Killian Beckett

Killian turned twelve on Monday. No more free grocery store cookies. Officially allowed to ride shotgun. How'd that happen so fast????

Girls...

While picking up her room, Molly said that when she grows up she's going to be famous so she can have "lots of waitresses" to take care of her cleaning duties; then, she lamented, "Why, oh, why do I have to wait until I grow up to get a job?"

Told Reagan she couldn't drink my coffee because it's not good for her--it has caffeine in it. She said, "I love caffeine."

Dietary considerations...

So, I'm on a kick again. We've been low-carbing it for awhile now, since around March 1, aside from a few interruptions. It has gone well. I am thinking, though, that a slight shift in thought may be helpful. It would basically entail the same thing that I am already doing, but somehow, I am leaning in this direction. Ultimately, I think our diets need to be largely grain-free (at the very least, gluten free) and sugar-free. The paleo-diet is making a lot of sense to me right now. I am feeling so much better without grain and sugar in my diet right now. My skin is clearer. My moods do not swing to the extent they have when I am eating sugar and grain (carbs) all day. And, when I am eating those things, I am eating all day. I can't seem to eat enough. When I am eating low-carb, those serving size pictures (you know, the ones that show a serving of something circa 1950 and a serving today?) make sense to me. And, guess what? Those folks were eating real food. If you take a look at the science, you will find that consumption of fructose and wheat (white or not) cause, not only a rise in triglicerides, but turn off your body's production of the chemical that tells your brain it's full.

So, my feeling is, we need to cut out as much of the grain and sugar in our diets as possible. It is pretty much inevitable that we will have some. Molly and Liam are currently eating lunch at school, and they have sugar and grain-filled treats served to them on a ridiculously regular basis. What are our alternatives? We've done gluten-free before, and I am afraid that the way we did it quite possibly contributed to its lack of success. The key purpose was to rid Killian of yeast issues. These issues were not visible without testing, for the most part. And, we were eating lots of starchy grains--rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, etc.--and lots and lots of sugar. So, no more sugar. There will be treats. My goal is to focus on fruit-sweetened (not fruit juice, but full fruit), occasional small amounts of honey, maple syrup, and stevia. And, we will avoid grains as much as possible, hopefully with some substitutes using almond and coconut flour and occasional small amounts of gluten-free flours. We may include small amounts (not daily) of soaked gluten-free grains and consider sprouted wheat flours on rare occasion.

Currently, we are relying a bit on some Splenda and Nutrasweet, which absolutely are not OK on any sort of regular basis. I am also finding that when I consume these, even in small quantity my weight loss stalls, and I start craving more sweets.

I posted a paleo link here before, but here are a couple of others that I think are really good:

http://www.modernpaleo.com/principles.html

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/

Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy visited Molly last night for the first time. She's very excited to share her news with her classmates tomorrow!

Busy Remaking Suburbia!

Check it!

Kitchen

I was surprised to find that I have a fondness for the way this blue glass looks against the green.

Here's my new kitchen. I should add a few "before" pictures, and will, eventually, but, for now, here's the "new" one.

Killian

Killian earned a gold medal at the 6th grade music festival contest on Saturday, and we got an email from his math teacher today who wants him to take pre-algebra next year instead of 7th grade math. :)