January 2018 – the impressionable vegan

Trader Joe’s Vegan Finds: Penne Arrabbiata

I’ll always love a snow day. I know we make it up in June, but I’ll take it now, especially if it means I get to stay home with my boy.

This morning I woke up to a two hour delay for my district. I had a suspicion that they might end of canceling since the snow was coming down harder than was anticipated. I was hanging out with Soy Bean on the couch when a certain odor signaled to me that he needed a diaper change. When I came downstairs I saw a voicemail on my phone. Woohoo!

So I’m hanging with SB today, unfortunately my husband’s school opened at the regular time. The babe and I have no big plans today besides doing some laundry and of course snacking.

Speaking of food, on Sunday I was able to swing by my favorite Trader Joe’s. I was able to load up on some of my favorite items and maybe some cheap wine…

I’ve been trying to write a top five Trader Joe’s list for awhile now but it’s just too hard to narrow down a list. I figured I could feature some of my favorite goodies instead.

One of my favorite and super easy dinners from Trader Joe’s is their penne arrabbiata. This meal comes frozen and literally all you need to do is throw it in a pan! This is one of my hubby’s favorite meals, and we ate a lot of this when I was pregnant. I usually add some sort of veggie meal like vegan chicken, ground beef, or sausage. I tend to add any veggies I have laying around as well. The sauce has a little kick to it, but it’s not too spicy.

It’s delicious and super easy. What more could you ask for? Oh and it’s vegan. 🙂

January 30, 2018January 30, 2018

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Soy Bean Updates: January

I cannot believe how big my little boy is getting!

He’s everything I’ve hoped for in a baby. He’s sweet, he’s chill, he likes every food I’ve fed him. He’s basically the perfect baby. My parents even say he’s much more enjoyable than when I was a baby…

Our boy is now 7 months old. He’s rolling back to stomach and stomach to back and doesn’t seem too motivated to crawl yet. He’s pretty round so I guess it must be easier to roll…

I’m in the process of switching out his 6 month clothes for 9 month clothes (mom cry). I don’t think I’ve ever seen a baby boy with so many outfit options, I’m a bit jealous.

I have to say I’m really enjoying this stage with the baby. I’m not as afraid of breaking him anymore and I’m much more confident in my parenting abilities. I also know him so much better. I know what he likes and doesn’t like. I know what comforts him. I know what to expect roughly every day. I enjoy playing with him and listening to him laugh. It’s the best.

Nights have been a little bit of an adventure…The hubby and I made a goal of creating new and positive routines to improve our lives for 2018. I have to say, we’ve been doing a pretty good job so far and it’s been easy to implement. We have a routine of feeding SB dinner, giving him a bath, lathering him up with lotion, then reading a book with a bottle, then finally and hopefully bed. Daddy does the final put down, because honestly, the baby goes to bed better with him. I sneak down stairs and clean up from that bath and then ideally Mom and Dad get a little alone time.

Some nights this works perfectly, and others well not so much. Our son has quite a set of lungs and he does not quit. He’s been getting better about going down, but now he’s been waking up soaking wet. I’ve tried over night diapers and diaper pads, but nothing really seems to work. Poor kid. I think my next step is to buy the next size up diaper and see how that works.

Overall, everything has been good. Soy Bean is quite the eater these days and we are no longer worried about his slow weight gain. He’s loved every food he’s tried, even green beans. I hope he never becomes a picky eater!

We’re looking forward to more babbling, crawling, and trying peanut butter soon!

How’s Mom doing?

I am doing ok. I have days I really really miss my baby. I never thought I would like to be a stay at home mom, but there are some days I really wish that I could be home with him. I know the grass is always greener on the other side, but I do miss my boy.

We joined a gym (along with 80% of the rest of America) this month, so that’s been a new addition to our routines. My husband goes in the mornings and makes it back in time to have coffee with me before work. I’ve been trying to go right after work before I pick up the baby. It’s been awhile since I’ve done anything athletic, it’s certainly an adjustment.

I have to say I’m pretty disappointed in my weight loss progress, not that I’ve been trying too hard, but I thought it would be easier. I miss feeling like I used to and I miss my old clothes. I literally have three pairs of pants I wear to work. I bought some tights to wear with a stretchy skirt I bought, but haven’t been brave enough to wear it. I’m hoping with a new exercise routine and warmer weather around the corner I’ll feel better soon.

January 25, 2018January 25, 2018

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Attempts at Crafting…

Even when I had more free time I was never a crafty person. I have friends who create amazing scrapbooks, decorate cakes and cookies, refinish furniture , and so on. When they follow something Pinterest, it comes out like it’s supposed to. I am always in such admiration of these skills. I missed out on that gene I think.

I did at one point have a collection of crooked crocheted scarves. Does that add to my credibility as a crafty person?

Well I found a craft that I could handle. It requires minimal skill to pull off and makes a nice gift.

Paperwhite in a mason jar

What is a paperwhite? I had never actually heard of them before I was presented with one of these as a gift from my mother. A paperwhite is a winter-blooming flower. It’s upkeep is simple, keep the bulb in a container and add water. In about 3-4 weeks it will blossom and produce a fragrant flower.

You will need:

A paperwhite bulb (I found mine at a local nursery)
A mason jar
cranberries
string, twine, ribbon anything you want to tie around to decorate the mason jar
water

The picture pretty much explains the whole “process”. All I did was removed the center part of the mason jar lid (put the rim back on), filled the mason jar with cranberries, tied my string around the lid of the jar and topped it off with the bulb. That’s it!

I gave these as gifts to friends at works so I did not fill the jars up with water to make transportation easier. I added tags with directions to just add water. My friends were fascinated by them. I think that’s a good thing…

If you don’t want to add cranberries you could try marbles, pebbles, sea glass and so on. I think I would be fun to play around with different variations. Honestly, the hardest part about making these was tracking down the paperwhite bulbs, apparently that are very popular in the winter and many places I called were out of them. Also, why are mason jars so expensive? They had these really cute smaller jars but they were way more expensive than the larger ones! So many questions…

January 20, 2018January 20, 2018

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