23 weeks

I feel like someone yanked out my belly button and inflated my tummy like a balloon. Little Jeff-as he is sometimes called because our sweet baby is still nameless-kicks me so hard and is getting so big you can see him disturb the round surface of my belly every now and then. Sometimes I sit in class or at work, or at home or in bed for that matter, and watch in amazement. Knowing there is a growing, healthy, feisty little baby in there makes a belly button popped like I'm Thanksgiving turkey completely worthwhile. I don't even bother to tape that sucker down anymore (I used to because people stare at it like it's alien). It's my mark of motherhood, a circuitous one since mothers are the whole reason we have belly buttons in the first place. Here's to mothers. And here's to 23 weeks of glorious life for my darling man child.

Spaghetti Squash with Chive Cream

My herb pot is lovely this year, but it's really growing out of control. So many herbs, so little time (or thyme, really, because I didn't grow that this year and I miss it) and I'm running out of fresh ideas to use them up before cold weather hits. My abundant chives have been particularly challenging. I love chives and I thought I would use a ton of them, but I soon ran out of recipes and got stuck using them with potatoes, and we don't eat too many potatoes around here. So I scoured and searched and thought, then combined ideas to create this deliciousness:

Spaghetti Squash with Chive Cream
Ingredients:
1/2 of a medium spaghetti squash (about 6-8 in long), cooked and flesh removed, and pipping hot
2 Tablespoons (slightly less than 1 ounce) cream cheese, room temp
1/2 C heavy cream, room temp
3 Tbsp chopped fresh chives with a pinch of parsley in there too
salt
freshly ground pepper

Method:

In a small saucepan, melt the cream cheese over medium low heat. Add the cream to the melted cream cheese, whisk thoroughly to combine, and bring to low, bubbling boil. Turn off the heat, season with salt and pepper, and mix in the fresh chives and parsley.

Fluff up the spaghetti squash with a fork to be sure that the noodley parts are well separated. Pour chive cream over spaghetti squash and toss well to coat. Sprinkle with additional salt and pepper, if needed (and more cracked pepper is always needed).

If you want to lighten up this recipe, try using Neufchatel cheese and half and half, but that's really only if you want healthy veggies, which is silly :)

Enjoy!

P.S.- Jeffrey loved this so much, after we completed the dish he asked me to whip up some more chive cream and proceeded to devour the other half of the spaghetti squash. It's really that tasty.

22 weeks and a 23rd birthday

I'm calling this my first official bump! Don't belittle it.....it certainly feels large to me and I'm now feeling like a legitimate pregnant lady-tight pants, slight waddle (though I try my best NOT to waddle), itchy belly skin, and uncomfortable, sleep-scarce nights.

{22 weeks}

It's all quite new and positively remarkable as I observe these amazing-and as Jeffrey constantly reminds me- beautiful changes. It's taking some adjusting, but this little bump serves as a daily reminder of our new commitment and responsibilities, and as it grows, so does our joy and excitement.

Other exciting news: I had a birthday! And it was a caramel apple filled affair (I'm LOVING caramel apples right now-I think about how I can incorporate them into every meal, or food group, or snack), topped off with family and wonderful friends and crisp Autumn weather. Birthdays make me feel like I love the world and like the world loves me back. Thanks to everyone who in any big or small way helped to make my day special (and yes, facebook comments totally count:) but so does dessert making, or dinner making, or gift giving, or texting, or positive thoughts, or anything really).

Some musings...

I've been thinking a lot lately about babies. For obvious reasons, of course, it occupies my mind for approximately 9 of 13 waking hours (hey, I go to bed early folks), with the other hours being filled with thoughts of food, school, work, food, dreams of naps, crafts, ideas for creative exercise, and sometimes shopping.

For 9 hours, there's never a shortage of things to think about. It affords me plenty of time for mulling over important things and small things. I think of important and amazing things before I fall asleep, right as I wake in the morning, when I feel our little boy kick to assert his presence, and all the pockets of moments in between.

But lets talk about the small things for now.

Like how I want this vintage pram. Badly.

{i'd have this washed up and re-upholstered so it can reach its maximum potential}

Like how I hope (and pray) that our child doesn't need one of these to keep him in his crib:



Like tummy size. This is my angel mother, carrying me-although at the moment it looks like I'm carrying her around. Let's actually not talk about this now. That's a bit scary.

{i love you mama}

Like baby layettes:

{romper, winter water factory}

Just little things that occupy my thoughts and snatches of free time. If you want to join me in frivolity, feel free to leave me a link in the comments to something wonderful or adorable. I'll be happy to give you an excuse to look at baby things, and it'll probably make your heart happy too.

El Jefe Celebrates-One Quarter of a Century

My lover turned 25! (On August 31st....)
Birthday plans are sometimes tricky for the Mr., but to help me out there are always a few things I can rely on: for his birthday dinner, he'll want juicy steaks, garlic green beans, and rosemary roasted potatoes with grape juice to wash it down (this guy LOVES grape juice); he'll want a cake, and it'll have to be chocolate; present wise, some electronic is usually on the birthday list.

Other than that I'm on my own to collect ideas for what to get the big guy and whether or not we'll do a shindig or a quiet affair. I usually begin planning a few months ahead of time, but following my latest trend, this big celebratory day snuck up on me! Luckily, Jeffrey broke form and had a list for birthday presents he had created himself....sheesh, you'd think this would make me happy but he wanted everything I had planned to get him, which sure ruins all the good surprises and makes me look very un-clever.


Jeffrey didn't know that I had invited some people over to share all that chocolate cake with us and celebrate the big day, so at dinner just the two of us sat eating dinner and chatting and Jeff said, "None of my friends came." I felt so bad!! And although I was happy inside because I knew his friends were coming, I just hated to cause him pain on his birthday. Right after dinner, we heard a knock at the door (a common occurrence with apartment managing), and with a puzzled look Jeffrey walked to the door and said, "Who could that be?" I smiled inside but said aloud, "It'd better not be some girl who locked herself out of her apartment!!" Then......SURPRISE!! In pops our friends with presents and ice cream and many happy returns to Jeff :) Success.