Parenting Wellness

Life update and What we ate this week

January 20, 2018

I thought I would post a little life update to let you guys know what’s been going on.  Now that we’ve been in our new house for a few weeks, we are starting to get more settled in.  We’ve still got some things to hang up and I’m still working on finding a place for everything (the house is considerably smaller than our last so it’s been a bit tough) but for the most part we are unpacked and organized.  The weather has been beautiful here in Phoenix so we’ve been spending a lot of time in the backyard playing.  

Disney on Ice

I took Theo to Disney on Ice this week and he had so much fun!  I was honestly a little worried because he is such an active little boy and never sits still.  He doesn’t really watch TV for longer than a few minutes and hasn’t seen any of the Disney movies, so I wasn’t sure if he would be all that interested.  He loves music though so I think all of the songs is what he enjoyed the most.  The minute the music began he started fist pumping and bopping his head and was so into the show.  It was long though… about two hours with a 15 minute intermission.  Towards the end he started getting tired and squirmy  but he lasted for the entire show.  He passed out the minute we got to the car and slept for the next two hours.  I would definitely suggest the show to people with younger kids.  I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun Theo had.

I got some cute videos of Theo dancing in the show but no good pictures.  I love this picture of us afterwards though, look at his sweet little face!

Feeling under the weather

Despite my best efforts to prevent it, I got a cold this week.  The worst of it hit me Tuesday night and Wednesday, so I was unable to go in to work that day.  Luckily now I’m just dealing with residual sniffles and a runny nose.  I’ve been doing a lot of immune support this whole winter to keep this nasty flu that’s been going around away from me, and I’m sure that helped me get over my cold quickly.  I do feel like breastfeeding has lowered my immune system, like Theo’s been stealing all of my immunity, because I’ve gotten sick more often while breastfeeding than ever before.  I only ever feel symptomatic for a day or two fortunately, but it still sucks.  Some of the things I’ve been taking this week to help fight my cold are:

Thorne Buffered C Powder – this powder is unflavored, so I always mix it into water with a splash of juice to make it taste good.

Traditional Medicinals Echnicea Plus Tea

Vitamin D– these drops are citrus flavored and taste delicious!

*Make sure you consult with your physician if you are pregnant or breastfeeding before taking any high doses of vitamins or herbs, as some are contraindicated.

Warming Socks

One of my favorite treatments for when you’re feeling congested is warming socks.   It sounds strange, but it’s so effective and not nearly as awful as it sounds!  The morning after I did it I woke up to my congestion being gone and I felt so much better. Here’s what you do…

  1. Take a pair of thin ankle height cotton socks and rinse them in cold water.  Wring them out VERY thoroughly.
  2. Make sure your feet are warm before beginning this treatment.  I like to soak mine in warm water first.
  3. Put on your wet (but not dripping) cotton socks and put a pair of thick wool socks over them.
  4. Immediately go to bed.  By the time you wake up in the morning your socks will be dry and you will be feeling much better!

What we’ve been eating

On top of everything else that’s been going on this week, our oven stopped working midway through the week!  The stove still works luckily, so I’ve been doing most of my cooking either on the stove or in the instant pot.

Breakfast

Jordan is occasionally home to eat breakfast with Theo and I, and it’s always nice when we get to all eat together.   This week our breakfasts have varied between this instant pot oatmeal, carrot cake pancakes, or eggs with diced veggies and avocado. I try and make sure that breakfast always include veggies and good protein so that we have energy to start our day.  It’s easy to reach for sugary cereals or to just skip breakfast and grab a quick cup of coffee, but this tends to cause you to feel sluggish by noon.  I need a healthy filling breakfast if I want to feel good for the day.

Lunch

Lunch is usually just Theo and I, and I try to make sure we eat the same thing.  I’ve noticed that he always eats better when he sees me eating the same meal, so I make it a point to sit down with him for all of his meals and rarely do I eat something different.  Lunch varies between leftovers from the night before, or I’ll just throw together a “snack plate” with an assortment of things like chopped veggies and hummus, avocado, beans, toast with almond butter, cheese, and some fruit.

Dinner

I try and keep dinners simple for the most part.  By the end of the day I’m usually not up for creating an elaborate meal.  One or two nights a week we go out for dinner, and the rest of the time I cook at home.  Jordan likes to say he gets credit for 50% of dinner because he tends to take over the cooking halfway through.  I’ll give him 25% of the credit, because I’m the one that plans, preps, and starts the meal.  His job is usually to stir and then serve haha.  This week we had spaghetti with Banza noodles  (I love these because they are gluten free, taste delicious, and they’re a great source of protein).  I added onions, mushrooms, and ground turkey to the sauce.  We also did acorn squash in the instant pot with a side salad, avocado pesto pasta, and chicken noodle soup in the instant pot (I’m working on getting this recipe up, it was delicious).

Snacks

Snacks this week included this zucchini banana bread that I made for the second week in a row.  It’s so good!  I also made roasted honey almond cashew butter.  Let me know if you’d like the recipe, there’s nothing better than homemade nut butter (PS Jord HATES the phrase nut butter hahaha but that’s what it is so I don’t know what else to call it)!  I like to keep chopped veggies in the fridge so that I can grab some for Theo and I during the day.  He just learned how glorious food can be when dipped in a sauce, so we’ve been doing lots of hummus over here lately and he’s been having so much fun dipping. We also usually have one smoothie a day.  This week I made this Matcha smoothie bowl from Oh She Glows.  It was so delicious, I could eat it every single day!  Fyi, I left out the Matcha for Theo because it has caffeine.

Follow me on Instagram to see more of our daily meals!

*This post contains affiliate links.

You Might Also Like