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Asian Pork and Citrus Salad

A few days ago I was craving grapefruit. I haven’t had this craving since the first weeks of my pregnancy and I didn’t know how I was going to curb this craving without eating half of a ruby red. I opted for a light and citrus salad since it was so hot outside and paired it with Asian marinated pork chops. Yum! It was the best salad I have ever made, and I am not kidding you.

Salad Recipe:

1/2 head chopped Romaine

1/2 head chopped Red Leaf

1 Granny Smith Apple, thinly sliced

1 Ruby Red Grapefruit, segmented

1/4 cup Golden Raisins

1 Avocado, cut in chunks

1/4 cup Candied Pecans (I soaked them in water for a minute then tossed lightly with sugar and baked until toasted)

2 stalks of Green Onions, chopped

4 oz. Maytag Bleu Cheese, crumbled

Balsamic Vinaigrette or Citrus Vinaigrette

**Toss all ingredients and lightly dress with vinaigrette. Serve with a protein of choice or with a nice slice of crusty garlic bread! Or both if you’re eating for two! he he.

Baby Delilah

I haven’t really written anything about our first baby, our Dachshund-Corgi mixed eight month-old pup in a while. For the past two weeks Delilah had a playmate, his uncle Bear came to visit while his parents were on the east coast. She was such a good girl, and it proved that she is still a crazy, high energy baby girl versus Bear who is ten years her senior. We have been thinking about getting her a brother or sister to keep her occupied while we are away at work and yesterday when I came home from work it proved why she needs a friend! Since it’s been hellishly hot here we have been keeping her indoors and when I arrived home yesterday I found my new cooking light mag ripped to shreds, every single page was ripped out. It was really funny to me because she hasn’t done this since she was really young, and there were other books, mags under our coffee table that were more easily accessible versus this mag that was in the middle of the table. The highlight of all of this was that on Monday I lectured her and Bear about how they better use their pee pads or they would never be able to stay in the cooler house again by themselves (I know, like they understand me). Well, she did and I couldn’t have been happier! My little pup is growing up and misses her Uncle that has been gone since Tuesday. Now the search begins to find her a mate.

D sitting and admiring her artwork.

A few hours later she was completely dead to the world

I just want everyone to see her lovely ears that catch the attention of every person that she comes in contact with. Her nickname is Yoda, don’t be surprised if that’s her Halloween costume.

On a sidenote, Delilah is fully grown! She has sustained her 9.2 pounds for over three months now. She just had her first battle with fleas, which were gone two days later. She is digging ice cubes and loves her toffee flavored toothpaste. Such a big girl!

Where have the last 27 years gone?

A few weeks ago I celebrated my 27th birthday, my last birthday not as a mommy. I started out the day by getting a pedi and relaxing. My parents were on their way out of town so we headed to CPK to curve my craving for Thai chicken pizza and a waldorf chicken salad. Jim and I didn’t really have that many plans so we cruised Costco and I picked up a set of ceramic mushrooms to add to my newly designed Gnome forest; I know I am weird, you don’t need to tell me this! My Dad and Jim had been trying to work on my Jeep because in the five years I owned my rugged utility vechile my Dad had done every oil change except for one and of course that one time the person screwed up and broke the drain plug and you could not get it out. This repair alone would have cost me $500, plus a set of new tires, brakes, yada, yada, yada. We decided to take a chance and headed down to Mossy Nissan in National City to check out their stock of used 2009 Murano’s. I test drove one and fell in love! The SUV looks so small from the outside but once you get in it’s so roomy and the plus side was that it only had 8,000 miles versus the 130,000 I had racked up! So we tried and we got approved and got out of my loan a year early and my payments only went up $10. Not bad, plus I have way more room for baby stuff. After our car buying process we headed to the Schack’s and met up with Candace, Al and Kathy and they gave me their gifts. I seriously didn’t think the day could get any better after the car, but when I opened my gift from Candace and Robert (my bosses) my mouth dropped open and I couldn’t believe what was in the Cache bag. . .a new 13″ Mac Book Pro! What!? Are you kidding me? Who does that? Overly joyed we headed to dinner at one of the Brigantine family owned restaurants, Zocalo. We had an intimate dinner of Cuban inspired food with Robert, Candace, John and Cassie. The day couldn’t have been any better, Jim updated my two-year-old point and shoot camera to a new Nikon touch screen camera. Despite tears earlier in the day I couldn’t be more blessed for my family and friends who celebrated the day with me. Overall, twenty-seven isn’t going to be that bad!

cass and i trying to figure out the camera. two blondes were able to figure it out!

after dinner in front of my new car!

17 Weeks

Well last night we spent over 8 hours in the ER. I have had a horrible sharp, unbearable pain on my right side since Saturday morning. This is the same pain I was experiencing back around week 12, the same pain doctors would not see me about. Well, the pain has come back and it’s so bad that I cannot stand up straight, lay on my left side and it’s extremely sensitive to the touch. So anyway, we went to the ER and the doctor was amazingly straight forward, he said that I am either experiencing an appendicitis, or the appendages holding the uterus were stretching. Well, after checking on the baby, which is fine and measured a little further along than before and weighing in at 7 ounces we were relieved. Nothing else showed up on the ultrasound so now we had to wait and see my blood work results, they came back fine. My urine did show that I have a urinary tract infection, hence the pain I experience when I stand. Now, I am on antibiotics for the second time this pregnancy. Thank golly the baby was fine…now these pills better hurry up and make me better so I can resume “normal” life. I will add the picture we got last night of Baby “A” when I get home.

How far along?: 17 Weeks
Total weight gain: I am thinking it’s somewhere within 10 pounds. I only know my current weight.
How big is baby?: 7 ounces
Maternity clothes?: Just pants. Even though I can still fit in my non-prego jeans they just aren’t that comfy with the bella band
Stretch marks?: nope
Sleep?: Yes, but I have been having trouble with the pain on my side
Best moment this week?: Seeing that the baby is okay.
Movement?: Slight fluttering movement
Food cravings?: Lays Original, Submarina’s Cali Sammie on Squaw and a Dr. Pepper.
Labor signs?: I hope not!
Belly button in or out?: W I D E and Getting shallow
What I miss: my flatter tummy and energy
What I’m looking forward to: Finding out the sex in less than 20 days!
Milestone: Not throwing up once so far!

Cast your Vote!

To the right I have added a poll for our baby’s sex. We find out what we’re expecting on August 6th and we would love for you to guess! We plan on keeping the sex a secret for a few days after and plan on revealing it to our family and friends at the same time. So for now, take a guess! I’ll keep posting belly pic’s each week if that helps your vote!