Cyrus and I arrived in Denver yesterday for another month so that I can work 30 hours a week for my uncle. Jason took Friday off to facilitate the laundry/packing process. As I often do when I have a lot to accomplish, I had a basic schedule laid out in my head of how Friday should go:
6:00am Wake up, play downstairs, eat breakfast
8:00am Go for a walk with Cyrus and Jager
9:00am Get home, start laundry
11:30am In and Out for Lunch (what, I've been having a craving!)
12:00pm Home, Cyrus down for a nap, pack while he sleeps
2:30pm Cyrus wakes up, we go do something fun, like go swimming or go to the park
5:00pm Get home and make dinner, which we then eat together as a family
7:00pm Cyrus to bed, Jason and I spend the rest of the evening relaxing
10:00pm Go to bed
I should know by now that when I make plans, God laughs. Here's how my day actually went:
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
It's A...
Oh. Wait, did I forget to mention that I'm pregnant? Perhaps that's because I've forgotten to blog for the past 3 months or so....
Well, I am pregnant. Somewhere around 16 weeks or so, due date around the end of September. I've decided not to put a lot of stock in my due date, considering that babies just don't care about them. Cyrus thought that 16 days past my due date was the appropriate time to make an appearance.
Anyway, back to being pregnant. Now, normally, you don't get to find out your baby's gender until somewhere between 18 and 22 weeks when they do the full anatomy ultrasound. However, there was some concern from my midwives that perhaps I was further along than we all thought. I can tell you this - I started fighting my non-pregnancy clothes at about 8 weeks. Yikes! I was hoping I was further along just for some validation on the oversized belly. So we had an ultrasound last Thursday.
Alas, no. I am in fact right about where we all originally thought that I was. However, on the plus side, I am far enough along that they could tell the baby's sex! Woohoo!
Before I share the results, I'd like to give a little background. With Cyrus, both Jason and I suspected we were having a girl, though neither of us felt particularly strongly about it. Obviously we were wrong. With this baby, I almost didn't feel the need to find out the sex because I was absolutely, dead certain that it was boy. Convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt. Plus, there were several reasons why having a boy the second time around would be absolutely PERFECT!
1. Every storage space in my house is packed to overflowing with baby boy stuff. Not one to waste, I saved everything of Cy's, knowing we planned to have a few more kids. I also hate spending money, and the thought of being able to reuse 99% of what would be needed made me positively giddy. If this baby was a boy, I would need exactly two items: a crib, and a double stroller. Perfect!
2. We have a boy name all picked out. Easy peasy. If this baby was a girl, it was going to be all out war. We had hypothetically talked about girl names, you know, just to be fair, not because we thought we were having one, and we flat out could not agree on a single name. Not a one! It had to be boy, just so that the poor thing could have a name!
3. Cyrus is a boy. The kiddos will be just over 2 years apart, and having another boy means a best friend and playmate for life.
4. Most importantly, I feel like I know what I'm doing with boys. Girls are kind of beyond me. They confound me to a degree. To this end, I think I had convinced myself that we would only have boys. Oh sure, the thought of one girl, maybe the last baby, was kind of nice, but really not necessary. Nope, this one needed to be a boy so that he could have a chance of being somewhat normal.
Are you laughing yet? Because God was. Are you seeing where this is going? Because I did not.
Since Jason couldn't make it to the ultrasound, I asked the ultrasound tech to write the sex of the baby on a piece of paper and fold it up so that we could see it together. When we opened the envelope, we saw a cute little drawing and the words:
* As a side note, my brother-in-law and his wife are also having a baby in September, toward the beginning of the month. They found on the same day as us what they were having. They were as convinced that their baby was a girl as we were that ours was a boy. They were wrong too! It would appear that Wells parents are just terrible at parental instinct when it comes to the gender of our babies!
Well, I am pregnant. Somewhere around 16 weeks or so, due date around the end of September. I've decided not to put a lot of stock in my due date, considering that babies just don't care about them. Cyrus thought that 16 days past my due date was the appropriate time to make an appearance.
Anyway, back to being pregnant. Now, normally, you don't get to find out your baby's gender until somewhere between 18 and 22 weeks when they do the full anatomy ultrasound. However, there was some concern from my midwives that perhaps I was further along than we all thought. I can tell you this - I started fighting my non-pregnancy clothes at about 8 weeks. Yikes! I was hoping I was further along just for some validation on the oversized belly. So we had an ultrasound last Thursday.
Alas, no. I am in fact right about where we all originally thought that I was. However, on the plus side, I am far enough along that they could tell the baby's sex! Woohoo!
Before I share the results, I'd like to give a little background. With Cyrus, both Jason and I suspected we were having a girl, though neither of us felt particularly strongly about it. Obviously we were wrong. With this baby, I almost didn't feel the need to find out the sex because I was absolutely, dead certain that it was boy. Convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt. Plus, there were several reasons why having a boy the second time around would be absolutely PERFECT!
1. Every storage space in my house is packed to overflowing with baby boy stuff. Not one to waste, I saved everything of Cy's, knowing we planned to have a few more kids. I also hate spending money, and the thought of being able to reuse 99% of what would be needed made me positively giddy. If this baby was a boy, I would need exactly two items: a crib, and a double stroller. Perfect!
2. We have a boy name all picked out. Easy peasy. If this baby was a girl, it was going to be all out war. We had hypothetically talked about girl names, you know, just to be fair, not because we thought we were having one, and we flat out could not agree on a single name. Not a one! It had to be boy, just so that the poor thing could have a name!
3. Cyrus is a boy. The kiddos will be just over 2 years apart, and having another boy means a best friend and playmate for life.
4. Most importantly, I feel like I know what I'm doing with boys. Girls are kind of beyond me. They confound me to a degree. To this end, I think I had convinced myself that we would only have boys. Oh sure, the thought of one girl, maybe the last baby, was kind of nice, but really not necessary. Nope, this one needed to be a boy so that he could have a chance of being somewhat normal.
Are you laughing yet? Because God was. Are you seeing where this is going? Because I did not.
Since Jason couldn't make it to the ultrasound, I asked the ultrasound tech to write the sex of the baby on a piece of paper and fold it up so that we could see it together. When we opened the envelope, we saw a cute little drawing and the words:
It's a GIRL!
Bring on the naming war and pink frilly dresses!
* As a side note, my brother-in-law and his wife are also having a baby in September, toward the beginning of the month. They found on the same day as us what they were having. They were as convinced that their baby was a girl as we were that ours was a boy. They were wrong too! It would appear that Wells parents are just terrible at parental instinct when it comes to the gender of our babies!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
The Tenacity of Toddlers
First of all, for those who follow (and I mean that in the loosest sense of the word, since it has been almost a year from the last post) Cy's blog, I've decided to go ahead and start posting over there again. We'll see how long it lasts. It is private, so if you want an invite, or need a new invite, just send me an email or reply to this post, and I'll hook you up.
Now, on to my post. This evening before dinner, Cyrus and I were building towers with his Mega Blocks. He's just started to figure out how they work, but likes to stick to stacking those blocks that are similar: for example, only blocks with four pegs, or only blocks with one peg. The one peg blocks seem to be his favorite, as there are many, many of them, and he can make a really tall tower. Here is how the tower building went tonight:
Now, on to my post. This evening before dinner, Cyrus and I were building towers with his Mega Blocks. He's just started to figure out how they work, but likes to stick to stacking those blocks that are similar: for example, only blocks with four pegs, or only blocks with one peg. The one peg blocks seem to be his favorite, as there are many, many of them, and he can make a really tall tower. Here is how the tower building went tonight:
Tower #1. I had to balance it very carefully to get this picture.
Oh! And it's down! Cy was just getting ready to place this stack of blocks on top of the tower when it collapsed.
No matter. We'll just start over again.
Cy's particular tower-building strategy includes placing several blocks together and then placing that section onto the tower.
Just. A few. More. Blocks! Seconds later, the tower came tumbling to the ground, much to the glee of one little boy.
This process was repeated several times over, until it was time for dinner. I love it!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
I've been waiting months for this...
Tortilla Soup!
(Picture courtesy of Food network, though mine looks pretty similar)
I used to strongly dislike soups, but I've developed a recent affinity for them, especially the hearty ones. One of my favorite things about them is how very flexible they are. Start with a base, and then adjust it however you want. It is the perfect opportunity to get creative for someone like me, who is kind of a die-hard recipe follower most of the time. This particular recipe is adapted from Rachel Ray's Why-the-Chicken-Crossed-the-Road Santa Fe-Tastic Tortilla Soup.
In addition to have an absurdly long name, it also has some extra steps that I don't think are necessary. I've found a few shortcuts that I think get the same flavor but with way less work. I also add beans, which I think bulks out the soup, or allows me to use less chicken if I'm feeling a bit cheap. Plus, I make mine in the crock pot. I initially did so out of necessity, but I've found that it is a very satisfying feeling to have dinner preparation completely finished by 1pm, or 2pm, or whenever I get around to it! So here is my adaptation of her recipe:
Olive oil for sauteing
1/2 to 1 pound Chicken breast or tenders, cubed
1 medium onion
1-2 zucchini, chopped
1 bell pepper, or some frozen chopped bell peppers (red peppers were a $1.79 a piece today! I used frozen from Trader Joe's - worked great!)
1/2 a bag of frozen corn, or 1 can of corn, or however much you like - we like corn in our house!
3 cloves garlic
1-4 Chipotle peppers in Adobo, plus some of the Adobo sauce
2-3 14 ounce cans of fire-roasted tomatoes (or some combination of fire-roasted, diced and stewed. I highly recommend the fire-roasted in some quantity - it adds a little extra smoke without the work of charring the corn and peppers)
1-2 cans of beans (I use one black and one kidney)
3-4 cups of Chicken Stock
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
Garnishes:
Avocado
Yogurt or sour cream
Blue corn tortilla chips
Cilantro
Shredded Cheese
Hot sauce
Saute chicken pieces in olive oil until browned. Remove, add a little more oil if needed, and then add the onion, zucchini and garlic, and bell pepper if using fresh. Once veggies are slightly browned, but not too soft, add the chipotle peppers. I like to chop mine a little first. Put the veggies and chicken into a 6 quart or larger crock-pot. Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, beans, cumin, and chili powder. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. Add the corn and frozen peppers (if using) during the last 1-2 hours of cooking.
Serve with some or all of the above garnishes, or none, if you want to be all purist. But I highly recommend the tortilla chips - is it called tortilla soup, after all. I serve it with a salad and homemade cornbread - very few things can top that!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
We need some Christmas decorations around here, STAT
These are the highs this week here in Phoenix, AZ:
Wednesday: 77
Thursday: 75
Friday: 78
Saturday: 77
Sunday: 77
Monday: 80
Eighty! In December! I wore a t-shirt and capris today, all day, and was totally comfortable - even a little warm! OK, I realize that I probably have nothing on Bridget in the UAE...but still, these temperatures take a little getting used to. I have to remind myself several times a day that we are well into the month of December and that, oh yeah, Christmas is right around the corner.
Due to moving/unpacking etc, we have yet to procure a Christmas tree or dig out any of Christmas decorations. However, this is top on my list of to-dos for tomorrow. I'm afraid that if I don't make this a priority, it will suddenly be December 26th and I will have missed Christmas all together!
Speaking of Christmas trees, how does everyone feel about fake trees? I used to be vehemently opposed, but then after my first Christmas tree in NY cost $65, I decided that a reusable $30 fake tree was better on my wallet. In Portland, Jason insisted that we go to a cut-your-own tree farm, since we were in the land of Christmas trees. I'm definitely leaning toward a fake tree this year, since it will save in the long run. However, the actual price of a real tree is pretty the same as that of an equivalent fake tree. And, as Jason has pointed out, all the trees they sell here are from Oregon...we could own our own little piece of live Oregon for a mere $45...tempting. But I think the ease of the fake tree may win out. What do you all do? Real or fake?
Wednesday: 77
Thursday: 75
Friday: 78
Saturday: 77
Sunday: 77
Monday: 80
Eighty! In December! I wore a t-shirt and capris today, all day, and was totally comfortable - even a little warm! OK, I realize that I probably have nothing on Bridget in the UAE...but still, these temperatures take a little getting used to. I have to remind myself several times a day that we are well into the month of December and that, oh yeah, Christmas is right around the corner.
Due to moving/unpacking etc, we have yet to procure a Christmas tree or dig out any of Christmas decorations. However, this is top on my list of to-dos for tomorrow. I'm afraid that if I don't make this a priority, it will suddenly be December 26th and I will have missed Christmas all together!
Speaking of Christmas trees, how does everyone feel about fake trees? I used to be vehemently opposed, but then after my first Christmas tree in NY cost $65, I decided that a reusable $30 fake tree was better on my wallet. In Portland, Jason insisted that we go to a cut-your-own tree farm, since we were in the land of Christmas trees. I'm definitely leaning toward a fake tree this year, since it will save in the long run. However, the actual price of a real tree is pretty the same as that of an equivalent fake tree. And, as Jason has pointed out, all the trees they sell here are from Oregon...we could own our own little piece of live Oregon for a mere $45...tempting. But I think the ease of the fake tree may win out. What do you all do? Real or fake?
Monday, December 6, 2010
Finally, a Reality Competition Show Tailor-Made for ME!
That's right, folks, I'm talking about the Sing-Off! All my musical nerdiness came to the fore this evening as I watched a capella group after a capella group perform. The harmonies, the cheesy dance moves, the backup singing and the extreme use of dynamics - it brought back memories of my choral and a capella days back in college.
And, for once, I actually enjoyed the judges comments more often than not. Ben Folds might be my new hero. I saw him in concert once, but had no idea he was such a major musical nerd. His feedback was specific and useful, which I appreciated. Nicole whatever her name was a little reminiscent of Paul Abdul, and definitely grated at times, but she actually provided real feedback on occasion, which was refreshing. Although, she did use the phrase "musical orgasm" to describe the reaction of the third judge, Shawn Stockman (from Boyz II Men - my favorite group in 7th grade). I'm just not sure how I feel about that phrase...
A few highlights:
A group from Berkley School of Music in Boston who made it pretty clear that they thought they were hot stuff, and then they performed and really weren't. And then, they were the first to get booted. The one group from a music school? That is just awesome!
Then was the Gospel group that performed at the end, Committed. They had never really performed pop music, but they pretty much blew everyone else out of the water. They performed a Maroon 5 song in a way that may have made it better than the original. They were the group that led to the supposed musical orgasm.
My one complaint about the show was the lack of all female groups. There were several all male groups - in fact, I would say the majority of the groups were all men. But women were sorely under-represented. But I think I'll get over it.
So, with my newly acquired DVR, I will be recording and watching all five episodes of this show and reveling in my musical nerdiness. Is anyone else joining me on this one?
And, for once, I actually enjoyed the judges comments more often than not. Ben Folds might be my new hero. I saw him in concert once, but had no idea he was such a major musical nerd. His feedback was specific and useful, which I appreciated. Nicole whatever her name was a little reminiscent of Paul Abdul, and definitely grated at times, but she actually provided real feedback on occasion, which was refreshing. Although, she did use the phrase "musical orgasm" to describe the reaction of the third judge, Shawn Stockman (from Boyz II Men - my favorite group in 7th grade). I'm just not sure how I feel about that phrase...
A few highlights:
A group from Berkley School of Music in Boston who made it pretty clear that they thought they were hot stuff, and then they performed and really weren't. And then, they were the first to get booted. The one group from a music school? That is just awesome!
Jerry Lawson and Talk of the Town - Jerry Lawson was a member of the Persuasions for 40 years. I mean really, this group is kind of the original. It was nice to see the purity of pop a capella.
Then was the Gospel group that performed at the end, Committed. They had never really performed pop music, but they pretty much blew everyone else out of the water. They performed a Maroon 5 song in a way that may have made it better than the original. They were the group that led to the supposed musical orgasm.
My one complaint about the show was the lack of all female groups. There were several all male groups - in fact, I would say the majority of the groups were all men. But women were sorely under-represented. But I think I'll get over it.
So, with my newly acquired DVR, I will be recording and watching all five episodes of this show and reveling in my musical nerdiness. Is anyone else joining me on this one?
Friday, November 26, 2010
Flashback Friday: Thanksgivings of the Past
Since I did not do the obligatory Thanksgiving Post yesterday, and it is Flashback Friday, I thought I would take you a on a little journey through my Thanksgivings.
From about age 8 through my junior year in college, Thanksgiving consisted of piling into my dad's Honda Accord at 5am on Wednesday morning and driving 8.5 straight hours from Portland, OR to my grandparents' home in Vacaville, CA. Until I turned 10, it was just my dad and my brother and me. We fit quite nicely in the car. When I turned 10, however, my dad married my step-mom who also had a daughter, and from then on it was all five of us crammed in the car, with feet on coolers (so that we wouldn't have to stop) and all of us kids with our backpacks full of car entertainment, all trying not to talk to each other. Good times.
Once we arrived, we were met by my dad's two sisters and their children (my cousins). Our Thanksgivings were fairly formal - we all got dressed up, the table was set with my grandmother's finest china a silver, there were place-cards with our names (designed by my cousins and me, of course) and we all waited until all 20 of us were served before we began eating. Afterward, we changed into PJ's and lounged around the house, finally crashing on the floor on piles of old couch cushions and even older air mattresses that held air for approximately 30 minutes before beginning the slow deflating process that lasted until morning. After enjoying family togetherness for the following two days, we piled back into the Honda for the 8.5 hour turned 11 hour car ride back to Portland. Thanksgiving was pretty much the only time that I saw my cousins each year, and was one of the two times I saw my grandparents. That is probably one of the reasons why I love the holiday so much.
Since college, I've had a series of very interesting Thanksgivings. Here are a few of note:
The Thanksgiving with the most modes of transportation: The first Thanksgiving after Jason and I got married, in 2006, stands out as probably the craziest I've ever had. My mom's whole family (including 6 brothers and all of their family) decided to rent a house on Orca's Island - a small island off of the coast of Washington state. Jason and I were living in New York at the time. I had some extra time off of work, so I decided to fly to Portland for a few days to see my dad and step-mom before catching a plane to Seattle on Wednesday evening. Jason flew in from New York and met me at the airport, where we rented a car and drove about an hour to the ferry. We missed the first (and faster) ferry so we had to wait about 2 hours for the next one. That ferry took about three hours to get to the island. Once there, we had to drive an additional 30 minutes to the house, on dark winding roads. Two days later, we turned around and did the whole thing in reverse, complete with a red-eye flight back to New York. While on the flight, I contracted the stomach flu, and spent the whole flight trying to not to throw up. I spent the next week off of work, lying in bed. We decided that we would never, ever, travel for Thanksgiving again.
The Thanksgiving with the longest car ride: Despite our vow to remain at home for this great holiday, Jason got really depressed about not being able to be with family for Thanksgiving in 2008. We were still in New York, so the closest family we had were Jason's mom and step-dad in Kansas City, Kansas. On a whim, we decided to drive there for the week. It's a 20 hour drive. We left after work on Friday night and drove through a snow storm to some small town in Ohio. The next day we drove the remaining 12 hours to Jason's mom's. And we brought our dog. Oh yeah, and I was 9 weeks pregnant. In fact, while we were there, Jason and I had a scare with the pregnancy and feared that I was miscarrying. So we actually ended up going to the emergency room on Thanksgiving day to make sure everything was all right. It was. At the end of the week, we turned around and did the whole drive in reverse. Everything went fine until we hit Pennsylvania and realized that our car was shaking violently every time we went over 55 mph. We stopped at a Walmart tire center and discovered that our tires were completely bald and not safe to drive on. As luck would have it, Walmart did not have the correct tire size. Our only option was to sign a waver and put the wrong sized tires on our car so that we could complete our journey home. Quite an adventure.
The Thanksgiving where we should have just gotten takeout: Jason and I decided to host Thanksgiving at our house last year for 12 people. My dad and step-mom offered to get one of those prepared Thanksgiving dinners from Safeway, but Jason and I just couldn't bear the thought. Instead, we decided that we would cook the whole meal ourselves - turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, peas, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and cheesecake, plus appetizers. If you will remember, we were not in the ideal kitchen situation
Jason and I have yet to create our own traditions around this, my favorite holiday. Hopefully, we can have some stability long enough to do so...or get creative enough that stability doesn't matter!
From about age 8 through my junior year in college, Thanksgiving consisted of piling into my dad's Honda Accord at 5am on Wednesday morning and driving 8.5 straight hours from Portland, OR to my grandparents' home in Vacaville, CA. Until I turned 10, it was just my dad and my brother and me. We fit quite nicely in the car. When I turned 10, however, my dad married my step-mom who also had a daughter, and from then on it was all five of us crammed in the car, with feet on coolers (so that we wouldn't have to stop) and all of us kids with our backpacks full of car entertainment, all trying not to talk to each other. Good times.
Once we arrived, we were met by my dad's two sisters and their children (my cousins). Our Thanksgivings were fairly formal - we all got dressed up, the table was set with my grandmother's finest china a silver, there were place-cards with our names (designed by my cousins and me, of course) and we all waited until all 20 of us were served before we began eating. Afterward, we changed into PJ's and lounged around the house, finally crashing on the floor on piles of old couch cushions and even older air mattresses that held air for approximately 30 minutes before beginning the slow deflating process that lasted until morning. After enjoying family togetherness for the following two days, we piled back into the Honda for the 8.5 hour turned 11 hour car ride back to Portland. Thanksgiving was pretty much the only time that I saw my cousins each year, and was one of the two times I saw my grandparents. That is probably one of the reasons why I love the holiday so much.
Since college, I've had a series of very interesting Thanksgivings. Here are a few of note:
The Thanksgiving with the most modes of transportation: The first Thanksgiving after Jason and I got married, in 2006, stands out as probably the craziest I've ever had. My mom's whole family (including 6 brothers and all of their family) decided to rent a house on Orca's Island - a small island off of the coast of Washington state. Jason and I were living in New York at the time. I had some extra time off of work, so I decided to fly to Portland for a few days to see my dad and step-mom before catching a plane to Seattle on Wednesday evening. Jason flew in from New York and met me at the airport, where we rented a car and drove about an hour to the ferry. We missed the first (and faster) ferry so we had to wait about 2 hours for the next one. That ferry took about three hours to get to the island. Once there, we had to drive an additional 30 minutes to the house, on dark winding roads. Two days later, we turned around and did the whole thing in reverse, complete with a red-eye flight back to New York. While on the flight, I contracted the stomach flu, and spent the whole flight trying to not to throw up. I spent the next week off of work, lying in bed. We decided that we would never, ever, travel for Thanksgiving again.
The Thanksgiving with the longest car ride: Despite our vow to remain at home for this great holiday, Jason got really depressed about not being able to be with family for Thanksgiving in 2008. We were still in New York, so the closest family we had were Jason's mom and step-dad in Kansas City, Kansas. On a whim, we decided to drive there for the week. It's a 20 hour drive. We left after work on Friday night and drove through a snow storm to some small town in Ohio. The next day we drove the remaining 12 hours to Jason's mom's. And we brought our dog. Oh yeah, and I was 9 weeks pregnant. In fact, while we were there, Jason and I had a scare with the pregnancy and feared that I was miscarrying. So we actually ended up going to the emergency room on Thanksgiving day to make sure everything was all right. It was. At the end of the week, we turned around and did the whole drive in reverse. Everything went fine until we hit Pennsylvania and realized that our car was shaking violently every time we went over 55 mph. We stopped at a Walmart tire center and discovered that our tires were completely bald and not safe to drive on. As luck would have it, Walmart did not have the correct tire size. Our only option was to sign a waver and put the wrong sized tires on our car so that we could complete our journey home. Quite an adventure.
The Thanksgiving where we should have just gotten takeout: Jason and I decided to host Thanksgiving at our house last year for 12 people. My dad and step-mom offered to get one of those prepared Thanksgiving dinners from Safeway, but Jason and I just couldn't bear the thought. Instead, we decided that we would cook the whole meal ourselves - turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, peas, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and cheesecake, plus appetizers. If you will remember, we were not in the ideal kitchen situation
Jason and I have yet to create our own traditions around this, my favorite holiday. Hopefully, we can have some stability long enough to do so...or get creative enough that stability doesn't matter!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
