Hi again! :D

Well, I thought I was doing great, keeping all the balls up in the air and all the fires under control. Well, I was close. See, I'm looking into some things that people have been recommending as far as treatments for the kids' scoliosis. One of them required knowing the degree of their curvature. No problem. I asked our chiropractor last week, and he said he'd get them to me this week. So he did yesterday. Well, there degrees of curvature are not too terrible. T's in 13 degrees. What DID end up knocking the wind out of my sails temporarily was this, lil' A's is an 'S' curve. It's 6 degrees in the upper back, and 10 degrees in her lower. I did NOT remember her having the curve in her upper back. I don't know if it's because I was so overwhelmed when we first found out or what, but I apparently had totally blocked it out.

So now I'm more worried than I was (upper back can lead to more serious issues than the lower back). I am just again EXTREMELY grateful that we have been blessed with the chiropractor that we have. I pray for him and his family daily, and he has surely been a big blessing to our family. Would ya'll consider doing me a favor? If you so feel led, would you please pray for him and his family to have TREMENDOUS blessings bestowed upon them?! (He is treating all three kids at no cost to us). Thank you!

There is good news. J's scans were done again yesterday, and he has shown VAST improvements from his first scans! I am SO happy for him, and proud of him for being so good about getting his adjustments. He knows they're helping him just as much as we do I think. :)

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In other news, I started a new blog yesterday, haven't gotten to post to it yet though because Blogger locked it thinking it was a spam blog. So I requested it to be unlocked. As soon as it is and I've gotten to post to it, I'll let ya'll know what it is and what I've been up to regarding that blog and how it came about. :)

Things are starting to resemble some semblance of sanity around here after the initial scoliosis diagnosis. I have to admit something here. We've been through this sort of thing before. Only difference is, thank God I'm eating raw food now! :) Back in 2000, when we got J's autism diagnosis, before and during my research, I took out my stress and worry and frustration out on whole pans of brownies and 1/2 gallons of ice cream. Which is how even though I had popped out the baby already the year before, I got heavier than before I had lil' A.

Fast forward eight years, and now here we were again, finding out that something was not okay with not one, but two of the kiddos. And I have to admit, before I started researching into it (gave myself a few days to sit with and absorb the shock first), I was scared to death of that word once the chiropractor showed me the X-rays and confirmed it. I had heard about it growing up, I even knew someone who had to wear a brace. All I could think about was remembering how much she hated it, how cumbersome it was, and how if I had any choice, I wouldn't want that for my kids if I could help it.

The good news is, there curve is not 40 degrees, which is pretty much where a doctor would be putting them in the brace. And in doing my research and posting about what has been going on, I have gotten a myriad of leads to different yoga videos and other modalities I may wish to look into. For that, I am forever grateful! And because their scoliosis is at a point where a traditional MD would just sit and wait to see if it got worse or better, we were beyond blessed to find out now, so we can help, instead of being helpless.

So, what have I learned as the dust has started to settle? Well, there is more than one modality that can aid in helping them reverse their scoliosis. That is a blessing to know from the start. Also, we found out that the kids LOVE going to get their adjustments, doing their exercises, and learning what they're doing them for and how they help. I've learned that even at the ages of 12 and just-turned 9, that kids CAN, and actually ENJOY being proactive in their health, back care, and overall well-being. I've also learned that some of the modalities are actually going to be cheaper than I thought they would be, which eases my mind by quite a bit. I've also learned not to underestimate the determination of my kids, EVER. They are true troopers, and apparently, there is nothing that can be thrown their way or mine that we can't handle, together, as a family, and with their Daddy's utmost support, whether he's here or half a world away.

Yep! That my friends is what's going to win this race. It is definitely the tortoise that will prevail, not the hare!

If autism didn't teach me patience, teaching my children yoga and us all staying sane will.;) Actually, I have a little confession, you wanna hear it? Children and animals (okay, and my hubby), are the ONLY areas I have patience. The rest of my life, not so much! So, I'm sure, somewhere deep down inside, my children are grateful that Mommy didn't mind repeating for the upteenth time why we don't bend out trunks forward as out limbs bend to the side, and things along that line. :)

I've started them out very slowly. Just a couple of poses a piece, and breathing. I think this is a great pace to start with. They are enjoying it and they are feeling accomplished, like they have control over their scoliosis, and not the other way around. Plus, it's over before they have a chance to get bored or too upset about it (it's taking time away from their other interests you know).

Oh! AND, the beautiful and talented Nan over at 123RAW was so kind as to point me in the direction of Svaroopa Yoga, which is gentle and is intended specifically for the spine! So HUGE thank you and BIG props to Nan! :D

As for the chiropractic care, that is going FANTASTIC! I told him about my plan of action for the kiddos. He not only thought it was a great idea, but he also seemed impressed! So that just added fuel to my "Mommy-fire"! :D

And, J, the one with autism, but no scoliosis, let me give him a massage yesterday! And when he said stop, I stopped (unless he would let me keep going when I explained what happened in that particular area as I massaged) and when he said he was done, I stopped. Not even two minutes later he told me, "Do it again Mom". Uh, OKAY! You don't have to tell me twice! :D

So, so far, so good! I will do my best to continue to keep ya'll posted! :D

Hi everyone! You'd think my life's been majorly boring since there haven't been any posts from me lately right? WRONG!

Let's see, there's the cancer that seems to be spreading like wildfire among half the women I know (at least it feels like half), too many falls that I've taken in the past month and a half, and more medical challenges for my kiddos. Yep, you heard me right, not less, MORE!

So here's the latest. T and lil' A both have scoliosis of the lower back. We found out last week, but you know, with notifying family and what not, I couldn't blog about it first. Plus, it's taken a little bit for it to sink in (kind of like when we found out about J's autism). So after it finally sank in, I started going into my next mode, researching. Thank God for Google! :D

I have found that there are multiple holistic modalities for helping with scoliosis. There are five things I have chosen to focus on in helping the kiddos. They are:

1. Chiropractic care - Thank God our chiropractor is so generous with his talents! :D

2. Raindrop Therapy - I am involved with Young Living Oils, so I can get the dvd for that and hopefully administer that myself.

3. Massage Therapy - All massage is good, and I will start them out with general massage therapy, and then work them up to Rolfing, which has been shown to have benefits related to scoliosis.

4. Yoga - I will be focusing on poses that strengthen the core and lengthen the spine. I will be working with each child individually (they tend to distract each other), starting with basic breathing, and working each of them up to an hour of yoga each day. (That means 3 hours of yoga for Mommy when it's all said and done!)

5. Specified Raw Nutritional Therapy - at least, that's what I'm calling it. To start, thanks to Brigit Mars book "Rawsome", and David Wolfe's talks on bones, I will be starting out with inventing recipes that combine foods with calcium, magnesium, boron, and silicon! So there will be a lot of playing in the kitchen coming soon! :D

Due to the vigorous approach I will be taking with helping the kids, I'm having to really think about and work through how this is going to affect my businesses. I am only one person. So I'm going to have to REALLY focus on exactly what I want to do, and then look at what it's going to take to get it where I want it all to be. So when I know more regarding all of that, I'll be sure to let ya'll know too! :D

Also, this could end up meaning I blog more, or I blog less. I'm thinking either less, because there won't be enough time for me to formulate and articulate my thoughts, or more, because of keeping everyone up to date on the different modalities, how the kids are doing with them, and their progress accordingly. So stay tuned, as there's sure to be more to come, one way or another! ;)

Until I can get them on here, if you'd like to listen to the podcasts of Rawkin' Rawtism, you can do so by going to:

http://blog.rawkinrawtism.com

Leave a comment when you're done listening, I LOVE feedback!  Thanks!