Meal Planning Capsule

Since organizing my freezer/pantry, I realized I have some things I don't use and I have trouble knowing what groceries I need to order.  (We have been ordering our groceries online since Sara was born - such a blessing to have groceries delivered to our door!)  I also know that, even though I have a personal cookbook that I compiled of our favorite recipes/new recipes I wanted to try, we tend to default into eating the same things over and over.  I felt like it was time to try capsule meal planning.  The idea is the same as with clothes - to have fewer choices, but to eat your favorite things all the time.  I've discovered with my last two clothing capsules that it's easier for me if I just sit down with pencil and paper and do it all off the top of my head, rather than looking at all the options and trying to narrow them down.  So I made a list of some of our favorite things that we eat all the time:

1. Spaghetti/Lasagna

2. Chicken Wraps (Caesar for me/Buffalo for Cameron) (Spring/Summer)

3. Tacos

4. BBQ pork w/ potato mash (sweet potato/white potato/carrots) OR slaw

5. Chicken Fried Rice/Lo Mein

Winter:
1. Chicken Soup
2. Shepherd's Pie

I showed Cameron the list and asked if he would be willing to experiment with only eating these things for a month, to see if it would satisfy us or if we would feel like it was not enough choices.  It's been around a month now, and we really haven't missed having more choices.  We added the caveat that we could eat out from the following restaurants: Burger Van or McDonald's (usually just if we are in a hurry).

For lunch, we either eat ham & cheese tortilla wraps w/ tomato & avocado or we order Subway.

On paper it seems so limited, but so far we have been completely satisfied with our choices.  I think it was a good decision.  It has also helped me with ordering groceries.  I just make sure I always have the ingredients to make these meals.  At the beginning, I downloaded a meal planning app, but I've found that with the limited choices, I don't really need it.  Limiting my choices took out the stress enough that I don't need to app.  I did have one little "hiccup" in that when I tried tacos for the first time since Sara's belly problems have gotten better, they seemed to upset her stomach.  :(  However, my mom suggested that I try using only half the taco seasoning, so we will try that next time to keep it on the menu.

I should add that we do also have a semiprepared section of the freezer for those days when we just don't have the energy to cook - chicken nuggets, pizza, and a few other things.  However, since starting this plan, we have used them less frequently than before, which is great.

Also, for breakfast we have been eating basically the same thing for years already.  We always have scrambled eggs and bread with cream cheese/peanut butter.  Recently, we have started putting bacon pieces in the eggs, which is great. On Mondays (our Sabbath day), we have pancakes with our eggs.  I also bought "carnati de bere" (sausages that taste like kielbasa) as a special treat.  And of course a cup of coffee.  :)

Organizing the Freezer & Pantry

Since baby Sara was born, we've starting using a large stand-alone freezer in addition to our regular refrigerator/freezer.  Last week after ordering a large amount of groceries, I finally got frustrated enough to organize it.  Then this evening, inspired by my freezer organization, I finally organized our balcony pantry. 

I didn't take any before pictures of our freezer, but it was certainly a mess.  Before turning on the stand-alone freezer, my husband would marvel at my "Tetris" skills as I put away the frozen food in the small freezer section of our refrigerator.  Here are the after pictures:

After we got our last groceries, I was feeling overwhelmed and just left a lot of them on the counter and balcony table:

There was room in the balcony pantry, but it was just such a mess that I didn't know where to put things. 

Before picture of the balcony pantry

I was feeling really overwhelmed at the sheer volume of it all, and I didn't know where to start.  I decided to start with what annoyed me most: for years I'd been wanting to put the aluminum foil closest to the door opening, since I use it more often that the ziplocs.  So, I took everything off that shelf and put it on top of the cabinet.  (I cleaned the top first - man was it dusty!) Then I put it back with the aluminum foil and plastic wrap closest to the door opening.  I threw away the non-zip bags that have been in there for years that we've never used.  I have such a hard time throwing things away, but if we've lived here for 4 years and never used them, they needed to go.  Also, I realized that I had bought aluminum foil when there was actually another roll in the cabinet.  My disorganization led to buying something I already had.

All the aluminum foil/plastic wrap/ziplocs on top of the cabinet.

 

After picture of the foil/plastic wrap/ziploc shelf.

 The next thing that has been annoying me is the disorganization of my Asian sauces.  We cook a lot of Asian food from scratch, because most of the Asian restaurants here are expensive and not that great.  They used to be on the middle shelf, but since they are one of the things I use most frequently, I decided to move them to the top shelf closest to the door opening.  To me, what logically followed was the corn/peas/carrots, spaghetti sauce, beans, and cream of chicken soup. 

Top shelf

 Since I started nursing, I've been eating cereal as a snack pretty frequently.  I never ate cereal much before, so I didn't have a good place to keep it. I've been keeping it on the kitchen counter for months.  I decided this evening to find a place for it in the pantry.  Since the cabinet is so deep, I combined the section for cereal and formula.  After that, I was at a bit of a loss for how to organize the rest.  I ended up just making a fruit section and labeled the rest as "various sauces/seasoning."  I used the bottom section for overflow.  I couldn't believe how much more I was able to fit into the space once it was organized. 

Middle shelf

After picture of the cabinet

After picture of the balcony table (the missing cushion is in the other room)

After picture of the kitchen counter

I left a few things on the kitchen counter, but overall I thought it was pretty good work for one night! 

Packing for Geneva: Clothes for Mom & baby

Packing for a 2-week trip with a 3-month old baby was quite an undertaking.  For this post, I will focus only on clothes for Sara and me.

Before I could begin to figure out what to pack for baby Sara, I had to first transition her wardrobe from newborn to 3-month old. 

1. First, I went through her drawer and took out everything.  
2. Next, I put back in what still fit her.  I chose a few items to keep (the outfit she came home from the hospital in, etc).  I bagged and labeled the other clothes, which I will pass on to a friend having a girl in March.  I also only put in 10 pairs of regular socks, plus 3 pairs of fancy socks.  I took out the lightweight spring hats.
3. Third, I went through all the size 3-6 month clothes to decide what I liked and was seasonally-appropriate.  (Some clothes we received from friends who had babies born in different seasons - some worked, some not.)  
4. Fourth, I put everything in her drawer that I envisioned her wearing for the next 2 months or so.  I used the drawer as my physical limit of how many clothes she would have.  It worked out very well with the clothes I picked out.

 

5. Finally, I picked out 10 outfits for her to wear in Geneva (with a plan to do laundry over the weekend).

 I packed a short-sleeved white onesie for each long-sleeved shirt, so that her shirt wouldn't ride up and show her belly/make her cold.  I packed a 10 pairs of socks and 10 sleepers.  At the last minute, I packed two zip-up jackets that she ended up wearing a lot, because it was chilly in the cafeteria.

And of course, her winter coat and hat:

Since I'm writing this after our trip, I can also comment on how my packing worked out.  First, I ended up not doing laundry, because it was just too much trouble.  Sara pretty much never spits up, so her dirty clothes only had drool and maybe a few drops of milk on them.  I felt a little bit bad having her wear dirty clothes, but it was just too hard to do laundry.  In the future, I would rather pack at least enough shirts to have a clean one for each day.


Clothes for Mom:

I didn't have time to fully transition my wardrobe from maternity to current/nursing-friendly clothes.  Instead, I just picked out outfits that would work for Geneva, with a focus on layers and nursing-friendly shirts.  I chose navy and cream/white as my neutrals and teal and burnt orange as my colors, to keep it simple and help with mixing and matching. 

These are the outfits I planned:

This is what I ended up wearing:

I planned a mostly casual wardrobe for hanging out on campus while my husband was in class, with a few nicer outfits for touring the city on the weekends.  I also wore my white/gray nursing infinity scarf, even though it didn't really fit into my theme.  I found that the nursing infinity scarf and the traditional nursing cover I made worked equally well.  Since coming home, I have ordered a navy nursing infinity scarf, which will work better with my wardrobe.

I tried to be somewhat minimalistic (for me) with shoes and accessories.  Although I brought a few different scarves, I brought only one pair of earrings and two pairs of shoes.  Sara has started grabbing and pulling, so I can't wear dangly earrings or necklaces unless I am out without her, so I just didn't bring any.  This was a huge change for me, since I love dangly earrings and necklaces and normally bring several with me while traveling.  I also brought only snowboots (which I wore on the airplane) and slip-on walking shoes (which I used both as indoor slippers and around campus).  It was such a blessing that the cafeteria was in the same building as our room, so I could just wear the walking shoes Mon-Fri.  It was so nice taking Sara in the stroller to meals without having to put on our winter coats.

I discovered quickly that my teal and brown batwing shirts were by far the best for nursing in public, because they have a v-neck that can be pulled down, instead of having to pull my shirt up and worry about my stomach showing/getting cold.  I rearranged from my original plans to wear those two shirts every Saturday and Sunday, when we were traveling.

Overall, I feel like I really did well at packing for both of us for this trip.

I didn't really take and "outfit" pictures, but here are a few where you can see our outfits:

Baby Clothes: Thoughts on Sara's first 2 months

I would like to put down some thoughts about baby Sara's clothes for her first two months.  I had originally wanted to write a post before she was born about my plans, but it didn't happen.  I'm writing this mostly to process and for myself to know for any future children, but perhaps it may help someone about to have a baby.

I'll try to start from the beginning...

Washing 0-3 months clothes to get ready for baby Sara's arrival!

We don't have a dryer...

Cameron built this beautiful dresser for me.

Drawer organizers from Ikea.

All of Sara's 0-3 month clothes fit perfectly into one drawer!

After reading Marie Kondo's book, one thing that I have truly changed is the way I put clothes into a drawer.  I now always put them in vertically, so you can see every article of clothing from the top.  Even before reading the book, I had started using drawer organizers, and the vertical folding makes them even more useful.

Starting from left to right in the drawer, here are some of my thoughts - things I did well, things I thought I needed but didn't, and things I wish I had bought/bought more of.

1. Short-sleeved white onesies (5) - I thought these would be incredibly useful as undershirts, but I only used one of them ever in the past 2 months, and now they are too small.  They may have been useful to wear around the house if Sara had been born in spring/summer, but as it was, they were basically useless.  I had also envisioned her wearing them under sweaters with pants, but it didn't work out because of my obsession with her having mittens at all times.  I wish I had bought long-sleeved white onesies with mittens and more sweaters.

2. Socks/tights - Very useful, Sara wore socks almost every day with her gowns, but I had way too many pairs.  Basically I just needed one pair of socks for every gown.  I also enjoyed having her wear the lacy ones to church with jeans.  We bought a 2-pack of tights, which was perfect.  The smallest size is just a little too big for her, so I think they will last all winter.

3. Separate mittens (3) - I didn't use these for a long time, because I thought they would not stay on.  However, when I started getting frustrated with all the clothing that didn't have built-in mittens, I tried these, and they worked pretty well.  I wish I had bought more of these.

4. Gowns w/ built-in mittens (12) - Sara wore these almost every single day at home.  They were especially helpful for newbie parents changing diapers in the middle of the night, because there are no snaps or zippers.  The only downside is that her socks fall off constantly.  My regret with gowns is that I only bought only two size 0 Carters gowns, which fit her very well.  The rest were all Gerber size 0-6 months, which didn't really work.  Nothing that fits a 6 month old will fit a newborn very well.  They were functional, but too big.  I wish I would've bought 10 or so Carters size 0 gowns for the 0-3 month period and had her wear only them.  The Gerber gowns will probably fit her very well in a few months.  If you are looking to save money and get more use out of your baby clothes, the Gerber size 0-6 month gowns will work for a very long time.  However, it felt more like just dressing my newborn in size 6 month clothes which were constantly falling off her shoulder.  Also, if you have a chubby baby, they may work, but Sara is a skinny little girl. 

Here you can see the difference between Carters size 0 (left, age 4 days) and Gerber size 0-6 months (right, age 13 days). 

Sara in both gowns at age 2 months.  The Carters is getting a little small, but the Gerber is still too big.

Also, 10 gowns may sound like a lot, but Sara peed on all three of these gowns in one day, so you may go through them faster than you think.  ;)

5. Hats - Sara really hates hats.  We have a million of them, mostly the ones that match the gowns/other outfits.  We have only used one of these, and it was so big that it kept falling into her eyes.  We have a few thicker, winter-type hats which we do actually use.  In retrospect, it would've been easier to just get 1-2 small winter hats for her.  Maybe in the spring, as she gets bigger, we will use the lighter bigger hats, but I have my doubts.

While the hat on the left looks really funny, clearly the hat on the right fits her better.

6. (Starting the left half of the drawer now) Colored/designed short-sleeved onesies - I didn't use any of these.  They probably would've been useful had Sara been a spring/summer baby.  I didn't have very many, just a few I inherited from a friend, so no loss here.

7. Newborn shirts w/ mittens - These were somewhat useful, but I wish they had been onesies instead.  Sara wore them under dresses mostly, because they were too short to wear alone with pants.  She also wore them maybe once or twice at home with leggings when all the gowns were dirty.

Newborn shirt with dress (left) and with leggings (right).

8. Sleepers - I have several of these, but unfortunately only one has mittens.  I used it frequently, but mostly when we had to go somewhere with the car (like to the doctor), because it is better for her legs to be separated for the car seat belt.  I didn't use it as often as I wanted to, because I was always afraid it might be dirty when I needed it.  I wish I had had at least 5-6 sleepers with mittens.  I only have used the sleepers without mittens a few times, with the separate mittens.  I could've done without them, if I had had more with mittens.  The one with mittens is a newborn size, and it has fit her very well.  It's just now starting to get too small at 2 months.  I wish I had more in size 3 months.  I know I need to let her hands go free, and we do sometimes, but she scratches me really bad while breastfeeding, so I like to at least have the option to just fold over the sleeve to cover her nails.

Bringing Sara home from the hospital (left), age 2 months (middle & right).

9. Long-sleeved colored/designed onesies - Sara did not wear any of these.  She could've worn them with jeans, but we didn't really have anywhere to go.  By the time we were using the separate mittens/going without mittens, we started putting her in special Christmas long-sleeved onesies.

10. Long-sleeved colored/designed shirts - Sara wore one of these once, with the newborn shirt underneath before we realized the separate mittens would work.  We probably would've been fine without them.

11. Leggings/jeans - She didn't wear the leggings often, so we probably would've been fine with only 2-3 pairs.  I had a problem with getting clothing from different places/people in that they didn't seem to ever match the shirts.  Many of the leggings I had matched short-sleeved onesies, and it is too cold for short sleeves.  However, she wore her jeans quite a bit.  I had 2 pairs of newborn size jeans, and I could've used maybe one more pair.  As an adult, I have no problem re-wearing my jeans before washing them, but babies tend to drool and spill milk on their clothes, so it would've helped to have duplicates.

Sara smiling in her Christmas long-sleeved onesie, separate mittens, jeans, and lacy socks.

12. Dresses - I only had 2 dresses, both of which I received from a friend, and I was so glad to have them.  I would've been happy to have a third, but I was able to make due by having Sara wear jeans to church sometimes.  Our church is pretty casual, so it's not a big deal to wear jeans.  Sara wore both dresses several times.  Also, I wish I had bought a jean skirt.

Brown polka-dotted corduroy dress (left), pink plaid dress (right).  I even happened to have a matching plaid shirt, so we were twins one day.  :)

13. (a baker's dozen) Fancy dresses - Hanging in the closet, Sara has two fancy dresses, a white one she wore for her baby dedication and a Christmas one.  I haven't found another occasion for Sara to wear the white dress, but I still think it was worth it.  She has actually gotten quite a bit of use out of the Christmas dress by wearing it to various parties.

In conclusion, I would like to try to find what would've been the ideal wardrobe.  This is for a girl born Oct. 13, who is rather petite.
 - 10 size 0 Carters gowns w/ mittens
 - 5 size newborn sleepers w/ mittens
 - 5 long-sleeved white onesies w/ mittens
 - 2 colored/designed sweaters
 - 2 pairs neutral leggings
 - 3 pairs jeans
 - 3 dresses
  - 1 jean skirt
 - 1 fancy dress for dedication
 - 10 pairs regular socks
 - 2 pairs lacy socks
 - 2 pairs white/cream tights
 - 6 pairs separate mittens
 - 2 small winter hats

We also added recently (all size 3 months):
 - 3 long-sleeved colored/designed onesies for Christmas
 - 2 pairs colored/designed leggings for Christmas
 - 1 fancy dress for Christmas
 - 1 big fuzzy coat w/ feet, mittens, & hat all built in

At this point, I am putting away the size 0 Carters gowns, the newborn shirts, and the newborn sleeper.  Our little girl is growing up!

Early 3rd Trimester - August 2016

Well, I decided to completely take the month of July off from tracking my wardrobe.  We were traveling most of the month, so I decided to take something off my plate.  Although, living out of a suitcase for a month could be considered a form of a "capsule wardrobe."  I had ordered quite a few new maternity clothes to be sent to my parents' house.  I made the personal decision that, since we can afford it, I chose the philosophy that I want to feel as much like myself as possible as my stomach grows bigger and bigger.  Only one pair of jeans I had received from a friend fit, so I bought a few pairs of maternity jeans.  I bought a few shirts and tank tops, 2 maxi dresses, and a few sweaters.  I really tried to make sure each piece was a good investment.  I also bought some things that transcend maternity, like a pair of shoes and a new necklace/earring set.  Of course, I brought back a ton of stuff for the baby, as well.

I haven't really taken any outfit pictures lately, and the clothing pictures aren't quite as nice-looking this time.  I pretty much threw the clothes on our kitchen floor (the best white background I have), moved them a bit with my toes, then only bent down once to pick them all up at the end.  Plus, maternity clothes look a bit weird and wrinkled on a flat surface.  :)  But here are a few things I've been wearing lately:

1. New basic navy tank top - Old Navy (super long and comfy)
2. Peach tank top that I've had forever
3. Purple dressy tank I received from a friend
4. Blue t-shirt I received from a friend
5. Pink/white striped t-shirt - Gap
6. Navy/white striped t-shirt (from a friend)
7. & 8. "Magical" brown and teal shirts I bought originally for the 1st trimester

 

1. Denim bermuda shorts - Target

2. Brown gaucho pants I've had forever

3. Dark denim bootcut jeans (from a friend)

4. Distressed straight leg jeans - Target

 

1. Teal/green maxi dress - Walmart in 2012 

2. Dark green maxi dress - Old Navy

3. Grey/white striped maxi dress - Old Navy

 

1. & 2. Birthday present

3., 4., & 5. Necklace/earrings - Kohl's

6. Navy Sketchers (really good for when it rains/gets cooler)

 

These are the only outfits I have recorded wearing, since I started keeping track again 2 weeks ago.  Pretty much I'm wearing my brown flip flops and either the denim bermuda shorts or brown gauchos every day, because it's so hot.  I wore the gold dress sandals for a maternity photo shoot.  I mostly wear the dresses for church, but sometimes on regular days too, because they are just so comfortable when it's hot outside.

The distressed jeans I wore for a weekend retreat in the mountains, where it was much cooler, and I anticipate getting a lot of use out of them as it gets cooler.  I really really like them, because they make me feel like I have even just a smidge of fashion sense during this maternity time, without being over the top.   Also, I'm pretty proud of my sewing skills, because, not only did I hem them, I also put a patch under one of the ripped sections.  For some reason, 2 of the 3 ripped sections came with a patch under them, but the third was just open.  I was paranoid about it getting bigger and the white strings ripping off eventually (which has happened to me before by accidentally putting my foot through a hole while getting dressed).  So, I bought a small pair of cheap little girls jeggings to use as material to sew a patch of stretchy denim underneath.  

I also bought a pair of dark jeggings (not pictured), but honestly I'm not sure if I will wear them much, which is unfortunate.  I bought them to wear when it gets cooler with my tall boots, but they are already hard to get on with my big belly, and with my personal heater, I'm not sure I will get cold enough to wear the tall boots before I deliver.  However, they may still turn out to be great post-partum pants for the winter.  We shall see.

So, those are pretty much my clothing thoughts for the moment.  I'm planning to continue to keep track of what I wear for the remainder of my pregnancy, so I'll probably post again at some point in the next two months.  I'll leave you with a picture from the maternity photo shoot: