Little known fact about my son: he LOVES to eat. I say “little known fact” because he is just so small. Benjamin has consistently weighed in at the very bottom of the chart. The doctor isn’t too concerned, because he stays on an upward curve. But the curve that his weight is on is almost always the very bottom one. He’s much smaller than most babies his age, both in height and weight. Of course, his mom and dad are short too, so it would stand to reason that he would be as well.
In any case, you would never know by looking at him that this kid would eat all …
Read part 1 to get the first three tips on how to eat together as a family every night.
4.Think simple. Simplicity is your best friend come dinner time. One of my favorite quotes is from Gandhi, “Simple living, high thinking.” This can certainly be applied to any home cook. No offense Racheal Ray, your 30 minute meals take 30 minutes just to gather all the ingredients! Food can be delicious with just a few ingredients.
You’re a mom, so you know that the minute you step to the stove, your little one is at your heels begging to be held. Even 30 minutes is a lot of time to have to …
Luckily, 2012 has been good to me so far. I have made all the changes that I wanted and have much to be thankful for. One of the things that bothered me about family dinner time in our house was that we didn’t have one!
I even wrote a blog about how we rarely eat dinner together and somehow this had become a norm. I didn’t like being so complacent in this matter so I made a conscious effort to have dinner together at the table, at the same time, every single night.
We’ve been doing it for two months now and I can’t believe I was letting such an important element …
Joshua is an eater. He frequently out-eats his older brother and sister. He’s even out-eaten Chad and I recently. Seriously. And while this may be cute and great for funny anecdotes, it’s starting to cause problems around our house.
What kinds of problems, other than outgrowing clothes at a ridiculous rate, you ask? Food problems. We have to buy the big bunches of bananas these days since a little bunch of five won’t even make it through two lunches. A loaf of bread only makes three days’ worth of sandwiches. We’re regularly finishing off two gallons of milk a week. It’s impressive how quickly everyone’s appetites have grown.
Our other major problem …
At Ben’s last doctor’s appointment, when he was around six months old, he weighed roughly sixteen pounds. As usual, his height and weight was small for his age, but that’s just part of the deal when you’re cursed with two short parents. Last week, we went in for his nine month checkup. They weighed him and measured him, and he had gained… nothing. He was still sixteen pounds, maybe a few ounces heavier, but that was it. I was definitely surprised — he feels heavier to me!
The doctor, after seeing the results and examining Ben, was confused. After all, Ben doesn’t look skinny or underweight. He asked how much he …
As every military spouse knows, spending the holidays — or any important days — together is not something that you should count on. Matt missed Thanksgiving, his birthday, Christmas, New Year’s, and Valentine’s Day last year, and almost missed Ben’s birth. This year, he missed Thanksgiving and his birthday. He won’t be here for Valentine’s Day, for our anniversary, for Ben’s first birthday, or the birth of our second son. When you have to miss all of these holidays, being able to spend one together is a rare blessing that you have to take advantage of.
We decided to have a relatively low-key day just lounging around the house in our …
