There and Back Again: A Tucker Tale

So we finally went on our first real vacation!  Exciting, I know!  We traveled to California to see lots of family, and did fun things on the way.

Stop 1: My cousin Meghan's House.  She just had her 5th, darling baby... who was so good, that most of the time I forgot he was even there.  When we stopped by, the baby was less than two weeks old, and my cousin had an entire BBQ ready for us, and a clean house, and sparkling pool for us to splash in!  It was so much fun.  She even had two little turtles living in her pool!  Talk about crazy!  I didn't know turtles could acclimate to chlorine.  Sadly, we didn't get a single picture here : (

Stop 2:  My Nan and Papa Merl's House.  Nan is the candy keeper, so needless to say, my children were in   heaven with all the sweet treats!  They just moved into the cutest little place in El Centro, and have really done it up nice.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures here too!  My Dad and brother also came to stay there while we were there, so that worked out fun.

Stop 3:  My Aunties Houses.  My Dad has a brother and sister.  They live right next door to each other, and have a gate connecting their backyards (neat right!).  We decided to drop by for another BBQ and splash in the pool, where I did remember I had a camera!  We saw all of my Dad's family... minus a few people.  It was so good to catch up, and see everyone.  Jesse and I always leave there thinking, "wow, they are such down to earth good people, we love visiting!"  

 

Stop 4:  We then headed up to San Diego, where lucky for us, the temple was open on a Monday because it was a holiday.  Hooray!  So Jesse and I took turns going in and doing initiatories. It is a beautiful temple.  When I went in the lady at the inititory desk apologized for the lack of organization... they were alittle crazy because of the busy holiday.  I laughed, because there was no wait time, I had a booth and 3 ladies completely to myself, and I did 5 names in 15 minutes.  I made the comment that they weren't that busy.  My temple district was Mesa, Az, and you can't do initiatories there without at least a 30min-1 hr  wait!  They thought I was kidding.  I assured them.... I was not.  So here is our little family in front of the temple!

Stop 5:  La Jolla Beach!  Where else would we go in San Diego?!  Ok so Lyla and Jess had a blast!  Spencer slept through it all on the sand ( I kid you not).  And I sat there sifting through the shells my kind hubby brought me from the ocean!  I am a mountain person.  I love the smell, the sounds, the feel.  I am not a beach girl!  I find it smelly, and crowded, and sandy, and salty, and all around pretty unpleasant.  My dislike for the beach is  probably due to the fact that I have super sensitive skin, and stepping in the water burns like I just stepped in to acid!  I hate it.  And it continues to burn after I get out of the water, for like 15 minutes!  So I did not enjoy the freezing acid water, but Lyla did.  She was very wary at first, "Mom, I can't go to the beach until I am older and bigger, I might get lost in that big water!"  But she warmed up to the waves right away.

 look hard, there is a Spencer in there!

 Stop 6:  LA, where Jesse's grandparents live.  This was a neat stop.  I was a little apprehensive because his grandmother has Alzheimers, and I wasn't sure how things would go.  It went great.  My kids didn't even mind giving Grandma hugs and kisses every 3 minutes!  Until day 2, when Lyla and Spencer put their foot down.  Lyla: "No I will not hug you again, but you can play my IPAD with me." Spencer: "Don't do that!" every time she reached for him.  It was such a wonderful visit and the weather was wonderful!  Jesse's grandpa has the best sense of humor, and we all laughed alot.  The only run in we had was Jesse's grandma "cleaning up" the bathroom counter.  She took his contacts and his glasses case.  We searched for about 2 hours, but alas, I do believe they are gone forever!

 

Stop 7: Back to San Diego to visit the Olea's.  The Olea's are basically grandparents to me.  They are neat people!  And they have a super groovy patio, where we sat and let the kids play to their hearts delight.  We had tuna sandwiches, lays potato chips, and 7 up.  Does summer get any better than that?  No!  Even though we only stopped for a bit, it was wonderful, and we had so much fun.

Stop 8:  Yuma, to visit my Dad.  This stop was wonky.  We enjoyed my Dad, but he lives in an apartment, so we were all  in tight quarters, and with 2 kids that was almost disastrous.  But lucky for us, he plans on buying a small home soon, so the next time we visit, perhaps we won't make him sleep on the couch!  He took us to the river and that was a blast.  The colorado was running low, so it was only a few inches deep for lots of the river where we were at, which the kids loved!  And we were right under the Ocean to Ocean bridge, so every time a train went directly over us the kids were enthralled.  We let them dry off in by playing on a playground, and then went to eat at Pizza Hut.  It was wicked hot in Yuma though.  I know I live in Tucson which isn't much better, but let me tell you... there is a huge difference!  This pregnant lady could tell.  At least it is cool in the mornings and evenings here.  It was like 100* at 7:30 in the morning there...ugh!

Stop 9: Back to the old homestead, which was so lovely to return to.  I am a homebody, and while I like to travel a bit, usually 2 or 3 days tops me out, and this trip was almost a week long.  But I must confess, my kids were champs!  They didn't cry once in the car.  Well Spencer whined twice for 5 minutes when he was overly tired before crashing out for a car nap.  But other than that, we scraped by relatively unscathed!  Now for a 3 and 1 year old, that is pretty good.  What can I say, I have good kiddos, whom I love so much.  And a dear husband whom I am blessed to have snagged!  We got home on our 4th anniversary.  May 31st.  We talked about how it feels like we've  known each other forever, yet it feels like we just barely got married yesterday!  He is the light of my life, and though we didn't do anything extravagant for our anniversary (because we were pooped)  it was nice to sit next to him on the couch, in our own comfy home, and share the moment and reflect about all the love between us, and what a lovely family and life we have created!

Adventures into Holistic Medicine

CAUTION:  Severe misspelling will follow.  Please bear with me.

Well as you all know, I'm very fond of new ideas.  Recently I had the bug to take my children to a "holistic" pediatrician.  Lately I've been fed up with the way my pediatrician prescribes my kids antibiotics (azithromyacin no less, because they get a rash from amoxacillan these days) everytime I visit.  HELLO, EARTH TO DR.  you just said my child had acute bronchitis... which is viral my friend!  I don't need to be handed a presciption to be happy, just tell me my kids are fine and send me on my merry way.  I just want to make sure they aren't on their death bed with phnuemonia or something.

So needless to say, I'm not a big fan of drugs anyways, especially heavy duty ones.  And I am always googling home remedies.  So when Spencer started getting these blister like lesions on his scrotum and penis, I was very concerned... because they would look like they were about to clear up, but then come back worse.  I didn't want to self diagnos and treat his man parts, so I thought I would take him in.  But I refused to go to my regular pediatrician: the last thing I wanted to hear was, "oh, it must be from the cloth diapers you use, just switch him to disposable for a while and it will clear up."  UGH!

So off I went to find a Holistic doc that would see infants.  Low and behold, there was only one in town.  Super.  I called, not only did I have a nice hearty chat with the receptionist, she had the doctor call me back, and we spoke on the phone for a half hour.  He said he could see me anytime, so I scheduled an appointment for the next day. 

I cart my children into this herbal smelling, and might I add very dirty office.  But office aside, the trip was just that... a complete trip!  The guy came out and I didn't know if he was the doctor or a homeless man.  He had long grey hair, but was dressed nice... although, I'm not sure he had shoes on. 
And he took me back to a small room, where he proceeded to hop onto the exam table (and sit cross legged at 65+ years old). 

But, I was totally digging the experience, so I went along with it.  First he helped me get familiar and comfortable with holistic medicine, then he proceeded to question me about everything!  And I mean everything.  My pregnancies, the births, the children's diet, their routine, their sleep, how they teethe, how often they poop and pee, how often they get sick, what they normally get sick with.  He felt them all over their bodies, and asked them questions.  We were there for an hour.  He was very thorough.  He also said in 30 years of practice... he had never had to resort to antibiotics for a child (I was astonished, and quite happy!)  And in the end he said Spencer had a localized skin irritation, and he would whip up a salve.  So he turned around and whipped up a herbal, botanical, salve (which is guacamole green no less) and slathered it on him.   And gave me the rest to take home, which was quite a bit, and told me I could put it on just about any skin irritation on the body.  I kid you not, the skin irritation was gone in less than 24 hrs, and he had 4 big lesions!

After that he said he was almost sure Spencer had a food allergy, because he had some slight puffiness around the eyes, and also his lymph nodes were more swollen than is normal in healthy children.  He said that would also explain his tendency to get bronchitis very easily.  He encouraged our entire family to go on a elimination challenge diet to help find Spencer's allergy.  He gave me all the material I needed for reading and then told me to hold on.  He left the room and came back with the most awful smelling "tincture" he had made for me.  He said if my kids ever had a cold/flu/cough/bronchitis/etc.  to put a dropper full in their water 5 times a day, or up to every hour if needed, and it would nip it in the bud. 

Well, I must say... I haven't found the courage to do the elimination challenge, which would be eliminating all wheat, dairy, soy, corn, eggs, oranges, peanuts, and like 7 other things from our diet for 2 weeks!  Yikes.  I am collecting recipes first!  So if any of you know any good recipes for preparing a filling, nutritious meal from air, please shoot it over : )

I really enjoyed the experience, and got some good tips on how to boost my childrens natural immunity to help prevent further needs for doctor visits.  The Holistic Medicine Man also told me to go get a home remedy kit at a health food store, which carries lots of different holistic medicines in them, and to call him for minor illnesses and he can diagnos over the phone and walk me through mixing my own medicine right from my kit at home.  Neat-O right?  At least I thought so.  I hate when I know what my kids have but I have to go to the doc just to get a prescription!  So all in all the experience was fun and enlightening.  And totally far out there!!! Even for me.  But I have really enjoyed how well the holistic medicine has worked for our family... it seems to work magic around here.  We even tried the tincture for a cough Lyla had. 

My one complaint... he encouraged us (children and parents) to give up dairy completely.  He said contrary to popular belief, it isn't really that healthy at all, unless fermented into yogurt or kefir.  I totally didn't believe him, but after reading some scientific journals, and research studies... it seems he is right.  There are tons of not so great side effects from consuming dairy.  Mostly because the dairy we consume has been homogenized and pasturized.  Apparently raw goat milk is the best option.  So I guess my chickens will be getting some new playmates sooner rather than later!  Good thing I love goats anyways, right?

But for now, we aren't going to give up dairy completely... cut back, sure.  Make sure we are consuming healthier forms of it, why not.  Limiting the amount my children get in their sippy cup every day.... yes!  But give it up, not at the moment.  I like milk... and well life without cheese really wouldn't be life at all : )

I'm not sure I will use the Holistic Medicine Man for my normal form of treatment all the time... I've been raised too mainstream to deviate so quickly.  But it was nice to have the experience.  Perhaps next time I will just try Osteopathic medicine, which is a more "whole" approach, integrating modern medecine with homepathic medecine.  Treating the whole person not just symptoms... that sounds good.  But be cautioned:  if you ever get the bug to try holistic medecine, they charge a small fortune.