Meal Plan; Week of 1/25

This week is more of a cleaning out the fridge and cabinets! Not many new recipes this week!

Monday 
B- Pumpkin Waffles from Trader Joes
L- Veggie wraps (cucumber, carrots, tomato)
D- Cheese burgers, avocado

Tuesday
B- Cheerios w/ banana
L- Almond butter and jelly sandwiches, carrots
D- Spaghetti and meatballs

Wednesday
B- Moosli
L- Left overs
D- Rice, beans, egg, tomato, avocado bowl

Thursday
B- Cheerios with raisins
L- Left overs
D- Shrimp, muscles, roasted potaotes

Friday
B- Moosli, blueberries
L- Almond butter and banana sandwiches, cuties
D- Lemon Garlic Chicken (Crock pot) Recipe
    
Saturday
B- Oatmeal with raisins
L- Left overs
D- Shredded chicken tacos, avocado, tomatoes

Sunday
B- Waffles
L- Veggie and lunch meat wrap
D- Homemade pizza

Meal Plan; Week of 1/18

Better late than never. Juliana's first birthday party was yesterday so I didn't have a chance to plan our meals out. We also have a TON of left over chicken, beef and fruits so that will be the theme this week!

Monday
B- Mommy Moosli Website (the girls eat this too)
L- Goat cheese and apple butter sandwich with raisins
D- Ground beef quesadillas, avocado

Tuesday
B- Cheerios w/ banana
L- Elbow pasta with roasted broccoli
D- Mini pot pies Recipe

Wednesday
B- Eggs and turkey bacon
L- Pita pocket w/ turkey and cucumber
D- Spaghetti w/ meatballs, mixed veggies

Thursday (nanny)
B- Mommy Moosli
L- Left overs, EVOL frozen burrito (me)
D- Black beans, rice, egg and tomatoes

Friday (nanny)
B- Double Protein English muffin with goal cheese, eggs
L- Almond butter and banana sandwich
D- Chicken Chili (possibly done in the slow cooker)

Saturday
B- Cheerios with Raisins
L- Left overs
D- Oatmeal with banana and raisins

Sunday
B- Eggs with English muffins
L- Lunch meat (turkey) sandwiches
D- Steak and roasted veggies (potatoes/carrots/asparagus) Handy Guide for roasting veggies

Snacks throughout the week will be; avocado, cuties, apple, pear (a ton of fruit left over), veggie tray (also left over), mixed nuts, healthy banana muffins.


Thursday A will be with Dustin all day so he'll be taking care of her breakfast and lunch. I'll have J with me and she'll have what I'm having. Friday I'll likely need to make breakfast at my friends house while taking care of the children. It's too much of a rush to get out of the door after feeding both girls and my self, getting us all dressed and to my friend's house by 7:45/8am. (I'm even thinking I'll leave little J in her jammies and dress her there!)
Thursday and Sunday Dustin is off so he'll be having dinners with us then. And I'm still planning on sticking with my slow cooker meals every Friday. (Though I just broke my BRAND NEW crock pot after using it only once so there is that...)

This weeks meals

Monday
Lunch - Turkey burgers and mixed veggies
Dinner - Spaghetti and bell peppers

Tuesday
Lunch - Almond butter and banana sandwiches
Dinner - Steak and roasted veggies

Wednesday
Lunch - Humus pinwheels
Dinner - Black beans with rice and over-easy eggs

Thursday
Lunch - Left Overs
Dinner - Pasta Salad with cucumbers and tomatoes Recipe

Friday
Lunch - Almond butter and jelly sandwiches
Dinner - (Crock Pot Day) Basic Pot Roast Recipe

Saturday
Lunch - Left Overs
Dinner - Baked Lemon Chicken Recipe

Sunday
Lunch - Lunch meat and cucumber pitas
Dinner - Juliana's 1st birthday party - Taco Bar!

Snacks throughout the week will include - 
Avocados, hard boiled eggs, sliced bell peppers, baby carrots with humus, mixed nuts, home made healthy muffins Recipe

About my meal planning;
For the next several months I am babysitting my best friends 2 children, at her home, as well as my 2 little ones. I'll be at her house Thursday's and Friday's. I kept that in mind while making my meal plan. Friday's will be a longer day as all 4 children will be with me so I'll be making crock pot meals on Fridays. Being that we'll be at their house I need to bring lunches that are easy to assemble while taking care of two 1 year old's, a 3 year old and a 4 year old.

Sunday's my husband is home so I'll be cleaning out the fridge and meal planning while he is here to occupy the girls long enough for me to get that done! I plan to do my shopping on Monday's and preparing our Thursday/Friday meals on Wednesday.

Wish me luck!

My baby is one.

Technically she won't be one for another 7 hours and 14 mins (as of the time I'm writing this post). I meant to write a post this afternoon while both Juliana and Alivia were napping but I got wrapped up in looking at photos of Juliana's first hours of life. I watched videos of her coming into this world. I looked at the last pictures and videos of us as a family of 3. I listened to Dustin say "it's a girl!" when she was finally out. (Yes ...finally...have you ever pushed a baby out? You know what I mean)

So. My post didn't get written. I know there was a lot I wanted to say. But I'll get to that tomorrow. Right now I want to reminisce. 

This day last year changed our lives forever. Even now as writing this I'm debating with myself; should I write my birth story? Should I just keep this short and sweet? I feel like if I get started I won't be able to stop. And I'm typing this from my phone while laying in bed and it's not the easiest, nor the most comfortable, thing to do. 

Maybe I'll save my birth story for tomorrow. Or another day. 

But at this exact moment last year I was in a hospital bed, complaining to Dustin because the Dr. wouldn't let me go home. Little did I know that we'd be having a baby in a few hours. 

Everyone always says it, and maybe its a cliche but, I can't believe my baby is going to be one year old in the morning! How is this even possible? I know I've been here every day for the last year, I've seen her learning and growing and developing into the cutest little thing but what the hell!? How does time pass so fast??

Here's the last photo of her as an "infant" or a "baby". Who makes up these guidelines anyway. She will always be my baby. 

And who am I kidding. It's not like this photo is going to last until morning. She wakes up every 45 mins allllllll night long. As a matter of fact...I started writing this at 11:15pm. It's 11:35 pm. I laid her down at 10:50pm and she's already awake again. 

That's me. Rocking her PNP with my foot trying to get her back to sleep. :)

Happy new year and happy birthday my littlest one. 

Juliana is 10 Months!

My littlest little,

How are you already 10 months old? I feel like just last month we brought you home from the hospital. Yet at the same time I feel like I've known you forever, how is this possible?
Over the last month you have changed a lot but at the same time there are many things that are the same as the day you came home with us.

You're very determined. When you want something or if you're in the middle of doing something, no one had better get in your way. It's funny to see such a little person be so specific about what they want. You will grunt and practically throw yourself at something if you want it. Or point. You point at everything and you're really good at pointing to things we ask you to. You will put your little hands into fists and yell when something doesn't go your way. We know you're annoyed but it sure is cute.

You're very smart. So smart. Too smart? Doesn't every parent think that about their child? You know when you're not supposed to have something. You'll look at me and see if I'm watching you. The other day I told you not to put something in your mouth (which I say about 8,483 times a day) and you scooted your little body around 180* so that your back was to me, looked over your shoulder, then hunched over your prized position so that I wouldn't take it from you. When you're sister takes something out of your hands or grabs something you were going for first, you immediately look at me. You give me this look like "Did you see that?! What are you going to do about it!?" I love it.
Same thing goes though if you try reaching for something she has. You'll tentatively reach for it while looking at me to see if I'll stop you. Which I do. And usually you'll just complain a little bit, sometimes you'll find something else to play with and sometimes...it's a full on meltdown. BUT...you won't take it out of her hands. When you're sister is feeling very generous though she'll just give it to you. :-)

You're funny. You love teasing us. Over the last couple weeks we can really play with you and see a sneaky side to you. One that's so playful and happy. I'll look at you at say "Hey! You get back here!" and you'll giggle and take off, then stop and pretend to go again until I say it. It's so sweet and there is definitely a twinkle in your eye when you do it.

You're very snuggly. You always want to snuggle with me but at night, right before we go to bed and we're trying to read stories with Alivia, you start wanting to hug and hang on her. Of course this is the end of the day and Alivia is tired and not always in the most snugly mood when it comes to little sisters. But boy do you try! Two nights ago you followed her all around her bedroom trying so hard to get a hold of her. It was sweet and sad at the same time. She just wasn't in the mood. :-)

You adore your big sister, and she's pretty fond of you too. You follow her around the house like a little puppy. Whatever she's playing, eating, drinking, looking at...you have to too. You give her kisses and hugs and try holding her hand. And (unless it's bedtime) Alivia is right there talking about what a sweet, cute, lovey baby you are. She loves when you give her kisses and will say "Ahhh she just gave me a kiss! How cute!"

You love to eat. Pretty much anything I give you you'll go to town on. I can't really think of one specific thing you won't eat. When I put more than one type of food on your tray you're really good at picking out what you want to eat at that moment and will leave all the rest until you're ready for it. And usually you'll end up eating it all. There are times though that you'll pick out the one thing you want and then will throw everything else on the floor. Typical baby.  You're really loving bananas right now too. You'll put down a while banana if we let you!

Speaking of throwing things on the floor. One of your favorite games ever is throwing your washcloth on the floor when I'm cleaning you up after a meal. Seriously. Over and over and over and over. You never get tired of it. We once played that game for 20 mins and you would have kept going but I was getting worn out! But you laugh so hard when I say "HEY!" as I'm picking it up for the 100th time. So it's worth it!

If we laugh or sneeze or cough you'll mimic it. And then you'll keep laughing because you find it hilarious to copy us. When you drink water or even just want water you make a sound like an adult would after taking a nice cold drink on a hot day. That "ahhh". Does that make sense? And you do it after every sip of water or milk. It cracks us up! I'm still working on teaching you signs and you know them but don't use them yet. But you make it very clear when you want a drink of something because you do that "Ahh" sound. We love it.

Grandma Green bought you and Alivia a tent and you will go in and out of that thing all day long. And it's fast. You're in there for about 3 seconds and then you pop back out again. Another game you never get tired of! You also got to carve your first pumpkin this year, paint one and go to your first birthday party (Happy Birthday Quinn!)

The biggest change this month is that you're walking!!! You started taking 1-2 steps a few weeks ago and then 2 days you did 4 steps. Then suddenly about 3 days ago you took off. In the morning you were doing pretty good. Getting up and walking around. You'd topple over a few times but then right back up you went. By evening you were all. over. the. house! And you don't stop! You're everywhere. If I'm cooking in the kitchen you'll just walk back and forth from the kitchen to the living room repeatedly. And yes I'm probably biased but you have the cutest walk ever. I know other babies do this too because I've seen it but it's just so adorable. You're little arms are just hanging down by your sides and you very very very slightly hunch your shoulders forward and it's so cute to watch. Usually you want something in your hands though so when you do you have each hand holding onto something. Want to know what your favorite thing to carry around is? A washcloth. Most notably the washcloth that you continue to throw on the floor while I'm trying to clean you up. You'll just carry that thing all over the house.

There's that washcloth! As well as a diaper changing pad...

Taking a couple steps, just days before you took off!

On nights that we do baths it's always after dinner and this past month you've learned how to get all the way back to my bathroom for bath time. I'll say "bath time bath time" in a sing song voice and you stop whatever you were doing and you book it to the bathroom! Before you were crawling back there now you walk. And fast! You love your baths!

We're still working on sleep...you're an amazing little person Juliana and I love you to the moon and back but my goodness the sleep is something pretty awful. As a matter of fact I've had to get up 3 times to put you back to sleep since I sat down to write this and I hear you stirring on the monitor again. You sleep in my room in a pack-n-play on my side of the bed. You wake up about every 45 mins. :-) It's a lot of fun. You do end up in bed with me which is absolutely fine. I love co-sleeping...if you'd sleep ha! Even right next to me you wake up all night long. But I have to say....you have become SO cuddly in the mornings. You will flip and flop all over the place landing right on me every time. If I try to move away even 6 inches I wake up and you're RIGHT in my face. Snuggled up as close as you can get. The nights are sooooo long but boy are you a sweetie in the morning.

40 weeks old

Well there's a book for you for 10 months old! So many new things happening and I love documenting them for us all. I hope it's something you'll enjoy looking back on.

First Halloween!

I love you little one so much, Happy 10 months baby girl!