Creating New Life. Week 40

Husbands. When your wife has endured 40 long weeks of pregnancy, is patiently waiting to give birth to your child and remarks, "pretty soon my belly will be too big to even fit into your t-shirts..." Do not respond with "don't get them all stretched out!" I also don't recommend bringing home the Sports Illustrated Swim Suit Edition and displaying it in the open. I mean I get it. At this point you may need to glance at a more slender version of the female form, but quite honestly I don't. Swimwear is actually a frightening thought for me at this point.

I do however recommended endless back massages without complaint and special treats like raisnets and gummy worms. Thanks for being a great husband Jim.

Spring Fashion

I didn't buy a maternity coat, so I recently had to switch over to a ridiculous over sized tent version of a jacket called my hubby's fleece. I can squeeze into my ski coat, but it requires a second person to zip me in. And it's snug. And hard to breath. So I try to limit time spent in the ski coat to the coldest of family walk time with Jim and Sofee. Yesterday it was just too cold for me during the day for an outside walk with only the fleece so I decided on some mall walking instead.

I'm loving all the bold colors for spring.
Especially the pinks and fushias.
Lots of stripes and bright bottoms.
And straight legs, cuffed with cute oxfords.

here

What I find a little disturbing is the neon. Why I understand the fashion trends tend to be cyclical, there are just somethings that we should leave in the 80s. While a little neon yellow belt or bracelet might be a cute add on I'm really hesitant to go full out fluorescent again, plus I spotted several off the shoulder tops and cut off sweatshirts in the more junior-ish stores. Good lord help us if the foot high, feathered AquaNet bangs come back.....

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Monday...

"Slow and steady wins the race."

~Aesop

Welcome back soft cheese

Occasionally people inquire about what my first post-pregnancy splurge will be. You know something I've been denied due to the creation of new life. For awhile I've been thinking sushi. That was until I say this. Goat cheese wrapped grapes! I'm drooling on my keyboard.

Creating New Life. Week 38 1/2

Nine more days until my 'due date' and another crappy Photo Booth picture for you to enjoy....


I bought this tunic style top to wear to my shower last month and haven't worn it since. It's really light weight and has a bit of a static issue. But today it's sunny and warm, so I decided to layer it with one of my favorite non-maternity cardigans, my skinny jeans, and boots for my big outing today; Ikea, lunch with a friend, then I'll finish off the excitement with a trip to WholeFoods. At least I had a reason to get dressed today.

Smoothies

I haven't really been loving food these days which would explain my lack of creativity in meal planning. It just seems like lots of stuff gives me heartburn or indigestion, plus I get full really fast. There's just not enough room in there! As far as dinners go I've been mostly sticking with stuff I've made in the past, I know Jim likes, and I think will be easy on my belly.

But, I have been doing some experimenting in the smoothie and juice category. The juicing thing is new and I don't think we've mastered it enough to share but smoothies on the other hand...I've made up some good mixes lately! They seem to go down easy and are a good source of protein for me, baby, and Jim.

The good thing about smoothies is pretty much anything goes. I guess this can also be the downfall of a smoothie. I found this post on No Meat Athlete to be a helpful guideline. We use to use the Magic Bullet to individual shakes, but it's kinda on it's last leg and I find it's sometimes hard to get everything I want in there and still get the right consistency. So, recently I started making a big batch in the late morning or early afternoon and just put the rest in the fridge for Jim when he gets home. Seems to be working for the time being.


Today's combination was a banana, frozen strawberries & pineapple, water, flax seed oil, rolled oats, a greek yogurt and raw protein powder. Yesterday, which turned out to be one of Jim's all time favorites I used a banana, frozen peaches and mango, soy milk, peanut butter, flax oil, and raw protein powder. Let's see what I can come up with for tomorrow!

Monday...

"Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us. "

~Boris Pasternak

Come out and play Baby!

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I'm officially on maternity leave. I think it was more for the patients than me. They were started to suddenly have no complaints and only concerns about the baby and whether or not it was actually Ok for me to still be working. Good peps I have in my office. Now I just have to figure out how to fill up my endless days and nights.

Things have been pretty low key recently. No major house projects. No travel or adventure (obviously). I haven't even been cooking anything new or exciting. We've just kinda been sticking to a wintery routine of walking the neighborhood, running errands, and getting things organized around the house. But now that we've accomplished that and Baby is still not here.....

What did you do while waiting for your first baby to arrive?
Any book or movie recommendations?
Did you start any strange nesting projects?

The bathroom reveal

I've been wanting to post some before/after photos of the bathroom but was waiting to get some pretty things hung on the wall. Doesn't seem like that's going to happen any time soon so here you go.

View from our master bedroom....

Before

During

After

Vanity...

Before-ish

After

Potty corner...

Before-ish. There use to be pink tile on the walls and a nice pink toilet.

During

After

And the grand finale....
The shower!

Before

During

After

Isn't she lovely?!

Creating New Life. Week 37 1/2

I can't believe my stomach use to look like this....

And six months later we've got this....

Birthday Stuff

Jim's a ripe old 32 today. Happy Birthday Love! We celebrated yesterday with his family & gluten free carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. YUM!


Gluten free baking still makes me a little nervous but I used Simply Organic Gluten Free mix, have used the mix before to make pumpkin spice bars so was pretty confident it wouldn't turn out terrible. I made a double batch this time to make 2-8 inch round cakes and added in 2 C. of grated carrots and 1/2 C. applesauce and it turned out awesome! For the cream cheese frosting I basically followed this recipe. I don't really measure the powdered sugar, I just add it until it taste right.

He's been really wanting a juicer so I splurged a little and got him a really nice one. I heard if you're going to do just do it right. He seems really happy with it so far. We experimented last night with a carrot apple variety and a beet one that tasted like dirty ginger. I just can't like beets, but I guess I'll keep trying.

Today I was feeling extra energetic and decided it was a good idea to stock up our fridge and pantry. We're filled up with extra veggies & fruits for juicing and some extra snacks for Jim's lunch. Still a yummy glass of beet dirt juice left....any takers?


I'm also working on a batch of creamy cauliflower soup for birthday dinner. It smells sooo good in the kitchen right now. I pretty much made up the recipe but there are lots of ones that sound delicious on the web like this one and this one.


For last years birthday.
and Jim turns 30 here and here.

Monday...

“It is utterly false and cruelly arbitrary to put all the play and learning into childhood, all the work into middle age, and all the regrets into old age.”

~Margaret Mead

Happy Birthday Jim!

Darn Cute Kids

Random

Sitting at the computer has been making my back hurt. I've been limiting my time overall and using a physioball instead of chair, which helps but still means limited and brief blogging time.

I'm in the middle of Mockingjay, the final book in the Hunger Game series. So far I think the first book was the best but I guess I should wait until I finish to make my final judgement. They're extremely quick reads and keep your attention. Have you gotten caught up in the hype? Will you watch the movie?

Jim came across an interesting post on NPR about a former vegan who makes a big life change to embrace butchering. The article also includes a pretty cool little documentary type video on the butchering and agriculture.

We recently watched FoodMatters. No matter what your views are on health & wellness it's worth watching. Some of it may seem like really drastic changes for people (like switching to a primarily whole foods diet) but in the end we all need to think more about what we put into our bodies and try to make steps towards better daily habits. Let's just say someone in our house might be getting a fancy new juicer for his birthday.

And not at all related to health food....how awesome is this cake?Must be my belly talking...

Monday...

"When love is not madness, it is not love."

~Pedro Calderon de La Barca

Another man's treasure

Some things in life are hard to come by. True love, good friends, a rewarding career, and lets not forget tin coffee cans. Seriously! Plastic has total taken over the industry but a tin coffee can, especially one with a lid, has so many uses. They are super sturdy and great for storing all kinds of things, like screws, nails, construction materials, buttons, or craft supplies. You can get really crazy and make a light fixture or lamp. You can paint them and use them as mini vases or planters for herbs.

You could easily have a few in every room of your house. If only they weren't so darn difficult to come by...

Well yesterday was Jim's lucky day. He was just walking down the street to work and there it was, a perfectly good tin coffee can in the street. A brief inspection revealed that it was not infested with roaches or been used as urinal by a homeless person, so he picked it up and continued on his way. Once inside the office, with great excitement, as he was carefully wiping and cleaning the canister, he showed off his new prize to several staff members. All of whom thought it was the weirdest thing. Why anyone in their right mind would pick up trash off the street? Perhaps it goes back to my redneck Ohio roots, but my initial response was "Sweet!"

A Hope Chest

The last few times I made a trip to Ohio, I packed up the extra space in our car with stuff I'm been storing at my dad's house for the last ten years. You know the kind of stuff you didn't want to get rid of but didn't want to lug around with you from apartment to apartment in college. Now that I have my own house my dad and I agreed it was time to clear some of it out.

One such item....
Jim and I have plans for a little paint job and transformation to a toy box for the babies room. But that meant first finding a home for the precious memories it has been storing for nearly 15 years. There were a few bigger items that were easier to make decisions about....a mirror (keep it), a collection of beautiful doilies that were my mothers (keep 'em), a few random stuff animals and cookbooks (donated).

Then we move onto to this lovely keepsake box filled with random, but apparently sentimental items......

Let's start with the paper collection: a laffy taffy wrapper, a card from by brother, the label from sparkling wine with NYE 1997 etched into the back, a completely random note from my dad that says nothing particularly touching or sentimental, a letter from my mom apologizing for an argument, a few touching sayings from Dove chocolate, a quote on perseverance, and a few other random encouraging notes/letters from adults such as our minister.


I tucked away the letter from my mom and tossed/recycled everything else.

Next up in the keepsake box were my random assortment of miniature "things" including: dried carnations, a hand-carved bear, Guatemalan worry dolls, some random Christmas ornaments, a pink shiny rock, and a really old Hershey kiss which I associate with a memory of my first "love" and the Goshen Dairy parking lot, although I can't be certain that it's an accurate connection.


I kept the necklace and worry dolls.

And finally, not in the keepsake box but in the chest itself we have the following figurines:

I think the suitcase is pretty suit so it's currently being used as a bookend in the living room. I donated everything else with the exception of the larger carousel house which is also a music box, which I would be nice if we have a girl or otherwise gifted to my adorable niece.

A whole chest of things that once seemed important and valuable.....

Showered

We were lucky enough to have two really wonderful showers to help prepare for Baby Robinson's arrival. Back in November my sister-in-law and sister hosted a small shower for some of my high school and college friends back in my home town. She decided on an adorable Dr. Seuss theme. I've been meaning to do a separate post about it because the decorations were sooo cute, but I'm computer challenged and can't figure out how to get the pictures she sent on Shutterfly onto my computer and/or blog. My sister-in-law did do a post on her blog so you can check out pictures there.

Last weekend was the second shower for my family and friends on the east coast. Again, the hosts (my friend Sarah and mother-in-law) went out of their way to make a beautiful and creative display. This time they decided on a fun multi-colored theme complete with a candy bar and handmade tissue paper flowers.

Jim and I are so thankful for all our wonderful family and friends. Everyone has been so supportive and generous throughout our whole preparations process! We are overwhelmed with excitement and can't wait for out little one to meet everyone! One more month!!!

Monday...

"I have decided to stick to love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. "

~Martin Luther King, Jr.