chefryediydaddy-blog

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Finding sleep, sanity, fuel and time (with a newborn)!

Happy Friday everyone!  Well, one month (plus some change) into parenthood, Lesley and I are realizing the importance of taking time to do little things for ourselves to help maintain our sanity 🤪 and to recharge our ever-draining battery!  Finding the time is something completely different.  Using time-saving tricks and simplifying things as much as possible allows us to do more of what really matters: sleeping, preserving sanity and to spending time with our little family 👫👶🏼.  As most of you know, raising a tiny human is an all-consuming vortex of feeding, diaper changes and cleaning up bodily fluids 🤢, so if Les and I can steal a moment for ourselves, WE DO!  As new parents, we’ve learned that simple pleasures such as showering (or finding time to brush your teeth) are no longer guaranteed, so on crazy-hectic days with Olive, we reach for our stock of dry-shampoo and steal some of Olive’s baby wipes to freshen up and call it good!  The trade off is SOOOO worth it though (and by the way, although we may be looking a bit grungy, Olive is always squeaky clean, either because of us bathing her or because everything messy seems to just end up on me!)  Even though I may be totally (and blissfully) sleep deprived, (and may possibly have put on mismatched shoes), I aim my zombie-self in the direction of the kitchen with one goal in mind:  throwing together an easy and nutritious breakfast to give Lesley and I a good foot-hold on the day.  I know we are ALL super busy, but having simple recipes on hand will totally save the day!  And don’t be afraid of taking so-called “short cuts”...and don’t feel guilty that you did! Buying “instant oatmeal” or a bag of already prepped broccoli can mean the difference between 20 more minutes spent prepping in the kitchen or 20 more awesome minutes with your loved ones💞.  Give this killer oatmeal a try to kick-start your day:

Peanut Butter, Chia Seed Oatmeal:

2.5 cups water brought to a boil

1-1.5 cups raw oats 

1 tsp maldon salt/sea salt or kosher salt

1/4 cup peanut butter

2 Tbsp chai seeds

1/4 cup fresh berries

1 fresh banana chopped

Use regular oatmeal procedure and fold in fresh ingredients at the end...and enjoy!

These kinds of recipes are fuel for our day (otherwise I’m pretty sure we’d be living on coffee, almonds and maybe some dog kibble if Pumpkin and Teddy were willing to share 🐶🐶).  Cheers, my friends!

xoxo Ryan

P.S.  Look for next Friday’s blog about me finally hitting the road again after six awesome weeks of being home with Les and Olive.  I headed out for a 48 hour, whirl-wind of work and shows...and I even managed to get a bit of that illusive thing they call SLEEP!

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Olive is 1 month old!

One month!  It’s been one whole month since our little Olive came into the world and whipped our life into a beautiful, amazing, (and sometimes sleepless) storm.  I went from not knowing the front of a diaper from the back, to being a diaper changing NINJA.  A month ago I never had to worry about spit-up or poop ending up on my shirt (and how to get it out).  I’m convinced that births are a sort of crazy David Copperfield meets Muppets mash-up when the doc lifts a baby up to show you what you made.  My amazing wife Lesley and I have learned that normal tasks can be accomplished in a hundredth of the time when a ticking-time-bomb baby is nearby.  I’m used to working under time pressure, especially when busting through the steps of a recipe with Hoda and Kathy Lee or with Rachel on her show, but MAN, I can now create something from practically NOTHING in my kitchen in NO time!  And Olive...let me gush about this little burrito baby for a minute.  She’s kinda the best and seriously cute.  Her expressions SLAY me.  Those sleep-smiles (and gas grins) melt me into a lump of un-risen dough!  And one month has done a LOT for her ability to support her own noggin.  Thank GOD!  I have finally dropped the idea of fashioning an infant neck brace for her just to keep her head from rolling off!  So, this post is to wish Miss Olive a very happy 1 month of life (and maybe a bit of tooting of our own horns for keeping her alive, healthy and happy so far)! And Lesley, you amaze me every day!  You are my rock and Olive’s EVERYTHING.  Thank you for being my partner in this sometimes bat-sh%# crazy adventure!  Thank you to all of you for your well wishes and love.

xoxo Ryan

Olive- 1 month “No photos please!”

Check back for Friday’s blog! 

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The Scott family "dance party"💃🕺 just had the volume turned WAY up with the addition of a tiny new dance partner...so tune in. But WARNING: no ear plugs provided.

Check in next week for an inaugural DOUBLE post!