Throwback to June 25, 2007 (ish...not sure if that was the exact date, oops). The day Brian and I got engaged! Yeah! We met each other when I started working at Showplace movie theater in college. He had already been working there awhile and I felt very intimidated. This was my first job outside of taking care of children. I wasn't the best at selling concessions, or tickets, or adding up prices in my head, or counting out change. But I got the hang of it. And I really started enjoying hanging out with this guy.
The first time we hung out (not an official date) was when he took me disc golfing. That was the first and only time he ever did. I hated it! It was hot and I wasn't any good. But, I enjoyed being with him. We worked really well together at the movie theater and started dating in August of 2006. Less than a year later, we were engaged, and about 6 months after that, we were married!
Look how young, cute and skinny we were! I loved hanging out with Brian. He is truly my best friend. He tutored me in math while in college, while I tutored (or wrote his papers) him in English. We hung out all the time and never got tired of seeing each other. I am so thankful that I found this wonderful man to be my husband and the father of my children...and my forever friend!
Brian had planned on proposing after a hot air balloon ride. But, that morning it was too cloudy and windy, so the ride was delayed. When we finally got to go on the hot air balloon it was amazing! I would totally love to do it again.
I am, once again, not wearing anything interesting today. I am still in my pajamas...and so are Lydia and Gideon. Brian left this morning for an iPad training at school, but will be back around 12:30. Then we will head to my mom's house for some swimming - and I will probably join in today. Lydia swam in the pool for over two hours yesterday - straight! This girl would swim all day, every day if I let her.
Both kiddos slept really, really well last night. Gideon slept from about 7:45 to 6:00!! I brought him to bed with me, he talked and played for about 45 minutes and then fell back asleep until almost 9. I love that I have a snuggle-er and a great sleeper. Hopefully his sleep patterns will stay this way.
Anyway, instead of showing you a picture of my pjs....I will write about what life has been like lately.
For our birthday, my mom took all the girls out to Painting with a Twist. My mom had done this before, but none of the rest of has had. It was so much fun! The instructor was really nice and really good at showing what we were supposed to do. I like how we all painted the same picture, but everyone's turned out differently. (And, yes, I used a stencil for my Texas and still managed to mess it up!) Unfortunately, Painting with a Twist is addicting and I want to go again. Next time, I want to take Brian and do a couple's painting. That would be awesome.
The other day was National Twin Day! Leah and I have always been close and now we're even closer as we go through motherhood together. We have been walking in the mornings (most mornings anyway) with the kiddos and never run out of things to say to each other. We had fun when we worked together at the Home Care, and now we're enjoying time having play dates and get togethers. It's really fun watching our sweet kiddos grow up together!
We sold our red IKEA couch and bought a leather couch from an online garage sale on Facebook. We first bought the red couch when we moved into this house 4 years ago. I thought it was great - we could take the cover off it and wash it. Then Lydia got older, and we got a dog...and it was annoying washing the cover (takes forever to dry). And I envied my parent's and Leah's leather couches. So, I started searching and searching for one online. One evening I was randomly on the Facebook garage sale and saw this couch for only $125!!! What a steal! I was the first one to comment on it - sweet! Brian and my dad headed over the next day to take a look at it and it looked really great. Thankfully we were also able to sell our red couch right away - for $200! We made a profit. I like that this couch is smaller, too. The living room seems a lot bigger. Brian is working on building two side tables to go with the couch.
We didn't head to the Twins Days Festival this year. Since we both had babies under the age of one, we decided to stay home instead of taking them with us. My mom kept our hotel reservation until the last week in case we decided to go. Oh well. The festival is always a lot of fun, especially hanging out with Leah and my mom. Our favorite part of the festival is the research tents (we can make some good money) and the food trucks - yummy! We plan on going next year.
Lydia spends most of her days at my parent's pool. Thankfully they live just down the road (two houses down), so she can go over any time. My dad and Brian just added on the jumping deck and Lydia has had a blast jumping! She's getting braver and braver. She even swims under the water now. One day this girl may have to join a swim team!
Lydia usually doesn't like it when I play the piano. But, I got her to film me for a bit and she just started singing. I'm really impressed that she recognized the song...and she tries to stay in tune! Plus, when she missed the start of the verse the second time, she knew when to come in. Lydia constantly impresses me with her musical knowledge!
We have only a few more days with Daddy at home all the time. Brian heads back to school next week, and then the week after that, school starts! Just a few more days to have fun with Lydia before she is a Kindergartner!
I didn't have a chance to blog yesterday....piano lessons, making dinner, watching movies.
1. Chicken Teriyaki with Vegetables Yep, a carry over from last week. We had this meal last night and it was super yummy. We had the chicken and veggies over brown rice. Lydia claimed to not like this meal this time. She ate it last time. Maybe it's because I mixed up the rice and veggies and chicken all together instead of leaving it separate. She ended up asking for soup, didn't like that, then Daddy gave her a lunchable. Spoiled girl.
2. Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Another carry over from last week (we ate at my mom's house a few times and then went out to eat).
3. Lasagna
I'm not linking a recipe....there's nothing special about this recipe. It's one I have always made, except I am going to use ground turkey instead of ground beef.
This one is really yummy and Brian really liked it. There's no meat, but it's very satisfying. We will have salad and fruit with this meal.
5. Sloppy Joe's
Usual recipe - adding sloppy joe mix to ground turkey. We have yummy whole wheat buns, pickles and cheese slices to put on the joe's. Plus baked beans and salad for sides.
Tip Tuesday
Babywearing: the practice of wearing or carrying a baby in a sling or in another form of carrier. It has been practiced for centuries around the world.
When Lydia was born I had no clue about "babywearing". I didn't really know it was a thing or how handy it actually was. I got a simple baby carrier (don't remember the brand) to wear her when we'd go on walks, etc. But, I never really liked it. Nowadays it would be called a "crotch dangler"....in other words, not the best carrier around. This time around, I knew I wanted a really good carrier. I knew that it would come in handy have two kiddos.
So, I got a K'Tan - one of the best inventions of this century! I love it! It's very similar to a Moby wrap, or any other type of wrap. Except, it already comes pre-wrapped. You don't have to tie anything or wrap anything around your waist. The K'Tan comes in two loops of fabric that you put over your body. You put baby in, make it tight and voila - a perfectly wrapped baby! Here's the how-to video that helped me:
Gideon LOVES his K'Tan. When he was really tiny, all I had to do was put him in the wrap and he would immediately fall asleep - and sleep for a long, long time. When I was at a 3-day conference earlier this summer (Gideon was 7 weeks old), I wore him in the K'Tan the whole time and he was perfectly content. Now that he's a little bit older, he still loves his K'Tan, but also likes to look around. I walked around Wal-Mart with him in the wrap and he was looking around the whole time.
The K'Tan doesn't hurt your back and is really easy to wear. You can wear it for hours and have no issues. There are several different ways to wear the K'Tan, but for right now, I just have Gideon against my chest with his legs out. I can see myself wearing Gideon for a long, long time. It is so much more convenient going grocery shopping or out and about with Lydia when I am wearing Gideon vs. pushing him in a stroller. I wish I had known about the K'Tan with Lydia - she may have been a much happier baby with it.
Here are some benefits of Babywearing:
1. the mother's oxytocin levels increase with having baby so close, which creates more of a maternal bond, easier breastfeeding and care, thus lowering the chances of postpartum depression.
2. infants who are carried are generally calmer (have definitely seen a difference between Lydia and Gideon)
3. attachment between caregiver and child is stronger
I love wearing Gideon and highly recommend it to everyone! Especially if you have multiple children.
Last night Adah spent the night. Lydia and Adah usually get along really, really well. And then there are times where they do not get along at all. Last night was one of those times where they played super well together! Yeah! They played and played before dinner, had dinner, played some more, had a bath, ate dessert and watched a show, and then they were ready for bed.
And that's when my glorious plan of having a sleep over came to an end - because there was no sleeping involved. I learned earlier (when I would have Adah over once a month) that I cannot just leave them in Lydia's bed alone and expect them to fall asleep. They will play. Lydia will fall asleep but Adah will bother her. Adah will fall asleep but Lydia will bother her. So, I sit in the room until they fall asleep. Shouldn't take too long...they had played all day and should be worn out. Wrong. Lydia fell asleep pretty quickly, but Adah managed to hold out for a long time (try over an hour). Finally, I got tired of sitting in the room, took Adah's stuffed animals from her, and left. About 10 minutes later, both girls were asleep.
But they weren't asleep for long. Lydia came into our room around 11:30 wanting to be tucked back in. Thankfully she didn't wake up Adah. Then, at 3:30 in the morning (in the morning), I hear playing around in Lydia's room. WHAT are they doing AWAKE?! I went in and they were just happily playing with Lydia's doll house. Lydia tells me, "Well, when I get up to play the sun always comes up." Yes...when she gets up around 6:30 the sun will come up soon...but not when you get up at 3:30! I had them get back in bed, sang them a song, and prayed they would sleep!
Of course I couldn't sleep because I just knew Gideon would wake up soon. And sure enough, at 4:30, he was awake and ready to nurse back to sleep. And while I was nursing, Lydia was up telling Brian that Adah was keeping her awake. Ugh! Thankfully, I didn't hear the girls again until about 7:30 when they asked to watch Lydia's iPad. And Gideon didn't get up until 8:30 - I finally managed to sleep in.
The girls played pretty well together this morning. We made pancakes and then I set up a water play area out on the porch for them (oops, haven't cleaned that up yet...). Leah was done running errands by 11, so we sent Adah back home and we went BACK TO SCHOOL SHOPPING!
It was a bittersweet trip to Wal-Mart this afternoon. We had Lydia's school supply list in hand and were ready to shop during tax-free weekend. I tried my best to get Lydia excited, but when she said, "I will be scared to go to school" I almost wanted to break down crying. We promised her a special present after her first week of school if drop off goes well and she's behaved in class. Daddy promised me a present after the first week of school if drop off goes well for me too (i.e. no crying!)! Lydia had fun picking out all the supplies and it was actually fun preparing for Kindergarten.
Part of me is looking forward to having her gone most of the day for five days a week, while the other part of me doesn't want to part with my baby. How do moms send off their babies to school ALL DAY LONG?! What will she do without me? I am most worried about drop off - if she starts crying I know I will start crying even more!
Enough about back to school - we still have 3 weeks. After Wal-Mart we headed over to SAM's club and renewed our membership. Then we had lunch and ordered our pictures for the frames over our couch. They turned out great! And it looks really good above our new leather couch!
Lydia rested this afternoon and I worked on putting pictures into frames. And we discussed getting two matching side tables (those things are expensive). Lydia woke up in an awful mood. Awful.
Then dinner rolled around and that was no fun. At. All. Lydia is turning into a teenager already and I'm not ready for it. I'm barely ready for a 5-year old! This girl has attitude and it's driving me crazy! And her Daddy gives in to her! I don't know what to do about her attitude. I try sending her to her room or ignoring it, but then Daddy steps in and feels bad for her and tries to "fix" the situation. Which usually ends up with Lydia getting her way when she shouldn't have. Oh well.
The kids are in bed. I need to pump and then head to bed myself.
We have a garage sale tomorrow with Marc and Keisha. I have a ton of baby boy clothes to sell, plus a few other things. We'll see how it goes.
This throwback isn't very long ago. It's to Tuesday, May 19, 2015. Gideon's birthday! Here's his birth story.
Gideon's birth story is nothing compared to Lydia's....but they way he was conceived (via IUI) is way more interesting than they way Lydia was conceived. So, basically, my kiddos like to come into this world with a little bit of drama.
I ate a ton of pineapple the weekend before Gideon's birth. Maybe that helped a little? I also went on several (slow) walks. Monday, the day before he was born, I was in the pool floating around and having the tiniest bit of contractions. I was really hoping and praying he'd come soon - it's hard work being 40 weeks pregnant! That evening I was up pretty late watching TV shows and keeping track of my contractions with a contraction app on my phone. They weren't really strong contractions, but they were really consistent. After awhile, the contractions were continuing but they weren't getting any stronger and stayed about the same distance apart. I gave up and decided to go to bed.
At 1:00 in the morning I woke up to a (what I thought) painful contraction. I started timing them again and they were very consistent. By 2:30, they were really strong and I had woken Brian up and had even started tearing up during contractions. By 3:00, we called my mom to have her come over and stay with Lydia and we started quickly packing my hospital bag (yeah, I hadn't packed it yet...oops...but Gideon's diaper bag was all packed). We left for the hospital around 3:30. My contractions were still really consistent and strong. Remember, I didn't know what contractions felt like as I had never experienced them before (I was induced with Lydia).
We got all signed in at the hospital and I was changed into a gown and laying in a bed in triage. My contractions were at the point where I couldn't talk during them, but I wasn't crying just yet. The doctor on duty came in and checked my dilation - I was just at 3 cm. Yeah! Leah had told me that they admit you at 3 cm. But...this doctor didn't want to do that just yet. Leah says it's because I wasn't in enough pain....ugh. Well, give me about 30 minutes and I was writhing in pain. Contractions hurt like crazy!
Finally my doctor arrived, checked me, and told me he was getting a room ready for me and the epidural was coming! Yeah! It took awhile to get to a room (that was torture) and once we were finally in there, it took awhile for the anesthesiologist to arrive. Also, the nurse who did my IV (I had tested positive for Group B Strep and needed meds) messed up the first IV in my left arm and had to redo it in my right - I hate needles! The epidural doctor finally arrived! Yeah! Man it was hard to sit still during contractions and not to react to the painful needle! But I did it. Brian got really woozy and had to sit down - silly boy.
Once the epidural was in and working I was perfectly happy. My baby would be here soon and I could just relax! We called my mom to check on Lydia and asked if my mom could come join us and bring Brian some food (that boy was hungry). By this time it's close to lunch (I told you they made me wait forever in triage and then it took forever to get a room). And the doctors are ready to deliver my baby.
Unfortunately, I was progressing pretty slowly, but they couldn't give me pitocin because Gideon's heart rate was constantly dropping and the drug would stress him out. I definitely didn't want a C-section (had miraculously avoided that with Lydia), but also wanted a healthy baby. The nurses kept changing my position until we found that if I laid on my left side, the baby was happy. This, of course, caused my left leg to be extremely numb! Finally, at about 3:20/3:30, I was 10 cm dilated and ready to deliver!
Gideon Amadeus Pfeiffer arrived at 3:58, weighing in at a whopping 8 lbs 9 oz , and was 21.5 inches long! My long awaited miracle baby had arrived!
Because of my super numb left leg, we were stuck in the delivery room for a long while - we had to wait until I could walk by myself before they would move me to recovery. Brian and I enjoyed quiet time with sweet Gideon (even though he pooped on me...twice). He nursed right away and was the perfect, sweetest baby!
We were finally moved into the recovery room and I was ready to eat and relax and hold my precious boy. Brian's parents came down to see their new grandchild, and Lydia came in to meet her new brother! Brian went home with Lydia and his parents, and my mom stayed with me during the night.
Despite the awful contractions (how do you mommas do it without drugs?!), the birth was pretty straight forward and easy. My recovery was super fast - I went to Lydia's preschool picnic that Friday! I am loving being a Mommy to two precious kiddos!
I'd take a picture, but there is nothing special about what I'm wearing today. Just yoga pants and a t-shirt with my hair in a ponytail. Although I did just have my swimsuit on earlier....and my "work out" clothes even earlier than that.
Today is a lazy, do laundry, swim in the pool, try to clean the house type of day. So, nothing special clothes-wise. Usually Wednesdays will be the day I go to work at the Preschool, so I will be wearing something nice, have makeup on, and my hair done. But for the last few weeks of summer, I probably won't be wearing anything nice. And I like it like that.
So instead of writing about clothes, I'll update about our summer so far...I guess a What We Did this Summer (there's a couple of w's in there) post.
Summer officially started for me at the end of April. I had my last preschool music class and my last piano lesson that week. Then I was ready for "maternity leave". And I was so thankful for that! I was so huge and so worn out I could barely get Lydia to preschool on time. I was very thankful for a chance to just relax and enjoy my last few weeks of pregnancy. With Lydia, I worked up until the day she was born (of course she came two weeks early). And then I went back to work a week later! This time around, I was much more relaxed before Gideon's arrival and very relaxed after his arrival. Maybe that's why he's such a chill baby.
Summer started for Brian the day Gideon was born. I went into labor early Tuesday morning and had Gideon by Tuesday afternoon. Brian went into school a couple of times and for the last three days, but was home the rest of the time with us. He had no commitments this summer and has been an awesome help. Lydia was born on the last day of school for Brian. Then, he got a call from the middle school principal asking for an interview. He was hired and then had to go to training most of June. He barely got to enjoy Lydia as a newborn. This time around has been so much better!
Summer started for Lydia on May 22nd - the last day of preschool. Her spring semester of Preschool was really hard on her. She was overly anxious about me going into labor and leaving her to go to the hospital. She never wanted to leave my side - ever. Once I stopped going to work, Lydia had an even harder time at preschool. She cried at every drop off and often during the day. I am so blessed that the teachers are so loving and understanding! Lydia had tummy troubles, got sick, and was constantly worried up until Gideon was born. After his birth and my hospital stay, she was great! No more tummy problems and no more anxiety. Plus, I can leave her for a few hours without any tears! Yeah!
Our vacation this summer was heading up to Wisconsin to visit family. Flying would have been way too expensive for us, so we chose to drive. That's about 24 hours in the car with a 5-year old and a 5-week old! Actually perfect ages for a long drive. Gideon was still sleeping all the time, so he was really good during the drive. Lydia was old enough to understand that we'd be driving for a long while and to just rest and relax. The last 4 hours of our trip were the hardest on the kiddos, though. They were just ready to get out of the car! Brian did an awesome job driving the whole way (except for an hour where I let him sleep).
Our first stop was actually in Minnesota to visit Brian's aunt and uncle. We stayed there three days and Lydia had a blast. We got to walk around Mall of America - which was so cool. Lydia even rode a roller coaster in the mall (she was amazed!). The weather was beautiful and we spent most of our time outside. Then we made the 4 hour drive to Stevens Point, Wisconsin to visit Brian's grandma. The drive went really smoothly and the weather was perfect.
Lydia met Great-Grandma Pfeiffer and Great-Grandpa Pfeiffer back when she was almost 13 months old. She was really excited to see Great-Grandma (or who she sometimes called Uncle-Grandma). We stayed in Grandma's assisted living apartment and had a blast. Brian's whole family (his parents, sisters and brother-in-law) were also visiting at the same time. We stayed there for four days. The weather was perfect for playing outside all day long. We visited a cheese factory, swam in a local creek, and played on the playgrounds a lot.
We left Wisconsin late Thursday night and made it to Oklahoma City by lunch time. We decided to stay in a hotel this time, as the drive was so long for the kids and Brian. Lydia loved being in a hotel and we swam in the pool all afternoon. We had an early night and woke up early to head out. We were back home by 4:00 Saturday afternoon.
After Wisconsin, we have gone to Six Flags many times. Lydia loves the water park and could spend all day there. This year Lydia is tall enough (a little over 42 inches) to ride the Roadrunner Express and the Tony Hawk roller coasters. And she loves them. She loves the wave pool and the lazy river in the water park. And we went down one of the big slides - so fun!
We also went up to visit Brian's parents for a few days while I had a preschool conference. Gideon tagged along with me in the K'Tan (he did awesome) while Lydia and Daddy hung out at the creek and the pool.
Lydia goes to my parent's back yard pool almost every day. She is an awesome swimmer! She took swim lessons for six days this summer and has started swimming under the water! I huge accomplishment! I love watching her swim and jump in from the side. Daddy and Best Buddy are working on an extension to the pool deck for the kiddos to jump off of.
Leah and I have been walking most mornings during the week. The girls join us on their bikes for the first mile, and then we push the boys in their strollers for two more miles. Since Brian's home, he watches the girls for us. Gideon has recently decided he doesn't like the stroller, so will cry for about a mile before giving up or going to sleep.
There are only a few more weeks until school starts and I am so not ready! I still want to go to Six Flags, the new splash pad, get a pedicure, go school supply shopping, and we have a trip to Guadalupe State Park to make. I'm not ready for summer to end! Only one more day of piano lessons, then Brian's back to work the next week, and then the week after that it's time for school! Crazy how time flies!
I just finished updating and emailing my Fall Semester Piano Lesson Policies to all my students. I currently have 25 (possibly 26) students coming in the Fall! Amazing! To think that in the Fall of 2011 I started with about 6 students! My schedule is quite busy for the Fall. I have lessons Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 4:00 to 6:30, plus home-schooled kiddos in the mornings on Thursday and Friday. I am so thankful for the opportunity to work and stay at home at the same time! I started piano lessons when Lydia was about 15 months old. I usually sent her off to Leah's house during lesson times until Brian came home and picked her up. But, by about 2 1/2 she was able to stay home with me during lessons (usually). She was good at napping for the first hour to two hours of lessons, and then either Brian was home or she would watch a show in her room. She has always been welcome to come out in the front room and be with me, as long as she is quiet.
This will be a big transition having an infant during piano lessons. Thankfully my sister and mom live really close by so Gideon will be able to head over to their houses for a little bit before Brian gets home from work. Brian has grad school on Mondays, which is why I don't have piano lessons then. He will tutor his student on Wednesdays - another day with no piano lessons. All the other days he will be home by about 5:00. Lydia is home from school at about 3:00, I start piano lessons at 4:00, Brian is home at 5:00 and I am done at 6:30. Somehow we will work in dinner (I will have to get really creative with crockpot meals!).
Anyway, on to Tip Tuesday! This Tuesday I will write about how I plan for Summer Piano Lessons and how I go about teaching during the summer.
Growing up, I rarely took piano lessons in the summer due to us traveling. We were either moving, just arriving, or visiting family during the summer. I'm sure there were a few summers (especially when I was an advanced student) that I took. I do remember one summer in New York when my mom forgot me at lessons! I knew going into piano lessons that my student numbers in the summer would drop drastically than during the school year. I have always had a few students during the summer, which is just some extra money for us.
I have always limited my summer lessons down to ONE DAY a week. This way, I was done with lessons in one day (since I could teach from morning to evening) and could plan other fun activities the rest of the week. I believe my summer lessons have always been on a Monday and usually start around 10:00 in the morning and go until 6:00 in the evening (with a lunch break).
The only problem I ever had with teaching lessons over the summer was the money. For the first 3 years of teaching, I only charged for a lesson if the students came to that lesson. They would pay for each lesson of the month at the first of the month. If they missed a lesson, I would "roll-over" that payment to the next month. This worked out okay during the school year, but was really bad during the summer. Something always came up over the summer - summer camps, vacations, not wanting to come, etc. Last summer I think one month I had so many roll overs I barely made any money!
So, I changed my policies - partly because I was going into my 4th year and needed a change, and partly because of summer lessons. I now charge by the semester. I figure out how many weeks are in the semester, multiply that by the lesson price, and then divide that by the number of months in the semester. There are three semesters in my piano year - Summer, Fall and Spring. That way, I make the same amount of money each month despite holidays and missed lessons. I still do make-up lessons when I can. I have found that families are more committed to lessons when they have already paid for them. This really worked great this summer.
This summer I had eight piano students. Because of the Baby, I decided to set my schedule up with one hour breaks every hour. This ended up being my schedule:
10:30-11:00 (group lesson)
12:30-2:00 (a family of three)
3:00-3:30
5:00-6:00
Plus, I got paid the same amount each month by each student. This really helps with budgeting and knowing what I will be making over the summer. At the end of the Spring Semester, when I emailed about Summer lessons, I emphasized the importance of coming to each lesson and to only commit if they knew they would be there. This helped "weed" out the students who vacationed a lot, or just wanted a break from lessons for the Summer.
I definitely recommend a set price for each month during the semesters, with no roll-over lessons. This really makes parents and students commit and see me as a professional with an actual job/business (not just a hobby). I also recommend limiting the number of days during the summer. When I tell the parents I am only available on Mondays, that limits the spots. Why let them pick and choose the days they want over the summer? I don't want to have two students one day, one the next and three another. That would be annoying with planning outings and activities with family.
It's been awhile. I stopped blogging for a number of reasons. But now I want to start again - mainly because I enjoyed looking back to see what life was like with Lydia. Now I have another little baby to blog about and keep up with. It's fun going back and think about how things used to be. All the things that I was worried about or excited about. And, I always liked blogging and reading other people's blogs. So here we go...again.
Meal Planning Monday
We started out the summer going to HEB on Tuesdays. Then it changed to Mondays. And then it changed to Sundays. And now we're back to Tuesdays. But, when the school year starts, I will most likely change it back to Mondays. So, Meal Planning Mondays will begin.
I did my meal plan yesterday, as I thought we'd have time to go to HEB today, despite piano lessons. But, Brian had an early morning training until 9:30 (and he got home at 10:15) and piano lessons started at 10:30. And it takes Brian a long (long, long) time to shop at HEB, so he wouldn't have had time to go in between lesson times. So, no HEB. It's a good thing we have three meals that roll-over to this week from last week. There were several times last week we either went out to eat (like on my birthday) or ate at my mom's house.
When I plan meals, I usually only plan five. I will plan more if there is a special occasion or someone is coming to visit. We almost always eat out on Thursday nights, as that is Grandkid Night at my parent's house. And more than likely we will eat out on Sundays and there will be left overs for another meal. It has worked well this way for a long, long time.
Here are the five meals for the week - in no particular order: (they will be linked to their recipes)
This will be paired with some fruit. We had this recipe two weeks ago and Brian loved it. It really is quite delicious. I didn't include the quinoa, as that's really expensive and not particularly my favorite thing. We've been trying "healthy" meals, and this was very good. Instead of using a tortilla to wrap it up, you use a lettuce leaf. This was not a favorite of Lydia - she didn't even want to try it. I didn't make her eat the chicken as the buffalo sauce was a little spicy.
This will be paired with brown rice, a salad and some fruit. We haven't tried this recipe yet, but it looks pretty tasty. I am always a fan of enchiladas. And hopefully Lydia will like them, too.
This will be paired with salad and a fruit. We actually had this recipe tonight. It was pretty good. Because it's "healthy" there really wasn't a sauce (and I am a big fan of sauces). It was really easy to put together and pretty tasty. Brian didn't pick up any turkey bacon, so there was no bacon in the casserole (which is fine by me). The avocado was kind of weird on top of the casserole, but other than that it was pretty good. I added cheese to mine, but Brian didn't like that (don't know why). Lydia loved the chicken in it, but not the pasta so much (she's not a huge fan of wheat pasta). I will definitely make this again, though.
4. Something to Grill
Brian doesn't know what he wants to grill yet, but he wants to grill. This may cause a problem when it's me who is going to HEB tomorrow....hmmm...will have to get him to go back to get something that he wants. He knows he wants to pair it with corn on the cob and beans.
Paired with brown rice and fruit. We had this recipe two weeks ago (one of my first "healthy" recipes). It was really good! Brian loved it. Lydia liked the chicken, of course. I ended up buying already made teriyaki sauce, as that was easier (and cheaper). Very yummy!
Now it's time for Music Monday!
I will post music videos of songs that (1) mean something to me, (2) I'm really into this week, (3) are funny or cute. I love musicand always try to listen to it whenever I can. I love listening to Pandora stations while cleaning the house or working on the computer. I love listening to AirOne (or is it Air1?) on the radio in the car (when I'm allowed to - most of the time we listen to the Frozen soundtrack or Lydia's made up songs). I'm always singing a song (my go-to song of choice is Do You Hear the People Sing? from Les Miz) to my kids or to myself. And I love that that has rubbed off on Lydia. She will make up songs and sing while swinging or sitting in the car. She will even perform them for us! Love it!
This weeks song is Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) by Hillsong United. Here is a brief story of why I came to love this song:
Brian and I tried for two years to get pregnant with our second child. After about 6 months of trying, I started getting upset every month when I learned I wasn't pregnant. We started using Ovulation Prediction Kits (OPKs), I started keeping track of all my "symptoms" on a get-pregnant-fast app on my phone. We went to see my doctor after a year of trying. He recommended Brian getting tested and then me. Brian's first semen analysis didn't look too good, so he had a second and it looked great. I had an HSG (where they look at my ovaries to make sure no tubes are blocked) and everything looked good. I had tons of blood work. It came back that my TSH level was too high (not good for getting pregnant) and indicated that I may eventually have Hypothyroidism. One of the main symptoms of Hypothyroidism is infertility. That, plus Brian's irregular semen quality and my irregular ovulation equals a very, very hard time at getting pregnant. So, we decided to start fertility treatment, and got into a medical study where we got a free IUI. And voila (praise God), we were pregnant! After two years of trying.
All this to say, music really helped me through my journey of infertility. The weeks and months were hard. I would be mad, then sad, then apathetic. This was one of the songs that helped me through. I started hearing it on the radio all the time. It made me cry. It made me hopeful. It made me trust God.
Here's an awesome story about why this song really touched my heart and life. I went to a preschool conference last year in Austin. The verse for that conference was Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Wow. That verse alone spoke to me. God had plans for me! Not plans to harm me (not give me a child), but plans to give me hope. I needed to hear that verse...and I heard it almost the moment I walked through the door. See, my period had come super early (like 15-20 days early)....and I had gotten it the morning I woke up to go to this conference. God knew I needed that verse that morning. He also knew I needed this song. And this was one of the first songs the awesome singers sang at opening worship. It took all that was in me to not cry in front of everyone. Wow! This song will always be special to me. When I listen to it now, I am filled with faith and hope and love. I know that God led me through a tough time and I made it through. I came out stronger (I hope) and braver and wiser and more faith-filled.
I have two miracle childrenand I will never, ever, ever, stop thanking God for them.
Some standout lyrics:
My soul will rest in Your embrace For I am Yours and You are mine
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders Let me walk upon the waters Wherever You would call me Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander And my faith will be made stronger In the presence of my Savior
