Sweet Mint Iced Tea

My precious girl slept in again, and so I naturally woke up at 7:45 again, without an alarm, and without a chattering toddler on the baby monitor. She was awake by 8am, and then we snuggled on the couch, eating breakfast and watching some of Frozen II.

Homemade chocolate chip banana muffins, sliced in half, toasted & buttered. YUMMM.

Emerson laid her little animals all over Pretzel, and he was very calm and sweet and just laid there, completely un-bothered by it!

She was ready to play after sitting around for a bit, so she colored, and we read about 10 books, and then we went back to her room to do all sorts of things  back there.

She was holding and loving and playing with this little panda that Nana got her for Christmas. I asked what the panda’s name was, and she said, “Uhhh Zyla!” I said, “Oh wow, that’s unique, I like it! Where did you come up with that?” And she said, “Zyla like xylophone!” and pointed at her little fox xylophone! Now, I’ve told her it was called that before, but I hadn’t said it today, so I was very impressed she remembered what it was called, and decided to name her baby after it! So cute and funny, and smart!

So back when I read “Little Women” back in January, I mentioned it was my first time ever reading the whole book, but that I had read some sort of children’s version before. And then last week I found the actual book! If I remember correctly, one of my friends gave me this book for my birthday, sometime around the 4th grade (circa 1998), and it is clearly an abridged version, based on the movie released in 1994. So it’s not exactly a “children’s version” of the story, but nonetheless, this is what I read when I was a young girl, and I’m so glad I found it. I’ll definitely be putting it back on Emmie’s bookshelves, to save for a while, until her and I can read this one together!

After getting her dressed for the day, and getting her room cleaned up, she watched me while I put some frozen chicken breasts in the Instant Pot. I seasoned them with S&P, onion powder, garlic powder & chicken powder, and used 1 cup of water, pressure cooked for 15 minutes, natural released for 5 minutes, then quick released the remaining pressure. Removed the chicken & shredded, and it was perfect! (It can be rubbery in the IP sometimes, but not this time!) I put the chicken in a dish to save & re-heat for tonight’s dinner…

Emerson also kept talking about “mint coffee,” and I told her that wasn’t exactly a thing, but that mint tea was really yummy. But I knew she wouldn’t like hot tea. So instead, I made the tea, and sweetened it, and then put it in the fridge to chill for dinner time. I was hoping it would taste sort of like the sweet mint tea at Hopkins that I love so much. (And while it was good, it wasn’t as sweet, or as minty as I was hoping, but I’m still going to drink it!)

And then it was time for Tater Tot’s lunch – chicken nuggets & SmartPop (both of which were dipped in the ketchup, because toddlers are weird).

And the weather was absolutely beautiful outside! So we went out for a little bit, so that Emerson could literally just run circles in the driveway and the front yard, getting out some energy & wiggles, and enjoying the cooler temperature!

She went down for nap after her run-around time, and she was really good about it. She only napped for about an hour, but that was at least longer than both Monday & Tuesday’s naps, so I guess it’s getting a little better/longer each day this week.

The Governor finally put out a state-wide stay-at-home order today, and of course people are already freaking out. My mom texted me predicting that people would clean out the grocery store super fast, so Jeff took Emerson for a fast run to stock back up on a few more staples (we needed some more meat options already), and just a few more things to sustain us a little longer. (Granted, I still have to go to work, but the rest of Florida will be at home, but there’s nothing I can do about it.)

So I stayed at work until 6pm again today, but felt like I couldn’t accomplish anything. It was one of those days where everything I picked up was a mess, and I couldn’t finish any of my cases, and so I just had to put like, three new things in pending status for a while… Those days are so annoying.

But once I got home, I boiled the water for pasta, then heated up the alfredo sauce & the shredded chicken, and voila! Dinner was ready. Plus I toasted & buttered slices of my homemade bread, which is still delicious.

 

 

It had been a few days since Emerson’s last bath, so she was definitely due tonight. She had fun playing and now she smells so good! I love the smell of baby shampoo, especially while I’m snuggling her warm little head at night while I sing her lullabies.

Her hair was instantly curly tonight after getting it brushed, and I just love this little ringlet.

I told her she could pick just one book to read for bedtime, and she picked her Bible storybook, so we read the first three stories about Creation, Noah & Moses.

She was sweet and precious during lullabies, but then she didn’t want to be put down in her bed, and she didn’t want to be left alone. Jeff came and we both sang two rounds of “Jesus Loves Me,” but it wasn’t enough, so I sang another lullaby and we left. She cried for a few minutes, and then I went back into her room to cuddle her and sing one more lullaby. It’s pitiful to leave her crying like that for a few minutes, but it usually works to make her tired enough to finally calm down and go to sleep. And it worked tonight! So after the last repeat lullaby for a second time, I was able to leave and she stayed quiet and she’s sound asleep in there now.

I put all the leftovers away earlier right after dinner, but now I’ve got all the dishes to wash & take care of, before I can sit down and kick my feet up for some Netflix time.