Afternoon Off

 

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My Astute Mess-Maker

Recently Isaac has learned how to pull out the heavy drawers of his dresser. Now he can scatter his clothes and bibs about. He likes to do this 5-6 times a day.

He also really enjoys pasta, which, of course, isn't the cleanest of meals.

But it makes him super-happy. He LOVES pasta!

Looks like we also dropped a banana at breakfast.

It's too hard for him to resist the thrill of watching his food fall from the top of his height chair to the floor. It's often followed by an "uh-oh" and a stern warning from mom with threats pertaining to empty diaper boxes. The box is losing it's effect. I need to come up with something new.
 

The grocery bags and cheerios are scattered about 5-6 times a day also.

I'm not really patient when it comes to the condition of my home. This is why we've been getting out so much. Some days I just take him for a slow cruise. He loves looking out the windows, feeling the breeze, and making sounds at me. "Uh-oh" is much cuter from the back seat of our car. He especially loves walking around outside. And this makes him sleepy... :)

 

Airplane sighting.

 

 

Another airplane sighting.

 

 

And another.

 

This whole messing game could be a ploy to get me to take him outside.

Way to outsmart your mom, kiddo.

 

 

 

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The Idiot's Guide to a Clean Home

1. Clean.

 

 

2. Leave.

 

I've been shamelessly employing this strategy all week.
Don't worry, we are still keeping Isaac away from people.

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Fall Sniffles

The boys have the sniffles right now. We held back from going out two weeks ago because Isaac had a brief period of flu symptoms and we didn't want to get anyone else sick. The following week we went out and picked up something from someone else -- boo!

 

So we are slowing down and noticing the small things and wiping noses and getting apple juice.

 

The dog is also down for the count.

 

We've been through three outfits today.

 

 

So we are pushing that bug right out!

 

 

Isaac does not like getting his nose wiped at all.

But I think he's starting to realize that it beats the alternative.

 

Long lashes like Dad.

 

 

His energy level is still pretty high. Here he is letting out out a large, manly growl, which he does every time he carries something big or heavy (perhaps inspired by watching his dad's kettle belling). I wish you could hear it. It's pretty awesome.

 

 

He discovered that his lion roars, which, of course, makes it 100x more interesting. (Thanks, Mom and Dad.)

 

 

And he cannot seem to get enough of his blocks.

 

I'm just hoping that we all get better soon and are done with being sick for the winter! Life is so much easier when you're well.

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Clair Bear

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about little Clair. What would her personality be like? How would she get along with Isaac? What type of skills would she have? What would she look like?

One of my neighbors gave this St. Clair icon to me when she moved out of town at the end of the summer. She mentioned that I voiced concern over "forgetting Clair" and that this would help me to remember her. Out of sight, out of mind. This happens to moms of small children a lot I'm afraid. But Clair was/is a part of our family. And I want to remember her. I've placed this icon on the dresser in our bedroom so that I can recall every day our sweet little angel and what I have to look forward to after we die.

This weekend, there was a family with four kids, ranging from about 5-17, next to us at Mass. All of them were blondes. The oldest was a very tall, slender boy. The others were girls. He poked them and pulled their hair when their mom wasn't looking. It made me chuckle and think about what Isaac might be like at that age and what the rest of our family might look like. It's really nice to remember the greater goals we have while living through the nitty gritty of daily SAHM life. I'm putting in a lot of work now, but trusting that our kid(s) will turn out so beautifully when we're done!

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Weekend in Pictures

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Goal!

We've been working pretty hard on several goals lately. I just hit my weight target, though, and want to talk about it because it's fun and includes pictures of awesome food I ate while losing weight! Overall, I lost 13 pounds in two months.

 

 

 

I didn't used to have to worry about weight. But as my body changes I am noticing the impact of diet. A Facebook friend suggested Cooking Light magazine, where I've found some amazing, tasty recipes with just a fraction of the calories. It's helpful having a periodical to give me new ideas. The subscription costs about $1 per issue, which also really helps us stay within our budget goals. It's been a great investment over the last three months. We've picked up 2-3 dishes per issue that we really like.

 

For example, this Spinach Onion Pizza is only 407 calories for two slices. The fat content is drastically reduced by limiting the amount of olive oil in the sauteing process and by using a fraction of the cheese normally used. (We were alarmed to find that two slices of deep dish pizza will send one soaring over his daily calorie limit. That's fine if you enjoy deep dish pizza enough. I don't. I'd rather eat Haagen Dazs.)

 

 

It's absolutely delicious! And I promise they are BIG slices (1/4 of the pizza = 2 slices). We normally feel like we've had enough at two slices. Rich might have used the word "love" to describe his feelings for this pizza.

 

 

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This is Rosemary Apple Pork Roulade with our own version of one of the Test Kitchen salads we tried last summer. (Romaine lettuce, skip the walnut-toasting.) The pork roulade has only 181 calories for 3 oz. We normally eat 4 oz. and saute it in a little olive oil, which adds a few more. It's still quite lean, though, and very tasty.

 

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Here is a Chicken Florentine Pasta. It has only 332 calories for a cup and a half and, yes, that is an alfredo sauce you see below! We used skim milk and a little flour to thicken it. It tastes a little different than cream, but it's still tasty enough. Also, Parmesan cheese gives it a little kick and is lower in fat than other cheeses. And it's really nice to eat 1 1/2 cups of pasta without feeling like you are having too much!

 

 

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Here is our favorite breakfast: Egg White Omelette with Sauteed Peppers and Onions, Turkey Sausage, and Cheddar Cheese. The whole omelette is 350 calories, including the olive oil used for sauteing. The bread will add about 100 additional calories. The best part about this breakfast is that we feel full (thanks to all the protein) and don't even spend 500 calories. This was really helpful to me when my daily limit was around 1300. (Maintenance eating gives me 500 more.) It's hard to find entire meals with fewer than 500 calories.

 

 

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Cooking Light is sporting quick breads this October. Here is the Walnut Streusel Bread from the cover. It's delicious! The key to keeping the calories down here is to use fat free buttermilk and limit the egg and butter content. Also, the bread slices are a little thin. It costs 187 calories for 1/16 of the loaf -- not bad! I think I may make it rarely, though, because it's hard for me to eat just one!

 

 

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Here is a low fat ice cream. It's an oxymoron, I know. But, "low fat" here means 50% less fat (and 30% fewer calories) than the original version of the ice cream. I never thought that I'd buy low fat ice cream and eat egg whites, but if it cuts out 200-300 calories in one's day -- and that's about the amount one goes over each day -- then it's worth it to me. This particular ice cream is Edy's Vanilla Slow Churn. It's not my favorite, but it was the one on sale. Turkey Hill and Breyer's have much tastier versions of low fat ice cream (with fewer ingredients!). All of them have 100 calories per half cup. This is not a bad way to splurge now and again! Since there are so few calories in it, I put some of my mother-in-laws chocolate sauce on it. Trust me. It's amazing.

 

 

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Oh, and I didn't give up light beer. I had it about twice a week.

 

iPhone photo.

 

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I really like how the LoseIt! app helped/helps me to keep track of everything and considered/considers exercise as well. It has nutritional facts for hundreds of manufacturers' products and restaurant foods. So, I can know things like whether my caloric intake is the recommended 50% carbohydrates, 30% fat, and 20% protein on any given day or week. (Or whether I'm getting enough fiber.)

 

Someone has been eating too much streusel bread and too few apples!

 
The day-to-day of the app is so user-friendly that I want to use it. It takes very little time! And it's easy to know what I need to do to make my day balance out.

 
What I "need to do" almost always is eat a piece of fruit. Most of you already knew that. But for people like me, this app is super-helpful! ;)
 

 

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