Weekend Review and other Randoms

This past weekend, we had a lot of time at home. That doesn't happen often, so it was nice.

This little mooshka is SIX MONTHS Old tomorrow. I have soooooo much to write for her this month. She has changed so much- for the better and the worse :)  I hope to get that post done this week. I feel like I haven't had much time to blog lately. Tonight, I did a gym class AFTER work and didn't get home until 7. I did Tabata for the first time. I think I may be sore tomorrow. Has anyone else done tabata? Maybe it will get popular :) When I first started blogging, I did zumba and then it seemed like zumba was all over blog world. It fizzed out for me...and not sure if it did for everyone else. By the time we got home,  I had to nurse Anika, feed her solids, make our dinner (Andrew has been getting home to help), bottles, clean pump parts, read with Anika, etc, etc.  My night just flew by...and all our nights have been lately. Never mind all the new tv shows that I don't have time to watch!  

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This is my Ninja.  The Ninja came with 3 different size blender type containers and blades. The motor is the part on top (left) and it just goes on the top of the container of choice.  I haven't used the very big container yet, but I use the big one in the picture (The medium one in the set) for my smoothies every morning. Every morning I make a smoothie for breakfast with fresh fruit, ice, yogurt, frozen fruit and flax.

I use the small blender for Anika's baby food. It seriously mushes up the food in seconds.  I have used it to chop onions before too and it does it SOOO quick. Each container comes with its own blade. I have a mini food processor too, but I think I like this more. Anyway, I thought I would share this because my friend emailed me the other day asking what baby food maker I had. I don't have one, and they are EXPENSIVE. I got my Ninja kit with 3 different sizes for less than $50.

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I made some soup this weekend. I basically just made it based on other recipes I have followed before.
It was butternut squash apple soup.
I bought organic butternut squash, but then I had a bag of frozen butternut squash in the freezer so I used that for my soup and gave Anika the organic fresh stuff.

 I tossed carrots, onions, garlic and mushrooms in my food processor (mini ninja). I would have added celery if I had some. I added that to the pot with EVOO. After 10 minutes, I added one bag of frozen butternut squash,

3 peeled and cut apples, 3/4 container of chicken broth, fresh basil from garden, cinnamon, salt and pepper.
That all boiled and then simmered and I added a cup of almond milk. cooked a few more minutes, and then mushed it all up with a hand mixer I won from a blog giveaway 2 years ago from Amy! I used the mixer right in the pot I cooked it all in.

I added a few fat free croutons for crunch and some parm cheese for...well, I love cheese!

 

This is the hand mixer above.

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Sunday night, Andrew made a great feed. I have to say (because I am often quick to complain about my husband, he also deserves praise when deserved). Andrew did a lot of things this weekend without me even prompting him...but things that made me happy. I hate sand in the garage, so he swept it all without me saying a word. He cleaned my car for me...and did all his normal chores outside, then came in and did a lot of inside chores to help me out. On Sunday morning Anika was wide awake at 5:30 so he took her out for a walk in her stroller so I could sleep in peace. He loves showing her nature, and she is such an outdoor girl, but then again, I have heard all babies love being outside. And, as I said, he made a big Sunday feast and even cleaned up all of it. He actually CAN clean the kitchen better than me. I always have a hard time with our stove and sink...and he gets them perfect. So, I was a happy wifey.

Kind of out of order, but we went out to dinner Friday night. (if you havent noticed, we go out to eat a lot, and I usually get healthy options even when out to eat). We went to a restaurant I had not been to since my Papa's 80th birthday party which was March 10th...3 days after my due date and 11 days before Anika was born. I should link the post....eh- bad blogger, Ashley.  I had bad bad gas and everyone thought I was in labor, if you read my blog back then. It is a restaurant we used to go to often and my parents go ALL the time, so we know a lot of the people.  Anika got to meet all of them...and the owner. She was a pretty good girl MOST of the time. I did sit in the corner table so I was able to feed her with the cover when needed. I actually was feeding her in the locker room today at the gym before my class and I had her under the udder cover. Then a lady turned on the blow dryer (but asked me first if it would scare the baby- haha- she could only see her feet, but I guess it was obvious what I was doing). I actually started to feel uncomfortable but had to remind myself I was IN A Woman's locker room and I was covered, so I was fine. I told the lady it was fine and it wouldn't scare her. BUT, as soon as the dryer went on, I saw A's little hand LIFT the cover and peak her head out and  she needed to see what this new noise was. She stared and I realized feeding session was over. ha. I also have been feeding Anika a new way at home. She sits on my lap facing me with her legs straddled around me and just goes for it face on. She came up with this method all on her own. My mom saw it yesterday and thought it was hilarious.

Anika wearing one of her NZ shirts for the first time that she got from Nana and Poppa.

backing into things still

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I got my new Macys card in the mail the other day- and it was red. My old one was a silver color- platinum actually. I haven't used my card in a while and it is paid off....SO, they DOWNGRADED ME to the regular one!! How rude.

Also, when I was at the gym last week, I was on a spin bike next to a girl who I have become friendly with in the past year at the gym. When I was pregnant (and I remember we were in boot camp) and I was not showing yet, one of my other friends was talking about me being pregnant (as we were running up and down stairs). He asked this girl if she had kids and she made a comment that made me think SHE DID NOT want kids. She made some other comments since then that made me think she didn't want kids. She is married and she does not work (her husband does well enough). I thought she just liked her free time and kids weren't for them.  I also thought she was my age.
WELL, last week in spin someone asked me about Anika from across the room before we started. And, I will note this girl always fusses over Anika when she sees her and seems to like babies. So, she said to me "My ovaries hurt" as I was adjusting my bike. I was like- huh? And she said how she has had several surgeries and she loves kids but cant have them. She went on to tell me her and her husband tried IVF, etc and its just not going to happen for them. She is also 6 years older than me, not my age like I thought.
Well, the whole class, i was sad. So sad for her. I wanted to fix it. I wanted her to have babies if she wanted them. Here she is in a loving marriage and they have financial responsibility and the means....but wtf? So not fair this couple cant have kids.  I turned to  her about 20 times and wanted to say I would be her surrogate. No joke.  I day dreamed about being a surrogate for the entire spin class. I just read a book about it too (Fiction), but still. Money wasn't even my main reason for doing it. That thought came later. I just wanted to help her and I loved being pregnant. And, birth was a very empowering experience for me. The after part was painful and sucked. Ok, and the contractions weren't awesome either. BUT, overall I want to do it again.  I guess I would ideally want to have OUR 2nd kid first...and then do it. SO, what do you think- should I volunteer to this gym friend? haha. She might think I'm a creep :))

I took Anika to the doctor yesterday and  I will write all her stats and the interesting visit with her 6 month post. I kind of left the apt. dissapointed in the dr I thought I liked.