Finally - proof that my midsection is expanding

I suppose it's about time I posted a shot of my expanding midsection. This one isn't great but at least it's something! I so rarely get my picture taken (as everyone is taking shots of Ruby) so I snapped a quick one yesterday. Ruby and I are staying with Grammi (Chuck's mom) while he's away on business. You can check out his blog to read about his trip. He is in Chicago right now and will be back home tonight. Yay!
I'm about 25-26 weeks and everything is going great! I'm just starting to feel big and noticing that I can't move normally. For example, bending over to tie my shoes is becoming more and more difficult.
Hope your week went well and you're looking forward to the weekend - I know I am!

Cracker Phone

Ruby and I took Chuck to the airport yesterday after a nice morning together. Ruby slept on the ride up but then at 1pm when she normally would have been napping she felt she needed to be eating crackers. This was ok since I had packed some just in case. When we were just a few blocks from home she noticed by cell phone (I think I checked the weather at a stop-light) and wanted to see it. She is very interested in my cell phone these days. I told her my phone was not for playing but that she could have another cracker. After I drove a few more blocks I peeked at her to check on the cracker eating to find her talking on the cracker like a phone. Genius. Here she is pushing the buttons and telling Daddy all about everything. She won't talk to Daddy on my phone but she will on her cracker phone. Nice.

Special Snack Day

Ruby and I usually have pretty boring snacks like crackers and grapes or peanut butter toast. Today Ruby and I were both having a rough afternoon due to lack of sleep, another wet day and the trials of being a small person and a small person's mom. Because of this we decided that we needed a more special snack.
Today we enjoyed sliced bananas with spiced anglaise and softened carrots with miso dip.
I've been craving miso soup lately but haven't been able to find bonito flakes for the broth yet (traditional japanese miso is made with bonito broth - bonito is a type of fish similar to tuna) but I did buy miso because I figured I could try it with a different fish broth if I got desperate - which I'm not far from. I planned to have hummus with our carrots but my last batch had gone bad - we never eat it fast enough since I can't find Stacy's pita chips anywhere in Denton - but I noticed on the side of the miso container a recipe for a dip. I modified it and have since googled for another version that sounds good so if you like miso you should give it a try!

Special Snack Miso Dip - 2 small servings
1/2 Tbsp miso (I used this kind which I recommend beacuse it is organic and unpasterized)
1 Tbsp cream cheese (I used home made cream cheese from our raw yogurt - here's a quick how to on both)
about a 1/2 tsp or to taste of savory seasonings or in my case the "savory blend" from my spice rack
a few shakes of celery seed for a sweeter note
1 to 2 tsp rice vinegar to taste and to help stir everything together

Even Ruby liked it although she would rather have eaten another two or three bananas with the anglaise - she loves bananas.

I plan to do more with anglaise in the future. The first time I encountered it was last weekend when Chuck took me out to dinner and we had a piece of cake with chocolate chili anglaise. The anglaise was the best part in my opinion because it was not too sweet and I liked the way the chili complimented the dark chocolate flavor. I'm really excited about fall baking in general actually and will have to update soon about all the recipes I have in mind. Please let me know of your favorites!

It's October!?!

It's been too long since I've updated. I can't even recap all that's happened in the last month in one short post. I'll just give a few of the main points.

I'm a little over half-way with Enzo. I promise to get a picture up here soon! We're all very excited to meet him and I'm starting to think more seriously about clothes and sleeping arrangements and things like that. I'm also looking forward to swaddling and snuggling a baby while it's cold outside.

We finally took some "first year" pictures of Ruby. We'll take some more closer to Christmas and so we have some family photos. Our friend Chris took them (he took some when she was 5 months old and we used some of them for Christmas cards) and he's going to take some of me when I'm ultra pregnant (in only a few months!) as well as when Enzo is just a few weeks old. We didn't do either of those things with Ruby but I don't think that means we can't with Enzo.

Here's Ruby in the dress that both my mom and I wore in our first year pictures

I've done a LOT of researching, experimenting and near obsessing over the food I'm feeding my family and feel that I've hit a pretty good medium. We're eating primarily organic produce (largely thanks for the food coop which we're still a part of), I'm making whole grain baked goods at home (that I'm soaking but don't think I'm going to get too much deeper into it), we're drinking raw milk as well as making most of our dairy good at home with it (except hard cheeses like cheddar) and we're limiting our sugar big time. I'm trying not to feed Ruby any sugar and only eat it myself in sweets that I know will be really good and it's going pretty well. Most things are easy to substitute honey or dates or even just cinnamon but there are some (like chocolate cake, ice cream, etc) that need it and in those cases we get the most natural kinds or at least no corn syrup brands we can find or make them at home - which is still where we've produced the best chocolate cake so we're doing pretty well.

Speaking of Ruby and sweets: She's so sweet. Although we really have no comparisons to go by, we're pretty sure Ruby is advanced. I think she's even snuck into her "terrible twos" early. She's so smart, talking a lot and pushing whatever boundries she can. She's a ton of fun, though, and we're having a good time.

We waffled for quite some time about whether or not we'd get rid of The Dude or build him a dog house or get him some chickens to herd (getting chickens is still on the back burner) but we finally decided we'd give him a try as an inside dog. He really is a good dog and we'd like him to be a part of the family. So far (after about a week) he's doing really well and Ruby enjoys having him around. I just have to vacuum a lot more.

I'll leave you with another photo of Ruby and promise to get back here sooner rather than later and fill you in further on the daily happenings. Have a wonderful week!

Ruby is wearing a traditional first year celebration dress from Korea that some sweet Korean friends of ours gave her