Easy Egg Muffins

Most of you know I am a stay at home mom.  In my "past life," I was the Director of Sales for Skilled Nursing at a local continuum of care facility.  Old people are my jam and I loved serving and helping a vulnerable population!  When I left my position to stay home full time with Amelia, my work was pretty upset.  They asked me to stay employed as a consultant and fill in when things got crazy or they needed an extra set of hands.
Why am I telling you all this?  Because on Monday, my work called and asked me to come in for a few days this week and next... and who am I to turn down some extra money before the Holidays?!

I am extremely fortunate that my father is "semi-retired" and able to watch Amelia pretty much at a moments notice.  My mother-in-law is a hair stylist and sets her own schedule, so she is also very flexible given a few days notice and willing clients to rearrange their appointments.  With child care all arranged, this mama was headed back to the workforce for a few days!

Enter... My super easy Egg Muffins!  These were my go-to while pregnant and make for a healthy breakfast option on the go!  The best part is, these are completely customizable to your taste and dairy-free diets like mine!  I totally forgot about this recipe until this week and did a major forehead slap for not making these more often now that I am home!

Main Ingredients:
Eggs (I use 9 whole eggs to make 12 muffins. You can also do just egg whites if that's your thing.)
Milk (dairy, soy, almond... mine were made with almond)
Cooking spray (or butter, coconut oil, whatever you use to grease a pan!)

Optional Ingredients:
Onions
Meat (bacon, ham, turkey sausage, hamburger, steak, chicken, ANYTHING!)
Peppers (green, yellow, red, orange)
Mushrooms
Olives (YUCK! But to each their own)
Cheese
Spinach
       ***Ingredients in italics are what I used in my Egg Muffins because they were on hand***

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease your muffin tins with oil.

2.  Beat eggs with approximately 1/4 cup milk.  Use your judgement on more/less milk based how creamy you want your eggs.

3. Pour 1/4 cup egg mixture into each muffin tin.  Your measuring cup works great for this!

4. Sprinkle ingredients into each muffin cup.  This is where you can get super creative!  Make them all the same or personalize for each person you are feeding!

 

5. This step isn't imperative, but I swirl the ingredients in each tin with a knife to mix them up a bit. 

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (adjust based on your oven and altitude).

 

7. Remove from muffin tins (the oil should allow them to slide right out!) and serve!  Or let cool and refrigerate / freeze for later.

YUM!

So, there ya have it!  My super easy Egg Muffin recipe!  Do you any of you have other go-to, quick breakfast ideas?  I am always looking for ways to make my life easier, especially now that I am back at work for a bit!  I would love to hear from you.

Until next time!

Pumpkin Patch Adventure

Sorry I was MIA last week... I have been dealing with a very cranky, teething baby!  Amelia got her first TWO bottom teeth in less than a week!  Needless to say, I was exhausted and had no energy to blog.

We did, however, manage to make it out of the house on Sunday for our yearly trip to the local pumpkin patch!  I don't know about where you live, but Omaha has a pretty amazing setup at Vala's Pumpkin Patch.  It is fun for the whole family and you can spend all day there and still not see everything.  This is the closest thing we have to an amusement park, which means that the whole city visits in the span of a month... It's crowded, but it is SO worth it!

We are fortunate enough to have our Vala's trip paid for by my stepmothers work!  They have their annual company picnic at a campsite on the grounds and we take full advantage of roasting hotdogs and marshmallows by the fire pit while checking out the sights!  I LOVE the smell of bonfire smoke, but hate it the second I leave.  Do any of you feel that way too?

As you can tell by the above picture, Amelia still wasn't feeling 100% for our outing.  Thankfully, we still had the Ergo we borrowed from a friend and she stayed attached to me most of the trip.  I did bring along the stroller just in case she would use it... but this is how she feels about her stroller while teething.

This picture was taken right before full-on-meltdown mode hit.  She may be cute, but this girl can throw a tantrum with the best of them!  The stroller did come in handy as it carted around all our coats (it got up to 65 degrees while we were there!), beverages, diaper bags and all our goodies we picked up along the way.

Also, Amelia is not a fan of wood chips!  She made this face the entire time that I set her down.  I suppose this face was also because I wouldn't let her eat the wood chips like she wanted.  Apparently this makes me a mean mom! =)

  

Taking a picture in front of this growth chart has been a tradition in my family since before I can remember!  There are pictures of me standing with my siblings and cousins as early as 1994 in front of this sign (I can't seem to find all our older family albums to see when the tradition began).  Originally, I was just going to hold Amelia because she wasn't standing on her own yet, but Grandpa (my dad) asked me to set her down and hold her fingers to make it an "authentic" growth shot.  Amelia decided that having an audience around was the perfect opportunity to stand alone for the FIRST TIME!  This mama was a nervous wreck.

I am still amazed that my dad manged to capture this huge milestone!  I was in shock that she could stand alone, unsupported by my fingers.  Amelia seemed to LOVE the freedom and attention.  This is her latest "stinker face" as her dad so affectionately named it.  She thinks she is so funny and loves to make everyone laugh when she smiles and scrunches up her nose.

 

Our little shorty is standing just a hair above 2 feet tall... and loves her new standing trick!  As of now, she is pulling herself up on EVERYTHING and standing with her bum supported against the wall.  Where is time going?!

  

I'll leave you with my favorite picture of the two of us from our Vala's Pumpkin Patch adventure!  Until next time...

Happy Fall, y'all!

Chore List

The weather here in Nebraska has been a little wonky (when is this NOT the case for the Midwest?!).  We started the week with sunny, clear blue skies and mid-70's weather, went to monsoon like rain by Wednesday and a 30 degree temperature drop and sprinkles Thursday!  Today's high is 53, but at least the rain has let up.  Talk about crazy!

Soccer Field (left) and Baseball Field (right) behind our house... completely under water

Why do I waste my time bringing up the weather?  Well... I always make it a point to check out the week's forecast on Sunday evening.  This helps me finalize our plans for the week and something way less exciting, but totally necessary... CLEANING the house.

I will admit, my house is not always spotless like some may think (who am I kidding; no one thinks my house is spotless!).  We have two HUGE dogs, a woman (ME!) going through postpartum hair-loss and an active 7 month old.  Things are almost always a mess here, but I do my best to keep up.  Weather almost always dictates when and what order I do my "chores."  If it's nice, I want something fast and easy so we can get out and enjoy the day.  Gloomy and cold days I reserve for cleaning projects that are going to take more time.

Monday is ALWAYS the same, regardless of weather.  I tackle the bathroom!

I don't know about you, but I cannot stand a messy bathroom.  We only have ONE bathroom in our house.  Yeah, one bathroom for three people.  It makes for some very interesting times when stomach bugs hit, company stops over or events where promptness is expected.  Somehow, we make it work.

Bathroom duties for me include: scrubbing the tub and shower walls, wiping clean the sink and mirror, sweeping the floor, organizing under the sink and scouring the toilet.

Early morning bathroom cleaning meant we could hit up the Henry Doorly Zoo with cousins

Tuesday and Wednesday are interchangeable.  One day is floors (quick and easy) and the other is the kitchen (quick but more demanding labor).

We have hardwood and tile floors throughout our house.  Hair collects in every nook and cranny, so a Swiffer has become my best friend!  I start in our bedroom (we have a whopping TWO bedrooms), the hall between our rooms, Amelia's room and then hit the living room.  The living room is by far the biggest space in our house, and also has a large area rug, so it takes the most time.  After I Swiffer the living room floors, I vacuum the rug and under the couch and chair.

Side Note: Amelia used to sleep through all my cleaning endeavors.  I could even vacuum in her room while she was napping.  Lately, she is terrified by the sound the vacuum and I can only do it while she is awake and being held.  If  not, she wakes up and goes in to terrified meltdown mode.

We always use the back door (closer to the detached garage) to get in to our house, so when you enter, you're in the kitchen.  Because it is the first thing people see, I usually try and keep it as clean as possible.  I am a very organized person (can you tell?) and a minimalist when it comes to what I keep on our counters.  This makes it a breeze to clean!  I usually wipe down the counters, sink, cabinets and appliances and then I wet jet the floors.  That's it!  Did I mention that the Swiffer is my best friend?  Using the wet jet function is a huge time and back saver!

Thursday is a dedicated LAUNDRY day!

Brandon, my husband, owns about 15 pairs of shorts, but only wears the same four pairs to work (even in the winter!).  By Thursday, the man is down to his last pair, and although he would wear the same dirty pair over, it just grosses me out (MEN!).

Growing up, my mother stressed the importance of washing clothes separately and her lessons stuck with me.  I sort the towels, Amelia's clothes, and our whites, darks and colors.  There is usually a small delicate pile that I wash every other week.

I don't mind folding laundry, but I detest putting clothes away.  No clue why, but I hate it.  I usually do laundry first thing in the morning and stare at the piles until nightfall when I force myself to put it away before I head to bed.  Does anyone else hate this task?

 Clean laundry... sat like that ALL day long!

Friday is dusting and straightening the bedrooms.

Fortunately, our house is extremely small, so I don't have much to dust.  Picking up the bedrooms doesn't take terribly long since laundry is done and put away from the day before.  I am awful about making our bed every day, so this is the only day our room looks nice (unless we have company over during the week)!  Friday's are always the easiest day and make for a nice start to the weekend.

Saturday and Sunday I tend to relax and enjoy family time.  If something on my list didn't get tackled during the week, I finish it on one of these days.  We are usually pretty busy on the weekends so I don't like to put off my weekly cleaning tasks (if I do, it usually doesn't get done!).

 

Who wouldn't rush through cleaning to play with this sweet little girl?!

I do make it a point to reserve about one weekend day during the month to DEEP clean.  My monthly deep clean includes: washing the baseboards, stripping the bed and washing sheets (plus Amelia's crib sheet) and organizing the hall closet.  In the spring and fall, I clean all the windows in the house, dust the wood blinds and scrub the inside of the refrigerator.  I also organize to my hearts content.  Yes, I can be a little OCD.

The only reason my cleaning routine works for us is because I am a stay at home mom.  I honestly have NO clue how you working mom's keep a clean house!  I have SO MUCH RESPECT for you and all that you do for your family!  Our "schedule" also works because my lovely husband tackles everything dealing with the outdoors.  I don't even know to work our lawn mower or snow blower!

What does your cleaning routine look like?  Do you have one?  Do you breakdown your chores like I do?  Clean everything once a week?  Only clean when you get the chance?  I would love to know if you have any suggestions on my routine or some tricks I don't know about to make my life easier!

Sleeping Habits - The Cry It Out Method

Let's talk about sleeping habits for a minute, shall we? 

I was blessed with an amazing newborn.  From birth, Amelia slept in 4 hour stretches between night feedings.  Yes, you read that correctly... a newborn sleeping for FOUR hours at a time!  At about 5 weeks, she started sleeping for 6 hour stretches overnight.  The best part, she put herself to sleep for naps and at bedtime!  There was no rocking and cuddling my baby to sleep (sometimes this made me sad!); this little girl was independent and wanted her space in her crib!  I thought I birthed the best, sleep loving baby in the whole wide world.

At about 3 months... Amelia pulled a fast one on me and went from these glorious, uninterrupted 6 hour stretches to waking 2-3 times a night to feed.  This meant that I was up every 2 to 3 hours, sometimes LESS, to feed her!  Amelia would no longer put herself to sleep; instead I spent a huge chunk of time trying to get her to fall asleep.  Sometimes it would take over an hour of rocking, walking, singing, bouncing, cuddling, you name it to get her to go to sleep.  This wrecked complete havoc on my system and made for one very cranky momma.  The pediatrician told me she must be going through a growth spurt and to keep up the night feedings.  Turns out, pediatricians aren't God and can be wrong! (Who knew?!)

ENTER: My older sister Kim.  Our first night on vacation in Baltimore, Kim was shocked when I told her I was still feeding Amelia every 3-ish hours at night.  Naive, first time mom and all, I did what the doctor suggested and went with it.  I thought suggestions for the "cry it out" method my friends were doing were way too harsh and I couldn't fathom doing it to Amelia.  Thank God for my big sisters help and guidance!  She offered to handle the first night of putting her to sleep for me and listening for her first cry to see if she could hold off ONE night feeding for me.  Massively sleep deprived for months on end, I happily agreed.

Yes, Amelia cried for a good 14 minutes the first night before she fell asleep.  I remember the sound very distinctively and the exact amount of time she cried (so happy I didn't have to go through this alone!).  Our agreement was that I could go in and check on her every 10 minutes to give her pacifier back and comfort her that I was still there and it was "night-night" time.  I went to bed a short time after she fell asleep, anticipating my usual wake up call a few hours later. 

Around 8:00 am the next morning, I stumbled downstairs to find a STILL sleeping baby!  In a recap from my sister, Amelia woke up around 2:15am, fussed for a few minutes after receiving her pacifier back and never made another peep.  She didn't wake up that morning almost 8:45am!  My sister also mentioned that she checked on her around 5am and 8am to be safe (yes, she is just as paranoid as I am!).  I literally cannot remember the last time I got that much consecutive sleep!  We haven't looked back since!


I will be honest, doing the "cry it out" method was extremely difficult on me the first few nights.  Listening to Amelia cry was so hard!  But as her mother, I can tell the difference in her cries.  She has the "hurt" cry, "pissed off" cry, "scared" cry and "overly tired" cry that are all pretty distinct.  On the occasions she has cried before sleep, she starts with the "pissed off" cry for maybe a minute or two and quickly moves on to the "overly tired."  I knew crying it out was the right solution for us when I went to pick her up from her crib and she immediately stopped crying and buried her head in my shoulder to sleep.

We use the same principle for nap time.  I wait for her "tired" cues, which include being overly fussy and rubbing her eyes, before putting her down.  Most naps don't involve any crying (can't figure that one out...)!  Amelia is also taking longer naps since she started sleeping through the night which is a huge bonus!


Consistency in the routine has been crucial to our success.  For every sleep, I make sure to use the same blanket and say the same phrase ("It's night-night time, Amelia Grace.  Mommy loves you.  Sweet dreams.").  I also rub her back while I'm saying the phrase.  After I am done, I bend down (more like fall into her crib it is so low now!) to give her a kiss, make sure her pacifier is in her mouth, walk out of the room and shut the door.  If she is still crying 10 minutes later (this doesn't happen often), I go back into her room, search for her pacifier and start the routine again.  I will also mention that if I go back in, I do not pick her up out of her crib.

One last trick that is working for us is keeping Amelia's nursery pitch black and quiet.  This meant getting rid of the sound machine we used (I think I liked it better than she did, oops!).  Currently, I have some old black curtains tacked up in her windows until we get room darkening shades!  We keep it classy in the Koch household!

This might not be the solution for everyone.  I totally get/respect/understand that!  I was completely skeptical and hesitant at first!  It really does sound quiet awful when I read back through this post... But, at the end of the day, it worked and I really felt this was best for Amelia and myself.  Three cheers for sleep!!!

I would LOVE to hear what sleep solutions have worked for you and your babes.  Maybe you are struggling with sleep habits like I was?  Ask me a question!  I am by no means an expert, but am more than happy to try and help!

Until next time!

We are home safe and sound from our wonderful vacation to Baltimore!  As promised, here are my top five tips and tricks for flying with an infant (or 6 month old).

Selby Bay is less than a mile away from my sisters house! AMAZING!!!

Tip #1:
Use a stroller or baby carrier!  I wish I had known that I could have gate checked a stroller for Amelia without being charged.  That would have made life SO much easier on me!  I was fortunate enough to borrow a friends Ergo and wore Amelia through check in and between flights.

 

Early morning workout and Amelia in her pj's... unrelated to travel, but THE BEACH!

Tip #2:
Feed baby during take off and landing.  Bottle or breast, whatever works for you!  The pressure change wrecks havoc on poor infants ears.  Even if it means pushing back a feeding and dealing with a fussy baby in the airport, it is well worth it (in my opinion).  I learned my lesson during our first flight; I didn't want to deal with a cranky Amelia before we took off, so I fed her early in the hopes her pacifier would work just as well.  It did not and I paid the price!

Tip #3:
Pack a few favorite toys for entertainment and emergencies.  For us, this included: a remote, an old phone cover, Chica Chica Boom Boom, Sophie the Giraffe and a hippo rattle.  I was planning on connecting to WiFi and utilizing the free DISH app; unfortunately, three of our four flights didn't have WiFi or it wasn't working.

Killing time at the airport playing with toys

Tip #4:
Ask about an extra seat for baby!  This was a huge bonus for us on two out of four flights!  If the flight isn't full, you can give your little their own seat, or an extra seat for you to spread out in, for free.  I checked into the "affordable" infant flight options before we left on our vacation... they were NOT affordable in any way (I am talking more than the price of my flights!).

Amelia acted like such a big girl

Tip #5:
Pack your babes favorite snacks.  For us, that means Gerber Puffs and a squeeze pouch.  Generally, I like to make my own squeeze pouches, but I didn't want to bother with it on the trip and picked up a few at Target before we left.

 

Leftover squeeze pouch enjoyment at Aunt Kim's house

 

Not related to airport travel, but Amelia tried Chic-Fil-A for the first time and LOVED their nuggets

Well... there ya have it!  My top five tips and tricks for flying with an infant.  I am sure we will make this trip again sometime in the future and I will have a whole new set of tips and tricks for flying with a toddler.  Stay tuned!

 

Swinging at the beach

Happy Weekend!

Up, Up and Away

Tomorrow, Amelia and I venture to Baltimore for our first real vacation together!  I am so excited to see my sister and her family!!!  It has been over a year since we were all together for Brandon and I's wedding in August 2013 and they haven't yet gotten to meet little miss Amelia
Does anyone else still have major flying anxiety after 9/11?  I know security is tighter than ever and it is safer to fly than to drive... but I still can't help but fret and worry!  My nerves are bundled into a ball and my stomach is in knots just thinking about our flights tomorrow.  I am sure everything will be fine, right?!

For the first time in ages, I am checking in bags to lighten my load with Amelia.  I  borrowed a friend's Ergo and have my Sakura Bloom ring sling in the diaper bag to keep my hands free.  Pray our luggage doesn't get lost as I have my pump and some frozen milk packed... Not to mention Amelia's favorite hot pink Freshly Picked moccs!

Have any of you flown with a 6 month old?  I looked back on Taylor's advice for traveling with a toddler [blog post here] but most of her suggestions won't work as Amelia is so much younger (and I don't have my own iPad).  My post next week will contain everything that I packed (that actually worked) and my tips and tricks for traveling with an infant!  Stay tuned!

Now... for some pictures of Amelia from the past week!

 

Representing the Huskers and our Pinn Co headband on Saturday's win over McNeese

Lounging in the pool (sans water) in our Babiators and KingHoo Moccs

First time playing in the sand... preparing her for the beach in Maryland

 She is still not sure about sand

Wish us luck on our first flights together!  Prayers for safe travel and no meltdowns (from baby OR momma!) would be much appreciated!

Amelia's 6 Month Photos

We FINALLY got Amelia's 6 month photos taken this past Saturday!  I was hesitant to commit to a 9:30am slot as we would be cutting in to Amelia's regular nap time.  We usually have a pretty large window to work with; unfortunately, our photographer was booked solid with senior shoots Saturday and Sunday and left for the East coast on Monday.  Alas, 9:30am it was.
As I suspected, Amelia was a cranky, fussy, typical diva!  She spent most of the time crying and clinging to me.  Fortunately, our photographer's studio is in her walkout basement, so her youngest daughter hung around to entertain Amelia as she tried to get some good shots.  From the photos, you would never guess Amelia was crabby!

 

To get this shot, our photographers poor daughter was jumping around making animal sounds and holding a giant teddy bear just to get Amelia to look at the camera!  I attempted to keep her attention by feeding her puffs and teasing her with a pacifier.

The canvas Amelia is holding is from her 3 month shoot.  Our photographer loved this picture so much that she had it made into a canvas to hang in her studio!  We plan on using it in future sessions to document just how much this little girl has grown.  How much fun is that?!

 

This bed was a prop that we used in Amelia's newborn photo shoot!  I cannot believe she is now bigger than the bed!  The tutu is homemade and the crown is from Little Blue Olive. [similar here ]

 

Surprisingly, we had the greatest luck playing peek-a-boo with this blanket!  This was one of the last shots we got and turned out the best!  Amelia was so happy to be "free" and just do her own thing.

 

We got plenty of Mommy and Me pictures at this shoot (not complaining!)!  Amelia was SO clingy at first that she wouldn't let me go and we ended up just going with it. She was really interested in the bed and chewing on the blanket.  Good thing everything in the studio is baby friendly.

Well... there ya have it!  Another photo shoot for the baby book!  Woohoo!!!