It's OK

It's ok to clean under your finger nails with a potato scrubber. Or an earring post. Whatever.

It's ok to tell your dog 10 times in a row to stop eating the ashes out of the bbq pit but to not stand up and empty them out so he doesn't keep doing it.

It's ok to feel just a little sad that you're having a boy rather than a girl every time you see adorable hairbows for sale. (as long as you're thrilled about it the rest of the time)

It's ok to have an enormous stockpile of greeting cards that you bought with the best of intentions even though they may never get sent, at least to their originally intended recipients.

It's ok to try to slip in coupons that you know are expired or two for the same product just to see if the store will take them. It's not stealing. Or maybe it is, I've been feeling a little guilty for this lately.

It's ok to spend whole days watching marathons of House, or Law and Order SVU, or Top Chef, or Little Miss Perfect.

It's ok to make up or embellish pregnancy aches and pains so your husband will keep massaging.

It's ok to throw away perfectly good lightbulbs because you just can't store that many of them. How did we get that many lightbulbs anyway?

It's ok to take the free eye exam at WalMart just to hear them say your vision is perfect, again.

It's ok to categorically like all songs with a whistling part in them and dislike all songs that include the lyrics "for you and for me" or refer to one's generation.

And just for good measure, this song is ok too!

Menu Plan Monday

Shopping and cooking are on my no-can-do list of bed rest restrictions (along with travel, sex and cleaning), which came as bummers since those are kind of the highlights of my day! So for the last few weeks I've had to plan meals that are quick and easy for Brian to make when he gets home from work, with a little help from me because I'm not that good at following instructions. Most of the meals I've picked are coming from the Simple and Delicious cookbook put out by Taste of Home. I love how they organize the meals and time each of the recipes. None of them are over 30 minutes. Sides are based almost solely on what we found at the farmers' market on Saturday. So here's what we're having (it's running Saturday to Friday even though I'm posting on Monday):

Saturday: Uglies, roasted broccoli greens, and mashed potatoes.

Did you know you could use the broccoli leaves? I didn't until a nice farmer sold us some. They were delicious! Less bitter than collards, and really simple to make with this roasting recipe. Different than the usual sauteeing I do with pretty much all other greens.

The filling for the uglies would have been better divided among 10 biscuits rather than 8. There was some left after I stuffed as much as I could into the biscuit cups that I had to eat with a spoon. Oh, the sacrifice!

Sunday: Chicken Tikka Masala (sort of), taboule from the box, naan, and sliced radishes and vinegar. The radishes were Easter egg radishes, a mix of pink, red, purple, white and yellow. So pretty!

The reason I say sort of about the Tikka Masala is that we bought a premade batch of it from a guy at the farmers market that was intended to be a dip, but I used it as a marinade then followed these instructions for sesame chicken to bake it and serve over rice.

Monday: Tuna Burgers with mustard greens and chips

Tuesday: Spaghetti and meatballs, zucchini boats

I already made the meatballs with what was left of the ground beef after the uglies on Saturday

Wednesday: beer marinated Chicken tacos with super spicy Brianmade salsa to hurry Will along if he's not here yet, and canned beans

Friday: Pine Nut Crusted Red Snapper, spinach and rice

Come on, baby!

This certainly hasn't been a pregnancy blog, but inspired by Allie's weekly postings, I thought I might should do one of my own before it's over. For the last few weeks I've been thinking everything I do is the last time I'm going to do it before the baby gets here. Saturday I went to the Farmer's Market, again thinking it's the last time. Yesterday was the third week in a row I thought I would be going to Mass for the last time before baby gets here. Let's hope I was right and that this is the last Monday before baby gets here. The good news though is that this means so far my doctor has decided baby and I are healthy enough to carry on in pregnancy rather than inducing. That was a real possibility because of high blood pressure, but as of now he says that I am fine to continue to 41 weeks (yikes!) as long as nothing changes. Tomorrow is my e.d.d. and I know only 5% of babies are actually born on their due dates, but lets offer a prayer that this little boy is!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 40 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +25 lbs

Is your nursery done? basically. I need to hang his quilt and post the decal of his name on the wall. Also my parents ordered us a glider that hasn't come yet. So actually I guess the nursery isn't done, but we don't really plan on having him in there much anyway, at least at first.

What is your favorite piece of baby gear that you've purchased? I'm really excited to try out the Baby K'Tan carrier I got us.

Which stroller did you buy? My parents gave us a Bob Revolution jogging stroller. I'd also like to pick up a smaller umbrella stroller for shopping trips, etc. I couldn't believe there wasn't a single stroller at the consignment store when I went but I have my eyes peeled.

How many inches around is that bump? I don't know in terms of inches, but out of curiousity I played the toilet paper game alone at home just to see. I insisted that we not play it at either of my showers because honestly how fun is measuring your body under the scrutiny of all your family and friends under any circumstances? But fyi, it took 11 squares of toilet paper to wrap around my belly at the belly button. Incidentally, that is still about half a square too short to wrap around my hips at the widest point. Even 9 months pregnant, I'm pear shaped!

Are you getting nervous? Yes, a little. I was confident when we were planning a home birth with a midwife that I knew would be calm and comfortable. Knowing now that I'll be giving birth in the hospital I'm worried about the chance for interventions I don't want and just that the environment is going to be tense and disruptive. I'm not nervous that anything is actually going to go wrong, surprisingly. I have faith that we'll both come through healthy and strong on the other side.

Have you dropped yet? yes, that boy is fully snuggled into my pelvis.

Lost your plug? I think that's what it was...

Are you still working/how long will you work? No, I've been on bed rest for the last few weeks. About 20 hours a day are spent laying on my left side.

How do you feel in general? bored, achy, and oh so ready to hold my baby in my arms

What are you getting the most excited about? I can't wait for us to be a family of 3!

The Accent Vlog

I vlogged!! I'm hit or miss, I get that. I miss you guys, really, I do! But there are no long apologies or best laid plans to return to blogging this time. I'd love to update you, especially since the baby is coming any day now, but right now I am just dropping in to share this vlog about accents. You should think about doing it too! If you want to follow along or do the Accent Vlog yourself, here are the words/questions: Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught, Coffee, Daughter. What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house? What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball? What is the bubbly carbonated drink called? What do you call gym shoes? What do you say to address a group of people? What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs? What do you call your grandparents? What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket? What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining? What is the thing you change the TV channel with?