What's up with the Kendrick's...

Hey! Anyone there?
Yeah, I know.. I haven't been here in a while.  A long while.
I guess life gets in the way and I got busy and took a break. That's okay.  We all need breaks.  Breaks are good.

Ryan is doing pretty good. He has had some respiratory changes in the last six or seven months and is now on a different machine to help him breathe. He is not on it all the time, but more than just at night like he was before.  His secretions are hard to deal with at times, so we have been referred to ENT by his Lung Dr. to discuss a Trach.  I know it sounds scary but we are hoping that this move will be good for Ryan and help us to manage his secretions a lot better than we are now.  I will try to update after that appointment.  He has two amazing nurses helping us care for him and we are working on getting him a new medical bed that is bigger for him.  I. Can. Not. Wait.

Lately, I have taken up some new and fun adventures...

First, I have worked very hard and learned so much about Photography. I am at the place where I am starting to do Sessions and I LOVE it!  Here is a collage from the pictures I have taken recently...

The other thing is Makeup. I LOVE makeup and I found a brand that I love.  I love that they are natural and how they are empowering other women to be confident and amazing.  My skin has dramatically improved and it is so much fun to get paid to play in makeup all day.  ;) Here is a before and after of me using the makeup...

If you want to know more about it, just send me a message at jnjkendrick@gmail.com.

We are doing great as a family. Joe and I are getting ready to celebrate our 13th anniversary next week and the kids are growing so fast.  Here is a picture of me and the other two boys...

It's crazy to think that Zack, my oldest, will be in middle school next year! Just crazy!  Trevor has learned to read this year and the time is just going by way to fast.

We are gearing up for Christmas and I am just so excited! I don't want anything for myself. I just love to see the boys make memories with Joe and I and I love to watch them open their gifts and share that special day with us. I know those moments will fade away fast as they grow up and I am just trying to cherish everything I can while they are young.  <3 p="">

Appointments and Updates...

Today I took Ryan to two appointments in Roanoke.  We saw his Pulmonologist and and his Neurologist.  He has been having an increase in seizure activity for about 3 moths but the seizures weren't affecting him much.  The last week we have noticed that they are starting to get worse and he is requiring oxygen and is more lethargic after the episodes.  We decided to talk to his neurologist about them and change his meds.  After talking to him and discussing what is best, we decided to add a third medicine to the party.  We hope this med works and it will allow us to wean him from one of the other meds.  We really have to watch for side effects which are rash and lethargy.  I hope he will do well and we can control these seizures better. We accept that Ryan will never be seizure free but when they start to become a problem and cause him to have difficulties then we take action.

Another change we made for him was with his Pulmonologist.  We decided to try to use the QVAR Inhaler with a spacer instead of giving him his Pulmocort in the nebulizer.  The only reason we decided to do this is because it is just quicker for me to give him the inhaler than to run a nebulized treatment for 20 minutes.  He did have a seizure in the office after his Lung Dr administered the Inhaler, so we will have to watch for that. The inhaler with the spacer looks like this:

Both Doctors also wanted to have labs drawn today to check certain things, so we had to go to the lab after the appointments to get his blood drawn.  He did so good and didn't even cry when they poked him.  Hopefully all of his labs will be good and we don't have to make any further changes for him.  After we did all of that we went to lunch at Firehouse subs (YUM) and then we went to Sweet Frog (DOUBLE YUM).  The last stop we had to make is to the Wheelchair Van dealership to see if we can use his EZ-Lock system that is already installed in the van.  We were so happy to find out that we could use it and all they have to do is order a bracket for his chair.  The bad part is that the day he gets it all hooked up and ready, it is going to take 3 or 4 hours of work to get everything moved into place and hooked up because they have to take the van apart to do this.  (Ekkk!!)  So on that day we are hoping they will let us borrow one of the other wheelchair vans on the lot so we can go shopping and go out to eat while we wait.  I can't wait to have this installed. It will make it so much easier to get him in and out of the van once we have this and we won't have to use the manual tie downs.

Thanks for stopping by and keeping up with Ryan. I hope to update soon on some of the activities we are doing during the summer. 

If you would like to see daily pictures and updates, you can follow me HERE.

Do You Meal Plan?

I don't know about you, but I love to plan out my weekly meals.  Every Saturday I sit down and plan out what we are going to eat the next week and make a list of what I need.  Recently, I found a really nice and affordable planner to help me with my Weekly Meal Planning and the best part is that I can reference back because it is all in one place.

I wanted a planner this year but I didn't want to spend so much.  I loved the planner I had last year from Emily Ley, but it was more than I wanted to spend this year.  I found May Designs through a friend and just fell in love with how simple their planners are and I loved that I could customize it how I wanted it.  I bought a regular Weekly/Monthly planner from them and then a few weeks later, I decided to buy their weekly meal planner.  I LOVE it!

There are so many designs to pick from and you can even customize them with your name or monogram.

It is just the perfect size to carry with me to the store.  

This is my weekly planner and my meal planner....

Thanks so much for visiting!  Please share in the comments what you use for your weekly meal planning.  I would love to hear from you!

If you would like a glimpse into our every day life, you can follow me HERE.

What I Really Look Like...

It is really easy to hide behind the computer screen and pretend you are thin.  You can trick people into thinking that you are a size little... if all they see is your face that has 2 or 3 filters there to make you look thin and young, and the right camera angle.  Hold the camera up a bit and smile.  It is okay. We all do it.  Even I do...

I did it here...

And here....

 And right here...

And here....

oh, and here...

And even had my photographer do it here (who is so awesome and talented)!!





















The truth is... I am obese.  Yes, I am 5' tall and I weigh 60 more pounds than I should for my height.  It's okay. I am working on it very hard and have several goals set up to help me achieve my weight loss.  I am not proud of it nor am I blaming anyone but me, but I want it to end.. The hiding behind things so no one knows.  Hiding in pictures or not even being in the pictures at all because I don't want to face the reality that I am not where I need to be in my health.  I want to be healthy.  I don't want to be thin or skinny!!  I want to be HEALTHY.  Healthy for me. Healthy for my kids and my husband (who loves me no matter what, but still).  So, you want to see what I really look like?

This is the real me...

 

It's amazing what a phone camera angle can do for you!!  I have only showed you what I wanted you to see.. up until now.  People tell me that I am beautiful, and some days I feel beautiful but I am not healthy. I have a long ways to go but I am going to work hard on ME.  I am not going to compare myself to anyone.  I am not going to stand on the scale.  I AM going to work hard and find a change that I can live with forever.  No fads, no diets, no magic pill... just a lifelong change so I never go back to not loving myself.  (To clarify, I do love my inside and my heart, but not my outside.)  I love the pictures that Sandy took of our family and I will always cherish them, but I will be honest with you... I was actually terrified to look at them.  Why? Because I was in them.  I had to look at myself and see how I have let myself go.  I had to face reality.  Time to change that!

Wanna know my plan?

I plan on doing the C25k program.  I have a treadmill and have been successful with this in the past but got discouraged and stopped running.  I wish I never did, but I can't have regrets.  I also plan to lift weights and do different exercises in-between my running to build lean muscle and tone.  I love Blogilates and Burst workouts.  I just joined a fun group called Project Run, and if you would like to join too just click HERE.  My friend Sarah created the group and she is so sweet!

I also plan on changing how much I eat... KEY WORDS "how much", not "what".  We already eat very healthy foods, so why am I not loosing weight, you ask?  Because I OVEREAT.  I over eat all the time.  I am going to start watching my portions and start eating a healthy snack between each meal.  I plan on having at least one smoothee a day.  I have tons of smoothee recipes and I have found a protein mix that works great for me.  I can have goodies too, but in moderation.  If you tell me I can't eat sweets, then I will want to go eat sweets.  I am not saying that I will indulge in sweets every day, but maybe once a week I will have a small treat.

Lastly, I plan on taking my vitamins that keep me healthy and give me energy, as well as drinking more water.  I also take energy chews and drink energy tea to keep me going.  (if you want to know more about the vitamins and protein mix, just ask and I will be happy to tell you more about what works for me.)  I don't drink soda and plan to only drink energy tea, a morning cup of coffee, and water.  Water, water, and more water.  I have a very hard time with this... do you?  I am going to find an app on my phone that will help me drink more water... or at least remind me to. LOL

I would love to know if you are on a weightloss journey of your own.  What things do you use to motivate you?  What workouts do you like?  What healthy recipes do you love?  Please share in the comments or email me at jnjkendrick@gmail.com.  :)

Thanks for stopping by and if you want to follow my daily journey, you can follow me HERE.

  

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year to all of my awesome readers!!

I hope your New Year was fun and you have some wonderful Goals for 2015.  I plan on focusing on my home based business, being a better Wife and Mom, and giving more in the community and working on growing my faith even stronger.

I wanted to write this post and reflect on last year and look at some of my most popular posts of 2014.



Being a Boy Mom was one of those posts where I poured my heart out and really shared my feelings about being a Mom to Three boys.  I have resolutions to be a better Mom and I found some articles that I would like to share with you that are really powerful to me and I feel like can really help me stick to my resolution.  The first one is from Hands Free Mama and the article is called, The Important thing about Yelling. It is a really good read.  Another one is, To Build (or break) a Child's Spirit (also from Hands Free Mama).

Another popular post that I published last year was, Strong Inside and Out.  This is also a great post to re-read because it is cold and flu season and I share ways that I keep my family healthy.

A very fun post that I did last year was, The Crazy Cat Lady.  If you want to laugh and know why I am the crazy cat lady, just read it.  LOL

Now it is time for a favorite that was food!! My most popular food post was Taco Soup.  I actually haven't made this one in a while so I will have to add this to my menu next week because it looks so good!

Lastly, for something sweet but healthy... My Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe!  This one is so good and my kids love these! You have to try them!

Thank you so much for supporting me this last year and I hope to continue to post recipes, weekly shopping trips and menus, DIY projects, and every day life posts and pictures.  I hope you have an awesome year!!!

For pictures and posts of my every day life, you can follow me HERE!

Christmas Traditions...

I know Christmas is over (and I have even taken down our decorations ha ha) but I wanted to share some of our Christmas traditions with you..

I absolutely love Christmas and believe it is a time for family and a time for giving.  The whole month is just so exciting when you have kids and they are looking forward to Christmas day.  We try to watch all of the Christmas movies that come on TV and we love to bake and just spend time together.

We are one of those families that do Santa.  I think it is so fun and magical.  My almost 10 year old still believes in Santa.  I have used the "Capture the Magic" website in the past, and this year I used the Kringl app.  They loved this video that I made...

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205149775081154&l=6209627944125794264

We used to travel at Christmas, but now that we have three kids it is hard to travel around and especially with Ryan.  We always bake cookies for Santa. This year we baked chocolate chip.  I used the hershey recipe (on the back of the chocolate chip bag) and they turned out so good!!  We left the cookies and milk out for Santa and the Cats really liked that!  They thought the milk was for them... LOL  I had to keep going over and getting Gizzie out of the milk.  Daddy (I mean Santa haha) didn't really want to drink the milk after the cat.

Every year, it is also a tradition for me to make Cinnamon Rolls.  I always make them on Christmas Eve and then bake them Christmas morning so they are warm and fresh.  This year I decided to try The Pioneer Woman's cinnamon roll recipe, and let me tell you, they did not disappoint!!  Her recipe made SEVEN pans of cinnamon rolls, so we made a few Christmas deliveries to our friends.  I believe I will use her recipe from here on out.

It never fails in our house (or any house with kids) that we are up at 6am on Christmas morning.  To be honest, I was as excited as the kids and hardly slept the night before.  It is so exciting to hear them run in our room and exclaim that Santa came.  I just love their excitement!

We take a little longer to start opening presents because we have to get Ryan out of bed and that takes a little bit to get him all situated.  We put the TV on the radio station that plays christmas music and we open one at a time so we can see what everyone gets.  This was the year of screaming I guess because every present that Zack opened, he just let out a very high pitched scream.  It was so funny.  He was so excited.

This year we did something different and we (Santa) sent the kids on a scavenger hunt for one of their bigger presents.  It was so fun watching them work together and reading the clues to find their gift.
Over all we had a really good day full of blessings, and food, and family time.

I would love to know in the comments what some of your Christmas Traditions are!

I hope you and yours had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Family Photo Fun...

Well, I have to start this post off by saying that we have never had professional photos taken of our family.  I know!  Terrible!  Well, now that has all changed!

 A few weeks ago I contacted Sandy about doing our family photos and we set up a date to make that happen and I was SO excited!  

I can not tell you enough how wonderful Sandy is!  Knowing that we have a son with special needs, she was so accommodating and understanding about location and that it might be cold outside.  She made a game plan with me to keep Ryan warm during our outside session (which was so sweet of her!) and fortunately it was a beautiful day on picture day and we didn't have to even worry about him getting cold after all.

When picture day came, Sandy was so sweet to remind me of our session time in a private message and I could tell that she was so excited to meet us all and take our pictures.  I was also so very excited! Did I mention that I was excited?!?!  LOL

I didn't know what to expect, but when we arrived at our location Sandy was so good about organizing us in different poses.  She made sure that everything looked perfect for each shot and even took some fun pictures for the boys as they ran around and played.  

I was so impressed with her talent not only with the camera but how good she was with interacting with our family and my active boys.  I loved her patience with them and so was so friendly and fun to work with.  

If you need pictures, I can guarantee that you will not be sorry if you choose Sandy to take them.  She captured our family so beautifully and I am so grateful for her and her passion for photography.  

You can visit Sandy's Facebook Page here:  Facebook Sandy Deal Photography

& her Photography website here:  Website Sandy Deal Photography

Thanks for stopping by!

Strong Inside and Out...

With the very serious new respiratory virus that is spreading like wildfire around us, I wanted to compile a post about how you can stay strong and protect your family from any sickness.  Whether it be the flu, this mystery respiratory virus, or just a common cold.. These are the things that I recommend...

I only trust these product to keep my family healthy and our immune systems strong.  They are all natural and non GMO and only the best ingredients are used.  It is my passion to help you and your family stay healthy and this is how...

I would first recommend a good Multi-Vitamin for you and your family.

For adults and teens, I recommend Vitalizer or if you want a step down vitamin that is a little cheaper (but Vitalizer is the best) you can use Vita-Lea.

For Children I would recommend Incredivites.  My kids love them and I even have a son with special needs that I crush and give to him in his g-tube.  There are many Moms who crush this and give to their babies in their baby food or formula/bottle.

The next thing I use for my family is a good immune support/builder.

For adults and teens I would use Nutriferon, and Vitalized Immunity.  We also have Defend and Resist and Immunity Formula 1.  My personal favorite right now is Vitalized Immunity.  It is this little orange pill that you put into your drink (I use 4oz of water) and let it dissolve.  It is like eating 16 oranges in one serving.

Children are going to get Immunity builders if they are taking Incredivites, but can also benefit by drinking Vitalized Immunity, or another popular option is our Chewable Vitamin C.  (My kids love these!)

Now you have your insides built up, now it is time to check your home.

My favorite cleaning products (and only ones we use in our home) are also safe and natural.  I do not use bleach or any other harmful chemicals but we still maintain a clean home.
I use Basic H and Basic G to clean my home.  Basic G is one of the most important because you will use that to kill the germs in your home.  Basic G out-performs Lysol and Pine-Sol, and HAS NO FUMES! It CLEANS, DISINFECTS, AND DEODORIZES in one step! No rinsing is required unless the area cleaned will be used for the preparation of food, or could be placed in the mouth, such as a child’s/pet’s toy. In fact, it is SAFER, and MORE EFFECTIVE as a disinfectant than store brands, and ounce for ounce COSTS LESS than store brands! Basic-G costs 27 cents per gallon and makes 64 gallons of disinfecting cleaner per 32 oz. bottle of Basic-G Germicide Concentrate.  I even use the Basic G to make my own cleaning wipes to save money.  These cleaners are so frugal and save me so much money wile also getting my house cleaner than it has ever been.

So those are my tips for a healthy family and home during the hard months of cold, flu, and virus season.  Please contact me at any time if you have any questions or if you need help ordering.  I am so glad to help you!!

Thanks for stopping by and if you feel led, please share this with your friends and family so they can stay healthy as well.