{Monday Meal Planning} Edition might be the only one...we'll see

For the past month, my sister-in-law, Susannah, and her 3 girls have been visiting us in Edinburgh.  Some of our neighbors graciously allowed her to use their flat while they were away on vacation for the month. It was so fun pretending we lived across the courtyard from each other and that it was normal to get to do normal things together like go to lunch, take our kids to baby and toddler group, the park, castles, high tea, the Highlands...well normal for Scotland anyway.

Sus retrieving Caroline's paci which was dropped off the side of a bridge at the Botanical Gardens...she got to experience the fear of losing The Soothie in the UK where they cost 15 US dollars to replace!

Sus is a great mom and basically I try to copy everything she does (can we say little sister?).  I would laugh watching her older two girls play.  If they were coloring, 4 year old Lizzie would be on the same page using the same color marker on the same part of the picture as adored older sister, Lillian.  This is how I am with Susannah except in grown up matters particularly though not limited to parenting.  Though I'm sure if given the chance to color together, I'd be tempted to use the same colors as her too.

I was shocked one night when she complimented my meal planning ability...not because she isn't an encourager, she is, but I didn't realize I even had this gift as I am not the organized one, she is.  Though I do lack organizational ability, meal planning is something that comes fairly easy to me - mostly because I enjoy eating and cooking and not being stuck with whatever I can throw together from my pantry (though this has been known to happen!).  She said she'd enjoy cooking more if someone would just give her a meal plan and grocery list each week.

Now I can't make your grocery list being on the other side of the Atlantic, but here's to you Sus and anyone else who feels like she does: a ready-made weekly meal plan.  If I am taking the time to meal plan for my own family, I might as well post it in case she (or you!) wants to use ideas from it or copy it completely.

Here are a few caveats:

1.  I have a toddler and an infant - easy and fast meals are high priority in my kitchen these days
2. Because of our budget, and let's be serious, my taste buds, I am not always the healthiest cook.  I am trying to cut back on recipes with cheese and add in more vegetables, but fresh veg is expensive!  I'll do my best.
3. Living in the UK makes it difficult to find all of my American staples (read: corn tortillas, black beans, chopped green chiles etc) so there would be more recipes with these ingredients if I still lived in Texas. Maybe this is a good thing since most recipes that include those ingredients also call for cheese.
4. If it's pungent, spicy, tart, garlicky, the Inces love it (even Seth!), so suffice it to say that this meal plan will not suit a bland palate.


Here is my plan for this week:

Here are my recipes:

Monday, plus steamed broccoli and fresh pineapple for dessert

Tuesday, Caesar salad (I made this crock pot pot roast recipe I found on Pinterest before, but this time I am omitting the allspice, tomato paste and honey and adding more carrots and potatoes...that is if they'll fit in my tiny British crock pot!)

Wednesday - I am most looking forward to this recipe from my friend, Liz. I will post it tomorrow.  If you need the ingredients sooner, email me!

Thursday, Brussel sprouts

I typically try not to have to cook so much on the front end of the week, but didn't think I'd have enough leftovers from tonight for tomorrow night (I did). Plus this week is uncharacteristic due to our two bbqs in two days - pray for sun in Edinburgh!

Bon Appetit!

{Embrace the Camera} City Centre

This week I made it to Edinburgh's city center for the first time since I got back from Texas two weeks ago (let's be honest, I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've been since I had Avery in mid-March - what?!). In my defense, I'm a homebody, and it takes 45 minutes to walk there (don't judge - I'm pushing a really heavy double stroller!).

Much to my surprise, I enjoyed trekking it through the rain with my 2 year old and 3 month old.  Maybe trekking it isn't the most accurate phrase since I took the bus.  To be fair, I did have a bit of a walk from the bus stop to Taylor's office.  Our friends, Austin and Lauren, were in town visiting us and seeing bonny Scotland, so we met Taylor at New College, and then walked to a nearby cafe for lunch.   Seth loved getting to see Daddy in the middle of the work day.  We had such a fun time we decided we're making a monthly tradition!  

our family of four in the courtyard of new college

standing in front of the olympic rings on the mound - steps from taylor's office in new college

Embracing the Camera with Emily today...

Seth: 2 year old photos

Seth has become increasingly hard to photograph.

Exhibit A: 2 year old photo shoot 

He's considering smiling here.  Or maybe he's just thinking to himself, "why is my mom jumping around like a monkey?"

Now we're distracted by the water.  It would definitely be a good idea to get completely soaked at the beginning of the shoot.

I've managed to get pretty wet, so I guess I'll give you a smile.  

For fun, let's take a trip down memory lane to our 11 month photo shoot:

(This is back when the monkey was still funny apparently.)  

I won't smile, but I'll give you a kiss...

Now you've got the right idea mom - and no, I'm gonna get you!

OK, I've warmed up enough; here's a smile.

And here is my best smile, but I'm about to escape, so you better snap fast Papa!

And he's off...

Crazytown

Now that I've crossed the auspicious threshold of mother of two, people constantly ask me how it is.  You know, really expectantly if they are expecting number two themselves or knowingly if they are a seasoned mom.  This question was always on my lips when I was pregnant with Avery, accosting every friend who had just given birth to tell me what it was like to take care of two.

My two favorite responses came from my friends Lauren and Andrea:

One kind of ducked her head and guiltily looked side to side before whispering, "you're going to think I'm crazy, but..." I leaned in closer with rapt attention, "I think having two is easier."

What?!  It was the answer I had been dreaming to hear but hadn't allowed myself to hope for.  I mean, Seth had been a really easy baby, but that's just it, he's still a baby...

The other answered, "one is hard, but two is Crazytown."

Great.  

And the funny thing is the answer is both.

I'm kind of a wuss when it comes to doing things that are hard, or gross, or cause sleep deprivation.  This made for a hellish character building experience for Taylor when we had Seth.  Let's just say I was a basket case for the first six weeks with small signs of improvement through 8 weeks, and then grace of God took over in the form of baby sleeping for 12 hours by 12 weeks (that is of course after getting over the shock of moving to a foreign country with an infant), so I was back to my stable, steady self in 3 long months.  Thank you to those of you who prayed for us during this time - we are forever grateful!

So when the plus sign showed up on the pregnancy test when Seth was 13 months old, you can bet we wore our knees raw praying I'd handle my post-partum hormones more gracefully this time.

With baby number two I've had a TON of help.  My mom came for 3 weeks, Taylor's mom came for 10 days, tons of friends brought us meals, and Taylor worked from home to ease me into this whole being out numbered business and to give me time to recover from my c-section. And though I had my moments, I haven't had any post-partum symptoms like I did with Seth.  Not even your typical Baby Blues. 

PRAISE THE LIVING GOD.

When the last mom left, and Taylor went back to working at his office, learning life with two kids was a baptism by fire of sorts.  You see, I hadn't had to cook, clean, or do anything really except for nurse (part of the reason I haven't been posting because who wants to read about breastfeeding? Not me).  

And then everyone left.  


And stopped bringing food.

And Taylor had a deadline so he not only was back at the office after 5 1/2 weeks of working from home, he was working until bedtime.  Bedtime.  Out numbered until bedtime. 

To give you an idea of how it was, here is a screenshot of my response to Taylor asking how we were doing one day:

Did I mention he is known for his sensitivity?

Thankfully every day on either side of this one has been much easier.  

Maybe that's what my friend meant by Crazytown - they can be angels one day and putting canisters of pretzels on their sisters the next.

Hello, Land of the Living.

I think I warned you that once I have a baby the blog basically gets abandoned.  To my credit, I do think I posted about Avery's birth way faster than I did Seth's.  My neglect is not due to my lack of time.  It's just that in that glorious space of time I choose to eat. Or take a shower. Or sleep.  (And those of you who know me know those aren't in the right order). My husband thanks you for your patience.

Here's what we've been up to:

eating {all.the.time}

sleeping

playing

jamming

celebrating {Easter}

I still don't have a whole post together, so the mean time, here are some great posts I've read recently:

Fun reads:
Jen Hatmaker - love her whole blog.  I particularly related to this one and will very likely devote a whole post about it later
Big Mama - shenanigans with Siri (the girl in the iPhone) here
Hello from the Natos - hi.lar.ious. especially if you have siblings
The Anderson Crew - this one was like looking into our future a few kids later


And on a more serious note:
The Sacred Ordinary - this one is by my sis-in-law and reminded me it's ok to hate crafts
Casey Leigh - this one shed some light into my post partum craziness with Seth...maybe I'll post later about this


Hope y'all are well!

Meet Baby Girl

Avery Kaitlyn Ince is here!

March 16, 2012

10:22 am

6 lbs 13 oz

20 in

"Know that the Lord, He is God!

It is He who made us, and we are His; 

we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture!"

Psalm 100:3

With great joy,

Taylor, Robin, and big brother Seth

{Embrace the Camera} Ticking Time Bomb

So I've been planning on doing a follow-up post on our February Budget Blunder to let you know how we did, but that would require me finding looking at our last two grocery receipts and plugging them into our spreadsheet, and I still haven't found the motivation to do it.  Can we say anti-climactic?

I blame it on 37 weeks of pregnancy (38 tomorrow) accompanied with lots of Braxton Hicks.  It's all I can do to get my nesting done and apparently accounting doesn't fall under that category.  Those who know me are not in the least bit shocked by this.

So here I am at 37 weeks:

Large and in charge
(taken last Friday, so you can imagine what I look like today)

This stage of pregnancy is hard.  I've had a lot of signs pointing to fairly imminent labor (I'll spare you the details), so I feel like a ticking time bomb.  I'm trying to soak up these last few days with Seth before I have to share him and enjoy my quiet nights with Taylor before we have a new little buddy hanging out with us past 7 pm.  But I am ready.  And a little anxious.

I don't remember (surprise, surprise) if I've written about this on the blog, but because of my history with Seth (4th degree tear, forceps delivery), I have to have a c-section if Baby Girl doesn't come by March 16th.  My actual due date is the 23rd, but the doctor doesn't want to risk me going into labor once I hit the 39th week.  I was really upset about this at first because I had no idea that a c-section was in my future, but it's been nice to know that it won't be a waiting game.  At least not a seemingly never-ending one.  The Lord has given me grace to accept a c-section if that is His best, but He's also seems to be answering the prayers on behalf of my many prayer warriors (thank you dear friends and family!) to bring her early if that is safe too, so I am trying to be thankful for every contraction and new hormone that comes my way.  He is faithful and His plan is always the right one.  What a stress reliever!

So I am embracing my bump today because next week's Embrace the Camera will be the last possible day I can even take a bump picture.   Wow.  I think I need to go to bed now and sleep while I still can!