Happy 6 months, Silas!

Happy 6 months, Silas! You are getting SO big!!

 

You weigh around 15-16 pounds. 

You are such a happy  baby! This is how you greet me every day when I get you up from your nap. You love your blue blanket so much. It is your favorite thing. 

 You are more cute than crabby though Mommy would appreciate it if you would START SLEEPING AT NIGHT and stop walking up and talking for hours. You were sleeping better at 3 months than you are now (you have been waking up 3-5 times a night! Sheesh, kid!) 

You are napping better though and usually take 2-3 solid naps a day. 

 Jumping is your favorite thing to do EVER! You jump every day. Sometimes you even fall asleep in your jumper. When we try to take you out to put you down for a nap, you wake up and 'say': "What?" I wasn't asleep!" ::jumpjumpjump::

 You are developing strong relationships with your brothers. Look how tiny you were at 10 days old! 

And look how big you are today! (You all love your blankies). 

Your brothers never fail to make you laugh. They are so gentle with you. You love it when they swing you in your bouncer (Mommy looks the other way)

Benji calls you "Buddy." 

Micah is not ignoring you as much and says, "I love you, Silas!" every day. 

 You can't wait until you can run with them! When they run by you, you bounce and lurch forward, wanting to play too. 

 Tummy time is a cinch for you. You are a strong boy! 

You sat up all by yourself on April 7th! You were so proud! You love sitting up and playing with your toys. 

You are starting to eat grown-up food. Forget baby food! You get excited, licking your lips and opening your mouth when we eat dinner every night. You love mashed potatoes, yogurt, spinach, salmon, pulled pork, and hummus (!). You don't have any teeth yet but you do a good job with tiny, soft bites. You are not a fan of bananas or applesauce (yet). Your tastes are adventurous!  We will be starting more regular meals for you in the coming weeks. 

You love your Mommy! You even give delicious, sloppy open mouth kisses at times. 

When Daddy comes home from work, you can't concentrate on anything else. You have to have all his attention, love, and hugs! 

You continue to love music and will stop crying immediately if Mommy sings to you, even if you can't see her. 

We love you so much, Silas! You are pure joy in our lives. 

Let's just start sleeping a bit more at night, ok? (yawn!)

Meng Menu + Recipe for Broiled Asian Pork Strips

Monday: London Broil, mashed potatoes, salad

Tuesday: Skinny Chicken Florentine

Wednesday: Pizza roll, salad

Thursday: Fried pork chops, mashed potatoes, green beans

Friday: Spaghetti, salad

Saturday: Broiled Asian pork strips, rice, broccoli 

I have not missed the irony of having Skinny Chicken Florentine on Tuesday and Fried Pork Chops on Thursday. Maybe they will balance each other out. ;) 

Pork loin is on sale this week for 1.99 a pound! I always buy it when it goes on sale. I slice it up and freeze it; we usually get 5-6 meals out of a pork loin. Score!

Sometimes I get tired of just having pork chops though so I came up from this recipe that is delicious and FAST!

Broil Asian Pork Strips

Pork loin strips: I usually cut 1 inch pork "chops" off of the pork loin and then cut each chop into 3-4 strips length-wise. Cut as many strips for your family as you need. 

Marinade: 

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 TBS olive oil

2 TBS apple cider or red wine vinegar

2 TBS brown sugar

3 cloves garlic, minced (or to taste. I really like garlic)

Chili pepper or cayenne pepper to taste (chili pepper for milder palates) 

1 quarter of an onion, sliced or 2 tsp onion power (to taste)

Mix all ingredients except for the onion until combined. Add in onion and pour into a zip lock bag. Add pork strips, seal, and squish around. Marinate for at least 4 hours (overnight is better). 

To cook: Place oven rack 4-6 inches from broiler element. Preheat broiler for 5 minutes. Line a baking sheet (with sides) with foil (easier clean up) and place a baking rack on top of foil. Spray baking rack with cooking spray and place pork strips on baking rack. Broil for 7-8 minutes. Pork will be slightly caramelized on the edges. 

Serve with rice and broccoli or green beans. If desired, boil reserved marinade for 5 minutes until reduced and serve over pork and rice (make sure you boil to kill any bacteria from raw pork!). 

We love this recipe! It is so flavorful and fast. 

Enjoy!

How I lowered my expectations for "Fun" Mommy-hood

When my twins were babies, I couldn’t wait for them to be old enough to do mommy-kid activities. I wanted to finger paint, cook, play Memory and Candyland, snuggle and read for hours, and make happy, rosy memories with my boys.

When they were around 2 years old, inspired by the success of my mommy friends and the parenting blogs I adored, I excitedly laid out paper and paints, prepared elaborate craft projects, bought games, and borrowed books from the library. We were going to have FUN and be happy and laugh and I would take pictures and make photo albums of my happy kids and my happy motherhood.

Here’s what really happened:

The paints were a mess. The paper got soaked and ripped. The colors were mixed into a color that resembled a really bad poopy diaper. The art project took longer to clean up than the boys spent "painting."

My boys played “Ants in my pants” instead of moving their gingerbread men through Candyland. The colored cards flew all over the living room, joining the tiny demon-cherries from “Hi-Ho! Cherrio!” The homemade Memory cards were ripped and crumpled.

Cooking was a circus. Cups of flour were dumped on the counter instead of in the bowl. Eggs slipped and smashed on the floor. And one of my sons was so afraid of the hand-mixer that he ran screaming out of the room before it was even turned on.

There was no snuggling and reading for hours. My two year olds could barely sit still for one picture book. “Green Eggs and Ham”? WAY too long! I learned to flip through books at the library and throw back the ones that had more than 15 pages or 10 words per page.

This was supposed to be a "Two hours of FUN" box! not "10 minutes and I'm done" box

I was discouraged, depressed even. I was failing at Mommy-hood. Most days I thought: “Well, that was a fun 5 minutes. What am I going to do for the rest of the day? I guess I could start by cleaning up this mess.”

We made snakes with beads for 3 minutes one day. Then I cleaned up beads for the next 3 months

I wanted to make those special memories with my kids but every activity was either a failure or over before I could even snap a picture.

Plus I was going nuts and yelling things like “THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN! We are GOING to have FUN, OK???”

I was a real Fun Mom.

I eventually gave up. I lowered my expectations for Fun Mommy-hood.

We didn’t do messy craft projects anymore. I threw “Hi-Ho Cherrio” and the memory cards in the trash. I made cookies while my boys napped. We read “The Foot Book” instead of “Green Eggs and Ham.”

And this was the best thing I could have ever done. 

I discovered that the things I liked to do were not the things that my kids liked to do. The happy memories I had of coloring, playing board games, cooking sweets and treats, and reading on the couch with my mom for hours were not the same things that made my boys happy.

I had to accept that they loved running and wrestling, not sitting still playing board games.

I swallowed the fact that they weren’t interested in coloring or “making things.” And I realized that any craft that took longer to prepare or clean up than it did to make and play with was way overrated.

I still made them sit and read with me but we would read one board book instead of three picture books.

And when I did tackle that Pintrest Project from my “Fun Activities for Kids!” board, I learned to say “Well, that was fun!” after 3.5 minutes and really mean it.

So glad I have this picture because I think this is the only time they wore these adorable pirate costumes 

 Most importantly, I discovered that my kids are different from me and that is ok. And I learned that the best memories I could make with my children was not “doing things” together: it was seeing my boys happy, grins that lasted for seconds, not the “activities” that lasted for hours.

Meng Menu

Sunday: Broiled Asian chicken thighs, rice, broccoli

Monday: Shredded Pork tacos

Tuesday: Hellmans chicken, parmesan rice, green beans

Wednesday: Pizza roll, salad

Thursday: Sausage, Kale and pasta with lemon cream sauce

Friday: Out to eat

Saturday: Hamburger Sliders, baked fries, carrots and apples

I haven't posted our menu in a few weeks. I always make a one but I forget to post until around Tuesday or so....

Chicken thighs were on sale last week so I socked up and bought a tray of 9 boneless/skinless thighs for $3! Score! 

I also am using leftover Pork shoulder that I made last week. The pork was one sale for $1.49/pound and I bought a 7.7 pounder. I had never cooked a pork shoulder before and was a little nervous. But it turned out great! I cooked it "low and slow" for 7 hours at 275: 6 hours covered with foil and 1 hour without foil at the end. Delicious! We have already eaten it for dinner twice on buns with BBQ sauce. We still have a ton left so...tacos it is!

Finally, I have to give a shout-out to Thursday's meal: The Sausage, Kale and Pasta in lemon cream sauce. I made this a few weeks ago and it was SO. GOOD. I put it on my imaginary if-I-one-day-run-a-restaurant menu. Yum.