Leavin On a Jet Plane...Traveling With a Little One

Over the past two years that I've had Aidan, one of the most common questions I have gotten (besides "is he sleeping yet?") is "How in the world do you travel with a baby so much??"  The most common comments are "I would never try that!" Since I've been asked a LOT by moms for tips or things I've learned while flying a lot with the little one (by the time he turns 2 in January he will have been on 18 separate trips--and yes when I write it all down like that it DOES sound crazy!)  I thought I'd consolidate some of the tips and tricks I've picked up here and there for anyone who is doing any holiday traveling with a little one.

Booking Tickets:

So if you already have tickets, it's a little late for this topic, but there are a few things to try & keep in mind when choosing flight times. 

• I've tried both early morning flights and later afternoon flights, and I will say the early morning flights, while more brutal on me because I hate getting up when it's still dark, tended to be easier on Aidan.  The flights we've had that didn't leave the east coast until 3 PM or later just made for a REALLY long day for him, and made navigating his nap schedule with having to be to the airport early much more difficult.  However, the plus side is that if the flight is long enough you will eventually hit bedtime on the plane and hopefully he'll crash in your arms and sleep a good portion of the flight.  But leaving early is much easier--he'll arrive at our destination with daytime left to explore his new surroundings, he will nap on the plane, and babies are just generally happier in the mornings (at least mine is!)  So go for an earlier flight if possible and just know you'll be tired but it is better than being awake almost all day and then boarding a 5 hour flight across the country at dinner time! 
• Remember, it's free to take a baby on your lap until they are 2 years old, but you will need to pack the birth certificate to prove to the ticket agents your child is under 2!  I used to NEVER get asked--I probably got asked one time in 2 years of travel with Aidan, but now that I'm traveling with Asher I've been asked a LOT to prove he is under two.  So I always take copies of both my kid's certificates just in case.  Apparently an official shot record with the child's name and birthdate on it is also acceptable as an ID form but one time I didn't have either document with me and it was a problem for Southwest Airlines. 
• Don't be afraid of a lay over.  The layovers I have where I only get about 30 minutes are stressful.  Not only do you need to schlep baby and all your gear to your next gate but your little one will want down and to crawl or run some of his wiggles out.  30 minutes is not enough time to let him do this!  An hour and a half is a perfect amount of time to get to your next gate without sprinting, and let baby explore the airport, watch planes, get out of your arms for awhile, but it's not so long that your travel day feels unbearable!  I try my best to break up all my flights about half way. 

Car Seats and Packing:

If you're traveling with a husband or helper, it's not quite as big of a deal, but if you're on your own with an infant in arms,  the packing AND organizing of the diaper bag is a huge thing because once you have a baby on your lap in an airplane seat, you often won't be able to bend down enough to see the contents of your bag--you'll have to know where everything is by touch.  So a few things to keep in mind when packing.

• First, baby gear like car seats and strollers fly free--you can check these items at the ticket counter when you check the rest of your luggage and you won't have to pay for them, you'll just pick them up on the luggage carousel at your final destination (It's 2 pieces of baby gear per baby that goes for free).  
• Car Seats: You have probably heard that if there is an empty seat on your plane you can bring your car seat on board and have that empty seat for the little one without paying for it.  This is true, but my experience is that in this day and age there are usually very few empty seats on planes, so I haven't found lugging my heavy car seat along with everything else I'm carrying through the airport just in case there might be an empty seat (only to find out that there never is).  Make sure the people who check your car seat put it in a plastic bag!!  We have arrived at our final destination with a sopping wet car seat that had apparently sat outside on the tarmac during our lay over in a monsoon rain storm.  They have plastic bags both at the inside ticket counter and the outside curbside check in spots.  I have also learned the hard way that if an airline accidentally leaves your car seat on the run way in Denver, when you land in Burbank at 10:00 at night they will have a loaner car seat they can give you until they get yours back.  They're cheap and not awesome, but you won't be stuck at the airport. 
• For toddlers who will have their own seats on the airplane, technically the FAA does not require them to be in a car seat, however, while a pain to carry, putting your child in a car seat just as you would in a vehicle is by far safer than letting them sit in the seat on their own.  The lap seat belt just slides through the belt path on a car set, you put your weight on the seat with your knee and pull tight, just as you would install it in a car.  Your kiddo will also appreciate sitting up that much higher so he can see out the window easily and I've learned from many first hand experiences that it is actually much easier for a child to nap on the plane if they are buckled into their regular car seat just like they would nap in a car.  They are less wiggly, and there is something about being in the familiar that is helpful.   I've told friends to take car seats and they didn't and told me later they would NEVER make that mistake again--their kid would NOT hold still in the regular seat and settle into a napping position.  So for 2-3 year olds I always took the car seat on board.

There are 2 items that I absolutely could not survive traveling without--everyone has their "must haves" and these are my 2 when it comes to flying (especially since I usually travel without my husband).  My Beco baby carrier (this is my 3 year old niece modeling my carrier with her baby) is the number one item I used while traveling with Aidan until he was about 13 months old.  (He just got too heavy at that point to carry him and my carry on items by myself through big airports so I stopped using this when he started walking).  You NEED something to carry baby in through the airport and to keep him contained until you have your luggage and things situated on the plane.  If you are wearing your baby in a carrier you do NOT need to take them out at security--they will have you walk through a regular metal detector with baby attached to you and then they will swipe your hands to check for explosive material.  Both my boys would sleep in it if I have a nursing cover over him as well, so you can use it to induce naptime once on board by standing in the back and bouncing. This is also how I got away with never traveling with a stroller the whole first year--I just wore him everywhere we went at our destination--now that he's so much heavier that doesn't work but for the first year any hands free baby carrier is a must have when traveling! (Note, you are actually not allowed to keep baby in the carrier for take off or landing, but it is awesome to have one for mid-flight or the getting on and off the plane process.)

The second item that is my must-have once my kids got too big for the carrier to be comfortable is a contraption called a Go Go Babyz Travelmate.  Sounds ridiculous, I know, but it is brilliant.  If your little one is still in an infant car seat, this isn't necessary for you, but as soon as you start traveling with a full sized convertible car seat you need help.  Those things weigh a TON and I can barely lift it let alone carry it through an airport.  A Go Go Babyz is a set of wheels that straps on to your carseat through the belt path, turning it into a stroller of sorts.  I wouldn't use it as an actual stroller at a destination, but you can wheel your little one through the airport with incredible ease.  You do have to remove him at security, but then ask the TSA agent to hand check your car seat (so it doesn't have to fit through the metal detector) and you'll walk through the metal detector with your munchkin.  When Aidan was old enough to walk but still young enough to be considered an "infant in arms," I kept him in his car seat until we got right to the door of the plane.  Then I'd "gate check" the seat, and they would bring it right back to the jetway at our destination.  Now that he has his own airplane seat, I take it on board.  On a full sized airplane (Southwest flights...) my car seat is narrow enough to wheel him right down the aisle to our row so he stays constrained til we get to our seats.  They aren't cheap, but it is the absolute best money I've ever spent on a piece of baby gear just because those car seats are so darn hard to maneuver.  I got mine through Amazon and it works fantastically.

Other things I always take on board the airplane in my carry on: (sometimes I need some of these things, sometimes I don't, but here's my standard diaper bag packing list for flights):

• Enough diapers for 1 day--you know your baby's diaper-filling patterns, so plan around that with a couple extras.  I WAY over packed diapers my first few flights and ended up cutting way back for subsequent flights since they took up half my diaper bag.  If you find yourself in a pinch there will be another mom somewhere on board who can help!  
• A pack of wipes--great for diaper changes but also for sticky hands, spills, and the unfortunate day when my child threw up all over himself upon landing in Burbank one flight...I think I went through the whole pack of wipes and then carried him naked off the plane...
• One extra outfit for my kids packed in a zip lock baggie (so if there is a major accident or spilling of anything on him you can put the soiled clothes in the zip lock when you get the new outfit out).
• My nursing cover or light swaddle blanket.  Even if you're not nursing it's nice to have something to cover their little faces and bodies if they fall asleep--for warmth, and to block some of the light.
• Portable white noise.  If you have an iphone with a white noise app that works great. This is to place near his head when he does fall asleep because the captain will inevitably come on the intercom to point out some landmark as soon as your little one drifts off.  I've found having white noise near his head really does help him stay asleep longer with all the noisy intercom announcements.  
• A few toys.  Don't go overboard here.  Most babies will be completely entertained for quite awhile practicing putting the arm rest or tray table up and down.  They'll be fascinated by the pictures and bright colors on the safety information card.  Aidan liked to rip pages out of the sky mall magazine (hey when stuck at 10,000 feet with a 9 month old, you go with whatever entertains them!).  Ask the flight attendant for an empty plastic cup--they will chew on it, put things in it, crinkle it etc for a good 10-15 minutes!  I usually make a quick Target run before a trip to get a couple new books he's never seen before and one new easily portable toy.  That way whatever you pull out for him is new and exciting, but you certainly don't have to do this! 
• Now that he's a toddler, I pack some books, a sticker book for him to work on, and then the portable DVD player with some of his favorite movies.  He has flown enough he now knows he can't have his DVD player set up on his tray til we're up in the air and he hears the "ding" stating we're at 10,000 feet.  So we read books, look at the Sky Mall catalog (there are lots of kitties and doggies in there!), and do stickers until we're airborne (and then again when we're in our descent).   Play dough is also a great airplane activity for toddlers. 
• Snacks for BOTH of us!!  He loves his puffys and yogurt melts, and these will keep him busy for a LONG time!  Especially if I make him fish them one at a time out of a cup or my hand!  Don't forget food for Mommy!  Your hands will be full, so I've found that power bars with good protein, PB&J sandwiches, or pre-sliced fruit are the easiest since you'll need to eat with one hand.  Again not an issue if you have daddy traveling with you!  Most flights won't feed you any more, so if you're traveling a long distance, pack a lunch--wraps, sliced fruit, cheese and crackers with salami, all great airplane food.  You ARE allowed frozen ice packs on board, so you can use those to keep food cold or cool off your baby formula or breast milk. Note: You ARE allowed to take baby-related liquids on the flight--bottles of formula or breast milk that's been pumped and they are NOT limited to the 3 ounce rule other liquids must be.  Simply make a separate bag of the baby-related liquids and let them know when you get to the check point that you have baby formula or milk with you and they will screen that separately. 
• Sippy cup for him, water bottle for me--take them empty through security and fill with the drinking fountain when you get to the gate.  Babies little ears are sensitive on flights with the pressure changes so the number 1 way you can keep those open is to either nurse, feed, or let them suck on a sippy cup straw during both take off and landing. 
• My kindle.  He will end up falling asleep and so I like to have my kindle reachable for when he does.  I can read one-handed until he wakes up and wants to play again

All this really does fit in our diaper bag with careful planning (with the exception of a lunch box--now that he's in his own seat he technically gets 2 carry ons, so mine are my purse and diaper bag, his is the lunch box).  There are things others will tell you to pack, which you are welcome to, however I found they just took up space & I decided I could function without them.  For instance, I don't ever pack an extra shirt for me.  Some say this is a bad idea, but I've never really needed it and don't tend to have space.  Instead I dress for travel in 2 layers (a tank top under a loose long sleeved or short sleeved shirt).  If there's an oops on mommy's shirt I have another layer without taking up diaper bag space.  I also don't pack clorox wipes any more.  I used to try frantically wiping down all the germy plane surfaces he'd be touching but then I realized it was pretty futile.  He always went straight for the one thing I hadn't wiped down and it didn't end up seeming worth it.  I figure he's had his shots, he eats healthy, I just need to be ok with him exploring the plane even if it does kind of gross me out!

We have all seen the families with the stroller, pack and play, car seat, diaper bag and luggage trying to check in, and we have all sworn we wouldn't be "that" family and that when it was our turn we'd be the ones to travel super light.  The reality though is that there are certain things you need to have in order to make the vacation a success--baby needs a place to sleep, needs to be safely buckled into a car when you arrive, and may need a way to be contained at meal times.  Unless you're traveling to visit people who already own all these items, you'll need to take these things with you.  The good news is you can check most of these things on a plane and don't have to haul them through an airport.  It is worth asking whoever you are visiting if they have a friend they could borrow a few baby items from.  If they ask around at church or in the neighborhood it's amazing how many families do own extra baby gear!  (I haven't ever had to fly with a pack and play--everyone I have gone to visit has been able to borrow one from somewhere, or my parents went to a second hand children's shop and got one for about $25 to just keep at their house--and most hotels have portacribs you can use for free so call and ask before you haul one across the country).  To save suitcase space I don't pack enough diapers or baby food for the whole trip.  Wherever I'm going has stores, so I pack enough diapers, wipes and food for the travel day and the first day at our destination and then head to a store to stock up on anything I didn't want to use suitcase space on.

Other Random Tidbits:

Ask a flight attendant when you board if there is a changing table on the plane.  Southwest flights all have them in the front lavatory, they are fold down things over the toilet.  If there is no changing table on board you have a few choices.  If you're with other people from your family just have them stand up and lay baby across your two seats to change him.  You can always lay your changing pad or mat on the floor at the back of the plane if you need to in a worst case scenario.  

He may cry.  And it's okay.  No one will die from listening to your baby cry, and most people on the flight have been in your shoes (even if they shoot you dirty looks and act like they haven't).  You can always stand and bounce with him in the back of the plane if you need to, or walk him up and down the aisle to let him make new friends.  Sooner or later you WILL land and get off the plane and you will survive.  I've been amazed at how many people really are willing to help especially if you're alone. I've had other moms offer to hold him so I could use the bathroom or get situated, a flight attendant made him a rattle with a plastic cup, lid and pack of pretzels, a business man played peek a boo with Aidan over the seat back for WAY longer than I'm sure he wanted to, and countless people offered to help me put my luggage up above, let me use their tray table for an extra surface for my own drink to keep it away from little hands, and helped me get my luggage back at baggage claim.  

Why is all this worth it to me?  Because I want my boys to know their family as much as possible, and if that means every 6 weeks or so I deal with a travel day, well, it's worth it.  We survive the flight and then he has a blast with cousins or relatives.  Yes it can mess with his sleep schedule, and I do my best to follow his tired cues to know when to put him down (rather than a clock), and within a day or two he adjusts and we're back on a normal routine.  But to me, it's all worth it.  Happy travels my friends!

Sometimes Heading off the Path is Better

We are learning a lot as we continue setting out to explore this enormous city we live in, and today we learned another valuable lesson when it comes to exploring this morning! Thanks to the super cool book I wrote about last time we went out adventuring, we found another new place to play today.  We thought we'd take advantage of the gorgeous November weather (okay, it's almost too warm for me!) and packed up to head down to the Beverly area of LA to Pan Pacific Park, a public park that had a train theme to it.  Seeing as how our little guy is obsessed with choo-choos and we've had a lot of fun exploring the variety of public parks LA has to offer we thought we'd check it out.

The playground was pretty cool, although I'm not sure there was anything about it that made it exceptionally stand out from other playgrounds we've been to.  It did have a "train" to drive, but it wasn't quite what we had pictured.  Aidan did love "driving" but it didn't hold his attention for all that long.

 The choo choo to drive

Peek a boo!

He was too busy telling me what letters were on the sign to look at the camera apparently.

 

 The Pan Pacific Park

Exploring with daddy

Unfortunately, there was a little boy at the park who had a little ride-on car that my little "driver" got obsessed with and could not get over the fact that it wasn't his to ride.  So once he saw that and was told no, he wanted nothing to do with the rest of the park.  We had to change scenery, so I suggested we go exploring down some of the paths in the park.  We couldn't figure out what kind of "garden" we ended up in, but upon more exploring realized it was part of the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum.  It was very cool, a 2 minute walk across the park we had been in. 

So we kept exploring the museum, and found some powerful outdoor memorials...

A wall where you could places notes or thoughts into little holes, like a wailing wall.

Outside were huge pillars with some of the history written on them year by year throughout the WWII era. (That would be Aidan there in the background playing with the water fountain....hey whatever kept him occupied was fine with me!)

We wandered inside just to look, and found that it was a free museum and we were the only ones there at the time.  We obviously couldn't spend much time looking at anything with a toddler running around, but I snapped a few photos and we definitely would love to come back minus the little one.

Part of a display about the Jewish faith and monotheism.  This is a Hebrew scroll of part of the Old Testament which I thought was so beautiful.

It's a museum with very little to read, they really encourage you to do the audio tour (which we obviously couldn't do today), but this was the display of people who resisted the Nazis--Miep Gies, Anne Frank and Oskar Schindler being some of them.

Back outside crunching the few leaves that had fallen.

Our initial plan was to finish at the park and then drive over to have lunch at The Grove, but when we looked at our maps we realized The Grove was just across the park, so we loaded Aidan into the stroller and set off for a quick 5 minute walk.  We arrived at The Grove to find a ginormous Christmas tree.  I feel like it's a bit early for this especially since it was 80 degrees, but it was beautiful against such a blue sky! (Aidan was 100% NOT impressed by the way.  I had told him there was a Choo Choo at The Grove (a little trolley that runs up and down the shopping plaza) and he was busy looking for that.  Which doesn't start running til 1 PM by the way--we were there at 11:30--so needless to say someone was a tiny bit cranky about not seeing the choo choo AND not getting to drive the "little car!" at the park...whoops!)

I love the fountain here, I could watch it for quite awhile.

So could Aidan :)

We had a bit of drama figuring out where to eat--we were going to eat at The Farmer's Market but we ended up at Johnny Rocket's instead...not super unique but a place we all enjoy that was going to be fast, relatively inexpensive and with high chairs :)

Um and they have butterfinger milkshakes.  Definitely a plus!

Aidan is now officially a bit fan of "mook shakes!"

So today we learned is that sometimes the original "adventure" isn't all that cool, but at least in LA if you walk a few minutes in one way or another you will undoubtedly find something else worth exploring, which is such an awesome thing about our city.  We're looking forward to what our next opportunity to explore might have in store for us!

Aidan's Adventures

One of the things we're trying to be really intentional about as a family is having adventures together. We realized recently how easy it can be for a weekend to roll around and instead of thinking about what we want to do with our time we just kind of let it pass and pretty soon the weekend is over without us doing anything meaningful, memorable or fun together.  Aidan and I head out on a lot of adventures throughout the week--both of us get a little stir crazy just sitting at home so I am thankful there are a TON of places I can take him within 30 minutes of us that often don't cost a lot (definitely one of the perks of living in LA!).  However, daddy doesn't get to come with us very often, so if we wanted to start making some family memories we needed to be intentional about our Saturdays together.  It turns out that our first MOPS speaker of this year was a woman whose life's mission and passion was just that--helping families have fun, educational adventures together around Southern California.  Susan Peterson was an AWESOME speaker and shared her book with us, Fun and Educational Places to Go With Kids and Adults in Southern California.  She talked about the importance and value of getting out and having experiences together as a family, and exposing our kids to a variety of places and situations.  She was a homeschooling mom of 3 active boys who hated just sitting at home, so when her boys were young (they are now in their 20s) she just started taking them places, anywhere she could find, as part of their education.  She started writing down all the places they went and eventually it became a book (which is now in its 9th edition and 846 pages long!).  She motivated me once again to continue thinking outside the box and be willing to try new places and things (which isn't necessarily my strong point!).

So this past weekend, even though I was fighting a cold, we decided there was no time like the present to start working through her book (at least the LA County places!) and try a new place or two together. After taking it easy for the morning to rest a bit, we set off. We ended up choosing a free public park but it caught our attention as we flipped through the pages because it's name is Aidan's Place, named after a little boy with disabilities who passed away.  What's awesome is that her book is broken down by county, and then into categories.  So I went to the LA County "Great Outdoors" section to find a park or outdoor adventure for us, and then I went to the LA County "Edible Adventures" section to find somewhere fun for us to eat dinner.  Such a great book--if you are living in Southern Cal and need a gift idea for a family--this one is awesome and available on line--she tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about visiting a place--how much it costs, how long you'll spend there, if it's good for birthday parties, how to get there, hours, recommended ages etc!  Anyways! Enough with the sale's pitch :)  We started our adventure at Aidan's Place, a park in West LA, just off the 405 in Westwood Park. It was a fantastic park--fully handicapped accessible, which also means great for a toddler because there are fewer things for him to fall off of or have trouble maneuvering on his own.  It also has an amazing sand play area that is set up for kids of all abilities to be able to enjoy this sensory experience.

This kid LOVES to drive anything and everything!

I loved that the little boy whose name this park has spelled Aidan the same way we do!

Beautiful random park in the middle of a big city!

A great sand play area--kids who are in wheel chairs can still access the sand in buckets atop those platforms.

I love that I snapped the camera just as he was making the "thank you" sign to a little girl who gave him back his bucket!

After about an hour and a half of sliding, scooping, driving and running around we packed up to head to our next stop on the adventure--dinner inside a choo choo!  (We knew this would be a hit with the train-obsessed toddler!)  We headed to Carney's, which I'd never heard of but is apparently a famous LA landmark known for their hot dogs (and other yummy, but not so healthy dishes!)  There are two Carney's, which we learned the hard way. One is NOT as close to our house, on Sunset Strip, which of course is where we went.  The other is in Studio City, which is the one I thought my iphone was taking us to.  Whoops!  (she did tell us that in the book, but I wasn't paying attention when I pulled up Yelp's reviews....) Oh well, it was fun to see another part of LA--although the toddler stuck in his car seat while we navigated Sunset Blvd's Saturday afternoon traffic was less than thrilled...

 They took 3 train cars and turned them into a fast-food type restaurant that sells a variety of hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, chili-cheese fries (which they are famous for--and they were delicious!) and some healthier options--wraps and grilled tacos.  We would definitely visit here again, Aidan thought it was so good I had to go order him a second hot dog (which he ate--yikes!) so he'd leave my food alone! 

It was a gorgeous fall day, and we are all glad we had an adventure together--now we're looking forward to our next one!

Monthly Menu (October 2013)

Hey friends!  So meal planning seems to be coming up in a lot of conversations I've been having lately with folks (perhaps because in our crazy busy world we all have to be strategic about thinking through meals in order to make them happen!).  Several of you saw my random instagram picture with my cookbooks out and asked me if I'd share what I came up with and how I go about putting together a monthly menu, so I thought I'd share on here what I'm cooking this month, but also a bit about how and why I do put time into meal planning for our family.  Feel free to try any recipes--if you click on each recipe name it will take you to the recipe itself--either at another website or it will take you to my personal recipe blog, a blog I started awhile ago in attempts to organize and keep recipes in one spot.  I don't tend to use it as much any more (thanks to Pinterest) but I added several of these to that page for this month so you can find them if you'd like to try some of these.  Happy cooking!

The "Why?"
One of the questions I get is "why do you take the time to menu plan?  Don't you just buy a standard list of ingredients and then just cook what sounds good each day?"  I know that method works for some folks, but it really does not work for me.  Quite honestly, I menu plan because without a plan in place at the start of a week I get a little stressed.   We have a lot of evening commitments with my husband's job and various things I do at the church, and we have a little boy who likes to be entertained as much as possible, so if I waited until 4 every afternoon to see what inspired me or sounded good we would end up eating quesadillas every night of the week because they are simple and I know my child loves them :)  I love waking up in the morning knowing what is for dinner so if it's something that will be more labor intensive I can start prepping during nap time, or I know what kind of meat to pull out of the freezer to start thawing.  I also menu plan because if I'm inspired to make something like a soup, chances are there are going to be a few things on the recipe list I don't have.  I have tried substituting things and sometimes that works great, and others it's a bit of a train wreck, so I've learned sticking relatively close to the recipe works well for me!  To make multiple trips to the grocery store each week for random items I don't have takes a lot of extra time and usually results in way too many impulse buys that I don't need.  So for me, I need a plan in place by Sunday evening of what meals I'm going to prepare that week and what items I'll need from the store for one shopping trip I usually do on Monday morning.  We are not big "lunch meat" sandwich folks in our house, so most of our lunches are made up of leftovers from the night before (I LOVE leftovers!), so some families may only need to cook 3 times a week and eat left overs the other dinners, but our left overs usually go to lunches.  That means I do need to cook dinners most nights, but if the meals are simple I don't mind.

The "How?"
Everyone has a different menu planning method.  Some do theirs by the week, others by the month.  Everyone has different ways of narrowing down recipes and choosing what meals they'd like to make as well.  I have gone through cycles over the years of how I go about this, but what has been working really well for me this past year is to sit down during the last week of the previous month and come up with a menu for the whole month.  Why?  Mostly because I like to drag all the cookbooks, pinterest pages etc out once instead of every week.  It takes a bit longer to do 4 weeks of menus at once, but once you get a system in place it doesn't have to be super time consuming, and I love having it done and out of the way.  I can usually finish it all during one of my kiddo's naps (and he NEVER naps longer than an hour and a half on a GOOD day!)  I don't make 4 weeks of grocery lists at once.  I tried that for awhile and it took WAY too much time for me, so I have my meals chosen a month at a time, and Sunday evenings I'll look at the next 5-6 recipes and make my list for that next week.  

It can be overwhelming looking at the sheer numbers of recipes out there while trying to decide which ones to make.  Thanks to the internet the possibilities are endless!  I love cookbooks but sometimes I get so focused on yummy looking pinterest recipes I never open my cookbooks, and that makes me a bit sad :)  So the way I choose recipes (and have for about a year now) is to have each night of the week be focused on one type of food all the way through the month.  So for instance, some months every Monday is Mexican food at our house and Thursdays might be a night focused on various kinds of chicken dishes.  This particular season finds me in Pasadena working with a Fuller class every Monday & I don't get home til almost 7.  I needed to have dinner ready for my husband and little one much earlier than that, so for the next two months, every Monday night in our house will be a crock pot meal that Charles can serve to himself and Aidan when Aidan needs to eat.  My "themes" for each night change throughout the seasons as our schedules change and as the type of foods we like to eat throughout the year change.  I don't usually assign a night to "soup" in July, and December isn't usually when I have "a summer salad" night of the week.  Some of you are thinking I put WAY too much time into thinking about this but to me it's really fun coming up with new categories, and then it makes my recipe choosing SO much easier because I've narrowed it down a bit (instead of looking at all my food pins on pinterest I may only go to my "soup" board or the "sandwich" section of my latest cookbook).

For this month, here are my "categories:" 

Sundays are always leftover night where we clean out whatever needs to be finished before the next week starts. 
Monday: Crock Pot Meals
Tuesday: Family Favorites (I love trying new recipes but I realized with all the new recipes I try I forget to make some standby favorites like teriyaki burgers, meat loaf and roasted sweet potatoes, the lettuce wraps we love etc. So this month I dedicated one night a week to pulling out a favorite I know all 3 of us love that I know how to make easily). 
Wednesday: Soup & Bread
Thursday: Mexican food
Friday: Italian inspired foods
Saturday: Fancy sandwiches (we only have 2 Saturdays we're home this month).

Does that mean I always cook my soup recipe for the week on Wednesday?  No, things shift around.  Life gets busy and maybe my meatloaf that needs to cook for an hour needs to wait for another night that week while my pasta dish from Friday could be made in 20 minutes.  So we eat the pasta on Tuesday and the meatloaf on Friday and it's great.  I already have al the ingredients for both dishes so it doesn't matter what night they are consumed.  But it helps immensely in selecting recipes and then in having a bit of a structure to our week so I know we're eating a variety of things.  

Okay, without further ado here are the recipes we're trying this month.  I should say our family doesn't have any particular food sensitivities.  We're not gluten free or vegetarian or have any other specific dietary needs or allergies.  We try to eat balanced meals and round out each meal with salads or roasted veggies, but some nights we eat a super cheesy, creamy comfort-food enchilada recipe and I don't worry about it knowing the next night we might have a meal that is more heavily based on vegetables or a ground turkey chili.  Just wanted to throw that disclaimer out there since in our food-sensitive society we all have various preferences and needs!

October 1-6

Tuesday's Family Favorite Meal: Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps 
Wednesday's Soup Supper: Colorado White Chicken Chili 
Thursday's Mexican Food: Chicken Chimichangas
Friday's Italian Dinner:  One Skillet Lasagna
Saturday: Dinner out with friends!
Sunday: Leftovers

October 7-13

Monday's Crock Pot Meal: Crock Pot Kid Friendly Turkey Chili  

Tuesday's Family Favorite: Mom's Meat Loaf and Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Wednesday's Soup Supper: Italian Wedding Soup from Cooking With all Things Trader Joe's

Thursday's Mexican Food: Annette's Enchiladas from Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist

Friday's Italian Inspired Meal:  BBQ Chicken Pizza from Don't Panic, Dinner's in the Freezer

Saturday's Sandwiches:  French Onion Grilled Cheese

Sunday: Leftovers

October 14-20

Monday's Crock Pot Meal: Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken 
Tuesday's Family Favorite:  Bacon Apple Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad
Wednesday's Soup Supper: Taco Soup
Thursday's Mexican Food:  Butternut Squash Quesadillas (one of my very favorite fall food recipes!)
Friday's Italian Dinner: so I'm at the women's retreat Friday & Saturday nights--I'll have to leave Charles and Aidan with something yummy so they don't starve!

October 21-27

Monday's Crock Pot Meal: Not So Sloppy Joes

Tuesday's Family Favorite: Teriyaki Burgers (SO SO delicious)

Wednesday's Soup Supper: Hearty Red Lentil Soup 

Thursday's Mexican Food: Classic Taco Salad (use whatever meats, beans, toppings you have in the house!)

Friday's Italian Dinner: Penne with Chicken, Broccoli and Gorgonzola

Saturday's Sandwiches:  The Pioneer Woman's Veggie and Cheese Bagel Sandwiches

October 28-31

Monday's Crock Pot Meal: Real Pork and Beans

Tuesday's Family Favorite: Chicken Gyros 

Wednesday's Soup Supper: 3 Bean Minnestrone

Thursday's Mexican Food: Baked Tacos (one of my favorite Pinterest finds this year!)

Because I Don't Want to Forget (or What I'm Into, Summer 2013)

I can sense it already.  I'm not remembering the little moments quite like I always imagined I would be able to, or like I want to.  Maybe it's the sheer pace of life, or maybe it's the constant sleep deprivation and exhaustion, but there are days I literally can't figure out if my son is 19 or 20 months old.  I can't remember when he took those first steps (I think I wrote in his baby book that it was in March, but maybe that's wrong?)  I always imagined that those key moments in my child's life would be so significant that they'd be forever etched into my mind--this mind that loves details and can recite all kinds of useless information for you.  But that is apparently not the case, much to my dismay.  That's one of the reasons I adore this monthly series that Leigh Kramer hosts on her blog--I love the chance to sit down and think at least once a month about the things that have happened, the little things that have helped define that season.  It seems to be the only writing I can muster these days.  Many of the blogs I read are written by moms of little ones and their philosophy is that if you want to be a writer you just have to do it.  You have to make time.  So they get up at 4 AM and write before their kids wake.  I'd love to do that.  Except I really love sleep, so I don't anticipate that happening anytime soon.  So instead I jot notes in my phone of things I'd love to write about, and I manage to eek out this post once a month (except for July--somehow I haven't written since June...whoops).

Moving...It's been a month of what has felt like chaos to me, which is not my favorite feeling that's for sure.  But anytime you move to a new home you're bound to feel a bit disoriented and chaotic for awhile.  We only moved a couple of miles, from an apartment to a town home with twice as much space, which we LOVE! We were supposed to close on August 8th, but at the last minute closing was pushed back a week, which in the end was fine but led to us doing some reconfiguring of our logistics, move out dates, and family coming into town to help us.  We had an amazing team of helpers, and moving weekend went as smoothly as a move can go.  Our entire house is a stark white color which is completely unacceptable in my mind, so we've already been hard at work painting each room.  Aidan's room was first completed, and we now have the laundry room, kitchen, and master bedroom also painted.  I think I have finalized my color choices for the main neutral tones that will be carried throughout the living spaces and stairwells, so it's just a matter of getting someone to come in and paint those spaces for us (we have HUGE tall walls in our living room that no ladder we own could ever reach). It's slowly starting to feel like home, and in another couple weeks I think we'll be mostly done with feeling like we have to be doing something house-related each evening. We feel SO beyond blessed to have this space--and our prayer is that we can be hospitable and use it to serve others out of.  We've already made a long list of folks we'd love to have over for a meal (something that was so hard in our tiny apartment), and we also hope to host high school small groups here at some point.

Traveling...Other than moving, August was a month of going nowhere.  I know, that is so unlike me!  (But don't worry, I'm in the process of booking plane tickets for a September trip!)  July found Aidan and I taking a quick 4 night trip up to Santa Cruz while Charles was house boating with the youth.  My sister's in laws have a home in the mountains of Santa Cruz and invited us up since my sister and her girls were going to be there visiting.  It was so fun letting the cousins play together, being in a much cooler climate, and enjoying some family time.  We also got to see our aunt and uncle and cousins which was a lovely surprise! The kids played and played and ran around shrieking together--and spent HOURS pushing strollers around--for some reason that was the huge activity for the week, pushing the doll strollers around the block. (And someday I am going to have a porch swing in the redwoods to read on.  I've just decided this).

Sermon Writing--and Re-writing...I had the incredible privilege of preaching at our church in August, as part of a summer series on the Psalms.  It had been a long time since I have been given that opportunity and it was so much fun to get to tap back into the seminary side of me that isn't always utilized on a daily basis in my child-raising life.  I will be honest, this was probably the toughest passage of scripture I've ever preached on, and I spent more time and worked harder on this sermon than any I've ever done before.  I re-wrote this several times, and wrestled hard with what God wanted to communicate to our congregation through Psalm 88 this time around.  It was such an honor, I absolutely loved working with scripture like this again and writing (and re-writing...) so much.   It has been an amazing sermon series, and if you're looking for a few week series to listen to, I'd highly recommend this one.  You can find them all here beginning on July 28. 

Books, Movies, and Netflix...Surprise surprise, in a month when I moved, had both sets of parents visit, preached a sermon and prepped for a fall of MOPS I haven't read much.  Our book club selection this summer was The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer which I have to be honest, I didn't like much.  In fact I only finished half of it.  The reviews in our group were pretty mixed, and I don't think any of us put it on our new list of favorites.  I'm just starting And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini which I'm hoping will be wonderful--he is such a fantastic writer.  I have several books to read before the end of September about adolescent faith longevity for a class I'm going to TA at Fuller this fall.  It's all about how to help students develop a faith that "sticks" beyond high school, and the reading list looks awesome so hopefully by the time I write this post in September I'll have something more exciting to say about books! 

We have watched pretty much nothing but The West Wing this summer, working our way through the seasons--up through the middle of season 3--and we are both obsessed.  It is such a good show, and has prompted some fun conversations between us.  And I am not sure we've seen a movie this summer...that is pathetic, I realize, but baby sitters are expensive! 

The Little Man...Oh there are not enough words to describe how amazing this kid is to me!  He has learned so much, and is so incredible to watch as he explores his world.  Aidan is super verbal, always talking, trying so hard to speak.  The pediatrician asked me if he had at least 5 words I recognized and I told her that I think he has at least 40.  He is 100% all boy--fascinated by anything with wheels that moves--lawn mowers, trucks, planes, trains, cars, "bigguks" (big trucks), mail trucks, shopping carts and baby strollers.  Trains are his current favorite thing, he's obsessed.  He loves going to his baby gym classes, loves any indoor play place I can find, and is happy as a clam at any park or other place to explore.  Aidan's other big obsession are books and the letters of the alphabet.  As active as he is, he will sit for an hour straight bringing me books to read to him, and he can now recognize about half of the letters of the alphabet completely out of context.  He can tell me all the letters in his name and some days we'll be driving down the road and from the back seat I'll hear "M!" or "W!" as we drive past McDonalds or Walgreens.  He is my little snuggle bug who will come give mommy hugs and kisses randomly throughout the day, and absolutely cracks himself (and us!) up with the most random things.  He pushes all my buttons every day and is incredibly strong willed and is doing his best to live into the meaning of his name "little fiery one!"  We've started going on more and more play dates with friends, and he loves his buddies Joshua, Luke and Sienna--and has started asking for them by name.  We adore this little guy and can't wait to see what else he'll surprise us with in the next month!

Deliciousness I've discovered this month....
Dinner a Love Story's Salsa Fresca My husband said this is the best salsa he has ever had.  It's amazing!
Hot dogs on the grill with a side of watermelon--nothing beats this simple meal for a summer weekend evening! 
Oven Baked Tacos SO delicious--mix the filling together ahead of time, fill hard taco shells, and bake in the oven to soften the crunchy shells--they are awesome. 

In the blogging world...favorite posts by others
Hope for Spicy Families by Jen Hatmaker
This is my Body, Sacred, and Scarred by Beth at Five Kids is a Lot of Kids
Story Formed: An Interview with Sarah Clarkson (part one) (an author who wrote a book all about what to be reading to our kids--how the quality of books we read to them really is important, and she has a book of huge suggestions of books to be reading to kids--LOVE her perspective!)
Story Formed: An Interview with Sarah Clarkson (part two)
You Are Not Too Much of Anything by Beth at Five Kids is a Lot of Kids

What I'm Into (June 2013)

Clearly writing is not something I've been into in the past few months!  Yikes!  It's been almost 2 months since I have posted anything--how in the world did that happen??  I thought life moved quickly when I was in grad school--you get the syllabus on day 1 of the quarter and before you know it you're at finals 10 weeks later.  But that was nothing compared to full days with a very busy and very curious 17 month old.  I never. stop. moving.  I never sit down.  If he's napping I'm busy trying to prepare the next meal or quickly do a load of laundry since hauling laundry baskets and a 27 pound wiggly boy down to the laundry room is no longer physically feasible.  Life feels full, rich, a bit tedious somedays (how many times can you beg a 1 year old to not touch the DVD player??), and always always involves at least one change of clothes per day (for him...but often for me as well...this kid is a pro at finding water, dirt, mud, etc).  So as I think back over the past 2 months, here are a few of the things we've been into and up to in our little corner of Northridge.

The Little Man:  Aidan is growing & changing in new ways every day.  Today I heard him "baa" like a sheep for the first time.  I know, probably not earth-shattering, but I've never heard him do that before!  He surprises me all the time with new things and he is trying so hard to communicate, and he doesn't miss a thing.  This morning the car seat was sitting in our entry way when we woke up because my husband had gone to the beach super early & left the car seat so I could use it in a friend's car.  Aidan sees it and immediately starts making his airplane signs and sounds--he knows the only time we ever pull that car seat out is when he goes on an airplane.  It took me forever to convince him we weren't going on a plane today, no matter how many times he asked for Papa and Grandma, but I was amazed--that was a connection he made immediately that I probably never would have.  He's trying to learn how to "sing" which as one of our high school friends says is "the. cutest. thing. EVER!"  (I agree, it is).

We got him a water table at Costco one day because it was so warm outside and we wanted something he could play with out on our patio.  This kid is obsessed.  He's out there all the time, often before 7 AM in his pjs playing in the "wa-wa."  Definitely money well spent! He is completely in love with Elmo (Mo-mo) and will ask for Elmo at all hours.  Part of me is beginning to regret introducing Elmo but part of me is grateful that for the first time in a year and a half I can make dinner without him tearing my pantry and cupboards apart while whining to be entertained.  I used to be one of those moms who thought I'd never let my kid watch TV this young.  Yeah, there are a lot of things I used to think about parenting.  And then I had Aidan.  And now we do what works as we go along, and in this season of constant toddler activity and destruction, that means we watch Elmo twice a day (as Mommy drinks her morning coffee and as Mommy makes dinner!).  Just today for the first time he started asking for "choo choos" so we watched Thomas the Train instead and he was fascinated (my parents took him to play with the Thomas the Train table at Barnes and Noble last weekend and he LOVED it!) So perhaps there is hope that I can have a bit of variety in my toddler-TV time :)

Since we have a tiny apartment and almost no outdoor space with a very active little boy, I spend a lot of my days taking him on outings.  We've gone all kinds of random places together which has been so fun.  Underwood Farms, Universal Studios City Walk, the LA Zoo, friend's houses, a local park with a splash zone in it, and lots of places that involve ice cream or frozen yogurt.  I love these times with him, getting to see new things and getting to explore more of LA myself.  He adores the beach, can't get enough of the sand and water--this kid definitely doesn't have sensory issues that we've found so far!  While his mommy hates the texture of sand, he rolls in it.  I can't imagine having to roll in sand, but he dives in--usually face first. Yuck.

Books, Music, and Netflix:  We cancelled our cable, so whatever we watch now is either online or on Netflix, which so far has been just fine (I do miss the Today Show.  A lot).  In May I watched season 1 of the show Hart of Dixie on Netflix while I was home in the evenings by myself and I got a teensy bit addicted.  I loved it.  Small town, cute characters, medical stuff, love triangles--I was hooked and am looking forward to season 2 coming out this fall on DVD.  Charles and I finished season 1 of The West Wing last night and were going to start season 2 tonight (but someone decided to go to bed at 7:30 after an early morning surf session....I'm not naming any names!)  We both adore this show, the writing, characters and politics.  I always said if Jed Bartlett could run for president he'd have my vote in a heartbeat!

I'm super late to the party but I just discovered The Lumineers and adore them.  I've known Hey Ho for awhile now but hadn't ever heard the rest of their album....it's fantastic. The Nashville Soundtrack has also been frequently played in the car this past month, which has some wonderful new songs on it, and I'm still living in my obsession of Elizabeth Mitchell's kid's music--so beautiful and folksy and not obnoxious at all.  I just found out she's doing a kid's concert at The Getty in August and I think I might be a teensy bit excited.

I got to go on vacation in June for 2 weeks to see my family, and I managed to read a lot while I was there.  After Aidan went to bed every evening at 7 I read for a couple of hours because I didn't have any responsibilities of cleaning or laundry or anything else that occupies my time here at home.  I read 3 books and started 2 more (hey, for me that's a lot these days!).  I loved Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, a novel set in India about two cousins born on the same day and raised together.  It's a story of their lives unfolding, their arranged marriages, their family's secrets and past--all woven together beautifully.  Definitely recommend this one!  I also read Sparkly Green Earrings, Catching the Light at Every Turn by Melanie Shankle.  She's the author of the Big Mama blog which I really love and this is her first book, a memoir of parenting that is hysterical and will bring you to tears.  Her chapter on potty training made me about die laughing!  The last book I read was one my mom's neighbor read and immediate brought over to us.  My mom read it in a couple days and then I picked it up and finished it in a few days.  It's called Left Neglected by Lisa Genova, author of the popular book Still Alice.  It's about a woman who is incredibly successful, a high powered exec, mother of 3, carefully juggling her life.  A car accident leaves her with a brain injury that causes "left neglect" where her brain completely ignores the left side of everything.  She isn't blind but she literally doesn't register the left side of her plate, a book, her body, a room, anything she's looking at.  It's a very real disorder that people experience (often stroke patients) and reading her story & her path to recovery was fascinating.  It's a fiction book, easy to read, and definitely one I'd recommend.  I've started Francis Chan's Crazy Love, and Sticky Faith by Kara Powell and Brad Griffin from the Fuller Youth Institute (since I'm going to be Kara's TA in the fall as she teaches a class on Sticky Faith I figured I should read the book!)  I get the opportunity to preach at First Pres Granada Hills in August and have been doing some reading to prepare for that as well.  Walter Brueggemann's book The Message of the Psalms is fantastic, and has given me a lot to think about as I dive into the world of the Psalms of Lament.

Other Events and Happenings: Memorial Day weekend saw us heading up to Forrest Home camp with 110 other folks from church for the All Church Retreat.  It was a lovely weekend of connecting with those I might not have known well, and letting Aidan explore nature a bit more and playing.  I will say it was REALLY exhausting with a 1 year old--who didn't sleep hardly at all and who needed to be watched at all times to avoid you know, falling off a mountain or down a hill into a rockbed.  But I am still glad we went and am hoping next year might be a bit easier.

We're still house hunting, which is a painful process in LA on a limited budget!  The market is ridiculously competitive and we've put in offers on several places now only to have 15 other offers be submitted as well.  So nothing exciting to report on that front!

June saw us getting to attend two graduation parties from students we've known and loved since they were freshmen at the church we were at previously.  It was wonderful getting to reconnect with them and their families, and to hear all about their plans as they head to places like Stanford, Yale, and Harvard (yes I had a ridiculously smart freshmen girl's small group one year!)


I hopped on an airplane June 12 and headed to Minneapolis to spend 2 weeks there with my parents (with a 5 days side trip down to Iowa to see my sister's family & new home!)  Charles was in Costa Rica with the high school students so I headed east.  It was a blast letting Aidan explore, get to know his cousins, and having extra people to chase him and keep him from eating dirt (too much anyways) and falling into the fountain at my parent's house.  He LOVED being with his cousins and asks for Lulu and Book (Lily & Brooke) all the time.  They taught him the lovely skill of shrieking and he's been practicing to see if he can give them some competition next time we see them.  He could not get enough dirt and bark and rocks and grass and sand and water in their yards.  I think we went through 2-3 outfits a day while we were there.  But in my mind that's exactly what summertime should be for a little boy!  He discovered a few new foods that he loves while there--most notably "nini" (Zucchini).  My parents took him one Saturday for several hours while I worked on my sermon, and the 3 of them went to explore the aquarium at the mall of america and then went to eat ice cream and play with the train table at Barnes & Noble.  He had an absolute ball.  He learned to make choo choo noises, and came home with a stuffed turtle just like the turtles he saw swimming in the water.  He loves his new "turtle" and makes sure turtle is now in his crib for naps.  My parents also discovered having a little boy in the house is a little different in terms of what he's interested in exploring and getting into than having the two girls come to visit.  He got into all kinds of things the girls have never dreamed of touching and kept all of us running.  I loved eating delicious summer food off the grill almost every day--steaks, teriyaki burgers, apple basil chicken burgers, shish ka bobs twice, and salmon.  Stuff I never make for us but love to eat!

 Phew!  I think that's about it for what's been going on here.  Mostly I love having a little record of what each month has held for us since life is busy enough that I'm not journaling or writing much these days.  As usual I'm linking this post up with the lovely Leigh Kramer's collection of What I'm Into Posts from around the country :)  Happy summer everyone!