Nocturnal

noc·tur·nal
Pronunciation:
\näk-ˈtər-nəl\
Middle English, from Anglo-French or Late Latin; Anglo-French nocturnel, from Late Latin nocturnalis, from Latin nocturnus of night, nocturnal, from noct-, nox night
Date:
15th century
1 : of, relating to, or occurring in the night
2 : active at night
— noc·tur·nal·ly \-nəl-ē\ adverb

Lately it seems like this definition for 'nocturnal' fits me to a t. No matter what I try, I can't seem to help being "active at night!" I don't think I've had a normal nights sleep for about 2 weeks at least and I have a feeling its not going to get any better for a long time! I don't know what is wrong with me but I am up all night and sleeping all day! I guess my body is preparing for this baby!

The only reason I'm posting about this is to apologize to people that have been trying to get ahold of me or wondering where I am all day...well, I'm most likely sleeping! Hopefully I can get used to this crazy schedule soon, but for now it has meant lots of naps during the day. So if you are awake and bored during the middle of the night, give me a call...I'll be up! All I can say is thank goodness for nick at nite!

Memorial Day - Arlington (Trace Adkins)

Okay, Maybe I Will Miss Being Pregnant...

...At this point in my pregnancy (33 weeks) it seems like there is an awful lot to complain about.  Especially when you are under 5 feet tall and it seems like there is no room left in your body for this child!  So in the mist of all the whining and complaining over my inability to sleep and being scared every time I look in the mirror, I had a realization yesterday...

There are a few things I'm really going to miss when this is over!

How did I come to this realization?  Well as I sat on my butt yesterday morning, eating strawberry shortcake for breakfast (which I also had later for lunch and dessert), it occurred to me that this is probably the only time in my life I will ever be able to justify such a ridiculous indulgence!  I know all the pregnancy books and doctors say you still have to eat healthy and that being pregnant is not a free ticket to binge, but come on, no one is going to tell a woman who is eight months pregnant that she can't have strawberry shortcake for breakfast if that's what she wants!

So, sure I'm going to miss feeling the baby kick and move around inside of me, and I'm going to miss the feeling that I'm actually creating a life.  But most of all I'm going to miss all the things that pregnancy allows you to get away with!  For me that means eating cake 3 meals a day, taking 2-3 hour naps in the middle of the day, sending Travis back to the store twice because there aren't enough sprinkles on my ice cream, making him drive out of his way to get me a certain hamburger, asking Travis to do things for me that I'm just to lazy to do like tie my shoes, and finally having a good excuse to not care about being fat!  When else will I ever get a chance like this? (By the next pregnancy I'm sure I won't have the same luxuries with a toddler to take care of!)

So, while 7 more weeks makes me cringe at the discomfort, you better believe I'm going to milk it for all it's worth and indulge like never before!

ps.  this is why there are no more pictures being taken of me while I'm pregnant!

Make Me Laugh Monday: Laughing Quads

Okay, I know that almost everyone probably saw this already considering it was on Oprah, but I thought it was too cute to not post!

Flashback Friday: 1994

I was listening to a new cd this morning that had harp music on it and it made me want to play again so bad!  I've been bugging Travis to get me a harp and I had asked him again this morning (too bad they are so expensive).  Then as I was unpacking boxes today I found this random old picture of Aileen and I on the first day we went to meet Jocelyn Chang, our harp teacher.  I decided it was meant to be-  Travis needs to get me a harp so I can start playing again!  So this is my plea to him.  Plus I just thought it was a funny picture!  I tried to find a picture of Travis in 1994 to compare what we were both doing that year, but most of my pics are still packed.  Next week I promise a real flashback friday with funny pictures of Travis to entertain everyone!

Watch Dog

This website was on Oprah a couple of years ago and I thought it was the greatest thing, especially for parents and paranoid people like me.  I checked it back then but I had completely forgotten about it since, until I saw it posted on a friends blog today.  You just enter in your street, city, and state (or a close street if yours is fairly new) and it will show you where all of the sex offenders in your area live and work.  You can click on the dots and it will even show you a picture of the offender and a list of their convictions.  It's really interesting and I think everyone, especially with kids, should check it out!  Thanks Sky for the reminder!

http://www.familywatchdog.us/

**Just for Aileen--Check this out, there is a kidnapper/rapist living right by you!  Creepy!

Tasty Tuesday: Summer's Coming

"Live in each season as it passes; breath the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each."
~Henry David Thoreau

I love this quote, mostly because I love the seasons.  I am so excited that it's finally spring and that summer is just around the corner.  What I love most about the seasons is the way food changes as the seasons change and I'm excited for what spring and summer will be bringing.

Sunday, at my inlaws, we tried  a new salad from the 'Pioneer Woman Cooks' website (see link on right) and it was fantastic.  It was full of fresh, light ingredients that just screamed summer to me!  It was nice to move on from the rich heaviness of fall and winter (which I also love) and  enjoy the new produce and ingredients that come along with nice weather.  Summer dishes just always seem so simple and light and full of color, and they always make you feel good.  This is one of those salads, so I thought I'd share it.

Asian Noodle Salad
adapted from Jamie Oliver

SALAD INGREDIENTS:

1 packages linguine noodles, cooked, rinsed, and cooled

1/2 to 1 head sliced Napa cabbage
1/2 to 1 head sliced purple cabbage
1/2 to 1 bag baby spinach
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced thin
1 orange bell pepper, sliced thin (if available)
1 small bag bean sprouts (also called “mung bean sprouts”)
3 sliced scallions
3 peeled, sliced cucumbers (I didn’t have a cucumber for the photos above, but they’re yummy in the salad)
LOTS of chopped cilantro—up to one bunch
1 can whole cashews, lightly toasted in skillet (again, I didn’t have them for the photos, but have used them before and they’re…sublime.)

DRESSING:

Juice of 1 lime
8 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sesame oil
6 tablespoons soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 hot peppers or jalapenos, chopped
More chopped cilantro—LOTS

Mix together salad ingredients. Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Mix with tongs or hands and serve on platter.
*Dressing keeps up to three days before serving, WITHOUT cilantro.

Enjoy!

(Check out the Pioneer Woman Cooks Website for more step by step instructions and pics)

"Good food in season responds best to the simplest preperation. You really can't go wrong when you start with quality."
~French Women

"The best cook in the world can't make good food from poor ingredients; and it takes some perverse genius to turn great ingredients into bad food!"
~French Women

Make Me Laugh Monday: Random Stuff

I tried to post this all day yesterday, but my internet was weird so here it is today.

*If you can't see/read the pictures, try clicking on them to make them bigger.

Okay, maybe only my mom will think this is funny, but with my new obsession with knitting that my mom started it seemed very appropriate.  I wonder how many nights we would have to stay up until 3 in the morning to finish this project?  And if my mom was involved we'd have to start over 8 times, so it would take even longer!

Summer?

The last couple of weeks have brought us some beautiful days here in Idaho (along with some random snow and wind storms)!  I have been getting a little stir crazy spending all day unpacking and organizing in the house so Travis and I have found a new addiction to cure it- The Greenbelt. Every summer we go for walks down at the "greenbelt" which is the river and falls in Idaho Falls, but we seem to be really addicted this year.  It may take me forever to waddle around the river with my big belly, but it feels so nice to get out in the sun and enjoy the beautiful scenery and view of the temple.  Not to mention that we've rekindled our love for an old favorite restaurant down by the river that has the most amazing blue cheese burgers and chocolate cake you can ever imagine (so much for the walk huh?)!  It has made for some really fun afternoon "dates" with my husband, but I always forget to take my camera!  This past weekend we invited Trav's brother Justin and his daughter Reese along with our neighbors, the Wilders, to join us at the river.  The weather was gorgeous, the kids had a blast feeding the ducks, and we enjoyed having company on our walk!  Best of all, I finally remembered the camera!

 

                        How typical is this?  Trav and Justin both playing with their phones!

                                                            Even Ralph had some fun!

Lily Marlene Harwood

One of the most exciting events that I have neglected to blog about this past month is the arrival of our newest family member! On wednesday April 16th, Trav's brother Justin and his wife Stephanie welcomed Lily to their family. Lily weighed 6 lb 9 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. She is adorable and is doing great! Stephanie, on the other hand, has been dealing with lots of the not so fun parts of having just delivered a baby and we really hope she will feel better soon!  Reese is a great big sister to Lily and we are so excited to have another little niece.  This year will be filled with new babies for our families and it is so much fun!

The Bellies!

Well these are a little old now and most of you have probably already seen them on my sister's blog, but oh well!

While I was home in Cleveland visiting, Lex and I thought it would be fun to get some shots of the twin bellies.  Her cute friend Jen offered to take them for us out at the beach, but of course we picked the nastiest night to do it!  It was so freaking cold!  I wish we had a video camera to capture the event.  In between every picture we would put on our winter coats and shoes and throw them off the second Jen was ready to snap a picture.  My hair was standing straight up in the wind and Lexi had mascara running down her face from the cold and wind.  It was hilarious. So the end result is some great pictures of the beach, some less than great pictures of me, and lots of fun memories.  Jen did an awesome job on the photography part, I just wish we had been better subjects!







 

These are probably the last pictures you will see posted of me for awhile...  Just think, if I'm this big now, you're not going to want to look at pictures of me in 3 months! Plus we'd have to buy a wide angle lens!  For those of you that haven't seen my giganticness in person, here are a few of my favorite comments people have made recently...

~"Any day now!" (I get this at least once every time I go out in public, little do they know I have 3 more months)

~"If your sister is due a month before you, why are you so much bigger than her?"

~"Wow, you are due after your sister?  When I saw you at church I thought you must be ready to pop any day now!"

~(said to Lexi and I) "Which one of you is due first?  Must be you (pointing to me)!"

~"Here, carry this, maybe it will help get your labor started." (If I want to have my baby 3 months early!)

~"Wow, you're not due until July?  You must be having a very big baby!"

~ I took my niece to the store to get balloons for her mom who was in the hospital giving birth.  She told the lady working there that she was getting the balloons for her baby sister that was being born that day.  The lady looks up at me and says "oh, you're having the baby today? Congratulations!"  I wanted to say 'yes, just thought I'd pick myself up some balloons on the way to the hospital to congratulate myself!'

Sometimes I just wonder if people think before they speak!  At least it keeps me laughing, I love watching people's jaws drop when they ask when I'm due and I say July!

I'm Back!

First of all, my apologies!  I absolutely hate when I check people's blogs and they haven't updated lately... now here I am, practically a month without a post!  I know, it's pathetic!  It started when I went home to Cleveland and was just so busy having fun with family and friends there was no time to blog, then I came back home and being pregnant and trying to finish up the move, everything just seems to have gotten away from me!  I also wanted to apologize for not responding to people's comments and things, like I said things just seem to have gotten away from me.  (Side note: I found out I was really anemic and just started on lots of iron so hopefully that will help me get some energy back!)  So there it is...I'm sorry and I'm vowing to try harder!