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

Memorial Day Weekend

This was our last long weekend before our new arrival gets here (I'll likely be in the hospital over the 4th of July) so we decided to take a family trip. On Friday we camped for one night in Wasatch Mountain State Park with my parents. Fortunately my mom took care of most of the packing and planning and also was kind enough to let us sleep in their trailer so it wasn't nearly as tough as it could have been but I still don't generally recommend it when you're 8 months pregnant. It was just for one night though and David enjoyed it so much that I'm still glad we went. 

The grass at the campsite had grown pretty unruly so David cheerfully volunteered to mow it.

The next morning we went to the Heber Valley Railroad's Day Out With Thomas and David got to ride on Thomas the Train. He was especially pleased when they played some of his favorite Thomas music during the ride and performed an impromptu dance on the seat.

You may have noticed that David is wearing a different shirt and hat in this photo. He also managed to  fenagle a toy train from Grandma and Grandpa as well. Getting that shirt off of him long enough to wash it was no easy feat.

After that my parents headed home and we got a hotel for one more night. We were hoping to take David to a carnival across the street but it was closed because of rain. Instead we went swimming (indoor pool) and out to dinner. We were literally getting ready to head out the door to go when I read Elizabeth's comment from my last post recommending the Dairy Keen. We had planned on somewhere else but decided to go ahead and give it a try. 

I actually think it was the highlight of the whole trip for David. They had a large model Thomas train that ran all along the ceiling as well as some smaller model trains and a train table for the kids to play at. I tried to get him to sit down and eat some food but he was so desperate to get to the train table that I just let him go. He wouldn't even come to the table for ice cream. The next day was Sunday and they were closed but we still stopped by on our way out of town and let him play on the train tables outside. Of course we had to try the door twice to prove that it really was locked and he couldn't get in to see Thomas on the ceiling again.

If you're wondering what David's doing here he's pulling the imaginary cord to blow the whistle and shrieking "CHOO CHOO!"

Meal Planning Week 21

I didn't cook any new recipes last week so there's none to review and I've tried to continue the theme of mainly simple (read easy) foods this week. We've only got a little over 4 weeks before this baby comes and pregnancy is definitely catching up with me. I had an actual meal planned for last night but was too exhausted from our trip and working earlier in the day that we all just sort of scrounged something up. I like sitting down to eat as a family so hopefully I can get my act together because I know things aren't going to get any easier for a very long time.

• Sunday: Tacos (we had a lot of leftovers last week and didn't get around to cooking everything)
• Monday: Leftovers
• Tuesday: African chicken peanut stew and homemade bread
• Wednesday: Broccoli quiche and fresh fruit
• Thursday: Pancakes
• Friday: Chicken salad wraps with carrots and cucumber sticks
• Saturday: Pasta with lemony broccoli, walnuts, and cannellini beans, salad