Meal Plan

This month's cooking is gonna be complicated. Quinn, who is NOT overweight, is absolutely determined to lose weight so he can start cycling again. That means that the menu has to be diet friendly. I'm also gone three dinners a week now due to my new water aerobics class, so the menu has to be stuff that either doesn't need to be reheated, or reheats well in the microwave.

Last week for dinners we had lasagna, bacon, potato and veggie stir fry, roast beef with mashed potatoes, beef and veggie stew, etc. For breakfasts, bagels and cream cheese, scrambled eggs with and combo of peppers/onions/mushrooms and cheese, toast (which he ALWAYS eats jelly on) cold cereal, egg burritos. Lunches were leftovers, macaroni and cheese, veggie and chicken stir fries with rice....

That's kinda how we eat, in general. Except I didn't get around to making the broccoli cheese soup that's pretty much a regular, and we tend to have more pasta (chicken noodles, fettuccini alfredo, goulash)

So. What to do? First thought it to cut the pastas, cheeses and cream sauces/gravies, but cheese is essential. I don't think I can live with out it. Is it true that mozzerella is way more low fat then colby? is low fat cream cheese edible? Can a guy who's working full time, schooling full time, and working out 3-6 times a week actually survive on a low-cal diet, or should I just go low fat and let him auto-adjust his portions? What to do? Help? He already crashes pretty easily if he misses his vitamins or skips a meal...

The only diets I ever did where the starve all day then eat a couple eggs and some high fiber bread. Maybe some celery or carrots for a snack. Maybe.

That's not gonna work for him.

Sooo Sleepy

Life is busy and fun. I like it that way.

Yesterday I tagged along with Quinn all day. We left the house before 7, went out for breakfast, he went to class while I played piano, we met for a soda and some study/read time, he went to the next class while I went to read. We ran around for a while, met a contact from craigslist.org who had a stroller and infant seat that I wanted to buy. Took that home. Ate lunch. Left again. Went out for coffee and more study/sudoku time. Got a sub for dinner. He went to another class and I sat in the sunshine and listened to Chip Ingram on Bott.

This morning he went to class and I sat around here. Napped a bit, washed some dishes, played with the bird.  He got home and I warmed up some leftover lasagna for lunch. He went to work. I blitzed the house, ran the vacuum, washed the dishes, packed a bag and was off to the pool for my new water aerobics class.

I. Love. That. Class. Monday was my first time. I know all of three names, and I'm way the youngster of the crowd, but it's so fun! Being in the water makes me happy, and all these women talk about nothing but how they want to decorate their nurseries, name ideas, due dates, babies kicking and babies shifting and babies positions, hospital guests and mothers/mothers-in-law and husbands and cravings and leg cramps and etc. It's so much fun! I get out of the water laughing, starving and completely energized. I can't wait for Friday evening so I can go back!

As soon as I got out of class (and drove through Wendy's) I headed South to spend a couple hours with Becca and Ella while Nathan was at church. I had a lasagna in the freezer that I'd been wanting to take over there, but there are so many people who feel like they "need" Ella time that I figured the Mommy who had the most genuine, desperate need was being deprived of her sweet little lady, so I waited until today (I know. A week is barely waiting, but I'm proud of myself) to bring it up and see how they were doing.

I wasn't that far off. Becca couldn't even name all the people that have been there in the past week. Some for 15-20 minutes, some for a couple hours, some for several hours... all of them baby greedy and excited. She's so grateful and gracious, but it sounds like a nightmare to me, and I know she's happy for peace when she gets it, though she smiles and laughs her way through every situation.

Tonight it was such a joy to just watch her soaking up sweet Ella. We sat on the couch together and talked and stared at the baby, and oohed over the baby's darling expressions, and laughed over her silly ones, and talked about how perfect and beautiful she was, and Becca kissed and carressed and fondled her. When she needed a water and bathroom and cell phone charger break I asked for the baby, and for a half hour I was in heaven. Her tiny, precious little self all warm and cozy against me, her cousin occasionaly reminding us of his presence with a soft jab. The knowledge that as much as I adore Ella and as much as I would lay down for her sake, the love for my unseen little one is so different and so much stronger. The anticipation of knowing that it's only 20 weeks until I can look into our little man's eyes and tell him I love him. The excitement and joy of watching Becca overflow with the realized, intense love that is hidden in my heart.  It's all so overwhelming and sweet.

I can't wait.

Laundry Soap, Hummingbirds, Baby Fingers...

I just spilled laundry soap all down the front of me and all over the floor.  I'm not sure how to clean it out of the carpet now...it's in big blue splotches. Anybody had this happen before?


Talk about a crazy month. Earlier this month we made our way up to Rockford during Quinn's spring break to visit with his grandparents. They're awful special people, and I love it that we've gotten to spend so much time with them in the last year! It's always fun.

This time we took his 13 year old sister, Tabi with us. She was a blast to have along. The three of us went over to Chicago for a morning while we were there. Visited Willis Tower and got a traditional Chicago deep dish pizza.

Came home to school, school and more school...


Tuesday I turned 20 years young. Makes me feel like such a baby to actually think about my age, but nevertheless, it is my age, so we celebrated it. My sister-in-law and bff, Becca was in labor Monday night, so I was up repeatedly throughout the night to pray and check my phone for texts. Quinn had class Tuesday morning, so he was gone by 8am, and I managed to sleep past 10, but was still waking up at least once an hour to check my phone, so I got up. Snacked on chocolate and orange juice. Got on facebook. Read a wall-full of birthday wishes. Munched more chocolate.

Right around 11am I got a message from my Mother-in-law, and seconds following it, another from Becca's husband. Sweet little Ella was born around 10:30 am, weighing 6 pounds, 10 ounces, 9 days early and perfectly happy and healthy. 19 year old Becca had an all-natural birth. No pain meds or oxytocin inducers, even though she was in the hospital and had a Dr. catch the baby. I am *so* proud of her! Her labor was long and hard, with no breaks between contractions once she hit transition and nearly on hour of pushing, but she stuck it out. She wanted Ella to be born how God had designed for her to be born, and gave her sweet first born (and her own self) a precious gift by fighting it out.

I was giddy. I wanted to cry, but didn't. Half an hour later, when pictures started showing up in my inbox, I was crying. I couldn't stop for 2 hours. So I made chocolate cupcakes. A couple hours later they texted and asked if we could come meet the baby several hours later. By that time Quinn was home and I was getting ready for my 18 week prenatal visit. We had to laugh at the fact that we were going to be able to walk from my ultrasound to the maternity ward to meet Ella.

We finished getting ready to go,  then Quinn gave me my birthday card and gift from him. He had written the sweetest love letter in the back of the card, and he gave me the most beautiful, hand blown glass hummingbird feeder. I am absolutely in love with it and can't wait for the humming birds to show up next month! It's hanging between my two windchimes on the back deck. I am a little concerned though, 'cause the apartment complex is planning on re-roofing our  building the end of this month, so I can't leave it up, and if the project takes more than the two weeks that it's supposed to, then I'll miss the birds' arrival. :(

We made it to our appointment in good time, only to be chewed out by the obnoxious u/s tech for being late. Seems the u/s was scheduled as a separate appointment, 30 minutes earlier,  but when we rescheduled over the phone we weren't told as much. So... after being all annoyed and short with us, she squirted the cold gel all over my tight little tummy and started digging around with the doppler. It took no time at all to determine that our sweet little somebody is a sweet little man, which thrilled me, heart and soul. (Quinn is thrilled with a baby, I'm not sure he really had a preference...) The sweetheart measured out perfectly on schedule, is about 10 oz, and had no signs of spine, brain or heart problems. We got to see his precious face and I got to watch his kicks show up on the screen slightly behind actually feeling them. It was really amazing.

The appointment went wonderfully and we moseyed towards the other end of the building where Becca and Ella were napping in their room. Got there and sat in the waiting room until nap time ended and went to stand outside the door until they were ready for us.

I can't even begin to describe how perfectly gorgeous that baby is. Or the pride and adoration I felt towards Becca when I walked in to see her exhausted, pale little self grinning away and hear her say "I've got my woman card, and I can't wait to do this again!" 

I am so glad that we're sisters.

After an hour spent in the room with far more people than I myself could handle graciously or patiently, (so I sat on the bed with Becca and emotionally "hid" from the crowd. lol) and a few beautiful minutes of watching my darling husband hold his new niece, and a few even more wonderful minutes of holding her myself, we said good bye and left the new family in peace and quiet.

Went out to dinner with some old friends of the family and Quinn's brother Tim, who all insisted on treating us to the meal in honor of my birthday, then went home to crash early and sleep deep.

It was an amazing, happy day.

God is so good.

Nostalgia

This time of year has always been my favorite. The time when everything smells clean. When you open the windows every afternoon, even if it's only 40 degrees. When you get out your flats and flip flops and short skirts and run around with goose bumbs on your legs 'cause it really isn't quite warm enough. When you sit in the car and soak up sunshine with the windows down.

Last spring I spent in my old room. Leah on the bottom bunk, me on the top. I had minty green walls that magnified every bit of sunshine that came in the window and a purple and grey wallpaper border covered in hearts. My dresser was a softer version of the green on the walls, and bits of purple all over my room set of the tiny snatches of lavender in my cream and khaki quilt with the maroon flowers. I had always had the bottom bunk, but I was studying my life away and needed an internet connection, so I'd sit on the top bunk to study so that I could pirate the neighbors weak wi-fi signal. I'd open the window and leave the fan on and curl up in my blankets. Every body who walked by my door would come in and shiver and comment on how cold the room was, but it was spring, and the window had to be open.  Mom was in and out every few minutes, to tell me a bit of news, to tell me she loved me, to ask me to do something or go somewhere, to hand me a love note that she'd written for me, to bring me a glass of soda, or something yummy that had just come out of the oven, or just to say hi.

The spring before that I spent in the same room. I had the bottom bunk, but the walls were the same color, and other than the purple basket and the candle holders on the wall, the contents of the room were pretty much the same. Instead of studying I was sewing. All the time. I was glued to that machine. I'd sit there barefoot in front of the window with my toes turning blue and my fingers going numb while I worked away at denim patchwork skirts and sundresses for Leah and Jeri. The parakeets would be singing their hearts out in the next room and the house buzzed with perpetual motion. I'd be singing along with GLAD and Josh Groban and Rich Mullins on my iPod. Dad taught me how to drive, and I'd beg for errends to run just so I could get out and drive with the windows down.

The spring before that the walls were a light tan, the border was butterflies and violets. My battenburg lace curtains had been tea stained to match the walls almost 2 years before when Mom and Gramma had given my room a complete makeover while I was on a missions trip. They had painted, put the border up, tea stained the white, blue and pink quilt into a soft beige, stained the curtains, found me a new nightstand (actually, an antique one) and bought me a lamp. Before that I had had white walls, white curtains and was very bored with both. It was one of the most delightful gifts I ever recieved. They took my blah little world and made it beautiful. Since then I've been doing my best to learn to make everything around me beautiful. I don't always succeed, but I try.

So springs come and go. Bare toes on cold dirt, fresh mown grass, nests full of baby birds screaming away, the delightful shivers when you step from the chilly shade into the open sunshine. Sweaters and jackets in the mornings that get thrown aside and traded out for bare arms in the afternoon. Early morning garage sales, misty walks waiting for the sun to come up. Lunches of peanut butter and jelly on the back porch. Races through cold, wet grass at dusk while we catch fireflies.  Every year with the spring my birthday comes. For as long as I can remember we've had the windows open for my birthday party. One year I picked the fresh yellow blooms off of a bush in our front yard to decorate my white cake with.  One year I got a straw sun hat that I wore to death through the summer. Many times I've shared my parties with Aaron and Rachel, and never once have I minded. Birthdays are made for sharing. One year we were getting ready for our roadtrip to Colorado Springs, and I was given a new purse and a couple of new dresses that my Mom made for me.

This spring is so different from all the others. It's so beautiful, but even the best of changes are changes, and something of the old has to be missed. Last night it was the green walls and the pink candle that would burn night and day in my room that I missed, This morning it was the sun reflecting off of the gold framed mirror above my old dresser, right now it's my white stuffed rabit that I'm aching to go to the storage unit and dig out so it can sit on my hope chest where it belongs.

Josh bought me that rabbit for my 4th birthday. He used the last of his money to get me something special. I had tea parties with it, slept with it in the corner by my head, never ever put it away. The rest of my toys would go into the white whicker basket by my pink and yellow kitchen, under the poster of the two little girls walking down the road hand in hand, with their big straw hats, but that rabbit would sit on top of the basket. It's always been out. In recent times I've used it as a pillow on occasion, given it to crying little sisters on evenings when I was babysitting and they couldn't sleep, but always had it within sight.

This spring the mourning doves are refurbishing their nests in the stairway and getting ready to lay eggs. My windchime sings softly, hour after hour. The birdie sits in her cage an dozes when the sun hits the sliding door. I spend my lazy mornings snuggled up, listening to Quinn breathing softly beside me. Long before he wakes up he reaches for me and pulls me close to him. I listen to the birds outside the window, and feel the beautiful little kicks of our sweet somebody who is growing steadily in my womb. Most mornings he goes to class, and I get to work trying to make my world beautiful. It's easy in the spring. Keep it clean and open the windows and life is beautiful. But on Saturday mornings it's just us. No classes. No errends, unless we want them. Just us.

My birthday is Tuesday. We get to go in and get an ultrasound. Once we move I'll be decorating a baby's room with things that will define that somebody's springs and summers and falls and winters for the rest of this life. We'll be choosing a name that will be the most familiar sound to his or her ears.

I hope I make my children's springs as beautiful as my Mom made mine. She's always made my life beautiful, and I miss the simplicity of waking up and knowing the day would be a good one, 'cause she was gonna make it happen. I feel the responsibility to do the same for my husband, for my child, and for the children we have yet to meet. I want to make their world beautiful with smells of fresh bread, sounds of lullabyes about Jesus, times gathered around the table to read stories from the Bible, trips to the zoo, and the park, and Silver Dollar City, the constant supply of laughter and kisses and praises that she seemed to have. It's a legacy that will take a lifetime of commitment to continue, but it's one I hope to create for my family.

I hope that I can let this spring be as beautiful as Christ meas it to be. I hope that I can harness it, and magnify it, and let Him use it to make me new. I hope...because Christ is hope, and He can make this day, this spring, this year happen exactly as He wants them to.

Library time

I'm sitting at the library killing time. I was gonna wait and come later tonight, but I went to load the rental car with a few of the items I have packed and the back seat was coated with fine, short white hair. Nasty. Spent 40 minutes at the car wash vacuuming/scraping it all out, then 20 minutes at the gas station cleaning windows and scraping goo off of the back windows and locks. So gross.

Next stop, Lysol.

I'm actually guessing that we accidentally got a car before it  got checked over, 'cause the oil light is on. I'm thoroughly annoyed...


Though the keyless start and fantastic acceleration are fun.


Here to pick up audio books and cds. It's about 9 hours up there and 9 hours home...


I didn't get the bird cage cleaned until late last night. Didn't get the kitchen clean yet. Haven't made snacks yet. Haven't dropped off bird, or picked up Tabbi, haven't packed my clothes or any of the bathroom stuff, BUT the baby shower was beautiful and it was soooo good to see Becca and Amanda and the in-laws. <3 


Sick. The girl next to me is sniffling something awful and her greasy hair is full of massive flakes and she smells weird. I'm so glad Jesus loves everyone, and so grateful for Germ-ex.

Gotta run. Lots to do. Little bit of time.

Love to all!

WHEEE!

So, We bought a canoe. It was used all last summer, and is dirty, but it's a nice canoe and we got a good deal on it. We're excited.

Sunday morning we went to church, skipped out on the pot luck that followed and headed home. I had a pot roast going, but we weren't sure whether or not it was done, so we stopped in at Arri's for a salad. Ended up getting a pizza too, which was delicious, and eating the pot roast on Monday. lol.

Sunday night we went to one of Quinn's co-worker's baptisms. He's a middle aged man with a four year old grandson that he brags on continually. He got saved not long after being assigned to Quinn's team, so Quinn has had the chance to watch the whole changing process of a baby Christian. Very encouraging.

Got home from the service and crashed on the couch. I was ready for bed. Quinn got on craigslist, and twenty minutes later said "oh look! There's a canoe!"   So he emailed the guy with his phone number and asked if we could go look at it. The guy texted a half hour later and my giddy husband drug sleepy me out to the car. Two hours later our poor little Mazda had a 16 foot beast strapped to the top of it and we were headed home. I slept the whole way.

We were gonna drop it off at the cabin, but realized half way home that we didn't have the right set of keys with us.

I was still asleep.

We were gonna put it in the living room for a day so that we could take it to the cabin on Tuesday,  but realized when it barely fit down the hall way, and wouldn't even begin to angle into the door, that that probably wasn't going to work.

I was cold. And sleepy.
We were gonna haul it over the deck rail and through he sliding doors....

Got it standing on end (from the ground a story below us to above my head when I stood on the deck) and realized that THAT wasn't gonna work either.

Me: Sweetie, it just isn't gonna fit.
Him: Sure it will! I'll pull it up, you go keep it stable...but put on a coat!
Me from the ground: It's not gonna happen.
Him... after pulling it up to the point where it was standing on end: Um. You wanna come up here?
Me: It's not gonna fit, is it?
Him: Um....
Me, from the living room, laughing: It's not gonna fit.
Him: I hope the pregnancy police don't kill me for this.


So we left it tied to the deck, standing 16 feet tall, and went to bed.

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It was fun to watch the neighbors on Monday.

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We're driving up to Rockford on Sunday morning to see the Grandparents. Can't wait!  My list for yesterday through Sunday morning looks something like:

Wednesday- Aldi's for produce
Mama Jean's for Hemaplex and a multi vitamin for Q
Mardel for a stack of cards that I need
laundry.



Thursday- Scour kitchen
vacuum
iron
get toothpaste
Chiropractor
clean birdie cage


Friday- Orchestra 9am-5pm
sleep.


Saturday- Baby shower for Ella at 10:30am
pick up rental car  by noon
pack
make trip food
take birdie to Mom's
possibly pick up Tabi (if her Mom decides to let her come along with us)
library for audio books/cd's.

Sunday- 4am- HEAD NORTH!


We'll be back sometime late Wednesday. If the rain holds off then we'll probably take the canoe out for a trial run on Thursday afternoon. (Which I soooo hope happens, 'cause Q keeps threatening to take his buddy out in it on Friday while I'm at orch, which would SUCK, for no reason other than that I'm selfish and want to go out with Quinn in it first, seeing as how it's what we decided to get for our combined birthdays this year...but I can't give a real reason for him not to, so if we don't go Thursday then I'll just have to suck it up and let someone else have first run.) Friday is Federation and I have to be at orchestra from 9am-1pm, then 3:30-6:30. eeek.


So far today I've done nothing but make breakfast and lay around moaning 'cause my back hurts. Not too productive... but I have an appointment this afternoon that should enable me to get my chores done this evening. I hope.


Got my gender ultra sound moved from this Tuesday to the 16th. Which happens to be my birthday. SO COOOL!! Can't wait to see our special somebody again. Want so bad to give him/her a name and start collecting beautiful little things for them!