We took a few weeks hiatus from Blue Apron thinking we’d grill a lot more during the summer. We set a pause for x number of weeks and that number snuck up on us!
Let’s just say we are SO glad that it did. Mercifully, the girls went down easily and we spent the next hour catching up on each other’s day while cooking a seriously delicious and HEALTHY meal. How do you beat that?!
It’s so crazy how quickly we forget the very detailed and precise schedule we followed with our first child. We followed “the book” with utter devotion. I’m not sure why, probably a desire to believe someone had the answers. There’s no denying the advice we used worked incredibly well with our own modifications along the way.
I definitely refreshed my memory with baby number two but I don’t think I’ve cracked it open since she was there months old!
That said, I had to pull it out tonight. Maggie has been leaving some milk behind in her daytime bottles. I could not remember for the life of me if we drop the late morning or early afternoon bottle first! We are definitely not as careful about all the “rules” this time around but it’s invaluable to have a reference you like!
When I became a mother, my entire world shifted. No longer was I (or even my husband) the center of my universe. Now this little bundle was everything and many of my good habits fell by the wayside.
Now that I’ve got a toddler on my hands, I see more and more every day how her entire universe revolves around our family and friends. While I do everything I can to protect her, she is frequently out of my hands while I’m at work. While I’m not always thrilled with everything she learns outside the home, much of what endures are positive traits. With her imaginative play and increasingly complex conversations, she constantly mimics the experiences she sees around her and it’s amazing to see what she absorbs.
We’ve tried to be careful about introducing television, food and activities into her life. It’s safe to say we’re pretty strict by many people’s standards but when my daughter asks for a treat and her eyes light up when I suggest fruit, I’m thrilled! Sweets are consumed on a limited basis, television is infrequent at best and books are consumed with a vengeance. That’s not to say we don’t have our struggles, believe me we do! Vegetables are still a challenge though we’ve found a new love for corn on the cob. Terrible twos (and transitioning into threes) are a daily reality. There is always some behavior we’re working to eradicate or modify. It’s a constant struggle as many of you well know!
Now that my oldest is eating with us more often, our diet has become every bit as important as hers. It’s easy to ignore your own health when you feed children at a different time and just throw something together for yourself at the end of a long day. When I hit a wall after our second daughter arrived, I reached a point that demanded a change. Despite my own personal reasons for wanting to feel better, eat better and have more energy…those were actually the least of my motivating factors.
My biggest motivation?
These two.
There are so many buzz words flying around that could describe the way I aspire to feed my family. “Clean eating”, “paleo”, “whole food” are just a few. OK, so maybe some are a bit more intense than others, but the essence is simplifying what we eat, cutting out the processed foods and sugars and eating more naturally. I want my children to understand where food comes from and while my husband and I would love to grow much of it ourselves, that’s just not practical for us. Instead, we inform ourselves and make the best choices with the options we have available. Buying local gives us a sense of investing in our community and sharing our over abundance (eggs, soon…I promise!) in turn helps others.
We endeavor to stay fit and active so that we can enjoy playing with our children and encourage those same behaviors in them. I wholeheartedly believe in learning through experience and adore the boundless curiosity that results when we take the time to engage Lena with something new. Fitness should be a natural part of life and not a chore to be accomplished. We need balance in all things and too often our lives become sedentary despite our best intentions. After work or school we rush home to make dinner, run errands, and collapse from exhaustion. On the days I work (at a desk job) it’s alarming how many fewer steps I take! We might read the news, a book or a magazine to engage our brain without a thought to engaging our body.
I aspire to create an environment where healthy food, healthy bodies and daily life flow seamlessly together. This won’t happen overnight but each day or week, we actively work to make a better choice and then make those choices into habits. It’s a huge work in progress, but every little step gets us that much closer to our goal.
The little stinker is so proud of herself too.
Does anyone else have kids that barely show symptoms when they’re sick? Mine are like little steam engines that keep chugging along even though they might have a hitch in their step. We stay the course, knowing they are not quite themselves and yet, not sick enough to warrant a doctor visit.
Almost 2 weeks ago, this started with our eight month old. She was just not quite herself but didn’t have any symptoms that suggested a serious problem. We ended up with a doctor visit just to be on the safe side and came home with both an ear infection and a rash. About five days after starting the antibiotics a low fever developed. Again, not really a concern but given the fact that she was already on medication, slightly worrying. After another day with a slightly higher fever we had a follow-up with the doctor. Happily, the ear infection and rash were much improved and no sign of any other problems. What is up with the mystery fever!?
This isn’t the first time we’ve had an inexplicable fever in the past few months. It seems every time we calm things down, get a decent nights sleep…it all begins again. Then, just as suddenly, everything clears up and we have our incredibly happy bouncing baby back again. So we breathe a sigh of relief and life goes on.
It’s all in the name of germ exposure. Maybe we should clean that pacifier once in a while when it hits the floor? Kidding! However, I’ll take these small bouts of discomfort any day provided it helps build their immunity in the long haul.
Not three kids, three years old (Maggie is only 8 months, don’t even tell me you were really going there!)! Our oldest is about to turn three and I can’t handle it. While her early stages are fading from memory she is still my baby. It feels like yesterday that she was finally sleeping through the night, rolling over, crawling, taking her first steps, saying her first words and being her silly chubby self with a ridiculous gutter laugh. How can she be almost three?!
I adore how she is evolving before my very eyes and turning into a sweet, considerate, caring, mischievous, curious, stubborn, inventive and loving little girl. But I really can’t believe it’s been three years since I first saw those sweet little hands curl around my finger. It’s been a miraculous journey and I can’t wait to see what life has in store for us next. If you need me, I’ll be going through my archives of pictures and videos….
I primarily use iPhoto to manage all my pictures and videos. I’m sure there’s a way to be more organized about it, but for me…simple is best. I don’t have the time to sort, tidy and re-sort so everything just goes in as a lump and I can scroll through based on the timeline. What are your tried and true methods for archiving your family memories?
I want to know!
