Category Archives: Life

changes

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Sometime early in our marriage, I came across a blog post about a 1.5 career marriage. Greg and I both read it, talked about it, and decided that for us it makes sense. It allows us to lead the kind of life we are after and meet our personal and family goals. (Please read that for us note again, we have zero opinions on what should or does work for other couples; we’re just over here minding our own business, trying to keep the kid alive.)

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2010 – the inaugural Slalom team at The Relay (a 200 mile run from Wine Country to Silicon Valley)

Over the last almost three years, a lot changed for us as people and with our careers. I became less interested in my corporate career (to the point where sometimes I needed a pep talk to go to work on Monday morning), while Greg has advanced in his and gets a huge amount of satisfaction from his role (on most days; he is human and does have bad days). I found an ever-growing passion around nutrition and went back to school for a certification. Oh, and we had a baby.

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2010 – Escape (company retreat) where we casually let the dating cat out of the bag to all our colleagues.

With my heart not really in consulting for the last while, we kind of had already organically moved from two careers to 1.5. I took care of most things around the house and wasn’t actively pursuing any opportunities within my consulting career. Any free time I had went into nutrition or other hobbies.

Last week I made it official and resigned from Slalom. It makes total sense for our family right now; Greg will continue in his career while I will stay home with Paige and, as time allows, turn my nutrition hobby into something of a second career.

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2011- Party Like a Rockstar Holiday Party

Who knows though, maybe I’ll become a crazy world famous nutritionist and Greg will stay home with baby number two. 😉

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2012 – our wedding

I have so, so many fun memories with Slalom, it actually was a little hard for me to hit send on my email even though this is exactly what I want.

So what’s next? Well, most immediately probably another feeding and diaper change cycle. But seriously, I’ve got some cool stuff going on.

First, I’m able to spend my days with Paige, getting used to being a mama, and making a few new mama friends along the way. We are enjoying summer and the flexibility we have right now.

Second, I’m doing an internship this summer! I’m working about ten hours a week (yes, my vague goal for the month had something behind it) for the Paleo for Women blog. I am absolutely loving getting a little break from all things breastfeeding and diapers as well as putting my nutrition knowledge to work.

And last, I’m hoping to make Thrive Nutrition Therapy a real thing. It will likely start as a blog. There is so much I want to share on how we can drastically change our day to day lives with simple changes in our food. My interest is in meeting people where they are and giving very practical, doable advice for making improvements in food and lifestyle to positively affect areas like sleep, energy, weight, libido, skin, etc.

I hope to expand to take clients at some point, whether that be physically in an office or virtually. I’ve had a lot of fun (and success!) with my family and friend clients. Producing general information blog sort of stuff is my favorite, but I do think I’d like to have a small number of clients in the future.

I’m so excited that I have the opportunity to make something more than a hobby out of nutrition. 2015 will hopefully just be the first step towards nutrition world domination making an impact in the nutrition world.

And I’m so thankful for the 5+ years I had with Slalom. Outside of gaining a husband and a new city, I had the opportunity to work with amazing people daily, provide value to great clients, and make friends along the way.

menu monday: a sunday brunch menu

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Lately I’ve been making super simple meals. Like ground beef + Rao’s Arabriata sauce + spaghetti squash kind of simple. So I don’t have much to share in terms of new recipes I’ve found or menu planning.

But we have been entertaining at home a fair bit so I will continue to share these menus (like last week’s Whole30 approved BBQ menu). This past weekend a good friend of Greg’s and mine from San Francisco was in town for work and came over for Sunday Brunch.

Of course I took no photos, but we had a great meal. This one is not Whole30 friendly (though the frittata and fruit salad are), but it’s dairy free and gluten free if you’re feeding anyone who prefers not to eat either.

Tomato, Arugula, and Bacon Frittata. This frittata is a little fancier than your usual baked egg dish because it has a sweet potato crust. It is really tasty, but I found I had to cook it for a good twenty minutes longer than the recipe called for in order to have non-liquidy eggs. I made the crust and the contents ahead of time and as our guest arrived I combined them and popped in the oven.

Rhubarb Raspberry Crisp. This is most definitely dessert and not a healthy food item, but it’s delicious. I recently got on the rhubarb bandwagon and I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on something so delicious. In terms of timing, I popped these in the oven ten minutes after the eggs started. My original idea was to have these finish baking as they eggs were done sitting for ten minutes, but since the eggs took longer it didn’t quite work as planned.

Fruit Salad. I used cantaloupe, blackberries, and nectarines. These fruits were on sale, which typically means they are in season, and I figured they’d be the most flavorful. Fruit salad is one of the few cases where the cheapest options might just make the best product.

Mimosas. Because it’s Sunday brunch. There are so, so many ways you can serve mimosas. We went classic with orange juice and bubbles. Had I had a little extra time, I would have gotten fresh grapefruit juice or maybe extra berries.

It’s so much easier to have people over right now and not work around nap time in a restaurant. I have a feeling we’ll be hosting more than a few brunches this summer. Have any good recipes to share?

what I read | may 2015

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Ninety percent of the books I read come from recommendations on blogs I follow. In the spirit of paying it forward, I thought I’d start sharing my reads as well in a monthly round-up. 

My goal for April was to read four books, though really what I wanted was to stop wasting all my nursing time refreshing Facebook over and over. Seven books later, I’m going to call the month a success. It’s unusual for me the last few years to have read so many fiction books. I think it’s the summer weather. Even if I can’t be at the beach, light reads are perfect this time of year.

IMG_9075_edited-1Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby by Tracy Hogg. As with most parenting books, I took what I wanted and left what didn’t jive with my own parenting philosophies. Paige and I had started to develop a routine right at the time I read this book and Hogg’s sleep-eat-play philosophy helped me fine tune things for us. I found the advice around setting a routine more useful than the advice around sleep as it wasn’t split out by age and I didn’t feel comfortable with some of her suggestions for my two month old.

Good Night, Sleep Tight: The Sleep Lady’s Gentle Guide to Helping Your Child Go to Sleep, Stay Asleep, and Wake Up Happy by Kim West. This book (and advice from my SIL, Brittany) is the reason I’m awake to write this blog post. We went from bedtime taking nearly two hours and sleep stretches of only ninety minutes or two hours max to twenty minute bedtime and four to five hour stretches of blessed sleep. No tears have been shed, everyone is getting more sleep, and we all wake up smiling. I love that the book is broken out by age and that the techniques we’ve used to help Paige sleep better seem completely appropriate for her. I bought a copy of this book and plan to continue with the techniques as she grows.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. Sometimes you just want a sweet young adult love story to get lost in for a bit and high school love, complete with cringe worthy moments, annoying parents, and popular kids is perfect for that. If I had to pick one beach read for this summer it would definitely be Eleanor & Park.

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe. This is a sweet tribute to the time the author spent reading with his mom after her diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. I loved all the book suggestions, but really loved the story of a mother and son making the best of what time they have left with each other.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. By the time books show up in my library queue I’ve usually forgotten what they are about. This book, while a relatively easy fiction read, delves into some heavy topics without making them feel weighty. At the same time it’s a sweet love story and has you thinking about how we treat the disabled in our community. High recommend and would put it in my new made up category of “beach read with good social commentary”.

Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty. This is a great summer beach read. It’s my second Moriarty book and while I enjoyed What Alice Forgot more, this one is entertaining as well. Its the story of thirty something triplets and their age and current life status is something I could really identify with right now.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. This book has been on my Goodreads ‘want to read’ list for years. It came up in The End of Your Life Book Club and I added it to my library holds and finally managed to read it. It won the Pulitzer Prize so it’s obviously a good book, but is it terrible if I admit I’m at a place where I’m enjoying beach reads a bit more?

I’m currently reading Beautiful Ruins and have a few more books by Liane Moriarty on deck for our vacation. I doubt I’ll read as much in June given that I want to spend some time ‘working’ around nutrition, but I still plan to spend my nursing time with my nose in a book instead of the internet. 

june goals

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june goalsIt’s that time to #makeitpublicmakeithappen again. Yes it’s a ridiculous hashtag but I like it.

In May, I wanted to…

Average 10,000 steps a day. Yes! This ended up being more difficult than I thought it would be, but I ended the month averaging almost exactly 10,000 steps per day (there might have been some monitoring the app in the last few days to make sure that happened). I’m really proud of myself for making this one happen as it definitely took effort. I think I’ll write a seperate post on this because I have lots of thoughts and suggestions for how to make a step goal and then meet it. Because maybe someone else out there wants to be a weirdo like me? Because walking is by far my preferred exercise right now, I plan to continue adding up the steps. Maybe with a little less obsession about the total count though going forward.

Plant a backyard garden. The garden is planted! And three weeks later a few veggies are starting to pop out of the soil. Once there’s a little more activity I will do an update. I’m really enjoying checking out what’s new every morning and taking a few minutes to sit back and relax while watering in the evening.

Read four books. I ended up reading seven books this month. Way more than I would have thought, but I spend a lot of time nursing and finally stopped spending that time mindlessly browsing the internet while plopped on the couch.

In June, I plan to…

Learn to use my ring sling.  My sister gifted me a gorgeous Didymos ring sling when Paige was born (this is the fabric). My girl and I love baby wearing (it’s the only way she’ll nap and I’ll take a wrap or carrier over lugging around a stroller any day), but for some reason we’ve never been able to use the ring sling very well. Before I’ll allow myself to purchase any new woven wraps I want to use this sling more.

Fit into my summer wardrobe. I spent some time putting together a summer capsule wardrobe to make getting dressed really easy. I ordered a few new things in my post baby size but when they arrived nothing fit. Truth be told, I haven’t lost a single pound since my two week postpartum appointment. That was eleven weeks ago. I haven’t gained more, but still. It’s time to tackle this and make some progress. I don’t want to focus on the scale so rather than have a weight goal, my goal is to be able to wear these close by the beginning of July.

Spend ten hours a week on nutrition. I’m three months into my maternity leave (I took a six month leave of absence starting when Paige was born) and I’d now like to spend some time each week working on a potential future career in a new field. It’s going to be hard to carve out ten hours a week but this is important to me and I want to make it a priority.

Enjoy a family vacation with no expectations. We off on our first family vacation this month in Maui and we’re really excited. Our good friend Jon had some wise words a few months ago: there is no such thing as a vacation after kids, there are trips. Ha! We want to have down time and relax, but that’s the only expectation we’re going into our trip with. There will be fewer cocktails, more meals cooked versus eaten out, and less sleeping in, I’m sure. But we will have a blast and get to experience Maui through our baby girl’s eyes for the first time.

what I want to remember|month three

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Paige turned three months old on Thursday, May 28th. A monthly recap is one of the ways I’m documenting her first year. You can read previous month recaps here: one, two.

IMG_0225-1_edited-1I want to remember the sleep. God bless the sleep. I know we’ll have rough goes of it again at different points, but this month you slept like a champ. We even got a few 5+ stretches of sleep and one 6 hour stretch. I can’t thank you enough for those, mama feels like she’s rejoined the human race.

IMG_0084_edited-1I want to remember that your puppy dog is more and more tolerant of you every day. He’s learned that when we’re down on the floor playing with you, if he snuggles up he’s likely to get a few pets as well. You don’t interact with him much yet, but you do stare at him when he’s in the room.

I want to remember that we decided to stop worrying 24/7 about your weight. You gain weight every week, it just happens to be a little weight and not a lot. But you are meeting milestones, happy, and sleeping well. Maybe you are just a dainty girl? Dr. Doroshow says you’re doing great and I’ve decided to believe her and stop obsessing.

I want to remember that you learned to roll from your tummy to your back. You first showed off this skill for me and Grandma Debbie in Denver and then the next night you showed Dad. It’s so so fun to watch you learn new things.

IMG_0250-1_edited-1I want to remember that you love to grab things and hold on to them. We still feed you a few ounces a day of donor milk to supplement your feedings and you love to hold the bottle and help out.

I want to remember how thankful I am that we found Dr. Gita. She is your pediatric chiropractor and does cranial sacral massage for you twice a week. We can’t believe how well it’s helping with your digestive issues. We’re thankful you feel better and that we’re not drowning in spit up anymore.

IMG_0091-1_edited-1I want to remember that it’s okay to break my own rules. The pre-mom me said I would never have any plastic toys that make noise. The mom me loves to watch you have fun pushes the piano keys and loves having twenty minutes to unload the dishwasher in peace.

I want to remember when we let you splash around in the bath for the first time. Before we quickly wiped you down at bath time, but this time we filled up your little plastic tub and let you enjoy being emerged in water. We could practically see your brain working as you moved your legs and arms to splash the water. I love watching you experience new things.

IMG_0431-1_edited-1I want to remember my first Mother’s Day. I’m not big on these kinds of holidays, but it was fun to stop and think about how happy being your mom makes me. Dad helped you get me a fancy bracelet for my FitBit so I don’t have to lose steps when we go somewhere that requires nicer jewelry than a plastic band. We spent the day as usual, lots of walking and lots of time with you “up”. Dad also finished the veggie garden planters for me so we could start working on our summer project.

I want to remember that you had your first playdate. Actually, mom and dad had Lisa and Evash over to watch a Sounders game and they brought John. We met them in our baby class and are looking forward to hanging out more. You and John didn’t pay much attention to each other, but I’m sure you will as the months go on.

IMG_0252-1_edited-1I want to remember that this is the month you learned to scoot on your back. We start your with your feet on the piano and you manage to scoot all over the office. Often times you’ll hit a dead end, like the couch, and get frustrated that you can’t continue. We flip you around and off you go again.

I want to remember that you love getting your hands in your mouth. Sometimes you suck on your whole fist and sometimes it’s just a few fingers. We think you are able to intentionally get your hand to your mouth, but we’re not positive.

IMG_0164-1_edited-1I want to remember the first time I looked at you and thought “You are not a newborn any longer”. I sat you on the couch to take this picture and realized you are an infant. I love watching you grow. Every week you do something new and every week I gain more confidence as your mama. I am not sad about you growing up at all, I’m loving where you are everyday and looking forward to tomorrow.

IMG_7670_edited-1I want to remember that we are feeling more capable of getting out of the house with you and seeing friends. We take you to brunch and lunch a lot and ventured out to happy hour on a Friday night too. It’s nice to be able to see our friends and bring you along. This picture of Dad is from your first trip around Green Lake. We went with the Tupling Irvines and enjoyed brunch at Green Lake Bar & Grill after. Just like old times, but also totally different.

I want to remember that we even left the house once without you! Grandma Berta babysat you for the first time while we went to James and Talia’s wedding and we all survived just fine. We are so thankful we have a grandma in town to keep you company while we get out for a bit.

IMG_0248-1_edited-1I want to remember your first plane rides. You were a total champ and dad and I are excited for many, many adventures with you. You slept both ways and were so good we even got to read a bit. Dad experienced his first plane diaper change. I’m not sure how he won that coin toss, but I’m not complaining. We went to Denver and you got to meet your Grandpa Dan, Aunt Becky and Uncle Arek, Aunt Mia and Aunt Anna, and Cousin Maks and Cousin Oliver. It was a houseful and you liked taking it all in.

paigeclothesI want to remember that we packed up your newborn clothes. You wore them until you were ten weeks old, but they finally became too short and you couldn’t extend your legs in most of the zipper pajamas. It’s fun to work through all the 0-3 month and 3 month clothes that we have now. Lucky for us Ruby has great taste in clothes and so do friends and family that have bought you outfits.

threemosI love you, peanut. Bring on month four and summer adventures.

paige’s first trip

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We took Paige on her first trip last weekend when we visited my family in Denver. She did awesome on the plane both ways. We’re so happy we have a happy traveler. She didn’t sleep great while we were there, but otherwise the trip went really well. We hung out with the family and did a lot of relaxing. The guys golfed, the ladies hosted a little baby shower for my sister, and we celebrated Greg’s birthday with homemade vanilla ice cream.

The schedules worked out kind of funny this month and we’ll be back again in a few weeks. Next trip my brother’s family will be there as well and we’ll have the following in one house: eight adults, a six year old, a four year old, a three year old, a two year old, a one year old, a three month old, a one month old, and a 15 week old puppy. Complete chaos and awesomeness.

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menu monday: tips for taking meals to others

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I was in Denver this past weekend where my parents and sister both live with their families. My sister recently had an adorable little boy. With a toddler at home already, cooking isn’t something she has a ton of time to do right now so my mom and I put together a week of meals for their family. Having recently been both the recipient of meals and the maker of meals, I thought I’d share my tips for making meals for others and a few recipes that work well.

Tips for Making Meals for Others

  • If available, sign up on a shared calendar. It’s really helpful to know what nights dinner will be provided and to keep from having multiple meals provided on the same night.
  • Plan to drop off food and make a quick exit unless invited to stay. We loved seeing friends for a bit after Paige was born when they dropped off a meal. It made us feel plugged into our old life and gave us a chance to socialize without all the effort of getting her out of the house. In some cases though people might be too exhausted or not ready to see family and friends. A front door drop off followed by a text message is not rude, it might be exactly what they are hoping for!
  • Use disposable containers or packaging you don’t care about being returned.
  • Write instructions (baking, freezing, etc.) directly on the packaging. The new mama or friend recovering from a surgery will be thankful they don’t have to go dig up the email in which you sent the instructions.
  • Don’t kill yourself, but try to respect the food choices of the family, especially if there are real allergies. My sister’s son can only eat a little bit of dairy so we made all the meals dairy free with the exception of providing cheese to top one of them.
  • Provide something that can be eaten with no or easy prep if you know they are going to eat the meal that day; if you’re unsure, try to provide something that can be eaten the same day or popped in the freezer to save for a later time.
  • Think about breakfast. If you have the time, it’s nice to include breakfast for the next day when you drop off a dinner.

Meals That Work Well

For my sister’s family we decided to go with four dinner meals and two breakfasts. I picked meals that would include enough for lunch leftovers (there are two adults and a toddler eating). Because we were providing many meals at once, I also picked meals that could easily be frozen and prepared or reheated later. If you’re looking for more freezer meal ideas, back in January I shared a few posts (here and here) around what I prepared for our freezer before the baby arrived.

If you’re curious about time and cost, here are the details: My mom and I made the following in about three hours, while also wrangling a two month old, a two year old, a four year old, a six year old, and a 12 week old puppy. My dad did the grocery shopping for us the night before and bought all of the ingredients needed to make the recipes below (with the exclusion of all the spices as my mom had those on hand) for $112. He had a mix of quality, for example getting grass fed lamb and pastured eggs, but regular chicken and non-organic produce. (Note: I had meant to provide a few bags of frozen veggies to make one with each meal, but I completely forgot about that until writing this post now.)

These meals are all Whole30 compliant, with the exception of the shelf stable goods we provided with a few of them.

  • Chocolate Chili and Rice. There is something about a bowl of chili and rice that is really filling and comforting. This meal can be provided two ways: hot and ready to eat or cooked, cooled, and packaged (ready to reheat or throw in the freezer). We gave them a bag of white rice to cook with the chili, but if you know they are planning to eat it the same day or soon, provide already cooked rice and maybe even a salad. Trader Joe’s has great frozen microwavable rice that is perfect to pair with this.
  • Merguez Meatballs and Sweet Potato Soup. I paired these together for a meal as both have great Middle Eastern flavors. If you don’t want to provide this as a hot meal, you can cook the meatballs and flash freeze them on a cookie tray (that way they don’t stick together), then store in a freezer ziplock. The soup can be cooled then packaged for the freezer. A note on the soup: because we were serving it with the meatballs, I skipped the bacon. A salad or a veggie is a great addition, but the soup and meatballs alone are pretty filling.
  • Salsa Verde Chicken. This chicken is incredibly versatile. Typically we eat it on it’s own, topped with avocado. For my sister, we included some shelf and fridge stable taco fixings – shells, a jar of salsa, and cheese. I know that she has a crockpot, so I provided this uncooked in a freezer bag. She can throw it in the freezer, then thaw overnight and toss it in the crockpot on a day when she’s ready to make it. If you are providing this to eat the same day, I would cook it for them and maybe provide a few other fresh taco fixings, like mango salsa, chopped tomatoes, and/or lettuce.
  • Spaghetti Squash Pizza Casserole.  It’s the paleo version of dropping off a casserole for your neighbor. If you are taking it around dinner time, you can bake it and bring it hot. Otherwise you can skip baking and let the recipient bake when convenient (perhaps mention it takes an hour so they aren’t caught off guard). If you use a disposable aluminum container, it’s very easy to go from freezer to fridge to oven. We gave them a bag of salad mix to eat with this meal (or whatever meal they decided to go with first). Frozen veggies are a great alternative if the casserole is going in the freezer.
  • Southwest Frittata. I’ve linked to this recipe so many times because we eat it often. Once it’s baked you can provide the frittata in full or slice and wrap individual servings in foil (this is a good option for a single friend who won’t eat it as fast as a family will). Send along a few avocados for topping the casserole to make it extra filling. To make it slightly easier, I skip the jalapeño and add a can of diced green chilies.
  • Buffalo Chicken Egg Muffins. Egg muffins are a really easy, on the go breakfast option and freeze well. The recipe only makes six muffins (but leaves leftover chicken). If I were to make it again I might use slightly more chicken and double the rest of the recipe to make a full dozen. Our muffins turned out really spicy, so keep that in mind when selecting your hot sauce.

I forgot to take pictures of our cooking session, but my sister and her husband carried several handfuls of food out to the car. For around $100 and three hours of our time, we gave them a week of food, allowing them to focus on their newborn and toddler. Hopefully this helps anyone looking to take meals to a friend or stock up their own freezer with tasty, healthy meals.

day in the life | may 2015

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I had a lot of fun with this month’s DITL. I’m feeling much more confident with this whole motherhood thing these days, so life in general is easier. And specifically to this project, I took cues from a few bloggers who recently shared DITL posts (Ali, Elise) and focused on the overall story of our day rather than worrying about what we did at exactly every moment. I took fewer photos, but I think each one is a thousand times more interesting, so it’s a win. 

In picking a constant day each month, the 15th, I knew I’d get a good variety in the days I highlight. Last month was a very ordinary day. Today started out very ordinary but ended with Greg’s and my first night out together since Paige was born, so definitely not our usual Friday night. Love that I was able to capture our daytime routine + the role Grandma Berta plays in our life + time with friends. 

Here’s what Friday, May 15th, 2015 looked like in our little world…

IMG_0137-1_edited-1We are doing really well with sleep these days, but of course there’s always an exception to the rule and tonight was it. Paige wakes up at 1:35, four and a half hours after we put her to bed. Love that we are getting four and five hour stretches these days. I now can feed, diaper change, and get her back to sleep within twenty minutes.

Usually I fall asleep within ten minutes or so of climbing back into bed, but tonight that never happens. When she wakes up again at 4:20 I am still awake. THE WORST. We repeat the feed  and diaper change and she goes back down, but I am still awake when she wakes up again at 5:45.

Now it was her turn to be off schedule. Typically she sleeps from 9:30pm to 9am with three feedings (around 1:30, 4:30, and 7). Thankfully I fell asleep around 6 after putting her back down. When she goes down after her final feeding around 7:30, instead of getting up and eating breakfast and having some ‘me time’, I go back to bed too and we sleep until almost 9.

IMG_0146-1_edited-1We wake up to a sunny day. With bedrooms in the basement we don’t have the most amazing views, but we have nice dark rooms that are cool in summer! I opened the blinds, we said hello to Mr. Sun, and Paige eats breakfast. She then lays on daddy’s spot on the bed (staring at the ceiling and telling me all about her dreams) while I pump. I pump after the first and last feeds of the day to build up a little supply for times like tonight when we’re going out and she’s staying home with Grandma.

IMG_0156-1_edited-1Paige doesn’t sleep in her crib yet (we’re hoping to change that within the next month or so) and for now she thinks it’s a fun place to hang out. I land her in baby jail for a bit while I finish packing for our trip to Denver tomorrow and move the laundry along. Once she starts whining we both get dressed and head upstairs. Grandma is coming over later today so I skip my morning shower in lieu of taking a nice long one when she arrives.

IMG_0158-1_edited-1It happens to be Greg’s birthday today and I see that he read the card I left out for him. I’m not sure I know anyone who cares about their birthday less than he does, but I try to do a few nice things.

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IMG_0163-1_edited-1IMG_0167-1_edited-1I’m starving and tired at this point so I put Paige down in the office and make myself coffee (it’s decaf but I can pretend like it will wake me up) and a few eggs. I eat my eggs while Paige works on her tummy time skills.

IMG_0172-1_edited-1 IMG_0180-1_edited-1By 10:30 she is starting to fuss and I see a yawn. If I get her to nap now I know I’ll get a good long one out of her. We’ve been working a lot on nighttime sleep (and it’s totally paid off!), but daytime naps are still a struggle. She only sleeps well in the Moby or the car, so that’s pretty much what we do daily. Once she’s in the Moby we go out to water the veggie boxes and walk around the house a bit. Within 15 minutes she is out.

IMG_0184-1_edited-1IMG_0189-1_edited-1IMG_0187-1_edited-1I spend nap time cleaning up the kitchen, doing and folding laundry, and working on emails, etc. on the computer. Each time she starts to stir I take my book and walk a few laps around the house while reading. Steps + book progress, I have no complaints.

IMG_0192-1_edited-1Once we hit the two hour mark, at 12:45, I know my time is limited and I heat up my lunch. All week I’ve eaten the same thing: meatballs and sweet potatoes that I cooked on Sunday and some form of greens that I quickly put together daily.

Paige wakes up and we eat lunch together. Two and a half months into this nursing thing and I’ve got multitasking down pretty well. Usually I read, but if she eats around my meal time and Greg isn’t home, we eat together.

IMG_0194-1_edited-1After lunch it’s play time for Paige and race around the house to finish laundry and dishes time for me. She loves this new piano toy that makes noise if her feet hit the keys hard enough. I love to watch her dance when she hears the music. And let’s be honest, I also love the twenty minutes she is willing to self entertain.

IMG_0197-1_edited-1Because we we are going out for the evening, I want Alfred to burn off some energy. Once Paige is done playing we head to Green Lake dog park. Alfred’s routine for getting in the car is to get in the passenger door and jump across to the driver’s seat while I get Paige situated. He then gets out of the car, jumps into the backseat, sniffs Paige, and finally sits so I can buckle his harness in. (Now that Paige is in the car we use a $10 buckle from Amazon to keep him restrained in case of an accident.)

IMG_0202-1_edited-1I forgot the Chuck-It, which is the only reason Alfred likes the dog park, but I manage to talk him into running around and playing with a few dogs. Paige eventually falls asleep so we stay for a little while longer.

IMG_0204-1_edited-1We run a few errands and to keep Paige sleeping I decide to extend our car time with a coffee. God bless the Starbucks drive-thru options in Seattle. Lately I’ve been ordering a water to go with my coffee to make up for all the coffee I’m drinking these days. It’s all decaf, but I’m totally addicted again. My lack of sleep leads to ordering outside of my usual decaf iced Americano and I go for a coconut milk latte.

IMG_0206-1_edited-1We are back home around 3:15 and Roberta, my MIL, arrives shortly after. I hand off the baby and head into the shower. (My feet are filthy from the dog park, not normal daily life.) Greg and I are going out together for the first time since Paige was born and leaving her home with Grandma. I know they will be fine and we’ll have fun, but I’m still anxious about going out. Luckily the afternoon is getting away from me so I don’t have much time to think about it.

When I get out of the shower Greg is home early from work and we both quickly get dressed in wedding-going attire. I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve put contacts in since Paige was born. We do one last feeding and give Grandma the low-down on bottles, diapers, play time, and sleep, say goodbye, and are on our way.

IMG_0207-1_edited-1A baby does change everything. We are the two most punctual people in the world and Google maps is telling us we’ll make it to our good friends’ wedding at 4:59, with just one minute to spare. Pre baby, we easily would have been twenty minutes early and awkwardly waiting around. A stop light selfie is the best proof we have that we got out on our own.

The ceremony is at a park in Queen Anne and lovely, but I respect the bride’s wishes and let the photographers take care of photos. After the ceremony we drive over to Ray’s Boathouse in Ballard for the reception. On the way I use my borrowed car adapter for the pump for the first time, with a hopefully well placed scarf. Oh the fun…

IMG_0208-1_edited-1The view from the reception is gorgeous. We arrive, get a beer (him) and glass of wine (her), and enjoy catching up with a small group of friends. These are all the friends we have Sounders season tickets with and typically we’d be seeing them almost weekly. We haven’t been going yet this season because of Paige, but no one else has made it to many games either. It’s nice to catch up and enjoy appetizers and the view while waiting for the bride and groom.

IMG_0209-1_edited-1The bride and groom arrive around 7:00 to cheers. I’ve known James and Talia since before I moved up to Seattle (James used to work with Greg) and they are among the first friends I had in Seattle. We are all happy to see them tying the knot. After their arrival we sit down to a really fantastic meal.

IMG_0210-1_edited-1Around 8:30 the toasts happen and the dance floor opens. We stay for the first dance but our carriage is soon turning into a pumpkin. Or, we have a two month old we’ll be taking on a 6:40am flight the next morning. At 9:00 we say our goodbyes and head home to relieve Grandma.

Everything went well back at home and Paige is sound asleep in Grandma’s arms. That is until Alfred wakes her up with his excitement at us arriving home. Sigh. Grandma heads home and we get Paige in her pajamas and back to sleep. We figure out our timing for the morning, set the alarm for 4:15am, and drift off to sleep.

garden beginnings

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IMG_0065-1_edited-1For years I’ve been wanting to plant a summer veggie garden but have not made it happen. Thanks to Greg’s hard work on Mother’s Day weekend and some tips from my MIL, #martingardens is in business for summer 2015! There’s nothing too exciting to look at this point, but I do like to walk outside and admire what we have going so far.

gardenbeforeLast summer we tried to put down sod in our (tiny) backyard and it didn’t take very well. Most likely due to our lack of watering it, but that’s neither here nor there. Paige isn’t really ready to play outside yet and we live across the street from a giant park anyway, so having grass isn’t a priority for us right now. Rather than re-sod this year, we took what little space we haveand turned it into a veggie garden. Or at least the beginnings of one.

IMG_0070-1_edited-1Greg built six containers, three that are 1×4 feet and three that are 2×5 feet, giving me a total of 42 square feet to work with. He actually built the three smaller containers last year, but then I was in school and working and first trimester-ing and they sat idle collecting yard waste.

IMG_0096-1_edited-1To narrow down what to grow, I spent a few days tracking how much sun each bed gets during the day. I also used the Maritime Northwest Garden Guide to determine what I could sow in May in Seattle. Then I picked our favorite veggies from the list that would grow in the amount of sun and partial sun that we have.

IMG_0071-1_edited-1Greg finished the beds and the rocks on Sunday and turned the garden over to me. My mother-in-law came over Monday morning to help me with Paige while I got to planting. She also offered suggestions to change up a few of my original plans based on her actual gardening knowledge. I have no clue what I’m doing and open to any and all advice.

IMG_0072-1_edited-1We’ve had light rain and cool but not cold temperatures the last few days. I’m hoping this is a good combination to get germination started. I had wanted to make a big thing out of calculating how much I spent and trying to assign a monetary value to the veggies that end up growing, but I’ve decided for once to just have fun with a project for the sake of doing the project. If we eat a homegrown veggie or two over the summer and if I learn something new for next year’s garden, then this year will have been a success.  I can’t wait until next summer when I can start to teach Paige where food really comes from. But first things first…

IMG_0056-1_edited-1Here’s the final list of what I planted: spaghetti squash, broccoli, butternut squash, pickling cucumbers, cucumbers, brussels sprouts, beets (2), cabbage, cilantro, kale (2), lettuce (3), and spinach.

what I want to remember|month two

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Paige turned two months old on Tuesday, April 28th. A monthly recap is one of the ways I’m documenting her first year. You can read the month one recap here. 

IMG_7341_edited-1I want to remember your first holiday, Easter. We had a cute dress for you to wear but it was just a bit too big still. I decided not to get you an Easter basket because you were only five weeks old, but I regretted that on Easter morning. We took Grandma Berta out to brunch and you slept through it, you party animal.

backwardsI want to remember Dad putting your Easter outfit on backwards. His reasoning was solid (why would buttons be on the back of a shirt) until I reminded him that you are not quite capable of dressing yourself yet so it makes sense that they are up the back.

I want to remember that we started PEPS and are making more mama and baby friends. It’s right during your morning nap time and you typically sleep through the meeting, but it’s great for me to get out of the house and talk to women who are in the same stage of life as we are right now.

smilesI want to remember that you started smiling and it melts our hearts. We will make all sorts of noises to get a smile. As the month went on you became more liberal with them. There is not much a smile from you doesn’t cure.

I want to remember that you have had some crazy blowouts. Yes, most parents would not be happy with these, but to us it means you’re finally getting enough food. There was that one time I was in the office and dad heard it in the living room… I will never cease to be amazed at the noises that come out of your tiny body.

babywearingI want to remember that this is the month we fell in love with baby wearing. It works so well for us. Since you refuse to nap in your crib or co-sleeper, most of your naps are in the Moby or Baby K’tan so that I can get a few things done. We also love the Lillebaby for our afternoon walk.

I want to remember that you went on a night time sleep strike and wouldn’t sleep for more than two hours at a time at night. It wasn’t fun, but when I come back and read this months down the line and you are sleeping like a rockstar but we’re dealing with another issue, it will be a reminder that everything is a phase. The good stuff should be cherished and the less than ideal stuff will come to an end.

IMG_7601-1_edited-1I want to remember that right before you fall asleep you have the most adorable little grin. I wish I knew what was going on in your mind right then.

I want to remember that you ended the month at 8 pounds, 11 ounces and 21 and a quarter inches. You are dainty. We’d like to see you put on weight faster, but everyone agrees we’re offering you more than enough food so maybe you are just going to be an itty bitty little girl. You are still wearing newborn diapers and clothes.

IMG_7500_edited-1I want to remember that we took you for your first road trip to attend your great grandma Clara’s 90th birthday party. You traveled like a champ and how cool is it that we got a four generation photo? Watching your dad help his grandma hold you was very special.

I want to remember that you’ve found your voice and love to babble and coo. I have no idea if you are just making sounds, imitating, or trying to communicate, but it’s adorable.

dadI want to remember that you and your dad are developing such a sweet relationship. He is all about you when he gets home from work every evening. On the weekends he gets up with you to make coffee and is a cozy place to sleep. He took this picture on the left, one of my favorites of you this month.

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I want to remember introducing you to Slalom for the first time. It has been such a big part of Dad’s and my life and I imagine will play some part in yours. At the very least it will pay your bills for the foreseeable future! You and I met Dad at the office for Jon’s happy hour before he moved to Boston. Again, you slept through the party.

I want to remember that we made a daytime routine this month. It actually happened organically and, for your routine-loving mama, having an idea of how our day is going to play out makes this motherhood thing ten times easier. We are in a good sleep-eat-play rhythm that is just the right mix of flexibility and structure.

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I want to remember that your puppy dog has started to accept that you are here to stay. Alfred will now, when he feels like it, snuggle up next to you on the floor. He tolerates your flailing arms and loves to sniff you. Unfortunately, he’s terrible at detecting dirty diapers. We’ve always joked that he has the worst dog nose ever.

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I love you, little tyrant. Bring on month three.