Friday evening the sun peeked out and we had a little glimpse at some decent weather which was a good thing since we had a few of our friends over and the little ones were dying to run around outside.
Everyone arrived around 6 p.m. for a laidback dinner in honor of my friend Carrie’s birthday!
It was such a nice way to kick off the weekend and I’ll never complain about an evening that involves cake.
(Chase clearly agrees. If you tell him he can help blow out birthday candles, he is ALL IN.)
Saturday
Ryan and I have been eyeing a visit to the Schiele Museum of Natural History ever since Chase’s interest in dinosaurs took off a few weeks ago. With the weather expected to be pretty awful all day on Saturday, we figured it would be a nice indoor activity our whole family would enjoy. Well, friends, ya win some and ya lose some because this little adventure proved to be a little dull for our 2 1/2 year old. Chase was a bit overwhelmed and freaked out by the sound effects the museum streamed into the dinosaur exhibit (the growls, low chirps, etc.) and wanted to be held the entire time.
He was also pretty bored by all of the taxidermy animals (is that the right term?) showcasing North American wildlife that we thought he’d love. Whenever we’d try to hype something up, like a giant stuffed polar bear, he’d ask, “Is it moving?” and then we’d laugh over and over again because nope, they were never moving. Cue toddler boredom!
We made it back home around lunchtime and dug into leftovers from Friday evening’s dinner with friends before Chase went down for his nap. While Chase slept, I caught up on computer work and Ryan braved the cold and drizzly weather and took Sadie on a walk. (Maybe I should say “Ryan and Sadie braved the weather” because Sadie is a bit of a princess about cold, wet weather.)
Once they made it back and Chase was up from his nap, we hung out on the couch, ate a snack and played with some of Chase’s seek-and-find books before driving to church for the Friday evening service. It was a good one and concluded with one of my favorite songs, “Death Was Arrested.” So good!
As we left church, I pointed out some horses grazing in a field outside of Chase’s window and his first question was, “Are they moving!?” I think the Museum of Natural History made a lasting impact. Ha!
Sunday
I actually experienced on and off nausea all day on Saturday (a lovely welcome into my third trimester!) and it continued with a bang on Sunday. I woke up around 6:30 a.m. and started to work on the computer after I made myself a big bowl of oatmeal. I think I took a little too long to make myself breakfast in the morning (I still need to eat within 10 minutes of waking up) because my nausea increased to the point where I ended up throwing up my entire breakfast within 5 minutes of eating. Ooph. Not exactly my favorite way to start the day but I felt better almost instantly after which generally seems to be the case for me with pregnancy.
I sipped on some mint elderflower sparkling water I picked up from Whole Foods last week and the minty flavor tasted good and the bubbles seemed to settle my stomach enough for me to attempt a second breakfast – pancakes this time – 30 minutes later. Once my nausea was under control, I did a little meal planning for the week ahead.
Here’s a little peek at our dinner menu:
- Monday: Crockpot Queso Chicken Chili (leftovers) with Spaghetti Squash
- Tuesday: Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Salad*
- Wednesday: Vegan Power Mac and Cheese
- Thursday: Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas from Juli Bauer’s Paleo Cookbook
- Friday: Out
*Note: The buffalo chicken recipe is from my friend Brittany’s Fit with Five ebook that she sent my way, so I cannot link directly to it, but definitely check out her ebook if you’re looking for simple, healthy recipes that require 5 ingredients or less!
And some breakfast/snack recipes we’ll be enjoying this week:
- Chicken Sausage and Spinach Frittata
- Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins
- Healthy Double Chocolate Zucchini Banana Bread
- Triple Chocolate Protein Oatmeal
Also, I’ve had a few questions about whether or not Chase eats the dinners I make when I create my meal plans. The short answer is… kind of. We do a LOT of deconstructed versions of our meals for Chase and his versions of the meals we make will typically look slightly different. For example, on a night like Thursday when I’m planning to make fajitas, he’ll probably have a quesadilla rather than fajitas with sliced peppers or, more realistically, cucumbers (since I know he’ll actually eat those) and apple slices on the side.
Chase doesn’t always eat exactly what we eat and it’s a battle I’m finally comfortable not facing night after night. If you constantly feel like a failure of a parent because your kid doesn’t eat all the healthy stuff you make for your own meals, check out this blog post from my friend and registered dietitian Lindsay: Why My Toddler Doesn’t Always Eat What I Eat. It made me feel SO much better about the way we approach meal time in our house, especially when I feel like parents are overwhelmed with articles that say your kid should only be eating what you’re eating.
After a morning of meal planning with a side of early morning story time with Ryan, Chase and Sadie, I said goodbye to my favorite trio and headed out the door a little after 9 a.m. for a video shoot with two bloggers – Ashley and Molly – and Morgan, the co-founder of Burn Boot Camp.
(28 weeks!)
We met up at Well Kept, a local boutique in Davidson to chat all about prenatal and postpartum fitness for a video Ashley organized. I’ll be sure to share a link to it once she has it live on her blog!
I made it home a little after noon with enough time to do a little meal prep with Chase. The two of us made a frittata and prepped the first half of the Crockpot Queso Chicken Chili we had on the menu for Sunday night while Ryan headed off to the gym.
I settled Chase down for his nap around 1:30 p.m. and then, similar to Saturday, I worked on the computer while Ryan and Sadie went for a walk.
Once everyone was home and Chase was up, we went on a family trip to the grocery store before heading home to put on our pajamas and spend the rest of the night hanging out around the house. I ended up reading Little Fires Everywhere for about an hour before bed and I am really enjoying this book so far!
Aaand now it’s time to get my Monday rollin’. I hope you all had a great weekend and enjoy the week ahead!
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I love that you take Chase on unique adventures rather than just a typical trip to the park every weekend — I’m hoping to do that with our future kids, too!
We are definitely ready for spring around here! Enough with the Nor’easters already!! I spent the day meal-prepping yesterday (as I try to every Sunday this time of year, when I have long work days Mon-Wed.) and man it’s sure exhausting at 27 weeks pregnant. Haha. It’s definitely worth it, though. SO true on the toddler eating. Our daughter definitely eats a variation on what we do, but that’s okay. She eats pretty well overall, and tries more new things than she used to. Now, if only she liked protein/all veggies as much as carbs, we’d be all set…. 🙂
You are looking great! Sorry about the nausea :/ That has to be the worst, I can’t even imagine.
I love the cute photos of Chase helping out in the kitchen! And I would love a slice of that cake right about now….I’m all about the frosting! Have a great Monday 🙂
I am dying for spring! We had such nice weather at the end of February but all of March has been cold and we had our biggest snow of the winter last week?!! Warm weather can’t come soon enough. Though pregnancy is tough in the heat so I should be careful what I wish for…
Chase looks so grown up in those pictures from your friend’s birthday!! He got so tall!
Thank you for that link about feeding your toddler! It’s been such a struggle with our 2 1/2 year old lately! I’ve been trying to feed her what we eat, but that’s so often just not practical. Either she just won’t eat it, or it’s something spicy I don’t feel comfortable giving her, or my husband is working late and I just want avocado toast for dinner. I absolutely love the approach in this blog post and am looking forward to incorporating it into our meal times.
Me too! It was a much-needed read for me and I’m glad you found it helpful, too!
I love hearing about what other people are meal planning and prepping. I typically get some pretty good ideas for meals of my own.
I hope the weather improves for you this week!
I made Hummusapien’s Vegan Power Mac & “Cheese” last night and it was so so good. Even my carnivore boyfriend liked it!
Her recipes are always amazing! Cannot wait to try that one!
Love those pictures of Chase! He looks like such a big boy!! I really love hearing about how your pregnancy is going, Julie…I feel like it is preparing me to not be so nervous about one day getting pregnant. (I am super nervous) I’m so sorry you are experiencing nausea, that is one thing that I will not be ok with, and I really hope you don’t have anymore of that. I am also ready for Spring, but I’m not even sure we will see any of it. Over here in Massachusetts we seem to skip right over that season and go from winter to summer, or see like a week or two of spring if we are lucky. I hope you have a great week! Xoxo
I Love that song! When church sings it my heart isn’t So happy!
I’d love to know how you store and reheat your frittata. I’ve made them in both cupcake tins and baking dishes and always feel like they get moist looking as the week goes on. I want to make them for prep since it’s another great way to get in veggies and protein!
The key for me is to put a paper towel underneath the slices before storing them! This soaks up the excess moisture and makes it a LOT more appealing to me!
I love that song too! Thank you for sharing the link! I watched the entire video and sung out loud to my little one napping on my shoulder! Thank you for sharing your faith on the blog. I admire your devotion and wish I had friends who would want to do a ladies bible study like you and your girlfriends.
Also, you look beautiful! Sending prayers for less nausea in your third trimester!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thrown up my breakfast because I waited too long to eat! I’ve learned to save half of it so that after I throw up I still have something to eat! HA! Yay pregnancy!
I know you’ve been doing BBC throughout your pregnancy. Do you have any restrictions or modifications during your third trimester?
I took my three year old nephew to the natural history museum in Pittsburgh when I watched him about a month ago. He just kept asking where the real animals were lol.
Hi Julie,
It might be a bit personal (which is of course understandable), but I would love a post that shares a bit about your faith journey. It seems to have been pretty significant particularly after you moved to North Carolina.
I feel like I am still really growing in my faith and feel so “new” to everything! We regularly attended church most Sundays when we lived in Florida as well but I found the most amazing small group of women who have helped me grow in my faith immensely after Chase was born. Couple this group with our miscarriages last year and I leaned on God and truly needed Him and my faith more than ever which really pushed me and helped me grow. I still feel rather insecure talking about it too much because I feel like so many people have so much more knowledge to share but I’m more than happy to answer any questions you may have about this journey specifically!
So sorry to hear about your nausea, lady love–but STOKED to see that mac&cheeze on the meal plan 🙂 My carnivorous boyfriend loved it! He added tuna to his. So yummy with hot sauce, too!
Lol love Chase’s little intense face as he’s helping to blow out the birthday candles. For my daughter’s first birthday I had a total mom fail. I got a sparkler for her cake and it absolutely terrified her! Didn’t do that again at her second birthday. Just a regular old candle. Lol
Aw! Sounds like a good idea in theory though!!
Can you post the link to the green smoothie muffins you made? Thanks!
yes!! here ya go: https://www.thenaturalnurturer.com/blog/oatmeal-green-smoothie-muffins i’ll include them in friday’s post this week as well b/c they were a huge hit with chase!