Drum roll please...

So, it's official! Baby Sawicki is....

a DEMOCRAT!

Just kidding. We already knew that! Baby Sawicki is a BOY!!

We have proof! :) It's fairly obvious! Too funny. And makes Scott oh so proud!! hehe.

Waving to Mom and Dad...how sweet!!!

But not to gloss over the important stuff...baby was healthy, had all the necessary parts (brain, heart, stomach, legs, arms, etc.!). He was measuring right on target. It was such an exciting visit! And trust me, lately, they are not all that exciting.

Also, thought I'd throw in a 20 week bump picture! The ever expanding belly :) At least this weekend I got some clothes that fit (thanks to Katie for the loaners and Ann for the shopping trip!).

Pregnancy Brain

It's true. I thought, yet again, this was just a piece of nonsense made up by people. Oh, how mistaken I was. It's setting in and it's just awful!

Here are just a few examples...

1. Getting to the dry cleaner and completely forgetting my own phone number. In my defense, I don't call myself...right?

2. Completely forgetting names. Which I absolutely know. SO frustrating!

3. I put a box in my boss's office and not even 15 minutes later, was determined that I either lost it, threw it out or was having a practical joke played on me.

4. I KNOW there was another example, but guess what...I forget! ARGH!

It's a good thing my job doesn't require me to have a near encyclopedic knowledge of names, dates and policies. Oh wait. It does! Thank god for post it notes :)

So...um...I'm now going to wander from room to room through my apartment and wonder why I'm in each room. Hopefully I'll at least remember to clean while I'm wandering around.

On an unrelated note, is everyone enjoying the olympics?!? I've found myself completely drawn to watching it every night and staying up way past my bedtime. I definitely enjoy the winter olympics more than the summer olympics. Despite the fact that I don't enjoy even the IDEA of any of the sports I watch. I despise the cold (not to mention my complete lack of any athletic ability). So far my favorite moment has been Russian figure skater Yevgeny Plushenko throwing down the masculinity gauntlet to his fellow figure skaters. Dude, you're in a skin tight lycra and have sparkles on your pants. Which, to his credit, is one of the less flamboyant outfits in mens figure skating...but still! I would just like to thank Johnny Weir for making it possible to distinguish between the more and less flamboyant outfits :)

WOW

Can't wait for the ladies competition to start next week!!

snOMG Part Two - the SNOW DAY!

I officially take back all the bad things I've ever said about the people of this lovely region I live in. I love their great irrational fear of snow and their even greater inability to deal with the weather. I have not one but two snow days a full day after the last snow flake hit the ground and its the best thing EVER! Our parking lot still isn't plowed and the Death Train still isn't operating above ground. Better yet, with more snow on the way, the panic levels have really skyrocketed. We may be completely stir crazy at this point, but who cares. The stir craziness (added to my already present desire to nest) has led to me cleaning just about every surface in the house, doing laundry, ironing, making delicious white beans to freeze...just an endless list of chores to stave off the boredom. But I'm determined to enjoy the time off and will fondly recall this time when March hits and there's not a long weekend in sight.

It was one heck of a storm, I will admit. I haven't seen snow like this since the mid-90's. Marley went from loving it, to not being able to move in it. So he's pretty over the snow at this point too. Looking at it from the balcony suits him just fine. I'd share video of him jumping through the snow like a bunny, but my videography skills are just awful. So maybe next time :) We did get a few great pics, as you can see!

The one real bummer about the snow was it ruined all the weekend plans. We were really looking forward to watching the superbowl with good friends and eating the MOST delicious ribs. We had to quickly improvise and decided on making pizzas for the big game. I can't describe to you how good these pizzas are. We use the dough from Trader Joes (which I always have in the freezer) and Scott splits that one dough into four very thin crust pizzas. Top them with a garlic oil, fresh mozzarella, carmelized onions, roasted red peppers and pancetta...and its pure heaven. MMMMMM. We also made one with red sauce and cheese, but its just not as sexy as the other one. Still delicous though!

We watched Julie and Julia on Saturday. Anyone else seen it? I mostly walked away from it wishing it was just a movie about Julia Child. Oh and now I desperately want to make Beouf Bourguignon :) Maybe for the next snow storm...

One last thing, if you do make that creamy spinach from my last post, might I recommend one thing? Save some for breakfast the next day, make eggs benedict and throw that spinach on top of the eggs. You'll thank me later.

snOMG!

Have you heard?? There's a BLIZZARD in DC!!!!!!! It's going to snow for nearly 2 straight days. The DC area is NOT ready for this. Not even close. It's either the storm of the year, decade, century or the biggest storm since 1779! Seriously, 1779. We shall see. As two New Englanders, we find it all pretty entertaining to watch. The picture above was from early afternoon - so I'll put up a comparison later this weekend. As I'm writing this, we're up to 9" and as you can see below, Marley is loving it!

A few great things about being the snow:
1. Early release from work! In the words of the great Martha Stewart...it's a good thing.

2. No one can judge you for being in pajamas for 24 straight hours. Added bonus, they're super comfy for my ever expanding belly. (How I went from no belly, to ordering maternity clothes at lunch break because of my painful pant button is beyond me!)

3. It's a GREAT reason to splurge on a delicious dinner! We braved Harris Teeter this afternoon and got filet mignon, baked potatoes and spinach. Yummmmmmmm. I'm pretending like I don't desperately want a glass of wine (ok, bottle of wine) to go along with this amazing dinner. But instead, I'll just stuff myself full of calories. I am eating for two, right?!?

I did promise recipes on this blog, so I decided to share my delicious creamy spinach recipe. It doesn't even have cream in it so you don't have to feel bad about eating all of it :) I can't remember where I got this from, it's scratched down on a piece of paper. If I can possibly recall the source, I'll give it credit at a later date.

Creamy Spinach:

1 bag of baby spinach (9 oz.)
Place spinach in a large saucepan (it will be very, very full!) and season with salt. Sprinkle a few tablespoons of water in the pan, cover and cook until wilter. Stir occasionally. Put in colander, run under cold water and then squeeze out as much water as possible (I like to put it in a clean kitchen towel and twist)

In a medium saucepan, heat 1 tb. butter over medium heat. Add 1.5 tb. of minced onion, salt and pepper. Cook until soft. Add 1/2 tb. flour and stir for 1 min. (do not brown). Add 1/2 cup of milk and simmer until thickened. Thin with more milk if necessary. Stir in the spinach and taste for salt and pepper.

YUM! It heats up really well the next day too.

It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.

I love that quote from Lost. Plus, that scene is also one of my favs. Jacob and the Man In Black (aka FakeLocke or Smokey or whatever he is!) sitting on the beach. Faaaaantastic.

I can't say I loved last night. I'm not a huge Kate fan. It had its moments, but I'm really just ready for a less Kate-centric episode next week. I could also do without a Jack episode this season, but we all know that won't happen. Let me restate - they BETTER give us a Richard flashback or I'll be pissed! That comment about him being in chains...fascinating! He must have come on the Black Rock ship, right?!?

Anyone have any theories to share? Or are all your minds as blown as mine is right now?!? :)

Anyways, I wanted to share some of my favorite links for Lost recaps. I may or may not compulsively check these sites on Wednesdays for updates. I'll let you decide how obsessed I am...


http://www.sepinwall.blogspot.com/
http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2010/02/lost-what-kate-does-fugitive-pigeon.html


If you are also a fan of The Wire, Mad Men, Friday Night Lights or Band of Brothers...I highly recommend you check out his recaps of those shows. Well written and very thoughtful. Oh, and if you aren't a fan of The Wire, shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit, go rent those DVDs right away! Really amazing stuff.


voices.washingtonpost.com/celebritology
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/celebritology/2010/02/lost_dueling_analysis_what_kat.html#more


Every Wednesday they post a "Dueling Analysis" of Lost by the two Celebritology columnists. Always a worthwhile read! Just like above, the second link is the article on last night's episode.


http://www.ew.com/
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20313460_20343202,00.html


Check out the Totally Lost coverage - Doc Jensen recaps and articles in particular. The man goes into more detail than should be humanely possible. He makes me feel more sane. I may be obsessed, but I'm not *that* obsessed! :)


I'll tell you, I needed these articles today...we're into day 3 of no work from the snow. We had a full on white out blizzard earlier today. I could barely see the street from my window. TOTALLY insane.




On a pregnancy sidenote, I got a delivery of maternity clothes yesterday! (I did say this was a blog about my pregnancy and not about Lost, right? Details, details.) I'd share pics of the ever growing belly, but I'm really in the "I look fat" stage and the not the "Yay! I look pregnant" stage. So lovely. Soon enough, I'm sure. The brightest spot of this week was my doctor calling yesterday. We got the results of the ultrascreen, which is the first test you can take for Down Syndrome, and the results were perfect! PHEW. It was a long 2 weeks to wait for those results, but all worth it :)

LOST!

I can barely contain my excitement at this point. LOST IS BACK!!!! It really is bittersweet, I can't believe it's the last season. I also can't even begin to speculate on what I think might happen this season. I'm still stuck on the black on white "LOST" that ended last season (instead of the normal white on black.) Does that mean everything was reset?!? ARGH! Why do you mess with my brain like this, Lost?? All I know is I've been along for the ride for 5 seasons and I trust they'll do right by all us fans in this final season. Ok, I HOPE they'll do right by us.

All we want are answers! Just give us some stinkin' answers, man! I think this video sums it up perfectly...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1PAB6Sgdp8

Hysterical, you must check it out. My one big request is I want a back story on Richard Alpert (aka, Mr. Sexy Eyeliner Dude). Please, no more Jack or Kate flashbacks. Enough already. I want to know, does Richard put on the eyeliner every day? Is it permanent? Does it keep him from aging, for christ's sake! ?!

Ok, I suppose that's all for now. I'll do a follow up post with some of my favorite places to go for Lost recaps and theories.

On a totally unrelated note to Lost, I had my 13 week appt. yesterday and all is well! We heard the heartbeat again, which is just so exciting. It really doesn't grow old. The little peanut is still going strong in there! I'm also deep, DEEP into denial that my pants and skirts are getting snug. Nope, not happening. I'm making it through the winter, damn it. No maternity clothes until it's spring!