Day Seven

Hi all! 


 The girls and I are still in Oklahoma having a great time visiting with family. We head home to Kansas tomorrow after lunch. Woohoo!


We didn't have a great first-thing-in-the-morning breakfast, because we had about 20 minutes to get to Mass at 8am (UGH), so all I could do was push the girls out the double glass doors in the hotel, while I scooped up four yogurts and spoons, so they ate this as their snack while riding in the van to Mass. After Mass was over, my bestest cousin in the world (and her small daughter) came with us to IHOP for a breakfast, we ate around 10:15. I ordered each child three (three!) eggs with bacon and fresh fruit. They scarfed it down in about five minutes... and then asked for more! I've never seen them eat that much protein that quickly. I pondered how much food I'm really supposed to give them as they repeatedly asked for more... but before I could figure out what to do, Elizabeth threw her cup at a lady sitting behind us, and I decided it was time to leave. 


Then we went to Wal-Mart (which stinks if you want real food!) and stocked up on the best I could get fruit and vegetables. We even found dried bing cherries with no sugar added, walnuts, and full-fat yogurt. Score! 


The girls, our food (that's right, it's now it's own entity) and I spent the afternoon with the grandparents, my mom, and siblings. Everybody gave us a hard time about the food we had on hand. In a good-natured way, of course. We watched while everybody else munched on pizza, chips, soda, etc. Of course we really wanted to be eating that stuff too, and really, bell peppers just don't sound as good as nachos, but we stuck to it! The kids have a snack of grapes, pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, cheese, and nuts with a "fruit dip", which was plain greek yogurt with a smidge of honey. They seemed content with it all. Even my girls who think greek yogurt is "like eating sour cream", ate most of it. 


I hadn't even noticed (nor did the girls) that we didn't have lunch until about 5pm! The breakfast combined with the fruit/cheese/nut plate had really kept us satisfied for quite a while. Then we munched on various vegetables for a while. And finally we headed out for dinner at a mexican food 


We ordered the double fajitas (steak and chicken), two order to be precise, and they kids ate every bit, and then asked for more! I am now beginning to see that what would already be double their intake, needs to be tripled at least. I can't believe how much the chips, the rice, and the tortillas (before going Primal) had filled them up! We never could finish our ONE meat/vegetable plate before, and now we've polished off TWO plates. Amazing. And, right on cue, Elizabeth decided that an hour of crying, wanting to be held, and generally making me look like a terrible parent was enough, and we had to get out of there!


The kids were devastated not to have had the chips though. I really was very sad for them... and I wanted a Coke! I have to say I'm really proud of the kids. They did get a little moody about the no-chips, but they quickly accepted it and went on to eat all of their dinner happily.


We headed back to my grandparent's house and I made a snack tray of cut up vegetables, nuts, and the last of the fruit. It's more fruit than I really want them eating in a day, but the packaging wasn't the best, and I didn't want it leaking all over my car on the return trip home.  They loved most of it. Amy, 5, is my oddest eater by far... she prefers raw mushrooms to peppers or carrots. What the heck?!


So we feel like we grazed all day. I know now I need to plan on each child eating about double, if not triple, the amount they used to eat in the way of fats and protein. And I probably need to eat a bit more as well. That sounds so weird...!


I still have the headache. I hear ya when you say to cut back slowly, but I was/am a true addict to the stuff, and that approach just doesn't work for me. It's all or nothing. 


I am still achy. I think I will probably just feel this way for at least another week or two. Thank you ALL for the kind words of encouragement, as it has really helped me to stay focused and to not cheat (not even once!) since last Monday. 

The upsides: Still the same. I am able to focus better, I am able to tolerate craziness a bit easier, and I generally feel happy, even though my head hurts. So success once again!


The kids are still kind of zoning out at times and a little more emotional than usual, but overall, they are great kids who really do well with change. 


 I brought the kids back to the hotel around 10:30. By 10:33 they had changed into pajamas, fell into bed, and by 10:34 they were sounds asleep. 


Now... where's my dark chocolate?