Meal Plans Week of 1-20-13

Sniffle, sniffle.  Yep, we're sick.  Last week was a rough one.  Rebecca and Abram both had the nasty 7-10 day respiratory flu plus ear infections.  They are both on meds now and on the upswing but still not back to normal.  Hopefully today Abram will start eating again.  Poor thing.  He's been living on liquids for about 4 or 5 days now.  Even that was a struggle for a couple days.  I had to force little bits of liquid down with a dropper.  It's so good to at least see him drinking again.  Of course I was exposed to their germs all week...so I'm sick too.  So far it just feels like a head cold.  And I hope that's how it stays.

Oddly enough this year Rebecca and Justin got a flu shot.  Abram and I did not.  Rebecca and Abram got the flu.  Makes you wonder.

Two sick kids watching Mickey's Hot Dog Dance

 



That being said last week was kind of a bust in terms of accomplishing anything.  Rebecca didn't go to school all week.  I changed almost all of our meal plans (since I didn't have time to cook and the kids weren't eating anyway).  I didn't do all of the baking I had hoped.  At least we made it to all of our doctor appointments, plus an extra trip to the pediatrician.  And I made homemade cocoa puffs, chocolate chip cookies (Abram was really in the mood to bake for some reason :P), blueberry muffins and kefir and froze some french fries.  I also got all of the bathrooms cleaned, went grocery shopping and did a little clothes shopping for myself.  I finally have a decent winter coat!  I think I got my old coat in college...over 10 years ago.  It was time for an update.

So this week hopefully things will get back to normal.  Tomorrow is no school and no work for Justin.  We only have one doctor appointment this week.  What a treat :P  We have Bible Study on Friday, but we haven't found a baby-sitter yet.  So we'll see what happens with that.  Needless to say Abram and I will not be going to church today.  Hopefully Rebecca is feeling good enough to go at least.

We had a visit from our favorite house guest while baking.

On to the food.  I am repeating several meals this week since I didn't make them last week.  Hopefully everyone will have their full appetites back.  I have a pretty long list of things I'd like to make this week.  We'll see how it goes.  I'd like to make yogurt, golden grahams, soaked graham crackers, unsoaked graham crackers and cheese crackers.  I also got a baking challenge from a faithful reader :)  So hopefully I'll get on that this week too.  I already did some food prep and made a new batch of ice cream this morning.

I did some cleaning/disinfecting yesterday.  I need to do more today.  Especially things like changing linens.  And hopefully cleaning some toys.

Rebecca lost her 2nd tooth.

 

I had a regular check up last week...and found out that I'm slightly anemic.  My hemoglobin was 10.3.  They want it above 11 and preferably around 12.  Honestly I'm not too concerned.  But my doctor seemed to be.  For now I'm going to try to add a few more iron rich foods to my diet.  And I'll wait until I get my full workup of test results back next week.  January 30 can't get here soon enough!!!  I'm so anxious to see what's going on in my body.

I haven't been feeling the best with the stress and fatigue from last week.  My anxiety was quite high because I was so concerned about the kids.  I manged to avoid any panic attacks, but I was not feeling like myself.  Abram was hardly sleeping (at night or for naps).  And I let him nurse a bunch to prevent dehydration (takes a toll to go from barely nursing to on demand...but I'm so thankful I could...it's the only thing that kept him from getting severely dehydrated and making his illness go from bad to very bad).  So I need to recharge this week.  I'm trying to eat nutrient dense foods and get a little extra rest when possible.  So if all of my to-dos go out the window, you know why :P

It didn't help that I'm out of my two supplements that help the most with anxiety.  I can definitely feel it.  And hope I can get more soon.

Homemade Cocoa Puffs

There was some personal stuff that caused a great deal of anxiety last week as well.  I was reminded of my goal for this year of acceptance.  Not just of myself and my circumstances but of others.  Accepting and letting God take control really helps.

One last thing I'm wondering about related to my health now.  I just got a refill of my thyroid medication.  I had to change from the name brand to the generic because of new insurance.  No big deal.  But I figured I'd read through all the fine print that came with it.  I noticed a few things that make me wonder if I'm taking this correctly or should be taking it at all (I have been on it for about 6 years now).  First, it says not to take it within 4 hours of any vitamins or mineral supplements or calcium.  I usually take a calcium/magnesium supplement at the same time as my thyroid meds.  And I take my multi-vitamin just a little later.  It also says that certain foods can make it less effective...one of them being "foods that contain dietary fiber."  What??  Who makes a pill that is less effective if you eat fiber?  Finally, the main concern is that it says in bold "use of this medicine is not recommended if you have untreated adrenal gland problems."  I know I have adrenal fatigue even without my test results.  And my new doctor told me that you have to fix the adrenals before you can even try to fix anything else.  So, what does this mean?  I have no idea.  It makes me even more anxious for my appointment next week.  It has already been rescheduled twice.  I'm praying it actually happens.  I'm trying to be patient, God.  Really, I am :)  But please don't make me wait any longer :P

On to the menu.  Here's hoping I actually get to make these meals this week.

How are you holding up during this cold and flu season?  What measures do you take to stay healthy?
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S (chop fruit, make ice cream, make unsoaked graham crackers, church, prep smoothies)
  L - baked honey herb chicken, broccoli, herb rice
  D - crackers, cheese and sausage, peas, milkshakes

M (chop veggies, roast cauliflower, make yogurt, milk, no school, make bread w/ Rebecca)
  D - cauliflower cheddar soup, salsa bread (Rebecca's recipe)

T (bake - golden grahams, soak flour)
  D - sweet and sour stir fry over rice

W (bake soaked graham crackers, roast beets, ps)
  D - quinoa mac n cheese, roasted brussels sprouts

Th (make breakfast baked good, Dr. M.)
  D - salmon cakes, squash, roasted potatoes

F (make cheese crackers, ps, Bible study)
  D - scrambled eggs, roasted vegetables, bread pudding, fruit

S (swimming)
  D - homemade pizza, beans (J), crispy kale and beet salad (M)