Welcome Baby Sophia!

This is going to be a bit of a scattered post.  I have so many thoughts to jot down  before I have to leave for work!  Please bear with me!

Introducing Sophia Madelynn

Arrived at 1:41am
Thursday, April 15, 2010
7lbs 7ozs  - 21 inches
100% NATURAL & DRUG FREE

Christina did an amazing job not only in delivery but also thru the 9 months leading up to the beautiful birth of their daughter.  Christina chose to do a natural water birth.  We are SO proud of her!!  Last Sunday we went out to Paul & Christina's house to cook them a meal while they adjusted to having Sophia in their lives.  We grilled up some of my secret recipe burgers and had strawberry-apple spinach salad.  Gorgeous weather!  So peaceful to sit out on the deck with Soph and soak it all in.  :)

Dave had his last day of T8 internship yesterday.  Dr. Bruce treated Dave and the entire office staff to lunch.  Dr. Beck took us out for drinks after work to say goodbye.  It was a fun time and thanks for the treats guys!  Dave will miss the office and wonderful patients.  He's got 2 weeks off then starts his T9 internship the first week of May.  He'll be working at Bandana Chiropractic, which is a Maximized Living office in Roseville (about a 30 minute commute from home).  He's really excited to get into this office and have some new patients to take thru the Maximized Living Essentials.  What's great about this next phase of work is that these doctors are going to give Dave a lot more control over his own patients.  I won't get too much into the details, we realize while we find these things exciting, maybe you guys don't...but all you need to know is Dave's going to be having even more fun at work, learning new things every day, and getting closer and closer to graduation in November!

Dave and I attended a Biomarkers of Health seminar two weekends ago in Bloomington hosted by Nutrition Dynamics.  Students were able to attend for free this time, so I dragged my boy along.  :)  It was fabulous!  It was a seminar dedicated to identifying disease in the body and treating it naturally.  I get so excited to learn more and more about supplementation and natural disease reversal. 

In honor of Earth Day, I did a post on Healing Cuisine.  I can't recommend the book Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano enough.  If we weren't on a student budget, I'd buy this book for all of you, seriously!  It's great, jam packed full of tips on green living!  Happy Earth Day!

My hunky husband just finished making me a large mug of homemade organic chai tea, so I must leave this post.  It smells wonderful!  Look for a post on HealingCuisineByElise.com with the recipe soon!  We've been working on it for a couple weeks now and think we finally have the perfect ratio of spices!  Yummmy breakfast treat!

Spring Time Changes and Growth!

Philippians 3:10-12 (NIV)
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.  Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

I absolutely love spring time, the changing seasons, the flowers and grass, the return of birds to the sky and trees.  I also love to read thru the Easter scripture and reflect on it, what it means to me, to us.  Philippians 3:10-12 is the part that really jumped out at me today.  It is everything Dave and I have been trying to say and to do for so long, and will continue to do.  I think it applies to a lot of you who read our blog and you will find hope and encouragement thru rereading that verse.  Happy April 1st!  Celebrate Spring!  Celebrate all that He has done for us!

Dave said his Part 3 Boards tests went, to quote him, "Alright."  Sooo, we'll have to wait and see when that little white envelope comes to our door with his scores..  I know he did fine, but he and his buddies were a little nervous about at least one of the sections as it was a bit harder than they anticipated.  Thanks everyone for your prayers and encouragement again!  Every little bit of support helps!

Last weekend, actually it was longer than just the weekend, he was gone for 6 days -- Wednesday thru Monday -- to a Maximized Living Training Camp in Florida.  He and 5 of his guy friends from ML drove down for Florida in an old van which I think they borrowed from another friend.  Why did they drive down you might ask?  Because it happened to be Spring Break weekend and ticket prices TRIPLED the norm, reaching over $800 a person, normally around $150-$250.  Cost to ride down with 5 other people in a van?  $65 each round trip.  Yup, that's why.

This was Dave's second time going to a Camp since he came to chiro school and both experiences have been so amazing for both of us.  He comes back a changed man (for the better) each time.  At the camp, the coaches help you to break down, leaving your weaknesses and inseurities behind.  And their slogan is "What happens at camp, stays at camp" (much different than the similar Vegas tagline..), meaning not even I am allowed to know what went on a camp or what the issues were.  All I need to know is Dave comes home a stronger, more powerful husband and doctor each time and that helps me to likewise be stronger and more powerful to save MORE lives in my community.

Now Dave transitions into Finals WeekS (big "s" because finals are this week AND next week, hence we have to stay around here yet again for Easter so the guys can study together).  On top of more studying, yesterday he co-hosted an event for their Maximized Living club called "Dinner With the Docs".  He and Vernon organized the event for students.  They brought in three super successful doctors from the Cities to speak, to tell their chiropractic stories (mistakes they made, where their passion comes from, why we do what we do thru Maximized Living) to encourage students who are not already ML members to join, come to the next seminar, that sort of thing.  Unfortunately I couldn't be there (I'll explain why next), but I think Dave said they had a huge turnout of 30+ non-member students (give or take a few because I can't remember the exact number).  So that was really great!  Dave was very happy when he got home with how everything went.  The students were impressed by the doctors' stories and many had signed up by the end of the night.  A great night for the ML club!

Here's what's been happening in my life lately...It’s been kinda nuts.  Dr. Suzy was in a car accident last week (she’s okay, but was injured pretty badly and still cannot adjust patients for 2 more weeks minimum), so I’ve had to kind of carry on more responsibilities of the practice.  Christina is almost ready to have her baby (due on April 10th) so she will be leaving shortly as office manager -- have to learn so much yet before she is gone!  We have also recently undergone a complete software switchover to a much better, more efficient system, and while it’s better for us on the office managment side, it’s very new and confusing for patients.  We are also in the midst of hosting our bi-yearly health & lifestyle makeover series called Rev It Up!, so I have been doing a ton of marketing and prep work for that.  Basically my life has been Revolution Wellness Center 24/7 for the past few weeks...many extra hours put in to make sure everything is going great and the patients hardly notice all the drama.  :)  Oh the life of a Chiropractic Assistant!  haha  So that is why I ended up missing Dave's dinner event.  Haven't been getting home until 9/9:30pm most nights lately.

I'm taking some ME time this morning before heading out to babysit for some adorable kids at 12noon.  It's already 60 degrees out, so I'm confident it will be shorts weather by the time I need to hit the road.  I think we'll be doing some walking, biking and other out door fun this afternoon!  :)

Catch you all later!  Going to post some more recipes from this past week to Healing Cuisine.  I rolled out a facebook page for my recipes blog this past weekend and it's been a great hit!  I'm excited to see where Healing Cuisine goes in the coming months!

Hope you all have a blessed Easter weekend!

Good luck to Dave!

Dave is in the midst of Part 3 Boards right now.  Yesterday he had two tests and Sunday he will have two more.  He said yesterday's tests were okay, with the second one being harder.  He's out studying today with Vern and whoever else joined them.  Good luck boys!!  I know you'll all do great!  Please pass along your support for these guys.  They're almost officially doctors!  May will be their final round of testing and *finger crossed* after that it will be official!  :)

Today I think I'm going to go get my hair chopped off at my friend Carri's house.  I tend to do this every spring after getting sick of my poker straight locks...  Once the snow's melted and it's sunny out, I always feel like it's time for a new look!  So that's my plan for today.  Then I'll be focusing on getting some recipes posted on Healing Cuisine from our dinners this past week.  I am always taking pictures of our food now!!  haha  Except this morning, I forgot to take a picture of the zucchini and spinach omelet I made for Dave... It was so good.  Would have been a good breakfast post..oh well.  I'm excited to post a yummmmy salmon dish I concocted with fresh ginger and pepper.  One of the best salmon dishes I've ever had!

I'm looking out our deck doors right now and it is SO GORGEOUS outside!  I can't wait til Dave gets home so we can go play outside!  Either a walk or a bike ride tonight I think.  Can't pass up this bright sunshine and warmer temps!  Beach season is on the way! :)

It's About Time

Well folks, it's about time for a post I think!  Sorry it's been so long..we've kind of had a busy past few weekends, which is when I usually try to start a blog post, and I have been unmotivated to write over my lunch hours at work.  But, today's the day!  I am actually home resting up this morning.  I usually nanny before work on Tuesdays but I came down with this minor chest/throat/cough thing, so I'm hanging out in bed for a few hours to hopefully let my body fight it off!  I have my Oil of Oregano, Flu Terminator, Apple Cider Vinegar and Ginger Tea and 2 glasses of water at my bed side.  I love natural remedies!  Starting to feel a little better already!

Chris is here visiting us today and tomorrow.  He got here yesterday evening just in time for dinner.  Just hung out at home last night with some wine, CSI Miami, and complimentary adjustments.  It was nice.  Tonight we're going to check out this club called the Fine Line Music Cafe for free music, food and drinks.  Looks a nice, chill place.  Chris actually found it via a Google search for stuff to do around here.  Good find!

So let's see, what's been going on these last few weeks?  We've both been doing a lot of babysitting.  Dave's been helping me out taking on some of my jobs when I've been helping out other families.  Might as well, right?  We both have so much fun with the kids, and the extra cash always helps week to week.

Dave has his Part 3 Boards coming up on the weekend of the 19-21.  Please wish him luck!!  He's half way thru, having passed Parts 1 & 2.   Just 3 & 4 left!  He will be graduating in November!!  Can't believe it!  We are so excited!! :)

The weekend of February 20th, we drove out to Wisconsin Dells to meet my college friends Amber & Lucas and Katie and Alejandro.  We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge for a weekend of water park madness!  If you know me, you know I can't swim and freak if the water is over 4.5ft.  Yeah, so we spent to days at a water park.  It was insane!  I spent a lot of time on the Lazy River while the others did the huuuuge slides.  But I did finally do some slides toward the end.  They weren't as bad as I expected, but I was still screaming the whole way down.  I think my favorite part was the wave pool.  Even though the waves got really big, Dave kept me safe while I floated around on the tube.  It was fun to rock around in the waves.

Here's Dave coming down the luge slide.  You didn't use a tube on this one.

Here we are in the wave pool.  We were waiting for the waves to start up..

Lucas, Katie, Dave and me.  Amber in front!  Alejandro snapped the pic with their SWEET waterproof digital camera.

The moose mascot.  Never caught his name, but it was a great opportunity for a group pic.

On Sunday, Feb 28th, Christina had her baby shower.  She is at 8 months -- we are all getting excited to meet baby Sophia soon!!  Christina's shower was so much fun!  They had a great spread of delicious food, we played baby bingo (a classic!) and the dice game.  I had never played the dice game before, but man it was fun!  I won 5 prizes!  Dave always says we need to go gambling with me...haha!  While we ladies did our thing upstairs at Christina and Paul's house, Dave was down stairs with Paul watching the Olympic hockey game US vs Canada.  It was pretty cute:  whenever the US scored, the boys would cheer and yell and we girls would say, "Oh, the US scored!".  And whenever one of us won something we'd all scream and clap and the guys knew "Oh, someone won a prize again".  It was funny to look back on that.  :)

Here's the dice game.  Paulette went all out on really nice prizes -- candles, soaps, lotions and the coveted body scrub!

This was the most random picture!  Christina called my name to win the door prize, I was in shock and it was all caught on camera thru the basket handle!  hahaha

Christina and Suzy cutting the yummy and adorable cake!  It was made to look like baby Sophia sleeping in her bed.  :)

One of Christina's many great gifts!

Now they're ready for Sophia to arrive!  4.10.10 is her due date.  We'll keep you updated on her arrival!

So those are the big happenings around here.  We're doing well, having fun whenever we can sneak away, and just enjoying this time of our lives!  Again, please pray for Dave as his Part 3 Boards come up in the next week.  Wish him luck if you get the chance to call or email him.  Happy Tuesday!

- E