All I can give her

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After spending over two hours at the doctor office today and finding out that Rylee has RSV and the beginning stages of pneumonia, I couldn’t help but think about my phone call with the triage nurse this morning. Borderline cynical, asking if I needed to even bother bringing her in or if they’d just send us home with nothing they could do.

Throughout our appointment I was asked questions and couldn’t help but feel inadequate when I gave my answers…did she have the flu shot? No. Did we give her the inhaler at all when she was having trouble breathing? To be honest, I forgot we had it. When did first start having trouble breathing? I’m not sure exactly…this morning? So when did she first get her fever? Well, she had one a couple of weeks ago, and that’s when her cough first started…

I listened to my intuition this time and made the call to take her in. But what if I would have called earlier…would we even be dealing with this right now?

She’s lying on the couch, absolutely miserable. Her fever was so high earlier, she was seeing “flashing spots” every time she closed her eyes. All she’s had to eat since Sunday afternoon is a few bites of bagel, a little bit of yogurt, some pears and some pasta. The only thing she’s had today is two blue otter pops.

It breaks my heart to see my babies hurting. To see them helpless.

Sometimes I wonder what the heck I’m doing. Am I making the right decision?

Parenting is easy when you’re speaking in hindsight. When you’re in the moment, you’re just doing your best.

And I need to remember that my best is all I can give her.

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Proud to call them my friends

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I’ve talked about them before…these ladies that live in my phone. We’re each a little crazy. I happen to think we’re all freaking hilarious. Brandy summed our friendship up pretty much perfectly in this post.

Over the last week, they all put themselves out there in different ways and I couldn’t be more proud of each of them.

Brandy wrote a post over on Liberating Working Moms about some of the trials that come with being a pumping working mom and that sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you need to supplement with formula and that’s OK because you’ve given your baby all you could. It’s not an easy thing to put out there because some people get so worked up in the breastmilk vs. formula “debate”, but other working moms struggling with producing enough milk need to know that it’s OK and that they aren’t alone. Anyway, go read it. It’s worth it.

Brandee has been going through some…well…shit. And by shit I mean infertility. It seems like just about everyone has an opinion and/or advice when it comes to baby making…or lack thereof. And while everyone has good intentions at heart, it still sucks. So BdblE (as she’s called in my phone) went ahead and put together some advice for the advice givers. She gives fair warning that her post may offend some, even make people mad, but she had to get those things off her chest and I applaud her for doing so in regard to such a personal, tough topic.

Alicia ended the week on a high. She was recently offered her dream job at her Alma Mater and of course she accepted it! With the happiness of a new job, comes the sadness of leaving the old one. And what I really mean by that is no more #OfficeFashionShow #UrinalEdition photos on my instagram feed. But, that’s ok because we have yet to see what her new bathroom set-up will be AND she put together this awesome video that I can always look back on. Her post quotes Amy Poehler saying “There’s power in looking silly and not caring that you do.” I couldn’t agree more, Higgy. We’re two peas in a weird-ass pod.

These girls mean a lot to me. I’m proud to call them my friends.

Weekly Meal Planning and a free printable!

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I’ve been meal planning now for…I’d say at least 3 or 4 years.

I’m a creature of habit. For a very long time I used the same pad of paper to write out our weekly meal plan, our grocery list as well as my weekend to-do list. Well, that pad of paper ran out a couple of months ago and since then I’ve been struggling with my weekend system. {see what I mean when I say I’m a creature of habit!?}

Sure, I’ve downloaded a couple of meal planning printables I’d found ala Pinterest but none of them really suited my needs. What’s that old saying? If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself? I’m guessing a fellow type-Aer like me made that up.

Anyway, my point is, I put my computer skills to work and created my own weekly meal planner! I used it for the first time this weekend and I love it. It’s got a section for a to-do list. A section for meal planning. And a section for a grocery list. And since I’m a sale shopper and almost never go to just one store I’ve got it broken up for two different lists.

See? Isn’t it pretty?

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Anyway, I kind of really love it. So much so, I thought I’d share it with you!

Weekly Menu Planner

Weekend Planner
 



Download it! Use it! Enjoy! Share with all your meal-planning friends!

If you use it, let me know what you think!

Happy Monday, Friends.

Incomplete thoughts & Incomplete drafts

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I clearly haven’t been that great at blogging lately. Crazy how life kinda gets in the way. It’s not that I haven’t been thinking about blogging. In fact I’ve had almost a half dozen or so unfinished posts just sitting in my drafts for up to three months now. It’s things I want to share but either don’t have the time to really finish or just don’t have the motivation. So there they sit…partial thoughts and half written posts. Until now…

Hawaii
We’re headed to Hawaii!! While we’re going for a wedding, we’re doubling the trip as the family vacation we were planning for our tenth anniversary. First I was excited with the idea. Then I booked plane tickets and had a mild panic attack soon after I hit “buy now”. {Not having discretionary funds for so long does messed up things To ones mind when it comes time to actually buy something not technically “needed”. Having the money in the bank makes no difference.} Now that I’m done with the freak out, I’m back to excited. Because Lord knows we’ve earned a vacation and…HAWAII! I’m sure come June I’ll be looking for tips in flying with a 1 year old.

Baptism
We had Reese baptized back in early December. Yep, over 2 months ago. It was a low key ceremony held with just family right after mass. My sister and my brother are her god parents. Reese is wearing the same gown that Rylee wore, that was hand made by a woman in our church. The deacon that assisted in mine & Andy’s wedding, whom also baptized Rylee, baptized Reese. That meant a lot to us. {and being the mom of the year candidate I clearly am, I forgot the camera so all we have are phone pics. Winning!}

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Car
Back in November we bought a new car! I’ve mentioned it a time or two before, but have yet to “give you a tour”. It’s pretty much awesome. We love it. We’ve had it barely over two months and we’re already taking it in for its first service. In 2 months and one week we’ve put over 5,000 miles on it. That my friends? Is a shit-ton of driving.

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Blogging

Right now I’m kind of struggling with some blogging things. I’d love to grow my readership and eyeballs that see my little corner of the Internet but lets be real…I don’t write earth-shattering-viral-material, I’m not an “authority” on anything, I’m not a DIY-er, my photos are hardly pin-worthy. I cook some really tasty things, but I seriously lack in decent food photography skills. Or really any photography skills for that matter. Heck most of the time, I’m recycling photos I’ve posted in Instagram. Why would people want to come here? Why am I really doing this? For me? For my girls to look back on someday? Sure, that’s all part of it. I squeeze blogging into my lunch breaks because when I’m home from work, I’m cooking dinner, bathing kids, putting them to bed and oh you know, attempting to relax with my husband. It’s blogging this is something I do for fun and my family comes first. So what I do needs to be enough. I’m currently in the process of coming to terms with that. {in the meantime, if you’d like, feel free to tell all your friends about this super awesome, hilarious, riveting, real, ____(insert chosen adjective here) blog.}

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Beach body

Back in September I wrote about being ready to lose some baby weight. Then…well…I didn’t really follow through with that. I mean, technically I’ve lost the weight and I’m back down to my pre-baby days {thank you breast feeding!} but things are…squishy? {Seriously…my poor belly button} Now that we’ve got Hawaii on the horizon I’m officially motivated to get beach ready. Instead of focusing on losing lbs, I’m going to focus on losing inches and toning/definition. I want to be fit and healthy. Not just a certain number on the scale. And let’s be real, no way in hell I’m giving up coffee creamer, cheese, my daily sweet tooth attack and the occasional dr. Pepper. I’m not that motivated, people. I’ll be meeting with a friend/personal trainer in a couple of weeks. She offers classes at her own gym but I’m not able to make them due to my schedule. So we’re going to go over my goals and she’s going to show me some exercises I can do at home, or on my own at the gym near my work. And yes, I’m actually planning on blogging my progress.

Lingering.

This cold/crud I was down with almost two weeks ago is still lingering and its driving me bonkers! At this point I feel fine and it’s nothing more than a stuffy/runny nose and a cough…but holy crap is it annoying. I’m thinking how Andy must think he married the sexiest woman in the world every morning as I’m hocking up loogies in the bathroom while I’m getting ready. What can I say? He’s a lucky man. Hawt, I know.

So there you go…all of my half-written posts wrapped up in a pretty, mediocre bow. I’m off to clear out my drafts and start fresh next week. Happy Friday!

Currently v.1

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wondering how much milk I’ve got in my freezer. How much I’ll be needing for my next trip. And how much I’ve got available to donate to a baby in need. I’m adding that to my mental to-do list for the weekend right…now. Also wondering if I’ll ever have the time to finish up all the lonely half-written blog posts I’ve got sitting in my drafts.

loathing this stupid cold that will.not.go.away. I’m about to get all up close and personal with my neti-pot tonight. I always forget I have one.

cooking some new things. Last weekend while I was meal planning I felt totally uninspired…in a rut. Enter Pinterest! Last night I made chicken enchilada pasta and tomorrow night I’ll be making coconut lime chicken. Quick review: the chicken enchilada pasta was a bit too hands on to be a new recipe on a weeknight. Now that I’ve done it, no problem, but in hindsight, shoulda saved it for a weekend. And I’m guessing if I didn’t have this stupid stuffed up nose, it would have tasted a helluva lot better too. To me, it was just kind of…meh. It did have a bit of a kick though. I will be trying it during a non-sick time.

reading…reading? What’s that? Seriously though…I always kind of “forget” to read. It sounds awful, I know. I know. But I really just don’t like reading that much to begin with. I do have “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” sitting on the table next to the chair I nurse Reese in each night. Just waiting for an evening I get sick of scrolling thorough Instagram.

listening to the rumbling of a train passing outside my office. And the slow, methodical, droning of my pump. Is it nap time yet?

And totally unrelated to any of this, but cute & sweet nonetheless…a photo of the girls…Rylee was super upset because she realized (too late) that she’d left her blanket at school and wouldn’t be able to get it until the next day. Reese heard her crying and was concerned. I’m convinced she was trying to make her sister feel better.

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I’m linking up with my girl Lindsey over at OtandEt for her weekly “Currently” link-up!