My mom’s birthday weekend

This weekend was a blast, and it’s not just because I was at my parents’ house with tons of support, but also because my dad threw my mom a big party for her 60th birthday and I got to see so many family members who I haven’t seen in way too long.

It was so awesome.  Have I mentioned how much I love my family?

Despite having so many hands on deck to help with the littles, I felt (feel) like a zombie for far too much of the day, but I think that has a lot to do with this cold that we are all just passing from on person to another and back on around again.  It’s a cyclical joke.  My head may be in a fog because it actually is, in fact, in a fog.

My conversations are so distracted and as much as I try to be present, it feels like I’m just kinda muddling my way through social situations (at least to me).  Hopefully I don’t come across as aloof as I feel.  Or maybe people will give me the benefit of a doubt as a new mom.  Does the phrase “new mom” still apply to me?  Technically I’m not new to motherhood because I have been a mom to P for 2+ years now, but I’m newly mothering another baby so how does that work out?  Whatever, I’m a new mom slash zombie.  Book reader, song singer, truck driver by day, nursing, diapering, and snuggling by night.  It’s a good gig.

Before heading off to the East Bay I had a big salad while nap time went down.

I have been craving tofu like crazy but haven’t had time to prep it so I cheated and bought some pre-marinated from TJs.  I got the non-Asian flavored one because it had fewer allergens (I can’t recall but there was probably sesame and wheat in the other one).  This still has soy so P can’t have it, which means I try not to eat it when he’s around (because I don’t like telling him there are things he can’t have that I’m eating – not because I think I will accidentally expose him while I’m eating).

On top of the leftover quinoa/corn salad, I packed romaine, avo, carrots, ‘fu, and then I added some coconut aminos for dressing.  I forgot about that stuff!  I bet it’s safe for P so maybe I could try some Asian(ish) dinners at home for us all.

After the world’s longest nap (it’s always that way when you have somewhere to be, right?) we hit the road.  I gave P a smoothie in the car because otherwise we would arrive way way late.

Birthday dinner for my mom!

Unpictured appetizers are the reason for the two ingredient dinner.  My parents got tuna poke and California rolls that we snacked on while hanging out in the kitchen, cooking, feeding P, sipping wine.  You know.

Delish salmon with corn.  I had another small serving of fish too.  So so good.  And then nectarine cobbler for dessert that my sis and I made for my mom (her request).

I guess I forgot to take a photo of that but DANG was it good.  We made it dairy and gluten free (oat based crust, Earth Balance for butter) but the freshly picked nectarines (white and yellow) were the stars of the show.  Mmmm…

The next day was Friday but it felt like the weekend despite Kyle being away at work because I was with my mom.  Breakfast was savory (a non smoothie!) with eggs, avo, and goat cheddar.  Shockingly, it held me over all the way through P’s nap, which was good since I was taking my mom out for a birthday lunch.

We went to Tender Greens in WC and I got the albacore on the tender greens salad.  My mom got the harvest salad.

I brought food for the dude, which he loved, despite his ridiculous scowl in this pic.  He was a little dream boat, eating and taking in the scenery the whole time.  V slept through the whole affair as well.

I had a few dark chocolate eggs (only chocolate I could find in their house – pathetic!) and some GF KIND granola as an afternoon snack.

Then I met up to go shopping with my sis which lasted all of 20 minutes with the kiddos.  We were looking for outfits for the next day, but it was fine since there wasn’t anything worth trying on anyway.

Dinner was BBQ meats, broccoli and cauliflower, and salad (spinach, strawberries, walnuts, goat cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette).

My dad grilled chicken and steak and my mom took care of the rest.  I felt pointless in the kitchen but was encouraged to do nothing (beyond take care of my kiddos), which was a nice break.

No steak for me, but the chicken was perfection.  So was the Roscato.  Happy wine face.

Weekend!!!!

Breakfast with a side of sleeping baby monitor.

Hi there delicious spinach egg, goat cheese, avocado mess.

My dad was pulling made to order decaf espressos too so it was kinda awesome.  Plus I got a decent run in.  Way good start to Saturday.

Lunch was a salad with way more chips than shown (gotta finish all those yummy salty crumbs on a salad right?).

Deli turkey, spinach, grapes, avocado, and Luke’s organic chia chips (first time trying and it’s love at first nom).

Salad dreams are made of this.

The caterers arrived in the early afternoon and that’s when we started getting fancy pants.

Apps included chicken salad on Hawaiian bread and mini Caprese salads in cups.

The baby forks are adorable.

I was super preoccupied during the appetizers, so I missed the others that were passed around and only had half a sandwich between taking photos, mom-ing, and socializing.

Once we put P down for bed, we had more time to be adults.  And then dinner was served.

Pulled pork for him.

Halibut for me.  In hindsight, I feel bad about my portion (which isn’t as big as it looks – those were small cuts that maybe totaled the size of my iPhone) because they RAN OUT OF FOOD!  Like not even close.  I saw multiple people take servings of each protein (fish and pork or fish and lasagna) so I know I wasn’t alone in how much I served myself.  And I also know that the people at the party (like myself) aren’t chowing down excessively, nor are they wasting food.

So while the food was delicious enough for me to want to give a shout out to the catering company, I won’t because they got the amount of food WAY WAY wrong.  I can imagine it’s hard to predict these things, but when supplying food for a set head count (which was accurate) you should probably give yourself a little leeway so you don’t end up with people having empty plates.

I’d say 1/3 of the party didn’t get salad, and the last 10-15 people to serve themselves didn’t have a selection of proteins at all (and, in fact, had basically empty plates).  My sister went and reheated leftover salmon from the night before to eat herself!  Yikes.  🙁

The cupcakes were also done-zo by the time I arrived back from a nursing session.

Luckily my dad got cake too.

But honestly, the food wasn’t even a big deal because the party was so much fun and everyone was having a blast hanging out and chatting.  The weather was gorgeous and there were cute kids to play with, what else do you need?

Happy birthday mom!!!  I can think of nobody better to turn into.

I stayed up way too late that night, but still pulled it together for a run the next morning.  It may have something to do with the fact that my big boy slept in til 8:30!!!!  What the what!?!?!  Thank youuuuuu Patty-cakes!

Pretty much had the same breakfast again, minus the goat cheese.

And a similar lunch (salmon instead of turkey and chips on the side).

We were back in Davis for dinner, which I pulled together quickly without much fuss.

I re-made this winter vegetable salad because it called for things we had on hand and is both delicious and healthy.

I paired it with leftover sausage and rice.  Simple as that.

And then got my game face on for the week ahead.