37 weeks

Laurie and Kenny came to visit this weekend in hopes that I would go into labor early ;) and for Laurie and I to do some mommy bonding. We got prenatal massages, went to prenatal yoga and ate yummy crepes and ice cream :) I'm so happy with her busy work schedule that we were able to spend the weekend together! Erin and Jeff even came down for a cookout at our place Sat. night and lots of laughs insued while discussing themes for the baby's room, and Jeff's hysterical pregancy.

I had a dr's appt Monday, and the doc says I'm not going into labor anytime soon, which i guess is good because I'm nursing a cold right now. Lily is more active than ever kickin around in there and demanding waffles with peaches or strawberries and whipped cream ALOT along with bagel bites and chicken soup to the cold. I think she gets the Waffle cravings from her Auntie KK. I'm sure noone wants to know this, but I apparently am one of the lucky 1% of pregnant women who contract PUPPs, a harmless but annoying rash of tiny red bumps on my stomach that are very itchy. Isn't pregnancy glamourous? It has gotten noticeably tougher to get around and my stomach is feeling HEAVY. Mom drafted the Baby Poll so it's time to get in on the action :) According to the weekly update, Lily is as long as a stalk of Swiss Chard but her mommy is big as a Watermelon :)

35 Weeks

35 weeks along here, getting quite large and uncomfortable which makes it so I can't sleep at night but then want to sleep all day long ... I guess I'm becoming a Vampire :) The baby weighs about 5 1/4 pounds about the size of a honeydew and is over 18 inches long according to my weekly update.

I'm glad to be nearing the end of pregnancy even though I still want more time to prepare. We have the room almost ready, took a infant CPR class with Jill and Ryan, and went on our last baby-free vacation with the family to Stone Harbor. It was fun to think about what next year will be like with Lily and Agent M in tow. We def. need to learn to pack more efficiently if we're going to be fitting a baby and her stuff in the car with us! Both Grandmas went a little crazy with baby clothes shopping and Lily's closet is filling up quickly.

Jill's baby shower will be at my house this weekend, I'm excited for it to all come together. I hope it turns out as nice as the one they threw for me. It was def. a nice motivator to get the house in order, and coincided with my Nesting craze.

Slightly Inappropriate Children's Books

In a seemingly new trend (or as they say in tv world, if you haven't seen it, it's new to you), Children's books are taking an adult-like turn as the generation of adults who refuse to grow up are becoming parents. Yes I'm talking about the generation who has turned every game into a drinking game, serious adult athletic events like coed baseball and marathons into kickball and mud runs. Those same people who have realized that they don't want the fun to end post-college so they just make it so. Not only have I been noticing this trend in sports, but by the advent of the Rockabye baby CD covers of the "hip" bands of said generation: Radiohead, Tool, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Coldplay, Led Zepplin, the Beatles, Bob Marley, etc.

My sister's told me about this one:

Which led me to this one "All my friends are dead" - a book about dinosaurs and other extinct creatures



Then there's "Pat the Zombie" um, yeah, a play on "Pat the Bunny" -def. not intended for children

which led me to find my Favorite:
"Monsters eat Whiny Children"
which I think I will purchase. It's the perfect amount of sarcasm for me and has a good message.

30 some weeks: Get your sleep now...

I'm starting to loose track of weeks, maybe because I'm sleep deprived. The baby is doing well though, the dr. says I'm a boring patient which is good because it means I'm right on track.

if you see me on the street (or any pregnant woman), do not give the useless advice to get my sleep now, because when the baby comes I won't be sleeping. I don't sleep now, so this advice does not apply to me. If I do sleep, it's for 3-4 hour stretches, which will probably decrease I understand, but at least I'll be awake for a reason.

In attempts to help my sleeplessness, I've considered making the huge purchase of a maternity body pillow (which run about $60 and up!) I have a regular body pillow, but hear these are much nicer.

normal body pillow

While searching for said pillow I stumbled across this freakish contraption:

aHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Scary Body Pillow, can you imagine waking up to this headless-puppet-handed-half-man/pillow?

But the bat-shit Craziness of it all begins with the reviews that warrant the supposed "Brad Pitt modeled pillow" a 4.7/5 review.

" can't begin to tell you how much I love this pillow. I love it so much I named him Paul! Paul goes well with my mullet, so much that I don't ever plan on cutting it. It fits so well into the armpit slot and I will never feel lonely again. Paul, you're the greatest! Paul and my mullet.....together forever. "

"My life is pretty lonely sometimes. I live in the woods alone, and it gets really cold. I try to find someone who will cuddle with me at night but it's hard when people call you names like "Bigfoot" and "Yeti". I guess I'll give up on love. I have to say though, that after purchasing this product, it feels like someone is really sleeping next to me. The first night was kind of strange, I set it in my bed or sticks and leaves and it just sat there, sad and alone too. I conquered my fears and lied in with it, IT ACTUALLY FELT LIKE A PERSON :D. I loved it's soft fabric on my fur, it was love at first touch!. Thanks to the creators of this fine product, no more lonely nights in the woods."

of course when I first saw this pillow, the first thought that sprang to mind was this must be marketed towards Crazy Cat Ladies ...

""

So I went to the grocery store for carrots ...

and came home with all this.
Most people are nice and said, well at least you remembered the carrots, and hummus is healthy! I ate a bunch of hummus and pita and about half the watermelon which filled me up so much I had no room for icecream last night. oh well, there's still tonight :)

The alternate title to this post is "Never send your Pregnant Wife to the Grocery store alone"

28 weeks

From Pot Roast to Chinese Cabbage, Lily is probably over 2lbs now celebrating all the fun gifts she got from her wonderful shower last weekend! This week I enter into the third trimester, and the nesting urge has kicked in. I want the room to be put together and see all the plans that have been in my head come to life in person. All of the fun stuff we got at the shower def. spurred this on, and the guest room closet is filled with fun clothes for Lily to model (Fashion Show Fashion Show Fashion Show at Lunch!). Mom, Laurie and KK were so creative and threw a wonderful shower for me complete with different potted Lilies as prizes,


Lollipops and plantable baby carraiges as favors,
and lots of Giraffe themed gifts and decor to match the invites.

The games were guess the baby picture, mad libs, and guess the baby food, which Gma D clearly did not enjoy!

But the cake was definately enjoyed by all, especially myself :)

It was a great time, and most fun was getting to share with the family that Lily will be having her first cousin!!! Laurie is due on New Years so they will only be 4 months apart, and I'm thrilled the secret is out.

Pictures of Laurie telling everyone the good news the day before:

Laurie and Kenny seem certain they will have a boy and in the meantime are calling him 'Agent M' which reminded me, I never blogged about Lily's nicknames thusfar. We've Nicknamed her Gremlin (when she was making me sick all the time), Lola (what gma D thinks we're naming her due to faulty hearing aids or perhaps just her 91 yr old imagination) or Lil' lily

Dave and I also got a new camera as a 2nd anniversary gift to each other which I love learning to use. My cousin's son RJ was an excellant model for me :)

27 weeks: My baby is the size of a what?

a Pot Roast. Yes, moving away from the conventional fruit or veggie reference, Fit Pregancy has declared Lily is now a tiny 2Lb Zero oz. baby pot Roast. You'll all be please to know I passed my glucose test, the nurse said my level was 113 whatever that means. But most exciting this week is the pending weekend where we're all getting together to celebrate my baby shower!!! The guys are going to be busy replacing the roof on mom and dad's house, it's a big weekend for everyone.

The Baby Cage and 29 other dumb inventions

Hahaha, time released photos of the 30 dumbest inventions. The baby related ones are especially hilarious.

picture from time.com

Here we have The Baby Cage for the urban couple looking to give their baby a little sunlight and fresh air, even in the confines of a highrise. I guess people really did worry less about safety back then!! Makes what Michael Jackson did with his son "Blanket" seem slightly less crazy.

~or better yet the fake breast with a heart beat used to soothe babies, of course made in Japan
~or how about the baby holder for all those times you would have missed out on ice skating just because of your life choice to have a baby?
~and nonbaby related, but cat related, the Mouse frightener!!! oooo so scary.

25 weeks

Just past the 6month mark, time is starting to fly by. Lily is the size of a Rutabaga. Cute huh? thebump.com compares her to an Eggplant, slightly cuter I guess!


I had a really exciting week in baby land for lots of reasons and got my Shower invites in the mail, they are so cute I squeeled! I'm still loving prenatal yoga, and took my last Hypnobirthing class. I'm sad it's over because it was so relaxing, hopefully I can retain all I learned for the big day.


Keep your fingers crossed for me as I take my glucose test Monday morning. Sugary Glucose Drink here I come!

25 week babycenter update link
25 week thebump update link

23 week update

Baby Lily is growing right along, the email updates say she's the size of a large mango (about 1 lb), she can hear music and feel motion so I guess that means it's time go dancing with her. I've finally got my registries up, althought I'm sure they need tweeking. I'm growing anxious for her crib to come in and we registered for a Glider at Great Beginnings, but think that we should shop around for a better deal on one first. Lily likes to kick me alot in the evenings, Dave got to feel her kicking so Laurie, be prepared since you're already afraid of my stomach alone, now it will be moving as well.

We did a new thing at prenatal yoga last night to help you sleep better, I made it to 5:15am without waking up which is a big victory over most nights when I wake up between 2:30-3:30am. The dr. gave me the icky orange drink that I'll have to drink before my next appt so they can monitor my glucose levels, hopefully it won't be as bad as everyone says. Our third birthing class is this saturday, we've really been enjoying the class so far, but there's only one more class after this one, hopefully I don't forget everything we learned.

What you put on your skin

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ Helps you determine the safety of products you use everyday like Toothpaste, Shampoo, Sunscreen, Makeup, etc.

Each item is giving a hazard level which is determined and classified by Ingredients in the product that are linked to: Cancer, Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Use restrictions, and Other concerns. This really helps you rank related products when determining which you prefer. I'm doing an overall average ranking score of the every day products I use, and overtime trying to improve that score. I encourage you to do the same to see where you rank.

So right now I'm using

• Biolage by Matrix Color Care Hair Conditioner *6


• Biolage by Matrix Color Care Shampoo *7


• philosophy 3-in-1 ultra rich shampoo, shower gel *5


• Pantene Pro-V Curl Defining Scrunching Mousse *7


• Secret Invisible Solid Anti-Perspirant Deodorant Spring Breeze *4


• Colgate Total Plus Whitening Toothpaste *5


• Clinique dramatically different moisturizing lotion *4


• Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Massage Lotion for Stretch Marks *6


• OPI Nail Lacquer nail polish *4


• Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm (Tube) *2


• Neutrogena Oil-Free Moisture, SPF *7

So that totals 57 if you add all the hazard levels together and divide by the number of products, in this case 11 equals and average of a little over 5. While 5 may seem like midway between 0-10, it still carries a good deal of risk and doesn't even include all the products that come in contact with my skin like hand soaps, fabric detergent biproducts, etc. I'm also surprised that the cocoa butter for stretch marks comes in at a 6. Considering it goes right on my growing stomach with my baby inside, I'm feeling I should use it sparringly.

Other products we have in the house or have used in the past

Wet 'N Wild Jumbo Juicy Flavored Lip Balm, Strawberry *9

Coppertone Sport Breathable Sunscreen, Faces, SPF 50 *5

Purell Purifying Essentials Instant Hand Sanitizer, Crisp Apple hand sanitizer *6

Hawaiian Tropic Dark Tanning Lotion, SPF 4 *9

Rembrandt Plus Peroxide Toothpaste, Wintergreen Flavor toothpaste *7

Cauliflower Part 2

Roasting Veggies always gives such a depth of flavor that you can't get from steaming or a microwave pouch. The roasted asparagus and roasted broccoli I've made was such a big hit, I decided to try the simple roasted cauliflower recipe mentioned on ThatWife from allrecipies.com. It's a 5 ingredient recipe, even easier than the broccoli one we love, and cooks alongside my roast chicken during the last half hour as a faster alternative to mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower. I loved it, Dave loved it, and it's becoming another vegetable staple in the house.

Roasted Balsamic Cauliflower
from allrecipies.com

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 head cauliflower, chopped into bite size pieces

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil
2.Stir the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and garlic together in a bowl. Add the cauliflower and toss to coat; spread the mixture onto the lined baking sheet.
3.Stirring occasionally, bake in the preheated oven until tender, about 20 minutes.

Invest in your health

Dave and I recently joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) that collects local organic produce and distributes it once a week between members. Their blog posted the infamous Michael Pollan's post that provides an interesting point that many people wonder, why is healthier food more expensive than junk food:
Why do carrots cost more than twinkies in the store, but are cheaper to manufacture?

Dave and I still maintain that even though you're poor, you can eat cheaply and healthily (not sure if that's a real word) by buying chicken, broccoli and ww. rice for much less than fast food, or processed foods, however I do see that buying organic, hormone free foods is more of an investment than the alternative. One of Michael's other videos touched on why it's worth it to spend more on your food, and how American's simply choose to budget less of their incomes towards food:
Pay more $ for better health, lower healthcare costs

Writing

Dec 3
In the closet of our guest room I have an old dresser that I use as a place to keep all my stationery and fun things like twine and washi tape along with my stamps and Christmas cards that I need to write out this weekend. It's nice because it's out of the way since I don't use it all the time and still looks nice when guests are using the room.











Letter 12/3/11

Additional pics:

Organizing

________________________________________________
Focus on one drawer, table, or surface today and spend 15 minutes making it pretty! (And take a pretty picture afterward to motivate yourself!________________________________________________

Well, we just refinished our hardwood floors throughout the living room/dining room/bedrooms of our house, so everything has been going through major reorganization. I didn't want things coming back upstairs until they had a proper home, which so far is working well, even if it makes the process take a little longer.
Before:

After:

I work from home, so my office doubles as a crafts space. Squeezing all of this into one room is a bit of a challenge, as I have interest in many different types of crafts, and on top of that there are Christmas gifts piling up that need to be wrapped.

One more Before:

After:

The pictures didn't turn out great and it still needs work, but theres a start.

Remembering

December 1st advent journal

It astonishes me that it's December. I've had a hard time keeping up with the calendar, it seem like months are flying by.

I always want it to slow down, I keep thinking the next month it will but it never does.


This year started out tough on me, dealing with injury, loss, difficult challenges with work but there has been a lot of good too. I finally got settled into our new house, we were able to afford furniture and aesthetic changes like painting, crown molding and refinishing the floors. I also got to grow a garden, which even though I only deem partially successful, I got started.


Even though did not get to do most of my plans for the yard and garden or they did not turn out as successfully as I had anticipated, I learned things that will make it better next year. I forget that sometimes life is a process, and not everything is perfect the first time around. It's ok not to conquer a goal right away, or else you would get bored very fast.

In the past 5 years it seem like not much has changed for me. I am now married to my then boyfriend, I have essentially the same job and same friends. When I really think about the person I was then, it's hard for me to remember what has changed but when I really think about it I remember how insecure I was in our new relationship, how naive I was about certain friendships and how I have especially changed more in the past year than I did the four years prior. My desire to 'party' has declined, I've taken a greater interest in a more natural lifestyle (don't worry I won't stop shaving or go on a drastic no sugar no fat no meat no alcohol nature diet) and started wanting to understand things I ignored in the past.

Next year, I'd really like to spend a holiday in our home, something we haven't done yet, I want to join the neighborhood pool and make some friends that are local, and I hope to create some more stability and structure to our lives. Structure has been a part of my New Years resolution at least 2 years running, I guess it's time I get on it.

Trying new things

Although I've had them before, I've never made Lentils. It was surprisingly easy and addictive. You basically rinse a 1 lb bag of Lentils and boil it with plenty of water, a bay leaf, an onion cut in half, some chopped carrot, a garlic clove smashed and some S&P in a large pot, then cover and simmer for about 25 min on low until tender. Tasty.
Even more tasty was the dressing we covered them in while hot to absorb the flavors.
Dressing:
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

I've been eating the leftovers non-stop, it's oddly addictive.

Now to tackle spaghetti squash and the giant zucchini I've been meaning to shred for zucchini bread.

Plastics are bad, mmmmKay?

This can be confusing and most feel it's an ever-changing topic.
As of right now, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade. Plastics marked 7 are especially confusing since 7 is the throw all "Other cateogory".
So the general rule of thumb
Avoid Plastics marked as:
#3 #6 or #7-PC
If it’s labeled #7-PC, it’s unsafe polycarbonate.
If it’s labeled #7 “PLA” or #7 “compostable,” it’s a safer, bio-based plastic. For example Gerber baby food containers and BornFree baby bottles are part of the safe category.

Safer Plastics are those marked as: #1 #2 #4 #5 or #7 labeled labeled “PLA” or “compostable”

Other tips they recommend are avoiding using plastic containers or plastic wrap in the microwave or with hot foods and liquids, buy a BPA free reusable water bottle, avoid PVC products (toys, building materials, etc.)

Most Plastics are marked with recycling symbols 1-7. These symbols signify the following:
3: PVC or V: Polyvinyl chloride, used for cling wrap,plastic squeeze bottles, cooking oil and peanut butter containers, and detergent and window cleaner bottles.
6: PS: Polystyrene, used in styrofoam food trays, egg cartons,disposable cups and bowls, carry-out containers and opaque plastic cutlery.
7: Other: This is a catch-all category for plastics thatdon’t fit into the #1-6 categories. It includes polycarbonate,bio-based plastics, co-polyester, acrylic,polyamide and plastic mixtures like styrene-acrylonitrileresin (SAN). Number 7 plastics are used for a variety of products like baby bottles and “sippy” cups,baby food jars, 5-gallon water bottles, “sport” waterbottles, plastic dinnerware and clear plastic cutlery.



1: PETE: Polyethylene terephthalate ethylene, used for soft drink, juice, water, detergent, cleaner and peanut
butter containers.
2: HDPE: High density polyethylene, used in opaque plastic milk and water jugs, bleach, detergent and
shampoo bottles, and some plastic bags.
4: LDPE: Low density polyethylene, used in grocery
store bags, most plastic wraps, Ziplock bags and
some bottles.
5: PP: Polypropylene, used in most Rubbermaid, deli
soup, syrup and yogurt containers, straws and other
clouded plastic containers, including baby bottles.

Personally I'm especially guilty of using products in Category 3:
cling wrap, plastic squeeze bottles, cooking oil and peanut butter containers, and detergent and window cleaner bottles. However not all items in this list are always #3s, my peanut butter and olive oil containers were #1s. I did notice my plastic bottle of syrup was a #3. I never buy styrofoam trays or cups but have on occasion bought styrofoam egg cartons, disposable cups and bowls used styrofoam carry-out containers and opaque plastic cutlery. Time to be more dilligent.


Info source:
http://www.healthobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=102202

Travel snacks

Dieting while traveling is not the easiest, but a big part of my diet plan includes eating about every 2 hours to maintain my blood sugar levels without big dips from not eating (this seems to be very effective for me). On my most recent trip to New York, I tried to stay on track by bringing Apples, hardboiled eggs and string cheese in a cooler, Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds, buying Oatmeal for breakfast, eating chicken salads for lunch, drinking as much water as possible and using the bank account analogy from Bethenny. Overall, I didn't lose or gain any weight this week which I take as a win. I didn't get the excercise in that I wanted and I was stressed from work, so I attribute that as the blocker that kept me from loosing. On to next week with an optimistic view :)

Trees aka Broccoli

Roasted Broccoli is to die for. Seriously so very very good.

Recipe for Roasted Broccoli
Roast 1 head of Broccoli separated into it's own little trees with some Olive Oil, Lemon zest from 1 lemon, Chopped garlic, ample salt and Red pepper flakes at 400 degrees for 20 minutes stirring once half way through.

SOOOOOOO good and easy it's scary. Dave said please make broccoli like this every time from now on.