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