I Make a List

Top 10 Things I Didn’t Know About Raising Two Kids

 

When I was pregnant with my second son I scoured the internet for articles that would calm the fears I had about raising two children. Would my oldest feel neglected? Would I manage two different nap schedules? Was I insane for choosing to have two children? I am happy to say that having two children has been a wonderful experience but I definitely have learned a lot of things first hand that the articles never told me.

 

1.Your oldest child will not hate you for having another baby. In fact your oldest child will probably be very uninterested in the baby unless the baby is crying. At which point they will sit on the couch with hands over their ears pretending they can’t hear you ask to give baby a pacifier.

 

2.Your oldest child will remember every toy or article or clothing or blanket that once belonged to them and will insist baby doesn’t use it. I expected this issue but I had fooled myself into believing it would occur once baby could walk. I was unprepared for my oldest to hide all of the baby blankets when baby was a month old because they were my oldest’s blankets at one point.

 

3. Your laundry will quadruple because of this little person. You think it was bad when your laundry exploded from a two person to three person home? Just wait until there’s another baby. I still haven’t figured out the universal law of how one little creature can turn my two load per day schedule into a four load per laundry schedule.

 

4. Your new baby will know how to get your attention. I naively believed that my youngest would be shadowed by his walking and talking sibling.  I was wrong. My sweet infant has learned a special shriek cry just to get my attention.

 

 5. You will get to nap. I promise. My oldest had given up naps when I was pregnant. A month after baby came he started napping again. During naps I find I can lay on the couch with baby and get a few minutes rest as well.

 

6. Your house will never look good. Ever. Unless you forego the above mentioned nap which would be foolish. Your house will still be there when the kids are older. And as anyone with a preschooler can attest it will not stay clean for more than 1.2478 seconds once your oldest is awake.

 

7. It will take you an hour to get ready to go anywhere. After you have dressed both kids, packed the diaper bag, changed diapers, and made sure everyone has gone potty you will be ready.

 

 

8. You will forget all of the tough times of raising a newborn that you went through with your first. With your second at least you have the knowledge that you survived it once and forgot, and you will survive and forget this time again. Some people may forget so well they make the choice to have a third or more child.  

 

9. You will be late 95% of the time. Once you finally get out of the door you will have realized you forget at least three crucial items between two kids. Whether it’s a change of clothes for the older child, a bottle for the second, or your phone you will have to turn around every time.

 

 10. People will forgive you for your tardiness, disheveled appearance, and many other things because they know how much hard work goes into having two kids.

Bonus: You will love baby two as much as baby one. It may be a different kind of love but it will be just as strong.

We get super busy!

Life has been a whirlwind lately ever since we brought home Baby Hulk. I can't imagine a world without him... funny how that happens so quickly. With all the baby and toddler craziness happening I decided to take an extended leave of absence from my job. Since then are days have been spent coloring, going to the library, a trip to Disney World, and just making it through day to day. I have lots of updates. :-)

I Plan Ahead and Make Freezer Meals

        Baby #2 should be here any day and I am really trying to get prepared for him and my life changing from that of a semi-organized mama of one to what I am sure will be complete and utter chaos as a mama of two. There were a lot of things I didn't do when I was pregnant with Baby Thor that I regretted and am trying to make sure I get done before baby comes. Meal freezing was a big one on my to-do list. With only two days left of Christmas vacation before I have to head back to work I put on my big girl (maternity) panties, scoured the internet and Pinterest for freezer meal  recipes, and headed to the store. When it came to the recipes I tried to stick with familiar foods we have had in the past that I knew everyone would eat but I did find a couple of new ones to try. They smelled super yummy making them so I am hoping that they taste just as good when it comes time to eat them!

        First things first I cleaned out our little deep freezer in the garage. We rarely use it and honestly has had my old roommate's food in it since she moved out and hubby moved in. I made the executive decision to throw the food out since she moved out three years ago. I guess she didn't want the 7 or so boxes of Boca burgers in there. I also cleaned out my fridge to make room for what was bound to be a big grocery shopping trip. Then I cleaned out the cupboards to take an inventory of what I already had so I could plan my menu around things I wouldn't have to buy.

        Next was the fun part of menu planning! After getting sucked into cute toddler crafts and baby onesies on Pinterest I finally found some good recipes to make! I chose to make a simple tuna casserole, meatloaf, baked peen with chicken and sun dried tomatoes, chicken cordon bleu casserole, cheesy chicken and black bean enchiladas, baked potato casserole, butterscotch-pumpkin spice lactation cookies, and some pumpkin muffins.

        This is what my ingredient list looked like:

Ingredient List
Food	Amount	Need	Have	Cost
Flaxseed	2 TBSP			4.59
All Purpose Flour	2 cups 2 TBSP		X
Baking Soda	1 tsp		X
Baking Powder	1 tsp			0.99
Brewers Yeat	4 TBSP			15.99
Rolled Oats	3 cups		X
Butter	1 cup, 6 TBSP			1.99
Coconut Sugar	1 cup			Couldn't find. Substituted with white sugar.
Brown Sugar	1 cup		X
Eggs	6			1.69
Vanilla	1 tsp		X
Pumpkin Puree	1 cup		X
Pumpkin Pie Spice	1 TBSP			Mixed cinnamon and nutmeg together.
Butterscotch Chips	2 cups			1.59
Chicken Breasts	4 lbs			6.49/bag I bought two bags
Breadcrumbs			X
Milk	7 1/2 cup			3.39
Swiss Cheese	8 ounces			1.79
Ham	8 ounces		X	Leftovers from New Year's Dinner
Cream of Chicken Soup	1 can			0.59
Olive Oil	3 tsp			I thought I had some in the cupboard but didn't. Substituted vegetable oil.
Garlic	6 cloves			1.99
Black Beans	1 can		X
Enchilada Sauce	2 cans			0.65/can I bought two
Tortillas 8"	one pack			1.99
Cheddar Cheese	1 1/3 cups			1.79
Salt			X
Ground Pepper			X
White Mushrooms	10 ounces			0.59/can I bought two
Sun dried tomatoes	1/2 cup			Couldn't find. Substituted with a can of diced tomatoes from my cupboard
Provolone	1 1/2 cup			3.49
Parmesan	1 cup		X
Penne Rigatta	1 pound			0.89
Tuna fish	4 cans			0.68/can I bought four
Egg Noodles	1 pound			1.29
Peas	1 bag			0.95
Cream of Mushroom Soup	2 cans			0.59/can I bought two
Ground Turkey	3 lbs			1.69/pound I bought 3
Onion Soup Mix	1 1/2 packs		X
Potatoes	5 pounds			3.19
Cream Cheese	1/2 cup			1.29
Sour Cream	1/2 cup			1.29
Bacon	1 lbs			3.49
Ketchup	1 cup		X
Total Cost: $78.69

 I figured I would end up spending a pretty penny so I went to the discount grocery store in town (ours is Aldi's which I love!) and spent about $80 to get all the things I needed. The most expensive purchase was the Brewer's Yeast for the lactation cookies which was $15 but I figured I could use it in lots of things including smoothies and baked goods so it won't go to waste. I did a lot of money saving things like buying block cheese and sticking with generics instead of name brand. Also like I mentioned before I tried to keep in mind what I already had in my cupboards when it came to making the recipes so that I could save even more. I also went to Dollar Tree to get the containers for the food so that was an additional $6.

        After shopping for what seemed like forever but really only took a couple of hours I was ready to head home and start cooking. :)

     The first item I made was the tuna casserole since all I needed to cook was the noodles. I used my mom's recipe which is pretty basic. I found this recipe which is similar http://www.campbellskitchen.com/recipes/tuna-noodle-casserole-24254 although I don't add the pimentos. I put all of the ingredients into a bowl (except the breadcrumbs) and mixed them together and just divided it into three. I only made a double batch since my dinners only have to feed two adults and a toddler. Don't forget to date and put cooking instructions on your lids. The tuna casserole is something I make often enough I didn't need to remind myself but I put instructions on everything else. :)



        Next up was the baked penne. I haven't tried this before but it did smell amazing while cooking! I only made a single batch of the recipe but it made enough to make four diners! I had some trouble finding sun dried tomatoes so I substituted with the plain old diced tomatoes I had in my cupboard. http://www.delish.com/print-this/baked-penne-chicken-sun-dried-tomatoes-recipe-mslo1010?page=all

 

        Then I turned my attention to another family favorite: baked potato casserole! I had enough ingredients I could have made two more dinners at least but this one is really starch heavy so I only made the two. Baby Thor and I are both allergic to onions so they are omitted from every recipe. http://americanfood.about.com/od/potatosidedishrecipes/r/Loaded_Mashed_Potato_Bake2.htm

 

        Since I know we would get sick of casserole's day in and day out I tried to find at least one dish that wasn't a casserole. Yummy enchiladas! I had a can of refried beans in the cupboard that I added to this recipe since the whole onion allergy means no salsa for us. http://thrivinghomeblog.com/2009/11/cheesy-chicken-and-black-bean-enchiladas/

 

        By this point hubby and Baby Thor were starting to get really hungry and I had been cooking for about five hours. I decided we would try one of the new recipes I found online for dinner. I am glad we did because the chicken cordon bleu was so good! It makes me sad that we only get one freezer meal out of it but I am sure I will make it again! I think next time I am going to add some broccoli and tomatoes to it but it was great just the way the recipe had it!

 http://www.food.com/recipeprint.do?rid=17917



 

        While the chicken cordon bleu cooked I made the last of my dinners- good old fashion souperior meatloaf from the Lipton Onion soup mix. (This is where I say that Baby Thor and I can tolerate dehydrated onions but not the fresh. Weird- I know. ) I use turkey instead of beef in these babies and I also make only a half loaf because really three people don't need to consume two pounds of meat in one meal. :) Also because I was tired of dishes I just mixed these and made the loaves in the same containers I froze them in. I'm sure I probably shouldn't have but since I am freezing them raw I figured it wasn't a big deal. Hopefully I didn't just give my family salmonella. http://www.makinglifebetter.com/recipes/detail/9252/1/souperior-meatloaf.

        It took me from 8 in the morning until 8 at night but I made 15 frozen meals. Technically 16 but since we ate one of them I won't count it. All my hard work looked like this!



My kitchen looked like this...

It helped that I washed and reused a lot of the same dishes through out so I wouldn't have a ton of clean up. It did take me about an hour of cleaning up to make my kitchen look normal again.

 

        The next morning I woke up and made some yummy treats! I had a box of pumpkin bread in the cupboard I added brewer's yeast and flax seed to to make lactation muffins. Since it will be just Baby Thor, baby #2, and I at home during the week I packaged them two to a bag for the freezer. 

 

        Baby Thor was very excited to help me make the lactation cookies. Especially since he got to eat the little bit of left over butterscotch chips in the bag. They are super yummy and if I didn't have gestational diabetes I would have to make these again before baby came since I would eat them all. Luckily they went to the freezer to be safe until I can have cookies again!http://wheybeyondthenakedtruth.com/2013/09/03/lactation-cookies/

 

I know this was a very long blog but hopefully it helps any mama to be or anyone wanting to do freezer meals to have a good idea of some recipes and ingredient lists. I was able to do all of this while watching my Baby Thor who was very patient with his mama while doing boring adult stuff like shopping. Hopefully my life as a mama to two boys will still be somewhat productive. :)