Hi guys – let’s close out this week with some Friday faves. I’d love if you played along in the comments – what has brought you joy or been especially useful/interesting lately? Here are mine:
1) Grilling!
The weather has been fabulous this week which was perfect timing to start using our grill more often again. We made some really yummy shrimp and pineapple skewers with grilled asparagus and quinoa earlier this week for dinner – recipe coming soon!
I’ve been enjoying the leftovers for lunches – they made some tasty grain salad bowls. The first one I added chickpeas and cilantro to, the second had chickpeas, goat cheese, and smoked salmon since the shrimp was all gone! I hadn’t had pineapple in awhile and forgot how delicious it is – grilled, fresh, in salads, as a snack with cottage cheese or yogurt… all the pineapple!
2) Hiking.
On Wednesday on my day off from work, Riese and I had a fun adventure – a hike!
It was warm, lovely weather and Riese loved looking around at the trees (and snoozing a bit, too). We were joined by my good friend Heather and her baby boy, who is only a couple months younger. At one point Riese was looking over at him and giving him BIG smiles – it was the cutest thing! It will be fun to see them start to interact more as they grow.
(Also, since I usually get this question – that’s the Boba 4G carrier! It’s hard to do the buckle on the back by yourself, but otherwise I really like it – more ergonomic/back-friendly than the soft wraps.)
3) Peanut Butter Power Cookies (<- recipe).
I mixed it up from my Oatmeal Banana Coconut Cookies this week and have been having my PB Power Cookies for early a.m. pumping snacks (and pre-workout snacks) instead. I forgot how yummy these are! Give them a shot if you haven’t tried them yet. Also – Zara says hi! 🙂
4) The Merlin sleepsuit.
Riese was going through a sleep regression (coupled with her growing out of her Dock a Tot, which worked really well for us), and I remembered that my friend Gretchen had lent me their Merlin sleepsuit – it’s hilarious because babies wearing it look like the Michelin Man – too cute! We finally tried it earlier this week after a night with 4 wake ups… and what do you know, it worked!! Riese slept more or less soundly all night – amazing. I think this will help us to more easily transition her to her crib soon too (she’s still in the bassinet in our room for now).
5) A local eating disorder recovery organization, Rock Recovery, has some great blog posts up right now in honor of Mother’s Day that I thought might be of interest/helpful.
First, Smiling in the Mirror – Teaching our Daughters to Have Healthy Body Image – a great reminder that what we say to ourselves and how we treat ourselves really matters because our children will pick up on it. And second, Tips on Cultivating a Lifelong Healthy Relationship with Food – I especially liked the part about offering sweets as part of – rather than after – a regular meal, so they are viewed as just another food vs. as a “reward”. Ditching the “clean plate club” messaging that many of us grew up with is important, too!
And now, before I close out this post, I have two questions:
- What are your favorite potato salad recipes? Links, please! We are going to a BBQ this weekend and we have a TON of potatoes on hand to use up, so I thought potato salad would be a fun side dish to bring along. I would love some inspiration, especially those recipes utilizing dill since we have a bunch on hand from our herb boxes and I love dill with potatoes!
- We are taking our first road trip with Riese next weekend – heading up to Pittsburgh for a wedding. It will be fun to have a change of scenery, and for Riese to see her grandparents (Matt’s parents)! Any tips in terms of things to not forget to pack, or things you did that made your baby/you happier while driving 5+ hours for the first time? Also, what are your best recs for transporting frozen breast milk? We’ll need to bring some for Riese’s daily top off bottles at night, plus enough for while we are at the wedding. I’ll also need to pump while at the wedding and transport milk back (we’ll just be gone that afternoon/evening, not overnight, but I’ll still need to pump while away for sure… I may try to just pump in the car vs. while we are at the wedding, but it might be too long to go – we’ll see). Tips/advice welcome – thanks!
Have a great weekend guys, and Happy Mother’s Day to my mama readers! <3
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