Category Archives: Liz’s Life

Coming Home

Posted in Liz's Life, Moving by

The Batman family is on the move! We are headed back to the Midwest where we plan to lay down some permanent roots near our family and friends. We’ll be living in Toledo, Ohio – my hometown and where my parents, brother & his family, best friend & her family and many more live. It’s also about a 2.5 hour drive from Luke’s folks in Indiana.

I know, I know … it’s a little crazy to be leaving sunny Lake Tahoe and Reno for the city that had the worst winter in the US last year, but to be honest, weather is just a drop in the bucket compared to all the things we want out of a home. The biggest being proximity to our family and friends.

It’s funny how having a child shifts your perspective. When we first left Chicago for Lake Tahoe, we were in search of adventure, outdoorsy lifestyle and of course the skiing. But now that Lila is here, we’d really rather be taking her for a walk at the park than going skiing. And what we’d REALLY like to be doing is taking her for a walk to the park with her grandparents, cousins, aunts & uncles and friends.

These days my dreams for my life are simple and attainable. Having my parents over for a Sunday BBQ. Owning a home with a big yard. Being close to my best friend and her boys. Going to the Blueberry Festival each summer in Indiana. Being able to attend baby showers, 90th birthday parties and engagement parties for the people I love.

And when we thought about it, both Luke and mys families are so great … I mean Lila really hit the grandparent jackpot … that it just didn’t seem right to not have her experience their love in person as much as possible.

image (13)

So we’re packing up and moving back home at the end of May. I will continue to work from home and have several long term clients who don’t care where I live. Luke has some leads on a few great positions (send him good vibes!). We’ll be living with my parents until we can find a house to buy. Right now we’re house hunting in Perrysburg, Maumee and Moncolva.

When I left my hometown 11 years ago, I honestly never thought I’d be back. Now not only are we coming back, but I couldn’t be more excited to raise my girl (and future kiddos) in the midwest surrounded by the people we love.

Now we just have to get through another cross-country move. Eeep!

Learning to Say Yes

Posted in Kids, Lila, Liz's Life by

So lately I’ve been trying on a new parenting approach. I guess you could call it somewhat permissive, lax, free-flowing – all scary words in the world of parenting, I know!

yes quote

It came about after reading this blog post from Janet Lansbury about the power of acknowledging our child’s perspective. It got me thinking about what Lila’s world must feel like. She has about 20 words, but can’t yet communicate all she wants. She is starting to flex her independent spirit, yet still wants on hand firmly planted around my finger. She is learning about the world with an insatiable curiosity, but doesn’t know it’s limits yet.

Sounds like a pretty confusing and frustrating place to be, right?

I decided to take a few days to really hone in on my observation skills to see what was causing her frustration and how I could help. I watched her in her play and interactions with people – especially with her main care-giver, me. It became clear rather quickly that her moments of big frustration were usually after being told “no,” or having something taken away, or not being able to do something she wants. Pretty normal.

But I also noticed that I was saying no to her a lot (not the actual word, but the intention). “We’re not going to do bubbles right now, I’m folding laundry” “I can’t let you play with my makeup, it will make a mess.” “Please don’t put your hands in the dirt.” “Don’t pick that up off the ground, that’s yucky.” In fact, when I thought back on one ten minute period, I had essentially told her “no” eight different times. Eep!

I realized too that while many of my “no’s” were totally necessary, others were more MY opinion or desire for how I thought our day should go and weren’t necessarily needed. I mean there really isn’t a reason I can’t put the laundry aside for a minute to blow bubbles out on the deck, right?

I decided to start giving Lila as many “yeses” as I could. As long as it wasn’t something that could be a safety issue or be so annoying as to make me lose my cool, then I am trying to go with it. And so far, my quest to say yes has taken us on some fun adventures.

You want to take your shoes off and put your feet in the lake? You want to taste the sand? OK!

Screen Shot 2014-04-13 at 1.25.12 PM

Sure, you can try eating your smoothie yourself with a spoon. It’ll make a mess, but that’s ok.

Screen Shot 2014-04-13 at 1.22.01 PM

You want to try climbing this ladder by yourself? Let’s go for it. (she made it to the top on the first try!)

Screen Shot 2014-04-13 at 1.59.22 PM

Running in the dirt? Why not!

Screen Shot 2014-04-13 at 1.24.18 PM

 

I think having more yes in her life has helped Lila deal better with the necessary nos. Giving her a little more control over her decisions, actions and feelings has cut down on her frustrations while also building her confidence as a little decision-maker.

And it’s also taught me a good lesson … how to look on the bright side and be open to the “yes” moments in life.

More Than I Can Chew

Posted in Liz's Life by

I am a compulsive over-achiever. For some reason I have an aversion to the word no, and feel guilty if I ask for help.

The past few weeks have been hectic to say the least. I took on a three-month contract position that has me working 25 hours a week on top of my other clients. You know how it goes too … one month you’re slow, so you send out emails to drum up business, then BAM it all hits at once.

When I first started consulting, I aimed to work 5-10 hours a week. I really thought of it as just something to keep my skills fresh and prevent there from being a gap in my resume. Flash forward six months and I’m now working 30 hours a week with great clients. I feel so blessed, excited about the future, motivated to build my business but also … exhausted!

Screen Shot 2014-03-13 at 3.46.15 PM

In true “over-achiever” fashion, I’ve attempted unsuccessfully to do my work AND care for Lila full time. For awhile it was working – I would work an hour before she woke up, then all through her 1.5 – 2 hr nap and then again at night when Luke got home, after I made dinner. Sure I was able to get it all done, but I quickly felt totally burned out.

And my do-it-all approach made it difficult for me to be present with Lila. That feeling of having an urgent email to respond to while your baby whines for you attention is not good. I got some sense knocked into me when I was at the playground with Lila and she fell and hit her nose while I was distracted by … you guessed it … responding to an email.

I realized right then that enough was enough. I needed to find separation between my work and my parenting, while also carving out some time for myself. I decided to use our amazing babysitter more often and make a commitment to NOT check email etc except for my designated “work” hours. I told my clients that if they need me urgently to call me, otherwise I’ll respond to their emails each evening.

And right now? I had a sitter for an hour to get work done and when she texted to see if she could keep Lila a few extra hours, I obliged without any guilt. I so badly needed some down time (and time to write here!).

I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to be my own boss, set my hours and keep my career going all while fulfilling my very strong need to be involved in Lila’s day to day, but I need to remember that I am one person. I can’t do it all – nor would I want to!

How do you make finding balance a priority in your life?

PS – if you know of anyone looking for public relations, social media or online marketing help, send them my way! I am always looking for new clients, because in true consulting fashion … next month will be all quiet. :)

Getting Healthy After Baby & Nursing

I’m excited to say that we are officially weaned! Lila has moved on from nursing for about a week and a half, and I can feel myself starting to go back to normal. I was sort of expecting to have some sadness around the end of nursing, but if I’m being honest, I mostly just felt relieved!

We have started talking about #2, but I told Luke that I want to make sure I am 100% healthy and ready to be pregnant again before we go there. I’d hate to think that baby #2 wouldn’t get the same healthy environment to grow in because #1 stripped me of all the good stuff!

So in an effort to understand exactly what was going on with my health, I recently went to see a Naturopath. I’m not a big fan of medicating, so the holistic, get-to-the-root of the problem approach of a naturopath appealed to me. I’m seeing Dr. Tara Finley here in Reno, and she’s awesome. I knew we’d click immediately when she told me she believed in a Paleo, Weston A Price, GAPS approach to nutrition – pretty much how we’ve been eating for five years.

With Dr. Finley’s help, we ran a series of tests:

  1. Nutrition profile: this looks at all my levels of vitamins and minerals to see what I may be deficient in
  2. Hormone profile: to see how my thyroid, estrogen and progesterone are all working
  3. Food sensitivity test: this shows how my blood reacts to 100+ different foods
  4. Cortisol test: using a saliva sample four times in one day this test showed how my cortisol levels were registering

It was somewhat expensive to get all these tests run, but …. wow …. the things I learned about my body were crazy.

First, I learned that I had a Candida overgrowth that was causing nasty headaches, exhaustion, crazy sugar cravings and a psoriasis outbreak (first time ever).  I registered at extremely allergic to yeast on the food sensitivity test and through some online research was able to put together that the antibiotics from my sinus surgery, coupled with the cortisol shot my ENT gave me resulted in the yeast in my gut to grow out of control. I immediately started treated that with a yeast killing protocol, diet and lots of good probiotics.

Second, I learned that my cortisol levels were off. I was starting the day with lower cortisol than I should (hence why I had trouble getting out of bed) and ending the day with elevated levels (hello insomnia!). Thankfully, this is a somewhat easy fix with special supplements morning and night for three months to get things back on track.

Third, I learned that I have a sensitivity to all dairy and eggs. I didn’t register as “allergic” to any of it, but elevated across the board. I am doing a 6 week no dairy/egg diet to allow my gut to heal. Then I will reintroduce the foods one by one to see how I feel. I am going to start with butter, because cooking with ghee is not cutting it!

Fourth, and probably most important, I learned that I have a gene mutation called MTHFR. I am heterozygous for a1298c and c677t. It’s super complicated, but basically my body is unable to methylate properly. Methylation is the process of converting key nutrients and minerals into their active form that your cells can use. So basically I have all these good nutrients floating around in my blood, but my cells are unable to process them so they can be put to work.

We figured out I had MTHFR after I showed up as deficient in B12 … despite eating a ton of meat. I was also deficient in folate, B6 and vitamin D. Dr. Finley suggested I get the MTHFR bloodwork done to confirm. I’m so glad I did and know for sure I have it because MTHFR can cause a lot of scary things like miscarriages, infertility, down syndrome, autism, depression, spina-bifida, irritable bowel syndrome, stroke, Alzheimer’s, chronic fatigue syndrome and more.

Apparently 40-60% of the population has an MTFHR mutation and don’t know it. If you have any issues listed in this link, get tested! It was easy bloodwork covered by my insurance.

Thankfully it appears somewhat easy to treat. I have to supplement with already methylated forms of folate and B12. I also have to avoid toxins (MTHFR makes is harder to release toxins) and try to sweat them out often through baths or saunas. I’m sure there’s SO much more I could be doing to help it, but we’re still just trying to figure it all out.

Any way, I know it sounds all doom and gloom like “ahhh look at all these things wrong with me!” But in reality, the tests also showed that I am very healthy all around and now that I can pinpoint and treat my issues, I’ll be able to feel confident going down the pregnancy rabbit hole again …. when we’re ready!

It’s been a really neat process to get a complete view of my health. After having a baby and nursing, it can feel like the life was literally sucked out of you. It was reassuring and eye-opening to learn exactly what is going on with my body. I feel like I’m on the road to feeling great.

Screen Shot 2014-01-31 at 1.25.34 PM