Eating

I never thought I would say these words: I hate eating. Let me clarify - I don't dislike eating for myself (though I sometimes think that if I found it a little less enjoyable, it wouldn't hurt in the weight-department). No, it's my kids' eating that is going to push me over a cliff!

First came Trevor's eating issues. They're not as bad as they were a year ago, but almost. He doesn't like anything new unless it's the latest junk-food craze. He doesn't really eat any meats. His only good sources of protein are peanut butter and string cheese. He has to be coerced to eat fruit and will only consume the canned/prepared varieties. And heaven-forbid if there's a single discoloration or stringy-thing on the mandarin oranges... it's not happening at all! Let's not even discuss vegetables. That's torture. It's stress for him and stress for hubby and I, pretty much every day, on this issue.

In the last few months, Evan has jumped on Trevor's pickiness bandwagon. The boy who used to steal my lunch and eat broccoli, baked potatoes and pizza now refuses to consume almost any fresh foods and I'm hoping 80% is related to toddler-hood, 15% to enlarged tonsils and the remaining 5% is probably genetics. (I'll admit I was a picky eater as a child)

Now, Levi has spontaneously given up breastfeeding (about 2 weeks ago) and though he did finally begin taking a bottle, I can now see that he consumes no where near the recommend amount of breastmilk/formula for a kid his age. He's supposed to be taking a minimum of 16 ounces per day, but when he first started, he was only drinking about 8 ounces per day. I finally worked him up to 15 ounces yesterday, but today, he refused a bottle, so the total will be much lower.

It's driving me mad. I suppose it would be silly to presume that things will go on like this forever. The likelihood is that all four kids will eventually eat a mostly balanced diet as teens/adults... but the path to getting to that happy place is seriously jepordizing my sanity. I need something sturdy to hold onto for the next 15 years. Any good mantra's out there?!? This too shall pass??

I need a good laugh... when that happens, I turn to llamas (thanks to a college professor's recommendation)...