Healthy and Fit with 5 kids ; 3 Angels !
No Time For Health and Fitness Because You Have an Angel ?
Let me introduce you to a very special Texan Mom with five children , Jessica . Included in her five kid count ; is Jessica ’ s 10 year old son Yeshua , ( typical ) who likes to help his mom with the babies and who loves spending time with all of his siblings . Next in line is 8 year old Jeremiah ( Angel ) who is a more solitary boy who knows what he likes and what he doesn ’ t like and he will always let you know . Then there is Jerusha , age 7 ( Angel ), very social and lively girl who keeps mom on her toes ! That brings us to the babies , baby # 1 is 23 month old Isiah . Isiah has not yet been officially diagnosed with AS but he laughs at everything and is slow to develop at the same rate as his older angel siblings ; so mom is certain that she has been blessed with a third angel here . Then there is baby # 2 , the animated , on the go little Sarah ( typical ) who tries to get her partner in crime ( baby # 1 , Isiah ) to model appropriate baby behavior whenever she can . Mom says that baby Isiah ’ s reaction to this is to stare at baby Sarah for a moment , laugh at her and crawl away ! Does it get any cuter than that ?! And if that were not enough to handle ; Jessica is also a single Angel Mom !
If ever I had spoken to a mother who has every reason NOT to exercise and eat well ; this is the mother ! Yet every single morning , Jessica situates her 5 children in front of the television with their favorite movie and proceeds to workout at home for an hour . Jessica says that because this is a routine that Mommy does every day , the kids understand that this is mom ’ s workout hour and that it is expected that they sit patiently and watch their movie until Mommy completes her workout . Jessica says “ because I do this consistently and I am determined to get my workout done , my kids have become very accepting of the workout hour and my 7 year old Angel , likes to join in and imitate my exercise moves . I feel good about the example that I am setting for my kids with health and fitness . " My mother raised me this way and I am raising them this way and its something that I can feel good about ”.
Q . Do you feel that keeping up with your health and fitness routine helps you to be the kind of mom you want to be ? A . Well my daughter runs away from me a lot and before I became so faithful to my workout routine ; she was able to outrun me and that ’ s not safe ! Now I can keep up with her ! Plus I have so much more energy when I exercise and eat healthy . There is no way I could keep up without the extra energy that I derive from my routine . Friends and relatives are always asking me how I do it . They ’ re my kids , I ’ m used to the chaos and I can handle it . I feel my kids deserve a mother who is able to play and run around with them , plus I feel strong and alert . Yeah this definitely helps me to be the Mom I want to be .
Q . What is your kids ’ diet like ? A . Well since I ’ ve always believed that eating healthy was important , my kids are given plenty of fruits and vegetables and very little sugar . I did have to deal with quite a bit of criticism from some friends and family who felt like they were kids and I should just let them ‘ eat like kids ’ but I knew that they were my kids and I was committed to raising them with healthy food as a priority . Once my children were diagnosed with Angelman syndrome I knew it was even more important to keep their diet healthy . It hasn ’ t been easy to endure the criticism for my decision ; but I feel really good about sticking with a good eating plan . I don ’ t want to worry about childhood obesity or diabetes and high blood pressure that I hear are happening with our children today . Plus my kids are big over eaters and other people in our lives don ’ t always understand that they must be made to stop eating . Once my angels got into an entire cake at a relatives house ; ate the whole thing ! They did not feel well after that and just laid around for the rest of the day . If I don ’ t monitor what they eat and how much , they will become sick and I ’ m concerned that they could face future disability as a result of the excess weight .
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