Salad, Slushy, & Sprouts

We had a very quick, very easy drop-off this morning, but only left Emerson at school…

And I took Addison to the pediatrician’s office, suspecting another ear infection. Turns out, her ears weren’t infected, yet. But she’s been pulling on her ears nonstop, and didn’t sleep great last night, so I was surprised when they said her ears were clear. Still kept her home with me for the day though, hoping she could get some good naps, and maybe a day with Mommy would help her feel better.

A couple of weeks ago when I went shopping with my parents, I was telling my mom about this perfume I wanted to smell, after hearing about it from a girl on Instagram. That girl said it was crazy expensive but then I started getting ads on TikTok for the copy-cat dupe of that. I was curious, but still didn’t even wanna spend $50 on the dupe if I couldn’t smell it first. I asked at the perfume counter at Dillard’s but they didn’t have it.

Then today when we got home from the doctor’s office, this little tiny roller ball sample showed up in my mailbox, because my Mama found it on Amazon and had it shipped to me as a surprise! I’m going to try it out tomorrow (I was already wearing perfume today), and I’m excited to see how it goes. I’m actually obsessed with perfume & body sprays & candles & smells, and have been since high school, and love finding new ones. Haven’t had a new smell in a long time though, so I’m excited to try this one out.

After a little playtime at home, Addison “helped” me get some chicken in the Instant Pot. Then after some more playtime, I put her in her jumper and let her play while I shredded it all up to save and use in a few future meals.

While Addie and I were hanging together at home (with Jeff working-from-home in the front room as always), Emmie was having a good day at school.

Then it was time for a bottle for her, and I watched Survivor. She fought me hard on sleep, for about an hour, but I finally won that battle, and she napped on my for about 1.5 hours.

My stomach was growling so much while I held my sleeping baby, because it was 12:15 before I got her to sleep, and then she slept until 1:45, and I hadn’t had lunch before she fell asleep. So by the time she woke up I was starving, and had been thinking about this incredible salad I had planned to make the whole time….

I made this delicious Asian chicken salad. Hiding under all the toppings are: romaine lettuce, chopped cabbage, chopped/shredded chicken, chopped carrots, diced green onions, & diced red bell peppers. With chopped peanuts & cashews, two kinds of crunchy strip things, dried coconut flakes, cilantro, and this yummy spicy dressing. And it was incredible! I made the first salad in this bowl for me to eat today, and a second one in a Tupperware to save for lunch tomorrow. I was going to let Jeff have it, but I just might have to call dibs! It was honestly the best homemade salad I’ve ever made.

Addie was just happily swinging away while I ate my lunch, and I put on some kids’ YouTube videos to help keep her occupied.

Then I made my usual cold coffee (it’s not “iced” because I made it with cold coffee I always keep on hand in the fridge), and after slurping down half of it, I put Addison in her stroller, grabbed the coffee & some water, and we went out for a walk around the neighborhood.

Once again, she fought her nap very hard, but I kept walking for about 45 minutes, and the bumpy stroller ride finally lulled her to sleep, just a few minutes from home. So I left her in her car seat, opened up a beach chair, and just hung out in the carport, letting her snooze away, while I read a book on the Kindle app on my phone. (Also, I love the way she fell asleep with her precious tiny hand reaching out!)

Once she started waking up a little bit, I just threw her in the car, and headed to school to pick up big sister. I had seen this mango slushy advertised on the Farm Stores’ Facebook today, and I decided that would be a nice afternoon treat for me and Emmie to share. I had downloaded their new app, and got a free $3 credit, so this (and the rice krispie she chose) only cost me 11 cents today. And it was so sweet & yummy!

Had to stop for gas on the way home too, and she sat back there slurping away while I pumped the gas.

And you can see a very curious little baby sister in the background, wondering why she wasn’t getting to share this treat!

When we got home, Jeff got ready to feed Addison her bottle, and Emerson wanted to help me get dinner started. I halfway remembered a recipe I wanted to try with Brussel sprouts, but I looked up a quick video recipe to reference again. While watching it with me, Emerson just automatically picked one up, and started doing exactly what the video was saying, without any prompting from me or anything. I was so impressed by her. She’s so smart!

And these smashed air fryer brussels sprouts turned out so yummy!

With the brussels sprouts, we also had chicken alfredo and a few tiny pieces of garlic bread from a baguette I sliced up. This was simple enough, but it was so very yummy!

I got all the leftovers put away and did a mini clean-up in the kitchen, and then started on bedtime for the girls. Emerson picked out this book that always makes me cry, literally every time I read it. (If you know, you know.) But then she was the sweetest girl ever, and comforted me after we finished reading.

Addison fell asleep very easily after her last bottle, but we’re really hoping she sleeps better tonight than she did last night. Because last night, she was up needing us, or just whining and rolling around, every hour or so. So we really don’t wanna do that again tonight.

I spent a lot of time washing dishes last night, getting every single dish cleaned, and the sink completely cleaned out. But now, we’ve got a whole new pile in there, so I’ve got to go take care of that before I can rest for the night.