Wow, we are in the home stretch of our food challenge. And what a challenge. Hah!
We did have a point this weekend where I had to give in and allow the use of corn tortillas from the store. I had no other grains or beans ready to go, everyone was hungry, and my family is not satisfied with a meal that doesn’t include either grains or beans to give some sort of carb illusion.
The moral of the story – always have beans or rice or something that is properly prepared in the freezer. Actually, I always need to have meals in the freezer that can be pulled out and cooked.
The real issue was I was exhausted. As I’ve mentioned in my blog posts the past couple of days, last week was completely exhausting for me and by the weekend I could hardly function. I felt like I was walking around in a fuzz and I’m just thankful I don’t have to “go to work” like Scott does. I’m not sure how I’d manage that.
So last week highlighted again the need to have good, nutritious meals in the freezer, or the ingredients to put together quick meals with minimal preparation. This week I’ve planned to double most of my main dishes so that I’ll have that freezer supply.
Now that Galen is here it’s going to be awhile before I can do a marathon freezer cooking session like I did to have us supplied with meals (and yep, we’ve eaten all 44 meals) – but I can double or triple recipes relatively easily.
I don’t feel burned out like I did after the first 7 days of our trial. Last week’s issues were mostly unrelated to meal planning, and the strategies that worked to help streamline in the kitchen really have helped. I still spend time in meal preparation – around 20 minutes for breakfast, 30 minutes for lunch, and an hour for supper – but on the whole I feel it’s going well. I’d like to get the time spent on supper down further, and think I may try to start doing some of the prep at snacktimes. I found that helped last year before Galen was born.
Overall we are feeling good. The “big boys” Asher and Brennan came down with colds last week, but the rest of us didn’t. Their colds went pretty quickly too so their bodies cleared whatever was needed to be cleared.
The big kids are all pretty cheerful and content, helpful, and strong. Galen has been cranky the past few days and drooling a lot. It’s early yet for teething but maybe there’s something going on down deep? He has been going to bed easier most nights.
I’m feeling great (other than tired) and feel like I’ve been able to spend a lot of time being productive. This is a good thing because I start to feel like I’m going crazy if I’m not “being productive.” :p
Scott says that he’s feeling good and that makes me happy. I like providing good food that makes my family happy. 
3 Comments
Just letting you know that I am still reading every day. lol Even if there isn’t a new blog. Sounds like the changes to your diet are really making a huge change! How is it helping Asher? Is he still showing classic autism signs or are the diet changes helping?
As for early teething, anything is possible. I know that molars can cause teething symptoms months before those first ones poke through… maybe it can be the same with the other teeth?
The diet stuff is going pretty well – biggest challenge is keeping on top of the cooking because forgetting something messes stuff up! Thus why I want to get some meals in the freezer.
Asher is doing well. He’s still quirky and has some issues. We’ve done speech therapy (with a private therapist) up here but I haven’t wanted to get involved in the school system to do any evaluations. He’s doing well with preschool (at home) and I think he’ll be fine being home schooled so I don’t see any reason to go through all the frustrations we went through with the “system” in SC again up here kwim?
I think the diet helps a lot. We can tell when we’ve slacked on diet and he’s gotten too much processed food or sweets. He does so much better overall on good food.
The big kids weren’t really bothered much by teething so if that’s what Galen is going through I’m not sure what I’ll do… I just know he’s a grump right now lol!
That’s awesome about Asher! I have heard others *try* the diets and then give them up out of *conviance*, which skews the results. That and I totally agree that homeschooling helps too since you KNOW how best to reach your own child and they don’t have to feel overwhelmed by the constant chaos of public school.
I really need to buckle down and try some of those tricks here with the kids. I know, start slow, but it just seems that I get too overwhelmed sometimes to remember to take baby steps to those goals.