Baby Bump round 2

How far along? 27 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: let's just say I officially weigh the most I have in my entire life.  Fortunately, most of it is in my stomach... and hopefully it will stay that way.
Maternity clothes? Oh yes. Every day. I can still wear my normal pants if they have an elastic waist... which restricts me to PJs, workout pants and sweatpants... As much as I'm loving the elastic waistbands now, it is NOT ok for someone my age to wear jeans with an elastic waistband. Hopefully I will feel like I have a whole new wardrobe after I return to my old size. (Trying to be optimistic here...)

Stretch marks? not from being preggo!
Sleep: Sometimes getting up for the bathroom (just depends how much water I'm drinking), surrounding myself with pillows... and having issues falling asleep because he decides to move like crazy EVERY time I lay down. 
Best moment this week: being with my family for Thanksgiving and going to my first baby shower, thrown by my Mom!
Movement: Tons. After I eat, drink and before I go to bed.  Usually I feel it more when I'm sitting or laying down. Some of the moves have made me gasp... not super painful but a little bit weird. 
Food cravings: well, besides food in general, I'm craving fresh fruit again.  Especially fresh pineapple.
Gender: Boy.
Labor Signs: not yet. (However, I did read up on what these are so that I'm in the know!)
Belly Button in or out? In... but getting tighter- yikes!
Wedding rings on or off? On
What I miss: wine and fully caffeinated drinks from Starbucks! (same as before) I did forget to say "decaf" with one of my first drinks in a red cup... and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but didn't finish every sip. 
What I am looking forward to: is it too early to say Christmas Break??
Weekly Wisdom: So thankful to have other women in my life who are also pregnant at the same time... and right now, I'm especially thankful for the ones who are due before me... if they can do this, so can I!
Milestones: almost to the THIRD trimester!!!

Here are a few pics from the 2nd trimester... it's amazing how fast this little man is growing!!

17 weeks

25 weeks

27 weeks... last week of the 2nd trimester!

Menu Plan Monday 11/28

Yesterday was not a good day, so I didn't update my blog. I don't want to go into a ton of details about the situation, but basically there are some challenges I am going through with transitioning back as the full-time teacher (I have had a student teacher for the past few months) that make me not want to go to work.  So I spent time with Grant and spent time journaling and am doing much better today. 

Here's what we are eating this week: 

Sunday: pork tenderloin, garlic parmesan orzo, bread

Monday: creamy turkey & wild rice soup (made up the recipe... again, really need to work on writing down what I create...)

Tuesday: sweet potato & black bean burritos, Mexican rice

Wednesday: ravioli & green beans

Thursday: pot stickers, rice & vegetable egg rolls

Friday: leftover burritos

Saturday: going to our street's annual Christmas party

Menu Plan Monday 11/21

SO glad it's Thanksgiving week.  I only have to work Monday and Tuesday this year, which is awesome.  I am meeting a good friend for brunch Wednesday morning and then I'm baking some sugar cookies to take to Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' (well, that's my excuse... I also used the fact I had to bring snack to our small group on Sunday as a reason to try making cake balls for the first time).  You see, my glucose tolerance test, which checks to see if I have gestational diabetes is exactly one week after Thanksgiving.  I have always enjoyed sweets, and I don't think I've necessarily been indulging more than normal during pregnancy... but if I fail this test, I will have to give up sweets (and most likely really modify my diet)... so you see, I've decided to bake this week just in the event that I fail.  I'm hoping that the time & effort I spend baking will mean I will pass.  Sugar cookies are my favorite, especially ones shaped like Christmas (ok... I like them any time of the year, but the Christmas ones are just more common), so I will be a little really sad if I can't have one until March.

On another random note, I don't like to eat Thanksgiving-type food the week of Thanksgiving.  The Thanksgiving meal with my family has been drastically downsized, but there is still a chance we will have some turkey to use the next week.  So for this week's menu, minus tonight's dinner, we are having all ethnic food.  And by ethnic I mean Mexican/Tex-Mex because it's my favorite.  Seriously. I am debating buying the huge bag of cumin in the Indian section of the grocery store because I go through it so quickly. 

Sunday: beef & black bean enchiladas, mexican rice

Monday: chicken sandwiches, noodles & veggie

Tuesday: steak fajitas(see below) & fruit

Wednesday: frozen pizza... and Christmas Thanksgiving cookies while decorating our house :-) 

Thursday: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! (in Akron)

Friday: in Akron

Saturday: my first baby shower, then heading home... hopefully with some leftovers? 


I cannot figure out where my Steak Fajita marinade recipe came from (it's on a recipe card), so here it is: 
Steak Fajita Marinade
2 Tbsp EVOO or vegetable oil
1 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
1 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper 
Mix all ingredients together, marinate steak for 1-24 hours.. cook, slice, and serve in warm tortillas with sauteed onions & peppers.

New York City Days 3 & 4

Saturday morning, we did a little bit of shopping on 5th & Madison & in the Upper East Side... shopping meaning Laura & Emily bought & I simply looked because I'm not about to buy new clothes in my "condition." (Ok, I did get one scarf, thanks to Daddy C.)

We had lunch on the Upper East Side as well and then headed to Central Park.  It was neat to see part of the NYC marathon course and also some features of the park we had never seen before.

a pic of us by this fountain was our 2009 Christmas card!

L loves her little nephew. And the fact that I'm getting "fat." 

The Boat House

LOVE Central Park in the fall w/ my hubs :-)

 We went back to the hotel and my sisters and Grant and I went out to dinner as my parents had a black tie event at Ellis Island and we were not invited.  We split up after that and Grant and I saw a second show- "Follies," staring Bernadette Peters.  Grant loved it, I liked it (it was cool to see Bernadette Peters)... however, I preferred seeing Harry Potter perform & I'm still talking about it two weeks later  :-) It was a good show though, and the entire cast was super talented. It was fun to walk back at night as everything is slowly getting lit up for Christmas.  Someday, I will go when the tree is in Rockefeller Center!

the glittery scarf was my one new purchase in NYC. Thanks Dad. And sigh... someday we will visit NYC when it's fully decorated for Christmas!

again, the once too big North Face makes it look like I'm barely pregnant! thanks Mom :-)

Times Square after the show

Sunday morning, we took the subway to Chelsea and explored Chelsea Market.  I could have spent hours eating there... but we had just had breakfast, so I settled for a Jacques Torres Wicked Hot Chocolate that was by far the richest, thickest hot cocoa I had ever tasted.  

 We also visited the newly opened High Line park, which was built where there used to be a railway... it's pretty neat because the whole park is elevated above the city.  We ended our trip with a stop at a food cart, and since it was marathon Sunday, we took off a few hours early for the airport.

the Clark girls

The whole trip was almost flawless... until we got to the airport.  We printed off our boarding passes at the hotel's business center and since we were not checking luggage, we headed directly to security.  We waited in line for a good 40 minutes or so, had our IDs and boarding passes checked a first time... and then we got to the second security check, right before you strip down and throw everything on the conveyor belt.   The friendly TSA guy looks at our boarding passes and goes "these are for a flight out of LaGuardia."

"WHAT?!?"

I almost burst into tears on the spot.  I book all of the travel for our family, and I distinctly remembered that I was getting the best possible deal by flying CMH to LGA and then JFK to CMH on TWO DIFFERENT airlines.  Both were one way tickets.

The TSA agent said "maybe the ticket counter can help you out."

We head to the ticket counter, with me trying to hold back the tears while also trying to stick out my stomach as far as possible hoping that she would notice that I'm pregnant.  The woman asks to help us and I explain what happened.

She begins the tappedy tap tap tap on the keyboard... It felt like one of those moments in the movies where they were just clicking the keys to pretend they were doing something... and then she says, "No, this ticket was always out of LGA."  Then she asks, "were you checking any bags?"  She leaned over to the agent next to her and asked something about a fee, to which the woman shook her head.

She looks at me and goes, "Ok I have you rebooked on a flight out of here that leaves in one hour.  Here are your boarding passes.  I have waived all fees."

WHAT!?!?!!? (The good kind of WHAT?!?!?!)  I thanked her and vowed silently to use Delta more often.  We could not believe this actually worked out.  For free.  And on top of everything, the flight she booked us on got us home AN HOUR EARLIER! That hour was like gold on a Sunday night after a weekend away.

Dad, if you are reading this, thanks for a WONDERFUL trip to NYC :-) LOVE YOU! 

Menu Plan Monday 11/14

I am so excited it's almost Thanksgiving.  I have a lot to be thankful for this year :-) I actually don't get that excited about the meal itself... it's more just the fact I don't have to work for a few days and I get to spend time with family... and Grant will FINALLY let me listen to Christmas music & watch Christmas movies once it's Thanksgiving! 

Fortunately, this week isn't as busy as last week was... here's what's on the menu: 

Sunday: chicken noodle soup in the crock pot (I cleaned out the fridge...  baby carrots, spinach... yup, all went in the soup!)

Monday: Modenese Pork Chops, pierogies, broccoli

Tuesday: Cheesy Red Beans & Rice (with the addition of some turkey sausage), corn bread

Wednesday: Pancakes, eggs & fruit

Thursday: French Onion Soup & sandwiches

Friday: frozen pizza

Saturday: date night :-)

Have a great week!!!!

New York City: Day 1 & Day 2

We had an AWESOME time in NYC with my family.  In April 2009, Grant and I went for about five days and packed every minute with the touristy stuff we had never done on previous trips.  We covered most of it, so it was nice on this trip because we didn't feel like there was anything we had to do or see.  (When traveling with 5 other people, it is much harder to make decisions/be able to do whatever you want when you want...)

We arrived Thursday night while my parents were enjoying their dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria.  My Mom did not know we were coming, so it was super fun to surprise her! And fortunately, there were tons of desserts leftover, so we were able to eat. Grant & my sisters went out afterward... and I went to bed :-)

"What?!?!"

Surprise?!?! (She was SO surprised)

 Friday morning, Grant & I FINALLY took the NBC Studio Tour.  It was really cool to see the studios from which some of our favorite shows are taped.

Me in front of 30 Rock...thank you Mom, for always thinking I needed an size bigger than I wore when buying outwear... never realized I'd be able to wear my usually too big North Face when 6 months preggo :-)

SNL's studio (thanks Laura)

where they film the Today Show (which Justin Bieber was on the first day we were there... didn't get out of the hotel in time to see him though.)

Grant was super excited b/c this tour was sold out when we tried to go during spring break in 2009.

Grant and I then went up to the Top of the Rock... last time we were in NYC we did the Empire State Building... but the views here were better because you could actually see the Empire State Building.

Baby boy's 2nd trip to NYC... I was about 6 weeks prego the first time, and it was just a quick overnight stay in the airport hotel in Queens... in this pic, I'm 24 weeks along (6 months already! AHH!!)

In the afternoon, we went to Greenwich Village to meet up with my parents who were taking a tour.  Washington Square Park was under construction the last time we were there, so it was fun to see it not under construction.

sisters in Washington Square Park

love my husband's artsy pics :-)

our little family

Em & L

this pic of Laura makes me LOL.

 We walked from Greenwich Village up to where they camp out of Occupy Wall Street is taking place... definitely interesting... 

We also went to the newly opened World Trade Center Memorial.  It was beautiful, but definitely a bit eerie.  Seeing the names carved into the memorial and thinking about what happened was just odd, especially since the memorial consists of two fountains that are in the exact places the twin towers once stood.  They are rebuilding that area though, and it is looking beautiful. 

rebuilding...

That evening, we grabbed a bite to eat at a pub and then went and saw "How To Succeed in Business," staring DANIEL RADCLIFFE.  Oh my word.

 Can you see the joy in my facial expression?!? I loved every minute.  I couldn't believe I spent three hours in the same room as Harry Potter! He was so good... he spoke and sang in an American accent for the entire show... and then when it was over, switched back to his normal British accent.  They were raising money for a charity, so he auctioned off two bow ties he wore in the show- they got $1200 for each one, which also allowed the lucky buyer to meet Daniel.  I wanted to win... but that is also a lot of money.   The best part was his personality coming out during the auction.  A few hundred later, someone shouted out "TEN GALLEONS," to which the audience burst out laughing.  (Apparently I was not the only Harry Potter fan...) He said, "You Americans think you are SO funny, don't you?" He was hilarious and the show was great. After the show, we walked back through Times Square, made a family pit stop at Starbucks (of course!) and went to bed (well... some of us did).

Menu Plan Monday 11/4

Well... I had to lie a little on here last weekend.  We were actually in NYC with my family Thursday evening through yesterday afternoon.  It was a surprise for my mom- and even though she rarely reads this, I figured she would if I posted anything on here about the trip.  I will try to write about our weekend in NYC this week.  

 Here's what we are eating: 

Sunday: coming home from NYC

Monday: chicken cilantro won ton(from TJs) soup, salad

Tuesday: homemade mac & cheese(cutting in at least half), broccoli

Wednesday: Eggs, sausage & hash browns

Thursday: Turkey Tacos, mexican rice, corn

Friday: leftover tacos

Saturday: Penne with pumpkin and sausage, bread, salad