Meal Plan for April 4th – 10th
Want a read to perk up your morning and inspire your day? My friend Mary started a Facebook group (and she has a blog) to discuss her amazing weight loss journey. She has been killing it with getting healthy, changing her diet, and becoming a huge exercise nerd. I’d encourage you to check it out and follow along, especially if you are on your own journey.
I’m about to save you $130. Ready?
If you have a french door fridge, at some point the freezer section is likely going to ice up and leak on you. It is a very common issue with the appliance. The bottom of the freezer ices up, and then slowly leaks out on to the floor. It’s awesome. We looked online and found that tons of people had this issue; after awhile, the drain hose gets gummed up and clogged and the water will no longer drain. It’s such a common problem that the manufacturers even sell a replacement part kit to fix it. Troy replaced the hose…and it kept leaking. NEAT.
We dealt with this for over a year. And by dealing with it, I mean we had a towel stuffed under the fridge, and we’d have to wash it weekly. It was gross. For Christmas, my parents got us a service call to get it fixed. The guy showed up to fix it, said “your husband did a great job with the replacement, but you just didn’t let the freezer defrost long enough”. Are you freaking kidding me???? So, we transferred as much stuff as we could to our basement freezer and my parent’s fridge, and let the fridge and freezer stand open for 24 hours. Our fridge is already in the worst place possible place in the kitchen, so having it wide open for a day was a real treat.
One of the good things about having to go through this process is it forced us to give the whole thing a very thorough scrub down. It’s been almost a month since the “service”, and the freezer has yet to ice back up. So, if you have a french door fridge, save yourself a $130 service call, and just defrost the thing for a day. Sigh.
We had an absolutely gorgeous week here in Seattle, with temps reaching almost 70 degrees by Friday. The weather and scenery made my heart sing, and I took as many opportunities as I could to take some long walks with B dubs. Homeboy still mainly only naps on me, but he’ll definitely conk out in the Ergo for as long as I keep walking. Since I can’t get much done laying down on the couch, I might as well log some miles and steps on my Fitbit Alta.
The other morning during a 2 am feeding, I googled “is there any safe product made for a baby to sleep on its stomach”, as B will take amazingly long naps on me, on his tummy. I found out that not only is there is no such product, but apparently based on the search results, I’m a horrible mother for even considering such a dangerous question.
Since having Bennett, my normally productive days have been cut back dramatically. I recognize it isn’t like this forever, and I’ll be able to accomplish more again. We had a day last week that I totally owned, and felt like my old self again, if even for an afternoon. I did some baking, some cleaning, cleaned the bathrooms, and spent a few hours in the garden while Troy watch B inside. It felt amazing, AMAZING to get my hands dirty again. I haven’t been outside in the garden for any length of time in forever, and I swear it filled my tank so to speak. There was an insane amount of surface to weed, and I barely made a dent, but putting on the garden gloves, and pulling up dandelions was fabulous.
You’ll never hear me say that sentence again.
We had our taxes done this week, and had a nice kick in the clam. We made the tiniest bit too much last year and it dumped us in to a new tax bracket. As we don’t own a home and therefore our deductions are minimal, we got our asses handed to us. It was a lovely way to start off my not working anymore. Taxes are a pain, but I sure do like driving on paved roads, and knowing someone will come when I call 911, so alas a necessary evil. Next year will be better as our income will drop (considerably) and we’ll have another child to write off.
Jack’s conference was this week, and it made my heart sing. The academic component was great, but what really made me happy was the personal aspect. She said that Jack was a very nice boy, really empathetic to others in the classroom, a mentor to the kindergarteners, and a wonderful first grade citizen. Considering this time last year we assumed we would need to save up bail money for our kid, it warmed my momma heart to hear all of those things. I think Jack has matured for sure, but I give huge amazing kudos to his teacher for letting him be a kid without as much pressure as he felt in kindergarten. After the conference was over, we gave her a beautiful bouquet and a heartfelt thank you card.
Did I mention he had matured?
Meal plan time!
Monday:: Pizza (and Jack’s 7th birthday) and smoothies (with lots of spinach so we can call it salad)
Tuesday:: Jack requested tomato soup (canned from the 2015 garden), biscuits, and artichokes. Well Jack doesn’t want artichokes, but Troy and I do!
Wednesday:: Jack has suddenly decided that he likes pasta, but only rotini, so we’re having that and salad.
Thursday:: Breakfast dinner
Friday:: Popcorn dinner
Saturday:: Jack’s birthday party; we’ll have leftovers
Sunday:: Family dinner
What are you having this week?
have you tried a rock n play sleeper? it holds them upright and is very cuddly and great for reflux babies. my daughter slept in it for a long time and it was the only place she would sleep (besides on me). best $40 you can spend, in my opinion.
Bought one when he was two weeks old. Sigh, my kids hate all those kinds of helpful tools.
All 4 of my kids slept on their tummies. I just lied to the Dr. and said they were on their backs. Because they ALL slept better and I was so, so tired, I just ad to go with what worked. I was more willing to do it once I knew they had the neck strength to move/turn heads, before that I’d do the side sleepers or the swing or just be so, so tired. It was a time of great celebrating when they were ready to go on their tummies. Its like a secret society, if you start asking people one-on-one, they might whisper to you they did it….
I’m in if there is a secret handshake
I’ve seen this on Facebook multiple times, because Facebook is always right *sarcastic eyeroll* The concept seems legit though. Maybe this? http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00CQAYP4O/ref=mp_s_a_1_28_a_it?qid=1459717863&sr=8-28&keywords=breathable+crib+mattress
My friends actually had that for their kid…I should investigate if they might let me borrow it. I’m not spending $400!
I definitely would. I know I don’t have an extra $400 just laying around (I wish). I thank God everyday that my little one sleeps on her side, no matter what way I lay her down. She looks like a tiny drunk man when she sleeps haha
I hope you find a solution for little B-dubs, as Zombie Mom isn’t fun. Thanks for the awesome blog Sarah!
Your boys are adorable. I know you must be really pleased with Jack’s progress. We learned quickly with my son that his relationships with his teachers were paramount. It didn’t matter if it was a subject he loved, if he didn’t get along with the teacher it would be a rough year. And I watched him go to great lengths for advanced physics because the loved his teacher.
You have my sympathy with Bennett’s sleep patterns. Life with little sleep is like trying to live underwater. Everything seems much heavier, thicker, foggier. I hope he transitions to a better pattern soon.
Here’s my meal plan for the week:
Sunday: Flautas with TexMex rice
Monday: Pork chops and baked potatoes and salad
Tuesday: Pinto beans & cornbread
Wednesday: Venison roast, glazed carrots
Thursday: Breakfast
Friday: FFY
Saturday: Hamburger steaks with rice and gravy, green beans
I’m having a new baby soon and did the same internet search on sleeping with the same results.
Not being snarky to Robin (above), but I’ve heard that SIDS is higher in countries where they use sheep skins, so I wouldn’t use one.
The point is that if you let your baby sleep happily, he/she WILL die. The only solution to not be a terrible parent is for everyone to be miserable and sleepless until baby can roll himself over on his own and sleep on his tummy like he friggin wanted to from the beginning.
Basically we’re all screwing our kids up in so so many ways, right? 🙂
Glad you felt like yourself for a day! The second child adds so much to the family, but the work load is greatly increased too. You always have such a good handle on things I am sure your family is doing well even if you aren’t as “productive” as usual. BTW Reflux babies are hard! My sweet first didn’t sleep more than 2 hrs at a time even if she was on us. After a few years that does get old, but you muddle through. Now at eleven she sleeps like an angel and has for so long that those miserable sleep deprived early days are only a slightly unpleasant memory.
Way back in the 80’s….when I had my children …(yeah, I know I’m old) they still didn’t know what the hell we were supposed to do with sleeping babies. In 1981…it was bellies. In 1985…it was on their sides! In ’85 I got a sheepskin (as was recommended by the crunchy folk) and if my son wasn’t on his side he could sleep on his belly on the sheepskin. Because of the deep pile, even if they barfed, they could still breathe.
So maybe try that! Make sure it is a nice lofty wool….NOT a FAUX skin.