Oh, how we love Daddy!

I have written a lot about my kiddos, but not too much about their Dad.  We had the joy of having him around all day every day for 3 whole months!  Our summer was an amazing one, and we have all been spoiled with his presence. 

Let me tell you, he is one great Dad!  He plays with the kids and they light up when they see him.  He helps me take care of the kids.  He’s definitely not one of those guys who are afraid to get wet during bath time, or take care of the unpleasant diaper duty, or save me by taking on an energetic bunch of kids alone so I can have some time to work or just have peace!

Maybe it was me who was spoiled the most this summer!  We arrived home last week after a great flight.  We were so amazed at how well it all went, the kids sleeping on the long flight, playing quietly on the short one, and getting home with no meltdowns or possible travelling catastrophes.  That week was interesting, being awake and asleep at crazy hours of the night and day as we adjusted to our new time.

As of this week, the real world hit.  We are back to school, back to work (for my husband), back to soccer, and back to our usual life.  I had it good, and still do…I just have to get used to not having an extra hand every moment of every day. 

I get a lot of questions about how I do what I do as a mom with four young kids, preparing raw food for the whole family, and such…  I don’t see it as such a big deal.  I know plenty of others with more kids than me and busier lives than us. 

I actually have it quite easy.  My hubby only works part time and takes care of me as well as he does the kids.  Realizing how nice it was to have him all the time makes me even more aware of what he does on a day to day basis.  I am one spoiled woman!

All I really want to say is we all love you, but none more than me!

Where has the summer gone??  Where do I begin??

My how time flies when you are having fun!!  I didn’t mysteriously disappear.  I have just been busier than I ever expected while ‘vacationing’ this summer.

We have been travelling through Texas since June 15.  It has been fun, exciting, crazy, tiring, frustrating, memorable, sad, happy, and every other emotion all combined.  This is only our 3^rd trip home in the last 8 years since living in Austria.  It has been 3 years since we last visited and I have been soaking up every moment I have with each person we have been with. 

We have been in 7 or 8 different places (including staying with various family members, in hotels, a cabin on a lake, a house on a river, visits to the beach) since being here and while this hasn’t been our first trip, this has certainly been our longest and most challenging with now 4 children and our emphasis on raw food and adhering to a special diet.  It was certainly my first time travelling with our own food supply!

I had hoped to continue blogging at RawMom.com and here on my own blog at Growing Little Sprouts, but it all came to a screeching halt as we left.  It has been non-stop.  In my last blog, I wrote a beginning article in a series on supplements for children in the autism spectrum.  I had the idea that beginning a series would give me something to focus on while travelling so that I wouldn’t have to worry about what to write about!  So much for grand ideas.  I now know that I way underestimated my time demands on this trip!  As we are in the final few weeks of our trip, I am finally making myself stop and take the time to catch up a little.

I have a million things in my head that I would like to share about raw food and travelling, keeping up with a large family while living out of suitcases for a long period of time, culture differences that are very apparent to me since we have been away so long, the successes and failures we have had while living among others who eat ‘regular’ food, my kids’ reactions to it all, and me trying to keep it all together!

One thing is definitely certain…I could not imagine having taken this trip with my son while on our old food habits!  Without going into too much detail, some family members got a crash lesson on exactly why we ‘do what we do with food’ after we experienced a reaction to something he ate.  We still don’t know exactly what it was, but there was no doubt that for a few days he wasn’t the same kid they first saw. 

We have been sharing raw food with others along the way and I have some friends and family who think we are crazy, but some are happily reporting the fun and good results they are having trying out green smoothies and trying more salads and fruits in their daily routine! 

By the way, this will be the same post I have at Raw Mom, too!  I cheated a little to update both places at once.  I will be back soon here, so keep a look out!  I am excited to share more of this with you, but will wait until next time.   Tomorrow is another road trip for us and I have to finish packi