As always, Thursdays are for Thinking out Loud! 🙂

–I mostly eat the same 3-4 dinners on repeat every week. Little details change (like today this burger has grilled onions and an over-easy egg on it), but I’m a super boring cook. I actually like the repetition most days, because it really makes my life a lot easier and it’s easier to re-use leftovers. I’m not sure my husband shares my feelings though — he’s a total foodie so I think he gets bored with my cooking. When the kids are a little older and I have more free time during the day I’m going to have to try to take a few cooking classes. I’m not a bad cook but I’m more of a recipe follower than a natural chef, so I think my cooking would be way less monotonous for him if I really knew what I was doing in the kitchen.

–I really hate it when my kids are sick. The poor boys have been really miserable the last few days, and it makes it so much worse that they’re not allowed to cuddle with Kinsey. The boys and I are going to see my family for Thanksgiving because the hubby can’t get off work and it’s not our year with Kins, so they know it’s going to be almost two weeks before they see her again. All they want to do is hug and kiss her, but she just got over a cold so I’m making sure they’re not breathing on each other. I’m just hoping they’re good before we leave, because a plane ride with two sick toddlers would be a complete nightmare.

–On that note, a plane ride with two healthy toddlers sounds pretty intimidating too. I’m sure it’ll be fine, but there’s that side of me that’s already imagined every possible way they could freak out during the flight. Is that a mom thing? I could just be a little crazy lol, but at least imagining everything that could go wrong makes me feel like I’m packing everything they could possibly need in the air.

–It also feels super weird to be going anywhere without Kinsey or the hubby. I especially hate when Kinsey is excluded from something we do, because I never want her to feel like she’s less a part of our family than the boys. It makes me really sad to think it could be another year until she sees my family again, but we’re trying to make the best of it. Our last day with her before the trip is tomorrow so we’re going to make it extra special and we found an app we can use to pretty much constantly send her videos while she’s at her mom’s house, so hopefully she’ll feel really included. Blended families can be challenging around the holidays, but as long as Kinsey feels loved and included I’ll call it a success.

–Is it weird that I totally ordered this for Micah? When he’s tired he has a terrible habit of running away from me (he thinks it’s HILARIOUS) and I’m super scared of him running off in the airport and getting lost. Of course, the plan is for him to be in the stroller and Jonah to be in the Ergo, but he’s so active I know he’ll eventually start going stir crazy. I figure this should give him the ability to run around without being able to get away from me, but I also feel super weird about putting my kid on a leash. Has anyone actually used one of these?

–Switching gears a bit, I’m feel like I’m finally getting in the groove with my eating habits. I haven’t been as perfect with my meals as my Instagram account would suggest, and it’s only been the last 2 weeks or so that I’ve really been gluten-free (I’ve averaged around 75/25 before that, so not awful but not great either). It’s totally crazy to me how one piece of toast or a few bites of the kids’ pasta in an otherwise super healthy (read: strict paleo) day can totally kill me. I’ve also rediscovered my intolerance for dairy in medium to large quantities, soy, sugar, and popcorn. I know its ridiculous, but not being able to randomly snack on popcorn makes me so sad! I tried it a few days ago though, and two small handfuls was enough to park me on the couch for an hour with awful stomach cramps. It makes me want to cry a little that I can’t have stuffing on Thanksgiving — its my favorite holiday food — but I’ve really committed to not eating stuff that’ll make me sick over the holidays. Maybe I’ll take over the kitchen and makes some paleo desserts or something! 🙂

–I really don’t have much else on my mind. I’m super excited to see my family (it’s been somewhere between 2 and 6 years since I’ve seen everyone depending on which sibling) so most of my thoughts are on getting the kids well for next week, and then getting them there and back without incident.

Happy Thursday!