So yesterday Jen was excited since the baby was really active and you could actually SEE the baby pushing up against her skin. What i mean is that every so often you could see little bulging from her belly... I was amazed! Apparently little C has been very active lately especially when Jen hasn't eaten yet.
I'm wondering how a baby can affect a mother's appetite. It must release some type of chemical to notify the mother that it is hungry... and somehow it must release other types of chemicals to let the induce certain cravings? I don't have any idea.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Baby's R Us...The insanity
This past Sunday we went to Baby's R Us to register. In case no one is aware, Baby's R Us is a warehouse full of babies and you pick one out to bring home. OK, thats not quite right, but the place is rather daunting. This place is huge... and its FULL, chock FULL of baby stuff and pregnant ladies... I had no idea there were so many things for such a tiny thing. The store does this whole "Registration Brunch"... which is their way of getting the guys to go along to the store. So guys think that there is going to be alot of good breakfast items to gorge on... No way Jose...
I had a stale donut (you know the el cheapos from the grocery bread isle..) and couple pieces of mangled fruit. AND NO COFFEE...
Next up: the presentation.
After filling up on formula (i had to eat SOMETHING), we got to play a game. It was "guess the most popular baby items". I didn't do so well. I think out of ten i got zero... Jen didn't do much better, she got one. I guess we aren't trained baby consumers (that sounds a bit odd...) that we need to be to be part of the baby experience. Actually no-one did much better. There were eight other couples, and i think the best score was by the guy who brought his own coffee... bastard.
So the game was over and they then lectured us on the content of our binders. I don't remember much since i was trying to keep my eyelids open with the silicon bottle nipples...
The presentation took one hour... I'm not sure how that happened...I must have blacked out for a while....
It did prepare me for the best part: the registry.
Luckily for me (and the rest of my future family), Jen is the most organized person in the world. Just think of the most organized person you know... and then quadruple it. That is my wife... and i love her for it. While other guys were getting sappy cubic zirconia for their loved ones, i was getting a labelmaker. She loved it too, and proceeded to label the entire house... including the dog.
So this organization reduced our registration time down to three hours... I imagine if she wasn't as organized we would have closed the store. She knew pretty much what we needed so we zipped around the warehouse like turtles on speed. We got all the necessary items and some of the unnecessary items... which we promptly deleted online when we got home. I got to use the laser gun... which is a bit overrated. It provides the guy with a way to stay involved in the process and i found it to be a bit unreliable. I think it provides the guy with a chance to throw something that friggen won't scan... Damn thing nearly took a trip across the store.
Did you know that you need three strollers... yeah! that kid will have more vehicles than i will... You need one for the infant stage, one for the toddler stage and one so that you can lug that kid through airports and malls...
After our three hour marathon....we both needed some food... and i needed a beer. Ah sweet hopped fermented malted barley... how i love thee...
I had a stale donut (you know the el cheapos from the grocery bread isle..) and couple pieces of mangled fruit. AND NO COFFEE...
Next up: the presentation.
After filling up on formula (i had to eat SOMETHING), we got to play a game. It was "guess the most popular baby items". I didn't do so well. I think out of ten i got zero... Jen didn't do much better, she got one. I guess we aren't trained baby consumers (that sounds a bit odd...) that we need to be to be part of the baby experience. Actually no-one did much better. There were eight other couples, and i think the best score was by the guy who brought his own coffee... bastard.
So the game was over and they then lectured us on the content of our binders. I don't remember much since i was trying to keep my eyelids open with the silicon bottle nipples...
The presentation took one hour... I'm not sure how that happened...I must have blacked out for a while....
It did prepare me for the best part: the registry.
Luckily for me (and the rest of my future family), Jen is the most organized person in the world. Just think of the most organized person you know... and then quadruple it. That is my wife... and i love her for it. While other guys were getting sappy cubic zirconia for their loved ones, i was getting a labelmaker. She loved it too, and proceeded to label the entire house... including the dog.
So this organization reduced our registration time down to three hours... I imagine if she wasn't as organized we would have closed the store. She knew pretty much what we needed so we zipped around the warehouse like turtles on speed. We got all the necessary items and some of the unnecessary items... which we promptly deleted online when we got home. I got to use the laser gun... which is a bit overrated. It provides the guy with a way to stay involved in the process and i found it to be a bit unreliable. I think it provides the guy with a chance to throw something that friggen won't scan... Damn thing nearly took a trip across the store.
Did you know that you need three strollers... yeah! that kid will have more vehicles than i will... You need one for the infant stage, one for the toddler stage and one so that you can lug that kid through airports and malls...
After our three hour marathon....we both needed some food... and i needed a beer. Ah sweet hopped fermented malted barley... how i love thee...
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
18 week Ultrasound pictures
Wow.... here are ultrasound pictures... its amazing what technology can get you these days.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Experimental Dinner night
Since Jen has been a vegetarian, my cooking has been well.. lets say challenged...So I tend to experiment quite a bit... Here's what I made tonight, which turned out rather well.
Quinoa with Roasted Golden Beets
I cleaned the beets, removing the greens (to save for the next dish) and then wrapping them in foil. Then i roasted them in a 450 degree oven for 40 minutes.
I then cooked the quinoa ( 1 cup quinoa to 2 cup water) for 10 minutes.
When the beets were done, i scraped the skin off of them and then sliced them into thin slices. I sauteed them in a little butter and mixed them with the quinoa. Added kosher salt and pepper to taste.
Red Rice with Sauteed mushrooms, Beet greens and toasted sunflower seeds
Cooked the red rice for about 45 minutes (1 cup rice to 2 cups water). Then sauteed the mushrooms in butter and olive oil until they were nice and browned. I then added the beet greens and put a cover on the pan... after about 2 minutes the greens were good and wilted. I toasted the sunflower seeds in a cast iron pan, and then mixed everything together. Season with salt and pepper and some Penzey's Northwoods seasoning.
All in all turned out well. Jen actually liked the two dishes above mixed together...
Quinoa with Roasted Golden Beets
I cleaned the beets, removing the greens (to save for the next dish) and then wrapping them in foil. Then i roasted them in a 450 degree oven for 40 minutes.
I then cooked the quinoa ( 1 cup quinoa to 2 cup water) for 10 minutes.
When the beets were done, i scraped the skin off of them and then sliced them into thin slices. I sauteed them in a little butter and mixed them with the quinoa. Added kosher salt and pepper to taste.
Red Rice with Sauteed mushrooms, Beet greens and toasted sunflower seeds
Cooked the red rice for about 45 minutes (1 cup rice to 2 cups water). Then sauteed the mushrooms in butter and olive oil until they were nice and browned. I then added the beet greens and put a cover on the pan... after about 2 minutes the greens were good and wilted. I toasted the sunflower seeds in a cast iron pan, and then mixed everything together. Season with salt and pepper and some Penzey's Northwoods seasoning.
All in all turned out well. Jen actually liked the two dishes above mixed together...
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Flying shingles
Ha....
So our neighbor up the street is renovating the house next door. I'm really happy about that since the previous owner didn't seem to care too much about it. Anyway apparently the place is in pretty bad shape and they've been hard at work alot. I don't think there's heat on in the place right now, and since its rather cold (12F now) there isn't work being done on it currently... Anyway the wind has really kicked up today and on my way back from the store today i saw shingles flying around and decorating the tree in front of their house. It was pretty awesome since the shingles fly in a circular manner and swirl all around...
needless to say they're all over the yard and in their tree...
that's not going to be fun to fix... in this weather especially.
So our neighbor up the street is renovating the house next door. I'm really happy about that since the previous owner didn't seem to care too much about it. Anyway apparently the place is in pretty bad shape and they've been hard at work alot. I don't think there's heat on in the place right now, and since its rather cold (12F now) there isn't work being done on it currently... Anyway the wind has really kicked up today and on my way back from the store today i saw shingles flying around and decorating the tree in front of their house. It was pretty awesome since the shingles fly in a circular manner and swirl all around...
needless to say they're all over the yard and in their tree...
that's not going to be fun to fix... in this weather especially.
Edgewood Progressive Dinner
Last night was the Edgewood progressive dinner. Every year the edgewood borough foundation organizes a progressive dinner for all residents. Not all residents participate, but if they knew what they were missing, they would. So here's the deal, you sign up to bring either a dessert, wine, bread and salad, or an appetizer. You can also sign up to host either the appetizer function, the dinner or... if you own the biggest house in the area... the dessert... Next, you get a call from the organizer and are provided the address of the first house for appetizers. So you go to this house, get your nametag and get to meet your neighbors...its amazing how nice everyone is. There are a number of other houses hosting the appetizers. So you drink and eat and talk with people you have something in common with. Its really a good time... we met some great people. The next thing is to go to your dinner house... which incidentally the address is written on your nametag. The main course is catered by the edgewood foundation. We get to meet a new set of people, and since Jen is a vegetarian, it usually means we meet other veg heads... The combination of people makes for very good dinner conversation and we ended up being late for the dessert. The dessert is served at one house, a huge monstrosity of a house called "the Castle" and yes, i believe we traversed a moat to get to the entryway. Awesome home...
Loads of desserts and drinks and everyone who participated in the progressive dinner met up here...
Good times....
Loads of desserts and drinks and everyone who participated in the progressive dinner met up here...
Good times....
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Data Mining Toddlers
Take a look at this article i found while reading slashdot.org.
Its rather interesting about a study done to see how children learn to speak...as data miners
Its rather interesting about a study done to see how children learn to speak...as data miners
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Super Bowl Sunday
So i'm starting this blog as a way for me to report my (soon to be) families trials and tribulations...
Jen (my wife of 2 years) is now 18 weeks pregnant and now starting to show. Yesterday we went to Magee women's hospital to view an ultrasound of baby Chaparro... Everything looks good and healthy. its truly amazing the technology that is available to us these days. My parents never got to see and ultrasound of me. They went to the doctor, who checked the vitals with a stethoscope and that was about. They even made a video of the little one for us...
I'm wondering what they'll have when my children have their own kids.
Today i brewed. It was a brew day. I finished my book on Belgium beers and decided to put to use my new knowledge of belgium methods. See Brewing Blog for more info.
I made enchiladas today as well. I found a recipe for making a red sauce, and used some California Chiles i picked up when in LA... the sauce was very good, but i think it needed more heat and was missing something... not sure.
The enchiladas came out soggy as always... but i checked out a web page that described how to prevent the soggy enchilada syndrome... fry the tortillas before you wrap the cheese/beans/meat whatever...
ok... i should have looked that up before... guess it really wasn't that big of a deal
Oh yeah.... the Giants beat the undefeated Patriots... in the Super Bowl. It was an OK game for most of the time, until the 4th, when both teams started scoring. Then it really became exciting. I'm pretty much happy that the Giants won... I hate the pastriots... and my uncle loves the Giants so... i guess i could root for them for a day.
Jen's upstairs putting together the changing dresser / table whatever its called. She's nesting as they say in the books. We already have a crib and a glider thing... and i'm sure there are alot more things to get. We went into Baby's R Us and i was pretty overwhelmed... i have alot to learn i think... How did people for thousands of years survive without warming wipes? i mean it must be only in the last 30 years that nearly 75 percent of this crap has been around... amazing.... its kind of like the internet... but only smaller...
Jen (my wife of 2 years) is now 18 weeks pregnant and now starting to show. Yesterday we went to Magee women's hospital to view an ultrasound of baby Chaparro... Everything looks good and healthy. its truly amazing the technology that is available to us these days. My parents never got to see and ultrasound of me. They went to the doctor, who checked the vitals with a stethoscope and that was about. They even made a video of the little one for us...
I'm wondering what they'll have when my children have their own kids.
Today i brewed. It was a brew day. I finished my book on Belgium beers and decided to put to use my new knowledge of belgium methods. See Brewing Blog for more info.
I made enchiladas today as well. I found a recipe for making a red sauce, and used some California Chiles i picked up when in LA... the sauce was very good, but i think it needed more heat and was missing something... not sure.
The enchiladas came out soggy as always... but i checked out a web page that described how to prevent the soggy enchilada syndrome... fry the tortillas before you wrap the cheese/beans/meat whatever...
ok... i should have looked that up before... guess it really wasn't that big of a deal
Oh yeah.... the Giants beat the undefeated Patriots... in the Super Bowl. It was an OK game for most of the time, until the 4th, when both teams started scoring. Then it really became exciting. I'm pretty much happy that the Giants won... I hate the pastriots... and my uncle loves the Giants so... i guess i could root for them for a day.
Jen's upstairs putting together the changing dresser / table whatever its called. She's nesting as they say in the books. We already have a crib and a glider thing... and i'm sure there are alot more things to get. We went into Baby's R Us and i was pretty overwhelmed... i have alot to learn i think... How did people for thousands of years survive without warming wipes? i mean it must be only in the last 30 years that nearly 75 percent of this crap has been around... amazing.... its kind of like the internet... but only smaller...
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