More Smiles :)

Meagan loves her new bouncy seat. And of course it's pink!

Wednesday Weigh In: Week 7

Okay, after falling off the wagon for a couple weeks I'm back on and down 2 more pounds which means I've hit the 10 pound mark. Few more pounds and I'll be halfway towards my goal! I have to admit, I haven't been working out nearly as much as I need to and I'm going to start looking into when babysitting is provided at the gym so I can go during the day. Even if it's only once or twice a week, I need to get this body moving!

The pork chops last night were really good. Growing up, I hated pork chops because they were normally pan fried. Turns out the only way to have pork chops is to bake them and they turn out really nice and tender. Tonight is irish stew which is already cooking in the slow cooker - super low fat, low cal recipe which I'll be serving with a salad since we're not eating enough greens in this house.

Friday's meal is still scaring me a bit because it's quite finicky - sealing potatoes and fish in rolled up parchment paper. I'm still going to try it and will let you know how it turns out!

Meal Planning Monday

This week I'll be experimenting with 4 new recipes. Hopefully that turns into a good thing and not bad!

Monday: Hash brown pizza

Tuesday: Pork chop and pasta dinner

Wednesday: Irish stew, bread

Thursday: Fiesta rice

Friday: Fish in parchment packets, curried corn (trying to make Friday a little bit special as a date-night in)

Saturday: restaurant for Mom's birthday

Sunday: Fillets parmesan

Monday: tortellini, bread

Our Pink Life

In case you had any doubts about us living in a world of pink, here's a photo of the laundry I folded Friday.

Meagan - 3 months

Meagan turned 3 months old yesterday. Amazing how fast this time is flying! Everyone is adjusting well and she is growing wonderfully. She saw her delivery doctor yesterday who said she is very healthy and was quite impressed how happy she was the entire appointment. She is now 22.83 inches long (about 25th percentile) and 12.5 pounds in weight (about 50th percentile).

And boy does she love her big sister!

Wednesday Weigh In: Week 6

No comment today.

Jumperoo and Swimming Lessons

The girls at work threw me a fabulous baby shower a few weeks ago and one of the best gifts was a Jumperoo. Kaitlyn had an exersaucer and a jumperoo that attached to a doorframe, but we don't have any doorframes close to the main living area (kitchen/living room) and we sold the exersaucer because it had horrible sound effects (think 80s Atari game) that drove me nuts. So this was the perfect gift. Ryan put it all together the other day and she loves it. She has the neck support but she has super short legs so I've put a stack of blankets underneath it for her feet to touch. She absolutely loves the parrot on top and will sit and coo at it.





The other event in this house is Kaitlyn is in swimming lessons for a few weeks. She loves the water and this gave her an opportunity to have something all her own that was just about her. The first lesson went so well, she didn't want to leave. It was horrible. I was "that" mom that everyone shakes their head at and wonders what I must have done to create such a monster child. Finally I was able to get her out of there and we had a loooonnnngggg talk about good behaviour vs bad behaviour. She seemed to have "gotten it" because I haven't had a problem since. Class is over, she happily gets dressed and she gets to pick an item from the candy machines for being good (thanks Andrea for the idea!). She is doing really well this time the teacher said, although I still don't know if she'll pass. She still doesn't like putting her head underwater but the teacher said she's slowly improving.







So that's the update from us!

Meal Planning Monday

Well, both kids are sleeping after a bit of a rough night. I should be too considering everytime one of them was up, that meant I was up too. Preschool has been great for Kaitlyn, but it means she catches more viruses than ever. Just when I thought she was better, she was up twice last night, sick. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate changing sheets at 3 AM? Meagan actually did much better last night and was only up once for a quick feed and diaper change so hopefully her growth spurt is done!

So I may as well get this up before one of the girls wakes and needs some attention.

Monday: Leftover soup, bread

Tuesday: Chicken fagioli stew (we bumped this from last week since we ended up doing baked chicken instead of stew last week)

Wednesday: Tacos

Thursday: Salmon with dill sauce, rice (bumped again from last week as I totally strayed from our meal plan one night to make the chicken and veggie meal I blogged about)

Friday: Macaroni and cheese for Kaitlyn, frozen diet dinner for me (Ryan is working)

Saturday: Hashbrown casserole

Sunday: Roast and potatoes

Monday: Irish stew, bread

Tomato Sherry Chicken and Tangy Roasted Veggies

Last night I cooked an extra special dinner for Ryan and I and we had a date night in - sort of. Between one kid going through a growth spurt and the other with a fever, it wasn't too romantic, but we did have an excellent meal. Ryan said after the meal that it was by far the best thing I have ever cooked for him. Both recipes were from the Company's Coming Low-Fat Cooking cookbook (but was also able to find the main dish recipe online). I know if I pick a recipe from a Company's Coming book, it will always turn out the way it is supposed and I liked the fact that I knew how many calories and how much fat we were eating. In the main dish, Tomato Sherry Chicken, I did substitute white wine instead of the sherry since I wasn't sure if I would react to the sherry since I have an allergy to red wine, and besides, white wine was in the house. I also substituted green onions in place of the shallots since our grocery store didn't have any shallots. Both recipes were soooo good. The sundried tomatoes and white wine created an excellent sauce together for the chicken, and the balsamic vinegar on the Tangy Roasted Veggies really added taste to the vegetable dish.

Instead of a movie (or watching episodes of Lost as we usually do), we watched the 2010 Opening Ceremonies - it was a pretty good show! I'm sure date nights will improve once Meagan takes a bottle again, but for now, it will do.

Wednesday Weigh In: Week 5

Down 1 more pound. Pretty good considering the amount of cheating I did this week and the fact I have not been moving much. In my defence, Meagan is going through a growth spurt and waking twice a night. She goes back to sleep very quickly (usually), but it still takes a lot of energy to get up twice a night and do the daily routine the next day.

Anyway, hopefully I get some energy back this week and get back to it!

Smile!

Meal Planning Monday

Last week's meal plan didn't quite finish the way it was intended. We ended up going out for dinner last night (thanks Mom!) and I did stray from eating according to my diet plan. And tonight we were supposed to have a seafood pasta dish, but Ryan is working a double so I will be pulling some frozen soup out of the freezer and dropping off some leftovers for Ryan at work. So now I have 2 leftover meals from last week I'll incorporate into this week's plan:

Monday: Frozen soup, bread

Tuesday: Fiesta Rice

Wednesday: Chicken fagioli stew

Thursday: Macaroni and cheese (I'm out for a work dinner so it's just Ryan and Kaitlyn for dinner and yes, I'll be home by 8 for Survivor!!)

Friday: Seafood tomato alfredo

Saturday: Veggie lasagne (new recipe I'm trying out)

Sunday: Salmon with dill sauce, rice, beans

Monday: Soup from freezer, bread

Meal Planning Update

Meal planning has been so wonderful. I understand why I didn't start earlier (work, new baby, etc) but I can't imagine getting through the week the way we used to. And we're trying new, healthy recipes and loving them. Here is the dinner we made last night - so good! We served it with half a whole grain loaf (bought at Superstore, the kind that you "bake at home" from the bread department) and the recipe made so many leftovers, I ended up freezing more than half the recipe. Even Kaitlyn tried it but didn't like the beef and barley.

Fresh Vegetable-Beef Barley Soup

1.5 pounds beef stew meat
1 small green pepper, chopped
3/4 c. frozen green beans (or you can use fresh!)
3/4 c. chopped onion
2/3 c. uncooked barley
2/3 c. frozen whole kernel corn (or use fresh)
1.5 c. water
1 t. salt
1/2 t. dried thyme leaves (or 1 t. fresh)
1/4 t. ground pepper
25 oz. ready to serve beef broth (I used a carton and measured it out)
24 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 t. garlic powder
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce

1. Mix all ingredients into slow cooker
2. Cover and cook on low 8-9 hours (or 4-5 on high) until veggies and barley are tender.

We cooked it for 9.5 hours and it turned out perfect. 200 calories and 7 gr fat per serving :)

Pics of the Girls

It's been a while since I've posted some updated pictures of the girls. Meagan especially changes so fast so I have to remember to keep the camera out and ready!

Kaitlyn is loving the basement. She spends so much time down there and really loves having all the space. And I love having her out of my hair so except for the financial aspect, it's been wonderful to have the whole home!

Here she is watching a movie with her friends. The second pic is her singing along with the movie - pretty serious stuff!





And Meagan is just so happy and easy. Last night she slept from 10 PM to 6:30 AM. No wonder she's so happy - she's well fed, well rested. Makes for an easier household.

Wednesday Weigh In: Week 4

Down another 2!! So happy to be making progress and seeing the results on the scale. Anyway, lots on my to-do list today so this is short and sweet today :)

Meal Planning Monday

So meal planning last week was mostly a success. I didn't make nearly as many trips to the grocery store as I used to, and it was great not to have the panic every day of what to make for dinner. The end of the week was a bit of a bust and I was forced to go to the store, but this was mainly due to the fact that Ryan was working extra shifts and taking leftover dinner in his lunch, hence no shepherd's pie using leftover meatloaf.

Here is the meal plan for this week. I've extended it to include next Monday as well since I won't be able to do my shopping until Tuesday when Kaitlyn is in preschool. Yes, yes, I could do it Monday but let's just say, it's much easier doing the shopping with just one child who will most likely sleep for the entire trip :)

Monday: Weight Watchers frozen meal for me, leftovers for Ryan and mac & cheese for Kaitlyn (Ryan is working another double)

Tuesday: Chicken fajitas

Wednesday: Chick pea and tomato pasta (new recipe I'm trying out)

Thursday: Beef barley soup (another new recipe, this one in the slow cooker), bread

Friday: Sauced salmon, salad, rice

Saturday: Oven steak and vegetables

Sunday: Fiesta rice (our own super easy recipe for Sunday dinner)

Monday: Seafood tomato alfredo

As you can see, I'm also trying to keep it relatively healthy. I made the mistake of reading the fat content in the meatloaf before eating it this week - yikes! This time I'm reading the nutritional info before planning my week!