Cake-aholic

Theo takes after his mama in his love of tasty treats. I baked him a guitar cake for his birthday, and he was very excited about it, even trying to "play" the strings. I asked him where he'd like me to cut his piece from--the body, the neck, the frets, etc. His reply? "All of it. I would like a lot."

Yup, he's my son. I always want a lot of cake, too. :-)

Cake-aholic

Theo takes after his mama in his love of tasty treats. I baked him a guitar cake for his birthday, and he was very excited about it, even trying to "play" the strings. I asked him where he'd like me to cut his piece from--the body, the neck, the frets, etc. His reply? "All of it. I would like a lot."

Yup, he's my son. I always want a lot of cake, too. :-)

Panty Fetish

I think my son may have the beginnings of a panty fetish. He's obsessed with knowing what diapers everyone is wearing. (Not surprisingly, this began when we brought home his new baby brother.) The other day at the park, he met and played with another little boy, and he promptly asked the boy's mother, "Hey lady--what diaper is he wearing?" And for his birthday, my sister gave him a Cabbage Patch doll "born" the same day as his baby brother. Upon seeing the doll, Theo exclaimed, "Hey, does he have a diaper on? Hey, can you help me take his pants off to check?"

Um, yeah...it's a diaper fetish. ;-)

Raise a flag!!!

Okay, it sounds ridiculous that this deserves a blog entry, but it really does! Most of you know how lousy my sleep is. And if you don't, let me just tell you that it stinks...it really stinks. In the past three months, I have rarely slept longer than two hours at a stretch. For a while there, I was up every hour. And I was getting very tired and cranky! Then I got a couple sporadic three-hour stretches of sleep...but for the most part, it has been two hours here, an hour there, two more hours here.... And it gets very, very old. Never getting more than two hours of unbroken sleep is just exhausting.

So I went to bed last night, and the next time I woke up was 4 1/2 hours later! I haven't slept anywhere near that long in more than three months!! I feel like a new woman!! I have no idea what brought on this sudden lovely 4+ hours of sleep, but it was heavenly!

And that is worthy of a blog post, in my humble opinion. :-)

As is the fact that in 10 days, we get to find out the gender of our little one...if he/she cooperates. Fingers crossed for a compliant baby who allows us a peek at his/her gender!!

Let there be life!!

Yahoo!!! I have felt life—Pigwidgeon has said hello!!! Truth is, I've felt it for a while now, but didn't know what it was. It didn't feel anything like what people said it would...at least, not to me. I kept waiting to feel a fluttering, but what I have felt is more like a pulse. You know how every once in a while you feel your pulse in an odd part of your body, like your foot or your neck or something? That's what it feels like to me, only it's in my abdomen. Every now and then it's as if I can feel a pulse in my abdomen, just for a second or two at a time. And then it's gone. So I told this to my Mom, and she said, "That's the baby! That's exactly how Jeffrey felt when I was pregnant with him—I called him 'Blipper' because it felt like a small blip every time he moved."

So, I can now rest easier, knowing that our little Pigwidgeon is alive and well in there, scooting around and doing whatever it is 19-week-old fetuses do all day. :-)

YAY for abdominal blips!!!!

Halloween and Pie!!

It's been a while since I posted, so I thought I'd do a quick update on recent happenings around here. I wish I had more Halloween pictures--we actually had a fun few days surrounding the 31st. Had dinner and dessert with our friend Becky on the 27th...in costume, of course! Chris was supposed to be a pirate, but somehow the hat just made him look more like a funky Tom Sawyer. It was enough to attract the attention of a curious cross-dresser, though. :-)


I worked a haunted house at our friend Dave's real estate/mortgage business on the 30th—I was a spooky gypsy, enticing children to come feel the bowls of eyeballs and worms! It was a lot of fun, though I didn't realize that little Pigwidgeon can apparently hear sounds outside the womb now, so he got to hear lots of kids screaming!!


On Halloween itself we stayed home and handed out candy to the paltry few trick-or-treaters that came to our door. Here's a picture of our pumpkin family—mama, papa, and baby Pigwidgeon pumpkins!!


Halloween was also a big day because we had another doctor appointment, and we got to hear Pigwidgeon's heartbeat again! It was in the 140s this time...slower than last time, but still pretty fast. I heard an old wives' tale that says if your baby's heart rate is 140 or over, it's a girl...but I still think we may have a little boy in there. Hopefully we'll see come November 27th, when we have our next ultrasound.


Last night we attempted some Scottish dancing with our friends Kim, Dave, and Suzanne, along with new friends Brooke, Donnie, and Phyllis. Chris is definitely a better dancer than I am—Scottish or otherwise! But it was fun, and I wish we had some pictures of the two of us staggering around the room, trying to keep up with all the more seasoned Scottish dancers!


And today, we hit a book sale in Placerville and used that as an excuse to go up to Apple Hill for some more fantastic pie!! See the lovely pie pic below--sour cream blackberry apple...yummmmm! I wish we had a picture of the exceptionally good apple cider donut we split too—best donut EVER! (And I know good donuts, I tell you....)




And last but not least, in case anyone is curious about my growing belly, here's a picture. I'm now about 17 weeks along, so over four months. Witness the giant belly, and answer this question...is it Pigwidgeon, or is it pie???

Mmmm...Chicken Tortilla Soup

Well, nothing exciting and noteworthy on the baby front these days...nor has there been much excitement in these parts. My next doctor appointment isn't until Halloween, so until then I'm just biding my time, watching my ever-expanding belly get a teeny bit bigger each day.

The highlight of the last week or so may be the excellent and super-easy chicken tortilla soup I made tonight! It's not really terribly authentic, but it's pretty darn yummy and really easy. Chris was a big fan! So, without further ado, here's the recipe...and a rather uninspired picture of the results at the end.

Super-Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 regular-sized cans diced tomatoes

1 1/2 lbs. chicken breast (boneless/skinless)

1 package Mahatma Red Beans and Rice (found in the Rice aisle at most grocery stores)

3 cups chicken broth

2 tsp chili powder

Tortilla chips

Shredded cheese

Cook the red beans and rice as described on the package. Meanwhile, cook the chicken breasts in whatever manner you like. (I just fried them in a tiny bit of oil on the stove.) When the rice is finished, add the remaining ingredients (diced tomatoes, chicken broth, and chili powder) and bring the mixture to a boil. Cut up the cooked chicken breasts into small pieces, and add to the boiling cauldron o' soup. Reduce heat and simmer for seven minutes. Top with crushed tortilla chips and shredded cheese to taste. Enjoy!