Week 25

October 14, 2011

Best Moment: Week 25 was a fun one! We spent one day in Houston to attend the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover Live event. It was great-- he is just so entertaining, and we love his message. We're already FPU graduates, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see him person. (This may make us total dorks, but we're OK with that.) After the event, we toured around the historic Houston Heights neighborhood and had a great dinner at Zelko Bistro before hitting the road back to Austin. And, then, a few days later we had our 24 week doctor's appointment. We are so grateful that everything continues to look great with the Bean.

Symptoms: This was the first week that I really started to feel pregnant. I now apparently grunt a little (involuntarily) when I bend over over squat down. Rolling over in bed is kind of an event. And my lower back is starting to hurt. My pre-natal yoga definitely helps with the aches and pains, so it may be time to step up my attendance to twice a week.

Cravings/Aversions: Nothing new here. I have been cooking up a storm lately though. I've just been in the mood for classic comfort food like the tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches I shared earlier this week, as well as fried chicken and peach pie (a meal that deserves a post of its own!)

What I Miss: Not too much, although my latest aches and pains are helping me envision a time when I just want this baby here (vs. stressing about how long my to-do list is, and how little time I have to do it.) I can see a time in the very near future when I think I'll just start feeling ready for him to arrive, regardless of the state of my to-do list.

What I Can't Wait For: My parents' visit next week!

Milestones: Jelly Bean is now over a foot long and pushing two pounds. He's growing hair (wonder if he'll be a red head or a brunette?) and starting to fill out a little bit with some cute baby fat.

Comfort Food

Since the temperatures have finally cooled off a little bit here in Texas, I have been feeling a serious urge to cook and I think I am recapturing a little bit of the kitchen mojo I lost during a queasy first trimester that segued nicely into the hottest summer on record and our month of no air conditioning-- essentially the perfect storm for a summer of no cooking. But, over the past few weeks, I've been revisiting a bunch of old favorites, as well as trying out some new recipes, and have some good ones to share.

First up: ooey gooey grilled cheese with bacon (cooked in bacon fat, no less) and homemade spicy tomato soup. This pregnancy has me craving comfort food in a major way, so this recipe isn't necessarily for anyone counting calories, but it's definitely tasty! Comfort food at it's best.

Bacon Grilled Cheese & Spicy Tomato Soup
Serves 2
(Adapted from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine, March 2011.)

1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes
1 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes
red pepper flakes to taste
salt & pepper
1/4 c. half & half
3-4 slices bacon
4 slices sandwich bread (I like good sourdough bread)
2/3 c. cheddar grated
pesto

In a medium pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes (I just shake in about a teaspoon or two), as well as salt and pepper, and cook until fragrant-- about 1 minute. Add tomatoes with juice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 15 minutes. Transfer to a blender or use an immersion blender and puree until smooth. Stir in half & half.

In a skillet, cook bacon over medium-high until browned and crisp. Drain on paper towels. Remove pan with fat from heat and drain all but about a tablespoon of the bacon fat. Add bread slices, and layer with half the cheese, the bacon, and the rest of the cheese, and then the second bread slice. Return to medium heat and cook until the bread is browned on one side (2-3 minutes.) Flip and brown on the other side.

Serve the sandwich with a bowl of the soup. Add a dollop of pest to the soup if desired. (You will probably have leftover soup, and it makes a great lunch the next day.) Enjoy!

Weeks 23 - 24

October 7, 2011

Best Moment: It continues to be pretty hectic 'round these parts. Lots of travel and demanding projects at work, coupled with a seemingly unending to-do list at home. But things feel like they're finally starting to come together at our new place. The month of no AC (where we basically lived like refugees) set us back a little, but I'm starting to feel much more settled. Over the past two weeks, we got our new sectional and media console delivered, got our washer and dryer swapped out (the original ones we purchased when we moved in had some issues), and, on the baby front, picked up our crib. (Putting it together will be another matter entirely.) We also visited our first daycare, and, despite my hesitations, really liked it. We'd like to tour a few more before making any commitments, but we're currently on the waiting list for the first one.

Symptoms: It continues to be fairly smooth sailing. I'm generally feeling good and seem to have a little bit more energy back. The bean is moving pretty regularly and I've started noticing consistent activity patterns. He likes to let me know when he's hungry (when I'm hungry), and then shortly after I've eaten he seems to get a second wind (must be the blood sugar kicking in). He's also fairly active in the evening when I am relaxing, and when I first wake up in the morning. I think I might be waking him up when I roll over to get up.

Cravings/Aversions: Nothing new here. I still love me some sugar. But I am trying to make sure I get lots of fruits, veggies, and healthy proteins too.

What I Miss: Not much right now! Enjoying it while I can.

What I Can't Wait For: My parents are coming for a visit in two weeks, which I am really excited about. We're frantically trying to finish up a bunch of projects around the house, as well as paint the baby's room, before they arrive. I'll post pictures one of these days!

Milestones: Does eating 3 cupcakes in one sitting count? OK, Jason had several bites of each, but he made me post this picture. As many things as I'm looking forward to enjoying again once this baby arrives, I will kind of miss the cupcakes...

Weeks 21-22

I'm almost a week behind, but trying to catch up. I'm 22 weeks and 3 days in this picture.

September 23, 2011

Best Moment: Weeks 21 and 22 were busy ones! (Hence my lack of posting, but I'm trying to get back on track.) On September 13th we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary... and I got the best anniversary gift ever. No, not jewelry. Even better. That's right. Our air conditioning finally got fully replaced, and it has been working (knock on wood) ever since. Later that week I headed east to Portland, Maine for an old friend's wedding. The weather was chilly, but sunny and brisk, and such a nice change of pace from Austin (where it's still over 100.) The wedding was beautiful and it was great to catch up with a bunch of old friends from when I lived in San Francisco. Work and business travel kept me occupied for most of week 22, but we did have another ultrasound and we got the great news that everything looks great with our baby boy.

Symptoms: He is wiggling up a storm these days, and I love it. I don't love my ridiculous fatigue, but I think my travel schedule and hectic pace these days is probably a big part of the problem. I just need to get used to going to bed at 9pm every night.

Cravings/Aversions: Sugar. I know, it's terrible. I need to tone it down before my glucose test.

What I Miss: Not too much. Mostly just my energy... I thought I was supposed to be brimming with it during the second trimester, but I guess I can't complain about it too much since I've had it pretty easy in most other areas.

What I Can't Wait For: We picked out crib bedding and now it's time to start painting and really get moving on the nursery. I'm looking forward to seeing it come together.

Milestones: Jelly Bean reached a full pound during week 22 (verified at our most recent ultrasound.) It's nice to know that I can attribute at least 1 pound of my weight gain to him! (Kidding... sort of.) He's also just shy of a foot long. I've also wrapped up 5 full months of this pregnancy and now I am (amazingly) beginning my sixth month!

Week 20

September 9, 2011

Best Moment: This week included several highlights. Most of our impromptu trip up to Fort Worth occurred during week 20, and we really enjoyed ourselves despite the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the trip. Reaching the halfway point in my pregnancy was also really exciting. It's hard to believe I'm now over the hump and closer to the end! And, wow, do I have stuff I need to get done. The best moment of the week, however, came on Friday night when I finally felt Jelly Bean move-- for sure this time. I thought I had felt him once or twice before, but wasn't quite sure. But on Friday night, right after dinner, he started moving and there was no mistaking it. Now it's a regular occurrence, particularly after meals and when I'm relaxing.

Symptoms: Lots of baby movement... finally!

Cravings/Aversions: Nothing out of the ordinary... I say this every week, but my appetite just seems to be getting bigger and bigger. As does my stomach.

What I Miss: Having a short to-do list? I'm not sure. I don't think life ever really slows down, but it's feeling particularly hectic these days.

What I Can't Wait For: We're looking forward to our upcoming 20 week doctor appointment and fetal anatomy scan.

Milestones: We've made it halfway! That is a huge milestone. Jelly Bean is also growing up a storm, now weighing in around 11 oz. and measuring the length of a banana.

The saga continues...

We are now approaching a full 4 weeks without functional air conditioning. As I mentioned in my last post, it's been fixed on several occasions, worked great for 12-18 hours, and then stopped again. The breaking point came over Labor Day weekend. After many appointments with two different repair companies, it was working as of Friday afternoon before the holiday weekend. We had been out of the house for the previous two weekends and I was so happy and excited to think about enjoying the long weekend at home in our nice, cool house.

Then, as I was driving home, I got the dreaded call from Jason that he'd just returned home and our house was over 90 again. At this point our landlord finally agreed that a full replacement of the air conditioning unit was necessary, but it was still going to be another week or two to get the parts and get it installed through his home warranty company. (Note to self: NEVER purchase a home warranty when we buy a home... the service has been terrible and the work orders are placed at the bottom of the stack for all the vendors that are contracted to do the repairs. There is no sense of urgency-- presumably because they're being paid at a lower rate than their non-warranty jobs-- and thus we've gone a month without air conditioning.)

Since our landlord had been paying for hotel rooms intermittently, and offered to again over Labor Day weekend, we decided we might as well go stay in a hotel in a new city. So we headed off to Fort Worth. I was in a pretty bad mood about our third consecutive weekend out of the house, when all I really wanted to do was tackle our last boxes and start working on the baby's room, but we actually had a really good time... we enjoyed a few good meals, hit up the zoo (which is one of the top 5 in the country and really pretty), toured the Kimbell Art Museum, visited the famed stockyards, and indulged in some In'n'Out, a west coast favorite (newly opened in Fort Worth and Dallas.) Mmmm...

Hanging with the flamingos (we only took pictures at the end of the visit, thus they all feature birds...)

Moving on to lunch...

...totally worth the wait.

Nom, nom, nom!

Overall, we really liked Forth Worth. It was very pretty, and definitely felt like a smaller town. Very laid back, and very different than Dallas. If our AC had to break (again), it was fun to get away for a spur of the moment trip. I kept reminding myself that once the baby arrives, these types of weekends will be few and far between, so it felt a little like a special, impromptu babymoon.

When we got back to Austin on Monday, we were greeted with highs around 90 (shocking!) and predicted lows in the low 60s (even more shocking!) It slowly got warmer throughout the week, but we made it through this past Saturday with a steady rotation of fans and opening all the windows in the very early morning to circulate that nice, cool air. Now it's back in the 100+ range (up to 111 today), and the repair company should be coming tomorrow or Wednesday to install the new unit. Meanwhile, our landlords are on vacation, so they've offered us their house until the repair is complete. I felt kind of weird about it at first, but now that I see 111 on the forecast, I have no qualms about packing my overnight bag and heading right on over there. I will be enjoying a swim in their pool this evening.

Fingers crossed that this is the final installment in this air conditioning saga... If nothing else, I have a trip to Maine to look forward to this weekend, and it's supposed to be in the 50s there.

Weeks 18 and 19

August 26, 2011 - 18 weeks (and 33 years old!) -and- September 2, 2011 - 19 weeks

I'm a little behind on my weekly updates, so today you get two for one, and then I'll post this week's update over the weekend.

Best Moment: There have been several highlights over the past few weeks. I celebrated my birthday on August 26th with a delicious meal at Wink. We had the tasting menu, and it was fantastic. It was a little tamer than some of my past birthdays, but I was determined to at least enjoy a great meal, and we succeeded. We also enjoyed about 18 blissful hours of air conditioning from the evening of the 26th up until the following afternoon. I've save the rest of the details for later, but suffice it to say, our air conditioning is not currently in working order. Those were a really nice 18 hours, though.

Symptoms: Not too much to report here. I've still been getting sharp round ligament pains pretty frequently, but overall I'm feeling good. I haven't felt him move much though. Two or three times I've felt little twinges (like a small bubble popping), but I'm not sure if that's him, or, ahem, some digestion issues.

Cravings/Aversions: I haven't been experiencing anything in the way of aversions lately, but my appetite continues to grow by the week. Does ice cream count as a craving? Because I want dessert-- particularly of the icy cold and creamy variety-- at least once a day. Moderation will be key.

What I Miss: Not too much... I am just trying to enjoy this period of feeling good while it lasts.

What I Can't Wait For: I am feeling a major urge to start getting the nursery ready and attacking our to-do list. Due to the AC being broken for most of the past month, we've had to be out of our house for the past 3 weekends-- meaning we haven't been able to make any progress on our huge list. (And we still have boxes in our garage to unpack!) I am seriously looking forward to a.) air conditioning that works on a daily basis; and b.) tackling our baby list.

Milestones: As of 19 weeks, he weighs in at just over a half pound and is about the size of a large heirloom tomato (which is appropriate this time of year... mmm... I could go for a caprese salad.) Jelly bean can probably hear my voice now, and he is starting to sprout hair on his scalp.