kroger chicken

i'm going to take a minute this afternoon and tell everyone about vance. simms and ellis have pretty much the same outgoing personality and make themselves known, but vance isn't like that.  vance beats to his own drummer. he frustrates me the most often and cal says its because he is most like me. vance never tries to be a part of what simms and ellis are doing. he likes to do his own thing and not be bothered. he loves sleeping. he loves throwing balls (and is literally a baby randy johnson.) he doesn't want to talk as much, yet understands everything you say to him. he can say all the same things that ellis says and on occasion, he does. but he mostly just listens.

we're coming up on their birthday week and the memories of their 9 and 10 week NICU stays flood my mind. it's funny because vance was also like this in the NICU. he really didn't WANT to be held like ellis did. if he was asleep, he wanted to be left the hell alone. he was the littlest with the loudest cry....and still is. the nurses would joke that you could literally hear him all the way down the hallway. he got the maddest at the heel pricks or any other medical procedure for that matter. he was also the last to leave the NICU, a week after ellis. finishing bottles was the biggest hurdle for both of them. they just weren't big eaters, especially vance. 

this eating thing has been an issue ever since. both of the twins are ALWAYS underweight at their appointments and vance is always the smaller twin. we weighed them two weeks ago and ellis was 20.5 lbs and vance was 19 lbs (at almost 2!) they've consistently been about a pound different since they were born. its frustrating to me because i am always trying to get vance to catch up to ellis but its SO hard because he literally will eat only the following foods for the past year: crackers, chips, bread, pizza, fruit, and fries. THATS IT. #thebeigediet

it has been one of the biggest battles. we even had a call into a speech therapist to hopefully get someone that comes to the home to help us feed him. i haven't cut their morning breastmilk bottle out because i know its CRUCIAL for vance...and no! i aint sorry bout it! i actually throw in some flax, coconut, and almond milk in there too!

so things changed a couple of weeks ago when i was out of town for my best friend's wedding. cal did a "tailgate" at home for the tn vs. florida game with the kids. he went to the store and bought a TON of junk for them to grub on all day and one of those things was.... kroger chicken fingers...you know the ones in the fridge by the deli. disgusting right?

i'll be the first to admit, i am kind of a food nazi with my kids. i was always making my own organic baby food. they've never been taken to mcdonalds (in fact, cal has taught them its where bad kids go and threatens it when everyone is acting horrible...they all scream "nooooo please no old mcdonalds!!!!!!!!!"), they've never had a hotdog, we don't do any dairy except for cheese. i buy 99% organic. we limit sugar. blah blah blah. i'm not going into my ridiculousness because i know i'm over the top. having a brother with terminal cancer WILL change your views on what you put in, on, and around your body. 

but then theres vance and let me tell you something, if vance wants to eat it...dad gum it he gets to! because he's SO underweight and needs any calories he will accept. a couple of months ago i realized i could get vance to eat an almond butter sandwich IF i put it on a hawaiian sweet roll and smashed it so he couldn't see the almond butter. i read a lot about food chaining and have SLOWLY morphed those sandwiches into cashew butter and honey sandwiches on ezekiel bread and he eats the whole thing!!!!!! MORE THAN SIMMS AND ELLIS. then i finally got him on the veggie straws by telling him they were fries (and yes i know they aren't veggies but its better than potato chips in my book.) but still our biggest hurdle was meat. don't get me wrong, i am not opposed to a vegetarian or even vegan diet for my kids (in fact, i'm all for it!) but vance won't eat any plant based protein either. so that would be a problem....and no, he won't do smoothies either. i'm telling you, i've tried it ALL.

well. HE ATE THE KROGER CHICKEN. cal sent me a video of him basically inhaling it. since then, he has slowly started accepting fried chicken from other places!! yes i realize i sound insane that i am so excited about my kid eating fried chicken, but you have no idea where we are coming from. so if you see vance out, congratulate him on taking "good bites" and "getting big." he may not want the attention ;) but its well deserved.

-the mother of the boy who used to only eat 6 foods.