productivity + kicking baby

What a long, productive weekend!

Friday evening, Chris and I went to Applebee’s for dinner, to watch the pre-game festivities.  I got a salad, and only ate about half of it because it was so filling – and delicious!  We went home to watch the game, though; and thank goodness we did because what a heartbreaker! To say the absolute least, I’m pretty upset, but well, it’s just a game.  I have no desire to watch the rest of the postseason, though, considering some of the rude comments I’ve gotten from other people, so my thoughts are that I no longer care who wins, loses, whatever.  Time for me to focus on preparing for the baby and when February arrives, so does Aria… and baseball season again!  :)

Saturday morning I woke up around 7 to the sounds of Chris washing dishes – what a pleasant surprise!  So I got up and helped dry and started a load of laundry, then prepped the pancakes.  His parents arrived at 8 and I turned on the skillet and off we went!  The pumpkin-apple pancakes were just divine, and the apple cider topping to accompany was very delicious.  The pancakes were smaller than your average pancake (how I made them anyway) but they were thick and filling.  I forgot to take a photo but I’ll just say I highly suggest trying them, if you’re into that kind of thing!

After breakfast, my MIL and I cleared and washed the dishes while the men set off to work – they were putting another coat of primer on the walls in the nursery – and we settled down to clean the entire kitchen, top to bottom.  It was great because I got a ton accomplished with her help, and she also is highly-organized so she made some suggestions on where to move things to make them more accessible for me and my growing belly. 

We also went on an adventure to Bed, Bath and Beyond where I got a new absorbent mat to put underneath my drying rack and a rug for the baby’s room!  I haven’t taken a photo of it yet, but once we have paint on the walls and things are more organized, I’ll be sure to do that.  I also went to Ollie’s and got a great, painted terracotta pot for my newest acquisition – a rubber tree.  It was at work and was dying due to a lack of sunlight, so I brought it home to try and revive it.  Thus far, it’s doing great – it still looks awful since it’s missing half of its leaves, but what leaves are there are doing well so the plant-caretaker said that it should revive nicely given some ‘rehab.’  We shall see what my ‘green thumb’ can do.

Speaking of green thumb, picked the last of my cayennes on Saturday as well – we got over 200 peppers this year and I couldn’t be happier.  So I’ve been threading them on and off when I get a few minutes, so I can hang them to dry for the winter.  I sent some home with my in-laws, seeing that I don’t truly need that many anyway.  My FIL is excited, since he really wanted to try some.  I think he’s going to plant them next year too. 

I was pretty sick Saturday night; not entirely sure what my problem was, but I was throwing up and that’s the first time I’ve done so since I got pregnant.  Not happy!  I ended up sleeping pretty late on Sunday, but woke up feeling cautious but better.  I ate (and kept down) cereal with milk, so I took it slow and did some walking, some light housework, etc.  Then Chris really wanted lasagna for dinner, so I did a spin off this recipe for dinner.  It was delicious!  Again, I forgot to take a photo but you can take my word for it, the meal was great. 

Only made a few changes – I used less mozzarella cheese, as I felt that 4 cups was a bit overkill for the meal.  We also used a smaller package of noodles (13 oz) and I had two left over… they were whole wheat pasta as well.  I used the spinach as directed, but also added a pound of lean, grass-fed ground beef because hubby loves lasagna with meat in it.  He likes spinach lasagna, but he prefers meat to accompany it, so I don’t mind the compromise.   I also cooked the meat in hoagie spread for a little bite to it, and added various Italian spices besides the garlic and oregano and basil.  We have tons of leftovers, so I have a serving of lasagna for lunch today (so does he) and will have plenty for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. 

After dinner, Aria was really active and kicking away, so Chris sat down with me and rested his hand against my stomach – kept pushing just slightly harder and harder until I thought he’d make me wet my pants (he wasn’t hurting me, but the lightest touch makes my bladder ready to explode at this point haha) and she thumped against his hand a few times.  It was the sweetest thing, because he started tearing up and then the waterworks began.  I’m so glad to have been blessed with such a wonderful and supportive husband who’s sharing in this excitement with me.

He now spends his evenings practicing Mozart on the piano so he can play it for her.  Makes my heart melt.

Anyway, it’s Monday.  Have a load of laundry waiting for me at home, and leftovers tonight since Chris has a haircut appointment at 7.  Second episode of House, final season, is tonight – cannot wait!  :D 

hearty bean and barley soup + pregnancy cravings strike!

So last night… was complete win, followed by complete fail.  I’ve been doing well most of this week – getting more active, eating a lot healthier, just promoting a healthier lifestyle for myself by trying to be less of a train wreck.  When I rolled out of bed yesterday morning, I reminded myself that I needed to get up when my alarm went off rather than hit snooze because I needed to put together soup in the crock pot, so we would have a meal ready when we got home, rather than have to grab something on the way (as Thursdays are the nights when we have 30 minutes to change, eat and leave again). 

I found this recipe online and decided to tweak it for my own liking.  I can follow recipes, but I don’t… like to, mostly because I’m kind of picky and also because I like my food spicy.  So here’s the changes I had made.

- I filled my crock pot about ½ the way with water, added two packets of chicken bouillon powder (no sodium) and mixed that up nicely.

- Then, I added 2 cans of (rinsed) kidney beans – one dark, one light – and a can of Great Northern beans (rinsed).

- Sprinkled in a dash of crushed red pepper, a nice dose of cayenne powder, another dash of rosemary (dried) and a tablespoon of minced garlic.

- Threw in half of a bag of baby carrots and 6 stalks of celery, sliced.

- Added 1 can of (no-salt-added) diced tomatoes.

- Topped off with a bit more water to cover everything, put on the lowest setting and covered.

The night before, I made the barley so when we got home from work, I threw in a carton of frozen spinach and the barley, stirred and let simmer for 10 minutes while we let the dog outside, changed, etc.  Then, we served it topped with some freshly-ground black pepper…

 Sorry, I know, I own an expensive and wonderful SLR and what do I do?
Post a photo from my iPhone.  My crappy, ghetto, flash-less phone.

It was delicious!

As you can see, I’m great with measuring and stuff – I tend to just wing it if I’m buzzing around doing things, especially first-thing in the morning.  But seriously, this soup was great.  It was super filling, and tasty; also, definitely had a nice little bite to it, but nothing too overwhelming.  I don’t “do” onions, hence leaving them out and hubby didn’t say a word about it.  I have a ton of soup left over, so some of it will be for lunch in an hour, some will be frozen for later this winter (post-baby probably) and the rest will be dinner tonight, as an accompaniment to cube steaks.

Highly recommend trying this if you like hearty, filling soups!  Try it their way, my way, take your own spin on it; whatever.  But if you do change it up a bit, let me know what you did differently and the result of it!  I always like new suggestions for meals. 

Anyway, so that was win.  We went to choir with full bellies and when we came home, I thought for sure a simple apple would be a good snack to accompany my prenatal (horse pills) vitamins before bedtime.

Then, it hit me.  Like a tidal wave, I felt this insane desire to eat a quesadilla.  Mind you, it’s 10pm and we have no cheese and no tortillas in the house.  Well, we had hubby’s fake-cheese (sliced American) but nothing that would appease my cravings for a quesadilla.  So he looks at me and goes, “What my baby mama wants, she gets; what about Applebee’s?  Half-price appetizers until midnight, right?”  Well sure, why not?  I’m trying not to gain a zillion pounds and suddenly we’re at the bar at Applebee’s and while he nurses a pitcher of Oktoberfest, I guzzle down two waters and snarf a cheese (with bacon, as that’s their ‘thing’ – whatever) quesadilla.  I housed that thing in a manner I’ve never experienced before, I swear it, and it was SO GOOD.  He had wings too, and however much I love their wings, they didn’t even remotely smell good because all I wanted was tortillas and cheese and salsa. 

Needless to say, I woke up this morning feeling hung-over because me + late night eating = bad news bears.  Especially when the late night eating is NOT of the healthy variety.

I still feel awful and I’ve been awake for 6 hours already, and have been drinking water and already ate my breakfast (cereal, almond milk and an apple).  Blech.  I think at 1 I am going to eat my soup and pray for the best.  Hopefully that’ll settle me, because I’m really looking forward to my cube steak for tonight. 

Darn pregnancy cravings.  I’m watching you… o_o

all about food ; are we surprised ?

After the initial excitement and happiness of finding out that we were expecting a baby, I remember one of my predominant thoughts was (continuously), “Score, I can eat _______ because nobody can comment on me getting fat because I’m pregnant.”  This was my excuse for everything – Arby’s multiple times a week (well that and every time you go there, there’s a coupon on the back of your receipt for a free sandwich, meaning MOAR ARBY’S!), cheese as often as I pleased, wings if the craving struck, and a severe lack of exercise to boot, seeing that I was feeling sick and run-down for awhile in the beginning. 

Now, I step on the scale and realize, “Well, grand.  That was a great plan until… now.” 

For one, as someone who never ate much fast food to begin with, my body almost immediately hated the shift of diet and I got sick after eating most of what I devoured greedily.  Did that stop me?  Not really.  Also, combined with my lack of exercise, covering my adorable baby bump is a layer of blubber that makes me feel like a whale, or bear preparing for hibernation.  It’s a bit revolting, actually; to me, anyway.  Everyone else says I look cute, I’m all belly, etc. 

Yeah, all belly except for that nice double-chin that peeks out in photos sometimes, the flab on my butt and thighs that used to be almost-toned and the jiggle that my arms surrenders every time I breathe, let along make any sort of hand gesture.

So this week, I’ve decided that I really need to stop saying, “Hi, I need to be less of a fat kid,” and actually need to be proactive.  Now I can’t really lose weight, as that is severely frowned upon by doctors – or from what I’m told anyway.  But I was told my goal should be to slow down my weight gain, and focus on just making healthier choices and getting on my feet a bit more.

Subtract out a celebratory Snickers last night after the Phillies’ close-call win against the Cardinals and a must-have-or-I-kill-someone brownie from Starbucks from today’s lunch, and I’ve actually done okay. 

Saturday I walked all over creation with my mom, and it felt amazing.  I was sore, so Sunday I didn’t do anything (which well, I was in a car for 6 hours total anyway), but I felt I deserved the rest.  I did a light pre-natal DVD workout Monday, and some of the moves from said workout last night while I watched Glee.  Today I plan to break out the DVD again and do the full routine (30 minutes), plus dishes and laundry. 

Eating-wise, I’ve been at 2-3 apples a day, filling with them instead of empty calories from the vending machine.  Breakfast is always cereal (organic cheerios, essentially), unsweetened vanilla almond milk and an apple.  Lunch has been varied – leftover chili, spaghetti squash, a fruit and veggie plate that I mixed up myself… etc.  Dinners were all home-made; no eating out this week! 

So I’m proud.  It’s only Wednesday, but I’ve really been pushing myself to get back to a shadow of the person I used to be, pre-pregnancy.  Not that I was thin and healthy but I was doing a lot better than I have been lately. 

Anyway, going to keep busting my butt and trying to slow down the gain just a tad.

In other news, I told Chris that after I have the baby, there’s two things I’m demanding be delivered to me ASAP for consumption: a giant Turkey Diablo Primo Hoagie (best hoagies in the world) and a giant glass of Riesling wine, semi-dry.  Yes, indeed. 



Also, sharing a yummy-looking recipe for the sake of such; I’m making these this weekend:

Om nom nom.

Cheers to healthy eating, healthier lifestyles and a healthy baby / momma-to-be!

Monday is usually not a fun-day.

 Normally, Monday would be the bane of my existence.  I mean, let's face it - back to work, the Phillies lost last night (even though the Giants did win, I'm still bummed about the Phils), it's chilly and damp today (yet sunny, so there's a plus!) and I have a headache. 

But I signed onto the baby boards today to find out that BabyLegs was having a sale that ends TODAY and there was a code for 75% off $75 dollars' worth of merchandise... and I went nuts.  Absolutely, positively overboard and insane with buying cute little leggings and stockings and oh my word Aria is going to hate me and I don't care. 

Just to, you know, remind you why this is so exciting, let's evaluate how cute it is to see chubby legs jazzed up in adorable little baby leggings:




You get the point.  They're adorable. 

So, there's that.

Also, I had an amazing weekend.  Saturday I ended up taking an improptu venture to visit Momma and we spent hours upon hours just enjoying one another's company.  We window-shopped at the outlets, had lunch together and did one of my favorite fall activities: apple picking!  Also, an added plus was that I got pumpkins at the orchard (and picked them myself as well) so I was doubly excited to haul home 15 pounds of apples and 18 pounds of pumpkins.  Chris was relieved he didn't have to accompany me, since I'm like a child when I get to the orchard (memories of childhood, come on, it's fun!) and he doesn't get the concept of paying to pick produce when people get paid to pick it.  He doesn't care that I get to take it home and that's what I'm really paying for, he thinks it's rubbish.  Or he says so, I think mostly to drive me nuts.

Regardless, I went.  I picked.  And I had a blast.



All in all, wonderful weekend but I am exhausted.  And I now need to focus on getting myself done and accomplished for the day, so I can feel as though I've been majorly productive.

Here's to one more week - and to fall festivities in abundance! :)