Weekly meal plan

Meal plan 5/21 - 5/26 
Monday: 
Lunch - sandwiches and chips 
Dinner - Mac and cheese and carrot sticks 
Snack - yogurt 

Tuesday: Lunch - cheese quesadillas, carrots and dip 
Dinner - meatloaf, rice and green beans 
Snack - apple sauce 
Wednesday: Lunch - chicken nuggets, celery and dip 
Dinner - nacho bake 
Snack - apples and peanut butter

Thursday: Lunch - grilled cheese and tomato soup 
Dinner - grille chicken breast, grilled veggies and rolls
Snacks - orange slices 

Friday: Lunch - scrambled eggs and fruit 
Dinner - Veggie beef soup and rolls 
Snack - cottage cheese 

Saturday: will be gone all day 

Sunday: lunch - chicken alfredo with broccoli 
Dinner - eggs, bacon, toast and fruit 
Snack - yogurt

Kairi's story

My name is Kairi Walters, I live in Knoxville, IA, I am two years old and I have lead poisoning. My mommy and daddy found out almost a year ago that I have an elevated lead level. When we found out my lead level had reached 49. For those that do not understand what that number means, my lead level had reached a very dangerous level. The level I had was in the category of Medical evaluation, chelation and case management. Lucky for me so far my levels have been dropping without medicine but they are still elevated. At my last check it was 23. My doctor, mommy and daddy have been trying to treat my lead poisoning with a proper diet. So far it is working but working slowly. We had a lead inspector come to our house to find out what was making me sick. He told us we have high levels of lead in our home and that was the cause. Even though the house we live in had been gutted and remodeled about fifteen years ago after a fire there was still lead in the house from things that did not get remodeled. There is lead all over the outside, in some of the windows and some of the wall inside as well. My daddy had been working on the outside of the house before he knew about the lead, scraping and painting and this caused the lead dust and chips to get all over the place. This a long with lead on the window ledge in our living room is most likely what made me sick. I am currently in speech therapy and we do not know if the lead caused any other problems and we won't know until I am bigger. Now my mommy and daddy are working hard to make my home safe. They have already put new windows in the living room but do not have any more money to do the rest of the repairs. My daddy lost his job last year and he just got a new job a couple months ago. My mommy and daddy have been searching for grants to help make our home safe and so far they have found out that there is nothing where we live. They really want to make the house safe for me, my brother and sisters. This is only the beginning of my story, I have a long road ahead of me while I heal from the poison that was in my body. My mommy and daddy will continue doing all they can to find ways to make our house safe.

Just a small update

I can not believe how fast this year seems to be going! I guess in a way time flying is kind of a good thing. My husband only has 1 month left before he reaches the 90 day mark and will get hired on full time, which means a raise and insurance. Life has been pretty quiet the last month. Luckily no more health issues or scares since Kairi's hospital stay in March. Alex did turn 6 on the 18th. It is hard for me to believe my oldest and only son is six already. He is growing up so fast. Summer seems to be getting an early start here in Iowa. The weather has been kind of crazy to be honest. One day is in spring weather, the next it is above 80 and we need to turn the air conditioner on. The kids are enjoying the early heat wave. We have been able to break out the sprinkler and water guns early. We are planning on getting the garden tilled this weekend and getting stuff planted. I love gardening so I am looking forward to this. We already have a couple little pumpkin plants since we through our pumpkin over by the garden area last fall and it decided to give us pumpkin plants. We are also planting tomatoes, summer squash, onions, green beans and peas. I am undecided on what else just yet. Well I guess that is really all for now. I have some other things I would like to write about but those are for another post :)

Kairi was in the hospital

Kairi had an overnight hospital stay this week after she decided she needed to see what icy hot tasted like, I would not know from personal experience but I would not imagine it tasted great or what her poor mouth felt like after!
I called poison control right away and they told me I needed to get her seen right away. I took her to the ER and they admitted her for observation.
Kairi had to have an IV, which made her less then happy. Plus they had to draw blood to check her aspirin level. Apparently one of the main ingredients of icy hot is aspirin and aspirin poisoning is very dangerous to children.
We got lucky, the first draw showed a barely elevated level, the second was even lower so they did not have to draw anymore blood.
Kairi had a rough night, she did not like the IV in her arm, she was upset about staying in the hospital and the nurses had to wake her up every hour to check on her. She was a very happy girl to come home in the morning.
The first thing I did when we got home was go into the bathroom and remove all medicines. They will be living in my closet, in a tote on the top shelf until kids are old enough not to do something like this again.

Chris got a job!!

Chris started his new job on Monday and I quit my job on Thursday. After seven months of him being laid off and me working part time you have no idea how happy I am to be a stay at home mom again. I am really excited about this!
I have lots of things planned to do with the kids with the time I have free now. Today we did a science/art craft and made bird feeders.
I am also hoping to have more writing time now!

Finding time?

I started a part time job over the summer and I am having a really hard time finding the balance I used to have when I was a stay at home mom. It is funny how 20 hours a week can totally screw up my schedule at home.

I am struggling to find time for everything is my life. My kids come first but I still want time to read, knit, craft and be on the internet. I am finding that in order to get some balance in my life some things are just going to have to go.

I am cutting back on games on face book. I had gotten kind of bored with them anyway so it really does not break my heart. I might still play one or two but for the most part I am just done with them. I am cutting back on time of the computer all together. Since I am working in the afternoons my morning and evenings need to be spent doing other things. I need to spend more time one the kids schooling, baking more items and now that Amelia is eating solids I am making all her food.

After my kids are in bed I will split the few hours I get between the other things I like to do. Hopefully this will help me find the balance I need.

Lack of compassion

I am sure by know that everyone knows that the Duggar family lost their last child. I do not watch the show or any reality television show but I do enough about the family to know this was a devastating loss to them.

I have to say over the last couple days I have seen comments about this subject that sicken me. I can not believe how many cruel and down right sick things I have seen people post. I think that the human race has lost compassion and honestly I think people get a sick sense of satisfaction over the cruel things they say about others.

This poor family is grieving the death of their child, they lost a baby and in this time of need they do not need to be ridiculed and belittled. I do not care what you think of how many kids they have, if you think they should stop having babies or anything else for that matter. This family deserves compassion and kindness. They deserve nothing but your sorrow for the loss of the child they will never get to know.

I lost a baby in 2010, mine was an early miscarriage so I did not have to actually deliver my child the way Mrs. Duggar did but I do know the pain of loss. The heartbreak that comes with the death of a baby. They ache you feel in your heart for the child you do not get to raise. All the what ifs and how comes that go through your mind. I was a wreck for months and to this day I can not talk about without sadness and often tears. I have other children but that does not stop me from hurting over the loss of that child.

My heart goes out to their family in there time of need and my prayers are with them