All posts by leslie

What’s Better Than a Baby Shower?

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A whole weekend relaxing and hanging out with friends from college (Go Gators!) In lieu of a second shower or sprinkle, I opted for a relaxation weekend away in Orlando since we are planning on reusing most of Henry’s baby gear for baby boy number two. There’s just something about being around old friends who know you so well you can pick up right where you left off without skipping a beat. That’s how these ladies are to me, and it’s simply lovely.
Official plans for the weekend included a pedicure (with a mini massage), dinner at the Kona Cafe at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, and a trip to Harry Potter at Universal (since I hadn’t visited the Diagon Alley part yet, a travesty, I know). Those were the only priorities, anything else that happened was bonus donuts. So I was so happy to see Tina Fey’s new movie, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,” because I so rarely go to the movies anymore and it’s one of my favorite things. I enjoyed the movie, and I think the ladies enjoyed getting food and drinks at AMC Disney Springs’ Dine-In Theaters.

    
Now back to my favorite part of the weekend – visiting Harry Potter! I love the books (and movies) so much that I try to re-read the series each year. So when Lisa volunteered her free employee tickets to whoever wanted to use them that weekend, I said yes (even though I was allowed to go on one total ride at both parks; don’t go to Universal if you’re pregnant and have to pay for your tickets (or if you don’t like fast rides).) it was so much fun geeking out in London, Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley, and Hogsmeade. I loved the design details, and the way it all came together to make it feel like I was in the HP universe. The Hogwarts Express ride was really cool, even if it wasn’t a train with real windows to the outside (you get to watch a fun movie instead). Next time, I’ll have to take the Gringott’s ride, so I’ll have to get back someday. It is totally worth it to go, especially if you’re a fan.

       

all the butterbeer types
  
headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix
                We relaxed, chatted, caught up on our lives, and had fun! I love my family, and my friends who have become family. I’m so lucky to have awesome people in my life, who will love this little guy just like they love me, Keith, and Henry.

  

Cooking with the Hen – Sweet Potato and Coconut Milk Soup with Brown Rice and Lentils

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I don’t know why I decided to make a new soup recipe on a hot day in April, but oh my goodness am I so glad I did. It was filling, flavorful, and hit the spot for whatever randomness my pregnant body was craving (not to mention it’s nutritious). Henry was very interested in its creation, probably because I used a million and seven dishes to make it, and there were a lot of things to dump (two year olds love to dump anything). It took me about an hour and half of combined prep and cook time, but the end result was totally worth it.

  
The recipe below was slightly adapted from Katie at the Kitchen Door. 

Sweet Potato and Coconut Milk with Brown Rice and Lentils

Serves 6.

  • 2-3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
  • 2 TBS olive oil
  • sea salt and pepper to taste
  • 3 TBS coconut oil, divided
  • 1 large sweet onion, peeled and diced
  • 4 tsp Penzey’s Sweet Curry Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Penzey’s dried ginger
  • 4 c. chicken broth
  • 3/4 c. orange juice
  • 1 c. coconut milk
  • 1 1/2 c. cooked lentils
  • 3 c. cooked brown rice
  • plain yogurt, for serving
  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Toss the sweet potatoes with the olive oil, salt, and pepper and spread out on a large rimmed baking sheet. Roast until tender when pierced with a fork, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

  2. Melt 2 TBS of the coconut oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the onion and saute until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the curry powder and ginger and saute until fragrant, 2 minutes more. Add the roasted sweet potato and broth and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes, then remove from heat and carefully transfer to a blender. Add the orange juice and coconut milk and blend until very smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set soup aside.

  3. In a small frying pan, melt the remaining 1 TBS of coconut oil over medium heat. Add the cooked lentils and saute until crispy, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.

  4. Scoop a 1/2 cup of brown rice into each bowl. Pour soup over the rice, then top with lentils and yogurt.

  

Coloring Easter Eggs

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Last year, I didn’t even bother trying to dye Easter eggs with Henry since he was only one, and I remember the process as a kid being a whole lot of waiting and not a lot of doing (something 1 year olds don’t excel at). We made carrot cake cookies instead, and he loved it. So this year I decided we were going to dye eggs, but needed to decide how. Should we use the same kits I used as a kid (eww, vinegar smell), dye eggs with natural dye from fruits and veggies (don’t really have the energy to round up different food items to make the dye, and Henry won’t care much anyways), or find an alternative on Pinterest? 

  
I went with choice three and found an easy way to dye eggs using shaving cream and food coloring. Except I replaced the shaving cream with cool whip because the Hen still has a occasional tendency to put things in his mouth, and I figured the pretty colors could be a temptation (they weren’t, but it smelled nice). Henry chose how much dye we put in the cool whip (yay pink!), and then helped me swirl it all around. 

  
Now we were ready to color the eggs and get really messy! I demonstrated how to do it, and Henry jumped right in. For two whole eggs, he loved it, and was quickly over it. He wanted me to do the rest so he wouldn’t get dirty. This from the kid who lives and loves to get as dirty as possible. Don’t worry, he made up for it after I finished the eggs and put them aside to dry. 

    
There was plenty of the colored cool whip left, so I grabbed some paper and let him finger paint. This was exactly what he was waiting for. Thick globs of purplish-bluish- pink dessert topping were spread all over the paper (and him). He was having a blast, as I was trying to figure out how to get food coloring off of myself since I now had dyed hands and a boy quickly turning purple like Violet Beauregard in Willy Wonka. 

   
   
Thanks to a quick Google search, I found that a first wash of soap and warm water followed by a vinegar scrub cleaned us mostly up (except my nails, but I’ve been meaning to paint them for Easter Sunday anyway). After Henry was all cleaned up and eating lunch, I rinsed the eggs and love their finished tie-dye swirls. It was a super fun activity for a rainy Holy Week morning.
   
 

Kissimmee Vacation, Part 2 – Magic Kingdom Resort Hopping

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It may be weird to say that one of our priorities in visiting our family was getting pictures of the cousins in matching Disney shirts. I purchased them for the Disney cruise that did not happen, and wanted to make sure to get the kids in a group picture before they outgrew the shirts. Since Keith isn’t the biggest Disney fan, we didn’t want to spend an expensive day at the parks, so we spent a fun day exploring the Magic Kingdom Resort’s hotels!

    
First up: the Grand Floridian. Modeled after the Victorian era grand hotels that popped up along the Florida coast, it may be the most opulent resort at Disney World. This means it makes for great photo opportunities almost everywhere. It also holds a special place for Scott and Amanda because they were married in the Wedding Pavilion next door. We took some fantastic pictures of the kids, then hopped on the monorail for a ride to the Polynesian Resort for lunch.

        
We wanted inexpensive, yet delicious food, and we definitely found it at Captain Cook’s at the Polynesian. Serving American and Asian food, Keith got a spicy hot pho noodle bowl, I got a Hawaiian pizza, and Henry got his regular chicken tenders, and my bro and nephew ate dairy and peanut allergy-friendly meals (Amanda ate yummy cheese covered nachos). For dessert, we ate one of my favorite things ever – a Dole whip – from the Pineapple Lanai. Oh my goodness, it just hits the spot on sunny days, with its pineapple and vanilla soft serve mixed together. Henry thought it was dreamy, too. 

      
We would have stayed to swim at the Polynesian, but the large pool area is now locked off to all unless you are staying at the hotel and have a magic band to prove it. Instead, we took a monorail ride back to the Grand Floridian so the boys could swim at its Alice in Wonderland-themed splash pad. It was so fun – the boys really loved the poolside activities and games, even if Henry didn’t really understand them. They also enjoyed sliding down the water slides and splashing in the water. It was a cousin-fun-filled day!

   
   

Kissimmee Vacation, Part 1 – Playground of the Week – Lakefront Park

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Let’s flashback a few weeks to that time we took a super short (little less than 48 hours) trip to visit my brother and his family in their new place in Kissimmee. They’ve been there since October or November, and hope to buy the cool, old house they are living in. It’s in downtown, historic Kissimmee, with tree-lined brick streets, and within walking distance of their church, restaurants, and parks. If you’re going to live in the Orlando area, it’s a pretty sweet setup.

   

   
I know I posted a playground of the week yesterday, but that was officially last week so I’m going to do another one back to back. This week’s playground of the week is brought to you from Kissimmee’s Lakefront Park, located at 201 Lakeview Drive, 34741. This park was awesome! It has two playgrounds adjacent to Lake Tohopekaliga, as well as a splash pad. We only visited the southern side’s playground, but there was plenty to do including the typical climbing, swinging, and sliding. It is next to the bathrooms, and there were benches and chairs for parents to sit and watch. Henry’s favorite part (maybe favorite thing ever as he is still talking about it) was blasting off stomp rockets in the large field in the park. If it hadn’t been lunchtime and the weather had been better, he could have played all day with his cousins.

   
    
 

Playground of the Week – Pinebrook Park

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This week’s playground of the week was a pleasant surprise. Pinebrook Park, located at 7202 118th Avenue North in Pinellas Park, looked nearly unrecognizable from the photos posted on the City of Pinellas Park’s website, and this was definitely a good thing.
  

The playground equipment looked entirely new, with some sunsails providing portions of shade. Bright colors of climbing apparatuses stood out; Henry found some of them challenging but kept trying anyways. The ground was made of rubberized mulch affixed to the earth, so parents who have babies/toddlers shouldn’t be afraid of them eating the surface material. It was a totally fun place to be.

     

   

   
There were a couple of drawbacks, however. The swings were not in the shade, and have regular mulch underneath, but the mulch looked fresh and the swings were brand new. There were no bathrooms (the horror of being pregnant without a bathroom in sight is real, everyone!), so make sure to go before you play. 

  
Other exciting recreation opportunities include basketball, racquetball, and tennis courts, a baseball field, and two covered picnic areas with grills. I recommend this park for fun, and will make sure to go back when I don’t need the bathroom every 20 minutes.

  

The Third Trimester is Here!

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At 28 weeks pregnant, I’ve made it to the third trimester! Baby boy is the size of a head of cauliflower, weighing in at approximately 2.5 pounds and measuring 16 inches long. There is never a moment I don’t feel pregnant these days. This little one moves around just as much as his big brother did in utero, and makes me feel tired a lot of the time. 

Uninterrupted sleep is a thing of the past; between getting up several times a night to use the bathroom or switch positions and dealing with nighttime Hen issues (maybe one day he will consistently sleep through the night), I’m just not getting great sleep. Growing a baby is hard work, especially when I’m chasing after an energetic two-year-old. 
Overall, our daily routine hasn’t changed: in the morning we eat breakfast, go to the gym, and then do an activity like a playground, library time, or errands; eat lunch, read, and nap (my favorite) in the early afternoon; and then watch a couple shows, make dinner, and play or clean until Keith comes home. We finish out our days by taking a family walk or having a family dance party, doing the bedtime routine with the Hen, and catching up on some television or other things at home. 

  

Keith and I attended our first childbirth class (out of five) this week, which are required by our Birth Center since I didn’t have a natural childbirth last time around. I think it will be helpful, especially when it comes to learning relaxation and breathing techniques for labor. The class is the same time as my prenatal yoga class, so I plan to resume that in April. I go to the YMCA four to six times a week, depending on how I’m feeling on a given day. I either go to Body Pump class (2-3 times a week) or run/walk on the elliptical and ride the stationary bike. I hope to continue until the baby is here, especially since I was able to lift weights and walk last time around. I’m feeling really great, and looking forward to the next twelve weeks flying by so we can meet our little guy.

  

Rays Up at Fan Fest

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For this week’s Field Trip Friday (on a Saturday – hey, I’m nearly in my third trimester and tired so the Hen is lucky to get a field trip these days), Henry and I traveled to St. Petersburg to attend our first Rays Fan Fest. A precursor to Spring Training games, this free event is for the fans – autograph signings, prizes, and activities for the kids were all happening.
 

manatee sitting
 
Since even the parking at the stadium was free, I thought it would be cool to take Henry because if he didn’t handle it well, it didn’t cost us anything to try. And he was a gem! One of the first things he did was reach down to touch the turf grass, and of course his next move was to take his shoes off to run around. Somehow I managed to stop him (a miracle in itself since this kid loves to be barefoot), and then we made our way around the field. He took off running (without me) the actual bases Rays players run so I had to sprint after him to catch up. I must have looked ridiculous, but he couldn’t stop laughing. 

  
Other highlights for Henry were getting a free lollipop from a pelican mascot (don’t know what team he was representing), the dance party with Raymond (the Rays’ actual mascot), practicing his pitching skills, and taking batting practice with some of the Rays’ pitching staff. This last one required a 40 minute (or so) wait in line, but he made friends with the kids in front of him so he did pretty well. Until it was his turn to bat. He was assigned to Xavier Cedeño, but he wasn’t having that and launched into a meltdown. Did I mention it was close to naptime? He wanted to be in the line with his new friends, and the Rays’ staff were kind enough to accommodate my tired kid. 

      
Choosing the pink bat, Henry took to the plate. After a few swings and misses, he connected the bat to the ball and got a hit! And he thought his batting practice was over – he did it! Except he had a few more balls left, so I convinced him to go back. He tried this time with a smaller bat for bigger kids, so it didn’t go so well. The ball player pitching kept trying to help, but Henry’s stubbornness confused him. When his turn was actually over, Henry didn’t want to leave so another meltdown ensued. I carried him kicking and screaming (while apologizing) out of the batting area. After he calmed down, we split an ice cream because we love ice cream and can eat it in February in Florida. Sleepy Hen laid down twice on our walk to the car, so I had to carry his ~34 pounds most of the way, but we had a fantastic time so it was all worth it.

   
   

Cruise Fail

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After returning from our New Hampshire vacation, we were all set to turn around and set sail on a Disney Dream cruise to the Bahamas to celebrate my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary with my parents, brother’s family, and grandmother. We had a fantastic visit the night before with our good friends, Marcie and Bryan, at their home in Melbourne, and our friend Lisa joined us for a pizza dinner. Keith was having residual intense sinus pressure and pain leftover from our descent into NH, but he was functional and ready to cruise with my extended family.

  
Everything was going smoothly: we arrived to the port with plenty of time to unload our luggage, park the car, and board the ship. We signed the proper forms at guest relations so Henry could leave the ship with us since he was technically assigned to my grandma’s room. Most importantly, Henry was having a blast with his cousins – being silly and playing. 

   
   
Suddenly, my left eye started to get itchy, blurry, and light sensitive while we were eating lunch at Cabanas, one of the open seating buffets on the boat. I couldn’t wait for my luggage to be delivered to rip my contact out and put it in its case – it was starting to hurt that bad. Luckily, we saw the bag on our way to our stateroom and grabbed it, but by then it was too late. My eye was in excruciating pain. Not childbirth levels of pain, but unlike any other I’ve ever experienced.

I left Keith with Henry (who was refusing to nap and screaming his intentions to remain awake) for the silence of my parents’ stateroom. I lasted about two minutes before I told my mom I had to see the ship’s doctor and asked if she could come with me. I neglected to tell Keith what we were doing before we made our way from one end of the boat to the other. 

The sick bay consisted primarily of ill cruise ship employees, and then me with my severe eye pain. Yay for being able to bypass the line since I was the sick guest! Unfortunately, the doctor’s diagnosis of acute glaucoma coupled with my pregnancy meant I was leaving the cruise before it even left port. When the doctor says if you remain on board it is possible you will permanently lose vision entirely in your left eye, then you tend to listen because there is no real decision to make. Note for those being treated by Disney cruise ship doctors: they make you pay up front for the cost of services. I don’t know yet if my insurance will reimburse me any of my expenses (I’m in the process of submitting a claim), but the Disney non-affiliated doctors judged my cost to be $272. If the cruise doctor had been able to do anything I would be much more content about paying that amount, but since he did nothing and I had to disembark, it is frustrating to have it cost so much. 

Emergency medical services were called to transport me to Port Canaveral Hospital, and Disney staff arranged Keith and Henry, as well as my luggage, to be taken off the ship. Remember Keith had no idea what was happening when a Disney crew member knocked on the door and said he was being escorted off the boat. At first, he didn’t believe me when he talked to me on the phone about it either, but he realized the seriousness of the situation after a few minutes of me being a crying, hot mess on the phone.

They brought Henry to me (with a complimentary Buzz Lightyear stuffed toy) and we waited for Keith to pick us up since I declined the ambulance. We spent the majority of our wait in a little security booth outside the Disney boarding area. We had people with us for a little bit of time, but mostly it was just me and Henry. The only thing worse than being escorted off the cruise before it even leaves port is blurrily watching the boat sail away with its joyous music blasting. I cried a ridiculous amount of tears, and Henry comforted me as best he could, giving me hugs while saying, “It’s going to be okay, Mama.” Of course this made me cry harder. I was practically willing Keith to hurry up and get us.

After what felt like forever, Keith made it (with a long story of his own) and we drove to Cape Canaveral Hospital. This had to be the busiest ER ever for such a small hospital, and I’ve been in quite a few growing up with asthma. Henry did really well with a snack and cartoons for the first couple of hours, but he’s two so he only sits still for so long. Luckily, we were fortunate to have our friend, Marcie, on this coast, and she came over after work and took him home with her. 

We spent a total of five hours in the emergency room, only to be told I had conjunctivitis in my left eye and they were prescribing pregnancy-safe drops. My eye was feeling better at that point – not much pain, less blurry vision, and no light sensitivity, but still itchy and burning – so my devastation over missing the family vacation was on the rise. Also, my hunger was at an eleven on a scale of 1 to 10. We found a 24 hour Walgreens (with Marcie’s help), picked up my medicine, and drove through a Checker’s for dinner. Milkshakes and fries are the dinner of champions at 11pm on a Monday night. We totally crashed at Marcie’s house, and left for home (and Keith’s doctor’s appointment – he was a hot mess, too) late the next morning. 

Moral of the story: always purchase cruise insurance because you never know what can happen on a boat. We didn’t have any, and got off relatively easily, but if we had been at sea already and had to be escorted back by the Coast Guard or something it could have cost tens of thousands of dollars. I feel very fortunate that my eye is fine, and I’m able to wear my contacts again without issue. Keith is mostly healthy, too, and Henry thinks the cruise was fun. He played with his cousins, went on a big boat, and got a stuffed animal. I’m so happy he’s at the age where he doesn’t know what he missed out on, and hopefully someday we will be able to actually go on a Disney cruise.

  

Playground of the Week – Eagle Lake Park

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This week’s playground of the week is brought to you by sunny Eagle Lake Park (1800 Keene Rd, Largo 33771). This county park is the perfect place to play on sunny winter days because it provides little in the way of shade. Located towards the back of the park, its playground is surrounded by a wooden fence and has three play structures, perfect for climbing. There is room to run around, plus swings. Henry could literally spend all day swinging at a playground, and he has many times over (the boy loves a good swing). 
   
   
Other awesome features of the park include a wide, paved trail, picnic shelters (including one adjacent to the playground), and public bathrooms (again, right next to the playground). People who visit the park regularly also know that turtles and birds frequent the pond behind the playground, and it is a fun treat for the little ones to feed them. Henry loves taking them bread and lettuce (I really hope these things are okay for these animals to eat; I guess I should have checked first)!