Happy Memorial Day! Did you have a nice weekend? We had a great one! We spent a lot of time outside… and a lot of time inside because we painted our master bedroom! Some more on that tomorrow, though.
Stupid = me feeding Claire in a walker. I swear, just last week, I could ‘park’ this in front of an object like a chair and she wouldn’t move. But she’s figured out how to navigate better; hence the food all over the place. Thank goodness for Maggie and her bottomless appetite… And I’m on my way to buy the IKEA high chair (by your popular vote) this week!
I’ve had a few requests to post more meal ideas, so I grabbed my camera this weekend and tried to snap a lot of pics of what I’m eating lately. Here it is!
Oatmeal with chia seeds, banana, coconut, and an apricot.
SO MUCH CHIPTOLE.
I get the hard tacos with sofritas (spicy tofu), brown rice, pico, sour cream, corn relish, and (clearly) lots of lettuce.
Two over-easy eggs, potatoes, broccoli and melon (for breakfast).
Brown rice with stir-fried veggies and an egg scrambled in + curry tofu.
Watermelon, feta, and basil kebobs (for a party).
Quinoa and baked beans with orange and yellow peppers, carrots, and zucchini.
SO proud of Henry. He’s potty trained (he’ll be three in a month)! Wahoo. I was really intimidated to potty train, but it ended up not being that big of a deal. I do think he needed a “push†(he was NOT going to ask for underwear on his own anytime soon), but he was definitely physically and emotionally ready. Once I took the lead, there wasn’t a fight over it.
I didn’t use any particular method; I just switched out his diaper drawer for an undies drawer and told him no more diapers. I bribed him with chocolate to sit on the potty every hour or two. The chocolate worked really well at first, but I phased it out by the third day. We’ve gone four days with NO accidents. And he’s done stuff like wake up and run to the potty (even though he’s got a nighttime diaper on) and stop playing to go pee without being prompted. Amazing!
We’ve still got to work on going potty at school. There’s only three days left of school, so I’m not going to push it. And, of course, we have to work on nighttime, but that’s down the road.
My three biggest tips:
#1 – Put a potty in your car. This works really well if you have an SUV but you could make it work with a regular car, too. Public restrooms are pretty intimidating, and a potty in the car works really well in a pinch. I just pour the pee into a bush and rinse the potty out when we get home (haven’t dealt with #2 in the car potty yet, so no idea how to handle that).
#2 – If your kid is into the idea of racing, have pee races. “I’m going to pee first!†seriously gets Henry RUSHING to the bathroom. I usually let him win the pee race… Hah. In all seriousness, pee races worked way better than chocolate bribes.
#3 – This is obvious but always have a change of clothes, a plastic bag, and a TON of wipes. The public pee accidents are no big deal, but the public poop accidents… Ugh. Big deal. You will definitely need that plastic bag! I keep the clothes/bag/wipes combo in my purse AND another set in the car, just in case.
TODDLER SLEEP
(On our beach trip a few weeks ago with friends – he still sleeps in a pack and play on trips! And takes up the whole thing! Hah.)
Henry’s sleep has been kind of off ever since Claire was born. The best thing I did was stop forcing naps. I hated the idea of giving up his nap because I usually work or relax in that window, but nighttime was a lot easier when he wasn’t napping. He goes down really easily at 7 PM as long as he hasn’t napped – if he has, it’s a 9 PM battle.
We also have been dealing with early wake-ups – he was hearing Claire cry around 5:30 and getting up. Way too early for us; way too early for him. I invested in the Okay to Wake Clock, which is a simple alarm clock that glows green when it’s okay to get out of bed and get Mom and Dad. So far, it’s working… We’re trying hard to drive it home because I feel like the clock could lose it’s novelty/power over time. So far, so good.
Onto Claire…
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Claire is 6 months on June 2. This is such a fun age with so many cool developments. No babbling yet, but I did hear one single “Ma!†the other night. She is, however, crawling/rolling/dragging herself places. She can get anywhere she wants – it just might take a while! She can also sit up unassisted! I LOVE it when babies can sit up (they seem so much happier). I still have to spot her, of course, but she can sit up for a long time now.
SOLID FOOD
Claire is eating solids! Super exciting. I love this phase of babyhood, too. It’s incredible to watch them discover eating. We’re going a combo of Baby Led Weaning (more solid-solids that the baby feeds herself) and regular purees, which is what I did with Henry. So far, she’s had sweet potato, banana, and asparagus.
Maggie is thrilled about this new development!
I need a new high chair – any recommendations? I want something SUPER easy to clean.
BABY SLEEP
And last, but not least, baby sleep. Oh, baby sleep. I can’t help but talk about Claire’s sleep in comparison to Henry. Overall, Claire has been a better sleeper. She did longer stretches earlier, which was great because I never reached the same level of desperation from soul-crushing exhaustion as I did with Henry. But Henry was much more consistent – he was up 2 – 4 times a night from birth to 5 months, which is when I sleep trained him with a CIO (Cry It Out) method. Claire has been all over the place – she was doing 1 wakeup at 3 months (glorious) and 3 at 5 months (painful, especially when combined with toddler wakeups). Plus, with the second kiddo, it’s not like you can just nap whenever they nap. So yeah – I have felt pretty shitty since her birth. When she hit the 5 month mark and I felt like she was ready to be trained, I wanted to throw pillow-shaped confetti into the air.
I used the same sleep training method for Claire as I did with Henry <—explanation. It was painful for us both, but I know from experience that it works really fast. We had two nights of crying and, on the third night, she slept through the night. FREAKING AMAZING. I have not slept longer than 5 hours since December 1, so yeah… Clearly I’m stoked. Henry took more like 4 or 5 nights with a lot more crying, so I’m glad it was faster with Claire.
I know sleep training is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it definitely has worked well with our family, and I’m excited to begin feeling like a normal human being again in the future. Can’t wait to stock up on all those ZZZs!
I didn’t want to miss out on recapping some fun we had a few weekends back. Better late than never, right? I was in desperate need for a BREAK from the daily grind. Work had been crazy. So I put away my To Do list, powered down the computer, and filled a whole weekend with nothing but FUN. It was so wonderful.
Things started off right with a little race spectating on Saturday morning…
Training buddy Brandi did her first half marathon that weekend, and the race course was just a few miles from my house. So I packed Henry into the car after an early breakfast, and we drove out to see her and her husband run. It was nice to take a break from racing and be a spectator instead.
Unfortunately, Henry thought that he was running a race and was super disappointed to realize that he was not, in fact, participating. He did really like giving out High Fives and cheering, and I let him run down the sidewalk next to the runners for a while. I’m still on the lookout for other kid-friendly races (he really enjoyed doing a 5K a few weekends back) – I really do think he’ll grow up to be a runner.
I’ve been noshing on this new product from Sargento for a few weeks. I love it! We have a serious granola bar “problem†in our house, and these Balanced Breaks snacks are a delicious and wholesome alternative for grab-and-go snacking. Sometimes, you just want something different, ya know?
Balanced Breaks snacks combine natural cheese with crunchy roasted nuts and sweet dried fruit – the perfect balance of taste and nutrition. My favorite combos are the Natural Sharp Cheddar Cheese with sea-salted cashews and cherry juice-infused cranberries, and the Natural Pepper Jack Cheese with honey roasted peanuts and raisins.
These individual-sized snack trays contain less than 200 calories and 7 grams of protein – a very satisfying snack.
I’ve been snacking on these on the run – I just toss one in my purse so I can eat right on-the-go. I’ve been keeping the little containers, too, because they are perfect for keeping toddler food separate! Cute, huh?
Balanced Breaks snacks come 3 in a pack for only $3.69 and can be found in your grocer’s dairy aisle. In addition to the other flavors I mentioned above, Balanced Breaks snacks flavor combos include Natural White Cheddar Cheese with sea-salted almonds and dried cranberries, and Natural Sharp White Cheddar Cheese with sea-salted cashews and golden raisin medley.
Other recent “breaks� I did a little shopping… I’m redecorating our master bedroom. Well, technically it’s not our master, but we moved upstairs into the guest room when Henry started to escape his crib. It’s a pretty drab space, and I’m over it. It’s exciting to dress it up! It will be a really nice retreat when we’re all done with the design…
And, as always, I’m trying hard to find the time to read Book a Week. I’m starting to struggle with my New Year’s Resolution. As mentioned, things have been really hectic lately and it’s been a challenge to find downtime to read. I have a big pile of books on my nightstand to read. Here’s what’s on deck (told you that I’m behind BIG TIME!).
So, obviously, I am ALWAYS loving my kids. But this week is particularly great! I have lots of things to update you on (general cuteness, sleep training, and potty training), but that will go up in a post on Friday. Stay tuned.
Wearing Colorful Lipstick:
BFF Nicole and I always joke that we feel like clueless 11 year olds dressing up with mom’s makeup when we try to wear “real†lipstick (i.e. not lip balm). On Saturday, while we were at the mall, and she took me into Sephora to get color matched for an ideal lip color. I was matched with this purple-pink color and I LOVE IT! It is so fun to wear bright lipstick! Also, at only $13 a tube, I can totally get behind the splurge.
This is totally random, but I’m SO into following nail artists on Instagram. Gabby is my favorite – she’s a teenager who does the most incredibly creative nails. Cool, huh?
I was motivated to buy this cute manicure kit for several reasons. First, I love getting my nails done, but it’s harder than ever to coordinate that, so I want to do more home manicures. Secondly, I could NEVER find our nail clippers. Now that it’s in a nice little case, I will hopefully be able to keep better track of everything. Also, using brand new, high-quality clippers makes me realize that nail clippers are definitely something you should replace/upgrade every now and then – they totally wear down!
I first wrote about this arts and crafts delivery subscription service for a sponsored post (<— 8 Boredom Busting Indoor Toddler Activities). We loved Kiwi Crate so much that I purchased a year subscription for us. It is SO awesome (here’s another post about it). Last month’s box was on Gardening, and it was the perfect activity for Henry and me to do while Claire took a super long nap. It’s really nice to have a pre-organized craft activity to do with Henry – it makes it a lot more fun and enjoyable for me, as the parent, to do these types of things with him (no stress!). We loveeeeeeeeeeee Kiwi Crate!
Boxing:
My bootcamp offers boxing on Tuesday and Thursdays, but I’ve never made it because those days are typically reserved for triathlon-focused cardio. But I got pulled into an evening class yesterday and had a total blast! And I woke up this morning with soreeee arms. Boxing is hard. And cathartic. I may do it again soon…
On the Subject of Boxing, Chilling Out on Tri Training:
I’ve declared this week “no training week.†I have an Olympic triathlon in August, and I have a lot of prep work to do for it. But after Sunday’s race, I kind of just want to chill out on the swimming, biking, and running and just do whatever I feel like doing, not working towards mileage goals. On Monday, I did yoga; on Tuesday, boxing; and today, I did an intense ab-focused boot camp (I did over 400 different types of crunches and twists and 35 burpees – ouch!).
Eggs:
I have always been an egg fan, but I’m on a huge egg kick lately (thank you, Whole30!). Like – I’m tearing through cartons on a weekly basis. Eggs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (just not all on the same day). Yum. My favorite is still over easy on roasted potatoes with lots of ghee.
La Croix Cherry Lime and Lemon Flavors:
Best flavors around! I’m still into Coconut, but Lemon is definitely reigning supreme these days.
Having a Cleaning Service:
When Claire was born, I made the decision to hire cleaners to come once every two or three weeks… It has been an absolute lifesaver. The fact of the matter is that I can either spend three hours working or three hours cleaning my house… And I need to work. It feels like a splurge but I decided to stop feeling guilty for it. It’s 100% necessary for my sanity. I found an local, family-owned company that uses all-natural cleaning products, like vinegar and baking soda. So I feel really great about supporting that business. And there is nothing as nice as coming home to a clean house… when you didn’t even lift a finger.
I feel like I did an awesome job packing for Sunday’s race. I brought everything I needed but didn’t end up carrying around a bunch of extra stuff. Here’s what I took with me:
So, the SpiBelt was the first running belt that I ever wore. I really liked it, but after a bit, I thought it got more “bouncy†and it was no longer my fav. But the company just contacted me to tell me that they reformulated the elastic band to prevent this from happening! I’ve been testing out the improved belt for a few weeks and now I remember why I love SpiBelts so much. <3 <3 <3
This belt is the “extra large†one – and it holds an incredible amount of stuff – but even the regular SpiBelt is pretty roomy.
The simple design is great for running or cycling – there’s not a lot of fussing necessary to open it up. Just un-zip and grab your fuel or phone or keys or whatever. Easy! Plus – so many cute and functional designs…
SpiLeash <— a dog leash with a SpiBelt pocket built in (even cooler!)
Bonus – safety pin your race number to the belt and the SpiBelt doubles as a race bib belt, too.
Wanna win a SpiBelt? Simply leave a comment stating what item you *must* bring to a race. Or comment with a key item you think I missed on my sprint tri packing list (like as watch – I don’t use them during races anymore, but I know most people depend on them!).
