you about Jeremiah and the fact that we are positive we have the best kid ever !

Jeremiah loves
His play-mat that Grandma and Grandpa Wallace got him , he loves kicking the piano keyboard.
He recently has started this obsession with silky and fuzzy blankets, he loves the burp rags that his Auntie Em and Grandma Keenan made him!
He loves playing patty cake! I shouldn't be surprise because cake is his Daddy's favorite food.
He loves it when Dax licks his face...they will be good buds!
He has started to stand and he loves this new vantage point
Hanging out in the pool with grandpa.

Jeremiah dislikes

Taking baths.
Putting on lotion.
Anything that involves hygiene really, typical boy !
Being with mom after 7:30pm, he gets bored with me and needs his daddy!
 When a fan doesn't work or isn't turned on!

Jeremiah has more loves than hates, my little boy loves life and he is so full of joy! In fact he is really good at spreading that joy, I babies have that gift, I believe it is a God-given gift. Every day I look at my son and I am in awe, Travis and I cannot imagine our lives without him.We both agree that he is the best surprise we've ever had!
A lot of you are asking about his blood transfusions and his condition. Jeremiah was diagnosed at 6 weeks with Hereditary Spheryophytosis, this is a blood disorder where his RBCs( red blood cells) are oblong where they should be shaped like doughnuts. It is because of this that the RBCs break down and he gets very anemic,thus the need for blood transfusion. Jeremiah goes to Phoenix Children's Hospital every 2-3 weeks or so, he has an amazing team of doctors and nurses that know and love him. He is rather popular :) A blood transfusion itself isn't really painful, although getting an IV is really awful, but PCH has a really,really good IV team. A blood transfusion takes about three hours and he is usually sleeping for most of it. Another question we are asked often is if his spleen needs to be removed , the answer ? Time will tell, it is because we caught this early on and he is getting frequent blood transfusions ,his spleen isn't being overworked. In most cases,kids are diagnosed until they are 2-5 so by that time their spleen is just overworked and done. However, we are told that if they can wait until after puberty the problem just corrects itself! We are hoping we get to wait until then or that he will be healed of it completely ! We know this is possible because my husband stopped showing signs at 3! I firmly believe that Jesus can heal my son, because he is the Great Physician and all-powerful. But I also believe that Jesus is using my son in a mighty way in that hospital ,having there on a fairly consistent basis means that we have the opportunity to talk about our lives and our relationship with Jesus!
So, I want to ask for your prayer for our family, please pray that Jeremiah's strength would be increased. Please pray that the medical staff would ask questions and be interested in our life. Pray for God's grace as we accept His will and plan for our life as a couple, as a family and for Jeremiah .

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

Much love,

Autumn  

The Parent

Parenting 

( disclaimer - Travis and I discuss any peice of advice we receive, however parenting is different for everyone , so I hope you won't think I am close minded just some methods wouldn't work for us as a couple and as a family unit )

Being a parent is hard . Being a young parent is  nerve-wracking. Being a first time parent is stressful and confusing. Everywhere you turn there is someone telling you that you're doing it wrong . There have been days where I will be questioning my intelligence or competence because of some comment someone made about a decision I've made as a parent. I can honestly say I've ended most of my days asking myself "do people think I am an idiot?!?" But I've learned something ... Parenting has changed over the years. I have had conversations with my mom and my grandma in law,  the things they did 20 and 50 years , I questioned how we survived . Our grandmas added honey to baby cereal, and they would start giving baby cereal at 6 weeks !! But that's how parenting is, it changes and shifts over time .  

Now, in my generation of parenting, they are saying that those cereals aren't the best option, gluten should be avoided!   I've done research on the subject and I will say that we don't plan to give Jeremiah cereals, we will start with an avocado . Am I worried what people will think and say ? You bet! But I feel that is the best option for our son. As a parent you have to be confidence and pray that you are following God's leading in you being a parent. The way we will discipline and train our son  will differ from the way  that you might have taught your kids and that's okay because that you are you! In fact, I am thankful that not all parents are the same... It keeps things interesting and I like interesting.

So, my advice dear reader... To the new parent, keep your hearts and minds open there is some true wisdom out there. To the veteran parent, keep in mind that there are some new-fangled ( and crazy, I'll admit) ideas in parenting, bear with us, we are just learning and we need your encouragement to just love in the best way we can and of course to just keep our ears open for Jesus.