Who else had a gorgeous weekend? I truly hope you did. The weather here in NJ was beautiful. It actually rained Saturday morning which made me think the whole weekend was a bust, but it cleared up and Sunday was so gorgeous. Because of it, we were able to have our first little family fun outing which was the best ever!
But I’ll get to that soon. I have a lot to talk about for this past weekend! So let’s jump into it. As always, Iām linking up with Katie and Erin!
This is a random photo I took Friday to show Alex how Owen had fallen asleep sans swaddle maybe 5 minutes after I fed him post nap. Look how chubby he’s getting!
Saturday morning came way too early after the great toddler teething of 2016 woke up Ryan for a good portion, and then Owen, and then Cooper. So coffee was a necessity. Alex has hopped onto my coffee train so we’ve had a ton of cold brew around the house lately. So. Good.
Like most Saturdays it was a hang around the house day and for lunch, I made my new fave combination. Onions cooked down a little and then a chicken breast cooked in the same pan while they continue to caramelize and a steamed sweet potato with butter. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it, but I cut sugar 2 weeks ago to see how it would effect my horrible eczema. Spoiler alert: I need to stop eating so much sugar, apparently. Maybe I’ll do a post on that later. BUT I swear with no sugar (no sugar, honey, maple syrup, etc – I’ll eat fruit and what not.) everything tastes so incredibly sweet. These sweet potatoes have tasted like straight up candy, I swear.
You may have seen on Instagram that I did some reading during the boys’ naptime. And there was more coffee.
This weekend I enacted what I have dubbed as “snack-gate” aka Ryan’s been getting out of control with the snacking. Since Owen was born, we both kind of dropped the ball on restricting Ryan’s snacks and it’s been effecting his willingness to eat meals. Like, he’ll tell me he’s done and 2 minutes later come running over with his snack cup. I let it slide because sometimes it’s the lesser evil when trying to deal with a newborn, but enough was enough, so I’ve limited him to one tiny snack (1/2 serving of raisins) first thing in the morning while I make breakfast and feed/change Owen, one mid morning snack (his smoothie) and one post-nap snack (raisins, a piece of fruit, rice, whatever) To say he has been unimpressed is an understatement and while I didn’t catch a picture of the many ensuing tantrums, this older pictures is pretty much identical. But thankfully I’m seeing a reduction in tantrums and improvement in meal eating, so I’ll take it.
Alex stopped at the store on the way home to get dinner stuff and came with a chicken, bread, and pesto stuff. I shredded while he made a pesto (we add in ricotta to make it even better, nom.) and voila, dinner.
After dinner, this boy was a big spit-up-y, cranky mess.
Sunday there was Chipotle before we went off on an adventure – the zoo!
It’s the same zoo we went to on Mother’s Day last year, and Ryan definitely dug it a bit more this year!
He kept squatting down to talk to the goats because he’s my child for sure.
But let’s be honest, he was most thrilled by the bulldozer that was sitting there…
He was terrified of this chicken which had me dying. Every time it took a step forward he would scramble backward.
I think this is my favorite part of this zoo (which is Space Farms, for anyone local. It’s one of those rescue zoos). There’s literally a cat living in this raccoon exhibit.
Alex went here a lot as a kid, and before we even went here while dating he told me about this elephant slide that he was apparently obsessed with as a kid. Apparently is SUPER fast, so we put Ryan on it, obviously. This picture kills me.
Both boys napped on the drive home and there was a Starbucks drive-through in it for momma and daddy.
Can we just look at that little face and faux hawk? Love.
My MIL came by fo dinner and we went out to dinner. We ended up taking Alex’s truck to fit everyone and I was loving sitting in the back between the boys. When Ryan was a baby I sat in the back with him for a year, but in my car, I can’t fit back there with both seats. Funny faces and toddler hand-holding ensued.
And then dinner. The brisket sandwich is Ryans, pulled pork is mine. Plus fries because Mighty Quinns has the best fries on the planet.
And that’s it! It was definitely a busy weekend, and I know Ryan is totally pooped from all of the running around and sunshine. Maybe he’ll be extra calm tomorrow?
Wishful thinking.
So tell me, what fun stuff did you do this weekend?! Let me know in the comments!
Two posts went live this weekend if you missed them!
6 Weeks After Baby
Heather @ Polyglot Jot says
Aw i went to a zoo this weekend too–such a great day yesterday to be outside!! I havent cut out sugar completely but ive cut it waaay down and i always think everything is so sweet now too! its amazing how much we eat and dont even realize!!
Morgan says
I’ve really been paying attention to labels now to check for sugar and it’s seriously in the weirest/stupidest things – like banana peppers and ricotta cheese. WHY!?
Emily says
Ooh, it looks like you had fun at the zoo! I love going to the zoo. š Although, it’s quite far away from our house, so we haven’t been for a while.
alexandra @ my urban family says
Looks like a great weekend! And I noticed the same thing when I started to really cut sugar out of my diet – things start tasting sweeter, especially sweet potatoes! Which are my new favorite addition to dinner because of it ha. And when I have sparkling naturally flavored waters they taste so sweet, which is great because no sugar!
Morgan says
Seriously, the WEIRDEST things are tasting sweet, like avocado and peanut butter!
Stephanie @ Wholesome Paradise says
A park I went to as a kid in Southern California had that same elephant slide, and I was obsessed with it too. Small world!
Morgan says
That’s so funny! I wonder if they are comparable in speed, ha!
Kristina @ Ms.Modify says
So funny that he was bending down for the goat, but then was afraid of the chicken! Ha Looks like you had a great weekend!
xo, Kristina
Morgan says
He’s an odd one! I think he thought that the chicken could get to him, maybe? Or maybe it was that the goat is about the size of out dog. Who knows!
Darcy says
Your new favorite lunch combo sounds sooo good. I need to try!!
http://www.amemoryofus.com
Morgan says
It’s SO good!!
Kristy @ Southern In Law says
Your boys just keep on getting cuter! š
I loveee adding ricotta to pesto as it really does make it so much better – especially on sandwiches! I wish Jesse would let me get away with making sandwiches for dinner, haha!
This weekend was a long weekend for us and it was total bliss! We went apple picking, lazed about, worked on our DIY project and did a little babysitting (well… I did the caring part whilst Jesse slept – we were looking after the two girls I’ve been minding on Tuesdays and they were both being a little naughty as it was out of their routine!) and now I’m wishing every weekend had three days! š
Morgan says
We make an AWESOME pasta salad with it – I’ll have to post it sometime! The sandwiches were Alex’s idea since he was the one shopping for the food. He figured it meant less dishes for me, which I much appreciated!
Wouldn’t forever 3 day weekends be awesome!?
Amy @ Elephant Eats says
We have a major snacker in our house too! We try to cut him off to his one post-nap snack, otherwise he won’t eat dinner. It’s hard with the whining tho…i’m really bad at not giving in =/ . The zoo looks like so much fun! And I love the backseat handholding š
Also, you totally have me craving a sweet potato now, haha.
Morgan says
It’s hard to figure out the balance! We were going through a container of raisins once every few days, so I knew it was getting way out of hand. But to be honest, it was only maybe 2 days of him really fighting me on it. Now he’ll complain and ask for more, but he won’t go down kicking and screaming.