Monday is here and another weekend passed by a little too fast. Our weekend was full of family fun from start to finish! We did a whole lot of nothing on Friday night in preparation for what we figured would be a pretty horrific night ahead sleep-wise.
At the urging of our pediatrician, Ryan and I felt compelled to try to help Chase get closer to sleeping through the night. Up until this point, we hadn’t really done anything in terms of sleep training and I was still regularly getting up to nurse Chase two (okay, often three) times a night. Our pediatrician told me that even though Chase is small, he’s at a healthy weight for a six-month-old, and was likely nursing during the night out of habit. And so our adventures in sleep training began on Friday… And it went so much better than expected!
I could easily write a whole post about our first sleep training experience, but I’m not sure if it would interest many of you guys out there. I didn’t want baby sleep to take over this weekend recap even though it definitely was the biggest part of our weekend, so just let let me know if you’d like to see a post with more details about our first baby sleep training adventure in the future and I’ll happily share.
Though baby sleep stuff was on the forefront of our minds on Friday night, Ryan and I managed to have a laidback night together after Chase went to sleep. We watched New Girl on NetFlix while sipping on homemade hot cocoa and eating a bunch of the fruit (and all the chocolate-covered strawberries) off the delicious fruit bouquet Ryan sent to the house for me as an early Valentine’s Day present.
Saturday
Saturday morning began with a little meal planning. I had a teeny tiny helper to aid in my meal planning for the week and even though we ordered another Blue Apron to be delivered at the end of this week, I still wanted to plan out our meals through Thursday.
(Side note: I am SO glad Clean Eating Magazine is back! I missed it so much when it went out of publication a few years ago and am psyched to see it available again. I jumped at the chance to re-subscribe and love the simplicity of the healthy recipes featured in the magazine.)
Here’s a peek at our meal plan this week:
- Monday: Mexican-Style Stuffed Peppers
- Tuesday: Whole Roasted Chicken with Carrots, Onions, Celery and Sweet Potatoes
- Wednesday: Black Bean and Edamame Stir Fry Slaw with Sriracha Peanut Vinaigrette (<— planning to omit the chicken and use black beans instead)
- Thursday: Slow Cooker Santa Fe Chicken
- Friday: Blue Apron Delivery
Once we were done meal planning, I read some books with Chase before he was ready for a nap and Ryan was done with his workout. Then it was off to boot camp where I completed a full-body workout that began with an awesome warm up that had us completing 25, then 20, 15, 10 and 5 reps of the following exercises:
I loved this one! I made sure to snap a picture to save in my phone to use it for one of my at-home workouts in the future.
Once my workout was done, it was time to head home, nurse Chase and shower before our day date! After a little baby-related hiatus, Ryan and I decided it was time to bring back our monthly date night tradition at the start of the year and since February was my month, I planned a fun family adventure for Saturday afternoon.
The three of us piled into my car and drove Uptown to Discovery Place to visit Body Worlds, an exhibition featuring more than 100 plastinates – real human specimens preserved through Dr. von Hagens’ Plastination process – that reveal the human body in all its stages and varying health conditions. To say this exhibition is interesting is a severe understatement, especially if you have any interest in the human body. It was educational, thought-provoking and eye-opening and Ryan and I both said it was well worth a visit.
Admission to the Body Worlds exhibition included tickets to Discovery Place which ended up being a lot of fun for Chase!
Though he’s definitely still too young to really experience Discovery Place and the interactive exhibits, we walked through the museum with him in our arms and got a kick out of the wide-eyed look on his face and his desire to reach out and touch some of the things on display.
Ryan and I both said we can’t wait to bring him back when he’s old enough to run around and really experience everything Discovery Place has to offer… like astronaut ice cream!
Sweater: French Connection via RueLaLa // Jacket: Cole Haan via RueLaLa // Tunic: White Plum // Leggings: Lululemon // Over-the-Knee Boots: Breckelle’s (I have the gray pair but they have lots of colors) // Beanie: Tart Collections via Stitch Fix
After our time at the museum, we walked a few blocks to 7th Street Public Market, an indoor market featuring delicious food and drinks from local and regional farmers and artisans.
We popped in for hot beverages from Not Just Coffee and I ordered a vanilla sugar almond milk latte that was creamy and perfectly sweet. I loved every sip and Ryan raved about his ginger chai latte as well.
Oh and for those who asked me to report back on the Ju Ju Be diaper bag backpack I bought last weekend, all I can say is that I LOVE IT. This thing is the BEST. It has SO many pockets (and a shoulder strap if a backpack isn’t your thing) and I am kicking myself for waiting to buy it until after my trip to Denver. There are so many compartments and it’s also very comfortable to wear.
Anyway… Back to our date!!
With hot beverages in hand, we headed out and made the chilly walk back to our car since Chase was telling us it was time to wrap up our little adventure. We spent the rest of our Saturday around the house, leaving only to pick up The Scorch Trials on RedBox (and ice cream and popcorn from Publix to enjoy with our movie). Though Ryan and I are both big-time fans of The Maze Runner series (<— highly recommended if you liked Divergent!), we didn’t care for the movie interpretation of the second book at all and ended up turning it off halfway through.
Saturday night marked Night Two of our baby sleep training adventure and it also went better than expected. Progress, my friends!!!
Sunday
Our Sunday began around 7 a.m. when Chase started stirring in his crib and I headed in to feed our little guy. He greeted me with big gummy smiles and I wished him a very Happy Valentine’s Day!
After breakfast, Ryan headed off to the gym right as Chase was going down for his morning nap. The timing ended up working out perfectly for my Valentine’s Day plan and I quickly got to work decorating Ryan’s bathroom mirror with a post-it note heart featuring little notes that highlighted some of the things I love most about him.
Yep, we’re super cheesy around here and I love it. Embrace the cheesiness!
I also ended up cleaning our bathroom which, if I were Ryan, would probably excite me even more than the post-it note heart.
Aaand I’ve officially reached the stage in my life where I’d prefer to have someone clean my house over giving me little gifts. I’m the coolest.
When Ryan arrived home from the gym and Chase was up from his nap, it was time for our annual Valentine’s Day mission!
Every year we head out of the house at the same time and divide up for two(ish) hours. We have a $20 budget and must pick up some special treats for the other person within the $20 budget. It’s so much fun and we both really look forward to it every year!
In the end we both went a little over budget this year, but we ended up with some great little gifts for each other.
I picked up the following goodies for Ryan:
- A book all about the National Parks of the West (A handful of National Parks are on our travel bucket list!)
- Pentatonix CD (We share an intense love for this group!)
- Ryan’s favorite picture of Chase framed for him to take to work
- Balance Bars + Gu Energy Gel for pre- and post-workout fuel
And Ryan ended up giving me the following treats:
- Oversized sweatpants (I’ve been wanting a pair of oversized sweats for a while now since I fear my favorite pair of Reebok sweats are on their last leg…)
- EOS Honeydew lip balm (My fav)
- Krave Beef Jerky (My current grab-and-go snack obsession… There were three packs but I ate the black cherry barbeque one on the spot.)
Not too shabby!
We always love celebrating Valentine’s Day with our annual Valentine’s Day mission tradition. Ryan actually came up with the idea when we were in college and we’ve been doing it ever since. It takes some of the pressure off the holiday but still feels thoughtful and fun.
The rest of our Valentine’s Day centered around our Date Night In! Pizza, wine and a movie in our pajamas. Heck yes!
I hope you guys had a great weekend and a lovely Valentine’s Day, too! Enjoy your Monday, my friends!
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