Once A Month Cooking with a Friend

So this is my third round of Once A Month Cooking, or I guess I should say Once Every Couple of Months Cooking.  I did it in May, July, and now September.  Each experience has been different with things that worked and things to change for next time, but one this is for sure--I am sold!  It is so worth it to me to do a whole lot of work all at once, and then have weeks and weeks of reaping the benefit when 5pm rolls around.  This time I partnered with my friend, Tynisia.  We cooked for almost 10 hours and made a LOT of food.

So much prep went into our big cooking day...choosing meals, planning out the day, shopping , etc. We started bright and early at around 8am.  

Here is Tynisia at the "burrito station." 

Putting our crockpots to work making Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup

Our little troopers!  Once a Month Cooking while nursing-the good thing is it forced us to sit down every few hours! :)

Now our freezers are full and we're recovering!

Highlights from the first 8 weeks

A parenting book I have pretty much memorized calls the first 8 weeks the "stabilization" phase.  Well, here we are at 8 weeks and I'm feeling pretty stable!  Life really has become a new version of normal.  Adjusting to two kids has had it's ups and downs, but overall I'd say it has been a lot smoother than I thought.  Here are some highlights of the last 8 weeks:

• His birth was a lot smoother (and shorter) than his brother's.  Landon arrived 4 days past his due date.  After a month of contractions and feeling SO uncomfortable, I was happy to be induced.  I was already 3-4cm when I arrived at the hospital.  At least those contractions were doing something!  At 10am, my doctor broke my water and started pitocin.  By 12pm I got an epidural (it worked this time and was AMAZING), and after 20 minutes of pushing, Landon made his debut at 7:22pm.  

• Landon is a big boy and a great eater.  He is currently the size Connor was at about 4-5 months. Sorry to those of you who made or bought him really cute newborn clothes--he was just too big.    The only downside to having a big baby is that my tailbone broke during delivery.  I bruised it during Connor's delivery, but this time I actually heard a loud pop right before he came out.  It's supposed to start feeling better by 8 weeks.  Still waiting on that...

• Connor LOVES his "bebe"!  He gives him kisses every chance he gets.  He didn't show any signs of jealousy at all.

• Landon started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks.  Yay for a good night's sleep!

• The boys go to bed together every night.  This was huge for me.  No matter how crazy the day is, I know that once 7:45pm rolls around, they will be in bed for the night and I can relax a little (or clean up the tornado of toys Connor leaves behind).  

• Landon figured out pretty quickly how to self-sooth.  At 6ish weeks he started to discover his thumb.  Now at 8 weeks, as long as he can insert his thumb into his mouth, he will usually go to sleep with no crying.  

• I started back at the gym at 6 weeks post partum! Hooray! Still waiting on any sort of results, but I'm hopeful. 

• Derek had to go out of town for 5 days when Landon was 5 weeks old and we all survived it!

• Landon takes a pacifier and a bottle.  Amazing.

• Derek got me a Keurig! :) There's just something about that perfect cup of coffee in the morning that makes life a little sweeter.

• We realized very quickly that life with a newborn is VERY different than life with a newborn and a toddler.  Landon has been a trooper...going to the beach at 1wk and 2 wks old, being nursed in very random places like the car (often), the beach boardwalk, and the elevator (AWKWARD), falling asleep with a 21 month old talking loudly in the bed next to you, etc.

• Somehow the Once a Month Cooking that Shawna and I did in the beginning of July turned into Once Every Three Month Cooking.  It has been like that story in the Bible where the widow's oil just kept pouring into jar after jar.  I keep finding more and more meals in the freezer. :) 

Life is insanely busy and full with 2 kids, but it's worth it.  I love being a mom and I love our family of 4!

Update on baby and other happenings

Just when I thought the last few weeks of pregnancy would be me wishing and hoping ANYTHING would happen to speed things along, this week happened.  I got my wish!

Connor had his 18 month appointment last Friday.  He was fine the whole day, but woke up the next morning burning up!  I've never had that experience before--rushing a little one to a cold bath and trying to stay calm while totally freaking out inside.  They warned me that a fever was likely, but he has never had one that high.  That was also the morning of a baby shower for Landon at our place.  Thankfully the tylenol helped and he was able to go out for a couple hours with daddy while we celebrated his soon-to-be-here little brother.

What a neat idea! Landon has some very personalized onsies :)

They are the best party-throwers ever.  We had such a nice, fun time!

The rest of the weekend was spent giving Connor tylenol and trying to keep him from being miserable. Then Derek started getting sick. :(  He went surfing Saturday morning before the shower and the water was really dirty.  Both he and his surfing buddy got sick.  By Monday night he was in bed with the flu.

Monday morning Connor took a fall and hit his head.  It turned out to be minor, but to rule out a concussion I had to wake him every 2-4 hours during nap and night time for two days.

Tuesday Derek stayed home sick from work.  Connor recovered from his shots and the fall, but wasn't the happiest baby on the block due to both of his top canine teeth coming in.

I started having contraction at around 2pm on Tuesday.  I've had Braxton Hicks contractions since about 18 weeks, so I'm used to them.  I actually almost went to the hospital Saturday night because they were coming so consistently, but after 2 hours, they started to taper off.  Well, they were consistently coming every 4-5 minutes for about 5 hours, so my doctor said I needed to go to the hospital.

I really didn't want to go.  My mom was out of town (and freaking out!) and Derek was sick in bed.  I also figured that I'd be in a lot more pain if I was actually in labor.  But I followed the doctor's orders and Wendy (a dear family friend) came and drove me to the hospital and Shawna met us there.

I am not kidding--right when I rolled onto that hospital bed, the contractions started!  They were every few minutes and painful...nothing like the BH contractions I had been having.  After getting checked a few times and monitored for a few hours, I had only gone from a 1 to 2 cm dilated.  The nurse said she felt bad because there wasn't much she could do.  At 37 weeks, they won't stop labor and they won't speed it up.  She gave me the option of staying but said I'd be more comfortable at home.

I went home and woke up with the same thing Derek had.  The good thing is that the contractions really did slow down.  I'm still having them regularly, but nothing like Tuesday night.

Leaving the hospital at 11:30pm Tuesday night @ 37 weeks

So here we are! Derek is taking medicine for strep throat, I'm gargling with salt water all day (which Connor thinks is hilarious), and we are happy if this baby waits a little while longer!

Oh, and yesterday we transitioned Connor to his toddler bed.  Why not?  So far so good!

My first once-a-month-cooking experience

OAMC.  Once a month cooking.  That was one line item on my list of things to do this week.  In hindsight, I should have probably left it off and instead made a gigantic list of all the millions of tasks included in "OAMC".  For someone who loves to check things off as much as I do, that would have been WAY more fun and WAY more rewarding.

Amidst the chaos

I really can't believe people do this every month, and most of them do it in one day! It took me four days...four LONG days of sore feet, dishes, aluminum foil, DISHES, ziplocs, and more dishes.  Of course I didn't cook non-stop.  I squeezed it in during nap time, bedtime, and here and there throughout the day when Connor was happily entertaining himself.  He was a trooper! And he loved the really off key song I made up and sang at the end of it: "I'm done cooking.  I'm really done!  I'm done!!!  I'm done!!!!"  I think I was on the verge of going crazy. :)

I actually do hope I'm one of those crazy people who will do this once a month.  Next month I'll be 8 months pregnant. I don't know how that's going to work exactly, but if there's ever a good time to fill the freezer with meals, it's when you're 8 months pregnant.  Now I know it can be done.  And I'm sure over the next few weeks when I don't have to cook much, I'll get very motivated to do it all over again.  

Amazing! 12 dinners just sitting there!

Foil...ziplocs...foil...ziplocs...foil...

This is a tiny fraction of the amount of dishes I've washed over the last few days

Connor had quite a fun lunch while I was busy cooking something...I pretty much had to hose him down afterward.

Battle wound

Here is what is now in the freezer:

16 dinners (each dinner is enough for 3 adults)
A dozen cheese/garlic biscuits
10 breakfast burritos
14 bean/beef/rice/cheese burritos
18 whole wheat cornbread muffins
2 servings of pizza sauce
Chicken for bbq chicken pizza
2 pizza doughs
Taco meat
3 things of baked oatmeal

The Boys' Room is Finished!

I am SO glad to cross this "project" off my list of things to do.  It took a really long time and involved a lot of tasks that I wasn't very comfortable doing (I don't consider myself a crafty person and there are lots of "crafty things" in this room).  But I did it and now it's done--with 9 weeks to spare! The end result is pretty much what I envisioned--sort of a bright and colorful ocean-themed room.  It will work for a couple years I hope.

That little guy in the crib is not, in fact, Landon.  But we aren't quite ready to make the toddler bed transition so he gets to stare at Landon's letters for a while longer.  

Couldn't find cute bookends, so like most things in this room, I thought "Why don't I just make them?"  Now I'm very prepared in case I'm ever asked to make little bean bags for carnival games.

I couldn't find toddler bedding I liked, so I used the extra fabric I had  (plus the curtains I made for his last room) and he has toddler bedding!

First time I've made pillows!

Connor's "pirate" quilt

Landon's "sea creature" quilt

I also looked for one of these, but I ended up just making it. 

The crib skirt

This isn't part of the room, of course, but I got really excited about how it turned out.  

Drum roll please...(baby name announcement!)

We kept Connor's name a secret for a few reasons, and it was definitely an experience trying to keep it a secret for that long.  In hindsight, I wouldn't necessarily say it was the best experience, and here's why:

1. Nicknames Connor got while in the womb: Spanky (thanks to his uncles) and Enrique (because I liked spicy food so much while pregnant with him).  Luckily neither name stuck, although my friends will occasionally slip and call Connor Enrique.

2.  It nearly destroyed a couple family relationships when Derek and I stood our ground even though we were faced with RELENTLESS peer pressure to divulge the name (you know who you are!) :)

3.  It was really, really uncomfortable every time someone would ask what we're naming him.  "We aren't telling."  Brief but AWKWARD silence usually followed.

So, we have decided that this baby boy's name will not be a secret!

Connor's little brother is...

(The N looks funny because it's actually two V's I think.)
 
We both just like the name, and we are still undecided on a middle name.

Connor and his milestones

Tomorrow our little boy with be 15 months old.  He really is getting quite grown up.  He loves to read his books, play with all of his musical toys, and explore everywhere and everything he possibly can.  He is so curious! And his new favorite thing to do is climb.

The other day I was in his room hanging up some of his shirts.  I looked behind me and there he was, almost on top of his dresser.  He had climbed from the nursing stool onto the glider and was going after his books on top of the dresser.  For a kid who has been "late" on all the physical milestones, this new eagerness is surprising me.

I was so worried in the beginning when it was taking him so long to roll over.  I think he finally rolled over at 6 months or maybe later.  I was slightly less worried about him not being interesting in crawling, but I definitely still did worry.  Just before 10 months old he started army crawling.  I was a little concerned that he started normal-crawling at 12 months, because that's around the time that most kids start walking.

Clearly he had his own timeline for these "milestones".

I'm happy to say that I finally relaxed about when Connor would start walking.  He took his first steps at 13.5 months, and for the next month or so was happy to take a few steps and that was it.  Just this past week he has started "taking off" and he'll be 15 months tomorrow.

Our little Trojan is practically unstoppable these days!

I have a feeling my days of chasing him everywhere are right around the corner and will last for years to come. :)  And I've learned a valuable lesson: some kids don't exactly go "by the book" but that is perfectly ok.  He is a happy, healthy, and active kid who just wanted to take his time with certain things.