Sugar and Spice

It's a girl! We had our ultrasound this morning and everything looks good, the baby appears to be healthy and thriving. Whew! The due date is still August 27th and we're now on the hunt for some possible girl names. Please pass on any ideas, as well as any decorating ideas for a bedroom. The one above is from Pottery Barn Kids, which has the cutest stuff. We got some new (to us) white baby furniture off Craigslist a few weeks ago, but now have to come up with some type of acutal decor. The room the baby will be in is actually a very light blue, so maybe we can do pink, purple, or yellow accents so as to avoid having to paint.

Nothing Says Spring Like...

Playing golf outside in your underwear.

Or running through the sprinklers with nothing but your skivvies on. Whose kid is that anyway?

We've had some beautiful weather lately (it hit 70 yesterday) and Ben requested a refreshing sprinkler romp. Of course, being a water baby myself, I obliged and didn't feel too bad about his lack of modesty since none of our neighbors are home during the day. Once he started hitting his golf ball out of our yard and through the two adjoining lawns, I thought it might be time to get clothed.

The April showers have official started and everything is perking up around here. Grass is green, trees are budding, and daffodils and hyacinths are poking their little heads up through the dirt. Aahh, what a glorious season!

On the spring theme, I am dying to plant a garden. After being the recipient of our neighbor's homegrown tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers last year, my urge to cultivate a tiny patch of earth has kicked into high gear. Maybe it's just my nesting instinct manifesting itself in an odd way since I have no decorating skills and therefore cannot throw my efforts into creating a cute nursery. Andy and I are discussing the merits of where to locate a possible garden in our postage stamp yard. My vote is to dig up a thin row of dirt along the south side of our house (pictured above) while Andy wants to either build a box garden and put it on a patio that we're hoping to pour (see below) or leave beds to line the patio and plant the garden there. I have a friend whose family swears by the merits of southern sun, so I think that would be the best place. Plus, when we decide to sell the house, we can always just plant flowers in the existing bed.

After two summers of barely using our backyard because there is nowhere to sit, we've decided that we'd like to pour a simple cement patio. Just enough for a table and some chairs and a grill (hooray!), with some space left over for a kiddie pool so we don't have to kill the grass. The only thing is I'm not sure if it's a possibility with our budget. Of course we'd love to have a gorgeous deck or paver patio, but that's not in the cards. Have you done your own patio or know anyone who does? Any ideas on what such a project would cost? We might end up doing most of the labor ourselves. However it turns out, I have visions of spending afternoons eating lunch with friends while we watch the kids run through the sprinklers and grilling out on glorious summer evenings.

What are you looking forward to when the warm weather comes?

Does Anyone Smell Bacon?

I was so proud to read in The Wall Street Journal this morning that my hometown, Kennewick, WA, was singled out on the list of shame for pork barrel projects in the new stimulus spending bill. Nothing like a little taxpayer funded earmark to make you feel confident that government is doing its job.

Bracketology

Along with warmer weather and flowers, spring brings one other cherished tradition: March Madness and the ritual of filling out brackets for the NCAA Men's basketball tournament. I'm not a huge fan of watching sports on TV, but I do like watching college basketball. The players are so fast and athletic and the games go by quickly, versus the glacial pace of other televised sports which will remain unnamed. Andy and I have to make our picks tonight and figure out what the winner will receive.

There are some opening round games being held in Dayton, OH, which is only an hour from here. We looked into getting tickets for a game, but they're a cool $150 or so apiece. Looks like we'll be watching from the cheap seats on our couch.

If you want to fill out your own brackets, here's a link to one you can print out. If you're really hardcore, websites like ESPN host online bracket contests where you can keep track of your score. Will you be filling yours out?

P.S. Go Aggies!

Spurts of Productivity

Thanks to pregnancy insomnia, it's 5:30 a.m. and I've been awake for three hours now. I thought I might as well do something productive with all this "extra" time, so after lying in bed awake for an hour, I've eaten breakfast (at 4 a.m.), checked everyone's blogs, updated my grocery list, and made my menu for the next two weeks. I think I'll pay a few bills next or go out and get the newspaper and probably fall asleep reading it.

Here's a delicious, simple recipe we've had a few times. It seriously is done in a snap and I love the Mediterranean feel of the salad. It reminds me of being in Jordan and Egypt where they serve you fresh tomato and cucumber slices with every meal. If, like Andy, you're hesitant to try the veggies in the salad, the couscous is also good plain if you cook it in chicken broth instead of just plain water. Either way, it's better with broth. Ben also likes the burgers because they're kid-sized.

Spiced Mini Burgers with Couscous Salad

Makes 4 servings
Time: 25m
This recipe is: No Cook, Quick & Easy

Ingredients
1 10-ounce box couscous
1 pound ground beef or turkey
kosher salt and pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 scallions, trimmed and sliced
4 Roma (plum) tomatoes, quartered
1 seedless cucumber, sliced into half-moons
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 8-ounce container hummus (optional)

Directions
1. Place the couscous in a medium bowl and pour 1 1/2 cups hot tap water over the top. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes before fluffing with a fork.
2. Form the beef into 12 small 1/2-inch-thick patties. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, the cumin, and oregano.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the patties and cook to desired doneness, 4 minutes per side for medium.
4. Combine the couscous, scallions, tomatoes, cucumber, lemon juice, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and the remaining oil in a large bowl. Divide among individual plates. Serve with the burgers and hummus, if desired.

Little Swimmers

To help break up the monotony of winter and prepare Ben for this summer, we decided to enroll him in swimming lessons at the YMCA. Thank goodness for indoor pools! Ben has taken one other set of lessons and is getting a bit braver in the water, although he is still pretty cautious when it comes to jumping in by himself. His teacher is wonderful and we were happy to discover that one of Ben's friends is also enrolled in the class. My goal for the session, besides getting Ben more comfortable in a pool: Arrive on time. Our last session I had the hardest time for some reason and always did the walk of shame past the other parents as we slinked in (or is it slunk?) at least five minutes late.

Above: Ben showing me how he can kick his legs by himself.

Other kids do the kamikaze jump where they actually get their faces wet. Not Ben. He signals for his teacher to move as close as possible and then he leans into her arms. :)

Their little floaty backpacks and rubber duckies they throw into the water and then "swim" after.

I Heard a Rumor...

Well, the cat's out of the bag. Andy couldn't contain himself any longer and has started telling people about our news. Yes, I am pregnant. 15 weeks to be exact and finally feeling better after a trimester of doing nothing much besides laying on the couch and puking my guts out. After getting so intimate with our porcelain thrones, I realized that I need to clean my bathrooms more often. The wretched sickness also temporarily cured my chocoholism and replaced it with an insatiable urge for salty, greasy foods. About six weeks ago, I made Andy take me to Pei Wei for dinner because I couldn't stop thinking about their noodle bowls for a week. Oh, the tyranny of pregnancy cravings.

We are very grateful to be expecting an addition to our family. After a miscarriage, year and a half of trying, an infertility consultation, and taking a round of Clomid while I was unknowingly pregnant, it's a relief to not have to worry about buying any more ovulation kits. The official due date is August 27.

Note: The horrible picture above is of me a week overdue with Ben in 100+ degree Arizona weather. It's the only one I had that showed how absolutely gargantuan my belly will get.