A pie pan? To use for breakfast? Huh?

I repeatedly asked Chris was he was making but he would only share the final result with me.

A ginormous Portobello mushroom baked in a pie pan?! What the?!?

Kidding, kidding.

It’s a Dutch Baby!

Well, according to Man of the House it’s either a Dutch Baby, a German Pancake, or a High-Rise. Can’t say I’ve heard of any of them!

While perusing CNN earlier this week, Chris came across the Man of the House blog and found this quick and easy recipe for a Dutch Baby. Either he was getting sick and tired of eating pancakes, waffles, and panwaffles, or he wanted to do something extremely sweet for his wife. I believe it was the latter.

Boy am I glad he decided to make something extra special for breakfast this morning because it was dynamite!

It tasted like funnel cake, French toast, and pancakes all in one!

We opted to top our Dutch Baby with some delicious strawberries.

I drizzled some real maple syrup (not Aunt Jemima if you can believe it!) on top before I took my first bite.

What a quick and easy recipe to follow! Perfect for husbands who may not be naturals in the kitchen. I know mine isn’t the only one. While Chris has several strengths, he’ll be the first to admit that cooking isn’t one of them.

Recipe taken from Man of the House.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 3 tbsp. butter
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• For Garnish- Juice 1 lemon, Powdered Sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Put the butter in a 9-inch pie plate or ovenproof skillet. Place in the oven and remove when melted.
3. Mix the remaining ingredients with a whisk and pour into the hot pie plate or skillet. Immediately return to the oven and bake 18-20 minutes, until browned on the outside.
4. Remove, sprinkle with lemon and powdered sugar. Slice and serve immediately.

Make this tomorrow!

Hunter thought Chris deserved a fist pump for his excellent effort.

Oh boys.

Good work hon! Keep those surprises coming!

Q for U-

Does your husband or significant other know how to make his way around the kitchen?

Did you know that the hormone relaxin causes the ligaments that support your joints to become relaxed when your pregnant? This is why my body felt so off during my first jogging attempt. I don’t feel normal yet, but I’m getting there.

I have been easing back into running by taking frequent walk breaks. The second time I went out for a jog, with baby and dog in tow, I jogged for two minutes, then walked for two minutes, for a total of 20 minutes. I really want to ease back into running slowly so I don’t injure anything. For the past five years I’ve had trouble with my IT Band, and I don’t really want it to flare up again!

Speaking of IT Band, I purchased a new pair of running sneakers to hopefully help prevent IT Band pain.

The Nike Zoom Equalon!

For the past three years or so I’ve worn the Nike Zoom Vomero.

They look pretty similar to the Equalons, right?

Both sneakers have a lot of cushion, and a large toe box for those of us with annoying bunions. The Equalons, however, are a stability sneaker and the Vomeros are neutral.

After noticing a wear pattern on my shoes, I realized that I slightly over pronate. A stability shoe is perfect for pronators so I’m hoping that I run pain free with the Equalons.

So far I am loving them! The one teeny tiny con is that they aren’t as light as the Vomeros and I have accidentally kicked myself in the ankle a few times with them. You’ve done that before, right??

My second new piece of running gear is…

wait for it…..

A Garmin!

I actually had nothing to do with this purchase. Chris surprised me with it as a Christmas present for “us.” Guess how many times I’ve used it since Christmas? Once! And guess how many times Chris has used it? Yup, several. Gotta love those for “us” gifts.

In all fairness I do see myself using it a lot more frequently once I get back into running, so Chris was on top of it!

The one time I used the Garmin was during my second jogging trial last week. I was so curious to know what my pace was!

Want to know what it was?

Between 10 and 12 minute miles.

I’ll take it!

It sure is better than no running at all.

Maybe by the fall I’ll be back to my 8:30 pace? Or maybe I won’t even care at all  (says one very competitive woman). We shall see.

******

So remember how I mentioned that I would try to focus on strengthening my core?

Yeah, well, it is really hard to find the time!

There is laundry to be done, bottles and pumps to be washed, mouths to be fed, floors to be swept and vacuumed, dogs to be walked, and Bethenny Ever After episodes to be watched.

While I haven’t exactly carved out time to work on my core, there is one activity that I take part in daily that I know engages my core!

Hunter loves to be bounced on the exercise ball. And then he spits up.

I purchased the exercise ball when I was pregnant and have yet to use it for anything other than bouncing Hunter. Some day I will though!

Can you believe Hunter is already two months old?!

Me either?! I also can’t believe that he is 12lbs already. He’s growing too fast!

He is one happy boy.

And we are two happy parents.

So what other new running gear should I get my hands on? I’m out of the loop!

After my six week post partum follow up appointment a few days ago, I got the OK from my OB to start running again! I practically jumped off the examination table and went for a jog right then and there! But then I realized Hunter would have been left all alone so I waited until Chris came home later that evening to dust off my running shoes and attempt to pound the pavement.

Look at me go! I’m jogging!

Um, barely.

The fact that Nylah, the pokiest dog on earth, is ahead of me says a lot about my pace.

My jog lasted a whopping ten minutes and I didn’t even make it one mile. Unfortunately, I was uncomfortable the entire time. I have a weird pain in my inner thighs that sort of felt like I did the thigh master one too many times. Additionally, my incision site will feel a bit numb for a few months and I just didn’t like how my lower abdomen felt.

Needless to say, I’m not quite sure I will be running a marathon any time soon.

Baby steps! Itty bitty baby steps.

Since running will take longer to get back into than I anticipated, I am going to try to fit in some exercises that work my core as well as some strength training. I may be back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but my body feels weak and could stand to be more toned.

Many of you are probably thinking the my stomach looks great, but I would love to tighten it up a bit so it looks similar to my pre baby bump belly.

In other news, I actually had time to make oats the other morning!

With brown sugar, strawberries, and Barney Butter.

It was such a nice change from cereal!

This bowl was scarfed down in two seconds flat because I was nervous that Hunter was going to wake up from his nap hungry. Similar to his mommy, Hunter is not a happy camper when he’s hungry!

I don’t know how Tina does it. She has two kids, one of which is only a few weeks older than Hunter, and manages to find time to workout, make oatmeal, cook dinner, blog more than once a day, and get out of the house often. She is my mommy hero! I hope to get my act together like her some day.

Now who wants to see some new photos of Hunter?

Thought so!

St. Patty’s day cuteness.

Chillaxing in his nap nanny.

My little sweetie pie.

Happy spring and have a great rest of the weekend!

The first two weeks of Hunter’s life Chris and I were fortunate to have a lot of help from our families and dinner was taken care of every night. And during those two weeks Hunter had a fussy period most nights from 6-9pm. Fun times. Now you see why I never imagined I would ever get a chance to make, let alone eat dinner, right?

Thankfully he seems to have grown out of the three hour fussy period but he still requires attention most nights during dinner time.

So at least I can actually prepare dinner even if we don’t sit down to eat together all the time.

Enter the crockpot!

An early birthday gift from my mother-in-law!

Thanks to the crockpot Chris and I had a break from pizza, frozen ravioli, frozen Indian, frozen sweet potato fries, and well, lots of frozen items.

I broke it out for the first time last night and made Kristin’s Sante Fe Chicken.

After coming across way too many recipes online and in Cooking Light that involved beef and pork I remembered that Kristin had made several crockpot dishes that included chicken. I have nothing against beef or pork, but I just tend to prefer chicken. I actually do plan on making pulled pork often!

The Santa Fe chicken was really easy to prepare and I loved being able to get everything ready in the morning while Hunter was napping.

After the crockpot did its thing all I had to do was put brown rice on the stovetop for 45 minutes and voila!

I only made two small changes to her recipe:

1. I used 1 tsp of cayenne pepper for extra spice
2. I used Monterey Jack cheese because that is what I had on hand

The delicious recipe from Kristin’s blog is below:

• 1 can chicken broth
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies
• 1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
• 8 oz frozen corn
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried cilantro
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
• Salt, to taste
• 2 large chicken breasts, thawed

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients from chicken broth to salt in crock pot. Salt chicken breasts, lay on top of mixture and cook on low for 7 hours.

2. Remove chicken breasts and shred with two forks. Return shredded chicken to crock pot, stir to combine, taste and adjust seasonings.

3. Serve over cooked rice, or in tortillas. Top with more green onions, sour cream, cheese and fresh cilantro.

Very tasty!

It felt so good to put a home cooked meal on the table! Even if we did end up eating a different times thanks to Mr. Hunter.

Speak of the devil….

Look how BIG he has gotten!

This baby sure does love to eat.

And has been gaining an average of 2 oz per day. That is twice as much as normal!

He has been a great baby and we are now in a routine of only having to get up once a night!

Hallelujah!

I hope it lasts.

Love him.

Especially now that he has started smiling.

Have a great rest of the week!

I am recovering well from my c-section and have even gotten out for a few strolls this week to get some much needed fresh air. It will be most likely be 2-3 more weeks before I attempt more strenuous exercise, so in the meantime my posts will be very baby heavy. Hope you don’t mind!

And I’ll be throwing in a lot of cute Hunter photos of course.

It’s hard to believe he will be two weeks old tomorrow!

On the belly front…

Here I am at 39 1/2 weeks pregnant, 24 lbs gained,  and about to head out the door to the hospital.

By this point I was really uncomfortable and couldn’t wait to get Hunter out!

And here I am two weeks post partum.

Out of curiosity, I have weighed myself twice since I’ve been home. The first time was two days after I got home from the hospital and I was swollen from the waist down and felt like I had water balloons for legs. Let me tell you that it was not a pretty sight! This was a result of the anesthesia I received and fluids through the IV. At first my weight was six pounds less than my pregnancy weight.

Once all of the swelling went down a few days later I was six pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight. I cannot believe how much water weight I was holding! Holy cankles.

While I do not have a lot more weight to lose, I have lost a lot of muscle tone. Once I get the OK to begin exercising again I will mainly be focusing on my core muscles and strength training, which will be done at home. And hopefully a few months down the road I will get back into running! I can’t wait! I don’t have a jogging stroller at the moment and Hunter is too young to be in one anyway so my cardio workouts will include jump roping and walking.

I will check back in as often as I can but as you can imagine having a newborn is very demanding and I haven’t been getting much sleep.

But it is absolutely worth it.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Hunter Anton!

Named in memory of my father-in-law, who was an avid hunter, and born on Sunday, January 30th at 6:07 p.m.

Hunter now shares a birthday with my mother-in-law!

He weighed in at 7lbs 3oz.

And his skinny little chicken legs make him 20 inches long.

I am recovering from an unexpected c-section due to an infection I contracted from my labor progressing too slowly, and Hunter is currently in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to make sure he doesn’t have any infections.

Please say a little prayer that he will be released from the NICU shortly!

We are thrilled that he is finally here.

And are so in love with him already.

Just wanted to share the good news with you all and I’ll be back with more details soon!

Who wants to take a little look-see?

Below is a view looking in from the doorway.

The final touch was the Ikea Poang Rocker that you see in the corner. We chose this rocker because wanted a more modern look than the traditional gliders that are used in nurseries. And we can see ourselves actually using this chair in another room once all the kiddos are grown up.

This view is from me sitting in the rocker. It’s a view I am sure to get used to!

Our crib is the Kendall crib from Pottery Barn kids which was a generous gift from my parents, and the crib bedding is from Dwell Studio, which was another generous gift from my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. At first I was hesitant to have any sort of “themed” bedding, but I am in love with the colors and the modern look, and it’s not like we have cars, trains, and other vehicles painted all over the walls or anything.

Here’s a closer look of the bedding.

Recently there have been debates as to whether or not bumper pads are safe, but based on several discussions with friends we decided to use ours so that there is no chance of our baby’s extremities flailing through the bars.

Did you happen to notice the two initials above the crib in one of the previous photos?

These were a gift from one of our best friends and are from Operation Letters. We love how unique the letters are and it was super easy to work with the owner of the company, Kim, to chose the fabrics that would coordinate with the nursery.

You’re probably wondering why there are only two initials, huh? Well that’s because we haven’t chosen the first name yet! We have a list of names we like and are waiting to see his face before we decide. Kim was kind enough to make just two of the initials so I could share them in this post! They make such a great gift for the mom-to-be and I highly recommend checking out her site.

The bookshelf is from the Pottery Barn Kids Outlet and was, well, another generous gift! This time from Chris’s Dad who we dragged to the outlets in Lancaster, PA  when he came to visit at the beginning of October.

We also had our eye on a dresser as well, and after some negotiating we were able to get 20% off both the dresser and bookshelf and an additional 10% off the bookshelf because there is a small nick on it. Score!

So we ended up with both pieces of furniture for a lot less than the original cost (online cost) of just the dresser! I love outlets.

The dresser!

With a changing table on top and filled to the brim with 0-3 month baby clothes.

Maybe some of you are questioning why we have such a small trash can for the amount of dirty diapers we’ll be changing? Here is our reasoning:

1. We will be changing a lot of diapers downstairs and I will not be running back upstairs just to throw away a poopy diaper in a trash can that supposedly locks the odor in. Those diapers will to straight into our garbage can outside.
2. When we do change diapers in the nursery the wet ones will go into the trash can and the stinky ones will go straight into the garbage can outside so there isn’t even time for odor to stick around.
3. The trash can fits grocery size bags so I will be able to reuse the plastic ones I get on those days that I forget my cloth bags, which happens.
4. Because of the small size we will be forced to remove the bag every few days which means less chance of odors hanging around.
5. Some of the fancy diaper pails don’t take regular trash bags so you are forced to by special bags for it. No thank you.
6. I have friends and family who shared that their diaper pail only stayed odor-free for a few months and was a waste of money.

I also plan on putting some baking powder at the bottom of the can.

Perhaps our favorite part of the nursery is the Cardboard Safari wall art that Chris picked out!

A rhino, moose, and bison.

These are a tribute to his Dad who was quite the hunter.

How cute are they?

Lastly, and certainly not that exciting, is the closet.

I just realized I have yet to put the hamper in there! The cloth bins are filled with blankets and toys, and the plastic drawers are filled with booties, socks, hats, bibs, burp cloths, and clothes that he won’t fit in for a few months.

Oh wait! I almost forgot the curtain fabric!

We also have this cute fabric that my mother-in-law will be sewing into curtains (thanks Jan!)

So there you have it! We can’t wait to introduce our baby boy to his new room.

******

Of course I can’t leave you without a 38 week belly update!

I am up 23 lbs and my appetite is still ferocious. Sleep does not come easy these days, hence my puffy eyes. Also, my visits to the doctor have increased to once a week and while my body is showing signs of preparing for labor, they really aren’t a clear indication of when the baby will plan on making his appearance. It could be tomorrow or in three weeks! Please cross your fingers that I don’t go a week late though.

I do believe we are finally ready for him to arrive!

Happy Thursday!

Who else is supposed to get snow in their area tomorrow?

My weight gain as of this Tuesday is now 22lbs and my appetite is out of control. I am not a happy camper unless I am snacking every hour! I try to keep my snacks healthy and balanced, but that’s not always the case.

Recent healthy snacks include:

• Yogurt (Chobani) and granola
• Banana with Barney Butter or peanut butter
• Cheese and whole grain crackers
• Organic oranges
• Cereal

Not-so-healthy snacks include:

• Goldfish crackers
• Goldfish graham crackers
• Potato chips
• Fruit snacks
• Frozen mini Reece’s peanut butter cups

The reason I’m classifying the above snacks as not-so-healthy is because they’re packaged, processed foods with little nutritional value. For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while you know I am not against enjoying junk food. However, I mainly focus filling my belly with  healthy, nutritious foods, while allowing myself  to enjoy less healthy foods in moderation (chips, ice cream, beer, wine, etc.). It’s all about balance! I think my unhealthy cravings are balanced out by my healthy ones.

I will admit that I have indulged in a lot junk food during my pregnancy, especially since I have a new found sweet tooth. My goal for after the baby is born is to begin focusing on clean food again. Lots of fresh produce and fruit, and more nuts, legumes, and whole grains. So pretty much how I ate pre-pregnancy! I will not completely cut out chips, ice cream, cookies,etc. from my diet, but I they will no longer be making a daily (or sometimes twice daily!) appearance.

And the good news is that I will be sharing my post-pregnancy eating habits and workouts with all of you because I will be getting into a regular blogging routine again once the baby is here! Give me a few weeks though. I’m not talking about the day after :)

Anyone have any predictions on whether I am going to go early or late? I have a strange feeling that I am not going to make it to February 1st, but maybe that’s because the baby was measuring a week ahead at my last ultrasound?

Happy Thursday!

So what did we have on New Year’s Eve?

Fondue!

Three courses of it in fact!

Brian, the host along with his wife Liz, took charge in the kitchen.

Mmmmm….just look at all that cheese!

Brian prepped the courses while the rest of us munched on wasabi peas, sesame sticks, and cashews.

As well as Crudités.

With spinach and artichoke dip.

I also enjoyed a 1/4 glass of champagne with fresh raspberries.

And savored every single sip.

Check out these handsome guys.

Not quite as good looking as the ladies though, huh?

As you can probably guess, the first course was cheese fondue.

Which Chris kindly helped prepare. Hey, how come you never step foot near our stove? Kidding! Sort of.

I know there was cheddar and Swiss cheese in there, but I can’t remember what else.

Regardless, it was fantastic!

There was bread and apple slices for dipping.

It was extremely difficult not to fill up on the first course!

And I was so caught up in enjoying the second course, which was beef, shrimp, and potatoes, that I forgot to take any photos!

Our bellies were pretty full at this point so we decided to take a break in front of the fire.

And play apples to apples!

I was very happy to have squeezed a board game in. Even though I didn’t win. Shucks.

While I was hanging out with my friends, Nylah made a new one, Sadie!

So tuckered out from romping around in the snow for a few hours.

Apples to Apples actually took longer than expected so we actually waited until after the ball dropped to have our final fondue course.

Dessert!

I have no idea how I was still awake at this point.

Must have been my new love for sweets that kept me going!

Dipping options included:

• Strawberries
• Pound cake (my favorite!)
• Bananas
• Macaroons
• Cookie sticks

I had this plate times ten.

Dare I saw that this was my favorite course?! Who am I and what happened to my salt tooth?

Thanks for a wonderful dinner and hosting us Brian and Liz (far left)!

The fun didn’t end there though. No sir.

We all stayed over and woke up to bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches on biscuits!

These were tremendous and totally hit the spot! There was no way I could stop at one, so I enjoyed two. I can’t wait to make these!

Happy 2011!

****************************

Well now, we are now officially in our son’s birth year! Took long enough!

36 weeks and feeling a little tired. Only four more weeks to go!

Whoa belly!

Just wanted to give you guys a better idea of how much I have grown since my first trimester.

I am currently up to my ears in baby clothes laundry as Liz graciously lent me a ton of infant clothes from her son Brandon. This little one will have no shortage of clothes that’s for sure!

I hope everyone had a great New Year’s and have a wonderful rest of the week!