Sharing For Life

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I spent most of the morning shelling pistachios for the kid, if you wondered what it’s like having a 2 year old. I should know by now that if I want to eat something, she will want it too. I have come to the realization that nothing will ever be just mine again. I can here Shane now, “I realized that the day we got married.” Shh, no one asked you.

I need to apologize to my mom for all those times I begged to order the bubble gum ice cream but ended up wanting your butter pecan cone. I now know the pain I put you through.

In preparation to get K ready for the queen bed, we took off the safety rail part of her bed. She fell out of bed twice the other night, so it’s working out well. The first night she did fine, the second night I heard a loud thud around midnight. The first thing I thought was “she fell out of her bed” but it wasn’t followed by crying so maybe not. A minute later, “MOM, MOMMY, MOM, MOM!!” I walked in to find her laying on the ground. “I fell, but I’m okay.” I told her she was brave as I layed her back down. An hour later, THUD, this time followed by crying. Dammit kid, get it together! This time I gathered some pillows and put them on the floor, obviously the pool noodle I put under her sheet doesn’t do a damn thing. She was quiet the rest of the night and the night after that. I don’t know how you teach a kid to not roll out of bed but I think that has to be a terrible way to wake up.

She has plenty of time to sort it out before she moves beds and I like to think that with all the room she will have with the queen, it shouldn’t be an issue, right?

We took K down to Coronado beach this weekend. The weather has been gorgeous and she has a new found hobby of building sand castles. Once your toes hit the soft sand of Coronado it makes you wonder why you ever go to any other beach, it’s that nice.

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We wandered the streets of Coronado hitting up a tasting room, eating a decent lunch and stopping to pet all the dogs. By the end of the day K and I were wiped out. It felt like a summer day and to think Spring is only a month away.

Molten Lava Cakes {Culinary Bucket List #2 February}

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The infamous molten chocolate lava cake, foodie trend and a recipe that is now on every restaurants menu. Supposedly these miniature cakes were invented when Michelin star and James Beard award winner chef Jean Georges accidentally undercooked  a batch of mini  chocolate cakes back in the 80’s. We thank you chef Georges.

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Making these was a no brainer. Shane loves them + Valentine’s day = dessert. Although we stuffed ourselves with king crab legs, there is always room for chocolate right? Actually that is not true. As good as these were I couldn’t eat much of mine, between the baby and crustacean legs I didn’t have room left. Don’t worry, we got a gym sesh in that morning.

Luckily the recipe makes four of these babies. I kept the batter in the fridge for the next day. Winning!

I never realized how easy the recipe for these were and I had all the ingredients at home, you probably do too. The only mistake I made, was using flour to dust the ramekins with instead of cocoa powder. Sorry Martha Stewart.

I used this recipe from Food and Wine and didn’t change a thing.

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Grilled Fish Tacos {Culinary Bucket List February}

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I know my way around a fish taco, chances are if they are on the menu I will order them. Unless it’s made with tuna, that is not the right fish for a taco people. So why haven’t I made them before? I don’t know, maybe because Shane isn’t a fan and it always seemed like a lot of work for myself. That was closed minded. These were easy and so good.

The other night we wanted to have fish for dinner. We all know we shouldn’t be eating farm raised fish, so finding a good fresh piece of wild caught fish for a price that doesn’t resemble a price tag at Tiffany’s isn’t the easiest, cha-ching. We came across some wild sole at Costco which worked out perfect. I could make sole piccata one night and have leftovers for the tacos. Damn I’m brilliant.

fish taco

I marinated the fish in a little of this and a little of that. Olive oil, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, diced jalapeño, salt and pepper. While that was hanging out I made the white sauce. This is where I took a small short cut. I had some some habanero salsa left over so I mixed that with sour cream, lime juice and salt to taste. That’s it.
I threw the fish on the grill and warmed the tortillas. Once the fish was done I smeared some white sauce on a tortilla, topped with fish, then with cabbage, drizzled with lime and Tapatio of course. Then I shoveled it in my face. Delicious.

*Recipe adapted from Bobby Flay Cooking Light.

A Week In Photos

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Kaili had school pictures last week. She went representing the Super Bowl champs.

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I made these honey bananas and they are ridiculous. I had to make them again the next day and the next.

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Kaili spent some time working on Valentines day crafts.

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I also got around to pulling out some heart color matching I had made years ago.

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I took Kaili down to Mission Beach since it was supposed to be “beach” weather.

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But in a matter of minutes the fog rolled in and it was freezing. Might has well have been in Sochi.

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Kaili wanted to wear her cupcake dress to school. She was given this as a gift for her 1st birthday, fits her just fine….sigh.

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I made fish tacos for the very first time. Hello culinary bucket list. They were delicious and I can’t believe I have waited so long. Recipe to come.

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Good Morning.

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15 Week Bumpdate

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This past week has been boring and long and boring. Kaili got hit with a bad cold and we were pretty much quarintined to the house. Shane was working from home so that meant we were forced to watch every.single.minute. of Seahawk television and there was a lot of it. I am now overly prepared to see that category on Jeopardy, let’s make it a true daily double, Alex.

Since I don’t have much to share with you, lets talk about the bump.

My morning sickness is officially gone, thank the baby Jesus. The contractions had slowed way down during the week and only started happening at night. I would get a couple right around 8pm, but last night nothing, holla!

Baby is the size of a naval orange. Did you know that the color orange was named after the fruit and not the other way around? You’re welcome.

Still no distinct movement. Every once in awhile I feel a little plop in my stomach but it could be anything.

I have my 2nd trimester blood test scheduled this week and the amnio the week after. Once we get the results we can start focusing on whatever it is I should be doing around 5 months. Part of me wants to put it all off but another part of me wants to make sure I have what I need incase bed rest is in my future. I will not worry about that now, now is the time to procrastinate.

Annoying

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Pregnancy wise I felt a lot better yesterday, thankfully. I got a good nights sleep and tried to take it easy most of the day. Kaili is sick so there isn’t too much we can do anyhow. As soon as I think whatever contractions were happening last weekend are gone bam I get one. I am chalking them up to Braxton Hicks but I’m not exactly sure what I should do, if anything. I know the nurse said to head to the hospital if they came back but having 1 every once in awhile doesn’t warrant hours in Triage…does it? And the fact that I am getting them at night is just plain inconvenient. Advice? I guess I will call the Doc back and see what they suggest.

Meanwhile.

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Kaili has been showing more interest in the potty. She seems to be grasping the concept, when she says she needs to go potty she does. I find that if I initiate it with a timer she gets discouraged so as of now I am following her lead. I need to bite the bullet and pull the diaper but I don’t want to jump the gun either. Advice?

Say What?

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Should I start with the good or not so good? Ok the good. How bout them Seahawks? They did a little bit of murdering Sunday and it was a thrill to watch. Our house was booming.

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I made too much food but it was all delicious. Soft pretzels with cheese sauce…drool, buffalo chicken potato skins, baked jalapeño poppers and Carne asada. To say we ate well was an understatement. We drank [and by we I mean them] delicious wine from Walla Walla, a few from California and a couple from Australia.

Skinny Baked Jalapeño Poppers

*Picture is before they were baked, my bad
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Closet Cooking:Buffalo Chicken Potato Skins

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Yammie’s Noshery Copycat Pretzel Recipe

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Drew Bledsoe’s Doubleback Winery

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2009 Syrah

Saturday I spent the day in the OC with family. After getting home and putting K to bed I noticed I was having what felt like contractions. Contractions? At 14 weeks? I know right?  I had some anxiety so I thought that might have been the cause. They went away a few hours later. I felt fine the next day until later in the afternoon, then they started up again. They lasted longer this time and the longer I had them the more uncomfortable I was feeling. I researched everything I could, which isn’t much because it seems pretty rare. They finally went away and I was able to fall asleep. I called the Doc as soon as I woke up and I anxiously waited a phone call back. When the nurse called she told me that due to my history I need to head to Triage if they came back. It’s probably nothing serious but it could be “super early pre-term labor”. Ahem, excuse me? No way man.

Monday evening came and I started feeling them again but they weren’t too bad so I told myself I was fine. I took it easy, took a bath and fought every reason to go to the hospital. The contractions were not very strong but I started  to feel uncomfortable. Since it is so early on in the pregnancy it’s hard to tell what is what anymore. I have some minor cramping and a dull backache as I write this. I am really hoping this is gone by morning, I’m sure it will be, but if it’s not I will head over to Triage to see what the hell is going on.

14 Week Bumpdate

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I had my monthly Dr. appointment this week which was so reassuring. Being able to jump around…aka workout this pregnancy, I was a little nervous about the baby. I know, I know it’s totally fine, but I didn’t get to do any of this moving around business last time so it’s all new to me. My appointment was with Dr. French, the doc who delivered Kaili. We spent some time chit chatting, she sent a referral to the specialist I saw last pregnancy and we did the ultrasound. Baby was super active and looked just fine.

I am thrilled I was able to cancel my appointments with the other specialist group.  We were not happy with there services which made me nervous about going to them for an amnio. Now I have my second trimester ultrasound and amnio scheduled with the Dr. I wanted all along. Relief.

Sleep hasn’t gotten much better and the morning sickness is about the sameome days are great and others are not. Cravings are less prominent although I am making soft pretzels Sunday and I salivate at the thought of them…oh and some good bread and brie may have to happen.

Since another girl is on the way I feel like I don’t have too much to do this time. I am keeping the bedroom paint color the same, Kaili’s furniture will be moved into the new room and I have tons of baby clothes, I just have to go through them all. I have a nursery theme picked out and we are pretty sure of the name. It’s a lot more relaxing this time around, at least in the decorating department.

Now all there is to think about is the big game Sunday. Go Hawks.

No-Bake Bars

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So I saw this recipe on Pinterest and since I had all the ingredients on hand I thought it would be a fun cooking lesson to do with K. I thought wrong, I did all the work while she ate chocolate chips and walnuts. slacker.

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This really is a super simple treat to make and would be perfect to make with kids…or without. Did I mention they are delicious, cause they are.  The recipe made more than I expected and these are  rich so I froze half of the batch to devour at a later date. What can I say, I’m a planner.

You should gather these ingredients and get to it.

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It’s A….

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“Now I want y’all to repeat after me, penis, penis, penis, vagina, vagina, vagina!” Name that movie!

I got the results back from the Harmony test I took. The results were good. The risk for Downs and Trisomy were really low, less than 1 in 10,000.  The results were so good I got them twice, once from my Dr. and once my the genetic counselor.

Then I was asked if I wanted to know the sex. Duh

Here was Kaili’s reaction when I told her what we were having.

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She was the first person I told while I impatiently waited 30 minutes for Shane to message me back. Longest half hour evah!

I am anxious for my Dr. appointment today. Now that we know what we are having and that things are seemingly on the right path I find new things to worry about. Looking forward to hearing the heartbeat and having a little reassurance things are still going strong. Do all expecting mothers feel like this or just the ones that struggle to get pregnant?

Oh wait, I forgot to tell you what we are having huh? It’s a girl. This gal is getting a little sister.

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