Category: Weekly Recap

Welcome welcome to January Part 2! On January 13th Quinn’s dumbbells came in!

She loves doing modified workouts next to me, so I thought it would be fun to get Quinn her own pair. She calls them “pick ups”. She said she doesn’t like her pickups because they aren’t heavy enough 🤣. Ok Miss Schwarzenegger.

Tripp is a busy little man. We often call him Mr. Baby. Quinn thinks it’s hilarious when I go “Uhm, excuse me, Mr. Baby…” and then make some silly statement. He creates little tasks for himself and is so focused on them. For example, he loves taking all the pans out of a cupboard and putting them all back in.

Quinn and Moose are two peas in a pod now more than ever. They actually play together and Quinn will run around with him which is both adorable and quite nice since they then wear each other out hah!

January 15th we started the day with pumpkin waffles from the Feeding Littles cookbook. These were a hit!

That day Quinn had a doctor’s appt. DJ was able to take a couple hours off work so we could all go together since the roads were rough. After, we stopped by Cool Beans Cafe. I really like this spot- they have a varied and long menu along with a full coffee bar.

We were Hungry with a capital “H”after the appt, so I got a cookie for us all to have a bite while waiting for our food to go. I was glad I did because it did take a while- maybe 30 mins- before we got our order. The kids did wonderfully waiting though.

We drove to The Farm (Gigi and Grandpa’s) to spend an afternoon there. I ordered the cranberry chicken salad sandwich on a croissant, and it was so good. A few potato chips made their way into my sandwich too and I was not mad about it!

We had such a wonderful afternoon with Gigi. We chatted a lot, she played dinos with Tripp and the piano with Quinnie, and then she did a fun science lesson with Quinn about snow changing into different forms (solid to liquid back to ice). Quinn loved that!

We had some heavy duty storage shelves put in our basement that evening. We were so stoked about these. You know you’re in your 30s when … 😅.

That evening I made a brussel pesto orzo. DJ and I thought it was tasty, Quinn barely touched hers. Tripp gobbled his up though. I love when they’re at this age where they will eat just about anything!

January 17th we had a baby shower to go to for my cousin! We have two more babies in the family arriving in the next couple months! It’s such a fun time seeing our family grow at such a fast rate and more and more cousins at holidays. I am so grateful we live near most of Quinn and Tripp’s cousins too.

The cake was just adorable!

I thought this was a cute & funny game! It’s a scratch off & whoever gets the poop wins.

Also how stinking cute are these brownies?

It was really nice spending that time with the gals in our family. My sister, Andrea, was in town too! She came to our house after to stay the night.

The next day we went to church, had a nice relaxing afternoon at home and then went to Kate’s cheer game. Quinn watched her like she was watching a celebrity! When Kate walked over to Quinn after the game Quinn became suddenly bashful as though she was star struck. It was adorable!

Besties 🥰

Tripp took his first steps right after he turned 10 months but then didn’t walk any after that. Until that evening of January 18th – he really started walking and even now writing this he is zooming around decent distances before letting out a very dramatic “ahhh” and plopping on his bottom 😄.

January 19th Clair’s kids had off school so we planned a playdate! Finally it worked out to get everyone together – between the four kids usually one is sick, so we were pretty stoked everyone was finally healthy!

We drove to Medina and door dashed Cool Beans- because, of course! This time I got an avocado sandwich. It was tasty, but I still liked that cranberry chicken one better!

She surprised me with a Happy Birthday Cake 🥹. When I tell you Clair is just the most thoughtful human, I mean it. Her birthday is actually at the end of January so I made sure we sang to both of us.

It was really good cake too! The kids loved it.

They have a sweet dog named Titus who was out most of the time we were there. When he started getting a bit too jumpy Clair put him in his crate, and Tripp made sure to keep him company. They were pals.

DJ and Jacob played catch a bunch while Layla and Quinn colored (and Tripp pretend colored so he didn’t eat the markers haha).

That evening I made a very simple meal that we all loved. It consisted of homemade chicken nuggets, mixed veggies and then I just added some leftover of the orzo pasta.

Quinn and I made a big fort that evening. DJ and I do a full clean of the house most evenings, so if Quinn doesn’t want something taken down she’s sure to let us know. She’ll point with her finger, look me straight in the eye and say “no taking down my fort when I sleep”. Lol.

January 20th I made our tried and tried lamb chops from the Antiinflammatory Cookbook.

Quinn wanted to go to sleep as a cat that night so I made her whiskers out of construction paper, a little nose and she had a cat headband that went with her black cat pjs from Halloween.

We took off everything while she slept to make sure she didn’t accidentally swallow tape or something, and she was not happy when she woke up without her whiskers :(. Sorry girlfriend!

The next day, we had a day mostly at home. I started with an Inspired Minds app activity where you cut out “gum balls”, put them in the gum ball machine and write how many are in each. Really this ended up being more of a practice with scissors activity. She got “big girl” scissors for Christmas and uses them almost every day. She could just sit and cut paper for hours!

That week we also went to the baby music class at the library. Tripp fell asleep maybe 10 minutes in since it’s right during his nap time, but Quinn loved it. She brought a little baby rattle to shake to the music and participated in everything. After she built this entire building out of blocks while Tripp slept in the carrier. Yes, she did this herself!

Before leaving for swim class I made some elk with stir fried veggies for dinner that would be ready when we got home.

That was our first week of swim class! Gigi is able to join us which is tremendously helpful since their sessions are back to back and I need to be in the pool with Tripp.

I was worried how Quinn would do considering the last time we did classes I was in the water with her (before Tripp was born), but now she’s at the age where she’s only with the instructor in the water. She did awesome! She genuinely seemed to enjoy it. Tripp did too! What a relief considering I have them signed up for 15 weeks 😅. Ender also had a makeup lesson that evening so it was fun to see Renee, Chris, Ender and Emelyn there too. I think that also made Quinn all the more excited and comfortable about it since Ender was in the pool at the same time.

When we got home, I had to get a little creative on how to serve our dinner to Tripp. I pureed the elk over polenta cakes (really easy and tasty- kind of like grits but then they become more of a fritter form once cooled), some veggies, and feta cheese. He loved all this except he didn’t eat much of the polenta. Moose ate that instead once it ended up on the floor.

Saturday January 24th we went to the mall. It was the first time Quinn and Tripp really played together out at a public place like this and it was so sweet.

We stopped by Traveling Tom’s for some coffee before heading home.

A kiwi Co. kit arrived that day too! I think this is our last one. We got them as a fun craft subscription for after Tripp was born, but I don’t think I’m going to renew it. The crafts are fun, but they are kind of a one time deal. If you’re thinking about whether to do a Kiwi Co vs Lovevery subscription I’d do Lovevery. With Lovevery you can reuse the toys and they provide more open ended play. They also are super high quality.

I’ll wrap it here and finish up the rest of January in another post ☺️

Mackenzie

Hey hey! This post I’m going to do a little October fill in- mainly anything I didn’t include in the other posts since it wasn’t specific to Autumn/Halloween.

September 28th we played in Quinn’s “rocket ship” in the garage. Rocket ship = an oversized cardboard box our deck furniture arrived in.

She takes a lot of pride decorating it with stickers and markers & it’s always fun when we get a ride to outer space!

For dinner that evening we had delicious orange chicken. Most recipes I’ve made from Delish.com turn out great!!

That evening I spotted a bees nest and brought Quinn back out with me to see it. She was all belly laughs as I ran as fast as I could with her in the stroller to see the hive. I love how the little things bring little ones pure JOY!

September 29th we put together our Kiwi Co box. This month was a robot and a car stamper. It was all about wheels.

We tinkered around the house a lot that day. Quinn had a new found interest in the baby blocks and toys and built some fun structures out of them. Sometimes our days at home without an agenda are our best- I think not rushing, not worrying over a schedule or making it back in time for meals, etc. lends to a calm flow. But I can usually only do this once or twice a week without getting cabin fever.

We also have played sooo much with those garage sale Paw Patrol vehicles we found. Her favorite make believe game with it is Paw Patrol daycare while the moms and dads go to work, to the dentist, to get a hair cut or go grocery stopping. She has little stations around the house where each errand takes place.

September 30th was a normal day followed by soccer.

October 1st was a gorgeous day! We tried to be outside as much as possible.

Quinn also has been saying she wanted some skeleton PJs. We went to Walmart and happened to see some right away!

That evening we had slow cooker pulled pork.

October 2nd Quinn was our teacher and taught us with these adorable educational posters. Tripp was a little disruptive, but she was patient with her pupil ;).

October 3rd my friend Clair stopped by! Always great to see her.

We had some fun with filters! Anyone know Banana Bop by Sandra Boynton..

For dinner that evening, we were low on groceries but had some ingredients to make pizza that evening. DJ and Quinn had a basic cheese pizza, but I tried to use up some ingredients for mine. This had pesto, artichoke hearts, bison and vegan parmesan- it was actually so good!

I went out on a run with Quinn after dinner and listened to the Lenny Pearce toddler techno playlist. Y’all this is so much fun!

Yes my phone is chronically in the red 🙈. My version of living life on the edge.

October 4th Quinnie and I got a little date in at Nervous Dog. On our dates she loves to bring along this sticker book. This is a GREAT gift for any three year olds you know that like stickers. They have so many different theme options too.

October 5th Maggie stopped by in the afternoon on her fall break! It’s been sooo nice we’ve been able to still see her on a regular basis when she’s back in town. Quinn had set up a zoo that day and we printed zoo tickets for it too.

Gigi and Grandpa then came by in the evening and DJ and I went out for Mexican. We knew Tripp may not last long so we chose a nearby spot we knew would be fast (Los Girasoles). I order the fajitas every single time. I don’t know what DJ got because I was focused on my fajitas. I recently heard ordering fajitas is diva behavior because of the sizzling plate as they approach the table demanding attention- but I didn’t choose the fajita life, the fajita life chose me, ok?!

After we got back we got a nice little walk in, it was a beautiful evening.

October 6th we started our day with another glorious walk listening to Forrest Frank. Writing this post when it’s impossible to take walks outside in this cold with the kids is making me ache for the fall weather again!

After, Quinn and I got to work on DJ’s birthday dessert we make every year- Dirt!

This year he requested it with vanilla pudding instead of chocolate, and it was a huge hit! It was so fun having Quinn help me. This was the first year she did most everything for it with some guidance and assistance.

For dinner that evening I chose a recipe I thought DJ may like- a sundried tomato chicken with pasta. It turned out great!

While we were at Walmart that week I had the kids pick out their cards for DJ. Quinn picked out the Bluey one, of course, and Tripp quite literally picked out the other😆.

That day we also went to Krieger to get a bouquet of flowers for Mimi. She shares a birthday with DJ and Amy, which is so special. That evening we went to her home to see her and wish her happy birthday!

I think that just about wraps everything up! Onto November next ☺️

Mackenzie

P.S. this post contains Amazon affiliate links, which means I might earn a small commission if you make a purchase. Please know I’ll only ever share products I truly stand by and use! 🫶🏻

Hey hey! Now that fall is wrapped up I’m going to do a little fill in of everything that we missed to this point!

Let’s rewind back into August, waddya say? We started August 9th with a little activity: I wrote numbers 1-15 on a box and when I said the number Quinn circled it. Easy but she enjoyed it!

That evening we ordered Honeygrow!

August 10th I made a sheet pan sausage and veggie dish. This was good and gave me that fall is on its way vibe!

That week I discovered we could Instacart Aldi to our house which is a GAME CHANGER! We have saved so much on groceries lately.

I saw a young mother
With eyes full of laughter
And two little shadows
Came following after.

Wherever she moved,
They were always right there
Holding onto her skirts, 
Hanging onto her chair.
Before her, behind her—
An adhesive pair.

“Don’t you ever get weary
As, day after day, 
your two little tagalongs
Get in your way?”

She smiled as she shook
Her pretty young head, 
And I’ll always remember
The words that she said.

“It’s good to have shadows
That run when you run, 
That laugh when you’re happy
And hum when you hum—
For you only have shadows

When your life’s filled with sun.”

Author: Anonymous

That week Tripp started to prop himself up onto his back legs! This guy was determined to get crawling!

August 11th I made a couple activities for Quinn with Pom poms & tape. One was sweeping Pom Poms into the square shaped tape- she wasn’t into that as much so then we taped a bag to the wall & she used kitchen tongs to put the Pom Poms in the bag. She enjoyed that a lot more!

Then we made bridges for her cars to go under.

That evening we had white chicken chili for dinner.

August 12th we had an adorable play date here with a friend that has a 2.5 yr old girl and a 4 month boy. I’m starting to expand my mom circle with friends with kids of similar ages which has been so nice.

Soccer time!

We have a wall in our dining room area that unintentionally (but happily) morphed into a display for Quinn’s art projects. It started with taping one picture up there that she liked then grew quickly! I love how much pride she has in this wall. I probably could make it look more organized, but she loves taping the pictures herself, so who am I to stand in her way!

August 13th Tripp tried solids for the first time!! I’m planning to do a whole post on our solids introduction this time around because it looks very different from how we did things with Quinn.

The evening of August 13th we went to the now renovated Croghan Park. It was a beautiful evening and a blast!

August 14th we went to Clair’s so Quinn & Layla could have a play date! Clair had just received a bunch of baby chicks that she forgot she had ordered- this put her to 40 hens! I might forget about an Amazon order, but she forgets about the recent farm animal order she submitted LOL.

Quinn got to hold the fuzzy little guys.

We are deep into the pretend phase, and it’s so much fun. Quinn loves to play “daycare”.

August 15th my cousin and her kids came by for another play date! We made homemade popsicles that all the kids loved!

Clair sent me home with some zucchini from her garden, so I made some zoodles to make a bolognese.

August 17th was a homemade pizza kind of night.

Quinn always does a great job making hers!

This sweet little cheetah got the zoomies out at dusk.

Also I love these PJs – I have matching ones from Little Sleepies. I got them a couple months ago as another way to make Quinn feel extra special 💕. She loves them and they are so soft!!

Unfortunately Quinn had an awful bout of restless legs that night. She’s only had it a couple times in her life, but it’s TERRIBLE when it happens. The only thing that works is a “reset”, so we’ll bring her downstairs, let her watch Ms. Rachel while I massage her legs/put heat on them, give her a snack then try bedtime again. I think she was having some growing pains that triggered them if I had to guess.

My friend Sara from California arrived August 18th! She was heading to a wedding on this side of the country and she was able to stop here before. She couldn’t wait to see Quinn and meet Tripp finally!!

Quinn was still sleeping when she arrived at 10 AM; she definitely needed it!

I put in a grocery order and accidentally ordered 5 bunches of bananas instead of just 5 bananas. I do this from time to time. We actually did make a decent dent in them and my neighbors took a bunch off my hands!

That evening I made a Thai basil chicken that we all loved!

August 19th was a chill day at home and the last day of soccer for that season for Quinn! She had a whole crowd cheering her on with Sara, Gigi and Gordie (Grandpa) there!

That evening we had the taco pasta. I love this stuff!

August 20th we had another relaxing day at home. Sara’s flight was delayed so she got to have dinner with us! This was another winner of a meal- Greek meatballs with asparagus and couscous. I served it with store bought tzatziki too.

I was sad to see Sara go, but so grateful we had some good quality time to catch up, laugh a ton and spend time with the kids before she left.

There wasn’t too much time to be sad though because Grammy and Grampy were on their way!

They made it in town in time for dinner August 22nd. We had a good childhood friend, Sarah, over along with her fiancé, Carl! They got a front row seat to the chaos since Tripp was quite fussy that evening (teething + going through a leap)! We ordered Door Dash from Butcher and Sprout but unfortunately the dasher only got one of our three bags of food- so DJ made a quick trip there to pick up the rest. The restaurant so sweetly put some delicious beignets in complimentarily. Lovee that place!

The morning of August 23rd Pete sweetly sat on the couch with Quinn while they watched Ms. Rachel together 🥰. Some friends (real and pretend) joined as well.

We decided to attempt a little date out while my mom and Pete were there. We went to Garrett’s Mill for breakfast, one of our favorite local staples.

We got a couple mimosas- I got orange and DJ got mango!

I usually get an omelette but I was in the mood for something more basic that morning- eggs and toast it is!

DJ had their chicken & waffles which looked great too.

On the way home we got Nervous Dog and then stopped into Jenni’s Desserts, a new bakery in town.

We got a variety of desserts for everyone to try! I couldn’t personally try them because of the dairy, but everyone said they were fantastic!

Pete grilled us steaks that night- yummm. My mom helped make salads & corn and we also roasted some zucchini.

We went on a lovely evening walk all together.

My smiley dude!

The next morning was Quinn and Tripp’s dedication at church! I’ll share more about that in the next post 🙂

Mackenzie

Hey hey! How are you guys?! Usually when I have long periods without regular blogging it’s because I’m not in the best mental head space, but that’s not the case this time! I am biting at the bit to blog, but it is just so stinking hard to find the time! We usually don’t get both kids down simultaneously until after 9 pm. Then I have the to-do list to tackle. Most days I drink coffee around 8/9 pm to force myself to stay up to have a minute to get things done or exercise if I can muster the energy. I used to be the type that couldn’t drink coffee past 4 pm or I’d be up all night! Not anymore- as soon as I hit the pillow I am out like a light! Boy, we are blessed, and boy I am tired 😅. And this is with DJ also helping so much too. I’m thinking about trying to set my alarm early to start waking up earlier than the kids, especially because I want to get back in a groove of reading my Bible in the morning. I’m also considering starting to publish little short posts more frequently. I love my little online journal & I don’t want too much time to get away! All in all though we are doing good! I feel like my hormones are way more level now at 7 months postpartum than they’ve been up until this point.

Anyway, for now, time to recap the post vacation days. This all feels so long ago now- let’s see what I can remember!

The evening of July 14th we were reading Go Dog Go (one of Quinn’s favorites) and she started saying the words along, verbatim. We quickly realized she had pretty much the entire book memorized! It always amazes me how much their little brains absorb.

July 16th we took Tripp in for a doctor’s appointment while Maggie watched Quinn. They built an epic fort- even Moose enjoyed it haha.

Speaking of- our Moose turned four years old that day! We cooked him up his favorite dinner of beef and rice & sang happy birthday. I can’t believe he’s 4. We love him so much.

Summer days outside 🩷

July 17th we went to the library for storytime. Gigi met up with us there & then we went back to the house for lunch. We ordered in Piada, which never disappoints!

That evening we had Brami lupini bean pasta- yummm.

July 18th I made quinoa patties. Quinn’s not as big of a fan anymore, but I am!

That day I learned something new! I thought the bees below were Queen bees- the ones with the greenish fuzzy look.

Well, DJ is either an expert in melittology or just has the common knowledge that this is simply a bumblebee. Anyone else have this mix up? Some type of Mandela effect maybe? Just me?

July 19th Tripp upgraded to the big seat in the stroller! Had to steal my friend’s idea of adding a soundtrack to the milestone 🙂‍↔️.

Pre-church smiles on his July 20th

That evening we went to the park. It’s getting easier to go as a family places now, especially when it’s only a 15/20 min drive. If Tripp is totally melting down in the car I’ll just nurse him over the car seat, works like a charm lol.

I heard some fantastic advice recently that has changed the way I approach my weekdays at home with the kids. To summarize, it explained that as a mom you have to fill up yourself to show up your best for your kids, so there should also be an integration of doing things for you too as a stay at home mom. This may seem really basic – almost like we’ve all heard this before but actually implementing this advice has made a BIG difference in how I approach our days. I used to only think “what thing/activity in ‘kid land’ can I do with them today?”, but now I take us all, as a unit, into consideration. For example, I usually start our day with a walk- having this walk makes a tremendous difference in my mood and energy the rest of the day. It’s become a sort of non-negotiable unless weather doesn’t allow. Quinn will sometimes bring her breakfast along or we’ll bring an activity like “car bingo” where she checks off different colors of car that pass. Usually when I do something for “me”, it benefits them too. Quinn loves going to coffee shops & running errands with me! And Tripp is usually happy if he’s in my carrier wherever we go.

The boppi phase did not last long with this kid! He was on the move quick!!

July 23rd Moose had a dermatology follow up for his nails (they are well under control and he’s doing great!!). Quinn went with DJ, and while waiting in the room she had to go to the bathroom. DJ left Moose in the patient room to take her and hoped to be back before the vet came by. When DJ and Quinn got back to the room Moose was totally MIA. They walked through the halls looking for him when a tech passed by with Moose on his leash and asked “is this your dog?”. Apparently Moose had snuck out of the room and found his way to the employee break room 😅.

Randommmm but I was making eggs later that day and the yolk nearly totally separated from the whites in the pan. I’ve never had this happen before and found it fascinating and thought I’d share.

For dinner that evening we had slow cooker enchiladas! Loved these! Mixed veggies for the win to add a vegetable.

July 24th we spotted these cute little guys splooting in our front yard 🤷🏼‍♀️.

Tripp had started scooting/army crawling that week so it was time to bust out the playpen! I built it the evening of July 25th.

Maggie and I also put our brains together and figured out how to assemble this adorable teepee Quinn was gifted! Someone else really like it too..

July 26th we had the gals and kids on Gigi and Grandpa’s side of the family over while the men golfed.

Moose was terrified during the storm that was happening that day, poor guy! When he gets scared he leans his 90 lb, self into you, nearly pushing us over lol. Anyway, we even have him on trazadone during storms, but it only slightly relaxes him. Anyone have any ideas?!

When the guys were done, we ventured to the Farm to have dinner all together. The guys recounted a harrowing encounter with a thunderstorm they had while on the green- lightning was striking all around them. DJ said it was the closest he’s ever been to lighting! Thankfully everyone was ok, but a wild tale to tell.

Sweet Tripp with Aunt Laura ❤️

Tripp turned 5 months that day!!

That evening we set out for a bike ride after dinner.

July 29th we went on a walk to find all the letters in the alphabet in the neighborhood. This is one of my favorite easy outdoor games.

Quinn also really enjoyed this game where she matched the “mommy” letter to the “baby” letter.

She was quite thrilled that the animal of the week at the library was her favorite, Sloths!

My soccer girl!

Super easy dinner of salmon, quinoa, green beans and cauliflower mashed potatoes.

Quinn is/was 100% in her squirreling era. I find the most random little toys, trinkets, things from the yard in random bags and cubbies!

In our basement we made a lava bridge out of books that looped the entire way around! This was fun.

July 31st was the last story time with Maggie 🥹. Quinn has refused to go back to this specific library without her! It’s officially become the “Maggie Library”

Another day, another box to decorate! Quinn is fully in her crafting era and it is the best!!

And that wraps our July!

🩷💕

Mackenzie

Hey all! For some reason my last post didn’t get sent via email. We will see if this one does! But if you missed it and want to read it, May Part 2 is here :).

May 29th we trotted out for a nice walk to start the day. Quinn got a handmedown from Layla with a sloth on it & you know it’s her new favorite PJ set!

Slothy is her absolute best friend stuffed animal. She didn’t have just one for a long time – she rotated through many, but Slothy is officially her favorite. She goes everywhere with us 💕.

That day we played “daycare” (the Nugget fort was Quinn’s daycare that she piled all her stuffies in), FaceTimed my mom who read Quinn lots of stories, and then went to the park.

That evening I made a lentil soup from the Anti-inflammatory crockpot cookbook. I actually really liked this recipe, and it’s been hard to find a lentil soup recipe that’s not “mid” in my experience. Yes, I just used mid, but I had to add quotes because it felt a bit unnatural lol. And, no, I didn’t use ChatGPT- I’m just that up on my Gen Z lingo 💅

I also found this hummus that was surprisingly delicious! I feel like pickle flavored things are having a moment.

Spinnnnnn

The evening of May 30th I made salmon over spiralized zucchini and roasted sweet potatoes for dinner.

After dinner, I went on a dance/run/walk with Quinn. We noticed a duck sitting right on top of our house! Who needs a guard Moose when you have a guard duck? (Jk I’m so grateful Moose protects us from those pesky Amazon delivery drivers every day ;)).

The morning of May 31st my friend Kylie stopped over and got to meet Tripp!

Quinn was especially moody and having big tantrums that day. It was a little odd. That evening she got sick and then proceeded to get sick several times through the night :(. It was horrible and made sense why she was acting off. The next day she started turning the corner fairly quickly, but there was residual fatigue. We spent a lot of the day on the couch reading books, watching Silly Miss Lily and then did one little activity.

I put these animals in ice cubes the night prior and then Quinn dipped them in the baking soda and then into the water bath to “rescue” them from the ice and snow.

She was definitely feeling better by that evening because she painted her toenails with peanut butter and actually did a decent job 🤣

June 2nd I ran three miles with a less than 10 minute pace. This is a big deal for me lately, but a far cry from the runner I used to be. It’s funny how relative it all becomes- plus I wasn’t my healthiest when I had my fastest times.

That evening I had a crockpot apple oatmeal with coconut whipped topping for dessert! I love a recipe that can double as breakfast or dessert 😋.

Happy boy!!

That day Quinn played in our kiddie pool and then proceeded to get a pretty good splinter playing with craft popsicle sticks. The little boogers! Pro tip: We tried a baking soda method where you make a paste and it draws out the splinter. It worked overnight!

That evening I made cilantro lime drumsticks in the crockpot served with corn, green beans and rice.

June 4th was one of my favorite recipes from the cookbook to date!! It was a lamb chop recipe that I served with couscous and roasted carrots.

June 5th we had our shed removed from our backyard to make room for a swing set. This was a tough decision because we liked our shed, but it was the only place in the yard that really made sense for a swing set. It was entertaining watching it get demolished!

Sometimes I feel like I have my best workouts later at night. I’ve been trying to also add in HITT routines again for a more full body workout. I’ve been loving the Fitness Blender account on YouTube.

I find other peoples’ meal prep processes interesting for the week so I thought I’d share mine in case anyone is interested! First I map out the week and try to get a different type of protein every day along with one fish dish and usually a meatless day. I choose recipes from a cookbook or just the internet and then create the menu.

Then I go through and make the grocery list. The meals end up getting shuffled around through the week, but I do find this has worked well to not have wasted food and to eat home cooked meals majority of the time. As I go through the week I check off each meal we have eaten to see what’s left to choose from.

June 8th was church and big smiles!

We went through the drive through at Nervous Dog after and Quinn called out “and a milky!” from the back for her order 🤣. Can’t leave the girl out of the coffee order. The first sip she took she said “Ah, so refreshing”. She keeps us laughing, I’ll tell ya!

June 9th I attempted to make watermelon fruit roll ups but they overcooked and were more like watermelon chips. Quinn loved them though! I definitely want to try the recipe again. The leftover watermelon juice is delicious too!

I made a crockpot veggie egg casserole to have on hand for breakfast for the week. It has fennel in it which I was hesitant about because fennel isn’t my favorite. But this cooked up so sweetly and didn’t have a harsh fennel flavor at all!

June 9th we went to the Akron library. We actually were going to the children’s museum but didn’t realize it was closed! The Library was a good alternative.

That evening was our go-to veggie pasta. I roast zucchini and mushrooms usually at 385 until nice and crisp/golden (but you can do any veggie you want) then put in a blender with tomato sauce. At the same time I cook up a high protein pasta like Chickapea brand, lentil based or lupini bean based like Brami and then mix it all together. I top with Parmesan cheese (the vegan follow your heart kind for myself).

June 10th we went to storytime in the park. DJ was in the middle of a shift with his job to working from home so he had some time off that week which was so nice he could join in!

We also got new blinds installed in our dining area! I definitely feel like it brightened everything up a lot!

That afternoon we went with Gigi to a nearby park. Quinn had a bit of a tumble into the mud at the bottom of a slide, but recovered like a champ.

I had a big bummer realization when I got home. I was making a Korean pot roast with a veggie “stirfry” in the crockpot. I had been salivating over it all day. When I went to scoop it out I noticed I hadn’t taken off the absorbent pad from the meat. So that plastic piece had been baking in the crockpot for 8 hours. There was no way I could allow us to eat that, darn! Gigi graciously offered to run out to get us something but thankfully I had other things I could whip up easily in freezer.

June 11th I went for a run and couldn’t find my sunglasses. I ended up finding a different pair and while I was running I realized the original pair was on top of my head the whole time 😂. True mom brain things!!

Is that comfortable, Moose?

That evening I made a shrimp risotto with vegan Parmesan cheese.

No one loves our outdoor furniture more than this fella!

I think one of the cushions is missing because Quinn was making a little outdoor fort, hah!

June 12 we ventured out as a family to WaterWorks. Quinn requested six rainbow pigtails (aka “Amy bows” if you remember the lore). Mission accomplished!

We took a picnic lunch and ate outside the gates on a grassy area before the gates opened to the public at 11.

I didn’t get much time with Quinn since Tripp was ready for a nap soon as we arrived. She had fun with DJ though and I got more time with Quinn later when we made homemade goldfish!

For dinner we had a Moroccan Chicken Tagine from the crockpot. Ah-may-zing. This may be my favorite cookbook I’ve ever cooked from!

It has been really hard letting go of as much time with my Quinnie girl during this transition. She’s actually doing great- I think it’s been harder on me! But it does make me treasure the time we do have and I try to be very present and playful when I get that one on one time with her. Sometimes in the evening we can sneak away for 30 mins or so to the park and play the floor is lava or just do a run/walk/dance together which we both love.

I didn’t know if my clematis were going to bloom this year since it was taking so long for them to, but they finally did!!

That evening of June 13th we had leftover lamb chops cooked in that were in the freezer with salad and murasaki sweet potatoes.

A moose with a stuffed moose.

June 14th I tried out this Abbot’s burger in a salad for lunch. I liked it! Very flavorful.

We danced along to a few episodes of Danny Go during the day. If you have any toddlers/preschoolers this is a HIT!

That evening we had salmon with refried beans made in the crockpot and corn.

June 15th we worked on crafts for the Grandpas from the kids! So fun!!! We are very blessed!

Everyone was out of town this day, but we had a nice relaxing Father’s Day at home with DJ.

I ordered DJ a personalized trading card plaque for Father’s Day for his at home office! Here’s a pic of a sample one from the website. He loved it!!

Father’s Day is always bittersweet. I miss my Dad so much. I showed Quinn pictures of her Grandpa Gary and one in particular made her laugh where he has a spoon on his nose. She said “silly Grandpa Gary!”. 🥰 That was just so “him”!

June 16th we started the day making the recipe for the butternut squash blueberry sheet pancakes and Quinn cut them into all different cut out shapes.

That evening Gigi and Gordie came by to help us with some sodding in our backyard where the shed was taken out. I re-made the Korean roast and served with air fryer green beans, flaky rolls and salad. It was so fun to have dinner here all together! And it was nice to eat the roast without worrying about an extra side of plastic ;).

Maggie started with us that week too! We went to story time in the park on Tuesday.

Quinn also started soccer that week! She loves it!!!

June 19th we had crockpot meatballs with asparagus and ravioli. The ravioli was not our favorite- it was a butternut squash ravioli that was easy more sweet than savory. It reminded me of pierogi gate of pregnancy if you remember that saga haha.

For dessert I had a delicious vegan brownie paired with ice cream. Gigi made these brownies for us, and they were great! We had a laugh though when Gordie tried one and his assessment was that “they have… a flavor”. 😄

June 20th I took Tripp outside under a shaded tree for some play time before it got too hot.

Quinn went swimming with DJ later that day. It was too hot to take Tripp so I stayed back with him.

That evening we had a slow cooker creamy cashew chicken. I served it with rice and mixed veggies.

June 21st I started the day with a quinoa casserole from the crockpot. Yum!

Quinn went with DJ, Aunt Renee, Uncle Chris, Ender and Emelyn to Memphis Kiddie Park! This place is adorable and perfect for preschool age kids!

Moose took a nap on Tripp’s lounger. He definitely thinks he’s a small dog 😂.

June 21st I took Quinn to Walmart to spend her birthday money from our Mimi on a toy of her choosing.

She, naturally, chose a Bluey house! It was so cute watching her hand her money with pride to the cashier to get her own toy she picked out.

June 22nd was a typical Sunday of church then playing around the house.

June 23rd was a big deal day!! I got my hair highlighted. This was the longest I was away from Tripp yet and he did great! He took the bottle well from DJ and slept in the carrier on him. It felt like it opened up a new level of possibility! How cute are these foils btw?

That afternoon I also got an SUV, a Highlander to be exact. There are a few moments where you feel like you’re officially doing the “mom thing”- when you find that first dried up French fry under the seat, when you sniff something to discern if it’s poop or chocolate, when you sway instinctively without holding a baby, and when you get an SUV/minivan!

I am LOVING this vehicle!! It’s exactly what I was looking for- reliable, practical and has a spacious bench set so I can be a comfortable backseat butler 😄.

That evening we played with a cut-out smoothie from Inspired Minds. It had little forms to take orders and then Quinn made the smoothie.

June 24th we went to Main Street Play and Cafe. Quinn wasn’t quite into it as much as last time- I think it was just more kids now which can be a bit intimidating.

June 24th for dinner we had teriyaki chicken in the crockpot that was so easy and delicious.

That day we were getting ready to go to soccer and I couldn’t find Quinn’s soccer jersey anywhere. We had notice several other things were missing that week too. We looked high and low, turned the house inside out, watched the time tick closer to when we had to leave. Finally it dawned on me the only place we hadn’t checked was the garage. We have a giant box in the garage that is Quinn’s “rocket ship”. Inside her rocket ship was a box with everything we had been missing- her shoes, shorts and jersey, books, Tripp’s avocados and printer paper 😂. Moral of the story, my daughter is part squirrel.

I was craving a pulled pork sandwich so on June 25th we had some slow cooker pulled pork with cornbread. Yum! (P.s. if you are dairy free, Daiya has a GREAT pepper jack alternative!).

Ok this is plenty long!

Questions for you that we had fun discussing – If you could only eat at one fast food place for breakfast lunch and dinner what would it be? (Mine would be chick-fil-A I think).

Mackenzie

To the melody of “all I do is win” by DJ Khaled “All I do is sweat, sweat, sweat no matter what, got AC on my mind I can never get enough!” Y’all didn’t know I was a lyrical genius, did ya? Hope you all are staying cool during this hotttt summer. Jumping right into it- May 13th we started the day with sheet pan butternut squash pancakes from Feeding Littles. This recipe never gets old!

That afternoon we did lots of crafts from Quinn’s birthday including this mermaid terrarium.

For the summer we’ve hired a college student named Maggie who comes by a few hours a day to be an extra hand around the house. We decided to try this out while I was in the thick of postpartum depression. It has made alllllll the difference having her help! Quinn clicked with her instantly too- she adores her! She’s so good with Tripp too. Having her here has allowed us to go to story time on a regular basis at the library, go to parks, has helped me stay on top of house chores, exercise, cook nutritious homemade meals and it’s given me extra quality time with Quinn. She’s only here until the first week of August, but I think I’ll be in a much better routine to do this all on my own when that time comes. She’s been a true blessing during this transition. Anyway, May 13th was the first day she came by and met Quinn- they were instant besties. She officially started the second week of June. It is going to be a tough goodbye when summer is over!

I also caught Quinnie walking around in my boots that day lol.

I did a little math activity with matching the number of dots on the magnatiles to their corresponding number. Don’t let the picture fool you, Quinn had no interest in this haha.

We spent a lot of time outside that afternoon.

May 14th, I made chicken meatballs over butternut squash pasta. I’ve been using this slow cooker cookbook lately and have been loving it. I found it searching for recipes that are dairy and soy free.

May 15th we started the day with a walk around the neighborhood! We attempted to find every letter of the alphabet on signs, license plates, etc. As soon as we found a letter we pushed the letter tab down to see which letters were left. We didn’t quite complete it, but we made it halfway.

The afternoon was quite balmy, so Tripp was down to his diaper on his play mat in the grass while Quinn played in her sandbox. Tripp loves to be outside (wind or water!) and any time we’re able I like to try to get both kids out there. This heat wave has definitely put a damper on that but hopefully we’ll be out there more soon!

That evening I made mushroom and pea risotto from the slow cooker cookbook with bison. Simple yet delicious! Buttt it kinda looks like homemade dog food 🤣.

For Mother’s Day, Gigi got me this beautiful lantern. I think it technically can be used outdoors but I think it’s a beautiful centerpiece too.

May 16th my sister, Andrea (Andi), arrived in town! This was her first time meeting Tripp which was so special! She came with me to pick up Quinn from daycare and then we had a delicious turkey white bean chili from the cookbook for dinner.

May 17th Halston and Kevin arrived! We had a family wedding that day, hence everyone being in town. Kevin got to meet Tripp for the first time too! On my to-do list this year is to get our basement’s guest room livable for whenever we have lots of company here! I just love having everyone here at the same time!

Before the wedding, it took most of the day to get ready and get things in order.

Quinn was thrilled when Gigi and Grandpa showed up to babysit! She even busted out the toolbox haha.

The venue was stunning!! It was on a beautiful rolling pasture with the reception in a gorgeously renovated barn.

The ceremony was so beautiful!

DJ and I actually got a picture of the two of us for once hah!

This was my first time really getting dressed up postpartum, and it was a challenge finding a dress! I have something called diastasis recti, where my abdominal muscles separated during pregnancy. In tight fitting clothing it is fairly noticeable where I still look a few months pregnant. I’ve been doing selective core exercises that I think are helping, but it’s been a learning curve figuring out how to dress my body as of late. I feel like I’m getting the hang of it more all the time though! High waisted everything is the name of the game! Waiiiit maybe that’s why mom shorts or mom jeans are traditionally high waisted?!? Is diastasis recti the origin of the fashion trend? 🤯

The interior of the barn!! 🤩

We did have to leave before the reception because Tripp was refusing his bottle. At this point in time he’s doing well with them- So we’ve surely come far in a month! I still felt a sense of accomplishment that we were able to attend the ceremony and grateful we could support my cousin!

The next morning was pretty lazy, just hanging out all together sipping nervous dog and spending time as a family.

That afternoon we went to my brother’s and then stopped by Corelife after.

Accurate representation of how eating out usually looks haha.

When we got home I went on a walk/run with Quinn. She has started getting really upset when I go for runs, so now I say she can come with me! It’s obviously not the same as a run on my own, but I treasure the time together. We listen to either Bluey, Silly Miss Lily or Daniel Tiger music. I love it so much!!! If I want a really solid run, I usually can do it on the treadmill after kids fall asleep too.

I can’t 100% remember what this meal was for dinner but I think some type of beef with avocado crema and zucchini.

Contact naps going strong ❤️ They’re usually in the carrier, but regardless, I love them so much.

May 20th we started the day painting at our craft nail salon! We traced our hands and then drew on nails & used regular kids’ craft paint to paint the nails.

We then went outside and went on a dinosaur hunt. I just hid Quinn’s dinosaurs all over the yard. I’m still finding dinos to this day haha.

Puzzle time!

That afternoon we hung out at Gigi and Gordie’s (Grandpa’s). Quinn didn’t want to leave when it was time to get back to make dinner. She stayed for a while and played while I made dinner with a sleeping Tripp in my carrier. DJ picked her up on the way home. Times like this I just love how close we live to family 💕.

We were almost out of groceries so it was a hodge podge dinner of chicken thighs and a pumpkin pasta. It actually was delicious and chat GPT helped me put it together with the ingredients we had on hand!

May 21st started no bueno! I woke up to water coming through the ceiling- eeeep! It was due to our shower having grout that was starting to crack. Thankfully our handyman was available to come by, located the issue, drained the ceiling and then fixed up the leak. Phew!

I didn’t get a great picture, but that evening I made breakfast for dinner from my new best friend cookbook with a sweet potato hash, spinach quiche and chicken sausage (all recipes made in the crockpot!). Yummm!

May 22 just hanging out at home!

For Quinn’s birthday, our Aunt Terry and Uncle Pat gifted her an awesome magnetic liquid chalkboard! We still need to hang it but it works well on the floor for now!

Quinn didn’t care for these lights much the last time I tried them, but now she thinks they’re pretty cool! We put them on during bath time once too to create the feeling of a bath in space!

That evening , Quinn wanted to host a tea party. She filled up all the cups and put the lids on herself and put a little couscous that was for dinner in each cup. It was adorable and she was so proud of herself!

A smiling Moose!

A sleeping Moose.

May 23 I noticed Tripp intentionally reaching for things, mainly his Lovevery bell on his playgym.

May 24th we ventured out as a family to the zoo.

It was the perfect temp that day for Tripp in the carrier and Quinn in the stroller. We got a show of two grizzly bears wrestling in the water! So neat!!

Quinn really wanted to ride the fish when we got there but the little boy in front of her got on it first. We thought it was a good opportunity for her to cope through some disappointment even though it was heart breaking how sad she was 😢. We decided to give it one more try before leaving & she got her ride on the fish- she was elated !

Tripp did so well- he slept most of our time there but did see some critters. What a life to be a baby. You go down for a nap and then wake up to an ostrich in your face!

May 25th our good friends, Melissa and Michael, met Tripp for the first time! Michael made Tripp giggle for the first time too!!

It was so good to see them and catch up. Quinn and Moose adore them too.

May 26th we packed a picnic lunch and went to ledges. We kicked around a soccer ball and did a mini hike to the lookout.

May 26th I made a slow cooker blueberry millet that Quinn actually loved too! I’ve never cooked with millet before- I’d describe it as a grittier oatmeal.

Hanging out outside!

For dinner I made an enchilada chicken, Spanish rice, black beans and roasted carrots (Quinn’s current fave).

3 month man!

May 27th Quinn’s kiwi co arrived! The last couple boxes have even really neat. I don’t think we’ll renew these next year, but they are fun for now!

Tripp is becoming one happy little dude!! 3 months was a real turning point for us. It all just keeps getting better and better!!

How is your summer going?!

💕

Mackenzie

And now things are starting to get brighter!! You’ll see in this post how the joy starts creeping back in! It wasn’t a switch per se, but over the next couple weeks things felt lighter as Tripp became a happier baby. I wasn’t crying as often, we had more of a routine. The cloud shrunk and shrunk till now I’d argue it’s mostly gone. We still have our days, but there are more good than not! And I know the “bad” days won’t be every day. Tripp usually has a reason for fussing too- constipated or overtired usually. Knowing we can correct the discomfort makes a huge difference! I’d say things started moving in the right direction when he was 9 weeks. Weeks 5-8 were the hardest and when I was at my lowest.

May 3rd DJ took Quinn to the library, and it happened to be Bluey day! She got to say hi to Bluey and colored a Bluey picture and library card.

My mom grilled us up burgers for dinner, brussels sprouts and protein pasta salad! I miss her cooking!

Sweet sweet snuggles.

May 4th for dinner we had grilled chicken, salad and corn. That chicken was so good I think I ate another massive piece. Is this picture sideways? Oh well!

Our friend’s mom made Tripp a sports themed blanket for his nursery!! How sweet is that?!

First time taking a bottle on May 5th! He takes his bottles ok as a “snack”, but if he’s hungry that’s where we run into issues. Present day, we are on a mission to get him to like bottles more since it would free up me to be able to take Quinn places on weekends and such too or date nights.

That evening we had salmon with wild rice and broccoli- YUM. I feel like this picture is upside down too but I’m too lazy to fix it 😆

Quinn wasn’t going to be at daycare for her actual bday, but requested to take birthday bunnies to her class the day prior. They were a hit!

My mom went to the store with Quinn that night and got her a Leapfrog book as an additional bday present. She LOVES this!!! It’s a great gift for a three year old and we will definitely be traveling with it. I love that it’s screen free too.

The next day, Quinn’s actual birthday, my mom and I got up super early, went downstairs to the basement with Tripp (who was also awake) and blew up helium balloons for Quinn’s birthday. Her stuffed animal friends all held a balloon to greet her as the birthday girl came downstairs for the day!

Moose is ready!!!

She loved it 🥹

For breakfast I made her Kodiak pancakes with a little coconut whipped cream and sprinkles on top.

The whole morning brought all of us pure JOY.

I really wanted to take Quinn out on a mommy-and-me date, so we worked it out that we were able to go to Nervous Dog and the park for a little bit during one of Tripp’s naps. Quinn made me laugh because I said she could have whatever treat she wanted (think croissants, cookies, muffins, scones, etc.) and she opted for the almond biscotti. She loved it though!

As we were walking out Quinn heard Los Girasoles next door playing music and couldn’t resist the urge to dance! We also played at the park a bit after until it started raining. It was good timing because Tripp was ready for us to come back.

For Quinn’s bday dinner, my mom cooked up a variety of delicious food- grilled steaks (one of Quinn’s favorites), caprese (option of vegan and non vegan), roasted potatoes, green beans and asparagus!

She opened gifts from us and my mom/Pete in the evening!

The evening of May 7th Quinn and DJ built this awesome castle together! Magnatiles are the bestttt.

May 8th my mom and I took the kids to a pediatrician appt and then to the playground. My mom hung with Tripp while I ran around with Quinn for a bit!

When Mister got a little fussy I put him in the carrier. But gosh, it was such a win just being out and about and playing all together.

We went to HomeGoods and the library after. Tripp must have still tolerated the car at this point because now the minute we put it in drive it’s game over 🥲. Anyway, at HomeGoods I got this dried jackfruit that is actually so addictive. I’m such a sucker for the TJ Maxx/Homegoods checkout.

That evening DJ and I had our first date out! My friend Clair insisted she come over while my mom was there to tag team it. This felt like an early win too- a date night at 2 months old! We chose Los Girasoles because it would be quick.

The minute DJ and I were just the two of us, we were laughing, joking. We really enjoy each other’s company so much, it’s just hard to always feel like “us” when we’re man-to-man, discussing logistics, frantically asking for the other to help find a pacifier or spit rag. Once Tripp takes a bottle well we definitely want to prioritize date nights better!

We couldn’t stop laughing at ourselves—while DJ was going in for a big bite of salsa and a tortilla chip, it all ended up on the table instead of in his mouth. I made some kind of “freshman” comment, then reached for the salt to sprinkle on the chips… only for the entire shaker to dump out all at once. We joked that we must’ve forgotten how to eat out after not doing it for the past couple of months.

Also a very fun fact we didn’t realize until we were there- this was the place we had a date night the day I found out I was pregnant with Tripp! It felt very full circle 🙂

You cannot go wrong with Mexican!! I always get the fajitas. I do think the ones at El Meson are better, but I’m never going to complain about fajitas.

DJ ordered their incredible flan after dinner- I couldn’t have it because of the dairy but I lived vicariously through him.

When we’d got back they’d made this adorable Mother’s Day craft for me 😭. I will treasure this forever.

Clair also brought me one of her beautiful homemade candles!

During the day on May 9th we got the house together and decorated for Quinn’s birthday party the next day.

That evening we went to The Farm for dinner! Amy was in town!! I was so excited for her to meet Tripp 🩵 . It was really special seeing just how much our family has grown in recent years- so many little ones were happily running around!

A gorgeous bouquet of flowers arrived that day from my in laws for Mother’s Day 💗.

DJ knows the way to my heart and got me some phenomenal dark chocolate from Raaka for Mother’s Day. I told him at the beginning of the year no gifts the rest of the year- all I want are candid videos and pictures of me with the kids over the year kept in a folder and shared with me on holidays. But I’ll never say no to chocolate, that’d just be wrong!

He also couldn’t resist getting me some gorgeous flowers 💗

May 10th was Quinn’s birthday party!

Mother’s Day, May 11th, we headed to Gigi and Gordie’s country club for a Mother’s Day brunch.

This is around the time that Tripp was NOT having it in the car. He was inconsolably wailing on the way so I started crying. Because I was crying, my mom started crying. It was kind of apropos that this scene was happening on Mother’s Day. The crying turned to laughing when we realized the irony! It was also special to have my mom here on Mother’s Day – we hadn’t spent one together since 2021 I believe!

We made it though and it was soo nice!! I absolutely love their Mother’s Day buffet- it has pretty much everything you could want. Tripp slept through most of our time there which was nice – I said it was one of the best gifts he could give me on Mother’s Day, enjoying a meal sitting down 😆- I even went back for seconds!

And this feels like a good stopping point 🙂

Have a lovely day!

💗,

Mackenzie

Tripp is sleeping in my carrier, I’ve got Catfish on in the background (anyone else love that relic of a show?) and Quinn is at the park with DJ. Perfect time to jump on here and try to whip out a post!

I want to start by saying, I’ve decided to share everything that was going on for me personally “behind the scenes” in this post – I’m a pretty open book anyway, but I want to be extra conscious about transparency now in case another postpartum mom is reading this blog. If I just shared happy pictures and moments it would be somewhat misleading, a half truth, of what I was experiencing. The good news is things have gotten much better and I’m in a great place now, which I hope brings encouragement too!

The afternoon of April 12th Halston arrived! Everyone was thrilled Aunt Hally was here.

We had a relaxing evening- Quinn painted her nails for the first time that Saturday evening! She wanted to wear black. I found it funny that our toddler would be showing up to church with black nail polish. I didn’t get a picture till it was mostly chipped off, but still had to capture what was left for memory sake.

We headed over to church the next morning for first service.

After church, we unboxed our new patio furniture. Yes, yes two years later I finally pulled the trigger on a set! Buttttt the wrong color was delivered…… however, we actually warmed up to the color. We ended up keeping it with a discount from customer service which was nice! The small issue of the furniture (which ended up being totally fine!) did not make sense why I felt off, blurry around the edges, a sense of doom. I remember this day as a distinct turning point in not a great direction. I couldn’t shake this feeling of a cloud over me and seeing everything in a sepia tone. I have dealt with depression a couple times in the past, and I was hoping this was a one day thing- but the seeing everything as a muted monotone is always a tip-off for me. Tripp was super fussy around this time- actually the week Halston was here was his peak fussiness so I was really grateful for her being with us. Halston offered to take Quinn for the day to my brother’s to give DJ and I some time to just focus on Tripp.

Quinn had a great time with her cousins.

April 14th the cloud was still there. Tripp was still super colicky. But I tried to push on, determined to make the morning a good one. We started with stickers and and a math matching game.

Halston was working all week from DJ’s home office, but it was wonderful just having her around and her popping out whenever she had a minute.

She went on a walk with us and ended up being the muscles on the way home while I chased Quinn hah!

That afternoon we made binoculars with leftover toilet paper rolls.

Halston and DJ really tag teamed it that week to help me find time to exercise in the evenings. Even 20 or 30 mins of running made a huge difference in how I was feeling. I felt so helpless with Tripp being colicky, I just wanted him happy, and my methods I’d used to soothe Quinn didn’t work well for him. Quinn was having more meltdowns than usual too, I think because the crying was getting to her too. The short runs gave me an outlet to combat all the chaos I was feeling internally and experiencing externally.

We were working hard that week to get smiles out of Tripp. Now at 3 months, he gives them out like candy, it’s the best!

I love these little contrast gloves from Lovevery and these jingling socks.

Moose is major guard dog with Tripp.

Halston cooked for us all week. Not having to think about dinner helped tremendously. Everything she cooked was so delicious. The first meal was a sundried chicken with baked potatoes and asparagus.

April 17th I did the cookie jar activity from Inspired Minds with Quinn to start the day.

We also did an alphabet match. I hid letters around the living room and she matched them to the chart.

I made some aquaphaba in the afternoon that she “bathed” her toys with.

It might seem like these are all good, engaging activities.. But I felt a sense of guilt just trying to find things to occupy Quinn rather than really playing with her. It was tough during those weeks because so much of my energy was going toward trying to console Tripp. I felt like I was trying to occupy Quinn with anything other than a screen as much as possible but never was having quality time. All this just made that feeling of sadness grow deeper compounded with guilt. It started feeling like I was slipping more and more into the cloud.

I decided to try to shake things up, be courageous and take both kids to the park/baseball fields.

This actually did us all a lot of good!

Were we all in tears for one reason or another by the time we got home? Yes, but it was worth it and we all enjoyed our time while there! My favorite part was collecting acorns “for the squirrels” with Quinn.

That evening Halston made one of my favorites that she also made us after Quinn was born- Jumbalaya! Quinn discovered she did in fact like rice after this meal. We could never get her to eat it prior to this and now it’s a favorite!

Halston also went out for a short run with me that evening.

Some peaceful moments 💙

Here’s Moose breaking in the furniture. Next we just need a table! The color worked out, didn’t it?!

Halston left the evening of April 18th. Not too long after she left DJ was heading to the ER because he hit his head concerningly hard when playing with Quinn at the park. He didn’t see monkey bars over his head, hoisted himself up to get onto the playground and drilled his head into a rung (the outline of the rung was on his head). Thankfully he was totally ok, but it was pretty alarming!

April 19th DJ took Quinn to skyzone and then hiking on a trail. I have to just brag on DJ for a minute. He has stepped in sooo much during this season in the areas I haven’t been able to keep up. He stays up late getting dishes done and picking up the house, plays with Quinn all the time (the way she laughs with him is the best!), will help me find time to play one on one with Quinn, and helps me get a workout in when possible. He never complains, not for a second. He also constantly encourages me. I’m very very grateful for the husband and dad he is.

April 20th was Easter! This year looked very different from last. I held Tripp tightly during the message. My heart praised God for His never-ending redemption, grace and love.

Quinn found both her and Tripp’s Easter baskets that morning!

After church, we zoomed over to family’s for the afternoon. First stop was Renee and Chris’s. Renee never ceases to amaze me with her baking- she went all out with sourdough, sourdough cinnamon rolls, and a lemon curd cake (the BEST cake I have ever had!!!).

Gigi also made vegan chocolate donuts which were SO. GOOD. I’ve attempted to make donuts like this at home and fail miserably, so I need her recipe!

I brought along an attempted dairy/soy free quiche that didn’t photograph super pretty but it was generally well received! Cooking with vegan cheese just isn’t quite the same, but I’m glad we have options at least!

Sweet boy was a bit fussy when he was awake so this is what we got for our family photo!

Next we went to my father in law’s home. Quinn was on the hunt for the eggs! I was grateful they did an egg hunt because I dropped the ball on any type of egg hunt this year.

Sweet photo with Mimi 💗

April 21st we spent the day playing with some of the new goodies from Easter baskets and we went to the library during one of Tripp’s naps.

We are trying to spend as much time as possible outside since the weather is warming.

April 23rd we went to a pediatric dentist to have Tripp evaluated for a lip tie. Feeding was becoming stressful for him. With Quinn, even though she was a somewhat fussy baby I could always comfort her with nursing. That has not been the case with Tripp. Feeding was stressful, and I noticed a click when he fed. He swallowed so much air too to the point where it seemed painful.

The pediatric dentist said he didn’t want to correct the lip tie until we were seen by a lactation consultant. I felt so defeated and exhausted. I was able to get a consult for that Friday with an at-home lactation consultant.

April 24th was a much needed, good day. Gigi stopped by and went with us on a picnic to Ledges. It was wonderful! We took Piada along and enjoyed the unusually gorgeous day.

When we got home, Quinn played in the sandbox for a while as I napped Tripp in my carrier.

April 25th the lactation consultant stopped by. She wouldn’t approve the lip tie unless we saw an infant chiropractor which we weren’t sure about. I’m open to alternative medicine, but we decided we would ask Tripp’s NP her thoughts at the 2 month appt.

April 26th we started the day with making a jellyfish from kiwi co. This was my favorite craft yet!

Tripp turned 2 months!

April 27th was a gorgeous day. After church, DJ took Quinn to the covered bridge to skip stones. I so missed doing these things as a family- but Tripp was in his fussy era and it was just easier for me to stay home focused on him. Quinn loves her daddy-daughter time too. I knew this was just a season, and even typing this we’ve already started doing some outings as a family!

The blooms around the house fully came in!

I cooked up some bison, broccoli and Goodles for dinner. These Goodles were a real treat!

April 28th we started the day with a bike ride, watched unicorns hatch, and we put bumblebees in a beehive. The unicorns were a big hit from the Easter basket.

Our good day turned into not so good by the end of the day. When DJ walked through the door I think we pretty much all were crying. I remember this week being the lowest point for me (which also could line up with some postpartum hormone swings too). I was doing things I usually love and just felt down and empty. Things were not good. And I felt so guilty for feeling that way. I had my greatest answers to prayer with my Quinn and Tripp, and I felt so irrationally sad. It took a lot to put one foot in front of the other and broke my heart that I wasn’t Quinn’s normal mom that she knows. I was more impatient than usual, crying often, and emotionally depleted. My mom could tell I was not doing well (the constant crying voice memos probably tipped her off), and she offered to come back the following week as soon as she was able. Of course I took her up on it without question.

The next day, April 29th, was Tripp’s 2 month appointment. The minute Kelley, Tripp’s NP, walked in the door I burst into tears. It was no surprise I was screening fairly high on the scale for postpartum depression. We talked about everything going on- the colic, the feeding difficulties, the lip tie, the infant chiropractic recommendation. She recommended I see a different LC through their office and we talked through some other ideas like seeing GI and trying a hypoallergenic formula. She’s absolutely incredible as an NP and was so encouraging and empathetic, whatever route we chose. I decided to start with the lactation consult and see where things went from there. She wasn’t super eager for us to try the infant chiropractor so we decided to put that idea aside. I also opted not to pursue medication for me yet, because I really felt if we could get Tripp ok, I’d be ok….that did end up being the case, but I wouldn’t have been opposed if things didn’t resolve. I just want to note that because I know many women find medication helpful postpartum along with therapy. I probably should have restarted with the therapist I used during pregnancy, but to be totally transparent it just felt overwhelming to even establish care again and find time in the day. But if things ever get to a rough place again that will be a priority.

That evening we had a comfort dinner of white bean turkey chili.

The next day, April 30th, I went to the lactation consult. It was actually very helpful! So the deal is I have an overactive letdown and oversupply (two things I did not have with Quinn). These issues were causing Tripp to be hesitant and pull away while nursing, causing a gap where there was air that got in and a clicking sound from an existing lip tie. The air turns into gas which was definitely uncomfortable for him. Also there likely was an imbalance of foremilk and hindmilk also perpetuating the fussiness. She gave me lots of ideas and tips to improve these issues, and they worked pretty much instantaneously! It’s still not perfect, but he swallows so much less air and was immediately less fussy. Things actually started to improve so much that we never ended up going to GI or needing a lip tie revision. I also think the cows milk/soy was almost totally out of my milk by that point too.

That evening we had Caribbean chicken thighs for dinner. The crockpot has become my best friend as of late. I loved this recipe- although I’d probably just cook the sweet potatoes in the oven next time to keep them from getting mushy.

Mornings are when this little dude is happiest, and his big gummy smiles just light my heart right up!!!!

He is the sweetest boy, just loves cuddles and holding hands, being talked to, sung to and interacted with. He loves people. Despite the rough start that was zero fault of his own or a reflection of his personality, he really is the sweetest little guy.

On days where I don’t do crockpot, I’ve been keeping it super simple with a protein, a veggie and a starch of some kind.

The evening of May 2nd my mom arrived! It felt like everything was going to be ok, and it was and is! 💗

Brighter days ahead and so much I’m still excited to share from the month of May!

Mackenzie

Hi all! Hope you all are enjoying this rainy, but also beautiful, spring! Jumping back to March 28th– that evening we ordered Thai for my mom’s birthday per her request! Looking at this picture makes me want to order it again. We ordered from Papaya Salad, our favorite Thai place in town! It did not disappoint.

The next day, March 29th, we ventured out for a walk as a family. Quinn brought along her detective bag from KiwiCo. and rode her red bike.

We were fully in operation get-Tripp-to-take-a-pacifier . Still to this day he is touch and go with it (and we have tried many), which is so different than Quinn. She loved her pacifier.

That evening my mom made us ribs, Cole slaw, Lima beans and corn muffins (all dairy free since I’d eliminated dairy at this point!). It was fantastic. It reminds me of the first time she stayed with us postpartum because she made ribs then too 😊.

The next day, March 30th, after church, we went for a walk to the park.

Quinn found some mud. I maybe didn’t choose the best pants, but at least I had her in boots haha! It was a joy watching her splash around in the mud puddles.

That evening, we had chicken noodle soup gifted from a Spoonful of Comfort (this is a wonderful care package site FYI), with immaculate Organic biscuits (yummm) and a salad.

March 31st the kiddos woke up early. I did random crafts with Quinn and then we were out the door with Tripp sleeping in my carrier wrap by 730 AM to look for worms!

That afternoon we took Tripp and Quinn to see our Grandma Violet for the first time. This was her first time meeting Tripp and she was over the moon!

That afternoon we had fun completing puzzles in the playroom.

That evening, we made our go-to hidden veggie pasta with salad and garlic bread. My mom made the garlic bread – and it was delicious. She just bakes the bread with butter, garlic powder & salt- it’s sooo good!

The morning of April 1st we got ready before heading out to the dentist’s for an appt for Quinn.

Quinn is so sweet with him I can’t even stand it 🥹

I could not believe how well Quinn did at the dentist! She didn’t cry at all and was super cooperative through the whole cleaning. She said “the dentist isn’t scary!”. I think knowing her Uncle Kevin is a dentist and playing with her dentist kits at home helped a lot. She was thrilled to choose her treasure at the end, and it was well deserved!

She got to put her name in a bucket for a prize drawing too since she was part of the “no cavity club”.

Hi, Moose!

We thought we saw Tripp smiling intentionally a couple times that day which was so exciting!!

That evening my mom made lemon chicken piccata (one of my favorites) with mixed veggies and leftover corn muffins. Yummm!

My mom and Quinn happened to have very similarly matching pajamas- red with white hearts/polka dots on my mom’s. Quinn loved that her and Grammy’s pjs matched. She refused to wear any other pjs for about a week after my mom left- it made for a constant stream of laundry! Haha. (as if there isn’t already one ;)).

April 2nd the kids ventured out to see the horsies!

April 3rd Quinn accompanied my mom to get a pedicure. She didn’t want to get her nails done just yet- she said she would when she’s bigger 🤣. Instead she sat on Grammy’s lap and happily colored.

Clair met Tripp for the first time that day!!!

April 4th I soaked up all the sweet snuggles 🥰 My mom and I tag teamed getting the house in order before she left that evening.

That evening we ordered from On Tap, a restaurant in town that I think is under rated! I love their salads & the shrimp tacos.

Grabbing one last photo with Grammy before she heads out.

After my mom left, Tripp was a bit fussy so we thought a little fresh air and an ice cream outing might be good for everyone! He did calm down in the car a bit. Quinn was a fan of our plan! And I also needed the distraction from my mom leaving.

April 5th we had a super hero toddler in pajamas with boots chillin’ on our porch 😆

That afternoon we took Tripp to meet Mimi for the first time 🥰. He fell right asleep on her shoulder.

Mimi always gets out the cutest little things for Quinn to play with. She enjoyed the Lincoln logs so much so that I got her some for her birthday!

That evening my cousin and his wife stopped by with their girls. They brought over delicious chicken fajitas, dairy-free tortillas and homemade vegan blondes. It was so thoughtful & soo good to see them!

Just a funny little tidbit I don’t want to forget- Quinn is still talking about Halloween…in May. These are some books she got from the library.

She still says “Mummy monster go away because Halloween is over”. She loved the mummy monster one of our neighbors had. We will definitely be starting back up the Halloween content in August 🤣.

April 7th I started Quinn’s day with eggs, chicken Gouda sausage and Kodiak cake pancakes.

We then did a little Easter egg hunt around the house.

I was really starting to get some sweet smiles from Tripp by April 8th!

April 9th we started the day with painting/arts and crafts.

I then took both Tripp and Quinn to the library on my own! It wasn’t easy, but it went smoothly!

I treated myself to an afternoon half caff Nespresso when I got home with honey drizzled on top. This became an afternoon tradition with my mom when she was here, so now I miss her whenever I have one!

I saw a fun craft idea on inspired minds of mixing milk with oil and food coloring. My issue with food coloring is it stains everything. Does anyone know a better alternative?

That evening I had salad with a veggie burger and vegan cheese. Sometimes this simple meal just hits the spot!

The evening of April 10th I made cod, brown rice and peas. An easy meal of a protein, starch and veggie is usually a hit with Quinn, it’s nutritious, easy to avoid the soy and dairy and is usually tasty!

The morning of April 11th Quinn got her friends all dolled up for the day.

We then went to a children’s event at church.

I feel so proud of these small wins of getting both kids out of the house! My hats off to moms who do it with three or more- how?!

Marie, our dog sitter, gifted Quinn lots of fun fruit stickers. That afternoon, we made a fruit basket with them while munching on some apples.

Quinn organized all her “cut out” books and put a block on each. I love how her mind works.

That evening we made pizzas together.

April 12th Quinn went to the aquarium with DJ!

Ok this is plenty long but at least we made it to mid April!!

How is your spring going so far?

💗,

Mackenzie