Easy Peasy Dinner Time !

Since Thomas gets bored of eating the same old recipes again and again (who wouldn't?!) I am constantly wracking my brain to come up with new and fun recipes to expand his palate. At this point in the game he is a toddler and can eat anything that us adults are having. Which makes life way more easy and fun!

Also in the recent past few months I have been on a mission to cook more for myself as well! I would like to prove to myself that my cooking skills don't suck! (Verdict says... They don't! I really am a good cook!) :) Although, after a long day of chasing around a toddler sometimes my brain is mush and cooking is the last thing I want to do for myself! But, thank you to my AWESOME pinning skills ;) I have come across a winning recipe for not only me but for Thomas too! To top it off all you need are 8 simple ingredients which most of you have in your household anyway! 

Pasta Carbonara!

Ingredients:

1. 8 ounces Spaghetti
2. 2 large eggs
3. 3/4 cup grated parm cheese
4. 4 slices bacon (when cooking for Thomas I use Turkey bacon)
5. 4 cloves garlic, minced
6. Kosher salt
7. Black pepper to taste (optional)
8. 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves (I do not use this ingredient) 

What I did:

1. In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta according to box instructions. Feel free to use whatever kind of pasta tickles your fancy! Make sure you reserve a 1/2 cup of the boiling salted water!!
2. In a small bowl whisk together the eggs and the cheese. Just set it aside for later :)
3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook until brown and crispy 6-8 minutes. Side note: I chop up the bacon prior to the skillet. It cooks faster and is easier for Thomas to eat that way! After the bacon is cooked add the garlic to it for about 1 minute.
4. Reserve the excess fat (When I use turkey bacon there really isn't fat so I just set the skillet aside until its time to add the pasta to it.
5. Stir in the pasta and the egg mixture. Toss to combine. Season with the salt and pepper to taste. Add the reserved pasta water one tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached. 

There you have it! A simple and yummy mommy/baby meal! SO VERY YUMMY!! 

XOXO,

D

My Most Favorite Baby Proofing Products, EVER!

A couple of weeks ago my girlfriend approached me asking me my opinion on what baby proofing supplies she should bring into her household. When it comes to baby proofing there are so many products on the market that all do the same thing it can truly make your head spin! Some parents do not mind screwing gates into their walls and other families simply prefer not to. I was so excited to be able to help her out and give her my opinion on what products I love that have worked well for me in all the households that I have nannied for. Again, this is all my own opinion and throughout the ten years I have been in this business I have found these products to be nothing less than fabulous! 

For starters, clear view stove knob covers. I have used them in countless households and they grow with your children. They are the best things ever! They are super easy for adults to open and close. They come in a five pack or ten pack.

Product can be found here.

The second of my favorites is a multi-purpose strap. I use these to lock toilet seats, fridge/freezer doors, and you can also use it to lock your oven. They do make oven locks separately however, more often than not oven locks do not work well for every oven out there. These multi-purpose straps DO work! Very well I may add! They come in all different size packs so you can pick and choose where you want to put them and how many you would like in your pack. 

Product can be found here.

Third on the list is foam bumpers for your living room coffee table. You can find these in different colors. They work really well when they are APPLIED CORRECTLY. They come with stickies but I have found that they do not work as well. You will need to use 3M double sided tape in order for these bumpers to be applied well. Once they are applied they work wonderfully!

Product can be found here.

The fourth product on my awesome list is by far one of my top most favorite baby proofing item out there! They are cabinet locks made by Kiscords! These cabinet locks are a BIG NO BRAINER! By far, the easiest locks for adults and children can never figure them out. Unless they are 5 or 6. But, by then there is not a huge demand for baby proofing (I would hope!) ;) I use these cabinet locks for Thomas and they work wonders in the household (Kitchen & Bathrooms). They come in black and white! I am a huge fan of amazon prime. These cabinet locks are not a prime item so they will take a little longer to ship than all the other items on this list. 

Product can be found here.

Number five on the list is outlet safety covers. These are AWESOME! They only "downside" to these (which for me is NOT a downside) is that you will need to replace all of the outlet covers in your home. However, I do not put a price on the safety of a child and this outlet cover no child will be able to stick their fingers into. I have used different outlet covers throughout my career and these by far are the BIG WINNERS! They come with the proper screws too! 

Product can be found here.

The sixth product on my list is, door knob covers for your bathroom, bedroom, office doors and of course basement/man cave door! Just really any door in your house. They come in black and white so you can match them to your doors to the best of your ability. I have used these in many households as well and they have always worked well! Easy use for adults and for children they just spin in circles as they try to figure them out. :) 

Product can be found here.

Lastly on my list is a safety gate! These are pricey but work AWESOME! It is made by First Years and it is called the "Everywhere Gate." This gate will last you forever and will grow with you and your family. It works with easy pressure mounting so you can take it with you when you travel or just to switch rooms with your child! Bonus, the gate is see through so your child can see you from the next room if you're in the kitchen. There is no need to screw into your walls or to get new hardware for your home. 

Product can be found here.

That completes my list of my most favorite baby proofing products, EVER!! Again, I am not a certified baby proofer however, I have found that these products have worked miracles for me endless times over the years. I have found comfort and a peace of mind when using each and every one of these products! All of these products on my list can be found off of Amazon Prime except the Kiscords Cabinet locks are not a prime item. Yet, well worth the standard shipping ;)

XOXO,

D

** ALL images found from Amazon.

What I Plan To Do Differently

I cannot believe it has been so long since I have written a blog post!! This summer has been jammed packed for me. Between vacation, work and preparing for a new baby, blogging has been pushed to the side. School starts NEXT WEEK!! (Picture me doing a dance and throwing confetti :) ) I definitely need the 2-3 weeks of morning hours while Makenna and Matthew are at school to get some stuff done before baby #2 comes. Which comes to the topic of my post… here is a list of 5 things that I plan to do differently than when I had Makenna. 

1. My entire birth plan. Honestly, I didn't even have one for Makenna. I went in with no instructions or wishes. I had a hard long labor and ended up with a c-section. I never ever thought I would have a c-section so I was totally unprepared! I knew I wanted to breastfeed but I never told the doctors and nurses to keep bottles and pacifiers away. If you read my breastfeeding  post, you know how much of a struggle breastfeeding was as a result. This time I am having a scheduled c-section and will be informing EVERYONE I see to not give bottles or pacifiers. My husband is on bottle/pacifier watch. I think I scared him when I told him that he is to under no circumstances let them give her anything. This is our child, unless she is under distress for some reason, they will be following OUR rules! I am also asking for a "gentle c-section." Where they allow skin to skin immediately after delivery like a normal birth does. 
2. If for some reason I cannot breastfeed without pumping and bottle feeding, I will only be doing so for 3 months. Pumping and bottle feeding is A LOT of work. I applaud anyone that can do it for a long period of time. Unfortunately, I already know I just don't have it in me. With two other toddlers to take care of, it would be way to stressful for me. 
3. Co-sleeping. This is not something we planned to do with Makenna. It just sort of happened. I do not regret it, but with baby #2 so things will be different. Makenna slept right in between us. Baby #2 will be in a co-sleeping crib next to our bed. Makenna became so dependent on me to sleep that it got a little ridiculous. I would just lay in bed and nurse her to sleep. Baby #2 will be nursed and then laid down in her crib to fall asleep. There will be NO nursing to sleep after 3 months.  

   

   This is how Makenna prefers to sleep

4. 

   Makenna finally using her crib bedding. 

   With Makenna I got a whole crib bedding set and accessories. I have to say the biggest waste of money to me is those crib bedding sets. No one uses the little comforter it comes with and bumpers aren't recommended anymore. Even the sheets aren't that soft. Though Makenna never slept in a crib, every single family I nannied for also never used the crib bedding. It just sits there taking up space. Makenna now uses the little comforter as a picnic blanket. Instead I just have random crib sheet and an Aden & Anais Dream Blanket. I got one for Makenna when she was a year old and she still sleeps with it every night. I just purchased another for baby #2. I honestly might buy one for myself. They are so comfortable!  
5. Using a babysitter. Whether is be family or a hired sitter, Makenna and baby #2 will be left with someone other than me. Makenna is my shadow. She is hardly ever left with anyone else. She has never been left with anyone besides family. (Matthew's family is considered our family too) My mom lives about an hour away and Michael's mom has a busier social schedule than me lol Its tough to find some time to go out without the kids. We definitely need to find a trusted babysitter!

So those are my top 5 things I plan to do differently. Of course, anyone that has kids knows nothing really goes as planned. 

Playing Catch Up...

I can't believe it has been so long since there has been a good blog post! I guess that is what happens when life takes over. Between Keri preparing for baby number two and my crazy schedule coming to a close there is just too much going on. It is only Wednesday (I mean Tuesday... point well taken!) and I have been up since 6am... vacuuming, washing the floors and doing laundry. Have I mentioned that it is my day off?!? Haha I guess thats what happens when you become a Mommy. A PUPPY Mommy that is! Recently, my boyfriend and I blessed our home with two of the sweetest baby puppies in this world! A beautiful German Shepard (DeeBo) and a sweet little yorkie (Tyson) -- who definitely lives up to his own name. Tyson tries his hardest to play with the big boys and I am pretty sure that Deebo thinks that his brother is a chew toy. He really is gentle with him however he has his moments of pawing him!

Just like when you have a newborn baby it takes time to get to know them, their needs and you truly have to listen to what they are trying to tell you. Are they hungry?, tired?, need to pee or poo? You need to put them on a schedule right away and you definitely cannot diverge from it. These babies of mine LOVE their schedule and have been doing an amazing job with crate training. FYI-- for any of you who get a new puppy, I have downloaded a baby lullaby music app to my IPAD. Every time they go into their individual crates I play the baby music app. They go right to sleep with NO whimpering or whining. It is amazing!!

Here are some pictures of the night we brought them home and just some proud puppy mommy pictures that I have captured over the past few days;

Here they are! The newest additions and the sweetest boys I know ;) What else can I say besides the fact that I am so excited for what is to come for me. Lately I just feel so blessed and lucky. I continue to pray that God keeps blessing me in life. I recently "retired" from all of my side jobs and had to say goodbye to some of the sweetest kids I know as well! I will definitely go back and visit and work from time to time but it feels good to focus on myself and my life at this time. Here are a couple of "selfies" from my last day! hehe ;)

Needless to say there is a lot of transition and change brewing in my life but all for the positive. I really am not used to devoting time to my own life but perhaps that is what has been missing. I feel happy, healthy and blessed! I truly am excited for the future! Now that life is settling down a bit expect more blog posts to begin flowing again. :)

P.S. If anyone has any new puppy tips for me it is VERY MUCH appreciated. Please comment below to give me some helpful tips and hints! Thank You!!!

XOXO,

D

Book Review Tuesday!

Recently I noticed that Thomas had a few new books added to his library shelf! Thomas is always getting hooked onto new and great children's books thanks to his awesome mama and my boss Rosie!

Last week Thomas had me pull a "bus book" off of his book shelf to read to him during lunch time. He loves buses, trucks and construction everything! Thomas is also a HUGE fan of, "The Wheels on the Bus." The board book I am about to introduce is not exactly the same thing however it teaches a wonder of fun math skills! 

This book for me is a new favorite! It really is addition and subtracting lessons in disguise. There are groups of dogs and cats that board the bus. Then, at different stops along the way groups of cats and dogs get off the bus in different numbers. For example, two dogs get dropped off at the boat, three cats board the airplane, two cats and two dogs get on the train, etc. The final passenger is a dog who ends up being the bus driver's pet. The awesome part about this book is if you want to begin to teach your toddler simple adding and subtracting lessons you can take cheerio's, puff's or whatever you would like to show them when one, two, three, or four animals board and leave the bus. They can count with you to see how many animals are left still sitting on the bus. 

As said above, Thomas loves his wheels on the bus song. So I take the opportunity to sing the song with him and go through all of his favorite motions! Since Byron Barton uses cats and dogs for his story you can include doing different animal noises in your wheels on the bus version to go with the theme of the book. It makes meal time more fun and relaxing for him, for sure! 

What stories and children's books would you love to see featured here on Play Dates & Sippy Cups? Comment below and let us know!

XOXO,

-D

Meal Prep & Wedding Madness!!

Let me just start off by giving this small disclaimer.... I am in no way shape or form in top notch shape! My ab's (ummm I have NO ab's) are not made in the kitchen! Would I like them to be? Absolutely! However, I cannot live at the gym 24/7 and with my hectic schedule I do not by any means have seven hours on a Saturday to meal prep. For today, it just is not my reality.

I also very recently got slapped in the face with a different reality. I was my best friends Maid of Honor this past weekend. Early July my dress finally arrived at the bridal shop! I was SO excited! Now, for all you ladies who know bridal world. Clearly, we all have a love/hate relationship with it. You can be a size seven in reality but in bridal world that easily makes you a size twelve or fourteen. The measurements are always off and something always needs to get tailored or adjusted... Keep in mind ladies that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a size 12/14/16/18/22! We are all beautiful in our own skin. Weight for me has always been an uphill battle. Especially throughout my childhood and teen years. My body image is still a battle for me to this day but I work on knowing I have shed that portion of who I used to be.

Back to the meat of this story... I tried on my dress which is a size ten. The dress fit beautiful and like a glove! The only thing that needed minor adjustment was in my breast area. Of course, it needed to be taken in. Three weeks later my dress was picked up and I went to my best friend's apartment to zip it up. Well, when I say she couldn't even zip it halfway up my back that is no exaggeration. That dress was NOT fitting! Only three weeks had passed! Could I have gained that much weight? No way! It just wasn't possible. I began to break out in sweats, I am pretty sure I began to swell up and freak out. With just a week and a half until the wedding we had no idea what we were going to do about this. Quick side note, I recently embarked into a new relationship with a wonderful man. We all know what happens when you get into a new relationship. It is exciting, fun, tons of date nights and eating out and slowly the gym is the last thing on your mind. However, three weeks from the fitting did not pack twenty pounds onto my body! Rita said she would call the bridal shop first thing in the morning because surely something had to have gone wrong in the alteration process. I ended up going home that evening and calming down a bit. I know this sounds super silly but I went and pee'd, yes pee pee. Prior to going to try on my dress I ate like a cow and drank iced green tea and two bottles of water. I definitely did not help the situation. So when I was relieved and comfortable within my own walls I called upon my mother to help me out for a minute. She was able to clasp and zip the dress! Mini SUCCESS! The dress was pulling and too tight! BUT, I was in it! That very moment I decided no more eating out, no more junk or sweets until this wedding was over!! I told Rita to not call the bridal shop because I was going to focus on eating right and getting into this dress on the big day! Talk about pressure!!!

As you can see my back was swollen and this dress was pulling an awful amount!!

For the next week I focused on nothing but drinking water like it was my job and green tea too! I believe my boyfriend and I went through two twenty-four packs of water bottles in a week (mostly from me) and the tea section of my supermarket was cleared out by me as well. I walked for my cardio but did not push it too hard because again, my schedule is extremely hectic and I do tons of traveling. By the end of the day I am just wiped out! Also, during that week my good and dear monthly friend came and gone. Which, I believe that had a lot to do with my bloating and swelling too! I made a firm decision to basically eat chicken and veggies until I couldn't do so any more!

I am sure it is the same for all of us women... I can't just eat plain grilled chicken. I do need some flavor to it! I want to share an awesome recipe with you that helped to get me through the week! You can change it up by cooking some brown rice on the side as your carb to mix with the chicken and the veggies!

I made Rosemary Lemon Chicken (ummm YUM!) and the best part of it all was that it was in the CROCK POT!! So ladies, we all know what this means.... MINIMAL PREP AND ZERO CLEANUP!

This was such an easy and simple meal. I believe it took me ten minutes if that to prep! 

Ingredients:

• Four boneless skinless Chicken Breasts (side note, Nature's Promise makes individually packaged chicken breasts which cuts your prep time even more!)
• 1 Cup low sodium Chicken Broth (definitely low sodium after that dress experience lol!)
• 1 Lemon thinly sliced
• 4 Sprigs of Rosemary (I got the Rosemary plant from the food store)
• 2 Cloves of Garlic, Chopped
• Dash of sea salt and a few dashes of ground black pepper

Then, all you have to do is place the chicken in the crock pot, pour in the chicken broth, top it off with the lemon, garlic, rosemary, sea salt and pepper! You can cook it on high for 4-5 hours or what I did was high for two hours and on low for three hours. When I cook this again I will probably just try to cook it on low for 5 hours. The crockpot I use is on steroids and gets hotter than your average I feel. 

Here is what it looked like when all was said and done!...

Yumm!!

Since I had embarked on the, "You better fit your sweet little butt into the MOH dress" journey, I opted out of cooking brown rice and just stuck to some broccoli. It was a yummy healthy meal and there was zero cleanup! Side note, this is an AWESOME meal for your toddlers! You can buy everything natural and organic too if that works best for your household! 

These pictures were taken the day before the wedding! SWEET SUCCESS!!!!! 

I was SO EXCITED!

No more pulling or swelling in my back!

Have you had any times where you had a certain time crunch to fit into a special dress?! Please share your stories below! We would love to build a community here at Play Dates & Sippy Cups where you feel at home to share, comment and talk with us! 

XOXO,

-D

** I am not a nutritionist so please talk to your doctors before changing your diet  

My Breastfeeding Journey

I want to start off by saying that I am not judging anyone else for the decisions they made regarding breastfeeding and what was best for them and THEIR child. This is simply my experience with breast feeding. If anyone has any negative comments they can just keep them to themselves! :)

My breastfeeding journey with Makenna was definitely not an easy one in the beginning. It took her three months to latch and it was a constant battle. I believe this is a direct result of the difficult birth I had with her that ended in an emergency c-section. I was so drugged and tired at that point, that I didn't even get to see her for eight hours afterward because I couldn't stay awake. By that time she had already had several bottles and was in love with her pacifier. As you can tell in this picture, I am still out of it.

When I finally got to hold her, I immediately tried to get her to nurse. She screamed and cried and would not latch for anything. After five minutes we were both exhausted and Daddy gave her a bottle. I felt like the biggest failure ever. When the lactation consultant came in that day she helped me try different holds and a nipple shield. Still nothing. They brought me a pump and told me I should start pumping to help my milk come in and that we would keep trying to get her to latch. I pumped and pumped and finally the day I went home from the hospital my milk came in! I was so excited, at least I could pump and give her breast milk still. She transitioned from the formula to breast milk in bottles without a problem. I figured she would start latching soon.

A month later she was still not latching. I would try before every feeding, but she would just scream and scream. I was slowly losing hope and pumping was taking over my life. When you pump exclusively it gets tiring and takes a LOT of time. I had to feed her and then pump for 30 minutes every 2 hours. As soon as I was finished, it felt like it was time to start the process all over again. I never really produced enough pumping to build up a good supply. So I had to constantly pump in order to feed her. My breast pump was my BFF. I couldn't go anywhere without it.

Pumping in the car

Thank God I had a good support system of family and friends who supported breastfeeding. My friend Julia was a constant shoulder to lean on and would help give advice to increase my supply or on any other issue. I probably would have given up without them cheering me on. Three glorious months later, I forgot my pump at work. I decided to just see if she would latch before I went all the way back there. SHE LATCHED!! I almost passed out from excitement. :) 

After she finally latched, my milk came in stronger and I had zero problems producing enough milk for her. It was amazing and I stopped pumping all together. I was just so tired of that damn pump. I now wish I continued pumping a few times a day though. When I finally tried to pump again I hardly got anything and then Makenna refused to take a bottle. Go figure. Just my luck. 

When Makenna was around 5 months old, she all of a sudden became "allergic" to dairy. She was extremely gassy, would have poop explosions a billion times a day, and broke out with rashes and eczema everywhere. 

I had to cut dairy completely out of my diet. Not just typical dairy such as, milk, cheese and ice cream.... but anything that the dairy protein was in. Which is pretty much EVERYTHING. You don't even realize how much prepackage food dairy is in. It was insane. If I was worried I wasn't going to lose the weight I put on from pregnancy, I no longer had to worry. I dropped weight at a rapid pace. I was around 115 lbs when I got pregnant. I gained around 35 lbs, so at the time of birth I weighed 150. By the time Makenna was six months I was down to 102 lbs. I was definitely not eating enough and I'm lucky my milk supply didn't suffer. 

After all my breastfeeding struggles, I refused to give up! My baby girl was doing so much better and was happy once again.

Right before her first birthday, I slowly began introducing dairy back into my diet. She seemed to be doing fine with it so I cut out all dairy restrictions and went back to a normal diet. I put back on weight and evened out at 115 where I started.

After Makenna's first birthday I tried weening her off of breastfeeding. She was NOT having it. I decided to keep going and try again in a few month. By this time she was obsessed with my boobs. No, really, she was. I think her latching around the three month mark was a big reason. Around three months is when you start to introduce a "lovey". Her lovey was my boob. Even when she wasn't nursing she wanted to hold my boob. If she wanted to go to sleep she had to hold my boob. I created a boob monster. I always joke with my husband that she's going to mortified of all the pictures of her with her hand down my shirt when she is older. :)

Around 18 months I had had enough. We were still nursing on demand but I forced her to ween to 3 times a day and then slowly cut out a feeding until I was down to just nighttime. Nighttime was the worst one. She would cry and cry to nurse and I would give in. The month before she turned two I had to go away over night for the first time. That was the end of breast feeding, but not the boob holding. She'll be three in September and still tries to put her hand down my shirt when she is tired or wants to cuddle. I no longer let her though. Without success we cannot get her to latch onto any type of blanket or doll for more then a few weeks. She is very stubborn and obviously will not be forced to do anything before she is ready.

With baby #2 on the way I worry about breastfeeding. I pray it comes easier this time. I am having a planned c-section and my husband is under strict order to not let anyone near her with a bottle or pacifier. I am going to request a "gentle c-section" where they allow skin to skin directly after birth but haven't met the new doctor who is scheduled to delivery me. It might have been a long journey with Makenna breastfeeding, but I lasted almost two years. I would like to give baby #2 at least 18 months. We will see how that goes!

Feel free to share your experiences below!