Annoyed

I am just feeling annoyed lately. Not any really good reason, but I am.

I had a wonderful day at the spa on Monday and the massage was literally the best I have ever had, pregnant or not. She did a wonderful job and really worked on my right hip and back which helped a little bit with the pain I have been having. I am still hurting throughout the day, but the last few nights I have slept great and my back didn't hurt at all. I scheduled another massage in a few weeks. I figured the closer I get to delivery the better a massage will feel. Which speaking of delivery, I only have a little bit more to go. I will be 36 weeks on Sunday, so only 4 weeks to go.

I ran a ton of errands yesterday and did a lot of cleaning, which really wore me out. But I do feel much better about getting that stuff done. I went to Sam's and loaded up on all the household necessities, so we should be able to make it until after the baby is born.

I am pretty much prepared. I have made all my lists for everything and we are going to be packing our bags as best we can this weekend, just in case.

So you would think with all my preparation I would be in a great mood and enjoying my last few weeks with only one child, but I am just a cranky bitch. I don't want to talk to anyone, I would prefer to be snippy and mean. I want to go to bed early and I want to lay around and do nothing. By the way, while I am typing this I am getting a full foot up in my right ribs, it is awesome. The baby has really positioned itself straight down, so the feet are way up in my ribs. I am ready for it to drop a little bit more. Something positive is that I continue to stay around the 30 pound gained mark. I gain and lose a few pounds every few days. I have a lot of water weight, but I haven't really gone over 31 pounds. This is great since I believe at this point in my my pregnancy with Samuel I gained probably 45 pounds.

I am going to go now and be irritated and try to read a little bit. I think in about a week or two I will enter the stage of "if I don't get this baby out now, I will kill every person that I encounter." I am not quite there yet.

Day of Pampering

I hate that the weekend just flew by. I can't believe that it is already Monday. It is a good thing I am going to be busy today. I get to drop Samuel off at Mother's Day Out, go to an appointment from 10-11, then at 11:30 I have a pregnancy massage, then a manicure and then a pedicure. I am so excited for an afternoon of pampering.

My back has really been killing me, so I can't wait for the massage.

It is still pretty cold here, but is supposed to warm up this week. We are having chili and corn bread tonight.

Tomorrow is Mexican night.

I haven't figured out food for the rest of the week, but maybe I will get some inspiration today.

I did make the yummiest quiche yesterday. I have never made one before and it was so good. I used a pre-made pie crust (because I had some leftover from the holidays). I poked holes in the crust, coated it with one egg white and then baked the crust for about 8 minutes and then let it cool for 10 minutes. Then I mixed five eggs and the remaining egg white together with a little pepper, Gruyere Cheese (about 2 cups), fresh spinach chopped, and Mascarpone Cheese (1/2 cup, 4oz). Then I poured it in the pie crust and cooked it for about 15 minutes, until the middle was set. I wish I took a picture because it was delicious.

Next time I might add Feta Cheese instead of Gruyere. You could use any cheese and add meat or anything. It was really delicious. Even Samuel and Dave ate some and neither one really like eggs. Yum!

For Christmas Samuel got some Play-Doh. He just got it yesterday from Dee and Jessica and we decided to let him play. I think at first Dave and I had more fun playing and Samuel was clueless, but then he discovered how to use the garlic press and was amused for almost 45 minutes. We took a little video. He was so serious about pressing the Play-Doh through. He is talking a little bit more lately and we got a little on video. He still isn't that clear with a lot of his language, but I think it is beginning. I have noticed he is picking up words from his mother's day out, some good and some bad.

(This is all for Samuel's baby book, so not really necessary for you all to read unless you want)

He says very clearly (should keep track because I know there is a lot more and I just can't remember):

Mine

Bye-Bye

Hello

Hi

Mom

Papa

Ouch

George

Juice

Fish

Ice

Bob (his other name for George)

Boob (for Bube, my grandmother and for the actual boob)

LaLa (for Aunt Laura)

Car

Choo-Choo (for train)

Tons of animal sounds

Blue

Yellow

Book

Pee

Poop

No

Yes

A, B

Other words that he says but not super clear:

Pocket (Pa-K)

Cheetah (some reason he loves to say that, I think it is because he loves eating Cheetoes)

Dada (he says Gaga, he hates saying dad and just prefers to sign it)

Taylor (Ta-Ta)

Oma (Ga-ma)

Opa (Ga-pa)

Savta (Sa-Ta)

Jonathan (J-na-tn)

He says Lu-ai all the time and we have no idea what it means

He said Ka-Ka last night non stop and we have no idea what he was saying it for.

Red

Okay that is enough for now. Here is the video.

Date Night

Dave and I had a date night last night. We were trying to decide if we wanted to do dinner and a movie, but we have both been so tired lately that we figured we would just do dinner and come home.

We had reservations at 6 at Brio. We had heard mixed reviews from people. We heard the service was bad and the food can be good some days a bad others. Well we had a wonderful time. Our waiter was great and the food was delicious. When we first sat down, they ended up having to move us to another table because they had a huge party. Because we had to move (which was no big deal) they gave us a free appetizer. The huge party was a group of high school kids, which we think were about to attend a winter dance. Oh my gosh they looked so young, it was scary.

Anyway, we ate a wonderful dinner and then paid the bill and looked at our watches and it was only 7 pm. There was no way we were going home that early. We didn't get dessert at Brio so we decided we would head to the mall, walk around and maybe get some chocolate. We ended up shopping at Nordstroms (they are having some great deals right now), getting chocolate at Godiva and Dave finally got some new sunglasses. It was a successful trip and also so relaxing. We didn't get home until about 8:45.

Now, I am up relaxed and ready for the day. I actually got some sleep last night which was a nice change.

Samuel has swimming lessons today with Dave, so I have at least a hour to get stuff done around the house alone.

I need to go grocery shopping and start getting things ready for the upcoming arrival of the baby.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Snow Day

It snowed last night, not much only a couple of inches, but the temperature dropped considerably. It is freezing outside. I think the high today is 11 and the windchill I believe makes it negative something. I think every school and day care is closed today. I was thinking this morning about how difficult it would be if I was working and I had Samuel in daycare. My old boss was terrible and told me that if I was working and Samuel got sick or needed to be taken to the doctor or we have a snow day for some reason, Dave would have to take off work. She was a big bitch and I am lucky that I don't have to deal with terrible bosses that would make my life miserable. These are the days that I feel really lucky to be able to stay at home.

Also, I am not sleeping at night at all. I am super uncomfortable, my lower back is killing me and the baby is kicking me non-stop in the middle of the night. It wasn't active at all during the day yesterday and then it just went nuts as soon as I got in bed. It is pretty active today which isn't make me feel so great. I am just worn out and being worn out means that my patience level is very low. I am not in the mood to deal with an active boy who wants my attention every second.

I am about to pop in a pregnancy workout video that my friend Andrea let me borrow. It says it helps with energy, back aches and just overall relaxes you, which is what I desperately need right now. I tried walking on the treadmill the other day and it feels great while I am working out, but then about an hour later, my back starts really hurting. I have to do something because I know it will make me feel better.

Earlier today, Samuel and I ventured outside, since it is a snow day. He loved every minute of it even though it was freezing. Here are some pictures:

Then at lunch today, he decided that he preferred to eat his food like this....crazy boy:

Baby does not like Veggies

The past couple of days we have been making healthy dinners with lots of veggies. Last night we made chicken and veggie kabobs (pictures below), it was mostly veggies and a little chicken. Anyway, I was in terrible pain last night. The baby hated dinner. I thought it tasted great, but it would not sit still. It kicked and moved more last night then it has my entire pregnancy. Yesterday, I am pretty sure that the baby dropped a little because I began having some really sharp pains pretty low, then with the movement last night I was miserable. I barely got any sleep and I was having two really strong contractions every hour. I am not eating many veggies today. I don't think my belly can handle it.

On a positive note, the food we have been making has been delicious.

Monday night we had Roasted Veggies Sandwiches with Mozzarella cheese:

We used: Red onion, yellow bell pepper, zucchini, squash, mushrooms and tomatoes. Fresh Mozzarella cheese and we bought a Tuscan loaf of bread from Whole Foods and sliced it into think slices (next time I will use a heartier bread because the juices from the veggies made the bread a little soggy).

We headed up our indoor grill to about Medium, lightly brushed all the veggies with good olive oil and lightly seasoned with salt and pepper. We grilled them about 4 minutes on each side until they were pretty cooked.

We lightly brushed both sides of the slices of bread with olive oil and seasoned with a little bit of garlic salt and basil. We grill both sides of the bread so it was nice and toasted. While on the grill we added the mozzarella cheese so it would melt a bit.

Then we assembled the sandwiches (we didn't grill the tomatoes) piled on all the veggies and ate it up. Here is the final product:

Chicken and Veggie Kabobs:

We used: Chicken, zucchini, squash, red onions, green red and yellow bell peppers, mushrooms and pineapple.

We tossed all the veggies and chicken in olive oil and a seasoning mix (which I think had paprika, chili powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder).

We loaded the skewers and then loaded them onto our indoor grill. It took about 30 minutes total to cook them all thoroughly.

I also made a packed of mixed brown rice, that Samuel LOVED. He ate tons of rice, chicken and pineapple. He even tried the zucchini. The first bite went down fine and the rest were spit out immediately.

Here are some pictures of the cooking process and final product:

Lastly, Samuel had to have cereal last night (maybe because he turned 22 months yesterday, he was ready to start acting like a big boy). We have never given him a bowl of cereal before with milk in it, but he was signing for milk when I gave him a bowl of the dry cereal, so I thought what the heck, he may like it. He LOVED it. He ate two pretty good size bowls. He ate with his spoon and barely made a mess. Dave and I were cooking the dinner last night and I looked back to see how Samuel was doing with his cereal and he had the bowl up to his mouth drinking the milk. I grabbed the camera as fast as I could and I got some great pictures. How did he know to do that? I couldn't tell you. Here are some pictures of our big boy:

Hot Hot Hot

I know it is only 13 degrees outside and with the windchill who knows how cold, but I am so freaking hot. I guess my hormones are raging because I am hot all the time. I had a doctor's appointment this morning and I was sweating in the waiting room and another lady was there and she was freezing (with her coat and hat still on). As soon as I got in the room to wait for the doctor I stripped down to just my tank top. The nurses were laughing because they said they were all freezing in the back and I finally comfortable.

So, I have gained 31 pounds total. I feel like I am retaining water today because I ate some chips last night and I think I swelled in the middle of the night, but I don't even care because I am entering the home stretch. The baby's heartbeat was 160 bpm. That was the fastest it has ever been. The doctor measured me and then pushed around on my stomach and I think it got the baby agitated because it wouldn't sit still and that could be a reason for the high heartbeat. Anyway, I think I am going to take a guess that I am having a girl, but it is still 50/50.

I have been having some really hard and long contractions. Some of the contractions are really painful. Since I have been having so many contractions, the doctor gave me a pelvic exam and the baby's head is still down, but hasn't dropped much at all. My cervix is dilated to 1cm, but it is still very thick so there is no chance of going into labor in the near future. Pretty exciting though, only 9 more cm to go. I go back to the doctor in two weeks and then every week after that.

I think we pretty much have everything we need for the baby for now. I just bought some diapers and I think we are set. I can either get more stuff of wash more clothes depending on the sex of the baby.

Dave and I bought a grill pan to put on our stove this past weekend, so we planned some yummy meals this week.

Sunday we had Turkey Meatloaf with brussel sprouts and honey glazed sweet potatoes.

Monday: Roasted Veggie Sandwiches with Mozzarella cheese and a spinach salad

Tuesday: Chicken and Veggie Kabobs with wild rice

Wednesday: Steak Tips with peppered mushroom gravy on top of egg noodles

Haven't figured out the rest of the week yet.

Here are some pictures from the last week:

Snowfall on Christmas (not much snow, but Samuel liked it):

Samuel got a backpack from Uncle Izzy and Aunt Kay for Hanukkah and Christmas, he loves it:

His name of the back is so cute:

Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Laura got Samuel a tricycle for Christmas and he loves it but hasn't really figured out how to peddle by himself:

Our new washer and dryer:

Baby Room and new furniture:

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it is 2010. This past year really flew by. We had a great and busy year in 2009. I am not a fortune teller, but I have a feeling this next year is going to be even busier and a little more trying then last year.

Now that we have entered January, the countdown for the new baby has really begun. We only have 41 days to go. Crazy. Dave last night said that he is thinking that we are going to have the baby in January, but I am hoping it holds off to February.

I have tons of laundry and housework to do today.

This year I really couldn't decide what I wanted as my New Years resolution. I have lots of goals for the year, but only one I consider to be my true new years resolution. I would like to finish one rough draft of a novel this year. I started a couple of versions of different novels and I would like to have a rough draft of at least one. We will see how that goes.

Other goals for the year:

1. Lose all my baby weight, plus a bit more.

2. Eat healthy and exercise regularly.

3. Potty train Samuel.

4. Put our house back on the market, sell it and move.

I know Dave and I thought of more stuff yesterday, but I can't remember this morning.

We had a great New Years last night. We hung out with Justin, Charisa, Vance and Vaughn. It was a very nice relaxing evening and a great way to bring in the new year. Today we are going to continue to relax.

I hope everyone has a wonderful year!