Hi baby: happy day

Hi baby,

I'm writing this as I wait for my sleeping pill to kick in (insomnia is the bomb.com) and I couldn't let today pass by without writing about it. You were so fun today! Every single day you do something new, or something old, but better. You're really attached to me at the moment and won't let me leave the room as you play. Today we looked at alphabet flash cards and you had to be on my lap the whole time. Sometimes I get a little irritated that you won't "leave me alone" but then I remember we're apart every day for 5 hours, so no wonder you want to just hang out with me. I am a better mom when I think of your perspective and I find myself enjoying our time together much more. 

You're "talking" more and more and tonight you were glaring at me and lecturing me about something- every once in a while yelling "no!" In between your jibberish and your furrowed brow. It was so dang funny. I had no idea what I was doing wrong, but you didn't like it one bit! 

I seriously had so much fun with you today! I can't wait until the weather gets warmer and we can spend our afternoons exploring outside. You love airplanes and birds and point out every car you see. 

You're always asking for daddy and asking "where go?" with your hands in the air. Tonight as we got ready to say your night prayers you asked for dad to make sure he joined us. Family prayers with you is a special moment in my day. 

I love you Mckenzie girl! Thanks for being so goofy and loving me. 

Xoxo

Mom 

Smelly naps

Today has been such a mom day! I'm sure you all have had a million of these days, but mine are surprisingly few and far between right now. 

Mckenzie wouldn't fall asleep until 11pm last night. (She usually sleeps at 7) so when we had to wake her up at 6 this morning she was pretty upset. She was hysterical and I decided to take her to daycare a little later to see if she would calm down. She eventually gets dropped off and ends up falling alseep at 10am. I go to pick her up at noon assuming she's be awake. I then had to hang out and kill time until 1:40 when she finally woke up. 

We get home and she clings to me so we cuddle and watch TV. Her tummy hurts and she's grouchy. She poops, fills her diaper and immediately passes out. No time to change her. 

So now I'm holding my very smelly baby because she's tired and sick and it's my job. My eyes may or may not be burning a little. Yuck! 

Here's hoping her nap only lasts 30 minutes. 

Hi baby (#2) 6 weeks

Hello my little poppyseed.

I'm six weeks along today and only a handful of people know about you. I'm so happy to be pregnant again and feel much more confident this time around. I'm not studying the daily emails and downloading every app. For the most part, I know what to expect. 

I forgot how tired growing a little person makes you these first few months! Today you will be tripling in size! No wonder I needed a nap. I've been a little sick off and on, but nothing too bad yet. Just really tired. My first and number 1 pregnancy symptom is bloating and that's in full force. Since you're slowing down my digestive system any food I eat sits there for what feels like all day. My belly sticks out like I'm 5 months pregnant already and that's been so much fun to hide. 

No major cravings or aversions yet. I've been eating about 90% paleo for the last 3 weeks and you don't seem to mind. With your sister I threw healthy eating out the window because I was just so hungry all the time and couldn't choke down a vegetable! I know it's still early into the pregnancy so we'll see what happens. 

I'm beginning to think about life with a newborn again and all I have to say is, we'll survive. I won't know a thing about raising a two year old and a newborn together- but this motherhood thing has a way of working that all out. 

Your daddy is very happy about you. He keeps referring to you as a "sister" and then after a pause adds "or brother". I guess we will know in about 10 weeks! 

I wish I was 7 months pregnant already and the waiting game is going to be the hardest part! So until then, I'll write you love letters and imagine who you will be. 

Stay strong and keep growing 

Xoxo

Mom 

Hi Baby: 18 months

Hi baby girl,

Tonight I put you to bed with a tortilla. You ran to the pantry and grabbed a tortilla when I told you it was time for bed, probably thinking it would stall The inevitable. It didn't work. And you didn't hate it. You happily ate in bed, sang to your puppy and fell asleep. When did you become a little person?? With thoughts and reactions and decisions? Every day you are less a baby and more a little girl. 

You understand every word I say, and are now saying things like "here you go" and "that's mine". You know how to kneel down when we say prayers and you fold your arms and can make it almost a full minute before you start fidgeting. But you wait patiently and say "amen" right on cue. Seeing you kneel down and understand prayer time is so special for me. I hope you continue to grow up and understand there will always be a loving Heavenly Father listening. 

You call out "mommy!" whenever you need something. From getting out of the tub, to taking a big step over a snow pile. You yell "mommy" and hold out your hand. Even when I'm standing behind you, or you can't see me, you know I'll be there if you say my name. You're showing more of a preference for me compared to daddy right now. But you'll still only nap on dad's lap and not mine. God is fair that way. 

You must be having some kind of development jump because you've reverted back to carrying Dog everywhere, and even found your (now year old) binki and started sucking on it again. It's like your trying to sooth yourself into this next phase of life. I like it because that means more cuddles and loves for me! 

Your last 3 teeth are making their way up so you're eating preferences change from day to day, depending on how much your mouth hurts. You're obsessed with drinking water and just this last week I have started saying "no" because you just keep drinking it. I think at this point it's more of a soothing habit than a need. 

We went for a 45 minute walk today and you pushed your baby stroller up and down the sidewalk. Sometimes you would run. Sometimes you would try to run me over. You'd find a crack and follow it. You'd see your shadow and get distracted. You'd practice walking in the snow and need me to help you move things along. 

I never would have imagined 18 months ago that this is the kind of person you have turned into. That my baby is no longer a baby and that you walk/run more than you are held. You understand the world around you, and you're loving every minute. Thank you for filling my life with a love I will never be able to explain, and that only moms can understand. This last year and a half with you has been the most uneventful and yet life changing phase of my life. And I am so excited to see what's next. 

I love you baby girl. 

Xoxo 

Mom 

Happy Eating and a Month of Meals

90% of the meals we eat are homemade. What's my biggest secret? Meal planning. It saves us money, helps us eat healthier, and keeps the stress level way down.

If I'm able to write up the dinner menu for the week, write a shopping list for just those meals, and then stick to that list- it's an easy week. For the most part I'm usually able to do this 3 out of the 4 weeks each month. Without fail though, I miss a week and we always eat out, go to the grocery store multiple times, and stress out over dinner time.

I really can't say enough good things about making a meal plan! Especially when you're trying to have better eating habits. It's important to us to have family dinner together every night, so we've made it a priority in our lives. It's also important for us to eat healthy, so we don't eat pre-made meals out of boxes or bags. Of course sometimes Bart will have Mac & Cheese after work, or we'll enjoy chips and salsa for a snack, but for dinner- we have chosen not to eat that way. It's been almost 3 years since my diet had to drastically change, and I would say we have found a very realistic way for us as a family to eat.

Okay- so back to my love of meal plans. I did something awesome thing morning. Mckenzie woke up at 6 a.m. (typical) and as she played, I wrote down a long list of meals we eat regularly. And I did them by category. So this is what it looked like: 

chicken tacos
beef tacos
enchiladas
fish tacos
bean and cheese burritos
sausage soup
veggie soup
chili
grilled salmon
crispy fish
tuna patties
salmon and rice
chicken salad wraps
tuna salad wraps
grilled chicken sandwiches
spaghetti
pizza casserole
chef salad
fried rice
rice chicken bowls
hawaiian haystacks
chicken and green bean dish
baked potato bar
roast and veggies

It was easier for me to think of things when I thought of the category (tacos, soups, pasta, etc). After making this master list, I divided them out to each week. So Week 1 gets chicken tacos, Week 2 gets beef tacos, Week 3 gets enchiladas, etc. That way, we're getting a good balance of dishes each week. I was so happy with how it turned out! Here is what our 4 week menu looks like

Week 1                                 Week 2                                 Week 3                                 Week 4

Chicken Tacos                    beef tacos                           enchiladas                           fish tacos

Sausage soup                    veggie soup                           chili                                        spaghetti

Grilled salmon                   crispy fish                              tuna patties                        chef salad

Chicken salad wrap         chicken sandwich                  pizza casserole                  tuna salad wraps

Fried rice                             rice bowls                        Hawaiian haystacks         chicken & green beans

Potato bar                           bean burritos                     roast and veggies             salmon and rice

I don't include breakfast or lunch and leave one day for leftovers. We eat leftovers for lunch and something egg related most mornings for breakfast. I also don't worry about having several courses for each dinner. Most nights we don't have a side with our enchiladas or tacos. Sometimes we do. I don't let the thought of making sure I have a drink, side and dessert with every dinner stop me from making dinner in the first place. I try to have veggies with every meal, so if it's not included in the main dish we do our best to have a veggie side.  Our go-to meal is usually something Mexican because Bart can enjoy his flour tortillas while I use corn. Plus you can shove as much veggies and/or protein you want in them. Pasta is kind of a pain to cook because Bart gets the good stuff and I have to cook my GF noodles in a different pot.

We use brown rice, not white. I eat corn tortillas and Bart and Macs use flour. We cook with olive oil, not butter, and leave out the cream-of-whatever in the recipes. I would say the most indulgent menu item above would be the pizza casserole- but it's just SO good.  We also don't do dessert. Unless I'm on a baking kick- we don't keep goodies in the house. Mostly because I just get angry when Bart gets to eat them without me!

It's not perfect, but hopefully it gives you an idea of what a month worth of meals looks like. Not too bad right? After 3 years of fresh eating I have also become quite a good cook...so they all actually taste good too! Mckenzie will eat everything on this list, including the fish and soups. She's been fed real, fresh food since she was 6 months old and has never shown any kind of picky tendencies.

I don't know why I was so excited to share with you what our meals look like- but there you go! If you want any recipes... let me know :) Happy eating!

No TV Week and One Long Nap

I'm on a TV cleanse again this week. Whenever I get done binge watching a show, I feel bad about myself and a little pathetic. This time around I watched all 3 seasons of Elementary and as always I'm sad season 4 isn't available...yet.

It's amazing how productive I am when I'm not watching TV. I did still watch my Monday night Bachelor, and I'll watch TV with Bart at night before bed, but during the day and during Mckenzie's 2.5-3 hr siesta the TV is off. Which means my fridge got cleaned out, my 9 loads of laundry were finished. My work projects were started, completed and added on. I have 4 books on que and I'm leaving time to exercise. I still haven't found the time or desire to blog...but hey...I'm trying now.

I don't know why, I just haven't had anything to say on here lately. Life is just life is just life. All the same and wonderful. I've calmed down on my picture taking (sort of) so I don't really have 24024 pictures from each day to show off. Macs is still beautiful and smart and funny and we love her. She might not be talking yet, but we can completely communicate with her- and it's awesome.

Her current nap schedule though has completely destroyed any hope for me to have a social life. She now naps from noon-2:30 or 3pm every day. It's wonderful and I love being down to just one long nap! But it's also hard because now I'm stuck AT HOME from noon-3pm. Right when I could be grabbing lunch or meeting up with girlfriends. Nope. No longer. Thanks Kenz.

after she woke up from a 3.5 hour nap! I was so bored and happy she woke up. She...wasn't.

Speaking of one nap a day- should we talk about that?? I mean...she used to take 4-5 naps a day. No wonder my life was a living hell. Coordinating and dealing with so many naps and each nap affected the next naps and WHY ISN'T SHE SLEEPING TODAY?? Ugh. That sucked. Even just having two naps a day was hard because the afternoon nap was totally dependent on the morning nap. There was never a for sure nap time and length. I don't even want to think about how many moments I've spent worrying/thinking/planning/mothering nap time. I'm going to enjoy this before the next baby comes along (no, not pregnant).

I've been cooking dinner every night the last several weeks and I kind of love it?? I have grown to really enjoy cooking. I'm sure Bart wishes our meals had more meat, potatoes and pasta- but they're mostly veggies. But it's been awesome to learn new ways to make healthy food taste good. I've been playing around and experimenting in the kitchen and I'm finally to the point where I can throw something together and create a taste combo that is so good- without a recipe.

mmmm cookies!

....I mean....I really don't have anything to write!! It's so sad. I thought about just getting rid of my blog, but I feel like all my thoughts and opinions might come back if/when I have another baby?? Maybe? Who knows. It's not that I don't have opinions and that things don't irritate me anymore, I just feel like I've grown up a little bit and now it's weird to voice those opinions/complaints all the time. Does that make sense? *sigh* Apparently I'm becoming old and proper and polite and stuff. Gross.