and then there were four…

Easter morning, Olivia was excitedly pulling out the contents of her Easter ‘tote’ (more practical until she is older), and somehow as she was doing so, she either saw a monkey or one of us called her a monkey (I can’t remember which). Suddenly she started making monkey noises and scratching her underarms and chest. I can’t even remember the last time Bill or I ‘acted’ like a monkey, so it was hilarious to see her do it. She’s learning things so quickly, and sometimes we don’t even know where they come from!

One example of that happened later that day. We were at Bill’s grandparent’s house hanging out, waiting for dinner to be ready. We had told Olivia all day long that there would be ham for dinner (she LOVES ham) which made her a very happy girl. She was sitting on the floor “dugloring” (coloring) and she picked up one of her books and started ‘reading’. This particular book happened to be her book filled with pigs. She would turn the pages, point at the pigs and one by one say “Ham…Ham…Ham…” We almost all fell out of our chairs laughing. Where in the world did she pick that up? Was it a hilarious coincidence? Maybe she was so excited about the ham, it was all she wanted to talk about, or maybe somewhere we had mentioned ‘pig is ham’ and she suddenly remembered? We have no clue, but it made for a hilarious story.

She also loves to pick up the telephone and dial it, saying “MeMe, MeMe” (which is what she calls my mom now), and if I happen to call my mom so she can talk to her, Olivia clams up and wants nothing to do with the phone. But, if there is no one on the other end of the phone, she will happily chatter on. She also says “MeMe” if the phone rings. Guess we know who calls my house the most–haha.

I’m amazed daily at all of the things she says and does. This morning she was watching “Buu” (Blue’s Clues) and after the episode was over she said “Maaooree” (which is how she started saying ‘more’) and I asked her what she wanted more of, and she said “BUU!”

When you ask her a question (most commonly: “Where is Daddy’s remote?) she says “I dan knoooowww” and shrugs her shoulders, puts her hands up in the air as if she doesn’t know what I am talking about. We can’t help but to laugh every time.

I’m enjoying every moment of this, it’s amazing to see her learn.

Yes, it is my last day being 26 years old. Tomorrow I will be 27 and that much closer to 30. Does it bother me? Not really. I don’t feel old, and despite the youth-centric world we live in, I’m very happy with getting older, because I learn new things all the time, and feel that if I don’t grow older, how can I possibly grow wiser?

I was always told that your ‘birthdate’ birthday (ie: the 26th for me) was your ‘golden’ birthday and was supposed to be the best one ever. I call bullshit: I was in bed sick with a bad cold on my 26th birthday. This year, my birthday is smack dab in between two events that are MUCH bigger than my 27th. Easter was last weekend and this coming weekend is one of my closest friend’s wedding (of which Olivia and I are a part of). The whole weekend is chock full of wedding activities, and I was so focused and excited about that, I had practically forgotten my birthday. Well, not really (remember how much I love birthdays?), but has been on the back burner because of all the planning and excitement involved with both Easter and the wedding. I want to go out and have sushi on my birthday, and even though it is for the wedding, we will be going out of town for the weekend, so, technically, we are going on a weekend-getaway to a vacation ‘hot-spot’, but we won’t be there for site-seeing. My friend lives there, and we’ve been there a bunch of times in the past and will go back sooner than later so I’m not disappointed in the least. Plus, there will be room service available, which rocks. Bill and I have an intense love of room service and usually base part of our trip enjoyment on room service experience (lame, but true).

I am finding out that as an adult, you don’t always get the fanfare you did as a child when it comes to your birthday (after 21, there is nothing new to getting older, right?). Not that I am complaining. It is completely understandable and expected. I am, after all, an adult (truthfully, I don’t always feel like one). Which is why I want to make sure Olivia and my ‘baby in the belly’ (and any future children) always feel that their birthdays are very special. Because, despite the fact that there are a hundred and one things going on on either side of my birthday, I can count on my mom to call me and wish me a happy birthday, which makes my day regardless of what else is going on.

I can also count on Bill to make my day special: he already has! He gave me the coolest early birthday present: a telephoto lens for my camera! He also gave me a couple of lens hoods, a new bag and an instructional DVD specifically for my camera. I love them, but am nervous about having such high-tech stuff in my possession. When it comes to high-end ‘toys’, I always worry that I will pull a klutz move and fuck them up some way. I took Olivia out for a walk today and played around with it. I could become a stalker or paparazzi (some would argue they are the same thing) with the telescopic quality of the lens! I’m very excited about going back to the zoo and taking pictures of the animals close-up. I’ll be sure to post some when I do.

I’ll be sure to let you know how the wedding went. I’m so excited and a bit nervous: Olivia is the flower girl and I don’t know how well an almost 18-month old will handle the task. I just don’t want anything to go wrong on my friend’s big day (weddings are supposed to be magical and as close to perfect as possible, ya know?)

Bill loves mushrooms. A lot. I am a big fan myself, but he can out-mushroom me. Anyway, he sends me an email from work letting me know he had found this AMAZING looking recipe and said “This looks good as shit”. Of course, I had to try it.

And let me tell you, it was soooo good. It is definitely on rotation in our house. Bill found the recipe while reading Smitten Kitchen; an absolutely gorgeous food blog that I am now going to blogroll and send to my google reader account. Please try this Chicken and Mushroom Marsala. So freaking delicious. And you know what? Mine actually looked like the picture in the post! I was so happy it came out right the first time. The only difference for me was that I used skinless chicken breasts. It was still fantastic and I don’t think I’ll even worry about making it using breasts with the skin still on. If the idea of gorgeous pictures and wonderful food writing doesn’t appeal to you, or you want a printer-friendly version (as I did) you can find the recipe here at epicurious.com (another great recipe resource).

Don’t worry, the alcohol in the wine is cooked out, so yes, even us pregnant/breastfeeding women (or alcoholics alike) can eat this one ;o)

I served mine with rice and candied carrots. However, I will not be sharing the candied carrots recipe because it was awful. AWFUL. It contained both orange juice and zest and was just way overpowering. I’m going to play around with the recipe, eliminate those variables, and try again. When I perfect my own personalized candied carrot recipe, I promise, I’ll post it :o)

Enjoy and let me know how you liked it!

I have been lamenting lately how tired I am, how exhausted, etc. etc. Personally it was starting to get a little annoying. Yes, I annoyed myself. I knew that I needed something to keep myself occupied while Olivia napped, to prevent myself from napping all day. I realized that I needed to get organized.

I make lists. LOTS of lists. It is something I’ve always done, made lists of things I want to do, want to buy, plans of action, etc. So, on Sunday night, while my computer was being fixed (one of my hard drives crashed), I sat on the couch and made two new lists along the same vein. Both were “Things to be done before the new baby arrives” but one involved home organization and the other was computer organization. Since I already have one baby, I don’t have too much in the way of baby-proofing, and I don’t have to buy TOO much, so I guess this is my way of nesting.

The computer list included lots of media projects I’ve been putting off: transferring the home movies (currently we have a mini-dv camcorder), onto DVD, digitizing all of my photo negatives, scanning any old photos that are negative-free, creating a mail merge (to making the sending of birth announcements/cards, etc. much easier!), creating a recipe database (something I’ve always wanted to do), backing up this blog’s posts, re-inputting all of my old writing (since I lost it all after the infamous hard drive crash of ’03). Revamping our photo gallery is another big one I really want to do. You get the idea.

The best part is? I’ve gotten my ass into gear and have actually started my negative scanning project. Woohoo! I really thought I wanted a dedicated negative scanner (which are SO expensive), but I have a Canon 8400F (bought a few years ago for this purpose) and I finally realized (after reading the above-linked PC Mag article) that spending the extra money on a dedicated negative scanner, while would be amazing to have, may not be necessary, since, let’s face it: these photos are not professional quality. I’m using Photoshop to make them as crisp, clear and clean as possible. I have almost 10 years worth of negatives (almost 900 separate negatives), so it may take awhile, but the negatives can scan throughout the day, and I can process them when I have a moment.

It feels good to have something to do. “But, wait a minute Natalie, you take care of your daughter, isn’t that something?”  By all means yes, it is the hardest, most important and rewarding job I have EVER (or will ever) have, and I am so very blessed I can stay at home with Olivia. But, it is a 24/7 gig. There is no downtime, and I can’t just “leave my work behind” at the end of the day. I think having an outside-of-your-baby project is important for your psyche. Seriously. I sometimes feel like taking care of Olivia is something that is “not a big deal” because OF COURSE it is my job to parent my child. I feel like I shouldn’t be given any special status for doing so, nor do I feel like I am doing anything out of the ordinary. I know that it is a very important job and not every woman (or man) is cut out to be a parent, much less a stay-at-home parent. But, at the same time, having something outside of that does feel good. Plus, it is fun to look through old photos. ;o)

I’m also looking forward to the home organization projects, but that’s really something I will have to do on the weekends, when Bill is around to help, since lifting, moving, hanging, reaching, etc. are sometimes a bit tricky for me at this stage in baby growing.

I am now 21 weeks, 5 days pregnant. I can’t believe that my due date is less than 130 days away. Possibly earlier, considering Olivia’s early birth. Last week we went in for the “BIG” ultrasound, and only waited 1 hour this time! Considering we had Olivia to contend with while waiting it was a blessing. Luckily Bill was with me, because there was no way I could have kept her occupied the entire time. He had the energy to take her walking up and down the corridor and pointing out all the pictures on the wall. He’s such a good daddy!

We went in and saw our normal, beautiful, healthy baby developing right on track. The doctor told us that everything looked perfect and he saw nothing to indicate there would be any problems, nor did he need to see us again (unless our regular doctor decided he wanted us to have another visit). He asked us if we wanted to know the sex, and we declined. I’m not sure if he would have been able to tell us anyway, since once again (like his/her big sister), the baby was wiggling around a LOT and had his/her little feet crossed at the ankles. We actually saw the two little feet and toes. It was amazing. It is really sinking in that we are having another baby.

When you’re pregnant the first time, you are so focused on the pregnancy and all that goes along with it, because it is all so new. Now, I am so busy with Olivia I don’t have as much time to worry about my expanding waistline (which, is not expanding as much as before, it seems!). Again, this is not to say this baby (or pregnancy) isn’t just as important or I’m not just as excited, BUT, you can’t sit around and dwell on the things going on with your body quite as much as you (or I) did the first pregnancy. However, because I kind of know what to expect, I am finding myself enjoying everything a bit more. I’m not worried about a lot of the things I worried about while pregnant with Olivia. Sure, I have this whole other list of things that make me nervous (namely: having two babies under two), but overall, I am just enjoying myself.

The day after our “big” ultrasound, we went to my regular doctor for a routine check-up and found out the AFP bloodtest was normal, which made us VERY happy. As far as modern medicine can tell us, we have a completely normal, healthy baby. Well…normal is relative, considering the family this child is being born into, but you get the idea. The doctor said I wasn’t gaining too much weight, and so far as I can tell, I’m “normal” in the weight gain department, my belly pokes out more this time, but it’s because the uterus knows what’s going on.

I’m still craving meat and cheese. I could eat hot dogs and hamburgers all the time (but I try to limit it to maybe once a week for one or the other). I love drinking milk with Nesquick mixed in (ie: chocolate milk, but only that kind!), BIG dill pickles (Mt. Olive only!), salty stuff (Salt & Vinegar chips, oddly enough). I eat ice cream, but I’m leaning more towards vanilla-based flavors, instead of the chocolate ones I craved with Olivia. OH: Peanut Butter M&Ms are also on my list of cravings.

I’m so freaking healthy. However, just because I crave these items does not mean I eat them all the time. I swear! I’m trying to be more aware of what I’m eating. The only problem with that is that some days I am not as hungry as others. I’m trying to “eat when hungry” and (for example) yesterday, I didn’t eat until 1p.m. (a salad) and then while cooking dinner at 5, I was starving so I munched on Triscuits and cheese. I hate letting it get to that point, but because I had no ‘hunger cues’, I wasn’t thinking of eating (Olivia was keeping me occupied also!). Other days I graze all day long. I’m not sure which is worse.

I mentioned in an earlier post how I had been feeling the baby move around. Not soon after that, this baby started kicking. Fiercely. I started feeling the kicks much earlier than I remember feeling Olivia kick. This kid is teeny tiny right now (not even a pound yet, I don’t think) and is packing quite the wallop (Yes, I know it will only get more intense!). It is amazing though. If I am sitting a certain way, this baby will let me know “Mama, you need to move, I am cramped” or “hey, remember me in here?”. Very active. Bill felt him/her last night, which was cool, since it seems to be earlier than when we felt Olivia. It has been something he has been waiting for since we first found out we were pregnant. Very cute. He tried laying his head on my tummy to get kicked in the face, but nothing yet. It will happen! Olivia understands a bit more about the “baby in the belly” she is always exposing my belly and pointing, saying “baby”. I assume she is trying to see the baby or something. She also gives my belly kisses or hugs when we ask her if she wants to give the baby kisses or hugs. So sweet. Makes your heart melt.

The pregnancy dreams are pretty intense too. Last night I dreamed we had a baby boy, with blue eyes (like his daddy) and later developed blonde hair. The weirdest thing was the baby had dark skin and all of my older relatives were accusing me of cheating, even though the baby looked like Bill. I was so mad in the dream. I was still kind of pissed when I woke up, actually.

I’ll stop promising to update more, but I swear it isn’t personal! I love to update the blog, I have just been so drained. I’ll do the best I can, that I promise!