Week 17: Turnip

The baby (and bump) is definitely getting bigger! I can feel the extra pull on my tummy now when I'm moving around and especially when trying to sit up to get out of bed. The number of pillows in our bed has already grown, much to Brian's chagrin. Between my extra pillows and the dogs there's not much room leftover :) In other news this week I am showing some definite signs of "pregnant brain." I'm trying not to feel too bad about the forgetfulness because it's documented in many places as being linked to hormones, etc during pregnancy... but it can be annoying. I did the grocery shopping this week during Ellie's nap Saturday. I checked the list four or five times before checking out but still managed to leave a couple items out of the cart. And unfortunately I didn't even remember what I forgot all at once so Brian had to make TWO follow up trips to the store. He might be handling the grocery shopping for the next few months. That might be safer anyway since I've been getting some weird food cravings recently ranging from a hot dog with melted cheese on top and a side of sauerkraut (last night's snack) to a Whitman's sampler box of chocolates (which I really want but haven't gotten yet). Here's the baby news this week.

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

Wedding pics

Maggie and Chris already got wedding photos back from their photographer, so I wanted to share some shots from the Aug. 20 event. Maggie was nice enough to let me hijack the photog for a minute to get a quick family photo. Ellie was sticking her tongue out in most of the shots... but it's still cute. And check out how skinny Brian is in his dapper new dress shirt (which he went shopping for with my mom on the afternoon of the wedding after realizing that the shirt he brought was a tent on him due to all his weight loss). These pictures were taken at Taltree Arboretum and Gardens in Valparaiso where the ceremony was held.

Here's a great shot of the cousins — Jay, Alora, Ellie and Mason.

The immediate Schneider family (from left... Dan, Jim, Maggie, Chris, my mom and Ben)
This was a cousin picture Ellie never would have complied with. The photographer had the kids pose with the cupcakes and pretend to take bites, but then they had to put them aside until after dinner! Maggie made it work by promising the kids they could have as many cupcakes as they wanted for dessert. I'm sure their parents were pleased :)
Here I am giving a toast to the happy couple. I look way more composed here than I actually was. Lots of tears from me, but I got some laughs from the room, too.
Awkward hug post-toast.
Here's daddy and Ellie playing with some Color Wonder finger paints. This is normal for a wedding reception, right?

"Camping"

Thought I'd start with the cute pictures we got from our backyard camping adventure on Saturday...
We decided to pitch a tent in the backyard, plan a menu centered around the fire pit and give Ellie a taste of camping out before attempting to go away somewhere for a weekend. Well, those camping plans may happen later rather than sooner after our escapade.

Around 5 p.m. Brian started to build up the fire and I took Ellie outside to start camping. She helped Brian gather sticks and (very green) leaves for the fire. We got the food cooking a little while later, but had to pen the dogs in the house after Muzzy attempted to pull a hot dog from the very hot grill top on the fire pit!

Dinner was delicious. I tried to teach Ellie how to roast a marshmallow, on a very long stick... but she was more interested in eating the raw marshmallow. Can't say I blame her. The love for marshmallows might be genetic. We also made a peach cobbler-ish dessert in Brian's new cast iron Dutch oven. It was great, although we left it on the fire a bit too long and burnt the edges.

Things started going downhill for us around 7:30 when Ellie was feeling the later-for-her hour and acting cranky. Closer to 8 we got into the tent and read some bedtime stories and laid her down on her air mattress. She popped up almost immediately and started crying. Laying down with her for a few minutes didn't make a difference, so we decided to get her up for a few more minutes of playtime.

Fast forward about an hour, after we've gotten the camping stuff cleaned up enough to call it a night in the tent. We penned the dogs up in the house and got into our respective beds. Ellie claimed she was ready for nite-nite, which we believed since it was about two hours past her normal bedtime. About 30 seconds after we laid her down we see a toddler climbing up the middle of our air mattress... Ellie said "hi" in her cutest, sweetest voice so we could hardly say no to her laying down in between us.

The next 45 minutes was filled with:

- the sounds of the dogs howling inside the house (because they could hear our voices through the open windows)

-Ellie periodically saying "hi" and poking one of us in the face

-Ellie making trips back down to her mattress to collect the babies, stuffed animals and blankets we'd brought out to the tent to put on our bed

-Brian and I breaking down in hysterics when the neighbor's motion-sensor light went on and blinded us all just as things had seemingly quieted down in our tent

-Police and/or ambulances driving nearby with sirens and Ellie popping up to say "wee-ooh, wee-ooh"

-And finally the "Hi, Ellie. Wanna play?" we heard from her Violet toy as Ellie sat up and unabashedly started dancing to some music.

We gave up on the camp out around 10 and put Ellie to bed back in the house. We heard nothing from her after laying her down and I'm sure she was exhausted as we were at that point.

If you consider camping-out to involve sleeping in a tent we failed, but there were plenty of laughs and good times still for us take away from this first "camping" experience.

Cooking success

Brian and I finally attempted making homemade pizza dough and cooking it on the grill last night. And it turned out awesome!
I used this crust recipe.
I doubled the ingredients so we could have a thick crust — our favorite — and then we kept the toppings simple, with homemade tomato sauce, mushrooms, cheese, basil and fresh garden tomato slices. For some reason I'm super skittish about cooking with yeast... always sure it's not going to work. But this one came out great. I can't wait to try some more pizza varieties! And cooking it on the grill made it all that much better. We just threw the whole pizza stone on there and kept checking on it. Brian saved it just as it started to get a little burned at the edge of the crust, probably about 15-20 minutes in.
I didn't get any pics of our finished product because we were too busy devouring it. Well, Brian and I were anyway. Even though Ellie loves pizza, she was being a weirdo last night and only took a couple bites of hers. But we didn't let it go to waste :)
It's great to be back to eating a wide variety of foods. I hardly have any aversions anymore, so Brian and I are trying to return to this year's goal of trying a new recipe each week. Next week I think we're trying this cover recipe from the new Cooking Light. I love homemade mac-n-cheese and am intrigued that this one uses butternut squash and greek yogurt. Yum!

Week 16: Avocado

It's a good week for me and the avocado. We're eating up a storm, getting some decent runs in and growing out of more clothes. I'm pretty sure I've felt some flutters of movement already, but they're so slight I'm never entirely sure. I've had several people comment this week on my "bump," which still isn't too obvious, but I'll get a picture up here soon. For now, here's what the experts have to say about #2 this week.

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

Rainy afternoon

The rain outside means no trip to the park this afternoon but instead an Elmo viewing with her entourage (two babies and her ribbit) on the couch. Ellie's feeling much better today after a sick day at home Monday.

Baby goats and more!

Although Ellie is currently feverish and sad from an ear infection, I wanted to share some pictures from a fun trip we had to the zoo last week.

We loaded up with snacks and drinks in the wagon and walked over to the park...

She insisted on pulling the wagon herself some of the way. She explored the tunnel through the river otter exhibit.

And Ellie checked out these tunnels through the prairie dogs' exhibit, but she's not tall enough yet to be able to pop her head up through the top and see what's going on above.
The highlight was seeing the baby goats... and having one nibble on her shirt. After I took the picture Ellie grabbed her shirt away from the goat and yelled, "Mine!" Hard to argue with her.

Ellie played with some of the farm vet toys, but for some reason these chickens did not take her up on her offer to listed to their chests.And no trip to the park would be complete without a stop at the swings. Her absolute favorite!