Things I'm Digging

1. Good Food Made Simple frozen steel cut oatmeal

I found this in the freezer section at Costco. I think it was around $9-10 for 8 single-serving frozen pouches. There are four maple flavor and four fruit and berry flavor. I haven't tried the maple yet, but the berry is full of blueberries and cherries that taste as though they were added fresh to the oats before freezing (rather than being dehydrated). It takes 3-4  minutes in the microwave and is a good-sized portion that keeps me full until lunch. I just feel...virtuous having this for breakfast and it's really delicious.

2. Ziploc Zip 'n Steam bags

I'm not very imaginative when it comes to vegetables, but I am trying to add more into our meals on a daily basis. I personally don't mind frozen veg for the most part but there are some things I prefer to buy fresh and cook myself, such as broccoli and cauliflower. That's where these steam bags come into play - you just cut up your vegetables and seal them into the ziploc. There are cooking instructions on the front of the bag for a variety of the most common things you might want to cook in there (there are instructions for a full bag or half bag). Throw it in the microwave for the recommended time and voila, steamed vegetables that haven't lost all their goodness and - most importantly - aren't mushy. I think these will help motivate me to keep giving the kids vegetables to try even when I know they won't eat them...it's easier when I know I won't be investing a lot of wasted time.

3. Pandora

Not a new thing, but between my husband and I we have created a list of about 10 stations that cover pretty much any musical mood. It's a really awesome way to discover new artists as well, which I like because I don't listen to the radio at all these days. I'll be firing up my holiday stations any day now :)

4. Amazon's Gift Organizer

Simple concept but it's been really helpful in organizing my ideas for Christmas gifts. You just put in the  names of all the people you need to buy for and you can post links to your ideas right there in the list (whether you find them on Amazon or not).

5. Squeezable Fruit Pouches

My kids are rather suspicious about new foods in general right now, and especially vegetables (see above #2). I'm still trying to find Brighton's kryptonite, but for Pacey it's been the wide availability of pureed fruits/veggies in pouches. I knew that he liked yogurt in a tube so I tried an applesauce pouch, which he loved (I gave B one too, but she gagged so violently after the first squeeze that I gave up for now). Anyway, I've managed to sneak in some of the mixed fruit and vegetable pouches too now. Ultimately, I'd obviously like to get both kids eating whole veggies but for now, if I can sneak a little butternut squash in without him noticing, I'll take it!

6. Oil of Olay Pro-X Advanced Cleansing System (see it here on Amazon)


My sister gave me this for my birthday and I love it. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a Beauty Routine kinda girl. It's a simple moisturizer in the morning and usually just a face cleansing wipe at night (my sister is cringing reading this). This is a more reasonable version of a Clarisonic brush; I use it in the shower with a mild exfoliator and it's like having a little mini face massage every morning. Very refreshing!

What are you loving lately?

Build Up

I LOVE the holiday season. I don't care that the Halloween clearance is immediately replaced with Christmas items. Bring it on. I loved themed party items, Christmas candy, silly Christmas socks, and you can pretty much count on finding Christmas music playing in my house from Thanksgiving on. We typically get our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving weekend so we can enjoy it all the way through the build up to Christmas. I am working my way through my Christmas shopping list, taking advantage of early bargains and getting immense satisfaction ticking things off my list.

On the flip side, however, as of the day after Christmas I am DUNN. I want the decorations gone, the presents put away and all that leftover bad-for-you food either eaten or tossed. One of the best gifts my husband ever gave me was the year Pacey was in the NICU. Christmas sort of sucked anyway because he wasn't home, and although we did our best it was a bit like just going through the motions. Anyhow, the day after Christmas I went to spend some time with him in the hospital and when I returned home a couple of hours later, Chris had completely undressed the tree, put away the ornaments and dragged the tree out of the house. It was awesome.

One of my pet peeves is seeing Christmas wreaths still hung up in February and March. I don't know why, but there were a significant number around our neighborhood last year and I was really tempted to go around Grinch-style and take them all down (I didn't).

Anyway, in the spirit of early-bird celebration, I wanted to share two websites that I have found useful in getting good deals. I really love the process of selecting gifts for people. Getting something for someone you know is exactly what they want is great, but there is also something to be said for knowing someone well enough to pick something that is completely unexpected and yet perfect.

Want Not is my go-to site for limited time online deals. She basically trolls the internet for hot deals each day and posts links to them with the relevant coupon codes if necessary. I have gotten some truly ridiculous deals this way, and she is great about explaining to how stack coupon codes to get the most out of various deals.

This Holiday Gift Guide is a great source for ideas - it's a list of 100 different gifts all under $25. There are ideas for all different types of people, so there is truly something for everyone. Check it out!

What about you? Do you revel in the Christmas carols in November or do you shop with earplugs until December 15th? Do you love Christmas shopping or hate it?

Circling the Wagons

I keep coming to write a post but my head's been full of heavy thoughts I haven't really wanted to put down.

The horror unfolding at Penn State has crept under my skin a little...that and the seemingly endless stories in the news of missing babies/kids. It makes me want to keep my kids within arms' length at all times and the world just seems a little more threatening lately. There was a brief moment last weekend where I couldn't find Brighton anywhere in the house...I knew the likelihood of her being truly missing was remote but the few minutes I couldn't find her were torturous (she ended up being in Pacey's room with the door closed).

I guess that's the thing about having kids. The magnitude of what you'd lose if anything ever happened to them is staggering. I've written before about how overwhelming the responsibility of keeping them safe feels at times and nothing I read about in the news lately makes me feel any better about the world we're supposed to be preparing them to live in.

See? Kind of a downer.

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It's not all doom and gloom though. We're preparing for the winter ahead, and I am looking forward to certain parts of it. I'm enjoying the earlier evenings...the nightly routine of closing the blinds, lighting a fall-scented candle and starting dinner. Soon we'll start building fires in the fireplaces and watching the snow fall from the hot tub. This weekend we'll have our first traditional English roast dinner of the season with good friends.

Perhaps the most exciting thing to look forward to is a visit from my sister and her family in December. It will definitely mitigate a lot of the sting of not having family or friends around for Thanksgiving. I can't wait to see the kids with their cousin.

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It seems like every stage of children's development has its unique challenges, and sometimes I forget to appreciate the hurdles we've crossed. Like physical pain, it never seems as bad when it's gone. But in the spirit of trying to inject a little more positivity into my psyche, I'm going to acknowledge some of the things I'm really grateful NOT to be experiencing anymore.

- I'm really glad that neither of my children poops at night and then removes their diaper prior to my getting them up in the morning anymore. Baths first thing in the morning are no fun.

- I'm really glad we're past the putting-things-in-mouths stage. Pacey got a marble run for his birthday and, while I prefer that it be a supervised activity, I'm not too freaked out that someone's going to put marbles in their mouth.

- I'm really glad my kids can chew tablets instead of having syringes of Tylenol/Motrin. Boy do I hate having that sticky sh*t spit all over me.

- I'm really happy Pacey stopped removing his socks and shoes and throwing them around the car every time we go anywhere. Nope, that one's been revived.

- It's really nice to only have one child's nap to plan our days around, and even then we can get away with skipping it every now and then.

- I'm happy that we can occasionally stay out past the kids' bedtime by a couple of hours without any massive consequences.

- I'm grateful that at least 50% of the time now the kids can articulate what they want or need (even if they can't have it). The guessing game is so hard, especially when you're doing it through screams.

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Anyone want to tell me a story about an amazing act of humanity that made you feel good about the world? I could use a boost.

Glutton for Punishment

Sometimes I really make life difficult for myself.

Yesterday was an awesome day. We celebrated Pacey's birthday, had the best kid birthday party you can hope for and I think he felt really special all day. He got some really cool new stuff, including lots of new puzzles which are his current obsession.

Anyway, with all the excitement and the party, the kids went to bed later than usual even not considering the hour time change. They were up at a normal time this morning...anyone doing the math here can figure out they did not get enough sleep. If I was less of a masochist, I'd have just let them stay in their jammies, play with new toys and enjoy the fact that we don't have anywhere scheduled we have to be on Monday mornings.

Instead? I took us on a forced march to the zoo. In my defense, the weather is gorgeous (if chilly) and I don't know how many more days we are going to get that are at all appealing for outdoor adventures. Still...I was punished for my industriousness.

Pacey spent the whole time asking about his new toys, alternating between refusing to walk and running off in the opposite direction, attempting to climb into enclosures and become someone's tasty midmorning snack, and asking to go home.

Brighton was marginally more compliant, but is also quite full of her two-year-old self and seems to be developing an immunity to reverse psychology (crap).

A stroll through the tropics

Sloth breeding program...who knew?

My little scientist insisted on bringing her
magnifying glass

A giant bronze tortoise today, a Harley
tomorrow

Learning about ocean conservation

This bear was...disconcertingly close

Pacey refusing to move (insert the sound of fake
snoring here)

Quite possibly their favorite part of the
outing...watching a digger at work

I think we'll be spending the afternoon at home.

(The most amusing part of the outing for me was the zookeeper talk in the zebra exhibit. He was telling us about how the male had been brought in with the females for breeding purposes and then went on to describe how one female wasn't terribly interested but the other one was "really receptive to the whole thing" and how they were hoping for at least one baby zebra in the spring. It was a little awkward.)

(Also - fun fact: a newborn polar bear weighs about one pound whereas a newborn zebra weighs about 50!!)

Metamorphosis

From this:

Me, my mom and Pacey, the first time I got to hold him.

To this:

...in five unbelievable years.

Happy birthday to my amazing guy. We love you so much.

Borrowed Time

I really didn't want to lose the momentum from October's daily posting, but this week has been...uninspiring. Halloween was so much fun, but the next day was sort of awful and in general it was just a week of getting not-so-fun jobs out of the way.

I promised the kids that after naptime today I would take them to the Treehouse (the indoor play structure at our gym). Cometh the time, however, Pacey specifically asked to go to the playground. I have a pretty hard time denying Pacey anything he asks for by name, and this was no exception. Despite the fact I really (really, really) didn't feel like going, I couldn't ignore the fact that the late autumn sun was gorgeous and the temperature an unbelievable 55 degrees. This time last year was equally pretty but much colder, and our first snowfall blizzard (though we didn't know it at the time) was only a week away. I know winter is just around the corner, whether we are ready or not, so I packed up my camera and we headed to the playground.

Going to the park gave me such angst when we first moved here. I was entirely unused to spending so much time with the kids, didn't know what their limits were in terms of physical abilities, and didn't really derive any pleasure from running around after them trying to keep them from taking headers off the structures (Brighton) or running into the thankfully quiet street (Pacey). But now, 12 months later, it's actually pretty fun. They can both manage 95% of the equipment on their own and they entertain me with their creativity. I'm always blown away by Pacey's agility on the playground because he just had such a hard time with strength and endurance in his first couple of years. But Brighton, too, blows me away in how confident she's become and how she's using her imagination in physical play.

Anyway, blah blah blah, here's some pictures I snapped:

"I see kids! And a princess!" she says. 

Pacey thought he was being nice by pushing her...she disagreed

Self-portrait

Scratching their backs on a tree...Jungle Book has been
getting a lot of air time lately

This handsome boy bears almost no resemblance to my
squishy little peanut of almost FIVE years ago. Be still
my heart.

Graham crackers never go out of style.

We have a fun weekend planned that will culminate in celebrating Pacey's birthday with our adopted Minnesotan family. For now? I have a date with a cold beer, a fire in the fireplace and escapism on the TV. Happy Weekend!

Different is Good Too

12 years ago, Halloween looked like this:

Why yes, I am taking photos of photos in lieu of actually scanning them. Lazy points!

I'm sure you can spot me, and the brooding construction worker to the right is my really good friend, S. She is my best friend from college; we lived together in England when we studied abroad and she was with me the night I met my husband. She just happens to live about 10 minutes away from where I do now...no small factor in deciding to up and move to a new state. 

S had her first baby last November and it's been such a trip to be spending more time than ever together, and now as moms. This is what Halloween this year looked like:

I can honestly say that last night was every bit as fun as that night 12 years ago (and approximately one million times less painful this morning).