In for 2009: Hot chocolate, Edy's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream, Grapefruit, Grapes, Kale Smoothies, Vegetable Chili, Yogurt, Egg Salad
Out: Raw Kale (tastes like grass), Iceberg Lettuce, Egg Rolls, non-Chipotle Mexican Food. Desperately wanting tuna salad (mercury) and trying to live with salmon salad (yucko)
Formerly In:Chipotle Burritos, Hot Chocolate, Granny Smith Apples, Oatmeal, Egg Salad, Bagels, Fruit, Dilly Beans, Strawberry Granola Bars, Coffee yogurt
Formerly Out: All non-Chipotle Mexican Food, Lettuce, Egg Rolls
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Such a little kid, so much stuff
This morning was sort of an unexpectedly tender moment. I finally took a bunch of tags off the mountain of clothes that our little one has received from family and friends and decided to wash them all (7th generation for sensitive skin) and put them away in his drawers. And it seemed like a simple idea when I started, but somewhere in there I realized I was washing my baby's clothing for the first time and it seemed this wonderful tangible act of caring for him. And it wasn't hard to realize that it was an action I will perform over and over again once he is actually here, eating, spitting up, and pooping all over the place. This first time they got washed on cold gentle cycle, but I suspect they will be up for heartier washing in the future.
I can't believe such a little peanut could acquire such a mountain of stuff. Right now he has a plastic upright of drawers (we're still waiting for the crib and dresser to be on sale or something) and he has pretty much filled them up with clothes already. He was quite a popular little recipient at Christmas this year. It seems as though we already have enough clothes to dress the little guy in a different outfit every day! And although I am trying desperately to be a practical mom who thinks of poopy-blowouts and ease of washing, I am a total sucker for the adorable little outfits people have found for him: monkeys, giraffes, elephants in blues, greens and yellows. Adorable. And so funny to think that I am busy cooking the little body that will someday fill those clothes.
And he also is starting to accumulate a nice bunch of entertainment. Aunt Mary got him a fun Fisher-Price rainforest crib soother so he can press the button and make the monkey swing while soothing classical music is overlaid with rainforest sounds. Wild technology. What did we have as kids? Wind up music boxes in our teddy bears? My sister Bridgette gave the baby a cool Fisher-Price exercise mat for Christmas because she won't be here for the Wisconsin shower: she is a reservist who is shipping out to active duty for 400 days beginning in January.
I can't believe such a little peanut could acquire such a mountain of stuff. Right now he has a plastic upright of drawers (we're still waiting for the crib and dresser to be on sale or something) and he has pretty much filled them up with clothes already. He was quite a popular little recipient at Christmas this year. It seems as though we already have enough clothes to dress the little guy in a different outfit every day! And although I am trying desperately to be a practical mom who thinks of poopy-blowouts and ease of washing, I am a total sucker for the adorable little outfits people have found for him: monkeys, giraffes, elephants in blues, greens and yellows. Adorable. And so funny to think that I am busy cooking the little body that will someday fill those clothes.
And he also is starting to accumulate a nice bunch of entertainment. Aunt Mary got him a fun Fisher-Price rainforest crib soother so he can press the button and make the monkey swing while soothing classical music is overlaid with rainforest sounds. Wild technology. What did we have as kids? Wind up music boxes in our teddy bears? My sister Bridgette gave the baby a cool Fisher-Price exercise mat for Christmas because she won't be here for the Wisconsin shower: she is a reservist who is shipping out to active duty for 400 days beginning in January.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Preggers at Christmas
After a mad-dash through the maddening labyrinth of Philadelphia airport, we arrived (panting) to discover that our connecting flight out to Chicago was delayed by more than an hour. So it gave us some time to grab a bite to eat and settle in for our own little long winter's nap.
It is always sad to leave the McDonnell's at the end of a visit. And this was a particularly nice visit. In addition to the lovely baby shower that Denyse threw for us, we enjoyed a big family "brupper" (brunch for supper) with the extended family on Saturday. Everyone wore their Christmas pajamas while we enjoyed quiche and Pat's masterful pancakes. After brupper, we played a Christmas exchange game that involved rolling dice and picking from a pile of small gifts in the center every time we rolled doubles. Much fun was had by all.
Friday night while sitting together on the couch, Terry's sister Bri became the first person other than the two of us to feel the baby kick. The next night at Brupper, after a nice dose of delicious maple syrup, he was pleased to oblige more of the family, so Denyse and Pat both got to feel their squirmy little grandson. Terry's cousin Jenny barely put her hand on my stomach and she got one of his stomach-shaking Pele-style kicks.
We also went out for a delicious steak dinner to celebrate the dual birthdays of Terry (31) and his brother-in-law Jesse (30). I lamented the need to have meat that was fully cooked instead of deliciously rare.
On Sunday, the day of Terry's actual birthday, we went out for Five Guy's Burgers, a Washington DC favorite of his that is spreading out its roots. I don't know whether it was those mouth-watering burgers or the cajun fries, but the munchkin started doing these crazy flipping acrobatics. He's usually a pretty active kid, but he was unusually squirmy and vigorous, rolling around and punching out with all four limbs at once. And he's kept up that level of activity ever since. Last night was the first night since I've been pregnant that his little antics have made it tough for me to sleep. Normally he's a pretty chill little guy at night. I'm hoping it will taper off sometime soon as he settles back in (perhaps recovers from the holiday sugar rush? Mommy was a little less than disciplined with the cookies). Otherwise this is going to be a long, sleepless, Tums(R) filled final three months.
It is always sad to leave the McDonnell's at the end of a visit. And this was a particularly nice visit. In addition to the lovely baby shower that Denyse threw for us, we enjoyed a big family "brupper" (brunch for supper) with the extended family on Saturday. Everyone wore their Christmas pajamas while we enjoyed quiche and Pat's masterful pancakes. After brupper, we played a Christmas exchange game that involved rolling dice and picking from a pile of small gifts in the center every time we rolled doubles. Much fun was had by all.
Friday night while sitting together on the couch, Terry's sister Bri became the first person other than the two of us to feel the baby kick. The next night at Brupper, after a nice dose of delicious maple syrup, he was pleased to oblige more of the family, so Denyse and Pat both got to feel their squirmy little grandson. Terry's cousin Jenny barely put her hand on my stomach and she got one of his stomach-shaking Pele-style kicks.
We also went out for a delicious steak dinner to celebrate the dual birthdays of Terry (31) and his brother-in-law Jesse (30). I lamented the need to have meat that was fully cooked instead of deliciously rare.
On Sunday, the day of Terry's actual birthday, we went out for Five Guy's Burgers, a Washington DC favorite of his that is spreading out its roots. I don't know whether it was those mouth-watering burgers or the cajun fries, but the munchkin started doing these crazy flipping acrobatics. He's usually a pretty active kid, but he was unusually squirmy and vigorous, rolling around and punching out with all four limbs at once. And he's kept up that level of activity ever since. Last night was the first night since I've been pregnant that his little antics have made it tough for me to sleep. Normally he's a pretty chill little guy at night. I'm hoping it will taper off sometime soon as he settles back in (perhaps recovers from the holiday sugar rush? Mommy was a little less than disciplined with the cookies). Otherwise this is going to be a long, sleepless, Tums(R) filled final three months.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Wilmington Baby Shower
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| Wilmington Baby Shower |
While we were in Wilmington, NC visiting Terry's parents for the holiday season, Denyse put together an awesome baby shower, complete with a sort of Asian meets baby pastels theme. We played a few fun shower games (including "guess Erin's circumference") tested our knowledge of nursery rhymes, and just enjoyed each other's company (all the while with kiddy favorite songs playing in the background). Everyone was so warm and so very generous. You can view the whole album by clicking on the link, but I'm attaching some of my favorites here for you to check out.
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| Me posing the ever-bigger belly with the beautiful table set up. |
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| Bright, beautiful and tasty (chocolate!) cake. |
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| Aunt Mary proves that she's got the best eye to size up my big belly. |
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| Everyone poses with the extra lengths of ribbon from the belly size guessing game. Everyone guessed long but Mary, who pretty much got it spot on. |
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| Me with my mother-in-law Denyse, who gave us a great little camping outfit and the baby's first ever pair of jeans. |
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| Me showing how Ghanaians wrap their babies and carry them on their backs, using a cute blue plush monkey. |
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| Lots of cute boy's clothes, including some that folks picked out thoughtfully with a camp theme in mind, knowing this baby is going to spend plenty of time at Camp Anokijig. |
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| Instead of cards, everyone was asked to contribute their favorite book for children. We got lots of amazing soft books and books with things to feel and play with. |
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| Yeah for clothes with Mommy on them. |
Monday, December 8, 2008
Mexico Babymoon
Terry and I got on a plane the day after the US elections and headed out to the sunny Mexican Riviera. On the plane I had my first doubts: we didn't really like the so-called "all inclusive" cruise we took for our honeymoon, so I was starting to get nervous that we wouldn't like the all inclusive hotel we'd booked for our babymoon. The fears melted away as soon as we walked into the gorgeous open-air lobby, with a giant thatched roof and an open central area with "jungle" through the center, populated by scarlet macaws, peacocks, several monkeys and something that looked like a chicken-sized guinea pig with longer legs.
The staff was amazingly friendly, the food was about as decent as you'd expect (but not more), but I thoroughly enjoyed waking up to the tropical morning and enjoying a little Mexican chocolate to start the morning off. After that, the day was ours to do as we pleased. We took a couple of special trips. One took us to this giant theme park thing called Xcaret. It was one part tropical animals, one part adventures (snooba, snorkling etc), and one part Mayan cultural extravaganza. Another day we took a day trip to Chichen Itza to tour the most famous Mayan ruin. Other days we just took it easy at the hotel, reading books by the pool, eating chocolate ice cream, sipping blended lemonade, or swimming in the super salty beautiful ocean.
On the beach in front of our hotel
In the lobby of our hotel, in front of the open air center section (with macaws and monkeys and whatnot!)
The hatchery at Xcaret, a sort of Mayan culture meets nature meets tropical zoo sort of theme park.
On a cool spiral building in Xcaret just after doing our underground river snorkling adventure.
In front of awesome lagoon right by the sea turtle hatchery in Xcaret.
The main temple at Chichen Itza. Named one of the new seven wonders of the world. Incredibly precise agricultural calendar where the movement of the sunlight across the temple accurately marks the solstices hundreds of years later.
In front of the awesome temple of the warriors and thousand columns.
Self portrait in front of the main temple.
The natural sinkhole (cenote) from which the entire compound derives its name: Chichen Itza.
On the way back from Chichen Itza our tour stopped off at a different natural freshwater cenote where you could swim.
The cenote looks all totally exotic lost world, eh?
Self photo above cenote, where you can see all the tiny swimming people.
The staff was amazingly friendly, the food was about as decent as you'd expect (but not more), but I thoroughly enjoyed waking up to the tropical morning and enjoying a little Mexican chocolate to start the morning off. After that, the day was ours to do as we pleased. We took a couple of special trips. One took us to this giant theme park thing called Xcaret. It was one part tropical animals, one part adventures (snooba, snorkling etc), and one part Mayan cultural extravaganza. Another day we took a day trip to Chichen Itza to tour the most famous Mayan ruin. Other days we just took it easy at the hotel, reading books by the pool, eating chocolate ice cream, sipping blended lemonade, or swimming in the super salty beautiful ocean.
On the beach in front of our hotelIn the lobby of our hotel, in front of the open air center section (with macaws and monkeys and whatnot!)The hatchery at Xcaret, a sort of Mayan culture meets nature meets tropical zoo sort of theme park.On a cool spiral building in Xcaret just after doing our underground river snorkling adventure.In front of awesome lagoon right by the sea turtle hatchery in Xcaret.The main temple at Chichen Itza. Named one of the new seven wonders of the world. Incredibly precise agricultural calendar where the movement of the sunlight across the temple accurately marks the solstices hundreds of years later.In front of the awesome temple of the warriors and thousand columns.Self portrait in front of the main temple.The natural sinkhole (cenote) from which the entire compound derives its name: Chichen Itza.On the way back from Chichen Itza our tour stopped off at a different natural freshwater cenote where you could swim.The cenote looks all totally exotic lost world, eh?Self photo above cenote, where you can see all the tiny swimming people.
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