Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Happy Birthday to ME!

This past Monday was my 31st (gasp!) birthday!  Jason made the day absolutely awesome!  He surprised me by taking the day off of work to spend the whole day with me - yay!!

We started the day by me opening up my gifts (with the help of Redmond, of course)
Redmond got me the cookbook I've been dying for - Cook's Country Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen (I'm slightly obsessed with ATK)....and, apparently he didn't need any coaching or prodding from daddy, he literally picked it out himself!  Jason, being the absolute amazing hubby that he is, got me an adapter so that I can hook up my camera to an iPad.....I was a little confused because, well, I don't own an iPad.  Or, at least I didn't!  He had me get online and order one on Monday so that it was exactly what I wanted - I should have it in a week or two!!!

Jason insisted that we go out to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner so that I didn't have to do any cooking or cleaning.  I wasn't one to argue with that!  We went to Ihop for breakfast (stuffed french toast YUM), got soup and sandwiches from our favorite organic shop for lunch and had Chipotle for dinner.  I really wanted to eat at a place downtown called Quynn's Attic because they have a vegetarian french onion soup that is ah-mazing, but, unfortunately it was cold and rainy all day....not the day to walk around downtown.

After dinner - Jason brought out my cake.  I had requested a cheesecake and boy did he deliver!

That, my friends, is a brownie cheesecake.  Like, there are chunks of brownies in the cheesecake!  It was amazing....here's a close-up look for you:
Cookie crust, cheesecake with chunks of brownies and a chocolate ganache on top.  It. Was. Amazing.

Amazing day thanks to my amazing honey!!!

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo

Last week, for Jason's birthday, we decided to check out a zoo in nearby Thurmont, MD.  Now, I have a total love/hate relationship with zoos (and the circus for that matter).  I really hate seeing animals locked in a small cage, all alone with nothing to do but pace day in and day out.  But, as a child, I absolutely loved the zoo - it was such a magical place and it had a huge impact on the animal lover that I've become.  So, I suck it up and want Redmond (and our future child) to experience them too.  Plus, they're a great place to learn about different species, places and, of course, animals.

Ok, now that I'm off my soapbox, back to the subject.  The Catoctin Zoo was small, but I was impressed with the variety of animals that there were. 

When you pay to enter the zoo, you're able to buy a cup of food to feed some of the animals throughout the zoo.  I jumped all over that!  They had deer, goats, llamas, alpacas, pigs and a few other animals that you were able to pet/feed.  Redmond is still a little too young for it....he was desperately trying to get the "doggies" (the deer, or any animal with 4 legs ☺) to give him a big open-mouthed kiss like he gets from Oliver.  We intervened and didn't let that happen, btw!
 

Redmond's most favorite exhibit out of the entire zoo was the Koi Pond.  He absolutely loved watching the fish swim around!

A close second was when we made pit stops at the little playgrounds they had set up throughout the zoo.  Nice for him to get out of the stroller and run around a bit!

We saw two giant tortoises kissing....or getting ready for a brawl....

And a black swan.  Seriously, I didn't even know these were real!

The best shot of the day - Redmond and I with a bunch of parrots and a flamingo!
So, even though some of the exhibits made me sad, hearing Redmond yell "DOGGIE" at every four-legged animal (wild cats and camels included), "GAH-GAH" (quack quack) at every type of bird we saw (including emus and flamingos) and my favorite, yelling "DADA" at the monkey exhibit really made my day!


Friday, April 20, 2012

Today's craving brought to you by.....

MUSTARD!!
I woke up this morning and realllllly wanted mustard on something (weirdest craving so far).  It didn't take too long to realize that it would be perfect on an english muffin with an egg and a piece of veggie sausage.   One small problem....we didn't have any english muffins :(  So, after breakfast Redmond and I went to the store to pick some up.  My stomach growled for a good two hours in anticipation for my yummy concoction.  Lunch could not come soon enough!   It was SO good....I could probably eat 5 more if I wanted to.....but I won't :)

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Second Trimester!!!

Yesterday I hit 13 weeks - aka my second trimester!!  Woohoo!!!!☺

This pregnancy has been a little different than Redmond's was.  With Redmond, I never had any morning/day/night sickness and I had heartburn all.day.long. (although I don't remember exactly when that kicked in, but it was horrible).  Also, (warning: tmi ahead) my breasts were so tender it hurt to walk some days.  So far with this pregnancy I was sick all morning/day/night for about 4 weeks straight.  Thankfully, I never actually got sick, but man there were some days I wished I would.  I've had a little heartburn, but not everyday, maybe only once or twice a week.  And, I'm happily still sleeping on my stomach at 13 weeks, my breasts don't hurt one bit.  Maybe these differences mean we're having a girl?????

One thing that is the same with this pregnancy is that I'll crave something and eat it and eat it and eat it until the thought of it makes me ill.  In the first trimester I was able to eat enough and become sick of:
Sour Cream and Onion Pringles, string beans, salmon....I know there's more, but pregnancy brain has made me forget.

Other foods that I've craved (but haven't eaten a ridiculous amount of):
Fried Rice
Peanut Butter and Crackers
Chocolate
Veggie hot dogs
Blue Cheese
Popcorn

Aversions:
Beer - obvs I'm not drinking it, I can't stand the smell

I used the first 12 weeks as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.  I've gained entirely too much weight already.  I decided two days ago that I really need to snap out of that mind set.  I've started taking Redmond and Oliver on walks every day and really paying attention to what I'm eating.  It's only been two and a half days, but so far so good!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Happy Birthday Jason!!!

My wonderful, amazing hubby turned the big 3-1 today!  It was so nice that his birthday was on the weekend so we could spend the day with him and, more importantly, he didn't have to work. 

After breakfast, Jason opened up his gifts....with Redmond's (and Oliver's) help, of course.

 

He made out pretty well if I do say so myself ☺  The last picture is one of his gifts - it's a bacon chocolate bar.  He's not the biggest fan of chocolate, but he LOVES bacon.  It's the only chocolate that he doesn't have to worry about me stealing!

After that we decided to go on a little walk to the neighborhood park so that Redmond could play for a little bit.  We came back, ate lunch, and put R down for a nap.  When he got up we loaded up in the car and headed to the zoo (post on that coming soon).  Redmond really seemed to enjoy himself there!  We came back, relaxed for a bit then headed out to dinner - Jason wanted to go to a really good Mexican place here in Frederick.  I wasn't going to argue that!  After a yummy dinner, a little serenading by the Mariachi Band and many margaritas (for Jason, obvs, not me) we headed home for dessert.

Jason just wanted one cupcake - he didn't want the temptation of having an entire cake in the house (which is good because I would have eaten it) so I picked some up at Wegmans yesterday.


We tried to give Redmond a cupcake, but apparently, he's still terrified of them for some reason.  As soon as I put it on his high chair tray he started screaming and crying!

All in all a great day!  The birthday boy is happy so I'm happy!  Happy birthday baby!!!!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Easter Weekend 2012

We went to my sister's for Easter this year and had a great weekend.  Although it wasn't Redmond's first Easter, he had a lot of 'firsts' this weekend.

Coloring eggs:


Trying to eat said eggs:


Relaxing on his cousin doggie Elmer (Oliver is WAY to jumpy to allow this!):

Easter egg hunt:


 He was pretty excited about his Easter basket too! 
+

And, of course, had a fun time with his cousins!


GREAT Weekend!