Hi guys! Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Riese and I successfully made it through our first totally solo weekend! Matt left early on Friday morning for a bachelor party and didn’t get back until last night around 7:30, and my family was all out of town as well. The bad news? I’m STILL sick… which is unsurprising given the whole solo baby weekend – definitely wasn’t exactly stocking up on rest and sleep like I should have been! Matt felt terrible leaving with me sick and offered to stay, but I would have felt even worse if he missed out on the trip – it was a bunch of his best friends and they had all been planning and looking forward to it for ages. So, I told him to go and that we’d figure it out. And of course we did!
I felt bad I wasn’t as fun/enthusiastic in terms of play time as I normally would have been if I’d felt better, but Riese didn’t seem to mind. Since I wasn’t feeling so hot we stuck close to home – I definitely didn’t have the energy for anything involving the car – but the weather was gorgeous which I was really grateful for, so we took a lot of (slow) walks. Freyja was happy about this too, although she says she would have liked to walk a little faster. 😉 (Sidenote – picking up dog poop while baby wearing is so awkward…)
We did our own thing on Friday and Sunday, but on Saturday I had two friends stop by which was really fun – first up was my friend Sarah; she came over in the morning and we took a nice stroll. So fun to catch up with her – it had been awhile! Flowers were blooming everywhere, too – it was so beautiful out.
In the afternoon on Saturday my college BFF Kris was actually in town visiting! She has a bunch of friends in DC (she recently moved back from Paris and is now in NYC/NJ area), so she took the train down to see everyone, and we were her first stop on the tour. She brought lunch – some delicious salads from Le Pain Quotidien at the train station. I had shockingly gotten Riese down for a solo nap in her bassinet (this never happens! and didn’t happen again the rest of the weekend lol), so we enjoyed eating and catching up on our own when she first arrived – a nice treat.
Oh and yes, please note the “Baby Self Feeding” book on the table – we are starting to read up as Riese will be 5 months old tomorrow and starting to eat solids soon! We are going to do a mostly baby led weaning approach but with some purees in the mix to work on spoon skills, too. The Baby Self-Feeding book is apparently a good one for those looking to do a bit of a hybrid (baby led weaning with some purees/traditional approach as well) – it was recommended by a friend of mine who is a speech language pathologist. I also bought the “Baby Led Weaning Cookbook” and “Born to Eat” (<- I love that this book is written by two fellow intuitive eating dietitians, and that their focus is on how to raise your baby using that approach). It will be interesting to see how all this goes as Riese starts eating… she has already gotten a LOT more interested recently in watching us eat, so I think she will probably start trying to grab at stuff soon. I can’t believe she’s going to be eating soon… my little baby is growing up so fast! Ahhh!!!
Aaaaanyway! So fun to see Kris and introduce her to miss Riese for the first time! 🙂
As for the rest of the weekend, besides walks, we did a lot of cuddling, playing, and reading.
In terms of food this weekend, I did a lot of one-handed easy meals and snacks! I used my last hour of work/nanny time on Friday morning to hit the grocery store quickly and stock up on some easy provisions for the weekend. I had microwave banana oatmeal with ground flaxseed, cottage cheese, and berries every morning for breakfast since it was easy and fast (and filling/yummy too – plus the warm and soft texture felt good on my super sore throat). It’s also really easy to make and eat with one hand. 🙂
For morning, afternoon, and middle of the night (when pumping) snacks, I grabbed some of my usual faves like the stuff I wrote about in my one-handed snack ideas post, plus toast with nut butter, and bars like Perfect Bars, Bobos bars, KIND bars, etc. I am also really into watermelon right now (I mean I always am, but it’s especially good now because I’m SO thirsty because of this cold) – and clementines were hitting the spot too, although those are quite hard to peel one-handed as it turns out. I also did some crackers and hummus – always a winner, and easier than cheese to do one-handed because no slicing is involved. 😉
For lunch on Saturday I had the salad I already mentioned; for lunch yesterday I threw together my old friend avocado toast with arugula and two fried eggs. Riese let me eat this one with both hands. 🙂 (Sidenote – my avocado toast recipes blog post now has a fun how-to video included – check it out to see how easy all the various recipes are to make!)
For dinner, I had the same thing all three nights – while at the store on Friday, I picked up a rotisserie chicken, a container of guac, 90 second plain brown rice, a bag of microwave fresh string beans, a can of black beans, and some fresh baby spinach (I wilted it in the microwave for 40 seconds and it’s buried under the other stuff). This is one of my absolute favorite easy throw together meals, and it was so nice to have something yummy, filling, nutritious, and FAST on hand that I could easily throw together in between baby care. So good! Plus hot sauce (cholula chili garlic hot sauce is life).
I tried to get in a little self care both nights after I put Riese to bed and got things around the house tidied up (and pumped, etc.)… on Friday night I took a really nice epsom salt bubble bath that felt amazing. On Saturday night I simply showered – I was kind of sweaty from all our walks and the spring weather and the steam felt nice on my throat too.
Anyway! Man was I relieved when Matt walked in the door last night. I have SO MUCH RESPECT for single parents and those with partners who travel often. Taking care of a baby solo is such hard work! It wasn’t until this weekend that I realized how comforting it is to have Matt there during the night – I mean, obviously I knew it was helpful to have him around, especially in the early days when he was up with me, changing her, etc. But even now when I’m the one getting up alone usually to feed Riese, it’s still just really comforting to have him there just in case, you know?
I finally got some cough/cold stuff to take today – I’ve been avoiding anything besides regular tylenol and some cough drops because of nursing, but it’s officially time to get rid of this cold, so Matt helped me do some research on which products are most safe for nursing moms. Fingers crossed they help! I never usually get sick, and when I do I typically bounce back quickly, but I guess my immune system is not exactly crushing it right now given the lack of sleep most nights! I’ve been having a really hard time falling back asleep after I wake up lately – which is rough because I’m waking up a LOT given Riese’s sleep regression, all the coughing/throat pain, etc.
Alrighty, have a nice day guys – and stay tuned because tomorrow I’ll finally be sharing my baby product recommendations post!
