Week 25

This was a very quiet weekend of chores, studying for my midterm on Thursday, a repeat of Chelsea Waffles (our first recipe which is so far our favorite), and other regular activities. Baby girl is growing more and more and weighs almost 2 pounds now and I am definitely feeling the difference! I notice that some days I am feeling really big and tight and cumbersome and others smaller, looser, and more mobile. The day of the photos was one of those big days and today is one of those small days. So strange how that can happen. We also manage to get a little family shot this week which I love. Wish it could have been outdoors but the spot where we shoot our outdoor photos had a giant suburban parked in the way and 2 people couldn't fit with the tripod so inside it was.

We also managed to put together the new baby dresser so the nursery is beginning to take shape which is really exciting. I have lots of ideas moving through my mind for colors and decorations and whatnot. Now I just need time to work on some of those ideas.

Week 24

This was a busy weekend for us. Saturday our friend Jin came over to fix us a Korean feast. She had offered a long time ago to come and cook us dinner and said we could invite a few people if we wanted. She said 6-8 would be a good number. We decided to invite our communion team over for the dinner thinking that only a handful would respond (as they have to other social things we have planned). Well we had 13 people! Poor Jin. She was such a good sport. Greg picked her up on Saturday and they cooked for 4 hours straight with Greg as the sous chef (I was not allowed to help and instead they just fed me throughout the prep time). She made SO much food. We used every dish in my kitchen to either prep or serve the food. I love when I forget I have certain pans and things until we need a container. Everyone had a great time and the food was excellent. We sent everyone home with food and still have a refrigerator full of leftovers. Jin and I managed to wash and dry all the dishes and clean the whole kitchen by midnight. Such a great day. On Sunday we used the leftover ingredients and Jin's instructions to make more Korean fried rice and a noodle dish to eat with the other leftovers. Really really yummy the second day too. Jin HATES the camera and we never get photos of her but I managed to sneak this one of her explaining how to assemble a rice bowl using the different ingredients on the table. She also explained the Korean names for everything and some of the traditional aspects of the food. And here is the full spread. Great job Jin!

On Sunday we ran a ton of errands. First up though were WAFFLES!!! I had intended to make yeast risen waffles but they had to be prepped the night before and after the feast and the clean-up I just didn't have the energy so we made plain waffles using the recipe that came with the waffle iron. I will share it here since they post it on their website for the public.

Basic Waffles
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups reduced fat milk
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs

The batter was very nice to work with and the waffles were good, however I think I like the vegan plain waffles from our Brunch cookbook better than these. We ended up with 2 extra which we froze and reheated this morning in the toaster oven for breakfast. They reheated really nicely.

After breakfast we went over to Babies R Us to start a registry. People have been asking us if we are registered so we figured we should take the plunge. It needs a lot of work though. We would get to a section and realize we wanted to research something so we would leave it off the registry. For instance I have a breast pump that was given to me by a friend but I hadn't written down any of the specs so I didn't know which accessories to register for. Need to look into that a little and that is just one example. We also ran to target where I got a couple pairs of maternity pants and some much needed maternity tights. So much more comfortable! Since we were sort of on a baby kick we worked a little on planning the nursery by measuring the walls and the items we already have and then headed out to IKEA in Brooklyn to look at some options and ended up finding a dresser that would work for the room and has a large enough top to double as a changing station for the upstairs. It feels good to have some concrete plans for the room and to soon have a place for all those cute little clothes that are currently sitting in bags. I will post some photos as we get the furniture put together and installed in the room. So far we have a bed, a rocking chair, a dresser, and a side table. We are planning to get some storage unit for the room as well and then we are done.

Week 23

OK, couldn't resist posting again this weekend. I had a great work week last week. My boss and my sub-boss were both out of the country which meant I got a TON of stuff done in a nice quiet office. So nice! Then this weekend I had a lovely brunch with some of my old co-workers, 2 of which have moved away from NYU and 1 I don't get to see as much since I moved up to the Biology office. We had a great time at Hundred Acres in SOHO. It was a cute place for brunch and the biscuits were to die for. However I would say skip this place, the non-biscuit brunch items were only so-so. In the afternoon I picked up clothes in Brooklyn from a friend of friend who recently had twins. She got baby clothes from my friend Karen in Kansas and is now passing them on to me. There was a ton of stuff in there. I think at this point we are set for 0-3 month old clothes for our little girl thanks to the generosity of friends!

On Sunday it was study day. I am pretty far behind on my homework for my classes so I spent some time trying to catch up. Of course first I had to make waffles! As promised Greg and I threw together Peanut Butter waffles from our new brunch cookbook. We substituted cashew butter for peanut butter which gave the waffles a more subtle nutty flavor. They were pretty good. I of course preferred the plain waffles but Greg favors anything with nut butter. Next week I am going to make yeasted waffles and I can't wait. I am loving waffle winter! Seriously, such a quick and easy but fancy breakfast, even when starting from scratch.

On the baby front I had an exciting development on Sunday. I was sitting on the couch when all of a sudden I felt a very strong concentrated kick. It was startling. Greg looked over and saw this shocked look on my face and asked me what was wrong just as the baby kicked me again and made me gasp. Greg came over and put his hand over the spot and she graced him with a wallop too and he felt her from the outside. It was amazing! I have felt her squirreling around in there for a couple weeks but that is more general movement while this was a very strong sensation in just one place. I got 4 kicks and then she was apparently in a more comfortable position and has been quiet since. It was pretty cool especially for Greg who doesn't get to feel any of the other stuff. She kicked me right here! I am sure in a few months I will be begging her to stop kicking me but right now it was a very special experience.

22 Weeks and Waffle Crazy

OK, back on schedule with my photo shoots. This week has been kind of uncomfortable which I think means our little girl is growing faster though you can't really tell from the photos which look a lot like last weeks. I have had a hard time getting comfortable in the evening and at night have been tossing and turning a lot more. I never realized this would start before the third trimester but here we are. In our birth classes which we started a few weeks ago we learned about how to best massage the mommy and Greg has been nice enough to practice on me at home on those nights when I am really restless. We also blew up or old balance ball and I lean on that while he rubs my back. Such a great guy. I also started back to school last week and have the 2 most boring classes of my graduate career to date. I have a really hard time focusing on the work because I really don't care for the material (Finance and Economics). Hopefully things will improve.

On a side note, we recently got a new cookbook in the mail from Amazon. I love cookbooks and this one looked especially tasty and is all about brunch. Greg and I eat breakfast together every morning ever since I got my promotion and we have 2 or 3 standard quick breakfasts but on the weekend we like to go the extra mile and make pancakes, cinnamon rolls or something else more involved. That is where this book comes in. We have been trying some of the tasty recipes and they have been good but I have been drooling over the waffle recipes. We had a waffle iron years ago but it was a really old one I had picked up at a garage sale. It was old, heavy and really hard to clean so we eventually got rid of it during one of our NYC moves. I suggested to Greg we get a new waffle iron and he of course said no. He has a deeply ingrained hatred of all appliances and thinks they are all a waste of space. I kept looking at those recipes and finally decided that this was going to be "waffle winter" and we were going to make waffles every weekend! So last Saturday I had to run errands and stopped at Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick up a new shower curtain liner and shower caddy and looked at the waffle irons. Sure enough they have a very nice and compact iron that was very reasonable priced. Sure it didn't make waffles in pretty patterns like the $70 machine I saw near work but round waffles are just fine and perhaps Greg wouldn't balk so much if it was pretty cheap and small. We put the iron to work on Sunday and made the first waffle recipe in the book (plain waffles) and darn it......THEY WERE SO GOOD!!! We were MMMMMMMMMing the entire meal and Greg admitted they were really tasty and better yet quick. No standing at the stove making batches of pancakes and taking turns eating so that no cakes get cold. We could whip up 4 waffles in no time and sit down and enjoy them together. And I love that you can control how crispy you make them. So, that was a really long way to say we are waffle crazy now! Next weekend, Peanut Butter Waffles!!! Greg says the waffle iron can stay but one appliance in and one out so now I am trying to decide who gets the boot. I am thinking it will be the soy milk maker. Hmmmm.......