Baby's Here!

Wow, it's been quite a whirlwind in the last 19 hours!

Yesterday, I went to my doctor's appointment shortly before 1pm and after my examine, she asked if I had my stuff for the hospital in the car. Whoa! Talk about a surprise. I was already dilated 5cm - ah, that's half way there. So, needless to say, Chris and I went home to top off the suitcase, spend some childless time with the pups, and get some odds and ends in the house in order.

The doctor checked in around 4:30pm to see if we were ready to go. I had been having some consistent back pain about every 7 minutes, so she thought it would be beneficial to head to the hospital and I definitely wouldn't make it until Monday without having our little guy! So, we took our last childless picture and headed out to the hospital. Oh look, even the dogs are looking at the camera. Boy, are they in for a surprise when we get home tomorrow!Everything seemed so anti-climactic on our drive to the hospital. There was no rush in the middle of the night or water breaking in a gush in the house, just getting in the car and taking our time during the 10 minute drive to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital, they were ready for us and I changed into the ever-beautiful hospital gown and got a quick check over. There were moms-to-be in obvious pain walking the halls. I felt like I should've had my running shoes on as we began our walk around the hospital floor as my pain from contractions was nothing but a 1 on and scale of 1 to 10. After one lap, the nurse suggested we head back into the room and the resident on call was going to break my water to hopefully get things moving along. Well, that was something else, no need to expand on the details here. Ask me and I'll tell you about it. From there, the contractions did start to increase in frequency and strength. We were looking at about a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10. The exercise ball was my new friend. After that, things started to progress on the pain scale with the addition of pitocin to my hospital cocktail. Things got a little tougher to stick out. By 10:30ish, I was looking for that epidural. My dilation hadn't really changed much, but the contractions were rough. I did the best I could but when the nurse said it would only get worse, more drugs sounded like the best option in the comfort department. Life WAS much more bearable once that hit my system.

Between 11pm and 12:30am, things moved quickly from 6cm to 10cm. This little guy was ready to make his appearance in the world! After about 35 minutes of pushing, we met Ryder Thomas. A healthy little boy weighing in at 7lbs 9oz and measuring 20.5inches. I was lucky this little guy was riding low for the tail end of my pregnancy, evidently, that made the time I had to push much, much less than a normal first-time mom with an epidural. When I think back to hearing the nurse say the average is between 1 and 3 hours, I couldn't even imagine. I guess I was pretty lucky.

Chris was a great support during the whole process and when things quieted down about 4am, we couldn't believe everything that happened and we ended up with this cute little boy that's ours! Amazing. I'm so excited to see our little guy grow and change in the days, months, and years ahead!!

State Fair visit and Apple Pie Revelation

Yesterday, I made the annual pilgrimage to State Fair with my mom and we were joined by my Grandma. We had a limited time for our visit, so it was an abbreviated version of the State Fair. We started at the south end of the park - first stop: Cream Puffs. Since we went first thing in the morning, there was a very, very short line. One tasty treat down, several more to go. Then, we headed to the Journal/Sentinel building to see the winning photographs and I renewed our Sunday subscription. I scored $15 in gift cards with our subscription (read: $15 worth of diapers). Then, it was on to the Horticulture Building. We saw all of the State Fair textile and food submissions. Kudos to my friend Barb for her chocolate raspberry cheesecake submission. While she was the Waukesha Co. Fair winner for this cheesecake, this one yielded a white ribbon (I couldn't read what place that equated). We saw some beautiful flowers and some amazing vegetable submissions.

Next stop, the Expo!! I was in search of a new set of Ginsu knives, but alas, I couldn't find them. We picked up our annual lottery tickets. Both my mom and I "contributed" five dollars each to the state lottery fund without a return. Oh well. It was funny walking through the Expo because in each aisle, I could identify one of the products we did have... Cham Wow, Salsa Maker, Glass Cleaner, Stove Top Grill. Argh, where were the Ginsus??

We were there so early, the corn was just beginning to roast. We couldn't partake in that.

At this point, we had about an hour and 15 minutes left at the fair, so we headed to the Wisconsin Products Building. Mmm...more tasty treats. Mom and Grandma headed to the Wisconsin Potato Growers booth. Cheese, butter, sour cream, and chives, please! I headed to the Apple Growers stand. Caramel Apple Sundae, hold the sprinkles, please. In the past, the WI State Fair Coupon Book rocked. This year, not so much. No apple coupon, no milk coupon. What's going on? We did score 3 potatoes for $10. Not sure if this was more of a deal than in the past.

30 minutes remaining... off to see some animals. The cows were being herded into the coliseum for some judging. They were so nice and clean. How cute. On to the horses... we saw the clydesdales and boy, are their feet big! They were getting reading for some judging later in the day in the washing area.

Times up! Our ride was waiting. It was beautiful weather and the morning couldn't have been more perfect - a little more time to peruse the fairgrounds. I was looking forward to the Deep Fried PB&J on a stick from the Machine Shed, so someone have one for me. And if you see the Ginsus, all I need are the steak knives.

So, I know you're wondering about my apple pie revelation. I love fall and love making and eating apple pie. My grandma has a fantastic recipe! But, I've always drooled over apple pie bars and haven't found a recipe that suffices (if you have one, please share!). You know, the bars with the layers of firm crust, apple pie filling, a top crust, and a nice layer of icing on the top. You can find these at the Apple Grower's booth. Mmm. I ran across this recipe from Smitten Kitchen for Sour Cherry Slab Pie. I think I could substitute Grandma's Apple Pie filling in this recipe. I can't wait for apple season!

Peanut Butter Blondies

I made the recipe for Peanut Butter Blondies listed below and I have to say, they turned out picture perfect, with the taste to match. I took them to a meeting at school yesterday and they got the stamp of approval there as well. I used chocolate chips instead of PB chips, as the blogger did as well. Yum-my!

The end of $1 DVD rentals?

Redbox may be facing some new restrictions with Fox new releases. Could this be the end of $1 new releases?

Here's a good site for Redbox codes, so your rentals are free!

Tastespotting Wednesday

A few favorites from my perusal of Tastespotting...

Peanut Butter Blondies

German Pancakes in Muffin Tins - easy enough for breakfast

Gin and Tonic popscicles?? I was thinking something more like a Mojito popscicle!

Quite possibly the best lemonade...

Oberweis Dairy Lemonade

Lots of books to read

So, with all this time on my hands lately, laundry is done, the kitchen is clean, and books are getting read! I've finished two books in the last week and they were pretty good reads.

The Omnivore's Dilemma
by Michael Pollan

This is one that I've been trying to muddle my way through for over a year. I couldn't figure out why it was difficult to read, but I came to the conclusion that it was sort of like reading a textbook. Needless to say, I finally had some time to get into it and it turned out to be a good book. I'm not one for too much fiction, so this was an informational book about a man's quest to follow the path of food products. Namely, the burger he ate at McDonald's; the presence of corn in the majority of the American diet; a meal as hunters and gathers would have once prepared. When my wonderful friends, Amanda, Gina, and Christy, asked what I was reading on our most recent girls' weekend and I told them I was reading about the reproduction of corn, they somehow thought this was amusing. This book had some interesting information on the boom of organics and how they really compare to conventionally grown produce and meat. In addition, it also addressed the slow food movement, which I didn't know much about, and eating locally versus organically. I have to say that I walked away from the book with more alligence to local growers than organics. Being "certified" organic is an arduous process and one that small growers can's feasibly achieve. If you're looking to be more ecologically friendly in your food choices, does it make sense to buy organic that's from Mexico, or a local grower that didn't use any pesticides? I'd go local. Sometimes, I think you're paying for the label organic, when in all truth, organic is the way things used be... why is it so much more expensive now?

The other book I finished was a quick read...

Julie and Julia
by Julie Powell

This name may ring a bell, the movie is coming out in theaters on Thursday. This book chronicled a 30 year old New Yorker's culinary journey through Julia Child's cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1. The author decided to document her journey through a blog and eventually hit it big with a book deal. She is very brash in her retelling of the events surrounding her cooking and life experiences, and was quite funny. We'll see how the movie measures up. But, the book was a good one. Thanks to my mom for passing along a "happy" read. :)

How far can you take Facebook?

Since I don't have much to do around here lately, I've been geeking more and more on Facebook. I've even updated my status. Something I've only done once or twice. So, I'm wondering how far can you take it to friend people in Facebook. We have a college friend who lives in Colorado. He's got some connections in the cycling world (i.e. Lance Armstrong - probably the most well-known to the non-cycling world). Needless to say, can I send a friend request to Lance? How about all those other prolific cyclists? Are they on Facebook to be found by fans?

When I clicked on Lance's profile, which was private, a friend of his that showed publicly was Tom Cruise. I know this to be fact. Can I friend TomKat?

Is there Facebook etiquette when it comes to friending people?

Pizza Man

This weekend we ventured over to the east side of Milwaukee to try and catch the Air Show and then the "Great" Downer's Avenue Bike Race. We had time to kill between the two, so we headed to Pizza Man for some pizza. This is a staple of eastside dining, evidently, but we'd never been there. They were also written up in the recent edition of Wine Spectator. So, we thought we'd check it out.

Boy, if we would've known this place was here, this would be THE pizza destination for us... totally worth the drive. I am usually a fan of the thicker crust, even deep dish and Chris is more about the thin crust. We ordered a pizza with the thin crust (house specialty) with spinach, fresh mozzerella and tomatoes. This thin crust was unlike any thin crust I've had before. It was flaky, crispy, and it held up under the sauce and did not get soggy. Even the leftovers were not super soggy. They had some interesting options on the menu, including cream cheese as a topping. Maybe we'll get that adventurous next time. The salads were nothing to write home about and there was no dessert menu. But, keep in mind, this little corner establishment was written up in Wine Spectator. The "August" wine list was a binder of over 500 hundred wines. Some choices had a two glass minimum due to the cost of the bottle. The most expensive glass of wine - single glass - was $65.

I can't wait to go back for another tasty pizza. Mmmmm!

Just in case you're wondering...

he's not here yet. I'm anxious too.

I miss card catalogs in the library.

100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About... granted, I'm not sure of a few of these things myself, but it's still a pretty good list.

Deal!!

Every once in awhile, I'll check out the deals on Brad's Deals. I know some of my fellow bloggers are diligent followers, I unfortunately, am not. But, today when I checked it out, I noticed a link to Restaurant.com where you could get 80% off your order. What? 80%... yes, 80%!! It didn't really register until I actually found a restaurant I wanted to purchase the certificates from. I'm not going to divulge the exact purchase I made because it's for an upcoming gift... but, let's just say I got $100 worth of gift certificates for $8. How does that equal 80% you ask? Well, they reduce the original purchase price of the GCs to begin with... and then apply the discount to that. DEAL!

If you're interested in scoring your own deal, the promo code is "NAPKIN".

La Merenda

Last week, we met up with Kerry and Eric for dinner downtown. We had a lovely time having appetizers on their deck overlooking Lake Michigan, the Menomonee River, and downtown Milwaukee (if you careened your neck just right) - what a view. It was a lovely evening to sit outside and enjoy good company. Whenever we get together on their side of town, we always get to try try new places for dinner since that's not our usual dining location. Kerry's so good at picking out different spots!

This time, we dined at La Merenda. They advertise themselves as a Bar and International Tapas Restaurant. (I think the last time we went out with them, we had Japanese tapas at Nankusa.) The menu was really interestings, as it really was international! We had some tasty salads from Thailand and Italy, preceeded by the traditional Wisconsin Cheese Plate (yum). The salads were followed by some tostones (fried plantains), risotto with shrimp, scallops and crab, kalamata olives, and Indonesian sauteed shrimp (a little too spicy for me). We didn't quite have room for the polenta, which I was looking forward too, but dessert sounded too good to miss! I don't remember what it was called, but basically, it was warm, carmelized, sauteed bananas with a drizzle of chocolate sauce tucked inside a spring roll wrap with a side of vanilla ice cream. Oh yum. There were 4 little rolls, perfect for us to split!

In addition to the delicious food, the atmosphere was pretty cool as well. We couldn't really tell what the building used to be, but it is located in an area that was formerly semi-industrial. It was a one story building with cinderblock walls that had been painted orange. Lots of fun international decor on the walls. Each dining table and chair was different (I love when restaurants do that) - a very ecclectic atmosphere!

Oh no!

According to the Washington Post, one of my favorite types of shoes may be long gone. Could it be true? Could Crocs be a thing of the past? A victim of the recession? I don't think my 7 pairs would agree. So sad. Oh, make that 8.

Read the article here.

The list is mounting

So when you're pregnant, there is this list of things you can't eat, drink, do, etc. I'm glad that with less than 4 weeks to go, the end of this list is in sight. I won't be buying tickets to Great America anytime soon, but I am looking forward to more than a sip of iced tea (decaf is just not the same), some good brie, and eventually, a nice glass of wine. You'd think all the ice cream I've been eating makes up for this? Surprisingly, no.

Tasty tacos

Lately, we've dined at our fair share of taco joints. No, not Taco Bell or Taco John's... I don't even know where the closest of either of those would be. We were in Madison last week and stopped at Tex Tubb's Taco Palace. We dined at the east location and had some tasty grub! I had a veggie taco, which basically consisted of a bunch of deep friend vegetables with cabbage slaw and sour cream. Tas-ty! I added a fried avocado taco to my plate as well. It all ended up being a little too much fry for me, but it was a new spin on tacos and tasty at that!

Yesterday, I crashed Chris' work lunch to dine at Haute Taco in Brookfield on Capitol Drive. This is a pretty unassuming place in an upscale strip mall, but it too is double tasty. I had a pan-fried tilapia taco, which is by far the best fish taco I've had, along with a blackened halibut and black bean tostada, which was a special of the day. The tostada was marginal. Chris had a scallop taco, which he deemed out of this world. They also had mushroom and asparagus tacos and quesadillas, in addition to a plethora of burritos and interesting meat fixin's. Also, this was by far the best lemonade I've had in awhile!

Both places definitely worth checking out if you're looking for something better than your average taco. Yum.

Baby's Room, sans furniture

Baby Chic

I was excited to open my anniversary gift from Chris. Now I'm part of the Baby Chic crowd (according to the web site, at least).

Check it out...

Happy Anniversary!

Chris and I celebrated our 7th anniversary on Monday. What do they say about the 7 year itch? I'm not quite sure.

We went to Chicago for the day. Our main destination was the Museum of Science and Industry to see the Harry Potter Exhibition. It was an addition exhibit so tickets were extra. Going into the day, I was excited to see all the Harry Potter memorabilia from the movies, but also a little skeptical. I had gone to see the Titanic Exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum earlier this year with a group from school and was sorely disappointed, especially by taking a group of kids. While I realize any artifacts from the Titantic needed to be retrieved from the bottom of the ocean, I thought there would be a lot more things to look at. Instead, there was a lot of information you had to read. I was really hoping the Harry Potter exhibit would be different with more stuff to look at and not as much to read.

We didn't really remember where the museum was, since it had been over 15 years since either of us had been there, but you'd think it was part of the "Museum Campus" in Chicago. Well, it wasn't. It was another 5 miles south, actually right across from the University of Chicago campus. We found it with plenty of time to spare. We had a little while to wander through the museum before our visit to the exhibit. When 12:30 rolled around, we got in line for our 12:45 tickets. Oh, so exciting!! Interestingly, everyone involved with the exhibit spoke with an English accent. Coincidence? I think not.

I'm happy to report that the exhibit far exceeded my expectations! It included so many props and costumes from the movies, including wands, dress robes, The Monster Book of Monsters, Hagrid's Hut, more wands, Cornish pixies, fat-bellied Mandrakes, and sooo much more. Pictures weren't allowed in the exhibit, but they did have the flying car on display in the lobby, so that's the only pic I have from the day.

While the exhibit was great, I would recommend purchasing tickets for the evening only exhibition if you don't have much interest in visiting the actual musuem. They've extended the hours of the museum just for the exhibit, so you can buy tickets just for that and not have to fork over the extra cash to pay museum admission if you go during the day. Parking is $16 too, just in case you're interested. If you are remotely a Harry Potter fan, you definitely have to check it out!

Baby Shower Celebration

We had a lovely baby shower held by my mom and sister two weekends ago. Thanks to my dad's cousin, Geralyn, for the photos!