snack baskets for new moms

In my opinion one of the most helpful thing you can do for someone who has just had a baby is to prepare a meal for them.  I was SO grateful for the meals we received after each of our sons were born.

I love to take my friends meals but sometimes I can't always do that.  Last year  I had twelve friends that were all due right after me.  Seriously every three weeks or so another friend was having her baby.  Since I had a newborn myself and was trying to figure out life with two kiddos there was no way I could prepare a meal for some of my friends.  I wasn't even really cooking real meals for my own family!

I had to figure out another way I could help out and bless my sweet friends.  Enter my wonderful friend Kelly.  Last year right after Graham was born Kelly brought us a big tote basket full of all kinds of snacks. Homemade bread, rice cakes, cinnamon graham crackers, ginger ale, dark chocolate covered soynuts{my fav!!} and some other seriously yummy stuff.  It's so nice when you are nursing to be able to have snacks at your fingertips! 

 I loved Kelly's snack basket idea so much that I totally copied her and started giving these to my friends whenever I wasn't able to prepare an actual meal for them.   I wasn't the only one that loved Kelly's idea.  Our MOPS group has started using the idea too when the moms in our group have a baby. 

 Recently my friend Christina had a baby while my husband was out of town for a few weeks.  Since the boys and I were surviving solely on Chick-fil-a {I'm only sort of kidding about that} I thought it might be easier for me to bring my sweet friend some yummy treats rather than a whole meal. 

When I went to visit my friend in the hospital I asked her what her favorite snacks were.  She told me fruit and anything with chocolate.  So I packed her a basket with dark chocolate and nut granola bars, chocolate covered soynuts, snickers protein bars, apple chips {these are so good!}, fruit, and some homemade apple bread.  I like to add something homemade in there so I don't look like a total slacker.  It looks like I had an apple theme going with the apple chips, apples, and apple bread!  {I hope you like apples Christina!!}

My friend decorated her little gal's nursery with pink , green, and white so I found this pretty green and white basket at Michael's that I thought would coordinate.  I always love having baskets around for toys, books, diapers, burp cloths, etc.  I don't always get a basket that will match the nursery but I think it's a fun idea!

We also decided to pack a little snack basket for older brother Will.  Noah picked out his basket for him!  I like that it looked like a little shopping cart and that Will could use it to play "store" with.

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a prayer

Lately we have had some pretty fantastic weather only for it to be followed by several days of all out gloom.  As a mother of two little's it's hard to not feel cooped up and a little weary after several days spent in doors. 


Lord, help me to be grateful for the season of life that I am in right now.  Help me not to be concerned with the "what if's", or the "if only's..." that run through my head.  Help me to just be content.  Content that you are in control.  Content to trust in you alone.  amen.

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”

~Epicurus

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If you give a mom a muffin.......

At our house we are big fans of Laura Numeroff''s books.  We especially like If you give a Mouse a Cookie, If you take a Mouse to the Movies, and If you give a Moose a Muffin.

My SIL recently sent me this mommified version of If you give a Moose a Muffin and I have to admit it is pretty darn cute.

If You Give A Mom A Muffin

Original Author Unknown

If you give a mom a muffin,
She’ll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She’ll pour herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.
She’ll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she’ll find dirty socks.
She’ll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She’ll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She’ll look for her cookbook (”101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger”).
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The check book is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.
She’ll smell something funny.
She’ll change the two year old’s diaper.
While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.
Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.
She’ll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
And chances are…
If she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

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MOPS

This morning my little people posse and I attended our last MOPS meeting for the year. How is this possible? It seems like yesterday I wrote this post about the lack of a MOPS groups in my area. Lucky for me my friend D started a MOPS group at her church this past fall. 

Our MOPS group may be small but boy are they sure a great group of ladies. I always have the best time when we meet. Who wouldn't have fun hanging out with friends{and fellow moms}, eating delicious brunch-y food, and listening to great speakers or making a fun project? Did I mention that we are kid free for       T W O   W  H O L E  hours? Well some of us aren't exactly kid free because we have our nursing babes with us but we are toddler free.

It is so refreshing to get to spend two hours doing something for me. I definitely leave encouraged by the other moms I have been around and ready to tackle and embrace my role as mother with a whole new enthusiasm. And did I mention the food? :)

I am already looking forward to August when MOPS will start back up. We do have a few summer activities on the calendar if you are in my area and want to join us. You can check out our calendar of events here.

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counting down the hours

In less than 24 hours the Hubs shall return. Freaking finally! HOORAY! The last three and half weeks have been LONG! And I even had my dad here helping me for 13 days. It's weird but in some ways this separation has seemed longer than the 7.5 month deployment we endured. I know that sounds crazy. I guess throwing kids into the mix really changes things. 

I feel like so much has happened since the Hubs has been gone. First off the baby has really changed. He went from a newborn to a baby in a matter of weeks. The baby started sleeping through the night too while Hubs was away. How does Hubs manage to miss out on that? He left a few weeks after the little buddy was born too and came home to a baby that slept through the night. I better get a really super, awesome mother's day present this year! Just kidding...sort of.

And boy has the little buddy changed too. I've mentioned that he has almost doubled his vocabulary and he seems to have gone through a growth spurt too. He has started being somewhat helpful lately. If I ask him to grab me a burp cloth about 80% of the time he actually finds one and brings it to me. {This is particularly helpful when your baby has upchucked two days worth of feedings down your shirt and all over himself as well.}Unfortunately lately the little buddy has also started being defiant and really testing limits. This part is not so much fun and I am glad Hubs will be home soon to help me in the area of discipline.

I hope Hubs will recognize me because I guess I have really changed too. I was able to achieve some washboard abs while Hubs was gone and drop all of my baby weight. Actually, not so much. I ran twice, walked once and did crunches a few random times here and there. And in the past two days I have scarfed down almost a whole entire thing of brownies. YIKES! {I hope some of my energy comes back soon so I can actually workout more.}

I am sure tempted to runaway as soon as Hubs walks in the door. I feel like I could use a vacay. I might head to Hawaii and crash with my friend Heather for a few weeks. Not really ,but a momma can dream right? :)

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babies, babies, and mo babies

So if you need help baby proofing your house I could send over the little buddy. I had the wonderful idea to pack up my little people posse and take lunch to a friend who just had a baby. I swear that little buddy literally touched EVERYTHING he could reach in the living room. And after that he moved onto the nursery. Sorry Riley! I kept picking up things and moving them to higher ground. I told my friend Melissa that now she knew exactly everything she was going to have to "put up" in a year or so when she has to baby proof her house. HA! Aren't kids fun?!?

Today was the day of new babies because we also went to see another new little friend this afternoon. My wonderful friend Kelly just had her second baby last week. Kelly and I got to hang out and nurse and little buddy and song bird got to play together. Little buddy was pretty much in heaven because there were trikes, scooters, and cars galore. There was this one pink scooter that he stood on for a long time. Even though he couldn't make it move, he loved it! He was also pretty fascinated with this tiny pink cup. He kept dipping it into the kiddie pool to fill it up and then would dump the water into a nearby bucket. I had a wonderful time and so did little buddy. I was amazed at how well the kids played together. They didn't really snatch each others toys that much but played together or along side each other. Pretty impressive for two toddlers!

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mommy time out

So with the urging of a some family members and a few friends I decided to hire babysitter to come hangout with the little buddy yesterday afternoon so I could get a little bit of a break. I contemplated leaving the baby with the sitter but decided to keep him with me. I just can't part with him yet! {Is that normal??}

I nursed the baby right before the sitter was to arrive so he would be good to go before we headed out. I figured he would fall asleep in the car on the way to my first errand/stop which he did. I toted him into the library to retrieve a few books I had on reserve {because I have time to read and all}. Then we were back in the car in a jiffy and onto my next stop. I wanted to run into Old Navy to get the boys some hats for summer and check out the summer stuff for me. I didn't want to carry the baby around in his car seat so I chose to take him out and put him in our stroller. BIG MISTAKE! He of course woke up as I was transferring him into the stroller. I thought he would just fall back asleep but he didn't. I still proceeded to go into the store. At that point I noticed the front wheel of our stroller was not turning making it a bit tricky to navigate through the store. I was having to pick up the front wheel everytime I wanted to turn. Not literally with my hand mind you but just like you would have to on a lot of older jogging strollers. 

Anyhoo...moving right along. Or actually not moving. So at this point the baby was screaming. I tried holding him to settle him down but as soon as I put him back in the stroller he cried. I noticed that the front wheel was locked so I turned the little knob on the front wheel of the stroller to release the pin so the wheel would move but it still wouldn't turn. So now the baby is screaming, I'm pissed because our new stroller is apparently no good, and I haven't even made it past the item of the week section at the front of the store. I contemplated going out to the car to get my chest carrier for the baby but how in the heck are you supposed to try on clothes with a baby strapped to your chest. Makes it a bit awkward to try on shirts I suppose.

At this point I felt like crying so I packed it in and we headed out to the car. I decided to head over to the Starbucks drive thru for a little treat to brighten my day. I was hoping by time my drink was in my hand the baby would have stopped crying so I could go next door to Goodwill to look for some picture frames. { I am working on a picture wall in the dining room} No such luck though he was still crying. So off I drove with no clue what I was supposed to do now.

Awesome. This is wonderful. I am an hour into my "break" and so far I have gone to the library and to a store where the only thing I looked at was my stroller wheel. I am paying someone to watch my toddler while I drive around town sipping on my icy coffee beverage and listen to my baby wail. Good times. 

Before I gave up I decided I would perhaps attempt to go to TJ MAXX/Home Goods. I didn't need anything but I figured the point of this break was to do whatever I wanted to do or something I couldn't do with two kids in tow. So  I strapped the baby into the chest carrier and away we went. In the end I found a new planter for our front porch. It was similar to the $99 planter I wanted at Lowe's only it was $30. Score. I just need to paint it black and it will be good to go. 

So all in all my outing wasn't at total failure but it wasn't exactly stress free either! I'm thinking next time I will suck it up and  just leave the bebe with the sitter too. Then I will board a plane to Hawaii for a vacay for one. Then I could go for my semi-annual pedicure or my twice a decade massage. :) Or I could just meet up with a friend for coffee.  That would be fun too.

** The stroller wheel was not actually broken but I just needed to lube up a pin that helps the wheel to swivel.  That puppy corners like it's on rails now.

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just a glimpse of my morning

So yesterday I had this brilliant idea that I should take the kiddos to the Barnes and Noble story time this morning. I enlisted some friends to go with us because let's face it friends make everything mo' fun! 

Fast forward to today. Upon arriving at the bookstore I put the wee one in the front carrier, held my bag on one shoulder and my toddler on the other shoulder. Whew! I was about worn out by the time we walked ten steps to the front door of the store. Once inside I deposited my toddler on the ground. BIG MISTAKE. Why did I think he would hold my hand all the way from the door to the back of the store where the children's section is? He touched at least one book on EVERY end cap display that we passed. Once we finally made it to he the kid section we ran into a friend and her two little gals. While I stopped and chatted with my friend the little buddy ran ahead of me to start unshelving books. Awesome! The baby was squirming around so I reached to put his paci back in his mouth and realized, "Oops I forgot the paci in the car." At that point there was no way I was walking all the way back out to the car and back into the store again for the paci. I said farewell to my friend and I tried to talk the little buddy into going over to the story time that was in session.

He walked over to the storyteller but little buddy had no desire to sit down and listen. Instead he yanked a stuffed animal out of the hands of the little girl sitting next to him. Great. All I have to say about that is at least it was actually a stuffed animal from the store and not the little girl's beloved favorite toy from home.  While I was apologizing to the little girls mom little buddy decided to unshelve a few more books from a nearby display. The baby was still squirming so I dug my hand into my diaper bag in search of a paci that I knew wasn't there. But wait there is a paci! So I shoved  ever so gently gave that to the baby and went off to find little buddy. 

Next I made an attempt to coax him over to the train table but he pre-ceded to walk right past the table and headed for this display of stuffed animals. He snatched a few and walked off. At this point my friend arrived and I told her I was thinking of leaving because things weren't going so well. She suggested we head on over to Chick-fila and so off we went.

Our trip to Chick-fila was the first lunch date that I have had where I took the two kiddos by myself. Luckily the baby slept most of the time in his car seat. {a rarity by the way} And the little buddy behaved pretty well too. He didn't eat much because I think he gets so excited when he has friends around. After lunch we let the kids play in the kids area. This way the first time that the little buddy has done this. He had a grand ole time running around, hoopin and a hollarin, and watching the older kids go down the big slide. 

So moral of the story :

01. DON"T ever think it's a good idea to go by yourself with your toddler and baby to a book megastore. Unless both kids are strapped into the stroller or better yet out in the car! HA! {Totally kidding folks!!}

02. Not every outing by myself will be a disaster and sometimes it's worth the hassle/stress just to get out of the house.

{p.s. thanks Kelly for the adult conversation and for hanging out with my little people posse and myself!}

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it's not all fun and games

I guess no one told me parenting/motherhood would be easy, but I still kind of thought to myself, "really how hard can this be?" I am pretty sure I went into this gig {as I am sure most gals do} sort of expecting that being a SAHM would be like playing house.  A grown up version of playing house of course. Well it's not like playing house at all. Unless in your version of "house" you find yourself wanting to lock yourself in the bathroom and cry............

These days I am really learning how hard parenting really is. It's tiring and it's stressful.  Don't get me wrong it can also be very rewarding and a true joy. But right now it's just plain hard. Particularly being the mom of a toddler.

Recently the little buddy has started throwing temper tantrums, screaming "no, no, no, no",and  hitting on occassion.  This morning at MOPS I was walking past the nursery and I heard my son yelling "NO,NO,NO!!!!!!!" I wasn't sure whether I should run away and pretend he wasn't mine or go in and claim him. In the end I claimed him of course but honestly I found myself a bit embarrassed by his behavior.

His recent behavior makes me wonder where I have  failed as a mother. Surely his behavior must be the result of my parenting. Right? I know this is not entirely true but is can sure feel like it most of the time. Somedays I feel like I tell him " NO" or "Don't" about a thousand times a day. And I wonder why he says, "NO?" HA!

Yesterday I caught myself thinking, "what in the heck happened to my sweet little boy? Where has he gone and will he be coming back anytime soon? I sure these new things my toddler is doing are normal for his age or are related to his reaction of the new baby. Maybe a little bit of both. Whatever the case I sure hope this is a phase, one he will outgrow quickly. 

If anyone has any suggestions on how to survive your toddler PLEASE, PLEASE leave me a comment!

An if you think of it will you please say a prayer for me.

That I will:

make wise decisions as a parent.

set good examples for my children.

not be quick to anger.

trust that God won't give me more than I can handle.

that I can find the right balance of love and discipline.

that I will remember that this is just a season of my life.

*** Ironically enough as I sit here and write this post the UPS man just delivered a package from my SIL. In that package was a book. And the title of that book...drumroll please...... "Bringing up Boys: practical advice and encouragement for those shaping the next generation of men" by Dr. James Dobson.  HMMM, I wonder if there is a chapter on toddlers?

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our life at the moment

WOW! Can you believe our new little guy is over a month old? I hardly can. Time sure flies when you are having fun sleep deprived, doing insane amounts of laundry, nursing every few hours, and chasing after a toddler. 

I feel like I have so much to blog  yet I don't have the time to blog at all. I can't even find the time to remember to take pics of our new little guy. I was warned that would happened. Also, I have been having some problems with my right arm and hand. My hand pretty much is numb about 75% of the day making it pretty tricky to care for the boys and myself. I can barely hold the baby sometimes let along blog. Before baby g was born I started to feel like I was on the computer too much. I wonder if a certain someone gave me a pain in my hand to literally pull me away from the computer. Just thinking out loud folks. 

Anyhoo....lil g is great. Growing like a weed. We went for his one month check-up last week and the Dr. said he was doing just fine. He is sleeping five hour stretches at night which is awesome. He even pulled a six hour stretch last night. Way to go little g! The baby is smiling here and there and enjoys being held upright on your chest. He does however NOT like the swing or bouncy seat. What's up with that? I thought all babies liked those two things but apparently not. He prefers to be snuggled up on my chest which is kind of hard to do all day when you also have a toddler!

The little buddy is still adjusting to having a little brother. Last weekend he decided he didn't require any sleep. No naps and no sleep at night. Fun times. Thankfully, he started sleeping again. It was pretty rough there for a few days but we are catching back up on sleep. Little buddy still likes to "hold" his brother. And by "hold" I mean that he motions for me to put the baby in his lap and 1.5 seconds later he pushes him away. He likes to get in the babies face and wave hello at him. And he still likes to high five the baby. I think he will think his brother is more fun when he can do more things and doesn't sleep 18 hours a day.

And me......well I am still adjusting too. Going on walks and caffeine are keeping me sane at this point. Some days are easier/better than others. Some days I wonder "what have I gotten myself into?"  I actually told the hubs that I might want to go ahead and work outside the home. His reply was, " I think you missed your opportunity for that."  I don't really want to work outside the home but somedays I am sort of jealous that Hubs gets to leave the house every single day. No I am not on house arrest or anything. I could leave the house if I chose too. Most days it just seems easier to stay around here. We did venture out a few times this week. It was hard to leave the house by 9:00 to head to MOPS but we did it. And once I was there I was so glad I made the effort to go. It was nice to be surrounded by friends and to show off the wee one. 

And HUBS.... he's super, crazy busy at work right now. Not to mention he still has to study at night and keep up with things around the house too. And I have a feeling he will also add "chef" to his duties this week too. Seeing as our meals stopped coming last Thursday {sad face}and my numb hand will most likely prevent me from chopping anything what so ever.

Well duty calls so I must say goodbye. Hopefully me hand will stop hurting and I will feel up to blogging more. Until then.....

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So in love

......................with our new little guy.


 

{pictures taken by the lovely Mrs. Pepin}

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flying solo

Today I am totally on my own. Well on my own + two lil ducklings. But on my own in the regards that I am the only adult in the house today. The in-laws left a week ago and Hubs had to return to work today. 

So far the day has been pretty uneventful. I guess that is good right? The biggest problem of day was that I forgot to eat lunch. I planned to eat after I fed little buddy. Then I decided to chat on the phone with one my best friends. Then our neighbor came by. Then our neighbor mentioned that the cable/internet was finally working. Then I was so excited that we had internet after five days of no internet that I checked my email. (sidenote: no internet due to our surprise attack of a snow storm  we got over the weekend.) Then I had to nurse LB². Then I decided I should probably lay down and rest while the little buddy did. Then my stomach started growling and I realized I had accidently skipped lunch. 

I contemplated just trying to nap and then eat later but I figured since I am nursing momma these days I might want to keep my body nourished and hydrated. So I here I sit. Full from some yummy soup(thanks Rachel!!). 

a few things I am thankful for today........

the sun is shining and it's warm out.

that the boys are both napping at the same time. 

that I have two precious {not to mention healthy}little boys.

that we have health insurance that covers 100% of our medical needs. {sidenote: just got the statements for mine and LB²'s care while in the hospital. YIKES! Having a baby is expensive and I didn't even require a c-section.}

that Hubs ever so sweetly surprised me by getting the little buddy up this morning so that I could have a few extra minutes of sleep. this was to be my first morning on our own.

that we have electricity again. {we were without for 30 hours} 

that we have meals being provided for us until the end of March. Seriously our friends ROCK!

 

ok signing off now to make another attempt at that nap..............

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just strolling along

Well we just sold our main single stroller. Is it weird to be kind of sad? I'm lame I know. We bought that stroller two days after we knew we were expecting. You see Hubs was leaving in a day to go on a 6 month deployment and was dying to buy something "baby". So we headed on over to Babiesrus that Sunday after church and stumbled upon this stroller. We loved it right away, mostly because it had big girl wheels( big jogging stroller type wheels).  And it was on clearance. Did I mention that? Nothing like getting a good ol' deal on something you love right?  We didn't know what carseat we were going to get for the baby but somehow it worked out that the safest one on the market was the exact one that was compatible with our stroller. I love it when things work out like that. 

So back to me being sad. I think I am sad because it was the first thing we bought for little buddy. And it was one awesome stroller if I do say so myself. Mainly it seems like a chapter in our lives is closing because we no longer have a need for a single stroller.  I guess that's really why I am sort of sad. It means the end of just have little buddy around. Our baby. Our first baby.

On a happier note we tested out the new double stroller this week. What I love about it is that it really is a single stroller but you add an additional seat to it. And it doubles as a jogging walking stroller for me. I went on my first walk this week with it and it worked just great. It actually moves quite smoothly and turns effortlessly. It practically corners like it's on rails. And we tried it out at the outlet mall last weekend and it worked just great in a "store" setting too. So all in all the new stroller passes the test for fulfilling our every stroller need. Now if we just had that second baby so we could put the doubles kit to use..............

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our family

Just in case you were wondering what our little family will look like pretty darn soon.

 



Note: This is not LB², but my sweet little niece baby H. Over Christmas we got to meet her for the first time and I couldn't put her down. She was too precious and we took to each other fast. 

When I first saw this picture it was sure a reality check of what is to come soon. Am I ready for this? 

Sidenote: Notice little buddy is "petting" baby H's head. And the Dr Pepper cans.....both of our families LOVE them some Dr Pepper.

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what do SAHM's do all day?

I stumbled upon this column today and it made me smile. It sums up what SAHM's do on a daily basis pretty accurately if I do say so myself. And it's in a list format. You know I love that!!

I can really relate to the last paragraph of the article. Lately I have felt guilty about not being very "on the ball" about  keeping up with friends via the phone/internet. When I have a second to myself during the day the last thing I want to do is be on the phone. I want to nap, wander aimlessly on the internet, have my quiet time, exercise, or quite frankly do nothing at all. Usually it's a combination of a few of the above listed activities. Occasionally I do clean or prep for dinner but I try not to do that for more than 2o minutes or so of my son's nap. I need a break too people!

{article found via Stephmodo}

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And how is your day going?

The little buddy and I are enjoying a MUCH needed day at home today. Rarely are we home more than one morning a week let alone a full day. It's kind of nice to have nothing pressing on the agenda except reading books with your son and doing laundry.

I have been trying to keep busy and get out a lot lately because I know once LB² gets here I will probably go into hibernation mode. I feel like I should go a lot of places now because pretty soon it will be much harder. I can't imagine or picture how in the heck I will manage going to the grocery store or Target with a toddler and newborn. The only thing that gives me hope is that I know I am not the first person to have two kids and I have seen other moms exit the house with two kids. I am not expecting it to be easy but I think it can be done. Now, I might wait till June to tackle this feat but still.

In other news we had a lovely weekend. I got to go on a girls night out with some fellow Navy wives, Hubs and I went on a date (THANKS CLAIRE!!), we celebrated Hubs birthday, and we sold two items on craigslist within a 30 minute time span. All and all it was a mighty fine weekend. Oh and we finally bit the bullet and bought our double stroller. Pretty much a necessity when you have two kids under 21 months.

Well TA-TA for now. I might try to sneak in a little catnap while the little guy snoozes.

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I'm still learning

No one told me that baby proofing required more than just sticking those little plug covers in your wall outlets. Well I guess I knew about the contraptions to keep little people out of your cabinets. What I didn't know is that I would have to rearrange my furniture and household items. And get a bit creative in the process!

Lately little buddy has been really interested in cords and electrical outlets. He wants to unplug cords and then plug them back in.  I have had to block wall outlets by pushing ottomans and random furniture in front of them. Little buddy also loves to play with our wireless router and to turn off the desktop computer. Darn kid loves buttons! I have blocked his access to the power button by putting my Firm workout step in front of it. At least the step is getting some use.....Quite frankly I am going to run out of things/furniture that can work as a deterrent/blocker pretty soon. What's a momma to do?

Anyone have any creative suggestions?

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