Category: erin is …

Coffee Break

I love the blog posts I’ve seen others do that are written as if we’re sitting and having coffee today. I’ve had all sorts of random thoughts floating through my head, so it’s time for a coffee date!

Coffee, water, and half a doughnut

Today over coffee, I’d tell you …

Time flies when you’re not looking. I know many moms of young children (myself included) wish some of the endless witching hours would go away. We hate it when people say, “Treasure these times! They go so fast!” because they feel interminable when things are not going well, aren’t fun, and are fraught with stress about discipline, illness, and other “are we making the right call?” choices.

My littlest moved into his big boy bed the other night. My daughter had a father-daughter dance this weekend and looked too grown-up in some of her pictures. I went with my oldest on a field trip to the zoo and he wrote a narrative zoo journal about his trip.

My catalogue of tiny baby memories for each of them is growing the tiniest bit slimmer every day, but I’m adding to their bigger kid catalogues. It’s wonderful and bittersweet. Time does fly, at least outside of those crazy times.

Did you hear that Iran wants to start promoting their country as a tourist destination? I would love to someday visit Iran as a tourist. Yes, really. There’s so much history and so many beautiful places to experience. But seriously … The risks of traveling there seem to far outweigh the non-risks. I’ll content myself for now with dreaming of a someday trip to Cuba. Maybe one day more “forbidden” places will be safe and open for travel.

It’s almost time to start my Hypnobabies again. Except I seem to have misplaced my workbook … Ugh. Hypnobabies is a self-hypnosis, guided meditation and relaxation way of prepping for labor and delivery … And the last trimester of pregnancy, and the early postpartum days too, in my opinion. I know, I know – how crunchy.

I started HB during my pregnancy with Nora as a way to last longer before the epidural. (You can read more about her birth here.) I used it again, although not as diligently, when pregnant with Jude. (His story here.) Even if I still end up the epidural route, HB helps so much in the mental processes around pregnancy, labor, and delivery that I still think it’s worthwhile. It’d be nice to NOT have the epidural (and the possibility of a spinal headache, the epidural shakes and chills, the dropping blood pressure), but I’m not going to presume anything. I’ll aim for a positive experience in whatever way that comes to me and this baby.

And HB helps me sleep better. I can definitely use some of that!

My job is … Fine. I’m not in a super-excited place about it, but I’m not super-negative about it. Maybe it’s contentment? That’s at least something to aim for. And super excitement isn’t something I necessarily want leading up to maternity leave. This may be a good time for exploration within the job and the possibilities I’ve been too busy to examine during other periods.

I think this baby likes yoga. I haven’t been as good about getting a short practice or two in during the week. I did 20 minutes tonight, and I could really tell the (tight) difference in my hips and legs. After even just those 20 minutes, the baby started moving around and kicking more than I’d felt other evenings. I think s/he appreciates the room around their room now!

One of these days I’m going to leave an entry exactly as typed and auto-corrected to see if it makes any sense at all. The iPad just changed “baby started” to “baby’s tatted” in the last paragraph. I mean, come on.

Rodan + Fields Giveaway

Hey friends – just a quick note to say that I”m running a couple of giveaways on my Rodan + Fields Facebook page. If you’re interested, hop on over and join in!

Yoga for Two

I’ve talked a bit about my fitness plans for this pregnancy in my weekly updates, but thought it might be fun to talk a little more specifically. For each of my babies/pregnancies, I’ve really enjoyed finding other moms who’ve had similar experiences or tried things similar to what I’m interested in, so I can see how it went for them. Every pregnancy, woman, and baby is different, but there’s some sort of comfort in seeing what the sisterhood is up to while carrying a baby.

I mentioned before that I had hopes of running during this pregnancy. Unfortunately, my experience during Jude’s pregnancy turned out to not be a fluke. Starting around 8-10 weeks, my body simply can’t handle running anymore. My heart and breathing rates go up too high, too fast, and I’m gasping for air. My pace, if slowed down to a comfy heart rate, is essentially walking. Even that can put additional strain that I’m not comfortable with during pregnancy, especially given the asthma issues I developed while pregnant with Seth.

I decided to go back to yoga, something I’ve always enjoyed but don’t do enough of at any time. I need help with my strengthening in general. I would love some core and pelvic area stretches and strengthening. I also need some stress counteraction since I don’t have the running working for me right now!

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Somehow this isn’t the stress release I thought it would be.

I’ve been a fan of Shiva Rea for a long time. I had her prenatal yoga dvd, so I tried it a few times. Honestly, I just get bored doing the same thing over and over. Prenatal classes are hard to find at times and locations that work for me. I didn’t feel confident enough modifying in a standard class, and I didn’t want to buy more DVDs. I did rent a couple on Amazon Instant Video and … Well, I wasn’t too impressed.

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Most of my yoga DVDs came from Gaiam, so i decided to try their Roku/streaming channel. (I’m not doing referral links … This is just my opinion.) I must have done their free trial or some other sort of trial, because I know I wouldn’t pay $90 for a year subscription without testing it first. Because that’s exactly what I ended up doing.

There are two teachers I really like: Twee Merrigan and Mara Branscombe. I’ve tried multiple practices from them and have enjoyed all of them. Yes, there are some issues. At some point in every video, the narrator seems to forget whether she’s mirroring or saying the actual right/left in her instructions, and it gets confusing. That’s minor, though, compared to the general quality of these practices. The practices are varied lengths — 20/30 minutes or 40/60, which I appreciate. Lots of options! Lots of instructors, too.

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This right here? That’s what I needed and was looking for. Gentle pushes, gentle strength, targeting the areas a pregnant body needs help with. Loved it big time today.

My hope is that doing yoga more regularly gets me into a “need it!” mindset after the baby arrives too. I could use it postpartum, of course, and they have options for postpartum yoga and Pilates, too. I also need to build it into my running routines so I’m a more well-rounded runner. I need the counterbalance to the tighter hips and legs, and the focus on the upper body.

I’m even going to get brave at some point soon and try a class. While pregnant. Not for pregnant ladies. Maybe next week.

Also? My Raw Threads shirts have been AWESOME yoga wear in this first half of the pregnancy. I just got a For Two Fitness yoga shirt from Zulily, so I’m loving that wardrobe option too. Now if I could just make yoga pants official work wear, I’d be totally set!

Southwestern Breakfast Casserole

One of my favorite breakfasts to make and take (to church, brunch at a friend’s house, etc.) came to me years ago. No, not in a dream or a vision, but at my brother-in-law’s college graduation. We stayed at the home of some of his good friends, and they made this WONDERFUL breakfast casserole the morning of graduation.

I hadn’t been a huge fan of breakfast casseroles. Most of them involve bread and soaking overnight and just a big ol’ soggy mess, in my opinion. This one was different. The magical difference? Crescent rolls for the bottom layer instead of nasty old bread.

My genius husband also discovered that those “Grands” crescent rolls by Pillsbury cover the bottom even more thoroughly than the regular. Mmmm. Bread. You unroll them, spread them into a 9×13-inch pan, and press to make the seams and edges mostly meet. Meanwhile, you’ve got a pound of breakfast sausage browning on the stove.

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When the sausage is ready, you spread the crumbled sausage over the crescent rolls. Add this mixture of eggs, milk, spices, and green chiles to the pan … oh, and one of our favorite things to do is add Penzey’s Arizona Dreaming spice blend to the egg mix. It’s an absolute staple in our pantry now.

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Another trick I’ve discovered is to spread half a cup of green tomatillo salsa (or other salsa verde) over the sausage before the egg mixture. (Can you tell I’ve made this a few times?) You can do this in place of the green chiles or in addition.

Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese on top, pop in the oven, and YUM.

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An official recipe is below, linked from my Plan to Eat account. (It does give me a referral bonus if you sign up through my link.) I absolutely love this casserole, and I love that it reheats so well the next day! If you have any left, that is …

 

Print Recipe

Southwest Breakfast Casserole

A yummy breakfast casserole that uses crescent rolls instead of bread for the base.

Source: Erin

Course: Breakfast

Prep Time: 20 Min

Cook Time: 25 Min

Total Time: 45 Min

Serves: 8

Ingredients

  • 1 lb breakfast sausage
  • 4 – 6  eggs
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 2-3 tbsp green chiles diced or 1/2 cup green salsa (tomatillo)
  • 1 8 oz can crescent rolls (may want the “Grands” size)
  • 2 cups shredded cheese cheddar, mexican cheese blend, cheddar jack
  • 1 – 2 tsp seasoning salt and pepper, or garlic salt, OR Arizona Dreaming

Directions

  1. Brown sausage, crumbling as it cooks.
  2. Beat together eggs, milk, and seasoning until eggs are slightly scrambled. Mix in chiles.
  3. Unroll crescent rolls and press into bottom of 9×13 baking dish (can spray pan first with cooking spray if needed). Cover the bottom of the pan and press slightly up the sides. GRANDS crescent rolls more than cover and will slightly overlap.
  4. Spread cooked sausage across bottom of pan, on top of dough.
  5. Pour egg mixture over sausage, then sprinkle with cheese.
  6. Bake at 375F for 25 – 30 minutes or until egg mix is set.

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