Something Old

Among the new items in the nursery, like the crib and the bedding and way too many clothes for a fellow who isn't even born yet, I scattered a few old touches.

Of course there's Teddy and Red Bear. And a piggy bank and a pair of cowboy boots from when I was bambino. Some of my favorite childhood books that My Mom saved all these years. And a lovely little sweater and hat knitted for Conservative Hubby when he was a baby by some very special family friends.

Then there are a few vintage touches that came from other sources.

Like these blocks, an Etsy find.


And this abacus, which I also found on Etsy, along with a set of The Wonderful Worlds of Walt Disney books, which was a shower gift from a friend.


And this old octopus, which My Sister found in California and sent to us recently.


Kind of fun, yes?

The Growth Chart

At last Thursday's appointment with the doctor, we learned that although I haven't gained a ton of weight during the pregnancy, the little bambino is actually a little ahead of the game in that department.

He was already weighing in at about 6 pounds and 5 ounces at that point, which means if he decides to keep us all waiting until the actual due date he may tip the scales at a solid 8 pounds.

(Any guesses who's voting the loudest that he makes a safe, healthy, slightly early appearance? And any guesses who's hoping this is an indication that he'll be a professional football or basketball player?)


The little guy may weigh in over 6 pounds at this point, but I'm doubting he's going to exceed the height of this growth chart in the nursery anytime soon. In fact, I'm doubting he'll get even close to the height of the giraffe's nose while we still live in this house.

Still, it's a pretty darn cute addition to the nursery, don't you think?

Making the Mobile

This is the mobile My Mom and I hung in the baby's room this weekend.


Early on, when we were still brainstorming colors and themes and things of that nature for the nursery, I spent plenty of time looking at the many mobiles you could buy online. But none of them really appealed to me.

And then I found a nursery that I loved on ohdeedoh, and in that nursery there was a handmade mobile that I thought would be perfect with the few things we'd already found for our little one's room.

So I set about cutting out cardstock circles to make the mobile. Then I let the cardstock circles sit for a couple of months gathering dust, until this weekend when My Mom and I finally put the mobile together and got it hung.

It turned out as well as I had hoped. Hopefully the little guy likes it, too!

Turning 29

A week ago Friday, I celebrated a birthday. My 29th birthday, to be exact. The last birthday of my twenties.

It wasn't all that long ago when 30 seemed so old. But now it seems young. Really young.

Maybe I'll be singing a different tune a year from now when I'm actually turning 30, but I'm not at all concerned about leaving the twenties behind. Sure, it's a bit sad, because being a 20-something is pretty awesome. It's college and your first job and so much freedom to travel and do fun things but still be a "grown up" (without having to be too grown up all the time).

But it's not like I'm expecting to wake up in a year and feel drastically different than I do right now (although I'm guessing I'll be considerably more sleep-deprived, and hopefully I'll weigh considerably less—neither of which have to do with my age so much as the little fellow that's going to join our family soon).


Now if I were turning 35, that would be a different story. That's old. Really really old. (Just kidding, certain brothers-in-law that may or may not be around that age. That's really young, too! Conservative Hubby is wearing off on me. I apologize.)

Anyhow.

This year's birthday really snuck up on me. Normally October is all about birthdays (a few of my best friends also have theirs this month, plus My Mom's is the day after mine and My Dad's happens to be TODAY).

But this year October has been all about work, work, work and, more importantly, preparing for another birth day that could be coming up anytime in the next month or so. So it didn't even really hit me that it was my birthday until October 14 rolled around.

I've never been one for big birthday bashes to celebrate, anyway. To me a great birthday involves a good meal and (except for this year) maybe a few cocktails with friends or family. Of course, I've had my share of exciting birthdays. Like the year Conservative Hubby and my friends threw me a surprise party in Des Moines. (It was a big surprise!) Or the year I flew to Boston on my birthday to meet up with my family and surprise My Mom on her birthday. Oh yeah, and then there was that year that Conservative Hubby popped the question. (That was an even bigger surprise!)


But most of them have been pretty low-key, and that's OK with me.

This birthday was no different. In fact, it was even lower-key than usual. Conservative Hubby took me out to dinner at one of my favorite local restaurants, the Harvest Cafe, which is located in a little town outside of L-Town. It was delicious, although there's so little room in my stomach for extraneous items at the moment we didn't even get a birthday dessert. Then we came home, put on sweats, and watched television. I proceeded to fall asleep on the couch before 10 p.m.

Don't tell me I'm lame. That's an awesome birthday for this tired pregnant lady.

Homemade Minestrone

There's nothing quite like a big pot of homemade minestrone—loaded with fresh vegetables from our weekly CSA delivery—to make for a cozy October evening.


In case you're interested in trying it out yourself, I'll be serving leftovers all week.

Red Bear

Remember Teddy, my first bear from childhood?

Recently, he was joined in the nursery by another friendly little bear.

Meet Red Bear, Conservative Hubby's oldest and most loved stuffed animal.


Both of us had really original names for our little stuffed friends.

As you can see, Red Bear is not in quite as good of shape as Teddy. Apparently Conservative Hubby was very devoted to Red Bear as a child.

When I told C.B. I was going to post about his childhood friend, I asked if he wanted to tell all of you anything about his pal.

"Red Bear is awesome," was his response.

So there you have it.

Balloons!

It was almost a month ago now when the annual art and balloon festival took over L-Town. Should you ever need an excuse to come visit us in the summer, this weekend just may be it.


Besides the fact that you can watch the balloons take off, fly across fields, land, and glow in the dark once night rolls around, there are plenty of other activities to keep you busy too.


Like wandering the farmer's market, art festival, and flea market at the two parks downtown. And tasting some of the amazing barbecue at the Kansas City BBQ competition, which was held for the first time downtown on the square. (Conservative Dad was even one of the official judges--lucky guy!) Or, if it's more your style, you can taste a great selection of Illinois wines at the Art of Wine tent (also on the square).


At night, there are bands playing out at the airport where the balloons go off. You can get your fill of fried food and less-than-safe-looking carnival rides, too.

Really, what more could you ask for in small-town Illinois on a summer weekend?

Letting Butter Talk

Hi guys.

Just wanted to let you know I'm still around and happy as can be.

My family has been pretty darn busy lately, but I know even when I'm stuck at home or in the pet motel that they still love me.

All in all, life is good. ... Even though I still can't figure out what the heck is going on in the place formerly known as the office. ...

But I sure do like to sniff all those treasures that keep appearing in there. I'm sure they're all for me, even though I don't know why the heck I'd need so much stuff when all I really want in life is a belly rub, a walk, and a treat.

Electric Lemonade

This weekend, while Conservative Hubby and his best friend Twigs worked on mastering the fine art of making ribs (they did a fantastic job), I whipped up a little cocktail for Mrs. Twigs and I. It's an electric lemonade recipe from the June issue of Better Homes & Gardens, and it was the perfect concoction for a summer Saturday night.

The key ingredients: fresh-squeezed lemon juice, sugar, sparkling mineral water, a dash of ginger ale, fresh-picked mint, and ice. Once everything was blended, I poured the lemonade into two frosted glasses--one with vodka for Mrs. Twigs and one with more sparkling mineral water for me.

The verdict? Yummy.

An Ice Cream Treat

Happy Labor Day! In case you're looking for something rather delicious to labor over on your day off, I wanted to share a pic of the easy mocha chip ice cream cake I made while we were in North Carolina.

I was inspired by all of Kid Sister's Southern Living magazines I read while lounging by the pool (it was a very difficult vacation for me, people), so on our last night there decided I had to make the ice cream cake.

And boy am I ever glad I did, even though Conservative Hubby complained that dessert cost a million dollars by the time we bought all the ingredients. (It didn't.)

I highly recommend that you try it yourself. Just be sure to make it well in advance of when you want to eat it, since it needs some freezer time.

And you can go ahead and lick your plate when you're finished, like Kid Sister told me she did after we headed home and she was stuck with the incredibly difficult job of eating the leftovers. It's totally acceptable.

A Tennis Tournament

While in North Carolina visiting Kid Sister, T-Bear, and Frog Dog, Conservative Hubby and I took in some professional tennis action. It was the Winston-Salem Open, a U.S. Open qualifying tournament, held at Wake Forest University.

Kid Sister was busy working at the tournament, so Conservative Hubby and I stopped by to say hello and watch a bit of the action.

It was a Monday afternoon so it was pretty quiet. I asked Conservative Hubby about a million questions, because up until that sunny Monday I knew very little about how tennis scoring worked. He filled me in on the important stuff, and I found myself enjoying the action.

(And then we got scolded over the loud speaker and glared at by one of the tennis players because we got up to walk out right when one of the players was about to serve. Yes, we were those people. Oops. But seriously, are two people walking clear up in the stands really going to distract you that much? I don't think so.)

It actually made me want to play tennis (watching the tournament, not the scolding), but I suppose that will have to wait. I'm guessing your seventh month of pregnancy is not a good time to take up a new sport that involves swinging a racket and running all over a court.

A Nautical-Theme Baby Shower

A couple of weekends ago, Conservative Mom, Kid Sister, and I teamed up to throw a baby shower for lovely Miss Alicia (that's Q and M.B.'s daughter-in-law).


Miss Alicia was expecting her first son around September 1, so we thought a shower the first weekend in August was perfect timing.


Because little Jack's nursery is decorated in a nautical theme, we decided it was only appropriate to go with a similar theme for the shower, hence the shells and light houses.


And the nautical-theme napkins.


We started with mimosas for the ladies who could indulge in such beverages and a tasty blue punch for those of us who couldn't. (It really was nonalcoholic, despite the fact that all the ducks floating in the punch looked drunk.)



After the ladies played a couple of silly games, like guessing how many candies were in the baby bottle ...


and sniffing baby food jars to figure out their flavor ...


we sat down to a meal featuring Not-So-Conservative Grandmom's famous chicken tetrazinni, which was a huge hit.

Then, before we moved on to showering the mamma-to-be with gifts, we stopped for a very important part of the party.

The cupcakes.


These weren't just any cupcakes, mind you. They were gourmet cupcakes, with flavors like snickerdoodle and red velvet and chocolate-peanut butter, and raspberry. It was difficult not to try one of all of them, but at the same time they were so darn cute it almost seemed a shame to eat them! (Almost ...)


We had a fabulous time throwing the shower for Miss Alicia. And it turns out it's a good thing we scheduled it when we did, for she started having contractions the day before the shower. And just less than a week later, handsome little Jack was born.

Mom and Baby Jack are healthy and happy and doing well. Congrats to the whole family!

Introducing You To Teddy

Meet my very first teddy bear. Grandpa Charlie gave him to me when I was born, and he's been around ever since.

When I opened up some of the tubs full of my childhood belongings that My Parents brought to L-Town this summer, I discovered Teddy tucked among all sorts of other treasures.

He's a sweet little guy that has been well-loved over the years. Despite being a bit worn, he still retains all the character he had when I first received him. And he even plays music still, too.

Now he's hanging out in the nursery, waiting for the arrival of little W.C. in November. I have no doubt that W.C. will love him just as much as I have over the years. How can you not love a face that looks that sweet?

A Farm-Fresh Dinner

Last month, Conservative Hubby was a real trooper. He devoted an entire Saturday to doing activities that he probably wouldn't have otherwise had any interest in doing.

The first: a daylong Lamaze class. (On the bright side, by taking the one-day class, Conservative Hubby got out of taking four evening classes.)

More on that later. Or maybe not, because odds are you've been there yourself or don't care to learn that many details about childbirth. (Conservative Hubby certainly didn't want to know some of what he learned, and he has to be there in person in a few short months!)

So maybe we'll leave that one well enough alone.

The second: a Farm to Fork Dinner at Oak Tree Organic Farm in Ashland, which was put on by the Community Learning department at Lincoln Land and sponsored by a local food grant I manage.


With the second activity of the day, it wasn't so much that Conservative Hubby wasn't interested in going as it might not have been something he would have picked to do. But he decided he was game and, after the event, said he'd love to go back to another Farm to Fork Dinner given the opportunity. You probably will want to come along too once you see what it was like.

The evening began at the tent under which we would dine, which was located near a lovely pond on the farm. Nearby stood another tent where Chef Denise and her culinary team from Lincoln Land whipped up our dinner--sans electricity, mind you. This is what a gourmet might call "roughing it."

I should just say it now so I don't have to keep repeating it with everything I mention: Pretty much all the ingredients, aside from the olive oil and a few things of that nature, were sourced from local farms and producers. That began with the first course, which involved some amazing sausage on little toasts. The wines served with each course were local, too.

Conservative Hubby tried them all. I, however, did not get to indulge. Maybe next time.

After enjoying an appetizer and chatting for a few minutes, we took a quick tour of the nearby fields where Farmer Chad and his family are raising their organic produce, which is sold at local farmer's markets and through a CSA and an online market they've set up.


Farmer Chad is a great, down-to-earth guy, filled with passion for the plants he grows and the animals he raises. His parents (who were there too) are long-time farmers, and he decided to move part of their farm in a different direction a few years ago, hence the emphasis on organic produce rather than the fields of corn otherwise surrounding us.

After we got the scoop on what they grow, production methods, challenges, and such, we headed back to the tent to sit down for dinner.


The culinary team took care all of the details, from the menus tucked under the plates to the Mason jars from which we enjoyed our beverages.


For the first course, we started out with a lovely salad featuring heirloom tomatoes and burrata (little balls of mozzarella) over crusty bread from Incredibly Delicious, a local bakery that makes to-die-for loaves.


Then we moved on to a salad featuring green beans, squash, grains, greens, and an anchovy sauce. I'm missing a few ingredients, I'm sure. But just take my word for it: It was delicious. Even Conservative Hubby thought so.


Then came the main course: grilled chicken with a tomatillo-cilantro cream, accompanied by fresh-picked potatoes, carrots, and squash from the farm. The tomatillo sauce was a recipe one of the chefs from Lincoln Land picked up while training with Rick Bayless. Talk about a fellow that knows what he's doing ...

You might think that the dinner couldn't possibly get any better at this point but, alas, you'd be wrong. Because, of course, we had dessert.


For those who could indulge, it started with a little jar of sweet dessert wine.


And it ended with a taste of heaven: homemade sweet corn ice cream on a (still-warm) waffle, drizzled with fresh honey and topped with a piece of honeycomb.

All I can say is: Wow. I never in a million years would have thought to try sweet corn ice cream, but I sure am glad I did. And fresh honeycomb? And a waffle? It doesn't get any better.

So there you have it. A day that filled Conservative Hubby with dread ended up being pretty darn good. We drove home to L-Town totally satisfied and happy and agreed that if our schedules allow we will be at the next Farm to Fork dinner.

Who's with us?

Walks in the Park

When Butter and I have time, we enjoy heading over to Kickapoo Creek Park for a nice, long walk.


It's a lovely little park with a big paved path that loops around it as well as some other, smaller trails that branch off into the woods and the fields. (Yes, it's big enough the terrain even changes a bit here and there.)


Butter is ecstatic the moment the car turns into the entrance to the park because he knows what's coming. So much to sniff! So much to see! So far to go!


It's a lovely park with a lot of big, old trees. When I was taking an ecology class a few years ago, Butter had the tortuous job of accompanying me on many trips to the park so I could practice tree identification. There are a lot of massive, established native trees and shrubs in the park for me to identify--plus, of course, a few non-native species here and there. (The one below is native--it's a sycamore. There are a lot of sycamores in the park, in case you're wondering.)


Because of these trees, even in the heat of the summer much of the path is shaded, which is nice for a pregnant lady and a very hairy dog.


And if you need a break, you can always step off the path and rest on one of the picnic benches.


Or in the hollow of this old tree, if you're tiny enough.

Sometimes, when we're feeling brave, Butter and I will even go off-roading and venture across the creek and into the woods.


But most of the time we just stick to the path and mosey along, him sniffing and peeing every chance he gets and me just enjoying the fresh air and the scenery and the exercise.


And then when we get done, we plop down on the ground, drink some water, and ...


relax before it's time to head home.