That's What She Said

XOXO

2012-01-26T16:14:00.000-08:00

Within the last few weeks, a wonderful thing happened. JJ turned 18 months and that "language explosion" I had heard so much about started showing up! Very exciting. Just about every day he has a new word. He had a handful of words before then, but its really remarkable how much he has to say now. We even got a "Joseph"! Before we only heard an occasional "JJ".

But the part that REALLY gets me is he understands a lot more too. Specifically, I can ask for a kiss. And get one! He'll lean in and give me a smooch.

It's the best. thing. EVER.

Kisses right back at you, little man.

Rock star!

2012-01-22T18:16:00.000-08:00

He loves his Daddy's new guitar...

I'm baaaaack...

2012-01-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

Ok, folks. I fell off the wagon with the whole “you actually need to post to your blog” thing. It’s just that JJ has done NOTHING remarkable since July. Nothing! I kid, of course. I’m really not sure what happened, but I’m going to give this one last try and see if I can get my mojo back. If I can’t, then I abandon this whole idea.

I promise to try really hard to brag and whine enough to make up for 5 months of inactivity.

Does this picture make up for my neglect?

I’m resisting posting a video of JJ streaking through my living room post-bath. It’s so funny. We’ll see how strong my resolve is. But coming up next is a video of him being a little rock star :)

Stay tuned!

It's official!

2011-08-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen...we have a walker!

He started taking steps about a month ago but didn't have the confidence for any longer attempts. Today it's all he wants to do! Now we really have our hands full!

One little, happy family

2011-08-09T17:21:00.000-07:00

We so rarely get a picture of all of us together. Thankfully, someone thought to take a picture of us at JJ's party.

It was such a happy day. The party was a huge success, even if JJ slept through at least half of it. It was so wonderful to celebrate such an important day with our friends and family!

Can you tell that we're Mets fans? :)

If I'm feeling particularly ambitious, I'll even throw up a post about the birthday banner I made. I plan to take it out every year to help us celebrate!

Woah

2011-08-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

So here I am, sitting on my balcony (newly redone!) with my little boy having the time of his life splashing in his water table. I just spent the last two weeks setting up his nursery and packing away all his itty bitty clothes. I blinked and somehow my sweet little baby is now a big boy!

I'm a hundred years late on posting this. We celebrated the big first birthday! He got presents and a delicious cupcake. Which he did NOT like. See?

yikes! Crazy boy who doesn't like cupcakes. We'll have to discuss this with him at a later date.

How is it even possible that a whole year has gone by? Sheesh. This little boy, whose entry into the world came as a surprise being a month early and all...has spent the past year continuing to surprise and amaze us every day. He changed our lives for the better in so many ways. He truly changed who I am in ways that I'm only now starting to understand. I'm so proud to be his mother and nothing makes me happier than coming home from work and getting a HUGE smile from him. I know it won't last forever, so I'm determined to make the most out of every smile I get :)

I find myself with such a mix of emotions. There were definitely tears on his birthday. But they were happy tears, I promise.

I miss having him need me so much! He's getting independent and has a ton of personality. Perhaps a bit of an irish temper too...

I am so proud of the little boy he's becoming. He's sweet and ADORABLE. That's right, i said it. Cutest baby ever. Perhaps I'm biased, but come on! look at this boy!

I'm impressed by the fact that both Scott and I have found a way to make the work/parenting balance work. Not easy. Especially with Scott going back to school. The strange part is I find myself 10x more motivated than before at work. If I have to work, and I do, why not make the best of it? I want to be successful and work my big, white irish butt off during those 8 hours! It makes the day go fast and makes coming home that much more sweet. I savor the weekends and especially those that Scott gets to be home.

I'm feeling mildly guilty that It's been like 2 months since I last posted. I'm not really sure where June and July went. It's been pretty crazy around here. It feels like things might be settling down though. That feels good. We have another nice, long vacation to florida coming up. Such a great way to cap off the summer. Then hopefully things will cool off around here and going to the playground might become a bit more tolerable. I have lots more to share from the last few months and I'll throw up a few quick, short posts soon! First haircut and the big first birthday party on that list!

The twins

2011-05-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

I love these boys!

Fun in the sun

2011-05-03T15:40:00.000-07:00

So we just came back from Florida. It was such a wonderful vacation. We really needed to get away. It was relaxing, but I must say vacationing with a 9 month old is not exactly restful :) That little boy loved the beach and is a total fish in the water. That one swimming lesson before we left really paid off! ha.

Before I left, my boss recommended that we get a baby pool and put it on the beach. Best. Idea. EVER. He spent hours in there every day. Distracted by the water, his toys (which I included a solo cup most days. What baby doesn't love a solo cup) and just completely loving his life.

Clearly sand is delicious to a baby. By day 3 we gave up on trying to keep him from eating it. Scott tried and tried but was not going to win that battle. You know what JJ learned was tastier than sand though? Ice cream.

In case you are wondering, that's lime and chocolate swirl ice cream. The child LOVES lime. He tried to eat a whole lime that he found on the tree outside my parent's place. Silly baby! Um and maybe he ate the lime that came with my margarita. I promise, it was not IN the margarita. But that probably would have given us a good night sleep...

We even got a date night while we were there. It was fantastic. *sigh* It was hard to come back to reality after all that! We're already planning our next trip.

my new alarm clock

2011-04-10T10:19:00.000-07:00

I shot this video the other afternoon, but this is exactly what I wake up to every morning now. He learned how to make this noise and has WAY too much fun with it :)

Luck of the Irish

2011-03-19T06:08:00.000-07:00

We had a great St. Patrick's Day here...how about all of you? I had the day off so I got to spend lots of time with JJ and it was a gorgeous day. Oh, and we watched lots of basketball! It really is one of the best days of the year. Beer, corned beef, and basketball. Yes, please!

Here's my little leprechaun...

I started preparing for the holiday last weekend. I bought a 7 lb. brisket and brined it for 4 days. Making your own corned beef is 100x better than buying the packaged one from the store. It's SUPER easy too. It's beer, water, salt, sugar and pickling spices. Then it sits in your fridge for 4 days. The only strange thing is it doesn't come out red, it comes out looking like brisket! Imagine that. I then split it in half and made it two ways. The traditional boiled method with cabbage, potatoes and carrots. The other half got slathered in cloves, hot mustard and brown sugar. Then it got put in the oven for 2 hours and folks, this is the way to make corned beef. It's really wonderful. Tender and flavorful. I sauteed cabbage and onion to go with it.

I used the recipes found here:

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/corned_beef_and_cabbage

Ok, it isn't pretty, but damn it tastes good!

Now I'm off to make corned beef hash. MMMMM good. But first, it's time to lower the crib mattress. Someone learned another trick this week...

Lift off!

2011-03-15T15:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, folks...we have a crawler! An honest to god crawler. First there was the rocking (humping?) motion. Then it was almost a marine crawl...a dragging of the legs type thing. Now, a real crawl! JJ is on the move...so, watch out world!

As the end of the video demonstrates, child proofing has become a new priority. He can find everything. Especially wires that he can choke himself with. That seems to be a speciality. I swear those wires didn't even exist a month ago, now they are everywhere! *sigh*

So what else is going on. Hmmmm. I've been meaning to post for ages. I'm like a broken record on that, right? If only I could stop this break neck pace at work which results in me coming home so spent. I have energy to be with my little man for a few hours and that's about it. Oh and laundry. I swear, it's my new hobby. Can one baby really create this much laundry? I dream about getting a professional launderer one day. Launderer? You know what I mean...

I promise to do a St. Patrick's day post. PROMISE! I have my corned beef brining right now, so we're doing it up all homemade style this year! CAN NOT WAIT! Plus, JJ has not one, but two outfits. So necessary.

I'm going to de-wire my apartment now! Look for an update on Thursday :)

So close...

2011-02-28T15:16:00.000-08:00

Yet so far away.

(Please say I'm not the only one singing Hall & Oates now...I'm looking at you Stephanie! Help me out here!)

This is quite an interesting time for a baby. JJ is right on the edge of a few milestones! It's very exciting. As you all saw earlier this month, he's very close to figuring out the crawling thing. He's also working on feeding himself. Just two weeks ago he had zero interest in these puffs...now he loves them! He realized that...hey! These taste good! And if I pick it up with my fingers, I can put them in my mouth. Occasionally. His average isn't all that good, but I'm sure Marley is loving that :)

This video just cracked me up because he was working so hard and got that puff in there. Only to have it come right back out! Better luck next time baby!

Oh and can we all just agree to watch my videos on mute? God, I sound so silly in them.

footprints

2011-02-28T08:04:00.000-08:00

I wanted to post this weeks ago. But I had some technical difficulties. I am simply not capable of turning something from pdf to jpeg. *sigh*

Look at these little feet! I have footprints from the hospital too and I really can't wait to do this again when he's a year old. Sad thing is, I never would have known how easy it is to do this if we hadn't done it at Gymboree! It was such a fun thing to do...and that poor teacher really looked like she needed a drink after spending the day doing footprints for countless babies. They let us bring in whatever we wanted, in addition to this cute little poem they provided...so we all took full advantage of her generosity and she paid for it!

My baby boy is getting so big! It's especially crazy considering that he is at the very bottom of that damn growth chart. But he's 15 pounds now! Tripled in size. Can you imagine?

Victorious!

2011-02-12T17:51:00.000-08:00

Dear sea horse -

For 7 months, you have entertained me and lulled me to sleep. I have watched you closely and hoped to reach out touch you. But you were always just out of reach. Until today! Today my arms are juuuust long enough to reach out and not just touch you...but TRY AND RIP YOU DOWN!

Watch your back octopus. You're next!

Sincerely,

JJ

Putting the pieces together

2011-02-05T13:40:00.001-08:00

It's so interesting to watch him put all the pieces together in his head. Last week he realized he could get up on his hands and knees. Then he would collapse a moment later :) Now he's doing this cute move...

Not much longer until he's crawling, I'd say!

It was a big week for JJ. He had 2 doctor's appointments which put him all out of sorts. The first was his 6 month check up (with all his shots, which is what got him all screwed up). Then he visited a gastroenterologist. He's a tiny little guy and we're keeping a very close eye on his weight gain. It's gotten better, but he had stopped gaining at a good rate back in the fall. We realized around christmas that he definitely has reflux and between being treated for that and the super duper calorie rich formula he's getting, he seems to be doing much better! I was hoping they would say we could stop with the super duper calorie rich formula because we go through formula at a break neck pace and lord almighty, that can break the bank! Both Scott and I are so relieved after 2 good doctor visits though. A king's randsom in formula is a small price to pay for a healthy baby and restful sleep for mom and dad :)

BTW - might I say again...he had his SIX MONTH appointment! Six months! Crazy.

Hello, Handsome!

2011-01-25T06:05:00.000-08:00

JJ and I started going to Gymboree a few weeks ago. At every class, the babies spend tummy time on a big mirror so they can see themselves. JJ loooooves it. I caught this video last night of him checking out this handsome baby in the mirror at home :)

Tardy for the (New Year's) Party

2011-01-02T13:19:00.000-08:00

I feel like getting this post up only one day late is actually pretty impressive. The only reason it's getting done is I have a mountain of laundry sitting here and I will do just about anything to procastinate putting it away. We just returned from a very long trip home to Massachusetts. We celebrated our first christmas with JJ (who is one spoiled baby, I must say) and rang in the New Year at my best friend Alissa's wedding. She married a wonderful man, looked absolutely amazing and the wedding was SO much fun. The after party is still a bit hazy...but I feel like any good after party should be :)

I spent 8 hours in a car on New Years Day, which left a lot of time to reflect on the last year. I rang in 2010 VERY sober and newly pregnant and rang in 2011 very much not sober and spending the night away from my son for the very first time. I not only welcomed this beautiful boy into my life, but have a wonderful baby nephew now too! It's really been quite an eventful year. I know 2011 is going to be equally as exciting. We have quite a few big plans, including a 1st birthday party for JJ which I may or may not be already planning :) Work shows no signs of being less crazy. And because it's just that time of life...we have no less than 4 weddings to attend and quite a few babies on the way that we can't wait to meet!

As I sit here and write this, I can hear my nearly 6 month old baby chatting away, while rolling around on the ground. I'm amazed every day by how many changes are happening. I'm pretty sure we're into full fledged teething mode, if the fountain of drool is any indication. He's eating lots of new yummy foods...applesauce, pears, bananas and mom's favorite...avacado! The one bittersweet experience that I'm currently struggling with is I just finished breastfeeding. My goal was 6 months and I'm just one week shy of that. It was such an amazing thing, I'm so glad we were able to make it work. But with being back at work full time, it was just not working anymore. I'm sort of sad about it. Luckily, I still have LOTS of milk in the freezer and I have to be honest, I'm sort of excited about ditching the nursing bras :)

Happy 2011 everyone...I hope this year is even better than the last!

One year ago today...

2010-11-30T15:35:00.000-08:00

We found out we were expecting! Its SO crazy to me. It seems like it's been a really long year...but that it was yesterday all at the same time. From what I hear, it only gets worse from here. Time goes faster and faster. I remember we were at Home Depot buying lights for our christmas tree and I had the strangest cramps. I went home and took a pregnancy test, after testing negative just a week earlier. And voila! Baby on the way! I promptly took another test. Then I cried. Both out of extreme happiness and my HOLY CRAP IT WORKED (and so quickly!) reaction! hehe. Anyways, it was such an exciting night...and now I get to enjoy all the memories while holding my beautiful little boy.

Look at him!

He sure does LOVE his bath time now! He figured out how to splash. I now could use a raincoat while I give him his bath. But it's so much fun!

I'm just going to pretend like it hasn't been nearly a month since I last posted anything. I have no idea where the time went. I would imagine this month won't be much better. My life has gone totally insane lately. In fact, I'd say it's been the last 2 months that have been a complete blur. The whole moving, returning to work full time and learning how to be a full time mom and full time employee has been...challenging. But it's so worth it. I've never been so tired, yet so fulfilled in my whole life. And when I say tired. I mean tired to the bone. WOW.

Oh and remember how I said, oh I'll take a few months and see how my work schedule is working out? Well, work had other ideas. I'll post more on this later...but I've NEVER been this busy at work. NEVER. EVER :)

This post is so scattered. It perfectly reflects how my brain is functioning right now. I'll try to pull my thoughts together and post again in less than a months time. I have lots of fun stories to share about all the growing and changing that's been going on around here!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

2010-11-02T05:49:00.000-07:00

It's off to work I go. Or went. *sigh* Those were the fastest 16 weeks of my life. The last day I was at work was July 12 when I left the office in a crazy "doctor called and said go to the hospital" whirlwind! I missed an entire third of the year and in Cushman and Wakefield time that's practically an eternity. There are so many new faces and some really wonderful people have left. I will say this much, my boss missed me. It's good to be missed :)

Before I got pregnant, or even when I was expecting, I never imagined it would be so hard to head back to work. I'm feeling pretty proud that I only cried in the ladies room once. And maybe a little bit before I left on Monday morning. Both JJ and I had some seperation anxiety. He put up a bit of a hunger strike and I had MAJOR baby withdrawl by 4:00 pm. (want to guess what time I was in the bathroom crying??). I know it's going to get easier with time. At least I hope so. It's going to be a few weeks of working on a new morning routine and getting LOTS of cuddle time at night. Do I sound crazy to say part of me was like...awwww JJ missed his mommy! He was as sad as me! But no, that's not right. I want him to be happy, healthy and independent. But missing me just a little this first week is ok ;)

But seriously, who wouldn't be sad to leave this sweet baby? Look at him!! I know many of you already saw this picture on facebook, but I'm obsessed with it.

I've promised myself to take a few months and get into the groove of things before I really try to analyze how I think it's working out. Right now, I'm having a gut reaction of this being terrible, awful, no good, very bad. I seriously can't think of one good reason I can't carry the baby with me all day at work! I want to work and not leave him all at the same time. Normal, right? Please say yes!

Oh and pumping at work is not the most fun thing to do. I'm dedicated to making this work, I really want to keep breastfeeding for another few months at the bare minimum. But it's not going to be easy. I'm trying to tell myself it's a good opportunity to sit back and relax for 15 minutes a few times a day. Organize my thoughts, day dream about holding my little man :) I'm hoping this is another thing that will get easier with time. Fingers crossed.

I discovered my brain is a bit rusty after 4 months out of work! Just getting through email was a challenge. I won't even tell you how difficult I was finding it to update my monthly office calendar. If everyone can just speak very slowly and repeat themselves often for the next week or so, I think that would be best. Baby turned my brain to mush and I'm assuming it's not appropriate to randomly starting telling people about llama llama red pajama on conference calls.

But for all my complaining, it was sort of nice to be back in the land of adults. I put on make up, high heels and had normal conversation all day long. Did you know that I used to do this every day? It seems so forgeign right now!! The nice thing is, between wearing maternity clothes and being on maternity leave, my work clothes actually haven't seen the light of day in a LONG time. It's been so much less of a struggle to figure out what to wear. I haven't worn any of it in ages! Nothing is boring...yet. Give that a week. Most of it even fits. Not all, but most. Gotta keep working at those last few baby pounds! joy...

Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool

2010-10-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

How chill is this baby? :)

Or should I say, how chill is this 3 month old baby?? 3 MONTHS! When did this happen?

JJ is so alert now. Chatting up a storm, smiling, watching us very closely (gotta watch that PDA now! hehe). Best part though...he's sleeping at night. For many hours at a time. One night, it just started. 3 hours one night and then the next night...6 hours! He's gone as long as 9 hours. All of which means, I'm sleeping! Woo hoo. It's one of my favorite things to do. No seriously, it is. If my mattress wasn't approximately 150 years old, I bet I'd like it even more.

My time at home is winding down. Sniffle. I'm lucky enough that I work in DC and FMLA is 16 weeks instead of 12. I had initially planned on being back to work after 12-14 weeks and well, that all changed the moment this little boy entered my life. It's been tough, but I think taking all 16 weeks was absolutely the right thing to do. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Well, onward and upward! Let's see what month 4 has to offer. I know one thing, at least...JJ will have a new baby cousin to meet!! Any day now. Sooner than later we hope :)

Blah Blah Blah

2010-10-18T11:15:00.001-07:00

Warning: cute baby sounds can turn your brain to mush. Or is that just me?

Apparently, creating an unholy poopy diaper can make a baby very chatty. I won't go into detail, but needless to say I'm still traumatized.

At long last...the nursery!

2010-09-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

Here it is! The Beatles themed nursery I've been talking about for months! We're really happy with how it came out. I wish I was even slighly proficient in taking pictures, I really can do no justice to how cute it is.

Here was the first of several projects we did. I found that fantastic Beatles fabric online and used my mad sewing skills to hem it to the right length for a tablecloth (yay for sewing in straight lines!) That lamp was previously...dirty. Is that a color? Because that's the best description I have :) So we painted that and I added the ribbon for a little extra something. April gave me those great pins, that had previously been used on the diaper cake she made for my shower. I think it turned out really cute!

This shelf was the next project we worked on. It was something I salvaged out of my grandma's house after she passed away, so I like the fact that it found a new home in my son's room. It used to be U-G-L-Y...off white and dark red. I spent time during snowpocolypse 2010 sanding it down and prepping it. Then we finally got around to painting it later in the spring.

I'm especially in love with the yellow submarine lunch box that adorns it. Its a gift from Granny Franny :)

The next two shots are just of the cubey storage units we went with instead of getting drawers. Plus, you can see some of the great framed album covers I scored on Ebay. I found 8 all together and I'm anxious to get my hands on a few more. Another big thanks to my coworker, Merridy. She not only sent me a few albums, but is responsible for many of the other items you see. We're both big Beatles fans!

The only project that I didn't get a picture of are the Yellow Submarine seat cushions I made for the rocking chair. I used instructions from my friend Stephanie's blog and it was really easy! Again, just sewing in straight lines...but I really impressed myself by making them the right size. Who knew I could use a tape measure!

Last, but not least...I had to get a shot of the little guy in his crib! Enjoying that mobile again :) I know I'm biased, but is he the sweetest thing or what?!?

Enchanted

2010-09-20T11:35:00.001-07:00

I'm not positive...but I'm pretty sure this is what being enchanted looks like. JJ can really focus on things now and loves his mobile. (big thanks to one Miss Stephanie Sterling for the awesome mobile that by coincidence totally matches the nursery!)

The best part of this is that I got to shower while he ohhhed, ahhhed and stared at that mobile! Let me repeat, I got A SHOWER! woo hoo :)

JJ is such a happy baby lately. Lots of smiles, lots of cute little squeaks. He has been spending a lot more time awake and not crying! who knew...

enjoy!

Roly Poly

2010-08-30T10:31:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how this is even possible since last time I blinked my baby was just a few days old, but apparently he's 7 weeks old now! and he can ROLL OVER! Sort of. With just a little help. But check it out...

He will do anything and I mean anything to not be on his tummy! Isn't that just crazy??

When not on his tummy, he loves that play mat. He can really focus on things now and will bat at those animals and is completely captivated staring up at them. Plus this means he can really focus on mom and dad too now! That's the best. Maybe tied with the milk smirk for the best actually :) LOVE the milk smirk!

Baby shower!

2010-08-16T23:43:00.000-07:00

I bet you thought I'd never do this post! I was starting to think that too :) But here it is. yay!

It seems like my shower was ages ago! I mean, it was a quite a while ago, but so much has happened since then it seems even longer (and um, have I done my thank you cards? No. No, I haven't. Argh! Stop judging me! The cards are staring at me right now...). But it was such a wonderful day and such a wonderful weekend, it really deserves a blog entry.

First, let me say. It was HOT that weekend. Of course, since I had so many friends and family coming into town it had to be completely unbearable to be in DC. You really have to love DC in the summer :) But that's been the story of this entire summer. My mom, brother, sister in law, best friend and her fiance all came to stay with us and it was quite the full house! But the more the merrier. We had such a great weekend and ate like royalty. That's just how we do it around here!

(sidenote, if you have a crowd for breakfast and really want to splurge...you MUST try this!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/05/cinnamon-baked-french-toast/)

Saturday was the baby shower and it was just wonderful! So many people came into town. It was so much fun to see everyone and I'm so thankful people took the time out of their busy schedules to celebrate with me. My mother in law and sister in law (ok, brother in law's wife, but we just stick with sister in law, right april?!? hehe) put together the cutest shower. I loved it! It had a beatles theme, just like the nursery. You can see the diaper cake in the picture above and below is the close up of the favor. Is that just the cutest damn thing? I love it! We had Beatles trivia and I got some great Beatles themed presents! I'm assuming most babies aren't rolling around with a Bealtes diaper bag, but JJ is :) BTW those great little Beatles pins on the diaper cake will make a reappearance in the nursery. If/when I ever get that blog post up, you'll see how I worked those into the nursery too!

I got oodles and oodles of cute baby clothes and a ton of gear. We were officially ready for baby after the shower. Which is a good thing since he came 2 weeks later!

Last thing is a quick shot of me with my mom (aka, Granny Franny). It's so funny to see pictures of when I was pregnant now that I'm not. Damn, I was BIG! I didn't think I was that big...but wow. I'm so glad I took lots of belly pictures during the pregnancy or I'd never remember exactly how big I got :)

1 month!!

2010-08-13T15:20:00.000-07:00

Can it really be possible that JJ is already one month old? It seems so crazy to me. But the calendar does not lie. I'm sure part of the problem is I've lost all sense of time. Day, night...these things mean nothing to someone who only sleeps 3 hours at a time! I see 3:00 am as often as I see 3:00 pm. *sigh*

What a month it's been, too. As much as I thought I was prepared for all of this, I wasn't even close! There is no way to be prepared really. I mean, you can have the nursery set up, the car seat installed...all that good stuff. But that's just a small fraction of it. What I was really unprepared for was how emotional the whole month has been. It seemed so cliche to say your whole life changes, but it's SO true! My life is so wonderfully different now and I wouldn't want it any other way. He's made us so happy. And I'm saying that after he kept me up from 4:45 am - 8:30 am last night :) The hours seem to fly by and all I do sometimes is hold him in my arms and stare at that beautiful face!

There were a few things that really took me by surprise. The first is how conflicted I feel about returning to work. Don't get me wrong, I'm going back to work. Sadly, we're a two income house and there is no way around that! But almost every day I have this crazy internal debate. I really never imagined that I'd even question the idea of wanting to go back. But what I wouldn't give for some flexibility. It's strange because I really do want to work. I really enjoy what I do and have a lot of ambition in terms of having a successful career. I have a lot of opportunities in front of me right now, not to mention a boatload of responsibilities to return to. But the "want this more than anything" phrase isn't included in this right now. The idea of leaving JJ for 40+ hours a week seems like the very worst form of torture. I know it will all work out and what helps is I have a really supportive boss. But can't I just keep JJ next to my desk for lots of cuddle time during the day? That would be great!!

The second thing is my desire for time to slow down, yet at the same time speed up. Does that make sense?!? My leave is FLYING by. Every day goes so fast. I love every minute with JJ and wish the day was twice as long so there were twice as many minutes! But at the same time, I'm so anxious to see him grow. I can't wait for all the big milestones. It's amazing that he can already hold his head up so much more than he could just a few weeks ago. Before when we put him in the car seat, his little head would slump right over. Now he can hold his head up straight. He's so alert! It's amazing. So I need JJ to stay a tiny little baby but also grow and change :)

The last thing is how happy I am v. the horror film that plays in my head. I know I'm a broken record, but this little bugger makes me so happy! He's so cute! Such a little stinker. hehe. (is it awful that most of my nicknames with him involve the word "stinker"?) But, OMG, I am constantly worrying about all the things that could go wrong! So he's been home for a little over a month...and between me and Scott we probably check that he's breathing 100 times a day, so give or take 3000 times total since he's been born! Luckily, I can say with complete confidence that he's still breathing :) PHEW! Of course, what doesn't help with the horror film is that I nearly killed the baby last night. We had him on his play mat, which I promptly tripped on (the slowest, most drawn out trip EVER) and he flipped right over. Within 30 seconds, he was totally fine. Me? Not so much. I'm sure it's normal to cry on and off for like 2 hours after nearly killing your baby. Right? UGH.

I'm so ready for month 2! Can't wait to see what this little guy has in store for us :)

Welcome to the world, JJ!

2010-07-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I've decided to work backwards here. I totally intend on posting about my wonderful baby shower and showing off the beatles themed nursery we put together. But first things first...it's time to say welcome to our beautiful son, JJ! He came a bit earlier than expected, but we couldn't be happier to have our healthy, happy boy home with us now.

Magnessium SUCKS

I'll try to keep the story short and sweet. I got the call from my doctor's office on Monday, July 12, to go in to Sibley for observation after getting some strange test results back the week before. My totally uneventful pregnancy took quite a strange turn at the very end. We truly never imagined they would decide to keep me! But they decided I was having an "atypical" presentation of preeclampsia and needed to be induced immediately (and later on Tuesday, was also diagnosed with Cholestasis, so strange). Luckily, we were prepared at home, but at work...hmmm, not so much :) oh well. I had to go on magnessium, which is some really crazy stuff and put me totally out of commission for over 2 days. I was induced monday night and started pitocin on Tuesday morning. I labored. and labored. and LABORED. All I can say is thank god for epidurals :) After not progressing much over 14 hours, we all decided that a c-section was the only way to go. So at 9:17 pm on Tuesday, July 13, our beautiful boy was born! I was so out of it from that magnessium, but even through the haze I know it was the most emotional, wonderful moment of my life. He was so tiny and perfect. Talk about love at first sight!

Happy Birthday, JJ!

Because he was born early and was very lethargic from the magnessium, he was whisked off very quickly to the special care nursery. Scott got to hold him and I got to give him a quick kiss. That was the last I got to see of him for 26 LONG HOURS. Never has a day moved so slowly before. I had to be kept on the magnessium and epidural for the entire next day, so I was stuck in bed. He needed constant care, so he couldn't be taken from the nursery. So there was no way I could see him. Ugh, it was awful. Luckily, Scott could! He took lots and lots of pictures for me.

Finally :)

JJ stayed in the special care nursery for 8 days. That sucked. No other way to say it. I got sent home on Saturday and was told to go home and "rest". Yet had to be at the hopsital all day for feedings. Not to mention, being away from him was pretty much out of the question for me. However, the silver lining was the incredible level of care he received from the nurses. In fact, all I can do is rave about all the the nurses we had at Sibley. One was more amazing than the next. The special care nurses spent a lot of time with us giving tons of advice and pep talks. Trust me, I needed some pep talks in order to leave that hospital without my son. *sigh*

Proud Daddy

But on Tuesday, July 20, we got to take JJ home! And here we are, 12 days after he was born happy at home with our son. Tired? Yes, oh god yes. But insanely happy. I now understand what people mean by your whole life changes. I could stare at him for hours on end! We made this handsome boy? Is that really possible!?! Apparently it is :) Welcome to the world, JJ! We can't wait to see you grow from our little baby to a big boy. Just not too fast, ok?

Our beautiful boy

JJ's first concert!

2010-07-01T07:09:00.000-07:00

I'm so behind. SO behind. I'm sorry! The last few weeks have been total madness. Lots of cleaning, cooking and hosting all sorts of company. It's been tons of fun (which I also feel could be my nickname at the moment), but left very little time for fun things like posting pictures. I figure I might as well go back to the begining of June and work forward from there. I have a post coming about my amazing Beatles themed baby shower and nursery pictures are on the way! Need to get the crib up this weekend...but we're making really good progress in there and I can't wait to show everyone!

I figured I would do a quick post on JJ's very first concert. We went to see Jeff Beck at Wolftrap on June 7. What an AMAZING concert. If you ever get a chance to see him live, do it. He's a legend for a reason. I have to admit, I was initially a little nervous that I would get bored. He doesn't have anyone on vocals. This concert was 90% instrumental (his bass player sang maybe 3 songs in the 2.5 hour concert). But the man is insanely good and his entire band was fantastic. As we walked out I heard a woman say "he doesn't need a singer, his guitar does the singing". Such a cheesy thing to say. But 100% true.

His bass player is someone you need to check out. I linked her website and a youtube video below. She's maybe 24. According to Scott, super hot...and simply ROCKS OUT. I can't say enough about her.

http://www.talwilkenfeld.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdX6ly6ftUM&feature=fvw

On top of all of this...Wolftrap is such a great place for a concert. I'm not sure why this is only the second time we've been. It's small, cheap, the lawn was fantastic and you can bring your own food/drink in. You really can't beat that. As you can see, Scott enjoyed tailgating before the show :) It was a beautiful night...probably 80s during the day and 60s at night. In June. In DC. who knew!

Last but not least...here's a picture of JJ enjoying his first concert! I was about 31 weeks when this was taken (35 weeks tomorrow - holy!). Please don't judge me for the brownie. I'm pregnant, ok? lay off! hehe.

The great freezer cook down

2010-05-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

I've gotten into the habit over the last year or so of really taking advantage of the freezer. Stocking up when things were on sale, chopping up my own fruits and veggies and having a great stash of chicken stock in there. Oh, and probably some kind of ice cream at all times. But that's unrelated to this :) We officially reached maximum capicity last weekend and began clearing the freezer out. You know, to make room for my next round of hoarding. We cooked and cooked all weekend (inspired by our recent trip to a cooking class!).

Scott had been stashing lobster and shrimp shells in there and have accumulated enough to make (a TON of) seafood stock. No picture of this since, well, its a big bowl of brown liquid. But it did stink the apartment up something fierce, I'll tell you that much.

Next step? Cooking the chicken I had stashed in there. See picture above. It was deeeeelicious. We made a quick herb butter to put under the skin and baked it in the oven (finished it off on our indoor grill - which had been used earlier for grilled corn, mmmm). The best part though? The potatoes! (see below) Want to make some seriously amazing potatoes? I know you do. I saw this trick on America's Test Kitchen and all I can say is YUM. See how're they're all brown and glistening? Yeah, that's because we cooked them on a tray with the chicken baking on a rack above it. So they cooked in the fat and juices coming off the chicken. Please do yourself a favor and try this! The flavor was seriously outrageous. Note I didn't say healthy. I said outrageous ;)

I was then able to make a big batch of chicken stock from the leftovers. I hate buying the boxed/canned stuff. There is no comparison. Plus making your own stock is beyond cheap and easy.

Next! The bag of previously fresh, now frozen blueberries I had. We made a blueberry buckle. I used this recipe:

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/blueberry_buckle/

It's really just a blueberry coffee cake. Oh, it's so good...for breakfast, dessert, a midnight snack perhaps. Anytime!

I also grabbed a bag of homemade white beans, that combined with the chicken stock will become pasta e fagioli. One of my all time favorite soups (a favorite because Scott makes it, not me!). Also, a pound of ground beef and a bag homemade black beans that turned into beef tacos. MMMMMM. After was all was said and done, I had one tiny trip to the grocery store and an entire week of delicious food from one weekend of cooking. You really can't beat that. Sadly, this only put a tiny dent in the freezer and now that there is a ridiculous amount of stock in there now, we're pretty much back to maximum capacity again. Oh well!

Just for fun...I thought I'd end this with a super cute picture of the big brother to be (aka, marley dog!)

Oh no he didn't...

2010-05-25T16:12:00.000-07:00

So I'm not sure if this story should be filed under "I should give him the benefit of the doubt, I'm sure he meant this in a nice way" or under "men are IDIOTS". I'll let you be the judge :)

I'm leaving work last week. It had been a VERY long day and I was specifically told to go home at 4:00 because I "looked tired". (sidenote, I know I'm being totally hormonal, but that alone took all the wind out of my sails. ugh. I'm working so hard, please don't call me out for being tired!) So I figure, who am I to say no and I take off. On my way out of the building, I run into a broker I work with. He stops me and asks how far along I am? I tell him 28 weeks. He says, no joke..."oh, you're BIG". He then asks, is this my first? I say yes. He repeats himself! "oh, you're definitely big". Oh, no you didn't just call a pregnant woman BIG! are you NUTS? A) yes, i'm "big", i'm pregnant, you jerk! and B) frankly, I would expect this from someone who say, didn't have a whole litter of kids at home. But he does! It took every shred of self control not to hit him. It really did. It truly amazes me the things people will say. I had another male coworker say "oh, no cankles yet!". Ugh, shoot me.

So, anyways, I figured this was a good time for another belly picture! This is 29 weeks along. See, how BIG I am? :) Of course, because that made me totally paranoid, my first question at the doctor the next day was "am i big?". So glad to say the answer was no! hehe.

I'm working up to a few other posts this week, I've been slacking pretty bad. I'm still trying to compose my thoughts on the Lost finale. We've also been cooking up a storm lately - doing a sort of cook through the freezer theme. So I have some delicious recipes to share! But first, thank you cards must be finished. Then I can get back to the fun stuff!

Baby Shower!!

2010-05-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

I'm so behind in getting this post up. We got a new camera (YAY) and its taken me 2 weeks to load the software onto our computer so I could pull the pictures off. I must say, I am LOVING this camera. It's so much nicer! I am really looking forward to taking sweet baby pictures now :)

So, returning to the whole point of this post, I had my first baby shower a little over a week ago. My truly wonderful and thoughtful boss, Wendy, hosted a beautiful shower for me at work. All the C&W ladies...cupcakes...fruit salad...and LOTS of cute baby clothes! I can't resist posting pics of just a few of the items I received...

Are those just fantastic?!?

JJ will totally be a momma's boy :)

Ok...and just one more. Of the cute feeties!! Some of these aren't from the shower, but does it get cuter than all these feeties?

I also got hooked up with a ton of baby gear. I mean seriously hooked up. I have the best coworkers! If I thought anyone wanted to see a picture of my stroller, I would put one up. Because you know I have one. Granted, I have pictures of just about everything in my apartment right now because I have a new toy that is just crying out to be played with! Who doesn't need 30 different pictures of my dog and my big belly? :)

I'm officially in my third trimester now. How crazy is that? I can't even be in denial anymore. I've reached the point where there is no longer room for the baby AND all of my major organs to be sharing my body with any level of comfort. OWWWWWWW. Less than 3 months and we'll finally get to meet the little guy who spends all night kicking me and pushing on my ribs! I really can not wait!

Spicing things up...

2010-04-28T18:29:00.001-07:00

Please don't let the crappy picture deter you from listening to me when I say...you need to make this recipe!!

We've had a jar of curry powder hanging around for months. We use just a little bit of it each time we make jamaican beef patties (which certainly warrant a post all to themselves, so I'm mentally adding that to the list). But we had a BIG bottle and it was getting used up slowly. I was watching Barefoot Contessa the other day and saw her make this curry chicken salad. We were feeling adventerous and decided to try it. Yes, I know it's sad that curry = adventerous...but it's true :)

Here's the link to Ina's recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/curried-chicken-wraps-recipe/index.html

I've made a few changes though which work well for us...

1 whole rotisserie chicken
2/3 c. light mayo
1/2 c. light sour cream
1/3 c. dry white wine (I used vermouth last time and it worked just fine. This time I had a bottle of reisling so I used that. did you know that when Erin stops drinking, wine lasts more than 1 day in the fridge? amazing)
1/4 c. mango chutney
only ONE tb. curry powder (one was definitely more than enough, 3 to me is overkill!)
1 c. diced celery
1/4 c. chopped scallions
I omit the raisins, just a personal preference
1 c. cashews (I like to toast them in a dry pan before adding them)

You NEED the cashews. that's a must. This salad is so delicious. So what if you stink of curry for a whole day after?!? :)

On a related note...we're finally ready to buy a new camera. So hopefully one day in the near future, the pictures I post won't look like garbage. New baby definitely means new camera. VERY excited about this!

25 weeks!

2010-04-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

So suddenly, this isn't a little baby bump anymore! That's a big fat belly :) I swear, I left for Florida with a little bump and overnight it turned into this!

Time really seems to be flying...this picture is a stark reminder that things are moving along! 25 weeks!! crazy.

Love Is All You Need

2010-04-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

Designing the nursery has definitely been one of the most fun experiences of the entire pregnancy so far! I started on it right away. I knew I wanted to do something a bit different and spent a lot of time on the internet searching for fun ideas. I came across this website early on...

http://homebuilding.thefuntimesguide.com/2006/12/unique_nursery_decoratingideas.php

(no worries, folks. We will not be naming the baby Abbey Rhode :)

I loved this idea. I immediately knew I wanted to incorporate The Beatles into the nursery. I spent a lot of time as a kid listening to The Beatles. To this day, they are one of Scott and my favorite bands. Plus, my dad is a huge (HUGE!) Beatles fan and I knew I could count on him to find us some unique stuff for the nursery.

After some time searching on the internet I found the perfect nursery bedding! Seriously perfect. Of course, also not being made anymore. Just for shits and giggles, I sent a desperate plea to the manufacturer and wouldn't you know, they had ONE more in the warehouse and it was all mine! To top it all off, I managed to get it for free :)

Next up, scouring Ebay for Beatles albums. I had a lot of luck, I'm happy to report. So baby will have some pretty sweet Beatles albums up on the wall. That is if I don't steal them for other parts of the apartment first! Plus, my wonderful coworker, Merridy, hooked me up with a bunch of albums from her personal collection and my dad bought us a great lithograph of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band. If I had known how wonderful and generous people were when it comes to a new baby, I would have done this years ago! I kid...I kid...

I am still on the hunt for a few more, but I found the most important ones, so I'm a happy camper. We really want to focus on the most colorful album covers - Sgt. Peppers, Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine. If nothing else, baby is going to have a damn good taste in music!

Last, but not least, I scored some fantastic fabric! I know that I'm going to make a tablecloth for a round table I have, but beyond that I have 2 yards to play around with. This is where you good folks out there in the "intertubes" come in! I need ideas! Keep in mind, my sewing skills are, well, mediocre at best. I like to sew in straight lines :) I'm getting better but I'm far from good. So, probably a few pillows for the rocking chair...but what else?!? help me out!

I'll post updates later in the spring as we start to get the nursery together! The crib arrived a few weeks and we have a great storage unit...so things are really starting to come together :) I'm thinking it's about time to start putting everything together. Well, we'll wait on the crib for now in order to keep the guest bed. But I can get started on everything else! can't wait.

In honor of...

2010-03-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

In honor of the name of my blog, I wanted to share two just incredibly funny things.

First, can we all just agree that this detention pass is AWESOME? yes? ok. Moving on then...

I can't take the credit for finding this next list. Scott's cousin, Gregg, sent it to me after I had posted a "that's what she said" moment on Facebook. Said moment was...I at work a few months back and I heard my boss on the phone talking to someone. In the course of this conversation I hear "that's what she said" in the most innocent context. Did that keep me from laughing hysterically? of course not! I'm the same person who had a VERY difficult time studying for Astronomy in college because of the planet Uranus. Yes, deep down inside I'm an 10 year old boy. Go figure!

Anyways, back to the topic at hand! Here are the top 10 sexually explicit lines from the 3 original star wars movies...enjoy :)

Star Wars: A New Hope

"Get in there you big furry oaf, I don't care what you smell!"

"Luke, at that speed do you think you'll be able to pull out in time?"

"Put that thing away before you get us all killed."

"You've got something jammed in here real good."

"Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?"

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought."

"Sorry about the mess..."

"Look at the size of that thing!"

"Curse my metal body, I wasn't fast enough!"

"She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid."

The Empire Strikes Back

"Control, Control! You must learn control!"

"And I thought they smelled bad on the outside!"

"Possible he came in through the south entrance."

"I must've hit it pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up like that, huh kid?"

"Hurry up, golden-rod..."

"That's okay, I'd like to keep it on manual control for a while."

"But now we must eat. Cum, good food, cumm..."

"There's an awful lot of moisture in here."

"Size matters not. Judge me by my size, do you?"

"I thought that hairy beast would be the end of me."

Return of the Jedi

"Back door, huh? Good idea!"

"Hey, Luke, thanks for coming after me - now I owe you one."

"Short help's better than no help at all."

"Grab me, Chewie. I'm slipping - hold on. Grab it, almost...you almost got it. Gently now, all right, easy, easy, hold me, Chewie. Chewie!"

"I assure you, Lord Vader, my men are working as fast as they can." with reply

"Perhaps I can find new ways to motivate them."

"If I told you half the things I've heard about this Jabba the Hutt, you'd probably short circuit."

"There is good in him, I've felt it."

"Someone must've told them about my little maneuver at the battle of Taanab."

"You're a jittery little thing, aren't you?"

"I look forward to completing your training. In time you will call me master."

And stay tuned folks...I hit 20 weeks today, which means the 20 week ultrasound is just a few days away! We'll know if Baby Sawicki is a boy or girl and get to sneak a peek at baby! I'm beyond excited.

I hope everyone gets to enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend! I know I will :)

Help a sister out!

2010-03-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

Ok folks, it's about that time. We officially started looking into where to register and what to register for. Now I'm hoping...can any parents out there help me out? What were things you loved or hated? The items you just can't live without or found to be an utter waste of space? Or even suggestions on how not to have my blood pressure go through the roof when standing in Babies R Us surrounded by screaming babies?!? Is that store too much or is it just me? As if the sheer size of the place wasn't overwhelming enough...

I know you have opinions. Frankly, we couldn't be friends if you didn't :) So lay it on me!!!

While you hit me up with ideas...I'll be working on putting together a post on how the nursery is coming along!! Question #1 is does the guard dog get to keep his bed in baby's room? Hmmm...he does look vicious, doesn't he? Will easily scare off any intruders, in my humble opinion.

Yup, this is how he spends his days. Rough life, isn't it? At least we know Baby Sawicki will have a nap time partner :) So I guess the bed stays!!

The Bump!!

2010-03-03T10:13:00.000-08:00

Well, it's not a big bump...but a bump nonetheless! I officially got called out at work for starting to show, so I figured it was about time to post a picture here. I am finding it hard not to go crazy thinking I just look fat and spent a good hour last saturday agonizing over what to wear out. I'm certainly glad that maternity choices now include things that are form fitting and we aren't forced into wearing a giant tent during pregnancy (Special thanks to April for the cute dress I'm wearing!). This is just a strange...too big for regular pants (thank god for the belly band!) but too small for maternity clothes. FUN TIMES.

We also scheduled the 20 week sonogram for March 22! 19 days until we find out the sex of baby Sawicki :) Trust me, I'm counting down the days. Scott feels strongly that baby is a girl and I feel strongly baby is a boy. Any thoughts? leave them here and after March 22, we'll see who was right and who was wrong!! How some people wait until they give birth to find out is totally beyond me. Patience is NOT a strong suit for me...

Doc says its probably a bit early to be feeling baby move, but I swear I'm feeling something! I could be crazy, this is entirely possible. But something is going on in there. We know for sure that baby is very active after that last ultrasound...a sign of things to come?!? I wouldn't be surprised. If karma exists, we're definitely bound to have our hands full :) I just can't wait to find out.

Drum roll please...

2010-02-17T13:46:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-07T17:36:00.001-08:00

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!

2010-02-05T16:54:00.001-08:00

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.

2010-02-02T10:58:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-02T05:31:00.000-08:00

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!

Baby looks like a BABY!!!

2010-01-22T14:17:00.000-08:00

We had our second ultrasound today and it's amazing the difference 6 weeks can make! The baby actually resembles a *baby* now...we were both really surprised. There's a head, legs, arms...all the important stuff :) We got a few profile shots and that last picture is a foot print. A foot print!! is that the cutest thing EVER? *sigh*

The baby was moving around so much. I know its still really tiny, but its kind of hard to imagine that something the size of a plum (thanks for the food image, "the bump"!) is moving around that much and I don't feel any of it.

Well, two more months until the next one and then we get to find out the sex! It's going to be a loooong two months...

On a totally unrelated note, I feel like I'd be in deep trouble if I didn't at least say...

J-E-T-S!!!! JETS JETS JETS!!!!

Fingers crossed for this Sunday :)

Gavomit...

2010-01-20T10:26:00.001-08:00

Why not start this latest post with one of my favorite Dr. Cox lines of all time...

Dr. Cox: Oh, my God! I just gagged and vomited at the same time. I gavomited.

I have to say, I've been very lucky in terms of morning sickness. I've made it through the entire first trimester without being affected really. But I will say my already sensitive stomach was truly put through the ringer. My stomach would turn at the tiniest thing. So, as I joyfully reach the end of my vomit-free first trimester, I thought I'd share a list of things that nearly pushed me over the edge on several occasions:

1. The Metro (or death train, as I now like to call it)
2. The smell of exhaust
3. My 30 going on 13 complexion. Seriously, I'm 30 and pregnant. Monster zits seem SO wrong. And nauseating :)
4. The god awful images that came and continue to come out of Haiti...*shudder*
5. Poor dental hygiene - it's called floss, folks.
6. The democratic party of Massachusetts...just saying

Phew, nearly lost it a few times there, but I survived! I'm also happy to report that my energy is officially back...YAY :) I heard from so many people that one day it would just magically be back and I'll be damned, you were all right! I missed the Daily Show so much and now I'm back to being up past 9:00 pm so I can watch again (which really helps me laugh off #6 on my list!). If you didn't catch it, do yourself a favor and check out the "magic negro" bit from last week. Comedy GOLD!

On a total sidenote, but related to the title of this post. Is anyone else watching Scrubs: Med School? Now that JD is gone, we've been really enjoying it. Figures that just when they find their groove, it's time to say goodbye. Again. How many times can one show have a series finale? Sheesh.

And baby makes three...

2010-01-18T16:51:00.000-08:00

I decided to go ahead and give this whole blog thing a whirl after finding out we're expecting our first baby! No time like the present, especially considering we have a million things to do and I'm sleeping approximately 23 hours a day. Details, details. However, with many of our family and friends being so far away from us, I wanted a place to share the fun/exciting/mind-numbing details quickly and easily.

I'm certain I'll include other details of daily Sawicki life here as well, but I promise to try to keep my political ranting to a minimum. But please note, I said *try* but probably will rant incessantly on occasion...it doesn't seem right to break a promise on my first posting. But to counter any ranting, I'll try to include some delicious recipes or other fun stuff like that.

So, on with the show! I really have no idea what I'm doing (which I'm sure will become painfully clear, if it hasn't already) so please bear with me.

Here's our first and only picture of the peanut so far (please forgive the poor quality, it's a picture of a picture and best I could do.) The picture is from about the 6 week mark and I'm hoping by the end of this week, we'll have a new one! By this Saturday I'll be 12 weeks along and nearly to the end of the utter exhaustion, so I hear. I'm skeptical but keeping hope alive :)

I also thought I'd also include this fantastic link that was sent to me by April last week. Absolutely hysterical, and since I started this post with such a cheesy saying as "and baby makes three" it seemed particularly appropriate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJRzBpFjJS8

Enjoy! And if you have an hour or two to spare, check out their other videos.