Chiropractic School

Here I sit in my quaint Iowan living room.  A lot has changed over the past year or so.  My husband was an extremely hardworking manager.  Hours were long and holidays were rare for our family.  After moving to IL from AZ we were excited for a new adventure.  Looking back I laugh, because we had absolutely no idea what the Lord had in store for us.

Our oldest has special needs and throughout his 4 almost 5 years of life and countless doctor appointments and therapies we have found that the most beneficial therapy of all was chiropractic.  We were on a hunt for a wonderful family chiropractor in IL as soon as we moved.  Micah was used to getting regular adjustments, as were we.  We quickly found a great group of young and talented pediatric chiropractors.

Micah and the family received weekly care and Micah was the special one and often got adjusted 2-3 times a week.  We began seeing marked improvements with Micah.  Some days it was immediately following an adjustment.  We then were introduced with the whole lifestyle of wellness.  We couldn't just continue getting adjust and completely forget about two other core components of wellness. We needed to start moving and start eating clean.

We began our wellness lifestyle over a year ago and with a few glitches in the road haven't looked back.  Then one night Matt and I were having a conversation in our kitchen.  We were talking about how we were living this healthful lifestyle and how it was lining up with all areas of our lives.  Matt was worked to the bone.  He was amazing at what he did as a retail manager but it didn't reflect our views.  So...Matt decided he wanted to pursue ChiropracTIC!

I was as excited as ever.  I knew that we would begin to embark on an amazing journey.  Matt has such passion and drive and I know he will be an epic Pediatric Chiropractor, changing many lives!!  This journey will be difficult, believe me, it is.  However, I know the end result will be so worth it!  This son of ours may have special needs, but he is the happiest little guy ever, making huge strides.  I truly believe that regular and therapeutic chiropractic care helps him live optimally and that is what we want to help every child, special needs or not, to do!

Life with 2!

Wow, it's been 7 months since my last blog post.  I do wanna keep up with it, so here it goes.  My life has drastically changed since my last post. I'm no longer 27 weeks pregnant, but am a busy mama of two precious boys. Micah is almost 3 and Eli is now 4.5 months!  Man, time really flies when your having fun with these boys...


Its been nice to enjoy some cool weather here in Arizona. It's been consistently very chilly in the mornings.  Around 20-40 degrees.  We are now experiencing some warmer weather as of yesterday. It was a beautiful 74 degrees.  Matt and I were talking about how it is the "perfect" temperature.  It was unbelievable.  And to think, some of my friends and family are back in the midwest experiencing much more brutal temps.  I may have to join them at some point :).

We keep pretty busy around the hill household with zoo trips with friends, play dates and now preschool! Micah has started preschool at an awesome place that is just perfect for him.  He goes 4 days a week for 3 hrs a day.  He's been there about 2 weeks so far and is doing well.  We've had a few off days, but those are to be expected for any 2 year old.  We are hoping he continues to adjust well and can see the development of the other kiddos and learn from them.  He is really progressing with his speech lately.  Although, it's not always consistent, we've even gotten a few sentences from him.  Like, "I wanna snack" or "I wanna to go to go." This is a huge step for Micah and we are super blessed that he is progressing.  He seems very close to getting himself to sitting as well, and has become quite the effecient commando crawler.

Time to brag on my other little man.  Elijah Matthew! Oh my goodness, what a little sweetheart he is.  He has gone from a fussy newborn to a delightful little baby face! I just could eat him up every minute of the day.  He loves to look at his brother.  He just watches him and starts cracking up at something Micah will do, and we aren't sure what's so funny, but clearly is halarious for him.  He is at that perfect baby faze that when you smile at him his whole face lights up.  He has already rolled both directions and looks like he's right on track for baby development. 

 

More pictures to come later. It was a bit tricky to figure out this whole google plus thing.

27 Weeks

Finally got around to a short blogpost on my pregnacy so far. Things have been going pretty good. Very easy so far. Hopefully it stays that way. Baby #2, is doing great and we are so excited to meet him in a few more months. I'm feeling very big and wondering if I'm going to have skin that stretches enough this time around. I am constantly feeling like I am busting at the seams and there is no more room.

You know those games you play at baby showers with a string to guess the pregnant mothers belly width? Well...I kept mine from Micah's shower which was when I was 32 weeks pregnant with Micah. I just wrapped it around my belly and it is a perfect fit! So...I am 26.5 weeks pregnant and showing like I'm about to pop!


Here are a few pics of my progression so far:




12 weeks

                                                       

11 weeks



14 weeks



18 weeks

19 weeks



21 weeks



25 weeks

27 weeks

Night away...

Matt and I had the luxury of spending a night away from our little man, Micah.  I have to admit that for the first several hours...all I could think about was Micah and how much I missed him, and thought that he was misses me!  Matt and I went to a local resort in town and enjoyed walking around the grounds while we waited for our room to be ready.  Then we headed upstairs to our room and changed to our swim suits and went to the pool(s)!  We were a bit cold at first, the temperature was only mid 70's.  And though the pools were heated, it was still freezing when you got out.  They had a lazy river with intertubes that we made a few passes around before heading to the regular pool.  We had a great time goofing around in the pool together.  I persuaded Matt to swim several races (which I won all, even pregnant!) and he enjoyed attempting to throw me elegantly into the air ;).   

Next, it was time to get ready to head out for dinner.  We were thinking of staying at the resort for dinner, but 30 dollars for a dish is too unrealistic and unappealing for me.  We got all dressed up and went to go sit outside before we left.  We enjoyed an appetizer together at the resort! Yummy nachos and a virgin strawberry margarita! Yum!!  We finally decided to head out to dinner to a Mexican restaurant called El Charro.  It was really yummy.  These days, I get so frustrated with myself because I have no room to eat.  It really is crazy to me because I'm only 15 weeks...but I find myself full after 1/4 of the meal.  It was so yummy I wanted to continue eating, but I stopped myself before I got sick :). 

The next morning I was hoping to sleep in and my hubby tells me it was 7 am and he was going to head down to the fitness center to workout and I should keep sleeping.  Well...I couldn't. Instead, I got up and did some devos and relaxed.  When Matt returned he went downstairs to get us both a Starbucks!  Then we packed up the room and went to a really neat "down home" french breakfast restaurant in the university part of our town.  It was a cool experience.

When we finally got home, I was greeted at the door by grandpa and my little man!  It was sooo sweet to see him again.  He really had a tough time without us this time.  I think as he gets older he realizes that we're his mom and dad and he likes us best! :)  He just cuddled with me a bit on the couch and when Matt held him, he smiled and rested his head on Matt's shoulder.  Micah is normally not the cuddler.  We heard he had a great time traveling in the car to different shops with grandma and grandpa and got to bed at 830, normally his bedtime is 630 and was up at 630 when he normally sleeps 12hrs.  Needless to say, he was definitely overtired and it showed tonight as he had difficulty falling asleep (1hr) tonight.

Overall, we really enjoyed our time together.  But, we both missed Micah a lot and it was good to be home with him today.  We look forward to 4 more days with daddy home!

Sabino Canyon and More!

We had such a great time going hiking in Sabino Canyon, AZ this past Wednesday.  It was a 4.5 mile hike we made and my shins are really telling me how long that hike was.  Micah enjoyed the stroll and the sites as did we.  We stopped at a river and put his little feet in the water. (not appreciated by Micah at all)  Here are a few shots from our adventure!

Micah and Matt...starting out :)

 Finishing our first mile uphill.  It was much harder than I anticipated...

Micah getting his feet wet!

Shortly after this shot we turned around and headed back :)

The next several pictures are of Micah...doing his thing.  These show the process of hands and knees for him!

 Usually his heads up :)

 Success!

 Where's your toes?

 Where's your head?

 Where's your belly (still high)

Hope you enjoyed the pics and details of our adventures!

Two Year Old

Micah is finally 2! I really shouldn't say finally, because I do really miss having my little one year old.  I am very excited for what this second year will bring our family and little Micah.  Matt and I celebrated Micah's birthday by going to the zoo.  We had a great time looking at all the animals.  I think Micah's favorite was the giraffes.  Following the zoo, we headed over to our favorite lunch spot, Chipotle.  After a long day we were all tired and remember that Micah didn't have a birthday cake or treat to celebrate with.  So I quickly whipped up some chocolate chip cookies (SIMPLY) and Micah enjoyed his very own chocolate chip cookie.

We celebrated his birthday with some close family and friends the following Saturday.  It was very low key, and I think Micah definitely appreciated that. Anyone who knows Micah, knows his favorite toy is a little tiger/lion toy.  So instead of trying to attempt to make it myself I had it made on his birthday cake.  I think it turned out pretty cute.

Micah was not a fan of that cake!  In fact, he screamed when we put it on his tray. 

We later found out it was simply the frosting on his hands he disliked so much.  Last night, we gave some leftover cake to him after dinner without the frosting, and he loved it!  He just doesn't like to get messy I guess. Overall, I say Micah had a great 1st year and we're looking forward to an even better 2nd one!