Washable Workwear Wednesday: The Unstainable Parker

Pumping at work question: it’s my second day back to work after maternity leave (yay snow day yesterday!) and usually I just pump at night in the dark, so for the first time I’m really getting a good look at what’s happening when I pump. I set my timer for 20 mins and saw that when the timer rang, there was still a thin stream of milk coming out. Do you usually wait for the milk to stop flowing or just pump for a set period of time? I have low supply, so part of me wants to get every drop and the other part just wants to get on w my day.

Also I’m now afraid that in my exhausted haze, I’m going to get up to go to the bathroom w/o putting my nips away :)

Just a ‘when it rains it pours’ vent. My normally very flexible, mostly predictable job just got randomly crazy due to deadlines that got ignored until JUST NOW by the powers that be, compounded by other normal projects not being able to be dropped. So I’m basically working all hours while also dealing with a small child on winter break (and massive snow outside) and trying to manage my au pair’s hours due to school being out. My husband is basically ‘on point’ the second he walks in the door, and there has been SO MUCH TV and Ipad happening.

The one bright spot is that if I power through this week, it will all be mostly done by 3pm on Friday. So much wine is in my future….

I saw your post from yesterday about really fast meals and wanted to give you a few that are in frequent rotation in our house.

— Tikka masala chickpeas + veggies. Get a jar of one of those simmer sauces (you can find it at TJs, or I can find them at my regular grocery store), a bag of frozen veggies + a can of chickpeas. Heat up a little olive oil in a pan, pour the frozen veggies in and let them warm up, add in the drained/rinsed chickpeas, then add in the simmer sauce. Bring to a simmer. You can sub out the chickpeas for meat (if raw, obviously cook the meat first), and you can bulk it up by adding rice (you can buy pre-cooked frozen rice from TJs, or get some minute rice). FWIW, this re-warms well, so you can make it in advance.

— Black beans in the crockpot. My kid loves the Smitten Kitchen black beans (https://tinyurl.com/js32dvf). I don’t make the cumin crema, but for the adults I like to make pickled red onions. I also add cotija cheese. I don’t soak the beans, so depending on the strength of your slow cooker I found this can take anywhere from 3.5-5 hours on high (my Instant Pot is more like 3.5-4, my previous slow cooker was 5. I just tried pressure cooking these, and found it took about 37 minutes). I sometimes will put the beans over toast (like she suggests), or over rice. I will occasionally put a fried or soft boiled egg on top of it. These beans freeze well too.

— Pasta w/ homemade tomato sauce. I’m sure this is already in your rotation, but we make pasta sauce and freeze it in ziploc bags. When we come home we cook the pasta, warm up defrosted sauce in a pan, and then add the pasta to the sauce. Takes less than 15 minutes. You can add store bought frozen garlic bread to bulk this up, and make a salad or a veggie.

— Steamed fish. I have one of those bamboo steamers. I put some parchment in the steamer, then steam the fish for about 5 minutes or so. Top with sesame oil and soy sauce (or hoisin). Serve with a side of veggies + rice. I usually do some sort of white fish.

— Also, just as a general idea: roast a sheet pan or two of veggies on the weekend. Broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, etc. Then you have veggies all week and you can just microwave them, and you just have to think about the entree.

I have a question for those of you who used the okay-to-wake clock with success. We got the clock last week for my two year old daughter. We tell her each night that when it turns green, mom or dad will come in to get her out of her crib. She seems to understand the concept – she repeats it back to us, and when we come in, she tells us that it’s turned green. Other times of the day she’ll point to the clock and say “turns green, mama comes in.” Her wake times have always been erratic, within a range of approximately an hour, so sometimes she’ll wake up 30 minutes or so before it’s set to turn green. Historically, she screams and cries until we come in…the entire time. So now she’s screaming and crying until the clock turns green. Any advice for helping her contentment until we come in? Should we go in when she first wakes up and explain that she can’t get out of bed until it turns green? That seems a little counterproductive to me. Or should we just let her cry and hope that she eventually gets the point? (Note: she’s an epically persistent crier. When sleep training, which we seem to have to revisit every 4 months, she’ll cry for hours…)

I was home with the kids (3.5, 7 months) yesterday. DH and I traded off but it was still a crazy snow day. The 3 y/o was having a borderline fit because I couldn’t play with her at the exact moment she wanted me to. I stopped, explained “mama has to do a few things before we can play. I have to do one work thing on my computer and empty the dishwasher. Then we can play.” Tantrum starts. I ask, “would you like to help with the dishes so we can play faster?” “YES MAMA!!!” And she did the entire silverware and all plastic dishes/Tupperware while I did my work email. Smiling like a kid in a candy store.

This is interesting.

What do 2 year old boys like these days? I need a gift idea for a birthday party. Thanks!