One day, after I got back from dropping off Leah at childcare I *almost* drove home, but then was like…I’m going to be restless and frenetic and depressed feeling if I just go home and start my work day, so I decided to take myself out for coffee. While there I realized I had time to bring my sister and bro-in-law (the new parents!) lattes and breakfast, so this morning ended up working out well. I got my favorite ham & asiago croissant + an iced vanilla latte. This iced vanilla latte from Tenfold is JUST. SO. GOOD.

An easy lunch I’ve had on repeat lately is an almond butter + honey sandwich on an english muffin + grapes. So easy and quick to make.

Andrew was going to Singapore for work, so he was in a Singapore-esque food mood. This was super good – brothy rice, rotisserie chicken topped with cilantro + green onion + sesame oil based sauce. So fresh. So good. This is a style of food Andrew and I can easily agree on. I basically would eat Mexican food for every meal and he would eat Southern food for every meal, but we’re both good with meals like the below.

The below was another fanstastic dish. Miso, homemade chicken broth, ginger, scallions, lime, cilantro…all the fresh stuff. Sliced rotisserie chicken breast on top + soba noodles on bottom. This needed more of a crunchy addition in my opinion so told Andrew we should add peanut and those crispy onions next time. But honestly, noodles in a broth are a little too wormy for me. Kinda freaks me out. And I kinda like it.

Out of me asking, Andrew has been cooking more and more. This was a rotisserie chicken that he put in a pan sauce. It was really good. We paired it with sweet potato fries. We’re trying to get away from recipes and more leaning into having a go-to number of ingredients always on hand that we make into meals. Similar to my 54321 grocery shopping method.

One night for dinner I made us tacos (surprise, surprise. They are the best food) – black beans, ground beef/turkey, cheese, green onion, cilantro.

After we hit the toddler birthday party circuit, Saturday night Andrew made turkey burger patties, tzatziki, greek salad and an ice cold gatorade.

My stomach has still been off at times. It’s confusing. Sometimes I feel nearly normal and then other times I have such low appetite and some stomach pain. My sister tested positive for H.Pylori, soooo I have an appointment with my PCP next week to see if that is what’s going on with me too. I figured it was just the stress of the kids starting school, but my issues are lingering so maybe it’s something else.

A simple snack has been bananas.

One night in bed while watching Painkiller (so disturbing), I had some kettlecorn.

One day between client sessions I scarfed down some very simple nachos.

Another day I had less simple nachos.

One day I woke up at 2am and started my day. This seems to happen every couple of weeks for me. Eggs + english muffin with butter & jam, fried cheese, and a latte. Other than this breakfast, I’ve been sticking with maple & brown sugar protein oatmeal packets. I’ve eaten more oatmeal in the last month than I have in years! It is working for whatever is going on with my stomach.

Today I took Ella on a date day and we started the day at TenFold getting a latte & hot chocolate…then progressed to a kid playplace + picking up my glasses + froyo for lunch for her. I’m trying to do date days once a month and just rotate the child I take. It was validating for me to see that even one kid is overwhelming, so it makes sense that having all 3 together is a whole bunch of crazy. Sometimes (most times) when I have all 3 girls I’m like, “why can’t I handle this better?” Doing a one-on-one with a kid helps me be able to notice I’m getting overwhelmed vs with 3 screaming at me or when 2 are causing each other bodily harm I get instantly flooded with emotion and then the calm, rational thought goes mostly out the window and I can’t even think, “this is overwhelming because this is a thing that anyone would find overwhelming.” Instead, there is a lot of negative self talk with my inability to handle things. I was writing in my morning pages recently, “I want an easy life, a slower life. But these kids are not easy or slow.”

I also wrote: “Maybe the mark of a good mother is the struggle and the tension. The sorting out and adjusting. The trying of new things to meet the kids’ and family’s needs. If that is true, then I’m a great mom. If that is true, then I’m crushing it. If that is true, I could just keep moving forward in this way. Resting in the realized truth that the struggle and tension isn’t a sign of defeat, but a sign things are exactly how they should be.”

Hope you have a good weekend :)