Snow!

It snowed just about all day yesterday (Saturday), but we only accumulated about 4-5 inches. That's actually the perfect amount of snow, in my opinion. Enough to make playing and sledding fun, but not enough to make getting around difficult. We played in the snow yesterday afternoon for a little while, and then we played outside this morning for a long while, and again this afternoon for a long while. Hopefully, they will sleep well tonight! 

For the most part, they seem to be over their sickness. Seth's cough is still lingering, but darn if I can tell whether or not he's wheezing. I hope we don't have to go back to the doctor this week. They're both sleeping pretty well, and this morning, they both slept until 7:00 a.m. That's unheard of in this house! (Of course, Seth woke up around 5ish, I think, but went back to bed. And William had woken up at 4-something, and got into bed with us.) So things are definitely looking up!

Two for the Price of One

I took William to the doctor this morning, even though it seemed like his coughing and wheezing was better. I just wanted to make sure it was just the run-of-the-mill wheezing, and not something worse. (Like the pneumonia he had last year.) Seth came along for the ride, of course, and while the doctor was examining William, Seth coughed a few times. The doctor looked at me, pointed at Seth, and said, "He's the one who's wheezing. This one (meaning William) sounds pretty good."

I felt like such a horrible mother. Obviously, Seth has the same cold. And he's been coughing a lot, too. But his cough has been sort of junky sounding, not the tight, unproductive cough that I'm used to associating with wheezing. Plus Seth hasn't had the labored breathing like William was having. The doctor was trying to explain to me what wheezing sounds like, and he said I should train my ears for it. HELLO, I've been recognizing wheezing for 3 years. I know what it sounds like. It's yet another way in which Seth and William are so different. They can't even wheeze the same!

Anyway, the doctor sent me home with a prescription for more Albuterol, a prescription for oral steroid just in case (in case they get worse in the next two days), and instructions to nebulize them both every 4 hours for the next two days. It's supposed to snow here tomorrow, so the doctor said they could go out in it if I bundle them up really well and give them a treatment right before we go out. We'll just play it by ear. (The only good part of the visit was that the doctor didn't note that he examined both boys, so I only had to pay one co-pay. Woo-hoo!)

Meanwhile, today was William's teacher's baby shower. I won't say it was a disaster, because in the end, everything was fine. But it was kind of a disaster. I really need to learn to delegate and plan better, but such is life. I meant to go to Babies R Us last night to get a gift card and some shower decorations. But by the time I got out of the house, it was after 9:00 p.m. and it hadn't occurred to me that BRU would close at 9:00. So I went to the grocery store to get fixings for a fruit salad and got gift cards to Target (which was fine, because she was registered there, too). But no shower decorations. So, since I was the one with the fruit and the gift cards and the scrap book that we made for the teacher, and the money for the pizza for lunch, I kind of HAD to get my butt to the school for the party, sick kids or not.

Unfortunately, since Ed stayed home yesterday, he couldn't stay home today. So after the doctor's appointment (and a stop at McDonald's for pancakes in which no pancakes were eaten, but chocolate milk was dumped all over Seth's pants), I took the boys to my office so I could print one last quote for the scrapbook. (Our printer at home isn't working.) Then we went and picked up the pizzas (that was fun carrying three pizzas, plus Seth, while trying to hold William's hand, walking to the car in 20-degree weather), and made it to school in time. With the help of another teacher, we got the pizza on the plates for the kids and everything ready. And in the end. only about 6 parents showed up anyway. But it didn't really matter. William's teacher and all the parents loved the scrapbook. And the kids enjoyed looking at it, too. And even though I didn't wrap it or even get the teacher a card, in the end, it was all fine.

So now I have a headache and I'm going to bed and hoping that the boys will get better this weekend. I'm so tired of this winter already!

The State of the Hahns . . .

Will have to wait until things settle down a bit. I started a draft, but it needs some refining. Meanwhile, I'm trying to finish up my craft project for William's teacher. And William is now sick. His runny nose turned into a little cough and then turned into the constant, tight, pre-wheezing cough. He was coughing so much this morning that Ed stayed home with him, even though he didn't have a fever and wasn't out of sorts. It's a good thing, though, because by the time I got home, he was wheezing. It's not really bad, but we added Albuterol to his Pulmicort, and if he wakes up tonight, I'll nebulize him again with Albuterol. Hopefully, he'll be able to go to school tomorrow. Especially since I have to bring all the stuff for his teacher's baby shower (including her gift, the pizza, and the fruit salad) at noon.

To say that I'm disappointed that William has had another wheezing episode would be a huge understatement. He hasn't had any major problems in a year, since his bout with pneumonia last January. I was hoping that he was outgrowing the asthma, and that we could take him off his meds this spring. That's still a possibility, but I'm definitely bummed. I'm also wondering if this has anything to do with the fact that we switched him from Pulmicort to the generic brand of the medicine just a week ago. Prior to this, he's had several colds, and he even had a bout of coughing, but none of it turned into wheezing. I've read a bunch of anecdotal stories on the Web from parents who say their kids didn't do well on the generic, so they put them back on Pulmicort. Ugh--it's so hard to know.

So stay tuned for the State of the Hahns. It's coming, I swear!

Ack!

As I mentioned yesterday, William's teacher is having a baby. On the car ride home yesterday, William was asking his usual barrage of questions, mostly about hospitals and what happens in hospitals. Then he asked this:

"What happens when mommies go to the hospital to have a baby?"

I answered, "Well, the baby comes out of the mommy's tummy."

"But how?"

"Um, well . . . "

And then I told him the truth about how babies are delivered. Just a simple, one sentence explanation. He was quiet for a split second, and I'm not sure if he just didn't get it, or he got it and didn't want to go there. Either way, he just changed the subject. Was he too young to know that? I don't know what's age-appropriate when it comes to those kinds of explanations. What should I have said? In hindsight, I guess I could have stalled, changed the subject myself, been vague (the doctor gets it out, it just comes out . . . ). I was totally not prepared for that conversation, and I didn't want to lie. Please Lord, don't let him ask how the baby got inside the mommy's tummy any time soon!

Great Advice

William's teacher is going on maternity leave starting Feb. 12. We (the parents) are throwing her a baby shower this Friday, and as the classroom representative, it's my job to do the organizing. I had the bright idea of coming up with something more personal for Ms. Michelle in addition to the requisite gift card to Babies R Us. So I asked all the parents to solicit advice from their three year olds on how Ms. Michelle should take care of her baby, on what Mommies do, what's hard about being a Mom, what's easy about being a Mom, etc. etc. Now I get to put together a little photo album with each of the kids' picture and their "advice." That's why I'm up at 11:52 p.m. on a school night. I got a 4 x 6 "brag book" album and cut out 4 x 6 cards from card stock. Then I got a baby scrap kit with stickers and paper, and decorated the cards. Now I just have to print their quotes and glue the quotes to the cards. Although it's a total PITA to do this, I think it's going to be really cute. And some of the "advice" is really cute.

•  "Make sure that the baby eats and plays and be sure not to poke it in the eye." 
• "Feed the baby good food and take the baby to the park. Babies like sand. I like the sandbox." 
• "To make the baby happy, give the baby chocolate. Just give her a little because too much will make her tummy hurt."
• "Take care of the baby by giving her medicine."
• "The hardest thing about being a mommy is that you can't put her clothes on."

Of course, William has been uncooperative every time I've asked him for his advice. When I ask him, "What do Mommies do?" he answers, "I don't know, what?" He did say Mommies should give their babies milk. And he did say Mommies shouldn't be cranky. I guess that's pretty good advice in the grand scheme of things.

Menu Plan Monday -- Jan. 25

 Sunday: Steelhead trout, roasted asparagus, boiled new potatoes, dinner rolls

Monday: Pasta with tomato sauce, broccoli, garlic bread

Tuesday: Sirloin steak, spinach salad, french fries, dinner rolls

Wednesday: Black bean quesadillas (William will likely not eat these, so I will have leftovers for him, just in case. He likes pepperoni, so I may see if he would eat a pepperoni quesadilla.)

Thursday: Grands Pepperoni Pizzas with grapes and pears

Friday: Oven-fried Paremsan Chicken Strips with broccoli dinner rolls

Saturday: Leftovers, maybe dinner out, TBD

All About the Boys Today

I had a good day with the boys. It was one of those days where I thought I might get some stuff done around the house--laundry, maybe clean a bathroom or two, clean off my desk. But none of that happened. Instead, it was nice enough to be outside, and that's what the boys wanted to do, so that's what we did. And William wanted to go see the space shuttle at the Air and Space Museum, and since I had told him earlier in the week that we could go on Saturday, that's what we did. And although it would have been nice to get the bathrooms cleaned, and the laundry done, and kitchen floor mopped, all of those things will wait. They're not going anywhere. My kids, however, will not wait. I had to remind myself today that my most important job is to raise my kids and to be with my kids, and it turned out to be a pretty great day.

It started with breakfast out with Ed's parents and his sister and brother in law. Seth fell asleep on the way home and slept long enough to be fully awake once we got home around noon. Ed needed to do some work on his car--clean corrosion off his battery, replace a headlight, and replace the spark plugs. The boys and I hung out outside while Ed worked, and then we moseyed around back and they played in the sandbox for a while. Both boys rode the tricycle. We walked around a bit. After a mid-afternoon snack, I loaded the boys in the car and we headed for the Air and Space Museum. This is the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum that's out by Dulles Airport, where the Enterprise space shuttle lives. Both boys fell asleep during the long car ride to the museum, so they were slightly cranky when they woke up and I had to get them out of the car and into the museum.

But they rallied and we had a great time. We spent a long time looking at the space shuttle and other space-related stuff.

We checked out a bunch of airplanes. Seth tried to sit in every chair that is strategically placed throughout the museum.

We finally left a little after five. The boys ate a good dinner when we got home, and we did bath-books-bed, as usual. Hopefully they'll sleep well. Like I said--a really good day. And I'm so glad I let it happen.

Updates

I'm working on transferring all of my Project365 posts to this blog. Trying to come up with stuff for that blog is definitely sucking up any ideas I have for this one. There really isn't anything blog-worthy going on anyway. We're in a pretty good holding pattern right now. The boys are *whisper* healthy and although Seth is still waking up 2 or 3 times a night, they're otherwise not causing us too much trouble. We've been getting out the door around 7:20 a.m. each morning. Drop-offs have been fine (although I wish I could shave 10 minutes off that routine, but William is not about altering routines). They're both doing great in school. Seth has fits every other minute at home when he doesn't get his way, but they're short-lived, and I've gotten quite accustomed to ignoring him. He still loves to pull his pants down, or better yet, off. And he still insists on standing on a chair at the kitchen counter every night as I get dinner together.

Actually, something did happen today that I could blog about. William's classroom is on the second floor of the daycare, so we usually take the elevator downstairs. Tonight, as the elevator doors opened to let us out, Seth had his hand right where the doors go into the wall, and his fingers got smushed by the doors. They were kind of stuck, and I had a moment of panic where I didn't know what to do. I just grabbed his hand and yanked it out. Kind of stupid in hindsight, but thank God he was fine. He cried like the dickens for a minute, but then he was okay. I was so embarrassed that I had committed the cardinal sin of not watching my 20-month-old son carefully while we were in the elevator, KNOWING that that very thing could happen. And I didn't want the director or any teachers to know what had happened. I'm ashamed to admit that, but I didn't want to be the poster child for why you have to be very careful with kids in an elevator. Ugh!

So that's about it. Work is good. I'm in productive mode, working my way towards being a little more organized. We have an office manager who is awesome--so on the ball and always has his ducks in a row. Having him there motivates me to be better at my job. So that's a good thing. And even better, he's super helpful. It's sooo nice to have co-workers who I respect and like. The last three years have been tough in terms of really getting a handle on my work and staying focused. I feel a little bit like I'm coming out of a fog, and I have high hopes for 2010 in terms of productivity and job performance. I hope I live up to my expectations!
 

I Can't Walk and Chew Gum at the Same Time

And apparently, I can't keep up with two blogs at the same time. I'm thinking about putting my Project 365 blog here on my regular blog. At first I thought that would be too messy and cumbersome. I'd end up with lots of days with multiple posts. But since I barely have time to blog as it is, that blog is getting all my attention, and Working It Out is being neglected. It's like the poor older sibling, the one who can take care of himself. We'll see!

In the meantime, we had a nice long weekend. We celebrated Ed's grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary and saw lots of family. The boys did great. We went to Ed's parents' after the party (it was a brunch/luncheon) and the boys hung out with their cousins. William stayed down in the basement with his 5-year-old and 7-year-old cousins most of the time. It was the first time we didn't have to stay down there with him and worry about him getting hurt or getting into trouble. He's getting so grown up!

The other highlight of the weekend was that we FINALLY got our recycling bin. It felt soooo good to put all the recyclables in the bin instead of the trash, and to put the bin on the curb this morning. I'm hoping we can cut our trash in half now. And I'm mortified that it took me this long to do it!

Finally, I missed Menu Plan Monday, but I did put together a vague menu plan for the week.

Sunday: Dinner out with the family (we brought in pizza)
Monday: Ribs, baked beans, coleslaw, corn bread
Tuesday: Burritos (I doubt William will eat these, but they're freezable, so I thought I'd try them.)
Wednesday: Garlic Lime chicken breasts with peas and dinner rolls (I haven't tried peas in a while, not sure if the boys will eat them or not
Thursday: Pork Chops (haven't decided how I'll cook them yet), green beans
Friday: Spinach and cheese tortellini with pasta sauce, garlic bread, salad (Ed may have angel hair pasta instead)
Saturday: Steak, potatoes, broccoli, dinner rolls

Sous Chef

Almost every night while I'm making dinner, Seth stands on a chair at either the counter or the sink and plays, explores, "helps." For a while he loved playing with the toaster oven. Then it was the sink. Now it's just the counter where he wants to do whatever I'm doing. I remember William doing this around the same age, and now William couldn't care less about helping me in the kitchen. (Although he does like making cookies and brownies--breaking the eggs, stirring, licking beaters.) I wonder how long Seth's interest will last? Santa brought Seth a play kitchen, but he doesn't play with it very much. (Oh well--good try, Santa!) He wants the real thing.

Tonight he stood at the counter and scooped goldfish out of a small bowl and dumped them into a bigger bowl. Then vice versa. Back and forth, back and forth. When he got tired of that, he switched to a different counter and I gave him a small bowl with some hummus in it, to eat with some crackers. He was at the counter that has the drawer with all my baking stuff--measuring cups, measuring spoons, rubber spatulas. He got out a measuring cup and spoon and started playing with the hummus. He did that until it was time to eat dinner. My little sous chef!

 

Reprimanded

This morning was a little harried as we tried to get out the door. Seth had woken up at 4:30 a.m., and although he eventually went back to sleep (I rocked him and put him back in his crib and quietly crept back to my room and into my warm, cozy bed, only to have him wake up again 10 minutes later--a little before 5:00 a.m. by now--and want milk and something to eat, so we went downstairs, got milk and half a cornbread muffin, went back upstairs, and rocked and rocked, until 5:55 a.m., at which point William woke up because he had wet his bed, so I put Seth in his crib and listened to him cry as I changed William's clothes and put him in our bed, and then Seth fell asleep around 6:00 a.m., at which point, it was time for me to get ready for work), I didn't. So I was tired. We got the boys in the car, but Seth was being a bit, um, disagreeable. He was whining and pointing at something and repeating something over and over that I couldn't understand. I kept asking him if he wanted different things, and finally, out of exasperation and frustration, I yelled let loose with my own temper tantrum sternly said, "What Seth? What do you want? Mommy doesn't know what you're saying. Quit whining and use your words!" It was a little over the top, I admit. But I'm only human. Anyway, William gave me a very cross look and said, "Calm down, Mommy. He's saying garbage."

Oh. Sorry. Nothing like being reprimanded by a three year old!

Menu Plan Monday

 

Since I have a menu for the week (the FULL week), I might as well post it. But my week started Saturday, so bear with me.

Saturday:
Chicken cutlets
Stove Top stuffing
Green beans
(chicken cutlets: pound out chicken breasts, dip in flour, then egg, then seasoned panko bread crumbs [I used Progresso brand, which are awesome, but have more fat and sodium than I really like]; fry in a thin layer of canola oil for 4 minutes or so on each side)

Sunday:
Linguine with Clam Sauce
Salad
Garlic Bread (Texas Toast brand, in your grocer's freezer)
(We omitted the mushrooms from the recipe. It was great, but I would probably add an extra bottle of clam juice. I prefer it to be a little slurpy.)

Monday:
Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese
Broccoli
(Ed had class, so this is for the kids; I'll probably have leftover chicken cutlets and a salad)

Tuesday:
Shrimp and asparagus with angel hair pasta
Garlic bread
(I'll probably make some wagon wheel pasta for the kids. It's easier for them to eat. And for William, I'll separate the shrimp and asparagus, since he doesn't like one-dish meals.)

Wednesday:
Steak (marinated in something simple, probably McCormick's Montreal Seasoning marinade)
Boiled potatoes with butter and parsley
Green beans or salad
Dinner rolls

Thursday:
Poached pesto salmon
Broccoli
Dinner rolls
(I'll probably serve the salmon separately, and I'll serve William plain broccoli, rather than the broccoli sauce.)

Friday:
Either leftovers or homemade pizza (haven't decided)

It's nice to have a plan. Now let's hope I can pull it off and have an effortless week of dinners! BTW--you might note the prevalence of pasta in the week's menu. Ed has been on a big pasta kick for some reason, so I'm taking advantage of it!

Sunday Recap

Seth's rash is better--still there but definitely fading. He still seems to just have a cold, although today he was coughing a little. It wasn't bad, but enough to worry me a bit. We have a doctor's appt. on Thursday to follow up on his ears and bronchiolitis, so I hope he makes it 'till then. Here's a picture of him from tonight that pretty much sums up what seems to be a constant state for him:

I tried to get some pictures of William today, but it just wasn't happening. If he does stop for one second and look directly at me, the picture ends up being lousy.

Mostly, I've got pictures of his back, or his head down

Despite lousy pictures, we had a good day. The whole family went grocery shopping. I got some work done for work. I got most of the laundry done. I even dusted the living room (a little). Ed and William took a long walk outside, which is the first time in a while that William has gotten some fresh air. And Ed cooked dinner and cleaned up. The kids were good and I hardly yelled at reprimanded them at all. We didn't do anything "fun" or interesting. But laying low is never a bad thing.

Typical William, Not So Typical Seth

William has some really weird interesting conversations sometimes, usually with himself, but sometimes with other people, including me. Yesterday, he asked, "Mommy--do you know what lives in logs?" I said, "What?" He said, "Skunks! And they don't really like it when skidders drag them through the forest. Except sometimes they do. Well, that's why it's complicated." Hmmm, complicated indeed.

Seth, meanwhile, was in especially rare form today, alternating between delightful and demonic even more than he usually does. His nose was a faucet and he was drooling like crazy. His latest thing is to take his pants off. Today he went for the shirt, too. He spent most of the day with his shirt half-on and no pants. He hasn't had a fever, thankfully, but he does have a weird rash on his outer thighs and on his stomach and back. The stomach and back look more "normal," (if a rash can look normal) but has anyone had experience with a rash that looks like this? 

I hope it's nothing serious. Other than William and I getting our H1N1 shots today (which you can read about in my other blog), it was a pretty low-key day. William and I went to Toys R Us after the shot (as a reward for William being so brave) to buy what I thought was going to be a Star Wars toy (he's very much into Star Wars these days), but he found an electric train set that he liked better, so I let him get that. We got it with the gift card that my brother and sister-in-law gave the boys (thanks Mitch and Cheri!), and although it was a bit bigger and more elaborate than the "little something" I thought we'd pick up, I liked the idea of the train versus some Star Wars character with a gun or light saber or battleship, since William has started playing shooting games quite regularly now. The train is a CAT brand, and the engine pulls two flatbed cars with a dump truck, front loader, and bulldozer, a box car, and a caboose. It's pretty cool, and William played with it all day. Score!

No plans for tomorrow, other than grocery store, laundry, maybe dusting if I'm inspired. Not a bad way to spend a weekend!

My Little Helper--Not!

I have read in lots of places how 3 year olds are eager to help out around the house and take pride in fulfilling small responsibilities. Not so much with William. He will help me here and there--bring me things, throw something away, hold a door--but when it comes to "chores," he's not interested. No folding washcloths, no setting the table, no helping in the kitchen. His sole mission in life is to play.

He got a responsibility chart for Christmas, so we got it out and set it up and chose five responsibilities that he could fulfill every day, things like pick up your toys, get dressed, brush your teeth. After two days of getting smiley-face magnets for tasks accomplished, he completely lost interest. He's not much on delayed gratification, doesn't really understand the concept of money,and I couldn't come up with a "reward" that I could offer nightly for positive reinforcement. (I want to avoid using food as a reward. I thought about letting him watch 5 minutes of TV for each task accomplished, but I don't' want him associating TV with a reward, either. My other thought is to read extra books at bedtime for tasks accomplished, but the thought of reading five books to him every night makes me tired. Still, that one's looking like the best option so far.)

Anyway, LauraC left a comment on my other blog (Project 365--Dinner Edition) about how she recruits her boys to "help" her make dinner and it works really well for that dinner-crunch-time. I've tried this with William, and while it has sometimes worked on weekends, he has no interest in helping me after school. All he wants to do is play with his toys. Some nights, he's fine playing on his own, but he gets so into it that it's hard to get him to stop playing and come to dinner. Some nights, he begs me to play with him, or to play with him downstairs, which is really challenging, because it's hard to get dinner ready when I'm downstairs. Sometimes he'll watch a video and do his nebulizer right when we get home, and that makes it easy to make dinner. But I don't want it to be a habit, and I enjoy watching him play and interacting with him. So I don't think there's an easy answer for now.

Seth, on the other hand, loves to "help" me in the kitchen, but that mostly involves making a mess. But I'm usually willing to pay that price to keep him occupied and entertained so I can make dinner. Some nights, though, I make dinner while I'm holding Seth, and that seems to work out, too. Sometimes things go well, sometimes they don't. Sometimes it's easy to get dinner on the table, sometimes it's not. I guess I need to accept the consistency of inconsistency.

Oh yeah--and as part of the dinnertime battle, we've tried the idea of letting him eat dinner when he's hungry, rather than trying to enforce a dinner time. But it always results in him using it to stall bedtime. After bath and bedtime stories, he'll say, "I'm hungry. Can I finish my dinner?" And then he'd be up until 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. It was definitely becoming manipulative, which is why we drew the line and said you eat at dinnertime and after that, too bad, you can have water. It's hard enforcing this rule, though. (Hard for me at least.) Maybe he's really not hungry at 6:30. Maybe I should try to shift the whole evening routine and let him eat at 7:30 or 8:00, after his play and nebulizer and bath. But it doesn't work for the family (Seth is usually ready to eat when he comes home, even with a snack on the way home.) And the end result is still a later bedtime. And I worry enough as it is that William doesn't get enough sleep.

So anyway, this post has rambled on enough. Sometimes it helps me to "think out loud." But it's late, and I probably won't get a lot of sleep tonight, because Seth seems to have caught another bug. His nose started running today, and last night and already tonight, he has woken up and seemed a bit off. Last night he took forever to fall back asleep. Poor guy! So I'm off to sleep while I can get it.

Introducing . . .

My new blog, Project 365--Dinner Edition, is up and running. It's not pretty, but it's functional. I managed to get my pictures downloaded from my camera, so I started the blog as of yesterday. My twist is to include my dinner log, since it's something that I want to keep track of. We'll see how long it lasts!

In the meantime, our transition back to "normal" this week has gone much better than expected. I think both boys are glad to be back in school. Seth's teacher said he has been clobbering her with kisses and zerberts this whole week. Seth LOVES to give zerberts--AKA raspberries--and will give them on any exposed body part he sees. It's very cute, but it's also a little fresh! Seth's teachers call him a real ladies' man.

William hasn't had too much to say about what they've been doing at school, but when I've been arriving to pick him up, we've been sticking around for 5-10 minutes so he can "finish" whatever he's doing. Today, on the way home, I kept asking him open-ended questions about school, and finally, with some amount of exasperation in his voice, he said, "Mommy, quit talking to me and just pay attention to your driving." I busted out laughing, which irritated him even more. But that's okay. It was worth it.

Seriously?

I'm all psyched to start Project 365 and I even got Ed to take pictures of me reading to the boys tonight. And now my camera is malfunctioning and I can't get my pictures to download from my camera. I've spent an hour setting up the new blog and playing around with templates and settings. Aghhhh! This is the story of my life. Why do I even bother? So, if I ever get my camera to download, you can start following my Project 365 blog. Otherwise, just stick with me here. To be continued . . .

Dinner

I was considering participating in Menu Plan Monday again, but I was struggling to figure out a menu for a full week. I do well two or three days out. But after that, the menu seems to fall apart. Here's our menu this week, so far as I've planned:

• Sunday: Balsamic glazed salmon, crash hot potatoes (corn for the kids because they don't typically eat potatoes), salad, baguette
• Monday: Lemon Mustard Chicken (made with chicken tenders), broccoli, dinner rolls
• Tuesday: Pork Piccata, green beans, roasted potatoes
• Wednesday: Quesadillas (which William will likely not eat, so he'll have leftovers instead)
  

William and Seth didn't eat a whole lot of the fish dinner on Sunday night. But they both ate well tonight. William LOVES ice cream sandwiches, and although I don't like using sweets as a reward or enticement, the promise of an ice cream sandwich for dessert almost always results in a cleaned plate. Tonight was one of those instances.

Back in October, I started keeping a food log where I noted what I served for dinner, and whether or not the kids ate it, and what I offered as a backup or alternative. I kept it up for a while, and I like going back and looking at it. In my attempt to figure out a two-week rotation of dinners that everyone likes, I thought I'd start up the log again and see if I can keep it up for two straight months. In the meantime, I decided to publish the log that I kept from October to November. Someone please tell me I'm not alone when it comes to the dinnertime battle! And give me some ideas! Post a typical week's menus, and how you make adjustments for your meals versus your kids' meals (if you make adjustments!).

********************************************************************

Monday, Oct. 12: Spaghetti (with ground turkey) and garlic bread (frozen store brand). I made wagon wheel pasta for the kids and angel hair for Ed and me. William ate plain pasta, but did eat a few bites of the pasta with spaghetti sauce.

Tuesday, Oct. 13: Turkey meatball subs and green beans. Seth ate it up. I made chicken nuggets for William.

Wednesday, Oct. 14: Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. No one ate it but me. Seth wouldn't even eat the grilled cheese! I made a ham and cheese sandwich for William, but he only ate a few bites)

Thursday, Oct. 15: Sirloin steaks, broccoli and dinner rolls.

Friday, Oct. 16: Hamburgers

Saturday, Oct. 17: Boys ate mac n cheese and green beans and ate a ton. Ed and I went out to dinner.

Sunday. Oct. 18: Ribs, broccoli, dinner rolls

Monday, Oct. 19: Chicken tenders, green beans, stuffing. William complained that he didn't want chicken and green beans, he wanted shells pasta. But when push came to shove, he ate his chicken and green beans. I also gave him some Cocoa Pebbles to eat with his dinner. Seth ate a little bit of chicken and a lot of beans. I had prepared the chicken tenders the night before with the breading so when I came home, all I had to do was cook them. We sat down to eat about 6:45 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 20: Ground beef and mac-n-cheese dinner with salsa and corn mixed in. As predicted, William didn't like it, so I served him chicken nuggets and corn. I served dinner a little early (6 p.m.), though, and William ate hardly anything. When it was time for bed, he whined and whined about how starving he was. He was so pitiful sounding that I finally gave him and gave him a piece of plain bread. He ate it in his bed.

Wednesday, Oct. 21: Salmon, asparagus, dinner rolls, stuffing. Seth hardly touched any of it, but he's been sick. I gave him a string cheese. William ate the asparagus, and a little bit of salmon.

Thursday, Oct. 22: The boys had mac-n-cheese and green beans. I gave them a piece of plain bread, but neither of the boys touched the bread. Seth ate his dinner, but not as much as he normally eats. William finally ate all the mac-n-cheese on his plate, but he didn't eat the green beans.

Saturday, Oct. 24: Chicken tenders (lemon mustard, broiled)

Sunday, Oct. 25:Pork tenderloin, baked potato, green beans

Monday, Oct. 26: Spaghetti. Seth ate a lot. William ate plain noodles with Parmesan cheese. He didn't eat them until later though, after nebulizer and bath.

Tuesday, Oct. 27: Pizza. Seth ate his. William didn't. I gave him a piece of bread and plain milk at bedtime because he whined about how hungry his tummy was.

Wednesday, Oct. 28: Homemade chicken nuggets. I cut up two chicken breasts into small pieces and shook them in flour, then dipped them in egg, and then rolled them in panko crumbs seasoned with Italian seasonings and garlic salt. I baked them on a cookie sheet for about 15-20 minutes. I made corn to go with it, and both boys ate it, although neither one ate a lot. We ate around 6:45. I made a bunch of extra nuggets that I froze. Hopefully they'll turn out okay.

Thursday, Oct. 29: ?

Friday, Oct. 30: ?

Saturday, Oct. 31: Chili's takeout. The kids had a grilled chicken breast and corn on the cob. I also gave Seth string cheese. Seth didn't eat a whole lot, but William ate pretty well. Seth actually ate several bites of Grandma's nachos.

Sunday, Nov. 1: Steak, asparagus, boiled potatoes. William ate the steak and asparagus; Seth ate the potatoes and a little bit of steak and asparagus.

Monday, Nov. 2: Chicken Enchiladas. I served the kids without the sauce. Seth ate some of his. William tried it, but didn't like it. I had made backup chicken nuggets and asparagus, so William ate two nuggets and all of his asparagus. Seth ate a few bites of nugget and asparagus.

Tuesday, Nov. 3: Corn, potato, and ham chowder. Seth liked it, William didn't. I gave him deli ham and string cheese instead. And he ate asparagus again. I made the soup in the crock pot, and used my round casserole dish as an insert, hoping to avoid overcooking the dish. It worked!

Wednesday, Nov. 4: Leftover steak for William; leftover enchiladas for Seth. I made green beans to go with it. I also heated up some leftover pasta wagon wheels and split them between the boys. Both boys ate the wagon wheels. Seth ate a lot of the enchilada. William ate all of his green beans and about half the steak, but only because he was motivated by oreo cookies and chocolate milk.

Thursday, Nov. 5:

Friday, Nov. 6: Pork Chops (?)

Saturday, Nov. 7: Fresh rock fish, broccoli. Both boys ate the fish and the broccoli. Seth ate a TON of broccoli.

Sunday, Nov. 8: Baked chicken, green beans, stuffing, dinner rolls. I also made sweet potatoes for Seth and me, although Seth didn't end up eating very much. William ate all of his, but Seth just picked at his.

Monday, Nov. 9: Quesadillas (using leftover chicken). I made the quesadillas for Seth and me, and just served William leftover chicken. I nuked broccoli as the side, and put it in the quesadillas, and served it for William with his chicken. William ate all of his dinner. Seth ate a good bit of his quesadilla.

Tuesday, Nov. 10: Flank steak, spinach salad, corn. William ate the steak and corn, but not right away. He did not want to sit down and eat, so I let him do his nebulizer. He went back and ate his dinner after that. Seth ate some corn, but not very much steak.

Wednesday, Nov. 11: Meatloaf, green beans, mashed sweet potatoes. Seth ate a little of everything. William ate 2 bites of meatloaf and a few green beans. But again, he didn't want to sit down and eat, he wanted to play. So I told him no chocolate milk and no dessert if he didn't eat. He said okay. Before we went upstairs for bath and bed, he said he was hungry, so I gave him a piece of bread and some water. He started to pitch a fit, but it didn't last very long. Even when I turned his light out, he started to ask for a little bit more chocolate milk, but he remembered that he didn't get any chocolate milk, so he didn't ask for anything.

Thursday, Nov. 12: Mac-n-cheese for the kids, leftovers meatloaf for me. I made Ed a tuna steak when he got home.

Friday, Nov. 13: Chicken nuggets and broccoli (?). Neither of the boys ate the chicken nuggets. I can't remember what they did eat. I think I reheated mac-n-cheese for Seth. William may have eaten a piece of bread.

Saturday, Nov. 14: Salmon, broccoli, blueberry muffins. Everyone ate it! Seth didn't eat a whole lot of salmon, but he got a few bites, and ate all his broccoli and half a muffin. William ate a bite of muffin, most of his salmon, and all his broccoli.

Sunday, Nov. 15: Spaghetti with wagon wheel pasta. Seth ate a lot of pasta. William did not want to stop playing, and didn't touch his. At bed time, he cried that he was hungry. He ate two pieces of bread and water.

Monday, Nov. 16: Pancakes and fruit salad. I found a new kind of whole wheat flour, by King Arthur. The pancakes I made with it were so good! I had been using half whole wheat flour, and half all purpose white flour, which was still pretty good, but these pancakes with the new flour were even better. I can't wait to try it with cookies and other baked goods! Anyway, Seth ate the pancakes and a little bit of fruit. William ate almost 2 pancakes, and a lot of his fruit, but not without a lot of cajoling and a little threatening. The promise of an ice cream sandwich did the trick. He didn't want to sit down and eat, of course--he wanted to keep playing.

Tuesday, Nov. 17: Chicken and dumplings (crock pot). I turned the crock pot onto "keep warm" instead of low, so no chicken and dumplings. I made eggs and sausage with green beans instead. Seth ate a few bites of sausage and string cheese. William ate all his green beans, and a little bit of sausage (almost one patty). Neither boy ate the eggs.

Wednesday, Nov. 18: I made chicken noodle soup and ham and cheese wraps. Neither boy ate the soup. Seth ate some of the wrap. William ended up eating a piece of bread. Had a very hard time getting William to sit at the table.

Year 2010, Day 3

This year is shaping up pretty well so far. We've had a decent weekend, despite the weather. It's sunny, but it's so frickin' cold--25 degrees with wind chill below zero. The wind gusts are crazy--as in I keep thinking our roof is going to blow off. Not fun. So no outdoors time for us. We went to Target today and the grocery store. Yesterday . . . well, I can't remember if we went anywhere yesterday. On New Year's Day, we went to Ed's parents. New Year's Day was actually really lame. We were all grumpy and tired, but that's okay. Not a great way to start a new year, but it's water under the bridge now.

Ed and I had a nice New Year's Eve. After we put the kids to bed we ate cheese and chocolate fondue and watched a bunch of episodes of Lost. We made it to midnight, but not really because we were trying. We had a bottle of champagne, but we decided neither of us really wanted it.

Now it's 2010, and time to consider those resolutions. Here was my list from last year:

• 2009 is the year that I will get a full night's (meaning at least 8 hours) sleep.
• 2009 is the year that I will get to sleep in every other Saturday.
• 2009 is the year that I will stop biting my nails.
• 2009 is the year that I will take more and better pictures, and then print the pictures and put them in albums or frames.
• 2009 is the year that I will become a more thoughtful person by sending cards and gifts to friends and family.
• 2009 is the year that I will do a better job of getting dinner on the table and packing lunch for work.
• 2009 is the year that I will go on a date with my husband more than a handful of times.

Well, I didn't do great, but I did make some progress. I think I did get a full night's sleep once or maybe even twice in 2009. On the whole, things are better. William sleeps through the night pretty consistently. Seth is all over the map, but I think that's because of teething. He's working on his eye teeth now, and then he'll just have his 2-year-old molars. So I see light at the end of the tunnel.

I did not get to sleep in every other Saturday in 2009. But Ed is no longer doing his Saturday night gig, so for the past couple of weekends, we've been taking turns getting up with the boys. It's been very nice! And something I look forward to continuing in 2010.

I did not stop biting my nails in 2009, and I did not take more and better pictures. I did print a bunch of pictures and I started putting together an album, and I do have more pictures in frames around the house. My kids have become so uncooperative with pictures that it makes me mad to even try. Plus my camera sucks with indoor pictures. So I get discouraged.

I regret to say that I did not become a more thoughtful person in 2009. I will renew my efforts for this goal for 2010. I did do a better job of bringing my lunch to work and getting dinner on the table. I can't say I was consistent, but I'm feeling good about meal planning for 2010.

I think I only went out with Ed a handful of times, but our anniversary trip was awesome and made up for a lot of dateless weekends. But I definitely want to renew the effort to go on more regular dates in 2010.

So, that brings us to my list for this year.

• Stop biting my nails
• Be a more thoughtful and considerate person
• Go on more dates with Ed
• Do lots more hand washing and hand sanitizing.
  
• Recycle and use reusable bags at the grocery store (I'll duck while you throw things at me for not doing this one already.)
• Figure out a two-week rotation of dinners that the family will eat (this may prove impossible!)

Wish me luck! I may try to start doing the Menu Plan Monday again. We'll see. I planned the meals this week up to Thursday, but then I got stuck. I don't why I find it so difficult to plan ahead. At any rate, it's back to school, back to work, back to the routine tomorrow. I hope it's not awful and that the kids don't have too hard a time transitioning back. William has gone two weeks without a nap. And Seth still has a runny nose. But hopefully, none of that will matter.

For now, it's back to cleaning bathrooms, folding laundry, and getting everything to its rightful place. "Normal" routine, here we come!