Little Ballerina

Annmarie started ballet. She digs it.

5 Things

1. Annmarie reading to her pretend baby brother.
2. Playing with preschool buddy at the park.
3. Crazy storm clouds last week.
4. Cuddling rainbow birds.
5. Classic pot roast in the crock pot - recipe here.

The Bump :: 36 Weeks

The countdown is on. My parents will be here in 3 weeks, if he can wait until then, but not much longer...that would be awesome. Still feeling good, sleeping well. It's all about slip on shoes. Total weight gain - 12 kg. Not really sure how I am managing this, I feel like I am eating all the time. I was looking at a picture of me two days before I had Annmarie and my belly is smaller then than it is right now. I'm grateful that it is winter here, not sure how well I would be able to handle a summer pregnancy in OZ.

I've also been thinking a lot about how Annmarie will no longer be my only child. It's still something I haven't completely wrapped my head around. I know everything will fall into place, but I have been trying to savor these last moments together. Even today when she was a little sas and refused to get her shoes on and I may have gotten a bit cross with her; she told me and I quote "I want you to go to Daddy's work and for Dad to come home". By this point that little comment just made me laugh. There are days I feel the same way :).

I know AM is excited for her new role as big sister, but I can also feel there may be some challenges. I can also feel that it will all be worth it.

From last week and weekend

Annmarie loves herself a little ice cream painting. I draw her a ice cream cone and she paints it with different flavors (colors). She has asked to do it a few a times now and we have ourselves a nice little collection. And she is getting pretty good at staying in the lines.
She likes to pretend that the guitar stand is a microphone - rock on.
Annmarie and I out at a favorite cafe.

Last Friday Jamie and I had a nice little day date while AM was at preschool. We had one final ultrasound for buba and then Jamie got his hair cut - at an Aveda Hair Salon. He was quite impressed with the moisturizing treatment they gave him - I think he is hooked. I'm still trying to figure out why it was him and not me getting pampered. We then found a great little Dim Sims (Dim Sums) resturant. Great dumplings and you can watch them make them by hand.
Oh Harry - I am huge dorky HP fan. Loved the books and most of the movies. I pretty much cried the entire last hour and a half of this last movie. It did not disappoint, it was awesome.

A while ago Jamie bought some Major League Baseball package online so he could watch all the Giants games. He bought a cord so that we can connect the computer to the TV, now he can watch the games on the TV, and we also used it to Skype with Papa Tom this weekend.

Stuff and Vegetable Enchilada Recipe

banana pineapple muffin :: AM and the stone seal :: AM with Dad's guitar :: filling for veggie enchiladas (recipe below) :: jonquils :: morning tea

Vegetable Enchiladas

Recipe adapted from Martha. Basically, I like to use zucchini over spinach and add little more vegetable broth to the sauce. Also, I usually just make in a 9X13 dish, it doesn't make the full 16, but I end up using all the filling - I just add more of the filling to the tortillas. You can always change the veggies up too.

Ingredients

-2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for baking dishes
-2 teaspoons ground cumin
-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
-1/4 cup tomato paste
-2 cups vegetable broth
-coarse salt and ground pepper
-3 cups grated pepper Jack cheese
-1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
-1 zucchini, chopped
-1 can of corn
-6 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
-16 corn tortillas (6-inch)

Directions

Make sauce: In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add 1 teaspoon cumin, flour, and tomato paste; cook, whisking, 1 minute. Whisk in broth and 3/4 cup water; bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook until slightly thickened, 5 to 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

Make filling: In a large bowl, combine 2 cups cheese, beans, zucchini, corn, scallion whites, and remaining 1 teaspoon cumin; season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil two 8-inch square baking dishes; set aside.

Stack tortillas, and wrap in damp paper towels; microwave on high for 1 minute. Top each tortilla with a heaping 1/3 cup of filling; roll up tightly and arrange, seam side down, in prepared baking dishes.

Dividing evenly, sprinkle enchiladas with remaining 1 cup cheese (I like to add a little more), and top with sauce. Bake, uncovered, until hot and bubbly, about 20 minutes. Garnish with scallion greens or other favorites - cilantro, sour cream, etc.

The Bump :: 34 Weeks

It's going so fast, yet I'm starting to forget what it's like not to be prego. I'm pretty wiped out by the end of the day, but typically have a good amount of energy to get through the day. I have been skipping out on taking naps, as this will usually ensure I sleep well at night. We've pulled all of Annmarie's baby gear out of the garage and it's in the house. We have done a few things to prepare for the little guy, but still have a lot to do. We are going to hold off on getting his room ready until after his arrival. He'll be in our room for a while anyway. Plus we are going to have some visitors - first my parents are coming out (again) a few days before the guess date and then a little while later Nana is coming (again). Therefore, we will keep the guest room available for them. So, if anyone else wants to come out and babysit and help out, oh I mean, visit the beautiful Northern Beaches of Sydney, now is the time (of course, we will always welcome visitors, you may just end up on a air mattress or the sofa bed). I haven't wanted to jinx myself, but one great thing about this pregnancy is that I have had very little swelling. I had a lot with AM and by the end of the day my feet, ankles, and hands would be so puffy and at one point I couldn't wear my rings. I think this probably happened because I was working and was sitting for long periods of time. I am a lot more active this time around and that has helped. While my weight gain has been very similar to AM, I'm carrying it all in my belly, it's big, heavy and round. I felt that I filled out a lot more with AM, maybe because of the swelling. Well, six weeks to go, if not sooner.

July 3rd!

We celebrated the 4th on the 3rd, which was really the 2nd in the US. This was the first time we both had been out of the US for the 4th; felt a little funny. But we made due by going to the beach. It ended up being a beautiful day.
All these clouds cleared up and we had warm wonderful sun.
This is Annmarie's protest when we tell her we are leaving soon.
Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!

Pictures from the week

park, the bump is getting in the way, talking with the birds, eyelash, beach, yummy muffins - recipe here

Almond Butter

I made my own almond butter. And it's really good.

I've seen it several places on the web and wanted to try it out.

Here is what I did.

I roasted the almonds for about 15 min.
And then blended and blended and blended the nuts. For like 6 minutes. I used a blender, my food processor shorted out on me (damn transformer), so this is all I have right now. A processor would probably work better, but my blender is pretty powerful so it worked. I also added a teaspoon of vanilla to sweeten it up.
There you have it.
Jamie asked - why would you make almond butter and how did you do it, with some crazy look on his face? Then I told him to just try it and he responded by saying - oh, this is good.

Father's Day Weekend

We celebrated Dad by...

Going to the park on Saturday.
Then Jamie got to choose where he wanted to have dinner. We went to a Brazilian barbeque place - Braza. If you like meat, this is your place. We both agreed that this place was better than than one in SF. It was good.

Annmarie ate a crazy amount of rice and beans. Jamie ate a crazy amount of meat. I was somewhere in the middle.
Enjoying some iphone time.
On Sunday we went the little aquarium that they have in Manly - Ocean World.
Annmarie dived right into the touch pool and thought it was funny to dry her hands on Dad.
It was so great to have the sun shining, as it made for a nice Father's Day weekend.

I asked AM what her favorite thing to do with her Dad is and she said:

(pic taken in North Ryde at our temp apartment)

Note: Jamie has been designated night-time story teller since the beginning. It's always been a good time for Jamie and Annmarie to spend some alone time together and Jamie appears to have more patience with this ritual than I do. There have been phases where she will insist I read to her at night, but we try to get her back on track with Dad. Plus I have typically always been the one to put AM down for her naps and there is always a story involved there. And we've probably been through more during the day. So by the time night-time rolls around it's Dad's turn. I'm glad it's one of her favorite things to do with Dad.


Happy Father's Day!

The Bump and The Weekend

This buba moves; like all the time. Last week at my doctor visit I've put on a total of 6 kilos for this pregnancy and we'll just leave it at that. Seeing your weight in kilos makes you feel pretty good, but then you do the math and it's all the same. I feel big and Annmarie graciously tells me every morning "your belly is getting bigger and bigger every day". Night time is getting a bit uncomfortable. I'm waking up to use the bathroom more often, but still feel good during the day. If I need to I will take a afternoon nap. I'm loving this banana bread at the cafe near AM's preschool and usually pick up a slice after I drop AM off. Not really sure if it's a pregnancy craving, or if it's because bananas still cost a billion dollars and that makes bananas more appealing. It's good stuff though. And only ten weeks left, where does the time go. We really need to get our act together.

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We enjoyed a three day weekend thanks to the Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, even though it's not really her birthday. Whatever, we'll take it and this is the first time Jamie hasn't had to work on a holiday. So what did we do? Pretty much nothing and I didn't take a single picture. It rained and rained all weekend and is still raining. We had some friends over on Saturday and Annmarie had a nice play with Will. Annmarie tried Vegemite and then proclaimed that she liked it. She had talked to Will about it and a lot of children at preschool bring Vegemite sandwiches, so she kept asking about it. I'm not a fan of the stuff, but we had some sample packages, so we let her have a go at it. What can I say she's becoming a little Aussie and is starting to pick up the slightest of accents.

Annmarie turned three and half over the weekend and we celebrated by letting her watch her first Disney princess movie - Snow White. She liked it, but I think liked the animals and dwarfs (doc being her favorite), more so than Ms White, as she started calling her.

Monday, we needed to get outside, so thankfully there was a little break in the rain and we went to the Collaroy Beach Club for lunch and let AM run around for a bit. Jamie and I found one of our new favorite foods in Australia the Moreton Bay Bug, or better just known as Bugs. They are like little lobsters.

Hopefully, this weekend we will see some sun.

Jamie's Birthday

We kept things simple as we all just recovered from some stomach bug.

The morning started out with pancakes and Jamie kindly allowed Annmarie to blow out his candle.
We went for a bush walk in our neighborhood.
We had a nice dinner at Starfish and came home to enjoy a birthday treat - chocolate brownies with salted peanut butter frosting. Again, Annmarie got to blow out the candle.
On Sunday we went down to Church Point.
Annmarie practiced riding her new bike thanks to Grandma and Papa.
She still prefers us to push her, but she is getting it slowly. And I finally got her a helmet this week - we only allowed her to ride it a few times without one.
And we had a picnic lunch.
Happy 36th, Jamie!

Random Stuff

Morning tea at play group.
We have been having a lot of rain, but also a lot of rainbows :).
Tulips.
28 week bump.
A sick Annmarie. She is all well now, but it wasn't pretty for any of us.
Doing crafts while stuck in the house.
And my favorite, a cuddle with sick Dad.