From the Week

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Hey friends! Happy Friday! It’s gonna be another gorgeous one over here, and I can’t wait to spend as much time as possible outside to soak it all up! Got a few things on the agenda this weekend, so it should go by in a flash. Bummer. Backing it up…

Monday: Right after breakfast, Wes and I walked to Safeway to pick up groceries for the week. I actually made a meal plan and lucked out that all of our dinners only required minimal additional ingredients.

The rest of our day was pretty laid back (from what I remember). I did day two of 22 Minute Hard Corps and we played in the basement for a while before Tyler got home.

Dinner was zucchini ‘meatballs’. They were pretty good taste-wise, but still a bit mushy. I’l have to simmer the heck out of the zucchini next time! Wes played with one for a while, but didn’t manage to get any pieces in his mouth.

Tuesday: Man, I need to up my picture game so I can remember what the heck we did! The usual morning hang outs..oh right! I actually got up early to do my workout while Wes was still sleeping! I even got in a shower too (perks of being able to shower in 60 seconds).

I had an interview that afternoon and ended up landing the position on the spot! Keeping it on the down-low, so don’t ask! I’ll share eventually 🙂

As soon as I got home, it was time to head out again to attend the media launch for the 2016 beer for Alberta Beer Festivals! I was really grateful to be able to attend AND bring Susie along. We chatted at Pig & Duke downtown until I ran out of time on my parking spot then we headed over to Last Best for another beer. If you haven’t been there yet I HIGHLY recommend checking them out!

I was home in time for dinner- which was Pickle Brined Baked Chicken Tenders then put Wes down and walked the doggies. I even squeezed in a second workout that evening since I had some extra energy.

Wednesday: The best part of waking up at butt crack? Being able to make a pancake breakfast. Only thing that would make it better would be if a handful of bacon was on the plate and a splash of Baileys was in my coffee 😉

While Wes was down for his morning nap (I’ve been lucking out all week with him taking 2 naps a day) I had a quick Skype meeting for a freelance job. Timing worked beautifully and Wes woke up just as the call ended so we had lunch and headed out for a walk and to cross a couple of errands off the list.

In case you didn’t see on my Instagram or Facebook pages, there is a limited time sale on a few of the Focus T25 programs and they are REALLY good prices. The sale started on April 5th, but we don’t know how long it will last. SO….if you’ve been thinking about biting the bullet, now’s the time! It’s my favorite program 🙂

For dinner we had BBQ pork tenderloin which was out of this world delicious. I rounded the day out with a long bath and simultaneously completed some online certifications I need for my job.

Thursday: Man oh man was Thursday a beautiful day. It seems that our ‘day’ doesn’t really start until after breakfast/workout/morning hang outs/nap/lunch and I’m pretty a-OK with that. I love my morning routine with Wes. But after all that stuff was done, we hung out on the patio for a good long while. It seems our patio absorbs the sun’s heat so much that the temperature was a bit warm out there, but none of us were complaining.

After sufficient patio time, I put Wes in the Bob and we walked to the liquor store. You know, as you do with an 11 month old while you’re still on mat leave. In the middle of the day. BUT- it was National Beer Day! And I celebrated by wearing my newest favorite shirt.

We walked back home so I could put the beer in the fridge then headed back out to the park to take advantage the last few weeks we have left with our playground. Apparently the city deems it too dangerous and since our part of the neighborhood doesn’t have enough appropriately aged children to use the area, it’s getting demolished. Wah.

We had Korean Grilled Chicken Breasts for dinner and paired it with a new Wild Rose beer. (Native to Alberta…or should I say, Albeerta?! ha I’m so funny)

Tyler has been full speed ahead on some home improvement projects, so my weeknights usually consist of me managing Wes while he work work work work works. Sorry, that Rihanna song has been stuck in my head all week.

So that’s our week in a nutshell..now on to the weekend!!

From the Week

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Hey friends! Happy Friday 🙂 I am SO glad the week is over and we now have a couple of days to spend with Tyler home…makes it so much more enjoyable. Not that hanging out with Wes during the week isn’t a buttload of fun, but you know what I mean. Nothing super exciting happened for us this week and I am totally ok with that! We were able to get outside a lot before of the warmer temps, and that’s really all that matters. Backing it up…

Monday: My little crawler was up to no good and trying to go up the step into the rest of the house (our living room is lowered). We still need to buy a baby gate this weekend for the top of the stairs, so I have been on high alert baby-movement duty.

All of his antics have really been wiping him out, and most of his naps this week have been prompted by his exhaustion. AKA: This mama didn’t have to calm a baby down to sleep AT ALL this whole week. That’s like….a miracle.

Before Wes was born, Tyler’s mom had sent us some clothes that his Grandmother had knit. They were all much larger than newborn size, so I tucked them away in the closet. And then in true mom fashion, I forgot about them. I tried to pull out a couple more pieces (he wore the bloomers here in some Easter pics) and this was the best I got. (After chasing around a naked crawler for a while).

Tuesday: Every morning after breakfast, Wes rides around the house in his car. Normally, I’d take him out for a walk but the early spring mornings are still too cool for my liking so I usually wait until later in the day.

After lunch, we did head out and walked to the post office so I could mail my US taxes (I’m so cool I get to do taxes TWICE!). Rather than heading straight home, we walked up to the library where I found a couple of books to read next. We stopped by on Monday to return some of Wes’s books, but I didn’t find anything I wanted in my quick lap around the shelves.

It was so sunny out that we continued on a walk around the neighborhood and stopped to check out the swings before heading back to the house.

Tyler made burgers for dinner and we paired it with some leftover potato salad I made on Easter. YUM

And then an evening car ride.

Wednesday: It’s a good day when I can do a few loads of laundry, make myself coffee and breakfast and then EAT said breakfast before Wes wakes up. I was even tempted to try to head downstairs and do my workout before he got up, but that was pushing it.

We had our usual FaceTime with my mom and dad before I headed downstairs (with Wes in tow) to workout. Now I know why I wait until he naps to fit in my workout- it’s no fun trying to plank with a baby crawling on you. Or always trying to untie your shoes! He was pretty good and was mostly distracted by some snacks and the dogs, though.

(PS: I am generally left staring at the ceiling of various rooms in my parents house when we FaceTime with them..)

I swear I change my kid’s clothes. We just so happened to get a lot of pictures with this particular set of jammies on!

We had a quick chicken dinner.

Thursday: I was actually able to complete my workout for the day before Wes got up, so that immediately put me in a good mood. Especially since I was a bit grumpy from having such a terrible sleep. I hate nights that I just lay in bed with my eyes closed….and nothing happens. The worst! Once Wes got up, we watched his favorite show (Jimmy Fallon. With Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy being a close second and third) and he is completely in a trance when watching the monologue.

Wes took a long midday nap and we headed off to the mall afterwards to basically just get out of the house and pick up some stuff for dinner. And of course, Wes came out winning since I managed to buy him a couple of Old Navy shirts as well. That kid, I tell ya. Gets all of my money.

Dinner was a favorite hodge podge bowl of gnocchi + broccoli + mushrooms + chicken sausage + marinara. Hits the spot every time. And Wes has some pasta with marinara which he loved…and made him very dirty. Bath time for that boy!

Ugh, and the kiddo started pulling himself up to his feet! I was able to catch a few videos of it and it totally looks like he’s twerking. If he ever reads this 20 years from now, it’ll be like “um, mom…..what is ‘twerking’?’ haha, oof.

And that brings us to Friday. YAY!

I’m so glad to be finishing up my last week of Beta T25 because that means next week I start the brand new 22 Minute Hard Corps program! It’s done by Tony Horton, the same guy who does all the P90X videos. I am super excited about it and hope the results are just as great as the programs I’ve completed in the past (I totally know they will be).

PS: If you’re interested in trying out any of the programs, shoot me an email and I’d love to help you out 😉 jennifer(dot)L(dot)Linton(at)gmail(dot)com.

Shop Small- Bubbles & Balms

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Happy hump day! I’ve got a great small shop to share with you today- Bubbles & Balms.

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About the shop: All Bubbles & Balms products are 100% natural, which we define as organic and inorganic materials derived from nature without the addition of synthetics. We hand make all our products at our store in Claresholm, AB. We [Justin and Judith] are partners in business, but also in life and love. We opened our doors in December of 2014 and greatly enjoy meeting new people who are passionate about living life as naturally as they can.

I first came across Bubbles & Balms at the Spruce Meadows Christmas market this past year. Wes was getting antsy so I didn’t have much time to browse, but I did manage to snag a few bars of their soaps. I’m glad I did, because they’ve been the best soaps I’ve ever purchased (no joke). Even after showering, applying lotion and sometimes even walking the dogs, I can still smell the scent of whichever bar I’ve used lingering on my skin. It’s not overwhelming, but just gentle enough to remind me I’m clean (and cinnamon-y…depending on the bar).

Recently, B&B created their own website so you can have access to their products no matter where you are! I saw the launch online and got really excited. Not only because I have enjoyed the soaps so much, but also because they’re local!

In addition to soaps, they offer an extension of bath, body, baby, aromatherapy and men’s products. There’s even workshops you can attend and other DIY stuff! So basically, lots.

I was lucky enough to get in touch with Justin & Judith (basically praising their soaps and cheersing the new site) and before I knew it, a package of the entire baby line was on my doorstep!

Wes is a lucky little boy to be able to try these out…but he’s not the only one! I’ve also used some of the bath oil and I gotta say, it’s super soothing and leaves our skin nice and soft. I *almost* don’t need to put lotion on afterwards, but do out of habit. I really liked how the scent was extremely gentle so it went unnoticed by Wes, but I still felt indulgent during my own baths (now if only it came in bubble form, I’m sure Wes would lose his mind with glee!)

I’m not one to use baby powder (something about babies inhaling it?) but I tried this stuff out- you know, being all-natural and all- and I really loved how good of a job it did on diffusing the dirtiest of diaper smells. Ew, I know. It was nice as a little moisture absorber as well when I try to get him dressed as quickly as possible after a bath when he’s all shivery!

He’s also been pretty good in the butt department lately, so I almost thought I wouldn’t need to use the butt butter. But, (see what I did there?) he did have a reddish hiney last week so I broke some out! I was pleasantly surprised how quickly the solid turned into a creamy, smooth texture once it was applied to his skin.

I think he liked it, too.

Last up, the skin spray. We’ve still not used it, but it smells amazing! It’s good for not only diaper rash, but for sunburn relief so I will keep it handy if ever we get a bit too much sun 🙂

I’ve been really enjoying using these products because I know they’re not harmful on Wes’s skin and they smell so darn good! I’ll often just soak up the second-hand effects of it by sniffing on his head after bath time I love it so much. PS: It’s not weird to always sniff your kid, right??

Big thank you to Justin & Judith! Be sure to check out their site, visit their Facebook page, and follow them on Instagram too.. I’m sure you’ll find something that tickles your fancy 🙂

From the Week

Posted on March 18, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Happy Friday, guys! It’s weird, because all week felt like either a Thursday or Friday, and now here we are and it somehow feels like the beginning of the week. It’s been a relatively low key week over on our end. I sort of love these weeks because it’s a lot more one on one time with Wes. Backing it up…

Monday: I made a batch of these Baked Breakfast Cookies on Sunday night in hopes of enjoying them for a couple of breakfasts throughout the week. So I had a couple on Monday morning, and….eh. I wasn’t super impressed by them at all. But it didn’t hurt to try, and I already had all the ingredients on hand.

Once Wes was up and had his breakfast, I bundled him up and we walked down to the grocery store. I love doing some grocery shopping on weekday mornings, but I do NOT love the female cashiers that want to grab my son’s hands and give him germs on weekday mornings. There’s an etiquette for that, people! after some play and lunch, we bundled up again and walked down the street to the swings. Wes loved it per usual but the wind picked up and we headed home shortly after.

For dinner, I made a super quick and easy chicken fried rice. I’m pretty impressed with the turnout considering I made the entire dish while holding Wes! (Tyler was downstairs working out and Wes decided he didn’t want to sit in his high chair any more. Pff) I recommend making fried rice from scratch rather than ordering takeout any day!

And my latest purchase arrived in the mail: 22 Minute Hard Corps! I am so excited to get started on this, but I just have to get through a couple more weeks of T25 Beta first.

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Tuesday: I attempted to take photos of Wes for his 11 month birthday. The kid is a speedy little guy!

wesleyarlo11months

After the whole ‘ordeal’ I gave him a bath (with a new aromatherapy oil I received) and he napped for almost 3 hours! We were afraid this would totally screw us come bedtime, but it didn’t! WINNING.

I intended on making loaded baked potatoes for our dinner, but I opted to chop up my sweet potato and eat it deconstructed instead. Delicious choice.

Wednesday: I tried to make pancakes for breakfast, but only had one egg left. FAIL. I whipped up a batch of avocado protein pancakes and they tastes SO GOOD but the consistency is still a bit off. I’m hoping to play around with this a bit more because avocado and pancakes? Yes please.

The big outing for the day was a trip to Superstore. I really only needed to get a veggie to include with dinner, but we ended up browsing the store for over an hour. Wes loves being in the cart and the store is so dang big that we didn’t look too crazy going up and down every aisle. Plus, the ladies love him 😉

His face is so funny in that pic!

Dinner was some tortellini and zucchini. Boring, but it hit the spot.

Thursday: I broke my 39 day anti-coffee streak. THANK GOD I DID. I initially gave it up because I was having a bit too much and was having a hard time sleeping. Now, I’m drinking it again because I’m still no longer sleeping AND I was a huge unhappy beast. Coffee saves relationships people.

I also reintroduced my favorite Shakeology into my daily routine. Coffee + Shakeology + Fizzy water = the best triple threat ever.

I feel better already. PHEW.

We dressed in green and played with some random green things around the house to celebrate St. Patty’s day. AND GUESS WHO DECIDED TO START CRAWLING?! I have a few videos on my phone of it, but they’re super long and probably 100% boring to anyone besides me and Tyler.

I met up with my friend Jen once Tyler got home. She moved to Vancouver a while back and I hadn’t seen her in forever! We went to an Irish pub (duh) but there was a wait for a table and we ended up sitting outside with drinks for TWO HOURS before deciding to relocate for dinner. It was an early evening and timing worked in my favor because I caught a train/bus home without having a single minute to wait for either!

And here we are at Friday! Forecast for this family? Lots of together time. And a Costco trip, obviously.

Wesley Arlo- 11 Months

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Holy h-e-double hockey sticks. I can’t believe how fast time has FLOWN by with this little man. Just to think that this time last year I was already off work on short term disability and laying on the couch all day watching Scandal on Netflix, eating Nutella, and waiting for my baby boy to get here. (I guess life is pretty much the same with regards to the couch sitting, Netflix watching and Nutella eating;) )

wesleyarlo11months

So here’s where we’re at: the kid is a blast. Like, I’m pretty sure there is no better kid out there.

He’s still in size 5 diapers, 24mo clothes, sleeps 12 hours through the night, and eats just about anything that’s given to him.

See? The best.

He now has five teeth and loves to eat crunchy snacks. Most notably: MY goldfish crackers. Guess it’s time I learn to share. (Except I did just buy him some Annie’s bunnies only because they’re slightly healthier for him. Plus, no sharing required.) He sucks down smoothies like a champ, loves fruits and veggies and those GD puffs. He’s still not a huge fan of meat, but will tolerate some turkey meatballs or pulled pork now and again. Eggs are still having him make a yucky face, but he’ll eat a few pieces before moving on to more delicious foods.

He’s no longer breastfeeding. February 24 was his last feeding, and on the morning of the 25th, he just didn’t want it anymore. I am super sad about it, but it’s nice to know it was his choice. (Don’t get me started on how crazy my hormones/metabolism has been since then. ALL.OVER.THE.PLACE). He’ll have a bottle in the morning, one in the late afternoon and one before bed and we’re slowly integrating some milk into the formula.

He’s successfully mastered getting up on all fours, but no forward-crawling yet. Most of his ‘travel’ is an up-on-all-fours-twist-around-and-repeat motion. And he even more recently started using the couch or the fireplace to get up on his knees! Which means we really have to get our butts in gear and buy some gates and baby-proofing stuff.

Plus, this whole almost-crawling business makes it darn near impossible to get any non-blurry photos of him! I need to learn how to use my fancy camera better so I can avoid this! (ps: anyone have any tips or tricks on how I can achieve that?)

He’s down to one nap a day most of the time. This transition was a bit harder for me because it meant less of a mental break during some of those long days. But less napping means earlier bed time, so no real complaints from these parents 😉

I’ve started to stress a lot less about getting out of the house with him as well. Before, I wanted to always make sure we were home for nap time and for meals. But then something in my head clicked and I realized this little man is going to have to start learning to roll with the punches..plus, it just takes a bit of planning with packing food! We’ve gone out for some pretty long stretched of time and it has been SO nice.

Leggings: Little D Threads; Multi-use clip: KEWE Clothing; bibdana: Mawdsley Loves

Oh wait, this is a Wes update. Not a me update. Moving on..

It has been a lot of fun watching him develop! He now stacks toys, intentionally groups them, and throws all the balls. (I stepped on my first toy last week. It was a triangle shaped wooden toy and it hurt like a SOB..and even left a large bruise!) He’ll also hand us things and then take them back. I say I think it’s fun now, but I’m guessing it’ll get old really quick as I expect this will be an ongoing trend for the next few years. Oy!

This month, he has really hated being put on the changing table and will cling to us like an upside down sloth as we try to lay him down. How appropriate his 11 month outfit include sloth pants.

And he has had a few fits when Tyler picks him up..mostly because it makes him think it’s bed time!

But then all we have to do is throw him in the blue car and he starts screeching with excitement. Now if only he would stop snagging all the dishtowels from the stove when he drives through the kitchen…

As far as dogs go, he still loves them. More obsessed with Layla because she’s on the floor more then His Highness Reggie who is always on the couch. Lots of snuggles and kisses and fistfuls of hair.

I’m still working on having him say mama…At first it was a bunch of dadadadada’s, but now its evolved to rarararara so I’d say there’s progress. He’ll also mimic certain noises we make to him which is entirely too entertaining!

And the smiles. I love all the smiles. Even if they rarely happen for the camera.