Baby Girl's Play Room

We have three upstairs bedrooms in our house: the master, the nursery and an "extra" room which was living up to its name perfectly. An extra room accumulating stuff I didn't feel like storing in my living room. Mostly, this included various baby gadgets like the bouncy seat, exercauser, Bumbo seat, activity mat and a lifetime supply of baby rattles.

(Alright, so you don't think I'm a complete slob, I should confess there isn't usually a random lamp and a ladder thrown into the mix. I asked Andi to snap a photo before we began to do a little re-decorating).

I decided to turn our extra room into a play room for Tory. Obviously, she doesn't do a lot of "playing" at 5 months of age but I wanted to create a comfortable space to spend time with her and also a place to store her growing pile of toys. The catch is, I didn't want to spend a lot of money (or put in a great deal of time) because this room will eventually become her future brother or sister's nursery and there's no sense in decorating a room only to re-decorate it in another year or two. So, a play room on the cheap. Challenge accepted!

I figured a vinyl wall sticker would be the fastest (and laziest) way to make a big impact in the room without changing the paint color so I searched Etsy and found this adorable animal-themed sticker for $129. Kind of a lot of money for a sticker, yes, but I figured it'd be the room's primary focal piece so I bought it. Andi lovingly volunteered to help me assemble it on the wall one evening this week after Tory went to bed (holy cow, I was so tired the next day, did I mention how silly it is to start home improvement projects at 9pm?).

The sticker was really easy to put up, actually. In my foggy no-sleep brain, I couldn't remember if I ordered it according to the size of our wall or not so we just winged its installation. The type-A, logical part of my brain thought we should have measured it out beforehand but the tired, "holy crap, I'm going to be up with Tory all night" part of me said screw it, let's just get it done. I think it turned out quite well, all things considered.

Next, I asked Andi to move the IKEA bookshelf from Tory's room into the new play room and added soft cubes from Target (on sale, $7.99 ea.) to store her toys and add a splash of color.

Andi hung the Wood From The Hood growth chart Tory received as a Christmas present on the wall. I added an animal lamp from Target ($29.99) which matches the characters on the wall almost perfectly.

Et voila! An easy-peasy play room space for Tory, all for around $200. Someday, I may add a bulletin board to the wall to hang her artwork but in the meantime, this space is perfect for us. We've already spent quite a few hours here reading books and playing toys on the floor.

Freezer Meal Monday

I love Mondays. I think I'm the only person on the planet who probably says that, but I do! On Fridays, while I'm happy to be at home with my little Tory Bean, I'm also dead tired from my work week and getting up with Tory all night long. Weekends are fun, but they're full of places to be and visitors at our house. I'm not complaining by any means, they're just busy. Mondays, though, are glorious. They're quiet and peaceful and usually just Tory and I at home. We play toys, take good naps and tackle household chores. On Monday, I kicked butt at domesticity.

I was inspired by Mama Tully's blog post the other day to make some freezer meals. I used to go to one of those places where you make a month's worth of freezer meals at once, but I tired of the same menu items and the inability to use organic / local ingredients to my liking. After I had Tory, the thought of getting out of the house to make meals, even for an hour, was overwhelming. Five months later, I finally felt ready to tackle a big cooking project in the kitchen.

I borrowed several meal ideas from Mama Tully's blog and also perused this website to formulate a list of meals to suit our family's taste and budget. In the past, I've always thought the hardest part about making freezer meals is the lack of direction in what steps to hold off on until day of cooking or how far to assemble the meal. That's why I loved the Once a Month Cooking website so much! It clearly listed all of the steps I needed to prepare my meals ahead of time.

I selected the meals linked to below, but halfed the portion sizes to 3-4 servings. It makes sense in theory to prepare 6-8 servings and split them into two meals (or make it all and have leftovers) since I already bought the ingredients and am going through the work of assembling the meal, but I know from past experience we won't eat something again if we didn't like it the first time. If I split it into two meals and we don't end up liking the recipe, the second meal will sit in the freezer for months before I finally end up tossing it out. We're not big leftovers people so I know we won't re-heat a meal and eat it for dinner a second night. I'm not creative enough to take one meal and transform it into an entirely different menu item the next day. I thought it was better for us to make smaller-portioned recipes, try them first and add them into our meal rotation if they're winners. Lately, I've been preparing a plate for our nanny to eat for lunch the next day with our small amount of leftovers and she loves it when I do. I think it's easier for her to heat up whatever we ate the night before instead of making something for herself and it's easier (and cheaper!) for me, too. I don't have to buy extra snacks and groceries for her meals on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. So, all this to say this list won't feed us for an entire month because I halfed the recipes and won't have leftovers to re-heat for another dinner. But! It's a good start.

Recipe List:
Orange-Beef Stew, Chicken N' Cherries, Italian Beef, French Dip Sandwiches (featured in context of Tully blog)
Easy Ranch Chicken
Cranberry Chicken

I also made Black Bean and Rice Enchiladas to deliver to a friend with a new baby and doubled the amount of black beans and tomatoes to make enough for a second meal. I bought disposable square tins to store the enchiladas in (6 enchiladas per tin). This made enough for two freezers meals for us, plus a third to give away.

I especially selected these meals because they required few ingredients and many of which I already had on hand. I assembled them during Tory's morning and afternoon naps (which as everyone knows are VERY SHORT) so I would guess I spent a total of 1 1/2 hours assembling the freezer meals. I felt so accomplished after my success in the kitchen, I scooped Tory up and snuggled her for the rest of the afternoon. She snoozed a bit and I read The Hunger Games on my Kindle. What an awesome way to spend a Monday.

Tory - 23 Weeks Old

Tory - 23 Weeks Old

Super Bowl Weekend

This weekend was suppose to be our annual girl's trip in Des Moines, but Mother Nature had other plans and dumped 11 inches of snow in Nebraska and Iowa making travel too dangerous for our road tripping adventure. Des Moines isn't necessarily a hot-spot destination, in case you're wondering, but it's half-way between Omaha (where my best friend Ashley lives) and the Twin Cities. Since my girlfriend Val is expecting her second baby next month, this was the last feasible weekend for us all to get together. Sigh, a weekend of girl talk and shopping wasn't in the cards, I guess.

Since Tory and I were planning to be gone this weekend, I told Andi to make other plans with his friends. And he did - he rented an ice house and invited some friends to spend the weekend at the lake, fishing and drinking. There was silence on the other end of the line when Andi told his friends my trip was cancelled. I assume they thought theirs would be too but I'm an awesome wife so, of course, I let Andi still have his weekend. Go on Andi, tell everyone how wonderfully lucky you are ....

Before Andi left Saturday morning, we snapped these photos of the beautiful winter wonderland in our neighborhood. Later that afternoon, Tory and I we ventured to Val's house for an play date with Kasen (too bad he slept for most of it!). Even though we weren't able to meet up with Ashley, I still had a nice time visiting with Val.

On Sunday, Janie came over to play with Tory. I ran to the grocery store and got a much-needed massage. Falling asleep with Tory in the rocking chair at night has limited my ability to turn my neck to one side and it's my birthday week so I thought I deserved a little pampering! Sunday evening, Andi, Tory and I were invited to a SuperBowl Party at my friend/co-worker Suzanne's house. Let's be honest, we mostly went for the food ... I didn't really care who won the game this year.

Tory's first Super Bowl Party. She's a little too excited to watch TV whenever she's near one.

Actually, Tory had a really fun time playing with all the kids at the party. It's nice she can finally sit up and be part of the action.

Suzanne, Tory and I 

Andi and I left at half-time because parenting means bedtime is far more important than Madonna or a football game. When did we become so old and lame?

Tory in the Snow

Seriously, I've never heard of the word "hoar frost" but apparently we had a beautiful case of it yesterday in the Twin Cities. Hoar frost is the deposit of white ice crystals on trees, streets and fences and made for an absolutely breathtaking winter's day outside our window on Saturday. And now I will stop saying that word because it sounds super weird and creepy and non-meterological ...

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Because the weather was so picture-perfect, Andi and I decided to take Tory outside for a quick photo session. It was 35 degrees outside but looked like a winter wonderland all around us.

My snow bunny

Mama and Baby

Daddy and Tory, too

All together, our family of three

Love.

Jim's 60th

Andi's dad, Jim, turned 60 on Thursday!

Janie invited us over to their house for a fish fry and cake to celebrate Jim's big day. Jim's a big outdoorsman and caught some walleye on a recent fishing trip in Canada. Paired with wild rice salad, it was the perfect birthday meal for a true Minnesotan at heart. Lindsay baked Jim a chocolate cake and we brought the ice cream for dessert.

Tory wore her favorite "I Love Grandpa" shirt in honor of the birthday boy.

Grandpa Jim and Tory (later, in her jammies)

This was Tory's first time meeting Andi's grandma Dee.

After dinner, it was time to open presents. Lindsay gave Jim a Minnesota State Fair sweatshirt and his favorite candy.

Andi apparently decided the most practical birthday gift for his dad's 60th was a gun. My dad often tells me in life to "pick my battles" so I didn't ask questions ...

Jim (a big outdoorsman, remember) was shocked as he opened his gift from us ...

... and things are about to get WEIRD. These are photos I never thought I'd be posting on my blog but Andi thinks are hilarious.

Guns are scary. Have I mentioned my feeling on this topic?

I asked Andi what would one shoot with a gun like this? He said it's good for you know, "plinking around and stuff." Cans and targets, I assume.

There are more photos ... like ones where Andi's grandma is holding the gun but I can't bring myself to post them. Too creepy, weird, la la la la, strange.

It should be noted there were no bullets in said gun or anywhere around us at the time of this joyous birthday celebration ...

Ok, moving on ... we're ready for cake!
This was Tory's first time singing "Happy Birthday."

Happy birthday Jim!

Tory - 22 Weeks Old

Tory - 22 Weeks Old