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.

what I read | march & april 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. 

I didn’t read a ton in March but towards the end of the month I realized that I have a lot of “free time” while nursing Paige that I was wasting by scrolling through Facebook thirty seven times each day. I added several books to my library queue and started using this time to get back into reading. As a bonus, I walk to the Green Lake Library to drop off and pick up books. Extra steps and free reading!

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The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten. I believe I heard about this while reading Gail Simmons book as she worked for Steingarten back in the day. He is the food critic for Vogue magazine and the book is a collection of food related essays. I really enjoyed some of them but by the end I was reading just to finish the book. Also, it includes thoughts on nutrition from the late 90s (when it was published) that annoyed me to no end.

The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decisions for Your Child by Robert W. Sears. I almost didn’t include this on the list because the last thing I have any interest in doing is having a vaccine debate. I read this book because it explains the various diseases that we vaccinate against (I really had no idea what some of them were), how vaccines are manufactured, and how they work. If you’re curious about any of those topics it might be a good book for you to read. I’m sure there are plenty out there, this is just the one I selected.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. A fun fiction read about a man with Aspergers and his quest for love. I loved the character development and was so impressed that a former IT consultant wrote the novel. Maybe there’s hope for a second career in writing for me? I heard there is a sequel but I feel like there’s no way it could be as good and quirky, so I might just skip it. But I highly recommend this one.

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. My favorite book of the month. It was recommended to me last year by a friend from school (hi Nan!) and I should have jumped on it earlier. It happens to be in my favorite (made up) genre – books written about real life events that weave in other plot lines relevant to the time of the story (The Devil in the White City is my favorite example of this). The one also happens to take place locally for me, which is always fun to read. It’s the story of the UW crew team who won gold at the 1936 Berlin (Hitler’s) Olympics.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. I’ve seen Moriarty come up over and over in the blogosphere but had never read any of her books. Now I know what all the fuss is about, this book was really entertaining. It was a relatively quick, fiction read, but it was well written and kept my attention. I looked forward to nursing sessions so that I could jump back into the story. I’ve added several more of her books to my library queue. Quick synopsis: Alice suffers an accident and loses memory of the last decade of her life (during which she had three children and a decade’s worth of life experiences).

Next up is a collection of books on baby sleep. If we’ve talked in real life in the last few weeks I’m sure I’ve mentioned more than a few times that my kid has decided to stop sleeping at night. While all experts (my sister, the pediatrician, the lactation consultant, etc.) have told me it’s just a phase, I’m convinced that if I read enough books I’ll find the answer. Wish me luck!

menu monday: a super boring week

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As my title suggests, last week was not my most creative in the kitchen. I am one of those people who doesn’t mind eating the same thing over and over and some weeks that’s all I have the energy to do. This past week was ten or so days into Paige not sleeping for more than two hour stretches at night. I didn’t really care what I ate as long as it was healthy and available. I made a few big meals over the weekend that lasted me all week and called it good.

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For most of the week I ate salmon cakes for breakfast. I know it sounds weird, but they can be made ahead and are really filling and delicious. They taste great warm or cold and are portable, so a very easy on-the-go breakfast. And by 9am you’ll have had your fill of Omega 3s. I add a little bit of homemade mayo to the top of each one and I’m full for hours.

I don’t seem to have a picture of this spicy peanut (or almond) chicken, but it’s a recipe I used to make all the time when I was big into calorie counting (the dark days). I was excited to try a new chicken casserole recipe, but apparently spaghetti squash has gone mainstream as they were out of it at two different stores. I remembered this recipe when I needed to come up with an alternative way to use the chicken I had already purchased. I used almond butter that I had on hand instead of peanut butter and it still tasted delicious. With 2.5 lbs of chicken, be prepared for a lot of leftovers or to freeze half. After we had it for dinner Sunday I was able to eat it for lunch most of the week.

IMG_9038_edited-1I made this crockpot beef and green chile stew as well last week. The flavors were great. It was  nice and spicy. The meat was a little less tender than I would have liked, but as I read back through the recipe I see that she cooked it on high for a bit then on low, which I didn’t do. Maybe that would have helped? I skipped the searing part so I didn’t use an alternative flour to all-purpose, but I probably would have just skipped flour had I bothered with the sear.

That’s all I’ve got to share this week. It really was a boring week in food around here, but sometimes that’s just the easiest way to tackle getting in 3+ meals a day.

may goals

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IMG_7517-1_edited-1Checking in on my April goals and putting my May ones out there because, you know, #makeitpublicmakeithappen. That might be the longest hashtag ever (I’ve never used it though it does exist), but it’s super true. At least for type-As like me.

In April, I wanted to…

Get back to meal planning and cooking. It took me until halfway through the month, but I’m there. We’ve had take-out maybe once in the last two weeks and have gone out for a few meals. It’s so much more enjoyable to have a meal out when you aren’t doing it so frequently that it becomes an annoyance.

Move more. Walk, walk, walk. I seriously love to walk. Coming from a former CrossFitter and marathon runner, walking seems so passive. But it’s what I love right now and because of that I actually did a lot of it this month.

Catch up on Project Life. Done! I caught up on all of March and April. I’m glad to have a single week to work on each week now. I am also happy to be caught up as I’ll be working in real time and I think that will help me remember more of the little stories.

April was a success. I feel like I bit off the right amount. It’s taken me time to figure out how to get meals made with a baby and I had to get creative to find time to work on my PL album (90% of it was done standing at our dining room table while Paige napped in the Moby).

In May, I plan to…

Average 10,000 steps a day. Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch. I’m not entirely sure I’ll be able to do that, but sometimes that’s the mark of a good goal. I’m cleared for more intense exercise, but I really am enjoying walking. And as a bonus it’s both free and I can do it with the baby and the dog. I resurrected the FitBit and this goal will force me up and out on the lazy days when I don’t want to bother with getting outside. I’m pretty sure I’ve never returned to the house after a walk in a worse mood than when leaving. Fresh air is my SAHM secret weapon of the moment.

Plant a backyard garden. This past weekend Greg built three new garden beds to go with the three he built last year (that I never used because on a whim I decided to go back to school). I have 42 square feet of garden space and am hoping to get started with planting in the next week or so. I have no clue what I’m doing but with the help of my MIL and a little luck, we may be eating some of our own veggies this summer.

Read four books. In actuality, I don’t care how many books I read, but I want to keep a trend going where I recently replaced mindless Facebook browsing with book reading while feeding Paige (April book review coming soon!). The last few days though I went back to my social media ways so I figure by putting a goal around this I can hopefully make it a habit in May. I have two to three hours of feeding time during waking hours a day, I might as well use them for something good (in addition to sustaining a small human).

I love to hear what others are working on. Do you have any goals for May?

day in the life | april 2015

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As I mentioned before I don’t really have any interest in doing a traditional baby book for Paige, but I do love documenting daily life and how it changes. I’m doing this in a few ways during this first year of Paige’s life. Some will stick and I’ll continue to do them and others will seem less interesting over time and will be retired. The things I have going right now include a monthly “I want to remember” recap, a One Line A Day book, keeping up with my 2015 Project Life album, and a monthly Day In the Life (DITL) recap.

I had the idea for DITL long before Paige was born didn’t end up doing it during her first month. I suppose I was overwhelmed with a newborn or something. On the 15th of each month I want to take the time to take pictures and note down what we did. I think it will be fun to see how our daily life changes over the year. And by picking the 15th, I’ll get a good mix of weekdays and weekends, days when Greg is in town versus traveling, boring days at home and maybe a day with some sort of adventure.   

To make it really easy I just use my iPhone for photos and keep a note going on my phone with what we’re doing at what time. Some parts of the day are much more detailed than others, but that’s sort of how our days feel right now – moments of calm mixed with moments of chaos. 

Here’s what Wednesday, April 15th, 2015 looked like in our little world…

1:45am – Paige is up to eat and I feed her in bed. Greg then changes her diaper while I eat a protein bar. I’ve never had so many protein bars in my life.
2:20am – We’re all back to sleep until the next wake-up call.
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4:15am – Paige is up again for food and a change. I take the diaper this time as I try to let Greg get one decent block of sleep since he actually has to interact with the world each day.
4:55am – And we’re back to sleep.
6:10am – And we’re up to eat again.
6:30am – Greg’s alarm goes off for the day. He takes Paige into her room to change her, brings here back and says good-bye while he goes to shower and we head back to sleep.
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8:05am – We’re up! I run upstairs to let Alfred out (it’s sunny outside!) and then it’s “breakfast” time for Paige.
8:30am – I pump for 10 minutes while Paige hangs out in bed with me.Untitled-1
8:45am – We move into Paige’s room to change her and get her dressed for the day.
8:50am – Paige is in a good mood, so I decide it’s a good time for me to take my shower. She sits in her bouncy chair in the bathroom with me and hangs out.
9:00am – While she’s still happy in her chair I throw in a load of laundry. She immediately becomes unhappy.
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9:05am – We head upstairs and I make myself breakfast (dinner leftovers), brew some coffee, and portion out my vitamins, supplements, and meds for the day (the list is kind of staggering right now).
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9:10am – We have play time while I eat, but someone is grumpy. I choke down my food and we try heading outside.
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9:30am – Still grumpy, so Paige goes into the Baby K’tan while I unload the dishwasher, vacuum, sort baby clothes that no longer fit her, and wipe down the kitchen & bathrooms.
10:05am – Swap the laundry and fold a load.
10:15am – Prep dinner. If I don’t do it during her morning nap, chances are it won’t get done. For tonight’s dinner I planned way too much and it took nearly an hour.
11:10am – Make a few phone calls and respond to a few emails.
11:30am – All the high priority tasks are done, so I decide to catch-up on my Project Life album.
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11:45am – Paige wakes up so we remove her from the carrier and diaper change, feed, and read a book.
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12:25pm – I put Paige in her swing so I can eat my lunch. Typically it doesn’t work, but I always try. Today happens to be a lucky day and I can eat while sitting on the floor chatting with her.
12:45pm – Load the dishwasher and get it started for what seems like the millionth time this week already.
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12:50pm – Time for our walk! I get both ‘kids’ (Alfred included) ready and we head out. We stop at the drive-thru coffee stand that has a walk-up window and I get an iced decaf. We walk out of our way to go to this place so I don’t have to bother with tying up the doodle.
1:45pm We’re back home and I turn my iced coffee into a smoothie. Only it’s horribly disgusting because I’ve added Brewer’s Yeast to help my milk supply issues. So disgusting I’m unable to drink it and very sad to have wasted my coffee.
2:00pm Time for Paige to eat again.
2:30pm Try to get Paige to nap while holding her, but she prefers to scream instead.
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2:45pm In the car to take a drive and calm down Paige. It doesn’t hurt that I can stop through the Starbucks drive-thru and replace my ruined coffee.
3:45pm Back home and Paige is asleep still so I decide to watch last week’s episode of Revenge. Yes, I’m still watching this even though it’s terrible. If you still watch Grey’s Anatomy you have no room to judge!
4:30pm Paige wakes up and we eat again.
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5:00pm And back asleep.
6:00pm Greg gets home from work just as Paige is waking up from her nap. He takes over baby duty and I throw together our prepped dinner.
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6:20pm I feed Paige while Greg fixes the new Photos app on my computer (I hate it). He eats dinner and we create a detailed task list for building a backyard veggie garden.
7:00pm We FaceTime with my brother and his family. It seems like just yesterday my niece was a tiny baby but she’s a hilarious little almost-three year old now. I eat dinner while we chat.
IMG_7482_edited-17:30pm Off on a short family walk to see if that will calm down Paige. Witching hour is real, people. Except that it should be called Witching Hours.
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7:50pm I get Paige ready for bed while Greg cleans upstairs. We try to go to bed every night with the house picked up and the kitchen clean, taking turn between getting Paige ready for bed and doing the cleaning. It makes such a difference to wake up to a nice, organized house every morning.
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8:15pm I feed Paige and read her a book then hand her off to Greg.
8:55pm Pump for ten minutes (least favorite daily “chore”).
9:30pm I get ready for bed, program the washing machine for a morning load, and fold the load from earlier today. I keep up with the laundry by scheduling a load to run at night for the next morning, and then out of sheer will moving that one load to the dry and folding it before I go to bed.
9:45pm Paige is still awake so I take over and walk around with her while Greg gets ready for bed.
10:00pm I try rocking Paige and she is drowsy but won’t commit to sleep.
10:15pm Bring out the big guns (less than big boobs in this case) and finally get her to sleep. Mumble good night to Greg and we both pass out, hoping to get a few hours before the little tyrant rouses us.

menu monday: a week of healthy eating

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Still loving the new menu plan. I simplified and prepped more food for this past week, but other than that the plan is working well. For weekend prep I made (clockwise from top left): roasted beets, side salads and dressing, casserole (ready to be baked), hard boiled eggs, soup. Having all this food on hand made it really easy to stick to my menu plan and eat three (or four) meals each day without relying on a drive-thru or take out.

New Find

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It’s been a while since I’ve shopped at Trader Joe’s, but maternity leave means one salary. My weekly trip to Whole Foods, during which I didn’t pay attention to prices, seems irresponsible now, so I’m trying to find better deals rather than go for convenience. I came across these Chile Lime Chicken Burgers in the frozen section. They are delicious, Whole30 approved, and can be cooked from frozen in less than 10 minutes. I think they will be great to keep in the freezer for quick, unplanned meals.

What We Ate

In working on simplicity, there were only three recipes this week. All other dishes were just roasted or quickly sautéed meats and veggies. I also made use of all the leftovers this week, which was a big win and something I’m not always great at doing.

Sweet Potato Soup with Bacon A long standing Well Fed 2 favorite and breakfast staple of mine (eggs + soup for breakfast is delicious)
Pizza Spaghetti (Squash) Pie New recipe that I’ve been meaning to try forever; delicious with spicy Italian sausage)
Mustard Glazed Chicken Thighs New recipe; hard to go wrong with butter + spicy mustard (the recipe I used is in Practical Paleo; here’s a similar one but it includes honey and omits sage)

I issued myself a little challenge last week to get back to healthy foods. For the last month or so my focus has been on getting enough food to increase my milk supply. My lactation consultant had me start eating six meals a day, which made me feel much better and helped my supply. I guess in the early baby weeks I was forgetting to eat too often.

I’m down to four meals a day, but they have not been the healthiest. I was overwhelmed by not only a baby, but a baby who wasn’t getting enough food.  Whatever I could manage to eat, I ate. My sugar cravings were insane, which is impressive for someone who would much rather eat salty food than sweet. As life with a baby is starting to feel more manageable, I decided to make some changes. I first though about doing a Whole 30, but right now that is just too much.

Instead, I decided to commit to just one week of healthy eating. Mentally is seemed totally doable, and I totally did it. I feel so much better. We’re still getting very little sleep (on week 2 of terrible night time sleep), but I’m no longer surviving off sugar and thinking about my next ‘fix’ at all times. It’s crazy the difference a few days makes. I also feel much less bloated. I’m under my pregnancy weight but I’ve actually gained weight since my two week post-partum visit (thank you six meals a day!). I think by focusing on healthy foods I’ll be able to eat enough to keep my supply going strong and maybe start loosing some baby weight.

To hold myself accountable, I used my future business Instagram account and posted each meal. You can see from the pictures below (what I ate Monday through Friday) that the week was all about repetition and really simple veggie side dishes. Posting my pictures (and interacting with people when I’m home with a dog and baby all day) worked so well I’ve decided to do it again this week.

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I know I’m starting to feel like my old self again when I go about my day constantly issuing challenges in my head. For the coming week, I’m going to continue eating well but I’d also like to get away from eating a bar in middle of the night every night. I need to eat something, but my bar habit is getting expensive (these and these are my favorites) and makes me extra thirsty. They were incredibly convenient for the first two months of middle of the night nursing sessions (and I’m thankful my friend Amanda bought me some and gave me the idea to eat them then), but now it’s time to move on to something else and save bars for traveling.