Pregnancy Sense of Humor

I enjoy reading the Dooce blog, because while often inappropriate, she also has a great sense of humor and sarcasm, which when related to physical pregnancy symptoms, I relate quite well to. She is 5 weeks ahead of me, so it also gives me a little preparation for what is ahead. Here is one of her latest comments and unfortunately, one I can already understand- I really am ready to go pantless by the end of the day: Every morning before we go upstairs for breakfast I take a look around and figure out what I'm going to need for the day. Because SO HELP ME GOD, I am only going to climb those stairs once. This means that Jon spends a good portion of his day retrieving things for me from the basement. He's very good about not complaining about this act of service, although once after bringing me a pair of pants he dared to ask why I just didn't put them on first thing in the morning. And I was all, dude, may you never have to experience a state of being that makes PUTTING ON PANTS such a loathsome set of contortions that you would seriously consider going grocery shopping in your panties.

I took a picture about two weeks ago of me wearing a pair of shoes that I could no longer put on myself. I haven't quite managed to download that picture to my computer to share it with you, but know it is coming. They are a favorite pair of mine, but alas, I need a partner to buckle them. I think this event may occur in the life of pregnant women to give them a refresher of the best methods of putting shoes on other humans, since I will be dressing my daughters feet for a while until she learns the skills.

How Well do you Know ...

Remember this picture?
Here is what it looks like normally.
We are holding a little game I ordered at Christmas time for a stocking stuffer for Micah and I - How Well Do You Know Your Wife / Husband. I thought it might be funny and enlightening as well as continue to foster discussion. We have of course made a game of it with point systems, but all in the name of fun (obviously, look at our smiles). Here are some sample questions:
What is his mother's phone number?
What side does she part her hair on?
Your Husband has used a dictionary in the last 7 days. True or False?
What is Your Wife's favorite flavor of ice-cream?
If he/she found $50 on the street, would he/she (a) look around for who could have dropped it and return it. (b) pocket it quickly (c) look for the closest store to buy a gift for you.

I honestly can't remember who is winning this game right now, but I do think it is about time we pull it back out again and answer a few more questions. I will let you know who wins the next round.

Breakfast

I have been so bored with breakfast lately. Mostly because I don't like to get up early in order to make something really delicious. And while Micah is a great help in the kitchen, without specific instructions, he either doesn't make it (and doesn't eat), or he makes exactly what I made the day before - which I appreciate, but this girl or rather these girls (as I currently am two), prefer a little variety. So, I was so excited to stumble upon the the Smitten Kitchen blog. And just look at this page of breakfast ideas! I still might not get up early enough to make any of these, but at least I have inspiration.

She takes great pictures too! Here is a sampling:

I Won!

I won the competition, we are officially having a girl!!! So, in the next few weeks I will order the fabric for the nursery, and furniture and hopefully get it somewhat assembled! Of course, I will post pictures.

But, this is about the competition. I won the coin toss and the guess, so I get to pick out the first outfit we are purchasing for our daughter. Here is one that was suggested to me this morning:

Any other ideas? Of course it should be something fancy!

If the Baby is a Girl

If the baby is a girl, these are the nursery colors I am considering. I am in my third trimester which seems totally crazy! Especially since I don't have anything done on the nursery at all.

Color by COLOURlovers

(you can create your own color inspirations here)

My mom has graciously offered to sew the baby bedding so I get to pick out the fabrics! Here are some of the fabric options I am looking at, however, these were all REALLY expensive so I am looking for something similar but maybe not so crazy in the pricing.

Any suggestions or advice?

Pictures of Micah

So, remember how a long, long time ago I said I wanted to take more photos of Micah and photos of Micah and I in the last few months of it just being the two of us. (I also said I would get journals and I never did that) Well, I did take some photos, not quite every day as I intended, but some great ones nonetheless, and they truly capture an every-day feel I think! So, enjoy:

He had a love affair with his i-phone. I am really jealous alot.

He is always ready to protect me!

We have matching sweatshirts and we wanted to model them for you.

Raw "Baked Macaroni and Cheese"

A couple weeks ago I tried a new dinner from Mathew McKinneys book, Everyday Raw- raw macaroni and cheese. The sauce is SOOO good, but extremely rich so I give you caution on how much you put on the noodles as I put too much on at first. This is really a little more like spaghetti and cheese, since there isn't really a raw way to make thick and short macaroni noodles, that I know of anyway.

It maybe doesn't look that pretty, but I promise it tastes really good! Also, this is a really bad picture. My apologies.

Noodles:
Process 4-5 squash through spiral slicer to create long noodles, roughly chop, toss with a bit of salt and let sit for 30-45 minutes.

Cashew Cheese Sauce (blend all ingredients in a Vita-Mix or high-powered blender)

• 1 3/4 cups cashews, soaked 1-2 hours
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 nutritional yeast
• 1/4 medium shallot
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (I know, I too thought that was strange)
• pinch cayenne
• pinch turmeric
• 1/2 clove garlic
• black pepper to taste

Assembly:
Make the noodles first and let sit to the side while you make the cheese sauce. Mix noodles and cashew cheese sauce in a bowl and then spread into a casserole pan. (Optional: top with finely chopped walnuts and extra chili powder or paprika). Place in bottom of dehydrator at 115 degreees for 1--2 hours to warm before serving. Serves 4

While preparing meals at home is often more nutritious (especially when raw!), and cheaper, this is the one big hazard: DISHES!

Thankfully, I have a very helpful husband. (no, these dishes are not just from the macaroni and cheese so don't be too scared)

Black-bean Tostadas with Corn Relish

I used to subscribe to Martha Stewarts, Food magazine which is where I got this recipe. It is another Micah favorite, and also overall reasonably healthy. So, here is how you make it:

In the morning:
1. Mix the juice of 2 limes with 2-3 thinly sliced scallions, 10 oz. frozen corn kernels, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and salt. Toss to combine and refrigerate throughout the day.
2. Mince 1 jalepeno (you can rib and seed first, depending on how spicy you like it), and mix with 1 pint of grape tomatoes that have been halved. Cover and refridgerate.

At dinnertime:
1. Preheat over to 475 F. Arrange 4 tortillas across 2 different baking sheets (they won't all fit on one, which is why there is 2). Brush both sides of the tortillas with olive oil.
2. Sprinkle the tortillas with 1 can of black beans (rinsed and drained first), top with the tomato and jalapeno mix, and sprinkle approx. 2 oz. of shredded (not sliced) Monterey Jack cheese over each one.



3. Bake until golden and crisp, about 10 minutes. Rotate sheets 1/2 way through baking.
4. While baking, pit, peel and dice one avocado. Toss with the corn mixture.
5. Serve the warm tostadas topped with the corn relish and enjoy!

Ingredients list:
2 limes
2-3 scallions
1 package 10 oz. frozen corn kernels
3 tblspns olive oil
1 jalapeno
1 pint grape tomatoes
8 oz. Monterey Jack
4 tortillas (flour)
1 can black beans
1 avocado

Newly Organized Closet

In my nesting stage, I wanted to re-organize some closets, and get rid of more clutter. So, I moved all the gift supplies (wrapping paper, bows, tissue paper, bags, actual gifts...) to the study instead of one of the bedroom closets. Then I put Micah and I's old photo albums on a very top shelf in the bedroom closet where these supplies used to be, since I don't access those all too often. Here is the result:



I used the clothing rack as my new ribbon rack so I can see displayed the various ribbons available for making presents pretty! Micah will soon be adding some dowel rods so I can also hang the curling ribbon spools. And here was the first present I wrapped after newly organizing the closet!

Congratulations to Montana and Leslie on their wedding!

Big Girl in a Little Tub

My doctor recently told me I need to take it a little easier. I had been experiencing some pain on the right side of my growing baby bump that wasn't going away after days and days. While no other disconcerting symptoms accompanied it, so it didn't seem too critical, it was bothersome nonetheless. So, I took a break as best I can, which apparently meant working until 7:00pm most evenings, (once 9:00pm), and cutting out shopping for nursery bedding last Saturday. My doctor recommended I take a warm bath to see if it would help relax whatever was going on. So, I gave it a try and it made me think of Chris Farley's SNL character saying "fat guy in a little coat", only instead it was "big girl in a little tub." My bath lasted maybe 4 minutes. In order to get the right side of my belly in the water, I had to lay on my side which left the other side exposed to the cold air (in comparison), if I laid down on my back, my belly was sticking out above the water, so I tried leaning over my legs until they fell asleep and my back was too cold and well, I gave up. So, lesson learned- unless you have a jacuzzi tub, it is really hard to get a pregnant belly submerged. Obviously, no pictures to accompany this post!

Competition

My husband is a notorious competitor, he can turn anything into a competition. So, to honor that personality trait, I devised a way we could make deciding the gender a competition as well. We had some house guests a couple weeks ago, and they helped us with the initial coin toss, to keep things fair.

(Dane tossing the official coin while I look on)

We have been unable to tell the gender of the baby because our dear child keeps it legs in the way. Yes, I asked if I could sit-up, do the truffle shuffle, would the doctor shake my belly (which he did) I ate a piece of cake and coffee before going in for the last ultrasound and still our child is relaxed enough or just modest enough to stay covered. I was distraught enough I told Micah I was already ready to dish out spankings (relax, not really). So, when we do find out, hopefully April 20th, we plan to make the announcement on who has won the competition. Back to competing. I guessed "heads".



Which means I could pick whether or not I thought the baby was a boy or girl. Micah had to automatically then, take the opposite. I picked girl, so he represents boy. So, when we do finally find out, whoever represents the actual gender of our baby gets to purchase the first outfit for the baby, or pick-out the coming home outfit for the hospital. We each want to win, not because we care about the gender of our baby, but like I said, we like to compete.

Tomato, Bean and Basil Salad

I tried a new salad out the other day. I have a recipe book that has only recipes with 4 ingredients. When you only have 4 ingredients, it is pretty sure to be a quick and easy one. This is also reasonably healthy and tasty- it passed the husband test. We go home for lunch quite often since our office is so close to our house (lucky, I know), so I threw this together one day:

11 oz. cherry tomatoes halved
1 can of mixed beans or in my case, I used light red kidney beans
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup basil loosely shredded

Drain the beans, and mix with the tomato halves. In a small sauce pan, put the olive oil and 2/3 of the basil in with the oil, heat over low until the basil begins to turn a darker green (about 1-2 min). Then pour the oil and basil into the tomatoes and beans and mix well. (you can let it refridgerate for about 30 min. to let the flavors combine if you have the time). Top with the remaining basil, and then add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Voila, a fancy feast!
(and that is my attempt at a fancy picture too)