Hi friends!
My typically busy Mondays have changed quite a bit here lately! Around 2 p.m. today I decided that Finn and I both needed to get out of the house so Finn got to visit Whole Foods for the first time today. He was crying and I knew a trip in the car would calm him right down. He was fast asleep by the time we arrived and slept through the whole shopping experience. He’ll have a LOT more opportunities to take in Whole Foods in the future. 😉
I didn’t really need much – decaf coffee, almond milk, dates – but I managed to spend $100 like I always do at Whole Foods. I restocked on some fresh fruits and veggies and then also bought some salmon, hummus, deli turkey, eggs and smoothie supplies. Most random cart addition goes to the “Tater Puffs” that came home with me. Don’t ask me why but I’ve been craving tater tots for the last few weeks???
And about the decaf coffee…after Finn was born I thought I’d jump back to regular but that lasted all of about three days. I found that full-strength coffee made me feel really anxious, unsettled and jumpy and that’s not something I want more of when adjusting to life with a newborn. I switched back to my pregnancy half-caf blend and all has been good!
Here’s what I ate during postpartum week two.
BREAKFAST
Gluten-free blueberry muffin (baked by a friend), two eggs scrambled in butter, fresh fruit.
Greek yogurt bowl with 5% Fage, honey, banana, granola, blueberries and strawberries. A big spoonful of peanut butter to finish it off.
And of course lots of smoothie bowls.
LUNCH
Turkey sandwich with mayo, mustard, avocado, gouda and tomatoes on Dave’s Killer Bread.
This was an interesting salad blend. The salad had broccoli, radicchio, almonds and fresh mozzarella cheese (it was leftover from a meal a friend dropped off) and I added avocado, grapes and strawberries. It was dressed with a whole grain mustard vinaigrette.
Another friend brought me a meal from the Whole Foods hot bar. This was cilantro lime rice, chicken, mushrooms and green beans.
DINNER
Backtracking to Memorial Day…I went to a friend’s house for a cookout. It was my first solo post-baby outing and it went well! I had a burger and two side salads. The burger is notable because during pregnancy I had a major red meat aversion…especially things like steak and burgers. This was my first post-pregnancy burger and it was SO good!
The arugula salad that my friend made was amazing. It had arugula, roasted carrots, roasted potatoes, roasted cauliflower and some other goodness with a lemon vinaigrette. I loved the roasted veggies in the salad!
This meal drop off was so good! A friend dropped off the most delicious penne pasta with Italian sausage, sundried tomatoes, artichokes and fresh mozzarella. I enjoyed it with a chopped broccoli salad and a piece of bread with butter.
Night two enjoying this pasta. I’m going to have to recreate this one at home. SO GOOD!
Another friend dropped off another epic meal. I told her I needed the recipes for everything! It was grilled chicken skewers, a brown rice salad with cranberries, almonds and scallions and a fresh corn salad. Everything was seasoned so well and she brought the most amazing cilantro yogurt sauce that I could drink. I poured it on everything and I’m going to use the rest of it tonight with some roasted salmon!
ETC
My friend made this chocolate mousse pie for Memorial Day totally from scratch and it was to die for. I’m not usually a chocolate dessert kind of girl but this one was awesome.
And finally, I’ve been eating a lot of lactation cookies and drinking Mother’s Milk tea. Who knows if the cookies really work but it’s a great excuse to eat cookies and have a cup of tea in the afternoon while breastfeeding! All I know is that this recipe that my friend made was much better than the ones I made last year for another girlfriend. The brewer’s yeast taste isn’t so strong.
So that wraps up todays food round-up. I have felt very fortunate and thankful for all of the delicious food that my friends have brought over. It’s been a huge blessing to have it on hand while taking care of baby Finn!
Do you have any favorite baby meals that you bring to friends? Give me ideas so I can pay it forward.
Have you had any random cravings lately? (I’m still so thrown off by the tater tots but we’ll go with it!)
Do you bring the carseat into the grocery before baby can sit up or do you wear baby? Or something else?
Will you please share the tasty lactation cookie recipe (if your friend shared)? I’m due in October and would like to make some tried and true ones to have on hand 🙂
I’m sure I’ll be having lots of random cravings soon because I started my third Whole30 round today. (Cutting out sugar always leads to strange cravings for me.)
I actually never took my twin boys to the grocery store when they were babies. My husband and I would take turns doing the shopping while the other one stayed home with the babies. We were too stressed out by the logistics! Their first ever trip to the store was to Costco when they were about 9 months old, LOL.
Yes, Please share the cookie recipe, due July 3rd and didn’t love any of the ones I tried with my first pregnancy, like you said it’s an excuse to eat a cookie 🙂
I always took the car seat in like you did, in hind sight baby wearing would have given me a lot more room in the cart! However, like Finn, my son would almost always fall asleep in the car at that age and he would stay asleep in the car seat in the cart which would give me a nice quiet time to shop and grab a latte or something!
Craving! Chocolate PB2 on a rice cake, I don’t know if it is a pregnancy thing or not but it is DELICIOUS!
I saw you mentioned you drink a half-cat blend for coffee! Do you make that yourself or do they sell that at the store?! I need that ☺️
Craving: Fresh summer watermelon! ( Im not pregnant, just love the summer fresh stuff).
Baby #1 I had in carseat until she could sit up
Baby #2 I wore him everywhere!
With my oldest I actually really liked using my BOB when she was a infant! I’d put the car seat in the adapter, stroll in the store, shove my groceries in the bottom (which was always plenty big enough!) and other compartments then stroll back home or to the car – no cart to return or bumpy pavement that would wake her up! When she got older I always wore her. I actually cried the other day because I can’t figure out how to do the grocery with 3kiddos. My youngest are 13mos apart, my 16mo old hates riding in the cart and wants to RUN through the store! I guess I’ll be sticking to SHIPT and the Harris teeter drive up line for a while ha ha!!
I just want to tell you that you make the best looking sandwiches!! Every time I see you post a sandwich I immediately want to go home and recreate it!
you have some awesome friends to bring you all that delicious food! such a big help during recovery! Im also curious about the grocery shopping situation, what is easiest! lol
I have 4 kids and was always very appreciative of casseroles or meals we could eat off of for several days. Comfort food was always good so I’ve paid it forward from what people brought us – meatloaf with mashed potatoes and fresh steamed veggies, baked spaghetti, oven baked chicken and steak fajitas with cilantro lime rice, chicken alfredo bake, etc. I had a friend bring us a breakfast casserole one time with bagels and cream cheese. It was such a nice change and easy to reheat and eat while breastfeeding 🙂
After my 3rd child, Dairy Queen came out with the s’mores blizzard. Girl, I was hooked! My baby boy nursed A LOT so I was SO hungry with him. Even eating those blizzards about once (or twice) a week during the whole month of June, I still was still losing weight. He was a big boy.
With my first baby, I would bring the carseat and put it in the back of the cart. But as our family grew, we needed that cart space. I enjoyed wearing them in the store because I could walk away from the cart if needed. Plus, they would just sleep better in the carrier. I think it also depends on the season they’re born in and how well they sleep in the carseat. I had 2 that didn’t like their carseat.
I like making a big quinoa salad. I think a Chinese type take out style meal would be nice too! Protein and veggies with sauce and some rice on the side.
Sounds so good!