Needing structure

I'm planning on adding some structure to my blog over the next month or so.  Right now, I have so many ideas, and don't know which to pick.  Then I feel like my posts are rushed and missing content.  So many ideas that it almost creates writer's block.

I sat down with my husband last night and we came up with some topic ideas that I wrote down (and of course forgot at home).  Some of them I like so much that I think they will become serials - perhaps every 2 weeks or something like that.

So, look forward to more posts, more structure and hopefully topics that you can benefit from.  I've heard of editorial calendar's and will try to build something like one for myself.  I'm really excited, because I work really well when I am more organized - and I could use more organization.

Some recurring topics to look forward to:

• My nine-to-five  five-to-nine day
• Meal planning & nutrition
• Product reviews (baby products, items helpful for moms, etc.) - to note, I'm trying out Blue Apron in mid-March so I look forward to sharing my experience
• Current struggles

Parenting is hard, and the internet is filled with what you should do versus what you shouldn't do.  I'm here to offer, what I do with the attitude of hopefully this might work for you too, or a variable of it might.  I'm not looking for my way to be the right way.  I'm just here to offer a different perspective in the hopes that it'll help someone, or make someone feel less alone in their struggles with parenthood.  I'm no expert, I'm just me :)

If you ever want a topic covered, or my opinion, I'm always open to sharing it.  Feel free to leave a comment or email me: tsunaze1@gmail.com

#ProudParent and #ParentFail

It feels like forever ago since I wrote a blog on my laptop.  Since Sami became mobile, I can count on my fingers how many times I've actually opened my laptop which feels so odd since it used to be a daily occurrence.  Whether I was blogging on SpreadHappinessForPreston@blogspot.com, or whether I was gaming - playing my priest Tsunaze on World of Warcraft (side note - miss you Tsunaze and all my WoW friends), my laptop was always on.

Perhaps this is a good segue (pronounced seg-way, I had to look it up because I thought it was spelled segway) into my topic for this post.  As parents, we don't have a lot of free time.  We're either spending all our time with our kids, working, or managing the household.  Gone are the days where I have time to play World of Warcraft.  That is, unless I want to stay up until what are now unGodly hours.  What happened to me?? I used to be such a night owl... oh yeah - I had kids! :)

Gone are the days where I could spend hours on a blog post - typing it, editing it, re-editing it and choosing the perfect photograph which had been tinkered around with in Photoshop before being added to a blog post.

Now? I haven't even uploaded Sami's birthday party pictures onto my laptop to share on DropBox with my family - or on this blog.  I hardly ever have a picture on my blog because it would take me double the time to get a post up, and it's hard enough to get one up every week.

I'm writing this post on Thursday evening, because all my lunch breaks have been short this week.  I left early on Valentine's Day to go to Sami's little party at her daycare... only to get there and have Sami want to leave immediately.. despite the fact that 90% of the time when I pick her up from daycare, she runs in the opposite direction, not wanting to go home at all.

And I am going into the office late tomorrow, because I get to do something I hardly ever do - bring Sami to daycare since my husband is at his parent's through tomorrow.  And so, I've made up for some time by taking shorter lunches, which has meant I haven't had time to post anything...

And now I've rambled and totally gotten off point.

Being a parent, is filled with moments that make our hearts want to explode with happiness.  Out of sheer love.  And out of being proud! 

Being a parent, can be overwhelmingly frustrating.  We feel like we are doing the best we can, yet the results aren't what we want them to be.  What we expect them to be.  If you are feeling frustrated, you are not alone.  If you are feeling like you are doing the best you can, you probably are.

I don't like being told "everything is going to be okay".  Perhaps I've said it before.  Things will never be completely okay for me.  So I will not tell you that everything is going to be okay.

Instead, I will share my top #ProudParent moments, as well as some of my top #ParentFail moments.  We all have them, and that's what makes us human.  And the fact that we all have them, hopefully makes you feel like you aren't alone.  I may say #ParentFail, but really, it's just to put a funny twist on it.  While I can't promise that everything will be okay for all of eternity, I will tell you that you will get through it.  Soon these frustrations will be something you laugh about - "remember when you used to..." 

#ProudParent moments for Preston - I have two top proud moment for Preston.  One was the couple milestones he hit.  His smile, and discovering his hands.  I loved that, and I was so proud.  It made me feel like what I was doing to help him develop was working.  My second is how he taught me.  He taught me extreme empathy.  He taught me to share my story to hopefully help others.  And while I'm no longer actively grieving like I was when I blogged about him and grief, the premise of this blog is to help other moms, other parents feel like they aren't alone.  Its to give you a place to talk about your successes as a parent.  With social media it seems like the world has gotten overly sensitive where you can't say anything without being judged.  I'd even go as far as saying, instead of being innocent until proven guilty, we live in a world where you are sentenced before being judged just for having an opinion.  That's not what I want you to find here. 

#ParentFail moment for Preston - Without going to a dark place, which isn't the intent of this, I can't think of one.  And even if I were to go to a dark place, deep down, I know I didn't fail Preston.


#ProudParent moments for Sami - Up there are definitely some of the more major milestones, like rolling over, crawling, and walking.  I think really what has blown me away so much is her vocabulary - it started really expanding at 19-20 months and it's just kept growing since then.  She can count (1-2-3-4-5-6-7-10-7-8-9-10).  She can sing lots of different songs.  She can say her alphabet for the most part.  She knows her name including her last name.  She can form sentences and I understand her 95% of the time.  She knows all her animals and their sounds.  Her newest is the "snap" of a crocodile.  She knows all her colors and shapes.  I'm continually amazed.

#ParentFail moment for Sami - I've discussed it, picky eating has been a struggle though it seems to be petering slowly.  She ate a couple green beans this week!  Defiance is the toughest one.  I feel like I'm totally failing, nothing is working.  I've tried re-directing.  I've tried time-outs.  I've tried getting down to her level to talk to her.  I've tried being stern.  I've tried being gentle.  I've tried addressing her feelings.  I guess it's just something that will take time, but it's definitely a tough one as of right now.

I hope you'll share your proud and "fail" moments.  Wishing you a great night!

The bottle

Having my little girl in a structured daycare system has really helped me figure out when she should be starting things like solid foods, going from 2 naps to 1, and all those things that come with babies growing older.  She's done well with all transitions.

At a rather young age, Sami was able to drink through a straw thanks to a few visits to restaurants where she would sip some water.  She then mastered the sippy cup and daytime bottles went away.

I may get some flack for this, but I still give her a bottle as part of the bedtime process.  She's just over 2 years old.  I don't give it to her to fall asleep on.  We brush her teeth after the bottle is done.

The reasons I still give it to her a twofold.  The main one is that she's still pretty small for her age.  She weighs between 24-25 lbs and is at an incredibly picky stage when it comes to food.  I feel this gives her good calories to round up her day.  Could I probably give it to her in a sippy cup after dinner?  Probably.

But.

This is totally selfish.  I missed out on so much with having lost Preston at such a young age that I'm probably compensating by trying to prolong Sami being a baby.  She's not.  I know that and every day I often feel like I'm being unfair to her.

She likes her bottle.  We enjoy the special cuddling time as she drinks it.  We then read books, brush teeth and rock in her chair signing lullabies.  It's a ritual.

One that needs to be changed up I know.  Maybe just a couple more weeks?

Meal prep

So I'm still really enjoying my meal planning strategy.  I think it's saving me time and money, and I don't really have the thought of "what's for dinner" anymore, but some recipes just are so time consuming and I feel like I'm not getting as much quality time with my husband and daughter on weeknights....

What I need is to figure out meal prep.  I do groceries on Saturday, so I need to find a slot of time on Sunday to meal prep what I can.  I'm thinking I'll plan what I can meal prep this week for next week during a lunch hour.

One lunch-hour = shopping list
Another lunch-hour = meal prep list

Does anyone have any good meal prep strategies?

My thoughts are that I could

• Prep any vegetables by chopping them ahead of time and placing them in tupperware marked with the meal they are for.
• Pre-cook any pasta I'll need
• Pre-cook meat if it won't ruin the meal
• Gather all dry-ingredients in a tupperware (assuming they are added at the same time in a recipe) and mark them with the meal they are for.

Like with everything, I just need to make time for it.  Hopefully I can do it for a few weeks, and if I can see how helpful it is, it will help motivate me to do it every weekend.

December 2017 Meal Plan

Here's the meal plan I had for December.  As with November, things didn't really all go as planned.  Some meals I made in a different week than planned, others I didn't make at all.


I still want to share it in its original format with the recipes I planned to use.  I'll comment whether I've made it or not.

December 2017 Meal Plan



Meals (with links to recipes if available)

Sheet Pan Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken

• This was delicious.  I'll definitely be making it again.  Not a lot of clean-up either since it's all on the same sheet pan.
• Bonus, if I can meal prep by chopping veggies on the weekend, this would be an easy weeknight dinner.

Crockpot Pepper Steak

• My husband enjoyed this more than I did.  I have another recipe that I love but that my husband finds too salty.  Maybe I can find a happy medium in blending the two.
• This was a little time consuming because the meat had to be sliced into strips, which thankfully my husband helped me with - saved a lot of time.  Again, if meal prep was done on a different day, could be a nice weeknight dinner that you put in the slow-cooker that morning.

Greek chicken gyros with Tzaziki

• Didn't get to making this.

Creamy Fettuccine Alfredo

• I'm not a big Fettuccine Alfredo girl, but this was pretty tasty and easy.  However, for a small family, I'd suggest cutting the recipe in half.

Grilled Steak with Baby Arugula and Parmesan Salad

• Didn't get to making this.  I'm not getting to a lot of my steak dinners... I've planned them for Fridays, but we often end up with plans on Fridays or we're too tired...

Parm & herb chicken tenders

• See November 2017 Meal Plan

Crock-pot Nacho Chicken

• It was super easy, 3 ingredients.. but it was a little bland, wasn't my favorite.

Beef and Broccoli Bowl

• I ended up making these in January.  They were really good.  
• The meal prep took me a long time, so I wasn't a fan of it as a weeknight meal, but if I can figure out meal prep on the weekend... ta-da!

Chili Mac Casserole

• This was relatively easy to make on a weeknight.  I didn't use beans (I don't like them) and I used tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes. I'd make it again, it was tasty and simple.

Best Ever Meatloaf

• This meal keeps getting pushed out of my meal plan even if I'm looking forward to trying it... It got pushed in January too :(

Spicy chicken sweet potato meal prep magic

• See November 2017 Meal Plan

Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon

• This also got pushed, looking forward to trying it.

Penne a la vodka

• See November 2017 Meal Plan

Pizza

• I think we ordered Dominos.  It was only ok.  I need to go back to making my own :)

Sloppie Joes in Peppers

• See November 2017 Meal Plan

Lemon Pepper Chicken

• I made this in January.  The flavor was really nice and subtle, but still present.  The quality of the chicken I got was sub-par, so I'll need to get better chicken for this recipe next time.

One-Pan Broccoli-Bacon Mac 'n' Cheese

• Here's another recipe I keep pushing off and that I'm really looking forward to trying... I'm hoping that Sami might eat some broccoli this way?  Here's to hoping

Flank steak with watermelon salad

• As I stated earlier, I seem to keep pushing my Friday steak recipes due to other plans... I will try it one day!!!

I'd love to hear your feedback on these if you end up trying them.  I'm hoping that I do better in January than I've done in December and January.  Granted December was so incredibly busy, and I was sick for part of December & January... but enough excuses right?? If I can just figure out when to get some meal prep done - and plan it... I think this will go a lot smoother.

My pantry is usable again!

I love my pantry.  When we bought the house, it was such a bonus to have this area - 5 shelves and floor space.

However, it quickly became not so enjoyable.  It got too full too often.  I often had to move stuff to get to other stuff, meaning some stuff got forgotten (don't worry, mostly canned goods).

With my new meal plan strategy, I constantly inventory my pantry and make sure I'm not buying stuff I don't need.  It's made a big difference in not making a bigger mess in my pantry.

For Christmas, I asked for some OXO Containers.  We had bought a couple in the fall, and really liked them, and I figured it could help keep my pantry in much better order.  Additionally, during one of my (weekly) Target trips, I found these cute plastic weaved "baskets" which I thought could be so helpful with storing like products (like pouches for Sami, fruit cup snacks, etc.).  So I bought some of those.  The larger ones I used on the floor (makes sweeping so much more enjoyable) and on the top shelf where I keep party supplies some kitchen gadgets and my overstock of Ziplock bags and such.  I'll have to take more pictures, because I bought a few more pasta containers to get rid of the boxes that are right up front, as well as a few more baskets for the top of the pantry (not shown here).

What a difference it makes.  I can easily navigate the pantry, and Sami has a new favorite hiding spot now that she can walk in and close the door... She doesn't stay hidden long, and announces where she's hiding as soon as you finish counting to 10, but hey, she has fun, and she's absolutely adorable doing it.  I'll have to take a picture of that - and half her toys that end up in there :).

As a bonus, I had the day off yesterday and daycare was open... I decluttered all my dresser drawers minus one.  I also decluttered the stocking stuffers (2016 and 2017) that were in bags in the closet, and went through the rest of my paperwork and filed some away, threw out what I knew I didn't need, and everything else is in a box ready for another day off.  I know it's a project I'll need a few hours for and I don't think I can do it without creating a bigger mess if I don't do it in one fell swoop... so I'm looking at my calendar to plan a day off to do that unless I can find a way to not make a bigger mess and take little stabs at it.

New year off to a good start!  How have the first 2 weeks of the year treated you?

Those days when you can't be super mom

I've read many articles that talk about how Moms can't get sick or how they are always in Super Mom mode.

I'll be real - that's not me.  I cannot always be super mom.  When I've been up for 4 nights straight for 1-2 hours, I am not Super Mom.  When I have not one or two cold/flu symptoms, but rather four-five symptoms, I am not Super Mom.  When I'm having significant stomach issues related to Crohn's, I am not Super Mom.

Last weekend was one of those weekends where I was not Super Mom.  I've been battling cold & flu symptoms for what seems like at least four months.  Never quite getting rid of a cold only to get another.  I spent the week dealing with a sore throat and severe sinus congestion.  Come Saturday, I was also dealing with a low grade fever, body aches, chills, a cough that wouldn't go away and lack of energy and appetite.

I managed to watch my little girl, but it was mostly from the couch, and we probably had the tv on too much. I did not do the groceries.  I did not clean the pantry like I wanted.  I did not make lunch or dinner (except lunch for Sami).  Hubby and Sami ended up going out to our friends for dinner, which I bowed out of, because I didn't want to make more people sick.

The next day, I managed to do the groceries, but it wiped me out.  And I made lunch and dinner for Sami but again, not for hubby and I.  It was mostly the same all week.  I went to work, and got Sami's things ready for daycare and dinner, but I did not follow my meal plan - heck I didn't make dinner all week, I basically just took care of Sami after work, cleaned the kitchen and then went to bed.

All this to say, if you feel like you need to be Super Mom all the time, don't feel guilty if you have an off day, or an off week.  We're also human, and our families will survive those days when we just can't be super mom.