6 months in

This week, my little munchkin celebrated her half-birthday!!!

Here are some of the things that Lucy loves these days:

*Her exersaucer
*Her jolly jumper
*Eating real food (We are doing Baby-led weaning, more on that in a minute)
*Not sleeping through the night (ha ha)
*Her big sister
*Her baby swing outside
*Reading stories
*Bath time
*Tickles and "flying"
*Music

She is 20 lbs, 74 cm and growing like a weed. She is wearing mostly 12 month clothes, or 6-12 month shirts. She is sitting up on her own, but falls over occasionally. I think she'll be crawling in the next month or two for sure. She has her two front teeth and I think she's working on some more of them :)

We started baby led weaning last Wednesday, and so far, Lucy has tried green beans, sweet potato fries, steamed carrots, cucumber, steamed broccoli, squash, potatoes, chicken, turkey burgers, roast beef, zucchini, oatmeal, banana and avocado. She loved the sweet potato and carrots and broccoli and loves most of the meat too. It is really entertaining to watch her feed herself, and I am loving this journey so far. Here she is eating a few of her first meals:

This whole gig as a mom of 2 is very tiring some days, especially because Brian has been working a lot and is often tired when we see him (understandably, but I am too). Molly is getting a lot better at playing independently, and her current favourite activity is drawing on a whiteboard. I'd say she easily does this for at least an hour or two every day. She also still loves to read, and she loves this board game which she got as a birthday present from Brian's aunt. (She even plays it with her puppy sometimes which leaves me free to do something else too!)

Molly's family :)

I am still working on my physical health, although I feel OK energy wise considering my sleep schedule. I am eating a "meal" about every 2-3 hours and Molly eats that way too (Lucy is just eating meals 2x/day and breastfeeding about 5 times a day and at night). I try to get exercise in 4 times per week, usually with Molly or going for a run when Brian gets home. I know it is going to take a serious commitment to lose the rest of the pregnancy weight, but I am hoping to feel less snug in my clothes come Christmas time. This week, we are having salads in a jar for lunch:

I also need to work a bit on my mental health in the sense that I need some time to relax each day. I find if I take 10 minutes to read before bed or do something for myself after the girls are in bed, I really feel a bit better about everything. Self-care is so important and it's something that us mommies tend to forget about sometimes!!! Brian got me a 10-class pass at our local gym to go to some classes too but I haven't had the opportunity yet. I need to get better about pumping for Lucy!

It goes without saying that I am desperately excited for a double date night with my sister and her husband this weekend and a girl's night supper next week. In need of some adult conversation ;)

Easy Slow Cooker Roast Beef Recipe

Hellooooo! So... I had a fun post planned for yesterday, but I didn't quite get the chance to finish it and publish it because we had a snow day here in Halifax and I worked from home all day (and also had a nap because my toddler refused to sleep on Tues night for some reason!)...that post will have to happen another day, but today I have a super-easy and super-delicious recipe to share for supper! Bonus: this is Molly's favourite supper and she requests it almost every day....so we probably have it once a week. haha.

We usually don't make this with the potatoes, because Brian and Molly both aren't huge fans of potatoes, but I often use the rest of the juice to make gravy when we get home and we'll have rice or hashbrown-style potatoes with it. You could also use it for sandwiches (we do that the next day) or on a salad!! The roast beef ends up being REALLY tender if you follow the 6-8 hours on low, and it will literally melt in your mouth :) We usually pair it with salad or baked broccoli.

Now what I need to do is start being more adventurous with our slow cooker...I use it about 2-3 times a week now, but I want to try some different recipes in it and get some variety!! I like this roast beef, but I definitely get sick of it at times!!

Anyone have any good slow cooker supper recipes to share? :)

PS: Unfortunately, I'm a bad blogger and I don't have a picture of this meal, but I will get one the next time we make it (which I'm sure will be soon) and update this post! 

A delicious protein pancake recipe

I'm an avid follower of the blog Peanut Butter Fingers, which is updated at last once if not twice a day with great workouts, general friendly tips and amazing recipes. Julie posts what she eats a lot, and I have gotten some great ideas from her posts! She has been posting about protein pancakes for awhile, but I wasn't sure how easy they were and I kept putting off trying them out myself. This week, I decided it was finally time to give them a go. You can find her original recipe HERE, along with some other pancakes recipes here but I modified the recipe a bit based on comments on her blog.

I was actually amazed at how easily the pancake flipped because I was certain it would be like an omelet and fall apart. This breakfast was a huge hit with my family too, and it reminded me a bit of French toast because of the eggy taste. The consistency is more like a pancake though. It is very filling and pretty healthy, so I plan to share it with everyone I know! It is also VERY quick in the mornings and I've had it 3 times this week already!!!

Give it a try and let me know what you think! Thanks to Julie at PB Fingers for the great recipe!!!

PS - I actually think these might save well in the fridge/freezer and reheat, but I haven't tried that yet!!