Day 18 - Stage 2 of Intro - A Plan Falls Into Place

Things went pretty smoothly today.  I had to plan ahead since we were going to be gone for a while this morning.  It worked out very well.  I think we will do this on a daily basis in order to have some sanity around here.

Our schedule looks something like this:

Get up and drink lemon water, then go do morning chores.  Come back to the kitchen and drink broth, then eat veggies and meat.  Bite for bite for the two year old or give it to him all at once, depending on the state of his condition at the time.  This morning it was bite for bite.

The next part of our day is chores and schoolwork.  They were told  they could drink water, tea (ginger, peppermint, or chamomile), or broth.  They could have soups and boiled egg whites (yolks are out for a while) for snacks if they got hungry.  Also, we try to get them out in the sun for a bit during this time if possible.  We call it recess.

Lunch was broth and leftover meat and veggies from yesterday.  Simple.

Then it is time to finish up any schoolwork and chores.  They should drink water, tea, or broth and if they get hungry, then they can have soup.  This is per the directions for the GAPS diet protocol.  They should have broth and soup all day long, as much as they want.

Something new is cooked for dinner.  Tonight we had a feast!!!  It was the best meal we have had since we started intro.  There was something for everyone and we all enjoyed it immensly.  I know it will sound odd, but we LOVED it!  We had chicken broth, of course.  I cooked pork ribs for several hours on the stove, boiled, of course, because this is intro.  We cooked 24 little artichokes that I found at Whole Foods on Saturday and we ate them plain or sometimes dipping them in a little salt.  I cooked french style green beans in the pork broth.  We boiled brocolli, which was largely ignored in favor of the other choices.  We also had some boiled orange roughy fish because it looked fresh and oh so yummy when I went to the store today.  Pork and fish:  it is a weird combo, I know, but what can I say?  It was all good food.  Our two year old had meat, fish and blended squash and green beans with pork broth.  Everyone was happy.  And true to form, if I make more, they eat more.  It is near to impossible to cook ahead for this crew.

Then we did baths and bedtimes, which are all staggered.  Bath for the 2 year old.  Bath for the 5 year old while the 2 year old is put to bed.  Bath for the 8 year old while the 5 year old is put to bed.  Bath for the 11 year old while the 8 year old reads or draws.  Sit down and read history and literature, then put the older two to bed.  It takes two of us to do all of this because one of us has to care for the baby who doesn't yet go off to sleep on his own.  We have not had time to think on that for a while, but he is content enough to go with the flow.  Thank the Lord that this gift of a child is so easygoing.

QUOTES FOR THE DAY:  Our 8 year old said, "My ideas about food are changing.  When we went to the grocery store today I saw all of the packaged food and it didn't even look like food to me.  It is just junk."  Our 11 year old said, "It still looks like food to me because you can put it in your mouth."  I said, "I can think of all kinds of things you could put into your mouth that are not food."

WHAT WE ATE TODAY:

filtered water with lemon

leftover roast

chicken broth

squash and carrots cooked in broth

hard boiled egg whites (no yolks)

squash soup (butternut, broth, salt)

leftover buffalo burger soup (a favorite cold or hot - it's gone!)

pork ribs cooked in water with salt

orange roughy fish

artichokes

green beans cooked in pork broth

brocolli and leftover cauliflower

kraut juice - only mommy, we start every one else with a little bit tomorrow

Tomorrow we will bake a casserole.
The kids are very excited about this!