What We're Eating 2/27/12-3/4/12

Last week was a a bit of a wash in terms of goals. Our appointment at Dartmouth last Wednesday went very well, but it messed with my schedule. I missed several days of meditation (4!) and I'm feeling it. Friday night was a blast, but otherwise, I didn't have the best weekend - I think I enjoyed a few too many glasses of wine Friday night. My body was sore and tired, and I was pretty cranky. Chris actually told me to go back to bed Saturday morning. Ooops! :(

The weather last week was nice enough that the boys and I were able to get outside for a long walk with my dad early in the week; we also did quite a bit of walking at the hospital on Wednesday. Our trip to Dartmouth was Isaac's first ever time having Chris and I all to himself and he was such a good boy! We were able to keep him awake on the ride up (a steady supply of pretzels and conversation hearts helped) and he had fun exploring David's House. At the beginning of the EEG, he did NOT want to have anything to do with being on the bed. We had to hold him down but once the tech started marking his head for the electrodes, he settled down. It probably felt like a little head massage. Luckily, he was pretty sleepy and he did fall asleep for the second half of his test. He was so cute in his head wrappings, but it kinda looked like he had a head injury!

His EEG readings were all normal and the doctor gave us some more information on his breath-holding. It's a lot more common than we realized! The doctor said it normally starts around 18 months when kids are learning to speak and assert their independence. It normally ends by 6 years old! Yikes! We're hoping that Isaac may stop sooner, and the doctor indicated that might be the case, because he started the breath-holding earlier (around 12 months) and has been a little more advanced with his speech.

The doctor asked if anyone in the the family has a history of fainting easily or has problems with fainting or getting light-headed at the sight of blood or when having blood drawn. Poor Chris! We're joking that Isaac's breath-holding is all his fault. He tends to pass out when he has blood drawn and has passed out after a few injuries. The doctor indicated that the breath-holding and easy fainting are related - it had something to do with blood flow to the brain. Isaac and Charlie (who also passes out, just not to the extent that Isaac does) will probably have the same issue when they're older.

The appointment was very informative and it was nice to speak with an expert in seizure disorders. I'm glad we made the appointment, but I'm also glad it's over!

For this week, the meal planning continues. Woohoo! I'm trying to keep our grocery bill down and I'm also trying to use up food we have in the cupboards and the freezer. This week's menu is made up of meals that mainly use up what we already have here. I won't have to do much shopping other than cheese and a few perishables. Next week's menu is similar, but I've also planned in some freezer meals so we can eat some of the meals I've already prepared. It seems to be getting easier the more I menu plan, but I don't want to jinx myself either!

Monday
L: Leftover Chicken Parmesan
D: Cheesy Baked Ravioli

Tuesday
L: Leftover Ravioli
D: Potato Spinach Sausage Casserole

Wednesday
L: Leftover Casserole
D: Roasted Shrimp & Broccoli, Corn

Thursday
L: Leftover Casserole/PB&J, grapes, chips
D: Easy Italian Stew

Friday
L: Leftover Stew
D: Peppers Stuffed with Cranberry Bulgur

Saturday
L: Leftover Stuffed Peppers
D: White Bean & Chicken Chili
Sunday
L: Leftovers/PB&J, melon
D: Leftover Chili

For more menu-planning inspiration, visit I'm an Organizing Junkie.

What We're Eating 2/20/12-2/26/12

When I planned this week's menu, I made sure to make it easy for a few reasons: I have several meals in the freezer than need to be eaten, I want to have an inexpensive grocery week and we'll be taking Isaac up to Dartmouth for an EEG on Wednesday morning. He had a 3rd seizure a few months ago and although we're 99% sure it's because of his breath holding spells, we decided that we want to get him checked out. The last seizure was a lot longer than the others and it scared me pretty badly. He went through so much in the first few weeks of his life during his battle with RSV and pneumonia, including a collapsed lung as the doctors tried to intubate him in the emergency room, that we sometimes worry that there could be some something wrong that we aren't aware of. I would rather find out now and do what can be done to fix it than have something happen later in his life and blame myself for not getting him checked.

Isaac has to stay awake two hours later than normal the night before the EEG and we need to wake him 2 hours earlier than normal that morning (so he's tired during the test and will hopefully fall asleep); I can't imagine trying to keep him awake on the 2-hour car ride, so we'll be spending the night near DHMC and Auntie George will spend the night with Charlie.


Monday
L: Leftover Sesame Chicken
D: Stuffed Shells (from freezer), rolls

Tuesday
L: PB&J, Chips, Apple Slices
D: Macaroni & Cheese for Charlie; Take-out for us - We'll be on our way to DHMC

Wednesday
L: Lunch at DHMC
D: Take-out - Not sure what time we'll be back from DHMC

Thursday
L: PB&J, Grapes, Cheese
D: Hamburger Soup (from freezer)

Friday
L: Leftover Soup
D: Dinner at Sara's! Woohoo!

Saturday
L: Leftover Soup
D: Homemade Pizza (dough in freezer)

Sunday
L: Leftovers
D: Crockpot Chicken Parmesan, Green Beans

For more menu-planning inspiration, visit I'm an Organizing Junkie.

What We're Eating 2/13/12-2/19/12

This week and next week's menus were the easiest menus I have ever planned! We missed so many meals last week that I was able to fill a few days this week and I planned a few freezer meals for next week.

I haven't uploaded any pictures to the computer yet, but Isaac turned two on Saturday! We had family over to celebrate and had such a fun time. We had both sides of my family (my parents are divorced), as well as my grandmother (the boys' great-grandmother), Chris' mom, Chris' older sister and her son who is 15 days younger than Isaac. I made pizza dough and we supplied sauce and cheese but asked everyone to bring whatever toppings they wanted with them. We ended up with some great pizzas!

I am so grateful that I have the ability to stay at home with my boys and to witness every aspect of their growth. There was so much I missed in Charlie's first two years but I didn't realize it until I was home with Isaac.

Right now, we're enjoying listening to Isaac's speech improve every single day. It blows my mind to hear some of the words he knows and to hear him put words together to tell about something that happened. When Chris got home tonight, Isaac was able to tell him "cookie" and "Peanut" with quite a bit of emotion behind his story. I had to clarify for Chris what he was trying to say (Peanut ate his cookie - he was pretty mad), but it's just so cool that he's telling about something that had already happened versus what was going on right then.

I love to ask him to say certain words - my favorite right now is "worm." So cute! And tonight at bedtime, Chris told Charlie it was time for prayers. Before Charlie started, Isaac started saying a few words from the beginning of the prayer! Chris and I were shocked and so proud of him. I love watching him grow, but I do miss my baby. :(

On to the menu....


Monday
L: Leftovers
D: Pistachio-Crusted Tilapia, Parmesan-Coated Potato Wedges, Honey-Glazed Carrots

Tuesday - Valentine's Day
L: PB&J, Chips, Grapes
D: Pork Chops with Pears, Rice, Broccoli

Wednesday
L: Egg Sandwiches, Fruit Salad
D: Citrus Crunch Chicken, Couscous, Green Beans

Thursday
L: PB&J, Apple Slices, Cheese
D: Honey Sesame Chicken, Rice, Sesame Broccoli

Friday
L: Leftover Sesame Chicken
D: Cheese Ravioli with Pumpkin Alfredo Sauce

Saturday
L: Leftover Ravioli
D: Hash Brown Eggs

Sunday
L: Leftovers
D: Rib Eyes, Egg Noodles, Green Beans, Biscuits

For more menu-planning inspiration, visit I'm an Organizing Junkie.

What We're Eating 2/6/12-2/12/12

Just because I plan our meals doesn't mean we always follow the meal plan.

Last week ended up being quite a mess. We missed the meals scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday! We missed Wednesday because we were supposed to get our taxes done (unfortunately the computers were down and we have to reschedule). On Thursday, I sent Chris a text asking (telling) him to order a pizza because I didn't want to make dinner. Ha! Friday, we went to my sister's basketball game and ate pizza (again) there and we picked up steak & cheese subs on Saturday. It was just a mess! I'd like to blame part of it on my elliptical being broken. Getting a workout in gives me a ton more energy and I was dragging the two days that the elliptical was out of commission. The rest of it was a mix of me being lazy and us being on the run for part of the weekend. Hopefully, this week will be back to normal. At least when I plan my next menu, I only have to find 3 meals instead of 7! LOL



Monday
L: Pulled Pork Sandwiches
D: Skinny Coconut Shrimp, Butternut Squash Puree, Corn

Tuesday
L: Pulled Pork with Mashed Potatoes
D: Tacos!

Wednesday
L: Taco Nachos
D: Chicken with Berry Wine Sauce, Rice, Broccoli

Thursday
L: Leftover Tacos
D: Triple Cheese Spirals, Salad

Friday
L: Leftover Spirals
D: Tortilla Pie

Saturday
L: Leftover Tortilla Pie
D: Hash-Brown Eggs

Sunday
L: Leftovers
D: Baked Ravioli with Meat Sauce

For more menu-planning inspiration, visit I'm an Organizing Junkie.

January Recap

Charlie has been working on trying new foods and I've hinted that I've been working on a few goals, but apart from my reading goal, I never spelled out what those goals were. As so often happens with me, I was afraid I wouldn't follow through and I didn't want to set myself up for failure.

I started with three small goals and have been working on them one week at a time. There's a little chart in a notebook under my bed that I check each night and I'm happy to say that I've been meeting my goals!

To start, my goals were as follows:
-Meditate for 20 minutes every day
-Exercise for 30 minutes every day
-Drink at least 2 Nalgene bottles (roughly 10 glasses of water) every day

Last week, I added one more goal (which has been the hardest one so far!):
-Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies every day

Gretchen Rubin's book The Happiness Project and blog have been very helpful to me with my goals. I am what she calls an abstainer - I find it easier to commit completely or not to commit at all. With a goal to meditate three days a week, I would tell myself that I would sit the next day any time I didn't feel like sitting. Setting a goal to meditate every day doesn't give me the option to push it off. I have, however, given myself a little leniency by following another of Rubin's rules - never skip two days in a row.

It's been easiest to meet my water goal - I only missed it once in January and it was on New Year's Day. We were driving all over the place and I ran out of water in the car!

Meditating has been easier than I expected. I've sat for at least 20 minutes all but two days - once because of a girls' night that lasted until 2am(!) and once because we had company over and I wasn't able to fit it in. I also attended my yoga studio's Second Sunday Sit for an hour-long meditation at the beginning of the month. Meditating with a group of people and discussing the experience afterwards is quite a positive experience!

There have been a few kinks in exercising - I use the elliptical during the week to get my workouts in, but I prefer to get outside to do something different with the family on the weekends and I had been giving myself one rest day a week. I haven't missed any weekdays, but mentally, I've discovered that I'm better off not taking a complete rest day on the weekend. If we can't get outside, I plan to compensate by doing a very slow 30 minutes at the lowest setting on the elliptical.

Yesterday, an issue arose with my elliptical. As I was working out, the machine was very wobbly, leaning to the left and it was moving around quite a bit. I was so excited that I was able to work out while the boys were sleeping because it meant I wouldn't be jumping off every few minutes to help someone (or yell at someone). Instead, I kept having to get off the pull the elliptical away from the wall and eventually got off to move it onto the carpet hoping that would reduce the movement. Arg.

When Chris got home, I asked him to take a look at the machine. It turns out that the main shaft of the base is cracked!!!!! He took it apart and is going to attempt to weld it back together. But, I don't know when he's going to be able to do the welding and I'm in a panic about getting my exercise in. (I am, however, very thankful that I have such a handy hubby.)

It seems like every single time I get an exercise routine, something messes with it. The exercise and meditation have been helping immensely with my moods. That benefit has made it easier to keep my goals but it's also the reason I'm worried about getting my workouts in. I'd love to get outside for a run or walk, but the weather and Chris' work schedule make that difficult. My fingers are crossed that he's able to do the welding as soon as possible and that the welding actually fixes the issue.

In terms of my reading goal, I completed 5 books in January and I'm halfway through Scarlett, the 800+ page sequel to Gone with the Wind. I loved Gone with the Wind and I'm loving this book, too!

January
Diana Gabaldon - Lord John and the Hand of Devils
Ernest Hemingway - A Moveable Feast (Library Bookclub pick - I'd never read any Hemingway before and I really enjoyed it)
Rebecca Hunt - Mr. Chartwell
Tom Perrotta - Little Children (Mommy Bookclub pick - did NOT like this at all, but that will make for a good discussion next week)
Deanna J. Smith - Dreams Change (I follow Deanna's blog - check it out!)