Loving Lately

Mid-week post! Hello! I'm here to share some fun finds I've come across lately, as well as some family adventures. Here's what's making me happy lately...

Online shopping! I’ve had way too much fun finding things we need (and “need”) lately, and I’ve been randomly scoring some great deals! Following companies on Facebook really helps, and stocking up when there’s a good sale has been a huge time and money saver. The other day, for example, Jet posted 25% off Honest Company products, and I walked away with tons of bubble bath for about half off (thanks to a first-time-user discount)! I also checked out thredUP (an online consignment store where you can buy and sell clothes) for the first time, because I’ve heard great things about their deals for kids’ clothes. Before I checked out, I asked (via the little “Chat with us!” feature) if there is a first-time-user discount, and sure enough I got an additional 40% off (I bought two maternity dresses for a fancy night we have coming up, but neither one worked out unfortunately, and I also bought Marshall a pair of overalls!).

Amazon Prime Day wasn’t as huge a hit for me, but I did buy a new diaper bag, and I’m so excited to start using it. It’s a big upgrade from my last one and will transition easily to a weekender bag when we no longer need diapers.

New recipes

Terry and I have really stepped outside our comfort zone lately with some awesome new recipes. I love browsing Cup of Jo, 100 Days of Real Food, and Smitten Kitchen <--I love the “Surprise Me!” button!) for inspiration, and sometimes I’ll put my own spin on dishes. Here are some we’ve tried lately:

Orange Creamsicles--perfect for hot nights!

Strawberry-coconut water popsicles (I just threw a bunch of strawberries and some coconut water in a blender and then poured the resulting mixture into our popsicle molds--they were so sweet and delicious! And perfect for me to get some healthy coconut water in, because I’m not a huge fan of drinking it straight)

Mango Chia Pudding--again, I’m not a huge fan of chia seeds and so far haven’t found a good way to incorporate them into my diet, but this recipe is DELICIOUS. So easy and quick, too! Marshall kept asking for more, also, which is a great bonus lately, as he’s hitting the infamous two-year picky phase!

Cheesy Cauliflower Rice Stuffed Peppers - I made this recipe once with a few minor tweaks and loved it, so we tried it again with an enchilada flair. I just added some cumin, chili powder, and garlic powder, and used pepper jack and cheddar instead of the other cheeses. It was delicious, and a perfect side dish or main entree.

Sloppy Joe’s! I can’t remember the last time I had sloppy Joe’s, but I thought it would be a fun recipe to try. SUPER easy, totally delicious, and we all gobbled it down. Terry even convinced me to try making homemade hamburger buns, which are tasty but not quite fluffy enough for me, so I’ll keep working on it.

Egg (white) pizza bake--like a frittata, but bigger, and cooked entirely in the oven. I used kale and collard greens for some variety, and we portioned them out to bring as snacks at work all week. Honestly, chopping all the greens and sauteeing all the vegetables was a LOT of work (luckily I had some cooked sausage and ground turkey in the freezer, so I just threw those in, but that would have added even more work), so I’m not sure we’ll make this one super often, but the idea of it--lots of veggies + cheese + eggs--is definitely one to repeat. Next time I’ll just double the batch and freeze half so I get even more out of it. Delicious, though, and a great way to eat tons of greens, which has been a real struggle this entire pregnancy. (By the way, I used 12 whole eggs instead of the recommended egg whites.)

(Making bread with Daddy)

(Recent haul from the farmer's market)

Sticky Toffee Pudding! For our five-year anniversary, Terry and I celebrated a few times to spread out the magic. First, we spent a night in San Francisco while my parents watched Marshall. Then for our actual anniversary, we gave a nod to our honeymoon (Italy and London) with a dinner out (with Marshall!) at an Italian restaurant

and homemade sticky toffee pudding. It was such a fun night!

Movie nights at home the last two weekends have been a perfect way to unwind after a long week. We watched Spy, which was hilarious, and The Big Short, which was fantastic (but definitely required a few pauses on my part to make sure I understood everything). Watching new movies and shows together has always been a favorite pastime of ours, but it is easy to get into a routine of watching our old standbys instead of diving into something new. Silly, because the new stuff is so fun!

And speaking of which, another new favorite: Catastrophe on Amazon Prime! We started watching a few weeks ago on recommendation of our friend Amanda, and we savored every episode. Hilarious, extremely vulgar, British humor...what could be better? I highly recommend it for anyone, but especially if you have kids, because it gets REAL about life with babies.

Watching Marshall and Scout interact has become a real joy around here. Scout is still terrified of the kid, but Marshall is really interested in the cat. He'll grab a toy for Scout and then walk around the house chanting, "Scooooout! Where are you? Come play, Scout!" Meanwhile the cat finds ways to hide.

Finding a healthy (and sustainable) balance during this pregnancy. A few weeks ago, our former birth teacher came over for an exercise consultation, where she took me through a full pregnancy-safe workout and showed me tons of exercises that are perfectly healthy for me to do up through my delivery date. We also talked a lot about nutrition, changes I can make in my diet to optimize baby's health, and ideas for reducing my stress. While the consultation was extremely helpful, it also gave me some anxiety about "doing everything right" and ended up making me feel like I was actually doing everything wrong.

So over the last two weeks or so, I've been working on finding a healthy balance between what our teacher suggested and what is realistic and sustainable for me. I certainly agree with eating healthy, for example, and adding nutritious foods and reducing sugar. But I also think there's something to be said for enjoying the act of eating, indulging in occasional treats, and fully embracing the experiences of eating out or taking Marshall out for a treat!

(After going out for ice cream recently!)

I have added lots of greens and vegetables to my diet and reduced my sugar intake, but I am still having tea on occasion and enjoying dessert when I want (a few times a week). It's a happy medium for me that keeps the experience of eating fun.

Similarly, the exercises I learned have been awesome for making adjustments to my strength workouts. But our teacher wanted me to follow a very specific type of power walking for cardio workouts, and I just wasn't feeling it. We like going for longer walks, and we like letting Marshall out of his stroller to explore now and then. So now I'm incorporating all her suggestions for strength exercises (modified push ups, dips, upper body exercises with very light weights, bodyweight squats, stationary lunges, pelvic rocking, planks, calf raises, etc.), but we're enjoying our normal family walks for cardio. I also walk at work (20-30 minutes at lunch) at least three times a week (which might go down as it gets hotter in LA). I'm so much happier just relaxing and enjoying workouts instead of stressing about doing it "right"! I'm a pretty active person, so I'm not worried about each individual workout so much as maintaining a generally active and healthy lifestyle.

Some photos from a recent walk to campus with our baby Bruin...

(We counted the chimes when the clock struck 10.)

Overall, this pregnancy has been far less stressful than my first, and finding this healthy balance for nutrition and exercise feels like a wonderful way to head into the home stretch. (I'll have a pregnancy update soon...true to second kid form, we're way behind on sharing those updates. But I'm 27 weeks today, officially entering the third trimester!)

So that's what's going on around here! I'll be back sooner than later this time, but have a great rest of the week!

Today's Five Highlights

Today moved a little slowly, so I thought I'd share some highlights.

Upping my workouts for the second day in a row! I really haven't been pushing myself over the last few months, for whatever reason. I've been consistent but pretty mellow, and I've done very few HIIT workouts overall. We're just starting to get back into running, but my body aches a lot when I run now, so I'm trying to keep my workouts super balanced--more yoga, more strength training, lots of stretching, and plenty of rest days. So anyway, yesterday and today I enjoyed some long walks (about six miles yesterday and maybe three or four today), yoga both days (yesterday and today), and a solid lower body workout today:

- 50 squats

- 50 plie squats

- 50 plie squat pulses

- 25 one-leg squats (each side)

- 25 one-leg glute bridges (each side)

- 50 stationary lunges (each side)

My legs were burning for sure, and yoga today felt amaaaaaazing to stretch everything out (luckily it was a lot of hip openers and stretching). Rest day tomorrow for sure!

Pumpkins! At Trader Joe's today, I impulse bought these pumpkins, and then Marshall spent most of the morning playing with them. He tried SO hard to stack them! 

Walking with Jenn! Truth be told, at this point we're just trying to get her labor moving along, so it was almost an hour of walking. Definitely a highlight to hang out with Jenn, but I can't wait for her baby to get here so we can walk with him, too!

Also, Marshall stared at this construction site for about seven minutes with his mouth wide open.

THIS PIZZA. Usually, I live my life by a very strict rule: Low expectations. Especially for meals, because then they can't disappoint you. But I couldn't follow my own rule for this pizza. It just looked too good. The flavors made too much sense together. And three cheeses? Come on, folks. I never stood a chance. But it did NOT disappoint. The Brussels sprouts were perfectly cooked, the cheeses melted perfectly together, and the end result made me super happy I had enough ingredients to make a second pizza. We'll be enjoying this meal the rest of the week!

And finally, just hanging out with Terry at the end of the night. We watched some of The Office while we did our workout and then caught the newest episode of Mindy on Hulu. I always look forward to our evenings, and I guess I don't apply my low expectations rule there, either. But the evenings never disappoint. Hanging out with my husband in our sweaty workout clothes while watching TV? Not a bad way to end the day.

Also, side note: I love this post from Monica. She gets real and says things I wish I could say. 

What was a highlight from your day? 

What's your favorite pizza? This one might be a new contender for a favorite!

4-3-2-1

4 weird things my son does:

- When we are grocery shopping, sometimes I'll rest my elbows on the cart when I talk to him. Lately, he pushes my arms off the cart! He sometimes won't even let me put my hands on the cart to push. Um, Marshall, let me explain how this whole cart thing works...

- He's super into sitting down on stools, curbs, chairs, our laps. He approaches the place he wants to sit, turns around, and backs up to sit down. It's sweetest when he's backing up into our laps with a book he wants to read, and it's funniest when he misses and plops down in the wrong place.

- We have an air conditioning unit in Marshall's room from when it was too hot to live last week, and Marshall now walks into his room, points at it, and says, "Ahhhh..." It took a while to realize that he's probably imitating us, because every time Terry and I walk into his twenty-degree-cooler room, we breathe a huge sigh of relief at how good it feels!

- Speaking of imitation, the other day Marshall heard me say, "Ow!" at the dinner table (I must have bumped my knee or something as per usual). The rest of the meal he kept repeating, "Ow! Ow!" and we couldn't stop laughing. So it's pretty adorable that he can say it, but he has no idea what context to use it in, so he randomly just says it and gets this huge grin because he's proud of his new word.


3 fun facts from this week so far:

- It's raining in LA! I woke up at 3 am to a huge downpour, and it continued until around 8 or 9 this morning. We needed it, and we can still use a lot more, but I hope Northern California gets a lot too to help with the crazy fires up there.

And someone got to try out his rain jacket for the first time.

- Last night Amanda and I went to happy hour! We only went out for maybe an hour or so, but it was a really fun treat to start the week. Then we came back to have dinner with Terry, who had so generously put Marshall to bed. Terry also took care of dinner! Such a great guy. I'm so happy to have Amanda nearby again!

- I found this article summarizing the recent study comparing honey to high fructose corn syrup fascinating! Another indication that it's not only what we eat but also how much. I have to admit I'm still one to favor honey over corn syrup--and, for that matter, pure maple syrup over honey. And of course it's only one study, so we should take it with a grain of salt, but at least more studies like this one are coming out to teach us more about what we're eating! (Also, it's important that we are careful about the words we use when it comes to food, like healthy and natural. I don't think many people would argue that honey is healthy in large quantities--or maybe at all--and I would say the same for any sweeteners.)

2 fitness-related things:

- We're progressing (at a remarkably slow pace) through the 30-Day Challenge from Yoga with Adriene. I really like her style! She's super down to earth, not too over the top, and easy to follow. I'm excited to keep going, even if we're ridiculously inconsistent so far.

- If you need a really good workout, consider using a watermelon as a kettlebell. Marshall can show you.

(He actually picked it up a few times!)

1 recipe I want to try:

- Ina's pecan bars. They look insane and perfect for a holiday gathering (and I should probably make a test batch or two before then, right?). Maybe Ina will come if I invite her and promise to do justice to her food?


Any recipes I should try?

Have a wonderful Wednesday! Halfway through the week!

What I Ate (and Did) Wednesday

Well hello ladies and gents. I scored myself NINE solid hours of sleep last night by going to bed and somehow bribing the baby to sleep through to six o'clock without any wake ups at all! Thank you thank you thank you, Marshall! I woke up feeling one million times better, and I'm well on my way to 100%. 

I started the morning thinking I'd participate in What I Ate Wednesday, but I didn't get photos of everything, so keep that in mind. I also still don't have a huge appetite, which almost never happens, so it's significantly less food than I'd normally eat. Breakfast was a fried egg, a biscuit with jam, and a bite or two of banana that Marshall so sweetly shared with me.

We spent a chunk of the morning playing around the house and my big-eyed boy let me take a photo of his sweet face. He's 14 months tomorrow (today, if you're reading this on Thursday), and I can hardly believe it!

Mid-morning, to fend off that nap a liiiiiittle longer (we're transitioning to the one-nap schedule, but he's not quite ready to make it to 11:30 or noon, so we're moving it back a little at a time), we headed to Target, where they have wide aisles and friendly staff and plenty of room for a toddler to, well, toddle.

And toddle he did! Up and down the aisles. Note to self: The toilet paper/paper towel aisle is perfect for a 14-month-old to practice walking. Nothing breakable or tiny.

Then Marshall crashed hard for an almost-three-hour nap. Yes, when they say "good sleep leads to good sleep," they are not kidding. Sleeping through the night almost always leads to an awesome nap the next day, which then leads to another great night of sleep (knock on wood). If that cycle could just always continue, we'd all feel perfectly rested around here!

I prepped Marshall's lunch while he was sleeping and munched on 3/4 of a peach. It was SO perfectly ripe!

We shared leftover couscous Greek salad for lunch, plus the peach above and some pineapple. Then Marshall had some work to do: moving his toys from one box to the other. 

He's weird.

For some fresh air we headed out for a walk, sunglasses on to protect our eyes. And our identities. 

I whipped up a batch of Fitnessista's latest creation. I quadrupled the recipe (why not?), but not the maple syrup. They were plenty sweet! Oh, and I didn't have almond meal or protein powder, so I just omitted those and they turned out fine.

Freeze-dried strawberries were new to me, but they are insanely sweet! I don't think I'd eat them on their own. Marshall loved them, so I guess that's something. In this recipe, though, they added a nice sweetness. I crumbled two on a bowl of yogurt with some peanut butter this afternoon, which was delightful.

We spent a good hour reading in the afternoon (Marshall's books, not mine, which is sad because mine is My Life in France by Julia Child and I absolutely love it so far), and then when Terry got home the boys hung out while I made dinner. 

BOOM.

I had a craving for meatballs, and Terry read my mind and said meatball subs, so we put them on the menu this week. When I got sick I worried I wouldn't get to them, because if I had felt as badly as yesterday I would've ordered a pizza instead. But with health back on my side I threw on an apron (too late, as always--must I splatter myself before I remember to wear an apron every time?) and got to work. I have made meatballs before, but I can't remember them being phenomenal, so I tried my own recipe. I looked up a few online to see what they have in common (at least two types of ground meat, breadcrumbs, and salt and pepper were really the only commonalities), and then I turned to my Sicilian friend Jenn who knows all Italian food better than I do and asked what she does. With a few tricks (no breadcrumbs! toast the bread, then dip it in water, squeeze out the excess, and rip it into pieces), I went with:

- 1 sauteed onion and 4 cloves garlic, allowed to cool (I would use half an onion next time)

- 2 hot Italian sausage links

- about 18 ounces ground beef (more or less would've been fine; it was what I had)

- 1 teaspoon each of dried parsley and dried oregano

- salt and pepper

- 3 pieces of bread prepared the way I described above

- 1 egg

All mixed together by hand and rolled into balls, browned 1-2 minutes on each side on the stove (big pan, lots of olive oil, medium-high heat), then set on a baking sheet to cook the rest of the way through at 350 degrees in the oven (about 8-10 minutes). I left some out to cool to freeze for later and threw the rest in a pot of jarred marinara sauce, simmered about 20 minutes, and threw 'em on some rolls with mozzarella and lots of sauce. Delicious and hearty meals, and quite tasty meatballs, if I may say so.

For dessert I had one more strawberry ball and am calling it another semi-early night. Hope you had a lovely Wednesday! 

Best thing you ate today? Mine was for sure that meatball sub. Such great comfort food!

One Week of Toddler Meals

I'm a member of a few Facebook mom groups, and I have several friends now with little ones, so I'm starting to get a sense of what moms worry about, what we think we could do better, and ways we can help each other. I have been leaning on my friends a LOT for support and encouragement regarding Marshall's sleep lately, and they have helped offer fantastic solutions. My parents say that my brother and I didn't really have much trouble going to sleep (you're welcome, Mom and Dad), so I've been turning to friends who have gone through some of the same rough nights we have. Their suggestions are all insightful and have helped us figure out the best approach to getting Marshall to sleep a little better. Over the last two weeks or so, Marshall's sleep has improved drastically (knock on wood), so I'm even more thankful to my awesome friends for their advice!

Sleep aside, we do feel as though Marshall has blessed us with a very easygoing personality, a fun social side that has him reaching for any adult willing to haul around 23 pounds, and a delightful willingness to eat virtually anything we offer him. I know from my friends and online communities that a baby who won't eat can be just as stressful as one who won't sleep, so I thought I'd pass along some ideas that have helped us.

First of all, before Marshall was eating solid foods, Terry and I both read French Kids Eat Everything, which is a fun book about a family from North America who moved to France and adopted the French way of eating. The book discusses ten "rules" for approaching meal times, and Terry and I both really liked the ideas set forth in French culture, such as providing lots of variety, making meals and quality time during meals a priority, and avoiding eating while multitasking, such as eating in front of the TV or in the car. (Granted, Terry and I definitely still eat dinners in front of the TV fairly often, but we're making progress on that one, too!) That book provided a lot of insight for us and allowed us to make some general decisions about how we would approach food with Marshall, so I recommend it!

I've talked to lots of friends and MyGym moms about what exactly to feed toddlers. I love getting ideas from other families about good meals to cook (especially quick, easy, inexpensive meals that everyone can enjoy), so I thought it might be helpful to write down an entire week of meals I fed Marshall. Here you go!

Tuesday
Lunch: Leftover rotisserie chicken, frozen peas, baked sweet potato mixed with plain applesauce and cinnamon, milk
Snack: milk, whole wheat bread
Dinner: ground beef, toast, avocado, green beans, pepper jack cheese, milk

Wednesday
Breakfast: toast, scrambled egg, two slices of peach

Lunch: avocado feta, whole wheat saltine crackers, grapes
Snack: milk
Dinner: ground beef, plain Greek yogurt mixed with frozen blueberries, peas, baked sweet potato mixed with plain applesauce and cinnamon

Thursday
Breakfast: toast, egg over hard, peach slices
Lunch: chicken, peas, feta, grapes, strawberries

Dinner: avocado-tomato-cucumber salad, brown rice

Friday
Breakfast: plain Greek yogurt, almond butter, blueberries
Lunch: fried rice
Dinner: brown rice, black beans, bell peppers, milk

Saturday
Breakfast: oatmeal with applesauce and almond butter, peaches, melon
Lunch: burrito: whole wheat tortilla, brown rice, black beans, avocado, plain Greek yogurt
Dinner: whole wheat pita pizza, milk

Sunday
Breakfast: scrambled eggs with spinach and cheese, pita, and melon

Lunch: edamame, carrots, radishes, corn, butternut squash
Dinner: grapes, chicken, avocado, pita, hummus, applesauce, milk

Monday
Breakfast: whole wheat tortilla with almond butter, banana
Lunch: grapes, broccoli, pita, chicken, milk

Dinner: sad gazpacho

Tuesday
Breakfast: scrambled eggs, pita, grapes

So there you go! One week of meals for our little guy. I'd love some ideas for easy, quick meals if you have any to share!

Airplanes and Apartments

Happy 4th of July weekend, all! I hope yours is off to a fabulous start with some fun plans on the horizon. We're visiting some friends tomorrow and then attending a party, for which I am providing this fruit-kabob-and-honey-dip dish. Then on Sunday we're having guests for brunch/lunch and maybe attending a music in the park event. Sounds like a busy but awesome weekend to me!

Today might be tough to beat, though. Terry had the day off, so we planned a little outing with our tiny sidekick: a trip to Santa Monica Airport! If you're unfamiliar, it's a relatively small airport, but they have a park attached with a playground, soccer fields, a dog park, free parking(!), and an observation area where you can sit on bleachers and watch planes land and take off. We hit up the dog park to say hi to the dogs and then played on the swings a bit at the playground before grabbing a picnic table for Marshall to eat lunch.

And then we headed over to the observation deck! 

Someone was a little nervous about the sounds of the planes...

...but he calmed down and enjoyed watching the takeoffs and landings!

The whole experience was very low-key but SO fun. And free! (<--the best part? :-) We loved seeing all the different planes, it wasn't too loud (the first plane we saw was one that started up right in front of us, so that one made Marshall a little nervous, but otherwise the sound was actually way quieter that I expected!), and we got to listen to air traffic control over the loudspeaker. Terry (who works in aerospace engineering) translated for us, and I am sure Marshall will be super excited to have his daddy tell him all about air traffic control in a few years!

We've been trying to get outside more in general lately, to enjoy the weather before summer gets too hot. We almost always go out for a walk and/or to the park, but I'm looking for more creative ideas, too, so we (I) don't get bored. Today's adventure was definitely a must-do-again type of day, so I am especially glad we got to go with daddy first.

Here's a photo from yesterday, when Marshall and I took a slow walk around the block to look at cars, practice standing, talk about flowers, and wait for daddy to come home from work.

Also, I finally have some fun photos of our apartment to share! We moved about six weeks ago, but it always takes a while to settle in. Some things I love about this place (aside from location, which I can't rave about enough):

It's old and charming, complete with built-ins in the dining room, door hinges where a swinging door used to lead to the kitchen, and window ledges big enough for a tiny cat to perch upon.

 The kitchen is BIG! It's a square, too, so there's room for Terry and me to maneuver around. To the right of the stove was this big awkward space, so we bought (and Terry assembled) an island cart with wheels. It blocks the cupboards in the back, but the wheels work nicely to move it out whenever I need stuff in there.

I think the black and white floors are adorable, too! Terry really likes this little corner of the kitchen with my chalkboard and the island. It feels very cozy to me, too. I am so glad to be in a place where I love my kitchen, since I spend so much time there.

Marshall's room was the first we unpacked so he could feel comfortable as quickly as possible. We have some fun new decor here!

The "MH" above was a gift for Marshall's first birthday. Each letter has a collage of superhero/comic book characters. Such an adorable and thoughtful gift!

Here's the opposite wall:

The train canvas was a HomeGoods find that we used at his first birthday party, and the frames below it all seemed to make sense to me as a little gallery wall. I still need two more photos, but it turned out pretty cute!

The big frame above the glider is a print from a Tim Burton exhibit Terry and I went to right after we got married; we saved the print for our future child's room. And the "Pop Alphabet" print was a gift from my mom from an art and wine festival a few years ago.

We really love Marshall's room. It's pretty spacious and comfy and perfect for our little guy to play, read, and sleep (though the sleep is often up for debate).

The rest of the house is pretty typical stuff, so I just showed the highlights, but maybe someday I'll get around to taking photos of the rest. I'm pretty proud of a gallery wall I made for Terry's side of the bedroom, but I have yet to do the same for mine. Our living room doesn't have huge, blank walls like our last several places, so we aren't going to hang our big poster prints, but they were just random photos of Europe. We did, however, hang our big travel collage from a few years ago. It's pretty cozy up in here!

Speaking of cozy, look at these two:

And look at this deeeeeelicious meal:

(Caprese salad plus Kale-Pesto Cream Pasta, from the 100 Days of Real Food Cookbook)

And now I'm off to enjoy some more of this:

and to watch Wet Hot American Summer, which I've never seen. 

Fun questions (why not?):

Have you seen Wet Hot American Summer? Who's your favorite character?

What's been your best meal this week?

What are you doing to celebrate 4th of July?

On an airplane, do you prefer takeoff or landing? I prefer takeoff. Landing terrifies me, because I never think they're going to stop in time (well, I guess that's after the landing, but whatever).

Have a safe and happy Fourth!