A year ago, I was a frazzled out-of-shape mom of 12 kids, including a newborn. Something had to change. I remembered the workout program sitting behind closed doors in my entertainment center. My oldest daughter and I had started it two years or so prior and never made it past the first two weeks. I remember thinking that maybe I should try them again and this time finish the program. Well, fast forward a year and I not only started and finished Beachbody's P90X, but I then went on to complete Beachbody's Brazil Butt Lift, two rounds of 21 Day Fix and Shaun T's new Cize dance workout. I have lost a whopping 75lbs in the last year while gaining quite a bit of muscle in my arms, legs, butt and abs. Not only did I lose all the baby weight I gained with number 12, but also a lot of the weight I had kept between all 11 pregnancies. And that was mostly without "clean" eating!! 21 Day Fix introduced me to "clean" eating and I tried it for the first time last summer. For the first time in my life, I had very little to no sugar for 6 months straight. Wow! I totally kicked that Dr. Pepper habit and started a healthier habit in drinking a nutritious shake called Shakeology every single day. Today, I no longer linger in bed in the mornings, but jump up and put on my workout clothes and head into our great room to start my workout while kids are eating their breakfast. After my workout, I drink my chocolate Shakeology shake for breakfast. Instead of not eating all day, which was very common a year ago with my busy days, I aim to eat 3 meals and 2 snacks every day. I have more energy and I absolutely LOVE my workouts! If you are looking for a change, Beachbody is where you need to start. I believe in it so much that I've decided to try my hand at being a Beachbody coach. I can answer any questions you may have about their products and help you pick a program. I'm just an email away! :)

God is GREAT all the time!

Last night the scariest moments of my life happened in my own home. Our three year old son, Teddy, suffered a febrile seizure. This was the first one that has occurred with our 11 children. Hands down, it was worse than when Henry was admitted to PICCU after his first injection of the chemo drug Vincristine when he was first diagnosed with ALL.

The younger kids have been sharing a virus for the last few days. First Henry and then Teddy and Clare. Teddy started running fever late Sunday night. His temperature stayed around 101 throughout the night. Monday arrived and Henry’s fever was gone, but Teddy’s continued to hover around 101 before finally climbing to 102 late in the afternoon. He clearly did not feel well and I gave him some Tylenol around 6:00ish. We ate dinner, Daniel rushed off to the ball fields for Luke’s 7:30 game and the kids completed their kitchen chores. I put the babies to bed around 8:00 and noticed Teddy’s cheeks were still red and he was definitely ready for bed. I helped put his pull-up and pajamas on and put him in his bed. I decided to take his temperature before he went to sleep because he felt really hot. As the temperature was climbing to 103.8, Teddy’s eyes rolled back and his whole body pulled up and became rigid. I remember saying his name over and over again before obeying the voice in my head that told me to pick him and run to the living room. Once there, I laid him on the couch and shouted for the kids to get the phone and call 911. Savannah and Mary came running upstairs as kids scattered to look for the phone. Savannah found it and as she was dialing, I was trying to get a response from Teddy and telling her what to say to the 911 operator. Suddenly I heard a gurgling sound from Teddy and then nothing. No chest movement. No movement from his stomach. His lips began turning purple and blue. I remember crying out that he wasn’t breathing and I remember Savannah repeating that to the 911 operator. My first reaction was to breathe into his mouth. I did this twice and knew it wasn’t working. Suddenly a voice reminded me that Savannah had learned CPR that day in her Health/Gym class and was CPR certified. I grabbed the phone from her and told her to do chest compressions on Teddy while I began to answer the 911 operator’s questions. It didn’t take very many chest compressions for Teddy to struggle to breathe and spit out some liquid when he finally did take a big breathe. I remember yelling into the phone that he was breathing, but still unresponsive to my words. At some point I hollered for someone to go call Daddy. Teddy’s body relaxed just a tiny bit, but his eyes were still looking skyward. Then he became agitated and began to thrash about and moan with his eyes still skyward. I kept repeating everything I saw to the 911 operator and I remember her calm words that help should be there momentarily. We heard sirens and I told the kids to open the door and stand on the porch. They all ran outside yelling for help. The paramedics came in and immediately put oxygen on Teddy and took his pulse. Teddy had a good pulse. I began answering their questions and one paramedic mentioned that he thought it sounded like a febrile seizure and he could feel how hot Teddy was. After a few minutes of conversing with them, I realized Grace and Annie were crying. Mary later told me Henry was crying, too. The paramedic told me that the ambulance was 2 minutes out. Once the ambulance arrived, he was going to pick up Teddy and run outside to meet the ambulance and I would follow. We heard the sirens and ran outside. As they were settling Teddy on the stretcher, Daniel opened the back door of the ambulance and jumped inside. What a beautiful sight!! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, that handsome husband of mine has the most perfect timing. We quickly decided that he would ride with Teddy and I would stay with the kids. I kissed Teddy, jumped out and ran inside. Everyone was putting pajamas on and getting in their beds. I called my mom and then I called my close friend, Megan. She agreed to come over to watch the kids so that I could go to the hospital. I quickly put out a quick prayer request on Facebook, grabbed my phone and purse and ran out the door. By the time I arrived to the ER, Teddy was sitting up and bravely cooperating. He already had an IV running with fluids, been given Ibuprofen and was enduring a strep swab and nose swab. Strep test and flu test both returned negative. The doctor came in and asked me questions. Daniel had already answered all that he could and even remembered about Teddy’s heart murmur (VSD) at birth. Teddy went to sleep, but did wake up and cooperate when our friend, Julie, came in to take blood cultures. They ended up taking blood from his IV and he wasn’t poked again. The doctor stated he believed that Henry suffered a febrile seizure, which occurs in only about 5% of children and can be caused when the temperature raises too quickly. He thought Teddy’s chest x-ray looked clear, but thought a pediatric cardiologist should check him out at UK since he does have a history of VSD and Savannah did perform chest compressions because he stopped breathing. They wanted to take him by ambulance to UK. Daniel quickly decided I would go home to relieve Megan and he would go to UK with Teddy. I kissed a sleeping Teddy goodbye close to midnight and headed for home. Daniel and Teddy did not arrive to UK until 3:00ish. The cardiologist and resident spent an hour or so with Teddy and found him fine. They were unsure why Teddy was brought to UK. The hospital did not send Teddy’s chest x-ray for whatever reason and they did not want to do another one. They said that Savannah’s chest compressions would not have hurt his heart. In fact, they said that the chest compressions were probably not necessary because children usually come out of the febrile seizures on their own just fine. I think that’s easy for them to say because I don’t know that I could have watched Teddy not breathing any longer than we did before I remembered Savannah’s CPR knowledge. She is my hero. She was so brave, so cool, clear headed and did exactly what she learned. I think we can call that divine intervention. Don’t ya think? :)

Daniel called me around 4:30 and I drove to Lexington to pick them up. Teddy smiled and waved as I pulled up to the hospital. What a beautiful sight! I think it was a little after 6:00 when we finally arrived home because Savannah was up and getting ready for school. Teddy asked if it was bedtime. We said yes and he went directly to sleep. I watched Savannah get on the school bus and headed to bed myself.

Today, Teddy is playing outside fever free. He is full of smiles and giggles and does not remember much of anything last night, except riding in the ambulance, which was pretty cool. What an incredible and scary night! I am so grateful for all of the prayers that were once again storming Heaven on our behalf. I am thankful for God’s infinite mercy that was shown upon us and his most precious gift of life. Teddy’s name is Theodore and means “God's gift.” What an incredible gift we’ve been given not once, but twice. Thank you, Jesus!

Henry's (free) photo book

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Teddy

Raising kids is hard. Some kids are easier than others. Right from the beginning, I have been able to tell which kid will be hard and which kid will be easy. Some kids have surprised me. Teddy is not one of them. He was 5 weeks old when Henry was diagnosed with Leukemia. He spent the first 6-7 months of his life in the hospital with Henry and I or at the Clinic with Henry and I. He was good as gold, rarely crying. Then he spent the next year of his life at home, rarely leaving our home because if Teddy or John got sick then Henry would get sick. There were times Henry simply could not get sick. Now, at three years old, Teddy is constantly asking to go somewhere, anywhere. I can’t blame him. He enjoys every outing, even if it’s a car ride to go pick up an older sibling in the dark. And he thinks out loud, which can be very funny or very embarrassing. Picture this…Daddy is watching everyone ride their bikes on our road. We live 13 miles from the nearest town, so it’s a one lane country road. Teddy and John are running up and down the road chasing those on bicycles. All of a sudden Teddy stops, looks up at Daddy and says, “I just realized something! The trees are green.” He was two years old. Daddy laughed when he told me and couldn’t figure out where he came up with that phrase. Now it was my turn to laugh. Teddy is his Daddy’s clone. He got it from his Daddy, who starts his conversations sometimes with the exact same phrase and doesn’t even realize it. And this....Yesterday, Teddy came in the house looking for me. I could hear him calling my name. Finally, he found me in my room. He said, “Mommy, my undies are wet.” I asked, “Why are they wet, Teddy?” He replied that he peed in them. I asked why he did that and his responded by saying, “I was outside and my wittle legs couldn’t run that fast inside.” I smiled, trying so hard not to laugh, told him it was okay and to change his undies. He gladly obeyed. Ok, one more....Teddy is talking so well for being a late talker and is now learning adjectives. It doesn’t help he has 2 older brothers 5 years old and under who like to teach him words they hear their older siblings say. Daddy was visiting us at our homeschooling cooperative, which meets in the basement of a church. As a priest was leaving, Teddy ran up to him, smiling, and yelled, “Bye, fat man.” The priest looked up and asked if Teddy just called him a fat man. One of the moms nearby told him no and sort of chuckled as the priest quickly when out the door. Daniel standing nearby heard the whole exchange. Yep, our son, Teddy, called the priest a fat man. Thankfully, we have more funny outbursts than embarrassing ones!

I wish time would slow down. My world seems to be going faster and faster each new day. Our babies will be 6 months old in 5 short days. They are beautiful, fascinating, loving, and happy babies. All my life I wished for twins and now that I have them, I want to relish in their beauty. I want to slow down time to do so. I want to spend the whole day holding and watching them, not missing one grin. Clare seeks out eye contact and as soon as you lock eyes with her, she flashes that brilliant smile. She loves to be held, loved on and talked to. Patrick is almost always smiling and so willing to share his happiness with you. If he could, I think he would smother us in kisses. I can't wait for their hugs and kisses. I love them. I love God even more for giving them to me. What a dream come true! Now I need time to slow down so I can relish in this amazing gift he has given me. Beautiful. Healthy. Twin. Babies. :)

Happy New Year!!

Lead by Example, please!

I would like to encourage all of you to be the best parents you can to your precious children. Children learn by example. Please be the example your children need to succeed in this world. Teach your children not only with your loving words, but also by your actions. Teach them virtues that help them not only perform good acts, but give the best of themselves. Virtues like chastity, generosity, temperance, love, meekness, humility, and diligence will help you and your children overcome lust, greed, gluttony, envy, anger, pride and sloth. The virtue of charity teaches us to love God with everything we have, and our neighbor as ourselves. If we do these two things, then charity toward everyone, including those we don’t like, becomes second nature. Children need to be taught these virtues from the time they can walk and talk until they leave the home. We live in a society that makes teaching these virtues very difficult. As parents, we must choose wisely what our children watch on TV and at the movies, the books they read and the games they play. Children learn by example. What example are your children learning from?