Five years ago this March, I had life-altering double jaw surgery. I was never confident in my smile since said smile was crooked. The jaw surgery boosted my confidence which escalated the number of times that I smile in a day. Five years later and I cannot quit smiling. There is one slight problem. I do enjoy my daily coffee in the mornings and a cup of hot tea in the afternoons, and this enjoyment stains my teeth. Let’s just say that it did not take much time for me to realize that whitening strips do not keep the stains away.

Last month, I partnered with Smile Brilliant to keep my teeth shining! The reason I accepted this partnership is that their teeth whitening kit involves custom trays that match your teeth exactly.

In the initial kit, you are sent molding clay to make your impressions. Do not let this overwhelm you. An instruction guide is included to help you with each step. Once you make your impressions, you will mail them back to Smile Brilliant. In just a few days, you will receive happy mail that includes your custom molds.

Let the whitening process begin. Please remember that it takes time for the stains to be removed. I’m happy to share my results after using the whitening gel for seven days!

I’m continuing the whitening process, and my husband made the comment the other night that he couldn’t believe how white my teeth are now. He said you may want to stop because you are making my teeth look bad. You can really tell the difference in my color in our New Year’s Eve picture! I think it is time that we get Hubby his own custom whitening trays.

Can you see that beautiful white smile? I truly believe the custom molds help ensure that you are whitening all teeth and not just sections of teeth.

GIVEAWAY:

Would you like to WIN your very own whitening kit (value $149)? Please fill out this form for your chance to win. If you would like to go ahead and get your own whitening kit, please use my coupon code to save 15% (onemomsworld15).

Disclosure: This is a partnership with Smile Brilliant. All thoughts and opinions are of my own. I’m in love with my smile!

Professional Teeth Whitening

The post At Home Teeth Whitening: Does it Work? first appeared on One Moms World Mom Blog - Jen Houck.

Friends – I’m going to be blunt. The last month has been hard. I’m so sorry to not update here on the blog.

October 7 started out as a typical day. I went to work even though it was a Saturday to help with a homecoming event. After the event was done, I proceeded to drive home and gather our belongings needed for L to enjoy our homecoming football game on campus. My husband mentioned he was feeling nauseous, but we thought it might be from something he ate the previous night. After discussions, we decided to head on to the game. We spoke with family and friends at the stadium, enjoyed the game, and L wanted a fresh baked sweet potato from the campus dining hall. We thought this would be a good idea since there was so much traffic from people leaving the game. L tried to make a case to get our food to go, but hubby squashed that idea, and we all sat around a table together sharing great laughs. Then, our world turned upside down. My husband stood up to put L’s formula backpack on his back, and he looked at me and said, “JEN.” He went down in the chair. I ran around the table to catch him, and he fell back unconscious in my arms. My husband laid in my arms lifeless. My first reaction was to scream for someone to call 911. A student behind me called 911, and then an ROTC Cadet grabbed my husband from me. I’m not sure what all he did, but finally exclaimed what felt forever, “he has a pulse.” PRAISE GOD! The paramedics arrived on campus fast since they were at the football stadium and wheeled my husband out on the stretcher. All of this was going on, and L was crying so hard thinking she was losing her Daddy and Madi started feeling lightheaded from trying to hold it together for everyone, she had to sit down. Another student kept encouraging the girls that Daddy was going to be okay!

I went to get in our car and get to the hospital as fast as I could. We arrived, and the original thinking was my husband had a heart attack since his cardiac enzyme troponin was elevated. His EKG showed his left-side of his heart enlarged. He was hospitalized for three days. The next day we went to a more prominent city for more answers. We are still in a holding pattern and run daily EKGs on my husband. Next Friday, he goes in for a procedure in hopes to find the underlying cause. The heart team will get together to see what can be done. This has been such a scary time in our lives. His cardiologist in the bigger city thinks my husband went into cardiac shock and there is something electrical going on with his heart. His mom and dad both died from massive heart attacks and stroke. Heart disease runs in his family.

God put us in that dining hall for a reason. Hubby made the decision for us to eat in the dining hall for a reason. I shiver to think if we were at home and not close to the quick action medical care. God is so good!

Please keep him and our family in your prayers. It’s so scary because I am trying to watch his every move. We just got back from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for L late Sunday evening and have renewed hope for our girl. More will be written soon.

Hug your family tighter. Do not go a day without telling them you love them. We are so grateful God allowed Scott to come back to us and now we must get him proper treatment to prevent this from ever happening again.

The post Where did Jen Go? {Hug your family tight} first appeared on One Moms World Mom Blog - Jen Houck.

The morning started by my oldest daughter M, asking me what I was going to do with all the frozen strawberries in the freezer. She is our family organizer and the strawberries were cramping her style while she was organizing the fridge and freezer compartments. I decided to go to google and search for an easy cobbler recipe. I found this recipe on The Spruce website. The reason this recipe caught my eye is that it used all real ingredients and I would be able to substitute my dairy free products for all the milk products. As many knows, I was diagnosed with a dairy allergy last year along with previously being diagnosed with a gluten intolerance. Doesn’t this picture display deliciousness?

You are going to love how this recipe is so easy!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of strawberries

For the Cobbler Batter:
1 cup organic cane sugar
1 cup gluten-free coconut flour
1 3/4 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
6 tablespoons melted earth balance dairy free butter
2 tablespoons coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the Topping:
1 tablespoon organic cane sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon for topping

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray an 11×14 glass pyrex dish with olive oil or your spray of choice. Pour the strawberries into the baking dish.
3. In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until thoroughly combined.
4. Add remaining ingredients, egg, melted earth balance butter (keep 2 tablespoons to pour over batter), coconut milk and vanilla. Beat until well blended. I used a fork to blend.
5. Evenly spread the batter mixture over the strawberries.
6. Pour the remaining melted butter over the batter and top with sugar and cinnamon.
7. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. The batter will be golden brown.
8. Enjoy!

The post Easy Dairy Free and Gluten Free Strawberry Cobbler first appeared on One Moms World Mom Blog - Jen Houck.

Do you see the beautiful girl in this picture? This girl is my daughter and my hero. She has been living with a rare disease and went undiagnosed for many years. Finally, she was properly diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis in early 2016. Food is her enemy and she has to survive by drinking a prescription formula, Neocate Splash. This formula keeps her alive and yet insurance companies are choosing to not cover this medical care necessity. She announced to me last week that she was afraid to die if insurance decided not to cover her formula. My husband and I will do everything in our power and might to ensure L has her formula. There are many families all across the United States facing this same struggle with trying to advocate for insurance to cover prescribed formula. Please have a heart and do what is best for all these families. Speak up and vote to pass bill H.R.2587 – Medical Nutrition Equity Act of 2017.

Why do we need this passed? To provide for the coverage of medically necessary food and vitamins for digestive and inherited metabolic disorders under Federal health programs and private health insurance, and for other purposes.

This needs to be a law in every state so insurance companies can quit denying our children the medical treatment they need to SURVIVE!

Friends, we are asking you to please contact your Representatives in your state and encourage their co-sponsorship of this important legislation, too! To find out who represents you, visit https://www.house.gov/representatives/find/.

Together we can make a difference and advocate for this bill to be passed!

The post Congress: Please Read – My Daughter has a Rare Disease first appeared on One Moms World Mom Blog - Jen Houck.

Life is busy right now. Being a full-time employee outside of the home, a full-time college student, and of course being a wife to my handsome husband and a mother to my two awesome daughters, it can make for a busy schedule. Throw in multiple doctor appointments for my daughter L’s health journey of eosinophilic esophagitis, and now more doctor appointments for M’s journey to correct her flat feet. Since both girls are going through different medical journey’s, I thought I would give updates to see if we can help other families.

A little back story on M. When she was three years old, I took her to the doctor to have her feet checked because she walked with her feet going inwards. The doctor assured me that her feet would correct themselves over the years to not stress about how she is walking at three years old. Parents, trust your instincts.

This was the wrong advice and now fast forward 10 years, we are dealing with a foot grown wrong.

The last 18 months, we have been seeing local orthopedics and finally decided to transfer care to a children’s hospital. This was a good decision. When we arrived with M’s soft orthotics, the pediatric orthopedic asked why she was wearing them? In his words, those will never work for M’s foot. He decided to put M in a cast for 4 weeks and is having custom braces made for when she has the cast removed.

Her foot now also has a cyst on top of the big toe bone.

We are hoping the cast will help take the inflammation away and the cyst will go away. If the cast and braces do not do what they need to do, M will face surgery in the future.

As a family, we are being very optimistic that the cast and braces will work. Time will tell. Stay tuned and we will keep you posted!

The post Never a Dull Moment…. first appeared on One Moms World Mom Blog - Jen Houck.

In January of this year, my youngest daughter started on a medical journey. It all shook us hard and made me take a close look at the food that was going into our bodies. When your child is diagnosed with a rare disease and it revolves around food, your life indeed changes.

This picture was from January of this year.

This picture was from this past Saturday:

Can you see the changes? M and I both have officially lost 20 pounds. I’m so proud of M for embarking on this healthy journey with me. Her blood pressure was 150 over 80 at the first of the year. This was not good at all. This past week, her blood pressure was 110 over 74. Isn’t that amazing? By now, you probably want to know what all we have changed in our diets.

First off, no drinks are allowed in the house. We all drink alkaline water that we purchase each week from our local health food store. Four gallons usually last us about 5 days. Other drinks of choice include boiling water for herbal teas and Madi will drink cold green tea as well.

Secondly, we eat all natural foods. No processed foods are allowed in the house. The diet we follow is more along the lines of the paleo diet. Giving up dairy was a big positive for me. After being diagnosed with a bleeding ulcer earlier this year, I did my own research to see what could cause gastritis and bleeding ulcers. I am now gluten free and dairy free. I still drink my coffee each morning but add the SO Delicious Coconut Creamer. M and my husband still have some dairy, mostly in the form of different types of cheese. At first, I thought I would miss dairy but do not miss it.

Thirdly, fresh fruits and vegetables along with almonds are our go-to snacks. When I said “our”, I mean Madi and I. My husband is not a fan of fresh fruits of vegetables so his go-to snack is all natural peanut butter. If a day goes by without my natural roasted almonds, I start craving them. My sugar cravings are completely gone. It’s amazing, friends! Your body feels so much better and your overall mood toward life is much more positive.

Each week, I will buy blueberries, strawberries, apples, cucumbers, celery, and peppers. My weekend consists of cutting or chopping up the fruits and veggies to put them in individual containers so it is easy to go to the fridge for a snack. I cook from scratch three meals a day. You may say, “you are too busy to cook from scratch”, but that is not the truth. I work full-time, go to school, homeschool our girls, travel to lots of doctor visits and still find the time. Finding the time is key. Organize your week, meal plan and make the time.  Exercise is non-existent for me at the moment. This is where I need to do better and incorporate a type of exercise into my day. If I am lucky, I will squeeze in a walk in my neighborhood each week but it is definitely not on a regular basis. We do have a gym membership at my work that I really want to strive hard to use more.

With all that being said, just look at what eating healthy can do for your body. Get in the right mind-set and say you are going to do this for your family. Stop buying junk or processed foods. Don’t bring it into the house anymore. If you don’t buy it, your family will get in routine of eating healthier.

Let’s see what the next six months will bring for our family in our “more healthy” life journey.

The post All Natural Eating Leads to Weight Loss first appeared on One Moms World Mom Blog - Jen Houck.

As you know, my youngest daughter, L, is going through a health journey since being diagnosed with a rare disease called eosinophilic esophagitis.

We are grateful for insurance since she has several appointments and medical procedures along with medicines and formula. However, sometimes insurance companies will not pay for specific needs. I am eager to let you know about the UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation. The foundation is seeking grant applications from North Carolina families in need of financial assistance to help pay for their childâ€s health care treatments, services or equipment not covered, or not fully covered, by their commercial health insurance plan. Qualifying families can receive up to $5,000 per grant with a lifetime maximum of $10,000 per child to help pay for medical services and equipment such as physical, occupational and speech therapy, counseling services, surgeries, prescriptions, wheelchairs, orthotics, eyeglasses and hearing aids.

To be eligible for a grant, children must be 16 years of age or younger. Families must meet economic guidelines, reside in the United States and have a commercial health insurance plan. Grants are available for medical expenses families have incurred 60 days prior to the date of application as well as for ongoing and future medical needs. Families do not need to have insurance through UnitedHealthcare to be eligible.

Parents or legal guardians may apply for grants at www.UHCCF.org, and there is no application deadline.

Since 2007, UHCCF has awarded over 10,000 grants valued at more than $29 million to children and their families across the United States for treatments associated with medical conditions such as cancer, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, diabetes, hearing loss, autism, cystic fibrosis, Down syndrome, ADHD and cerebral palsy.

In North Carolina, UHCCF awarded more than 325 grants since 2011 and is hoping many more local families apply this year.

“Many families across the United States are facing a variety of financial challenges, including child-related medical costs. The UnitedHealthcare Childrenâ€s Foundation medical grants will help families access and pay for care that will improve their childâ€s health,” said UHCCF President Matt Peterson. “We recently awarded our 10,000th child medical grant and are seeking to help thousands of more families. We encourage everyone to spread the word to friends, family members and colleagues that child medical grants are available from the UnitedHealthcare Childrenâ€s Foundation.”

For more information about UHCCF, visit www.UHCCF.org.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post but a topic that is very dear to our hearts. All thoughts and opinions are of our own.

The post Medical Grants Are Available for Children in North Carolina #UHCCF first appeared on One Moms World Mom Blog - Jen Houck.

Juicy Juice has been a household name for years. It is the juice that showed up during snack time at my girls’ sporting activities, my girls’ schools, and in our own refrigerator.

As a parent, I am more aware of what we eat and drink. We will not allow anything in the house with high fructose corn syrup. Thankfully, like all of the Juicy Juice brandâ€s beverages, Juicy Juice Splashers contain no high fructose corn syrup, cane sugar or artificial sweeteners, and are available nationwide in four kid-favorite flavors, including Fruit Punch, Berry Lemonade, Peach Mango and Tropical Twist.

We put the new flavors to a taste test!

L thoroughly enjoyed the taste and immediately asked for another one. I wanted to see if I liked it, and I was impressed with the taste. The juice tastes more natural to me. I’m proud of a company listening to parents and making a healthier drink. The Juicy Juice Splashers are a refreshing 50/50 blend of filtered water and fruit juice with 50% less sugar than the leading juice.

With Halloween right around the corner, I wanted to share with recipes and activities that will leave your ghoulish guests “haunting” for more, Juicy Juice! These spooky and fall-favorite recipes and activities made with Juicy Juice 100% juice are a great alternative to the typical candy treat:

·         Ghoulish Grape Hands

·         Homemade Fruit Juice Gummies

·         Very Berry Oat Muffins

·         Pirate Juice Craft

·         Gauzy Ghosts craft

The new Juicy Juice Splashers are available in stores nationwide. I’m sure your family will enjoy the new taste!

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are of my own.

The post Juicy Juice Debuts New Juice: Juicy Juice Splashers first appeared on One Moms World Mom Blog - Jen Houck.

The below article is a sponsored post from Health Innovations.

Labor Day is just around the corner, and for many families that means backyard BBQs, family road trips and a respite from work. For some people, however, these usually enjoyable activities are hindered by hearing loss, a condition that affects more than 48 million people nationwide.

Commonly associated with older Americans, hearing loss affects people of working age as well: about 1.1 billion young adults worldwide are at risk of hearing loss, according to a recent study by the World Health Organization. The growing prevalence of hearing loss is being spurred by an aging population and exposure to loud sounds, including the frequent use of earbuds that can over time contribute to noise-induced hearing loss.

Hearing loss has many consequences, affecting Americans personally and professionally. Approximately 60 percent of people with hearing loss are of working age. Left untreated, hearing loss can reduce earnings by as much as $30,000 a year, and people with this condition are nearly twice as likely to be unemployed as their peers who use hearing aids. According to a 2013 survey, 30 percent of employees said they suspect they have a hearing problem but have not sought treatment.

Hearing loss is especially common among employees exposed to loud noise levels at work, including professions such as military and law enforcement, construction, and agriculture. About 22 million employees nationwide are exposed to hazardous noise levels on the job, according to a recent report from the Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OSHA).

If you or a loved one is experiencing hearing loss, now is the time for treatment. Early signs of hearing loss include turning up the TV or radio to levels others consider too loud, having trouble hearing in noisy environments or difficulty hearing on the phone.

Here are tips to improve communications at work place and at play:

• Before a meeting, request an agenda that will make it easier to follow the discussion. Ask for a meeting recap or partner with co-workers to share notes.
• Select a place at the table that enables you to see coworkers†faces and watch lips to help enhance speech understanding.
• Rather than nodding along to a conversation you canâ€t follow, politely stop the discussion and ask the speaker to rephrase what was said.
• If recommended, consider wearing hearing aids, which help people hear soft sounds and keep loud noises at a comfortable level.

To help prevent hearing loss, here are some helpful tips:

• For people consistently exposed to noise, especially while on the job, consider options such as ear muffs or custom earplugs that offer significant protection.
• When attending sports events or music concerts, use ear protection such as inexpensive ear plugs that are available at pharmacies and other retail stores.
• Limit exposure to loud sounds – including music, lawn mowers and motorcycles – to no more than 20 minutes at a time.
• Follow the 60/60 rule: use earbuds for no more than 60 minutes at a time and at 60 percent of the deviceâ€s maximum volume.

Preserving hearing health, or obtaining treatment if necessary, is crucial for Americans both in and out of the workforce. Following these tips will help people maintain their hearing health and, as a result, improve their overall health and ability to work.

The post Earbud Users: How to Prevent Hearing Loss first appeared on One Moms World Mom Blog - Jen Houck.

*Disclosure: This is a sponsored informational post from UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation. All thoughts and opinions are of my own.

When your child needs a medical service, the last thing you want to worry about is being able to afford the service. Many families all across the United States have to face this dilemma each week. I am grateful for the UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation (UHCCF).

The foundation is seeking grant applications from families in need of financial assistance to help pay for their childâ€s health care treatments, services or equipment not covered, or not fully covered, by their commercial health insurance plan.

Qualifying families can receive up to $5,000 per grant with a lifetime maximum of $10,000 per child to help pay for medical services and equipment such as physical, occupational and speech therapy, counseling services, surgeries, prescriptions, wheelchairs, orthotics, eyeglasses and hearing aids.

To be eligible for a grant, children must be 16 years of age or younger. Families must meet economic guidelines, reside in the United States and have a commercial health insurance plan. Grants are available for medical expenses families have incurred 60 days prior to the date of application as well as for ongoing and future medical needs. Parents or legal guardians may apply for grants at www.UHCCF.org, and there is no application deadline.

Last year, UHCCF awarded more than 2,000 medical grants worth an estimated $5.4 million, to children and their families across the United States for treatments associated with medical conditions such as cancer, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, diabetes, hearing loss, autism, cystic fibrosis, Down syndrome, ADHD and cerebral palsy.

Since 2007, UHCCF has awarded more than 9,000 medical grants, totaling more than $27 million, to children and their families across the United States. In the past three years, more than 200 families in North Carolina received grants.

“Thousands of children struggle every day for something many of us take for granted – our health. That reality is the driving force behind UnitedHealthcare Childrenâ€s Foundationâ€s mission to help families in need access medical care that will improve their childâ€s health. Our medical grants have already helped thousands of children in need, and we are looking to help thousands†more children in the future,” said UHCCF President Matt Peterson.

New childrenâ€s book to raise funds

To help raise funds for its child medical grant program, UHCCF has published a new childrenâ€s book, “Oliver & Hopeâ€s Superhero Saturday” – the third book in the Oliver & Hope series.

Imagination takes flight in the third book of the award-winning Oliver & Hopeâ„¢ series as Oliverâ„¢ the bear, Hopeâ„¢ the butterfly and Millieâ„¢ the barn owl join their friend Charlotte the fox on a superhero adventure.

When these lovable characters put on their hero capes, they have fun pretending to save a pirate ship, rescue a hot air balloon and face an evil mud monster. But when they discover their friend Chewieâ„¢ the English bulldog really needs their help, the friends must work together to become real heroes.

The 32-page book, geared toward children ages 3-8, delivers a fun story and engaging images that enable readers to imagine how they might become a hero like the characters. The heartwarming story also teaches subtle lessons about the power of friendship, resiliency and imagination.

“Oliver & Hopeâ€s Superhero Saturday” is the highly anticipated follow-up to the first two award-winning books in the series: “Oliver & Hopeâ€s Amusing Adventure” and “Oliver & Hopeâ€s Adventure Under the Stars.” Each book in the series is written by Meg Cadts and beautifully hand-illustrated and painted by Samantha Fitch. Meg Cadts is the pen name for the UHCCF team of writers and contributors.

All three books of the Oliver & Hope series are available through uhccf.org/shop for $16.95 each. Proceeds from the books and plush toys from the series help fund UHCCF grants that help families pay for childrenâ€s medical expenses not covered, or not fully covered, by their parents†commercial health insurance plan.

More information about the Oliver & Hope books, including free audio recordings of the books as well as fun activities and downloads, can be found at Oliver & Hopeâ€s Clubhouse at UHCCF.org.

About UnitedHealthcare Childrenâ€s Foundation

The UnitedHealthcare Childrenâ€s Foundation (UHCCF) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that provides medical grants to help children gain access to health-related services not covered, or not fully covered, by their parents†commercial health insurance plan. Families can receive up to $5,000 annually per child ($10,000 lifetime maximum per child), and do not need to have insurance through UnitedHealthcare to be eligible. UHCCF was founded in 1999. Since 2007, UHCCF has awarded more than 9,000 grants valued at over $27 million to children and their families across the United States. UHCCFâ€s funding is provided by contributions from individuals, corporations and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) employees. To apply for a grant, donate or learn more, please visit www.UHCCF.org.

The post Medical Grants Available for Children’s Hospital Services in the U.S. first appeared on One Moms World Mom Blog - Jen Houck.