seriously exhausted.

tomorrow marks 27 weeks and the start of my third trimester (some sources say it starts at week 28, though).  we’re in the home stretch now!  it’s getting difficult to be on my feet all day at work now.  i’m always sore and extra tired by the time my shifts end, and tonight is no exception.

this may be my shortest post ever.  honestly, i’m so tired that i can barely keep my eyes open, let alone think of anything witty or profound to write about.  i’m going to finish up my (almost) midnight snack (pickles), take a warm bath, and get in bed.  goodnight and happy memorial day!

chocolate milk is the best thing ever.

that glass of chocolate milk (organic, low-fat and fortified with DHA omega-3!) i just drank was the best thing i have ever tasted. EVER. seriously. i never knew anything could taste that good. am i pregnant or what?!

work was very long and tiring today. i have two more equally long and tiring shifts tomorrow and tuesday before i finally get a day off (my first in almost a week)! i just have to get through this week and part of the next before my trip to pennsylvania. i can’t tell you how excited i am to see my family and friends! we’re all getting together to celebrate our baby shower and my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. it should be a wonderful week and just the kind of trip i need!

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on a completely unrelated note, can we talk about groin pain here for a second? the last two days it has felt like i’m wearing underwear made of PAIN. have i been doing the splits? moonlighting as an olympic gymnast? doing the hustle with a little too much gusto? NO. i am growing a human, and i’m pretty sure that’s more tiring than all of those things combined. still, with only 10-13 more weeks left to go in this pregnancy, i find myself wanting to savor every kick, nudge, and flutter. searing groin pain or not, this has been the most magical 6+ months of my life. you stay in there, baby girl, and keep on cooking! we’ll finally meet when the time is right.

and now for your viewing pleasure, i present THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING BELLYBUTTON!

i give it 4 weeks max before it’s a full-fledged outie.  also note my sweet (if very faint) linea nigra!

well, it’s about time for me to take a bath, drink another glass of chocolate milk and watch some lost.  i hope everyone has a safe and happy memorial day!

due date.

my official due date is august 31st. travis and i have had fun guessing when little s will make her big debut. for no reason in particular the dates august 24th and september 4th have been stuck in my head. call it intuition if you like. it’s the same feeling i got, early on, when i just knew we were going to have a girl. if i had to guess, i would put my money on one of the those two days. what’s your best guess?

we also spend a lot of time talking about what she’ll look like. we did a rough punnett square to determine her eye color and got a 50/50 chance of her having either blue or brown eyes. i have a feeling, perhaps more intuition, that she will have her dad’s dark hair and eyes and my pale skin. what do you think her hair and eye colors will be?

travis and i have a rare evening off together tonight. we’re going to spend it eating popcorn and watching lost. i hope everyone has a very happy saturday night!

slackers.

we didn’t get done anything else on our list for tonight.  instead we got our butts out of the apartment and went to a cook-out at our friend’s house.  it was worth it.  i’ll make up for it tomorrow and saturday.  it’s been a long day and i’m exhausted.  here are some random bump pictures for your viewing pleasure.

from my point of view:

the last one is a bit cheesy, but we hardly have any pictures of the two of us!

BEDTIME.  goodnight!

the parents’ progress.

we have made a lot of headway on sylvie’s nursery in the last few days! tonight we got her bookcases put to together!

and a close-up of all of her cute things!

the larger of the two lambs was mine when i was a wee babe.  it plays mary had a little lamb and moves its head from side to side when wound.  the picture in the frame is a photograph of my nana and sylvie’s namesake.  the zebra and the hippo come from my parents and trav’s parents, respectively.  that little panda next to the zebra is a paci plushie from allie at it’s a wonderful life.  the rest are things we purchased for her at various places.

here is the smaller of the two bookcases.

these red bins are fantastic!  they are really heavy duty canvas and zip completely closed.  they’ll be great for when she’s mobile and constantly trying to get into things!  both bookcases are part of the expedit series from ikea.  the bins are from ikea, too.  as you can tell from these pictures, there is still A LOT to be done!  still, i think we’ve made great progress this week.  we’re going to be parents in 3 months.  she could be here, completely healthy, in 11 weeks.  how crazy is that?!  i can’t wait to meet her!

26 weeks.

to make up for my lack of content in this week’s gallstone gourmet, here is a picture of our delicious dinner!

roasted vegetables with herbed ricotta. yum!

after dinner we took our first baby for a walk around the neighborhood.

here is a quick bump picture. please excuse the less than pleasant face. travis caught me a bit off guard with this picture!

i can’t believe there’s only one week left in my second trimester! where has the time gone? speaking of time, mine could be put to better use right now. i still have a couple more things to cross off my to-do list before we call it a night. i had better hop to it!

gallstone gourmet #3.

it’s monday again and you know what that means? it’s time for another installment of the gallstone gourmet! this post is a little light on the recipes this week due to sickness and a farro disaster. we’ll get to that in a minute. now it’s time for turkey burgers and oven fries!

TURKEY BURGERS

1 pound of 99% fat free ground turkey breast
2 Tablespoons of tomato paste
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
kosher salt and pepper to taste

cooking spray
4 slices of low-fat (2%) american cheese (1 slice per burger)
1 package of whole wheat buns or sandwich thins

1. Add first set of ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Break up the turkey and combine with your hands.
2. Form into approximately 1/4 pound patties. If they’re the right size, you should get 4 (duh).
3. Spray a skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium.
4. Once the pan is hot, add the patties and cook, flipping once, until cooked through (about 4-5 minutes per side).
5. Top each patty with a slice of cheese about 30 seconds before they come off the heat.
6. Build your burger to your liking and enjoy!

OVEN FRIES

1 large baking potato (peeled if you like, we prefer the skin on)
1 egg white
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
kosher salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spray a rimmed cookie sheet lightly with cooking spray
2. Cut the potato into 1/8 inch slices. Cut each slice into 1/8 inch matchsticks. Put the matchsticks into a bowl of ice water.
3. Whisk together the egg white, spices, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl until frothy.
4. Remove the potatoes from the ice water and dry thoroughly with a hand towel. This step is very important, as wet potatoes will not brown correctly.
5. Add the dried potatoes into the bowl with the egg white mixture and toss to coat.
6. Spread the potatoes out on the cookie sheet in a single layer.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes, turning every 5-7, until browned and crispy. Serve immediately.

now for the farro disaster. i attempted to make a risotto for the first time with farro. i have made it the traditional way, with arborio rice, tons of times. every time it’s turned out great! i prepared the farro the same way, per a recipe and some tips from the chef at trav’s restaurant. after over an hour on the stove, 64 ounces of chicken broth, and ample amounts of elbow grease the farro was only half cooked and terribly salty. even after i tried to coax it with a rousing refrain of “let my people go” (way down in egypt’s land/ tell my farro/ let my starches go!), it still stunk. if anybody has any ideas about where i failed, please let me know! thanks!

ok, it’s about that time. i’m going to try my first non-alcoholic beer. i have very low expectations for these o’douls, but i won’t hate until i try one! wish me luck! happy monday, everyone.

operation nursery: week 1.

so dana over at hancock heir is totally making me feel like an underachiever. she is exactly one week behind me in her pregnancy and already has her little boy’s (aydan) nursery just about done and looking super cute! it’s really helping to light a fire under my tuchus. with one week to go until we’re in the third (and final OHMYGOODNESS) trimester, it’s about high time travis and i start readying sylvie’s space. today is the first official day of operation nursery! we’ve sat down and made a list of things we want to get done every night this week to get the nursery (and the rest of our apartment) baby ready. here is our list (the things we’ve already completed are crossed off).

TONIGHT: clean and organize the bathroom, do a load of laundry, tidy-up and reorganize the kitchen, clean out the bedroom closet

MONDAY: mop the bathroom floor, pick up all the clothes in the apartment and sort them, more laundry

TUESDAY: go through the boxes of stuff in the nursery, take apart the desk chair and move it, more laundry

WEDNESDAY: put together the nursery bookshelves (2), clean off and take apart the bookcase in the bedroom (it is sways like crazy and is so NOT baby safe), go through all of our books

THURSDAY: take down the pictures on what is now the nursery wall, re-hang them somewhere else or pack them away, move the crib box against the wall where the crib will go, go through my stuff in the corner of the living room, decide where to move our butcher block kitchen cart (probably into the bedroom where the bookshelf used to be)

THINGS TO WORK ON THROUGHOUT THE WEEK: the map for sylvie’s wall, the baby blanket i’m crocheting, sorting and folding laundry

there you have it! we’re taking friday night off because we both work that evening. there’s nothing listed for saturday because travis is working and i need a night off! i’ll probably just work on the map and blanket that night. mom, i hope we’re making you proud. we’re trying to get it all done! my nesting hormones are kicking us into full-gear all of a sudden! it feels so great to walk up to the fridge and cross something off the list. there will be new lists next week and the week after that. i’m hoping to get a ton done before i leave for my week in pennsylvania on june 9th. dear readers, i’m posting the lists here so that you can help hold us accountable!!! i’ll keep a copy in the sidebar all week and cross things off as we go. WISH US LUCK, PLEASE!! THANK YOU.

our apartment is teeny tiny and this makes for a lot of work. getting the nursery space ready easily dominos into having to shift a lot around. most of this clean out is long overdue. this sweet baby is just the impetus we needed to get it all done!

code blue assassins vs. helldorados.

travis and i had a surprise day off together! to celebrate we went to see the bleeding heartland rollergirls season opener! we only stayed for the first match because i’m a little bit sick. it was a lot of fun, nonetheless!

our home B team, the bloomington code blue assassins, put up a great fight against the cedar rapids helldorados. in the end, the they just couldn’t squeeze past them. bummer! i took a ton of pictures from the night. enjoy!

today was a really fun, really busy day! now it’s time for me to try to relieve some of this congestion with a long, hot shower. goodnight and happy weekend!

the insatiable hunger monster.

this is what happens when 2 married, twenty-something art school graduates get bored. enjoy.