Sprout

We had a great dinner at Sprout!

The three of us (me, Matt, & my mom) had the early 5:30p.m. reservations so we got a great seat where we could see the whole restaurant (not that it's big) and we didn't have to sit close to anyone else. I recommend that even though it's embarrassing to walk into an empty restaurant, feeling a little like getting the Senior Citizen special.
Our waiter was great - super attentive and knowledgeable about the menu, and if anyone knows me they know I ask the waiter all sorts of questions. Not to be a pain, but when I'm spending that kind of money, I like to know what I'm getting. And have you seen the menu? Pretty sparse on the description, and that's where the waiter becomes your conduit to the kitchen gods. He didn't steer us wrong on any course.

We decided to go with the prix-fixe 3-course dinner (which included a nibble between courses), and Matt & my mom got the wine pairings too. So we all ordered something different for each course with the intention of tasting each others. The pictures are horrible - I didn't want to be annoying with any flash but I wanted to remember our meal - so I grabbed what I could off their website. You'll know which photos are ours!

Mom:

Fois gras

Veal

Corn dessert

Matt:

Crab

Black Cod

Rhubarb dessert

Me:

Artichoke

Ono

Beet dessert

November 2009

We got the crib delivered and the sticker on it says "Manufactured November 2009." I had to call Matt up right away and tell him ... that the crib and the baby were both "manufactured" at the same time. How much of a coincidence is that?

Fragile life

One of the women in my Pregnancy/August 2010 message forum went into early labor at 24-weeks; her little one lived for just 1-hour... When I found out, I started to cry and realized how fragile all of this is (I'm bawling now as I type this). I cannot imagine what it must feel like to hold your baby, knowing that it cannot survive. Last night, our little baby was moving around like crazy, and as I laid my hand on my belly I said a prayer to keep him/her safe, to comfort this grieving mom, and to not take anything we have for granted.

"Feisty" Fetus

We had our 29-week doctor's appointment this morning -- from here on out we go every 2 weeks until 35/36 weeks. Heart-rate was 133 and all the doctor could say was "What a 'feisty' baby!" and "This one is really active!"

I could have told her that as the baby was pretty much tiny-fist jabbing me all evening, night, and morning - to the point where I was getting weirded out because it's starting to feel so real and when you place your hand on my belly, it will move up and down. Matt felt a super huge kick the other day that now I'm sure he's positive we're incubating the alien baby (at least I've been suspect for a while).

The doctor -- a nice woman who reassured me that there will be birthing balls, squat bars, showers, etc for me to have access to while in labor (and that not having an epidural is perfectly fine) -- told me that an active baby is always good. Matt and I walked out smiling, proud of our tiny 'Rocky'.

And I've gained 27lbs since getting pregnant. Still above normal...

Baby Gifts!

The baby just received it's first gifts and Matt and I are so tickled pink (or blue, or green)...

My cousin Natalie got introduced to the beast that is "the baby boutique" and while the saleslady was trying to get her to buy a photo album for the sonogram, she was a smart girl. Instead she bought us a CD of Lullaby renditions of Green Day songs by Rockabye Baby. How fun! Now we can sing the baby to sleep to the words of American Idiot. Sweet!

And Monday night, my mom and dad came over to tell us they are going to buy us our stroller -- a red UppaBaby Vista 2010! I couldn't believe it and was surprised at how calm my dad seemed (my mom must not have told him the cost). Matt and I were so stunned and happy that Matt opened up an $80 bottle of Icewine to celebrate. My mom is just gonna love taking the baby for a walk in that stroller on her 2 days of baby bliss (when my maternity leave is over and she gets custody of grandchild #1 for 2 days a week).

Thank you!!!

Upcoming Dinner!

I'm excited, we just made reservations to take my mom to Sprout -- the restaurant run by Dale (Top Chef Season 3 finalist). My mom has watched Top Chef from the beginning, and when she read about Dale's restaurant in the paper, she just kept dropping hints "wouldn't it be nice to go there? I bet Dale's restaurant serves good food. I sure would love to be able to go to Sprout..." We got the hint and got reservations for next week at 530PM (when they open, don't you love being the first reservation of the night?).

It would be a cold day in hell before my dad would ever take my mom to a nice restaurant in the city -- although I would love to see my dad out like this. I would have to videotape the entire thing because there would be so much... first off, it's a 3 course prix-fixe meal, which means he couldn't order the cheapest thing off the menu. That would throw him off right there. The there's the studying of the menu ("I don't know what any of this means and can't we just go to Dapper's [family restaurant in the suburbs]), the parking ("It cost $15 to park the car, this is why we moved out of the city 30 years ago"), and finally the prices ("This is for people who don't actually work for a living, Rosemarie. You should save your money, not spend it.").

Yes, it would be a lot of fun.

Mother's Day Dinner

Mother's Day Dinner at Costa's (a suburban Greek Restaurant) with the Usual Suspects (aka "my family") ... I have leftovers for a week!

(I realize that a few people got cut out of this photo - Tony, Aunt Laura ... sorry!!)

Lots to do ...

Once I hit the 3rd trimester last week, it hit us that we still have a lot of work to do!

Baby registry
My cousins are throwing Matt & I our baby shower; they're ordering the invites and we still hadn't decided where to register (or what to register for!). So last weekend, we met our friend L out at Babies R Us to de-mystify the baby crap and tell us what we really need. It was overwhelming, but it made Babies R Us much less intimidating.

The Crib
Then we decided we have to go buy a crib, because we didn't know how long it would take to arrive. For that we went to the Land of Nod and fell for this perfect simple crib - nothing too fancy that we can still use for a boy/girl and children to come. (And it's in stock and arriving this Friday!) Once we were there, we thought the store was so nice and we really loved their crib bedding, so we went ahead and registered there too.The Nursery
The baby's room (as well as the rest of the upstairs) is still not close to being finished. Doors & dooor trim need to get painted and re-hung, the closet interiors have to be installed, and I need to finish the decor. So Matt painted all weekend; his goal is to have it done by the baby shower so we can have everyone over to the house afterward to see the room, have drinks, and relax outside.

Not to mention, our office is now the junk room, and that will have to get cleaned out too ...

When my aunt saw the room yesterday, she asked, "Will all this get done in time?" I said, "Of course!" Do I believe it? Hmmm... miracles do happen.

mama

Happy Mother's Day to my mom and nani! Two pretty fantastic looking ladies! (I hope I get your genes!!)

I love Apps: GoodReads App

Matt will tell me that I don't download enough Apps for my iPhone, but I guess I'm selective because I don't want to crowd things.

BUT ...

I love Apps.

I just downloaded the GoodReads App and so now when I go to the library, I can see what books I have in my list to read (instead of printing up a page or writing down a list before I go). It's all right there in my phone.

Thank you Apple.

Nashville under water

So we went to Nashville last weekend, and this weekend the city is under water...

We kept hearing about the rain from Matt's family, but it wasn't until last night, when Matt and I were looking at photos of the city on Yahoo News, that we realized what a catastrophe this is. It was so sad looking at the photos and we're all just hoping that life will be restored as soon as possible. Luckily, Matt's family hasn't been affected (as far as I've been told) -- at least not to the extent of the person who's home we saw floating away in a video, or whose cars are left stranded.

If you look at my photos from our trip, LP field is now under water ...

I know what a mess floods are - in 1987 our house was completely surrounded in water and if it wasn't for the strength of my dad and family who sand-bagged our entire structure, we would have lost everything.

Welcome 3rd trimester!

I look HUGE in photos, but I don't FEEL huge. And I can still see my feet!

Nashville weekend

Last weekend we went to Nashville to see Matt's family, and show them that I am really pregnant - ha ha! I'm not intending to do any travel in the 3rd trimester (except maybe for some Lake Geneva weekends) so we wanted to make sure to go before I got too big and cumbersome for this long car ride.

On the way down we divided the trip-- 4 hours on Thursday night, and 4 hours on Friday morning -- and stayed over at a Hampton Inn 30 miles south of Indy. It was the perfect break; we got a good night's sleep and complimentary breakfast, so we were ready to hit the road the next day. On the way back, we made sure to leave by 9AM, and then we stopped every 100 miles for a potty break/leg stretch, and we actually stopped for lunch and some shopping at one of the Outlet malls -- which we never do, preferring to nosh on Pringles in the car. I even bought a new purse and my brother some much needed 3XL clothing, so stopping was good all the way around.

I want to say it was a relaxing trip, but on Saturday we were up at 6:30AM and not back to the hotel (I won a night at the Embassy Suites) until after 10PM. I was so over tired and Matt vowed that Sunday would be about taking it easy for me. We were up so early on Saturday because it was the Nashville Marathon and Matt's parents house wasn't too far from the 4th and 8th mile markers. Neither one of us had seen a real marathon so we got up early, were the first in line at our favorite Nashville coffeehouse, and got to the marathon in time to see some of the best runners (not the very best unfortunately) go past. Although we felt lame cheering them on as we drank our coffee and ate muffins... We were lucky though because the rest of the day it rained heavily so we were glad that we got out that morning to see the marathon, walk around Vandy, and have breakfast at the Pancake Pantry.

The rest of the weekend we enjoyed ... seeing the Kid's Marathon at LP Field on Friday, swimming at the Pool at the Embassy Suites (plus their good breakfast and comfy beds), hanging out with the outlaws on the deck, enjoying lunch in the Village and in Franklin, and dinner with everyone Sunday night... Baby Screeman ate too much this weekend.