Starting full GAPS after the weekend

Come what may :-)  I have weighed, and measured everyone's height.  I also took the older two girl's and my measurements for inch loss for our T-Tapp experience.  I know there can be differences in growth charts, but I was a bit upset to see Jed take a down turn in his height.  His weight came down a bit (on the curve that is, not actual pounds lost), and his height really came down.  He was actually *just* touching the bottom line this past summer.  Now.....it's down there!  I even went so far to look up the safety of human growth hormone therapy!  For some reason the idea of it all scares me (so maybe I should be wary as it could be my mommy radar), but I wonder if he, as an adult will be upset with us for not doing it.  And from what I read, the therapy does not sound appealing at all.  The child needs to have five injections a week UNTIL they reach puberty!  YIKES!  That alone would make it unrealistic.  Although there may be other ways of getting it instead of by injection.  Still, pretty scary stuff.  So, where does that leave us?  Well, they say if the child starts the injections by age six they should achieve expected adult height (compared with your own family's norms).  I guess that gives us a good year to see if we can make headway to remedy Jed's health and growth.  Not that we have seriously considered the growth hormone, but it is a bench mark of sorts, to know when it would need to be started to see the expected growth.  But I still think, doing things more naturally, although may not get Jed to 'normal' height, it may get him healthier and without risking any possible side effects.  Lots to pray about in that arena.

This weekend will be our big shopping weekend.  I plan on trying to make bulk chicken and beef stock to have on hand.  Plus bulk cook some beans (only white ones are allowed on the diet).  I already have some water kefir brewing, and *hopefully* some cultured cream brewing.  I made a mistake and put my starter that I just got into the whole 3 quarts of cream, when it was supposed to be started in two cups!!  Not sure how that is going to work.  But we'll see.  I plan on turning the cream into butter.  Probiotics are very, very essential on this diet and I am trying every way I can to come up with ways to get them into our diet.  We'll have the milk and water kefirs, kombucha, yogurt and the cultured cream.  I plan to try my hand at sauerkraut and other cultured veggies and fruit.  I will need the weekend to make up these bulk foods to have on hand during the first month.  Things are still not back to normal (are they ever :-)) and I want to set us up for success.  I do not want to have to stray from the diet because I wasn't prepared.  This will take some getting used to as the diet is pretty limited.  You can have all meats, and pretty much all fruits and veggies.  The only beans allowed are white ones and possibly one or two types of green beans.  You can have coconut and olive oils and butter for fats.  Hmmmm, I think that's it!  No grains, or starches, no sugar, no artificial anything, and no dairy (except in fermented form and homemade at that).  I know Moira has been itching to start as she asks me when we are starting once or twice a week.  I was already itching to start (pretty much literally), but now more so after seeing the growth charts.

And as much as I am excited I am also scared.  Scared that some how we won't see the changes we are hoping to see.  But that is out of my hands.  I can only do what is humanly possible and the rest is up to the Lord.  So we will dive in and give it our best.

Along with the diet changes I am also trying to get a handle on our schooling situation.  Or maybe just our household situation, or maybe it's just more of a 'life situation'!! Ha, ha!  I am sure it has to do with just wanting to get things rolling more smoothly.  We are getting things done, just not everything done.  We got caught up in laundry, but it's not all put away.  We have been doing school, but not all the subjects.  The girls are really 'suffering' from a lack of structure and need the bar raised on the quality of work they have been doing.  It's pretty much a catch 22 situation we are in, and although I am seeing a possible way out, it appears that we will not be pursuing the means at this time.  Which of course if frustrating and discouraging, when you are dealing with this day in and day out.  I have been trying to give it over to the Lord, but I find myself taking it back again :-)  I can only pray that when we finally do DO something it will not be too late for our oldest couple of girls. 

Well, the baby has been sleeping soundly for the past couple of hours, I wasn't expecting that.  If I had expected it I would have gone to sleep when he did (at 8 PM).  Thursdays are so very hard for him to deal with, which makes night time a nightmare.  The poor kid gets so overstimulated and can't settle on his own.  I am proud of him that he accomplished it in only one hour tonight as opposed to two and a half hours last Thursday.  I think this is why I am having problems with getting him to go to sleep on his own.  You really need to be consistent.  But being out of the house four days a week doesn't lend to being consistent.  He is learning, but he has to readjust every couple of days.  Making the learning go a lot slower.  Anyways, I'm off to bed, hoping he will sleep a bit longer for me to get some shut eye before he wakes up to eat.  I'll have to show you the fist pictures I got of him smiling.  He's finally smiling!! Oh, what a beautiful smile it is.