A Chick of A Different Nature

Last night we went to visit with Hubby’s cousin, her husband, and their 2 children. I adore them. I wish they lived closer. They share our philosophies on child rearing, life, and faith. They live out in the country compared to our city dwelling and they are currently preparing to put in a vegetable garden on their acreage. Then they disclosed that they had just acquired four baby chicks and were looking forward to farm-fresh eggs some day! Those chicks were too cute! I wanted to leave with one tucked into the baby bag, but I controlled myself.

Today I decided to experiment with chicks of a different nature.

Chickpeas.

I found this recipe online recently and thought it sounded good. After a humid early morning walk to and from the library with the bugs, I got to thinking about lunch. I found the bag of chickpeas Hubby had purchased at my request sitting in the pantry and thought to myself “why not?!”

Well who would have guessed chickpeas have to soak before you cook them?? Good thing I got an early start on lunch! I rinsed them, soaked them, simmered them until tender and two hours later they were ready to be cooked into something delicious. I knew from the reviews I read that this was spicy with the Rotel tomatoes, but I can handle spicy so I went ahead with the Rotel anyway. I did cut the ginger and cumin in half and left out the ground coriander since we didn’t have any.

After a long wait, lunch was finally ready! I served it with some whole wheat pita I had baked into chips, half an orange, and some sugar snap peas.

So good! Spicy, yes, but in a good and flavorful way. If you’re not into spicy, you could skip the Rotel in favor of regular diced tomatoes.

I will definitely be making this again.

Post Preschool Drop Off Run

It has been raining in St. Louis for a week! I was starting to think we had accidentally tele-ported ourselves to Seattle at some point! This morning was supposed to be the first dry morning in 7 full days, so I set the alarm for 6:15am and was determined to take G out for his first spin this morning. Unfortunately the alarm never went off. Wouldn’t you know?

But I was still determined to get a run in this morning! I got Cuddle Bug dressed, fed, and ready for preschool, put LadyBug in something respectable, threw on my running clothes, scarfed down a half a banana, handed LadyBug a bagel, secured the bugs in their respective carseats, tossed the jogging stroller in the back of the car, and off we went! We made it to preschool with not a moment to spare! Then Ladybug and I hit the pavement.

I gave the interval training a try today. This is one of the things I’m most excited to use Garmin for. I am a very slow runner and I am hoping that doing the interval training will help me to improve my pace. I did 6 sessions of running 400m and recovering for 200m. I did it in 30:11.

Breakfast
I came home, put Ladybug down for her morning nap, and put some breakfast on the table for me.

Simple. Oatmeal with 1/2 tbsp chunky peanut butter and 1 tbsp maple syrup.

Lunch
No photographs of lunch. I had a black bean burger with avocado and salsa in a half of a whole wheat pita.

Snack

Now the bugs are down for their afternoon naps so I’m enjoying this:

GM with peanut butter and cocoa nibs.

Tonight we’re going to Hubby’s cousin’s house for dinner. I’m taking the quilt I made for their new baby girl. I had to run to Target this afternoon to pick up a book for baby’s big brother. I didn’t want to show up with a gift for baby and nothing for her big brother. I finished the quilt yesterday and I am quite proud of how it turned out.

I hope they like it as much as I do.

Grandparent’s Day!

Breakfast

I started off this very busy day with some Vegan Overnight Oats I threw in a scraped clean (nearly empty) peanut butter jar last night. I was excited to give this a try as I’ve been seeing a lot of them lately.

• 1/3 cup old fashioned oats
• 3/4 cup almond milk
• 1/2 large ripe banana, mashed
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

I topped it with a sprinkle of cocoa nibs and a drizzle of maple syrup. Delish! I really need to find these chia seeds I’m seeing all over blogland lately though. I would really love to give this a try with some of those.

After breakfast, we got our morning moving. It was Grandparent’s Day at Cuddle Bug’s preschool so we went to the special Grandparent’s program with my mother-in-law. It just happened that today was also my mother-in-law’s birthday. So she came back to our house afterward and we had lunch and birthday cake.

Lunch

Hubby made one of my favorite dishes for lunch. Pasta with sundried tomato, olive oil, salt and pepper. It is really wonderful.

No picture of the birthday cake. It was Amy’s (organic and vegan) chocolate cake. I had a sliver.

After we drove my mother-in-law home, we spent some time playing with trains in Cuddle Bug’s room. Then it was naptime for the bugs, and stationary bike time for me. I used G’s heart rate monitor while I rode the exercise bike and I kept my heart rate in the mid-170′s for the 30-minute session. It felt good to sweat some!

Dinner

For dinner I was craving some stir fry. I could have done the right thing and prepared some fresh veggies, but instead I resorted to a can of asian veggies. I threw in some tofu and a little soy sauce.

Truthfully it was rather disappointing. It was way too salty for my taste and lacked the satisfying crunch veggies need and deserve. The quinoa was good and the watermelon saved the whole meal. I’ll have to see if I can find something better to use the rest of the canned veggies in. Stir fry isn’t going to cut it.

I have one more round on the stationary bike tonight. I would have liked to have gone for a run, but there’s a storm moving this way. Tomorrow the twin is coming to town for the weekend and I’m hoping she’ll take Garmin for a spin with me

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Today’s High: Watching Cuddle Bug’s preschool class perform the songs they’ve been practicing for Grandparent’s Day. My favorite was definitely “On Top of Spaghetti!”

Today’s Low: Rain in the forecast. It’s been like this all week! When am I going to get a clear day to take Garmin on her maiden voyage?!

A Bad 24 Hours

Last night Hubby and I went on a “date.” We joined Hubby’s sweet boss and her husband as well as Hubby’s other co-workers for a night at the ballpark. What parent doesn’t love a night away from their bugs? I sure do! We cheered, we laughed, we smooched (no kiss-cam cameo though, oh well), and we had a generally good time.

Then the Cardinals lost 6-3 and I almost lost my cookies on the train ride home. I’m extremely prone to motion sickness and whoever was driving that metro train was a little heavy footed so to speak! The beauty of it was that it all happened right in front of Hubby’s boss! I felt very undignified. Such is life. We can laugh about it now

That brings us to today. After breakfast (I ate the usual), I packed up some lunches and took the bugs to the Science Center. I love that so many of the major family attractions in St. Louis are free! The zoo, the museums, the science center….all free free free! So we go as often as we can of course. After milling around the Science Center for a few hours, we headed over to Hubby’s office to have the lunch we had packed with him.

Lunch

I packed myself a baked sweet potato and baked beans. I cut the sweet potato into chunks for easier dining at Hubby’s office (no knife necessary).

Everything was fine until I made it back to the car after lunch. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks! My visions blurred, my head was pounding, my stomach was turning, and I was dizzy. I was incredibly dehydrated! I can remember to eat with no problem, but remembering to stay hydrated sometimes gets lost in the day. Today was one of those days.

I got home, guzzled over 32 ounces of water in mere seconds, took a few advil, got the bugs down for the afternoon naps, and crashed! 90 minutes later LadyBug woke me up. The rest of the night was a blur of water consumption, lying down on the floor with the bugs crawling all over me, and insisting that Hubby go out to play roller hockey as he had planned despite his reluctance to leave me run down and not feeling well with the kids for the night (he went, and he kicked butt).

Reminder to self: Drink Water! 8 glasses of water a day!

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Today’s High: Spending some quality time with the bugs at the Science Center. Cuddle Bug especially loved the skeletons in the new Darwin exhibit – “are those the dog’s phalanges Mom?” Why yes, yes they are my 4-year-old prodigy!

Today’s Low: So very dehydrated!

Naptime = My Time

I’m currently reveling in the fact that the bugs are down for their afternoon naps. I love naptime! I have this bad boy to keep me company and tide me over until dinner:

Green Monster with 1 frozen banana, 1 cup almond milk, 3 huge handfuls of spinach, 1 tbsp peanut butter, and 1 tbsp cocoa nibs. This is one of my favorite ways to enjoy a GM. Chocolate and peanut butter are a match made in heaven!

This morning Cuddle Bug had preschool and that means a hectic morning around here trying to get everyone out the door on time. LadyBug and I usually wait to have breakfast until we get home from dropping him off. I had the usual oatmeal only this time it had sliced bananas instead of mashed. I was feeling especially adventurous I also had a cup of chamomile and apple tea.

I would like to say that I got up and got in that run I had been hoping for this morning. But I went to bed later than I had hoped and truthfully the thought of going out into what I presumed to be the cold this morning was too much to bare. So Garmin is still patiently awaiting my taking her for a spin for the first time.

But I did manage to fit 30 minutes in on the stationary bike this morning while LadyBug took her morning nap. That counts for something, surely. So often exercise has to be fit in wherever you can get it. That’s something I had to come to realize. The stationary bike helps with that. I can get in some exercise while still home with the kids. That helps a lot.

After we picked Cuddle Bug up from school and got the low-down on all the fun that was had there this morning, it was time for lunch. Cuddle Bug requested a turkey sandwich and some leftover fruit salad. LadyBug got an orange and whole wheat bagel.

My lunch was the greatest of the bunch. Quinoa, tofu prepared according to these wonderful instructions from Emily of The Front Burner, and sweet potato prepared following these directions from Kath of KERF. It was amazing! My sincere gratitude for so many great bloggers posting such delicious recipes on their blogs!

Now I’m working on laundry and I have to write up directions for a friend who is coming over to watch the bugs later. Hubby and I are going to a St. Louis Cardinals game tonight! I cherish these opportunities for me and him to go out together. They really don’t come frequently enough. But such is the life of parents.

My New Pet

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and I was surprised with a new addition to the family. It is my great pleasure to introduce to you Garmin!

This beauty is going to be my new training partner! I kept telling hubby about the Garmin Forerunner 305 and how I longed to own one of my very own. But never in my wildest dreams did I expect to get one for Mother’s Day! We are just not the kind of people that throw down large amounts of money easily and I thought it would be a much longer before I had one. But now that it’s mine, I have big plans for using it to do interval training to work on improving my pace. I am a very happy mama! Now I just need to make the time to take it for a spin.

Breakfast this morning was the usual: oatmeal with a half of a banana (mashed), 1/2 tbsp of almond butter, and 1 tbsp of strawberry preserves. I generally eat the same thing for breakfast every morning. What can I say? It’s yummy!

After breakfast Cuddle Bug and I did arts and crafts. Simple construction paper cutting and pasting. He made a train. I made a flower. I love to be creative with him.

Lunch was a new favorite of mine: a sweet potato with baked beans. This combo is from Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point. LadyBug ate half of my orange. I look forward to the day I can eat something without somebody begging for a bite (or a half or the whole thing)!

I like to sit down with a snack in the afternoon after I get the bugs down for their nap. My favorite afternoon pick-me-up is a Green Monster. Today I kept it simple with 3 heaping handfuls of spinach, 1 cup almond milk, and 1 banana.

Cuddle Bug took a long nap. I assume that had something to do with how dark and dreary it was outside. LadyBug, on the other hand, was up and ready for action after a little less than an hour. Chores ensued until hubby came home.

Dinner was a taco salad. Romaine lettuce, 1/2 portabello mushroom cap sauteed, 1/4 avocado, black beans, salsa, and some crunched up tortilla chips. So fresh and delicious!

I followed that up with some fruit salad and a handful of grapes.

Hubby and I have plans to watch some Life After People tonight after the bugs go to bed. We got disc 1 from Netflix today.

Tomorrow morning I’m hoping to get up for a morning run to break in Garmin and give some interval training a try. I can’t wait! Hopefully the weather will be clear in the morning.

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Today’s High: Doing arts and crafts with Cuddle Bug.

Today’s Low: I was really dragging today. I think it’s a combination of the dark, rainy weather and my allergies clouding my mind.

A New Beginning

A few clicks and here I am, completely vulnerable. I’m putting myself out there. Be kind

A quick introduction: I’m a 27-year-old stay-at-home mom with two kids. My son, Cuddle Bug, is 4 and his little sister, LadyBug, is 15-months. I also go to school part-time. I’m working on completing some prerequisite courses to get into nursing school eventually. I am a busy woman!

Wife, mother, student. But easily the biggest part of my life is that I’m a mom. As a mom I’m the last person I think about most days. It’s hard enough in this culture to lead a healthy lifestyle. Throw in the demands of motherhood and it’s even more difficult. I know that many, many mothers struggle the way I do. There is so much to be done and so many people and chores constantly demanding our attention. How are we supposed to live up to it all and take care of ourselves in the meantime? I think far too many of us just don’t take the time or make the time to take care of us.

Here’s a little secret I learned…it turns out that my kids are the happiest when I’m the happiest. I can’t be happy when I’m putting myself last now can I? So one of the best things I can do for my kids is take care of myself. And I’m going to do just that!

I’ve got a 5k next month and a 10k in October. Those races are my focus right now. A little background: I started running (okay…jogging) with the Couch to 5k plan in 2008. I kept at it and seeing my improvements was enough to get me hooked on running! Unfortunately, due to a pregnancy complication I had to stop doing strenuous activity during my pregnancy and that sidelined me not long after I completed the c25k program. Now I’m back at it and I’m happy to say that I did not slide all the back to square one. I started out in 2008 having trouble running 8 one-minute jaunts and now I can run (okay, jog) a full 5k without stopping. That’s progress! I’m a very slow runner and I hope to improve my speed with time and practice. But just not walking is something to be proud of even if I’m hardly running per se.

As for my relationship with food: it’s not a good one. I used to fall into the same routine many mothers do by munching here and there throughout the day, finishing those last few bites on the kids plates before clearing the table, and enjoying the company of a comfort food during naptime to quell the loneliness of caring for two small children and missing the company of adults. I have to do better! Comfort food is only comforting for the few minutes it takes you to eat it. After that, it’s depressing. So now I am following a largely meat-free, dairy-free, and egg-free diet. That’s not to say that I’m a vegan. I’m not (more power to those who are). I am just limiting those things in my daily eating and that means most days they don’t enter the picture. This forces me to make better choices.

So there you go. I suppose it’s fitting that I’m launching this blog on Mother’s Day. This is just a blog about a mother trying to be a better woman for herself and for her family. And that’s about it. And while I have no delusions that anyone other than myself will really care much about what I say here, it’s motivating to think that I’m putting my struggles and my achievements out there for the world. Maybe it will help me try that much harder not to fall flat on my face.

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Today’s High: Spending a beautiful Mother’s Day at Grant’s Farm with hubby and the bugs and getting an incredible gift for Mother’s Day. Tomorrow I will spill the beans on exactly what that gift was.

Today’s Low: Overindulging in the chocolate cake my mother-in-law brought over. Moderation is key and frankly I went a little overboard. Tomorrow is a new day!