Hot & Bothered

I have reached the point where I am now hotter, (temp. wise of course!), than everyone else. Air conditioning? Oh God, Yes please!!!! And it doesn't help that we are having a very warm December. It was 85 yesterday. And it doesn't help that I have outgrown all my shorts and summer type clothing that I bought for the beginning of the pregnancy. Once again, A/C??? Can't live without it!

And since I am so hot, I am easily bothered. It doesn't matter who, when, where, or what. I blame it on hormones. For example, Adam calls every night when he is on his way home. He usually asks what is the plan for dinner, as sometimes I need him to stop and get something. So, one night he asks about dinner and I reply meatballs. It's one of Russell's favorites and while Adam & I aren't crazy about meatballs, I try to make them as appealing as I can for everyone. And, they do take some time to make. So, his reply to meatballs the other night was "Oh." Now, I have to admit in retrospect that there probably wasn't any tone in his response, just a matter of fact "oh." But that night I heard "oh." Meaning I don't want meatballs, that sounds awful, I'll have something else that I can round up in the fridge. Well, being bothered, I immediately reply something to the effect of "That's the wrong answer, Adam. Try, thank you for taking time out of your day to provide our family with a nutritious meal. Thank you for standing on your pregnant feet in the kitchen and slaving over meatballs so that we can get hopefully get Russell to eat a big dinner since he's so skinny." Gasp!!! Bitchy, I know!! At least I can admit it.

And the bothered part isn't just bitchiness, I do cry easier now too. I'll try tell you a story about Russell and how some boy in his class said he doesn't think that Russ speaks English. Was he being mean? I don't know. But, it makes me cry just thinking about it. Kids suck and Russ tries so hard to make friends and be friends. It just makes you sad that you can't be there to protect from all that crap. He's only 6, can he get a break???? And now, of course, I am crying, so on to other news.

We had a really cool ultrasound on Friday. Rowan is growing!!! He is 4 1/2 lbs already and we are supposed to have 10 weeks to go. I didn't get to see my regular OB, I'll see him in 2 weeks. So, hopefully we'll have a better idea of when we think the Moose will be born. Adam was calling him Gigantor! At the rate he is growing he'll be a 10lb baby by my regular due date. OMG, I don't want a 10lb newborn!!! We'll see what Dr. Simpson says next time. The ultrasouond tech was pretty impressed with his size and thought that we'd be seeing her again next month to see how big he is.

So, this is one of the 3D pictures we got of Rowan. That is his umbilical cord in the upper left part of the picture. We think he is so cute!!!! And he has very similar qualities to Russ and Rach when they were newborns. We can definitely see the same nose and lips.

We did realize at this ultrasound, we'd better get our butts ready right after Xmas. Still need to get the new Pack n Play and his dresser. And, I need to wash his clothes and get some diapers and all those newborn things ready.

I have been reading my refresher course on breastfeeding. I love the Sears' book on breastfeeding - great info on how to get it going, good techniques, etc. I got another book which isn't as good, but there was a fascinating chapter on recent history of breastfeeding and the formula companies. When I opened the book to read, it was a chapter that I'd normally skip. But, something caught my attention and I ended up reading it. I won't bore you with the all the bad things that formula companies have done here and even more so in Africa. That could be a whole other entry or even blog. All I'll say is shame on those companies for being so malicious & irresponsible in the name of profit.

That is it for now. Hope for some nice cool weather for me!!! And please don't email to brag about how cold it is where you live. I did mention how easily bothered I am.....

Tur-what-ken???

This year for Thanksgiving, we thought we'd try a Turducken. I know, a what???? Basically it is an almost boneless turkey stuffed with a duck that is stuffed with a chicken breast and lots of stuffing in between the layers of meat. I ordered it from Louisiana, it costs more than it should, but what the hell, we are up for an adventure. So, we (Adam, me, Mikey & Jess) were all excited to get and try out turducken. We spend pretty much every Thanksgiving with the Boyntons, and have tried all kinds of things for Turkey Day. Although, I have to say Thanksgiving 2004 (Jess slaved all day in her kitchen) was by far the best.

Well, the final word on turducken. Just okay. Not worth the cost, not as good as we thought it would be, and it was no '2004'. Ha! But, the culinary adventure was fun and we'd always wonder what it was like if we hadn't done it. Just for the record, I still am not sure about the existence of the chicken in the whole thing, I didn't see it, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.

The week of Veteran's Day we decided to refinish our kitchen cabinets. It took about 2 weeks of stripping, sanding, painting, glazing, sealing, drying, and then hanging doors. But, it was well worth the effort. They look fantastic. We replaced all the hinges and handles too, so it was a complete change. We also changed our hood, ordered a new stove and will order new counter tops this week. We've wanted to do this since we moved in, but never did it. Well, let's be honest, we were dreading it. But with Rowan coming and it looks like we'll put the house on the slow market in March, it had to be done.

Here's a quick before and after photo - note the hardware in the middle of the cabinet doors and the routed grooves in the doors were actually painted black with the brown stain.

Ugh. Now they are an off white with a hand glazed aging and much better hardware. I have decided glazing is an art - very hard to keep all the doors and drawers looking like they belong together. In other words, not using too much or too little. I'll post more finishing pictures as we fcomplete the kitchen, but I am really proud of how they turned out and what a difference it makes. Hopefully it will help sell our house in the Spring.