Prayers Needed

Please say a quick prayer for Allan's parents who are in Hawaii right now and facing the expectant tsunami.

Valentine's Day

I know that v-day has come and gone, but I finally downloaded pictures from our camera  and these were too good to not share with you! Also, this was one of the easiest and most enjoyable meals that we have prepared in a long time! It definitely beat going out to eat. Date nights at home are always more romantic!


This is the amazing badge that Allan hand drew on the envelope to my card (have I mentioned lately how much I love being married to an artist!)...

The two dozen roses Allan gave me that decorated the dinning room table for a week (their scent was intoxicating!)...

This is what 2.8lbs of thawed cold water lobster looks like (that is an extra large Pyrex dish and Allan's hand)...

My new Rachael Ray pasta pot that we purchased specifically to make the lobster tails, as they were too large to fit in the stock pot that we own (I have been wanting this pot for a very long time and am super excited to now own it!)...

Boiling the lobster tails (they took about 20 minutes)...

The finished product (that is a large supper plate)...

We served our gigantic lobster tails with clarified organic butter and Potatoes Anna from Tosca's Eat Clean Cookbook (the dark pieces were super crunchy and tasted the best)...

The Third Trimester Begins...

... this Wednesday!!! The homestretch is here.

Sorry for my lack of blogging lately. As you can imagine, our lives have been a whirlwind of baby prep lately. Allan jokes that I am full into nesting mode.

A month ago, we made the decision to cloth diaper, so I have been working on acquiring our stash from online retailer sales, online clearance outlets, Peapods (a local toy and baby care shop), diaperswappers.com, and the Baby Center Diaper Swapping community. For the newborn stage, we will be using indian cotton unbleached prefolds and misc PUL covers, although we do have some Grandparent-friendly small bamboo fitteds and small FuzziBunz. I am almost finished with the newborn stash, but am interested in acquiring a WAHM wool cover or too for this stage along with some flannel liners for the meconium stage along with any bouts with diaper rash.

We are anticipating a larger baby at birth, because I have measured two weeks ahead at my last 2 appointments (20 weeks and 24 weeks) and my husband and I were both larger and LATE babies. Allan was a whopping 10 lbs and 4 weeks late and I was 9.5 lbs and 2 weeks late. So, at my appointment on Monday (28 weeks), if I am still measuring ahead they will schedule another ultrasound to see how big this little guy really is. I kind of hope that we will get to go and see him again, as ultrasounds are completely amazing experiences!

But I digress... back to the point that I was trying to make: little baby Peters will most likely not fit into the small/infant diapers for long and will be able to move into the one-size BumGenius (3.0 and Organic AIO), GroBaby and Swaddlebees diapers that I have been slowly acquiring. Do any of you cloth diaper? If so, do you have any tips for a first-timer? What is your favorite diaper? Any tips and recommendations would be VERY helpful!

I would like to take a pic of my stash to post here for feedback and ogling! Look for that in an upcoming blog post!

We have also checked the following items off of the baby list:

1. Nursery furniture purchased and put together
2. Diaper stash prepped (all natural-fibered items washed 5 times and the rest washed once)
3. On the waiting list of an AMAZING Day Care that is spanish immersion, serves organic/whole grain foods, cloth diapers and is located near our house
4. Registered for hypnobirthing classes that start next Tuesday at Blooma
5. Baby showers scheduled and registries complete (Mar 13 in Albert Lea and April 3 in Eagan)
6. Play room cleared out and ready as a "blank slate"
7. Working out 3-4 days per week (at least one cardio day, one weightlifting day and one yoga day)
8. Car seat purchased (Graco SnugRide 35)
9. Stroller purchased (Baby Jogger Select)
10. Keeping all meals CLEAN and eating every 3 hours (protein + complex carbs + fruit/veggie + fat)

I hope that you have an amazingly productive, clean and healthy week!