Apple Pie

Allan had the day off today and I also ended up having the day off due to moved kids and cancellations. We had a productive morning "getting stuff done" and I feel better about the state of my house and that I actually know where (some) things are. I ended up at the office in the afternoon to do billing after dropping yet another load of crap off at Salvation Army and a Costco run. I missed my Group Groove class so decided to walk the dog. Unfortunately, it started raining and I started to jog home - bad idea, baby was NOT happy with that idea.

After 30 minutes on the couch with my feet up, I felt better. Allan came home (from golf) and we started dinner. I unearthed one of my favorite recipes ever the other day - pasta carbonara, so we made that. Not for those on a diet...but GOOD!

Currently now waiting for an apple pie to bake (still working through the apple picking apples) so I can give it to Tammy as a thank you for watching River last weekend while we were out of town.

Good friends deserved to be spoiled!:)

Whiny Wednesday

I had my 28 week OB apt today. The good news is that I am measuring ahead (at 30 weeks). The bad news is that I had another terrible experience at the office. I started the "meet the other doctors" visits today. Unfortunately, I was not feeling well and ended up pretty sick at the office. It started in the exam room and I then ran to the bathroom when I realized that my entire stomach was coming back up.

When I got back to the exam room, the Dr was waiting and seemed pissed off at ME for making her wait!! Should I have thrown up on her shoes? At this point, the visit progressed along the lines where I asked a question, it was not really answered, and she NEVER LOOKED AT MY FACE! Really, this woman could not have picked me out of a line up 5 minutes later. She seriously stared at my knee while I was asking her for any more info on what false labor felt like or how do I know when things are not ok? grrrr If this person was brought in to deliver me, I would be VERY upset. I'd take a resident over her.

At this point I am exploring my options to switch OB's while I still (hopefully) can.

Back to Reality

The trouble with getting in so late on Sunday night/Monday morning was that I was a mess yesterday. I was so tired when when we got home that I pretty much lost it and threw up all over the courtyard and then again when we got into the house. It is a bummer to have so little control over my body and exhaustion levels. Somewhat humbling to have to keep pulling the reins back and try to slow down:(.

Now today, Tuesday, I definitely feel funky. When I stand up and walk around, it feels like someone is squeezing my belly. Not really pain but uncomfortable. Makes me nervous. I got through the day and have been planted on the couch, blogging, watching TV and hanging out. I would call the Dr but have an appointment tomorrow morning and figure I can ride it out till then.

The other weird thing is that after I fell on the boat (I will try to take a picture of my bruise tomorrow), the baby totally changed position and feels MUCH different. More kicking, I can feel more movement, very different. I am not sure if that has anything to do with the squeezing in my belly or if they are unrelated. Is it false labor? Should I be freaking out?

I am going to solve all these problems by going to bed!

Fort Jefferson/Dry Torgugas

Sunday we had my favorite breakfast of the trip! We ended up at a diner called Harpoon Harry's. I had a BELT (bacon, egg, lettuce, tomato). It was FABULOUS and hit the spot. They also knew how to make grits! Yeah!

Our big adventure for the day was taking a seaplane 70 miles west of Key West to Fort Jefferson and the Dry Tortugas National Park.

We boarded our seaplane with 5 other intreprid travellers and took a 35 minute ride out over beautiful blue waters, shipwrecks, and shifting underwater sand dunes. After we arrived at the park, we had a short tour of the Fort and then I adjourned to sit in the water while Allan went snorkeling.



It was a beautiful day!

Key West! Saturday

The sad part about this trip to Key West was that it was during "low season". This meant more heat (which we could deal with) and that many of the restaurants we wanted to visit for breakfast were closed (Sarabeth's, Blue Heaven). Thank GOD we had bikes and could ride around. Had we been walking, I would have died.....We had a hard time finding a place to eat on Saturday for lunch but finally found a French cafe on Duvall street that was open and had a table. The nice thing was that we were seated in a shady place in the back right next to a waterfall.

After brunch, we headed to the Audubon House. I had free tickets thanks to Smithsonian Magazine. I think Allan and I both enjoyed walking around the house and seeing the beautiful prints.



We then headed out for our informal "pub crawl" of Key West. We started at the Green Parrot Bar, where Allan had a beer and I was sneered at for ordering water. I went next door and bought my Dad an overpriced tee shirt for the next time I see him (since my birthday present for him this year was "bad" - a story for another day).


After The Green Parrot we went to Sloppy Joe's bar. Sloppy Joe's is famous as a Hemingway hangout. Allan ordered another beer and some conch fritters. I ordered another water and sat for about 20 minutes before I turned into a pumpkin and had to go back to the hotel for a nap.

The activity for that night was sunset cruise on a catamaran. It was a short walk there (less than 15 minutes) but was soooo hot that I almost bailed. I decided that I could make it when I saw there were shade options on the cruise. After we got underway and I had some food, things cooled down and it was a beautiful night.


There were even dolphins!

Key West! Friday

Allan and I spent the past weekend in Key West, FL for a friend's wedding. I decided not to post while I was down there (or Facebook/Foursquare) since there was a break-in in our townhouse development last week. We left Thursday and returned after midnight on Sunday. Thursday was pretty much a travel day. We had a 10 am flight and did not get to our hotel till about 5:00pm. We had dinner at an Italian place and I crashed early (this theme will continue through the weekend).

Allan was up early on Friday and even went running! We then rented bikes, which saved me since the heat was oppressive. I have found that I am much less tolerant to heat now that I am pregnant. We rode our bikes to the Banana Leaf cafe, straight down Duval Street. We managed to arrive at the perfect time to avoid a wait, yet still order breakfast!:) It was our luck to even run into the bride and some friends who had been out for a walk and stopped for a healthy brunch. After brunch, we headed off to the southernmost point in the United States for our obligatory photo op.



After our photo op, we headed down to Hemingway's house. We loved the tour which included a look at the polydactyl cats who have extra toes (and were everywhere) and a guide who did a great job of talking about Hemingway's wives and loves while keeping an irreverent tone.





After Hemingway, we headed back to the hotel where I crashed and don't really know what Allan did during that time. We were back up and showered, dressed, and at the wedding site by the 6:30 service. The bride was beautiful (of course) and I even managed to stay up till 10:30 while doing some dancing! I loved the sunset ceremony, which included a rainbow and the reception on Sunset Pier. It was a beautiful ceremony and night. So thrilling to see friends so happy.

Inadvertent Shoplifting (almost)

I was in Target today and almost shoplifted two boxes of cereal! I cannot help but wonder if there would have been flashing lights and rent-a-cops chasing after me in the parking lot as I made my way to the car. As it was, I decided to carry my bags out to the car instead of pushing the cart and saw the boxes under the seat so I could return them to a register. I still do wonder what I would have done if I had gotten to the car and seen the cereal in the cart. As it was, I was to lazy to get back in line and pay (I left them at a register). Would I have been to lazy to take the cereal back in to the store?

Other exciting events today included:
1. Resetting the "days since barfed" counter.:( Apparently, I can't drink a glass of water on an empty stomach.
2. Making it to (and through) a Monday morning spinning class. (last week I came downstairs to discover "dog mess")
3. Dinner at Zia's in Edison Park with a friend!

Saturday - Apples and Golf

We were up fairly early for our suburban excellent adventure! Allan has been asking (read:nagging) me to play golf with him all summer. He had a coupon for a free round for two out by Crystal Lake so I decided to combine that with apple picking!

We headed out to More than Delicious Orchard in Woodstock. It was very fun. We paid for our 1/2 bushel bag and headed out in to the rows of trees. Ripe trees were marked with a ribbon that also listed the type of tree. I think we were most amazed by the number of varieties of apples and that they all aren't huge, shiny and perfect. Really, these are things that you know, but forget when faced with grocery store apples. I think our new favorite is Orange Pippin. Yum. We ate and picked to our hearts content.

Next up was lunch. The only downer of the day. I think we wanted something nicer so stopped at Firewood Lounge. Ugh! Honestly, I guess it was fine, but for the money we spent, I wish we had gone to Culvers or some other fast food restaurant. Lesson learned.

We ended up at Stonewall Orchard Golf Course. From this point out, you need to remember that I am NOT a golfer and this was more golf than I have played at one point in my entire life. Allan had made a specific point of asking for us to play as a twosome when he made the tee time (so I would not be embarrassed). They tried to pair us up with another twosome but were accommodating when we said no. The problem was that there were now three groups very close together. A twosome, us, and then a foursome. We were all fairly jammed up and the group behind us kept hitting into us. At one point, a golf ball landed on the 9th green before I had even exited the green. Allan was LIVID! But there were no rangers to complain to. The good news was:

at that point we were done

I was hitting the ball consistently and straight

I had fun

I will play again

I conked in the car and was in for the evening when we got home. We have been enjoying Entourage On Demand and that was enough excitement for me!

No Picture Friday

Well, I could post some of the photos that I took at my conference on adapted books and the TEACCH method (heck, I think I will post one since I am now obsessing about adapting all the books in my office this way).

That evening, we went to the Steve Quick 25th anniversary party. I guess we have now dropped enough money there to be VIP's!:) We bought my sister a present in thanks for being "matron of honor/wedding planner supreme"! Honestly, I don't know how we got through our wedding without her. She was amazing!

Dinner, Thursday Night

Allan and I went out to dinner on Thursday with friends that were in from from DC. It was a very fun and yummy dinner at a new place in Lincoln Square called Due Lire. YUM YUM YUM! I did not whip out my camera to take pictures of the food, but now I wish I had....

We started with a cheese and meat board (I think I am having erotic dreams about manchego cheese at this point) and I followed with blue cheese risotto, wrapped in prosciutto with figs on top. It was to.die.for. Really, I wish I had taken a picture of it to post here. The best thing was that I have never had anything like it before (either in taste or presentation) so it was something new! In Chicago, I feel like we don't get "new" very often and are fairly jaded foodies without even knowing it.

After dinner, we hoofed it down to Tiny Lounge for a drink. What is to not like about Tiny. It was the site of some of our first (and most fun) dates. Although it was a bummer to not be able to drink my favorite chocolate martini, I still love the vibe and mix of people you get on a random Thursday night.

Preggo - 26 weeks

I realized that I need to start documenting this pregnancy in SOME way so that if the baby wants to see what I looked like pregnant in the coming years I have something to show. In all honesty, I only really popped out a few weeks ago so before now, there has not been much to show.

ACK! Gas!

I realized I needed gas on Wednesday night. This is NOT a good thing as gas in Chicago is the highest in the nation right now. I ended up paying $4.07 a gallon to fill up enough to get me out to the suburbs on Thursday and Friday (where I had a conference). Out there, gas was a bargain at $3.79 a gallon - whatever.

Yeah for the Maid!

The highlight of today is that the maid came. She did a great job of de-doghairing the house. I will give up almost ANYTHING to avoid giving up the maid. There are some sacrifices that are just to traumatic to contemplate.... this comes up because Allan and I are currently "budgeting". We are in the preliminary stages of trying to merge our finances and figure out our monthly expenses. This will help determine things such as: "Do I need to go back to work after I have this baby? (probably) If so, how much?". Preliminary budgeting involves writing down everything that I spend, where I spent it, and how I paid (credit card, cash, debit card, etc.). Allan is supposed to be doing the same thing, I don't think he is however....

Other than that, I saw eight kids at work and did not make anyone cry. It is a Christmas miracle!:) I went to Group Groove today (loved it) and am currently listening to Allan attempt to talk to Comcast on the phone. I NEVER wanted cable and now Allan is so frustrated with Comcast that I think it is one more bill we will not be paying:)

Sneaky Bastard!

River has been peeing in the house when we leave him for longer than 5 hours. Given that he is almost 4 years old, this is ridiculous. He has a crate (box) at work that he loves and was crated at home for the first year or so of his life. Give that a baby is coming fairly soon, in addition to the peeing in the house - we decided to get the crate back up.

River acts like the crate at home is total hell. I have to drag him into it. He runs upstairs and downstairs trying to escape from me (and it). This is EXHAUSTING when you are pregnant. I started giving him a kong filled with peanut butter in the crate as a "reward". Today, I was going to be gone for an hour but wanted to crate him anyway. After chasing him upstairs and downstairs TWICE, I gave up and locked the peanut butter filled kong in the crate so he could smell it, but not get it. I want him to associate the crate with peanut butter. Unfortunately, this is what I found when I got home....

I can grow SOMETHING!

My tomatoes have not done well this year( again) and my pepper plant took off so late that I am sure it will freeze the minute I see a baby pepper on it. My $1.49 raspberry plant from Aldi however, after taking a year to get going last year, is doing GREAT! These made for a nice treat at 4:00am when I finally gave up on trying to sleep this morning.

Sunday 9/11/11 - Weekend Wrapup

It is Sunday night and another busy weekend is coming to a close!

Friday: spinning, one client, mini spa day, dinner in with friends

Saturday: Babies r us registration, Hurray for Speech show at Chi Fringe Festival, mini taco tour in Pilsen.

Sunday

I got to bed at a decent time last night and was up and happy to get moving. After a shower, A and I headed to Pannenkoeken - a tiny local Dutch pancake house walking distance from our house. We split an egg sandwich and a "harvest peach" pannekoeken which was DIVINE!

http://www.pannenkoekencafe.com/

After lunch, I headed out for Old Orchard and began registering for more baby stuff with Tammy. It is overwhelming to see all the choices and be "asking" for so many things. Honestly, it makes me a little embarrassed sometimes. However, with two showers looming, I need to get on the bus and start making decisions. I am 26 weeks tomorrow and need to start getting ready for this baby!

I did get the living room curtains hung this weekend - yeah! Now I need to start getting ready for some more projects.

My goal for this week is to start getting some pictures to add to the blog and make A rub lotion on my belly EVERY NIGHT!:)

10 lbs - GRRRR

I talked to someone today and told her that I have gained 10 lbs to date (she asked). She responded with "that is SOOOO much weight!". It really upset me:(. As someone who has struggled with weight my entire life, I was terrified that I was going to be as big as a moose when I got pregnant. At this point I am right on track, or even on the low end for weight gain. Studies say that if you are a normal weight when you get pregnant, you should gain 25-35 lbs, overweight 15-25 lbs. Given that I was a little overweight when I got pregnant (via BMI) I figure that I am right on track and should gain between 20-30lbs. Regardless, I am by no means porking out or packing on the lbs. Most people are still shocked when I tell them I am pregnant.

Is is frustrating, frustrating, frustrating.

25 weeks and Counting 9/8/2011

I supposedly am almost to the third trimester and should have been feeling better in the second trimester. Unfortunately, as I type this, I am dry heaving at my computer. The good news is that I have not thrown up for over a week as I write this (hopefully today will not be a reset day).

As of yesterday, I was up 10lbs - the baby is really kicking now!

Busy day today:

walk dog - take a walk

mail taxes at post office

go to CVS

Ikea - buy triple rod to finish curtains tonight, buy shelves for above Allan's desk (tonight)

write note to Liz

notes to Mom and RC

Call CH, SM

get out sewing machine and work on stretched out, hand me down maternity pants so they don't fall down anymore and also sew up all the holey dog toys. (this may be done this weekend)

I don't have to be at work till 2:30 today. Already folded laundry, changed sheets, cleaned up kitchen, started more laundry, and ate a bowl of cereal (which at this point maybe all I eat today!)

Labor Day Weekend, 2011

Spent the weekend in St. Joe's (Michigan) with friends. It was a fairly low key weekend. I drove up with River on Friday afternoon and AC joined up by train after work. I was happy to miss traffic and it worked out well. Friday night, we had pizza at Silver Beach Pizza, located in the train station at St. Joe's. Highly recommended and VERY yummy.

http://silverbeachpizza.com/

Although some of the people stayed up late on Friday drinking and making merry, as an old pregnant lady, I crashed early and hard. Honestly, I don't miss drinking and carousing. I AM getting old!:)

We were up fairly early on Saturday and D made an awesome breakfast. We loaded the car up with dogs and humans to head to Grand Mere State Park (about 10 minutes away). We had heard it was about a mile walk to the beach (which was dog friendly). The walk was a paved trail through the woods with a last 10-15 minutes of climbing over sand dunes. I had to go sloooooww but made it! The beach was very nice, not crowded. Dog and family friendly. As normal, River avoided the water - stupid webbed footed dog!

After a nap and a late dinner at Clementine's Too http://ohmydarling.com/. It was clearly a family run old school place. The boys ate steak. I had a baked potato. We joined up with friends at the St. Joseph's Royal Yacht Club and tried to stay dry on a rainy evening. I knew A wanted to go to the Casino and offered, but he said no thanks. Again, back to the house not so late, followed by a hard crash into bed.

Sunday started with another fabulous breakfast, a nap, a walk with one of the other ladies at the house (or a drag as I called it). It was good to walk with someone who kept me out walking longer (and faster) than I would have myself. I'd pretty much stopped working out/exercising since I have felt so crappy, but am getting back into it now:).

Sunday ended up with a home cooked steak dinner, corn on the cob, tomato salad and a quick drive into town to see fireworks. We narrowly avoided a rain storm on the way home and crashed early.

Monday was up early again. We set off, it the outlets on the way home and hit NO TRAFFIC. A low key weekend but nice none the less!