This is Halloween!

Halloween is so much more stressful now that I’m a grown up with a grown up job (and a grown up commute to go with)!  I’ve always loved Halloween.  Maybe it’s the theatre person in me, but I just loved putting on a fun costume and going around trick or treating when I was a kid.  When Aaron and I bought our house a couple years ago, I was so excited at the idea of having trick or treaters come to the house and handing out candy to them!  Up to that point in my adult life, I had lived in apartments that saw little to no trick or treaters.  But it’s hard to get home in time to actually hand out candy!  When I did the young adult Halloween thing throughout my twenties – going to West Hollywood and walking amongst the throngs of people, going to parties where half of the girls (including myself) copied Mean Girls and wore lingerie and mouse ears (“I’m a mouse, duh!”) – it was fine because those parties would last all night.  It didn’t matter how late we got off work because we knew the party would still be going when we got there. 

This year, I was definitely ready to embrace my role as new mom, but nervous about getting home in time.  Let me start by saying, I just love babies in costumes.  I think one of the cutest images ever is that of a baby dressed up in some cuddly costume.  One of the bonuses to having had so many friends have kids this year was the influx of costumed babies in my facebook feed.   I was so excited at the idea of putting Guinevere in her little giraffe costume and taking her to our neighbors for “trick or treating.”  I use quotation marks bc I definitely did not want to collect any candy from our neighbors – really just wanted to show off my cute baby.

Unfortunately, traffic did not want to cooperate.  This is where the extra stressful part of Halloween rears its ugly head.  I’m not sure what time trick or treating starts, but I seem to remember from my childhood that it begins somewhere around twilight and then continues until 8 or 9pm.  I needed to leave work in time to pick up Guinevere from daycare and be home in time for trick or treaters.  I checked traffic online and it looked horrendous, so I left work half an hour early.  An hour and a half later (i.e. the time I was supposed to be picking G up from daycare) I was not even on the freeway!  LA traffic is usually bad, but this was ridiculous!  I could have walked to the freeway faster.  All I could think about was my poor baby and how much I just wanted to be home with her in her costume.  I finally picked her up at daycare two hours after leaving work.  Then, on the way home from daycare, one of the major intersections that I usually cross was closed, so we had to make a rather large detour just to get home.  In all, it took me two and a half hours to get home!  I pulled up to our house in time to see a wave of trick or treaters bypass my house because we had no decorations up.

Once home, I put out the large pumpkin that we purchased at the pumpkin patch over the weekend.  Unfortunately, I hadn’t had time to carve the pumpkin , so I just set it out whole.  Maybe I’ll make pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread or something with it since it’s not all gross from being used as a jack o lantern.  I had been meaning to carve the pumpkin yesterday or Monday evening, but Aaron has been working late for the past couple days, and by the time I put Guinevere to bed each night, I was so exhausted, I just went to bed too.  Anyway, I put Guinevere in her little costume and then put the bowl of candy out on the porch while I took her over to the neighbors.  After 15 minutes of the neighbors “ooh”ing and “aah”ing over her, I was pleasantly surprised that the bowl was still relatively full when we returned.

In all, it was a fun, if quiet and short Halloween.  I think the moral of the story is that next year I will take a vacation day or a half-day on Halloween.  I don’t want to be rushing home like that ever again!

Me and my baby!

G's giraffe costume

My cute little giraffe!

Guinevere's First Fever

I’ve been meaning to write a post about moving Guinevere to her own room and sleeping in her own crib (which has been fantastic – I think we all have gotten more sleep since we moved her).  I had even set aside some time tonight to do it, but then I got home from work to discover Guinevere had her first ever fever. :(

Aaron and I got home at the same time tonight.  I changed G while Aaron changed the cat litter – haha both of were changing things for beings that depend on us!  I noticed G’s head felt really warm.  Then I noticed she was slightly congested.  She’s had stuffy nose issues all summer – I blame the heat and having to run ac and fans constantly.  But this was more than just her usual stuffy nose.  It seems like it’s further back in her nasal passages.  She can still breathe fine, and she’s not wheezing or anything – just a little congestion.  It was really how warm she felt that concerned me.

I remembered that someone gave us one of those little kits that has a bunch of baby first aid/grooming supplies in it.  I pulled out the tiny thermometer and read the instructions, hoping they would have instructions for non-rectal use (you can’t take a baby’s temp orally, so rectal is one way to do it, though I would really prefer not to).  Fortunately, this one had instructions for use in the armpit.  I took her temp: 100.5. 

I admit it, I freaked out a little bit.  For some perspective, my body tends to run really cold.  My average temp is 97.3.  It takes a LOT for me to get anything above 98. Aaron called the nurse hotline to see if we needed to take G into the doctor.  Neither of us had any idea how high a baby’s temp needed to be for immediate attention.  After a barrage of questions from the nurse (all the while Ginny was smiling and babbling like nothing was wrong), we were told to give her some baby Tylenol and call the doctor in the morning for an appointment and to call the nurses back tonight if her temp gets above 101.5.  About 20 minutes later, right before giving her the baby Tylenol, I took her temp again (following the nurse’s thorough instructions): 101.8.  Commence new mommy freak out part 2.

We called the nurse hotline back.  After the same barrage of questions, they came to the same conclusion: call back in the morning for an appointment.  She’s now sleeping soundly in her crib. I didn’t expect to be a worrywart type mom, but I feel very protective of my sick baby.  Maybe it’s because it’s the first time she’s ever been sick?  I don’t think I will always be so clingy to my baby when she’s ill.  But I think I’m entitled to a little clinginess for her first fever.  Right?  I think I might sleep in the glider in her room for at least part of the night.  I just don’t want her being by herself. 

I am so glad that we decided to buy a video monitor now (it just arrived yesterday – last night was our first night using it).  The monitor that we had was a hand me down from a friend, was audio only, and sucked the life out of batteries (we had to replace them literally every other night).  Now with the video monitor, I can sit here typing this, while watching her sleep (knowing she’s breathing and ok).  That peace of mind is worth every penny!

G in the monitor

 

Back to Reality . . .

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I wrote the first part of this post a week ago Sunday – the night before my first day back to work.  I didn’t end up posting it because Guinevere decided to be super fussy (maybe she knew I was going back to work?) and so I couldn’t proofread/select pictures to go with it.  The second part I wrote today (had initially intended to post after my first day back, as those of you who have kids probably understand, I was super exhausted and wanted to spend most of my awake weeknight time with my baby.)

Guinevere’s First Day(s) of Daycare

We have now made it through Guinevere’s first two days of daycare.  I think the first day was harder on Aaron than it was on me, but by the second day, I just kept thinking, “I miss my baby!”  The house felt too quiet that second day.  I think it’s because the first day just felt like a nice break.  I could actually accomplish things at home that are difficult to do with a baby around . . . though I didn’t get nearly as much done as I’d wanted. 

After we dropped Guinevere off at daycare on the first day, Aaron and I went out to breakfast, just because we could.  It was kind of nice to sit and eat an entire meal without having to worry about a fussy baby.  I will admit, I felt no remorse about having her in daycare that day (I hope that doesn’t make me sound like an uncaring mom).  It was just nice to have a break. 

I  went home and tried on almost my entire wardrobe to see what fits me now and what doesn’t.  I am pleased to announce that almost all of my jeans now fit!  However, most of my slacks do not, and probably won’t ever.  (They are from when I was dancing several hours a day, multiple days a week and was “ballerina size.”)  So I used it as an opportunity to go buy some new clothes.  I didn’t really want to start out my new life as a working mom with the same old tired wardrobe anyway.  That was the other nice thing about having Guinevere in daycare – I could go to the mall and try on several articles of clothing without trying to figure out how to get a stroller in the dressing room with me!

As refreshing as it was to not have the baby around during the day, it was so exciting when I picked her up!  I swear she felt like she gained a pound or two in just one day!  Of course, that could also be because she was sound asleep when I went to pick her up.  The daycare lady said she did really well – she even did tummy time! I was most impressed that she came home in the same outfit we dropped her off in – usually she has several changes throughout the day because she is my little Mount Vesuvius (i.e. she spits up A LOT).  When we got home that night, Guinevere was super talkative and smiley . . . and then she passed out for the night about an hour earlier than normal.

The second day, Aaron and I dropped her off and then had breakfast at home together.  Maybe it’s because we ate breakfast at home, maybe it’s because I always love spending time with Ginny in the mornings when she’s usually in a good mood, maybe it’s that it felt more real, more permanent on day 2 . . . I don’t know what it was, all I know is that I definitely missed her more the second day.  I think I’m really glad we started her on a Thursday so that I could miss her Friday, but know that I’d get to spend all day Saturday with her again.  I ended up occupying myself pretty well by running around doing errands and making sure I was ready to go back to work myself.

I am really glad that we decided to start her in daycare before I go back to work, though.  I’m more familiar with what our morning routine will need to be – though it was nice to be able to be more relaxed about it than I will be tomorrow morning.  I’ve already laid out my clothes for the morning.  My pump and bottles are sitting by the front door all ready to go.  I’m going to fix myself a lunch before I go to bed.  Hopefully I don’t forget anything and tomorrow goes smoothly.  

Guinevere being dropped off on her first day.

First week of Work

I had a hard time sleeping the night before my first day back to work.  I woke up every hour from 1am until I finally got up at 5am.  During the brief moments that I did sleep, I had dreams about sleeping through my alarm and waking up at 10am!  When I finally did get up, I was able to feed Guinevere, get in the shower, and get completely ready in record time.  I think it helps that I set everything out the night before.

For my first day back, Aaron and I arranged it so that I would drop Guinevere off at daycare and he would pick her up.  That way, just in case I got stuck at work with all I had to catch up on, I wouldn’t be dashing out the door and stressing about being late to pick her up.  It’s really nice that Aaron’s schedule (right now) is such that we can alternate who picks her up and drops her off.

I will admit, dropping my baby off at daycare and going off to work for the first time was more emotional than I thought it would be.  I cried a little in the car as I drove away.  I am really glad that we started her in daycare a couple days before I went back to work.  When I told the daycare lady that it was my first day back to work, she said, “Ok, we’ll be sure to send you a picture during the day today.”  And she did!  It made my heart melt, and definitely made my first day back much better.  

This face could make anybody's day better.

Apparently the traffic Gods decided to fool me my first day back with fantastic traffic.  I dropped Guinevere off at the daycare at 7:15 and was at work by 8am.  Pre-baby, I would leave the house at 8am and it would take at least an hour to get to work.  I thought maybe 7am was better than 8am for some reason . . . oooh no!  Traffic was horrendous the rest of the week!  On Wednesday, it was my turn to pick up Guinevere and it took me an hour and a half to get there!  I am so glad we didn’t choose a daycare that charges by the minute to parents who are late.  There are some facilities we looked at where an extra half hour would have cost me $300!

Back to Monday.  I got in an hour earlier than anyone else and then realized I didn’t have access to my computer yet because it was still set up for the temp.  So I decided to use the time to do my first pump session at work.  I am so glad I have my own office for pumping!  I made a sign for the door that says, “If you value your eyesight, please do not enter.  Pumping in progress.”  Fortunately, my office is a casual enough environment that a sign like that is appropriate.  Though, I’m thinking of maybe going for some alliteration and changing it to, “Privacy please.  Pumping in progress.”  I am very grateful to whoever gave me one of those special bras that you can wear for hands free pumping.  I’ve been able to send and receive emails, redline agreements, and get plenty of work done, all while pumping.  I can’t say pumping is my favorite activity, but it is kind of nice to have some quiet time when I know no one will interrupt me.

I must say, it felt really good to be back at work!  I had lots to get caught up on, but it doesn’t feel like I had been away for 3 months.  It was more like I had just been on vacation for a couple weeks.   It felt great to use my brain again!  I was so glad to discover it still works.  Not that it doesn’t take brainpower to deal with a baby; it’s just a different kind of brainpower.  I was also pleased with how much I remembered.  Co-workers would come into my office and ask a question, and I knew most of the answers off the top of my head.  Also, pregnancy brain is real!  There were several moments where I remembered how fuzzy my brain was toward the end of my pregnancy vs. how clear it felt this week even after 3 months of being away.

As great as it felt to be back at work, I was so excited to see Guinevere’s little face when I got home.  Aaron picked her up and we had dinner together as a family.  G passed out super early that first night (around 7:30), probably exhausted from her day learning new things and seeing new people.  She slept all the way until her 5 am feeding.  It sort of made me sad - I would have let her stay up as late as she wanted so I could spend time with her. 

I am really glad that my first weekend after going back to work is a 3-day weekend (we get Columbus day off).  I think I would have been really sad to have to go back to work today.  I could have dropped Guinevere off at daycare if I wanted a day to myself, but I knew I wanted to spend the entire day with my baby.  We did laundry, sang songs and went for a walk together – a perfect day.  :)

Lessons From Maternity Leave

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Guinevere starts daycare tomorrow.  I go back to work next Monday.  I’m full of mixed emotions.  Honestly, this has been a really good leave.  I feel like I’ve had adequate bonding time with my baby and am surprisingly looking forward to going back to work.  It kind of feels like when the run of a show is exactly the right length: some shows I’ve done run for one weekend only, and it feels like it’s too soon to say goodbye when the final curtain closes.  Then there are other shows I’ve done that seem to drag on and on and by final curtain, you can’t wait to pack up your makeup and get out of the theatre.  And then there are those golden gems where you feel perfectly satisfied with how long you’ve embodied that particular character and performed the choreography and you are ready to move on to the next project, but will forever look fondly on that particular cast and show.  That is how I feel about my leave. 

Sure, there are things that I envisioned I would do that I didn’t get to do, but I think that’s how any segment of time works.  I don’t have any regrets about the time I’ve spent getting to know my daughter.  I love that now I know her cues for when she is tired or hungry.  I will miss our long mornings “talking” to each other – but at least we have the weekends for that.  I have learned so much in the past 3 months!  Not only about my daughter, but about myself. 

Things I learned about myself during maternity leave:

·      It is actually possible for me to eat quickly.

For those of you who have never eaten a meal with me, I am probably one of the slowest eaters ever.  I like to take my time and savor my food and really enjoy it.  That’s not really possible with an infant.  I learned very quickly – in the first week or so – that newborns don’t let you take your time with food.  I can now eat an In n Out burger and fries in about 15 minutes (I used to like to take an hour to 45 minutes to eat my burger and fries).  I also learned that I can tolerate cold food.  I used to be one of those people who liked their food scalding hot.  Now, I still prefer my food that way, but if I have to, I can eat half my meal, then feed the baby, and then come back to the meal and finish without needing to heat it up again.

·      It is possible to feel refreshed on 2 ½ hours sleep.

Pre-baby, I would be groggy if I didn’t get at least 6 hours of sleep. I now understand what true sleep deprivation is.  Sleep deprivation is one of the things everyone warns you about when you are about to have a baby, but you will never truly understand until you experience it yourself.  I still remember the first time Guinevere slept for more than 3 hours, it felt like a present!  I felt rejuvenated and refreshed.  Now she is sleeping much better, usually waking up just once during the night to be fed.  She is starting to sleep through the night more and more.  Of course, even when she manages to sleep through the night, I still wake up to check on her or go to the bathroom or feed the cat.  Someday I will get 8 hours uninterrupted . . . someday.

·      I am NOT a stay at home mom

Toward the end of my pregnancy, I had half a thought that maybe it would be fun to stay at home with my kid.  (I think I was mostly influenced by just how much daycare cost.)  About 3 weeks into my leave (maybe even earlier) I realized that I am NOT made out to be a stay at home mom.  I have so much more respect for stay at home moms now.  It’s hard work!  And I’m lucky – Aaron was able to stay home with the baby and me for most of the first two months.  After spending all day taking care of Guinevere, I am ready to go to bed by 9pm!  I love my child, I really do.  But I miss work.  I miss my co-workers.  I miss interacting with adults on a daily basis.  I miss using my brain!  Not that it doesn’t take brainpower to look after a baby, but I miss the intellectual side of my brain.  I actually miss redlining contracts and contemplating complicated legal terminology.  I guess this means I chose the right job and career path at least.

·      Best advice from a friend: set aside some money to hire a cleaning person to clean your house at some point during maternity leave.

I highly recommend, if you can afford it, to hire a cleaning person to come in your last week of leave (if not more often).  You would think that not going to work would give me plenty of time to clean my house . . . but no.  Babies take up ALL of that time.  And during the time Guinevere is napping, I am napping too, checking facebook, blogging or attempting to pick up here and there where I can. I am so glad Aaron and I set aside some money for professional cleaning.  The reason I recommend it for the last week of leave is that the first couple weeks the baby is home, we had the grandmas staying with us and helping to keep the house clean. Three months later, all their good work had been covered over by dust, etc.  I’m hoping that maybe we can swing it to make this a monthly thing, but as of right now, it’s just a one-off cleaning.

·      It will take me a long time to get used to saying “my daughter.”

In fact, I probably won’t get used to it until the next kid comes around, and then I will have to adjust to the fact that there are two of them!  It’s kind of like when I was engaged.  It took me forever to get used to saying the word “fiancé” and by the time I finally did, I had to start calling him “husband.”  I think it took me almost 5 years to really have that word flow right out of my mouth.  Hopefully it doesn’t take me 5 years to get used to saying “my daughter,” but if it does, no one has to know but me . . . right?

Here are some of my favorite images from the past 3 months:

One of our first pictures as a family.

Yoda baby!  After one of her first baths.

Photogenic even at 3 weeks old.

In Michigan.

My beach baby!  First trip to Santa Monica/Venice Boardwalk.

Guinevere's Travels: San Diego

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Last weekend, Guinevere and I went down to San Diego for the second time in her life.  Aaron had some work stuff that he needed to do in LA, so he wasn’t able to join us.  There were several reasons for this trip: a) I wanted to finally show Guinevere some of the sites of San Diego b) I wanted to clean out my room at my parents’ house c) attending a friend’s wedding.  It was so hot (again) that I ended up not getting much cleaning done, but at least I got 2 out of 3 goals accomplished!  Poor Guinevere is going to start to think that San Diego is hotter than LA!

On our first full day in San Diego, I took Guinevere down to Seaport Village while we waited for my sister’s plane to land.  Sharon was a bridesmaid in the wedding this weekend, and I thought it would be fun for her sister and niece to pick her up from the airport.  I am so glad we left as early as we did!  When we arrived at Seaport Village, it was already 85 degrees at 10am!  By the time we got back to Mira Mesa, my car was reading 101.  

Guinevere at Seaport Village

Guinevere with the Coronado Bridge in the background.

Back to Seaport Village – I’ve always loved this place!  For those not from San Diego, Seaport Village is a cute little shopping area downtown.  It’s on the water and super close to the airport.  In fact, it was much easier for Guinevere and I to stroll around at Seaport Village than to sit in a parked car in the cell phone lot.  I walked Ginny out to the waterfront and we wandered around for a while.  I even bought myself a big floppy hat.  

I don’t care if it looks silly.  I’ve been having some issues with irritation with my eyes and am trying to avoid contacts as much as possible lately, so I needed to get a hat.

Later that day, I attempted to get started on cleaning up my room.  Some kids have parents who turn their room into a guest room the moment they leave for college.  Not me.  My room in SD is almost like a time capsule to my teenage self, complete with bunk beds and all.  Yes, Aaron and I still sleep on my bunk beds (me on the top bunk, him on the bottom bunk) when we visit!  I had this great idea that I would go down to San Diego and clean out my room and donate the bunk beds and all the other stuff that has accumulated over the past however many years. Then I would go to Ikea, buy a new bed, and voila, we would have a real guest room to sleep in.   Yeah . . . that didn’t happen.  First off, it was so hot that I could barely move.  Also, Aaron wasn’t there to help hold Guinevere while I cleaned.  I thought that would be fine since I would be in San Diego and my mom and my sister would be fighting over who got to hold her . . . but my sister had loads of bridesmaid duties and so wasn’t around and my parents were busy getting the final arrangements done for the Mira Mesa Street Fair, which was the next day.

I tried putting Guinevere down for a nap in her pack 'n play in my room while I cleaned.  But there were two problems with that:  1. She was hot and fussy and didn’t really want to nap 2. I realized as I was putting my old trinkets into the various “keep,“ “donate,” and “trash” bags, there was a ton of dust in my room!  I really wasn’t comfortable stirring up that much dust with my 2 month old in the room.  So I finally gave up on finishing everything.  I figure if I just allocate an hour or two of cleaning/organizing every time I visit San Diego, we can eventually turn it into a more grown up guest room.  In the mean time, the bunk bed stays!  

Saturday was the Mira Mesa Street Fair.  My parents are very active in local community planning, so they played a big part in putting on the street fair.  It was forecast to be even hotter than Friday, and my dad was worried that the heat would make people stay home.  I took Guinevere to the street fair as early as possible to avoid the heat.  My friend Corey and her daughter, Mikaela, joined us.  We had fun pushing our strollers up and down the street.  We found my mom selling her book on the history of Mira Mesa.  Of course, when we showed up, mom wanted tons of pictures.  After the “grandparent paparazzi” session was finished, Corey and I bought some snowcones and ate them in the relative comfort of some shade.

Guinevere in front of mom's book signing table.

I have no idea how hot it was while we were at the street fair, but later that day, my car’s thermometer said 107!!!  I don’t EVER remember it being that hot growing up!  The newspaper said it was the hottest day on record since 1988.  Guinevere and I ended up escaping the heat at my friend Jfer’s house.  I’m actually really glad we hung out in the air conditioning for a couple hours.  G and I were much more comfortable and it gave me time to tell Jfer what Guinevere likes and doesn’t like, what time she goes to bed, how often she eats, etc. since I had Jfer lined up to watch Guinevere while I was at the wedding the next day.  

I’ve learned that with the baby, it takes a long time to get ready for an event where I have to do more to my appearance than just throwing on a pair of yoga pants and a nursing tank.  I think I took about 3 hours to get ready for the wedding this Sunday (including a couple of feeding breaks).  The wedding was beautiful!  I’ve known Becky, the bride, since she was in kindergarten with my sister.  My Girl Scout troop and hers would get together for camp outs, service projects and other events. I love Guinevere, but I will admit it was kind of fun to leave her with a trusted friend for a couple hours while I had fun.  I was able to dance and have a couple glasses of wine!  

My sister and I at the wedding.

What’s for Dinner: Grass Fed Beef Burgers

Aaron and I took Guinevere to the local Farmer’s Market on Sunday morning.  I love Farmer’s Markets but I hadn’t been to this one in a really long time.  Once I joined the CSA, I didn’t really have a need to seek out additional locally grown organic produce.  Plus, it has been so hot here ever since Guinevere was born that I really didn’t want to expose her to that kind of heat when she was so little.  Now that she’s a little bigger, and the highs are “only” in the 90’s as opposed to 100’s, I’m much more willing to take her out (especially in the morning before it heats up too much).  Aaron wanted to pick up some local honey to potentially help him with allergies (we shall see if that actually works or not), so we decided now would be the perfect time to take Guinevere on her first Farmer’s Market excursion.

I’m definitely glad we went earlier rather than later.  We were sweating by the time we left!  But I think Guinevere enjoyed herself.  She certainly smiled at plenty of vendors and got loads of comments on how adorable she is.  While I was buying some plums and pluots, Aaron started talking to the lady at the grass fed beef stand.  I’ve wanted to try grass fed beef ever since I read “Diet for a Small Planet,” which talks about how grass fed beef is much more sustainable for the environment.  But somehow, I’ve always skipped over the few meat stands at the Farmer’s Market.

As I mentioned in my post about our trip to Michigan, Aaron is from a farming family.  In addition to growing crops, part of his family raised cattle and owned a meat packing plant.  Aaron always talks about how humanely his family treated their livestock and how he never understood animal rights activists who went off on the horrible treatment some animals receive . . . that is until he moved to California and drove past some of the giant agribusiness “pastures” in central California. 

After talking to the lady at the grass fed beef stand, Aaron decided we should show our support for this type of farming and make a purchase.  Since neither of us had ever had grass fed beef, the lady recommended we buy a pound of ground beef.  She said it was a good “starter” option.  I made burgers with it last night – omg, they were so good!!!  I’m really glad the lady told us that grass fed beef doesn’t require a lot of seasoning – it’s very flavorful on its own.  I just added a bit of Worcestershire sauce and some salt and pepper.  Then grilled the burgers on my Foreman Grill.  We had a salad to go with, and it was delicious!  Of course, I ended up eating most of mine cold bc Guinevere decided to start crying inconsolably the moment we sat down to eat.  But even cold, it was yummy!

  

In continuing with my series of “How much does dinner cost?” I decided to break down the dinner I cooked last night.  I went into it knowing that it would be a bit more expensive because of the grass fed beef, but I was still curious.  Honestly, I’m really impressed that it wasn’t that expensive – even with the higher ticket items of grass fed beef and thin buns that have no high fructose corn syrup in them.  I think it’s still less than the cost of going to McDonald’s (not sure on that one since I’m not totally sure on prices at McD’s) – but $3 per serving seems like it would have to be cheaper.  Not to mention the cost in gas to get there.  As far as time, it was one of the fastest meals I have prepared.  I think it took me all of 15 minutes to chop the salad, divide up the meat into 4 equal portions AND cook them (the burgers only needed about 5 minutes on the grill).

Here’s the breakdown:

Grass Fed Beef Burgers
1 lb grass fed beef	$7.92
salt, pepper, worcestershire	$0.30
4 buns	$1.25
4 oz cheese	$1.00
pickle	$0.10
lettuce	$1.00
cucumber	$0.50
tomato	$0.25
carrot	$0.10
dressing	$0.10
total	$12.52
4 servings	$3.13

Full disclosure: I arbitrarily assign a value of 10 cents to anything that is a staple in the pantry, like salt, pepper, etc.  Also, there were more than 4 servings of salad, but it was easiest to just add all of it to this meal calculation.