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Pregnancy #2 Q&A

We’ve received such a rush of sweet congratulatory messages and well wishes since making our special announcement. If you were one of them, thank you from the bottoms of our hearts! Seriously. It means the world.

As I did with our first, I’m answering some questions I’ve had (and some questions I just feel like answering to clear things up a bit) about pregnancy and our family and all that good stuff. There are a few answers I don’t know yet, so I’ll leave those questions out for now. 😉

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Will you be finding out the baby’s gender?

As with Hadman, nope, we won’t be finding out the baby’s gender in advance. It’s such a fun surprise to have! Plus, we’re super lucky that a) the first 0-6 months we’ve already got lots of gender neutral clothing and b) we have TONS of boy clothes and, since my sister’s first was a girl, lots of girl clothes to borrow, as well. So, we’re fine not knowing.

What are some names you have picked out? (See also: Did Hadley have any other names you were considering? What were you going to name Hadley if he was a girl? *fill in the blank* is a wonderful name!)

Noooo ya don’t! 😉 Sneaky folks, trying to figure out what types of names we’re mulling over (and suggesting your own…usually, literally, your own). Hee hee. We don’t divulge our secrets, clearly. But, really, at first we were thinking of going back to the drawing board and searching the entire baby naming book we used the first time, but after going over our original picks (we narrowed it down to 2-4 names for each gender, along with possible middle names), we decided we still liked them. So, we’re kind of ready to go in with that list in hand and see what matches the baby. (And, no, we won’t share any before the time comes.)

Is this pregnancy different at all? (See also: Are you sicker? Any bad symptoms?)
One reason I’m talking about this is because when I discovered we were expecting, I had forgotten the symptoms I had the first time (and hadn’t really talked about them much on the blog back then). I started the whole thing off coming down with some sort of virus or cold, so those always seem to be my first pregnancy symptoms – days, sometimes weeks, of an illness I can’t take medicine (or even echinacea tea) for! I had a teensy bit of nausea here and there and still get a small amount of heartburn, but for the most part it’s just a bit of exhaustion mixed with complete normalcy. Knock on wood. 😉 I’m a very lucky pregnant lady.

Oh, and the complete lack of motivation thing sucks. It’s one reason I’ve done less posting (although I AM spending quality family time in the meantime) and am not spring cleaning up a storm like I should be. Yeah. Time to get on that.

Any cravings?
The funny thing is that instead of nausea, I’ve had a complete lack of appetite. Like, I know I need to eat, and if I let it get too long I get Hulk-style hangry, but I have zero appetite. So, the whole cooking for the family thing when you don’t want to eat ANYTHING is kinda weird. Even light stuff like salads or a wrap or anything sounds disgusting.

That said, I’ve had the occasional junk food craving, including some fast food. The closest I’ve come is a couple of sweet onion chicken teriyaki subs from Subway (still crap, but at least it’s not McDonald’s) and a couple of stops by a convenient store for a not-great-bag-o’-something. I remember having a fast food craving with H-man, too, and I allowed myself one meal from each restaurant (so, yes, a McDonald’s meal, a Taco Bell meal, an Arby’s meal, a Subway meal…no Burger King, as I recall), but I haven’t had THAT big of an urge. If I do, I’ll confess to Dave and ask my penance, then move on with my life. It is what it is. Everything else in our house is natural/GMO-free/organic so I really can’t sweat the small stuff.

How did you tell Dave? When did you find out?

Well, let’s see. I found out when I was home sick (see above, had a cold or some such crud) on, of all days, St. Patrick’s Day. (I’m of Irish descent, so yeah. Perfection.) Poor Dave had to pick up the little guy, rush home, head to a rehearsal for a show he was doing at the time, rush home, and get other stuff done. That night, after he got home and was working on finding dinner and making tea, I grabbed the nearest kitty (Winston, good sport) and shoved one of the positive pregnancy tests into his collar (similar to the first time I told him). It took him FOREVER to realize something was in Wee-Wee’s collar, let alone what it was, but when he found out he was ecstatic. It was kind of neat because we’d found out about Hadley on Halloween and this little one on St. Patrick’s Day. All about the holidays!

How’s Hadley handling it?

Um, like an almost-3-year-old. He knows the news and was/is excited about it, but he forgets (which is fine at this stage). He’s also confused about all the different babies in the family (like when I told him my sister had a little boy last week, he asked “Where’s our baby?” and gets my sister-in-law’s baby, Parker, who’s due in July mixed up with ours and Mary’s). All totally understandable, but he’s been positive about it all. Plus, he had been talking about having a sibling for awhile and not caring whether it was a girl or boy; we also had explained IN LENGTH several times what being a big brother would be like and he was totally on-board with it all. So, I’m not too worried right now.

The cats have not voiced any concern, either. Yet.

Is this why you’re searching for a new house?

You got it. Well, kind of. We’ve talked for endless hours about if/when to buy a new house, namely in a safe, family-friendly area. If we don’t find an awesome, larger house by the time the baby comes, it’s fine. We can make our 1,000 sq. foot house work if we need to, especially for fear of buying the money pit (LOVED that movie as a kid!) of our nightmares out of a fear that we won’t find anything. Ever. Not much luck yet, to the point where we’re discussing “How do you feel about a more rural setting?” but we feel calm about it all.

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So, that’s it for now! I’m hoping to share the things that are the same/different the second time around and some do-overs I’m hoping for. Now that the news is “out in the open”, it’s nice to kind of switch and focus on “normal” stuff again – like planning Hadman’s birthday party. 😉

Oh, and if you think I missed anything, leave a question in the comments and I’ll update accordingly!

Mother’s Day

This year was possibly the most fun and exciting Mother’s Day weekend we’ll probably ever have. Friday, my sister had a baby — little Timothy Conner. Saturday, there was our sister-in-law’s baby shower (she’s due in July with her first, a little boy named Parker!) and my brother surprised us with a visit from Ohio to meet the new little one. Sunday, well, we celebrated Mother’s Day.

Dave gave us a super-early breakfast (because lately we’ve been super-early risers) that he cooked completely on the grill (toast, eggs, bacon, and sweet potatoes) and we got to enjoy peacefully on our deck. A gift of an azalea, new gardening gloves from Hadman and a gift card to “The Tailor and the Cook” (to say nothing of my two adorable, tear-jerking cards) topped off my day. Then, I played and ran around with Hadley while Dave did dishes and got ready before we bolted off to bring a second breakfast to his parents. While there, Dave made one last call to his brother – whom we’d been keeping a secret from until post-shower – to cover (most of) our bases.

When we got home and as Hadley fought a nap (we were heading to my mother’s house later in the day), we synchronized a Facebook status update, counting down 3…2…1….

We were anxious about the announcement, not because of the actual news but because the announcement might be confusing to some of our friends. We’re fans of “The Onion”, which is very much our strange sense of humor, and Dave had come up with this idea months ago. So, we plopped down at our dining room table, told Hadley to “think”, and set the auto-shoot on the camera. The little guy just happened to put his finger up saying, “Me have an idea!” as it went off and there we were. After weeks of writing and editing, we were happy with the final result.

I figured it’d be nice to do a “normal” announcement here along with our quirky one. (Click and double-click on the above image to read it closer and better, BTW.)

Baby Bunny/Bulldog/#2 is due sometime in November. I say “sometime” because at our first sonogram we were told that our original date was off and we were further ahead than expected (by about a week). So, mid-November works right now. For the most part, things are very calm and peaceful and healthy, just like we like it. I’ll be posting later this week to discuss how things are going and how/when we found out (yup, I’ve got lots of blog posts in my head that I haven’t been able to talk about before now!), so if you have any questions, feel free to ask away. Otherwise, I’ll just over-share on my own. 😉

So, yeah. It was probably the best Mother’s Day I’ll ever have. I hope any moms out there had one just as wonderful!

Ithaca – The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Before I get into the semi-regularly-scheduled post, I just want to say SQUEEEEEAAAAL and best wishes to my sister, Mary, and her family on the birth of their second little one today! I’m so happy that we’ll get to be there to meet him or her. 🙂 Lots of joy in this family right now!

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I’ve been around the block enough times to know that E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G is unpredictable when a toddler/preschooler is involved. As a family, we have learned to plan excessively, adapt accordingly, and remain flexible at all times. Also, as with all things in life, it’s important to take the good with the bad (and be grateful for it all).

So, when we planned our recent day trip to Ithaca, NY (a little over two hours away), I went into it with the usual well-planned day with a hint of “this could change at any moment” thrown in.

Dave was there for a day-long comic book convention to chat with folks and sell issues of his hilarious comic book series, Holidaze. So, after we dropped him off at the college, Hadman and I were on our own. I was totally ready for the day.

Only, I wasn’t. After the long-ish drive, a coffee and tons of water, I was in dire need of a bathroom. Like, crying in the parking lot, not knowing where I even was, with a toddler insisting that we go some place (ANY place!). Finally, as my teeth floated and my eyes watered, I looked up the closest grocery store – less than 5 minutes away. Whew. Upon pulling into the parking lot, I spotted a nearby Barnes and Noble. Even better! Hadley’s favorite place on Earth.

After the potty break, we hit up the Thomas train set and grabbed a book for Hadley’s soon-to-be-born cousin with only two very loud meltdowns before leaving. Score.

Finally! Off to the main event for the day. The Sciencenter was everything we had hoped for and more. We spent the entire morning exploring animals, shadows, lights, mirrors, our senses, sand (one of the sand tables actually displayed a contour map on top, which took me right back to Mr. Buckley’s Earth Science class), and an awesome toddler toy area with a water table. Outside was a discovery jungle gym-type thing with more sand and water tables, a music center…seriously, the list goes on and on.

He was a VERY good boy and got a rubber snake for his troubles. I wonder where we put that thing…

For lunch, we fought the traffic outside and sat together at Ithaca Bakery. I had brought a PBJ sandwich and snacks for him but grabbed a turkey wrap for myself. This marked the first time he has sat in a restaurant without a high chair (or booster, which we don’t normally use anyway) with no wiggling or walking around. We talked and enjoyed our meals, and it was one of the best lunch dates ever.

Here’s where things get a little ugh. I had planned to take the little guy over to a parking garage then push him around the Commons in his stroller in hopes of getting a nap out of him and getting some writing done, myself. Welp, construction. The whole thing was torn up. We visited a couple of stores, but the whole point of the thing was killed. Back to the car we went.

I decided to drive back up to the college to find a spot to park (and hopefully let the little guy sleep). I was able to get a little writing done, but he kept waking (noisy college kids, of course), so while he did nap a bit, it made for a grouchy afternoon.

Yeah. That’s my finger. Oops. Added dose of embarrassment? He drooled SO MUCH. Hee hee.

Before picking up Dave, I took the little guy back down the hill a bit to a playground I had spotted, which worked wonderfully…until it was time to head back up to campus. Meltdown #3 (or 4 or 5…I’ve lost count).

This is where the “ugly” comes in. Back at Ithaca College, I knew the parking lot we were supposed to use as “visitors” to the convention (I had dropped Dave in a closer lot used just by vendors and probably should’ve tried to park there again). Instead, I followed the rules and buckled Had back into a stroller. After trying to cross through the inside of a building (as advised by Ithacon’s website), I discovered just how stroller (and handicapped) inaccessible the campus is. Oh. My. God. After exiting the building and meandering around the sidewalks, I reached our destination completely beat, looking like a mess, and feeling like a raging bull.

When Dave asked if I wanted to walk around (and, namely, meet one of our favorite authors, Bruce Coville), he knew immediately that I wasn’t moving from the chair I had claimed. I was a wreck, but after some water and time to cool down, we were able to retrieve the car, pack up, and head out.

Given my state, we decided to break our “take-out” rule (kind of…this wasn’t REALLY fast food) with a trip to A&W. We got to order, wait, and eat in our car just like the 1950s, which was pretty darn cool. And better control over the little guy is always a plus.

So, there we have it. Ultimately, the trip was actually a really fun, memorable one. I’m already able to laugh at the ridiculous things that threw the plans out the window, and am kind of relieved that most of the issues weren’t caused by a raucous little guy, but by the unknown situations that were thrown at us.

It already has my brain darting around planning our summertime getaway(s).

5 Reasons I’m Okay Spending $100 on a Dinner

Depending on the time of year, we go out maybe every 1-2 months and get a pizza every, eh, 2-3 weeks. Compared to the old days when pizza was weekly and going out was, well, probably also a weekly thing (plus any fast food stops, especially back when we were first dating and acting in shows), this is pretty stellar.

So, I thought I’d talk about briefly about why it’s totally cool with me that Dave’s taking me out for my birthday for what’s undoubtedly going to cost probably $100…give or take.

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via Trip Advisor

Special Occasion – I don’t usually give into the “it’s my birthday, I deserve it” sort of thing. However, we often decide that we’d rather take advantage of a super rare date night (seriously, if we get four a year, we’re doing something) than to actually buy gifts for the other person. This year, I don’t find myself “in need” of anything, so an incredible meal it is. (We often do something similar for our anniversary or Valentine’s Day.) Plus, any time we can eat without the little one is pretty much a special occasion. 😉 Thanks to the sitters (grandparents) of the world!!!

Insane Food – I know you probably already assume that insanity has to come into play when it comes to spending over $100 on dinner, but it’s not our insanity; it’s the INSANELY AWESOME thought put into the cuisine at our favorite restaurant. I’ve chatted about what an incredible spot The Tailor and the Cook is in the past, but yeah. I’ll repeat it again, it’s just. That. Good. The word “delicious” doesn’t describe it well enough. Also, the fact that we eat out less than the “good ol’ days” makes us really enjoy this style of food more, even if we do it only a couple of times a year.

Locavore’s Paradise – We obviously wouldn’t be willing to spend the big bucks at a regular, local restaurant (or chain) that serves the usual fare. But, much of the food served here is based on the local ingredients they’ve sourced. The care in the menu alone shows the thought put into the season and proper preparation of the food (hello, fiddleheads and ramps!). Plus, knowing (and often seeing at our local farmers’ markets) the farms and food producers displayed in a totally proud, transparent way? We have to get behind that.

The Anticipation – Okay. I haven’t had a huge appetite lately, but when I found out we’d be going to T&C, I couldn’t help but check out the menu. Seriously, I can’t decide what to get, but it doesn’t matter! Just look at that menu! And the things that sound strange are what end up being your favorite, so I put my faith into the hands of the chef(s).

It’s an Investment – People consider all sorts of things investments. Saving for college. (Okay, we do that.) Buying cars. Collecting dolls. All sorts of things. For us, food like this is an important investment. We care about the food’s treatment before it even gets to the restaurant, we care that the chef(s) give it the best possible flavor profile, and the experience of the entire evening fulfills us to no end. So, yeah. It’s an investment we’ll gladly make.

Blogiversary 5.0

Holy crap, guys. Happy Earth Day! You know what this means, right?

Earth Day just coincidentally happens to be our blogiversary! Perfect, right?

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I love that there’s a connection between our eco-friendly attempts and the ol’ blog. Wow. Now, it really IS old. Five years is forever in the world of the web.

Today, I thought I’d just chat a bit about this place that I call home. Meg, Acting Out. Meg Acts Out. Whatever.

I haven’t converted to WordPress. I haven’t linked the site up to a unique URL. I haven’t actively monetized.

I haven’t taken professional head shots. I haven’t glammed the place up. I’ve thought about getting a DSLR camera, but it’s just as much to get awesome pictures of my family as it would be to enhance the blog.

I’ve started posting a little less (I used to do MWF). I’ve even started to worry less about our number of hits (although I do find myself growing excited when I hit a certain modest number). I have no cares about whether we’re SEO-aligned or not.

It’s not that I don’t want to put the effort into all these things. As a matter of fact, it’s a dream of mine to focus on the blog and make it what it deserves to be.

But, instead, I’ve taken a small step back. I’m kind of taking after my husband, The Dorky Daddy, only posting about topics that I enjoy writing about, when I feel like doing so. We’re slowly but surely converting to WordPress (but, really, no hurry). I’m not accepting offers that simply sound like a commercial or don’t align to my values.

Ultimately, y’know what I’m doing? I’m enjoying it. I’m blogging when I feel like it. I’m not beating myself up when I decide to spend my night goofing around with my little boy or watching a great movie instead of getting that fluffy blog post set for the next morning. I’m valuing my outlet and using it just as that. And. It’s. Awesome.

Will I suddenly get a spark to organize the place into a more user-friendly, resource-based space? Will I start posting daily? Will I ever make a career out of sharing my ideas for living a simply fun life? I have no idea. If I don’t, it’s fine. If I do? Incredible!

But, in the meantime? It’s just fun.

So, on this fifth (!) blogiversary, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking around and stopping by. It means the world that you’re reading, whether you’ve followed for years, just check in from time to time, or you just found my small section of the world.

Now, who wants some birthday cake? 😉

Summer 2015

It’s equal parts being an over-planner and getting excited for some fun family activities, but every year since Hadman was old enough to have fun (in 2012, he was a newborn, so we didn’t do much of anything that summer!), I’ve made a list of fun summer ideas. In 2013, it was as much about my goals as it was the family. In 2014, we simplified quite a bit. While this year I’m still planning to get some personal goals accomplished (at least one book is written, so I’d like to get it sent out to publishers and work on other ideas) and we’re always puttering away at the house (and may be finding a new one! Eek!!), I’d ultimately like to keep it family-oriented.

Heck, I’ve been so excited about summer that I dropped in with a wishlist in January! But, now that we’re getting closer, I thought I’d fine tune things a bit. So, I give you some dreams for THIS summer (along with some family favorite repeats from years gone by) –

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1. Birthday Party 3.0 – Had’s birthday is in July, so I always like to get my creative juices flowing so that I at least know a theme or what have you for the big day. This year, my sister will have a brand new baby (in May!) and my sister-in-law is having her first little one (due early July, so it’s anyone’s guess as to when!). So, it might be a smaller event this year, which is totally fine. However, given that every time I’ve asked him in the last several months what type of party he’d like, he’s given me the exact same answer, I at least know what type of party it’ll be. Even if we only have, like, 5 people there. 😉

2. Walks – We didn’t take nearly as many walks as I would’ve liked last year. Call it my own laziness, I suppose, but this year I’d like to take several a week. Whether it’s a quick up-and-down the street or around the neighborhood, we’ve gotta get movin’! (And, yes, I’m already exhausted thinking about it.)

3. Zoo – This was a HUGE hit last year, so we’re planning to re-up our family membership to the Utica Zoo this year. With the price that it is, we don’t mind just going for the morning, eating lunch, then heading home for a nap (or staying the whole day, if we so choose). We particularly love that the animals they have on “display” are part of their focus on conservation, habitat preservation, and species survival. It’s the absolutely perfectly-sized zoo for a toddler/preschooler (with a great playground area) and H talks all the time about the animals he’s seen (and even some he thinks he’s seen ;-)). It’s definitely a big part in our raising an animal lover. Plus, there are reciprocal zoos that we could get in during any trips at a discount or free with our membership.

4. Trips! – We’re planning on taking a couple of day trips (like, within 3 hours from home) plus one 2-3 day trip similar to our Massachusetts trip last year. Still working out the details. You’d be amazed at how many places you search for that are “toddler friendly” that simply babysit the kids for the parents to have alone time all day. Not our bag; we like a FAMILY vacation, not a vacation FROM our family. 🙂 We’re also pretty loose, enjoying things like museums and hands-on play places to relaxing on the beach (not the whole time) to discovering local history and culture, so our ideas are all over the place.

5. Sandy Feet – Whether we get to a beach during our “bigger” vacation or not, I’m really hoping to get to the beach one or twice in our area. We’ve got some awesome state-protected lakes with family-friendly beaches in the area, and H is at a “love to run and play” age now, so it just seems perfect. Plus, I’d love to do the same. 🙂

6. “Potted” Garden & CSA – Between the prospect of possibly moving and the fact that our friendly neighborhood cats have taken over our gardening space, I’m hoping to just get some small plants going this year. I’ve tried in years past and had crappy-to-moderate success (I think watering is my downfall, maybe?), but am determined to at least grow a tomato plant, some herbs, and maybe something else that might catch my eye. I’d love to be able to use our back deck for this purpose, but have had issues there in the past. More research ahead!

Oh, and we’ve finally found a CSA that has us super excited to sign up. We’re still discussing between a full share (May through October) or the summer share (May through August) due to cost and our willingness/ability to keep up with meal planning come the new school year. But, we hope to figure that out this week and get our check mailed to hold our spot quickly. I’ll chat more about that once we get our first share!

7. Library – We haven’t utilized our local library much at all. It’s a pathetic state of affairs given that I’m a school librarian. We’re not huge fans of our town’s library, quite honestly (it’s always surrounded by riff raff, so kind of intimidating to bring a toddler into), but we should at least give it a shot. I’m going to look into whether or not they have a story time (their website says they do, but it hasn’t been updated since November). If not, I’ve seen that another local library has storytime and other events, so hopefully we can start getting used to *QUIET* spaces and interacting with other littles a bit.

8. Kindermusik – Here’s the opposite of quiet time! We noticed awhile back that seem to have Kindermusik classes available about a half hour away. I’d like to try a month of classes (4) to see how he likes them. If he does, it’d be cool to continue; if not, it was a good learning experience. I’m also eyeing some swim classes (that we would take with him). Again, this all might add to the “crazy” of the summer and with the idea of maaaaybe finding (and selling) a house and two new family babies coming, it might be shooting for the moon.

9. Baby Help – Speaking of which, I’m hoping to offer up my help as much as possible to Dave’s brother and SIL, and my sister and her family. Whether they’ll take it or not is totally up to them! That said, if anyone has some yummy, healthy meals I could make for their freezers, let me know in the comments! 😉

So, what about you guys? What are you looking forward to the most this summer? This week is a dreary, rainy mess of a spring week (last week was gorgeous and spoiled us with borderline summer-like weather), so my mind is definitely wandering!

Spring Cleaning, Simplified

This year, I’m not stressing about spring cleaning. This doesn’t mean that I won’t be doing some high-octane cleaning; it just means that I’m not going to break a huge sweat or give up my long-awaited-for warm days.

Here are a handful of simple but super helpful ways I’ll be gettin’ ‘er done. (Hate that phrase.)

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– Do all the jobs. Wow, that DOES sound overwhelming. What I really mean is that when I do ceilings, I’ll take a broom with a microfiber cloth and “sweep” all the ceilings in the whole house while I’m at it. (Spoiler alert: Already did this. While on the phone, even.) Or, when I do the fans, I’ll wipe all of them down and only do the “take off every single light cover and wash/dry” if absolutely necessary. All the woodwork at one time. All the vacuuming at one time. Etc, etc, etc.

Sometimes, I try to do a room at a time (like last year) and, sometimes, it works fine. But, this year, I kind of prefer doing the jobs I feel like doing at the moment and getting them ALL done. Also, once I get out a particular cleaning product (say, the Old English for our woodwork), it’ll be nice to just put it away when the job’s done.

– Stretch it out. While it sounds like a buttload of work doing the above clusters of jobs, I’m not doing them all at one time. Instead, I already started the cleaning process and am doing a quick 5-10 minute job before work in the morning or at the end of the day, or a longer one on the weekends (sometimes a couple). It’s a marathon, not a sprint!

– Use the least amount of products possible. I love multi-tasking cleaners. We use a Method all-purpose cleaner made with mostly-natural ingredients that does glass, wood, ceramic…frickin’ everything. We also love our Dr. Bronner’s castile soap, which can be used on pretty much anything and everything you can imagine. Sure, this time of year I take out the big guns (like Old English), but for the most part, it’s simple. Kind of the point of this post. 😉

– Enjoy the clean. By doing little jobs here and there, it highly reduces the amount of stress we put on ourselves. Know what else reduces it? Enjoying the clean stuff.

Throwing open the windows not only helps to freshen up your indoor environment, but also lifts your spirits. Opening the curtains after you’ve washed and rehung them helps the light come in and – yup – same thing, lift your spirits. Or just plopping down after you’ve finished a job and allowing yourself some relaxation time by way of a book or movie is totally allowed – even if you haven’t finished ALL the cleaning yet.

I can’t say how many times I’ve looked in my newly fresh (and deodorized, woohoo!) fridge just to enjoy a job well-done. Seriously.

Do you guys all spring clean? What are some of your tips and tricks for getting your spring cleaning done? We’d love to hear them in the comments!

A Dog Named Jasper

I’m totally reminded of that horrible Nickelodeon show from back in the day when I say this, but it’s true. We totally have a cat that is part cat/part dog. Dogcat. Catdog. Weird but totally how he is.

Dave and I were dog people from the start. I had to give up a kitten as a little girl due to severe allergies (which, apparently, come out depending on the type of cat.) We both owned and adored our family dogs and always figured that we’d follow in the same footsteps. And we still may, some day.

But, then Beardslee came into our lives and it was a slippery slope from there. Winston was just begging to be our “second (in his mind ONLY) cat.” Then, Jasper just showed up on our doorstep on my birthday and our trio was complete.

The cool thing about Jasper is that I had always wanted a lap cat. Someone to snuggle with, to allow the use of my lap for a nap, who wouldn’t mind being picked up. He totally fit the bill, 100%.

As time went on, though, I realized that he was so much more than just a snuggle buddy; he was the family dog.

Since it’ll probably (okay, definitely) be a challenge to handle Hadley + 3 very “unique” cats + any pups, it looks like the part of canine will be played by Jasper for the foreseeable future. And we’re totally fine with that. He’s freaking awesome.

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He’s got total dog tendencies. Here’s just a few:

– He chases his tail. Seriously. Catches it, then does it again. Falls down the stairs trying to catch that darn thing. (The sick joke? His tail is by far shorter than his two brethren. Winston stares at him like “That’s not hard. I could do that. I just don’t want to.”)

– He seems to think what Ricky Gervais (and many others, I’m sure) says that dogs think: Everything humans do is WONDERFUL. His huge eyes show a constant amazement at how awesome we are. The other two? Meh. Big deal, Mom. You made dinner. Whatever. Jasper? In awe.

– He lays underfoot. I’m sure other people have cats that do this, too, but Winston and Beardslee have a tendency to lay where they won’t be bothered; ie not in the middle of the room. JJ, however, tends to lay on his side, comfortably watching me put dishes away and prep food. He’s always nearby. Must. Know. Everything.

– Y’know that dumb stare? Totally a dog thing. The others have stares but they either mean that they’re juuuuuust about to doze off or are plotting evil revenge. Jasper’s stare is completely, utterly blank. Devoid of any thoughts whatsoever. Total “dumb dog.” (Remember: I love dogs! Dumb can be an awesome trait. And, no, not all dogs are dumb. But Jasper is totally a dumb dog.)

– He gets low grades for natural cat behavior. Jasper just isn’t great at BEING a cat, the poor thing. He has mastered going to the bathroom in the right spot (um, most of the time) and TRIES to cover it up, but he really…sucks at it. Beardslee used to sit by him as he went just so that he could hop in afterwards and give it a proper cleaning. And clawing at stuff? Definitely does it wrong. Oh, and he’s not skittish AT ALL. Two-year-old kid running straight at him? Doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t move. Just lets it happen.

– Food beggar. He doesn’t always do this, but when it’s a food item that he adores, he’s ON it. When my father-in-law comes, he always sits nearby in hopes that he’ll get some table scraps. No kidding. He’ll also eat pretty much anything you hand over. (That said, Winston loves Chinese. So, the one-to-two times a year we get it, he comes running.)

What about you? Do you have a pet that has some “weird” behavior? Does it make you love them all the more? Or just scratch your head?

Final Thoughts on the Real Food Challenge

Whew! No posts all week? Geez, Meg, what’s up with that?! Things have been weird getting back into the post-vacation routine, plus the hubs came down with another nasty illness. So, just, craziness. I’m hoping to get back on a schedule of at least twice weekly posting next week!

Anyhoo, this is our LAST POST about the “14-Week Real Food Challenge”!!! Let’s all breathe a huge sigh of relief, ‘kay?

In all honesty, our last week wasn’t quite a failure…but we didn’t adhere 100%. It was all about eating items with 5 ingredients or less, so half the battle came in finding a locally-produced, 5-ingredient Italian bread (which you can honestly use for just about anything). We did, admittedly, go out to eat once, and I haven’t felt much like making huge meals if Dave’s stomach can’t handle it, so one night involved store-bought (organic) chicken soup. And crackers. None of which had less than 5 ingredients. Far from it. *sigh*

But, in general and for the most part, we actually did pretty well considering our lack of focus. I’d say that at least two meals a day were within the limit, some days more. So, yeah. Not a horrible week.

So, now that we’re done, I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve learned as well as the things we’ll definitely take away into our future eating habits. Ready?

Pregnancy #2 Q&A - image blogger-image-271086656 on https://megactsout.com

– Without planning, you WILL spend your child’s college fund in food. You just will. And I have. Gotta get back to this a bit more, but planning a general idea of what you want to eat for the entire week (breakfast and lunch included) was tremendously helpful to me (and my wallet). I always left room for adjustment – like when I had chicken down on my grocery list but natural pork tenderloin or organic ground beef was on sale, I’d switch the plan – and would sometimes shift the day we’d eat a particular meal, so we weren’t sticklers. But, this is definitely a big help in not using up your savings. 😉

– We’re not whole wheat people. I made whole wheat pancakes, whole wheat muffins, whole wheat cookies, whole wheat bread…everything. But, I discovered that Dave wasn’t a huge fan and, sometimes, neither was Hadley…OR me. So, while I love a good whole wheat bread (and found the perfect one! – yes, store-bought), this part of the challenge won’t be coming along for the ride in the future. The fact that I cook with an organic flour helps, and I may still find a “white whole wheat” flour to try out.

– Something that works for someone else won’t always work for you and your family. Take, for example, Larabars. I. Hated. Them. Everyone involved in the challenge LOVED these. So, yeah. It is what it is.

– We’re an 80/20 family. At least, I’m an 80/20 person, and I know Dave only followed along with this thing (like a trooper, I might add) to try it out. I think that I’m, in general, this type of person; I can’t give something up 100%, but if you give me a bit of leeway to “cheat” or not be hard on myself, I succeed very well. So, while I’d say that we usually lean more to the 80-90% range, the 80/20 rule of “80% organic/natural/non-processed foods to 20% of less healthy foods” is okay. (When I say “less healthy” I actually mean non-organic {like the nuts we buy}, processed {like organic granola bars or traditional croutons}, and the rare-but-okay meal out at a restaurant or family’s house.)

Aaaaaand, my biggest takeaway of the whole shebang is simple but one we all can do…

– More fruits and veggies. Again, I haven’t been counting my servings like in the beginning of the challenge (I should do that again, hmm), but they tend to be cheaper in organic form and definitely had me feeling healthier when I adhered to upping their intake. This is by far the one thing I hope to maintain for some time to come.

So, am I glad we did it? Definitely. Were we perfect? Nope. But, I am proud of some of the sacrifices we undertook and, as a whole, the experience was very cool.

Real Food Challenge – Week #14

For 14 weeks, the family and I are undertaking a Real Food Challenge (put forth by the awesome 100 Days of Real Food blog). I’m hoping to check in about any struggles and successes along the way each week. Our ultimate goal is to cut down on our dependence on processed foods and start using some cleaner fuels to energize our bodies. And stuff.

So, here’s how it works. I’ll get an email every Thursday for the next 14 weeks (the actual eating challenge will start on Sunday or Monday for 7 days, so there are a couple of days of grocery prep built in). Each email outlines the “rules” for that particular week. It’s up to each participant as to whether or not they’d like to try each week independently or build on top of the prior week. In other words, continuing doing the prior weeks while attempting the new weeks, if that makes sense. There’s also a very active Facebook group (I’ve actually joined an offshoot that’s super supportive and far more focused) that’s there to share, answer and support.

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Last week this week, yay!!!

Review of Week #13: This week was all about eating zero artificial ingredients. While we went out once or twice, all other meals and snacks were completely on-track. This is something we try to live up to, in general, but not 100%. Kind of like how we hit up Uno’s for a treat with the little guy this week. Not complete, but perfectly acceptable to me. 🙂

Week #14 Challenge: Our final week will be an interesting one, entailing eating nothing with more than FIVE ingredients (although a meal doesn’t count, as I see it). In other words, when you read the packaging, no matter the ingredients, there can’t be six or more.

However, we’re taking it a little more seriously. Clearly, we’re hoping the ingredients are all real. So, it’s kind of a combination from last week, but more challenging. At least we found a delicious 5-ingredient local bread!

Next week, I’ll check in about how we did and some of our take-aways from the past 14 weeks (holy crap). For now, here’s our meal plan:

Breakfasts: oatmeal w/berries; rice cereal; toast w/ peanut butter; yogurt parfait; eggs and toast; homemade pancakes

Lunches: PBJ; homemade soup; leftovers!

Snacks: yogurt w/fruit; fruit; carrot sticks; homemade banana muffins; home-popped popcorn

Dinners: Pasta w/homemade sauce; homemade chicken fingers w/veggies; grilled chicken on salad; grilled steak sandwich; homemade soup and sandwich; breakfast for dinner