This year, our Thanksgiving was smaller than usual. And that's saying something, because five is a pretty typical crowd for us. We had to cancel our Thanksgiving pilgrimage to family on account of snow, which meant trying to make it still feel like Thanksgiving while not overdoing it for the two and a half eaters in our house. And keeping a toddler happy. With approximately two days' notice from not-cooking-anything to cooking everything. I'm pretty satisfied with the menu we ended up with:
glazed ham
mashed potatoes
gingerbread cookies (recipe from my old school Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook and epic selection of cookie cutters from Amazon)
chickpea, avocado and feta salad (from Two Peas and Their Pod)
mini raspberry turnovers (modified from my blackberry turnovers)
So today I'm thankful for my toddler who loves to bake with me, my husband for holding the baby so I can, and my Kitchenaid stand mixer.
Thursday, November 28, 2019
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Toddler's Favorite Ice Cream
Learning should be fun, right? And food should be fun, right? So how about using food as a tool for learning? Yes, please!
My little guy is great at helping me measure ingredients (learning about math and following directions in a recipe). And we just took our ice cream game to a whole new level of little kid awesome.
We made it blue.
After we'd measured and mixed our 1/2 cup of cream, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 1/2 cup of milk and 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla, I gave him a bottle of blue food coloring and let him go crazy. He'd squeeze a couple drops of blue into the ice cream mixture and whisk it in. Then he'd decide it wasn't blue enough and do it again. And again. Blue ice cream was basically the only thing he talked about all day. And you can use it to teach primary and secondary colors (red+yellow=orange; red+blue=purple; yellow+blue=green) and tertiary colors if you want to get really advanced (the blue greens and variations you kind of remember hearing about in an art class once). When my little guy is a bit older, I'm excited about the possibilities of using different flavors, too. There are the mint and almond extracts you can find in the grocery store, but there's also a whole rabbit hole of food extracts and flavorings available on Amazon. Purple brownie batter ice cream? We just might have to try it...
Happy learning!
Sunday, October 13, 2019
kindness
Last week, my boys and I were at story time. This particular story time includes a craft, and the crafts are not always age-appropriate for the toddlers who typically attend story time. I was holding my infant in one arm while sitting with my toddler between my knees and trying to put together the pieces of the "puppet" he was making.
None of it was working and we were all getting frustrated, when another mom appeared at my shoulder and offered to hold my baby so I could spend some time focused on bonding with my toddler--her daughter was older enough to do the craft without assistance. I hesitated for half a second before handing my baby to this mom who I'd met once before and whose name I couldn't begin to remember. She spent the next ten minutes rocking and cooing to my baby.
When I stepped over to retrieve him, I thanked her with tears in my eyes.
She brushed off her gesture by claiming that she was done having kids but wanted a "baby fix." She pretended not to see how moved I was by her kindness.
I didn't know it, but this was exactly what I needed in that moment. It was so simple, and it cost her nothing, yet it changed me. I vowed to try to be kinder, too, both to others and to myself.
None of it was working and we were all getting frustrated, when another mom appeared at my shoulder and offered to hold my baby so I could spend some time focused on bonding with my toddler--her daughter was older enough to do the craft without assistance. I hesitated for half a second before handing my baby to this mom who I'd met once before and whose name I couldn't begin to remember. She spent the next ten minutes rocking and cooing to my baby.
When I stepped over to retrieve him, I thanked her with tears in my eyes.
She brushed off her gesture by claiming that she was done having kids but wanted a "baby fix." She pretended not to see how moved I was by her kindness.
I didn't know it, but this was exactly what I needed in that moment. It was so simple, and it cost her nothing, yet it changed me. I vowed to try to be kinder, too, both to others and to myself.
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Perspective
The only difference between “my kids screamed all day and it completely sucked” and “today made me realize how awesome my kids are most of the time” is your perspective.
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Bedtime
As I recline in bed with my baby asleep on my chest and my toddler asleep by my side, I think to myself:
It might not always be easy, but it’s not impossible.
It might not always be easy, but it’s not impossible.
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Quick Vegan Apple Crumble
We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So I’m always trying to improve my breakfast game. These days, it’s hard to make time for muffins or banana bread or baked oatmeal or any of my other breakfast faves. But I’ve recently stumbled onto this apple crumble that cooks in about a minute in the microwave. The most time consuming part is dicing the apple. Take that, bowl of cereal.
Dice an apple (preferably green) into your favorite oversized coffee mug. Sprinkle cinnamon and about 1 tablespoon of brown sugar over the top of the apple. Then pour 1/2-1 tablespoon of coconut oil on top of that. Stir. Microwave for a minute or until the apple is as soft as you like it. Top with granola. Enjoy your mostly healthy breakfast (or dessert, or snack) and have a great rest of your day!
Dice an apple (preferably green) into your favorite oversized coffee mug. Sprinkle cinnamon and about 1 tablespoon of brown sugar over the top of the apple. Then pour 1/2-1 tablespoon of coconut oil on top of that. Stir. Microwave for a minute or until the apple is as soft as you like it. Top with granola. Enjoy your mostly healthy breakfast (or dessert, or snack) and have a great rest of your day!
Monday, August 5, 2019
A Very Different Birth Story
A few of you may remember my birth story with Baby #1. That was a very different story than this one. But the principle that different people want (and deserve) different amounts of story remains the same. Here goes:
1. Short and sweet. For the mailman and the other people who might ask but don’t know you very well.
The baby’s great. I’m not a human incubator anymore, so I’m great.
2. The touchy-feely version. For friends and anyone who needs to be warned that plans are crap.
# 2 was way more comfortable on the inside than I wanted him to be, so the doctor agreed to induce labor at 41 weeks. I drove myself, Husband, and #1 to the hospital at the designated time after stopping for Starbucks (the cashier asked how my day was and I replied with “great! On my way to the hospital to have a baby!” Unfortunately, he didn’t respond with “wow! Your drink is on the house!” Oh well. I tried.). I checked in at the hospital with “I’m here to have a baby!” Not in labor. Casual and joking around with the L&D staff. So that was weird, and not how I’d ever expected to start the birthing process. Pitocin, contractions, blah blah blah. Husband and I had agreed that my mom would come stay with me in the evening when he took #1 home for bed (we live 45+ minutes from the hospital). The contractions started getting stronger, so I told the nurses that I wanted the epidural exactly when Husband got back around 10 (he’s my safety net when it comes to all things needles). We didn’t make it that far. I called the nurse when my water broke, asked for the epidural ASAP, and ten minutes later my body was telling me it was time. We barely made it until the doctor was in the room, let alone Husband. But #2 is great, they left the cord long so Husband could ceremoniously cut it when he got there 8 minutes later, and I’m recovering from the shock of how that all went down.
3. The gory details. You’ve been warned.
Remember the touchy-feely version? Husband and #1 left at 8:15 to go home. The contractions started getting worse shortly thereafter, and around 9:15, I asked the nurses for Fentanyl to take the edge off until Husband was back and I was ready for the epidural (have I mentioned that I really don’t do well with needles?). My water broke at 9:30 (I’m told; I didn’t check the clock). The first nurse, the one who wanted to wait for the doctor, told me to blow like I was blowing out a candle. The next nurse who got there told me I was hyperventilating and needed to cut that shit out. Then the doctor showed up and told me that if I felt like I needed to push, to go ahead and push. (You know how in movies, women in labor say they feel like they have to push? It’s true. The closest thing I can compare it to is vomiting: you feel the need building up even though you don’t want it to and your body takes over and you don’t have a choice. It’s the weirdest damn thing.) Fun fact: on the 0-10 pain scale, 9 is whimpering and 10 is primeval screaming. I’m pretty sure I scared my mom (sorry, Mom!). There is so much you don’t feel when you get the epidural. You don’t really want to feel it. Don’t wait. Get the epidural.
Well, that’s all, folks. My IVs are out. I got the all-clear from the nurse to pee without supervision. Everyone else is asleep. Thinking over this second (and final) birthing adventure was enough to kick my adrenaline back up enough for the shaking to start again, which is why I’m writing this story at 4am next to a sleeping baby instead of trying to get more than the hour of sleep I’ve gotten so far tonight.
1. Short and sweet. For the mailman and the other people who might ask but don’t know you very well.
The baby’s great. I’m not a human incubator anymore, so I’m great.
2. The touchy-feely version. For friends and anyone who needs to be warned that plans are crap.
# 2 was way more comfortable on the inside than I wanted him to be, so the doctor agreed to induce labor at 41 weeks. I drove myself, Husband, and #1 to the hospital at the designated time after stopping for Starbucks (the cashier asked how my day was and I replied with “great! On my way to the hospital to have a baby!” Unfortunately, he didn’t respond with “wow! Your drink is on the house!” Oh well. I tried.). I checked in at the hospital with “I’m here to have a baby!” Not in labor. Casual and joking around with the L&D staff. So that was weird, and not how I’d ever expected to start the birthing process. Pitocin, contractions, blah blah blah. Husband and I had agreed that my mom would come stay with me in the evening when he took #1 home for bed (we live 45+ minutes from the hospital). The contractions started getting stronger, so I told the nurses that I wanted the epidural exactly when Husband got back around 10 (he’s my safety net when it comes to all things needles). We didn’t make it that far. I called the nurse when my water broke, asked for the epidural ASAP, and ten minutes later my body was telling me it was time. We barely made it until the doctor was in the room, let alone Husband. But #2 is great, they left the cord long so Husband could ceremoniously cut it when he got there 8 minutes later, and I’m recovering from the shock of how that all went down.
3. The gory details. You’ve been warned.
Remember the touchy-feely version? Husband and #1 left at 8:15 to go home. The contractions started getting worse shortly thereafter, and around 9:15, I asked the nurses for Fentanyl to take the edge off until Husband was back and I was ready for the epidural (have I mentioned that I really don’t do well with needles?). My water broke at 9:30 (I’m told; I didn’t check the clock). The first nurse, the one who wanted to wait for the doctor, told me to blow like I was blowing out a candle. The next nurse who got there told me I was hyperventilating and needed to cut that shit out. Then the doctor showed up and told me that if I felt like I needed to push, to go ahead and push. (You know how in movies, women in labor say they feel like they have to push? It’s true. The closest thing I can compare it to is vomiting: you feel the need building up even though you don’t want it to and your body takes over and you don’t have a choice. It’s the weirdest damn thing.) Fun fact: on the 0-10 pain scale, 9 is whimpering and 10 is primeval screaming. I’m pretty sure I scared my mom (sorry, Mom!). There is so much you don’t feel when you get the epidural. You don’t really want to feel it. Don’t wait. Get the epidural.
Well, that’s all, folks. My IVs are out. I got the all-clear from the nurse to pee without supervision. Everyone else is asleep. Thinking over this second (and final) birthing adventure was enough to kick my adrenaline back up enough for the shaking to start again, which is why I’m writing this story at 4am next to a sleeping baby instead of trying to get more than the hour of sleep I’ve gotten so far tonight.
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
The Best Chocolate Ice Cream
I love my ice cream maker. It’s especially great during summer pregnancy. I can go from craving to eating in 15 minutes flat. And with only 4 ingredients, I usually have everything on hand for this perfect chocolate ice cream.
Whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and 1/3 cup cocoa powder. Whisk in 1/2 cup whipping cream. Whisk in 1 1/2 cup whole milk until all combined. Pour into ice cream maker and let the magic happen. Enjoy as soft serve as soon as your desired consistency is achieved, and freeze whatever is left to enjoy later.
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Simplify Meal Planning: Identifying Family Favorites
With other bloggers creating lists of their go-to meals, I realized I don’t have anything like that for my family. And I probably should. After all, having a list of meals you know your family likes makes meal planning easier. I’ve been compiling this list over the last couple of weeks and then reviewing it after checking my fridge (and freezer and pantry) and grocery ads before coming up with my shopping list for the week. And I’m saving about $20 a week on groceries and spending less time planning! Win-win!
Our go-to meals:
Chicken fajitas
Chicken fried rice
Chicken and rice bowls
Chicken salad sandwiches
Grilled cheese
Taco bowls (or tacos)
Stuffed peppers
Lettuce wraps
Stuffed chicken parm
Steak rolls
Chicken fried steak
Burgers
Ribs
Chili
Pigs in a blanket
Beans and cornbread
Beans and cornbread
Thai chicken wraps
Stuffed shells
Meatball subs
Pizza
Carnitas
Barbecue pork
Breakfast
Sides:
Salad
Coleslaw (regular or peanut)
Cornbread
Sweet potato fries or chips
Roasted potatoes
Garlic toast
Carrots and ranch
Breakfasts:
Whole wheat muffins
Donuts
Pancakes
Breakfast burritos
Snacks:
Apple with peanut butter (or pb dip)
Nuts
Yogurt and granola
Protein shake
Fruit
Desserts:
Cookies
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Gratitude journals
As much as I enjoy writing, I have always been terrible at journaling. I probably started at least a dozen diaries and journals growing up, but never kept them up for more than a couple of weeks. Not that that’s bad. I think I mostly started them when I had a lot going on and needed an outlet for expressing myself, and then stopped once I felt like I had my shit figured out.
A gratitude journal isn't like that. It's a completely different kind of reflection. The purpose of a gratitude journal is to take time at the end of the day and think about the good things that happened in your day and why they happened. It's supposed to help foster mindfulness and create a more positive mindset by making you focus on good things, even if only for a minute.
For example, my journal for today would be:
1. I got to work in my garden because we have a lot of outdoor space and the sun was shining.
2. My toddler and I had delicious donuts for breakfast because he wanted to bake with me this morning.
3. I took time to write because I'm trying to make myself a priority.
A gratitude journal isn't like that. It's a completely different kind of reflection. The purpose of a gratitude journal is to take time at the end of the day and think about the good things that happened in your day and why they happened. It's supposed to help foster mindfulness and create a more positive mindset by making you focus on good things, even if only for a minute.
For example, my journal for today would be:
1. I got to work in my garden because we have a lot of outdoor space and the sun was shining.
2. My toddler and I had delicious donuts for breakfast because he wanted to bake with me this morning.
3. I took time to write because I'm trying to make myself a priority.
What is mindfulness, and why is it important?
Mindfulness is simply being present. To be mindful, put down your phone, turn off the tv, and give your full attention to whatever it is that you're doing. It's about paying attention to your surroundings so you can appreciate and enjoy the things in your life.
Mindfulness can also mean playing music and having a dance party while you put away laundry. Or turning gardening into an impromptu biology lesson. Or giving your whole self to a good snuggle--what could possibly be better than that?
By devoting your attention to the task at hand, you can make an effort to make it more enjoyable. You can also get even more benefit from being mindful by combining it with starting a gratitude journal.
Mindfulness can also mean playing music and having a dance party while you put away laundry. Or turning gardening into an impromptu biology lesson. Or giving your whole self to a good snuggle--what could possibly be better than that?
By devoting your attention to the task at hand, you can make an effort to make it more enjoyable. You can also get even more benefit from being mindful by combining it with starting a gratitude journal.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Resolutions
I don’t usually go for New Years resolutions. I know a vast majority of them fail within the first few months or even weeks. But I’d like to think this is a different kind of resolution.
Starting now, I resolve to try harder.
In the throes of prenatal depression, I will start trying harder at the things that are important to me. To be appreciative. To prioritize and make time for my wellbeing. To write more. To always be available when my toddler wants to cuddle. To try new things. To forgive myself when I fall short.
And this isn’t a resolution for 2019, or until I have a baby, or until anything else. This is an ongoing resolution, from this day forward. I’m tired of being in a slump. And what better time, and what better way to start to try harder to improve?
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