Summer Fun

CSA Week 6

Instead of picking up my CSA veggies after work I ran to the store for pregnancy tests!! I couldn't help myself. (It was negative).

Anyway! After the gym tonight I drove over to the pick-up location and since it's now dark I'll have to take photos in the morning. Don't fret though, this week's veggies will look quite familiar.

In this week's CSA bag I found: (EDIT: I added the photo!)

Lettuce, MORE Roma Beans, FIVE humongous cucumbers (nooo!), one teeny adorable yellow squash, SNOW PEAS (ugh), beets (I'm excited about these!), scallions, and two zucchini!

I'm going to have to either get creative or become generous in sharing my bounty. Anyone want some yummy snow peas or cucumber--or roma beans, for that matter? They are yours!!

How I used last week's produce:
Cabbage: cabbage, tomato, and avocado salad
Snow peas: orange beef
Lettuce: salads with fixin's
Cucumbers: creamy cucumber salad
Hot peppers:chicken with peaches and chile cheese bread

I didn't get around to using the Turnips (even though I have a delicious mashed turnip recipe I've been wanting to try), green onions, patty pan squash (it's still hanging on after two weeks!), or butter beans. I've fallen behind!

This pancake recipe is beside the point and requires no csa veggies, but mmmm I haven't had pancakes like these in a long time--and I've never made them from scratch--they are perfect!

Let's keep them forever and ever

After admitting that I've saved the entire series of positive pregnancy tests from my first pregnancy, you confirmed that I am not insane. And then I read this, which confirmed that not only are we not crazy, but we are in fact within the norm.

Based on the poll, it looks like moms are split on this topic, but would you use a keepsake case for your positive pregnancy tests?

McFatty Monday Week 24

Either I ate too much this week, or I'm pregnant and bloated!

Whatever the reason I didn't feel like weighing-in this morning, but then decided to at the last minute (before I ate breakfast). No losses, no gains. Ok by me!

I'm currently finishing up the last of my personal training sessions. We had initially planned to train two to three times per week. In the end, most weeks we got together twice and some weeks only once. Still, I've made huge gains in strength and muscle tone over the past few months. I'm more confidant and better prepared to carry another baby which was my ultimate goal in joining McFatty Monday. Amy has been a great investment.

We took some baseline fitness measurements when we started, and I'm looking forward to seeing how much I've improved when we re-measure at the end of the week. I will definitely share the results.

While I love the simplicity of showing up to the gym and just following orders, I cannot afford to hire a personal trainer year 'round. I wish I could. This time next week I'll be back to making up my own routines. In some ways I'm excited to be completely in control of my workouts again--I miss kickboxing four days a week. But I'm also feeling challenged to make a routine that maintains and hopefully builds on the structure of the workouts that I've been doing with Amy.

Strength training has always been integral to my workouts. After Roscoe was born, I focused most of my energy on cardio, which resulted in weight loss but also muscle loss, and for a while there I felt like a squishy marshmallow. I learned my lesson and will strive for a more balanced effort next time.

With babies in mind, I've also been giving some thought to how I might best adapt McFatty Monday's to be more baby-friendly.

What do you think would be fun to read? A pregnancy quiz update with belly photos? Posts about my pregnancy diet and exercise routines? General musings about body image, pregnancy fashion (having some is a major goal for me next time), and other things related?

All of the above?

The two week wait

And so it begins!!

I ended up getting positive readings with the OPK on Tuesday & Wednesday, so at this point I think we've officially cleared O-day. Now we just wait.

I have a massage scheduled for Saturday (i'm finally cashing in my mother's day gift!), and the last of the Bradley babies celebrates his first birthday on Sunday so we'll have a fun-packed weekend to help keep my mind off of the waiting game. I'm armed and ready with lots of Early Response tests, which read as soon as 6 days before your period is due--that's June 30th for me. I love to take pregnancy tests, so you know I'll be testing early!

This is a picture of my first positive test with Roscoe, 10 dpo:

Basically, it was so so faint that I could barely make it out, and everyone else was quite skeptical. Anticlimactic! But a line is a line, and the next morning it was a tad darker. Here is a picture of the tests that followed....and there were actually MORE than this (many more, thanks to the dollar store), but these show the progression:

I still have all my tests. Maybe that's weird.

Did you keep your positive pregnancy tests?

CSA Week 5

In this week's CSA bag I found:

OK. I'm getting a little bored with the snow peas, and cucumber--although I do have a yummy looking, if not calorie laden, cuke recipe courtesy of Ina Garten that I'm dying to try this week. Fortunately, Farmer John said this week will be the last for snow peas, and that the tomatoes, corn, and eggplant (yippee!!) are coming right along and should be ready for harvest soon. I'm also excited about using up those peppers. Cheesy jalapeno bread anyone?

I was very happy with my recipe choices last week--in particular, the yellow squash muffins, apple and orange salad, and broccoli really stood out. I'm really enjoying building up my library of salad dressings too!

Last week's recipes:

Yellow squash: Gorgeous squash muffins. These were really pretty and really yummy--even though I substituted yellow squash for butternut. I also made a cinnamon honey butter to go with them and it was a great combination!

Lettuce: garden salads with tomato, grated carrot, and avocado. Also this Mexican salad with creamy avocado dressing (SO GOOD--I added chicken to mine), and this really unique salad with honey garlic dressing (I added salt and cinnamon to my dressing and it was perfect for the summer)

Snow peas: sesame snow peas--Roscoe loved these, no surprise there!

Basil: homemade pesto pasta salad with cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzerella

Cabbage: indian style cabbage--I added shredded (unsweetened) coconut and it was a hit!

Cucumbers: sweet chili marinated cucumber salad

Broccoli: sweet baked broccoli--I think I could eat this for dessert!

The Roma Beans, and Patty Pan squash are still hanging around. I tried my best to use everything up this week, but those two remain. I'll be cooking them up in the upcoming week.

Have you experimented in the kitchen lately?

I spoke too soon

OPK briefing

There's nothing quite like trying to create human life to initiate irrational fear about the functionality and competence of a body that seems to work just fine every other month!

Am I the only one who transforms into a Nervous Nelly once I begin with hopeful excitement to rely on (and wait, wait, WAIT for) my body to do the thing it is supposed to do so that I can make the baby that I want?

Before Roscoe, I swore that I would not become an anxiety ridden pregnant lady compelled to finish off an otherwise perfectly benign pregnancy statement with dark and gloomy thoughts or feelings--and, actually, I didn't really believe that such things had a place in pregnancy. Killjoy.

I began to eat my own words (in a big way) within the first 24 hours after I found out I was pregnant. Looking back, I think I spent the entire nine months that followed trying to talk myself down from a dizzying number of high places, which was neither pleasant nor a good use of my energy. I'm sure there will be more posts on this subject if I'm lucky enough to get pregnant again because I hope not to repeat this experience.

So here are I am, five days into OPK testing and NO smiley faces so far. Boo!!! double boo.

At this point, (based on totally unscientific, but educated calculations), my best guess is that my cycle will be 27 days this month which would mean that I should get a happy face either tomorrow or the next day.

McFatty Monday Week 24

Last week was a good one, or so I thought. I'm not thrilled with what the scale said this morning but I really won't know the bottom line of my weight loss (or gain!) until tomorrow morning--a lot can happen in 24 hours, right? Today I will drink only water and eat only iceberg lettuce. Not really though.

I trained once last week, ran once, walked once, and boxed once. It wasn't as cardio-heavy a week as usual and I know that makes a huge difference. And let me not forget that yesterday was Father's Day complete with a barbecue fit for our Kings, which just might have something to do with it too!

Roscoe enjoys food as much as I do, and unknowingly offers a delightful show when in the midst of an eating frenzy. Yesterday he plucked some grapes right off the vine and crushed them in his mouth while I watched quietly to see if a choking fit would ensue. It did not. Maybe he has graduated from sliced grapes.

After two weeks of great progress, I eased up on the details and slacked off. As Blair said, it's the small things that count. The baby steps that, when added up, get you to where you want to be. Whether it's eating like a big kid or dropping those last pesky pounds.

There are only a couple weeks left in June, and I hope I can meet my goals in time!!

Edit: I'm up 1.4. bummer.

Happy Father's Day

My heart is content to know that Roscoe has Andy for his Poppa.

Now and Forever.

Bradley fun

Jonathan turned one today and so we got to hang out with our Bradley friends for the afternoon! I love when we are together. The babies change so much between visits and their dynamic is hugely entertaining. Roscoe always plays the role of instigator: chewing, pinching, and pulling on anyone within reach. Do you think he'll outgrow this soon? Of course, I'm always appreciative and thankful for time with all my momma's too.

Happy Birthday baby J!

Just another day

Standing on our own two feet

Roscoe took his first steps today!

I had just come down from the loft after an intense day of work, and I was looking forward to dinner prep and our daily walk to the mailbox. Roscoe was standing so confidently that I thought I might convince him to walk on over if I offered up a snuggle. He took two unassisted steps and fell into my arms. I'm not sure who of the two of us was more proud.

Has enough time passed already that my baby has become a toddler?

Roscoe leaves a trail of destruction wherever he goes. He gets into absolutely everything he comes in contact with: toilets, drawers, cupboards, book shelves, blinds, stairs--he'll crawl halfway up a flight if you turn your back for one moment. We can barely keep up with him as it is!

Almost overnight his features are more boyish than baby. He certainly plays and sounds like a little boy now. It's wild to think of Roscoe as a full-fledged, and upright, member of society.

It's great how everything falls into place, eventually. I've often wondered over the past year about when life would return to "normal". It took a lot longer than I thought it might, but it feels like we've finally arrived.

After speculating about when to get pregnant again our timing suddenly seems just right. It's like Roscoe's first steps mark the end of his babyhood, just in time for me to begin working on another.

I like how our life feels right now. How are days are structured. The joy that we find around every corner. The house is a complete wreck, and we certainly cannot keep up with all the demands and commitments that tug relentlessly, but we're happy in this place.

I'm feeling lucky

Have you ever used an ovulation predictor kit?

We used one the month we got pregnant with Roscoe and I swear by them. I love the digital Clearblue easy tests because 24 - 36 hours before you ovulate you see this little cutie:

A smiley face! It's a perfect depiction.

I also highly recommend the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility. Some people swear by fertility charting. I tried it for a month but decided that it's not my style. I prefer a combination of basic cycle tracking, OPKs, and (super easy!) monitoring of cervical changes.

Since my cycles returned in February, they've been as short as 26 days and as long as 34 days. I had my thyroid removed in 2008 and the medication that I take every morning replaces the hormone Thyroxine, which is normally produced by the thyroid. The dosing system is imperfect though, and sometimes my TSH levels are off--like they have been the last few months--which usually affects my cycles by making them longer. Not what I want right now!!

Hopefully, everything will go smoothly this month. Tomorrow I get to begin using the OPK! Each pack has seven tests so I hope I'm not starting too early.

CSA #4

In this week's CSA bag I found:

I am so excited to have a huge bunch of fresh basil, and I've never eaten roma beans, or cooked whatever that little disc shaped summer squash is called!

Last Week's Recipes:

Scallions: sesame noodles with cilantro

Turnips: oven braised turnips ( I cooked this out of Vegetable Love--it wasn't very good. I hope I get turnips another week so I can give them a second chance)

Chinese cabbage: asian salad

Snow Peas: pad thai with peanut vinaigrette

Cucumber: bagels with cream cheese, lox, and cucumber

Arugula/endive mix and red leaf lettuce: lots o' salads!

Squash: buttered squash

Last week I ate the summer squash and the cucumber as they were, but this week I hope to incorporate them into a dish of some kind. Maybe squash muffins and a cucumber soup??

McFatty Monday Week 23

I had another successful week!

I swear, it must be all the yummy food I've been making with my CSA veggies! For one thing, vegetables make great fillers to bulk up portion sizes. For another thing, I'm back to cooking on a daily basis, which feels so so good, and also makes our meals a lot more satisfying.

Even though I enjoyed cupcakes, a mexican brunch, and a special date at Hook (mmmm, my favorite), I still lost weight!

I am thisclose to reaching my weight loss goal! Good thing too, since I'll know by the end of the month if we've had success in the baby-making department.

Yep, a few weeks left, and a few pounds to go. I think I can do it!!

Also, I reached a fitness goal that I've been working on: I can do 36 pushups in less than a minute. Real pushups, on my toes, with a few seconds to spare :) Yay!

Anyone else working toward weight loss or fitness goals? How was your week?

Cupcakes and birthdays

Yesterday was Andy's birthday. He turned 28, which is scarily close to 30. We've both been pretty apathetic towards birthdays of late. However, I couldn't let the day pass without a well-deserved birthday treat. As a surprise, I ordered cupcakes from Crumb in New York. Once, while visiting the Big Apple, we ventured out in search of a crumb cupcake only to find that the shop was closed. I've been left wondering ever since what these highly lauded cupcakes are all about.

They arrived packaged in dry ice and were perfectly defrosted by the time 7:30 rolled around. We were hovering, anxious to pig out on fun flavors like caramel apple, oreo, peanut butter cup, s'more, and cookie dough. In truth, they were impressively sized, decadent, fancy, and mildly disappointing.

My vote remains with Georgetown Cupcake. The two cupcakeries should have a throw-down.

Who knows if cupcakes in-store are better than those specially delivered, but despite their shortcomings, I'll admit that it was exciting to have those giant crumb cupcakes dropped on my doorstep. I'd highly recommend it, if only for delight and pleasure. Anyway, you really can't go wrong with cupcakes, even if they were a little dry.

And on another sweet note, a certain special baby will forever share a birthday with the love of my life. Darling Eleanora, welcome to the world!

I have a new button!!

Please grab it and share it!

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Baby, meet Dentist

We went as a family, which made a usually unpleasant experience (in my opinion) slightly exciting, and definitely a lot more fun. For a long list of reasons I hadn't been to the dentist since before I got pregnant with Roscoe. With a potential pregnancy in the making, I want to be sure that I'm on top of my health and up to date with all my yearly check-ups--so the dentist was the first of many appointments scheduled throughout this month.

Roscoe has only four teeth, but he's over a year old so we thought it was a good time to introduce him to the twice yearly joys of professional dental care. Roscoe has his own toothbrush, and is a great mimic. Twice a day he brushes/chews on his mini toothbrush (with a little worm on it!) as we provide brushing instruction and demonstration.

He nurses throughout the night though, too, and so I wasn't surprised when the dentist suggested that I wipe his teeth with gauze after each feeding to prevent tooth decay--I think weaning him from the night nursing sounds more appealing than undertaking yet another midnight to-do.

While I had my teeth cleaned, a hygienist in the next room over brushed Roscoe's teeth and gave him a sticker.

I feel good to have overcome my anxiety about the dentist in order to model good preventive health for Roscoe. I love Roscoe's little bunny teeth, and I can't wait for the rest of his pearly whites to pop through!

CSA #3

In this week's CSA bag I found:

TURNIPS?! Those will be a fun challenge!

Last week's recipes:
Snow peas: Stir fried snow peas with soba
Scallion: added to stir fry
Broccoli: Sauteed Broccoli
Siberian kale: Green eggs and ham
Lettuce: salads
Garlic scapes: diced up and added to cream cheese (bagels and cream cheese) and butter (garlic bread)
Cucumber: cucumber salad
Arugula: pesto pasta--a fun twist on the original basil pesto

ARUGULA PESTO SAUCE
2 cups packed arugula washed well and spun dry
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted golden and cooled
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large garlic clove, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup hot water plus additional if desired

In a food processor pulse together all ingredients except oil and water until arugula is chopped fine. With motor running add oil in a stream, blending mixture until smooth. Sauce may be made up to this point 1 week ahead and chilled, its surface covered with plastic wrap. Bring sauce to room temperature to continue. Stir in 1/4 cup hot water plus additional for thinner consistency if desired.

And here's a video of Roscoe crunching CSA snow peas!

McFatty Monday Week 22!

If you know me in real life I never bare my arms. Not ever. Or my legs for that matter. My arms and legs stay covered and happy in three-quarter sleeves, long sleeves, and pants, unless I'm at the beach on vacation (the last of which was almost two years ago).

We have a pool in our community and until this afternoon I'd never so much as dipped my toe into it--silly, since we've lived here for almost four years! Now that Roscoe is old enough to enjoy the water and brave the sun, I decided that it was not only time to get a pool pass, but also time to bring out the beach wear.

Yesterday afternoon we gathered our water toys, snacks, and towels, and drove up to the community center right as the black clouds rolled in and big fat drops of rain began to fall. We played for about ten minutes and then the lifeguards closed the pool due to the weather.

I had a great week last week. I went for a really nice run, boxed twice, and trained with Amy twice. I even followed my diet. This photo shows off my new muscles--do you like them?

I did begin editing footage from my boxing time with Jennifer, but it's not complete. I will get it up as soon as I can.

I'm committed to another week of good food (in moderation) and fitness!

First casualty

Roscoe loves his Little Chubbies. Santa gave them to him as a gift on his first Christmas. Almost six months later he's perfectly content pushing even a block or stick around as he produces a convincing "brrrr", but a chubby is so cute, and small, and hooks together with its other little chubby friends.

Maybe it's possible that I love them even more than Roscoe does. Perhaps. Either way, it was a loss when I ran over a little blue chubby truck as we left for the store the other afternoon. Poor chubby.

CSA #2

Inside this week's bag I found:

red scallions, snow peas, arugula, siberian kale,

lettuce, broccoli, cucumber, and garlic scapes

Last week's recipes:

Tatsoi: Brown butter pasta with tatsoi.
Scallion: Whole wheat couscous with scallion and parmesan
Snow Peas: Snow peas with garlic butter
Bok Choy: Crunchy bok choy salad
Chinese cabbage: Stir fried chicken with chinese cabbage
Lettuces: lots and lots of yummy salads!
Cilantro: added to the chinese cabbage stir fry

We felt so healthy (and creative!) working all those veggies into our meals. This produce is so fresh and flavorful--way, way, better than anything I buy at the grocery store. Everything was delicious--I ate lettuce straight from the bag, it was so crisp and tender. Even Roscoe was smitten, chomping on raw snow peas, sucking dressing off lettuce leaves, and eating couscous by the fistful. It was a great week, and we're looking forward to all the recipes I've picked out for this bunch!

One year photos

I've come across a lot of posts lately about the important role that a professional photographer can have in documenting family life. I had no idea how cherished Mel's photos would become until she joined us for Roscoe's birth and I viewed our new family of three through her lens. They are the most meaningful photos that we own and I am still brought to tears when I view Roscoe's birth slide show.

Our photo shoots with Mel are wonderfully relaxed, and so much fun. We always feel more like we're spending the afternoon catching up with a good friend than fulfilling a contract. We love Mel, and we love her work. Over this last incredible year, she's become so very special to us and we're grateful to her for introducing us to her passion and for turning us on to what will surely be a lifetime of fantastic photography.

Last week we had a blast on the National Mall for Roscoe's one year photo shoot. To view the slide show click here (and be sure to turn your volume up!!).

Here are just a few of my favorites!

To read Mel's lovely post about the day, click here.

Have you ever hired a professional photographer? Who are your favorites?