BEN IS EATING NEW FOODS!!!!!!!!

This is HUGE news, people!!! Ben has not just "tried" but eaten many new foods over the last week!!! He's had chicken (prepped 2 different ways), hamburger (also 2 different ways), mashed potatoes, oven baked fries (olive oil), and steak! Not just a few bites, but MEALS!!!

Now, maybe this might not seem like a big deal to some of you. But, consider that the kid has eaten THE EXACT SAME THINGS for EVERY MEAL for about the last YEAR or so!! Can you tell I'm excited?????????

Ok, so now it's time for me to confess the secret to our success...pop. Yes, we are bribing him with pop. We tried it before and it never worked. Well, one night at dinner last week he asked for a sip of Jer's pop and I said "take a bite of burger first." He just popped it in his mouth and ate it with no fuss. And from there, it's taken off.

We now are up to the point where he will take 3 bites for a sip of pop. Also, I found a pop sweetened with stevia (tastes like diet, but does not have the artificial sweeteners.) I think it is gross, but he really likes it! It's better than pepsi I suppose. He drank maybe an ounce of it at dinner tonight with his steak and potatoes...so I can deal with that.

PLEASE PRAY THIS LASTS FOR US!!!!! I just don't want him to get tired of the pop and go back to eating soup every night! I'm going to consult with the behavior specialist at CHIP and see what she says about all this.

Well, in other news...

Jeremy has started school. I think he is learning quickly how much work it is! But, he is working hard and doing really well. I'm very proud of him.

The golf outing is less than two weeks away!! YIKES! We are actually doing pretty well. We still have a few spots left for hole sponsors and could use a few more door prizes, but other than that things have gone smoothly so far (knock wood). I just hope all our golfers show!!

Ben starts additional speech therapy at UT this week. We are so fortunate to have secured a Friday time slot. They usually only run the clinic M-Th, but decided to try something new this semester. It will work much better for us because we have no school on Fridays. I was really worried how Ben would do going there after a full day at CHIP.

Well, that is about all I've got for now. I'll try to change some pics and music...

Hope everyone is well! Actually, I hope there are still some people out there that read this! I haven't been great about updating...

Love to you all,
Julie