Healthy Tipping Point

While I usually document Day in the Life posts on weekdays, I thought it would be fun to show a lazy Sunday… I know I won’t have the luxury of lazy Sundays for a while very soon!  It’s funny – when I was about to pop with Henry, Kristien and I went nuts doing as many ‘grown-up’ activities as possible (eating out, going to the movies).  This time around, we’re content to do almost nothing and love every second of it!

7:00 AM

I wake up, do some laundry, make coffee, and pull myself together before getting Henry out of his room.  One thing I love about my toddler is that he will play in his room for 15 – 20 minutes after waking up – long gone are those baby days where they just sit up and start screaming.  I’m not looking forward to that again. It’s so jarring!

7:30 AM

We play trains, read books, and do chores upstairs while the Husband enjoys his sleep-in day.  Mostly, the chores involve moving stuff around the nursery so I can put a mattress on the floor.  When my mom stays with us after the birth, she will probably sleep in there (baby will be with me and the Husband will likely spend most nights in the guest room so he can actually be functional for work – he can’t immediately take off work this time around because of the upcoming holidays).  Henry tests out the baby swing – do you spy him in the picture above?  Haha!

8:30 AM

Breakfast time for everyone!  I have toaster waffles, eggs, and fruit.

9:15 AM

I install the infant carseat in my car and proceed to have a freak out because THERE ARE TWO CARSEATS IN MY CAR.

10:30 AM

After surviving an epic toddler meltdown over absolutely everything, the family goes to the gym.  I intend to do 30 minutes on the treadmill but can only walk for 20.  My inner thighs are mysteriously killing me…

11:00 AM

They are giving away chair massages!  I sign up for a 5 minute one that turns into a 20 minute one because the massage lady wants to talk to me about delivery.  She is a labor guru who has delivered four children, all drug-free via the Bradley Method, and her longest delivery was just under 4 hours.  Her shortest was 20 minutes.  She has tons of totally fun and interesting advice – such as believing in silent births (she sucked a wet washcloth instead of yelling/moaning) and says she would do Kegels in between pushing contractions to keep the baby from slipping back in.  I kid you not.  This woman was all sorts of epic!  It was a fun conversation.

12:15 PM

I eat a brown rice, corn, spinach, and black bean stir fry while we have Family Movie Time (we watch Madagascar) and I simultaneously read Time magazine.   Oh, by the way, I did *not* photograph all my food today, mostly because I eat non-stop at this point and the photos would be overwhelming.  For example, while my stir-fry was cooking, I ate pumpkin pie ice cream straight from the container. Yummmmm.

2:00 PM

Henry goes down for his nap, and so does everyone else.  Can you see James’s ear in the picture above?  Too cute.  Before we fall asleep, Kristien and I take bets on when I will go into labor (he says 39 weeks, 5 days, and I say on my due date).  I wake up after an hour and discover that Kristien had moved to the guest room because I was snoring “like a tractor.”  Whoops.

3:30 PM

Food prep time!  I make a bunch of veggies and potatoes for the upcoming week.  I spend all this time slicing Brussels sprouts off the stalk before realizing that you can just cook the whole thing – damn.

3:30 PM

I start the always fun process of deciding what to do with our health insurance for next year.  Yuck!

4:30 PM

Henry wakes up from his nap, and we spend a lot of time just hanging out with him and playing games.  We blow up balloons, which provide an incredible amount of entertainment.  Hah!  After a bit, my sister-in-law comes over for dinner.  We all talk and eat, and then eventually, I start Henry’s bedtime routine around 6:45.  He’s in bed by 7:30, but I lay with him in the dark for another 1/2 hour just talking (yes, I can still curl up into a tiny toddler bed!).

8:00 PM

Sophie, Kristien, and I watch a few hours of TV, including an awesome episode of The Walking Dead.  So good!

10:45 PM

I get into bed, although I don’t fall asleep until close to midnight.  I think I have to stop watching The Walking Dead on Sunday nights – it starts too late and fires me up so much!

How was your Sunday?

This made me LOL because it is so very, very true.

I *love* this simple idea for holiday shopping for kids.  It’s called WANT, NEED, READ, WEAR and it’s designed to stop the crush of presents under the tree (both from parents and well-meaning relatives like).  It’s a good way to organize your personal wish list, too!

My friend passed along this link and I thought the recipes sounded really yummy.  I love chia seeds!  I am just now convincing Henry to eat yogurt regularly and hope to get him into chia seed pudding, too – all those awesome Omega fatty acids!  Here you go –> 10 Chia Pudding Recipes.

Photo: Life by DailyBurn

When I was super sick, I “discovered” saline nasal spray.  Basically, it’s a mister of saline that you can squirt into your nose.  It hydrates your nasal cavity, loosens mucus, and makes it easier to blow.  Also, it just feels really, really good when you’re all dried up from the heat being on.  I’m sure this is one of those “duh” products, but I just learned about it and now plan to keep a few in my cabinet at all times – it’s awesome for general winter sniffles (plus medication-free and non-addictive!).

I think I mentioned this before, but I recently read The Leftovers and thought it was an awesome book.  So now we’re watching the HBO series.  It’s SO different from the book!  I think the TV series is just okay in comparison to the book, but everyone I know who is watching the show and hasn’t read the book thinks the show is AMAZING.  So – read the book, too.  It’s worth it. 

My BFF Nicole has been raving about these awesome corduroy pants, which are currently 40% off when you sign up for LOFT’s emails.  She says they fit like a dream and stretch out really well (you know how some cords stretch out all baggy in the worst places? These apparently do not).  She’s bought them in multiple colors and convinced her mom and sister to buy them.  She almost had me sold, too, but I don’t want to commit to a post-partum size.  But I thought I’d pass along the link!

Henry got his first “homework” assignment from school – I had to ask him these questions and fill out the chart. I decided to write down whatever he said regardless of how weird it sounded* – these were his answers.  Hahaha.

* Actually, he said his favorite thing was “drinking” but I didn’t want to write that down because he sounded like a boozer.

What’s on your mind lately?

I’m at this weird point in my life where I am simultaneously in countdown mode while begging time to move slower. I remember this happening towards the end of my pregnancy with Henry, too – you’re looking forward to meeting your baby but the upcoming changes make you feel so anxious. 

I’m a tad bittersweet about it will impact my firstborn’s life.  I know that Henry will really enjoy a sibling, but I get teary eyed whenever we’re all alone and he announces, “It’s just mommy and Henry!” (he likes to identify who is in the room).  So we’ve been soaking up family time, as well as mom/son time, to try to squeeze the last few drops of the whatever time we have left with just one child.  Soon – he’ll be a big brother!

I definitely cried writing that last paragraph.  Damn pregnancy hormones!

I’ve had a rough few days, actually.  I ended up in Labor & Delivery on Tuesday morning (from 3 AM to 5 AM – ouch) because I was cramping pretty badly and concerned about the baby’s movement.  I kind of felt like a worrywart checking in, but the super kind nurses assured me that it’s better to be safe than sorry.  This kiddo is just so lazy compared to how Henry was in utero – what’s normal for this pregnancy seems so different.  But everything was perfectly fine!  Whew.  The cramping has continued almost non-stop since – again, just so different than my first pregnancy, where I was practically symptom-free until my water broke in the middle of the night.

Check out the difference in my belly – there’s only 8 weeks in between the pictures!

My body is clearly busy, but I’ve been trying to strike a balance between resting and getting some exercise… if I don’t make an effort, I find myself glued to the couch eating Nutella straight from the jar (okay, that happens anyway…).  I think I probably “exercise” more than I know just by taking care of busy toddler, but I’ve been trying really hard to stick to my walks, too.  As long as I have Kristien to push the stroller, I can nearly do 2.0 miles. 

So – that’s my update! 

And here are some recent eats:

Amaaaaazing pumpkin oatmeal (with pureed pumpkin, banana, DIY pumpkin spice, and brown sugar).

And this awesome Trader Joe’s soup:

Which is really tasty with chips and cheese.

<3

Hope all is well with you, too!

I feel sort of funny posting this recipe because we’ve had a few amazing days of warm weather!  I actually wore a short-sleeved shirt and sandals to the park yesterday – glorious.  You see, I love everything about winter except the cold temps.  Hah.

Speaking of being chilly, Maggie is back to wearing her housecoat most of the time (because I’m winning The Thermostat Wars this year), but when she’s ‘naked,’ she’s been snuggling up next to James constantly.  I guess he’s really warm!  They’re so cute.

Although I am not a fan of the cold, I am hoping for SNOW this year (oxymoron, yes – I know).  We don’t get a ton of snow in Charlotte usually, but we had two huge storms last year that dumped 5 and 10 inches on the city.  It was awesome – Henry loved it!  I actually think he remembers it and keeps asking me when it’s going to snow again.

So, even though it’s currently 65 degrees outside and I’m rocking a tank top, I thought I’d throw out this warm-me-up recipe – I know some of you are already buried in snow!  And even if you’re not, it sure is tasty…

What is this spice blend, you ask? Well, simply put a 1/4 teaspoon (per cup of coffee) in your plain coffee grounds and brew away!  The result is a wintry, delicious, warming coffee filled with spicy flavor.

The spices include cinnamon, cloves, and orange peel. 

Winter Blend Spice Mix for Coffee:

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1/2 tablespoon cloves

1 tablespoon orange peel

Add 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon per 1/8 cup coffee grounds prior to brewing or French pressing.  Add cream and sugar, if desired!

Also – try the same thing but with my DIY Pumpkin Spice! It’s really yummy.

Stay warm, inside and out!  <3