Weekend Recap

Friday

Pancakes! Ah, I missed my Vitamix so much. The bad boys were drenched in maple syrup and I just about licked the plate.

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The morning was pretty low key: workout, errands, cleaning…. booooooring. But this guy finally fit into a pair or harem pants my mom made. Is he going to be a blondie? From his eyebrows it looks like it!

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After Tyler got home from work, we made a pre-Thanksgiving trip to Costco and managed to get out of there under $100. I don’t think that’s ever happened. Still: a turkey, chicken, and some veggies= $98. Jeeze.

Wes has been really loving his solid foods. I picked up a few more organic squeeze packs for him and we’ve yet to come across a flavour he doesn’t like. The kid kicks his feet and grunts if you don’t feed him fast enough. Don’t worry, I didn’t let him have any wine- although, he was pretty keen on grabbing the glass!

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We’ve been practicing our tummy time and rolling a lot this week and he FINALLY did a completely unassisted flip from back to front (TWO of them!). To the non-parents, this is no biggie, but I assure you it’s the most exciting thing since sliced bread.

The pups were itching for a walk, so I caved and took them for a quick one around the block. The sunset was INSANE.

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And that picture is facing east! 

Wes fell asleep at 7:30 and we watched Spy before heading to bed. Tyler and I agreed it was probably the funniest movie we’ve seen in a long time.

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Saturday

Wes didn’t get up until 7! That’s a lot of sleep. Good boy.

Only difficult part is that it’s still dark as hell out until around 7:30, so it still feels like the middle of the night.

We enjoyed a nice long morning before it was time to head to Wes’s first pool class at the Y! I have to admit, I was pretty nervous about it- mostly for the whole locker room part. I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage with a baby who can’t yet sit up on his own. Luckily, it went pretty smooth and the boy loved the water. He was kicking and splashing a lot, just not smiling or giggling. He was mostly interesting in staring at everyone.

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After his class, we ran to Rona where we left with nothing but Girl Guide cookies. These are the BEST cookies.

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Then it was to Safeway for Thanksgiving fixings and Babies R Us for Wes’s convertible carseat. We got it for a pretty sweet deal. It regularly retails for $350, was on sale for $250, and we had $200 worth of Air Miles vouchers to redeem. Ended up paying only $60! Score.

Some fuel for all the shopping:

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Then it was back to a few more stores for the essentials.

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Does anyone get emails from Lucie’s List? I absolutely love them- they’re so helpful with Wes’s growing stages. Anyhoo- the latest email was about solid food and there was a lot of info on rice cereal vs oatmeal for babies and I was really glad to have read it (something about glucose yadda yadda in the rice. It made me *personal decision* run out and grab some oat cereal to swap out for the rice I had been giving Wes). And beer. Muy importante.

The evening was pretty good- we played around with Wes for a long time. The kid is seriously so fun to hang out with now– he rolls and giggles and well, it’s just the best. We enjoyed a delicious steak dinner, gave Wes a bath, watched Amazing Race, and I made brownies for Sunday. Once Wes went to sleep (8pm) I headed downstairs to get in my cardio workout then we watched Southpaw.

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Sunday

7am wakeup! Dare I say I’m getting used to this?

So, I think I was in denial that Wes is growing up because I’ve had him in the infant car seat in the stroller up until today. He napped while I took him for a walk and cried about him growing up.

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I have the Bob Revolution as well, but still have to take the adapter out of it from the previous owners. I really lucked out and found it on Kijiji for $150 and it came with the fleece liner, snack tray and weather shield! Can’t wait to use it for long walks instead of my City Mini GT (just to extend the life of it for future kiddos).

While we were out of the house, Tyler set up the smoker for our Thanksgiving turkey.

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Then he made me breakfast. #besthusband

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The afternoon was pretty low key. Wes napped, I worked out, Tyler watched football. Blah blah.. Then there was the turkey dinner! It was pretty good..I ate more turkey than I have in years, but not so much of anything else. There were carrots too, so there’s a veggie. And those brownies? They’re almost history. It’s gross how much of a sweet tooth I get.

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Once Wes went to sleep, I laid in the tub for a bit and was in bed by 8:30. (Asleep by 8:31).

Monday

5:30am wakeup. Thanks, Wes. He ate and slept for a bit longer (giving him about a 12 hour sleep!) but I couldn’t get any more shut eye. As hard as I tried. Gave myself a big pat on the back for falling asleep so early the night before!

I think one of my favorite things about this baby is how he can look so peaceful in his sleep and simultaneously fart louder than a vacuum.

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After breakfast, we went for a nice long walk then came back for more lounging. There were some naps- and it wasn’t just by Wes. I don’t think I’ve napped in ages and it felt glorious! Post nap, I finished the brownies. You know, to get rid of temptation.

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I roasted some sweet potatoes and zucchini to pair with leftover turkey for dinner then headed off to a spin class. It was a new to me instructor and I absolutely LOVED her class.

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Any workout that can incorporate this song into the mix is a winner in my books:

PS: Remember how the beagle stole/ate a box of quest bars? Well, the last two have been recovered! And in vary precarious places, might I add. That means the pooch didn’t consume any of my $$$$ protein bars so I’m a happy lady.

How was your long weekend? 

What’s your favorite protein bar?

Take any group ex classes lately? What was it?!!

…From the Week

Monday was our last full day home in New York. Ugh face. But hey, I got a whole month there! Not too shabby. We tried to make the most of the last day and took a family drive to the mall. SO EXCITING, HUH?!! Ha, well I had to return some things I bought for Wes (kid doesn’t fit in 18 month jeans! What the hellllllll) Afterwards, we drove to Grant Cottage only to find out it was closed. Womp. In case you’re wondering, Grant Cottage is the cottage where General Ulysses S. Grant died. See, those are the types of attractions near home. Thrilling.

We picked up my aunt for lunch at Panera and it was delicious. Half of me NEEDS one here in Calgary and the other half of me doesn’t want it because it would take all my money. Wes ate mangoes and flirted with the entire 70+ year-old population. Small baby boomer town = lots of places filled with gray hairs. Everywhere.

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Oh, and I tried that limited edition pumpkin quest bar! I thought it was gonna be yucky but it was SO GOOD. I should probably buy a box. (no jen, no. you have no money.)

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I packed. And I packed. And then there was more packing. It was a tight squeeze. I’m glad I won’t be flying for a while. PHEW.

Wes was in his carseat for a good part of the day, so I put him in the Ergo and went for a long walk. I would love it if somebody would strap me to them and walk around so I could nap. Could you even imagine?

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The night ended with a weenie roast! It was on the small scale. Like, micro-mini.

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Tuesday. Ahhhhh Tuesday. I am SO glad Tuesday is over. Let’s bullet point Tuesday, shall we?

  • 2:45am wake up. Except my alarm wasn’t until 3:15. Can someone say anxious?
  • TSA lost my laptop. I had about 3592730293 bins to go through security (camera, laptop, stroller, car seat, breastmilk, toiletries, jacket, shoes, diaper bag, backpack…..) I had a minor anxiety attack before they finally recovered it.
  • The first flight was pretty uneventful. I got the row of three seats to myself, so it was easier to feed and change Wes.
  • RAN from arrival gate to departure gate of second flight. Made it just in time. Wes starts screaming profusely as I got to our seat so I started to feed him. No sooner did that happen, the flight attendant told me I needed to move seats to be on a side that had extra of those pig-nose bag thingies that drop from the ceiling in case of emergency (who cares what they’re really called). Cue MORE SCREAMING. And there was no changing table on the flight…I’m just going to end this bullet point because: RAGE.
  • I unpacked everything once we got home because I wanted to make sure there were no foods in my luggage that Reggie would get into. We went to run some errands and came back to find Reggie had gotten an ENTIRE box of Quest bars from the counter. 7 were among the wreckage (unharmed), 3 were recovered from various hiding spots and 2 are MIA. PLEASE NOTE: He buried one in the pillows of the guest bed and got so ferocious with his nose-burying, that his nose bled…..ALL OVER THE WHITE DUVET. Cue more rage.
  • Frozen breastmilk thawed en route and leaked all over my laptop. You know the end result because I’m typing from said laptop, so that’s good.

No pictures from Tuesday because: see above.

Wednesday

This was a total get-our-lives-back-in-order day. I was stressed x infinity about the number of things that needed to get done around the house- reorganizing Wes’s stuff, laundry, cleaning the dang house, groceries…….

Wes woke up nice and early, but I didn’t mind since I actually got in a good night’s sleep! I quickly got started on the eleven thousand shows that were recorded while I was gone, while Wes went through the usual eat/poop/lay/jump morning routine. We then went to the store to get some essential groceries. There was approximately ZERO perishable items in the house and one cannot survive on boxed goods alone.

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PS: notice it’s the same jumperoo as the one I bought in NY? The kid is obsessed with it, so I had to find another one!

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I set up Wes’s compact high chair and he got right to it and ate SO MUCH. High five for that thing.

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And some stuff I won in a giveaway arrived! Yesssss

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The weather was SO NICE that I put Wes in the stroller and walked to the bank to deposit some stuff, then continued on a nice long walk. It was hilly too, which felt good since all my walks back home were completely flat. By the time we got back home, I was drenched in sweat. LOVE.

I put together a dinner of turkey burgers and roasted veggies, then took the dogs for a walk and got in my workout. It was nice to have a little me time, but I did feel bad for putting Tyler right back to serious baby-duty (Ok no, I don’t feel bad).

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Also: posted my extremely in-depth review on the latest pumpkin beers. If you missed it, you can read it here.

Thursday 

In the morning, I did my pilates workout while Wes was in the jumperoo. As luck would have it, he fell asleep just as I finished so I put him in the stroller and went for a nice long walk. It felt really good to get some fresh air and quiet time.

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I picked up some stuff at the grocery store for dinner..mind you, it took two trips because I forgot my wallet the first time. WOMP. And somehow this pint of gloriousness made its way into my cart..

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Dinner was Crock Pot Sweet Potato and Quinoa Turkey Chili (I used beef instead since we had turkey the night before). I highly recommend it, it’s SO good!

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Wes had a couple of friends during/after his own dinner.

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Poor Wes, the stupid eczema is back on his neck and chest. This dry weather is taking its toll and I’ve been slathering him with CeraVe every two seconds.

So that’s this week in a rather long nutshell! Back to the same-old same-old routine at home!

Winesday Wednesday 10/7/15

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This will be short and sweet. You can even hold your breath and read the entire post. I promise. Try it…

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From left to right: bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, good.

The end.

Weekend Recap

Friday

As usual, pancakes on Friday! Love them SO much- except I do miss my real Canadian maple syrup back home 🙂 In case you’re wondering, the recipe is SO simple: 3/4 c quick oats, 3/4 c greek yogurt, 2 egg whites. (I add a bit of almond milk to thin out the batter since the consistency from my mom’s blender is a bit more grainy.)

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I noticed in the local paper that there is a new baby boutique downtown, so my mom and I went to go check it out. Unfortunately, I don’t think the shop will last long- she had barely any inventory and it was extremely expensive for the area. There was one little fleece coat there that was adorable, but I wasn’t about to pay $52 for it!

We walked around for a bit longer and stopped in another shop where I saw they had Hunter boots- and they had my size!!! (11). My mom convinced me to buy them since there was a sign that said 40% off- which I could still justify given the current exchange rate. Apparently it was NOT my lucky day, because they were improperly marked and were full price. UGH. I’m really hoping Tyler reads this and sees that I want a pair of ORIGINAL TALL BLACK HUNTER BOOTS. SIZE 11.

Tyler- are you reading this? Please be reading this. I really want those boots.

To make up for all the bad shopping, we stopped in to Rock Hill Bakehouse for lunch. I’m mad at myself for being home this long and waiting until the end of my trip to order my favorite sandwich, the Granny Smith. It has roasted turkey, sliced granny apple, sharp cheddar and curried mayo on toasted raisin bread. Mmmmmm

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I’m the biggest idiot in the world and had a bit of ice-cream when we got home. <–That part isn’t me being an idiot, but working out less than 10 minutes after eating the ice cream is. I just about barfed. I was literally sweating Ben and Jerry’s out of my face.

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Dinner was pretty f*ing good too. My dad made homemade balls and sauce which I paired with a THICK slice of Villas bread. OMG I love Villas bread- it’s so thick and well, bread tasting. I used to eat entire loaves of this stuff in high school. You know, back when metabolisms were great.

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News alert: I opened that beer and drank a whopping 3 sips of it. I think I’m losing my pumpkin beer mojo??! I’m not liking any of the ones I bought!

Wes INHALED some cereal, green beans and pears. The boy loves his food!

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Before bed, I decided to whip together a coffee cake. I’ve been craving one lately and secretly hoping my mom would put it together. Instead, she gave Wes a bath and a bottle while I got to work in the kitchen. Totally fine by me.

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So basically, Friday was a day revolving around food. Actually, that’s most days.

Saturday

Ugh. Wes is really liking this whole wake-up-at-5AM thing. I’m not liking it at all. Especially these last few days- I have been feeling a bit under the weather. WOMP. The good news is, he falls asleep right after eating, so I can get back to bed for a bit longer as well.

Even though I was feeling crappy, I made breakfast (BAE- bacon and eggs) for all of us AND cut into the delicious loaf I made last night.

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I could have eaten the entire thing.

My dad took Wes for a walk while I napped (very important!) ad my mom and I eventually got out the door for a girls outing (+ Wes). We wanted to drive out to Salem, NY for a couple of different fall fests. Funny story: We drove to Salem, drove through Salem, then drove home. At least the view was scenic and Wes got in another long nap! Fun fact: There are more cows in Salem than people.

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PS: I took this photo while getting ready this morning..I am too lazy/frugal to buy new pjs, so I’ve been rubber banding my existing ones. I’m convinced I’ll fill them out again soon, so I’m not about to spend more money on smaller ones!

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We had dinner reservation sat my favorite local restaurant, Bistro LeRoux . I can’t say enough good things about this place- the service is so friendly, the food is AMAZING and the atmosphere is nice and cozy for a delicious evening out of the house.

I stuck with my all time favorite: the Mascarpone Stuffed Poached Pear Salad. It comes with candied walnuts, cherries, mascarpone cheese and spinach with a vanilla fig vinaigrette. I added filet to mine to make it a heartier meal and it didn’t disappoint in the least.

And of course we had a bottle of wine for the table.

And of course we split warm apple pie for dessert.

And of course I multi-tasked and fed Wes once he woke up.

Of course.

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I hate to say it, but this trip is coming to an end with both Wes and I having colds. UGH. Which made sleep on Saturday night pretty much non-existant (for me). The poor boy just had a bit of a hard time getting to sleep, but stayed down for a solid 10 hours. Lucky.

Sunday

Well, I couldn’t sleep worth a crap. I ended up watching My Best Friends Wedding and sobbed like a baby. Also, ummm now that I’m watching it, Kimmy (Cameron Diaz’s character) is only 20 and in college and Julia Roberts is supposed to only be 27. HOWWWWWW did they all get such great jobs? I would DIE..strike that…KILL to be 27 and be a food critic. Or a sports writer. Stupid rom coms.

I then got super desperate and watched Drive Me Crazy (which drives me crazy.) At least it did the trick and I fell asleep.

Despite the yucky feelings, Mr. Wes woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed. (Me, on the other hand…WOOF).

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My dad took Wes for a long walk in the morning so I was able to squeeze in my workout. Having a sniffly nose + cardio do NOT mix, but I powered through it and felt about .5 billionty times better.

In the afternoon, we ventured back over to the mall because I wanted to see if I could find any good deals on clothes for myself. I wound up getting 2 shirts and a sweater which I think will fit into my upcoming fall/winter/spring lifestyle. PS: I dread going back to work to wear more put together outfits. Barf.

I also picked up another box of Quest bars and managed to work a single pumpkin pie bar into my purchase. This is just about the only pumpkin thing I’ve succumbed to this fall. Well, besides the beer but that was an EPIC fail this year and more than 75% of it went down the drain.

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The weather in the late afternoon was so nice, I decided to take Wes for another walk. The fresh air did us both good and I am so dreading going back home to colder, non-walkable weather.

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I made myself a stuffed sweet potato for dinner and absolutely inhaled it. For some reason, the ‘sweet potatoes’ I find in Calgary come nothing close to these in taste, so it was an especially nice treat to have a ‘tater I really loved.

And I bought a case of LaCroix at Target today too. Guess how many are left? None. I’ve already polished them off. Is that gross?? I guess there could be worse habits to have. Like heroin.

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To wrap up things nicely, my mom made a wacky cake for dessert. I would have taken a picture of it but we ate it and it’s (mostly) gone already. CAKE FOR THE WIN!

How was your weekend?