It's a...

Here it is! The gender reveal video - unedited.

We know something you don't know!!!

James and I had the 20 week ultrasound (19w 6d to be exact) on Tuesday. It was so neat to see Macnugget's bones forming. Little white lines in its arms and legs. We could see the brain, the 4 chambers of the heart, the organs growing in the abdomen. It was soooooo neat.

Macnugget was not exactly willing to cooperate with the ultrasound tech. He/she was sleeping when we got there and was sleeping in a not so cooperative position. So, she had to start trying to get good shots... which means she was smushing and rolling him/her. He/she woke up fairly quickly and then became anti ultrasound. The tech had to chase him/her around to get the shots she needed to make sure everything was looking good.

Oh, and once Macnugget decided to uncurl his/her legs we got to see what was there... the cord! Little bugger was being a punk. But, after a few minutes the tech checked again and sure enough we got a "clear view" of what was there. All I can say is that I am glad she is trained, because I didn't know what I was looking at and even though she said she was sure it is a ________, I am still skeptical.

I know that the techs are usually right, but working where I work, I see the wrong predictions every few months. So, we will go with what the tech predicts. If we have another ultrasound we will try to confirm.

We are doing the big reveal with our parents on Sunday morning. I am making cake pops! White cake with the appropriate food coloring tint dipped in dark chocolate. We are going to have them bite into the pops at the same time to see the color! I think James' sister in PA will be joining us via Skype for the big reveal as well! This is going to be so much fun!

What's your bet?

Only one more week until our big ultrasound! Yep, 20 weeks is almost here - half way done! Still not really feeling any movement. A few bumps here and there at random, but I am not sure if it is Macnugget or if it is just gas bubbles or something.

Anyway, on November 9th we go for our mid pregnancy ultrasound - the anatomy scan. This is when they check things out to make sure that everything is developing properly. And this is when we can possibly find out if we are having a boy or girl. If we are able to find out we will announce it to everyone once our parents are informed on November 14th. So, don't pester us until after that date.

What do you think it is? Boy or Girl?

Hitched

James and I got married! Well, you probably already knew that.

October 10, 2010 at an attempted 10:10am! It was more like 10:30 when we were actually married, but we can say 10:10. The official photos have not been delivered yet, but when they do I will post them.

All tests are good!

At the 13 week point in a pregnancy they give you an "NT scan". Basically this is a series of tests to see if you are at high risk for trisomy 18 or 21. Trisomy 21 is Downs Syndrome and trisomy 18 is another genetic disorder. They combine blood tests with ultrasound results to determine the odds of having a baby with these types of genetic defects. In the ultrasound they look at the size of the fluid pouch in the neck flap. If it is greater than 3mm thick than you are at a higher risk. I think ours measured at around 1.6mm. Isn't it amazing what they can see with an ultrasound?

Next ultrasound is November 9. This is the BIG ONE. 40 minutes of measuring baby parts and looking at organs for any abnormalities. This is also the ultrasound that, if the baby cooperates, you can find out the gender. James and I have "agreed"that if Macnugget is spread eagle and showing us the goods we will find out. If he/she is being modest, we will not poke and prod the little one to move and show us what he/she has down there. So, start placing your bets. I think Katie might want to start another pool. Who won the last pool anyway?

13w 0d

As Memere pointed out, little Macnugget has an angel watching over him/her! Check out the angel in the top left part of the sac! What a lucky baby!

Heartbeat

Now that I found my new doctor we had our schedule of appointments for the next month and a half. First you meet the nurse practitioner. That person tells you all about what is going to happen at the docs, what to expect, what to eat, what not to eat, not to clean the kitty box and to wash your hands every time you touch your cat...

Well, at our 11 week appointment we were told that we were going to hear the heartbeat for the first time. Doc comes in, talks to us. Checks on how many times a day I am sick - which is a lot and not very fun. I had lost weight at this point and couldn't keep much of anything down. So she tells me to lay down and that we were going to hear the heartbeat. No mention that it might take a while to find it or that the baby might be too small still. So a few minutes go by and no heartbeat. I start to get the look of terror on my face and look at James who is trying to hide his look of terror as well. At this point the doc says, don't worry it can take a few minutes. A few more minutes go by and nothing... I burst out into tears. Yep, full blown bawling. I think she knew at that point that she should have told me up front that it could take a bit to hunt the sucker down. So, she went to her ultrasound tech and got me in to have an ultrasound within 5 minutes. Sure enough, there was the little bugger hiding behind the placenta. Shy or stubborn, you be the judge. Knowing it's mom, it's a combo of the two. And, of course the heartbeat could be seen on the screen. I asked the ultrasound tech like 5 times if she was sure it was beating. Then little Macnugget squirmed a bit to reassure me that all was well. What a relief! I just had to giggle because I didn't know what else to do after you think that something terrible has happened and the kid was just being shy.

Sorry that the pics are sideways. I don't know how to rotate them in this program. But, I think you get the point.

11w 6d profile

11w 6d alien baby shot

11w 6d hand -my favorite pic so far. I also call this the paparazzi shot. No cameras!!!

Surprise!!!

Well, all of you probably know by now that James and I are expecting our first kiddo at the end of March! We are super excited and are already prepping the house for little Macnugget's arrival. Being that we both have our busy seasons right around the corner, we really didn't have a choice but to do our registry and start getting organized early!

So, many of you know about the baby but only a few of you know how we found out we were preggers. So, here is the story:

James and I went to his parents' boat for the weekend at the end of July. We had been so busy all summer that it was time to make the trip. This year to Camden, Maine. We had an awesome time. I only freaked out once - just about to the point of tears - but the situation was made comfortable again almost immediately. We sailed around a bit and then to a state park in the form of an island for the night. I absolutely loved it. I also loved the mojitos that we attempted to make. Yep, between the 4 of us we had quite a few mojitos. Of course we didn't get the recipe right until the 4th batch in! It was a fun evening and weekend full of healthy vegan food.

At the end of the trip I thought that I must have slammed into something because I felt like someone had punched me in the right boob. I was concerned enough to check for a massive bruise. Nope, no bruise. It went away the next day, but after a few days of work I now felt like I had been punched in both boobs. And being 1 day "late" with the lady friend I became a bit concerned.

Let me just clarify that my lady friend has a mind of it's own but had been getting better and more on schedule so one day or week overdue was not unusual. Normally when it gets to the week mark I would take a preggo test to get things going. My body get's the "nope, no kid so get on with it" hint and badda bing badda boom... lady friend arrives the next day. Let's just say it didn't exactly happy that way this time.

So I called James to let him know I would be stopping at the store on the way home. Got some things, including the preggo test. At this point I had a very strong hunch that the outcome would be a bit different this time. I got home and was getting ready for bed as I was doing a turnaround that night (close the store and show back up for 6am the next morning).

The power just happened to be out this evening as well. So, getting ready for bed via flashlight, I did the deed and went about prepping for my early morning wake up. Mid teeth brushing I checked the test... two lines. Of course, this is what I was kind of expecting, but actually seeing it sends you into this state of calm panic. I called James to the bathroom to confirm what I was seeing... yep. Two lines via the glow of the flashlight. James does not show his emotions very well so he was just "yep, looks like it's positive, let's get some sleep". Ya... I was NOT sleeping that night. We spend half the night looking at what 3 and a half week old fetuses looked like and all that jazz.

I was a bit unnerved for the next few days. James was too as far as I could tell. But, we were both also excited. A baby is a miracle. I know my doc said I shouldn't have issues getting pregnant due to my LEEP procedure, but I always had a fear that it would interfere. Looks like everything is in working order!

So that is how we found out about little Macnugget. Get it? Mackey + Nugget= Macnugget!

I had a follow up cancer screening like 3 days later. My doc did all that and then gave me an ultrasound. I was 5 weeks 6 days preggo according to their math. According to my body's schedule I was 5w 1d. The ultrasound showed a sac and a yolk. At that stage the baby is too small to really see. So, back I went the following week with James and there was our little "blob" with a flashing white dot in the middle at our 6w 1d ultrasound. Very neat to see that and very much a reality check. Now we could be really excited because there in fact was a baby starting to grow!

No cancer!

I came back clear for abnormal cells again! This is 2 in a row. Only 5 more tests every 6 months to go!

Lots going on!

James and I have lots on our plates right now! We are trying to get the house clutter free and painted and pretty before the end of the summer. Lots of work to do but it will be so worth it in the end.

I am going for my follow up PAP test tomorrow following my LEEP procedure from January. I am realllllllly hoping that it comes back negative as I do not want to go through all of that again. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Weekend off!

I finally had a weekend off! I needed a weekend off to get away from work, from my house, from everything. The weather wasn't 100% cooperative, but I take what I can get!I went to the lake on Friday night with my Dad. About 15 minutes from the lake house Dutch decided that he was going to sit on my lap in the front seat of the van. The whole ride up he was fidgety, trying to sit as close to the window on the driver's side that he could. Finally I figured it out! My parents had purchased replacement screen sliders for the doors. They were in the van, up against the door and when they rattle the sound like... GATES! So, we let Dutch stay up front with me because he was clearly scared. Then he got to get an ice cream cone from McDonald's. He felt better after that, it was a good distraction.Saturday morning we went for a hike. It was supposed to be a geocaching trip, but with only luck of finding 1 out of the 4 I had downloaded, it was more of an exploratory hike. We went to the other side of the lake and went on the Ellis R. Hatch trail in the wildlife management area. This has been here for quite a while, close to the lake, and we have never even known about it.This area contains a pond - well, a stream. It used to be a pond but the man made earthen dam had a leak in 2004 so now it is reduced to a stream. It was pretty neat to see what a pond looks like drained - where the stumps are, big rocks, the contours of the bottom of the pond. Very neat!

This was the first part of the pond system that we saw first. Still had quite a bit of water in it.

My dad and Dutch decided to go explore the middle of the big pond. Dutch needed a drink!

A view from the corner of the "pond".

A view of the "pond" from the end. It looks like it was a pretty good sized pond!

Dutch became very tired and collapsed in the mud. This scared me because he has never done this before. It wasn't hot out and the walk to this point was not that far...

If you have a fear of spiders, stop reading here!

I found this spider by accident! I was taking a picture of this pretty flower. I looked back as I started to walk away and noticed that the yellow pollen area of the flower had moved. Hmmmm... I had never seen a goldenrod crab spider before! It is also called a goldenrod flower spider. I think that this yellow one is a female. When James and I went back on Sunday this spider had the flower petal closed at the end, perhaps hiding her egg ball.

This is the picture from Sunday. Notice that she is eating and that the petal is closed up with a small piece of web showing.
I scared her and she put her lunch down. These spiders do not attack humans and are not harmful to humans. These spiders do not spin webs to catch food, they pretend to be part of the flower and attract insects with their markings. Then, when the pray is close enough, the goldenrod crab spider pounces on the insect.


The goldenrod crab spider is not always yellow. The yellow color is a pigment produced by the spider if they feel that the color best suits the flower they are using as a house. Apparently the spider can also be white or whiteish. It takes only a few days for the spider to turn from yellow to white, but up to 2 weeks for it to turn from white to yellow. It takes time to produce that yellow pigment! Well, I became curious when James and I were walking from the yellow spider to the next geocache and I thought I would peek at a white flower along the way. Guess what! A white goldenrod crab spider! I knew that if there was one spider there had to be more!
What you lookin' at?

So Proud

James and I have been together for over a year and a half now. It seems as time is just flying by. I guess that is what happens when you have fun! James and I do not get to spend a lot of time together when we are at home due to our work schedules, but we do try to make the best of it when we have time off together. We are already planning our summer activities - painting, yard sale, sailing, family visits, and just enjoying each other.

One of our goals for the next 6 months is to be more physically fit. So, we each purchased some new running shoes! And... yes, we actually went running. We have only been once together, but I have gone on my own and James has been taking Dutch for more walks. We have plans to go running every Sunday, rain or shine. We are both 30 now, so there is no turning back on our health and well being. Plus, we will be in St. John in 6 months so we need to get our butt in gear!

I am very proud of James for making the changes he has been making to better our lives together. Someday we will hopefully have kids and we need to be healthy enough to support them financially, emotionally and physically.

James, you are my best friend and the love of my life. I truly appreciate you and look forward to all of the time we spend together.

Free Money for Your School

Did you know that you can link your Stop & Shop card to your school? I was just surfing their site looking for deals when I stumbled upon the program.

To learn more about this program and to register your card to your local school, click here!

If your school is not registered, make sure to contact your principal to make sure the school gets registered for the 2010-2011 school year.

No problem, mon.

We are back from Jamaica! Yep, we were in Jamaica this last week. The annual manager's trip for James' company took us to the Iberostar Grand Resort in Rose Hall. You know, the normal 5 star all inclusive resort. Nice rooms, pool with swim up bar, incredible beach area with spectacular ocean views, and 150 men enjoying themselves at the pool swim up bar.

The view from the lunch buffet area on day one.

First beverage of the trip, one of the few. This was not a drinking vacation for me. In fact we had some drinks on the beach that were non alcoholic because we didn't say "with rum". Who knew you needed to tell the waitress that you wanted rum in your pina colada? So, we learned the next day that you need to say "with rum" when ordering fruity mixed drinks that are supposed to have rum in them.

The same drink. At this point I realized that I should have gotten some food first.


Pumpkin avacado salad! I discovered that there was quite a bit of pumpkin that was used in the food. I love pumpkin so I will have to find recipes for these dishes online! I could go for some pumpkin avacado salad any day!


This is one of the great scenes that I captured as the sun was setting one evening. There is a sunken ship in the slight distance. Not sure if it was there because there was an accident or if it was for tourists to gawk over.


James enjoying some beach time.


Getting ready to leave for the airport. We had some time to kill so we went to the beach for one last "ahhhhh" moment.

We had a great time. No sunburns to speak of and I only slightly injured myself getting off of the tour bus. We did go to Dunn's River Falls on a "half day" trip. We left at 9 and got back at 3... I guess that is considered a half day. The falls were beautiful! Not as tall as I had pictures, but just gorgeous! There will be video to come on that excursion soon.

Dancing Chicken

Here it is! Fresh off the flip cam! Happy 30th birthday, James!




Thanks to James' assistant Kevin and sales guy Brian for helping me coordinate this! The guy on the ladder in the back of the store and who comes up behind James recording the event is his boss. Perhaps this will be shown at the meeting in Jamaica!

$10k is underway!

Week one of my plan to save $10k in 365 days is almost done and things are not going so well. My car is approaching 100k miles and things are starting to happen to it. My driver's side view mirror glass fell off on the highway on Wednesday night! I had to order the part, pretty cheap. $26 for the whole glass/turning mechanism unit. Unfortunately Honda charges an hour of labor to install it. I highly doubt it takes an hour to do this. Charge for hour of labor? $95!!! So I stopped by AutoZone on the way home yesterday to purchase a $7 cut-to-fit stick on mirror. All I needed was the glass anyway. So, we will see if I can successfully install this stick on mirror and save $100.

Dutch also needed some new stuff that was not in my budget. He has been choking on his food because he is eating way too fast. $34 on slow eating bowls and accessories.

Oh, and gas prices are going up.

This is going to be quite the challenge. Follow my $10k blog by clicking here!

Samosas!

James and I went to visit my friend Jen and her baby up at CHaD the other week. We went out for Indian food because apparently there is a great Indian place up there that came highly recommended by the nurses of Indian heritage.

I am not sure if it was the way Indian was supposed to taste or maybe I am just used to the great Indian food down here in Manchester, but I was not impressed at all. I think that the chicken came from a package of precut strips! We did have a very yummy appetizer called Samosas. They are crispy dough pockets filled with potato and vegetable filling. There were a few dipping sauces that we had to go along with the samosas. My favorite was the onion chutney.

So, tonight we had the Turkish beans that I made in my previous post as well as some Samosas with red onion chutney!

Potato, peas, and curry all cooking in the wok.

Rolled out dough

Stuffed and ready to be cooked

cooking...

All done and ready to eat!

They came out pretty good. Not the same fluffy dough that we had at the place up in Lebanon.

Barbunyali Plaki

Today is my first day off of the week! I decided that I needed to cook today so that we have some food for the week. So, what is on today's menu you ask? Barbunyali Plaki! I had recently purchased 11 bags of dry beans. This recipe called for Pinto beans, which of course I had a bag of in the cabinet. I have never had Pinto beans before so I thought I would try this different recipe.According to vegweb.com, this is a "traditional Hellenic recipe with origins to the Armies of Alexander" and also has been enjoyed in Turkish cuisine. It finished cooking and although it is supposed to be served chilled, I enjoyed it warm with a splash of fresh lemon juice. It was pretty good. The recipe does not call for salt of pepper so the lemon really made the dish. It was very flavorful especially since the recipe called for 8-10 cloves of garlic! Not overly flavored, but a smooth flavor.
Click the link above to try this recipe! Here are the few stages of cooking.

8 cloves of garlic, 1 diced carrot, and 1 large onion cooking in 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Cook until tender.

Added the 4 diced tomatoes, freshly cooked Pinto beans, and water to cover. Simmer for 15 minutes.

The finished (warm) product spritzed with lemon.

I am going to be $10k richer!

So... if you haven't heard yet, I am on a mission to save $10,000 in 365 days! Starting April 1 I am going to be adhering to a strict budget to squirrel away $10k. I have planned out a budget, which I hope will be pretty realistic. As the budget goes right now I am going to be able to save just over $8500. My plan is to really pinch my pennies and scrape a few hundred more into the savings. Oh, and sell of some junk I have cluttering my house. And... maybe... just maybe... sell off my hot wheels collection. I know. This all sounds just crazy. But, I am going to do it! I even have a different blog in hopes that the fad catches on. It is in the beginning stages, but I hope to have savings info, cool links to savings sites... you know - the how to for those with no clue. Just like me!

Check it out at http://10kin365.blogspot.com! Wish me luck!

Millet is for the birds...

... and humans! Millet is an ancient grain. It is pretty bland, but done right it can be pretty good. I took a look at a recipe on the back of the millet bag and found that there was a recipe for a millet and corn dish with a sprinkling of gomaiso -which I made myself.

To the millet and whole kernel corn mixture (post cooking) I added a can of black beans, a handful of chopped cilantro, and a bit of gomaiso. I then stuffed the mixture into peppers, roasted it, and sprinkled the resulting dish with a bit more gomaiso and cheese. Yummy! Just needed a bit more heat (spice). James liked it enough to eat millet again with more seasoning.

I forgot to take pictures after the baking process. So you will just have to use your imagination!

Risotto, attempt #1

Tonight I decided to make risotto for dinner. Never made it before. I have never ate it before either! So this was going to be quite the adventure!

The before picture. Arborio Rice and the instrument of torture - the spoon.

Mid way through the cooking process.

Done!

Yes, I realize that this was probably not the healthiest dish to eat, but we made it together and it tasted good. Well, kind of good. The rice could have been cooked just a few more minutes and a bit more liquid. We adjusted the recipe to cut down on the amount of finished product and didn't have enough vegetable stock to get it done. We thought it would pass, but we just needed about 1 more cup for perfection.

Polished it off with fresh grated parm and a bit of butter and voila! C'est fini! Yes, I know there was 1/4 cup of cheese and 1 table spoon of butter in this, but I ate it. I had pizza and cake today at a bday party so I figured that eating some just about "expired" (there was mold on the other end) cheese and 1/3 table spoon of butter wouldn't kill the day.

James liked it. He even said that I should put some broccoli in it next time! YAY!

Grapefruit... My new best friend.

I used to hate grapefruit. I guess every kid hates grapefruit. When I was little I had to smother it with sugar and could only eat a few pieces before passing it on to my dad. Today is much a different story!

I LOVE grapefruit! Even better, I eat it the way it is most flavorful - sugar free! Alton Brown did have grapefruit on his show the other day. He put a thin layer of sugar on the grapefruit, torched it, then sprinkled sea salt on the top. I bet it is good, but not for me. I am really trying to eat food as close to its natural state as I can.

I have found that I can find grapefruit, large grapefruit, for a $1 each at one of my local grocery stores. Due to their size, I eat half of a grapefruit for breakfast - $.50 for breakfast! Yes, half a grapefruit is not a huge breakfast, but you don't need to eat a huge breakfast. I might have a healthy mid morning snack to follow my grapefruit but nothing dramatic (like half of a bagel that I posted the other day).

Cheap and healthy - a perfect match!

Lifestyle changes...

... I forgot to mention that I read a book titled Skinny Bitch on my trip. After reading this book I have decided to cut out as much animal products from my diet as I can. So far I have been pretty successful!

I have been doing research and there are many good reasons to not eat animal products - meat, dairy, eggs, etc. Not only do animal farms hurt the environment, make our drugs less effective, and tolerate inhumane treatment of animals, but our bodies are not designed to eat that much animal products.

It has been just over a month and I sleep much better, think more clearly, expel waste much more easily... and I have even lost about 15 pounds!

I try to eat fresh fruit every morning for breakfast to help keep things moving... but when I am super hungry or for a great mid morning snack (or lunch or dinner) I really enjoy whole wheat (egg free) bagels with hummus and tomato slices! It is filling, tasty, and pretty healthy!


I can't say that I have been 100% animal product free. I had calamari while in PA a few weeks back and I also had some salmon last night. Oh, and I did have some chicken tikka masala. I have learned that Dunkin Donuts does not have soy milk - therefore I have had some milk in a few coffees.

I am committed to trying new recipes and discovering new foods. So far I have done very well. I am proud of myself for my accomplishments thus far. Hopefully I will be keeping up with my challenge and it won't be a challenge any more, it will be normal!

The best vacation EVER!

So far. I am sure we have many great vacations coming our way, including our annual Town Fair Tire trip coming in May. Jamaica here we come!

But, this is about our trip to St. John, USVI. This was my 30fest. And what a 30fest it was! We left NH in cold, wet weather very early in the morning and arrived in paradise in the afternoon. It was totally amazing to see the clouds slowly disappear and have beautiful islands magically pop up from the deep blue water.

I have yet to edit the videos that we took with our Flip camera. But, I know most of you have been waiting to see some video. Once I figure out how to get the video from the Flip program on my computer to connect with bloggert I will let you know!