Daily Note: June 30, 2009

I’m so excited to be in week 31. The single-digit-week-countdown is on. I think this shot was taken at 30 weeks, 5 days?

The baby is obviously gaining in size every week and as a result, her movements have changed a bit. I’m not sure if I’m right, but I get the distinct impression that she’s decided to hang out with her head and feet permanently on my right side. She still gets hiccups every day and I can clearly feel them on my right side more than my left. I also usually have a really hard lump on my right, upper side that can be felt from the outside – her head? Occasionally the lump will shift visibly and rest for a while on the left, just above and to the side of my belly button. When this happens, there is an obvious distortion to the shape of my normally round belly and it looks like she could poke out of there, alien-style.

I think I’m entering the “nesting phase” that everyone talks so much about. Except due to the construction in our house, I’m having to put all my nesting energy into baking. This weekend I made a quiche (How to Cook Everything):


an apple-rhubarb brown betty (Martha):

and a blueberry peach coffee cake (adapted from the White Dog Cookbook - I added fruit and oats and omitted the nuts):


The brown betty looked pretty, but it was sort of blah. The quiche and coffee cake however were really good. It was pointed out to me today by a coworker when I mentioned my recent weekend bake-a-thons that I should probably be making lasagnas and other dishes for our basement freezer instead of perishable baked goods. Point taken.

Jeff is making good progress on the nursery closet and I hope to have photos soon. He’s in the caulking, spackling and sanding phase. Maybe tonight will begin the priming and painting phase. Normally, I’m the caulk expert (snicker snicker) in our family and when Jeff came down last night after spending some time with the spackle tub and caulk gun, he muttered, “Building things is more fun when YOU do all the hole patching…”. I felt bad for a minute and then remembered that I’m essentially carrying around a bowling ball for 9 months that causes back aches, calf cramps and hip pain. Then I didn’t feel bad anymore and asked him for a back rub. On the note of backs, pain, and soothing – I discovered last night that using a heating pad for 5 minutes on my lower back while reading before bed is like taking a hot tub. I should probably give the heating pad a name because I think he might be my new best friend. In fact, sorry to threaten you Amy, but you’ve now got some stiff competition for the “Friend of the Year Award”. Although I suppose my heating pad won’t bake me banana bread. Or pull my weeds.

We had a great anniversary “date night” on Friday. We tried a restaurant that we’d never been to, but always heard good things about – Chez Shea which is in Pike Place. My salmon was really good, but Jeff’s scallops with sweet corn and bacon were the clear winner. Then we saw Away We Go at the new movie theatre that just opened up a mile from our house. Such a good movie – smart and funny and sweet, and Jim Krasinski is hilarious. My only bone with this movie was that Maya Rudolph was supposed to be 6 months pregnant but still had the tiniest little twig legs and ankles I've ever seen.

A few other misc. pics from this week: