Baby Anna

Here are a few pics of our little Anna - who arrived today (painfully) at 4:42 pm.

7 lbs, 2 oz.

20 inches.

More details later - I need a nap!

Marital Bliss & my latest Addiction

Whew! Back from the dead. We've all been sick with colds this past week, but I think we're coming out of it now. Slowly. Here are all of my/our latest goings-on and rantings in random order:

#1: Dead hard drive.

It's kind of funny, just when you're at your wits end about money, how to make things work, whether you'll be able to eat (slight exaggeration, but you get the idea) something really cool happens, like your hard drive crashes. No biggie right. Except in this case where I had NOTHING backed up (I'm an idiot. I know better now). I figured it would be a semi-painless fix... but have since learned that data recovery is a big deal. And very expensive. Estimate from the tech today: $850!! Unfortunately, anything and everything that had any importance was on that hard drive - all of Robert's baby pictures from birth to now, our wedding, Alex's mission, my Grandma's funeral. It makes me sick thinking about it - BUT, on a positive note it got me in the right mindset for my newest addiction.

#2: Coupons.

I never thought much about coupons. I figured they couldn't save that much anyway, so why waste the time clipping them. Well, let me show you some quick math.

Today I went to Rite Aid and purchased the following:

6 boxes of Special K cereal (3 regular, 3 red berries)

4 pkgs. Stayfree pads/liners

2 boxes of Band-Aids

1 pkg. Breathe Right Strips

1 bottle of eye drops

I spent $1.27. And I have $11 of UP rewards (think store credit) to use the next time I shop.

Other purchases of the day... Reach floss - free after coupons. BIC rollerball pens - free after coupons. Reach toothbrushes - .50 each after coupons (should have been free, but I was too tired to deal with it).

In short, I love the satisfaction I get from couponing and knowing that most everything I've purchased as of late has been super cheap or free.

#3: Marital Bliss

As of December 22, Alex and I have been married for 3 years! To say it's all been blissful would be misleading, but I can accurately say we're still happy to be married and continually trying to make it more blissful. To celebrate, we ate dinner at a nicer-than-our-usual restaurant (not hard when the usual is Arby's or Taco Bell) - Anthony's Hearthfire. It was so good. I'm hungry again just thinking about it. Yum!

#4: Christmas and Family

We had Christmas with both families this year. Mine on Christmas Eve, Alex's on Christmas Day. The best part of both (overall) was having the time together. Nothing else to do, no one else to see. Just having the time to enjoy each other's company. It was really nice. I miss just hanging out.

#5: Random funny.

Alex has a habit of elbowing me in the face while we're sleeping. He claims he's not awake and it's an accident and I've chosen to believe him... but this last time was classic. I'm totally sleeping and get the elbow to the face action. From there, it went something like this:

K: What was THAT for?

A: ... Huh?

K: Dude! You totally just elbowed me in the face!

A: No, I didn't.

K: Yes you did! You totally elbowed me in the face! What the heck!

A: ... long pause ... It was a physics-y thing, you wouldn't really understand anyway.

(I think this is where he actually started to wake up and realized he had no clue what was going on our what conversation he was in the middle of).

K: ???

....

????

... at this point he rolled over and went back to sleep.

I have no idea where his brain comes up with this stuff... but it's good for a laugh.

#6: Pregnancy

I'm due April 9th. I'm not ready. Totally freaking, actually.

The baby appears to be healthy. Kicking. Making my back hurt. Giving me Arby's cravings. She's good. We're planning on naming her Anna. No idea on the middle name yet.

#7: Robert

Still not walking. Loves to get into and CLIMB onto/into/up everything. Watches Sesame Street daily. LOVES food, especially breads and homemade rolls. If he wasn't my own child, I would think he was 100% adorable. I still think he is, but most days I've completely had it with him and am ready for a break when Alex gets home. Robert gets so excited when his Dad comes home for the day. He worships his Dad. It's so cute. Here's a video of them playing Hide and Seek.

That's our news...

Hope you all had a great New Year's! I can't believe it's 2011.

Bed Head

I know. I'm slacking again.

One of these days I'll post about Christmas, our anniversary, the pregnancy and everything else we've been up to. Until then, here are some pictures I took of Robert today. He woke up with some serious bed head. Like usual I took a million near identical pictures in hopes of getting one good picture. Typical.

Oh... and a video I found on my camera. Sorry, it's sideways again... I don't know how to fix that. We discovered that Robert likes slapstick. I never thought he paid much attention to our movies. One night we were watching "Get Smart" and he randomly started belly laughing. We were both confused until we realized he was actually watching the movie. Apparently he likes slapstick. Enjoy!

Pizza Crust Recipe

As requested, here is the recipe I used for the pizza we made recently. It's from Allrecipes.com.

Some things I did:

Minced a few garlic cloves and soaked them in olive oil with some Italian seasoning. I used this to oil my pan and brushed it on the outer edge of the crust during the last few minutes of baking.

Also, I added all of the flour during the first part of mixing (I do mine in a Kitchen Aid) because the dough is so sticky. At the end I don't bother putting the dough on the counter (it would never come off). I put it directly into my oiled pizza pan and press it out by hand after sprinkling more flour on top. It is super sticky to work with, so whatever works for you - do it!

The first time we made this we used all of the dough to make one pizza and it was super fatty... the second time we made a personal for Robert and pressed the dough a little thinner for our bigger pizza. I think we liked that better. I think this crust would be super awesome with some seasoning added to the dough as well (Italian, or something garlic), but I haven't tried that yet. Maybe this week since Alex wants to have pizza - AGAIN!

Good Luck and Enjoy!!

Jay's Signature Crust Pizza

Ingredients

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon brown sugar

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the brown sugar and yeast in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes. Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15-20 minutes before topping and baking it. Bake pizza in the preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Baby Spoiler, Food, and Laundry Fun

Last week we did more of our usual with the addition of one very exciting appointment. We were finally able to answer the question that's been plaguing our minds: Boy or Girl?

We're having a...

GIRL!!

Check out our cutie pie...

For a more accurate report - the tech said that the baby wasn't being very cooperative. He/She wouldn't uncross their legs so she could get "the money shot". The tech ventured to say she was almost certain it was a girl. She didn't see anything that would indicate a boy. She offered to see me again in a couple of weeks to confirm the gender - and I am going to take her up on her offer... but I'm feeling like the verdict will be the same based on everything we've felt up to this point.

In other, less exciting news... this week we've been experimenting with more recipes...

Twice Baked Potatoes. These were really good, but they were such a pain to put together. We won't be making them again. It's just as easy to make the yummy potato guts and skip the putting it back into the skin. Pretty to look at, annoying and time consuming to make.

Main dish: Ribs! I was having a serious barbecue rib craving and decided to try making them at home. The ribs did come out really tender and tasted pretty good. Unfortunately I didn't know that "chili sauce" and "Vietnamese chili sauce" were two different things - so these were really spicy. Almost to the point of being inedible. And almost to the point of causing flaming rocket poop.

We tried lots of other new recipes too - but I'd rather talk about Robert.

Tonight we realized how helpful our son is. Alex brought in laundry to fold and Robert was kind enough to help... at least in the form of comic relief.

He's discovered the joy of flopping into a laundry pile (much like a pile of leaves). He did it over and over again for a good 20 minutes. It was really cute and made us really happy to see him enjoying something so simple. I wish we were better at that. Here are way too many pictures documenting his joy.

In the end he belly-flopped onto the bare ground (Ouch!) and lost interest, but it was cute while it lasted.

... now on to another week!

Rediscovering the Kitchen

We did pretty much nothing for Halloween, so a Halloween post will have to wait for another year...

A couple weeks back Alex and I (mostly me) committed ourselves to doing a weekly meal plan. I'm so tired of running to the store multiple times a week for one ingredient and we were eating out way too much. So, as much as I love going out, we've been eating in for the last week and a half. In an effort to stay committed to a meal plan, I've been trying a new recipe every day. Some were suggestions from friends. Most were from Allrecipes.com, my favorite cooking website. Honestly, we have had some AMAZING dinners. I have yet to figure out if we're really saving any money by eating this way, but either way it's been nice to good to cook again... and learn some new recipes. Here is our favorite so far:

Souvlaki

Ingredients

1 lemon, juiced

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tsp. dried oregano

3 cloves garlic, crushed

4 lbs. pork tenderloin, cut into 1 inch cubes

2 medium yellow onions, cut into 1 inch pieces

2 green bell peppers, cut into 1 inch pieces

Skewers

Directions

1. In a large glass bowl, mix together lemon juice, olive oil, soy sauce, oregano, and garlic; add pork, onions, and green peppers, and stir to coat. Cover, and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.
2. Preheat grill for medium-high heat. Thread pork, peppers, and onions onto skewers.
3. Lightly oil grate. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or to desired doneness, turning skewers frequently for even cooking.

We made ours with chicken and grilled the skewers in the oven - 375 for 20 minutes (10 minutes each side). When they were done we put them in pitas with romaine lettuce, tomato and this sauce I had leftover from fish tacos:

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 lime, juiced

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

1 tsp. minced capers

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. dried dill weed

1 tsp. ground cayenne pepper

• 
  

It was a very quiet meal since both of us were too busy stuffing our faces to chat. Alex and I don't agree much, but we both thought this was the best meal we had eaten in awhile. So good that we are having it again this week. : )

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the Souvlaki, but here is last night's pizza. Also good, but I wasn't really craving it when I made it.

The crust was super annoying to work with, but turned out good in the end.

Maybe a little too good. It was definitely a super fatty deep dish.

Anyway, that's what we're up to. Robert is still doing more of the same - watching Sesame Street.

Insomnia. Again.

I should be used to the sleepless nights by now, but it still ticks me off when these pregnancy hormones keep me from doing the one thing I need the most. On the plus side, most days I don't feel pregnant. I eat what I want. I haven't been very sick. And I have a fair amount of energy to chase a one-year old and keep the house semi-clean. I can't complain too much.

The last few weeks are kind of a blur. I turned 31 at the beginning of October (gasp!). I was hoping to let it come and go without celebration, but Teri got me to agree to dinner. Free food is hard to refuse, especially when it involves German pancakes. I love having breakfast for dinner.

I get less and less excited about birthdays the older I get. Another year older, a few pounds heavier... nothing too exciting. I don't feel old when I think about the number, but when I was deciding how to spend my birthday cash, it hit me. YOU ARE OLD. Here's what I bought:

1) Beverly Cleary book collection from Costco

This set includes most of the Ramona Quimby books and some of the Mouse and the Motorcycle books.

2) Some Scentsy bricks to make the house smell yummy.

3) Tupperware... I would even say it's cute Tupperware and stain resistant.

4) Food. More specifically, dinner out at one of my favorite places - La Fiamma.

5) ... a work in progress. I'm still looking for a new soft and cuddly blanket to add to my collection. I love blankets.

I've come to terms with the fact that these are lame purchases for most, but they made me very happy. (Thank you everyone for hooking me up with some cash to spend).

Back to the pregnancy... I recently went to the doctor for a routine check-up. Everything is going well. I'm 16 weeks now and heartbeat and everything else is good. They were a little concerned that I'm still losing weight, but I'm totally okay with it. I know it will all be back in the last trimester. The most exciting part of the appointment was scheduling my ultrasound!! I'm so ready to find out what we're having. Really I just want to see if my suspicions are confirmed. I'm thinking girl, but we'll find out for sure on November 5th, assuming baby cooperates.

Aside from that... here's what we've been up to according to our photos:

Robert hanging out with Mom... this is pre-haircut.

Sleeping. At least someone in this house is sleeping.

Robert getting his fill of Sesame Street six inches from the TV.

This is after the haircut. I'm kind of sad about how short and choppy it is. I like it when it gets a little wavy.

It looks crooked - that's totally his hairline. I blame his father.

Back to more important things - Sesame Street.

Another one of his favorite "toys", the Swiffer Duster handle. He carries this all over the house and pokes at things.

More Sesame Street.

On a completely unrelated note, here's where we spent most of today (Saturday):

... clipping this beast of a hedge. My parents came out to help with the first half and we managed to get most of the second half done today. There's quite a bit to do still, but it's coming along. I was convinced we were going to find some dead bodies in there or something, but our hedge is just a hedge with a few bird nests and some random bottles and cans.

That's the news.

Off to try that sleep thing again...