it's been a long couple of days

i worked friday and sunday and we were busy!

if you were pregnant and lived within 20 miles of the hospital, chances are you came in to see us on one of those two days.

saturday i made dinner for my mom and dad to celebrate my mom's 64th birthday.  crock pot chicken pot pie with puff pastry on top, leffe beer, wine, chocolate cake, and then whiskey for the men (yuck).  

monday i relaxed and caught up on some errands.

here is me doing just that...unwinding....

and catching up on some skin refreshening.

hilarious...elmo + lmfao = some good viewing

mike showed this to me.  

it has quickly become quinn's favorite youtube download.

maybe mine too.

watch and see:

can be used in a pinch to calm a restless baby while in line at the grocery store.  just saying...

trip to the zoo...in pictures

we have the most fabulous local zoo just down the road.  and get this...it is free.  yes, free.  nothing is ever free anymore, right?

so on sunny days quinn and i go there and walk and visit with the animals.  when he is older, i plan to get books about each animal and we can study and then visit them and watch as they grow and change.  i am pretty excited to live so near to this great place.  of course, i do feel badly that these animals are not roaming free in there natural habitat and i kinda hate zoos sometimes for cooping animals up inside all these cages and bars.  but zoos are probably here to stay so i will embrace them for the learning experience they provide.  

that being said, here are pics of our most recent trip:

rantings on motherhood, satisfaction, and life lately

if you haven't read glennon melton's huffington post story "don't carpe diem" here is the link so you can do so right now.  i'll wait.

the story is every bit of hitting-the-nail-right-on-the-head for me at this point in my life and my new job of being a mama.  and on numerous occasions since reading her story, i have sighed and thought "kairos" and smiled because it is so right-on.  thank you glennon, i loved this story and can't wait to read more of your thoughts.

now on to my thoughts:

i am seriously in-love with being a mom and i am overwhelmed with how much i feel for this little person.  every single day i have joy - not every moment, but every damn day.  i would say that is the biggest blessing in the world, wouldn't you?  but being a mom is a hard job, especially if you do it right!  and having just been through such a whirlwind with relocating, new job, new work schedule, etc. i am a little down that i let so many months pass being wrapped up in silly things.  and by silly things i mean letting the stress of moving get the best of me, fretting over all the crap piled around me, the half-unpacked boxes, the house barely clean enough to move in to, the fact that there are a million things that i want to change about the house but won't because we don't have the money.  silly things!  i am so fortunate to have a roof over my head, albeit one that has a gaping squirrel-sized-hole in it, running water, heat, food, and most of all my family around me!  i know, mushy stuff, but seriously.  mike and i have talked about my need for perfection.  and it is a FLAW in my opinion...not all the time...but lately.  

i have a need to do things yesterday and i expect those around me to do the same.  why?  who cares if the boxes are still out on the porch and not in the garage?  me.  who cares if the guest bed sits in the living room because we scraped the wallpaper on two of four walls in the bedroom and then shut the door and proceeded to ignore that room entirely?  uhhh, me.  i am going to try to just BE SATISFIED more often.  with everything.  i don't mean i am going to strive for mediocrity or live in filth, stop shaving, and have the kid who smells like feet because he is never bathed.  but i want to be happy, even if things aren't perfect, aren't done as quickly as i prefer, even if that new bathroom we want to put in will only happen when money begins to grow on trees.  things will still get done, put away, sorted, cleaned...but maybe just not yesterday.  or even today.  but you know what i get instead?  to hang out with quinn and play and cook and go for walks and spend time with mike when he gets home from work instead of hounding him to get sh&t done.  that is my new year's resolution.  well...maybe my lifetime resolution.  to be satisfied more.

how have your resolutions been going?    

spinach feta frittata

trying to find things that are both delicious, nutritious, and finger-food-friendly is sometimes a huge pain in the a$%.  especially last minute.  this frittata is all of those things.  and super-easy.

original recipe from jamie oliver's site

and because he is so relaxed about portions and such, i was as well...and i winged it.  you do need an over-safe frying pan but everything else should be something you already have in your kitchen.

ingredients:

½ a small red onion
1 teaspoon olive oil
½ cup drained and squeezed chopped defrosted frozen spinach or approximately 9 ounces of fresh spinach (i used fresh, and i probably used more than 9 ounces)
4 large eggs(i used 6)
½ cup crumbled feta cheese freshly 

ground black pepper, to taste

directions:

Peel and finely slice the onion.

Preheat your broiler to high. Pour enough oil into a small 7 to 8 inch ovenproof non-stick frying pan to very lightly coat the bottom (about 1 teaspoon) and put over a medium heat.

Add the onion and cook until just starting to brown. Add the spinach and toss for a minute or two to heat through, then remove from the heat and allow the vegetables to cool slightly. 

Beat the eggs in a bowl. Add in the cooled spinach and red onion, followed by the feta and a good pinch of pepper.

Put your pan back on a medium heat and pour in the eggs. Stir around gently with a spatula until you feel the egg start to set at the bottom, then straight away, turn the heat off so the frittata stays half cooked and quite runny.

Carefully place your frying pan under the broiler for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the frittata is golden and cooked through (check the center with a fork.) Put a plate over the pan and turn over quickly but carefully – the frittata should come right out. Serve hot or cold.

give baby a fork so he can feed himself cause he sure ain't going to let you do it for him.

yummy.  

{and i apologize for the quality of the food pictures, especially the eggs.  i was all about the cooking and not about the photography...just took some shots with my phone.}

scribbling away

we had a pediatrician appointment the other day, our first at this new office where we moved.  quinn did NOT like the nosy doctor sticking cold metal objects in his ears, on his chest, on his back, etc.  he is so ridiculously protective of his ears, nose, mouth that i have a difficult time actually seeing if any teeth are even busting through because he really doesn't let me.  and forget trying to clean his ears.  he's that dirty toddler with the wax build-up, but whatev!  it had been about 4 months since we had last visited a pediatrician and quinn seemed to have become this independent-thinking and grown little man.  so the doctor asked all the typical questions, did the measurements, and so on.  quinn is apparently a scrawny big-headed kid.  he is under the 5th percentile in both weight and length but his head is in the 70th.  and that is not adjusted for his prematurity either.  it is surprising too because i am fairly tall for a girl at 5'8" and mike is 6'1" so who knows what is to become of this little guy.  but his brain is growing by the second so the doc said that there is nothing he would do differently.  phew!  as for milestones, quinn has a ton of words he likes to throw around and he is running all over the place.  "does he scribble with crayons?" the doctor asked.  "seriously?  he would just eat them" i said.  "well try to give him the crayons, show him what to do, and then see what he does and take them away before he eats them."  

does he scribble?

boom!

{side note:  bath crayons actually from auntie bridget, not from gaga as erroneously mentioned in video.  my bad.}

exploring the bird sanctuary

not much to do at the shore in the winter, but quinn and i are finding our fun.

the bird sanctuary is one of the places where we like to stretch our legs.  

and explore.

found a fish i like

i have been trying to really eat healthy the past few years and even more so as quinn watches (and wants) everything mike and i put in our mouths.  i am not a big fish person, but we all know that fish is healthy, blah blah blah.  i like seafood, just not fish.  so i set out to find some kind of fish i like and an easy recipe to cook it.  

enter cod. 

my mom believes that even if fish is wild-caught right off the coast around here that it is still probably polluted with all sorts of crap, so i found wild-caught atlantic waters frozen cod fillets.

and i found this recipe.

lemon-baked cod

{nope, not my picture...pic from food.com.  but in all honestly, mine did not look that far off from this pretty plate}

ingredients:

1 lb cod fillet

1/4 cup butter (the real thing), melted

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

paprika

directions:

1. 1
   if fish fillets are large, cut into serving pieces.
2. 2
   mix butter and lemon juice.
3. 3
   in another bowl, mix flour, salt and white pepper.
4. 4
   dip fish into butter mixture; coat fish with flour mixture.
5. 5
   place fish in ungreased square baking dish, 8x8x2 inches.
6. 6
   pour remaining butter mixture over fish; sprinkle with paprika.
7. 7
   cook uncovered in 350 degree oven until fish flakes easily with fork, 25-30 minutes. garnish with parsley sprigs and lemon slices if desired.

i served it with fresh green beans sauteed in olive oil with some lemon juice and salt and pepper, some roasted potatoes, and an arugula salad with toasted pine nuts and shaved locatelli cheese.

could not have been easier or more delicious.  quinn gobbled it up.  the dish is sure to become a weekly staple in our house now. yahoo for me eating fish!

still nursing...

yes...16 months and still nursing as if his life depended on it...which it doesn't considering he eats 3 meals a day and snacks in between.

nursing a toddler has some great points and some not so great points.  for one, it gives us time to sit and connect and relax amidst all of the exploration and hustle that fills our days.  bumped heads and pinched fingers are all better so much faster when quinn gets some "na na."  and i know that he is still getting the nutrients that he needs despite being a picky eater at times.    having just moved and switched from night work to day work and with all the changes, nursing has been such a source of comfort and consistency for the dude.  

on the other hand, the boy is super strong and i think he may suck my nip off one of these days, especially when he hears a truck thundering down the road and must quickly unlatch to point and tell me "ttttrrrruuuccckkk."  night nursings have also somewhat lost their appeal.  i think i am ready to sleep through the night at last.  but certainly, the good continues to outweigh the bad for me.  

i don't know when we will wean either.  i would like quinn to just wean himself and make it easy on us both.  don't see that happening in the near future, but one never knows.  i don't want to be nursing if i am pregnant again.  i just feel sore thinking about that.  

thoughts on nursing?  weaning? 

afternoon at the vineyard

what better way to spend a cold and sunny afternoon then at a vineyard tasting wines and dancing to some blues?  that is just what we did saturday after i roused myself from my post-night-shift slumber.  we had some tasty sausage bread, sampled some local wines, met loads of people, and danced to keep warm.  we had a ball.  so did quinn, as evidenced below.