September 11…hard to believe it’s been 10 years. Thanking God for the blessing of each new day.

A new week…hoping it’s better than last week. By which I mean I hope Abram gets rid of some of his grumpiness. It’s becoming very obvious that Rebecca and Abram have different personalities. Rebecca was so easy going. Abram is much more demanding. He is so anxious to be a big boy and be on the move. He is not content whatsoever to just lie down and wiggle. He is trying so hard to creep (he kind of spins in circles trying to move). He has almost rolled over (he has done all of the individual steps, just not in one continuous sequence). He hates being strapped into his car seat and tries his hardest to get out of his bouncy seat. He needs a lot of attention and screams when he’s not happy. And he’s not sleeping as well lately. Which means Mommy is very tired…and more grumpy. At this moment he’s been up since 5 am is fussing, ok make that screaming now…and he won’t stop until he gets what he wants. I’m just at a loss right now. And so worn out/sick of the screaming/crying. But nothing seems to make him happy – eating, rocking, playing, etc. So I’m left clueless. I think he’s just not happy being a helpless baby 😛  And the teething doesn’t help either. Anyway, that’s how we’re doing 😛

Last week was busy as usual. We had a family Labor Day/birthday party, started Kindermusik, went to the park and went to a new wildlife park near our house. The kids sure enjoyed all of it! I kept plenty busy in the kitchen too. As usual I added on to my already long list of things I wanted to make. I ended up making broth, kefir, pesto, apple pear crisp, coconut milk ice cream, hot fudge, pumpkin muffins. I canned one batch of salsa, two batches of spaghetti sauce and one batch of pearsauce. I love to see my pantry filling so quickly. I may even have to buy more jars this year! I made some awesome pumpkin soup yesterday with both chicken and beef broth. Mmmm. Glad there are plenty of leftovers.

This week has plenty going on. Today is church. Monday is Abram’s 4 month check up. I might try to go to Meijer. And we have an arborist coming to look at our trees. Tuesday is Kindermusik, farmer’s market and we’re getting our plumbing fixed/new sink faucet installed. //Ok, finally got Abram back to sleep…praying he stays asleep for a little while.//  Wednesday is Meijer or Harvest Health. Nothing planned for Thursday at this point. Friday we might meet my SIL and nephew in Lansing, but we haven’t decided yet. Trying to decide if it will be doable with Abram or not. I don’t really want him screaming in his car seat for an hour each way. No plans for Saturday yet either. But we could possibly go to the zoo or the orchard.

The big food item this week…my GAPS family challenge! All meals that I make this week will be GAPS legal. I’m not going to stress about snacks, etc. that Justin eats. But all the meals I serve will be GAPS legal. See how it goes. Other than that it’s food preservation as usual. I think I want to do one more batch of spaghetti sauce at least (I’ve done 8 qts. so far). I would like to can pears. I haven’t decided if I want to do them this week or wait. But likely this week. I still have some walnuts from my SIL to deal with. Hoping to get to that today, before they go bad. I also still have to make toothpaste. And I want to make a new batch of fermented ketchup. It’s been a while since I’ve done that. If I find decent cabbage I want to make more sauerkraut since mine is getting low.

Trying to get into a little bit of a routine with Rebecca’s school work. I did make a good schedule/rotation of activities. So that will help this week. Our letter of the week is B. So we’ll see what B things we can do 🙂  Last week for A we baked apple pear crisp. I modified the topping a bit. And I have to say it was amazing! Not GAPS-legal, so I only stole a few tastes. But wow. It was good (flour, oats, butter, sugar, walnuts and cinnamon chips…mmm).

Things are still up and down for me. But I did notice this week one thing that isn’t related to what I am eating…but instead to what I’m not eating…nuts. As I feared…I feel better when I don’t eat many nuts. So sad. But at least I know. This past week I mostly only ate nuts if they were blended in something (smoothie, pesto, etc.). So they were easier to digest. I guess this month’s goal of reducing nuts was a good idea. Although I wonder now if that’s why my weight has dropped a couple pounds. Cutting back on nuts cuts out a lot of fat and calories in my diet. Better try to replace it somehow. I have been adding an extra egg yolk to my smoothie most days at least (making it 3 egg yolks per smoothie). Hopefully I’m at least getting a decent amount of protein my body can handle.

Yesterday I did a lot of experimenting in the kitchen. Recipe posts to come. We’ll see if I can get to them all this morning or not. All of my kitchen to-dos are already done for today. And lunch is in the crockpot and dinner is mostly warming leftovers. Hmmm. I think I may have to add some items to today’s agenda 😛  Or maybe just get caught up on some non-food related stuff. Like finally organizing the kids’ rooms/clothes and see what they have for fall/winter. Anyway, on to the menu…the GAPS menu. Justin has already expressed concern over his breakfast. So we’ll see how this week goes 😛
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S (cook beans, prep lunch, make meusli, church)
  B – pumpkin soup w/ lentils and beans (me), gf museli w/ banana and milk (Justin)
  L – honey bbq chicken, glazed carrots, grilled zucchini
  D – beef and bean chili (using leftover spaghetti sauce), gf pumpkin muffins (Justin), leftover zucchini cakes w/ pesto, sauteed mushrooms and eggplant (me)

 M (make ketchup, make toothpaste, Dr. S., Meijer, arborist, clean kitchen, put away laundry)
  B – apple slices w/ almond butter, yogurt (Justin), pumpkin soup w/ avocado, beans and zucchini (me)
  D – fresh pea soup, coconut bread, cheese crisps

 T (prep breakfast, prep green smoothies, KM, FM, sink, prep kefir smoothies, chop veggies)
  B – egg and cheese muffins, grapes (Justin), pea soup w/ avocado (me)
  D – turkey pesto bake, coconut bread, broccoli

W (make/can spaghetti sauce, HH)
  B – kefir smoothie (Justin), pea soup or pumpkin soup w/ avocado (me)
  D – roasted chicken w/ veggies, beans, fruit salad

Th (make muffins, make green smoothies, make scones, make sauerkraut, “B” baking project?, chop veggies)
  B – gf cinnamon muffins, eggs, fruit (Justin), leftover zucchini bake w/ avocado and mushrooms (me)
  D – bacon and spinach quiche, gf muesli scones, fruit, peas

F (can pears, clean, Lansing?, soak lentils)
  B – quiche (me), yogurt, fruit, gf muesli (Justin)
  D – pan fried steak, roasted cauliflower, peas

S (make/can pearsauce, laundry, clean, cook lentils, zoo?, organize clothes)
  B – quiche, fruit
  D – stuffed squash (w/ sausage, bacon, lentils and veggies), fruit, roasted caulifower