Chiro-in-training

Steve's passing on his chiro wisdom to Sophie. First was leg checks on Baby.

Then Bunny. Because, if you didn't know, animals can also benefit from chiropractic. (True story.)

The Steve offered himself as a guinea pig.

After the checks were carefully made,

The adjustment was made. Check out that form!

Spring Break

Ready for the Perry Spring Break Slide Show? You can hardly contain yourself, I'm sure.

Luckily it warmed up quite a bit, especially on the day I watched my friend's boys. Nothing entertains four kids (three and under) like a big bucket of suds. Steve really appreciated the help when he washed the car.

If part 1 happens, you know part 2 will inevitably follow. . . (we love Asher :))

We took Sophie to the Jelly Belly factory again and met up with Hailey and Landon (and they're little Behr in utero, just days from arrival). Hailey and I have known each other since we were awkward pre-teens, but we hadn't seen each other in over 10 years. Our parents are close friends and we went on family vacations all the time together. Best ones? Lake Powell -- three years in a row.

Sophie was just a baby for her last trip here, and I don't think she appreciated all of the work that goes into making a gourmet jelly bean. I still don't think she does. But she sure appreciated the treat at the end of the tour. (Speaking from experience, if you want a tolerable toddler, don't feed them lots of jelly beans. I'm just sayin'.)

We also got to go to the zoo for the first time this year, and Steve got to be the photographer that day. (the reason why there are suddenly a ton of pictures of me. . .) I think he knows more about my camera than I do. Maybe a photography class had something to do with it . . .

I love that Ivy's old enough to really enjoy the zoo now. She loves animals. She always plays with her animal toys and looks at books with animals in them. It's funny to see her reaction when she sees them in real life. . .

(Yep, that's a tiger, sweetie. He's a lot longer than 2 inches.)


In the bottom left photo she's doing "what a giraffe does". Since they don't make noise, we stick our tongue out like we're grabbing leaves off a tree. They have long tongues -- have you noticed? In the bottom right I'm doing an elephant noise, not spitting on her.

Speaking of giraffes, have you ever seen them fight? There were a couple "teenage" giraffes that went at it for a few minutes. They'd swing their heads around and hit each other in the torso with their nubby horns. I guess adolescence is rough for giraffes, too.

I think the zebras are Sophie's favorite. She asks for them first.

During the week we also saw a lot of Steve's family. Steve's brother and his wife came to hang out with us (and visit Steve in the clinic). We had a little family home evening in the park, which was way colder than it looked.

Putting sand on Dad is way fun.


Psst, grandma, those aqua pants fit her now!

This is a picture of our niece, Layla. She's the happiest, wide-eyed little girl I've ever seen.

To wrap up the week, we went to Sacramento over the weekend so Steve could practice a health talk on his family. I mentioned before about the wellness certification he's working on. . . he's got his first presentation put together.

He did such a great job, and everyone loved it. He knows his stuff inside and out, and my favorite part is that you can tell he's passionate about what he's talking about. I was so proud of him. :)

Steve put them to work right at the beginning. . .

We got home from Sac on Saturday evening, and the girls had a little time to unwind from the trip. . . and the week.

In the big photo, they're doing "what a crab does". Oh, that scratch on Ivy's forehead? Just a kiss from the pavement. She's so clumsy, it kills me.

Going Chestnutty

Speaking of trips, Steve's in Atlanta right now at a conference. I've been mostly by myself with the girls since Thursday afternoon and honestly. . . besides the heat, it hasn't been that bad. I hate to admit that to him because then he might think that I don't really need a break (OH, BUT I DO!).

Dr. Chestnut with the fam.

I've been trying to figure out a way to sum up the seminar we went last weekend in a few sentences, but it's difficult. Just to give you an idea . . . Dr. Chestnut is among other things, a chiropractor, and just about all of the attendees were chiros or wives of chiros or people who work for chiros. He developed a program called "Eat Well, Move Well, Think Well" to promote wellness and to certify chiros to use in their offices. Steve plans on implementing it in his. (The light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer!) This particular seminar was the "Think Well" portion of the program.

Listening to Dr. Chestnut is like drinking from a fire hose. I guess, in over simplistic terms, he spoke about how to empower people to take charge of their emotional and physical health. Our physiology is affected by our emotional, intellectual, and spiritual health. Our physiology.

An interesting thing about this seminar is that I found I was making connections to religion, although he left religion mostly out of his lectures. Because I'm religious, I'm already aware of my values and beliefs, which is something (he says) that some people aren't sure about, whether they're religious or not. He talked about relationship dynamics, having integrity (acting according to your beliefs), being optimistic, and realizing our worth as human beings.

He also spoke a lot about how most chronic illnesses (heart disease, diabetes, obesity, infertility, high blood pressure, just to name a few) aren't the result of genetics, but of lifestyle choices -- choices we make both psychologically and physically.

A big (and perhaps the most shocking) part of his program is "Eat Well". There are many who say he's pretty extreme (including me), but the beautiful thing about his program is that he doesn't tell anyone to give up anything. The reasons why diets don't work is because we try to give up things that we love. Chestnut suggests always adding positive things instead of removing negative. He used "pizza and beer" quite often as his example. He said that you can keep your pizza and beer, just have a salad first. The point isn't to follow his guidelines perfectly from day one, but to make easy, gradual, and comfortable changes. Swearing off all sweets isn't any of those things. But eating an apple or a carrot a day is. The point isn't to lose weight, either, but to become healthier. When you become healthier, your body will naturally find a healthy weight.

He also said to eat your favorite food while naked, in front of a mirror . . . on a mini trampoline. Jokingly, but I see his point. :)

I'm nowhere near where I'd like to be as far as nutrition goes, but I do notice that when I eat more things that I should be eating, I lose a little interest in things that aren't healthy. Just a little. Sometimes I still drown myself in a bowl of popcorn/ice cream/cookies because I'm bummed out. Or eat seven pancakes just because I feel like it (now regretting it as I stare down at my "pancake belly") I just start over the next day. And I feel better because I ate some broccoli at lunch.

Dr. Chestnut went on a few rants throughout his lecture, and one of them was about the health care crisis. He said that neither option from the political parties would fix the problem. Everyone keeps talking about who's going to pay for what, who's going to have coverage, and what prescription drugs will be available, but no one is talking about how to make people healthier. We don't need more money, we need fewer sick people. I agree with him.

He didn't just pull all of this stuff out of his head, either. For every statement or concept he spoke about, he listed several studies and/or academic articles to back them up. The research this man has done and the influence he's had on people is incredible. He's literally helped people save their own lives with this program. Occasionally he threw some things out there that made me roll my eyes, but for the most part, I think he's spot on.

I feel like I'm jumping around, and if you've read this far, you must be at least curious, right? Visit his website at https://www.eatwellmovewellthinkwell.com. There's a video of some snippets from Dr. Chestnut's lectures that sums up his philosophy as well.

Dr. Steve

One night earlier this week Steve put on his white clinic coat and asked me if I thought it needed to be ironed. My usual response is, "Do you want me to throw it in the dryer with a wet towel?" (I iron about twice a year.) So that's what I said to him. He got a funny look on his face and said that it probably needed to be ironed, which was his way of asking me if I would do it.

I was feeling particularly wife-y that night, so I told him I would. . . if he got the ironing board out for me. (It's between the fridge and the wall and requires moving about 4 things to get to it. That's why I iron twice a year.) I knew that he had his clinic entrance exam coming up in a couple of days, and he wanted it to look ironed, not "thrown in the dryer with a wet towel".

I mentioned to him that night that I wanted a picture of him wearing his white coat. Wednesday morning at about 7 AM, he came into the bedroom, wearing his white coat, marched over to the bed where I was lying with both girls (somehow Sophie had snuck in around 6:30), and handed me the camera. I was half asleep and contact-less. After a couple of tries, Steve suddenly picked up Ivy and held her. Luckily I managed to get a good one, and wished him luck on his big nasty exam.

Adjustments and Attachments

This may come as a surprise to most of you, but I had my very first chiropractic adjustment today. You may remember how I confessed that I was afraid of chiropractors. Well, I decided that just wouldn't do. I'd be an embarrassment to Steve, not to mention the laughing stock of my street aka "chiropractor row".

I was in a car accident last month, and after a month of postponing an appointment (while mentally psyching myself up to it), I figured now was a good time to overcome my fear.

Steve thought a NUCCA chiropractor would be good because their adjustments are more gentle than regular ones. I found a female NUCCA chiropractor in Oakland and had some x-rays done last week. I went in this morning for my first adjustment. She had me lie on my side on the table and as she positioned her hands on my neck, I thought to myself,

"Lord, let me be calm and please keep me from wincing, screaming, thrashing, and/or crying."

After a second or two she took her hands off me.

"Was that it?" I asked.

"Yep, that's it. I just have to do it seven or eight more times."

There were no sudden movements or jerks or anything. Just constant, gentle pressure. Wow. I'd go to a chiropractor everyday if it felt like that. My neck feels looser now, but I still have a few adjustments left before I'm straightened out.

On a completely unrelated note, I sold this necklace a few minutes ago:

I LOVE this necklace. I got it at the very first estate sale I went to. It's from the 30s, and I've been tempted to keep it for myself since I put it in my store. I was planning on keeping it if I hadn't sold it by Valentine's Day.

Well, it didn't make it. I love it when I sell things, but there were a few pieces that I really hated to part with. This is probably the hardest one so far.