Month: April 2019

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Surviving Church with Toddlers

I know every family is different but these are things that work AWESOME with our littles at church.

One of the best things EVER is pipe cleaners and cheerios. It is so simple, cheap, keeps them busy, and involves a healthy snack instead of sugary stuff. If they are too little to put the cheerios onto the pipe cleaner, you can help or put them on yourself, and they can enjoy taking them off and eating them! Pipe cleaners are the better option over string or wire because the fibers keep cheerios in place so they can’t just slide off! Soo genius I can hardly stand it haha! Our daughter likes to bend it into a bracelet when she’s done and wear it.

I keep bottled water in our bag so we aren’t feeling pressure to leave for the drinking fountain if our kids get thirsty. I’m a huge water-drinking advocate so it doesn’t feel right telling my child no when they are thirsty.

The coolest product offered out there that my kids never get sick of are the “Water WOW” activity pads by Melissa and Doug. There are several thick pages on a ring that color when water is applied, and they each come with a refillable water pen! Literally you just untwist the bottom, fill it up with water, and then do it again once the pages dry. The kids love uncovering hidden things on the page in the trees, in the buildings, everywhere! It’s the answer to a lot of problems I’ve had with dry erase boards, kids eating crayons, you know what I’m talking about, Momma! Totally mess free unless you spill the water upon refill, but hey water dries! Oh yeah, and a cool money saving tip is this: The water pen tip will get frayed after a bit which makes it difficult to use, so instead of buying more water pens I just use wipes! I’ll pour a tiny bit of water onto a wipe and let them dab at the board. I also do this if we just plain lose the water pen!

Another thing I love to keep on hand are these sticker sheets. Their price fluctuates so I like to buy them in bulk when they lower in price. There are a variety to choose from and the options are awesome for the kids to create something different each time, even if they need a little help getting the stickers off. I just have them use the back of the sticker sheet to put them on! Sometimes my kids will want to color a scene behind their creation as well. They are limited to one each at church so they learn to be creative with all the options each sheet gives and there aren’t too many stickers everywhere.

Gummies are a great asset in the church bag, when used with temperance! That’s one item we get at Costco. I only bring one gummie package per child. We usually hand them out when there is 15- 20 minutes left of the meeting. That way it’s like the best for last and we can use it as an incentive to “be good”. Gummies are fun to take a small bite of and stick on your toddlers face! It may not be the most reverent thing, but it extends the life of the gummies into a sort of game where they feel for it and pull it off and in turn, extends your ability to stay in the meeting and catch a few words of the speakers! We also prolong the life of a pack of gummies by holding out our fists and having our child tap one to guess which hand holds the gummy. If you’ve never done this you won’t believe how much they enjoy it! You can even do the game with a small toy, or switch so they hold out their fists for you!

We make books part of daily life, so I bring 4 books in our bag since we have 4 kids, and they can trade with each other. I try to make them more church-oriented, but sometimes I’m in a hurry and am happy to just grab 4 books on whatever, as long as there are lots of pictures. 

I try to bring a small toy for each child. We don’t allow toys that make noise, but since I pack the bag it’s not usually a problem unless someone sneaks one in! Toys I will choose will be things like a sandwich bag half-filled with legos, a matchbox car in a tiny box, a baby doll with a bottle, or a hair brush and a pretty bow clip.

WIPES! Every church bag needs wipes. You just never know when your cutie (or you!) will need one. It’s amazing how fast their hands get sticky or you get to church and realize breakfast is still smudged on your child’s face. Their use doesn’t just include diaper changes! I also like to pull one out and stick it on my baby’s head just to see them smile and take it off over and over. Unfortunately, this behavior usually results in them wanting to put in on YOUR head haha! So try having them put it on a doll’s head or maybe hide a toy by covering it with the wipe in a game sort of like peekaboo.

The most expensive thing I ever got for church as one of these fabric quiet books. There are a few to choose from but at 40 bucks retail, I couldn’t buy one for a while and they rarely go on sale. I used a 25% off coupon on the day after Thanksgiving sale at Deseret Book and made it a family Christmas present. I’m very proud of the book choice I made because I thought it through and got one that zippers shut (the exact one in the link above). It ended up being very well loved by our kids and a great educational tool. I would NOT recommend any of the books that don’t zip shut…I bought one on a great deal a few years later but the pieces were scattered within weeks.

One game we like to play is to stick a small toy, cheerio, or piece of paper in their sock or somewhere. They think it’s hilarious to find it and pull it out but they may need help to get it out if they are getting frustrated.

When my oldest turned one, we noticed that he loved putting money in money banks SOO, I turned it into an activity for church. I washed a little prescription bottle, cut a slit in the top, and filled it with washed quarters or big buttons that I could find. I would hold the pile of coins in my hand and he would stick the quarters into the slot one by one. He absolutely loved this, guys! Very easy thing to put together.

The last thing worth mentioning to me is this buckle whale. I couldn’t believe how much they were when I looked them up online but it’s quality made to last so it’s been through a few kids, washable, has a zipper pouch to hold things, and its fun for the kids to learn to match the colored buckles to the correct side! I had a friend mention she would worry about kids pinching fingers and I had that thought too, but it didn’t end up being a problem for us! The buckles arent terribly tight or snappy so it’s perfect. I ended up getting this for Easter for our daughter and it gets passed down to the next cutie when one of them grows older and loses interest.

We try to have out kids sit on the bench as much as possible but if they are toddlers we are pretty lenient about them standing on the bench to gawk at the people sitting behind us (with us hanging onto them so they don’t fall of course). They can also stand on the floor to play with their toy on the seat, etc. Once they are preschool age we pretty much make them sit on the bench the majority or the time but will occassionally hold them on our laps for a few minutes. When our littles cry or scream they get taken out if we can’t calm them down in a minute. The key to taking them out is not let them feel like it’s a reward. I don’t give any toys, treats, or attention until they can calm down. I usually hold the child without interaction or keep them seated on a couch by me. We don’t let them walk around, so it makes them want to go back in where they can get toys and a snack and move around a bit. The exception to this is if they are crying because they hit their head or got hurt somehow. Then of course lots of loves and hugs until they aren’t owie anymore, but I still don’t let them get down and run around. I WANT them to want to go back in or they will act up just to go out.

Church only happens once a week so I feel it’s really important to show our kids that we want to be there and how important it is to us. We don’t want it to be a miserable experience for them but we also want to provide activities that are church oriented and quiet so we can pay attention to the speakers and partake of the sacrament which is the reason we are there. If they see how important church is to us and that we are trying to pay attention, our example will hopefully rub off onto them (even though it will take a few years)! I would really love to hear things in the comments below that you have found helpful at church with toddlers, so feel free to share!

Happy church-going!

Jexi

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My husband’s pulmonary embolism

We were getting ready for church. I was in the kitchen and Caleb was helping our daughter get her dress on. I heard him cough twice that morning which was the only indication of what was about to happen. I heard a thud in the living room and Tavon’s voice saying “are you okay Daddy?” I went to see what happened, Caleb was on his back on the ground. I asked him if he was ok, thinking maybe he tripped.

     Right away I knew something was pretty wrong. He was having difficulty speaking, breathing heavily and wasn’t getting up.The thought that maybe it was nauseousness and might pass only lasted half a second, as I realized it wasn’t some fleeting thing. I panicked and quickly looked around for my phone which was on the counter. I am grateful to Heavenly Father that I was able to find it in a timely manner and that it was charged. I dialed 9-1-1.

     After what felt like ages of answering questions, the lady told me an ambulance was dispatched and to make sure Caleb knew help was coming. His skin had turned clammy within a few minutes of falling to the floor and his face was getting more and more purple. Our sweet kids were witnesses of everything happening in these critical moments. I held Caleb’s hand, letting him know an ambulance was coming and attempted to call Caleb’s mother to let her know what was happening and ask her to be with the kids.  I knew I wanted to go with him in the ambulance and that I couldn’t do that with the kids. She didn’t answer so I left a quick message as the firemen and paramedics arrived with more question.

     Caleb’s oxygen was drastically low but they couldn’t seem to figure out what was wrong. The only information I could give on any health conditions was that his blood had tested pre-insulin resistant 10 years ago before I even knew him. They gave him an oxygen mask and had him climb onto something they could take him down our stairs in to get out the door. Any effort or movement on his part was excruciatingly difficult. Later he told me he doesn’t know how he stayed conscious, but we are so grateful he did so he was able to make his own body breathe as deeply and quickly as it could instead of me attempting CPR to keep oxygen circulating.

    People on their way to church noticed the ambulance outside our home and stopped to see what they could do. One of my friends from church was an angel to me in that moment and offered to stay with my kids until his mother got there so I could go with Caleb. My mother-in-law called me back quickly and said she was on her way to be with the kids. I am so grateful that she checked her phone at this moment when she was probably at church and easily could have had it turned off. They needed to be with someone they knew well.

    The paramedics told me I couldn’t go in the ambulance with Caleb but I could follow them in our vehicle and wait in the emergency waiting area until he had been transferred to a room. I held his hand and told him I loved him as they pushed him to the ambulance. The drive to the hospital was agony as I wondered what was going on with his body. I kept thinking he had a heart attack but the way the paramedics were acting was more like they thought he had diabetes even though his blood sugar tested normal. Images of him losing consciousness in the ambulance and going to the next life without me there by his side haunted me.

    Once I reached the emergency waiting room, it didn’t get any better. It seemed forever until they let me back into his room. Apparently they ran him straight to get an X-ray and a CT scan.

    When I got to go back, I was grateful he was still alive. They left an oxygen mask on him but his oxygen level was still very low. His heart rate was very high, around 100 beats per minute just laying there. He wasn’t purple anymore but he was still cold and clammy with a high temperature. It took a lot out of him to speak. He felt cold and I asked the nurse twice for more blankets for him.    

    The doctor came in and informed us that Caleb had blood clots in his lungs and it would be a couple weeks until he was able to function well again. We were glad to know what was wrong, and eager to learn about the blood thinning medication and what kind of strain his heart had been put under during the time his body hadn’t had enough oxygen. I was texting a lot of people trying to keep everyone updated as we found out any new news.

    Nurses came and pushed Caleb to a new room in the Intensive Care Unit. They didn’t let me come for that transition either which was very frustrating to me-I hated not being there with him for one second. At this point his mom had arrived. She arranged for the kids to be taken care of by our friends who had children their ages to play with.

    Once they allowed me in his new room he was like a changed person, sitting up and alert and back to his normal self. He had a breathing aid (CPAP machine, which stands for continuous positive airway pressure) strapped to his face and head. A pulmonary specialist came and gave us much more detail on what was going on. He informed us that Caleb had a pulmonary embolism, which was when blood clots block the flow of blood to the lungs. According to the scans, Caleb’s right lung had been totally blocked off from blood flow as well as part of his left lung. There are 3 classifications of pulmonary embolism and the only specific Caleb hadn’t qualified for to get him to the most severe kind, a massive embolism classification, is because he didn’t lose consciousness. The cause of the clots was unknown since he hadn’t been sitting around, been on a long trip, had a major blow to the legs, or flown on a plane recently. They labeled it as “unprovoked pulmonary embolism.” This is the scariest kind because not knowing why it happened means it’s likely to happen again and could be a genetic fault in his blood.

    While the specialist was speaking to us we realized that Caleb’s condition was far worse than what the ER doctor had told us. The fact that he needed so much help to be able to breathe in enough oxygen indicated that he wasn’t in the clear yet. The doctor kept using phrases like “if you survive” which was a shock to me, realizing that Caleb was still at risk of having a massive heart attack from the stress the back flow of blood was having on his heart. Scans showed that his heart was in fact now enlarged on the right side and that drastic improvement would need to happen to prevent heart damage.

    Our option for medical intervention was a procedure where they go up through an artery in the inner thigh to place a drip line right next to the clots that had formed. It would drip clot dissolving medicaion into the area. The oral medication he started would prevent further clots from forming, but didn’t have the ability to break up current clots. The risk of this procedure was considered low because of Caleb’s young age. The main concern was that if his body had formed helpful natural clots in his life, for example in his brain after any head injury to keep a brain bleed from happening, those good clots could also get dissolved. This meant he could possibly have a stroke if there was any bleeding in the brain. It also meant that because of the risk the drip line could only safely be left in for 6-18 hours.

    The doctor felt strongly that Caleb should get the procedure as soon as possible to relieve the stress on his heart. We both agreed, and I once again found myself away from my husband, this time for a couple hours. I was grateful to my brother who had come and was waiting with me. If you can imagine, I was was dealing with the fact that I could still lose my husband who I love more than anyone, and who is the father of our four little children. Caleb’s mother had been amazing to have for a short while and went back to be with the kids. I feel so blessed that we were living around family at this time in our life.

    The procedure went well and I was in the room when Caleb got pushed back in. The plan was to check the levels in his chest in 6 hours(in the morning) to see how big the improvement was. I was hopeful that it would be a large improvement and they could take out the drip line.

    Caleb’s sister immediately left her home in Arizona to be there for us when she heard about Caleb. She was an amazing help. With Caleb’s mom and sister at our home I was able to focus on Caleb and not go crazy with stress over the kids.

    Morning came and we waited for the doctor to get there to check Caleb’s levels. Neither side of his chest had improved. What?! How could that be possible? I was breaking down inside with worry, knowing that Caleb’s body only had another 12 hours of the drip line medication to aid it in getting rid of the blood clots. After 12 more hours they had to take it out. I also knew that if Caleb didn’t have any improvement, they would take out the drip line anyway and he would likely suffer a heart attack from the stress on his heart.

    I had been praying over and over for heaven’s help in improving my husband’s condition. I knew that the close group of family and friends who knew what was going on had been praying too. I’m not the kind of person to post on Facebook about personal private matters going on in our lives but at this moment I knew that Caleb needed more prayers. I simply posted that I believe in the power of prayer and gave a quick summary of what was happening with Caleb. He desperately needed prayers, and the response to that post was astonishingly huge with support from old friends, extended family, and colleagues, pleading on Caleb’s behalf as individuals and with their families in prayer. I will never forget what they did for Caleb and our family. If anyone reading this is someone who prayed for Caleb and our family…thank you so much! I don’t know how to express my gratitude for your help and good heart!

    The doctor came in a second time to check for any improvement. Relief set in as he told us there was a 50% improvement on both sides. They removed the line from his leg. He had been instructed to keep his leg straight the last 12 hours, the one that had the line in it so as not to disrupt the flow of medication in any way. It was difficult for him to keep his leg still for so long and he was eager to be able to move around off of his back.

    Caleb was able to be taken off the CPAP machine and had oxygen through a cannula in his nose, at a pretty high flow. His heart rate dropped closer to a more normal 75 beats per minute but his temperature was swinging back and forth between 99 and 101.3. They told us temperature swings are normal with blood clots. A technician came in and did an ultrasound on his legs to try to find more clots. If he had more clots it was likely they would put a filter in to block them from moving up. No clots were found so the doctor wasn’t sure where the clots in his lungs formed.

    At this point he was relying so heavily on oxygen that is was difficult for him to eat and breathe at the same time. Every little thing wore him out but the next morning he tried walking, assisted on both sides and with oxygen. He was also given a breathing exercise tool to help him inhale his lungs to their full capacity. It made him cough a lot, every time he did it, but he showed his determination to show improvement. The point of the tool and breathing exercise was to keep his lungs flexible instead of stiffening up and scarring that way as they healed. I am grateful to his wonderful nurse who helped us understand the importance of what he needed to do and for showing a little tough love and belief that he could do it.

    We were in the intensive care unit for three days. During this time he was able to turn his oxygen from a 7 flow to a 4.5 flow as long as he was laying and not doing anything. They moved us to the hospital floor for one night, being visited by physical therapy to help Caleb get up and walk a few times a day. I was still assisting him to the bathroom along with his walker and oxygen line and being a fall risk. I had been feeding him his meals for the past few days because of the exhaustion for him to lift his arm to feed himself.

    The doctor told us Thursday would be the earliest we might go home so you can imagine our surprise when he started discharging Caleb on Wednesday afternoon. I had a sneaking suspicion it was because all of the beds were full in the hospital according to the nurses and other staff. I wasn’t too happy about Caleb being sent home…he could only go a short distance with his walker and oxygen cranked up, and our home was a split level entry which meant 9 stairs he had to conquer to get into our home. I explained all this to the doctor who sort of brushed it off.

We got him home and he did make it up the stairs to nap on the couch. Norco came and set up an oxygen machine with travel canisters for us to use when we went in the car anywhere. Caleb was considered in the “high risk” phase which is the month after a pulmonary embolism. After 2 days there was no improvement in his ability to walk or breathe. His oxygen was at flow of 4 when at rest which is considered just under hospitalization needs. Our amazing home teacher gave Caleb an oximeter for his finger that he used constantly to be in the know of how much his body was lacking oxygen when he did certain things. This was a great tool to be able to track improvement over the next months.

This was a very stressful time. Caleb’s mom and sister were now gone. I was trying to keep the kids out of our room as much as possible because they were getting over a cold and if Caleb caught anything it would be an ER trip for sure and could be life or death for him. Caleb wasn’t up to leaving the house for any reason other than doctor visits that had to be done. I still had appointments and things like kindergarten registration,etc with our kids I had to go out and do. Caleb wasn’t supposed to be left alone and he was unable to go with us. This meant finding someone to come and just sit in our home with him in case of an emergency. I was donating plasma to help with income and had a major thing happen because of that.

Caleb showed some improvement after a week but day nine we had to rush back to the ER due to some hot pressure he felt moving from his arm into his chest. Scans and blood work came back looking good so we got to go home at midnight. The next day he was able to move his oxygen flow from 4 to 3 and started moving short distances around our room without me. Day 11 he was able to turn it down to a 2!

I set up a baby monitor so I could hear him if he needed me when I was doing things around the house, garage, or outside with the kids. I was cooking his food according to the Mediterranean diet and he was starting to lose weight, which the doctor said would make it easier on his heart and lungs. His liver enzymes tripled on the blood thinner they originally put him on so it was switched to eliquis and that improved.

Three weeks after his PE we went to church and he did well enough that he wanted to stay for the whole 3 hours. His oxygen flow needs were between a 1.75 and 2.5. He was able to be off of oxygen for 10-15 min at rest once in a while and he walked around the block (with oxygen of course) for the first time with the kids. He was also able to help with their homework and folding laundry! He pushed himself a lot of the time but if he overdid it too much he would have to take a long nap to recover and turn up his oxygen higher than he usually did. We purchased a medical guardian for him so he knew he could get help if he was ever alone or it was just him and the kids, and I had peace of mind when he was at work or wherever. He was never left alone the first month following his PE. He was working a few hours a day from home.

Fast forward 3 months and Caleb was off of oxygen except at night and after exertion. Caleb kept an emergency canister of oxygen in his car just in case.

Eventually he was able to wean off of the oxygen at night and hadn’t needed it for over a month when all of a the sudden he started struggling again. He started needing to use his oxygen canister in his truck a lot, and was declining. We thought maybe he was sick too but after 2 weeks of decline I picked him up from work and took him to the ER. We suspected more clots but to our surprise the CT scan showed not only no blood clots but no scar tissue from the pulmonary embolism left behind either. This led us to appointments with a pulmonologist, cardiologist, and hematologist to try to figure out what was going on so we could resolve it. Tests came back showing his heart still slightly enlarged on the right side but the cardiologist didn’t seem to think it would be causing his problems. The pulmonologist set him up for asthma testing but the initial test came back negative. She set him up with a medication which was a combination that included a steroid to try to enlarge the vessele, calm down the cells in his lungs and keep down inflammation. He also had a sleep test to see if he was breathing okay at night.

The second test for asthma and other conditions came back pretty promising that he did indeed have asthma. His primary doctor prescribed him an emergency inhaler and between the steroid combo in the morning and his emergency inhaler, it was like magic and his breathing struggles almost disappeared. The hematologist told him the risks of going off the blood thinner were greater than staying on it for life, especially since his PE was classified “unprovoked”.

After he returned to work he had time to exercise and lost 45 pounds in 3 months because of his amazing self control, dedication to the habit of working out, and his amazing health coach (Me haha!) who measured and prepped all of his meals according to personal training weight loss challenge standards. I’ve never seen anybody show as much self control as he did for 12 long weeks!

It has been just over a year since his pulmonary embolism, which prompted me to write this post. We feel so blessed that his pulmonary embolism occurred at home where I was there and able to call for help. He worked all the time, so the likelihood of it happening in his truck or at work with no one around was substantially higher than happening at home. I know Heavenly Father has a plan for us and that all of this didn’t happen for nothing. It has taken a huge toll on each member of our family individually, but I know it has been for a reason. I hope this post can help someone else whose loved one has had a life threatening PE, help them know what our story is and maybe feel empowered in some small way in knowing what could possibly be coming next and that they’re not alone in their experience and fears. There really isn’t too much out there on Pulmonary Embolism stories because 80% of them result in almost immediate death. Caleb has been affected long term by the PE and will be on blood thinners and the inhalers for the rest of his life, but he is still with me. He is still here with me and our kids. We have been through so much in the last year since it happened and I’ve been able to see what an amazing Dad he really is because of him having a job with regular hours. We have a more balanced life being able to be around family and take care of ourselves. 

Wishing you a blessed day!

Your Friend Jexi

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Why Do Freezer Meals?

Making freezer meals is one tactic I use to stretch our food budget and save me time…but not in the way you might think. Let me share with you the way I use freezer meals and why it works better for me!

When you think of making freezer meals you probably think of getting some recipes together that look good, taking a shopping list to the store to buy all of the ingredients, and then prepping and freezing multiple family dinners at home in a few hours. This is kind of backwards to how I do it. I like it more simple and natural. I already make meals I know our family will eat, and it is really hard for me to set out 3 hours of time just to “meal prep”which can turn into 6 hours with my kids around and possibly food going bad on the counter with me trying to get it all done at once.

SO, the way I use freezer meals is quite simple. When I am making a dinner I try to make 3-4 times the amount I normally would. This way I have 2-3 extra heatable, healthy meals I can stick in gallon bags in my freezer. This only works if I have enough of the ingredients, right? I am always looking at the store for good deals on the foods we already buy so I can do this once in a while. I look at the ads and I know which store usually has the cheapest prices on the staples we buy. For example, I go to Costco for the best price on lean ground turkey. If I spot it for cheaper at Smith’s one day on clearance, though, I will swipe it up because I know it’s potential for a healthy frugal meal is limitless in sloppy joes, chilli, tacos, and I can even make my own “turkey burgers” with it.

There’s no point in buying food that’s an awesome deal just to have it go bad, right? That’s like throwing money away because you’ll end up throwing the food away. Sometimes I buy a lot of something that’s an awesome deal, thinking we will be able to eat it in time (like bell peppers) but it isn’t getting used up like I thought. When this happens, I prep the food into a more usable form and freeze it. For example I would chop or slice up the bell peppers and freeze them in quart bags so I can just throw them into an omelet, use them in my sloppy joes, or toss them in with the fajita meat. It saves the food from going bad AND makes an easier meal for me when I do use it. Foods like cottage cheese can be frozen if it’s going bad but the texture changes once frozen so you can only really use it in recipes where it gets cooked like making crockpot lasagna or pan manicotti later. However, it’s easier to use if it’s measured out before frozen so you don’t have to thaw a whole bag. If my crockpot sloppy joe recipe calls for 1.5 cups of cottage cheese, I’ll freeze it in 1.5 cup increments.

My goal with a family of 6 and a food budget set in stone is to stretch my money and save time as much as possible while keeping healthy food a priority. Freezer meals are time-savers as you get the ingredients out once, chop anything you need to at one time, and only do dishes once. By saving time they save you money, because we ALL realize too late that we haven’t planned dinner and we reach for expensive fast food or unhealthy processed stuff like macaroni and cheese. Dinners made from scratch are always cheaper and healthier. Another benefit is that if you want to help someone who had surgery, etc. you are empowered to be able to do it without too much sacrifice or extra funds.

You of course can do meals in aluminum pans or disposable containers, etc. but I’ve found that freezer gallon bags work the best for us. They are cheaper than aluminum pans, can be formed into shapes that fit in your freezer, and can be cut off if needed to put a meal in the crockpot or into a glass pan to bake, etc. You also can’t microwave an aluminum pan if for some reason you wanted to!

Freezer meals are best used within 6 months so keep track of what’s in your freezer! I usually dig around and see what I have in mine every month so I can compile a list of meals we need to eat first. The more airtight a container is the better to prevent freezer burn.

If you decide to make a bunch of freezer meals of a new recipe, I recommend making only one or two meals of it first so you can see the feedback your cuties and husband have to the meal before you buy a ton of ingredients and get stuck with eating it over and over! Also, make sure you have enough freezer space for all of the meals you will be making.

The recipes that tend to freeze the best for me are:

Chilli

Sloppy Joe Meat(see recipe below)

Spaghetti/lasagna sauce

Sour cream enchiladas

Fajitas or taco meat

Creamy chicken over rice (rice actually freezes decently well if you want to prep ahead of time but I would use it within 3 months)

Soups and stews (my favorite is curry!)

One hangup I have is remembering to thaw the night before. 4-6 hours is the normally recommended time for a thawed freezer meal. If you forget to thaw NO BIGGIE. Just put it in for 6-8 hours and make sure you can stir it at least once during the day. if it’s a frozen casserole and you forget to thaw the night before, the tip I usually follow is to add 50% more baking time (example 1.5-2 hours if thawed time is 1 hour) and lower the normal temp 25 degrees to avoid burning the edges.

One awesome idea I love is putting smoothie ingredients into freezer bags for quick, healthy breakfasts. I have never tried this but plan to VERY soon since my husband’s weight loss competition and I will do a post on how it goes. Here are a few of my most used freezer meals. I hope this post has gotten ideas flowing for you and been helpful in some way. Make it a great day, friend!

Jexi

 

Creamy chicken over rice

-3 lbs raw chicken breast

-1 pkg cream cheese (neufchatel is an excellent healthier substitute found right next to the cream cheese, looks and tastes exactly the same)

-3 chicken bouillon cubes

-1 can cream of chicken soup

-4 Tbs melted butter (or flavorless coconut oil)

Put all ingredients in freezer bag. When ready to use, dump in crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve over cooked brown rice. Delicious!

 

Sour cream enchiladas

-3 cups shredded chicken (you can cook and shred yourself or use canned)

-3 cups Monterey Jack OR pepper jack cheese, shredded (if you don’t have these you can do mozzarella cheese as long as you do have the green chillies on hand)

-8 flour tortillas, taco size (100% whole wheat for a healthy version)

-3 Tbs butter, melted (can substitute with flavorless coconut oil)

-4 oz can green chilies (optional if using pepper jack cheese since it already has chillies in it)

-2 cups sour cream (AWESOME healthy substitute is Fage plain yogurt, 2% fat)

Mix chicken and cheese, spoon into tortillas and roll shut. Place in pan or freezer bag. Mix melted butter, green chilies, sour cream together and pour over top. Thaw overnight, Bake 350 20-30 min.

 

Sloppy joes

-4 lbs ground beef (can substitute up to half with ground turkey which is healthier and usually cheaper. I found the healthiest cheapest version in my town at Costco. The flavor and texture of the sloppy joe is different if you substitute more than half the beef.)

-1 diced bell pepper

-1 med onion

-1 can tomato sauce

-2 cans condensed tomato soup, undiluted

-1 cup packed brown sugar, you could substitute with some honey for healthier version

-¼ c ketsup

-3 T Worcestershire sauce OR bbq sauce

-1 T mustard

1 ½ tsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

Cook beef, diced onions, diced bell pepper in pan and drain. Add remaining ingredients and stir. Put in freezer bags to eat later, or put into crockpot on low for 4 hours to eat today. To cook freezer meal, remove bag and put meat mixture into crockpot, cook low 6-7 hours.

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Potty Training Tips

My second is a girl and potty training was an ugly ordeal, even having experience with my first. I yelled at her more than once when she would have “accidents” that seemed more like purposeful pooping on the floor. She had been going in the potty quite a bit so I felt like she knew how and I wondered why she didn’t just do it all the time. My third is a girl as well, Ali, and it went about the same as my first daughter. I felt like potty training took away the special baby bond I had with them because I had outbursts once in a while in frustration. I didn’t want to wait for them to “potty train themself” because I knew 4 year olds who weren’t potty trained and I didn’t want to have 3 kids in diapers, nor did I want to spend all our money on diapers. The thing I learned with Ali was to use her favorite show as a reward. She was free to watch whatever she wanted but “Sofia the first” was off limits unless she went in the potty. Treats didn’t really matter to her. She was consistent with potty training by day three of switching her reward to her favorite show!!

My fourth child is another boy, Kyler. I delayed potty training him because he was supposedly my last child and I didn’t have to worry about having two in diapers. I was going to see how the “wait until they are ready” thing worked out. I would ask him once in a while if he wanted to try going on the potty. Sometimes he would, sometimes he would say no, but he never did go in the potty. But his third birthday was coming up and he showed all the signs of being ready-especially the one where he brought me his diapers and wipes and asked to be changed. He would also hide to poop and ask to be changed afterwards. Yet when asked if he was ready to poop on the potty like a big boy he said no.

I found out I was surprise pregnant and was hoping to potty train my youngest by the time he turned 3. Our other kids took about 3 months from the start of their potty training to be “fully potty trained (don’t have to wear diapers ‘just in case’ when we go out or when they go to childcare at church). I did a lot of reading on new ideas and almost bought a huge package of pull-ups to get it going. Something kept stopping me from buying them though. I talked to Caleb about how he felt potty training Kyler and when we should start. He agreed that we should start soon but with our family of 6 and being pregnant it always seemed so busy with appointments and school/church stuff, and I wanted a couple days where we were mostly at home. We never really set a specific day to start. I was going to go to Winco to get some jelly beans in bulk so we would have a reward on hand, then we could start. Guys, at this point, Heavenly Father knew exactly what I was thinking-I had TOLD him in my mind multiple times. I hadn’t wanted to think about another baby until certain things in my life were met, and having my youngest potty trained was one of them. But here I was pregnant unexpectedly and my youngest wasn’t potty trained and we had 3 older children to take care of as well.

One day Kyler asked to play in the bath with his cars, and he pooped in the bathtub. He is very honest with me and yelled to me that he pooped in the tub. I took him out and set him on the little potty with a towel around him. I told him to try pooping more into the potty, but there was a lot in the tub and I didnt have any expectation of him doing it- it was more of a place to put him while I got his new clothes and cleaned out the poop from the tub. A couple minutes later he tells me he pooped again and I’m thinking oh sure, but I checked and sure enough he had pooped MORE in the little potty. I gave him praise like crazy and a chocolate chip from the cupboard. I decided to start potty training right then and there. We set the timer and I told him we could watch his favorite show (Robocars) when he pooped or peed in the potty again. He was potty trained almost all of the way within 3 DAYS from that moment. I was ASTONISHED at the blessing and miracle of it all. His third birthday was 10 days away. Very different experience than my first three, and I am grateful beyond words for the love and consideration Heavenly Father showed me through this event that some people might think is “small” but it was HUGE to me.

So by the skin of my teeth I can say that our four children were all potty trained by the time they turned 3 hahaha! And also that I am totally understanding of why someone would wait to potty train their child for longer. The following list of tips are what I wish someone handed me with my first. You are not alone in your potty training with your sweet child! Please feel my encouragement as you attempt to find what works best for you and your child!

  1. Look for the signs of your child being ready. These include hiding to go potty, removing their wet or soiled diaper themselves, and asking to be changed. They should also be dry when they wake up from a nap (try to check immediately upon waking). Their bladder should have developed the capability of going a while without peeing themselves. They don’t have to have ALL of the signs. You can always commit and try it to see how it goes!
  2.  Do NOT use pull ups or diapers unless you go somewhere. This was something very important I learned from my first child. Having to change their outfit or clean their car seat created a lot of frustration for me when I was trying to get to an appointment or run errands. It’s ok for them to wear a diaper/pull up when you go somewhere in the car, but it brings me to tip 3…
  3.  When you go somewhere with your potty trainee, immediately take them to the restroom when you arrive there, whether or not they went before you left. This is very important because it teaches them that there are potties everywhere whenever they need to go, and that you will take time out of the trip to take them potty when needed.
    Have a small potty in the car at all times. We originally bought a travel potty that folded up and had disposable bag inserts…the inserts were too spendy for my liking so I got a small bjorn potty at a yard sale and we keep the insert in the back of our car ALL the time. It has saved me so many times from having to stop and pull all four kids out of the car to make an emergency stop at a store or gas station somewhere. Even our 6 year old has needed to use it before. I realize that some people might think it’s weird to have a child sit in the back of the car and go potty there, but to me it has been a fantastic life saver and we just dump it at home, or if we are on a long trip I just pour it into the weeds off the road (is that too detailed?? This is potty training talk after all haha)
  4. When you are at home (try to spend the first couple days mostly at home), I think it’s effective to have them be naked from the waist down for the first few days. It’s good for them to see what is happening in conjunction with the feeling when they have to go. Wearing a diaper that absorbs it all hides what is going on and they possibly don’t even feel wet. They realize when they have the feeling of going, there is liquid coming out and it gets everywhere if they don’t go on the potty! It also makes it easy for you as the parent to see and catch what is going on and run them to the potty mid-stream if you can! What a great way to get them to pee a little in the potty and be able to reward them! Once they see and feel what is going on for a day or two, we us regular undies with their favorite characters on them. They enjoy picking out which undies to wear.
  5. Don’t use diapers or pull ups in the night either. Be mindful when they wake up in the night! ALL of my cuties woke up in the night more frequently the night after we started potty training. When they get up in the night, take them to the potty! Whether they go or not, teach them it’s ok to go potty in the night, too. We bought a bed pad to put under them when accidents happened at night so we didn’t have to change all the bedding. I think this step is one of the most important…Potty train them 24/7, not just during the day and you won’t have to deal with kids wetting the bed a ton! To avoid getting them too awakened at night, I put dry clothes on them, switch out the bed pad/towel, and then bathe them in the morning.
  6.  Be consistent with timing. Set a timer on your oven or phone, etc. and take them every 30 min. If they DO go on the potty, set the timer for 60 min. after. Whenever they don’t go, set it for another 30 min. When they have an accident, take them to sit on the potty for a couple minutes and restart the timer for 30 min. I made the mistake of taking my first child every 10-20 min and he got so sick of sitting on the potty and would cry.
  7. Practice what to say for different situations so you don’t have to think about it too much. For example, when Kyler had an accident we say “Uh-oh, you peed on your paw patrols undies so we have to stop playing now to change (remember you are also sitting them on the potty after the accident). I can give you a jelly bean if you pee in the potty.” Don’t yell at or blame your child. Remind them if they go in the potty they can have their reward. Try to have a matter-of-fact tone instead of putting pressure on them. Let them know you are sorry they had to stop playing, it’s a real bummer, but when we pee our pants we have to stop having fun to go change. When we pee in the potty we don’t have to change and we get our treat (or show, or whatever it is). Give them praise EVERY time they try to go potty, whether they get anything out or not. You can even give them a sticker if you are having trouble getting them to sit on the potty. You could also sing a song or read them a book. It’s nice for them to know they can be done trying when the song is over or the book is done, instead of an undetermined amount of time.
  8. Teach your child to tell you when they go potty or have to go. I have noticed a big difference once we implement this into potty training. Teaching your child to communicate to you that they peed or are in the middle of peeing or need to pee is BIG. Vocalizing that they have peed in their pants helps them form the habit to TELL YOU. We are training them to tell us when they need to go pee, and the first step to that is to say when they HAVE PEED. I practice with my kids. Whenever they have an accident I say, Let’s practice! Yell out ‘mommy, I have to pee!’ And usually they start out quiet during our practice but we practice it quite a bit. They tend to use the phrase while they are wetting themselves at the beginning, which is still great cuz then I can rush them to the potty to see if they will get anything into it and get a reward.
  9. I let my babies come in with me when I go to the potty. I also went potty on big toilet while they sat on the little one a lot of the time. This lets them see that it’s a normal thing to do, what happens after I go (we flush the potty, say “bye bye, pee pee!”, and clap our hands. Sometimes they even want to get my toilet paper.) I also teach them to tell me good job mommy! This example is a big one. It teaches them that it’s normal to go pee in the potty, that it’s a deed worth celebrating. Many people have recommended to me the baby dolls that can pee, and while I think it’s a fabulous idea to have a controlled example they can see pee on their potty, I tried it with one of my girls and didn’t see any magical effect that did any more than having them see ME go potty.
  10. I tried to remember to pray. Pray before you start, pray for patience in the day to see your baby through heaven’s eyes as they are pooping on your carpet! Pray for ideas for rewards or a different way of approaching things that may create a more successful experience for you and your child. Pray for your child and yourself. Pray for help with anything you need to do to be consistent, because consistency is so important.
    Don’t feel like a failure if it isn’t going how you think it should. Ask for help from your spouse or a family member. All you can do is your best…life happens when you may have to wait and try again later with fresh dedication!

Good luck, mamma!

Your friend, Jexi

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