A Mommy-Free Weekend

Before Little Miss S arrived, I spent many a girls weekend/week in Charleston with Kimberly and Cara. Since then, we haven't gone away once. Cara also has a 2-year-old, just a few months younger than Little Miss, and is expecting a little girl in December, so the window for a girls weekend was narrowing. We decided to go this past weekend because we could do the Preservation Society of Charleston's Fall Tour of Homes and Gardens. We stayed at a hotel owned by Kimberly's vacation club that is on East Bay Street two blocks from the Market - great location!

We had a great time despite the winds and rain from the edges of Hurricane Sandy. We ate at new restaurants (shocking for us because we usually go to the same places over and over). We had dinner at Lowcountry Bistro Friday night. Yummy crab dip, yummy chicken, yummy sweet potato waffle, yummy pecan pie AND a great (but slightly breezy) seat on the piazza overlooking the Market. We also found a good little place for breakfast right around the corner from the hotel: Dixie Supply Bakery and Cafe, and we ate at an Italian place we've walked by a zillion times without eating there: Boccis Italian Restaurant. And of course, we stopped at Kaminskys for dessert on Saturday night!

While we shopped, ate, toured, tried to stay dry, ate, and shopped some more, Stephen had Daddy duty all weekend. I was honestly prepared for a worst case scenario. Little Miss did okay on a Sunday with Daddy while I was at Steph's baby shower in Spartanburg, but melted down for him the next night when I went to Ladies' Night Out. Little Miss was also calling for me/crying as we drove away Friday afternoon (Kimberly and Cara said she was clearly not buying my story that she was going to have a fun time with Daddy based on the stink eye she was giving them). Instead we got a best case scenario weekend! He said she was really good all weekend and only went to time out once for her new trick of turning the lights on and off and on and off and... you get the idea.

We did plan for this mommy-free weekend by having Mammy and Pop come up on Saturday. When they're here, Little Miss is too busy to miss Mommy! As soon as she got up, they whisked her away to a breakfast of grits, bacon, toast, and scrambled eggs (her favorite meal in the entire world), a visit to Great-Great-Aunt Miriam, the State Museum, and THEN lunch at Chick-fil-a. It didn't hurt that they brought her a little Minnie Mouse tambourine, which she LOVES.

The highlight of the day was apparently the Piggly Wiggly Pig at the State Museum because when I asked her what she did over the weekend, one of the first things she said was "I see pig!" She was super-excited about that pig. (Do not ask me what happened to the child's hair while I was gone. I left a bow attached to every outfit I laid out. I'm hoping these are post-nap photos and NOT how she went out all day! Her hair looked cute on Sunday when I got home, so I'm pretty sure it's the former!)

When I got back on Sunday, Little Miss was excited to see me and the Legare animal and book pack I brought back for her! She was less excited that we met at the doctor's office, so that she could get her flu shot. Like ZERO excited. Like screaming walking down the hall because the nurse put her gloves on in the hallway and Little Miss KNOWS that gloves = shots. But it was a quick in-and-out, and she was calm by the time we got back to the car. However, she doesn't like band-aids because she asked me to take off the "sticker" before we were even home. 

The fact that we were going to a party (which she was still asking to go to a party this morning) helped out even more! Our Sunday small group had split into a men's study and a women's study for the church-wide campaign this fall. We haven't been going because we're also doing the church-wide study in Sunday school. Anyway, there was a moms and kids Halloween party last night for small group, so Little Miss S and I went. I didn't want to have to wash the Halloween costume AGAIN before Wednesday, so I raided the dress up trunk. I came out with a lavender tutu, a lavender and green floral headdress thing, and a pair of lavender fairy wings. A long sleeve white shirt and lime green tights that matched the headdress and we were in business, especially since Little Miss was excited about these options. The headdress, like the Minnie ears, didn't stay on for long though.

 

She had a really good time - playing with a tricycle, watching the BIG dog in the backyard, watching Minnie Mouse on TV, etc. When we left, she said it was a "fun party" (note: she said this as she FINALLY ate her grilled cheese, which she was too busy to eat during the party)!

So all-in-all a successful and fun Mommy-Free Weekend!

Real Food Journey #2

I went to the Farmers Market at the Flight Deck. Clearly the last week was a bad choice for trying it for the first time. There were TWO food vendors there and maybe five or six total. The vegetables didn't look bad, but I didn't need anything right now, plus our CSA basket comes Thursdays. What I was looking for was the meat and fish vendors they sometimes have. No such luck. I'll have to try again when it reopens in March! And I do plan to try the All Local one in downtown Columbia. I just need to figure out a Saturday when I'm home to go. Plus you have to get there early when it opens at like 8, which is early, so... But I will make it!

I also started working more on Goal #4 (looking for more sources of local meats, eggs, and dairy products, especially meats right now). I found a source for grass-fed beef and pastured poultry in Georgia that ships. They actually have reasonable prices ($5.99/lb. for grass-fed 90/10 ground beef - that's not much more than regular priced grocery store 90/10 ground beef) and shipping isn't outrageous. I want to do a little bit more research on them, but I think we might go that route for some of our meat! It's called White Oak Pastures. Supposedly they stock them in Publix supermarkets, but I haven't seen it in ours. I'm going to look again and then ask about it. If I can get it here for a reasonable price, then I'd rather do that. I also need to check out Earth Fare, the new Whole Foods, and Rosewood Market to see what their meat selection/prices are like. I have seen some local meat at 14 Carrot, but haven't priced it. I'm assuming that the shipping might be negated if I take into account the supermarket mark up. So lots more work to do there!

Some might ask about the increased price of this type of meat v. our food budget. Here 's an interesting post from 100 Days about their Week 3 Mini-Pledge on Meat. What I've found is that I feel like I'm using a little less meat than I might have before. The Volumetrics cookbook adds in extra vegetables to a lot of their recipes, so you don't need as much meat for a filing meal. The chili I made this week, for example, only uses 1/2 lb. of ground beef because it uses a base of 3 cups of veggies (green peppers and onions) and then adds beans (I add even more - 1 can of black and 1 can of pinto) and corn. I've made this wonderful Chicken in a Crockpot twice now. We can eat off of the meat for about an entire week. From the last one, I've gotten 6 meals out of it on average. The first night we had chicken pitas with cucumbers, feta, and tomatoes with homemade tzatziki sauce. Then we had homemade chicken noodle soup for 2 nights (with stock from the bones - we did have ham & cheese sandwiches to go with it, but the soup was really filling). I had enough leftover soup for 2 lunches for me. Then I made chicken risotto that gave us 2 dinners and at least 1 lunch for me. Now I'm using the remainder of the chicken (plus another frozen chicken breast for tonight's recipe that will have leftovers for tomorrow! So overall, I think I've bought LESS meat than we were before.

Tonight I'm trying a new recipe from 100 Days of Real Food: Chicken Enchiladas. I'm cutting the recipe in half because I don't want to freeze one yet. If it's yummy, then I'll do the full recipe next time! Rice is cooking now, so it should be fast to throw together later. I'm also making my friend Kaisi's guacamole recipe to go with it (except I'm using store salsa because I want to save that step!):

Pulse 2 avocados in a food processor with 2 tbsps of salsa. Add garlic salt and additional salsa to taste. Super simple!

Some Photos

 So pictures (and stories) from the last 2 days:

Little Miss S still clearly hates the camera when she realizes you're taking a picture, BUT I created a whole new outfit today :) 18 month bishop as a top with candy corn ruffle pants! It worked pretty well!

I dropped (dumped) some change on the kitchen floor while trying to find my phone in my purse. Little Miss was FASCINATED by the "money". I'm not sure Stephen has heard her say that before because he commented on it when she showed it to him later. As I was cooking dinner (that was a hot mess), I overhear him telling her, "What do we do with money? SAVE it." He then went on to tell her that we also "GIVE it", but I thought it was pretty funny that he was so focused on the "save"!

 

 

 Today was a good uneventful day. Little Miss slept (or was quiet) until almost 9, so I got to sleep in after a long work night last night. She eventually made it to school and then I had to pick her up early because we had a chiropractor appointment. When I picked her up today, her teacher asked if she could have yogurt. We're having massive communication breakdowns with the daycare it feels like. She wasn't supposed to get milk for lunch in the 1's room because she was still nursing. When she moved to the 2's, they were giving it to her and she was drinking it (or so they said). Now apparently they aren't giving it to her. Sigh. And I'm nearly 100% that I've seen her eating yogurt at snack since she moved to the new room. She also had juice for snack, which I've asked the last 2 rooms NOT to give her.

I really like our daycare overall, but the food is definitely one of my biggest pet peeves. It wasn't an issue in the crawling room because I sent all her food at the beginning. When I decided to let her eat school lunch, they had begun to move to a healthier eating program as part of a grant. More whole grains, veggies, fruits. Now they've returned to more "kid-friendly" fare. They still do use whole grains and there is either a veggie or a fruit, but not both like there used to be. Plus they're feeding them a lot of junk - corn dogs, sausage on a stick, etc. And snacks have gotten more processed too - flavored yogurt, pudding, jello, shortbread cookies, etc. Under the healthier eating program, it was a fruit, vegetable, and whole grain for snack, so they might have Triscuits, raw broccoli florets, and raisins. Yesterday it was shortbread cookies and jello. NOT a happy camper, but not sure what to do about the situation.

Some pictures from the chiropractor's office:

 

Fun news from the chiropractor office: Dr. Carew is back!

Sad news from the chiropractor office: Ashley got a new job and isn't there any more :(

Real Food Journey #1

Especially up through when I was in elementary school, my parents did a way better than average job of feeding me good, healthy food. My mom made most (all?) of my baby food at home. Treats were limited to once a week (like a 3 Musketeers at the grocery store). They never offered me soft drinks, so when I first tasted one at 5, I hated it. They rarely offered juice, so I primarily drank milk and water. The other food was healthy too - tons of fruits and veggies (my dad had an amazing garden until we moved when I was 7), cereal couldn't have more than 6 grams of sugar, "wheat" bread (not 100% whole wheat, but not white cardboard either), a veggie steamer, and fast food nights were generally spaghetti with homemade-ish sauce (my mom would throw together a variety of canned tomatoes and make a sauce) or tuna salad. So overall, I would say I was introduced to more healthy food from an earlier age than many American children - there were no chips in the Cabinet, no Twinkies, etc. I'm not sure I've actually ever had a Twinkie...  I thought for the longest time that I really didn't like cheese because the place I was most exposed to it was when people offered me Cheez-its (ew). As I've gotten older, I've embraced other healthy choices as well, moving to 100% whole wheat bread and primarily 100% whole grain pasta, for example.

However, as I've been working to feed Little Miss S, it's made me rethink some of my ideas about "good" food. We made the decision to introduce solid foods through Baby-Led Weaning. Basically instead of purees, you introduce baby to a wide variety of real food from the age of 6 months on. One of the positive side effects is that you're supposed to end up with a better, more varied eater as your child gets older. Little Miss is a pretty good eater and does eat a wide variety of foods. If there is ever a Junior Little Miss (or Mister), I would definitely do the same thing again and I would probably embrace offering more of what WE're eating more often, along the lines of the blog I linked above.

I have several Facebook friends who have "liked" various health-conscious pages over the last year or so. Some stuff is still a little too "out there" for me to think about that - juice fasts, pure paleo, etc. But one blog that has particularly affected me has been 100 Days of Real Food. It made me start to think more carefully about what I consider healthy food, not just reading the sugar content, but reading the actual ingredients list, for example. I haven't gone completely nuts - I didn't throw away everything in my house that didn't meet the "Real Food Guidelines", but I have started to read more ingredient lists and start to think more about some of those options. For example, I've started going to the health food store for heavy cream because the ultra-pasteurized versions at the main supermarket have additives, and I've made my own chicken broth twice now in the crockpot (the crockpot is a whole other issue for a whole other post).

I cooked regularly when Stephen and I first got married, but when Little Miss came along, things shifted. We started to more regularly eat frozen meals and I just didn't put as much time into menu planning as I had before. The last couple of months I've been putting more of a concerted effort to make more positive changes in what we eat.

I've been pulling more recipes from 100 Days and also from Weelicious. I've cracked back open my Volumetrics cookbooks. I've been reading labels when I buy things and shopping more at 14 Carrot.

Some more changes that I hope to make soon:

1. Making my own vegetable and beef broth
2. Making Stephen green tea from scratch instead of the bottled teas he's been drinking with all the crazy additives
3. Shopping more at local farmers markets (I have plans to visit one in Lexington on Thursday)
4. Looking for more sources of local meats, eggs, and dairy products (especially meats right now)
5. Trying out lots of other recipes, including sandwich bread, graham crackers, and cheddar bunny-like crackers

This week my goal is to try #3. I'll let y'all know how the Lexington Farmers Market is!

Bad Mommy Blogger

I wondered how well I would do at frequent updates. The answer is at hand - NOT WELL! We had a good week last week. By Monday, everyone was mostly feeling back to normal. On Saturday AND Sunday, Little Miss S took two more LOOONG naps. We weren't sure if it was stomach bug hangover, later nap time, or what. The good news is that Mommy and Daddy got some good naps in that weekend too :)

Last Sunday, Little Miss and I went to church alone since Daddy was STILL not feeling good. I really wanted to go because the daughter of some good friends from Sunday school was getting baptized! After church, I let Little Miss swing on the church swing set for a few minutes (she asks EVERY single time we're at church to swing).

 

The funniest part was when she went to the regular swing and said she could "do it" and then tried to pull herself up onto the seat, but instead was just pulling her legs up and showing off the Minnie panties she wanted to wear over her diaper!

We met Daddy for "bacon and grits" after church and then hit the park after a long Sunday nap!

Monday we went back to the Zoo in the afternoon and she had a blast climbing all over the rocks in the birdhouse next to the "pengies".

 

 

 Wednesday morning we went to the dentist, which was surprisingly un-bad (is that a word?). Little Miss cooperated enough that they were able to look into her mouth, count her teeth, and look for obvious signs of issues. Next time we'll try the actual brushing! On a side-teeth note: she is doing MUCH better with the teeth brushing at night before bed!

The rest of the week was a blur, but Little Miss had lots of fun times:

• Wednesday: makeup cheerleading/tumbling class
• Thursday: "Tap Shoe Day"
• Friday: "Shgym" (gym) Day - open gym at Lexington Gymnastics Academy - she LOVES it.

Saturday was probably her favorite day of the week though. She played outside with her car, riding horse, and balls for almost 3 hours while Daddy painted the fence and Mommy chased around after her. She also ate a huge lunch, sitting in the front seat of Mommy's car. Who knew that was the trick? We did NOT have a good nap on Saturday - maybe an hour, but she was in a good mood for Saturday night at Boo at the Zoo! We went to Chick-fil-a before the Zoo, so that she would eat a good dinner (for the record, an entire 6-piece kids meal w/ applesauce + several of Daddy's fries). She was all about going for "chicken and dip"!

Thankfully the animals were still out since we got to the Zoo right at 6 because I'm not sure how Little Miss would have taken it if there were NO animals at the Zoo. She's going to be Minnie Mouse for Halloween since she is in LOVE with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Minnie was the first one she called by her actual name. Mickey was just Mouse for a long time!

A couple pictures with the ears:

 

She happily wore the ears to Chick-fil-a and then through most of dinner. Then they came off and she only kept them on a for a few minutes when we snuck them on! Not sure if the headband bothered her or what. For Halloween trunk or treat, I will know to pack the pink polkadot hairbow for when she rejects the ears!

First thing of course, she had to climb all over the lion statues at the front of the Zoo.

She was also quite pleased to discover that she was going to get candy (which she has since forgotten about). Her favorite was the 3 Musketeers and the look on her face after a bite of a York Peppermint Patty was priceless! We love her basket from Preppy and Personalized

And of course we had to stop and check on the gorillas! They were both back in their cages and the one we could see was either sound asleep or pretending to be. 

About the time we got to the maze, the sugar kicked in, and she had a great time running up and down this little hill by the picnic area, which worked out great because we ran into an old friend of mine from youth group, Alison, and her family. Funnily enough, Little Miss and I ran into Alison and her son Aiden a few weeks ago at the Zoo too! Little Miss and Daddy also rode the Haunted Carousel and then she played on the playground. We would have more pictures, but the camera batteries died (and so did the second and third sets in the camera bag - Mommy and Daddy FAIL on keeping the batteries charged!). We all had a "choc" shake before heading home!

Camera Shy, A Stomach Bug, and a Pumpkin

Little Miss S has decided that she and the camera are full on enemies. She has always been difficult with a camera - not wanting to smile, trying to grab at the camera, sticking all her fingers in her mouth when you tell her to smile, etc. Well, this week she has become majorly anti-camera:

 

 

Here's to hoping this is a phase and that she starts loving the camera soon (Christmas card photos coming in a month!). We had a crazy end of the week. Thursday evening Little Miss S was a little fussier than normal - as I told Julie she was in a MOOD. She did ask her daddy to kiss her tummy because it hurt, but we didn't think anything of that. Until I was getting ready to put her to bed and she threw up all over me and her. Guess her tummy really did hurt... 

It made for an awkward Thursday. Melissa covered for me last minute for invoicing in case Little Miss woke up again, but I stayed up to work the Wall and to help out because I didn't want to go to bed just to get woken up. At 11 she woke up asking for water. At midnight she started crying and saying "Uh-oh". Throw up #2. After changing her and the sheets, she went back down pretty easily and I finally went to bed (or tried to). She slept through until 8:30 and hasn't thrown up since. Daddy hasn't been so lucky. He started feeling icky right after dinner on Friday and still feels bad over 24 hours later.

Since Little Miss couldn't go to daycare because of the throwing up, she was home with me on Friday. After she ate a ton for breakfast, ran around, and generally acted like she felt fine, I decided to go with her request and spend the rest of the morning at the Zoo. She had a blast as usual (and yes, she demanded to wear her water shoes and a random pink and black bow to the zoo):

 

 

She was all about the lion statues at the front of the zoo - we really need to work on this "mine" thing! We also rode the merry-go-round, played on the playground, had a "choc shake", and saw the gorillas. We finally made it home around 1:15 and she went into her crib for a nap. Either the later start to nap time is the key or she was worn out from being sick, but she took a FOREVER nap. It was about 4 when I finally decided that I needed to get her up or she wouldn't go to bed that night. She was awake and playing in her crib, so I don't know how long she slept. But she was happily in her crib for 3 hours, which NEVER happens.

Friday night we went out for Stephen's work dinner while Mimi (my mom) came to watch Little Miss. She had a great time with Mimi, but didn't go to sleep until almost 9! I think she wore Mimi out, but they had a fun night as always.

This morning we were going to go to Edventure while Stephen painted, but he still wasn't feeling well and Little Miss was still acting a little off, so... we just went to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. The Methodist church around the corner sells pumpkins for a youth group fundraiser, so we go there every year to get one. Little Miss S was in a MOOD again and I was sure she was going to get sick (thankfully not). We told her we were going to buy a pumpkin, but when she got there and started WAVING at them, we realized she thought we meant "bye, pumpkin"! (The key to pictures seems to be to catch her unaware. Also please forgive the red socks and pink water shoes!)

 

 

Some of My Favorite Things #1

I'm an admitted cute children's clothing addict, so I thought I would start My Favorite Things with a look at 2  of my favorite places to buy children's clothing. These places are either on Facebook or Etsy (all my favorite children's clothing places are)!

1) Smockadot Kids: Smocked and boutique-quality children's clothes
Full disclosure: I work part time with SK as their evening invoicer, but I don't think I'm too biased :)

I LOVE Smockadot Kids clothes. They offer a variety of children's clothes that aren't available at other Facebook retailers. They have WONDERFUL QUALITY smocked clothing: bishops, bubbles, pants sets, longalls, etc. It's reasonably priced, great smocking, and great fabrics.

Not a great picture, but one of my favorite summer bubbles:

They also offer really cute everyday type clothes - corduroy, appliqued and monogrammed items, knits, etc.

 Appliqued corduroy pants set

 Monogrammed knit dress worn as a top

 White monogrammed bubble

 Adorable summer knits 

2) Dayspring Dresses (or on Etsy): Custom-made children's clothes

Dayspring Dresses was the first custom kids clothing store I discovered. Kelly does amazing work - smocked pinafores, ruffle pants, peasant tops, tie dresses, pillowcase dresses, etc. I absolutely LOVE everything she's made for Little Miss S. She also regularly offers ready-to-ship sales and other sales where you can get great deals on her items. 

She made Little Miss's Halloween costume this year; she's going as Minnie Mouse (ears purchased at LalaBird Boutique:

Some of my favorite other styles (smocked pinafore, peasant dress, ruffle pants w/ a tie dress, smocked pinafore) 

Ladies Night and Mommy & Me Morning

Monday night was Ladies Night Out for my Sunday school class. We went to Palmetto Paint and Pour to enjoy some girl time and to try our hand at painting! The idea is that you select a class with a painting you want to complete. We chose this one:

During the class, they walk you through the steps of how to create your own version. Everyone goes home with a painting that looks surprisingly like the original and less like the stick people painting you might expect! We had a really great time talking and painting and definitely agreed that we would do this again!

Here's a closeup of my masterpiece:

The one thing I was concerned about as I left the house was how Little Miss S would do without me there at bedtime. Normally she does really well with Daddy for bedtime if I'm out, BUT with me being gone all day on Sunday, I wasn't sure what kind of a mood she'd be in. Turned out I was right to be concerned. Stephen said she was great for bath, pajamas, playing, etc. before bed. Then when it was reading time before bed, that's when things got bad. She started asking for me "Mommy coming?" and getting more and more upset. Stephen tried 3 or 4 separate times to put her to bed. She cried hard for 5-10 minutes each time until the last time when she finally fell asleep. 

So to make it up to her, I decided that we should have some Mommy & Me time this morning. I got her out of her crib and asked if she wanted to go to  breakfast. "Bacon? Grits? Toast?!" She was sold! It did take some convincing to get her dressed. The Halloween outfit that I picked out was a no go when she decided that a red and navy Little Mermaid bow was what she wanted to wear today. Then she didn't want the smocked top I picked out to go with it - she had to have a blue shirt. Oh well.

We had a great time eating our bacon, grits, and toast this morning although Little Miss was not supportive of my attempts at picture taking:

She turned her head every single time I tried to take a picture, but I did manage to sneak this one while she was coloring (mental note: remember to take crayons next time, so that she can take "my crayons" home!):