Quick Breakfasts - Peanutbutter Pancakes

Most mornings I am rushing out the door to get W to his nanny and me to work on time.  My awesome husband takes care of getting him dressed in the morning, but he has to leave at 7:30 and we don't have to leave until 8:20 so it is up to me to feed the little guy.

The problem I run into with breakfast is that's when I give him his multivitamin with iron so I have to avoid giving him anything with a lot of dairy in it (there goes yogurt and cottage cheese).  More often than not I feel myself falling into a rut with breakfast or I say to hell with it and give him dairy and move when I give him his vitamin that day.

Thankfully this weekend I was motivated and made a huge batch of Peanut Butter Pancakes and Low Fat Pumpkin Muffins.  I put some in the refrigerator and the others I froze so he has them to eat at a later time.  I like to think I make his pancakes healthier than most.  I really try to ensure he has a protein, dairy (unless he is taking his vitamin), whole grain as well as fruit and or vegetable at every meal.  These pancakes are full of whole grain, fruit and protein and I'm pretty darn proud of myself for coming up with the recipe.  Here it is:

1 Cups Old Fashion Oats
1/4 Cup of Apple Sauce
1/2 Cup of Milk  (add more if you want a thinner batter)
1 Small Banana
2 Tablespoons of Peanut butter
1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon 
1 Tablespoon Vanilla (I LOVE vanilla so I always go heavy on it)
1 Tablespoon of Brown Sugar or honey (optional)

I mixed everything together in my Magic Bullet and voila!  There is the batter.  After that I make the pancakes like I would normally.

Here is a picture.  I'm sorry it isn't prettier and that blogger won't let me flip the image.  I almost forgot to take it until I had everything all cleaned up and frozen.

Stay tuned tomorrow for low-fat pumpkin muffins!

My Nursing Journey with W

This weekend I was working on putting things away and organizing our freezer when I found a few of my last frozen bags of pumped milk that needed moved to the deep freezer with the rest of my milk.  While I am super happy to be done pumping I am bummed that at some point very soon W will be done nursing.  I seriously LOVE nursing.  It has been such an awesome bonding experience and to know that I am doing everything in my power to give my little man the best possible start makes me feel awesome.

Nursing wasn't always easy for me.  When I brought W home from the hospital he at lost a pound and a half and for the first month I had the most difficult time ensuring he kept weight on him.  I felt like I was nursing constantly, but he wasn't gaining.  Not only was he not gaining weight, but my nipples were so sore that my toes curled every time he went to nurse.  Thankfully, my hospital has an awesome nursing support group that meets once a week that was a huge help along with a mommy board I belong to.

On top of him not gaining weight I was terrified of what would happen when I went back to work.  I had a few ounces frozen in the freezer, but what if that wasn't enough? And how much exactly would he eat in a day?  I cannot tell you how much milk I gave my nanny the first day back to work, but it was enough (thank goodness).

When I went to pump at work I was fortunate that I do have a private office and could pump at my desk while I worked.  The problem for me came when I went to pump.  I set my pump up (complete with my sports bra with holes in it so I could pump hands-free) and turned it on.  I had a few pictures of W on my desk to look at as well as one of his blankets I could smell to help with the let-down.  I figured I would sit there for 15 minutes and I would be done.  WRONG.  It took me nearly an hour to get 3 ounces!  At that point W was almost 2 months old and eating about 12 ounces a day plus what he nursed when I went to visit him at lunch.  In order to keep up with how much he was eating I was going to need to figure something out quick.  My pumping schedule from January until July while working was as follows:
Pump 2-3AM  = 4oz  - 8oz
Pump 7:20-7:30AM (while nursing on the other side) = 1 - 2 oz
Pump 10-11AM = 3-6oz
Pump 2:30-4PM = 3-5oz
Pump 5:30-6PM = 1-2 oz
Pump 8:30-9:30PM = 1-2oz
At my height (and this only happened a few times) I was pumping close to 27 ounces a day. 
(the numbers above reflect when he was eating between 12 and 27 ounces a day while with his nanny).

I quickly came to the realization that I was married to my pump.

When he started eating more than I could pump I would freak out that I would run out of my freezer stash.  Thankfully that never happened and I still have a sizable stash in my deep freezer that I plan on donating to a milk bank.

I think the thing that drove me nuts was when I was on the road for work.  I took W with me on every overnight business trip I took and thankfully my wonderful mother made those trips with us.  My first one was when he was about 8 or 9 weeks old.  We had to drive 5 1/2 hours to the opposite end of the state.  I learned to pump when I drove.  This would save time, prevent engorgement and give W a fresh snack during the ride.

I always traveled with a big cooler (as well as my nursing cooler that came with my pump) to ensure my milk stayed cold and would only stay at a hotel that had a mini refrigerator.    I brought all my bottle cleaning and sterilizing supplies with me to the hotel and would wash bottles there.  As far as pumping while working on the road I still remember the first time I told my candidate I needed a 'break'.  Thankfully she was a woman and very understanding.

I really wanted to share this story with any other nursing moms out there especially the working ones who may be struggling to continue nursing their babies or may be struggling with returning to work.  YOU CAN DO IT!!!!  Looking back on all the milk sweat and tears the last 13 months I am so glad I continued to nurse.  There are so many memories that I will cherish and look back on and laugh throughout my entire experience. 

Bye Bye Facebook! - Facebook free for 4 Days!

On New Years Day I made the difficult decision to deactivate my Facebook account.  For me, it has been like a bittersweet breakup.  I find myself occasionally looking at my phone and clicking on my Facebook App and the sign-in page comes up.  I finally deleted the App off of my phone, iPad and internet browsers.  I had no idea how often I actually logged in just to pass the time and 'check-in'.  Those seemingly quick check-ins (5 minutes here, 10 minutes there multiple times a day) really added up and would distract me from the important things in my life, like giving my son the attention he deserves.

Why you may ask did I decide to continue blogging and Tweeting?  I feel those social media outlets have not monopolized my time in the same way that Facebook has.  I'm not constantly checking my blog or Tweeting, in fact I would like to blog and Tweet more often.  When i say more often I mean tweet between 1-4 times a day and blog at most once a day.

At the end of the day do I really think that I will be off Facebook for an entire year? No. I would be happy if I could stay off for a few months and see how that changes the dynamics in my home.  I already feel like I am a more attentive mother and wife and it has only been a few days.

Back from Holiday Break!

I am finally coming out of my post election haze and one of the things I want to work on this year is to improve my blog and keep up on posting at least once a week. 

This year we went to visit family on the other side of the state for a few days before driving home on Christmas Day only to be woken up by a stomach virus that wreaked havoc on our family for almost a week.  Now that the virus has worked its way out of our house and our work schedules are returning to normal (I have no clue how I'm going to handle a full work week next week) I'm sure it won't be long before we fall back into the same dull routines.  I already notice that our meals have been so boring lately.  Most nights I find myself too exhausted to put any effort into cooking. 

Last night I tried a new recipe I found on Pinterest.  It was for Cheesy Quinoa Broccoli Bites.  I paired it with some pasta sauce and voila dinner!  What I did:

• Prepared two cups of Quinoa 
• Defrosted some broccoli florets in  the microwave
• In a separate bowl I combined eggs, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, Parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese and milk
• Cut the broccoli into smaller pieces (about the size of a dime) and add it to the bowl in the eggs
• When the quinoa was done I let it cool for a few minutes then added it to my mixture
• Once everything was thoroughly blended together I greased a muffin tin scooped it into the tin and baked at 350 degrees for 20 minutes

I do not have exact amounts of the things I added.  I like to eyeball things when I cook, but I will say that they were super yummy and W really like them.  I baked some in a mini muffin tin for him and have leftovers for tonight.  I cannot wait for dinner!

Merry Christmas!

I wanted to pop in real quick to say Merry Christmas to all of my zero blog followers.

Technology Time Out

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile.  Now that I am back home and putting things together I'm going to take a brief technology time out for the holidays.  I promise to be back and blogging more in the new year and maybe even to find some people to follow my blog!  Happy Holidays!

Back from Vacation!

We are back from vacation and it was awesome!  W did so well on the plane.  Caught our first flight at 5:30am and then our connecting flight to Jamaica at 9am and he was such a champ.  He nursed on take off and landing and slept for the better part of both flights.  He was a little fussy on the returning flights, but by no means did he have a full blown meltdown. 

It was so great to spend uninterrupted and 95% technology free time with Aaron and W.  After spending so much time away for work this year it really was needed for our family.  As much as I loved our trip, it was not as relaxing as I had hoped it would be, but traveling with a toddler rarely is.  W loved the pool and floating around in his raft that we bought him for his birthday.  He also learned that he loves to eat sand by the fist full.  YUCK!

I am so happy I was able to spend so much time with the two most important men in my life.  One thing I wish we could have done differently is bring someone with us so Aaron and I could have had some adult time and enjoyed the evening activities that the resort offered, but there's always next time.  I already told my sister and she cannot wait for us to plan another vacation.