From the Week

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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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

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And then an evening car ride.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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).

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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.

From the Week

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.

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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.

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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 😉

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His face is so funny in that pic!

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

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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.

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

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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.

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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!

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

From the Week

TGIF for reals. I love Fridays so much. Just a few random things to share from the week..

Eats: We had some pretty decent dinners this week. Turkey meatballs, bbq pulled chicken sandwiches, roasted pork loin, and shepherds pie. Not too shabby. Plus, it allowed me to use a lot of the stuff we already had on hand. The more I can stretch a dollar..

I threw some spinach in my protein pancakes on Wednesday and it didn’t disappoint. I can’t wait to have them again!

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I also made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and have been secretly waiting for ‘dessert time’ every day because…chocolate chip cookies.

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Another one of my Sticky9 orders came in the mail and I was really excited to go through them. The quality isn’t 100% super on the photos themselves, but the little square cards are so cute and they make for great decorations. Wes loves seeing them up around the house and giggles when he notices any photo that he’s in.

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I picked up a forward facing carrier off kijiji for $5 and Wes JUST fits in it, but we wanted to see if having him in a carrier that faces out might help free our hands and allow him to look around. Because it’s a bit too snug, I’ll only be using it around the house. He seemed to really love it! But pulling him out of it is a task in itself 🙂

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We also walked over to the library to pick up some new books. I had to take a picture of the one Wes loves best in case I ever need to buy it or something. I’ll miss his giggles each time I get to the last page.

Since the weather has been so nice, just about all of our errands this week have been on foot! I love getting Wes out in the fresh air.

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Other than that, we’ve been just hanging around and being silly together. His naps have been all over the place, but I’ve managed to squeeze in my workouts each day + take the dogs on nice walks once Tyler gets home (loving that the walks are during the tail end of daylight, too!).

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PS: I’m on snapchat now! I didn’t understand it for the longest time, but I think I’m finally getting the hang of it. Add me! (please?)

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That’s pretty much it on our end. Weekend plans include a trip to Costco and family time (hopefully some of it outdoors!) 

 

From the Week

And just like that, another week is in the books. This one just FLEW by! How is it already mid-February? I am so confused.

Monday: Breakfast a super delicious smoothie (vega + sweet potato + oats + almond milk + ice).

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It was sunny and warm-ish out so I took Wes to Bowmont park for a walk.

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We didn’t stay long because I brought the wrong stroller (the citi mini gt isn’t that great on somewhat icy/rocky/snowy/terrain and I left the BOB at home) and Wes kept taking his hat off! Silly boy.

After we got back home, I walked us down the street to our mini makeshift park and introduced him to the swing for the first time. HE LOVED IT. As soon as I put him in, he grabbed the handles and just sat there enjoying me pushing him non stop for EVER.

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We had burgers for dinner and they were so good, I had a second patty. I could have probably eaten three. We gave Wes some burger to try and he loved it too. He’s just like his daddy- loves burgers and pickles and cheese 🙂

Tuesday: I remembered there was a baby playdate scheduled at our local library, so we walked over there to see what it was all about. It was another nice day out, so it was great to get even more fresh air! Plus, we live super close to the library and it would take just as long to load and unload him from the car as it would to just walk on over.

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They had set out a bunch of blanket with various items for babies to touch and play with. Of course Wes wanted to just shove everything in his mouth. I was dying on the inside about all the germs but what are you gonna do?

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There were about 10 other babies and although Wes wasn’t the oldest..he was definitely the biggest. The other moms were shocked when I told them how good of a sleeper and eater he is. And I got to brag about it a little bit 🙂

We went back to the swings again later that afternoon and it was still a hit.

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We had chicken tortellini for dinner- it was a Costco find and we didn’t think it was that great. Not bad, just not yummy enough to buy again. Good thing we have two more packages of it in the freezer ha.

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After dinner I was playing with Wes and did the worst thing EVER…I spilled a full glass of water all over my laptop. Tyler quickly swooped in and took my laptop of to the laptop ER (the bathroom counter) to inspect the damage and set it up to dry out. I was a nervous wreck and took the doggies on an even longer walk that night because I was having heart palpitations over the potential cost of buying a new one.

Wednesday: I drowned my sorrows in a batch of sweet potato pancakes. It did the trick for the time being. I’m pretty sure anything drenched in maple syrup helps.

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We went over to Safeway to pick up some produce (thank GOODNESS they lowered their prices on produce. It was over $2 PER PEPPER before!) and Wes got a kick out of sitting in the cart. So much so that he was doing his Tarzan call over and over again to entertain other shoppers.

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I love that the cover has a couple of loops in the front to attach toys so he can’t launch them onto the dirty floor. (This is the one I have)

We had chicken tenders for dinner- they were so good! I could have eaten way more, but wanted to leave some leftovers for lunch the next day. Next time we have these, I’m going to prepare 4x more to put in the freezer for quick meals in the future!

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AND GUESS WHAT? Tyler tested my computer and it was fully functional! Hip hip hooray. We already ordered another one just in case, but will be returning it (free of charge) once it’s delivered. I did a major happy dance. Major.

Thursday: I posted a Parker & Posie giveaway. Have you entered? You’d be crazy not to! These soft soled baby shoes are to die for!!!

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Not much got done since Wes decided to only have one nap. It’s crazy how much that can affect my productivity! I still managed to get some stuff done around the house and before you know it Tyler was home and I was headed out the door for a brewmasters dinner downtown.

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At the very last minute (and I’m VERY thankful for it) I got two tickets to the Bomber Brewing Beer Dinner at National on 8th. It was a 5 course meal with beer pairings from the Vancouver brewery as it was introducing its beers to the Alberta market.

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Thankfully, Brie was able to go with me (thanks Brie, and sorry for the last minute invite!).

With the exception of the first course which I didn’t eat (oysters…ew) the food was really good. Like, really really good. I was really glad I wore stretchy pants. I’m not a fish person by any means, but the cod dish was my favorite! And who doesn’t love grilled cheese? It was paired with a spicy tomato soup- perfect for dunking. Then there was the brisket which didn’t even require a knife to cut. And the dessert I could have eaten 10x over because I have the world’s worst sweet tooth.

The beer was pretty good too! A bit too hoppy for my taste (as a stand alone beer), but I think they did an excellent job of pairing each with great foods that really complimented the flavors. My favorite was the chocolate porter that came with dessert- that one I could probably drink on its own! Check out Bomber Brewing here.

All of our beers went unfinished since we were both driving home. Womp womp.

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I was home by 10, in bed by 10:10 and still managed to get my 8 hours of sleep. Can’t hate that!

And that’s the week in a nutshell! There were some baths, long doggy walks, and workouts in between. Never mind the fact I polished off the entire batch of nutella muddy buddies I made on Sunday. Oops!

Have a great weekend everyone!