Weekender

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

It’s 9pm on Sunday night as I finally sit down to type this and it is the first time all weekend I’ve actually just sat to rest. Even though I guess I’m not technically resting if I’m typing this..There has just been so much going on with the home renos, some outings, workouts, phew! I’m excited for my mom to get here this week so I can have maybe just a few more extra ‘me’ minutes every day while she chases after the munchkin. Here’s what we were up to this weekend!–>

Friday: Breakfast on the floor! I love mornings where I get a little extra time to myself so I can make pancakes. Maybe this particular morning I should have been on my game a bit better since the second batch in the pan got a little ‘crispy’. STILL GOOD THOUGH.

After a relatively easy morning with Wes- i.e. lots of Reggie pestering and my workout, I headed down to Rose and Crown for lunch. A lunch (beer included) that I won via twitter thankyouverymuch. It was a perfect day to sit on the patio and I enjoyed the conversation with the people there. I got the turkey and brie sandwich and it was DELICIOUS!

I was only gone a couple of hours and was back on Wes duty for the remainder of the afternoon while Tyler worked his hump off with home renos. Friday he did a lot of wiring stuff and prep for the installation of a fan in the ensuite shower. I don’t dare interject because it’s all at a skill set way above my pay grade.

For dinner, we had salsa verde burgers on the BBQ and I’m pretty sure I inhaled mine in less than 4 minutes. During one of Tyler’s routine home improvement store trips, he managed to pick me up a little surprise and I was a VERY happy wife. It makes up for the lack of together time we get with all these home projects!

Now that Wes is crawling around and slowly perfecting his ability to climb the step up from the living space, he likes to hang with the doggies. Even when they’re begging for a bit of burger from daddy. Please note: they only beg from Tyler and not me because they KNOW they won’t get anything. I’m not that nice to share my food!

In care you’re wondering, the green rag is a Layla drool rag. We have them all over the house because she’s a friggin faucet!

After Wes went down, we watched Amazing Race and the first hour of the Revenant before heading to bed. Sunburns make me tired!

Saturday: When Wes only has one nap he tends to go to bed earlier (woohoo!) but it also means he’ll wake up a bit earlier too (BOOOOOOOOOOFACE). I was up before 7am with him and made sure to get both of our bottles ready before getting him from his room.

The rest of the morning/early afternoon was pretty much a wash- I walked the dogs, did some household stuff and hung out with Wes while Tyler was WORK WORK WORKING on the house. By the time 3pm rolled around, I was on the road to check out an Orange Theory Fitness private class with a bunch of my friends. (I refuse to refer to them as blog friends because that category is just so silly!) The workout was great- the first half was done on the treadmill and the remainder was circuits of strength and rowing.

I particularly enjoyed the fact that we were all geared up with heart rate monitors and could see our progress on the big screens. I thought I was pushing myself, but hardly had any ‘splat’ points (when you’re in the orange zone). I can’t get too down on it though- I just have a really low resting heart rate! I was going 9-9.5mph for some of those sprints, dang it!

Can I just add that this location is sandwiched in between a liquor store and a Fatburger?! If I lived in that part of town I would either be in that shopping center all the time OR I’d avoid it all the time! Haha.

Most of us headed out to dinner afterwards. I have to admit, I didn’t order anything because A.) I’m cheap, and B.) I didn’t really want anything from that restaurant. I was happy to come home later that night and snack on some of Tyler’s leftovers and have a beer while we finished watching the Revenant. I think I earned it after burning 517 calories?

Sunday: Another early as heck morning! I need my mom to get here ASAP so I can at least just lay in bed for a few extra minutes. I’m pretty much awake just before 7am every morning anyways, but a lot of times I just don’t want to get out of bed and adult.

I made my standard BAE breakfast and……YOU GUESSED IT…..hung around with Wes while Tyler worked on the house. Is this post redundant or what?!

Just before Wes went down for a nap I was able to do the Resistance 2 workout from 22 Minutes Hard Corps. I couldn’t tell if it was actually more difficult or if my chest was a tad sore from the heavier weights I used for chest flys at OTF the day before. Either way, it felt good.

During Wes’s nap, I did some of my freelance work then we waited around for what seemed like FOREVER for someone to show up and buy the first Bob stroller we got (the orange one! Loved it, but was able to get a much newer used one for a bargain). She was a total low baller and I was *this close* to just telling her she could leave without it. So annoying.

I made a batch of my favoritest chocolate chip cookies EVER- this time using the mini Hershey kisses and they turned out ridiculously tasty. Do you have any idea how hard it is to not eat them all while they’re still warm?!

While they cooled (and in an attempt to avoid temptation) I walked Wes to the grocery store for some random items we needed. It was a bit cooler out, but felt nice to have some fresh air and to NOT hear the banging of hammers or the whirring of random power tools.

For dinner we had steak. Alberta beef is pretty much the tastiest thing around, and these babies didn’t disappoint. Wes even snagged quite a few bites from my plate even though he already had his dinner!

I would have liked more greens on the plate, but what can ya do. I eat healthy more times throughout the week than not (don’t refer to my chocolate chip cookies, haha).

Wes had a nice long bath then we hung out for a bit before it was his bed time.

I rounded out the evening with a walk with the dogs, a cardio workout (CALL ME CRAZY BUT I JUST HAVE SO MUCH ENERGY) and some more freelance stuff.

Fingers crossed for a good, long sleep tonight!

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.

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.

FullSizeRender

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!