I find us spending most of our time in the playroom kitchen. I really think the kitchen is one of, if not the most important room in our home. From cooking, baking, and art projects to dance parties and hosting company ...they all seem take place in the kitchen. So many memories are made in the kitchen and I wouldn't have it any other way. Sure we have picnics and find ourselves having a Friday pizza party eating out of the pizza box off the living room coffee table but i'd say 90% of our meals are eaten at the kitchen table. During the day Stella and I find ourselves at the kitchen table often. Whether we are playing with her scrap book things or play-doh, icing cupcakes, or painting our nails, we do it all at the kitchen table with music in the background of course.
What comes to mind when talking about the kitchen? Food. Let me just say food is Ricky's language these days. This boy loves food...he loves to eat. As soon as he is put in the highchair- his impatience takes over. I can never get his food to him quick enough. Purees are long gone over here. Once he got the hang of feeding himself, he grew very disinterested in anything pureed. I still steam his vegetables to make them nice and soft so he can mush them in his mouth but the days of me having to puree everything together are over. smiling inside :) I am just more conscious about what I am making for dinner lately since I need to have a meat and sides for him. Two nights ago I made stuffed peppers and hot damn did he love it! I just cut it up super tiny for him and put the food onto his tray. He couldn't shovel it in fast enough. When we grilled NY Strip- I shredded it super tiny and he loved it also. Vegetable soup was another favorite of his. And breakfast? He loves scrambled eggs and I think one of his favorites at the moment are the Kodiak whole grain pancakes. Like I was with Stella when she was a babe and still am with her to this day I try to make the best choices about what Ricky eats. I try to give him only the best and I am constantly searching for recipes and healthy food ideas for little tots.
When it's time for me to prep dinner I sometimes have the babes in the kitchen with me. Stella will usually play back and forth in the playroom and kitchen while i find myself hopping over toys as I am chopping veggies and marinating meat and I put Ricky in his height chair or walker with a small snack to keep him occupied. I gave these healthy toddler whole wheat banana blueberry muffins a go. Stella, Ricky and I all ended up popping a few in our mouths :) They will be a great side to a scrambled egg for breakfast.
1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 c pure maple syrup (you can use white sugar or honey if baby is over 1 year)
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg slightly beaten
1/2 c milk
1/3 c plain applesauce
2 ripe bananas
1/2 c blueberries (i used frozen)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease mini muffin pan. (this recipe made 24 mini muffins)
Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
Make a well in the center and add egg, milk and applesauce. Combine, working in all the dry ingredients.
When almost all dry ingredients have been moistened, add in the bananas and mash. I left some chunks in mine :)
Fold in blueberries.
Fill muffin cups two thirds of the way full.
Bake 5 - 10 minutes. (I think I baked mine for 8)
Let cool...EAT!
I will definitely find myself experimenting in the kitchen with this recipe. I would love to try different fruits. Its a yummy treat packed with nutrition!
We had a great weekend. We were birthday party bound on Saturday and Stella was so excited to choose one of her new Spring/Summer dresses to wear. While Ricky took his nap I got Stella dressed and watched her twirl about the house. "Look Daddy, my new dress....and my tights!" She is such a girlie girl and I friggin love it. I couldn't help but take a few shit load of pictures of her. Here are a few of my favorites....
I wish for her to grow up knowing how beautiful she truly is on the inside as well as the outside.
Sunday we ran a few errands and found ourselves driving home with a new fire pit. Which meant one thing! Smores! Don't you love those spontaneous purchases?! After spending the afternoon outside, grilling up some dinner and sitting fireside with ooey gooey smores, both kids were in bed before eight. Ricky was snoozing by seven and Stella followed just a short while later. Rick and I sat by the fire as the night temps began to drop as we watched the littles cozied up in their beds on the monitor. good times, good times.
Waking up with smore leftovers still on your face is evidence of a good night. ;) Both kiddies had marshmallow smeared on their faces this morning and smelled of campfire. lovin' the Spring nights spent outdoors. Monday morning called for a morning bath which was followed by a short morning trip to the park.
This post clearly has more pictures than words...an easy read for a Monday.
I knew there was a huge reason why I loved this Spring weather so much. Being outside all day poops the kids and me out and both have been in bed on time if not early every night-me included. It's literally been dinner, bath and bed for Ricky and shortly after Stella. I haven't been cleaning the kitchen until baths are done. Lately we have been busy taking care of chicks which are growing so fast, having lunch outside picnic style, going on park adventures, walking on the towpath, and hangin' in the hammock every chance we get. Hence the reason why I have not sat down to blog. Stella's number one requested song these days is Shake It Off by 'Taylor Fift' and shakes her butt like wild when it's on. Just had to throw that in there. We some days bring our kitchen dance parties outside on the deck...the neighbors must love it!
Life with chicks these....it's been a great experience thus far and Stella absolutely loves them. She wants to constantly take them out, feed them and she can seriously just stand outside their pen and watch them for a while. Since they are getting big, their eating and drinking is beginning to slow down a bit. We were filling their food container three times a day and now we fill it twice. We also had to take them out of the big plastic tote that we had them in because they began to jump out even after we placed a screen on top. feisty little things :) We know have them in a large pen down in the basement which works out much better. They have much more room to run and flap around. On warm days, we take them outside to get some sunshine and to begin to adapt to the outdoors. Rick also built the coop last weekend. We still need to build the run in and put together the PVC piping feed and water system. ha, when I say we I really mean Rick ;) We put them in the coop for a few minutes too see how they liked it...and they did! They immediately began pecking the ground for yummy bugs! They are growing more and more feathers each day- some are light feathered and some are dark with a few in between. I personally think that they are in that ugly adolescent stage. We plan on having them in the house for roughly another 2.5 to 3 weeks and then they are outside!!
the color is horrible in this clip and two pictures but it is because of the brooder lamp above them.
My kids have always been early risers. I swear they like to rise with the sun. Ricky sometimes thinks 5:00 a.m is a good wake up time and Momma shuts that down! If he does wake that early I will usually feed him and he will go back to sleep for a bit. Both kids seem to wake around 6:30ish; always only minutes apart- Ricky is always first. We spend the first half hour to an hour in Rick and I's bed. We snuggle up, watch an episode of Mickey and both kids have an early morning snack and a cup of milk and I have my first cup of coffee. Yes! Ricky is finally drinking milk out of a cup. i did write about this accomplishment in his last monthly update :) Ricky gets a small bowl of cheerios and eats every damn one of them, except for the one I will feel sticking to my leg tonight when I go to sleep and then reaches for Stella's strawberry pop tart.
Around 7/7:30 we make our way into the kitchen and playroom. Stella makes a bee line for her Elsa dress and turns on Let It Go, repeat! Ricky cruises around in his walker while I usually empty the dishwasher for the day and begin preparing breakfast. so when can kids begin properly emptying the dishwasher because I seriously think it's the worst chore ever!! I am usually pouring my second cup of coffee about now....and trying to listen to the news over Stella's Let It Go.
After breakfast Stella and I clean out the chicks bed, food and water. They are getting so big so fast. They are harder to catch and pick up by the day. After that is done we sit and play on the playroom floor until Ricky's morning nap. If him and Stella are playing with each other, I will usually bring a basket of clean laundry over and fold it while I sit with them. ha! the life of multi tasking. Ricky goes down for his morning nap around 9ish. Shower time! This is pretty much the only time I find it semi-easy to shower during the day. Stella hangs on he bathroom floor and plays on the iPad while I shower, put on a quick face and dry my hair if it was a washing the hair day. If I have any left over time, I scramble to get a few quick chores done before he wakes up while Stella plays quietly. I usually get half of a bathroom cleaned and finish the other half later in the day. Ricky is a light sleeper, so I try to have Stella play with something quietly. If we have errands to run or play dates I get Stella ready for the day at this time as well. Currently she has an obsession with putting pretend make up on, and choosing a scarf from my closet to wear for the day.
Once he wakes up I feed him and get him dressed for the day. We run our errands, have play dates or head to the towpath for a walk and some fresh air...and coffee :) I always try to get home in time for lunch. If these two don't eat- they get a serious case of 'hangry'! We all eat lunch and have some playtime either in the playroom or back outside. Ricky goes down for his afternoon nap around 1:30ish. Once again if the house stays quiet he will usually get a good nap in. I take Stella outside to blow bubbles, hang in the hammock, go on the swings or play in the sand table. I may have persuaded her into thinking picking weeds was a fun game ;) Stella's naps are not every day anymore. Some days if I see she can use a nap I put her down and the girl will sleep for 3 hours. Other days she doesn't take a nap and would rather play.
When Ricky wakes up he eats again and I usually give them both a snack. He will either snack on some diced up fruit like pears or bananas or I will fill his mesh teether with some frozen fruit. Stella's go to snack at the moment are string cheese, eating strawberries whole while holding the leaves, prunes or yogurt. We will all have play time together and wait for Rick to get home. Sometimes we will smoosh on the hammock, play outside in the grass, or dance around to some Zac Brown Band. When Rick calls to say that he is on his way home is usually when I begin to think that it's 5 o'clock somewhere :)
Some days Ricky goes down for a catnap around 5ish which works because than I can cook dinner without having to entertain a baby. If he doesn't take a nap I begin to prep and cook my dinner during this time and give him something to munch on in his highchair. Rick gets home and takes a shower and dinner is around 5:30/6. For some reason dinner is always a chaotic time around these parts! Everybody wants their dinner at the exact same time and Momma just wants another sip of her wine.
Rick takes the kiddies in the other room to play while I clean up the kitchen for the night. While cleaning up the kitchen I prepare the coffee machine to auto-brew for the next morning, thank god for auto-brew, and pack Rick's lunch. Once the kitchen is done we head upstairs for scrub-a-dub-dub two kids in the tub. We have a few minutes of quiet play time in Ricky's room as both get their jammies on. Rick takes Stella downstairs as I feed Ricky and put him to bed for the night- NO later than 7:30p.m. One of us takes Stella up around 8:30/9.
ahhh..Mommy and Daddy time. I slouch my ass on the couch, cold beer in my hand and if I am lucky and have the energy I put a coat of polish on my nails. Rick and I usually hang for a bit on the couch before turning in for the night. or on weekends play a round of table top beer pong, Ha!
The other morning was just a regular morning as we usually do around here. Kids play as I prepare breakfast. I began making Ricky's breakfast and by this time, Let It Go was already on repeat, on volume ten as Stella belted out the tunes arms spread eagle in her Elsa dress putting on a show. as we normally do, we put her dress right over top of her feetie jammies since we were still all in our jams.I put two eggs on the stove to begin cooking for myself, put Ricky in his height chair as I poured his fresh pureed pears in a bowl for him. I wheeled him over to the table and placed his bowl of pears on the kitchen table. And this is where shit went haywire! All in a matter of seconds- my eggs started smoking and burned, Ricky somehow reached the whole bowl of warm pears and poured them all down his lap and were slowly dripping onto the new kitchen area rug, and Stella came running in crying that she had to poop! meanwhile, she had her Elsa dress on over her feeties, so it wasn't an unzip-and-go kind of thing. After these kind of moments are over I do look back and laugh. But in the heat of it...not so much! All of this got me thinking I can't wait to wheel the height chair outside on warm sunny mornings and have breakfast out on the deck with my two lovies while some Zac Brown Band plays. Clean up is soo much easier. Why the hell are we still wearing pants, sweatshirts and coats and putting hats on babies to run errands?
While dreaming of warmer temps I thought I would put together a little Spring bucket list for us:
1. A total obvious one: morning walks on the towpath and some evening after dinner family walks on the towpath with or without ice cream cones :)
2. picnic along the river
3. too many trips to different parks
4. would love take the kids to a zoo
5. Friday trips to the farmers market for fresh fruit
6. nature scavenger hunts
7. fly a kite
8. outdoor tea parties
9. pick fresh berries
10. evening trips to Jimmy's for soft serve
11. plant flowers
12. help Daddy build the chicken coop an get the chicks acclimated with their coop
13. mommy and daddy cocktails on the deck after the kiddies are asleep for the night
14. lots of hanging in the hammock
15. feed the ducks at the pond
a throwback to breakfast on the deck with Stella...
Okay, so I clearly can't freeze time and keep you my baby boy forever...but can I please keep these baby rolls? Mommy is so in love with them. And your giggle is oh so contagious. No body makes you laugh more than Stella does. I look at you and how much you adore Stella and I can't help but feel so proud. And they way you look at me.... I have no words Ricky. You are the sweetest little boy. I love you so so much. My arms will always be wide open for you...no matter how big you are. Because I am your mommy and because you are my sweet little boy. I love you as many waves as there are in the ocean.
Love,
Mommy
Weight: our home scale weighed you in at 21 lbs 2 oz
Height:
Head Circumference: Not sure, but we will find out at your next appointment which will be next month.
Appetite: Appetite? Now that is speaking your language. You love food. Simple as that. If someone else has food near you, you are reaching with all your might to get your sticky fingers on it! We are till trying to win this no milk in a bottle or sippy cup shenanigans! At this point, we tossed the bottles and are focusing on the sippy cup. And we have made small progress. First thing in the morning when you and Stella come down, we all snuggle and watch a cartoon in Mommy and Daddy's bed. Stella always has a cup of milk and at times you would reach for it. One day last weekend Daddy told me to pump instead of nurse you for your morning milk fix. So I did. We figured if you were so interested in Stella's milk, maybe you would like having your own. Well since that day, we have not turned back. I have began pumping your morning milk and putting it in a sippy cup. You have yet to drink all of it like you would do if you were to nurse. Starting at 2 of the 6 ounces, you have drank a little bit more each day. You even hold the cup all by yourself! You still nurse about 4 times a day- 11ish, 3ish, before you go to bed and some nights around 1:30/2ish. Breakfast is around 8 and is usually 1 or 2 fruits with a little bit of multi grain cereal, and a handful of cheerios. Lunch is around noon and lately has been cottage cheese with prunes and half a slice of multigrain bread and dinner is a protein and 1 or 2 veggies, a squirt of prunes and shredded mozzarella on your tray. You can't shovel that cheese in fast enough. Dinner clean up and just gotten crazy!! A few new foods that you have tried are; roasted red peppers, NY strip steak pureed with sweet potato and cheerios!
Clothing Size: You are currently wearing 6-12, 12-18 month clothing and you are in size 4 diapers. Stella stills wears a diaper at night time, and you both are in the same size diaper!!
Milestones: You are doing great picking up food and putting it in your mouth. We notice that you definitely favor your left hand lately. Even if we put the food all the way to the right of your tray, you will reach across using your left hand. Your sitting up skills continue to get even better and.....you say Dada AND Mama now! You are also beginning to lean forward far enough to fall on your belly.
Thoughts:
Our routine: Wake up has been around 6:30. We usually snuggle, play, have a cup of milk and watch a cartoon in Mommy and Daddy's bed with Stella for a short bit before we make our way into the kitchen and eat breakfast together at the table. After breakfast which is 8ish we all play or you like to cruise around in your walker while I either fold laundry or get some house crap done. You also love to play on the floor with Stella, jump in the Einstein or stretch it out on your kick mat. You usually go down for your first nap around 9:30ish. This nap is usually about an hour. If we have any plans or errands to run we usually do so after this nap because you are freshly fed since you nurse when you wake. Lunch is around noon. And then more play. We usually do a toy rotation for the afternoon to keep the play fresh ;) Your second nap is around 1:30/2ish. You nurse again after you wake up from your afternoon nap and play some more. Dinner is around 5:30/6ish. We all eat at the dinner table together. You get in some Daddy play time after dinner and we have been having most of our baths right before bed in order to try and relax you before settling down into sleep. You nurse once more before you go to bed which is NO later than 7:30.
Your favorites: Some of your favorites at the moments are:
They have pretty much stayed the same as last month, but we did add a few :)
1. cruising in your walker and running into our ankles!! OUCH!
2. being naked.
3. tubby time with Stella.
4. Food. :) Cheerios seem to be your jam lately. 5. to stand when someone holds your hands.
