Hey hey! It’s a chilly, yet beautiful, Saturday morning here on this long weekend. It’s not even noon, but I’ve managed to have breakfast, complete a continuing education credit, go grocery shopping (so fun with Quinn in the cart!) & do the dishes! This is unusually productive as Saturdays are usually a more lazy day. I feel very well rested after yesterday (I’ll recap yesterday later in this post!). Hope your long weekend is off to a great start! (Although, may be later in the week when I finally publish this!).

Rewinding back to last Saturday, February 11th, I met up with Rachel for her birthday brunch! We met around 1 pm, which was perfect timing as Quinn was well rested after a long nap and feed. DJ kept things under control at home while I whipped up Route 8 to celebrate my dear friend!!

Rach always keeps her eyes out for fun new spots for us to try! She’s my go-to person for foodie ideas all over the Cleveland/Akron area and beyond! For this meal, we met at Pub Frato in Chagrin Falls.

This place had an industrial vibe with warm, cozy lighting. reminding me a lot of Burntwood actually.

After enjoying the Bloody Mary at Burntwood a couple weekends ago, I decided to try Pub Frato’s “garden bloody”. I’m pretty sure they brought the wrong one out because it had a big ol’ piece of bacon in it with minimal veggies. I wasn’t upset though, it was delicious bacon!! A happy mistake for sure.

Rach tried the mimosa flight! Pic of the gorg birthday girl!!

I had the salmon over arugula/beets/blue cheese & pomegranate! I’m starting the dairy introduction very slowly. So far, so good! This meal was scrumptious as could be.

When I returned home, the deliciousness didn’t end! Gigi and Gordie spoiled me for Valentine’s Day by sending these dairy/soy free cookies from Pacific Northwest. How stinking thoughtful are they?! These are very tasty, especially for being dairy/gluten/soy free. You would never guess!!! I keep them in the freezer and have been taking a couple bites a day. My favorite flavors of what I’ve tried so far are the chocolate chip and molasses 😋.

It didn’t stop there either- they generously gifted us Baked by Melissa vegan cupcakes. Again, you’d never know they’re vegan. Amazing!

I took Quinn’s ninth month photos that day (again a bit delayed, at least I’m consistent 😄).

While playing in the nursery, Quinn decided to try standing with minimal support- I could hardly believe it!

That afternoon we went to Kendall Hills with Quinn and Moose to let Moose frolic around. These hills were a little easier when I didn’t have a 18 lb. + babe strapped to me, but I got a good workout hah!

After Kendall, I was craving Raising Cane’s something fierce!!! I think we’ve had it before after Kendall Hills because I couldn’t get it out of my mind the whole time we were there. Isn’t the brain funny that way.

I looked up allergens on their site and at this point I was having a little soy daily and very little dairy. Since I already had a little cheese that morning, I wanted to make sure not to overdo it with any more dairy. I saw they had something called naked chicken tenders that were dairy free & the sauce actually was dairy free too according to the allergen list! I was doubtful these naked tenders actually existed considering we’ve never seen them on the menu…… but we zoomed into Cane’s parking lot, DJ went inside to order and returned with the naked tenders! I was stoked! And they were goooood!!

Not pictured: me downing these fries and tenders in the car while Quinn fusses in her car seat, because, yes, she still hates the car! We even have tried switching to a convertible car seat, and that hasn’t even seemed to help 😵‍💫.

Quinn was ready to go on Monday morning, February 13th. I had a later shift start that day, so I was able to drop her off at daycare. When I dropped her off she cried and put up a little fight which absolutely broke my heart. Ugh.

Thankfully I was off February 14th, Valentine’s Day, and could spend every second with my little Valentine!

For breakfast I made her these banana egg pancakes with a raspberry compote (simply boiled raspberries, smashed).

She LOVED them. She actually giggled as she ate them, and I refilled her little plate three times.

Had to show off her outfit without covering it with a silly bib, of course 🤪.

After breakfast, we crawled around the living room, and this girl found particular fascination with my shades. Why does she look like she’s about to say “yeah, ok mom, bring me my bottle please” as she pushes the shades up? 😆.

We then went on our FIRST jog together! 3 miles!! This is so very exciting for me. Usually I can only workout when DJ is home to watch her since we’re still doing mostly contact naps, so this was AWESOME!

Back to playing. This time she thought it would be fun to venture into Moose’s crate 😅.

After her afternoon nap, we went to CVS to get a few things. I also picked up the Lily’s Sour Gummy Worms at checkout, which I really enjoyed!!

Quinn put together a little Valentine Surprise for DJ, complete with one of his favorite sweets- Daisy Pops Cake Pops (the owner was actually a high school teacher of mine), a heart shaped pizza from Marco’s and some toys for Moose. (I added some books in for Quinn too). 🥰.

🥰🥰🥰. DJ was pretty smitten by his Valentine!

And he surprised me with this spectacular sunset inspired bouquet 🥰.

Quinn was also very spoiled by all her grandparents this First Valentine’s Day!

DJ and I don’t always make a big to-do of Valentine’s Day, but this year was so much fun celebrating with our mini Valentine.

February 15th, Gigi came by to spend the afternoon with us! We were both craving Subway, so it was an easy decision for lunch. I don’t know if y’all remember, but I lived on Subway veggie delights when I was pregnant. I even considered making Quinn a subway sub for Halloween 😆. Since Subway has soy in the bread, it was a no-go when I had to give that up. But now that I could finally have soy again, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this sub!!! I added my own vegan cheese…. Still just being cautious with the dairy.

This tasted so good!

Thursday, February 16th, was a tough day. It was my Dad’s birthday, which is always just difficult in its own right, missing him. But then everything seemed to go wrong. To start, I spilled my breast milk when making bottles & spilled my coffee on the carpet. Thennnn, get this- I left the car seat in my car on accident so DJ had no way to get Quinn to daycare since he leaves after me. He called me right as my shift was starting, and I had no clue what to do. Thankfully, he called Gigi who graciously drove right over with a spare car seat she had for our nephew. She saved the day! What would be do without her? I really do not know. I thought the chaos was over, but then I had one of the hardest days at work since I’ve started. By the end of the day my nerves were just shot. But when I picked up this girl and had her napping soundly in my carrier, I felt like I could take a deep breath. ❤️

She’s wearing her sweet Corgi shirt from her Aunt Amy!

Thankfully this rollercoaster of a week ended on a wonderful note 🥰. We were planning on going away for President’s Day weekend as a fam, but that fell through. DJ had already opted to use a vacation day for that Friday, so we decided to use it as a full “date day”.

We dropped Quinn off at daycare around 9 after her first nap of the day. We also dropped Moose off at Camp Bow Wow since it was a little chilly for a walk; this way he could get his energy out, and we would just pick him up after lunch.

Returning home, we had breakfast, blasted country music, caught up on some easy house chores, talked & laughed just the two of us. We watched Yellowstone then got ready to go to lunch!

I wanted to eat somewhere kinda romantic, but that’s hard to find on a random afternoon, hah! We ended up going to Beau’s on the River in Cuyahoga Falls. Funnily enough, this was located in the Sheraton where my baby shower was held. I missed Quinn immensely all day, but it was really important and wonderful for DJ and I to have that time together.

The main dining room wasn’t opened, so we were seated in the lounge. The lounge had a calm, relaxing vibe as it overlooked the water.

We were seated with the best view in the house!

As I gazed out at the snow flurries over the water, I said to DJ, “this is just magical”. He couldn’t help but laugh at how I said this while overlooking a muddy river situated on a hotel embankment overcast by the grayest of clouds. Then we were both laughing because, well, he made a fair point. But look, if you take a mom anywhere that serves a good meal she can eat without rushing, she’s probably going to call it magical! 😄 ✨

Given the frigid day outside, I ordered a cozy glass of red wine. DJ ordered their seasonal beer, and I loved how they served it in a Cavs mug. I had a sip & it was delicious!!!

For an appetizer, we tried the white cheddar shrimp & grits. DJ had never had grits before and was a big fan!! I have always loved them, and these were really tasty. I only had a couple bites, since I’m sure there was quite a bit of dairy.

I also had their beet salad with feta, prosciutto chips (yum!!) over a massive bed of arugula. My kind of salad!

DJ had their veggie stir fry with steak added over sticky rice.

I savored their salmon ALT (aioli, lettuce and tomato) with the aioli on the side. It hit the spot as did the fries!

Post lunch car selfie 🙃. I think I’ve used every emoji in the book at this point of the post. My millennial is showing 🤪.

We then picked up our Moose!

He was one sleepy boy after Bow Wow. We gave him a lot of one-on-one attention which he hasn’t had simultaneously from both of us since Quinn was born. He ate it up! We fell asleep watching Yellowstone then picked up Quinn from daycare, looking forward to a full long weekend all together. ❤️

It was a really special day!

Thanks for reading & sharing in these fun memories in our little cut of the world.

Question for you:

– How was your long weekend if ya had one?

– How was your regular weekend if you didn’t?

<3,

Mackenzie