Anything Goes Thursday: The elusive Holy Grail double stroller still eludes me

I have two young children. Two children who are small and need to be in a stroller and will be in a stroller for awhile. I have different needs than mothers of twins. I need and want a lot of features.

In my mind, I know what my perfect stroller would include:

• Light weight
• Easy, no fail, one step opening and closing
• Side-by-side seating
• Universal car seat attachment
• Easy mobility so you don't have to be perfectly lined up to get through a door
• Snack trays
• 5-point harness
• Parent organization
• HUGE easy-access under basket that can handle the weight of a 2-baby diaper bag plus extras
• Fits easy in a car leaving space for groceries and whatever else I need back there
• Cup holders that fit water bottles as well as coffee cups
• Expandable handles for tall fathers
• Sun shades that cover from head to toe of my little fair angels 

We walked a lot this August to get out of the house.

However, I have yet to find all those things in our price range. Or anything that just comes as is. Is it just me or are all the extra attachments becoming a joke in stroller world? So what do we have you wonder? We have a garage-sale find that we find suitable for our needs, but still misses the mark. We have a Peg Perego Aria 50/50. An oldy for sure.

I love how light weight it is. I can easily get it in and out of our car using one hand. You never know when you might be holding a child while doing it. We actually store ours in the car for two reasons: We don't have a better place and I use it a lot. It fits pretty nicely in the back of our Passat Wagon. I like the dual snack trays, but hate that there isn't a parent organization system or that the under basket can't carry anything of weight at all. It works great in our city living of side walks and malls, but by no means is it meant for off-roading. 

It is a pain in the butt to get going and maneuver in small spaces. Great on walks. If you aren't exactly lined-up to go through a door perfectly, a wheel catches and getting through the door without thinking a million curse words is impossible. I am pretty sure that it will not cut it in the snow. Unfortunately, there hasn't been any this year to test it out.

It technically is not car seat adaptable, but our Graco seat does fit snuggly in it that for sidewalk, easy walks, it works. The seats do recline however so it does work for a newborn.

It is so simple to open and close. I do need two hands to open, but it is so easy and simple. 

The sunshades are a joke. Not sure what they were thinking there. 

When I was pregnant I got a lot of suggestions and recommendations, and I searched and searched. I think I became too overwhelmed that when I saw the stroller at a neighbor's whose children are 17-months apart, we settled with it. 

I am sure at some point I will become a stroller hoarder with one for every situation because the perfect double stroller does not exist.

Or does it? Have you found it? Please share. Tell me what is the best.

Easy make ahead dinners

Because dinner time is a little crazy around here with usually two kids awake at the same time and trying to cook, I have been looking for good recipes that can be either done quickly with little preparation or meals that I can prep early and just cook later. I thought I would share a few that we have loved from my allrecipes.com phone app.

• Chicken Zucchini Casserole

allrecipes.com

This recipe I doubled and made for our Sunday family dinner with Bob's family, which usually means about 10 to 12 adults. Everyone loved it. I read through the reviews and left the carrots out and only used half of the butter and mixed with water for the other half. We served it with a green bean and carrots side dish and my sister-in-laws corn bread. I hear my father-in-law went for thirds. I prepared it beforehand and just threw it in the oven an hour before we were going to eat.

• Fragrant Lemon Chicken

allrecipes.com

This recipe was so unbelievably easy, but once again, I read through the reviews and followed some of the suggestions like using chicken broth instead of water in the crock pot and I also cooked it for 45 minutes in the oven to brown up the skin. If you don't use the oven, the skin looks raw. It is probably fine to eat, but looks pretty gross. I started cooking this during Calan's first nap and then put it in the oven during his second nap. I reheated it for dinner. The leftovers were great for chicken sandwiches.

• The Best Meatloaf

allrecipes.com

This one, literally, Bob looks at me and said this is the "best meatloaf" he had ever had and he, to be honest, doesn't really like meatloaf. Using steak sauce really made a big difference. I put this together during Calan's second nap and just popped it in the oven before dinner. When I make it again, I probably will saute the green peppers and onions. They were a little too crisp when it was done cooking. 

I'm making pan-fried pork chops, carrots, and broccoli tonight for dinner. What are you making?

Duh, Jodie. You have to plan your meals

Our dinner tonight. I cooked the bacon this weekend
and the chicken yesterday with our taco chili.
I chopped veggies and cooked the eggs today during
nap time. So, all I had to do was cook the corn
before dinner. It was delicious and stress free thanks
to planning ahead. 

I remember when Bob and I were going through our pre-marriage counseling and we were discussing how hopefully one day I would be able to stay at home with our children. Part of that discussion was about expectations if I was a stay-at-home mom. I remember telling Bob not to be surprised if there were days that I would call him and ask him to grab a pizza on his way home because my day was crazy. While Bob did not care about this, he just was a little surprised because he kind of expected that dinner would be made because that is what his mom did (thanks mother-in-law). However, I am proud to say even with all the craziness, dinner has been made more times than not. 

I am sure other mothers know and have already figured out that planning meals is a lifesaver, but somehow, it took me having a second child to figure this one out. Now that my time is limited and grocery shopping has to be an in-and-out kind of experience, I have really had an AHA moment that making a weekly meal plan is the only way to get good meals on the table. 

I don't even have to think about what to have for breakfast, lunch, or dinner because I already know what we have and what is planned. It makes getting everything together 100% easier. The meal planning isn't anything grand. I just use the iPhone notes app to just make quick notes of what we should be eating each day that week. I don't spend too much time on details of the meals. I just jot down the basics. It takes me about 10 to 20 minutes to set up our meals and grocery lists, but that 10 to 20 minutes saves me at least an hour of standing in my kitchen debating what to have at each meal or having frozen meat or missing ingredients or any other obstacle that stops dinner from getting to the table. I already know what we are having days before we have it. Like I said, I know that others have already figured this out, but for some reason, I was a little slow. 

Dinner is my craziest time of day. By planning ahead, I can also do things through out my day instead of trying to do everything at dinner time. I can chop veggies early, marinate meat, or cook what I can during their naps instead of doing it while they are up and needing my attention. 

I organize my grocery list by the aisles
of grocery store. It saves me tons of time.

Two iPhone apps have really helped me. I use Cozi family calendar to set up my grocery list. It is completely flexible and can be customized for your needs. I have it organized based on my grocery store aisles, so I can just go through the store once and not need to back track. The next app is the one for the website All Recipes. I combine some new meals with family favorites to get a great variety. On my phone, I have the Cozi calendar right next to my All Recipe app, so it is so easy to flip back and forth when I am setting up my grocery lists. 

So, I am sharing a mother secret. Go forth and enjoy dinner time again. 

I couldn't live without ...

Every baby is different and every mom learns the quick tricks to make her baby happy. And every mother will give you advice on what worked for their baby, but the truth is every mother has to do a lot of trial and error to see what works and what does not.

While Calan is a pretty easy baby to please, he does let you know things that work and things that don't. For example while some babies love their swings, Calan hated it with a passion, but he loved and could not live without his bouncy chair. He actually slept in his bouncy chair for the first month next to my bed. As his parents, we swore by that thing. We took it everywhere with us. It was our savior in so many ways. It was kind of a sad day when it was put away in our basement because he had out grown it.

Another toy that has now been put away was his play mat. He would lay on that thing forever if I had let him. It was fun as his mother to watch him grow with it; from just staring at the toys, to kicking and batting the toys, to reaching for the toys, to rolling and moving around to each toy. I used the mat a lot to get things done around the house. I knew he would be content and happy while I did the dishes or made the bed. It was great.

We also love our video monitor. It is the only way we would be able to watch our son sleep. While he is becoming a heavier sleeper, he still sleeps pretty lightly. Sometimes all it takes is the turn of his door knob and his head is up waiting to see what is going on. Our house is not large, so I can basically hear him no matter where I am at, but the monitor let's me visually check on him whenever I want without disturbing him.

Calan has a favorite blanket. It is just a simple green and white knit blanket that stays in his crib, but he loves it. I know that giving your baby a blanket in his crib is a no, no, but he has become pretty attached. We lay him down and he reaches his arms up till we place his blanket down on him. He then grabs the blanket and pulls it tight to his chin. It is pretty adorable. Some babies sleep with a pacifier or suck their thumb, ours doesn't do either. He loves his blanket instead.

Calan loves books, but even in his selection of books there are a few that top the rest. He loves "I'll See You in the Morning," "Where is Babies Belly Button," "The Going to Bed Book," and "Pat the Bunny." I seriously have these books memorized. Basically before he goes to sleep at each nap and bedtime I read him at least two books if not more. I will try to read other books, and he is good for a little bit, but then starts reaching for his side table where the regulars are stacked. When I read to Calan, it is usually my only time of day where he is a little bit snuggly toward me. He just lays back and relaxes. I could not live without books.

I think like a lot of mothers whose babies are on the go, I can't live without his pack 'n play. In preparation for our baby girl, Calan spends at least a half hour in this pack 'n play away from me so he can't see me. He plays independently while I get some things done. The parenting classes that we attend through Growing Kids God's Way (known also has the Babywise book series) really suggest independent play for development. For me, I see it as away for Calan to spend some time each day not seeing me, so when we have a new little one, it won't be a shock to him when I have to step away from him. I need to work in nursing times somehow. We also take our pack 'n play to most family gatherings. Since we usually get together at night, the pack 'n play allows us to keep Calan's bedtime at 7 p.m. and still enjoy ourselves. He goes to bed very well in his pack 'n play. Most of our family is amazed that all we do is lay him down and he is quiet and goes to sleep. We have just been doing that on basically a weekly basis with family dinners that he is just so use to his pack 'n play at this point.

I would say those are my few favorite things. There are of course others and as he is getting older new toys are becoming favorites, but these items, to me, gave me sanity during some of the rough times.

It is going to be interesting to see what tricks that were sure fire baby pleasers for Calan that won't even come close to working for our baby girl. I am sure that I will have a whole new list of items for her. I can't wait to see her personality.

What were some of your mommy tricks to make it through the cranky times?