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I have to hold James for naptime. Ridiculous, I know. On a usual day, I hold him while he sleeps for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours at night. There is no way around this, trust me. No naps means no eating, along with extensive crying, screaming, and crankiness. And no naps happen if I don't hold him (naps in the car are very short, but okay for one day--after that it's rough. Plus-still no eating.). Of course it is wonderful to snuggle him; sometimes I nap (rarely); sometimes I watch American Idol/So You Think You Can Dance/etc on the dvr; sometimes I read; I frequently text. What I do not do is get anything done around the house.
So I've learned, mostly the hard way, that I have to be more organized. I make a menu each week so I only go to the grocery store once and I don't have a lot of waste and so I can prepare what we are having ahead of time when possible. I totally love my routine now and would never go back. It helps me use all the leftovers and make sure we don't have the same thing over and over (although we frequently do...I'm not super creative). Today I am poaching a whole chicken a la Julia Child and will then make chicken soup and several of the most amazing chicken pot pies (in theory) for the freezer. Oh, did I mention we raised the chicken? And no, Dimple didn't kill it for us. I feel so domestic! My friend Shannon always asks me to send me my menu (I think she just wants to have ammunition to make fun of me, but it's always funny...so...anyway). So here is this week:
Sunday: baked cod, salad
Monday: chicken breast, whipped peas, salad
Tuesday: venison, salad, stuffing
Wednesday: poached chicken, rice, veggies
Thursday: chicken soup
Friday: chicken salad (hey, I'm trying to see if I can make all this with one big chicken!)
Saturday: pot pie, salad
Sunday: venison, salad, baked potato
Monday: any leftovers with veggies

This week is pretty boring cause I'm being cheap. Luckily Tom doesn't mind if we repeat a lot. It was fun to go to the store and buy no meat at all. And on an amazing note---James ate several bites of whipped peas all by himself. It was incredible and it wasn't until several hours later that we ended up at the ER in an unrelated incident. I just hope James realizes it...