New Year, New Habits (this is a really long post)

I am so excited to blog about this! My New Year's resolution is to invest a little more time in meal planning and work on increasing my kids' healthy eating habits while reducing the unhealthy ones. I know it's only January 2, but so far I am doing well on both counts. Tonight, I actually prepared a pork roast. Yes, it was pre-marinated, but I baked it, checked the temp, and it came out juicy and delicious! Maybe next time I'll actually cook potatoes instead of serving instant, but that's all right. A bona fide, sit-down-around-the-table-and-say-grace meal was enjoyed by my family tonight. And the kids ate well...they even ate small servings of peas! Which leads me to my next topic:

For weeks I have done some reading up on and comparing of two similar books: Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld and The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine. Both are cookbooks offering moms strategies for sneaking veggies into our children's food--primarily by pureeing vegetables and adding them as ingredients hidden in the dishes. I even spent a few hours at Barnes and Noble skimming through both of them (this was one of the few times I spent with myself this holiday break--what a treat! If you haven't gone browsing by yourself at a bookstore lately, I highly recommend it. It was great therapy.) I'm not going to get into the pros and cons of both books here. I decided to invest in Seinfeld's book, mostly because I am NOT a great cook and her 'busy-mom to busy-mom' style was laid back and less threatening (yes, I said threatening. I really do get stressed out when it comes to meal prep). Her puree add-ins are single-ingredient, which also seemed more up my "easy alley" than Lapine's combo purees.

So, on New Year's Eve day I bought the book, made a shopping list from the book while still at B & N, and headed out to buy some fresh vegetables, a rice steamer, and a mini food processor, both of which I got for under $80 total at Kohl's. I bought the Rocket, a cheaper version of the Magic Bullet. After we got the kids to bed that night, Kris hung out on the computer and I spent a few hours in the kitchen steaming cauliflower, roasting squash (never done THAT before), and pureeing my little heart out. It was fun! I learned that a rice steamer also steams veggies so that they are tender yet firm, maintain their color (and thus, the vitamins), and taste wonderful! But I digress. I made two purees: cauliflower and squash, in 1/2 cup servings.

The next morning, I tried Jessica's recipe for pancakes with sweet potato puree in the batter (I used a leftover jar of babyfood for this one). They weren't as fluffy as regular pancakes, but they tasted really good. The best part: all three kids ate them up without detecting the hidden sweet potatoes! Grant noticed that the texture and color were slightly different, but I told him it was because I added cinnamon to the batter, which I did. I also tried one of Jessica's tips--giving the boys their syrup in small medicine cups so they could pour it on themselves. They loved that.

Thus far, I have also made her Greek dip, with pureed chickpeas and artichokes, parmesan cheese, lowfat mayo, lemon juice, and a few other ingredients I forget right now, which I think is fabulous. That's just for me. And this morning, I made scrambled eggs with pureed cauliflower added in. Can you believe it? Again, the boys didn't notice it and they both ate it up. I confess, I still added cheese b/c Grant really likes cheese in his eggs, but I think the real diversion was the fact that I treated them to green eggs via food coloring. That's always a hit at our house. Finally, this afternoon I made Jessica's applesauce muffins with unsweetened applesauce, oatmeal, and pureed squash. They aren't as sweet as Grant would have liked, but he still ate his, and Ross and Hope devoured two apiece. I really love these because without as much sugar you can actually taste the cinnamon and applesauce. I might add in a little Splenda next time I make them.

So, just to recap: in the last 48 hours my kids have eaten cauliflower, squash, and sweet potatoes (none of which they would have touched had I served them outright) all because I
1. actually cooked and baked, and 2. invested a little time and thought into planning ahead. If any of the rest of you have tried either of these cookbooks, I'd love to hear your experiences.

Time to Refocus

I fell off the Healthy Eating wagon this week. Damn! I was doing really well, too. But being around all the holiday goodies, combined with being stuck inside during all this snowy weather, has taken it's toll. The damage will be revealed tomorrow morning at my Jenny Craig weigh in. One good thing about going back to work will be more structure and less time to nibble. Here's a pic of me with three of my good friends from college at our 10 year reunion in October 2005. THIS is how I want to look again--no double chin in this photo!

Just Chilling

It's after midnight. I should be in bed, but instead I've been on the computer for over two hours--reading the Sunday paper, blogs, facebook, checking out movie times, scheduling Hope's one-year photos, and oh yes--watching video clips from Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew2 on vh1.com. Kris is out of town until tomorrow afternoon, and it's been a busy weekend with the kids. This is my time. It's the only time of day where I have the luxury of focusing on only one thing for longer than about 90 seconds. I also painted my nails fire engine red, enjoyed some wine, and ate a little more sinful holiday food. Back to Jenny Craig tomorrow.

So to all of you, take some chill time for yourselves.

Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas with everyone in our extended families from Great Grandma Alice all the way down to baby Brady Stafford. Some highlights:

My firstborn turning seven years old! Where did the years go? He is a handsome, bright, creative, artistic, athletic, kind, thoughtful boy.

Hope's first Christmas--she looked so pretty in her holiday outfits. See for yourself!

Ross opening one gift on Christmas Eve and then stacking the rest of his gifts in the hallway--unopened. We all tried to get him to open his gifts but he just wasn't interested. So odd! He finally opened them...the next afternoon.

Ross and Grandpa Ward horsing around--wide smiles and lots of giggling.

Kris and me making french toast and deer sausage for our brood on Christmas morning. Yum!

A relaxing Christmas morning opening Santa gifts, eating breakfast, playing, and just lounging.

Me turning 36. Yes, Grant and I share a Christmas birthday. :)

Christmas blessings...

to all my blog friends. The boys are playing, Hope is napping, Kris and I are lounging around the house. All is right in our little corner of the world. May you have a joyous Christmas Eve and a wondrous Christmas Day!

A Typical Saturday Morning...

This morning, after feeding the kids breakfast, cleaning up the kitchen, getting Ross settled into a movie, helping Grant navigate nickjr.com to play some computer games, and getting Hope dressed, I decided to seize the opportunity to take a quick shower while Hope played quietly with toys in the bathroom....here's how it went:

Turn on water. Climb in. exhale a sigh of relief at the hot water and peace and quiet.

Oops. Exhaled too soon.

Ross, tromping up the stairs and into the bathroom: "Mommy! I have to go potty."

Me: "Try to unzip your jammies so you can sit on the toilet."

Ross, crying in frustration: "I need help!!" I peek out behind the shower curtain to see him flail-kicking his feet in a futile effort to whip the footie pajamas off his feet.

Me: "All right! I can help you, but you have to scoot closer because I can't reach you." I grab the toes of the jammies and yank them off, dripping a little water on them.

Ross: "Mom! It's wet!" Um, yeah, it is. I'm in the shower for pete's sake!

Me: "Okay. Rip off your pull up and sit on the potty."

It's quiet again. I lather up my hair and wash my face.

Ross, excitedly: "MOM! I went poop!" Super. How am I supposed to wipe his butt while I'm in the shower? Oh hell, he can walk around for a minute until I finish.

Me: "Try to wipe you bottom. I'll finish it when I get out." At this point, I hear the footsteps of my eldest barrelling down the hallway.

Grant: "AAHHHHRRGHH! I HATE it when this happens, mom! I accidentally hit something on the computer and lost my game and I was on level three! Now I'm gonna have to start over! UHHAHH!" (I'm not quite sure how to capture angry whining in print)

Ross: "Mom, I got poop on my finger!"

Me, losing it: "All right! Ross, come over here! I'll wash off your finger. Grant, all I wanted to do was have 20 minutes to shower and get ready without the two of you bugging me! GO GET DRESSED!"

I can hear little thumps on the bathroom floor. I peek out again and see that it's Hope. Sweet little Hope, scooting around on her bottom.

Finish showering. Turn off water. Climb out and dry off. Wipe a poop marble out of Ross's butt while both of us are stark naked. Lovely.


What is it about being a mom that turns you into a female version of the Pied Piper of Hamelin? When I go to the bathroom, they find me and walk in without even pausing. "Mom, guess what? Ross threw a lego at me and it almost hit the side of my head." When I'm getting dressed, they come in. "You have boobies, mommy." When I take Hope upstairs for her nap, two boys who were completely oblivious to my presence mere moments ago suddenly realize I am not on the same floor of the house as they are, and they race up and into Hope's room to be with me.

May I just say that in our house, the boys NEVER walk in on Daddy in the bathroom or follow him all over the place. I guess I'm just special. ;)

Parenting Drama

My friend AJ's recent post on her blog inspired me to tell a few of my day to day stories of....MOM ON THE RANT.

I love my boys to pieces, but more often than not these days, they hear me say any one (or more) of the following:

You guys are driving me nuts!
Mom's going crazy!
Lord, have mercy.
What the...? ROSS!!!!

Ross. He's my pistol. Red headed, strong willed, and two and a half. You do the math.

This morning, Kris left for work early so I was responsible for finishing breakfast and getting all four of us out the door. I was aiming for an 8am departure and doing pretty well: Grant had brushed his teeth, blown his nose, put on his shoes, and was zipping his coat. I had Hope buckled into her carseat, hood up, blanket tucked from her feet to her chin, and nuk in mouth. My bags were packed, I started the car, and had my own coat on. Ross had been playing "hide and peek" by opening and closing the bathroom door about a million times, but whatever. I opened the door with his coat in hand and what do I smell? The little stinker crapped in his pull up! Damn!

So--I quickly walked Grant across the street to walk to school so he wouldn't be late, then raced back into the house to change Ross. Coat off, leave baby in carseat on table, and get Ross upstairs to a bathroom with wipes. He was crying because he wanted to walk Grant to the neighbors, too. when I tried to explain that we needed to change his pants, he became ticked and screamed...and screamed....and screamed. This is what he does when he's mad and tantruming. I practically had to wrestle the 36 pound bruiser to the floor to get the poopy pull up off and clean him up. "Ross, stop screaming. It hurts mommy's ears." SCREAM "Ross! Stop it! Be quiet!" SCREAM "Put your feet in the pull up!" And on and on. We finally made it downstairs and after more resisting--the kid is obstinate--I got his coat on, buckled him into the van, put Hope in the van (poor Hope...she waited a long time this morning), and got us out the driveway--at 8:20.

OH MY GOSH. And that was just the morning. Pick up at the end of the day involved an even bigger tantrum because he wanted to change his wet pull up and I took his shoe off for him to start the process. "NO! I was doing that, Mommy!" SCREAM, SCREAM, SCREAM! Right there in the middle of Lommen Hall, Ross fell to the grimy hallway floor for an all-out tantrum.

I have to give credit to Grant--he remained calm the entire time, which helped me hang on to a few threads of sanity.