Just Shut up and Pray

So Alana is home and everything is starting to settle back into a routine for us, which is really great. We are still having dinner together every night (which, I gotta confess was my biggest prayer, thanks God!), and communicating much better as a family. I have been reading "The Power of a Praying Wife" (given to me by Chistie-thanks girl!) and it has really been changing me. Not just in my relationship with my husband, but other relationships in life in general. One of the things the author says in the book is to just "shut up and pray". How quick are we to go talk,before we truly listen to what is being said? Boy, that spoke to me bigtime. So what I am focusing lately on is just really being quiet and listening to people, and being really slow to offer advice or counsel. Only after counsel (prayer) with Jesus, can I do so..I am still a work in progress but it is progression! Instead of nagging, or disrespecting talk with my husband, I am just going to try to pray through my frustrations, and see what Jesus does. If I ever see Jason really frustrated or angry about anything, I'm just going to shut up and pray. That is my promise to him. And that technique really works for any relationship, sometimes you just have to let people work through their emotions and let God do the rest through your prayers.

But back to Alana-that was a SCARY week for us, but we persevered. We had such wonderful friends show up before we even asked and help make Alana's experience much less scary, and much more "comfortable" for us. So Alana's final diagnoses was that she had an atypical pneumonia, that was resistant to antibiotics (wasn't viral though). On our third and fourth antibiotics we started seeing improvement in her condition so we were very, very happy about that. They are trying to find out the underlying cause of her pneumonias (had 4 of them before this one), so they have obviously been testing her like crazy. Cancer, turburculosis, and Cystic fibrosis were ruled out (thank God!!). She does have long term inflammation going on, which could be anything from anemia to Lupus. We will be seeing an allergist/immunologists, pulmonologists, and rhuemotologists in the next 4 weeks to figure this all out. One thing we do know for sure is that her immune system is semi screwy and is making everything else all out of whack. We are praying for absolute healing and restoration and ask that you do the same!

Isabel is doing great! We are still breastfeeding and formula feeding every once in a while (she is FINALLLY taking a bottle, woo wwooo!). I thought I was drying up, but apparantly I'm not, my boobs are so wierd! Some days they are full of milk, and sometimes I can't get a drop out. So for now, when the breast milk is there, she can absolutely get it, but if not, formula is on her menue for the day. And honestly, she could care less, I just want her to be as healthy as possible! And this morning she guzzled down 9 oz's of formula/breastmilk, 9oz's! That's the most she's ever eaten so I think she is digging the new assortment of goodies that she gets throughout the day now. She is eating cereal too, most of the time. I gotta confess that I was dumby that introduced fruits first, and she loves it. Trouble is is that now that's all she wants. She is slowly being more open so we'll see! As long as she has a full tummy of some good stuff that's all I really care about now. I am trying to be less of the crazy over strict mom and just go with the flow, and I honestly think Isa likes it better. It's amazing how different families can be with thier babies and yet, they are all happy babies. Good stuff.

So, on another note, working out has been going great! The Bean household has really changed our diet here and is cutting out more meat, eating a lot more veggies, fruits and yogurts. I have (for the time being) cut out lifting weights. I now do spinning 3 days a week, and do hot yoga 2-3 times a week. I am now 130 lbs (I was 125 pre preggo) so I am stooooked. I really want to work on my health from the inside out, and not stresss too much on the visual society norm of a 'good looking body.' I have starting to drink wheat grass shots everyday (not as bad as you think, and I feel good!), and I have starting taking the Lance Armstrong energy supplements called "FRS." They are AMAZING products (safe while BF'ing btw-they only have as much caffeine as a 1/4 cup of coffee, and that's good for me since I cut coffee out of my diet). They contain a great ingredient called "quercetin" which is found in skins of blueberries and apples and such. It is a free radical scavenger,and a potent antioxident which in turn also fends of cancer. It is also a long lasting energy, that you never crash from. So for a stay at home mom it is a great thing! I'm not as pooped out at the end of our crazy days as I used to be.

Well this blog has been long enough, can you tell that Isa is enjoying a nap? :) I hope you all have a blessed day!