RAINY DAY CHOCO OATMEAL COOKIES

I'm finally off from work... and of course the forecast is RAIN 3/5 days and 70s ALL WEEK. So much for my beach plans! What better way to kick off the staycation than baking cookies on a rainy day! I had no eggs in the house, and I also wanted to sneak in some oatmeal into the cookies without actually tasting them... but I only had old fashioned rolled oats. Luckily rolled oats can be used for ANYTHING.

I ended up moving the mixer to the floor because we don't have enough counter space for my helper to be helpful!

RECIPE

1 cup of butter (2 sticks)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup boiling water

2 cups oat

1 bag of chocolate chips

- beat butter, sugars & vanilla until light and fluffy

- add flour, salt

- dissolve baking soda in boiling water and mix

- add oat and choco chips

- preheat to 350 and bake 10-12 minutes. (uncreased sheet- this recipe is basically all butter anyway!)

- cool before moving cookies

Always my #1 helper

Emilia is amazed at the kitchen-aid. Honestly, so am I!

Adding choco chips

eating cookie dough!! Benefits of eggless dough!

Soft, chewy chocolatey deliciousness!!

Homemade baby food pouches

I never pictured myself as an organic, homemade pureed mom... but here I am, making Emilias babyfood and then packaging them into pouches!! Honestly, it can be a little time consuming and I don't always have that much time to do it. I spend the morning/afternoon on my day off making these pouches and hope that I have enough for the week and hopefully into the week after. I steam all the veggies and whatever I don't get the chance to puree, I will freeze. My mom will help me steam veggies and meats to freeze. 

Some of Emilia's favorite puree combos:

- butternut squash OR kobacha squash + yams + carrots

- green peas + squash + carrots

- white beans + carrots + broccoli  + yams

- yogurt + berries + banana  (because berries alone are too tart)

- white rice porridge can be added to any puree also ( although not my favorite because it makes the mixture thicker and sticky)

*when starting out, I did only veggie purees. Slowly started adding meat into the mix.. chicken, shrimp, fish, beef. THANK GOD SHE LOVES IT ALL!!

- I use the Infantino squeeze pouches for Emilia because the plastic is soft and its easy for her to squeeze and suck out the food by herself. The squeeze station is also a super efficient way to fill the pouches. I love that the pouches are clear so you can see what is inside, AND the pouches are disposable (not reusable) so its convenient when you're on the go. You can also freeze the pouches and it melts within minutes of placing in hot water... so that's a plus also! Only bad thing is non-recyclable, so may NOT be the best for the environment. 

Filled Infantino Squeeze pouches 

She loves her pouches! I also put on a silicone topper so she wouldn't squeeze out all the contents of the pouch. 

Infantino Squeeze Station 

For Henry, I use the little green pouch because it is reusable. It is easy to clean with a brush and because it is top fill, and side squeeze, the chances of food spilling out are very slim!! Other reusable pouches are bottom fill, so if you overfill or don't close the pouch tightly, food will spill out. Because it is reusable, the plastic is a little stiffer so you have to such harder to get the food out. Emilia is unable to eat from this pouch efficiently. I have to squeeze the food out for her to help her eat it. 

Henry basically uses these pouches for snacks. his favorite combos include:

- yogurt + berries + banana + honey

- yam + carrots + squash

*he will also eat anything Emilia eats in puree form, unfortunately, he will not eat the veggies on a plate!!

NY Aquarium

The NY Aquarium is right next to Coney Island. I want to return when the weather is warm so we can do both the boardwalk and visit the Aquarium after the renovations are complete.  

Currently,  the aquarium is under major renovations because of the damage from Hurricane Sandy. This still did not stop us from having a great time!! It was the kids' first time at an aquarium, so I actually liked that it was small and we were able to see everything in 1.5  hours. We got to touch coral, feel the sharp teeth of a piranha, observe hundreds of beautiful fish from all over the world swim together, watch sharks up close, watch a sea lion show AND experience 4D spongebob! We did not stay for the animal feedings, but they also do penguin and sea otter feedings. Unfortunately, the walrus exhibit was closed because of the construction. 

We sat in the 3rd row at the Aqua Theater for the sea lion show and the kids were AMAZED! During the show, the Sea Lions come around to greet the audience and if you sit in the front, they bark right at you! Henry and Em were definitely surprised! 

Also, PACK YOUR LUNCH! The cafeteria is under renovation, so there is no place to buy food. There are outdoor picnic tables, so dont forget to dress warm (temp is a bit cooler because of the ocean breeze).

Henry and the Piranha

shark tank

Em up close to the shark tank

PACK YOUR LUNCH! Cafe is under renovation.

Sponge Bob 4D! Bubbles and vibrating chairs...

PERFECT DAY!!!

It was a GORGEOUS 60 degrees today! Not only was the weather PERFECT but I also had a GREAT day! Wish every day was like this!

Day went like this: dropped Henry off at school, went to yoga in the AM, drank a mocha flavor Shake-o!, went for a run around the Jackie kennedy reservoir, kids got to enjoy this beautiful weather with their friends and the BEST PART WAS DINNER DATE WITH HENRY (&EM).

It was my first time taking both kids out to dinner by myself.. and it was a SUCCESS! We went to bareburger and Henry had a cheeseburger with fries and I had a fried chicken sandwich. Emilia slept through part of dinner, but when she woke up, she had her first taste of fries... and loved it! This is deifinitely a "mom of 2 milestone"!

Preview of Spring in NYC

It was GORGEOUS this past weekend! The snow is still on the ground from the last snowstorm and yet it was mid 60's in NYC.  We are so lucky to call CENTRAL PARK OUR BACKYARD!! We got tickets to watch The Princess, The Emperor and The Duck at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater in Central Park. It was such a great show! Super cute theater and you can even have your birthday party there. We then walked through central park and of course ended the afternoon at the playground! Central park has playgrounds every 5 blocks, AND they are the BEST CITY PLAYGROUNDS in the WORLD.  

waiting for the puppet show to start

The Princess and the pea

outside swedish cottage

Gorgeous Central Park

Diana Ross Playground

Lucky Emilia!

Hanging with our cousin E!

Play ALL DAY! at wild west playground, OUR FAVORITE!!

The right time to become a doctor mom

In doctor life, you are always waiting for the right time to....

The Right time to:

- get married

- buy a house

- have a BABY!

There really is NO right time for a baby. You find yourself justifying why you're NOT doing something... no money, crazy work hours, too young, want to graduate first, want to finish residency/fellowship first, want to secure a great job first, want to buy a house, want to travel, and the list goes ON and ON and ON!

In retrospect, med school was probably the MOST IDEAL time to have a baby in regards to having time. When I think back, I had so much free time.  I only had class or rotations for part of the day so much of the day was free to do things like nurse, pump, sleep, eat (& of course, study!). Even a full day of school is less hours than a full day of working in private practice.
I was so young in medical school.  I might have had the TIME for a baby, but I did not have the emotional intelligence to have one back then. We were pretty immature back then! 

I got married my last year of medical school and had my son during my last year of residency. My husband and I always went back and forth on when to have children. We didn't want to be older parents, but we also had so many things we wanted to do before we had children (travel the world!). We thought it would be ideal to have our first child after I finished my training (to be financially responsible), but plans changed. Now that I look back, having a baby during residency was the BEST EVER!! My attendings were able to give me breaks to pump throughout the day. There were enough of us moms in the department that there was also a designated pump call room! I was guaranteed a morning break, lunch and afternoon break. I loved the other residents in my class and we were there for each other through our baby struggles.  Almost all the girls in my graduating class had babies in their last year! I was also mostly done with overnight calls so I was home most nights and weekends!! The only bad part is that there is no paid maternity leave. You can take as much as you need, but to be board certified in your specialty, you are required to have "x" amount of weeks of training. This means if you take off 12 weeks for maternity, you will be graduating 12 weeks later than the rest of the physicians in your class. I wanted to graduate on time- my program had a policy where if you worked holidays, you got one extra vacation day.... so I worked all the holidays to get 2 extra weeks of vacation my last year.  I rolled over a vacation week from the year before and was able to get a total of 7 weeks of vacation which I used as my maternity leave.

Private practice is the toughest place to have a baby! Yes, you're making a lot more money than as a trainee, but a busy practice makes it tough to find proper pump breaks & a place to pump, shortage of physicians makes it tough to take a prolonged maternity leave (unless you are lucky), paid maternity leave is unheard of (some practices may offer partial pay). You don't have an attending advocating for you, so you are fighting to get out of the radiation cases, laser cases, ortho cases, etc.while pregnant and fighting to get pump breaks later.  In private practice, you are also ON CALL ALL THE TIME! In terms of childcare, this means you need to find someone/someplace that will also be ON CALL FOR YOU and your child in case you got stuck at the hospital and couldn't come home on time for your child. I was able to get 12 weeks off through FMLA- which was WAY better than the 7 weeks I got the first time.

You'll never really be prepared for pumping at work, sleepless nights, the messiness, piles of laundry, & endless diapers changes. JUST DO IT! It will change your life, but it will be the most joyous change in the world. Pregnancy& labor DOES get physically tougher the older you are, so DON'T WAIT! AND GET AN EPIDURAL!!!!

The complete list of ESSENTIAL BABY ITEMS

for my preggo ladies.... THE ONLY THINGS YOU WILL NEED FOR YOUR BABY!!

1. Stroller

2. CRIB/BASSINET/PACK N PLAY ($100-$200)

Arms reach Cosleeper-  It was key during those early months when she was up every 2-3 hours. I could sleep next to her and I knew all her needs before she even cried.

She outgrew it at 4 months and we moved her into a Pack 'n Play by our bed.

3. Baby carrier (Ergo, bjorn, k'tan, moby wrap, hip carrier)- Love the Ergo (see previous post). Henry LIVED in this for the first year. 

4. BATHTUB 
Any baby tub will do! I don't have one that I feel strongly about. Sorry! This is the one we have. Works well for us!

5. CHANGING TABLE- $
You will be changing your newborn approx 10 times a day!! Save your back and instead of bending over all day long, have an area dedicated to changing- No need to get a fancy changing table. I just secured a changing pad to the top of my dresser with no slip cover, and put an organizer next to it stocked with diapers, wipes, lotions/creams ready to go! Also get several changing pad covers because you WILL have poo explosions!!!

6 BOUNCE CHAIR/ SWING

Fisher price has a very popular series- the "My Little Snug-a-" series. We used the snugabunny bouncer and swing with both kids. 

7. DIAPERS- Believe it or not, we cloth diapered with Henry! I LOVED it. Super SIMPLE and never had any diaper rashes! I would cloth diaper again with Emilia if our apartment had Washer/Dryer.

8. DR BROWN BOTTLES- Henry never really took to bottles. Emilia is more receptive to it. Girl Loves to EAT!! These decrease the amount of air the babies swallow when they drink milk. More parts to clean, but it's not that bad. I'd rather clean more parts than have to burp a baby for like an hour. BURPING AN INFANT IS THE WORST. 

9. KIMONO STYLE ONESIES- It is a PAIN to put a baby's head through the opening of a tshirt/jumpsuit. One more thing you DON'T want to worry about is irritating the umbilical stump. Most onesies have buttons or zippers down the front & you have to pull it on over the baby's head. The  kimono onesie go on like a jacket, AND they don't irritate the umbilical stump.

Love the disney onesies. ALL of them have 2 sets of snaps at the bottom so they can grow with the baby. 

10. BREAST PUMP & ACCESSORIES- Keep a spare set at work in case you forget to bring them one day.

11. MY BRESTFRIEND NURSING PILLOW