I refuse to spend the money on having video-streaming services year-round (plus, I don't watch much TV in general), but I knew that the postpartum time would involve lots of sitting around and breastfeeding sessions. So, I told myself that I would get a month of Netflix once I gave birth. We also got a free trial of Amazon Prime for buying baby items, which includes a lot of glorious instant viewing opportunities. I just gotta say, long sessions of nursing or walking with a crying baby are much more entertaining (and easier to handle) when I'm either drooling over the dresses in Downton Abbey or on the edge of my seat as Michonne whirls around her epic sword in The Walking Dead. And getting to celebrate newborn life by watching Series 6 of Doctor Who (my favorite season, which also has a considerable parenting focus) was fairly fantastic. Furthermore, instead of being super grumpy about being up in the middle of the night with a fussy, hungry baby, it's much easier to be less grumpy (or even happy!) because it's a chance to watch a cool show!
Energy Bites!
These are so very awesome! The first batch of energy bites I made was this lovely recipe of oatmeal raisin bites (note: I subbed in peanut butter for the almond butter). These were perfect little one-handed, one-bite, non-messy, no-hassle snacks for nursing sessions. Not only that, but they were pretty healthy and extremely delicious. A batch of these only lasted me a week (like I said: they are so good! It's hard to stop after only just one or two!), so I decided to make another recipe: Monster Cookie Energy Bites! These seem significantly less healthy (but still healthy-ish?) and are also really good. I now have an obsession with energy bites, and I'm excited to make more types!
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| These "Almond Joy" energy bites don't taste like the candy bar in my opinion, but they are still fairly tasty! The only downside is that they don't hold up as well at room temperature, so I can't stick them in the bedroom for middle-of-the-night snacking. I subbed in raisin paste instead of dates (more cost-effective), so maybe that's why? |
Since I haven't made it to daily Mass that much, praying Morning or Evening Prayer is a wonderful way to engage in liturgical prayer with the rest of the Church worldwide. There's also just something so comforting about praying the Liturgy of the Hours, and it's a great way to add some order to my very random days (my little guy doesn't like schedules yet, so things get pretty random).
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.
Listen, friends: If you ever pick up a comic book in your life, please pick up Squirrel Girl-you won't regret it! There are so many wonderful elements to this comic series that I already wrote about, but now that I'm in the whirlwind of baby life, I have a deeper appreciation for the healthy humor. Because whether I'm dealing with latch issues or total exhaustion, I need laughter...and this series cracks me up :)
My Assisi Scarf.
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Civilization V.
Jacob and I love playing board games together, but it's hard for me to feel motivated to set up a board game when Peter can be unpredictable in his schedule and recent bouts of fussiness. However, Civ V is a computer game, so it doesn't require any physical set-up on our part. Furthermore, since each game takes literally forever (at least a few hundred turns), it involves lots of sitting around-and hey, sitting around is a key element of postpartum! I'm kind of failing epicly in our current game while Jacob expands his empire like crazy and is researching advanced technologies (like rocketry), but it's still fun :)
It's easy to get swept up in the duties of motherhood, but I have found that having "exciting" or "special" things is a great way to take care of myself, have fun, and embrace and added sense of adventure each day!
I love Mother's Milk tea. Is that boring? I don't know, but I love the flavor of it! I'm blessed with an abundant milk supply (for which I'm very grateful), so I don't need it to boost my supply. I just drink it because I love it and it's not the sort of thing you buy to drink when not breastfeeding. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat's so neat! Haha, I think that qualifies as "exciting," since you drink it even though you don't "need" to. You're right-since it's not the type of thing we drink when not breastfeeding, might as well take advantage of this time to drink all the tea! Shannon, how do you like you drink your mother's milk tea? (do you add honey, sugar, cream, lemon, etc.) I don't "need" to drink it (since I have plenty of milk currently), but I really want to drink it since I love tea-I just have no idea what ways people usually drink it.
DeleteI don't add anything. I just heat water in the tea kettle and pour it in a mug with the tea bag.
ReplyDeleteIt would probably taste good with milk or cream, but I've not tried it.
Neat! Thanks for letting me know-I'll give this a try! :)
DeleteI make peanut butter balls quite often. Equal amounts peanut butter and dry milk, then half as much honey. Add in whatever you want, oatmeal, flax seed, wheat germ, mini chocolate chips, mini m&m, coconut, whatever. If you freeze them and leave them in a little insulated cold bag by your bed, they would work for the middle of the night. My girls love these for breakfast.
ReplyDeleteOoh, Ann-Marie, those sound really good! I think it's cool that they have dry milk in them. I think I'll have to try these out next time I can pick up ingredients from the store :)
DeleteI definitely think that sitting up at all hours of the night with a baby has got to be much less boring in the days of video-streaming services. My baby sister was a baby who never slept, which meant that I and some of my siblings took shifts for night time care. My brother loved watching a movie while walking the baby girl around the room at 3 in the morning, haha!
ReplyDeleteWow, that's really cool and self-sacrificing that you and your siblings helped out in the night shifts with your sister! I'm glad your brother got to take advantage of that time for movie-watching. It really is a special perk of middle-of-the-night caregiving :)
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