Categories
Family/Travel

Hints of Spring Weekend

Saturday & Sunday were gorgeous days in NC. My parents were down for the weekend & we took advantage of the nice weather by getting out & about a bit with Lucy & Zach.

Saturday was an errand day. Lucy & Zach were carried in our ergos through Costco & enjoyed bites of clementines & Mommy’s vanilla froyo while there. {Of course I read yesterday no citrus fruits til over 12 mos. Oops!} Then I ran into Trader Joe’s while Lucy & Zach had a bottle chillin’ in the van with my Mom & aunt. Yay for having a stocked fridge, freezer & pantry!

I felt like a baby chef this weekend as I blended up a bunch of purees for my growing eaters. I made black beans, avocado, peas, green beans, white potatoes, bananas, blueberries, mangos & pears. I set out enough for the next couple of days & froze most of them. I think I’ll do a post next week on my/their puree favorites including recipes & photos.

Lucy & Zach exploring the den, Zach trying out black beans & avocado puree Sunday night & mango puree all ready for the freezer.
Lucy & Zach exploring the den, Zach trying out black beans & avocado puree Sunday night & mango puree all ready for the freezer.

Mom & I threw together a few make ahead adult meals too. Our go to baked spaghetti & a new one, Pesto Chicken Penne Casserole which I plan to post the recipe to once we try it & I can take a few photos. The tastes of the sauce were amazing that I snuck from the bowl!

The babies slept in a bit, but Mom, Lucy, Zach & I still made it to the later church service Sunday morning. It was the babies first time in the Sunday morning church nursery. They said Zach was laid back & fine & that Lucy “was quite the busy girl”. They got that right!!

Lucy, Mommy & Zach all ready for church.
Lucy, Mommy & Zach all ready for church.

After naps & playing {the babies}, Costco lobster bisque & sandwiches & puree making {me}, Mom & I took the babies for a lap around a local lake. We ended up running into friends of ours & it was so fun to catch up for a bit. I’m really looking forward to doing more of this on the weekends.

Since the babies had both woken up from a stroller nap, we put them in a swing for the first time. At first, they weren’t sure what to think. They really liked being able to look around at all the other kiddos on the playground. Lucy kept reaching up to check out the chains & also reaching around to hug Zacher. Zach pretty much said as long as tiger wubba & Mommy comes too, you can put me anywhere for a lil while.

Swinging for the first time!
Swinging for the first time!

Next Mom let Lucy “slide” down a slide & then we put both of them on these bouncing tractors. Good times for their first time at the park.

Playground fun!
Playground fun!

Hope your weekend was also warm & sunny & filled with smiles!

Categories
Everything Else

Spring Cloth Diapers {giveaway & Egg Hunt}

With the promises of warm weather coming in this weekend along with our time springing forward, I have all things spring on my brain! As Lucy & Zach are growing {yay!}, I’m finding I’m frequently turning to their one-sized cloth diapers & have recently been moving the snaps or straps over. I’m realizing how convient that aspect of OS cloth diapers is compared to having to repurchase new sized diapers. While I still have mad love for our sized AppleCheeks & itti bittis, here’s a few of my current one sized favorites. And bonus points for their spring colors!

We love our Kawaii diapers. They seemed a little big at first but have grown well with the babies. I love the bright yellow & spring green. And the price!! spring_budS

SoftBums are another daycare go to diaper. They have fun prints for spring including Shamrock Owls! Our daycare ladies & Zach & Lucy’s grands love the aplix vs snaps too. Shamrock_OwlsS

We just have one FuzziBunz diaper but it’s held up great from the very beginning. And the bright yellow or apple green are fun colors to peak out under any dress or onesie. fb-onesize-applegreen120

I just realized I’m a little obsessed with green diapers! Guess I’m ready for St Patrick’s day!

I’m still working on Easter outfits for Lucy & Zach. We’ll be at the beach & it’ll most likely be cooler.  But I’m thinking of being brave & bringing our pink, orange, blue & green Flip covers with both cloth & disposible insets for the weekend. flip-travel-pack-update

{All pictures from Kelly’s Closet who’s currently offering free shipping over $49 & a bonus code: they’re offering a free one sized cover with the code LUCKYCOVER for any purchase over $49.}

KellysClosetEggHunt

I’m linking up with Kelly’s Closet for their Egg Hunt. Search Suz’s Treats for an egg with a letter on it {*might want to learn a little more about me*}. Then jump over to the other Kelly’s Closet Afflifates blogs & find the others’ letters. When you discover all the letters & spell out a spring phrase, you can get a nice discount code to do some Easter shopping on Kelly’s Closet/Diaper Shops!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I am an affiliate blogger for Kelly’s Closet and I’m participating in the Egg Hunt promotion.  No compensation was received.  Affiliate links may be present in this post.  Prizes are sponsored by Kelly’s Closet.  To learn more about becoming an affiliate or about Kelly’s Closet: https://www.kellyscloset.com/affiliateinfo.asp

Categories
Babies

Finding Time for Me {Liberating Working Moms}

I thought I’d carved out last night for ‘me time’. The plan was for Jason to spend yesterday & today relaxing after his last day Wed & before he starts a new job Monday. And since he’d be off work, he could pick up & handle Zach & Lucy for a few hours Thurs evening so I could have a after work girl’s night with coworker friends.

Instead, he has pneumonia & spent the day at various doctor’s offices & the night in bed while I wrangled Zach & Lucy. Thankfully, the babies were great.

But that still leaves me questioning, when’s my time?

I’m six months into being a working mom & almost ten months into being a parent, & I feel like I have it kind of down. Of course, when Lucy &/or Zach are sick or teething, a wrench is thrown into the mix & I’m thrown off my “I got this” game. But those days aside, I’m fairly confident that I’m doing a good job balancing work & motherhood.

What I’m realizing I haven’t been doing such a great job keeping up is sometimes me. My one hour of pumping each work day {broke into three sessions} is my only ‘me time.’ It’s sometimes the only time during the whole week when I can sit down uninterrupted by work & personal phone calls, work & personal emails, coworkers, my husband &/or my babies. That hour a day is just me & my book or kindle or silly games on my cell. And yes, I happen to be attached to a machine pumping milk out of my breasts during this time which might tell you how chaotic my life is; that being hooked up to a pump is what I consider one of the most relaxing parts of my day.

I’m over at Liberating Working Moms today talking more about ‘me time’ & what I’m going to do once I stop pumping & lose that hour of ‘me time’ a day. From comments already & my social post, I know it gets easier & better. But I’d love you to jump over to LWM & tell me what you do for yourself.

Categories
Reading

BlogHer Book Club: Let’s Pretend This Never Happened

Let's Pretend This Never HappenedQuick upfront confession. Before reading Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, I knew who The Bloggess was. I’d even met her at BlogHer ’11. I was familiar with her large, expensive chicken & I follow her on twitter. And this book has set in my Amazon shopping cart unpurchased for a while. But I’m not a faithful blog reader of hers.

If her blog is much like the book {& I’d guess it is}, I’ve been missing out. I finished Let’s Pretend This Never Happened last Wednesday & spent a few days really wishing it hadn’t ended. I missed her ‘voice’, her stories in the days that followed. Because she’s funny & totally out there on display in a no holds back kinda way that makes you want to run away from all the chaos & yet sucks you right in. I finished Let’s Pretend feeling like a friend who’d experienced her memoir right along with her.

I’m thankful my childhood was not spent wearing bread bag shoes in rural TX, but I feel like I missed out that I didn’t experience cow fertility lessons amongst other HS classes available to Jenny.

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened had me laughing out loud. The HR notes killed me. Her post-its to her dear sweet oh-so-understanding husband, slayed me. I could write the ones able hanging up towels correctly! And the chapter on her pup & the birds made me appreciate friendships while making me glad I life safely in the suburbs!

If you’re looking for a funny memoir about growing up TX Southern, check out Let’s Pretend This Never Happened. And while you’re at it, jump over to our BlogHer Book Club page to join the discussion.

Categories
Family/Travel

This Morning

Two things happened for the first time this morning.

First the good. Jason started working 7a-4p this week. {Zach & I were home yesterday because he ran a fever Sunday. Getting teeth two at a time is hard work.} So today was our Monday & also the first time the babies & I had gotten ready & headed to work & daycare with me as solo morning parent. It was a success! All of us were clean {& thanks to Zach’s last minute poop as we went out the door, he & I were wiped very clean}, dressed, lunches, diaper & pump bags packed & I was only 5 mintues late to work. Score!

The not so great. Zach slept in our king size bed between us from 1a on this morning. We nursed around 5 & fell back asleep. Jason’s alarm went off & he got up around 530a. I stretched out a little after that & noticed Jason had turned his pillow vertical just in case Z wiggling all the way across the bed. Zach was nestled snugly sleeping horizontal with his feet on my back & me facing Lucy’s monitor & away from the other side of the bed.

Next thing I know, I’m hearing a thud & then a cry. I sat right up, reached out & nothing was there. I was missing 15 pounds of lil guy from the bed. I found him between Jason’s end table & the bed. Yep, Zach wiggled& wiggled & wiggled himself right off the bed & onto the floor.

I quickly scooped him up & while giving hugs & kisses happily discovered he wasn’t hurt, jsut scared & mostly asleep. We laid back down but since he continued crying, we walked into the den where I had to tell his Daddy about his fall!

Since this morning, Jason’s been researching bed rails. There’s a trip to Walmart in my future this evening. 😛

Anyone else have experience with this? Are we the only bedsharing family that this has happened to?