Suddenly VERY pregnant

Today I am 18 weeks pregnant. In two weeks, I will be halfway through this pregnancy. Man, the time is flying by. Strangers are now asking me about my pregnancy. When I tell them I am only 18 weeks, they say, "wow, you are really big!" Grrrreeat. I hope that I start slowing down here soon or else this baby is going to be a 10 pounder, for sure. The good news is that he is growing. And, I am really feeling a lot of movement the past few days. It started out feeling like bubbles popping, but now it's getting stronger, like an actual thump here and there. Mike still can't feel it externally, which is frustrating, but I am sure that will happen soon. What a miracle. Maybe I really am pregnant, after all? :)


We had a really nice time entertaining at our house last night. Sandra and my mom and Art came over for dinner. On Sunday afternoon I prepped casseroles, because we are having guests Friday, too. I must say that as a working person, the casserole is the way to go.... We had a Mexican theme last night. I made this really good Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole from Allrecipes and followed the recipe to a tee. I wouldn't change anything. I served with charro beans and spanish rice.

Chad and Kim had their baby yesterday. We just were over at their house on Monday night for chili dinner and now there is a new babe in the world! Welcome, Rhys! We are going to meet the little guy after work. All this visiting is really making me feel the holiday spirit!

AC: Surrender

Company kitties

We used to have two scraggly cats that lived in our corporate parking garage. What a wonderful life those felines had. Numerous women from our building were constantly fawning all over them, they had shelter, they laid in the sun all day, they had an ardent supply of rodents from our building to keep them happy and people would literally put out fresh water and food for them. One day last year, the grey cat was gone... then a few months later, the black cat with one eye also disappeared. I heard sad stories that they had gotten run over... and although I hate cats, I was a little sad that our company pets were gone. I felt especially bad for the ladies who fed them, in particular.

Yesterday, when I was climbing the stairs to the 2nd floor of the garage, I noticed something move under the stairs and looked to see a lady literally sitting in the rocks under the stairs, having a ball playing with a grey striped kitten. Sure enough, I came in this morning and the kitten had a blanket and a full bowl of food. We have another pet.

Isn't it interesting that right about the moment that our company is about to undergo a major change in its organizational structure, suddenly a little feline cheer makes an entrance? Hmmmm

AC: Peace

I need to work out

I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but I almost feel more tired this second trimester than I did the first. During the day, I have a lot more energy, but by the time I get home, I am pooped. For this and Christmas activities, I have been TERRIBLE about working out lately. Last time, I had no job and lived at my mom's and my only outlet into society was Gold's Gym, so I spent 3 days a week doing weights, lunges, etc and felt great about myself. This time, although I am in a much happier mental place, I am showing so much sooner and am so much less active. I am not even doing my daily walks with Bella, lately. Though I haven't gained that much weight, I feel like I need to get moving. Working out is good for my mind and my soul.

I am working on this. Saturday I walked Town Lake with Kara... good. Today I went to the gym at work for weights class. Since I have to miss prenatal yoga tomorrow night, I am going to go to the gym on Thursday and do yoga Saturday morning.

For the rest of my pregnancy, my goal is light weights two times a week, a long walk 3 times a week and a yoga class. I think this is doable and will make indulging in Christmas cookies and treats a little more fun.

AC: Purification

la Madeleine Tomato Basil Soup

God, this soup is good. I can say this, because I got the recipe from someone else. Actually, my mom's friend Kathy from Chicago, I believe. Thank you, Kathy, for this indulgent winter time pleasure!

Tomato Basil Soup

Makes 8 servings

4 cups canned whole tomatoes, crushed (large can in the store)

4 cups tomato juice

12 to 14 fresh basil leaves

6 oz. half and half (or pure whipping cream- apparently you can use fat free options here, but why would you want to?)

1 stick butter

Combine tomatoes and juice in saucepan and bring to slow boil. Simmer for 20 minutes over medium-low heat. Cool slightly, then place in blender or food processor and add basil leaves. Process in batches to puree. Return mixture to saucepan and add half/half (cream) and butter. Stir over low heat until half and half and butter are incorporated. Serve with fresh crusty bread.

Stocking Stuffer Idea

Kara's ex, Chris, was wearing this shirt at the Duran Duran concert. I love it.

You probably saw the YouTube of the cute old lady from Austin on the Ellen show. Apparently, she now has a clothing line with her funny quotes on them.

Oh my darlin...

Duran Duran did not disappoint. We were a little worried that they were going to show up looking old and washed out, but the show actually exceeded my expectations. Sara Barellis was a great opening act with a beautiful voice (she the one who sings "how far do I have to go to get to you... many the miles"/ kinda Norah Jones-y). The guys came out all in black, with lots of stage lights and an upbeat setlist. They all were pretty well preserved. It was the original band, minus Andy Taylor on lead guitar. Simon LeBon was wearing a black cowboy type shirt with a skinny 80's-ish leather tie and a huge belt buckle on his black pants. I guess their stylists would put them in an outfit like this to play Austin. :) Nick Rhodes was still just as cute to me with his eyeliner and keyboards, however came out at the end to reveal that his is a good 6 inches shorter than Simon. He is probably no taller than I am. Anyway, I loved all the music from their new album. Apparently working with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland helped these guys out. The new stuff maintained the old sound from the 80s, but gave it a modern edge. They also played a lot of their hits... All of them, except Hungry Like the Wolf. Huh? I am really glad we went. We ran into Mike's cousin Jeff's wife Belinda and a friend of hers, and also Kara's ex- boyfriend Chris. The new Austin Music Hall is very new. There are still portables outside the building and much looks unfinished, but there is a lot of room, a full bar and probably 10 stalls in the ladies bathroom downstairs. What more do you need? I stayed up past midnight for the first time in this pregnancy and actually felt pretty good yesterday.

On a completely separate note, I am going through a small obsession with citrus fruit. Never in my life have I consumed quite so many grapefruit halves in the morning, nor clementine oranges throughout the day. We have worked our way through an entire crate of clementines in the past 10 days and I just bought more last night. This baby's immune system is going to be top notch.

Tonight is the first night out of three before Christmas, where we are having people over for dinner. My goal for all three is to keep it simple.... Tonight I am serving this green peppercorn, olive and parmesan pesto with grilled chicken and the La Madeleine tomato basil soup that I made last night... Mike is making some holiday cocktail with apple cider, cinnamon sticks, lemon peel and booze for the non-preggos.

AC: Willingess

P.S. Today is 17 weeks for me! The past 5 weeks have flown by all of a sudden!

Duran Duran

We are going to see Duran Duran tonight.
When I was in elementary school, I loved this band. My friend Kelly Doze's brother Todd was obsessed with them and we would listen to all his tapes. For some reason, I particularly liked Nick Rhodes, who probably wore the most makeup in the group. Hmmm... Anyway, Mike dragged out a cassette this morning while we were getting ready for work and it really made me excited for the show. No... no... notorious! The fact that I am staying up past 9pm on a school night as an almost 17 week pregnant lady is a testament to my love for this band. I hope they are good! AC: Thanksgiving

Great Grandma's Toffee

My Great Grandma Rose made this toffee. She was a very sweet lady who died when I was about 8. I must say that the idea of candy-making is somewhat intimidating to me (all the temperature taking, etc.), but anyone can make this recipe. It tastes like a softer, buttery Heath bar. Yum!

3T water
1/2 lb. butter
1C sugar (1/2 brown and 1/2 white)
1 tsp vanilla
3/4C chocolate chips
1/2C chopped pecans

.... cook water, butter and sugar in a saucepan over med-high heat for no more than 10 minutes stirring often. The mixture will get bubbly and thicken. Right before you take off the heat, add 1 tsp vanilla.

Pour mixture in buttered 9x13 pan. Cover with chocolate chips, spreading them out to smooth over the top, melting with a spatula. If needed put in a warm oven to melt chocolate completely, then top with chopped pecans. Cut into little squares and chill to harden.

Spritz Cookies

Spritz Cookies
(from my mom)

I have such fond memories of eating these buttery little colored sugar cookies from when I was little. It is really fun to get out the cookie press once a year and make them. Apparently you can use your press for making cheese straws, etc. but I only use it to press out Christmas trees, etc.

1.5 C butter
1C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
4C sifted flour
1 tsp. baking powder
Sprinkles or colored sugar
Food coloring

Thoroughly cream butter and sugar. Add egg, vanilla and almond extract; beat well. Sift together flour, baking powder; add gradually to creamed mixture, mixing into smooth dough. Do not chill. If you like a little Christmas cheer, separate the dough by a 1/3 or so and add a few drops of red or green food coloring to the remaining in the mixer. Force dough through cookie press onto ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with your favorite Christmas sprinkle or colored sugar. Bake in hot oven at 400 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool. Makes 6 dozen.

Sweet victory

What a beautiful victory Saturday night! Marquette took down the evil Wisconsin Badgers in an a good ol-fashioned barn burner. The teams were pretty well matched, but in the end, the good guys won and broke UW's long-running winning streak on their home court. MU was sizably smaller than the oaf-like white Wisconsin guys, but played with more heart and won. I lived in Madison for 10 miserable months following my Marquette graduation and have a bad taste in my mouth about the Badgers ever since. Ah, such sweet sweet victory!

The rest of the weekend was spent at a movie night at Seton about breastfeeding and parenting (with popcorn!), volunteering, attending my company Christmas party, doing Christmas cards and baking Santa's Thumbprints and Great Grandma's toffee. Mike and I have been working our way through the toffee and I fear our teeth may rot. It turned out well, so I'll post the recipe later.

AC: Willingness

One foot in front of the other

I am making a goal of the month, try to reach out to people. Mike and I got up early this morning and did an hour's worth of Bible study discussion by our Christmas tree in our PJs. The topic was "Creating Peace in Your Community." A lot of the discussion questions centered around how you were raised... was it in a family where strangers of all sorts were welcomed, or were your parents more of the sort to encourage you to stick to your own kind? My parents were probably more towards the latter, never verbalizing this (you will only play with middle class white Catholic kids), but also didn't really set an example for welcoming people, either. We never had strangers over for dinner and my mom wasn't big on throwing parties. I wonder if this had sort of an "anti-socializing" effect on me. In retrospect, on paper, I am very blessed to have been "on the inside" my whole life. I grew up safe, cared for, with a religion that was pretty dominant in my city, and white in homogenous Iowa. But, I really never felt like I fit in. Why is that?

When I was little, I would hide in between my mother's legs and was so shy that I always felt socially awkward. Even now, I have trouble with this. Why is so hard to accept the fact that other people might want to get to know me? I know I will never be a social butterfly, but I do desparately want to meet people and engage them, but at parties/pregnancy yoga/with our neighbors, my main instinct is to smile and then want to run and hide and get out of there ASAP. It takes me forever to warm up to people and it is usually by their efforts, not mine, I am afraid. I am much better communicating with strangers via email or chatboard than I am in person. Why is this? I have always relied on an "in" to make friends and am terrible about making that first step. How do you do that, anyway, social butterflies? I know everyone feels awkward in those social situations, but some seem to do better than others. I'd appreciate any tips. Even thinking back to my beloved girlfriends from Marquette, I never did any work in making friends with them... they came up to me and invited me out. Why am I never on the "giving" end? I know I will never be "perfect" but it really is something I want to work on.

More importantly, how do I raise a child that is self-assured socially when I am still struggling with this at age 31? Is it "do I as I say, not as I do?" I hope I can be a good example.

AC: Understanding

It's a.....

It's a BOY! I am going to be a mother to a son! We had our ultrasound yesterday and he looked great. It's amazing to me that they can tell this early. Since we divulged the sex, we are keeping the name a secret until he comes out. This suddenly seems even more real.



Last night I bought 2 boy outfits at Bright Beginnings and it was really fun. I got 3-6 month stuff since I figure I will probably need more bigger stuff. One is this wild little turquoise and green pattern sleeper with black hippos on it. The other is this three piece set: a white LS onesie with a furry lamb, duck and puppy on it, matching blue pants with ducks on the bottom and a blue cap with a duck on it. It is adorable!


Baby will also look really good in this cute Marquette newborn onesie that was my very first purchase. Thanks to my letter of complaint that the Golden Eagle Shop had "crappy" selection for babies and toddlers, I got a response that they were adding to their store selection (squeaky wheel). FYI: in the month since I wrote my note, they have really added some cute stuff, including this baby basketball ensemble, which Baby H needs for basketball season, indeed.


AC: Blank angel (hello, baby!)

Big Ultrasound Today

Today is the day of our "big" ultrasound. We have decided to find out the baby's sex, if he/she cooperates. Such an amazing calm has swept over me. It must be God's grace, because this is the opposite of how I have felt thus far in my pregnancy. Maybe I am beginning to trust a little? Could it be? I can't wait to see the little one, again. Supposedly she will be so big that she will fill up the entire screen this time. Wow!

Any guesses on what you think it will be? I have thought boy since the beginning, but was COMPLETELY wrong with M. I was SO sure he was a girl, so I am unsure how well my motherly senses for these things work. We'll see!

AC: Flexibility (I hope this doesn't mean that they are running super late at Dr. S's office today! :)