delicious fruit salad

i used to make an apple salad with mayonnaise that i LOVED, but i didn't make it very often because the mayo is just not good for you. i found a recipe for a lighter version, and made it the other day for a side during lunch. i found it on Menus4Moms.com, which i have found to be a great resource for meal plans when i am stuck.

Apple, Grape and Walnut salad

• 3 sliced and cored Granny Smith apples
• 1 bunch red grapes, pulled from the stems
• chopped walnuts
• 8 oz. vanilla yogurt
• 3 oz. cream cheese, softened

Mix the cream cheese and yogurt until well blended (we used our bullet blender). put fruit, etc in a bowl and mix in the yogurt blend. refrigerate :)

i didn't have any grapes the second time i made it, so we added raisins instead. another good add-in would be celery or pineapple chunks.

yummy!! and so much better for me :)

He's here!!!

ahhhh...the moment we were waiting for finally arrived :) our precious little man entered the world in true troublemaker fashion!

vital stats:

8 pounds 14 ounces (!)
20 inches
complications: clavicle fracture from a shoulder dystocia

can i just tell you how glad i was to have had my first/only epidural with this little man? the shoulder sticking under my pubic bone would have been sheer torture without it! never, never thought i would be loving the epidural so much!

pictures will be coming soon, i promise. as soon as i get to feeling a little better, that is! i still have elephant ankles and a sciatica from the depths, but otherwise we are doing superbly :)

Bin day!

today was bin day!

every 4-6 weeks we break out a new toy bin from the garage. we have 4 rather large rubbermaid type storage bins that we have sorted out our toys into. that way, we don't get too tired of toys. they are all numbered, and i mark on the calendar which bin i get out when.

the bins also allow me to sort through our toys on a regular basis and get rid of ones that are broken or missing pieces.

some things never get put into a bin, and those are the educational toys that we use during mommy-directed activities (i.e. puzzles, lacing blocks, stacking toys).

the lego toys and trains don't get put away, either, as they are up in the loft, and there are just too many of them :)

there is usually a LOT of chaos for the first hour or so after the bin comes out, as you can see from the picture. then we get to organizing them into our fabric boxes and stash them into a wire cube unit we purchased at target.

Bin Day ranks up there with Christmas in our house!!

warning: whining about to commence

if you don't want to read a post from a whiney pregnant woman, read no further.

seriously.

i am tired of being pregnant. this pregnancy has really taken its toll on me.

i am irritable. i am impatient. my children look at me as if i have grown 3 heads and am going to eat them alive.

i just might.

i had a dr. appt yesterday and, of course, my cervix is unchanged. so, she kindly stripped the membranes.

it started the contractions in earnest a few hours later. first they were 6 minutes apart, and within a few hours we were headed to the hospital with contractions at 3 minutes apart and painful. once we get there, they confirmed the contractions, but the cervix wasn't going anywhere.

so i walked around for an hour.

lovely hospital gowns (one on front and one on back, ya know, to cover up the wide load). flip flops, and a tour of the lovely hospital grounds.

the KISA ate a cheeseburger and sweet potato fries while i did a circuit around a big copper tree.
is it a bad thing that i rejoiced when he accidentally threw away his cookies with the trash? esp since i was only allowed ice chips?

back up to L&D for another check. no change.

have to walk outside for another hour. thank goodness the weather is nice here.

i haven't walked this much since before i was pregnant!

back upstairs. painful contractions 2 minutes apart, can't walk through them.

no change.

call the doctor.

go home.

go home? when do i come back?

"when your contractions are close together and painful."

you mean, like they are right now???????

oh, well. at least i got to lay in my own bed to get through them. and eat.

eating was nice.

i am tired of the contractions. they are tiresome. they wake me up frequently. i don't need any practice for after the baby comes. i need sleep.

i am discouraged.

i am whiney.

i am impatient.

i may just eat one of my children today.