Meal Planning for a Month and Ian's Stats

Monday's doctor's appointment was a huge success! Our boy is growing beautifully! He weighed 16 pounds (WOW!!!! I knew the tingle in my shoulder after holding Ian was trying to tell me that he was getting heavy) which put him in the 75 per centile, 25 1/2 inches long (also in the 75 per centile), and his head measured 16 1/2 inches around (50 per centile).

I was given the option to begin cereal if I wanted to, but our doctor felt that Ian is doing so well on breastmilk alone that she said I could wait until he is 6 months to begin "real" food. Brian and I are going to opt to wait. I'm still fine waking once at night for a feeding. Soon these days will be gone and I will miss them dearly.

Unfortunately, Little Man has his first cold, and believe it or not, he did not catch it from Addie. Don't worry, I won't jump up on my soap box about people not keeping their sick children away from other children. I promise. I won't. Really.

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After the holiday season, I had to bring myelf back into a meal order. Our weekly meal plan was great, but I like being able to work my way forward in larger ways. I was already thinking about workng out a 4 week plan, when I came across 3 separate mentions in three separate places about the monthly meal plan. I decided that I should go for it.

The following is our meal plan for the next 4 weeks. The good thing about a plan is the ability to change it around when needed. For example, although I had scheduled chili and rice for the 2nd Sunday in my plan, Brian requested it on the first Sunday. All I had to do was swap the two meals.

Rice and beans with Shake and Bake Chicken	One dish chicken and rice bake	Chicken and stuffing bake	Mac & Cheese & nuggets	Leftovers	Creamy chicken and mushroom pot pie (crock pot)	Leftovers
Chili Over Rice	Mexican Meatball Soup	Pasta and sauce	Mac and cheese chowder	Leftovers	Baked Ziti	Leftovers
Shepherd’s Pie (double the recipe for freezing)	Chicken soup	Rice and beans with pork chops	Toddler pasta	Leftovers	Broccoli casserole with baked chicken	Leftovers
Baked potatoes with taco toppings	Lentil Soup	Valentine’s Day	Mac & cheese & nuggets	Leftovers	Shepherd’s Pie	Leftovers

Because everything we do is perfected by trial and error, I was able to see areas where I can change things around when I plan for the next four weeks. For example, I definitely plan on incorporating a weekly soup night, a weekly casserole night, and a weekly crockpot recipe. I also intend to double a few more of my recipes to be frozen and used for the following month.

I've attached links to previously blogged recipes. Bon appetite!