Cankles, Heartburn, and Bedrest :)

Posted under Family, Thoughts by coryelvidge

So I know I have taken a hiatus from blogging for the last couple months. A lot has been going on. Just this last week I started “thinking” about blogging again and almost instantly raised the back of my hand to my forehead in a dramatic attempt to tell myself that it is just too overwhelming to create a post that accurately details our absence, so I’m not going to lol. Instead I’ll just start current and let you all know how a little thing called “pregnancy” is going. I’ll start by telling you that I have always wanted lots of kids. 4… 5… maybe even a crazy 6th. I loved being part of a big family growing up. Always having someone to hang out with and holidays being a blast. However, about a month ago while spending a good hour trying to get into a comfortable position, through tears and a clenched jaw I growled at Jared, “ONE… we should’ve stopped at ONE!” Of course I was not being serious but that should let you know how this post is going to end up lol.

This pregnancy has been almost unbearable for me. My pelvis is separated, my pubic bone is dislocated, I am swelling like a baby whale and gaining an obscene amount of weight even though I am hardly eating. (Seriously… I look like I have rhinoceros blood in me.) I have major TMJ (locked jaw) from all the baby hormones, causing my jaw to remain clamped shut every morning when I get out of bed and then causing a lot of pain every time that I chew. I have been getting very regular, excruciating charley horses in my inner thighs, and insane round ligament pain on both sides of my uterus that is more intense than anything I’ve ever felt before. The baby is measuring 39 weeks even though I am only 35. They can’t figure out what the heck is going on lol.

I’ve been seeing a wonderful chiropractor 3 times a week for several weeks now trying to relieve some of this pain and get my pelvis back in place before delivery. However, after numerous valiant efforts, I have burned wrinkles into his forehead, leaving him also baffled. He cannot budge my pelvis, pubic bone, or sacrum. They will not move…. period. I also feel an intense “pulling” sensation every time I stand up and it gets me instantly lightheaded and short of breath. They have tested me for every possible condition (preeclampsia, toxemia, liver infection, kidney infection, gestational diabetes bla bla bla) and I have been negative for all of them. As far as the tests show, I am normal lol. It is confusing them.

I went into hardcore labor two weeks ago which lasted an entire night and half of the next day. They examined me and said that my poor body was literally suffering from extreme exhaustion and dehydration and that is what brought on labor. I was ordered to bed rest, which Sammy will not allow me to do, so instead I call it “couch rest” , and told to drink gallons of water lol. I am currently in so much pain though that it isn’t hard to stay put. It is so incredibly difficult though. If you’ve never experienced bedrest, imagine being tied to your couch or bed. You’re thirsty but can’t get up to quick grab a glass of water. You notice a layer of dust on your dresser but can’t quick wipe it clean. Your baby comes waddling up to you with outstretched hands and a big grin, wanting you to pick him up and doesn’t understand when you won’t. Your husband tries to be a trooper and pick up some of your responsibilities in addition to his own but can’t do it all and frequently gets irritated by the stress of it all. You’ve never watched “mess” accumulate so quickly in your home without you able to do a thing about it. You are having a baby in less than a month and cannot prepare anything for the event. No baby clothes washed, no nursery readied, no crib assembled, no diapers put away. You simply cannot realize how much you do in any given day, until you can no longer do it and on top of everything, your entire body literally starts aching when you are confined to one spot for so long. So I am pretty much out of commission until after this baby comes and maybe for longer, depending on how long it takes my pelvis to recover.

I have so many appreciated offers for help. My ward, 2 or 3 family members, and a couple close friends have been my saving grace! I feel very blessed to have them. I have very kind neighbors whose generosity never ceases to amaze me. They have just started bringing us dinner 3 times a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) and stopping by every once in a while to give Sammy someone to play with during the day. I couldn’t be more grateful!! My sister came up the other night to clean my house for me and I wanted to cry I was so appreciative lol. I also have a couple friends and inlaws who have continuously offered their shopping services to me, which means so much. I have found that the hard part is taking people up on their offers . It is so uncomfortable to immediately jump in with a task that you really need done in response to a polite offer to help. It catches people off guard lol. It is even more humiliating though to call someone up on their casual offer to help from 2 weeks ago. You just have to pray that they were sincere when they mentioned it and not care about losing all your dignity lol. But seriously, someone asks me what they can do for me and I go blank. What do I say?? I can’t say, “YES! Thank you!! Could you go clean my bathroom?” or “I’m so glad you asked! Could you go fertilize my yard?” “How bout doing my dishes, going through my mail piles, dusting my furniture, sanitizing my toilets and doorknobs, pulling the weeds in my yard, cutting back the grass that is going to undoubtedly take over my flower beds, caulking and painting the new doors we have on our nursery, getting out all my baby stuff and washing it, moving an entire bedroom from one room to the other to make room for the baby, installing the infant car seat base in my car, feeding Sammy 3 meals a day, feeding my husband 3 meals a day lol, getting my mail, taking out my trash, etc. etc. etc. The list never ends.” You can’t ask people to do those things. They would hate you lol. It is pure insanity to not be able to do your normal daily tasks.

We have been planning another home birth but in light of my pelvic trauma, I talked to my old OB doctor and asked about the possible option of having a c-section. I am scared that if I am in this much pain while I am stationary, labor and birth will cause permanent damage and possible shock.  But I was told by the doctor that it isn’t an option unless there is some reason why my pelvis WON’T allow a baby to come through it. Pain is not a reason because they can medicate. However, I don’t want to deliver in a hospital, just to be medicated (meaning I’d have to deliver on my back… meaning I would most likely break my tailbone again) during labor, only to experience months of tailbone recovery with two little ones to care for. So I can “come in” and have a doctor look at my pelvis but I don’t know if I can arrange that with me being unable to move lol. And to be honest, I don’t have high hopes that it will pan out to anything because the whole reason that I am in pain is because my pelvis is separated, leaving ample room for the baby to move through it. We’ll see. Grrr I want to have my cake and eat it too please. I want to have an easy pregnancy, painfree labor, not break my tailbone, and be immediately ready to function after the baby is born. Is that too much to ask?

Pregnancy. It is just destructive isn’t it?? My only hope is that is will all end well and when I hold my sweet new little one, this 9 month long nightmare I have been living will just be a faint, fuzzy memory of the past… It helps to look at the pictures of our little guy, like this one, that were taken by ultrasound several weeks ago. During that ultrasound, I couldn’t help but cry as I watched him, all curled up, in amazing detail (we did a 4-d ultrasound). It was like he was here already. I watched him suck his thumb, yawn, and hiccup, right there in front of me. That amazing hour long video of my baby tugged at all of my motherly heart strings and made me forget, temporarily, how miserable is has been to get him to this point lol.

So there u have it! I’ve gotten several scoldings from family members who have just recently learned that I am on bedrest and are upset that they weren’t informed at the start, but all of this isn’t exactly the kind of thing that you just call people randomly to share lol. So I’m sorry. This is my way of making amends. Now you are all up to-date. Lots of love, Cor xo

FREE adorable nursing covers!!!

Posted under Thoughts by coryelvidge

This post is dedicated to all my expecting friends out there! My wonderful sister in-law shared this amazing deal with me and I had to pass it on. Good karma and all. For a limited time, you can go to this website: https://www.uddercovers.com and add one of their gorgeous nursing covers to your cart (normally $32 each) and then when you checkout, enter in the coupon code “1FREE”. It will automatically take $32 off of your purchase. All you pay for is shipping, which is $8 and something cents. You can only get one free per order, but you can make several orders if you wish. I got two. Even if you aren’t expecting, they would made fantastic gifts and at only $8, that is cheaper than the material would cost to make your own. Enjoy!

The Miracle Cure For Mildewed Laundry!

Posted under Thoughts by coryelvidge

I messed up this week. Big time. I swear sometimes I’m losing my mind… one day at a time. It’s like watching reruns of a TV show you have seen millions of times and finding new parts in it that you have never noticed before. It’s not funny… it’s almost disturbing. You KNOW this show. You’ve MEMORIZED this show. You’ve acted it out with your siblings. How can there be a whole scene that you have no recollection of??? Well I don’t know how but the older I get and the more times I get pregnant lol, somehow I just can’t hold firm to the once brilliant memory that I used to maintain. The victim this week: laundry. Not just any laundry. My baby boy’s ENTIRE wardrobe. That’s right. Everything he owns. I had put off doing his laundry for so long that finally I opened up his closet and there was nothing in it. I pulled open each and every drawer, just to find a toothbrush that Sammy had chosen to hide. No clothing. Then the lightbulb came on and I excitedly remembered a small box on the floor of his closet that contained a few articles of clothing that were one size too big. Those would certainly work until I had cleaned his other clothes.

So, I dressed my son in a long sleeved t-shirt that was enormous and a pair of new jeans that wouldn’t stay up, both had the cuffs rolled several times , while I gave in and finally threw everything he has ever worn, into the washer. This is where we enter the twilight zone. I immediately forgot about the clothes in the washer. Not as in, “I knew they were there but just got side tracked.” I forgot about the clothes in the washer, as in, “I had NO recollection of ever putting them there.” I still don’t. But I had to have. Jared certainly didn’t do it. I’m not even sure that he knows HOW to do laundry. And there they sat for almost a week. 5 days to be exact. I know because 5 new, way-too-big-for-my-body, t-shirts are what Sammy wore through until I finally started wondering, “where the heck is all of his clothing!?” So on day 5, I ventured downstairs to see if I had taken all of his clothes down yet. They weren’t in the laundry bin? Well where on earth are they!? As a reflex, I opened the washer and gasped as I saw a massive load of wet, mildewy, mini-sized clothing sitting there sadly.

The smell was horrible! I panicked. Had I really just ruined every single thing that I dress my son in, in one fail swoop? So I washed the load again in a desperate attempt to save hundreds of dollars worth of clothing. I washed it on HOT. When the buzzer sounded, I optimistically opened the door and all of my enthusiasm went down the drain. The smell would have stunned a horse. So I ran upstairs and grabbed the baking soda. Started the load again, this time added an overflowing cup full of baking soda. No dice. The smell remained. I repeated the load again, this time adding more baking soda. But the wretched smell stubbornly stuck around. Determined, I ran it again. Can we please not pay attention to the gallons of water that I am wasting on this project? Still nothing. So to my computer I ran! With Jared wondering how on earth we solved life’s problems before the it was invented. I searched high and low for laundry cures for “poor housekeeping”.

Most of the articles I found though were simply scolding us lowly housewives for doing such a pitiful job and reminding us to IMMEDIATELY remove clothes from the washer. Information that I already knew. I wasn’t trying to find out how to get your clothes to smell like mildew… I was trying to find out what do do once you’ve already accomplished that step. But finally I found an article that recommended using white vinegar, so I gave it a shot. Did ANOTHER load, this time adding 1 cup of white vinegar. When the buzzer sounded, once again I ran enthusiastically to the washer but only to sink into despair at the lingering scent. In one final ditch attempt. I decided to combine my efforts. I filled the washer for the 7th time and this time poured a cup and a 1/2 of baking soda over top of my load, ALSO filling the liquid bleach dispenser with a cup of white vinegar. When the end-of-the-wash signal was announced, I slowly sulked towards it, not expecting much. But to my gleeful surprise, that horrible, nasty, terrible smell; that for the longest day of my life had served as an awful reminder of my lacking household skills; was completely gone!! The clothes now smelled ever so faintly of vinegar lol, but that is SO MUCH better than mildew! I was so happy that you couldn’t have wiped the smile off my face for a million bucks. Ok maybe a million. So as a standing ovation to my dedication, I ran the load just one more time. This time with normal Dreft baby detergent and 20 minutes later, “Voila!” my baby’s entire wardrobe is back to smelling wonderfully of chamomile and lavender and now is also incredibly soft lol. You would be too if you have just sat through 8 baths.

So the solution if your clothes smell mildewy…. do 2 loads. 1st load- wash with 1/2 cup – 1 1/2 cup (depending on your load size and the seriousness of your stank) baking soda poured over top of them, as if that is the detergent. Also fill your liquid bleach dispenser with 1/4 cup – 1 cup of white vinegar. When the load is finished, run a second regular load with your normal detergent and you should be good! And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone that you are faltering on your household responsibilities.

Drops of Heaven

Posted under Thoughts by coryelvidge

Ok, CLEARLY I cannot post this under my “healthy recipes” link. So it has to appear on the main page…. darn it. These incredibly SIMPLE, EASY, and DIVINE little treats are truly heaven on earth. You will not be able to just have one though, so be careful!! You won’t be paying attention and then all of the sudden, “OH MY GOSH!!! THE WHOLE BOWL IS GONE!” Yes, it will be just like that. Along with maybe, “What the heck is the matter with my jeans!? Why won’t they button up anymore?!” LOL, yes I just realized that I used heck and gosh in the same post. Ok, so are you ready for your world to be changed: Here ya go!

Rolo Turtles

- 1 bag of pretzel snaps (the square ones that look like a grid)
- as many rolos as you would like (I usually buy about 10 packages)
- an equal amount of halved pecans

directions: preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Place pretzels on the foiled baking sheet and top with one rolo. Bake for 3 minutes. While baking, quick place pecans on a microwave safe plate. Cook for 30 seconds, stir around with your fingers, cook for another 30 seconds, stir around with your fingers, cook for another 30 seconds… repeat until nuts are toasty. Remove pretzels from oven and immediately press one pecan half onto each rolo. LET COOL for at least a minute or two or you will burn the crap out of your mouth! Once sufficiently cooled, pop one in your mouth and hear angelic voices.

Oh the Controversy! :)

Posted under Thoughts by coryelvidge

This post represents my own little attempt to help fight ignorance. I have come across very few people in my life who are truly interested in really learning about something before judging it. For some reason, it is uncomfortable for us to hear about things that go contrary to what we thought was right. But it is just information. It is just education. It can’t hurt you. It can only benefit you. Worst case scenario, you end up disagreeing. But even that isn’t bad because now you are more educated and understand WHY you disagree with something. Most of us are so willing to slap a disapproving label on something that in reality we know nothing about. We have “heard” about it and base opinions off of other people’s opinions. We’d sooner walk barefoot through horse manure (yum, right?) than leave the comforts of our own little world of knowledge, no matter how grossly misinformed. What we don’t realize is that if we are willing to venture outside of ourselves, incredible things are waiting for us on the other side. With just a little bit of curiosity, a dash of humility, and a pinch of good old fashioned growing pains, our world can be drastically changed… for the better.

So let’s decide right now to stop being so close-minded. To stop judging things that we know nothing about. To be confident and willing to take a look at the way that other people do things that might (gasp!) be better than the way that we do things. To admit that we might not know it all. Don’t we owe it to ourselves? To our families? To our friends? Our children will not magically grow up to be better people than we are. We have to set the example for them. Show them that knowledge is good and to never something to be afraid of. Teach them to be open minded without judgement, and encourage their natural curiosity. Let’s not let our own hardened, preconceived notions get passed on and cemented in the next untainted generation. If we work hard to show our kids that we must always be willing to find the truth and do what’s right.. what’s best… for us, even if it means swallowing our own pride and admitting that that isn’t what we’ve been doing, we will be better people because of it and our world will flourish.

In an effort to pass along valuable information that has truly impacted my own life, here are a couple of those things that after I got past my own initial, wrong assumptions and judgements regarding, ended up having a great deal of personal significance in my life.

As with everything good in this world, there will be people who take it to an extreme, turn it into something bad, or twist it into something profitable. My ultimate take on everything: research things YOURSELF. Learn for yourself. Don’t just do things based on what someone else tells you to. We all were given amazing bodies and brilliant minds and we should use them to learn and ultimately make decisions based on what feels right to us without judging anyone else who thinks or decides differently. The goal is to help eachother, not criticize eachother.

1- MORMONISM & THE LDS FAITH - I challenge you to find anything negative about this faith. Everything about it can only make you a better person and the greatest thing about it? No one tells you what to think or what to believe, instead they show you how to find out for yourself if it is true. How to receive a sure answer. And isn’t that what we all want anyways? Learn how, you never know how much it could change your life. www.mormon.org

My own thoughts and opinions: I am a mormon. (A term that mostly only people who are not “mormons”, use. lol) I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know this gospel to be true and it means more to me than just about anything. But this is something that you have to find out for yourself, even if you are already a member. You have to WANT to know if this gospel is really true, and then BE WILLING to put forth the effort it takes to find an answer. I encourage everyone to do this!!! Your life will be changed forever.

2- CANCER CURE – Wow, wow, wow! This is a whole new world to me. Most of you know that my dad was diagnosed with cancer this last year that had spread to several organs. He started dedicating every spare minute that he had to learning about cancer, why we get it, and how we cure it. The things he has learned in the last few months have just blown me away and he is walking proof that they work! Bottom line: Cancer CANNOT grow in an alkaline environment. It’s not possible. So we have to make our bodies alkaline if we want to make it impossible to get cancer. There are several things that affect how alkaline our bodies are. The biggest one is what we eat. Our chemical-saturated, processed foods diet, wreaks havoc on our bodies and creates a highly acidic enviroment. If we will just start taking care of them, we can avoid the number one leading cause of death worldwide. If you want to learn just a little at a time, go to this site and sign up for their free newsletter. It is often chalk full of great info. http://www.phmiracleliving.com/ For anyone that currently has cancer, you must look at this site as well: http://www.curenaturalicancro.com/ For most of us, the only ways to treat cancer that we know of is to either flood our bodies with poisonous chemicals (chemotherapy), or nearly electrocute ourselves to death (radiation), to kill off the cancer that has taken over our bodies. These processes in and of themselves almost kill us. This doctor found possibly the most powerful natural cure in history. This is the website of a doctor in Rome name Simoncini who has been curing cancer for years using sodium bicarbonate. Yes that’s right… Baking Soda! He has hundreds of success stories that are nothing short of incredible. If his site is too overwhelming, google his name and you will find several interviews with him done on American morning shows where he explains his research in an easy to understand roadmap. It is truly miraculous. Most doctors in America won’t do that kind of treatment so my dad took matters into his own hands and has had phenomenal results. If you want to know more about my dad’s journey, email me. If you want a quick step by step to alkalize your body: http://www.pureinsideout.com/secrets-to-alkalizing-your-body.html

My own thoughts and opinions: I agree that taking bold steps to Alkalize our bodies would prevent cancer. That fact really is undisputed. The problem is that it is so difficult to do. Like anything, it requires so much time to educate yourself on what things are acidic, what things are alkaline etc. And it isn’t just the food that we eat that makes the difference. There are things that are out of our control that also play into it, like our enviroment, our jobs, the devices that we come in contact with daily etc. All of these things make our bodies either more acidic or more alkaline. However, just because we can’t control everything, doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do anything. For us, my dad has an alkaline water filter to make his water pure and alkaline, and we just take our 5 gallon drum over there once a week to fill up. It’s something small, but it is our effort to help neutralize all of the acidic foods that we eat.

3- HOME BIRTH – With my last baby, I wouldn’t even hear of “home birth.” The term instantly conjured up images of blood splattered living room walls, fluid soaked mattresses, a horrible smell radiating through our home, and a room full of long haired hippy women telling me to breathe. I wanted nothing to do with it, and don’t even get me started on what I thought about “midwives.” But once again, as I put my own pre-conceived notions aside and allowed myself to be open to actually learning about it, I could not have had a more inaccurate portrait painted. Home birthing is a wonderful thing. Birth in general is such a scary thing for a lot of women that I honestly believe that you must be wherever you are most comfortable. For some that is a hospital, for some that is in the comfort of their own home. But home birth need not ever be looked down on. It is an applaudable, selfless, and courageous feat that I now have nothing but total respect for. One site that I really enjoyed reading when I was learning about this is Laura Lund‘s site. She is actually a hypno-doula herself so her website is to promote that service but it is so much more than that! Her site is a flood of enlightening information about many of the topics that go along with home birth, circumcision, parenting and more. It is one of the best, if not THE best, resources that I have found on the matter. And on a personal note, you will enjoy reading about each of her own experiences with home birth.

My own thoughts and opinions: Oh wow. Home birth was amazing. Really honestly amazing. Personally, I preferred my home birth to my hospital birth hands down. However, it isn’t so black and white. If I’m to be honest, I was truly unprepared for the exquisite pain that I felt during childbirth. There were several times during it that I really questioned whether or not I would survive. (Call me a baby all of you seasoned birthing mamas! ) And the one thing that did make me nervous is how far away from a hospital we live. If something had gone wrong, it scared me to think of what could have happened in the time it would take to get help. Luckily for me, nothing did go wrong and everything went perfectly. I believe that it is a wonderful thing to bring a baby naturally into this world, without flooding their perfect little bodies with medication. I also believe that if man wouldn’t intervine with the labor process (like inducing early, giving medication, and extracting babies when they are just not ready), that most labors would go smoother, our bodies really do know what to do on their own. (obviously there are the exceptions) However, I do not look down on ANYONE for having epidurals or any other type of medical assistance for delivery. Sometimes, it is even required. Now that I understand how much pain some of us can experience, I believe that this is a deeply personal decision that no one has the right to make for you or make you feel bad for choosing one way or the other. As women, I think we need to be more supportive of eachother in these situations. What we are doing is absolutely miraculous!! Regardless of HOW we choose to do it.

4- RAW MILK –  Goodness gracious. With the Organic craze going on right now, Raw Milk is becoming more popular but the name alone makes those of us who know nothing about it, want to gag as we imagine an unclean bottle of warm, sour milk filled with deadly bacteria. This image that we have, couldn’t be further from the truth. Clean, Raw Milk is incredibly healthy for you, comes in a regular ole milk jug, is ice cold, and believe it or not, tastes delicious. Good milk comes from happy cows! As with anything organic, the source that you get this from is what matters most. Here are two of the very few sites that you will find carrying accurate information about it. This website is great because it will tell you exactly what negative things are said about it, and then it will address every single point, leaving nothing out, so you have a really good source to make a qualified decision from. The website itself is poorly laid out and designed but the information on it is priceless. http://www.realmilk.com/

My own thoughts and opinions: My dad has said for years that he believes you should always eat as healthily as you can afford. I agree with this. My entire life I have had a serious sensitivity to dairy. It always hurt my stomach and so I just steered clear of it. A few years ago, a good friend of mine educated me on “raw milk” and told me that often times people who have sensitivities to pasteurized milk, can drink raw milk just fine because raw milk comes with all of the digestive enzymes intact that your body needs to break it down (Pasteurization removes these enzymes). I thought it was interesting but since I had adjusted to life without milk, I didn’t really care and didn’t rush out to buy any lol. However, once I did try it, I just fell in love with it. It never once hurt my stomach and I thought it tasted just wonderful! I have never ever been a milk drinker but I found myself having full glasses of ice cold raw milk, regularly. So whenever I can, I love to buy it! However it is very expensive, and inconvenient to get my hands on. I have to drive 30 minutes to get it and then have to come home immediately to get it in the refrigerator. So I don’t buy it as often as I would like. We still have pasteurized milk in the fridge as well because it is so much more convenient and cheaper, although not as healthy. I did let my sister in law try it once but by the time she got it home it had been out of the fridge for almost 2 hours and she said it didn’t taste right lol. My biggest bit of advice with this is to KNOW YOUR SOURCE! Sickness from clean raw milk facilities are almost unheard of. But if you are getting your raw milk from a source that isn’t clean, or that is usually used for pasteurized milk, that is when you run into illness. So just be educated and prepared when buying it, and you will LOVE it!

5- CIRCUMCISION – Whether you decide to or not, there is an unbelievable amount of false information that swirls regarding this topic. There is no medical reason to circumcise. None. We have discussed this controversial issue with several doctors and have been stunned to learn that most of what we knew about circumcision is false. It is not “cleaner” to circumcise and it isn’t as uncommon as it once was. The current national stats for the number of people who do not circumcise their kids are now at a dead even 50% and is on the rise. Most people don’t realize that this is a purely cosmetic procedure. If you know this and you still want to circumcise, that’s great… personal choice. But for those of use who didn’t know this and thought that we had to circumcise our kids because if we didn’t they would get infections and what not… read this so that you can make an educated decision. This site not only has really good information on this topic but has several valuable links to reliable sources. Get the facts here: http://www.birthnaturally.org/ConsumerInfo/circumcision.htm

My own thoughts and opinions: When I was pregnant, I started dreading the day that we would have to circumcise our little guy. The idea of them cutting into my brand new baby was very uncomfortable, as I think it is for most moms. So that is when I started trying to learn about circumcision. I spend hours and hours researching and reading. We looked at arguements for and against. I was overwhelmed at the amount of information I learned. In the end, Jared and I both decided that it wasn’t for us. It made sense to have to do something hard if it is for the “better cause” (something we feel is ultimately the case with immunizations) but circumcision is an unneccesary proceedure that ultimately didn’t feel right to us. It is an optional surgery that we immediately send our perfect brand new little ones off to have done, so that they will “look” the way we want them to. Like I mentioned above, I was stunned to hear from several doctors, even ones that are pro-circumcision, that there is no medical reason to circumcise. It is not “cleaner”. However, like most things, I do not in any way look down on someone else who has decided to circumcise. Not at all. Not even a little bit! It is another very personal decision. So just because I make my own decisions regarding this, doesn’t mean I am judging anyone else who does something different. My husband was actually solidly PRO circumcision and was almost unwilling to hear any arguements against. However, once he also started learning more about it, he also completely changed his mind. I think that this is like so many things, we THINK we are doing these things for very good reasons but with just a little education, we can realize that those reasons are actually just “hear-say,” and not actual fact.

6- HOME SCHOOLING – I often hear people using this term as a degrading thing, as in “well, (with a mocking and all-knowing tilt of their heads) they’re home schooled…” As if we should all know what that means. As if all of that person’s problems are a result of this appalling factor. lol so stupid. I know many homeschooling women in my life whom are absolutely brilliant and whose kids far surpass the average “public school-taught” child academically as well as socially. We need to stop letting the few homeschooling parents who just use home schooling as a cover up for “lazy parenting”, give the rest of the insanely hard-working parents out there, who pour their heart and soul into trying to give their kids a better education, such a bad name. The decision to actively home school your child is an enormous and applaudable undertaking. Those who do it well, deserve nothing short of awe-struck admiration from the rest of us. Whether you decide to home school or not, we all could take this opportunity to take a more active role in our children’s education. A public-school taught child has been in school for 700 hours by age six, but that same child has been outside of school for 52,000 hours. Where do you think our kids are going to learn more: during the 700 hours they spend with a teacher, or during the 52,000 hours they spend with us? It is no contest.

My own thoughts and opinions: I really do have an enormous amount of respect for women who do this the right way. I have no ground to stand on because I’ve never home-schooled, but it seems to me that the one thing that you have to be careful of when doing this, is to make an effort to regularly make up for the “social experiences” that they miss from public education. As long as all bases are covered, I whole-heartedly agree that kids have the potential to have receive a significantly better education at home. I have also seen the sad opposite of this. Parents that pull their kids out of public school to “home school” them and then don’t have time to do so, so their kids are left on their own to receive little-to-no education and end up being years behind where they should be. Personally, I haven’t completely decided but I don’t think I want to home school my kids. I don’t know that I have the time and resources that I would really want to have, to pour into it and… I loved school, myself. Luckily though I don’t have to make that decision for several more years. Regardless of what I decide to do, I am a huge believer in being the “active-participant” in your child’s education.

7- GOING GREEN – Oh dear. SO MUCH INFORMATION! I will try to keep this brief. The idea of Organic living is becoming more and more desirable today as we all become more educated about the benefits of doing so and the risks of not. There are so many ways that you can make a difference in your health, your family’s health, and the health of our planet.

The first part to Organic knowledge has to do with the products that we use in our daily life. Fabrics, cleaners, solvents, beauty products etc. You really would be amazed to learn how many chemicals we use in all of the things we come in contact with on a daily basis, literally thousands of chemicals, pesticides, and other toxic substances are used during conventional manufacturing. Those chemicals get absorbed into our skin and our planet, causing tremendous damage. If you want to make just one change in this area, start looking at organic cotton. Cotton is one of the most heavily sprayed materials on our planet. In fact, the chemical used on cotton fields accounts for 25% of our worldwide pesticide usage. The chemicals are so toxic that often times it renders the cotton fields completely barren (unusable) after just a couple of growing seasons. And we put all that on our skin which is then absorbed into our bodies. You will never think the same way about the 1st beautiful baby blanket that you wrap snugly around your newborn. A couple more reasons to consider going Organic in this area as well are:

Toxin-Free Farming & Processing – Reduce the amount of toxins going onto the Earth and into our bodies.

Good for the Earth – A future for life on Earth; clean air, clean water and clean soil for the survival of all species

You Feel Better – Get relief from skin irritations, allergies and more serious health conditions when you use organic products

Healthy Start for Your Babies – Did you know that as many as 2000 chemicals can be found on your favorite baby blanket? Chemicals known to affect developing fetuses are banned from certified organic fabrics

Another way, and probably the simplest way you can start going green? RECYCLE!!! Our cities make it so easy to recycle. Just call and add a recycling bin to your home. It doesn’t cost much, in fact in some places it is free, and it will really help. If you think that one person can’t make a difference, look at this site: http://www.thinkgreen.com/home

As far as food is concerned, the bottom line is that the chemicals that we come in contact with and ingest from foods that have been tampered with by man, are responsible for a whole slew of diseases that we are just beginning to understand. Hence the recent push for organic. In a serious over-generalization, there are two ways that chemicals get into our foods. 1- the soil it is grown in, and 2- the pesticides that are sprayed directly on them. We want to avoid both when possible. The soil issue makes the difference between nutritionally depleted produce and nutrition packed produce, and the pesticides are the difference between direct chemical absorption and no chemical absorption. Now, the reason that people are paying close attention now to other foods like dairy products and meats is because, it is fact that chemicals actually get trapped in fat cells and have a very difficult time being removed. So you want to be careful eating processed foods that have fat in them. The foods that animals are eating make the difference as to what is absorbed, and then trapped, in the end product that we consume. Eating organic doesn’t have to be an all or nothing thing. You can take small steps like these: http://www.eartheasy.com/blog/2009/01/five-easy-ways-to-go-organic/ Any little bit will help your body be stronger and healthier. Here is a general food resource but if anyone knows of a better one, let me know! http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=faq&dbid=17

My own thoughts and opinions: I really love the idea of everyone living a little more responsibly to not only better their own health, but our health as a human race, and the health of our planet. I would hate to have to report to someone someday, that I was a part of the species that completely destroyed our planet and did every single thing that we were not supposed to do in order to live a happy, healthy, and beautiful existance. I whole-heartedly am on board with the organic move. However… do I live organic life? Sadly, no. For us right now in our lives, it comes down to dollars and cents. We simply can’t afford it. However, when I am grocery shopping, if an item’s organic couterpart is the same cost, or just slightly more… I will always get the organic version. I also try to only buy organic produce for Sammy but it is a big difference trying to feed a 9 month old, who is still nursing, organic food; than it is to feed 2 adults and a 10 year old with an enormous appetite. Someday. As far as recycling goes, I really didn’t know much about it until recently, nor did I realize the difference that just one household can make. I feel embarrassed that I haven’t ever done it and this week I am calling my garbage service to find out about getting a bin.

8- COLON AND OTHER BODY CLEANSES - We MUST keep our bodies clean if we want to avoid all the destruction that is going on inside with the lifestyles we live. Natural & gentle cleansing can have powerful effects on our health. The colon specifically has a shocking effect on the rest of our body organs. To all the naysayers: do a cleanse! Just one cleanse and you will feel the difference for yourself. It’s amazing! This site it a great resource but just to warn you: it’s not pretty. You will be disgusted at the things that you see on this website that have come out of our colons. It’s enough to make some people say that they would never do a cleanse because they don’t want that kind of stuff coming out of them. But I say, once you know that that kind of stuff is inside of you, how can you not want to get it out immediately!? If you decide to do a natural cleanse, this website also has the very best product in the world for gentle colon cleansing. It has received numerous awards and rave reviews from highly accredited sources. Enjoy!  http://www.drnatura.com/

My own thoughts and opinions: I strongly believe in cleanses. I think we should all do, at least a colon, cleanse, once a year. If it can be afforded. With the lifestyles that we live today, it would greatly reduce our chances for getting a whole myriad of health problems. That said, I should clarify and say that I strongly believe in the cleanses that I have done. I have heard that there are very harsh body cleanses out there that can do more harm than good. I experienced amazing things when I did a body cleanse through Mia with Whole Body Cleansing and Colonix. I could not believe the amount of energy that I had and how GOOD I felt. It was incredible. To be honest, I only went in to support a friend, and ended up coming out a huge fan! We need to take care of our bodies!! We only get the one.

As with everything good in this world, there will be people who take it to an extreme, turn it into something bad, or twist it into something profitable. My ultimate take on everything: research things YOURSELF. Learn for yourself. Don’t just do things based on what someone else tells you to. We all were given amazing bodies and brilliant minds and we should use them to learn and ultimately make decisions based on what feels right to us without judging anyone else who thinks or decides differently. The goal is to help eachother, not criticize eachother.

On a final note I thought I’d share something that I have learned. In general, doctors will always be against natural remedies, and holistic enthusiasts will always be against modern day medicine. This has been SO frustrating for me to learn, and hard for me to understand. I wanted so desperately to be able to go to one source (I wanted that source to be a medical doctor) that is unbiased and will tell you what is best for your specific circumstance, regardless of whether it is medical intervention, or natural intervention. What I have had to learn is that these are two completely different fields of expertise, and both are full of people who think that they “know it all”. It is a rarity that you find someone genuinely dedicated to finding cures or living healthy lifestyles regardless of where they come from. This is probably because both have seen cases where damage has been caused by the other. I wish that these professionals could realize that individual cases do not represent the whole. But they probably never will. And if you don’t want to be constantly upset, my advice is to keep them separate. Don’t ask your doctor’s opinion about something natural and don’t ask your holistic professional’s opinion about something medical. Or at least do so prepared to receive an overly strong, and often inappropriate opinion, and then be sure to take it all with a grain of salt. I have been reduced to tears before at a doctor’s office while a well-meaning older doctor told me that the natural cure I was doing would wreak havoc on my body and my life, and the lives of my family etc. He got red in the face and very loud. What he was saying was completely inaccurate and at the time I didn’t know enough about it to be able to educate him. Now I do. I have also been jaw-clenched upset while listening to holistic professionals bash the medical profession and mock relentlessly, pro-medicine things that doctors (or patients) have said about the medical field.

Myself, I am pro-knowledge. I do believe that we were given almost everything we need, naturally, on this earth to prevent illness and live happy, healthy lives. I believe that the lifestyles that we choose to live nowadays, work against us and make it very hard to do that. I am constantly fascinated at the number of amazing natural elements that were put on this earth, that have powerful healing effects and personally, I would rather use a gentle, natural cure (if it will work!) than putting man-made chemicals in my body any day of the week. If both are going to cure me, I want the one that will leave behind the least damage and be the gentlest on my body, which is almost always the natural route. I know this might sound dumb but there is also a little part of me that feels like I am saying “thank you” to my heavenly father, when I use a natural element, that came from him, to help heal my body. Now on the flip side: I am also VERY pro-medicine and don’t believe that you have to be either/or! Modern day medicine has a place. Part of my belief that we were given all that we need to prevent and heal illness, lies in the fact that God gave us incredible minds to use in advances of modern day medicine. I believe that we can prevent and sometimes cure many illnesses with natural remedies, however there are illnesses that, once contracted, simply cannot be cured without modern day medicine and for this I am truly grateful. Modern day medicine also is such a welcome relief when we hit our own pain limitations and our bodies need to be allowed to focus on other things. I just think that oftentimes we are too quick to think that doctor’s (medical and natural) are all-knowing gods. They aren’t. They are just people. People who have learned an enormous amount of information about something that most of us don’t know as well (our bodies) which makes them a very valuable resource, but they still are just a resource. A “friend” to consult with when we have a question. Even doctors learn things, often times through their patients, about the body that they didn’t know. So learn, educate yourself, listen to both sides, and ultimately, go with what feels right to you. Our bodies, our minds, and our hearts, are absolutely miraculous in and of themselves. Learn to trust yourself.

Do you have accurate information or personal experience about something that often gets a bad rap? Share with us so we can all learn more about this great world we live in! Happy adventures….

Some of my favorite baby things!

Posted under Thoughts by coryelvidge

 Beaba BabyCook 

This tiny little contraption makes cooking healthy homemade baby food, a piece of cake! I seriously LOVE it! It steams just about anything in as little as 10 minutes and then purees it to whatever consistency you prefer. It is so darn convenient and easy to use and I love knowing exactly what I am feeding my baby. The greatest thing is that it will make several servings at once so you can refrigerate or freeze the extra portions and then you have meals all ready for several days in a row. You will love it!

 

Cooking for Baby cookbook

This is a beautiful and tasty little treasure lol. I love it! Just about every page has huge beautiful photographs and wonderful baby food recipes. Every chapter is age specific so you know exactly what foods to introduce to your little one, when. Having a book like this allows you to control the quality of ingredients that go into your kid’s tummies.

 

 

Saranoni blankets and bibs 

My wonderful stepmom gave me these for Sammy when he was born and they are the most luxurious baby blankets, burp rags, and bibs that I have ever seen! But the best thing about them: they wash BEAUTIFULLY if you follow the instructions! This was the first thing that we snuggled our new baby in and every time I wrap him up in one, I feel so decadent! hee hee They are blankets fit for a king!

 

Pampers Swaddlers 

 

I have learned that the reason people prefer different diaper brands is because all babies are not made alike. Different body shapes suit different diaper brands better than others. But for my little guy, I have fallen in love with Swaddlers. They are the softest diaper I have ever felt and we never had any accidents with them. When you have a brand new perfect baby, you only want to put the softest things on their skin and as far as disposable diapers go… you won’t find any softer! 

 

Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion

I just love the smell of Johnson’s Baby Lotion and products but when Sammy was first born, I was so careful with what I put on his delicate new skin and every baby lotion out there seemed to react badly with his sensitive newborn body. Our pediatrician recommended this one and I have loved it ever since. It is so mild and has never irritated his skin. I give him a massage with it every day and it is so soft and gentle. Now Jared and I use it too. It goes a long ways! We have used the same bottle, every day, for over 4 months now and there is still a lot left. You can get it at any grocery store. Love it!

 

Baby Mine lullaby cd and A Child’s Prayer lullaby cd

These are without a doubt my favorite lullaby cds! I have listened to so many and have always been so confused at what the parameters of a “lullaby” seem to be. Often times, I would have a lullaby cd in that would be playing beautiful soft music while Sammy was falling asleep in my arms and then out of nowhere, a loud upbeat song would come on, ruining the entire point of a lullaby cd! I don’t have to worry about that with these cds. One plays classic, gorgeous renditions of sweet lullabys, and the other plays tender gentle versions of some primary staples like “I Am A Child Of God.” You will not be disappointed in these, they get played every single night at our house as I rock Sammy to sleep.

 

Happy Bellies Organic Brown Rice Baby Cereal

This stuff speaks for itself. Rice is the most intestinal-friendly grain we can digest which is why it is the first food that all pediatricians recommend starting your babies on. My sister in-law showed me this company. All of their products are organic and have probiotic support and DHA nutrition. I think it is quite possibly the best packaged baby cereal out there. They have Brown Rice, Oatmeal, and Multi-Grain for when you little ones are ready to move on.

 

SpaSilk Long Sleeve and Short Sleeve Bodysuits

Of all the different brands of onesies that we got when Sammy was born, these were my favorite. They are better quality than any of the other brands we received (Gerber, Gap, Old Navy, and Carters). They are made of thick, soft material which was a huge bonus since we had a winter baby. They have been washed about a million times and don’t show any signs of wear at all. I love them!!! He wears them to bed with a sleepsack as well as underneath almost every shirt that we put on him. The only thing that could make them better is if they had mitten cuffs, but even without, I still preferred them to every other one that we had. They are not expensive at all but are really hard to get your hands on so if you are having a baby, stock up early!

 

 

Pottery Barn Kids Mini Stripe Quilted Sleepsack

Sleepsacks are the most brilliant invention since sliced bread! When you have a newborn baby that kicks blankets off, you will never have to worry again whether or not they are covered! We were lucky enough to receive 4 different brands of sleepsacks and Pottery Barn’s was my absolute favorite. It FAR surpassed the others in quality, softness, fit, and temperature. If I could have, I would have bought 20 of them! They are currently on clearance which means that they probably won’t be making them anymore so I am going to take one to my stepmom and see if she can duplicate one. (she’s amazing with a sewing needle!) They are THAT good! But if you are pregnant, get these!!!! They could not be a better price right now ($14 down from $60) and you simply will not find any other brands out there that even come close to how amazing this one is. 

 

Rock Star Baby Stroller and Pram

Since you don’t buy multiple strollers at a time, I can’t say that I’ve used, and can therefore compare, any other ones out there. However, I must say that I LOVE my stroller lol. It is heavy duty but lightweight and is like having 3 strollers in one. It converts into a pram for when your baby is brand new and needs to be laying down, then converts into a regular sitting stroller that can either face you or face away from you. Everything on it is adjustable and well padded so it is comfy. It even comes with a full rain cover which I have used several times. I love it. Don’t pay full price for it though! Find it new on eBay so you don’t lose and arm and a leg. The only thing that I don’t like is the cool grafiti-looking “rock star” logo on it lol. (I’m not a fan of logos branded onto my things for all to see) I don’t mind it on the stroller because it is small enough that it just looks like a nice design, but on the pram it is huge and has a massive star around it and I feel like I am a teenager carrying my baby around in a “roxy” stroller lol. But aside from that, I couldn’t be more happy with it!

The Message

Posted under Thoughts by coryelvidge

I read such a wonderful book yesterday that I had to tell you all about it! It is a short book (about 150 pages) and is written by a man who was in a coma for 3 months and during that time was taken to the spirit world, where he saw, heard, and experienced things that were absolutely remarkable. I have read a couple books similar to this one in that they also convey “life after death” experiences but I have never read a book like this that left me feeling so comforted about death and gave me such an enlightening perspective check about our life before, during, and after this one. This book goes into profound detail and relays it with stunning accuracy (you will see what I mean). Heart warming and truly inspirational, you won’t be able to put it down. lol, I sound like an official book reviewer hey? Cory and Cory give it two thumbs up! Honestly though, for those of us who have lost loved ones in our lives, this story will have a permanent impact on you. And for the rest of us.. well who hasn’t ever wondered what it will be like when we leave this world? The jacket makes this book look ancient but it was actually just published in 2000. I highly highly recommend it!! It is only $10 new from amazon.com or used for as little as $4. It will be the best $4 you’ve ever spent! If you want to, click on the book image above and it will take you to Amazon. Happy Reading!

Deliciously Healthy!

Posted under Thoughts by coryelvidge

Ok, so in my new found determination to kick the old pregnancy cravings that have now turned into daily habits 6 months later, I am trying to dive into eating healthier. This is bittersweet because the good news is that I actually do prefer, and enjoy, eating healthy. The bad news is that finishing every meal with a large bowl of Dryers Extra Creamy Rocky Road ice cream (occasionally adding more mini marshmallows) for 9 months straight, creates addictions that were never there before lol. So although I am in a spot right now where eating healthy is a jump of pure determination and not gleeful anticipation, I have actually poured my love for cooking into finding new recipes that create healthy, strong bodies, and actually taste divine as well! It seems to me that most of us would feed our bodies good, clean, healthy food, more often, if it only tasted better. So I thought I’d post some of my new favorites. Now stop…. no, this is not going to become a cooking blog lol. Mostly because I worry that my love of creating culinary masterpieces would take over and you would never see pictures of my family again. But I AM adding a link on my blog over here on the right, to post some of those healthy recipes that I think are truly tasty for those of you needing to expand that list of recipes that won’t leave you with all that extra padding. Enjoy!

Happy Valley

Posted under Thoughts by coryelvidge

Everywhere I go, I hear people complaining about Utah. Utah is too cold, Utah is too conservative, nothing is open on Sunday lol, Utah is too desert-like, Utah is too hot, Utah is too ugly, Utah is full of hypocrites, Utah this and Utah that. To which, I always curiously wonder, “If you don’t like Utah… why don’t you move? And if you don’t want to move… why not find some things that you really like about your life here?” I have to speak carefully though for two reasons: 1-because most of the people I get to hear regularly complain are my friends and I don’t want them to leave lol, and 2-because I have to admit that there was a time in my own life when I joined in on the bash-Utah bandwagon…. but then I got to see the world and was able to come home appreciating so many things about Utah that I just never saw before. If you need some help recognizing the positives, here are a couple things I’ve learned:

1- Our state is so clean!!!! lol I know this seems like an odd one but after visiting so many big cities that are absolutely filthy, it is so refreshing to come home to clean mountain air and tidy streets and sidewalks. (yes, those big cities have lots of other wonderful things about them but this list is not talking about how great those places are, it is about how great Utah is. )

2- The people here are so genuinely nice. For the most part, we have a larger majority of people (than anywhere that I have been so far) who genuinely care about complete strangers and often look for opportunities to help each other out without ever being asked. This is something in and of itself that is so amazing to watch.

3- Our winters are absolutely beautiful and not even a tenth as cold as some places back east we have visited. I have always loved our snow but got easily annoyed at the cold… however now that I have endured places where the cold actually pierces your very core (like stabbing knives) and gives you INSTANT migranes and earaches, regardless of how warmly you are dressed, I have a little better perspective and am now grateful that we have mild winters.

4- The people here (and everywhere else for that matter) are not hypocrites, they are human. This one took me a very long time to realize. I would watch mothers bear their testimonies at church about how much they loved their kids and then they would go sit down and through clenched jaws and gritted teeth, growl warnings and consequences if they didn’t sit down and shut up. I spent years being bothered at the number of “hypocrites” I encountered regularly. Then one day it smacked me right upside the head, for no particular reason: they are not hypocrites! They are human beings (with faults) who genuinely believe in a certain way of living and acting…. try hard to actually do those things on a daily basis…. and sometimes they succeed and sometimes they don’t. But they don’t give up. If you ask me, that is something to be applauded not criticized. And at the same time that this epiphany came, another one came: There is not an “I” and a “they”. We are all in the same boat. We are all human. We all have faults. We all try to do what we think is right and sometimes we nail it and sometimes we miss by a long shot… But every day is a chance to start over. We should be helping each other by being supportive and not critical. I also realized that I don’t want people judging me that closely lol, so I stopped judging everyone else. What goes around, comes around. I am much more compassionate now lol.

5- We have spectacular mountains. Sure they aren’t quite as impressive as some… but we have them! And they are so beautiful. Just a 15 minute drive, run, or bike ride up the canyon is guaranteed to cure any feelings of irritation. There are cities full of high rise apartments where you can reach out through a window and touch the next building and continue this experience for miles and miles. Where the only “play area” is a 15×15 foot patch of grass in a designated area, squished down in between 14-story slabs of concrete. To be able to get out in the open and explore and have picnics, barbecues, go on hikes, take walks, have high points to go paragliding off of, rivers to lazily float down, and lakes to dive into, is a blessing that you just can’t imagine unless you’ve been elsewhere.

Something I’ve noticed: Often times when people are complaining about Utah, it is because they are comparing it to another place. Comparing people or places is never a good idea because one or the other will always fall short. Instead I’ve learned to recognize the positives that Utah has to offer without comparing it to anything. Just learning to admire it’s own kind of beauty and realizing what it has to offer without making it regularly fall short of paradise. This alone helped me reach a very “zen” place about this great state lol and now I am just overflowing with positive things to say about it.  Love these pictures? Check them out at http://www.willieholdman.com . Have more great things to add to this list of reasons Utah is fabulous? Let’s hear ‘em!

The 3 Stages Of Calphalon Destruction!

Posted under Thoughts by coryelvidge

So about 5 years ago I discovered cooking. I don’t know what happened. I went from being someone who got impatient at the time it took to microwave a bag of popcorn, to thinking that a great Friday night was one that was spent chopping, dicing, kneading, mixing, brining, basting, sauteing, baking, broiling, and grilling. I got to know the staff at Williams Sonoma by name and spent literally hours learning how to do things as simple as boiling water lol (I knew NOTHING about cooking so I was starting from scratch). Those of you who know me well, know that I don’t like doing things half way. When I want to learn about something, I dive into it headfirst. It consumed all my spare time. The more I learned, the more l LOVED it!!! After spending a couple years in culinary bliss, I concluded that every artist needs the right tools and I decided to buy my very first set of professional pots and pans. I researched and saved and the day I went in to make my purchase, I couldn’t stop smiling lol. When I got them home I carefully unwrapped each pan and gently placed them in their proper place in the cupboard. I went to bed that night feeling that all was right with the world My pans and I were going to have a long and delicious life together.

Well, over the next year, I learned something incredibly disheartening: Very few people, if any, will ever care for my carefully saved for pots and pans, as much as I do. As you may, or may not know, putting a professional grade pan in a dishwashing machine is the quickest way to send it to it’s death. I didn’t know how this caused damage, or why, but I blindly and wholeheartedly agreed to lovingly hand wash every single pan for the rest of my life. What I didn’t count on were the many wonderful people in my life whom after family meals would be kind enough to do my dishes for me and out of innocent ignorance, or in some cases, lazy defiance, would put my beautiful pans in their detergent filled coffin. The first time it happened, I almost had a heart attack as I opened up our dishwasher to put away the clean load and saw my gorgeous saucepan trapped inside. But I inspected it carefully and breathed a sigh of relief that it didn’t look wounded in anyway. In fact, after a couple of these indiscretions they still seemed just fine so I began to loosen the apron strings and accepted that no matter how many times I asked people to hand wash my pans, it just wasn’t going to happen all the time and I was going to relax about it. I became so relaxed about it that I even found myself putting them in the dishwasher from time to time. My pans slowly began to turn a lighter grey color but they still cooked fabulously so I just assumed that the “damage” from putting pots in the dishwasher was limited to defiling their aesthetic appearance but not effecting their fabulous cooking capability. They changed ever so slowly but one day I opened my dishwasher and realized that I had killed my soup pot. I now have first hand understanding of why you don’t put professional grade pans in the dishwasher. Wanna see?? Ok… here you go:

The first picture is of one of my pans, after 2 years of regular use, that has only been hand washed. It looks just as good as the day I bought it and cooks beautifully! The second and third pictures are of one of my pans that has been occasionally put in the dishwasher over the last couple years. You can see that the outside is starting to deteriorate faster than the inside but it still cooks wonderfully well. The fourth, fifth, and sixth pictures are of my poor soup pot that has been put in my dishwasher very regularly. Keep in mind that these are all from the same set. Purchased at the same time.

As you can see, the dishwashing detergent has literally started eating away at my infused-anodized aluminum. I can no longer use my soup pot. It feels so chalky that you can’t touch it without cringing and the inside bottom of the pan is starting to grit. It is starting to rub off on food making it unusable. So why should you not put your pots and pans in the dishwasher? Because it does actually ruin your pans. It isn’t just overprotective corporate officers encouraging consumers to hand wash just to see how far their power actually reaches. Dishwasher detergent actually destroys a steel hard enough to be placed under a 1500 degree broiler. Go figure. So take my advice: if you are going to spend decent money on cookware, be willing to care for them. If you know ahead of time that you just aren’t willing to take the time to do that, get your pans at Wally-World so you don’t feel sick when they fall apart.