Twenty Two Weeks with Chicken Nugget

Maggie went on her first road trip this week and she was a champ! She hung out in the back seat and slept most of the time. This kid can really sleep!  We went to Orcas Island (look for that post next!) and missed the ferry by 5 cars. Maggie was not bothered by the wait. 

Maggie had her first taste of solid food (a peach) while we waited for the next ferry. She kept grabbing my hand and bringing the peach to her lips. I decided to let her lick it and she was thrilled! I doubt she got any food but she had a great time mangling that peach. 

Maggie also had her first trip to Ikea this week. I wore her in the carrier around the store and then had to put her in the cart once we got to the warehouse so I could get our stuff onto the cart. She held onto the cart with the tightest grip ever. It was like she was holding on for dear life. 

Maggie discovered her feet and now wakes up, starts to giggle and grabs her feet. She loves rolling around on her back with her feet in her mouth. It's amazing how flexible babies are. This position of hers reminds me of her ultrasound photos. She was always bent in half with her feet near her head. 

Maggie is getting so big but still likes to snuggle with me. Maggie also had her first visit to her future co-op preschool (it was a big week of firsts). We had Pajama Night at Molly's school and Maggie came along. Molly loved showing her sister off to her friends and Maggie enjoyed circle time with all the songs. 



It was a busy, busy, busy week but it was one filled with so much fun. Maggie had a lot of firsts and a lot of fun.

30 Months with Molly Pop!

Photo Credit: Sweet Peeks Photography

Molly,

You are two and a half years old! You are a prime example of the Terrible Twos! You have very strong opinions and such sweet kisses.



You LOVE having a little sister and are my BIG helper. You like to hold Maggie for me which is adorable. You also like bringing me things and helping out. Everyday you tell me how much you love Maggie while trying to kiss on her. Whenever we leave the house, you always confirm that Maggie is coming with. Sometimes when I take you out on a date with just me, you tell me that you are sad that we are leaving Maggie with Pop-Pop. 



You frustrate me to no end. I yell at you more than I'd like. You are really testing my limits. And yet when you curl up in my lap, you remind me how much I love you. Because I love you more than I can ever say. 



You love getting dirty and you love exploring. Your current chant is either OUTSIDE or MONKEY! You either want to play in the yard, visit the Zoo or watch Curious George. 



You are into princesses and only want to wear, 'pincess dresses'. You have a few favorite dresses and you only want to wear those even if they are dirty. You love tutus and often layer then up. You love your tutus and dresses so much that you'll sleep with them. 



You are not potty trained yet. We had one very unsuccessful attempt and will be trying again soon. I think you are warming up to the idea. We had to bail on our previous attempt because you were getting so belligerent about it. You really showed us how stubborn you can really be.



You are nearing the end of your first year of Co-Op Preschool. You'll be going again next year but this time two days a week. You have really thrived in preschool and I'm so glad that I enrolled you. You LOVE art and circle time.



You are still a fantastic eater. You rarely turn your nose down at any food choices. You often beg for apples and pears. You've literally thrown a temper tantrum in the store because I wouldn't let you eat an apple from the produce section. I've tried explaining that we have to buy them first but that is hard to understand when you are two and hungry. 



You have been having sleep issues for the past few months. You sometimes nap, you sometimes don't. You sometimes go to bed at 8 p.m., you sometimes don't. You do tend to sleep through the night but getting you to sleep can be quite the struggle! We plan to move your sister into the room soon and I really hope the two of you sleep well together.



You are such a social little girl. Your current best friends are Thurston and Norah. You adore them. It's funny to hear you talk about your little friends. We had a playdate with Ruby and you asked for her for weeks. Every morning, you get up and ask for one of your friends. You get so disappointed if I say that we aren't playing with one of them at that moment. I'm constantly calling their mothers to arrange playdates. It's adorable!



Molly-Pop! We love you so much and I'm sorry that I yell so much. You have such a strong personality and are really a mini-me. It's hard coming up against one's personality. You are quite the character and are full of so much energy! 

Five Months with Mag-Pie

Maggie!

You are five months old and so big! Right now you are sitting next to me, yelling. I can't tell if you are unhappy or just exercising your voice. You smile every time I talk to you so I suspect you are just testing your lungs. You have so much to say these days.

You are sitting up now but not rolling from back to front. You just lie there, refusing to roll over. You do like it when your sister rolls you over. Sometimes you even roll from front to back but only under extreme duress. I guess you have a thing against rolling.

In the past week, you discovered the cat and laughing at your sister. You love petting Kato and he loves being petted. He is so desperate for love he just sits there as you pull his fur and smack at him. I've heard him purr while you do it.

You are still rocking the sleep which is amazing. You are an early bird though who likes getting up at 5:30 a.m. *Yawn* You are in a family of night owls so it's a bit rough for us. I've been adjusting by going to bed earlier and enjoying our time together in the morning. You awoke with the sun this morning and when I showed you that the sun was rising, you laughed at me. LAUGHED! It is as if you know that you get up at the crack of dawn. 

I'm looking forward to introducing you to solid food in the coming month and to see you start to wiggle even more. I still love sniffing your little baby head and cuddling with you when I can. You are just the sweetest baby! We love you Mag-Pie.

Let's Plant a Garden, a Garden!

When we last saw the garden, I was busy hauling 2 cubic yards of dirt to fill up the garden boxes and some of the open beds around the yard. I also had 2 cubic yards of landscape mulch delivered to fill in the plant beds throughout the yard. 4 cubic yards of material is A LOT of dirt! It took me nearly two weeks to get the dirt from my front yard to the back yard and then distributed to the appropriate places. It turns out trying to haul dirt while taking care of two littles takes a bit of magic even with one of the littles helping out.

Molly LOVED helping me fill the garden boxes with dirt and got even more excited when we made a trip to the garden store to stock our veggie garden.

We bought a ton of plants and seeds. I may have had a bit of a heart attack when the cashier rang up my cart. Molly and I selected a bunch of lettuce plants, four tomato plants, some beets, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, swiss chard, kale, onions, basil, cilantro and some marigolds for pest control.

I spent most of Mother's Day weekend in the yard, planting my new veggies. Every morning since, Molly and I have gone out during Maggie's morning nap to water the garden. Molly loves helping out and I like to encourage that attitude.

I also planted two blueberry bushes and had my Dad bring me the two pots of strawberry plants I had at their house. The strawberry plants are already starting to grow some berries! I hope we get to them before the birds and raccoons.

Now that the garden is planted, I'm moving onto other parts of the yard. I weeded and re-mulched most of the plant beds already. The patio needs to be power washed and then I can bring out our deck furniture. I have a few more seeds to plant and some pots to fill with flowers. We also need to take care of the three fence posts that are left from ripping down a weird half fence that was left by the previous owners. I'm excited for our backyard this year though. I think it is going to be a fun place for Molly and her friends.

Twenty One Weeks with Chicken Nugget

This week, you finally conquered sitting. You have been trying for so long to sit on your own and this week you did it! I still put the boppy behind you because sometimes (ok a lot) you get excited and tip over. I like to have something soft for you to land on. 

This week also started on Mother's Day which was a wonderful day. I was able to spend time in the yard while you played with your Dad. Then later in the day we met up with my family for dinner. You were so happy to spend time with everyone and I was happy to spend time with you. 

We spent a lot of time at home this week which was actually wonderful. We had some playdates at home and while the house is more trashed than usual, it was wonderful to spend time at home. Because we were at home more, you were able to take some epic naps in your crib. I think this is just what you need so I'll be figuring out the best way to give you time for good naps while also figuring out how to run off Molly's toddler energy. 

I moved you from the co-sleeper to the Pack 'n' Play. I wanted to see how you did in it and well that transition went very well. I have missed having you sleeping right next to me in bed but you need to move to your crib at some point. I'm more concerned that your sister will bother you than if you'll be able to transition. You already nap in your crib so you are familiar with that space. 

Twenty Weeks with Chicken Nugget

This week was way calmer than the week before. We spent a lot of time outside. I had some dirt delivered and I spent a lot of time hauling it to the appropriate places in our yard. Maggie spent a lot of time perfecting her sitting up skills. She can allllllmost sit up all on her own. She's still a bit bobble-heady though so she gets off balance. I've been making a conscious effort to give her tummy time every day which does not please Maggie. This just means that she is getting even better at rolling from front to back! 

Maggie is also showing me what all the sleep experts mean when they say to put a baby down when they are sleepy but not asleep. These experts must have all had easy babies because Molly never ever went to sleep on her own if I put her in her crib sleepy. Maggie, on the other hand, sighs and goes to sleep! 

I've recovered from the mastitis but my supply is definitely down. I've been working to get it back up but I have to say both Maggie and I are grateful for formula. It's been a little less pressure on me which is good right now. I'm still pumping a lot and eating oatmeal by the bowlful to get my supply back up but I know Maggie is happy because her belly is full. 

Maggie has started to get super excited over her Sophie doll and I hear squeak, squeak, squeak from the backseat as I drive around town. She chews on that thing constantly. It's adorable. I'll need to start bringing out the other baby toys soon!

Garden Update

My arms are quivering spaghetti noodles. On Monday, I had two cubic yards of dirt delivered along with two cubic yards of landscape mulch. It didn't sound like much on the phone but two cubic yards of dirt is a crap-ton of dirt! I've been hauling wheelbarrows full of dirt since then. Molly has been helping but it is slow going since I really only get a chance to work on my dirt piles when Maggie is napping. Luckily she naps often.

Molly has been helping me with this project but let's be honest, she really just likes to climb the dirt mounds and sing, TA-DA! 

On Monday, my four garden boxes were empty but perfectly located to catch all the Seattle sunshine. Then I cheated. I should have dug out the grass and then layered in the dirt. I decided to be brazen. I lined the boxes with weed protector and then shoveled dirt in. I feel pretty good about my lazy decision. Ask me how I feel about this decision in July. 

The boxes are now filled to the brim with dirt, good dirt. I ordered some of the best dirt I could find since good dirt is a great start to good vegetables. I've also put landscape mulch over most of the plant beds around the yard. I had so much weeding to do in between spreading the much. This has been a week of yard work!

This weekend, Molly and I are going on a date to the nursery. We're going to pick out tons of plants and then come home and plant them. I hope Molly understands that these are for growing and not playing. This should be an interesting adventure.

Any suggestions on what to plant? I have lettuces, zucchini, tomatoes, peas and carrots on the list but I'd love more suggestions! Oh and I'm going to steal some strawberries from my parent's house. To be honest, they are my strawberry plants from when I had a garden their house. 

Maven Meals

When I was pregnant with Maggie, my friends sent me a gift certificate to use with Maven Meals. I admit that I may have cried when I opened their email. I blame the hormones.



A few weeks after having Maggie, I decided to take the plunge and order my first Maven Meal.  I had heard about the company from another friend who uses them a lot. After ordering from them a few times, I completely understand why she loves this service.



The food is fresh, healthy and most importantly delicious! I'm pretty sure that I don't make food that tastes as good as the dishes from Maven Meals.



Here's how it works: You order whatever you want from the weekly menu by Midnight on Sunday. Then on your delivery day (I live in Ballard so my day is Tuesday), your food is dropped off on your doorstep. The containers are labeled with how long you need to heat the cook (some dishes require some cooking but it is minimal) and how long the food will last in your fridge. All of this is also on the website so there are no surprises when the food arrives.



I'm personally addicted to the Breakfast Cookies. They are full of tasty goodness and are a great meal when you are trying to eat quickly before the children wake and take away the morning bliss. Some of the other delicious dishes we've tried are Seafood Curry, Chicken and Wild Rice Salad, Granola and Lamb Meatloaf. All of the dishes have been fantastic but the granola is simply amazing!



The dishes range in cost from $2.00 to $10.95 per serving. Yes, you could certainly make all of the food cheaper yourself but then you'd have to make the food yourself. Sometimes it is just nice to have healthy, homemade food already prepared for you.







I was not compensated for this review. These are my personal opinions and thoughts. 

Nineteen Weeks with Chicken Nugget

Oh man, this has been a very rough week. Maggie was a champ through it all. 

Monday was a quiet day. We had a playdate with a friend and Maggie got lots of dog kisses from her dog. Jersey LOOOOOVVVVEEESSSS babies. Maggie thought Jersey was ok unlike her sister, Molly who adores Jersey. 

On Tuesday, we spent most of the day in the car. Maggie did get some good Grandparent time in though so that was a highlight for her. 

On Wednesday, I woke up and felt sick but it was picture day at Molly's co-op so I decided to power through. Molly wigged out at preschool so we came home early. Maggie was having a good time with her Dad but was thrilled to see me. She later accompanied me to the doctor while Molly went to play at a friend's house. I found out that I had mastitis which explained why I felt so terrible. Scott brought dinner home and I went to bed with Maggie. I ended up sleeping from 8 p.m. until 7 a.m. with a few wake-ups to pump. 

Thursday brought some devastating news for my family. Scott came home early and I crashed. I spent most of the day in bed recovering from the mastitis and dealing with emotions. Scott said that Maggie spent most of Molly's nap, rolling around on the floor and staring at her toys. 

Friday, I decided that we needed a normal day. I was feeling much better (blessed be antibiotics!) so we met up with friends at Golden Gardens. Maggie was able to rub her feet in the sand which she found to be very amusing. In the afternoon, while Molly had quiet time, Maggie and I spent time snuggling on the couch. 

Maggie has started grabbing her wub-a-nub this week and sucking on it. It's hilarious. She hasn't been able to get the pacifier in her mouth but she is thrilled that she can hold her wub-a-nub. Her lizard tongue has been in full effect too. My shirts are wet from all her slobber! Maggie also discovered the baby in the mirror. She thought she was a pretty cool baby!