happy respiratory care week

This past week has been Respiratory Care week. Essentially this means lots of yummy free food at work and a "gift" from our department. Throughout the week several of my RT friends have posted a link to this video on their facebook pages. I'm normally not big on this kind of thing (a little too cheesy in my opinion), but I have so many friends (and honestly I sometimes think my family) who really don't understand WHAT I actually do. They know my title but not my job. In fact I have to remind some of my friends that I'm NOT a nurse even though I wear scrubs and work in a hospital. So watch it. You may not understand what we do now, but someday we may help save your life. I am proud of my job and love what I do. And if you know an RT, don't forget to give them a hug this week :)

WHO AM I?

toddler lunches. weekly windup

Well, I did it! I made it through one week without repeating a single lunch...only 5 weeks to go. I've decided to rate all meals on a scale from 1 to 5. One is a total flop and five is staying on the lunchtime rotation.  As promised, here's the summary:

Day one:

Meal: Turkey, tomato, and cream cheese panini, apple wedges
Overall rating: 4 1/2!!!
Pros: Delish! Different! I can't say enough about how much I loved this lunch.
Cons: I hate cleaning my panini maker
Benton and I were heading in from playing outside for lunch and I spied the panini maker that didn't sell in our yard sale sitting in a box by our garage door. We hadn't used this sucker a SINGLE time and were going to get rid of it, but I decided on a whim that today was the day. As I was reaching for the american cheese to throw together a few croque monsieur's, the cream cheese fell out and I was inspired. The final creation was a turkey, tomato, and cream cheese panini. Friends, I have a new favorite sandwich. Seriously, go to your fridge right now, get out the ingredients and make one. IT. WAS. AWESOME. So easy, so tasty.The only reason I am only giving this one 4 1/2 stars instead of 5 was that Benton didn't finish his apples and I LOATHE cleaning the panini maker (uh, hello, who makes things that can't be put in a dishwasher?!?)

Day two:

Meal: Chicken nuggets, cherry tomatoes, applesauce
Overall rating: 3
Pros: Easy
Cons: Processed
Frozen chicken fingers, applesauce, and baby tomatoes. Nothing exciting here, but I didn't promise wonderful creations everyday, I just promised different food every day. The fact of the matter is, I'm a working mom with 2 little kids and a busy life, I don't always have time to *COOK* and *CREATE.* Today my brain was shutdown and Benton got his way when it came time for the "What's for lunch" dilemma. On the plus side, Benton ate his whole meal.


Day three:

 

Meal: Whole wheat spaghetti with meat sauce, grapes, strawberry yogurt

Overall rating: 4

Pros: Healthy (somewhat?)

Cons: Slightly time consuming

For some reason when I'm cooking for lunch (I rarely if ever eat what Benton's eating) anything that takes more than 5 minutes is too much work. However, for his sake, I'm trying to invest a little more. I have learned a few tricks that I'm going to use to make mealtimes easier without being from a box. Example: cook up a pound of ground turkey (or beef) and freeze into 8 small portions for mixing into recipes. Suddenly, spaghetti with meat sauce takes less time than mac and cheese. Add some fruit and yogurt and it's a meal Benton and I both agree on.

Day four:

Meal: Chicken and Biscuits, chocolate chip cookie

Overall rating: 2

Pros: Easy. 

Cons: Cheating

I'm calling this one cheating because even though it't not a lunch repeat, it is a dinner repeat. Leftovers from the night before. I'm actually a fan of leftovers from time to time but I always feel guilty serving them to TBenton. He gives me the "Aww mom, not again" almost every time. I also didn't add any fruit or healthy veggies so this meal really was a flop in my opinion. The only reason the meal didn't get a one is because Benton ate it without complaining. 

Day five: 

 Meal: Chicken nugget happy meal with fries and apples

Overall rating: 5

Pros: Who doesn't love a happy meal???

Cons: Half my readers just decided I'm a bad mom for feeding my kid McDonalds

When I was a kid, I LOVED going to McDonald's at Halloween time to get the Trick or Treating pail Happy Meal. I looked up nutrition facts and a chicken nugget happy meal comes to only 300 calories (not counting the milk, forgot to add that in) so I honestly don't care what you say, I don't feel guilty at all letting my kid have one from time to time. Additionally, I'm sure he burnt half those calories off running through the play place. 

It has been a great week. As I'm sitting here with Benton down to bed, cuddling with Jude under my cozy quilt, I can't help but feel thankful for all the blessings in my life. Thanks for being my virtual accountability partners in this meal challenge!

Toddler Lunches, No Repeats; a 30 day challenge

We are in a rut- a big, fat, super deep rut. In fact, I'm pretty sure if I cook one more box of mac and cheese I might scream. Maybe worse. Benton has about 5 lunches we rotate through on a regular basis and I'm beginning to be concerned about him becoming too picky and not eating enough of all the food groups (namely veggies). In an effort to change it up, I've decided to create a 6 week challenge (Monday through Friday) to have a different lunch everyday for little man. My goal is to post pics weekly of each meal as well as a score based on the ease of preparation, health content, overall appeal, and most importantly, toddler approval. I'd love to have some of my fellow bloggers join me so we can share ideas! In the meantime, whats your favorite "go-to" meal for lunchtime?

WOAH...update!

Yes, I am still alive.
Yes, I do now have a baby- a beautiful, healthy, perfect in every single way baby boy. Since the last time I posted I was still VERY pregnant, it may be hard to believe that my little Jude is already 3 1/2 months old. I can't stand how fast the time is flying. I just want to stop and soak in every single second right now. My lack of blog updates has been in part due to the new baby, in part due to going back to work, and in part due to a computer which remains un-fixed post the Benton-Water Incident of 2011. But I digress...
I'm hoping to get back on the blogging bandwagon with a vengence now that my life is starting to resume a somewhat normal routine. I was recently caught answering the question "Why blog?" and it occured to me that I blog for so  many reasons, so I need to stay on top of it!
Today I'm going to give you the quick "Catch up, rundown" of the last 4 months. Then you are going to comment about how much you are glad I'm back to blogging and how much you missed me and how you checked my blog daily for updates. Deal?

June- Spent the majority of the month eagerly awaiting baby boy's arrival. Sweet Jude Adlen made his entry on June 28th at 12:18 pm. He was just a little guy, weighing 6 lb, 15 oz (Does anyone remember how much I boo-hooed that I was going to have a big baby thanks to the stupid GD???) My heart feels so overwhelmed with love for my boys, it's hard to imagine life without either of them.

July- LOVED having the summer as at SAHM while on maternity leave. I spent lots of time with family, cuddling my boys, connecting with friends, and enjoying God's many blessings in my life. I got to help throw a few bridal showers, including one for my sister which was so fun!

August- Was much like July. Chris and I started going to the farmers market every week for fresh produce and flowers and Benton became buddies with our neighbor boy, Jacob. Is he really old enough to start playing with the neighborhood kids already? It doesn't feel possible and I certainly don't feel ready to "let go." We also started doing basic lessons every day and I'm proud to say that Benton now can sound out all his letters, write most of them, and read several basic words and simple books. I'm sure every mom feels this way, but I think he is one gifted little man ;) We've recently started working on simple math and talking about the seasons as well. The last week of August we headed to Great Bend to begin final preparations for my sisters wedding. I'm not going to talk to much about that because it wasn't entierly a pleasant experience. I did love getting to be with my family, at least. That's what matters, right???

September- My sister got married on the 1st and Benton was by far the cutest ring bearer there ever was! The wedding came together, much to my surprise, and the only real downfall of the actual wedding day was the unbearable heat. I'm happy for my sister and her new husband, however, and wish them many many years of happiness. I went back to work the first week of September (tear). I'm so blessed to be able to work just part time now. I have somewhat ideal hours (our boys only need about 10-11 hours TOTAL of childcare per week) and still get to feel like I'm contributing. While I think about my kiddos non-stop at work, I'm thankful for where I'm at right now in the situation. I turned **. Birthdays just aren't fun at this age, I don't care what you say. Finally, we went to MN for a visit with my in-laws. It was actually a great trip, we came home feeling very blessed.

October- Chris and I just celebrated our 5 year anniversary! I can't believe it!!! It has been an amazing 5 years, and I can honestly say the cliche holds true, I am more in love today than I was 5 years ago. We also took our teens on a youth retreat last weekend, which was amazing. Watching our teens grow spiritually touches my heart like few other things can. This weekend we have NO plans, and I am SO excited about that.

I have a few blog posts coming that I'm excited about, including:
Bedroom re-vamp (It's going to be gorg!)
A few recipes I've tried recently (Promise, they are YUM!)
And more that I'm still reworking in my head...can't give away too much at once, ya know :)

So how about you, how was your summer? Give me deets!