Blue Skies and Blue Apron!

Big news!! We have officially eliminated the "dream feed"!!

While it sadly feels like the end of their newborn era, we have quickly gone from about 6-7 feedings each 24 hour period to a manageable 4-5 feedings each day. And let me tell you, when everything is doubled, saving even just a minute helps.

And not only have we cold-turkey-abruptly-ended the dream feed, the boys also don't wake much in the night (1-3am) at all. Therefore, we've seriously cut back on feedings. They pretty much sleep from 6:30pm-6:30am and we are very grateful.

We also had our four month appt on Wednesday and received a very healthy report! Conor weighs over 14 lbs and Caden weighs over 12 lbs -- -and both are a little over 24 inches long. They are hitting all their milestones and most importantly, they're happy, happy babies.

So here is what our typical day looks like:

Wake: 6:30am

Feed: 6:30-7am

Play: 7-8:00am

Nap: 8-9:30am

Wake: 9:30-10am

Feed: 10:00-10:30am

Play: 10:30-1pm

Nap: 1pm-2:30pm

Wake: 2:30-3ish

Feed: 3-3:30pm

Play/walk/errands: 3:30-5pm

Bath (every other night): 5:30pm

Feed (started rice cereal): 6pm

Bed: 6:30-7pm

**A catnap sometimes happens around 4:30-5pm in the stroller and only lasts about 30min. It's nice because it takes "the edge off" them for the rest of the night and they are a little happier. :)

Since the boys are sleeping longer (and better), I am able to do a few more things around the house like laundry and cleaning/picking up and my favorite....cooking!! Thanks to Abby, I decided to sign up for blue apron. It's really awesome. They send you a few meals at a time with all the ingredients you need. I just received these three meals - one stuffed peppers, one shrimp and grits and a chicken sandwich dish that I haven't heard of, but excited to try!

How it arrives at my door....

I took everything out of the box. Inside, it had all the ingredients for three meals. And inside those small brown paper bags are the little things like butter/cheese, etc.

I then organized the stuff by which ingredients went with which dish....

I opted to make the shrimp and grits - figured it was a perfect dish for a Friday. Here are my ingredients and the instructions. I loved doing this! Basically someone did all the planning and shopping and I got to do the fun part! Yum!!!

I started by marinating the shrimp in paprika while I made the grits. I boiled some water, tossed in the grits and stirred frequently for 20 minutes. Once all the water was absorbed, I added cheddar cheese, butter, corn cut directly off the ear, and some salt and pepper to taste.

I then diced up the scallions - and the instructions said to separate the white part from the green part. The white part was to be used with the garlic in olive oil before making the main part of the dish and the green part is to be used mostly as a garnish. I thought that was cool! I always buy a white onion and use it for the same reason - but now I can just use the entire scallion.

I sliced all the corn off the ear, to add to the grits (on the right) when they are done cooking...

I cooked my shrimp in this saute pan first, and then put them off to the side. I then put olive oil in the pan, some of the minced garlic and the whites of the scallions. I let those cook up for about 3 minutes and then added my zucchini, tomatoes, the cooked shrimp, lemon juice/zest, butter and green scallions.