Chicken broth rocks!

I got my Wii Fit in today--a little yoga (warrior, sun salutation, etc) and some strength (lunges, etc), and some step. The step was a bit more challenging than normal because I was holding a very feisty and unhappy-when-not-attached-to-Mommy 11-month-old. It made it just that much more effective, right?!?

Another day down with no cheating...I'm not even licking my fingers when giving the girls meals, even tearing up pizza for KiKi. That's something. Because I'm horrible about nibbling while I'm feeding them. But nope, I'm all in. Well, I don't know if you can say that just 2 days in, but still. I'm impressed with myself.

I got very hungry today, but I made it. We were very busy with all the aforementioned running around, but tonight I needed something. So--with the docs approval, never fear--I had a cup of hot chicken broth tonight, and it hit the spot. A little something to do with my hands and nice and warm to boot.

It would have been nice if it were crunchy or meaty or sweet or anything really, but it was successful in keeping me from looking for something else. So it did it's job.

Oh, and Cate--Great ideas, the schedule is pretty fixed. Lunch time is not flexible, some days M stays at work, but we try not to do that more than we have to. I have wondered about doing a 1230 lunch, which would be great, but it hasn't been possible yet, and probably won't be. The girls are asleep til we get them up to put them in the car to take M to work, and I can't hardly stand to get them up earlier. They won't eat for a while after they get up anyway. So we'll have to deal for now and figure it out as we go.

And no, this won't be my only blog topic, but it's new and I'm trying to stick with it... so bear with me. I'll probably be doing little updates on Twitter (which is now in the right margin) and spare all you blog readers from the boring blather.

Last notes on Day 1. Welcome Day 2

For Maggie M--Those cattle ranchers should be so darn proud of you!!! :o) Since I'm following the docs orders at this stage, he said no red meat. None. And he encouraged me to make that just part of the new norm as well. We'll see about that. I love a good steak or vegetable beef soup with nice big chunks. (A certain mother-in-law makes a very nice version.) And a big juicy burger with all the fixin's. Yum! But for now, it'll be no beef. I even gave away all the frozen beef that I had so others could enjoy it.

For Mom--No, there will be no deer. Period. Not now, not ever.

As for day 1--I made it. I got it all in. Mostly. The chicken and broccoli were good, some of the best chicken I've made, thankfully.

With a little assistance, I cleared out the pantry and fridge/freezer of everything that is not something we can eat (I kept a little good stuff for M...he's not really 100%, and he doesn't have to be) and not something Kinlee can eat. Otherwise, it's gone. I ended the day not feeling well, though I don't think it was food related. But it was no fun, so I went to bed early.

Mornings are hard, as we get up, get girls up and changed, load everyone in the van and take M to work. Then we come home, unload girls, feed them, get them dressed if we didn't get to do it before the work drop-off, load them up again, and leave (all in less than 30 minutes) to take Braska to school. So by the time I get home after that, it's almost 930 and I haven't eaten yet. I'm not overly hungry, but it throws the whole schedule of the snack in the morning and a decent lunch time.

As a point of reference, work is 12-15 minutes each way (only 3 miles) and school is 9-12 minutes each way (only 2 miles--gotta love the city).

Of course, lunch is another issue. I pick Braska up at noon, then we sometimes come home (having only about 20 minutes before leaving again) or we spend that 20 minutes finding something to do in the car until we have to head over to pick up M for lunch at 1. Then it's home, feed girls if they haven't eaten yet and get Kinlee to nap (if I'm sending the van back with M). Or the girls and M get lunch while I do the feeding for the little ones. Then it's time to load up again and take him back by 2. Then it's home, unload girls, get girls to nap, and then I can eat. Again, not ideal timing.

But it's easy to see there why our eating habits are bad, and they have been forever. We eat on the run ALL the time. We never sit at the table, the girls are in their chairs and I'm feeding them while M is in the living room or downstairs or doing whatever. I eat a bite here and there, or I eat in the car. If I do eat at home, it's standing at the counter or in between feeding one girl or the other.

I realize some of you have conquered these issues of juggling kids and husbands and families and food and even work. My hat's off to you. We've got a long way to go.

For now, it's time to get my oatmeal and egg whites (which I am now eating from boiled eggs...can't do the scrambled). Maybe I'll get time for a shower before I need to go pick up Braska. A girl can dream.

BrocChick-O-Licious

To answer a few questions…

It’s not just for 7 days, but I’m following it exactly as prescribed for 7 days and then we might alter a veggie or two, add a healthy something here or there. But overall, the goal is to make something very close to this my new norm…for quite a while.  It’s going to be a long road.

The important parts according to my doc, who is a fitness/health nut, are to drink the water right before the meal, like all at once.  Then for lunch and dinner to eat the veggies next, then the meat.  The high-fiber broccoli helps me to feel full.  And though I like broccoli, 2 cups is a lot of broccoli!

We’re still doing Wii Fit Plus, but I’ve had a few days off.  Lots of evening activities and by the time I get home and put the kids to bed, I’m in no mood for listening to the little voices talk to me on the Wii.  I’d like to be able to do it in the morning, but scheduling is difficult with work and school drop-offs, etc., and tiny hands interfering.

We’ll see how it goes.  I just baked a bunch of chicken so I’m good for a few days of meals.  I like that part, not much cooking!!  I divided it up in 4 oz pieces and it’s ready to go, about 4 days worth for me and M.  I plan to get some salmon fillets too, they are yummy and come in 4 oz fillets, nice and handy.

This morning I learned I don’t care for egg whites scrambled.  We might do some boiling and I can eat them that way, sans yolks.  I didn’t quite get all the oatmeal down, but without the butter and brown sugar, it sure lacks something!  A little Splenda and cinnamon and it was almost ok.

It’s 2:30p and I just finished my lunch, it’s been one of those days.  Running and picking up, dropping off, feeding kids, etc.  But the 2 cups of broccoli wasn’t bad at all.  And I even ate it straight steamed, no seasoning and no fats added, and it wasn’t bad.  Who knew under all that cheese sauce broccoli was good on its own??  (I kid, I like broccoli almost any way it’s presented.)

I’ve been texting Melanie and Julie much of the day… we’re a good team so far.  Melanie is our champion, having been on this path for 3 years and having some stunning new skin to show for it!  She’s really doing this for the moral support, and because it is not far from her “new norm.”  She’s pushing me and I’m glad for it.  Who would have known after 18 years this is where we’d be, Mel??

So feel free to join in if you’re game.  I’m only 2/3 of a day in, but I’m feeling pretty positive at this point!

9 months

These photo sessions are getting a bit more difficult. Before I could get the first shot, she had a letter in hand. (Don’t mind the diaper that’s a little too big… ran out of our normal kind.)


Then Mommy took it away in an attempt to get a pretty shot. Yeah, that worked well.


So I gave up and let her go at them.


Highlights this month: She’s finally cruising.  It seems she took a little break in her speedy development between pulling to stand and cruising.  That’s ok with me, but now she’s on the move again.  Several people are betting she’ll walk in the next 6 weeks… I’m not sure, but it wouldn’t surprise me.  She loves to walk with two hands held, but she’s hesitant with just one.

She’s enjoying feeding herself, prefers it BY FAR to being fed with a spoon.  She likes all kinds of veggies, bananas and apples, multigrain fruit bars, all kinds of crackers, breads, puffs and cereals.  But as for *real* food, we’re struggling because we’re real-food challenged around here.  We need to fix food she can eat, but that’s going to be a big change.  It’s a process to eat less processed foods.

She’s working on teeth 5 and 6 right now, on either side of her lower front two.  Here’s a peek at 5 of them. 

The uppers are through, one more than the other, and the 6th tooth is just finishing cutting through.  How painful must teething be?!?

In the last couple days she’s decided she wants to clap, so that’s fun.  At first I thought she was trying to sign more, but it’s evolved into a flat-handed clap, so we just chime in with “YAY!” whenever she starts a’clappin’. Here’s a few seconds of her showing her new skill, though a little dark.

8 Months

Once again, we're here to mark another month. This will be quick since I'm borrowing M's computer again, and I don't have the same little gadgets I usually do. (Blogger is hard sometimes! Relatively, of course.)

Before baths this morning, we snapped a few pics. These little shoots are getting tougher as we go. Lie still?? Yeah right.


And Braska wanted in on the action, so in she went. Hugs and kisses are always first on the docket for her.


Then KiKi returned the favor, as she usually does, by pulling hair. Hard.


Then they were both up in about 10 seconds, ready to go. So to the bath we went.


Highlights this month: I can't even keep up. I really need to document better. She's eating pretty well again, after her little phase. She much prefers to feed herself, and gets frustrated when she can't do it all herself. But really, pureed foods, at this stage and self-feeding?? I don't think so. We're doing alot of little "meltables" and such, and she's quite good at it.

Today, she did her first cruising down the side of the couch. She loves to pull up on anything at all, and she really likes the walking toy also, and spends alot of time going around with it. Crazy girl, I just can't get used to this kind of skill with motor. It's so amazing to me. She is mimicking a little with sounds, mostly da da da when we are changing her diaper. She loves to babble with Braska. They seem to have some inside jokes, and they get tickled by something and just sit there and giggle. Too cute.

Here we come, month 9. Ready for what's next. Maybe.

Mommy report: Update, part 1--Feeding

Dishes, showering, laundry—all on hold. I just can’t keep putting off an update on this girl or I’ll forget all this before I can get it down. Since this is my main record of Braska’s goings on, it’s important at this stage.

We’ll start with feeding, and there will be at least a few other categories to follow soon.

To refresh for anyone who might be a newer friend here on the blog, Braska doesn’t eat orally, not regularly, never has. She has a g-tube/button, and she gets all her nutrition via Pediasure through her button. She has no medical issue that causes this problem. This is not a “Down syndrome thing.” She chooses not to eat. She does not show hunger or thirst, and she couldn’t care less if she eats or not. This is a behavioral issue. Even with our ability to feed her without her help, she still has always been underweight. At 34 months, she is just under 22 lbs. Because her weight is low, we cannot do more stringent caloric challenges (holding back on nutrition/food/milk, causing her to become more physically hungry and want food) because she’s not got any weight she can afford to lose in that process.

[Edited to add: Because Braska insists on being different, her oral motor is NOT as poor as one would think for a non eater. As most of you know, her speech is extremely good and she does not sit with her mouth lax or open, and her tongue is generally in her mouth with her lips closed. Our first speech therapist said her great jaw strength is due to the fact that she spent all her time keeping her mouth clenched to resist food. Ha!]

The day Kinlee was born, Braska ate some pudding, if I remember correctly. But she ate that day, and the following days. It was very small amounts at first, a tablespoon or two on a good day. Sometimes only a spoonful, but we offered it and required that she eat something a couple times a day. After about a month, she was eating fairly consistently at the 2-3 tablespoon mark, usually twice a day. We started up again with her nutritionist/feeding specialist, and I could tell immediately that it was not going to be a good thing.

You see, the smallest thing can change her course when it comes to feeding. A strange person present during feeding, an unpleasant experience because she’s too tired. A little choking sensation, though recovered quickly, can ruin her for days. When the nutritionist came that day, I had a bad feeling. She’s not a bad person, but I just had a gut feeling it was too soon for Braska. And I was right, unfortunately.

She refused to eat for her, and she then refused to eat for me for the following 3 weeks. Yep, it can go just like that. She decides she won’t eat, and that’s it. There’s no “oh, she’ll get hungry and eat” thing. She can go days without food or drink and still not ask for it. She’s shown that by ending up in the hospital when she was younger. Super stubborn is her thing.

With alot of work, we got her back to eating a little, and she has continued to progress slowly. We cut out her feeding time with the nutritionist, and made those visits only about making sure she was getting enough and doing a weight check. This has gone well.

Most recently, she’s been surprising us with how much she is accepting. Generally, her habit has been to just taste things. She would accept as much liquid (like a sauce or something) that would remain on a fork. Not much. But taking quantities of food has never been something she’d do. She also has always been a high-flavor girl, preferring tastes that are very spicy, highly seasoned. Nothing as bland as baby foods or unseasoned vegetables.

But lately she has been taking baby foods, straight from the jar, sometimes with added fat and calories from various sources. And she has taken an entire 4 oz jar at a sitting on several occasions in the last couple of weeks. That’s a BIG deal around here! She is also becoming much more willing to take whatever is offered. She hasn’t really rejected a food in a while. She’s also taking sips from a sippy cup with no no-spill valve in it. Very small sips, but it’s something. No straw, no open cup, and of course, no bottle.

She still doesn’t ask for food. She will not remind us that it’s time to eat if we’re busy and don’t offer solid food. But she’s accepting it when offered with greater consistency. Sometimes she will still get obstinate and not want to open her mouth, but she can be coerced with minimal work. That’s great progress for her.

Textures and self feeding are still a long way off. She only takes pureed foods, yogurt, pudding, with the most textured accepted food being baby oat cereal with Pediasure or juice. She takes it a tad thicker than Kinlee does, but still not that challenging. For now, we’ll continue to work on quantity. Soon we’ll try to address textures, attempting to chew (which she will NOT do at all), and self feeding.

Feeding issues are so frustrating. And I’ve yet to find any other kid who is as old as Braska, has no medical issues related to feeding/digestion, and still refuses as thoroughly as she does. It’s not like she only eats 5 things, or she only wants PB&J with crackers for breakfast, or she won’t eat her vegetables at dinner, or even that she’ll only take a bottle. It’s lonely in this kind of position, and there’s not alot of info out there, but that makes our progress even sweeter.

We know very well that she could decide tomorrow not to eat for days, weeks, or months. We always rejoice with a bit of a guarded sense. But I’m glad she’s come this far. We’re working very hard to protect the experiences so that we don’t suffer any setbacks. I’m proud of her that she’s come to this point.

Stay tuned for update, part 2—gross motor.

Feeding what after jarred food?

Ok, so you guys have given me some good info on Kinlee's feeding for the present. Thanks a bunch!

But let's go one step further...

When she's ready to go from baby food to table food, what do you start with there?

You have to remember that we don't eat real meals or even usually real food in our house. Lunch is whatever I can grab in 3 minutes before M gets home for his lunch hour. I usually throw something together for him and I'm still feeding kids or working on some other task while he's eating. Mac n cheese, LOTS of cereal, ramen (for M), frozen burritos...these admittedly less than healthy foods are the norm for us. This new thing of having a kid who eats "normally" is going to be a full-on change for the whole household. I'm trying to do better lately. I got alot of fresh fruit this last trip to the store and made a fruit salad (fruit only, not added stuff), I bought veggies, but we still haven't used them and I have to do that today or they'll be no good. We are once again on a major no-spend-money month, so I got some basics like turkey and cheese for sandwiches and pasta