21 days of Food days 4-9

Hello friends! So glad to be on here. Thanks for the encouraging comments. I am so glad that you all haven't given up on me.

So We are on day 11 and I have to say I see a dramatic improvement in my family.

Joslyn: My daughter's reaction to my meals was the main reason we started this so I will start with her progress.
When we started Joslyn would have a mini meltdown when I would announce what was for dinner and told her that she would have to eat it. Then she would proceed to refuse to try and if we got her to take a bite after an hour she would pretend she was throwing it up or would actually throw it up. Since then we have noticed huge changes. Now when I announce 'What's For Dinner" or lunch, I get an oh man, and then she proceeds with a sly smile to convince me to make her something she loves. We have obstained from having hotdogs and chicken nuggets, which was my go to food, when I haven't wanted to cook something, these are her favorites and she still asks for them but I have held out. She was having huge issues with meats and swallowing them. It would literally take  hours for her to swallow one small piece of meat. Now I have learned to chop them up much smaller than Jaxon's size pieces and we play beat the timer. Today every piece eaten was done under 3 minutes and most under two. She will now ask how many bites she has to eat of each thing and depeanding on the meal it is usually 3 to 5. If I don't put her too much she will take those bites, but she still wants me to feed her. Dinner isn't a fun time yet with Joslyn, but we are getting there and I am proud of her progress.

Jax:
This kid has always been a good eater and besides getting him to eat with a spoon and not to drop his food to the dogs for entertainment, we have no issues.

John: There has only been one dinner daddy didn't make it to. Eating as a family has really changed the dynamic of this family. Thank you to a wonderful shift change to his schedule. He has enjoyed making fresh rolls and biscuits. This we have enjoyed very much.

Me: Well I am always the problem child. Especially since i have food issues, but I have found positive changes in me too. During dinner and lunch I sit with the kids and the tv is off. Some breakfasts we sit together, but breakfast is my enemy. I had trouble with coming up with healthy breakfast ideas, (please share some if you have any). So besides the pancakes and occasional muffins, its normally cereal or pop tarts. John is the breakfast maker in the family. Thankfully we get good breakfast on the weekends.
Most dinners have some sort of vegetable like green beans, peas, corn or broccoli/cauliflower. We also have had carrots. Next paycheck I plan on including asparagus into the mix. This is a good thing since we rarely had vegetables  before with our meals. I plan on adding a new fruit to our breakfasts.
I have noticed that my daily schedule has changed for the better and I spend less time in the kitchen. My portion sizes have gone down we rarely go back for seconds. I have to give the credit where credit is due. This all comes from my provider  Jesus Christ. I am working hard on changing my spiritual habits and amazing how my daily habits change too. Things I still have to work on include: adding fruit to the menu, come up with breakfast plans, still need to make a menu beyond that day. continue to work on my eating habits and slowly cut down my portions more. We also need to explore more variety in our dinners. The pic is of our dinner last night, pot roast is a splurge for us, but oh it was good.


I have been trying to come up with our next 21 days topic and I would love help with ideas. It has to be a small change, some options are: read 2 books as a family every night, add teeth brushing to our nightly routine for the whole family, say something positive about each other everyday. Any other ideas? I will leave you with a pic of a canvas I did for a friend. This one isn't done in sequins but just paint.

Love you guys! TTYL!

Teresa