The introduction of kale was my latest attempt at finding healthy foods for my kiddos to munch.  These greens are gaining attention due to the cancer-fighting potential of their sulfur-containing phytonutrients. When cruciferous vegetables are chopped or chewed, they release compounds that researchers believe activate detoxifying enzymes in the liver. In turn, these enzymes may neutralize free radicals thereby reducing the risk of breast, ovarian, colon and other cancer.  Not too shabby for a former plate decoration.  I had to find a way to make my little ones at least try this super-green.  After googling kale recipes I decided on kale chips.  Hey, they like potato chips so I was sure they would love these too…

To boost enthusiasm, I had the kids help.

Here’s little guy greasing the pan…the table…the chair…and eventually….the wall.

“I got this one, mom”

Tennison is no amateur in the kitchen.

Kale prep.

Warning: Be prepared for your kitchen to smell like the entire state of Alabama – kale is from collard green family.

Juice break.

Gray going in after 15 minutes of roasting. I don’t think he cared for the smell much either.

Nor the taste.

TT pensively nibbling…

and her review.

Well, you can’t say I didn’t try.

Written by Lea Barlow • Leave a comment

by Alexis Novak

I have these critical parenting moments when a little voice yells something is WRONG over and over in my head even though everything logical disagrees with her.  But since I am the Queen of Mommy Angst and she yells at me often, I have trouble differentiating between when I should listen to her and when I should shove a giant brownie in her mouth to shut her up.

Sadly, baked goods only work temporarily and you have to deal with the voice of Maternal Instinct sooner or later as she is one determined beeyatch.

My current crisis is a story that begins last Valentine’s Day, when my sweet little “Peachy” was born. Remember Freddy Kruegger? My second birth tale was exactly like that.

At my brand new and highly understaffed hospital, triage nurses urged me to go home after they checked me in. There were two emergencies that Saturday night and they didn’t want to deal with someone boring and time-consuming like me, a very long laborer whose cervix is slow to do its job.  Altruistically, I understood I was lowest woman on the totem pole, but who feels altruistic when their contractions start? I didn’t want to come back six hours later while the inevitable loomed. My busy obstetrician was the only one on the wing and was training residents through these emergencies. My 12 year old Labor and Delivery nurse was pumped by the emergencies as her learning experience and wanted me to “labor down” while I was 9.5 then 10 cm, which apparently meant that she was going to leave me and not come back for an hour and a half. Oh! And the best part of all? Two totally ineffective epidurals that didn’t make a dent in my pain left me acting like the chick in The Exorcist. I was punching the bedrails and anything else within reach because I couldn’t escape my body. How could it have been healthy for my baby to be stuck like this? I was desperate to make sure she was okay. I worried that she might die. This is what Maternal Instinct kept screaming to me. In fact, the chord was around Peachy’s neck.

Though she was born a beautiful babe, my daughter’s head was never quite symmetrical. The doctor said she had a fine APGAR score. But she has one “normal” right side and then on the other side her skull bulges out subtly above her ear and continues towards the back of her head. As she has grown it’s became more pronounced. This is compounded by her sleeping on this side of her head which has flattened out her left cheekbone. I could see it in pictures, when her left eye starting drooping down like it was being pulled back a few months ago.  The voice started getting louder and louder.

Her pediatrician ordered a CTscan.  A 3D scan.  A specialist. A physical therapy evaluation.

The tests showed her brain is fine. She has torticollis and positional plagiocephaly “flattened head syndrome”, depending on the doctor/therapist/specialist I have asked. One doctor didn’t diagnose her, then an occupational therapist did. Some said it was because of my nightmare labor, others said there was no connection. Everyone has a different opinion of what she needs and we parents are left a ball of nerves and no definitive answers. There is an urgent time table that this gets resolved before her first birthday, since the skull sutures close then and correction of any kind becomes much more complicated.

My anxiety takes me places I don’t want to go, imagining the torment of my sweet Peachy having to live with a partially sunken-in face. I envision a weird droopy eye smiling back at me in an elementary school photograph on a face that isn’t quite right.

Then I hit the wall. When I can’t think or talk about this anymore, Maternal Instinct has different ideas. In the middle of the night, she tells me to push on. Make this right she says. A good friend of mine has been in the same exact place with her own child.  She gave me sage advice that has stuck in my head, “You must be your daughter’s voice when she has none”.  Maternal Instinct couldn’t have said it better herself.

Written by Lea Barlow • Leave a comment

Name: Jill Knapp

Kids: 3 kids. Ages 12, 10, 5

Occupation: Full time mom, Motivational speaker, Diabetes Advocate,  Health Coach

Hometown: Thousand Oaks,  CA . Now living in Idaho.

H&H Interview with Jill:

1. What are the top 3 items in your grocery cart?
Vegetables,  Chicken,  Milk

2. What are you reading (honestly)?
Project Organization by Marie Ricks

3. What is your guilty pleasure when you get a break from the kids?

Working out!  For real! I love it and it’s the one thing I do for myself.

4. What would we be surprised to find in your purse?

A small devotional book I grab when I am stuck in a line or waiting for the Dr. My son’s cars.

5. What is your favorite reality TV show?

Toss up! Biggest loser and Dancing With the Stars.

6. What is your cocktail of choice?

I don’t drink but I would have to say:   Spinach raspberry smoothie

7. What is the funniest thing your kids have said or done lately?

My 5-yr-old lost his tooth and said now let’s put it under my pillow.  I said OK. He said can you get me some paper I want to make a list of the things I want from the tooth fairy.  He started saying cars, sponge Bob toy, new star wars.  I said wait a minute the tooth fairy only gives like a dollar.  She won’t bring toys.  He started to get a little upset and ran down the stairs saying “Whatever mom.  Dad will help me make a list”.

8. What is your favorite quotation?

When the going gets tough the tough stay committed.

9. What are you currently working out to on your iPod?

I don’t use a iPod.  I am doing the insanity DVD’s if you haven’t tried it,  DO. They are so good!! I want that beach body in 8 weeks.  LOL

10. Who is your favorite celebrity mom and why?

I don’t really follow celebrities but I love Reece Witherspoon.  I love her movies and she has super cute kiddos.

11. What is something most people don’t know about you?

I love to sing.  I may not be that good but I sing when no one is home.

12. What is your secret to staying Hot & Healthy?

1.EXERCISE!!
2. Eating 6 small meals a day.  It really works!!  I have lost 100 pounds and kept it off for 1 year and 7 mo.
3. Exfoliate.  I am 43 yrs old and have done it since my 20′s.  I think it helps you stay looking young.
4. Water, Water and more water.
5. Living my passion.

Written by Lea Barlow • 5 Comments

Stupid name?  Yes.  But this hybrid of skinny jeans and leggings in pretty damn amazing. Let me state that I am not a fan of leggings.  I leave those to the 10 and under crowd. But I am a lover of the skinny jean. I picked up a pair of cargo jeggings for my trip to Maine last week. I needed something to go with my new hiking boots and still be cute enough to wear around town. I hit the jackpot with a $19.95 (on sale) pair of cargo jeggings from American Eagle.  They are super stretchy and fit like a second skin without looking too ghetto.  Unlike that model there on the left, I am neither brave nor skinny enough to pair my jeggings with a ballet flat. I choose to balance my frame in these pants with chunky heels or boots and a slouchy sweater.  Give them a shot this season.

Written by Lea Barlow • Leave a comment