A weekend in review

The girls are back and life is a little busier, thus the lack of blogging.  For those of you that are thinking of having more than 2 children, I am all for it, but I would recommend taking it one at a time.  (Or maybe even two, but don't go from 2 to 6.  It was a little bit of a shock to the system!)  The best way to describe it is joyful chaos.  It is definitely a little bit louder around the house, but it just feels like home again.  How heartwarming to see all of the girls run in the house and immediately hug and kiss on Lilly and Elise.  

Thanks to some busy work from my brother in law, Chris has some new rehab toys at the house that allow him to be working even when he isn't in therapy.  I will take some pictures tomorrow to show off Chris' new tricks.  He went on a walk with me today and we actually made it pretty far.  The last walk we took didn't get us out of the culdesac (about a week and a half ago).  This time we went about half a mile and he made pretty good time.  I have noticed him having more stamina throughout the day and he seems to always sneak in therapy here and there.  

A few new things I have learned that I thought I would share:  Grassfed beef is extremely good for you!  You can buy a 1/4 of a cow  for a small fortune, but it ends up being about $4 a pound for a whole variety of meat.  It not only has less saturated fat than normal meet (10 g fat vs. 2.5 g fat), but it has a ton of other great nutrients that are good for your cholesterol and general heart health.  Sodium is in everything.  I have always thought we had a pretty low sodium diet because we aren't ones to sprinkle salt on our food or in our cooking.   (I still remember my brother in law gasping in awe when he found out that we didn't have a salt shaker)  Unless you are cooking from scratch or searching out low sodium prepared food, you are probably eating way more than the recommended 3000 mg of sodium a day. (2400 mg for people like Chris)  Third and final note for today:  Stroke recovery is all about hard work, good attitude and working your affected side even when it isn't easy.  The easier route isn't the route that will get you better.  

Side note:  I have been awful at returning emails.  I am very sorry and hope to eventually get back to all of you.