Book Shower

Earlier in January, some lovely ladies from our research project got together and hosted a little shower. As we are all early childhood people, it only made sense for them to go with a children's book theme, which they executed with creativity and enthusiasm. 

All the guests brought a book for Baby C, and/or a dish to share. All the dishes tied in with a particular book. It was so fun to see everyone's creative ideas, and of course the food was tasty as well!

                                            

These custom cookies were done by the lovely lady who runs Dozen bakery here in Nashville. She makes all sorts of delicious things, and can do almost anything you can imagine for the custom decorated sugar cookies. Check out her website or Facebook page if you're in the market for something good-looking and good-tasting (made with local, organic ingredients to boot)

Obviously I had to eat everything. But the best part was coming home with a basket full of classic books to jump start C's library (and the shelf on which they'll be displayed). When the child turns out to be brilliant, we'll know that we can thank the Peabody team for giving him an early start at geniusing. 

If you want a list of the books that the early childhood experts deem gift-worthy, I can add that in too.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

I saw this recipe on Pinterest on the precise day that I needed to use up some bananas that were a wee past their prime, so here you go.

I made a few modifications, so will reproduce here for your benefit. They turned out well, and are a good snack with less guilt, as they contain no sugar or flour. I'd say they are one of those things that are just good to have around, or would even be good to take to a new mom--they are easy to grab at any time of day, and oatmeal is said to help with milk supply. Who knew?

These are not particularly sweet, which I liked--muffins are often dessert masquerading as a healthy snack these days--but use sugar or more honey if you find them lacking.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins
makes 12 muffins

2.5 cups cooking oats
2 very ripe bananas
1 cup plain lowfat Greek yogurt (I used one container of Fage 2%)
2 eggs
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare a muffin tin.

Pulse the oats in a food processor for about 10 seconds.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and blend until well mixed and the oats are smooth.

At this point, feel free to add chocolate chips or anything you'd like to dress it up a little bit.

Fill muffin tins with batter and bake for about 16-18 min or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Ta-da! Easy peasy.

37 Weeks

We did it. We cooked a whole baby. Nice work, everybody.

High fives all around.

Oh my God, weren't the 90s amazing? Did we even know it then? 

We had a lovely getaway last weekend, during which I ate enough to rival an entire professional football team, enjoyed a massage during which the power went out, learned a lot about nice bourbons except how they taste, and saw some puppies (!). Oh, and baby obliged by staying put. So it was a win all around. 

Other than that, life has consisted of trying to get the house ready--a slow and uphill battle that I always seem to be losing--checking in with friends, and going to the doctor. 

I had the 37-week appointment this morning, and things continue to look pretty good. I'll spare the details of getting checked (a new joy particular to the appointments in the final weeks) and just say that things are moving along but there's no reason to think we're going to drop out a baby in the immediate future. All of this was pronounced totally normal for 37 weeks, and is fine with me. So good ol' Dr. W is content to let me go one more week, check again then, and go from there. 

Baby C measured very much on track and is head (way) down--the sonographer said, "his head is basically down between your knees"--so she couldn't get a face picture. It doesn't feel like his head is between my knees, so I suppose I'm grateful for that and maybe still have a bit before the full-on waddle. 

We also have a new size estimate from the growth scan (probably the last one). Again, they're notoriously inaccurate, but I can say that it's unlikely Katie and John will win the pool with their vote of 6lbs, 14oz. Everyone else has guessed in the 8-lb range so is probably safe. Except for my husband, who entered a guess of 9lbs, 2 oz (realllly???).

After that, I panicked that we don't have enough clothes in the right sizes. Newborn clothes say they go up to either 7 or 8 pounds, depending on the brand. But even to my untrained eyeball, different items look like they vary widely in their interpretation of how big a 7-lb baby is, so it's extra confusing. I had a vision of going to put on his "going home" ensemble and it being all wrong and getting some serious side-eye from the nurses. So a quick trip to Baby Gap should have us covered with a few more items for the baby bag, no matter what size he emerges. I will teach him early that we always pack options. 

36 Weeks

...and counting. But not yet at the final countdown. Let's make it to 37 before we start that.

We are puffy and tired. But both appointments this week (NST on Monday; ultrasound on Thursday) went well. Baby performed very well at the NST and "passed with flying colors" on the ultrasound. I think at this point that mainly just means he's keeping up the practice breathing. No pictures from that one, though. His hands were back in front of his face--but he did wave.

We also took Newborn Care 101 on Wednesday night...definitely an experience to share. BA changed a diaper (granted, on a baby doll) and was the best swaddler in the room. I'm very proud. We saw lots of pictures of gross poops, baby acne, and lanugo and are thus totally certified to take care of a helpless newborn. It's not terrifying in the least.

The nursery is coming along in whatever a small, slow version of "leaps and bounds" would be. Steps and hops? It would be serviceable if he had to come home tomorrow (please no) but needs a little more organizing. Part of this organizing is moving things down to the living room, which I'm guessing will be our home base during most of the daytime hours. So we now have the swing and soon, the Pack N Play downstairs...thereby completing my transformation into the person whose house is taken over by baby shit that I swore I'd never be. Once that stuff is moved out of the nursery, it's just a matter of finishing touches: hanging pictures, mirrors, and curtains. Oh, and ordering said curtains...but they're on backorder until late Feb so whatever. I will post pics when the room is as close to finished as it's likely to get.

This weekend is our last getaway (still within driving distance of the hospital, no worries), to which I am very much looking forward. I can't do much in the way of activities (horseback riding? no?), but will have a massage and eat everything they have to offer, which is sounding pretty good. I will also have pictures of that upon our return.

Other than that, nothing else to report...I just spend my days slowly doing things around the house--the thing they don't tell you about nesting is that, while it is a real thing, you're pretty physically limited once it actually hits--and continuing to cook this baby.

Finally, I would like to give a shoutout to baby Jack, who is scheduled to arrive in our nation's capital on Monday morning. We are very much looking forward to meeting you and I urge you to please consider this your very stern warning to give your mother a very easy time. I would hate to have to give you The Look at this tender age. Sending all our love from the Nashville contingent (don't worry, we have a party on the books for Monday night--if we can't be with you all, we'll at least be together here!). xoxo

This is for Hayden and Tom (and you can laugh at us later when you are all accomplished and everything is a breeze): Five Things I Forgot About Having A Newborn

Spicy Thai Noodles with Chicken

We had another lovely Downton Dinner last night, though all of the usual suspects were either sick, tired, or otherwise engaged. So it was just me and BA, but this dinner was a hit anyway. It could easily be expanded, and can be served at room temperature or even cold, so you don't have to time it precisely. It came together really quickly and requires about the same skill set as making spaghetti, so I highly recommend it.

Original source here, via Pinterest. I added the chicken and modified the rest somewhat.

Spicy Thai Noodles with Chicken

I grabbed a pack of chicken tender strips at the grocery (easier than cutting up chicken breasts) and marinated them beforehand. I just made up the marinade, but it was approximately like so:

juice of one (leftover fridge straggler) lime
1/4 cup hot chili oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ginger (in any form)

mix it all up

toss in a bag with the chicken and marinate in fridge for however many hours you have

For the noodles:

1/2 cup sesame oil -- found in international/specialty section of grocery store

1-2 tbsp red pepper flakes/crushed red pepper -- I used 1 tbsp and it had plenty of kick, so don't be heavy handed with this unless your crew can handle the heat

6 tbsp soy sauce

6 tbsp honey

1/2 cup sliced green onion

1/2 cup cilantro leaves

1/4 cup peanuts

1 box linguine -- I used whole wheat

Put the water on to boil. Cook pasta and drain while you make the rest. 

Heat red pepper flakes in sesame oil over medium heat for 2 min, stirring. Remove from heat.

Strain out pepper flakes, reserving oil.

Add to oil: 6 tbsp soy sauce and 6 tbsp honey. Whisk together.

Toss the noodles with the sauce in a large bowl until well coated. 

Chop and combine the peanuts, green onion, and cilantro. As you can see, I just threw it all in the mini Cuisinart.

Cook that chicken. 

Put chicken on noodles and top with peanut mixture.

and there you have it. A quick and easy dinner, and it was even better (cold) for lunch today.

The only changes I might make would be to make it a little peanuttier--perhaps whisk in a bit of peanut butter with the soy sauce and honey. Also, if I'd had another lime on hand, it would be good to squeeze some lime juice over the top of the whole thing before serving. All in all, definitely a keeper. 

35 Weeks and The Best Photo Shoot Yet

Another week down. The third trimester is like the first trimester in many ways, one of which is that every week that passes feels like a major accomplishment. The next time I go for a checkup with my doctor, I will be 37 weeks (full term), so I'll feel a lot better then. Even if the BP starts to shoot up or they see troublesome labs, it would be a no-brainer to deliver after that point.

Monday, I had a non-stress test involving a slight kerfuffle in which baby had lots of good-looking heart rate accelerations, but also a big decel (they think he kicked his cord). They ordered a followup ultrasound, which--after a very long tenure in the waiting room--revealed everything was all good. This morning was a checkup with the OB and an ultrasound (biophysical profile) afterwards. Both went very well and were definitely good points on this whole roller coaster of recent appointments.

Blood pressure was fine this morning; she is still watching but is not alarmed or considering any treatment or course of action. Negative result for protein in the (now-standard) pee sample, so all's good in the 'hood. She said there is no way to predict which people with "watchable" BP readings progress further into problems and which remain ok, so they just keep watching. And a little bit of an elevated BP isn't abnormal this late in pregnancy...I mean, that's a lot of extra blood being pumped around...so it's just a thing.

Ultrasound was fabulous--the sonographer really took her time to look around and get some good pictures for me. The funny thing is that she did my previous ultrasound on Monday (after the NST) and I didn't really like her...she was brisk and a little rough and there was another guy in there shadowing her who was kind of annoying. But today was totally different. Maybe she didn't like the shadow guy either. I've done this enough at this point to know she really went above and beyond, so I intend to commend her on the little comment cards they leave out at the front desk. I'm glad I got her on a better day, because it was a great experience. She said he was "going to town on his practice breathing" --no buzzer today!--and heart rate was perfect. She said he looked so good and she could just look all day. Obviously, that was great to hear and goes a long way in reassuring me. And everyone.

AND he was pretty cooperative for some photos. We got some nice 2D face and profile shots, and I mentioned that we didn't have a bunch of great pics because he's usually not cooperative. She said his position looked good today so she would flip to the 3D and see what she could get. About half an hour later, I left with, like, a 3-foot long strip of photos. We were just laughing and looking at stuff and I think it was a nice fun break for both of us. I know they look at babies all day, so I kind of feel like she wasn't just being polite when she said such nice things. Or maybe I'm wrong, but it was a good appointment on a day when I felt like I really needed a good appointment.

3D images ahead...fair warning. These got too much glare on them in my scanner and look better in person, but I think you can get the general idea??

Good shot of hand underneath chin

Chubby cheeks and little lips

And a little smile.

Same photo but as iPhone pic, so with a little less glare: 

The end. Have a smiley day. 

It's BAAAAACK!

Downton Abbey, that is. We're just past episode 2 in the third season and it's still as thrilling as ever! Naturally, we had to get the gang back together for our Tuesday night viewing parties. We missed the first week (it's tough with those 2-hour episodes) but got back on track last night.

I don't think the menus are really worth writing about at this point, as I'm eleventy months pregnant and just trying to cook what I can that doesn't involve being on my feet for hours at a time, so just a quick run through...last night we had queso and Chi O enchiladas (in honor of Miss Miller's Rush week--she is now the happiest new baby Kappa Kappa Gamma you ever did see). What makes these enchiladas Chi O, you ask? Apparently they used to be the late-night snack of choice at the Vanderbilt Chi O house, after the house mom would make them. Kate--our friendly neighborhood Chi O--made them for dinner one night when we all went on our Florida vacation. It seemed like a good recipe to feed a crowd, and less complicated than other enchilada recipes, so I stole it.

I feel like I should not post this recipe on the interwebs, in case it's, like, one of their mystical sister bonds or something. I don't want a bunch of sorority girls hitting me with their koozies or baby owls or whatever...but it was good, worked well, and we have a whole pan left over.

As I do not have pictures of our feast, I present you with this image, which I found amusing.

Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS. If you have not watched the most recent episode, you may not want to scroll further.

If all of episode 2 took place on FB...