26 Days and Counting!

I have 26 days left till my due date! I'm ready anytime now. I thought I'd show off the nursery now that it's finally done (well mostly - 95% done, I'd say).

Here's some before pictures of the room that was our office (I'd just like to say that the "painter's tape blue" walls were done by the previous owners - not us).
Here are the "after" pictures. I think it turned out pretty well (it's a small room so I know it looks cluttered right now but the swing and bouncy seat will probably not stay in her bedroom).

My New Job

Today I begin my new job - full-time, stay-at-home mom. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous. For the first time in almost 11 years, I am "unemployed." I'm definitely excited about being with Elaine and the new baby (when she gets here) full time.....I just hope I can handle it! Even the three days a week that I've been home for the last 2 years, I've still had work to do. Now I don't have to think about contracts or paying invoices or our department budget....just baby and toddler stuff. Hope I don't go crazy!

Trick-or-Treat

For Elaine's 3rd Halloween, she wanted to be Minnie Mouse. She had so much fun with Halloween this year.

Our neighbors went a little Halloween crazy this year. Elaine still talks about the "scary monsters" that she saw on Halloween. the picture doesn't really do it justice. They had the smoke machine going, the scary music, a "Lurch-ish" mannequin that took his head off and cackled when someone walked by, and our neighbor's son dressed up as a vampire or something scary and jumped out at the kids to give them candy (at least he did that with the older kids). But it still made a big impression on Elaine.

Here are a couple of pictures of her trick-or-treating at my parents' house. She pretty much refuses to look at or pose for the camera anymore so these are the best we can do....

Baby's Coming

Here's a picture taken today of "the belly." I'm 26-28 weeks, depending on who you believe (babycenter.com and my own calculations have me at 26 weeks, my pregnancy journal has me at 27 weeks, and today my dr. said I was at 28).


(Don't look at my face - the sun was right in my eyes and I'm very squinty - I think I could give Renee Zellweger a run for her money!)

Here's a typical conversation with a stranger/casual acquaintance.

Stranger: When's your baby due?
Me: December 1st.
Stranger: Oh! Are you having twins??
Me: No.
Stranger: Oh. Just one big baby, then!
Me: Um....I guess so.

(I'm not sure why people feel the need to say really stupid things to pregnant women, but they do.)

So I can't find pictures of me when I was at this stage with Elaine (D - if you have pictures from my baby shower, I'd love to compare them) but I don't think I'm THAT big - though I do think that I'm bigger than I was with Elaine at the same stage. But I certainly don't look like I'm carrying twins. However, from now on, if anyone else asks that question, the answer is "yes, I'm having twins."

Grill Recipe

One of the things I wanted to do this summer was learn how to grill. Well, I've done it once so far. But clearly I'm good at it!

I found this recipe for artichoke-stuffed chicken and it was amazing.

For the stuffing:
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 jar (7 oz) artichoke hearts
2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp kosher salt
3 oz fresh goat cheese, crumbled
3 Tbsp minced sun-dried tomatoes (oil-packed)
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh basil

4 large boneless chicken breast halves (with skin)
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

In a medium saute pan, combine the olive oil, thyme and red pepper flakes. Set the pan over medium high heat to warm the mixture for 1 to 2 minutes. Drain, rinse and coarsely chop the artichoke hearts and add along with the garlic, salt and pepper. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat. Add the goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil. Mix to evenly distribute the ingredients and allow to cool.








Rinse the chicken breasts under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Place each breast between two sheets of plastic wrap and, with a meat mallet, pound to flatten to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Place the breast, skin side down, and spread each one with a quarter of the stuffing. Fold the breasts in half over the stuffing and use toothpicks to skewer the sides closed (I used about 4 per breast). Brush or spray both sides with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Grill the breasts over Direct Medium heat until the meat juices run clear and the cheese is melted, 8-12 minutes, turning once halfway through grilling time. Remove from the grill and carefully remove the toothpicks.

My tips:
Make sure you use real toothpicks. The second time I made this, I didn't have any and instead used large sandwich picks which did not work at all. The filling just wouldn't stay in.
If you can't find a 7 oz jar of artichoke hearts (as I couldn't), go slightly larger rather than smaller. The second time I made this, I used a 6 oz jar and it was not enough. Also chop the artichokes into fairly large chunks. They'll sort of slip out of the cheesy filling and into the gril if they're too small.

Riding a "Toot Toot"

Our friends, Martin, Becky and Lillie, were visiting over the 4th of July. Elaine loves trains - has books about trains and toy trains that she and grandpa play with - but she'd never seen a real train, let alone been on one. We decided to ride the Georgetown-Silverplume train with our friends. Elaine had the time of her life. It's two weeks later and she tells everyone she sees "Elaine ride toot-toot." Clearly, we'll be doing that again. Here a couple of pictures of Elaine and Lillie on the toot-toot.

Thank Heaven...

for little girls. We're having another girl! (I have no idea what exactly we're seeing in the 2nd picture but apparently....it's a girl.) Now we just have to come up with a name....
















This is a busy girl. I've been feeling a little movement (flutters mostly) for several weeks. Now she's kicking and turning around and just generally making her presence known....to me at least. Phil hasn't been able to feel her yet - but that's mostly because every time I tell him to feel for her either a) she stops moving immediately (which is what Elaine always did) or b) I start giggling because I'm ticklish and then he can't feel anything but me laughing and breathing. Oh well.

If she's busier than Elaine....we're in big trouble!