Soooo… this happened.

Audrey Margaret Georgia was born on April 20th at 4:05am.

She’s pretty amazing.

9lbs 5oz at birth

11lbs 13oz at 3 weeks.  She’s a little porker!

I can’t believe she’s finally here, and she’s all ours!

Birth story coming soon!

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Cleaning is something that we all have to do, and can be a pretty tedious chore.  Lately I’ve been looking for more eco- and wallet-friendly ways to clean the house.  I’ve recently fallen in love with a new all-purpose cleaner.  It’s cheap, environmentally friendly, and non-toxic.  Some people don’t like the smell, but it doesn’t bother me much, and it goes away pretty quickly. 

What is this miracle product?

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Vinegar.  Plain, ordinary, white, put-it-on-your-fries vinegar.

Here are my 5 favourite ways to use vinegar to clean around the house:

1. Clean your microwave! put a micro-safe dish with 1/2 water and 1/2 vinegar in your microwave.  Set the microwave to full power for long enough that the mix boils (usually about 3-4 minutes.)  Keep the door closed and let everything cool for about 30 minutes, remove the dish, and wipe clean!  The steamy vinegar will loosen any stuck-on gunk, and take away any lingering odours. 
2. Add it to your laundry! We all know you’re not supposed to use fabric softener on towels right?  The chemical softeners get sucked up by the towel and decreases its absorbency.  To fix this, pour about 1/2 cup of vinegar into your washer’s ‘softener’ section (or add it when you usually add the softener).  It will help remove the softener residue, and make them nice and soft.  If you use the dryer sheets, make sure you don’t use one when drying these towels, or you will be right back where you started! Vinegar can be used in place of fabric softener for all your clothes and washables, and it’s really beneficial for towels.  I promise it doesn’t make your clothes smell like vinegar either!
3. Clear a slow drain! Everyone remembers making a baking soda and vinegar volcano at some point, right? These two common items react very strongly with each other, causing lots of gas and bubbling.  This is perfect for a slow-moving drain.  put 4 tablespoons of baking soda in the drain, and follow with 4 tablespoons of vinegar.  It will probably bubble back up into your sink/tub, that’s ok.  Boil the kettle while the soda and vinegar are working away, and pour the hot water down the drain. Voila!  This should clear any minor-medium slowness in your drains.  If you’ve got a major blockage, try it again!
4. Clean glass and mirrors! Use vinegar on your mirrors and windows to avoid the streaks that can come with soap or commercial glass cleaners.  Make sure you use a non-linty cloth, such as microfiber to ensure you don’t leave anything behind!  I haven’t tested this out, but I’m also told you can do this with the windows in your car, and they will resist forming frost and ice in the winter. 
5. Clean everything else! You can use a mixture of 50% water to 50% vinegar to clean countertops, faucets, cabinets, door handles, sinks, showers, tubs, and toilets.  Basically anything you would use a commercial cleaner for, try vinegar first!  (Except marble.  Please don’t use vinegar on marble.  The acid can permanently etch it.)

So there you have it!  My newest favourite cleaning product that doesn’t harm the environment, is ok to pour down the sink, and is totally edible! (drinkable?)

What is your favourite green cleaning tip? I can’t wait to hear them!

Last Thursday Adam and I took the train to NYC as a “last trip before baby”.  I was worried about finding healthy snacks on the train (the trip was 8 hours!) so I made sure to bring a bunch of my own:

Chocolate chip peanut butter cookies

Wine gums – not that healthy, but my favourite candy

I also mixed up some trail mix.  It consisted of:

Roasted Almonds

Roasted and salted sunflower seeds

Dried Cranberries

Raisins

And leftover Valentine’s Day smarties.  It was a good mix that kept us from starving, and kept our blood sugar even so we didn’t get cranky with each other during the 8-hour trip.

More NYC coming soon!

One way my nesting instinct is manifesting itself is by getting as much food prepared in advance as possible.  I wrote out a list of meals we like to eat, and notes about ways to adapt them to the freezer. 

Remember the Lazy Girl’s Lasagna from the other day? Here’s how much extra I made at the same time:

4 2-portion trays, and 2 larger casseroles.  Plus, 2 extra lunch-sized portions from this one I baked for our dinner. 

There are 2 different ways I’ve been freezing meals so far. 

First, I got these restaurant-grade aluminum trays. 

They’re just large enough for 2 portions, and small enough to not take too long to heat back up.  I packed them all up, and wrote the contents and directions on the top.

The second way I’ve been freezing meals is in our casserole dishes.  I don’t remember where I read this tip, but it’s a pretty great idea.  First you take the casserole dish:

line it with aluminum foil.  I use 2 sheets to make sure nothing escapes:

build your meal inside.

Cover the top with plastic wrap and put in the freezer. 

After about 24 hours, remove the dishes from the freezer.  Take off the plastic wrap which will have collected all the condensation.  Wrap the foil over the top of the dish (use more if you need to) and pull it out of the dish.  You’re left with a frozen casserole that you can put into a ziploc bag and put back in the freezer.  When it’s time to cook the casserole, put it back in the casserole dish, and bake as normal. 

This tip works great for larger portions, and makes it so all your casserole dishes aren’t tied up in the freezer!

Tonight I threw together one of my favourite comfort foods.  It never really had a name before tonight, but I’ve decided that Lazy Girl’s Lasagna is a good term for it.  It has 3 very simply ingredients:

• Pasta sauce
• Pasta
• Cheese

Steps:

1. Cook pasta to just before al dente
2. Combine with pasta sauce
3. Layer in a casserole dish with cheese
4. Sprinkle more cheese on top
5. Bake for 20 minutes at 350. 

Take your sauce

And your pasta

Combine.

Layer with cheese and bake!

That’s it! It’s super easy, and paired with a simple salad makes a great meal. 

We decided to go pretty simple in our nursery decoration.  Firstly, because we didn’t want it to be too “baby” and have to redecorate the room in 2 years.  Second, because we’re on a budget, so we picked the stuff that would give us the biggest bang for our buck.

I chose a tree wall decal from KinkyWall on Etsy.  They were great to work with, and the decal shipped really quickly!

I started by cutting out all the separate pieces of the vinyl, and then Adam and I taped everything up to see how it would look. 

Once we figured out how high to place the sticker, it was all a matter of peeling, sticking, rubbing, and peeling again.  A tedious process for sure, but well worth it!

We had to match the branches to the trunk, and then hang the picture line across the crib.  Here’s the finished project:

See all those leaves? We had to stick each and every one on individually.  So it’s a little more sparse than the image on etsy, because I was just too tired to keep sticking leaves!

I have to find some pictures to put in those ‘frames’ – I think it will be great for baby to see the faces of her loved ones every day, even it they’re not around!

Adam and I, along with Adam’s parents, sister, brother-in-law, new baby niece, and brother-in-law’s parents vacationed in Quebec City over Christmas this year. 

Our hotel was the amazing Auberge Saint-Antoine.  It was a beautiful hotel in the old city, close to the port of Quebec. 

This is similar to what our room looked like.  So comfy and lots of space!

We has a fabulous time touring the city, eating amazing food, and spending a lot of time relaxing.  The tub in the bathroom was big enough for me to fully lay down in! That hasn’t happened in years!

Fabulous walking tour

Stopped here for hot chocolate – they have the BEST hot chocolate in Quebec City!

Shopping district – one of the oldest streets in Canada!

looking down from the walls of the city towards our hotel

The Chateau Frontenac – landmark hotel

Adam and I out for a walk along the walls of the city.  We had such a great time on this trip! 

So Hi.  I know.  It’s been a while. 

First, how about a baby bump picture?

That right there is what’s been taking up most of my time these days.  Wake up, work, eat, sleep. Repeat.  The good news? Baby’s room is just about done, and I only have 6 weeks of work left!

I’ve been hesitating to post because I was feeling like I didn’t have anything to post about, that ‘fit’ my blog.  I haven’t been cooking/baking anything really interesting, and my fitness has dropped to walking and the occasional pre-natal yoga.  What would I write about?  Talking about it with Adam made me realize: this is my space, I can post about whatever I want!

Now that doesn’t mean that I won’t post about food or fitness at all, I will.  I have grand plans for stocking our freezer with meals before the baby comes, and I will share those recipes, as well as tips and tricks I figure out for meal shortcuts along the way.  I can’t wait to get back into running, and just being outside with the baby.  But there will be other things.  Home projects, crafty things, and more ‘life’ stuff. 

I love blogging.  It’s a wonderful outlet for me, and I love the communities that evolve from blogs.  I hope you’ll stay along for the ride, because it’s gonna be a good one!!

First off, thank you so much for all your kind words and good wishes for Baby Long Legs! It’s been an interesting journey so far, and I wanted to share with you some of my diet so far.

Starting right from the beginning, my biggest thing has been protein.  I want lots of it at every meal. I’ve been eating a lot of these:

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some of these:

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more of this than I care to admit:

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And at least one of these a week for the past 17 weeks (usually 2):

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I just can’t get enough protein.  I find myself waking up in the middle of the night for a snack, and I always always always have something to eat in my purse/car/pocket.  Navigating my hunger is a day-to-day thing, but I think I’m getting to a stage where I can head off any side effects from not eating enough.

As far as cravings go? I constantly want fruit.  Doesn’t matter what kind of fruit it is, I’ll eat it.  Usually with peanut butter on it.  If I’m really craving something (today it was ice cream) I won’t deny myself, but I’ll make sure it’s good quality, and in a small yet satisfying portion. 

I’ve gained about 4 pounds at this point (17 weeks along) and for me, that’s healthy.  It’s all baby/boobs so far, hopefully it will stay that way!

Well hello there!

I know it’s been a while since you’ve heard from me, and some of you may already know why. 

I’ve been working on a little side project for the past 3 months, and it has been taking all of my time and energy to get it growing. 

Need a hint?

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Yep, that’s right.  There’s a bun in this oven! Earlier this summer, Adam and I were thrilled to find out that we are expecting our first child in April 2012.  The first trimester hasn’t been easy, and the two things I wanted to do the least? Eat/cook/prepare anything that wasn’t cereal or yogurt, and get any sort of exercise other than walking. 

I’m starting to feel better now, and am actually excited to get back into the kitchen and back outside for some exercise while the weather is still nice.  Don’t worry that this is going to turn into all baby all the time, it won’t.  I will still bring you the recipes, fitness, and health facts that you have grown to love, along with my journey through pregnancy and motherhood.