WIC Wednesdays #2: Pineapple Chicken (Freezer Friendly!)

So this recipe has a funny story to it. I was testing out and prepping some freezer friendly recipes for the crock pot and used the wrong meat. It was supposed to be pineapple PORK and I threw the CHICKEN instead. Luckily, this is one of those mix ups that ended up being amazingly delicious. Like using nutella on toast instead of peanut butter. (not that I eat peanut butter, but I feel like it would be way better to eat nutella lol) This recipe is inspired by Kojo Design's Pineapple Pork

Ingredients:
3 Chicken Breast, cubed
3/4 cup apple juice*
2 red bell peppers, chopped*
1/2 onion, chopped*
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 freezer gallon zip-lock bag
*WIC

Directions:
1. Label the bag as pineapple chicken. Underneath, write the cooking instructions: High 4-6hrs or Low 7-9hrs.
2.  Mix all ingredients together in freezer gallon zip-lock bag
3. Close the bag, trying to squeeze out as much air as possible.
4. Freeze flat.

To cook:
1. Defrost in fridge the night before. (this is so there isn't a giant clump, this step can easily be skipped if you forgot)
2. Put in crock pot and heat for either high for 4hrs or low for 7hrs, or until the chicken is cooked. (My bag says otherwise, but that dried out the chicken and made it stringy. I forgot these times were for pork. I plea the mommy scatterbrain!)

 

WIC Wednesday #1: Introduction

WIC is a government program that promotes a healthy eating lifestyle by providing nutritious foods, information on healthy eating, and breastfeeding/infant formula advice to low income mothers (pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding), infants and children (up to age 5). That's where the name comes from: Women Infant Children. Depending on the state, the food you get can differ slightly. To qualify for this program, you need to make below a certain income. To find out if your family qualifies, please check on the WIC website.

Living in Arizona, this is currently what we get each month, divided into 4 checks:

36 oz of cereal (About 2 boxes)
1 lb dry beans or 64 oz canned beans
3 lb cheese
2 dozen eggs
30 oz canned tuna or salmon
2 64oz containers of juice or 3 12oz frozen juice
9 half gallons of soymilk (you can opt to get cow milk as well)
16 oz grains (bread, brown rice or tortilla)
18 oz peanut butter
$10 worth of any combination of fruits or veggies (fresh or frozen)

Trying to save money and eat healthy, this program has really helped our family out. I found that while looking for recipes, it's really hard to find a gathered place that has delicious recipes that you can make using WIC items. Hence, I have decided to start WIC Wednesdays. Every Wednesday, I'll post a tried and approved recipe that I made. These recipes will not be entirely based on WIC food products only. That's not the point of the program. These recipes will be based of how using WIC food can be used in creative ways to make healthy eating fun and delicious.

Directory:
Pineapple Chicken (Freezer Friendly)

Toy Review! Infantino Grow-with-me Activity Gym and Ball Pit

We recently received the Infantino Grow-with-me Activity Gym and Ball Pit as a gift from one of Hubby's uncles. Might I say, coolest toy ever!

picture from Amazon.com

Baby Turtle is 2.5 months old. She fits across the diameter of the play mat perfectly right now. She absolutely loves the hanging sea creatures, especially the red crab and orange fish. We even do tummy time on this mat and she loves to look at the colorful animals printed. Every single time she's played with it so far has resulted in her sleeping out of exhaustion! A guaranteed hour of nap time, leaving me time to run around the house doing chores or relax.

I like this activity mat because of how colorful and full of patterns it is. Baby Turtle is never bored playing with it. There's always a new pattern to look at. Even the animals have different features. The crab has a baby mirror on one side and a tummy pattern on the other. The orange fish has crinkly fins and a textured loop beneath it. The purple octopus doubles as a rattle and has colorful ribbon tentacles. Lastly, the starfish is made of a crinkly material and has a hanging blue plastic star.

I try and rotate the animals so that she's not looking at the same one all the time. She loves grabbing the starfish toy. I wish there was another toy that had a dangling piece for her to grab, so I could put them on both sides of her.

Overall, this play mat is a great toy to have. At this stage (laying down and tummy time) there is plenty for Baby Turtle to look at. I will definitely have to add an update once she can sit and use the ball pit!

Passed out Baby Turtle

Passed out Baby Turtle and Hubby

Book Review! Parent Love Letters

While baby turtle was still baking, hubby and I found these two books at Sam's Club that looked really cute: Love From My Heart To A Precious Little Girl and You're My Little Love Bug! by Heidi R. Werner. The ones we bought are just board books and don't have the music box attached to them.

There are quite a few things that I like about these books.The artwork is really colorful. Right now, baby turtle is 10 weeks old and is starting to notice colors a lot more. When I read this book to her, she loves looking at the pictures. Sometimes I have to wait a pretty minute for her to finish looking at a page! The text is also really simple to read aloud. I can see myself ready this over and over to her as she grows older without getting too tired. (confession: I already know almost half the words already!)

The content is simple and emphasizes a parent's love for their child. Both books end with a tidbit with how your child is a blessing from God. Love from My Heart is about how complete your little girl makes your life. My favorite lines are: "If you weren't my little girl, there'd be a big hole in my heart! A piece would be gone! I just couldn't go on! My heart would be searching for YOU!". (There's also a Love From My Heart book for little boys. If baby turtle 2.0 is a boy, we will definitely get that!!) You're My Little Love Bug! is just a cute book with different ways to give someone a loving pet name. My favorite lines are "You're my ice cream sandwich, my watermelon gum. My soda pop, my lollipop, my yummy yummy yum!". (note: I added commas and periods to show where I would pause and stop if reading this out loud.)

All in all, I highly recommend these two books!

Baby Turtle's Room Tour!

**NOTE: This was written before I had baby turtle. I have since then edited the room to function for us, which should be upcoming in a post at some point. Time is pretty valuable right now, story of a new mom's life**

Welcome to Baby Turtle's Room! It took me about 6 weeks to actually get it to this point. Thank goodness for nesting lol. I blame any time delays on bladder breaks and munchies breaks! My idea for this room was pink and grey chevrons with elephants. HOWEVER: I did not realize that baby stuff is ~expensive~. So my next resort was to buys bits and pieces and hope they all match ;)


View from the door

I have a toy box that I want to put under the window but it needs some major TLC. I want to paint it a solid white and somehow get baby turtle's name on the top. But this will be a post-partum project. Just like the baby furniture. I wanted to paint the baby furniture white with pink accents. Like on the bars of the crib, top of the changing table and insides of the drawers of the changing table. But being 8 months preggo at the time I decided this, I knew it wasn't going to happen. And Hubs works all day. Sad face.

Left Wall

This is the action wall. Fashion, diapers and hampers. All in one central location. The main reason the big gorilla box is there is to act as a stand for the diaper champ and hamper. I bought the diaper champ off of someone and didn't realize how short it was. (It maybe hits my hips on the ground. No one has time to wrestle a baby and dirty diaper at the same time!) And the hamper is from Target's Dollar Spot. I figured, with as little as baby clothing is, this could easily accommodate baby turtle's laundry. *fingers crossed for preggo logic working*

Mini Station #1: Small trashcan, Diaper Champ, Hamper all on
top of a gorilla box full of stuffed animals. (Confession: they're
all my stuffed animals that I'm "giving" to baby turtle. Here's to
hoping she wont destroy all of them lol)

I made both the bow holder and headband holder long before I even contemplated making this blog. But in all seriousness, it took me like 5 minutes to make the bow holder and 10 minutes to make the headband holder, only because I had to  individually glue on the clothespins! If life allows me, I'll recreate these projects and post about them :)

The wall of hair~! Most of the headbands were a gift at our baby
shower. The bows were purchased from Hold The Confetti and
the flower clips are from Miss Maddies Closet. The other random
ones are *confession* mine that I've passed to Baby Turtle.

We didn't buy too many NB sized clothes. Figuring that newborns grow up in a blink of an eye, more of the purchasing focus has been on 3+ month sized clothing. This drawer pretty much contains all of her NB clothes, minus the few that are in her diaper baskets in the living room, our bedroom, and hospital/diaper bag. And we're in Arizona. The chances of her needing to go outside and actually wear clothes are very limited. Like doctor visits and possible a visit to work to show off her cuteness once. If I don't want to be in the heat, I'm pretty sure she won't want to be either!

Drawer #1: Clothes!

Drawer #2: Accessories? The left side contains baby leggings.
There are always coupons/promos going on that site! That's why
I have so many!The right side mainly has burp cloths and bibs.
I stuffed her hats there too  

Drawer #3: Blankets!

Hubs and I are going to try our hand at cloth diapering. Since newborns are so small but grow so quickly, we got mainly prefolds and covers to last her. I got my covers and prefolds at Kelly's Closet. They are always having some sort of coupon/promo that makes it even harder NOT to buy cloth diapers! I also bought a couple of NB pockets, mainly because the store I stumbled upon was having a closing shop sale. $7 for a NB pocket diaper with insert? Heck yes! Her diaper baskets in the living room and our room look pretty much like this but about half the size plus a few outfits for the inevitable spit up.

Drawer #4: Diapers! These are some of her prefolds, covers,
NB sized pockets and fitteds. And the random Snappi that's just
chilling on top of it all.

We also plan on using cloth wipes, but not until we finish all the Honest Company wipes that I had already bought and the Huggies wipes that we got at our baby shower. Why waste them?

Drawer #5: Wipes! We got these wipes at our baby shower :)

My "First Aide Station" has all of my aiding needs. Medicine dispensers, 4-in-1thermometer, nose sucker, etc. It also has my extra baby supplies at the bottom. I stuck all the things I plan on using on top for easy access. My fluff stash (aka diaper stash) is relatively small compared to most. The top two shelves are diapers. The top is for non-pocket diaper types (A1O, A12, fitteds) and the bulk of the stash is pocket diapers. I bought most of mine off of Zulily whenever they would have cloth diaper sales. The third shelf has extra inserts that I've bought or been given. Don't mind the little egg shaped thing that's just chilling there. It's a dehumidifier, to suck out moisture around the inserts so they don't get all mildew-ey or moldy. And funny enough, right below that is an actual humidifier.

(Right)The First Aide Station: A lot of it is
comprised of Honest Company products.
(Left) The Fluff Stash! This will need it's own
post lol. So much fluff!

Her crib. We don't plan on letting her sleep in the crib overnight for a while, but it's all set up and ready to go. For the meantime, I stuck her extra stuffed animals in there to fill the empty void.

Her crib corner :)

Close Up of the Art Work from Sweet Melody Designs
I had to get this set from her! The picture in the top left corner
was the inspiration for the whole theme of the room:
Pink, Grey, and Elephants <3



Close Up of the Art Work from Around the Block AZ
I had this customized with the pink and grey chevrons in the
background. I love this quote!
 

Some special stuffed animals. The large elephant, Hubert, was a
gift from my dad when I left for the Air Force. The teddy bear
was the first plushie Hubs won me when we were dating,
affectionately named Teddy Bear lol. The big turtle is baby
turtle's first gift from her uncle in NC. The little turtle
and the yellow spotted dog are a gift from her grandma in NC.

Her closet is more so a place of storage.


Baby turtle's closet! Most of it's stuff that
she'll be too small for or mommy tools :)

Her book collection!

What I Really Used From My Hospital Bag

I must say, I really over packed for the hospital in preparation for delivering baby turtle. (If you haven't seen what I packed, check out my post on What's In My Hospital Bag.) I used ~maybe~ one forth of what was packed. I'll mimic the order of my original post and show what I used and didn't:

Duffel Bag:
* Chapstick (I used a few times, but I didn't have that crazy chapped lip that most moms talk about)
* Wet Bag (we made this our laundry bag)
* Hanes Underwear (didn't touch these. the disposable ones were actually kinda comfy. and they were big so they held up my post partum pooch a little too)
* Fuzzy Socks (I used one pair once and realized that I was never a sock person and wasn't going to convert right then and there. I reverted back to the flip flops I wore to the hospital.)
* Towel (Def used my fluffy towel. but I also used the hospital ones too.)
* Hubby's clothing pile (The swim trunks were so handy when Hubs was helping me take a bath during labor and my post partum bath. Since I could barely stand without feeling weak in the knees, he pretty much had to be next to me, while keeping an eye on baby turtle in her bassinet outside the bathroom door. I didn't pack him enough clothes though. We truly only planned on being in the hospital for 1, 2 days max. We ended up being there for 4 nights. Hubs had to run home to change clothes once his supply ran out.)
* Clothes for me (The only garments that I ended up even touching were a nursing bra and maxi dress to go home in.)

Target Bag:
* The Food ( Hubs ended up eating a few things, but went out to get food instead. I ate lots of hospital food, which surprisingly not too bad.)
* Dental Hygiene (Def used it. Esp when I was stuck with the Pitocin and IV and couldn't really take a bath/shower. Clean teeth can make the world of a difference.)
* Rice Pillow/Maxi-Pads/Cloth Pads/Bradley Workbooks (these were untouched.)
* Bag O' Hygiene (Def used this, especially for my post partum bath. Hubby went home for his showers.)
* Relaxation/Misc toiletries ( I only used the deodorant.)
* New Mama Bottom Spray (I didn't start using this until I got home, and boy do I wish I started at the hospital. It felt a lot more soothing and cooling than the medicated spray they give.)
* Hair stuff (It really helped to have my hair out of my face during labor. The nurses even tied my hair for me when my hands were tied down with IV ports. For you gals with long hair, a really high top bun is a great labor hair style.)

Boppy and Pillows (Life savers. Need I say more?)

What's in my Hospital Bag?

Ah, the main bulk of the whole packing for the hospital. I packed a total of three bags: the diaper bag, clothing bag, and misc bag. On top of that, there's the pillows that wouldnt fit in a bag. And of course, the carseat (which i dont have a picture of soley because it's outside in the car and with the temps already hitting 90 at 930 am, I've deemed it too hot to go outside :P)

First up is the clothing bag. I managed to fit Hubs and my clothes into one medium sized duffel bag. This is of course, assuming that we only stay for one night at most.

 

The magical duffel bag

I degsinated this little pocket for this one chapstick. I've read
EVERYWHERE that chapstick is the one thing that moms
forget to pack and desperately need while birthing. Putting it
in this pocket will make it easy for hubs to find while I'm
screaming bloody mary lol.

A wetbag for laundry and cheap underwear for the post-partum
bleeding. I bought this 7 pack for I think 5 bucks or so. I won't be
feeling too butthurt if I have to toss them ;)

Fuzzy socks with rubber non-slip blobs at the bottom.

A large fluffy towel. I've read that the hospital ones are a bit
small and on the thin side. I like my towels big and fluffy lol

Hub's clothing pile. He has swimming trucks, an extra t-shirt,
lounging pants, boxers and socks. He loves loves loves his
green socks. In all seriousness, he only wears white socks when
he has to wear his PT uniform.

Pajamas for me. I have a night gown on top, for after birth, and
a pair of yoga pants and large t-shirt for before birth.

Super soft silky robe.

Two maxi dresses for going home/recieving visitors if we have
any come by.

Sleep nursing bras. The left is a Lamaze and the right is a
Motherhood Maternity.

A normal nursing bra.

The second bag that I packed has EVERYTHING else. Tolietries, food, paperwork. I stuffed it all into this poor Target bag lol. Everything inside is organized into smaller bags. The last thing I need is to be in the middle of a contraction and Hubs asking me where something is lol. I'm trying to prevent potential labor induced murder while I try and give birth.

The poor Target bag!

Stuffed to the brim!

The food stash plus two waters

(Clockwise from the top left) Blue Diamond Wasabi flavored
almonds, A baggie full of Cliff bars and honey sticks (I heard
this is a great source of energy while birthing), banana chips,
3 gopicnic lunch packs (I LOVE these lunch packs. They are like
a meal for me, moreso a snack for Hubs. That's why he gets 2 lol),
and lastly, Monsters for Hubs.

Dental Hygine Kit

Lots of travel sized dental care products :)

One of those rice/bean filled pillows, for relaxation purposes.

A baggie of maxi-pads. I know the hospital gives them, but I
brought some incase they were uncomforable for me.

Mini wet bag filled with mama cloths I bought from
Kelly's Closet

 

For those who don't know, mama cloths are resuable cloth
pads. I know it sounds kinda gross, but thinking about it, I
figured I'd give it a try. I mean, we wash clothes when there's
period leaks. What's a designated pad going to hurt?

 

A folder with paperwork, Bradley
workbooks and pamplets.

The bag of hygine :)

Just travel sized body wash/shampoo/conditioner and a mini
loofah.

A bag of misc stuff. I'll divide it into groups that make sense

Relaxation: eye mask, lavender massage oil and anti-stress
cream for the temples.

Misc tolietries: facial wipes, meds for the Hubs, deodarent,
lotion, face moisturizer and Q-tips.

New Mama Bottom Spray. This is for...soothing down there
after birth. I've read about numerous moms that rave about how
this spray really really helps.

Hair! Who can forget about hair!

The third bag is the diaper bag, but that's it's own post. You can read about my Diaper Bag [Hospital Edition] here!

The last bit that we have packed pillows. I have a Boppy pillow to help with nursing and two regular pillows. I like fluffy pillows and I want to avoid discomfort with flat hospital pillows. Plus the pop of color should be a moral booster (and prevent the hospital from taking my pillows!) The things that we'll be bringing that aren't packed are my camera (and it's charger!), our phone chargers and laptop. Is it kinda dorky that i plan on bringing Frozen and playing "Let it Go" while I deliver? I think it would be a good moral booster but Hubs begs to differ.