swedish meatballs

As morbid as this may sound, Swedish Meatballs is my 'Day I Die' last meal. I've been using this recipe for over a year now and it's one of my favourite winter dinners. This meal is the sole reason I could never become vegetarian. I think it's the combination of meats that makes these meatballs so soft and delicious.

Swedish Meatballs
1 lb ground beef chuck
1 lb ground pork
3 cups panko breadcrumbs
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt & Pepper
1/4 tsp allspice
3 tbsp butter
1/3 cup all purpose flour
3 cups reduced sodium beef broth
Cooked egg noodles, chopped parsley for serving (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 475. In a large bowl, combine beef, pork, breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup milk, eggs, garlic, 1 tbsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper and allspice. Mix until just combined.
2. Using a rounded 1 tbsp measure for reach, form mixture into meatballs. Place onto two rimmed baking sheets; bake until golden brown and cooked through. 10 - 12 minutes, rotating half way through. At this point you can freeze the meatballs once they come to room temperature.
3. Meanwhile, make sauce: In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-high. Add flour; cook, whisking for 1 minute (do not let darken). Gradually whisk in remaining cup of milk and add broth. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer until sauce has thickened slightly (2 - 3 minutes).
4. Serve over egg noodles and garnish with parsley.

I also love how many meals you can get out of this one recipe. We keep them in the freezer and then whip up the sauce the night we make the meal.

creepy parent lurking device

The video monitor!! I just set this up and it worked great as I was drying my hair this morning.

chocolate chip banana bread

I think I may have a bit of a sugar addiction right now. I allowed myself any and all indulgences (especially Christmas baking) during the holiday season. It was great, but I kind of forgot just how crappy too much sugar can make you feel. I found myself getting cranky and moody. So I'm weaning myself off the baked goods - but not completely. This 'light' recipe is filling the void as I detox. I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I added some chocolate chips!

Lighter Banana Bread
recipe adapted from Cooking Light Magazine
makes 12 servings
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp butter, softened
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 4)
3 tbsp skim milk
3 tbsp light sour cream or vanilla yogurt
2 large egg whites
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Combine sugar and butter in a bowl; beat at medium speed until well blended. Add banana, milk, sour cream, egg whites and vanilla. Beat well and set aside.
3. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Stir well. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, beating until blended.
4. Pour batter into pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove from pan and let cool completely on wire racks. For best flavour, wrap in tin foil and let sit overnight.

Christmas 2009

Wow, finding time to blog is getting more and more difficult. Owen is spending quite a lot more time awake now (and having difficulty napping). I have lots to update so I might just have cluster updates when I can spare a moment at the computer.

Thanks for the supportive comments, some in person and others online. I'm not sure I can put to words just how good it made me feel. It certainly brightened my mood. It was a rough few weeks but I'm pleased to share that at our final trip to the lactation nurse between Christmas & New Years gave us the thumbs up! Our little guy is packing it on at a steady pace and is now 10 pounds. This means no more pumping after every feeding, not needing to feed every 3 hours and we can now attempt to start having Owen sleep through the night. Life with baby has become so much more manageable!

Loads of people were quite surprised with our decision to travel over the holidays. I've heard so many times, "Everyone will come to see the baby." That's just not the case with some of our family. We spent 2 days in Sarnia visiting Great grandma and Great grandpa for the first time and all our aunts, uncles and cousins. I have the best extended family - hands down - they are the best group of people. I wish we were living closer so we could spend more time.

My family did this when I was born - the Four Generations shot! Owen must think this type of photo is lame-o since he stuck his milky tongue out for this pic.

The little guy was showered with gifts, thank goodness he won't remember how many or we'd have a spoiled Owen on our hands. We needed to have my parents truck many gifts back to Niagara with them just because our trunk was so full.

We then moved onto Brampton for Christmas and Owen's cousin, Paige's baptism.

We are choosing to raise Owen with no religious affiliation. We feel this decision is for the best since we both no longer feel aligned with our Roman Catholic upbringing. But that doesn't mean we don't support and appreciate the values of all others around us.

Unfortunately, Owen became quite gassy while in Brampton which was very stressful. After limited sleep, loads of driving and a mother-in-law that just would not quit, we went home early.

The holidays were something way beyond any other Christmas I've celebrated before. Having our baby with us to celebrate was the most special experience.

christmas hopscotch

I didn't think I was going to do any holiday baking this year since I'd need to have the treats done from start to finish in an hour. Fat chance since I have a habit of always choosing some of the most challenging or expensive recipes when baking. But this year I've resolved to have it both ways by cutting out the time consuming and difficult part to make cookies that my mom used to make around the holidays. The reason I've chosen these cookies is because my sister and I always turned our nose up at 'real' Christmas cookies like shortbread and jam thumbprint cookies for simple and quick treats. Luckily for my mom, these candy-like cookies were no bake and usually involved melted marshmallows and adding cereal.

I grabbed this recipe for "Christmas Hopscotch" from my mom's recipe box.
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 6 oz package butterscotch chips
Microwave 30 seconds at a time and stir until well blended.
Add
2 cups mini marshmallows
3 oz chow mien noodles
I don't think anyone in my family has made these cookies in 15 to 20 years! When making these I had my doubts that these would be any good, I mean, just reading the ingredients doesn't sound very appetizing. But after making them yesterday I had one taste and it was total nostalgia. They are so addictive!

bumps in the road

Wow, no one said breast feeding is easy, but I never expected to run into this kind of difficulty! Here's how things have been going lately:
For the first three weeks of life with Owen, I was nursing him and everything was going great. I heard that the region was sending their lactation consultants back to help nursing moms, so I called to set up an appointment for a bit of feedback on how things were going with Owen and myself. All the nurses in St. Catharines were booked, so I decided to see a nurse in Welland. She watched us, gave me lots of amazing pointers and corrections and said that we looked like we were doing great. She then had a concern about his lack of weight gain.
Owen was not gaining at the rate he should be. The nurse gave us a plan to try, which didn't seem to show any results on our next appointment. Then there was another plan, which, again, didn't seem to give us the results they were looking for. Finally, the nurses started to get worried and asked that we see our family doctor. This is when I started to get worried. As a last effort, I was given a plan to feed at least every three hours (which we've always done), pump whatever is leftover (with a hospital grade breast pump - ouch!), and then supplement an extra 2 oz of what I had pumped or with formula. This is very all consuming. It takes an hour and a half to two hours from start to finish which leaves us an hour of free time. Of course, this is going on 24 hours a day. When I get help, I can pare the routine down to an hour. I felt like a failure of a mom because it seemed as though I was the reason he wasn't growing fast, so I was dealing with a lot of guilt. Not only that, this extreme feeding schedule landed right on Nuno's 30th birthday which was crappy timing.
Yesterday was Owen's weigh in and after many appointments of disappointing news he gained 11 oz in 4 days (where he only gained 3.5 oz a week prior). I'm still on this crazy nursing plan to keep beefing the little guy up, so needless to say, I'm very tired. I probably get 4 or 5 hours of sleep per day. It's OK though, I don't feel tired, I'm just getting very forgetful.

Another thing I'm dealing with is every crappy physical post partum related issue in the book short of post partum depression. I won't go into details here since I don't want anyone chirping under their computer desk, but suffice to say, it's been a month and many physical issues are continuing to aggravate me.

I feel like this entry is a pity party for me but I don't want it to come across that way. I have to say this is all worth it! Every time I look at Owen I'm so in love that all of this seems like very little in the scheme of our lives.

life

It was a little difficult to imagine life with a baby in all these months of pregnancy. There was the wonderful moment Owen took his first breath and only minutes later the labour nurse started coaching me on breastfeeding. She gave us a crash course on baby care from 11pm till 3am. It was so overwhelming and I'll admit, I was a little scared with everything all at once. But that maternal instinct kicked in just hours upon his arrival. And with such little sleep in the first week I can't believe how wonderful even his car alarm scream crying and dirty diapers are to me. In other words, every moment I have with Owen is something very special and I can't believe how happy the idea of being this little boy's mom for the rest of my life makes me.

We are very lucky to have been blessed with a great baby. He spends the day napping and when awake being held in my arms. He is not very fussy and loves to make eye contact with everyone who visits. He then sleeps through the night to be awoken for feedings. We installed dimmer lights in our bedroom and the nursery and I feel that that has really helped with Owen waking to feed and immediately going back to sleep. We've chosen to have a co-sleeper for the first few weeks to be able to attend to him in the newborn stage. We get 8-10 hours sleep a night, so I can't complain. Especially since I was getting WAY less sleep while pregnant finding myself frequently getting up at 2 and 3am to watch TV and eat a bowl of cereal. Interupted sleep is just the norm for me so there really isn't any adjustment in the sleep department.

The breastfeeding has been going very well too. It was a bit of a rocky start, but we got through the initial kinks and are full speed ahead. Hopefully we will continue this way because I'm nervous about what I'll do if I need help. There are always lactation consultants working for the Niagara region available to help mothers, but they have all been re-stationed to administering the H1N1 vaccine and have cancelled all breastfeeding clinics.

It's really hard to express how life and love changes once you have a child. I know I had difficulty imagining it when people around me started families, but now I know what they experience, it really is the most wonderful thing I've ever gone and continue to go through.

baby crib

Talking about a crib to people who aren't expecting or having babies will be boring, so I apologize in advance if this is too baby obsessed. I guess when you are mere days from bringing a new person into the world, it's hard to find too many other things to focus on. For me, I'm super excited about this crib because of what it took to get it.

When deciding on a crib you can go to Ikea and pay a couple hundred dollars or you can go to Oeuf and pay a couple thousand. Then there is everything in between. What choice do you have here in Niagara? Babies R Us and the never ending supply of sleigh style cribs and the typical style cribs - all very nice but pricey and not quite what we were looking for. So Nuno and I thought Ikea was the way to go, but every time we talked about it everyone looked at us as if we were signing our kid up for a guillotine. And, to be perfectly honest, every single thing I've purchased from Ikea has fallen apart. So safety was our most important factor when it came to crib choice. One day we drove to Stoney Creek to a baby furniture store called, Baby World. This is *the* place to go for children's furniture. What an amazing selection of cribs. The more modern style ones were so well crafted and beautiful I honestly considered dropping $700 on a crib. But that would be a temporary loss of sanity. So we went home deflated and decided we wouldn't love our baby's crib - and that was OK.

Well, a couple weeks later I'm surfing Target's website and I stumble upon Dwell Studio's crib. Ikea prices for Baby World look. And the crib is highly rated and recently safety upgraded. But they don't ship to Canada and they've been on back order since spring. I told my parents about how frustrating it was trying to find a nice crib and my dad piped in that one of his golfing buddies' son lives in Amherst NY and he would find out if it was OK for us to ship the crib to his house. Once we checked the dimensions and found out that it would fit in the trunk we jumped on board. Even if the crib was on back order, the baby won't be sleeping in it till a few months down the road anyways. That very week, once we had the OK, we ordered it online and there happened to be a baby sale at Target online with the crib's price reduced! With the way the currency exchange is right now, it didn't drive up the price either. The crib unexpectedly shipped in 4 days since we happened to place the order just as the manufacturer circulated a new supply to the market. My dad picked it up on the way home from North Carolina so he was able to bring it home duty-free.

Once assembled we could not believe how sturdy and well made this crib is. The drawers are a great feature for storing fitted crib sheets and blankets. Although the wall mural was designed to have mother goose nesting inside the crib, it was hard to place furniture in front of it. But we're happy it's this crib that will sit in front of it and no other.

nursery mural complete!

A week ahead of schedule, we are done the wall mural for the baby's nursery! I'm not sure when we first had the idea of this mural. Probably in the early summer.

Here's the illustration - just the beginning. Nuno created this illustration of Mother Goose in Photoshop. My input was pretty limited. I just wanted to try using wall paper as part of a patchwork collage element to the mural. We went to Colour Your World and an employee let us rummage in the back room through all their discontinued wallpaper selection. We found three samples that worked and it cost no more than $10. We then had to match the illustration colours to actual paint samples. We used an RGB colour match system online which matched to Benjamin Moore paint samples. We bought their Natura paint so that I could help. A full can of yellow for the entire room, a half of the 2 blues and then a small sample of the brown.

We were going to use Katie's projector and draw the illustations on the wall - but with the hours it would take to do that and the possibility that it may shift in the process, that idea was nixed right away. Instead, Nuno devised a vinyl template system that worked really super well. A man on our street operates a vinyl sign company out of his home and we ordered all the shapes through him. They were then mounted on the wall and peeled off in layers as we painted.

In this photo all the masks are up. And it started to feel like we were getting some results after months of planning!

It took a couple of layers of paint to get our best result. It is so vibrant and full of life when you stand infront of it!

This was the status last week. So close! We just need to find the time to work together and stick the wall paper shapes into place. It is a large wall and just placing the shapes presented many challenges that were a lot of fun to overcome together. Teamwork! Just like what it will take to raise our baby!

This is the final result. We finished at 3:30pm yesterday. We are probably still buzzed from the thrill of finishing this project and how flawless it came out.

This week my dad's bringing back the crib from the US (a whole story onto itself), and we can place the furniture around the room. I'll post photos once that's complete!

37 weeks along and struggling with a tough decision

I'm at a bit of a cross roads in one of my first controversial motherly decisions. Do I get the H1N1 vaccine while pregnant?

My first reaction is to say, of course! For months now I've been all too aware of the risk associated with later term pregnancy and complications with H1N1. It's actually something that gets scarier as time passes and by that I mean it's actually deadlier than we were first lead to believe from the ever so slight mention of it in prenatal classes. And starting now, we are seeing the infection begin it's second wave and a vaccine to combat it's spread.

The big question is how safe is it? Luckily there are two different vaccines to be distributed. The one which will be given to pregnant women is unadjuvanted - which means many of the chemicals associated with birth defects are not part of this batch of vaccines. Therefore, as much as I understand there isn't very much research in the long term side effects of this vaccine, I do believe it's safe and will attempt to get this vaccine if I can.

I'm not worried about catching H1N1. I am working (for a week and a half more) in a very small office. I'm always vigilant about hand washing and being aware of contact with people who may be ill. I don't plan on going to any crowded places until after giving birth. All the same go for Nuno as well. I've actually gone this entire pregnancy with not even as much as a slight cold. I think what crosses my mind about the vaccine is my baby's life after birth. You see, if I get inoculated while pregnant I'll be producing antibodies that the baby will absorb as part of his immunity. After understanding that there is a whole generation of us who have never been exposed to anything like this virus, and therefore do not have any antibodies to combat it, I'd like my son to have a chance to avoid ever contracting it. I'm actually in the lucky position of having a full term baby and am in the first consideration for inoculation. Once he's born he won't be able to get the shot (it will be more than a year before he can I imagine). If I receive the shot, we need 10 days for it to achieve it's affective potential (so I better not go into labour).

As the circulation of this vaccine seems touch and go I'm not sure I'll even have the chance to receive it in time before delivery. And if I don't, I'm fine with that as well. It will have made the weighty decision all the more easy if I don't get to choose.

:::

On a lighter note, here I am at 37 weeks.

The baby is all curled up and can only roll from left to right. He hiccups and moves frequently. I wonder how comfy it is in there for him? Will he come early, on time, or late? I wonder about those things and try and put H1N1 out of my mind.

peanut butter pie and pumkin farms

The first part of this weekend was devoted to celebrating my dad's birthday. I made a chocolate peanut butter pie. It's a classic icebox dessert from the 50's and I took the recipe from my Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook. It was delicious, but we had to freeze the majority of it for another week. Hopefully then I can grab a photo.

We had some visitors from out of town on Sunday. My nephew Ronan came down with my mother & father in-law to have fun at Howell's Pumpkin Farm. This place is AWESOME for kids and it was a real treat to take Ronan there. We tested out our video camera and the footage we got was great.
Unfortunelty, the whole day totally exhasuted me mentally and physically. Pregnancy can do that since my muscles are still learning to deal with all the extra weight up front. Although you may think handling Ronan was another influence in exhasustion, it was actually my in-laws that tired me out. They were so high strung the whole time. It would be nice if they could let Ronan just be a kid there. But Nuno and Ronan were adorable there and they had tons of fun. Nuno's going to be an amazing dad! I really lucked-out falling in love with him.

Looks like I wasn't the only exhausted one. On the way home Ronan fell asleep in his car seat with one bite of pumpkin donut left in his hand.

He didn't even wake up during his diaper change.

baby's closet

Only a mom could find talking about her kid's closet interesting - but I am so stoked about how it turned out. Would you believe the people who owned our home previous to us painted the inside of all the bedroom closets? Lets see, we had dusty rose, 2 bright turquoise and purple - like this swatch:

That's what we had to contend with in the nursery, but I give full credit to Nuno for persevering in the cramped space to make sure our baby had a decent closet. I loaded up all his clothes last night and stood back to admire the adorable-ness before we put the doors back on.

Can you believe our baby already has a lifejacket (top left corner) for next summer when he swims at my parent's pool? I couldn't leave it behind in Target's discount for $5!

I hope to have the rest of the nursery pics up once I'm finished work and on maternity leave which is next month.

30 days till my life changes!

Today marks one month till our due date - Friday the 13th of November. Yep, our lucky day! I'm getting so crazy excited for the arrival of our baby. I feel ready for the labour and delivery, whatever it brings. I know the only predictable thing about childbirth is that it's unpredictable, so once I resigned myself to that then I considered myself prepared. I feel as though if I keep on course with what I've been up to all 8 months prior we are going to do well. That means I'm continuing with cardio to keep my stamina high and doing my prenatal yoga poses daily. Lots of hip-opening and side stretches. Woah, am I limber these days! This is one perk of pregnancy I wish I could keep.

Since we are heading into the end of the pregnancy, here are some things I have going down to get ready for our baby:

• Final purchases.
It's crazy to imagine out of all this loot there are still things we need before the baby arrives. I mean, who'd be in a rush to buy a breast pump? Not me! But I'll have to break down and get one if Nuno and I ever want an evening out again in the next year.

• Nuno is helping me pack my bag for the big day.

• We are sorting through all the newborn clothes, receiving blankets and washclothes and making sure everything is nice and clean.

• Last minute classes in car seats & breast feeding along with a hospital tour.

• We are now cooking meals and freezing the majority of our dinners. So far I've stocked frozen pesto, chicken pot pies, vegetarian chili, lasagna, tuna noodle casserole, swedish meatballs, enchiladas and macaroni & cheese. Before the end of the month I'll probably get around to making portions of shepherds pie, baked penne, eggplant parm and chili chicken taco filling. These baked dinners are my favourite type of dinners to eat and the timing of the pregnancy and baby's birth couldn't be any more perfect for reheated freezer meals.

• Nursery, nursery, nursery! Probably the most rewarding room redo I've ever done and I can't wait to share the results.

thanksgiving 2009

I volunteered to hold Thanksgiving at our house this year. It didn't dawn on me how much work it would be for myself given that our baby is due in 4 weeks - yes - that soon! And as per usual I managed to overexert myself. Starting with full force on the nursery.
We saw some major results this weekend and I'd like to save the room transformation blog post for a grand finale just before I give birth, but I thought I'd give a preview.

I managed to tear myself away from the nursery long enough to bake this chocolate pumpkin tart. I had to get a photo of the pumpkin filling drizzling into the double chocolate crust. This was my favourite part of Thanksgiving dinner. Wait - does turkey BLT sandwiches the next day count? That's my most favourite part of Thanksgiving then!

Next up was getting Hot Tot dressed for the occasion. The scarf she is wearing was created by Leslie who sewed this from scratch. It is an ingenious design where you thread the dog's collar right through the top of the scarf so that it remains secure.

Here's my ever growing self putting the delicious Thanksgiving feast on the table. I swear, there are more pregnant photos of me than any photos before. Nuno can't stop snapping photos and getting video footage - yes, very flattering :)

We had such a huge feast, most couldn't fit on the table and had to sit on the sideboard. This year's menu was turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin gratin, green beans, roasted carrots and skillet cornbread.

To drink we had virgin Caesars!

While my dad was slicing the turkey I spotted a piece drop on the ground and Tot may have taken a taste. We don't allow ANY human food in Tot's mouth (I've had dogs who've become hell raisers from growing accustom to table scraps) so I guess this was Tot's Thanksgiving Day treat. I think it's true what they say about the Tryptopahan in turkey - look at how exhausted Tot became at the end of the night.

Although we're having a baby, we definitely have a dog somewhere between pug and baby.

baby shower #2

This past weekend was a wonderful baby shower thrown by my in-laws. It was loads of fun and part of all the excitement was....

our first time meeting our niece Paige! Here she is with Joe, Sara & Grandma! She's a wonderful baby. She doesn't seem to cry and makes wonderful eye contact with everyone she meets. And her coo's... sigh. I can't wait till our little guy arrives! And it's nice to have a sister-in-law who's recently been through all the trials and tribulations of pregnancy and first time motherhood. Like, unless you enjoy pain, don't give birth in Calgary! hehe I won't get into that.

Some baby clothes are so funny. It looks like we'll have a little miniature Nuno running around since so many of his clothes look like something Nuno would wear.

Kinda cheesy photo of Nuno and I cutting the baby shower cake. This is the first fondant cake I've ever had for a party.

Who'd have imagined the day Joe would be conducting a how-to on Baby Bjorn's.

So, Nuno, are you convinced you need one of these? Lets see if he finds one on Kijiji!