Healthy Snacking - Be Prepared!

Having such a busy lifestyle already, in addition to recently becoming a new mom, it's even more important for me to make sure that we have readily accessible healthy snacks for when we need them! 

Let's be honest - there's always snacks readily available; however - most of the time when we're in a hurry and only have a few minutes to grab something, we resort to grabbing whatever is easiest which often tends to be a not-so-healthy option. I'm not saying that we'll never enjoy a not-so-healthy snack or indulge in a treat every once in a while (because that would be both a lie and depressing) - but I want to try to make a better effort to have healthier options ready to go for when we need them!

I briefly talked about having healthy snacks in my Meal Prep Blog Post. Some of the easiest snacks that I love having ready and that are simple to prep are:

Sliced Bell Peppers 

(To store: Bag them in individual sandwich bags)

Fruit Salad 

(To store: Use small ziplock containers - snack sized, ready to go!)

Celery Sticks with Peanut Butter 

(To store: Bag the celery in individual sandwich bags and the peanut butter in small tupperware containers)

Hard Boiled Eggs 

(To store: Whatever is easiest for you - if that's having them all in one container in the refrigerator or to bag them individually. To make things even easier on myself, I like to peel the eggs ahead of time, before putting them in the refrigerator, so that I don't have to worry about peeling them when I'm ready for a snack).

Apple Slices 

(To store: Bag them in individual sandwich bags)

What are some of your favorite snacks? Let's all make an effort to make things easier on ourselves and have health(ier) snack options available when we need them! :)

Favorite Baby Items: Take 2

If you missed my "Favorite Baby Items: Take 1" blog post, click here to view it! I want to share another five of our favorite baby items that have helped make life so much easier (again in no particular order)! :)

Bath Rinser - We have the Skip Hop Moby Waterfall Rinser. Bennett loves bath time. This rinser has been amazing, specifically because of the little soft head piece on the end ensuring water doesn't go on his face when rinsing his hair. Thankfully, he doesn't mind when water gets on his face - but our little man has so much hair, that we have to rinse his head quite a few times to ensure we get all of the shampoo out of his thick locks! It also doubles as a rinser for the rest of his body as well :)

Diaper Pail - We have the Ubbi Diaper Pail. Our little man is a poop machine! I did a good bit of research on diaper pails before building our baby registry, and I'm happy I did because this one is amazing! It completely blocks odor, matches perfectly with his nursery, is slim in shape (doesn't take up much room at all!) and you can either use the Ubbi Bags made for the diaper pail, or you can use regular trash can bags!



Burp Cloths - You can't have enough of these! We were lucky enough to have been gifted a TON of burp cloths that were handmade by my girlfriend Ashley's grandmother. (Side note - she's amazing and is the one that made all of our nursery bedding, curtain and receiving blankets). It's crazy how many we go through. Others that are great that I'd recommend are the Aden by Aden + Anais Burpy Bibs. I love their shape - it makes it easy to throw over your shoulder and hugs your neck; and also it has a snap so that it can double as a bib for your baby.

Nose/Snot Sucker - We have the NoseFrida. This was something that every single mom recommended to me. The first time it was explained to me, I immediately gagged and swore I'd never want to use it. It however, is amazing! (I made Eric use it first - haha). It definitely makes sucking out the nose nastiness quick and easy!



Onesies - We love these Carters Short-Sleeve Body Suits. Because it's winter, we put one of these onsies under each of Bennett's pajamas and outfits that he wears. The quality is great and you can never have too many (in my opinion!) We were lucky to be given plenty of these in 3M, 6M and 9M sizes - so we are stocked for a little while! :)

Favorite Baby Items: Take 1

First, I can't believe Bennett is already a month old. Time has been flying by! Over the past month I've definitely been able to identify our favorite items thus far that have been either life savers, or that have just plain and simple made life much easier! I'm going to try to post five items every couple of weeks that we couldn't live without. To start, here are my first few items that we've loved and have made life easier thus far (in no particular order):

Rock 'N Play - We have the Fisher-Price Deluxe Newborn Auto Rock 'N Play. Bennett slept in this next to our bed for the first few weeks before we moved him to his crib. Not only did it ease my mind having him right next to our bed, it also made night time feedings so much easier, and he loved it! Even though he's no longer using it to sleep in overnight, I can still use it for instances like taking a shower or getting dressed and ready for the day while he's awake - he'll happily rock in it in our bathroom while I'm doing these things, and my mind is still at ease because I can see him! Also - it's so light and compact that we can easily move it between floors if we want it in the kitchen or living room, or if we need to travel with it for him to sleep in.



Target Bins - Yep, from the dollar aisle! These bins were $3 each and have been so helpful! They don't look exactly like this one pictured but are pretty similar. It's made out of thin plastic and they are so easy to clean when needed. I have bins for:

• Dirty Bottles: This bin sits next to the sink to keep all of the dirty bottles that are ready for sterilization together. It makes it so easy to have everything in one place and without adding and mixing into the clutter of regular dishes that are often collecting in the kitchen sink.
• Pumping: This bin sits next to my bed and breast pump and keeps all of my pumping accessories in one place for easy access when needed. I like having these items in a bin that I can easily move, for when I need to pump in different places in the house.
• Clean bottles ready for pumping: This bin is close by to my pumping bin so that I can easily grab two bottles to connect to my breast pump when ready. Again - having everything clean and all in one place makes things so much easier! 
• Baby Cabinet Organization: We have one big cabinet in our kitchen that is designated for baby things! Anything from extra bottles, bottle parts, breast pump parts, feeding accessories, bibs, etc. Having little bins to neatly organize each of the above keeps everything neat and tidy, and I can quickly identify where things are when I need them.

Swing - We have the Graco Simple Sway Swing - This is Bennett's favorite swing! He absolutely loves it and 90% of the time, it rocks him right to sleep when we put him in there (whether intentional or not)! :) 

Microwave Bottle Sterilizer - We have the Avent Microwave Steamer. Self explanatory, it makes sterilizing bottles so much easier (and fast)!

Video Baby Monitor - We have the Levana Astra 3.5" PTZ Video Monitor. It is amazing! We can zoom in, pan around the room with it, it has incredible night vision, tons of nursery music that can be played from it and also has the option for us to talk to Bennett from our end of the monitor, if we'd like! If you're a parent with more than one child, or if you prefer to have more than one camera to use for other rooms in your home, you can connect and sync additional cameras to your monitor for multiple camera use. This gadget is one of the only reasons I felt comfortable moving Bennett to his crib overnight while he was just three weeks old. I could easily see and hear him at all times if needed :) I'd love to get another camera to connect to this eventually for our living room where his above favorite swing is located, for those times when we take Tucker outside or find ourselves doing something else in the house while he's sleeping in his swing. Again, a mom at ease is a wonderful thing! :)

So that's it! These are my first five items. Check back for another five favorite items - we already have so many recommendations/suggestions! :)

Crock Pot Ribs

Eric actually found this recipe online and we decided to try it last weekend! We bought a huge pack of ribs at Costco and will be able to make 3 meals out of it :) We froze two big portions, and kept 2 racks out for this recipe! Enjoy! :)

Ingredients:

- 3 lbs Ribs

- 2 cups BBQ sauce

- 1/4 cup Brown Sugar

- 4 tbsp. Cider Vinegar

- 3 tsp. Oregano

- 1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce

- 1 tbsp. Cayenne Pepper

- 1 tbsp. Chili Powder

- Salt & Pepper

Directions:

Salt and pepper the ribs.

Combine BBQ sauce, brown sugar, cider vinegar, oregano, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, and chili powder in a small bowl. Note: Eric recommends using a little less oregano in the mixture - it was a little overpowering.

Place ribs in the crock pot and cover the ribs in sauce.

Cook on low for eight hours or high for four hours.

Once the ribs are done, spoon the BBQ sauce in 

the slow cooker over the ribs before removing. 

The ribs will fall off the bone - so delicious... 

We're looking forward to making these again! :)

Welcome 2016 & Mommyhood

Wow! I feel like so much has happened since my last post in December. 

First of all, Happy 2016! 2015 was a great year full of travel, love, family, friends and finding out the best news - that we were expecting a baby! 

With the great times that we had in 2015, our family also had a few rough patches toward the end of the year with health and losing an amazing family member. My Uncle Erik was like a second father to me. His loss has been one of the hardest things that I still struggle with and think about every single day. What makes losing him even harder than not having him here for selfish personal reasons, is that he isn't here to meet and make memories with our little man - something that he was looking so forward to. His heroism of being an organ donor and the fact that he was able to save the lives of so many other people upon his passing, makes him even more of a hero in my eyes - and someone that I continue to be so proud of every single day. 

The best thing that took place during my absence from blogging - we welcomed our little man 2 days after our due date. He held out for an awesome day, December 19th... it was my Dad and I's 4th kidney transplant anniversary :)

We have a happy, healthy, beautiful baby boy that sure made his momma work hard to bring him into this world! After 32 long (and very rough hours toward the end), Bennett Lee joined us at 1:45 pm, weighing in at 8 lbs 10.3 oz. I would have never made it through the long labor and almost 4 hours of pushing without Eric - he was a saint and I think that he even surprised himself with how calm, patient, caring and supportive he was through it all (someone was paying attention during childbirth class! Or maybe he just felt bad! Whatever it was - I'm so thankful for him!) :)

While in the moment, I was thinking (and I'm sure saying out loud) that I had no idea why people would want to go through childbirth more than one time. After seeing the beautiful baby boy that our amazing doctor put on my chest after he was born, I thought to myself how worth the past 32 hours were (the majority of which were without pain meds) - and thinking how lucky Eric and I were to become parents to such a beautiful baby boy. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean we'll be rushing to have baby #2 anytime soon - haha - it's just amazing how in a split second, after hours of feeling and thinking that the pain and labor would never end, how everything just becomes calm, things are put into perspective and you're reminded after laying eyes on your beautiful baby, just how truly lucky you are.

So - here's to an amazing 2016 and to mommyhood! I'm excited to blog about this new, exciting, exhausting but so rewarding journey and all that I learn along the way - whether those things be easy or hard, beautiful or ugly.  It's already been an amazing month so far and I can't believe how fast 2016 is flying by. I'm looking forward to another amazing year full of love, happiness, health and watching our little man grow!

Until next time....