I'm not a good cook. I can't whip up a recipe off the top of my head. And truth be told, I didn't come up with this one. My sister-in-law made it once when we were over for dinner. And I was HOOKED. What's make it even better? It's healthy and it is SUPER easy.
Tomato Salad
Ingredients:
Sunburst Tomatoes
1/2 can of Black Olives
1/2 container of fresh mozzarella (I got these Chiliegine from Trader Joe's)
Olive Oil
1. Cut tomatoes in half.
2. Cut olives in half.
3. Cut mozzerella into similar size pieces (depends on what size of mozzarella you get).
4. Drizzle with a little olive oil and stir
Seriously, I could eat this whole bowl for an entire meal. I've made it at least once a week for the past few weeks. It is SO GOOD!!!!
Despite all of my hopes that this week would start off great, it did not.
We had a little hiccup when Henry's medicine accidentally got dropped on the floor. Turns out the lid wasn't on all the way... we had a bit of a mess. It was an accident but still annoying. When I first called the pharmacist this morning, she explained that I might end up having to pay full price for another prescription. It would have been like $72 for 2 or 3 doses. Thankfully, the doctor's office said we can just use what we have left and to let them know if it seems like Henry's ears are bothering him again.
But that wasn't the only reason yesterday morning was hard.
According to Henry, it was also hard because we are awful parents. Below is a list of all the wrongs we, Henry's parents, committed yesterday morning:
1. We made him get out of bed.
2. We took off his jammies.
3. We changed his messy, wet diaper.
4. We made him put on comfy clothes.
5. We didn't give him his blankie fast enough.
6. We walked out of his room too quickly.
7. I tried to give him some cereal.
8. Phil tried to let him pick a pacifier.
9. We took him out of his seat once he was done with his medicine.
10. We made him put his Batman sweatshirt on (the same one he wouldn't take off yesterday).
11. We put him in the car.
12. I tried giving him his cereal again.
13. I tried giving him his pacifier.
14. We backed out of the driveway.
15. After he had calmed down, I tried giving him his cereal again.
Obviously, the list of wrongs goes on and on.
He cried so much yesterday on the way to daycare, his face was still splotchy when we got there.
{It wasn't as cute as these older pictures depict}
He calmed down after I sang "The Point of No Return" from Phantom of the Opera. I didn't get applause but the lack of crying was reward enough.
The worst part was the Phil and I let Henry's tantrum affect our moods. We definitely need to get better about keeping it cool and calm when he is acting up. Because I'm 100% positive it will happen again.
I'm really hoping that Tuesday morning goes better, but I won't really know because I am at work super early (read: 5 am).
We didn't go on any adventures this weekend. No mountain climbing. There were no parties thrown or anything like it. It was a pretty uneventful weekend filled with lots of family time, a little working out, grocery shopping, trips to Costco. And it was awesome.
I have a tendency to overschedule, so weekends spent relaxing are kind of nice.
Here are some highlights from our weekend of nothing.
{Our own Batman, reading about Batman}
{FaceTime with Grandma while wearing Daddy's hat}
{If we say, "Do you want to call Grandma Faith?" he immediately runs over to grab the computer with a big smile on his face}
{I was able to give him a haircut thanks to 101 Dalmatians and Daddy handing him dried blueberries one at a time. Other than the fact that his sideburns are even, it isn't too bad}
{Reading books with Daddy. He had to have his Batman sweatshirt on, but couldn't be wearing pants}
I feel like this is going to be a great week. I was able to finish something Friday afternoon that I spent all week on, literally staring at a sheet of paper for 2 days. So even though I have a big deadline this week, I get to start with a clean slate.
Friday the 13th. I'm just super excited it is FRIDAY!!! I have high hopes for my productivity at work today. I'm going to knock several things out of the park today, I just know it. :) Here's a mix of random for you on this fine Friday.
1. Because tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I'm sure every daycare/preschool/classroom is celebration Valentine's Day today. Henry's baby room is no exception. I have to admit that I had a hard time buying into classroom parties last year when Henry was a legit baby (not a toddler). I mean, he could barely crawl so I'm pretty sure the concept of Valentine's Day was lost on him. But now that he is talking, I get more and more excited to celebrate holidays with him.
But I still don't think he needs candy.
So I scoured the internet (ok really just Pinterest) and found THESE cute printables. I decided I would rather the babies in his room get doughnut holes than a lollipop.
So here are Henry's Valentines:
2. There other day on Facebook, I saw this article from Buzzfeed. And because I am a HUGE Potterhead, I watched the video.
But it brought up something about the last movie that REALLY bothered me. And it is visible in the video above.
Through out the all of the books (and the movies) characters mention over and OVER how Henry looks just like his father except for his eyes. He has his mother's eyes. In case you aren't a weirdo and can't remember, his eyes look like this:
BLUE.
Very blue.
The little girl in that video... what color are her eyes?
BROWN!!
Why?! I mean, this seems like something that CGI or colored contacts could have easily fixed. I mean, did they not notice this? It seems like such a necessary casting detail to pay attention to.
3. Toddler tantrums are pretty much a daily occurrence in our household. In a way, it kind of makes me feel like we are doing something right. Like we aren't raising a spoiled child who gets everything that he wants. But they still suck.
Last night, he had a MASSIVE tantrum when we were leaving Grandma's house. It lasted probably 10 minutes, including when I was putting him in the car. And the only way I could get him to calm down was to turn all sound off in the car and be totally silent.
It didn't take but 15 seconds of that and he was calmed down.
Maybe it was a fluke. Or maybe it was magic. But I am definitely going to try that again the next time he has a tantrum in the car (which I'm 99.9% positive WILL happen again).
4. Because things have been so busy at work (and they aren't showing signs of calming down any time soon thankfully), I have been making a conscious effort to take care of myself a little. And that means I am taking more baths.
When we were house hunting, I had basically 2 things on my "must have" list. One was the master bedroom had to have room for a king size bed (Phil is a big guy and I like my space when I'm sleeping). And the other was I needed a decent bath tub.
5. When I was making Henry's Valentines, I needed a stapler to attach the printable to the baggie. It suddenly dawned on me that we don't have a regular stapler. The only stapler we have is this one:
Ears, ears, EARS. We like our ears. It's good, it's good to hear with ears.
Well, Henry's ears have not been super cooperative lately.
{"Let's get out of here, Mom"}
We are on I think our 4th, 5th, or 6th ear infection of 2015. I honestly can't remember. It's at least his 4th. (Another reason blogging has been scarce) What's super frustrating is that the ear infections ARE clearing up in between, but the fluid isn't going away. Which means we end up with another ear infection like 2 weeks after we finish antibiotics.
A quick tip about antibiotics: Augmentin (which they have prescribed for Henry on multiple occasions) is the chalky looking white liquid with a super sweet smell. I mentioned on facebook that Henry was having a hard time taking this medicine, a friend of mine told me that it isn't flavored and that the pharmacy can flavor it for you (I can't taste it because I'm allergic to it). So I paid $3 and had Walgreen's add some bubble gum flavor. Ever since, he has taken it like a champ. Totally worth the $3. Also, we have noticed that giving Henry yogurt twice a day and putting diaper rash cream on constantly helped keep those side effects from getting horrible.
Henry comes by his bad eustachian tubes naturally. I had chronic ear infections, with tubes at 8 months and then again when I was about 8. My dad had horrible ear infections as a kid and subsequently has horrible hearing. I think he got his first set of hearing aids at 40. I KNOW my hearing has suffered because of all the ear infections I had, and that is definitely not something I want for Henry. Not to mention, I have vivid memories of them being super painful.
Since we have DEFINITELY passed the pediatric's benchmark of "4 ear infections in 6 months", we were headed to the ENT for a consultation regarding ear tubes. Well, us and 2 convicts. There's something really strange about sitting in a waiting room with your toddler and then having 2 guys in full on shackles shuffling into the waiting room. They were accompanied by officers from the penitentiary, so I am sure their crimes were non-violent (yeah right).
Anyway... Henry is getting some ear tubes. This is how he felt about it:
Phil and I feel the complete opposite. For so many reasons, I am excited for Henry's ears to get some relief. For one, the audiologist said he is showing signs of hearing loss (which will go away after the tubes are in and the fluid around his ear drums drains).
For the time being, we are currently waiting to get his surgery scheduled. It is kind of funny because the clinic has online patient charts and portals, I filled out all the paperwork online, Henry's pediatrician and the ENT office sent his chart back and forth electronically. But to get his surgery scheduled, we have to wait for a letter in the mail. Once we get the letter, then I can call and schedule his surgery. A letter in the mail? Might as well be waiting for the pony express. I have been wondering how many ear infections he will have while we wait for his surgery date. So far, the tally is up to 1.
Also, Henry weighs 30 lbs 2.5 oz as of yesterday. If you were to assume he was a 2 year old (which he is getting close to being), with his height and his weight, the CDC would label him as obese.
Which just seems funny to me. He's not obese. There's a slight chance I got his height wrong for this. I certainly wouldn't call him obese.
Because Henry is a bigger guy (I won't call him obese because he is not), the pharmacist usually won't fill his prescription right away. They always want to confirm his weight because they think the dose will be too high for a child of his age. I guess they trust my memory more than the doctor's prescription.
Well, let's see. My last post was who knows how long ago.
Too long.
It's been a busy month around these parts and not with anything super exciting. I did throw a baby shower, which I want to blog about. But other than that, I've mainly been working.
I worked a couple of 50+ hour weeks a couple of weeks ago. And since that, it's been over 40 hours a week.
Honestly, I just haven't had much to blog about.
I mean, unless people want to read about last Monday when I read magazines and drank tea while watching The Bachelor and it pretty much was the best thing ever. Because it totally was. So I am trying to recreate it this week with some nail painting and maybe some knitting (if my nails dry). Definitely going to need some Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Pretzel Thins.
I'm pretty sure they will because I used CND Vinylux. It's similar to shellac/gel manicures, but doesn't take the UV light. It dries hard in like 7 minutes. I've used it with other CND polish colors and regular nail polish and it definitely extends the length of the manicure. PLUS... it isn't that spendy.
Also, I decided I needed to kick it into gear when it comes to fitness. I've been going to the gym at lunch with my cube mate for the last year or so. We only end up getting between 20-30 minutes of weight lifting in a day, but it has really helped. Some days when the weather is nice, we go for walks. She walks super fast so that is a definite work out. But I need to add something else in to help firm up the cancer/pregnancy changes that took place.
I'm so excited that the #1800minutechallenge started. It was exactly what I needed to kick myself into gear. Basically you try to log 1800 minutes of exercise by the end of March (averaging 30 minutes a day).
I'm off to a pretty good start. I had to miss a couple of days last week, so I am a little behind, but I am hoping I can catch up quickly. My cube mate and I went to power yoga this last weekend and it was SO HARD. I mean, I have done yoga before, but at one point, I swear I could feel my quad ripping off of my bone. Somehow, I survived the hour and definitely want to go back.
Also, I started teaching myself how to knit.
See... super exciting.
Ok so this post really has no rhyme or reason. What can I say? I'm out of practice.
I'll work on it.
Henry has decided that clothes are optional at home. You know what isn't optional? A diaper. I'm standing firm on that one until he proves bladder control.
