Hi friends!
I can’t believe October is already coming to a close – this whole month has been a total whirlwind!
If you’re looking for something fun to make for Halloween this weekend, try my Halloween-themed Spiderweb Maple Brownie Cookies. Yummy and cute, and not total sugar bombs either. 🙂
Here are some random life snapshots as of late, starting with Zara and Wes having a staring contest. (He’s very intrigued by her, she’s mostly indifferent.)
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Wes is such a sweet little baby – he is super smiley these days, especially when big sister Riese is around as he absolutely adores her.
He’s juuuust about able to roll over from back to front. So close! For now, we help him. 🙂 He can successfully go from front to back, though!
He’s very into touch and feel books these days, and likes practicing using his voice a lot by having “conversations” with me.
And I think we are hopefully through the 4 month sleep regression situation now (yeahhh, forgot how fun that was), fingers crossed.
Wes will be 5 months on Monday – time truly flies! I still need to write his birth story… whoops… and it’s also time to brush up on my baby led weaning because we are probably only a month or so out from starting him on solids!
Speaking of food, we’ve been embracing all things fall over here – if you haven’t tried my pomegranate chicken thighs recipe yet, do it. It’s so delicious.
Plus grain salad bowls and variations of my Harvest Bowls on repeat with various different roasted squash, and leftover pomegranate arils!
Riese also wants everyone to know that spooky Halloween-themed pasta is way cooler than regular pasta (those are spiderwebs, ghosts, and pumpkin shapes)!
This was a great freezer and pantry themed meal: pasta + a jar of red sauce + an unseasoned frozen peppers and onion veggie mix (technically for stir fry, but it was perfect in the meat sauce) + some defrosted ground beef. I think the only fresh thing from the fridge was some baby spinach!
We finally did something we’ve been meaning to do forever, by the way, which is create a low to the ground drawer for Riese with all of her plates, bowls, cups, and utensils.
This way she can set her place by herself… and we have a bit less to do to get a meal or snack on the table, which is nice because meals feel incredibly hectic these days. I feel like all of my meals are basically inhaled because inevitably someone is crying or asking for something.
Along those lines, Riese had a total meltdown one morning at breakfast this week because, as she scream-told us: “I DIDN’T WANT OATS IN MY OATMEAL!!!!”
Right, got it. Makes total sense, obviously… Matt and I were trying sooo hard not to laugh because it was just so ridiculous and amazing. Kids are nuts.
Anyway! I did get to enjoy one super mindful, tuned in meal recently, though – my friend Jen and I had a mom’s night out a couple weeks ago!
This whole night was SUCH a treat.
Jen loves yoga as much as I do (we actually met at yoga, shortly after our first kids were born; and once we realized our kids were only a couple weeks apart in age and we were also both dietitians we started hanging out and the rest is history – now she’s one of my absolute best friends!), so we started our mom’s night out with a 6 p.m. yoga class at Karma Yoga Studio in Falls Church, where one of her favorite instructors was teaching.
I can’t even remember the last time I did an evening yoga class and it was soooo nice – I forgot how lovely it is as a wind-down from a hectic day!
By the time we changed and walked to dinner at nearby Thompson Italian we were both super relaxed and ready for a fun meal. My friend Gretchen recommended this spot to me and it did not disappoint!
We started with some fried artichokes (not pictured, so yummy), their delicious house bread with olive oil (also not pictured and also so yummy), and a really good apple, fennel, and hazelnut salad with cheese.
For dinner, we shared a bunch of stuff: pork tortellini, roasted brussels sprouts, and arctic char with lentils.
All of it was absolutely amazing but my favorite dish of the night was the pork tortellini. It came with a butternut squash and brown butter sauce that was to die for.
Best night! We are going to try to do girl’s night more often because as fun as it is to hang out with our kids, it’s important to have time to actually have uninterrupted conversations, too. 🙂
Are you dressing up for Halloween this weekend?
Matt and I didn’t get any costumes (we want to do a fun family-themed costume situation sometime, but this year wasn’t that year), but Wes is going to be a cow and Riese is super excited to be the “Princess in Black” – it’s one of her favorite chapter book series!
There was a Halloween parade in our town last weekend and Riese got to test out her outfit – she was a fan. 🙂
And yes clearly we need to make a new flower for her costume this coming weekend because that one (just made from paper) got wrecked pretty fast!
I hope you have a great weekend, my friends! I’ll leave you with some links of interest from around the web:
- Loved these Empty Mason Jar Storage Ideas – lots of creative uses in there
- I was the October “RD of the month” over on the Tomato Wellness page – check it out!
- 25 Kid-Friendly Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner ideas – more ideas are always helpful
- Great post from a blog friend about how her approach to fitness has changed over the years, and especially since becoming a mother – I resonate with a lot of this: A Shift in my Fitness Mindset
