Breakfast Makeover

Confession: I hate making breakfast. However, I have to have it or I'm quite cranky by 8am. I haven't always hated making it. Unfortunately, I've developed this horrible nasty fast food habit over the past year. Sometime when I was pregnant with Nolan, I developed this avoidance of making breakfast. I find myself not making it often at home and just picking up something on the way to work. This is not good for either my waistline or my wallet.

In an effort to get rid of the last of the baby weight and save some monies, I decided that this is the week I'm going to break that habit. I've always been a smoothie fan, but the idea of even taking 5 minutes to make one in the morning was just too much for me. It's hard enough getting out of the house with two little boys without worrying about breakfast.

Enter the make ahead protein smoothie. To my blender I added:

One bag of Trader Joe's Very Cherry Berry Blend frozen fruit, thawed
3 scoops of vanilla Designer Whey protein powder
4 tablespoons of chia seeds
A big drizzle of honey
Approximately two cups of milk

I blended it all up and divided it up between four reusable water bottles that I picked up at Target for less than $4. The plan is to take one out each evening to thaw in the fridge overnight and hopefully have a frosty delicious treat without any work in the morning!

Making Lone Wolf Time

Being a mom is tough. One of the hardest jobs you'll possibly ever take on. I don't care if you stay at home, go to work every day or run your own business, if you have kids it makes everything that much more difficult to accomplish everything you want and need to do.  There's always so much to do and just not enough time.  I often wish that I had just a few more hours in the day or the ability to survive on a lot less sleep.

Unfortunately, as mothers, we tend to put everyone before our own needs.  You want to sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee?  Well, the baby just woke up, maybe tomorrow.  You planned to go to the gym tonight?  Your son begs for you to read him "just one more  book", so many that you end up running out of time.  You want more?  I could go on and on and on....

Enter the Lone Wolf Day.   This invention is actually a brainchild of my husband, though I'm the one that tends to want/need it most!   This is a day that you take totally for yourself.  For me, this would include taking a vacation day from work, dropping the kiddos off at daycare and spending the day ALL BY MYSELF.   It doesn't matter what you do, just that you do what ever YOU want.  It could be getting a pedicure, going to see that movie you've been dying to watch, or just sitting on the couch in your pajamas all day watching trashy TV.  

You're probably saying "but I don't have time for that!"  I'm here to tell you that you have to MAKE THE TIME.  No one is going to make the time for you, it's not just going to magically appear.  For the first time in probably a long time, you need to be selfish and put yourself first.    Let go of the guilt and let yourself enjoy a little lone wolf time.  I promise, it will be worth it.

Conceding Defeat

When I started this blog last month, I thought it would be a fun way to share my experiences as a mama, hopefully relating to others and I thought the 31 day challenge would be a good way to sort of "jump start" this new adventure. As it turns out, it just created more stress. I was constantly worried about my next idea and trying to get it written. My posts were choppy, rushed and not at all what I wanted them to be. That's not what I wanted out of this blog. This was not my vision.

So, I officially give up on the challenge. I want to write about whatever inspires me, not what I feel like I *have* to write. I concede defeat...

So stay tuned for some better upcoming posts!!

Day 23: Let Him Win

Cole is not a gracious loser at all. I'm pretty sure he gets that from John who thinks losing is for the weak.  (Remember, all your children's bad habits come from your spouse.)  All games start out fun, but the moment Cole thinks that he might not win, all hell can break lose.  It's like Lou Pinella-style freaking out at times.  

So tonight, I let Cole know that I love him by letting him win.  Now granted, he doesn't realize that I do this, but the excitement on his little face when he wins is just priceless.  I'll admit, it's not all that difficult to "cheat" at Candyland, hence the ease of letting him win on the sly. 

I'm sure in a few years, I'll have to give up and start teaching him to be a gracious loser, but for now, I'd rather see that happy face when he reaches the finish line as a winner.   Of course, I may want to start working on him being a gracious winner soon.  He certainly loves to flaunt his victory, but it's fun nonetheless.

Day 22: Ode to my husband

John likes to regularly tell me how lucky I am to be married to him. Usually, I laugh it off and say "you're lucky to me married to ME!" But you know what? He's right, I am lucky. This weekend he cleaned almost the entire house himself (as usual), took my car into two different places to have work done on it and tried not to balk when I told him how much it was going to cost to get my hair done on Sunday.  

Oh and he made us dinner!  Ok, not the entire meal, but he smoked a whole chicken for us and it was delicious. For those who know him, cooking is not exactly his forte, but he's definitely developed a knack for the smoker that he "had to have".  I fought him on that damn smoker, but I am definitely pleased that we have it now.

 I sometimes hear women complain about how their husband's don't help with the kids, don't clean up after themselves and sound generally useless to me.  Why would you want to be married to someone like that?   I'm so glad to have found a man who is not only a great husband, but is an amazing dad as well.  Even though Nolan is a little mommy-clingy right now, Cole thinks that daddy hung the moon. 

As for cleaning?  I seriously married the yin to my yang.  I am a general slob and he likes things to be organized and neat.  If I was in charge of all the cleaning, I don't even want to think about the state that our home would be in.  Let's just say that Hoarders might come a-knocking...

We've been together for almost 12 years, married for over 7 and I cannot imagine spending my life with anyone else.  

Day 20: Double Date

Tonight John went to play poker, so it was just me and the boys. After dinner, I decided to take them out for frozen yogurt.  I have a recent obsession with the self-serve frozen yogurt places.  Any combo of yogurt and toppings that I can think of?  Yes, please!!

Like mommy, like son.  The toppings are even more important than the yogurt!

We checked out a new (well, new to me) place by the house, Tastebuds.   They had this great kids area right in front with a coloring table and a movie playing.   The guy working there (the owner?)  was really nice and mentioned that all of the flavors were homemade, so I thought that was a nice bonus. 

Cole was pointing out "Finding Nemo" to Nolan.   Better known as "Fishy!" when Cole was a little guy.

After we were done, we took a little walk to check out what was in the area.  We spotted a cupcake shop that we must visit in the future. We are a dessert loving family here, don't judge us. 

It was a nice evening with two of my favorite little guys.  Everyone was on their best behavior, no one cried or threw a temper tantrum and we got to have a tasty treat!

Day 19: Poor Baby

Yesterday, Day 19 was sort of a bust because Nolan ended up with his first ear infection. In fact, it's the first time he's really been sick. He was pretty sad and pathetic and spent most of the day snuggling.

Also happy 9 months to my baby! I can't believe he's 3/4 of a year already