Shelbe

It’s amazing really that I believe in anything at all. I’m the ultimate “doubting Thomas”. I have to see to believe and in this I’ve seen, so as odd as it sounds I believe in Shelbe. Add me to her cult, call me nuts and even I would doubt what I believe should I not have experienced this.

Both Sean and Julia are in-vitro miracle babies. I didn’t believe it would affect their health. But I spent most of the first 5 years of motherhood in the pediatrician’s office with constipation, allergies, sinus infections, ear infections, the flu, colds, bugs and what not. I joked that I should have my own personal room at the doctor’s office. There was rarely a day that we went without antibiotics, inhalers or some form of medicines in our house. Julia’s tummy pains were so bad and so frequent that I was sure she had some incurable disease. She kept us awake all night – many, many nights with her coughing – she was allergic to dust mites and had severe seasonal allergies and coughed and choked all night. We looked into the cost of removing all carpeting and replacing it with hardwoods in the house or even in her room but it was not in the budget that year.

Then we met Shelbe… I was warned “she only eats organic”… I didn’t even know what organic was, that movement had not hit NY yet. She was at our home for just fifteen minutes and she looked at Sean and asked about his history (he couldn’t speak well at 2 years old). I explained that he couldn’t talk as he had many ear infections as a child, everything he heard sounded like others were speaking under water. Then I added that we got tubes. To which Shelbe said “and now he has sinus infections” I was surprised, “Yes”… She looked at Sean and said, I believe he’s allergic to milk. May I test him? Then she did something crazy, she had him hold milk and tested his muscle’s reaction to the milk in his hands with her fingers and concluded. Yes, he’s allergic to milk.

Shelbe then asked me about Julia and I told her that she was on allergy meds and some type of diuretic. Shelby asked if I thought that was normal. I said I don’t know what’s normal. I give her prunes and prune juice daily, only feed her heavy fiber breads and nothing makes a difference. She suggested we shop together the next day. I admit, I didn’t really believe her but I bought what she suggested. I though the organic “nutrition movement” was a lot of hype. But I did what she said. Sean’s constant drooling stopped, his nose no longer dripped, Julia stopped crying about her tummy pains and the constant coughing all night long stopped.

Even still, doubting Thomas that I am, I could not believe, I had to test it. A few weeks later, we gave Sean milk… we replaced Ezekiel Bread with soft wheat bread and saw all the old symptoms come back… ok, ok, I’m convinced (sort of) and I go back to all that she taught – healthy fats: avocados, nuts, coconut and olive oils, eggs, raw milks and cheeses, grass fed beef, free range chickens, fertile eggs and raw dairy, quinoa, organ meats, kefir, yogurt, flax, limit sugar. It’s so foreign from what I’m used to…. But it works. We are not sick, Julia doesn’t cough, Sean’s constant nose drip and sinus infections disappear. We are healthy, three years without being sick for more than a day.

Yes, I believe in the gift that Shelbe has. When we first met, she told me she had a “gift”, I never met anyone who thought they had a gift who wasn’t lying or crazy. But I have now. I do believe she’s a gifted healer, through knowledge yes, but a gift and I believe this gift and it has shaped who I am - a bit of a nutrition freak in upstate NY where cheetos and Capri Suns rule.


Sean, Katie and Kristina

Kristina is going to marry Sean – he is the only boy for her, Sean is going marry Katie – she is only girl for her. Cousin Katie wants to marry Sean.


How does he do it? How is it that I just look at his oversized brown eyes on his boyish face and melt. How is it possible that his computer artwork made me grin and made my heart skip a beat. Sean is just six but he is pure affectionate love, he loves to hold my face in his hands and “kiss me around the world” and in every language, there’s the cat kiss (a cheek rub), the well known Eskimo and Butterfly kisses and then the every special eye kisses. Mommy’s eyes get worse every year and he’s trying to reverse the damage with love. At night he loves to argue – I love you more than you love me to which my nightly reply is that’s impossible.


Day 4: We moved into our new offices on Monday, though we still are under construction, we are thrilled with our new space at Union Square.  Tom O’Neill, our landlord, worked relentlessly to the to bring our dream space into fruition.  With spectacular sunsets and views of West Mountain to just the sheer “space” of the offices, we are so happy.  We couldn’t have done it without Mary Whiteford and Jessica Mossey of Conley Associates, they are design wizards, who turned an old warehouse into a funky space, Jill Yard of Carpet Network was also unbelievable to work with.  With just days to get carpet – she sourced all the manufacturers to find the best carpet, that was in-stock and at a great rate – we tried many carpet sources and she was the only one to come to the plate and she hit a home run!  Ed Ostberg of Design Function, designed custom desk pods that fit our needs (eventually, we’ll mount all the computer screens as he intended), he had great vision on the planning of the space and the signage.

Thanks to all who helped make this dream a reality.


At Cape Canaveral Florida 12-2008

At Cape Canaveral Florida 12-2008

I’ve always been a work-a-holic.  Waking up at 7am and working till midnight was never a chore.  I love my job and love that I can make a difference in people’s lives through “making them found on the web”.

Even after having three children, I tempered my hours a little to spend time with them from 5-9pm and on weekends but still worked every other hour albeit at home, so I could be with them during breaks.

Things changed for me this summer, I always thought of myself as a “dot.com mom” but the MOM part completely took over.  I had the “fortunate” experience to be so badly burned by my children’s nanny last winter that I swore, I would never have another nanny in my life.  So when school was out in June, I did something most “business-owners” wouldn’t or couldn’t do… I stopped working full time for the summer and spent the summer working only 8-11 a.m. and spent the rest of the days with the kids being what I always wanted to be a “stay-at-home mom”.  I am so blessed with the  brilliant people who work at Mannix Marketing, Inc., people I trust 100% with the business, not to mention a husband who quit his job to join the company and is every bit as passionate about the mission as I am.

School is back on… but my youngest is sick today, so as I flit around my home office in a tiara and pink wings pretending to be a computer fairy keep her smiling while answering emails, I thank God that we don’t use the webcams on the computers for communication – skype is enough!


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