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!

Our hyper fetus!

So, we had appointment #2 at Kaiser this morning—just a general checkup with a nurse practitioner. But we got to hear the heartbeat, which was VERY cool! Apparently a heartbeat of 120 beats per minute to 160 beats per minute is considered normal, and our little Pigwidgeon was at 157 beats per minute. I, of course, started crying the minute I heard it (I cry at everything these days), and Chris looked a little choked up, too. Just such a neat experience to hear our little one in there, heart pounding away!

I'm wondering: Does this fast heartbeat and the fact that Pigwidgeon was waving his little limbs around during the first ultrasound mean that he'll be a hyper little thing?? Hmmm, maybe so...if he takes after his mama, it's a distinct possibility. (Or if he takes after his big sister, Luna. Be afraid—be very afraid!)

My next ultrasound is scheduled for November 27th. That's when we'll find out if we were right about our gut feeling that Pigwidgeon is a boy, or whether we'll have to switch over and start using "she" and "her" as our pronouns. We've both had dreams in which he was a boy, but this ridiculously unscientific Chinese calendar gender predictor that I found on the web says it's a girl. Who knows? I just hope Pigwidgeon cooperates on 11/27 so we will know with reasonable certainty what to call the little one!

And, last but not least, bring on the maternity clothes! Buttoning pants is just no fun anymore, so I've surrendered to maternity pants. Pic is below....

Bring on the comfort food!

Okay, why not another food post?? I made a blog-worthy meal this evening: Chicken and dumplings! It's my aunt's recipe, and I have to say that it's my all-time favorite chicken and dumplings recipe. The dumplings are moist and chewy, instead of dry and floury, as many dumplings are. And it's easy--major bonus! Here's a pic, for your viewing pleasure:

And, I also have to mention that tomorrow is Pigwidgeon's 12-week fetal birthday! Which is notable because it means he is about to enter the second trimester--a safe and happy time for a little fetus! Miscarriages can still happen after the first trimester ends, but they're far less common. So yay for Pigwidgeon for making it to another major milestone! (In case anyone is interested, he is apparently the size of a large plum now. Maybe we should call him "Plumwidgeon" instead!)

Pigwidgeon hits the big city!

I'm finally getting past a lot of that first-trimester exhaustion, so we decided to take advantage of my newfound (semi-)energy and take a day trip to San Francisco. Our original goal was to go to Alcatraz (Chris has never been), but tickets were sold out. Then we thought to go to the zoo, but we didn't get to SF in time to make it worth our while. So, instead we spent the day wandering around Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, and Ghiradelli Square and enjoying the gorgeous weather.

I think to the unknowing observer, I just look a little thick around the middle, but I think to those who actually know of Pigwidgeon, you can sort of tell I'm slightly pregnant in this picture!

Anyway, as you can see, it was a gorgeous day for a city trip!



And now, today, we're playing catch-up on work and house stuff...big fun! Though we did take some time out to torture the girls for possible Christmas-card pix. I'll give you a preview of the pug's displeasure!

A culinary achievement!

Okay, this post is primarily for Lisa and Chris (Duval, not my hubby!), creators of the World's Greatest Food blog. So Lisa and I have been best friends for 28 years, and for all those years, she has been raving about manti, a traditional Armenian dish of little beef dumplings served in chicken broth to make an excellent soup. Yet never have I tried this dish. FINALLY, Lisa and Chris posted the recipe on their blog, so I gave it a whirl. (If you want to try the same recipe, click here.) Oh my gosh, I was NOT disappointed! What a fantastic meal...and so easy! Chris (my hubby this time) and I agreed that it was one of my best dinners thus far. The dish is simple and yet extremely tasty! YUM!

Anyway, Lisa requested pictures and commentary of the manti-making process, so here goes. Made the dumplings, which were surprisingly easy, although they took a while to assemble. The worst part was squishing the raw hamburger with my fingers. Anyone who knows me well knows my aversion to raw meat! Here's how my beautiful dumplings looked before baking:

Then I baked the dumplings, and while doing so, heated up the chicken broth and made the garlic-yogurt sauce. Here are the baked dumplings:

And, last but not least, the final product! If my hair were less stringy and gross today, I would've set the camera's timer to take a picture of Chris and I at the kitchen table, looking happy and content after our manti feast! But alas, a shower is in order for me tonight, so no pix of me will be posted today!

Apple Hill...and a wee baby bump!

Okay, I've received a complaint that our boring blog has nothing new on it, so here's a new post! I don't really have any baby news (other than the fact that our little Pigwidgeon is apparently the size of a prune and has only 9 days left until he officially reaches the second trimester), but we did have a fun outing to Apple Hill today.

So despite the fact that pregnant me isn't as fond of chocolate as non-pregnant me, I have regained my sweet tooth. And today, my sweet tooth wanted excellent pie, so we ventured to Apple Hill despite the rainy weather.

And oh, it was worth it! Chris had plain apple pie, and I had sour cream blackberry apple pie...heavenly! With a bit of vanilla ice cream on the side...to die for! I paid the price for the richness with an upset stomach later in the day, but it was worth every bit of discomfort! We bought a bunch of produce too—can't beat the homegrown apples there.

And last but not least, for anyone who is wondering how chubby I've gotten, here's a pic of my 11-week baby bump (ignore the doofy look on my face, please—not the most flattering picture I've ever taken). Yeah, yeah...most women don't show this early in their first pregnancy. But I had leftover belly fat from my heavier days, so my working theory is that my tummy was able to easily expand. Lovely thought, isn't it? Better than the alternative, which is that the pie is all catching up to me! :-) And yes, those are drawstring pants. Jeans are just NOT comfortable anymore...I'm all about elastic and drawstring now! Feel the fashion statement!

Pigwidgeon's first picture!

Okay, now that our family is expanding beyond Chris, me, and two dogs, I figured it's time to start a blog. And what better way to start it than with our little Pigwidgeon's first picture?? Too bad we don't have video of this—you all could've seen our hyper little fetus dancing a jig in there, as he was doing during the ultrasound! (No, I don't know whether it's a boy, but that's my gut feeling, so I think I shall call Pigwidgeon "he" until we get a definite answer on the gender! That whole "he/she" thing gets too clunky.)

Stay tuned for more exciting updates...and rest assured, I won't bore you with posts about morning sickness, indigestion, swollen hands and feet, or the like. Only interesting baby updates...or furry friend updates, since this blog is about ALL our kids, furry and non-furry. And okay, maybe the occasional update about Chris and I, too, if we do anything more interesting than work or troll used book sales.

As long as we're including furry friends, I'll add this picture of the girls keeping me company as I rest on the couch. Luna has taken it upon herself to keep Pigwidgeon warm by sleeping on my tummy whenever she can wiggle her way up there, and Bitsy stays nearby for more support. What great big sisters!!