Meal Planning Weeks 24 and 25

I'm adding week 25 onto this one simply because I plan not to do any meal planning or cooking that week. I'll be in the hospital for a good share of it anyway. I think that between Derek and his mom who's going to be staying with us for a few days they can probably sort out the cooking for that week. This week the goal is once again to keep it simple. I've hit the wall where even rolling over in bed feels like it takes way more effort than it's worth so there's no way I'm going to feel like cooking anything fancy.

• Sunday: Spaghetti and (frozen) meatballs
• Monday: Hot dogs
• Tuesday: Split pea soup (from a mix) and grilled cheese
• Wednesday: Frittata with tomato and asparagus
• Thursday: Turkey sandwiches
• Friday: Eat out
• Saturday: Hospital food

Meal Planning Week 23

With less than 2 weeks to go before the baby arrives (I'm scheduled for another c-section on July 2nd unless I go into labor before then) it seems like planning menus is the furthest thing on my mind. This past weekend poor David had strep throat (doing much better now thanks to antibiotics) and I've been going crazy trying to get everything ready for this baby. Then to add to the chaos it was a crazy weekend work-wise (my last on-call weekend before maternity leave!!!) with making visits from 4-7 am. Yesterday was a work day for me and by the end of it I felt like I'd just hit the wall for the level of exhaustion I can stand.

Unfortunately that's not likely to improve any time soon. Derek's out of town until Friday for some mandatory business training so I'm parenting solo this week. The timing's definitely not the best but I guess I'd rather he have to go right before the baby comes than right after and I don't think it's too likely I'll have the baby while he's gone. Needless to say meals will be less than spectacular this week (and probably in the next several weeks to come)

• Sunday: Sloppy joes (from last week)
• Monday: Too exhausted after work, ordered pizza
• Tuesday: Chocolate chip pancakes with fruit
• Wednesday: Tomato soup (from the freezer) with grilled cheese
• Thursday: Probably eat out after work again
• Friday: Scrambled eggs with toast
• Saturday: Celebrating Derek's birthday with a BBQ and cake/ice cream

Meal Planning Week 22

This week I officially fell off the wagon. After some deliberation I'd finally decided to leave David in his crib for the time being and put the baby in a bassinet or playpen until he was ready to give it up. Then last week he managed to climb out (falling over the side in the process) and plans changed. We told him we didn't want him "going bonk" anymore so it was time to move into a big boy bed. The weekend was a flurry of buying and moving furniture, painting, and reorganizing 2 bedrooms but at least our baby finally has a nursery and so far David's pretty happy with his big boy bed.

To sweeten the deal I managed to find a bright colored comforter plastered with all kinds of construction trucks (at least it's not Disney characters). I could have gotten a much more lovely and tasteful set for upward of $100 or chosen a more subdued generic theme sans gaudy vehicles but I know David wouldn't have been nearly as excited. In the end the $13 comforter and $8 sheets at Ross's were too tempting to pass up. And I do love the fact that this time we were able to decorate his room with a theme and colors that reflect his personality and tastes.

Anyway with all that commotion meal planning has been relegated to the back burner but hopefully we can get back into the swing of things. Something tells me though that the next several weeks are going to stay fairly chaotic though.

The African peanut soup was delicious though I did cut the amount of cayenne pepper in half. We served it over brown rice and I will certainly make it again. In the future though I'll only use legs and thighs and skip the wings. It's just too cumbersome to get the meat off those babies. Here's what we've got for this week.

• Sunday: Eat out
• Monday: Eat out again
• Tuesday: Turkey sandwiches
• Wednesday: Salmon burgers and sweet potato fries (from last week)
• Thursday: Baked beans and cornbread (also from last week)
• Friday: Spaghetti with salad
• Saturday: Sloppy joes with salad

Splash Pad!

 On Saturday we tried out a park we hadn't visited before. We hadn't planned on trying the splash pad as it was already around 7 pm and had cooled off a bit but David was so eager we decided to let him try it out. Fortunately we had an extra pair of shorts along but as it turned out he really didn't get all that wet anyway. Most of the water had already been turned off at that point and he focused more on stomping around in the puddles and climbing around than playing with the few jets that were still running. Maybe he even preferred it that way, but next time we'll be sure to pick a nice hot day and pack his suit and towel to give him a chance to compare. Something tells me we might be frequent visitors here this summer.

Meal Planning Week 22

Wow, this week really flew by it seems like. We have less than a month to get ready for our next baby and pretty much no time to do it. The baby's room still needs to get painted and we need to rearrange the furniture (although no crib for the time-being as that's still occupied by David). Since the baby will be sleeping in our room for the first little while we technically would have some time after he's born to get everything done. Experience has taught me though that if you don't have time to do something before a baby's born you REALLY won't have time afterward.

We managed not to spend any money on dinners out (though we were treated on Fri by my parents to some yummy Indian food) but once again I didn't make everything on the menu and we wound up eating leftovers an extra night or two. In past weeks when a recipe's made a lot more than we can eat I've frozen half of it to have in reserve after the baby gets here. Our freezer's pretty much reached capacity though so any leftovers need to just get eaten before they go to waste and I don't mind not having to cook.

Last week I made my own taco meat instead of using the seasoning packs you by in the store which worked pretty well. Instead of using garlic powder I just used a few cloves of garlic and I also added 1/2 t cumin and an extra dash of salt to give it a bit more zip. I'm not sure I saved any money as the recipe claims as the seasoning packs  cost about the same amount as the tomato sauce I used but it's probably healthier and didn't really take any more time.

The pasta with lemon, broccoli, walnuts and cannellini beans turned out okay but not great in my opinion. The flavor was good but it seemed a bit dry. Maybe adding a little milk or something to make it creamier would have improved it. Anyway, here's the plan for this week.

• Sunday: African chicken peanut soup (still haven't gotten to this one yet) with homemade bread and carrots/celery/cucumber sticks
• Monday: Spaghetti with salad and garlic toast
• Tuesday: Broccoli quiche (yep, another repeat) and fresh fruit
• Wednesday: Salmon burgers and sweet potato fries
• Thursday: Leftovers or eat out
• Friday: Baked beans and cornbread (When we were out camping my mom made some great baked beans with kind of an interesting twist. Maybe next week I'll post the recipe)
• Saturday: Turkey sandwiches and fruit