19.6.16

Father's Day


I know a lot of parents work their buns off between jobs and kiddos and my amazing husband is one of them!  Corey is a great example of what a tuned-in parent should be, but I know there are still a lot of people who feel that dads are secondary parents and it bugs me every time!  I constantly hear comments on parenting forums about dads not doing things as well as moms and it upsets me because my experience has been the opposite!  This Father's Day, I want to celebrate Corey and all the dads who are equal parenting partners and great role-models.

For those of you who don't know why Corey is such an incredible dad, I'll give you some of my top reasons.  Sometimes, he doesn't hear this enough from me because we're sort of trapped in the vortex of day-to-day life with a toddler but these things need to be said:
  • He does it all: diapers, bottles, baths... you name it, and Corey does it... usually better than me!  
  • He took full parental leave!  That's right- Corey took 13 months off (raising some eyebrows in his male-dominated field) from his own career in order to support my career and bond with Rudy.
  • He LOVES our daughter but he also respects her!  To him, she is not his "little princess"; she is his tornado, his queen and his BOSS!
  • He chases Rudy around the house pretending to be a T-Rex!
  • He plays rough with her!  That includes wrestling and tossing her (so high) in the air.  He encourages her to take risks and understands that a few bumps and bruises are part of the path to physical confidence.
  • He takes baths with her and doesn't get embarrassed or shy away from using correct names for body parts.  Bonus points for all the times when I'm working late and he texts me the most adorable bath selfies of the two of them!
  • He is a great role-model for how she should expect to be treated by her future partners and he promises not to try to intimidate her future dates, but to trust and respect her own choices.
  • Sometimes, he and Rudy wear onesies around the house and when I ask why, he says "We decided it was a pajama day!"
  • He gives THE BEST shoulder rides and he hops around like a crazy person (even in public) while Rudy squeals in delight.
  • He files her nails (so gently) and can't wait until they can get manis and pedis (no polish for him... probably) together!
  • Rudy loves him so much that as she's falling asleep, I often hear her softly mumbling "dada" to herself.

Cheers to all the great dads in the world!

18.6.16

Dinner Solution


Earlier this year, it became clear that busy schedules and an active toddler don't allow us to plan our meals as well as we'd like.  We ended up trying a couple of meal prep services and they were fine but we weren't in love and we found ourselves struggling to consume all the meals before the next delivery.

As many of you know, during my busiest markets (spring and fall) I am hardly ever home for dinner and it makes it tough to stay motivated to eat well and cook at home.  This year though, we had a really good reason to force ourselves to cook great meals: Rudy!  We kept thinking that this is the time when she's learning to try different foods and developing her palate so we really want her to experience different foods and spices from the start!

We discovered Chef's Plate after some research and have been boring our friends at parties by talking about how great it is for a couple of months now.  Each week, we choose from six meal options, which include prep time (all under 35 minutes) and difficulty level.  Then, once a week, we have an insulated box of ingredients (often portioned) and recipe cards dropped at our door.


While we still need to invest the time in preparing the meals, we look forward to our delivery each week.  We save all the recipe cards and often go back to make our favourites over and over.  So far, those favourites are often the fish dishes (consistently amazing) and the butter chicken tacos.

On nights when I'm working, Corey often has a mouth-watering dinner ready when I get home and on nights when I'm around, we get to cook together and drink wine while we talk about our days.  It's really fun and sort of reminds me of when we were dating and first started cooking together.


I didn't have the highest expectations when we started our subscription but the recipes are actually really amazing.  I was surprised to find that they actually tasted good.  Like, really and truly good and not just I-made-this-so-I'm-going-to-choke-it-down-and-pretend-it's-good good.

We tend to be lazy cooks and I'm so glad that we've subscribed because it's the kick in the pants we need to prepare real food for Rudy and ourselves.  Honestly, before we started making Chef's Plate meals, there were a lot (too many to count) of nights when we just threw some something from each food group on a plate and told Rudy to have at it.  Now, that only happens once a week, max!  ;)

Anyway, when I find a really great service, I have to shout it from the rooftops and I can't praise Chef's Plate highly enough!  If you like to cook but don't really know how to make more than a handful of dishes, this will up your cooking game BIG TIME!  As silly as it sounds, (and it DOES sound silly) we both feel so much more accomplished now that we have joined the ranks of people who make their own gnocchi from scratch.  Makes us feel fancy.


How do you handle meal prep with kids?  Have you tried Chef's Plate yet?  If you're interested in trying it, use code #3platesFromFreshCoatOfPaint - You will get 3 free meals with your subscription and I think we also get 2.  Win-Win!  Let me know what you think?

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