About Me

Whole.  New.  Mom.

That’s me up there in the funny green car with the men in my life.

My name is Adrienne and I am the voice behind Whole New Mom.

Writing about myself is a little tough.  Tough to know what to put in.

Tough to know what to leave out.

Well, what can I say about myself?  First, I’ll tell you about my blog.  I write about:

- Whole Food that is special diet friendly (My recipes are all sugar free and adaptable to dairy free, egg free, and gluten free diets.  Gradually I am incorporating grain free recipes as well.)
- Healthy, Non-Toxic Living (stuff like personal care, home care, etc. that is free of all the chemical ickiness that really makes me (and the whole world) sick.  Got sensitivities?  This is the place for you.  Don’t have ‘em?  This is still the place for you.  Check out my posts on Amazing No Streak Glass Cleaner, Natural Dishwasher Rinse Aid and The Battle of the DIY Eye Makeup Removers – and The Winner for a taste of these kinds of things.
- Health topics (toxins, GMOs, vaccines, autism, food allergies, special diet, essential oils) – kind of “you name it”.  If it’s in the health news, I probably have something to say about it–I just might not have time to blog about it .
- Frugal, Simple, and Sustainable Living.  That means doing things quickly and without a lot of money or waste.

All through my life I’ve been interested in healthy and healthy living.  I was Pre-Med in college, but decided against it since I thought someday I might want a family and knew it would be hard to do both the way I wanted to.

We know that we should eat healthy food, care for our bodies, care for the earth, love our families (which includes our fellow man if you happen to not be married or have children), impact our world, and do it all on a budget and within the 24 hours that God has given us. 

Tough assignment, especially for us perfectionists .

The reason why I started Whole New Mom is to share with others some of the things that I have learned along this bumpy road of life.

About my life:

- My husband is an English professor and we homeschool.

- Our oldest was born at home in Illinois.

- We lived in Oklahoma for a brief period and now reside in Western Michigan.  We had a different course planned for our lives, one that didn’t include life-threatening food allergies, autism, or adrenal burnout.  But then, we aren’t the ones in control of our lives.

- I have both the gift and weakness of second-guessing everything, as well as a diverse set of experience and interests that makes it hard for me to pin myself down.  So you will see in my blog a reflection of that diversity, and the diversity of my reflections.  For example:

- I worked in the financial industry for 10 years including a stint on an equity options trading floor as well as work in employee benefits.  Ask me sometime about my nickname “the hammer.”

- Our first child was born at home and I am a strong advocate for natural parenting.

- One of my sons has life-threatening food allergies as well as Asperger’s Syndrome.

- Our family of 3 lived on an income of 12,500 for 1 year while my husband was finishing his PhD and we still made it through 2 master’s and a doctorate without debt.  Ask me sometime about our “ghetto food” and frugal date nights .

- I worked as a tentmaking missionary in Japan for 1 year and served in parachurch ministry throughout college.  Interestingly enough, my husband taught in China for 2 years at the college level.  We both sang with black gospel choirs in college.

- I was pre-med in college, but I am not a doctor.  Remember that as you read my posts, please .

So, if you put all of the above into one person and add a lot of other things, you come out with the person behind this blog.

But I forgot to mention one thing.  I also am a reforming (emphasis on the “ing”) Type A personality.

All my life I have pushed myself to do more, get straight A’s, exercise enough, cook the right way, be with my kids enough, be involved at church enough, have a solid family life.  You too?

One thing that has never been perfect about me is having a neat house.  But that’s probably because I am usually too busy with other things .  I am thinking about starting a Messy Mom’s Club at our church.  If you clean before having friends over –you are kicked out .

But somewhere after Asperger’s and before today, I crashed into the world of adrenal burnout.  And now I am coming out.

We’ve been down many medical roads en route to better health.  Our current pitstop (and hopefully we are near the end) is Nutritional Balancing to reverse heavy metal toxicity and toxin overload.

So this blog may not be as busy as some others, simply because I need to stay healthy and sane.

I will probably feel guilty about it sometimes, but that too I am working on.  When I go a few days without a post, you will know why.  I am simply trying to take care of myself and not neglect my family.

To read more about Whole New Mom, read About Whole New Mom.

Oh…and the funny car up there?  The car is part of our life too.  The mascots from our favorite local ice hockey team drive around in it before each home game.  See why we’re so happy to be sitting in it?  We got to go on a “backstage tour” of sorts of the hockey rink and this was part of the “tour”.

According to my son, life without hockey would be–well–pretty rough.