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Je t’aime Montreal Day 2

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Je t’aime Montreal Day 1

Sunday morning we woke up early (per baby’s routine) and made some early morning breakfast and coffee.  Edie ate a few times and took a brief nap before heading out for brunch.

Once E woke we bundled her up and headed out for a walk while we debated between Aux Vivres and Crudessence for brunch.  We ended up deciding on Crudessence because it has been on our Montreal bucket list for year but in the past it has either not been open or we have run out of time.

We started with some beverages a shot of cold pressed espresso for Neil and the best kombucha I have ever tried for me.

As you can see E didn’t want to feel left out so she decided she needed to eat as well.

For brunch Neil and I decided to share two different items:

Öm Burger: A mixture of mushroom, sun dried tomato, flaxseed and mixed vegetables, served on chapati and garnished with fresh tomato, red onion, lettuce, homemade mustard, ketchup and our famous caper aïoli sauce with a side of salads which included greens, sauerkraut and carrot salad.

Breakfast Burrito: Sun dried tomato and corn tortilla filled with our “egg” paté, aubergine bacon, tomato, lettuce and sprouts. Garnished with avocado, crème fraîche and local microgreens

Both were good but the Breakfast Burrito was exceptional.  The “egg” paté was incredible and I really want to recreate it at home. The burger is one of the most popular items but I thought it was good but not great.  The carrot salad was wonderful and Neil loved the sauerkraut.

Neil and I had saved enough room for dessert but Miss E was getting a little fussy so we decided to grab a package of green tea spirulina macaroons to go even though we wanted the blueberry faux cheesecake. The macaroons were incredible though so we were happy.

We packed E up in the Boba carrier and took the Metro to Jean-Talon Market.

We spent a few hours wondering around the market sampling the produce, admiring the turkish sweets (a few of which we enjoyed) and sipping a wonderful coffee all while the baby slept.

We picked up a few items from the market for our dinner and headed back to the apartment to relax and cook up dinner. We spent the remainder of the rainy night eating a yummy pasta dinner and watching Netflix.

Stay tuned for part three!

Je t’aime Montreal

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I always find that after any sort of vacation, short or long, it takes me a few days to get back into our routine at home. To top it all off this mini-vacation ended with the passing of our dear fur companion Boo so it’s been even more of a challenge this week.

So lets talk about Montreal! Neil and I went up a few weeks ago for his half marathon but we spent most of our time traveling there, at the race expo or at the race so we were unable to explore the city.  This fall was our first trip since October of 2010 due to immigration (Neil getting his greencard) and pregnancy.  Fact: Neil and I ran off to Montreal after only 3 days of dating (hmm..maybe I’ll share our crazy love story someday). Crazy, I know but it just felt right and here we are 6 years later happily married with a beautiful baby girl.

Neil and me in Montreal circa Sept 2006

Anyways we decided to find a place to rent in Montreal on airbnb.com (our new love since having a baby, my second -formally first love- is hotwire). We found a nice little place that one of Neil’s co-workers had actually stayed at in the Plateau area of Montreal.  It was the perfect location because it was 5 blocks from our favorite restaurant Aux Vivres and only a few blocks from two metro stops.

This time we decided to head up on Saturday morning rather than Friday evening and Neil took Monday off so we had three wonderful days to enjoy the city. We started off Saturday with a stop at the Atwater Market to check out the stalls and get a bite to eat. Neil and I ended up picking up some beautiful Brussels sprouts, mushrooms and garlic to use over the weekend and we shared a yummy tofu satay sandwich.

Edie hung out all bundled up in my poncho.

After shopping E had some lunch of her own and then we headed to the apartment.  Unfortunately it took us 35 minutes to drive 4 miles due to some horrible traffic and E let us know she wasn’t a fan of the traffic either.

Once we arrived and unpacked at the apartment we headed out for a walk.  We stopped at a few stores and hoped to stop for a beer at Dieu Du Ciel but when we arrived there it was packed and baby + pack brew pub = no go.  So instead we headed back to the apartment where I fed E and Neil headed out to the beer store to pick up a few Quebec brews for us to try.

Once E was in bed and Neil was back from the store we ordered take out from Aux Vivres.  Unfortunately by the time it arrived we were both too hungry to bother taking photos.  We ordered the Kosmos plate and the cold plate and they were both new to us and absolutely delicious.

After dinner we shared a beer and played a few rounds of cribbage before heading to bed.

Stay tuned for part two!

RIP Boo (1999ish-2012)

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Tonight after coming home to a sick cat and rushing him to the emergency vet, we faced a decision no fur baby parent wants to make. Unfortunately, Boo is no longer with us. After running blood tests and x-rays, the vet found that he had a cancerous mass on his right lung and that it was quickly filling with fluid.  After discussing things with the vet it was determined that the outlook for recovery was grim so THE DECISION was made in his best interest.

Neil and I are both pretty torn up about this and as I write this I have to wipe away the tears.  We knew that when we adopted him that health issues were bound to come sooner than later (when we adopted him he was about 11.5/12 years old) but I hoped we had a few more years.

So now we say our good-byes to our furry friend who was nothing but kind, loving and a wonderful friend to everyone he met.

Project Get Off The Couch

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This past weekend it really hit me that I am sitting now more than I ever have and I hate it. Don’t get me wrong I love being home with Edie but it seems 95% of my day is spent on the couch or in bed nursing or trying to work or sleep. I am trying to fit workouts and walks in when I can but it is a challenge with a baby who wants to nurse so frequently (I am talking every 1.5-2 hours; sometimes less) and lately she has been napping but will only nap on me. I am not sure what’s worse the no nap phase or the only nap on me phase.

I am not getting the workouts I would like in, I haven’t made it to postnatal yoga and I am feeling unhappy with my postpartum progress. I am also sitting way more than I want to so now I am starting Project Get Off The Couch.

That being said I am making more of a conscious effort to stand up, walk around and do something active when the baby isn’t nursing or sleeping in me. I am also working on making a concentrated effort to focus and finish freelance and blog projects rather than getting distracted with other things (Pinterest, twitter, Private Practice, Hulu, ect.) so that I have more time to move. Lastly I am going to bed earlier in hopes that more sleep will help my body and my brain.

If you’re a new mom or heck someone who is working an office job or computer job that involves you sitting for long periods how do you make time to stand more and workout? I know many people have switched to standing desks and I really wish that it was easier to stand while nursing but I haven’t found a boppy pillow that works for that (yet).

The New Date Night (We Need Your Help)

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Now that E is in more of a consistent nighttime routine and we aren’t spending 60-120 minutes trying to soothe her to bed and bounce our brains out (so over the exercise ball) we finally have time for ourselves.  During the week we we end up filling our time trying to catch up on work or cleaning but on Friday nights we are free to take the night off from our chore and work duties.

That being said we don’t really have the money to spend on a sitter and to go out to dinner so we have decided to have date nights in.  That being said we need ideas! We were thinking about having every Friday night be dinner and a movie night but we need ideas for movies and meals to go with them. Our only requirements are that they have to be movies that are already out on DVD or Netflix and meal ideas have to be relatively budget friendly and vegan(izable).

So what are your suggestions? What is a good movie you have seen lately or a recipe that you think we should try? Or do you have a good themed movie and meal idea? Send your ideas our way and we will feature a new date night each week!

Rainy Weekend

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We were supposed to have family photos taken Saturday but between Edith having a rough week and the rain they had to be postponed until a later date. Since we had no other plans we decided to take advantage of the free day and got a bunch of things done around the house.

It is embarrassing how disorganized and cluttered our house has become over the last month and it has been way more challenging than I anticipated to keep up with housework since E’s arrival. This month has been particularly crazy with our trip to Rhode Island at the end of August, a few family events, a weekend of solo parenting while Neil was away got work and then last weekend in Montreal, oh and not to mention the lack of naps around this house.

We were able to get quite a bit done Saturday, although our to do list is still a mile long. One thing I did accomplish is a chore/fitness goals/blogging chart for the month of October. There are incentive points to be earned for accomplishing goals and chores. I am hopping this will help us to stay in track and keep us motivated. I have a closet full of clothes that still don’t fit and I am ready to get back into them soon so fitness incentives and better meal planning should help.

Sunday we were up bright and early, actually we almost missed our window to wake up, and headed out to Neil’s 5k.  I had actually signed up for the race as well but unfortunately wasn’t feeling prepared to run so E and I went for a walk in the BOB while we waited for Neil. I also snacked on this new bar from Simple Squares, it was pretty tasty.  It was just what I needed to keep me satisfied before getting breakfast with Neil.

After the race (which Neil did really well in) we headed over to Healthy Living to meet up with friends for a little conversation, a bite to eat and to attend their little harvest festival outside.  We tried a number of samples from local vendors and listened to some music which put E right to sleep.  We decided to take advantage of her sleeping and headed back into Healthy Living to do our grocery shopping and let E nap in the Ergo for a bit.

We are planning on spending the remainder of our rainy weekend napping, catching up on blogs, watching the Yankees game and catching up on some house work. Oh and we are planning to make and devour some pumpkin pancakes with coconut whipped cream for dinner and then heading to bed on the early side and hoping E will to so that she wakes up good and happy to go to baby yoga tomorrow morning.

How did you spend your weekend?

Have you/are you planning to attend any harvest festivals? We didn’t make it to my favorite one this year because of the rain yesterday and Neil’s race today but at least we got to go to a little one.

Have you ever signed up for a race to find yourself unable to/not prepared to run it? what did you do?

Also if you are interested I am giving away these two items I found while cleaning out my closet (email me lindsay@runningwithtongs.com)

Moving Comfort size 36C sports bra- only worn maybe 5 times (got it right before I became pregnant and wasn’t able to wear it while pregnant/now)

Toning for Two tank size large (sorry it’s a blurry photo)

Making Time for Everything.

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The first month or so of parenthood was pretty easy and relaxed.  We didn’t do too much and Neil was home for the first four weeks (one paternity leave week, one vacation week and two working remotely weeks) so we were able to work as a team.  We were sleeping well, for parents of a newborn that is, and we were able to get out for walks and our individual workouts.  Then we went on vacation, Neil’s work schedule became more demanding and our weekends became filled with various social/family commitments and to do lists a mile long.

Last night Neil and I finally had a chance to talk about how things were going and where we need to make changes.  We both came to the same conclusion that we need to sit down and create a weekly lists of tasks to accomplish both around the house, with our blogs and other work and most importantly do a better job of planning our meals and making time for fitness.

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My goal for this week is to create a tasks binder with a list of household chores that need to get done daily and weekly so that we can check them off as they are accomplished.  The intention behind this is that all tasks for the day must be checked off before we can do anything fun such as play a game, catch up a TV show, watch a movie or read blogs/mindlessly surf the internet.

In addition to the household chores I want to set up a weekly blogging schedule so that we both can stay committed to our family site and me to my personal blog.  I’m also going to throw in there some designated time for Neil to help me improve RWT and my health coaching site as well.

Next thing to make the list is meal planning the one thing I have been horrible at the past two months.  Part of this I want to blame on our CSA however I say the same thing every time we do one that I hate that it arrives in the middle of the week.  It screws up my meal planning which I like to do on Fridays or Saturday mornings and because the CSA comes in the middle of the week it throws off my planning.  I have to say unless we can get a CSA that delivers on Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday that we really shouldn’t do one again.  I hate having to wait to see what we actually end up getting and unfortunately the CSA we did this year was new to us and the produce has been really lacking in quality so we often end up with unusable produce.  What can I say as much as I love the concept of the CSA I am better off shopping at farmers markets where I can buy what I need and want for meals for the week.

The last thing that is going to be part of the tasks binder I am making is designated workout times for the two of us.  It has been a bit of a challenge to make time for workouts due to a number of excuses such as Neil’s work schedule, his training schedule and Edith’s lack of napping or now sleeping at night (read more here). Lately Neil has been getting home later and later from work to turn around and have to do more work after he puts Edie to bed while I make dinner. By the time he does get home and Edith has nursed and is ready for bed it is often going on 7pm and after a day of her not sleeping or a night of of her not sleeping I am exhausted myself and it is really challenging to get myself motivated to workout especially when I still have dinner to make.

Mornings are tough because Neil ends up working most nights until 10p-12a I try and let him sleep in a bit while I hang out with Edie and by the time he gets up and showers he has to go to work which doesn’t allow me time to get a workout in, or lately he has been doing is half training runs in the morning which also doesn’t allow for me to have time to workout. Now during the day I was getting in workouts while Edie was sleeping or we would get out for a walk but when it comes to naps she is hit or miss (a lot of misses lately) and when it comes to walks she is currently hating the car seat i.e. stroller and is hit or miss when it comes to being in one of carriers.  Needless to say it has been a challenge and one I’m not happy about.

I love to workout and I miss it so much. Neil is running is half marathon this weekend and will be done training which means (hopefully) that I can get back in to a better routine that doesn’t revolve around Neil’s training schedule. I also plan to start going to postpartum yoga  which is something I can take Edie to and they have a baby bouncer there so if she fusses someone else can bounce her while I do my practice! Also starting at the end of the month I am committing to Best Body Bootcamp, just what I need to get back in the swing of things and work on getting back in shape post-baby.