Weekender

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Happy Monday! (said no one ever). I’m exhausted from the weekend and I could use an extra ‘day off’ before the week gets started! Dang it. We didn’t do a whole heck of a lot over here, but there was a LOT of outside time because the sun was out 🙂

Friday: Otherwise known as Pancake Day. I was able to make them just as Wes was waking up, so we both enjoyed our food on the floor. And someone finally decided to hold on to his bottle by himself- even if he doesn’t understand he’s got to tip his head back to get the goods 🙂

The rest of our morning consisted of chores, my workout, doing my hair, and a nap. I let Wes crawl around for a bit before he went down for a nap and he ended up bonking his face on the floor and got a bloody nose. The poor kid was scared out of his mind and it took a long time to finally calm him down.

While he napped, I had a Skype interview (which went well!) and then we lunched.

My favorite part of the day was heading outside! We walked around the nearby shopping center and stopped in Safeway for a couple of staples before circling the neighborhood and coming back home. It felt so nice to be able to enjoy the warm sun and not wear a jacket- I’m hoping by typing this I don’t jinx it and we get snow next week.

Tyler brought home burrito bowls for dinner and I quickly had to get out of the house to take the dogs to their annual vet checkup. The good news: they’re both healthy. The not so good news: annual check ups are $$$.

Afterwards, I relaxed in the tub and watched the first five episodes of The Ranch on Netflix.

Saturday: I could relive Saturday morning just about every day. I started the day off with chocolate Shakeology and had a wonderful QUIET morning with Wes. He was so happy to be crawling around the house and exploring that he tired out pretty quickly.

When he went down for a nap, I took the puppies out for a LONG walk. All three of us really needed to take advantage of the warm weather and it was such a pleasant walk around our homey little neighborhood. Nevermind that tons of people were out gardening…in April!

I actually wasn’t craving any sweets but decided to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies. And since I needed to check if they were good- I enjoyed one on the patio with a cup of coffee. YOLO.

Then it was time for our great big Lowe’s adventure. Tyler had a laundry list of things he needed to pick up, so Wes and I tagged along. He was a happy camper since I kept him filled with snacks!

It seems like we spent eternity there, but we managed to get two carloads of stuff and then it was time to head home for dinner. Wes enjoyed- and I mean REALLY enjoyed- pasta and we had pizza.

Tyler and I watched Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and we went to bed. As soon as I shut my eyes, Wes started crying, so I had to make a quick detour to his room for a little snuggling then it was lights out!

Sunday: If Friday is Pancake day, then Sunday is BAE day.

The morning was filled with typical play time with Wes and chores. But I got to do one extra special task- I got to pick up all the poo in the backyard! I admit, I got a bit lazy about it for a while, yuck. With the extra dry temps lately, I was able to get everything that was back there, which makes for a nice clean slate. Please tell me I’m not the only person who isn’t always on top of dog doody duty?

After that- and a good hands-washing- I did Day 1 of 22 Minute Hard Corps. I was really excited to start this new program and I’m looking forward to progressing through the next 8 weeks.

In the afternoon, we went to Babies R Us to pick up some gates for the stairs then returned to Lowe’s for more home stuff. Wes got a bit antsy this time around and I decided to head back early with him, only to discover a major diaper blowout. Not a fun ride home. That is all.

I felt so bad for the little guy because he had bonked his forehead earlier in the morning and a nice bruise had started to form. Couple that with a diaper blowout and a now-grumpy mom trying to get him to nap…I mean, that’s just not a fun combo! He did eventually go down and it was a nice little reset for both of us.

We hung around the rest of the afternoon and Wes was able to more freely explore after Tyler put the gate up. Happy baby! I took the doggies for their walk and came home to maybe squeeze in another workout. I think my body needed the extra burn from all the pizza. Seriously, pizza makes me bloat like you have no idea.

We watched the finale of Walking Dead then headed to bed.

Here’s to a great week ahead!

From the Weekend

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Hi friends! I hope you all had a great Easter weekend! Ours was filled with lots of sunshine and smiles, so I’m sad to see it come to an end. Stupid weekends and going by so fast! No fair 😉

Friday: Pancakes to start the day. I threw Wes in the forward facing carrier while I whipped these up so that he wouldn’t start the day on a grumpy note. PS: It worked!

Once breakfast was digested, we headed downstairs so i could squeeze in my workout while Wes jumped in the jumperoo. He ended up falling asleep in it when I only had my cool down left, so I was able to easily transfer him to his crib then hop in the shower and get ready for the day.

I headed over to the store really quick since I had some clothes on hold for Wes from when we went there the day before and their registers weren’t working. After Wes woke up and had lunch, we all got dressed and headed out to run a few errands.

Then it was time to see the Easter bunny! I was shocked that no malls in the area do the Easter bunny like they do Santa, but Alison texted me a few days before saying he was going to be at Bass Pro (of all places!). The photo was free and all we had to do was wait in a line for about 30 minutes. Not too shabby.

No smiles, but no tears either. I call it a win. We lucked out and caught a couple of snaps with Wes once we got home. I didn’t want to take him out of his cute Easter outfit!

We had a FILLING lasagna dinner then watched some TV downstairs before calling it a night.

Woof, I’m full just looking at that photo!

Saturday: I opted to start of the holiday weekend with a yummy and healthy breakfast- Shakeology! I just mixed this one with almond milk and it hit the spot. Not to mention, it kept me satisfied for hours. (Food RARELY does that for me!)

We had a great, lazy morning before we hit the road! The Canmore dream home opened and we wanted to take a sneak peak. We stopped for a little fuel- gas for the car and coffee for the mom 😉

On the way up, Wes got a bit antsy for some snacks then promptly fell asleep mid-nosh.

Our intentions were to just go to Canmore and have lunch there, but since Wes was sleeping we decided to go further on to Banff for a lunch at Park Distillery. The menu looked great and we thought we picked winners, but unfortunately Tyler’s fish was not cooked at all. Even worse, the waitress wasn’t even that great about it. She didn’t charge us, but she also didn’t seem very sympathetic at all. Just….nothing. It bothered both of us that she just couldn’t seem to be bothered by the situation.

At least it didn’t phase Wes! He was happily munching on all the food I brought him, plus some grapes from my salad.

We walked around for a bit before heading back to Canmore to check out the house then back home!

Once we were home, I stayed in with Wes while Tyler went out to run some pre-Easter errands. The little crawling machine was having so much fun with a sleepy Layla. Then even more fun when he got naked and played peekaboo with one of his favorite blankies.

Wes went down really easy..mostly because he had a eventful day out of the house + he was expending so much energy all afternoon! Phew.

We had turkey meatballs for dinner then watched the first Star Wars movie. I fell asleep before it was over and ended up having one of the best sleeps in a while! Love when that happens.

Sunday: Yay for Easter! I was a klutz and left Wes’s basket in his closet before he went down, so I wasn’t able to put it all together until he woke up! Not that an 11 month old is going to know, but I still felt bad! haha.

Tyler even picked up some flowers, chocolate and PROSECCO for me. YASSS

He had also picked up cinnamon buns the day before (is it snooty for me to say I only really prefer the homemade ones? Doesn’t mean I didn’t eat one!) and I bought him some Easter egg fudge while we were up in Banff. Ummmmm delicious.

We enjoyed eggs benedicts for breakfast. I could eat it every darn day.

I wanted to take some Easter photos of Wes, but the little bugger is too quick for my camera! He finally (sorta) fits into a pair of knit shorties that Tyler’s grandmother made.

Tyler spent a good portion of the day tending to a smoked chicken which turned out FANTASTIC. The flavor was just so so so good. I contributed our favorite potato salad and then we cooked some veggies.

The rest of the day was pretty laid back- I walked the dogs to the library to return a book, then finished off with a big loop around the neighborhood. We tackled some house stuff. And of course, we played with this sweet little guy- who was more interested in the dogs than us.

That’s it from our end! How was your weekend??

Weekender

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Hey guys, happy Monday. I’m in need of a GIANT cuppa joe today (thank God I jumped back on the coffee wagon. PHEW). I managed to get 8+ hours of sleep each night, but all the fresh air from the weekend has me wiped. Not many eventful things happened with us, so here’s some highlights.

Friday: Wes and I walked over to the library to pick up the current book for Brie’s book club. After we grabbed it, we continued to walk around the neighbourhood for an additional 45 minutes or so. There was still a bit of snow on the ground from the day before, but it was sunny and quickly warming up as we were outside!

We had a quick and easy sausage dinner then Tyler played video games with his brother (do they ever grow out of that? Seriously!) while I watched Room then hit the sack.

Saturday: Tyler brought all our empties to the bottle return just as Wes went down for his morning nap. He brought me back a Nutella donut from Tims so I was a happy lady! Later in the day, we went to Costco0 – the usual. One of the most exciting purchases? Stemless wineglasses.

I helped Tyler with some of our en suite demo before quickly getting bored of it and opting to take the dogs for their walk instead.

We ended the day with some pizza and watched The Hateful Eight. Holy hell was that a long and boring movie. Waste of a Saturday night in my opinion!

Sunday: Morning play time is getting a bit more fun with Wes crawling around. Although, I do have to be super careful to keep on eye on him and what he gets into.

He had some leftover pb toast from breakfast and kept having ‘drive-by” snacks. (a bite each time we lapped around the table).

We headed over to Glenbow Ranch for a nice walk after lunch. Turns out, mister Wes was still hungry from not eating most of his food, so he was a bit of a grump. Luckily, I was able to hold off the whining with some snacks I packed. That, and he just didn’t want to sit in the stroller.

Wes enjoyed some leftover pizza for dinner. He is his father’s son and loves the pie! And I am just about finished the book club book already. Enjoyed with a beer of course 😉

I think I have to blame my lack of pictures on my latest love for snapchat. Are you on it? Add me!

How was your weekend?

Weekender

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Well that went by fast! Faster than usual actually. I blame daylight savings?? And Happy Pi Day! Backing it up from the weekend:

Friday: While Wes was down for his morning nap, I did a quick T25 Beta workout then whipped up a batch of Easter M&M cookies. (balance, right?)

Afterwards, we headed to the mall in hopes of exchanging some socks my parents sent to Wes for a larger size. They didn’t have any, so I’ll just have to hold on to them until we make it to a different location! We did a quick lap around the mall then headed home.

It was a pretty uneventful day, and we didn’t do much except hang around the house for the remainder of the afternoon.

Dinner was a quick meal of chicken burrito bowls (we forgot to put CHEESE on them. WHO DOES THAT!) then Susie came over for a girls night beer tasting. We each contributed 3 beers, but we only opened 3….and didn’t even finish them! I feel like such an old lady sometimes.

Saturday: Here’s some exciting news- I spent the morning doing laundry! Actually, I took a nice bath first then got some laundry done. And Wes helped us make the bed 🙂

After lunch we headed out to check out some flooring options to redo the main level of the house. We think we’ve narrowed it down to a particular one, but it might not get done RIGHT away. That’s ok, it was nice to get out of the house and Wes loved sitting in all the different shopping carts! And snacks. Snacks are always fun.

Oh, and I was dead set on getting a nutella donut from Tims while we were out. Mmm, so good! I haven’t had one of those since the day Wes was born- aka: the day I most deserved a donut.

We ordered pizza for dinner and watched The Other Guy and Concussion before going to bed.

Sunday: After my beloved BAE breakfast, I took Wes for a nice long morning walk. It was early enough that there was still a nip in the air, so he got nice and cozy before we headed out.

He managed to fall asleep while we were out and I successfully got him in the entryway of the house (in the stroller!) and he stayed asleep for about 45 minutes.

A little afternoon play time to be had:

Then we decided to try to go to a nearby provincial park for a long walk. Once we got there though it was way too windy, so we tried heading to another park. Same problem…WIND! Almost immediately after we strapped Wes back into the car he passed out and we ended up driving out to Airdrie to check out some show homes. There were some really nice ones, but then there were also a lot of overpriced homes that didn’t even have nice finishes. Womp.

Wes was a trooper for the FOUR HOURS we were out, and even stayed all smiles for the rest of the evening! He ate a humungous dinner, splashed the heck out of us during his bath, then easily went down at 7:40pm.

Unfortunately for me, since we were out so long during the day and Wes didn’t have a proper nap in his crib, I still had to take the doggies out for a long walk and do my workout afterwards. I hate to admit it but I think I’m becoming a morning worker-outer! Nothing better than just getting it done first thing.

Speaking of workouts, I just wanted to share a photo I posted on Instagram. I really have to attribute a lot of my post-baby body success to my two favorite programs: T25 and 21 day fix EXTREME . Both programs enabled me to get in great workouts in under 30 minutes and there is no better feeling than the feeling of accomplishment- especially when I can see these results AND I feel like a million bucks.

If you’re interested in learning more about these or any other programs, please feel free to email me! jennifer(dot)l(dot)linton(at)gmail(dot)com

Before heading to bed, I whipped up a batch of baked breakfast protein cookies. I’m really hoping they turned out..and if they do, I’ll make sure to share the recipe!

How was your weekend??

Weekender

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Man oh man, that weekend went by fast. There was about 20597235 things I’d love to have done, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Plus, we kinda have to accommodate the little guy…you know naps, meals, snacks, … Continue reading →