you've got questions. i've got answers.

how far along are you?
i'm 15 weeks

when are you due?
may 21!

how have you been feeling?
ugh. i was not feeling well at all for a good two months.  nauseous all day.  no food sounded good at all.  but almost every time i ate, i felt better, so i made a point to eat.  and then i made a point to eat every two hours, and that helped too.  my energy level has been low, low, low.  i've been exhausted.  i started taking naps on the weekends.  and i HATE napping.  i've been working long days and long weeks, and have no energy when i get home. at all.  oh and the headaches.  i swear, i am drinking plenty of water to combat.  with all of it, i have been so unproductive.  which has been hard to deal with, because now i have more than ever to do.  we have a lot to figure out with regard to our housing situation.  and with the holidays coming, i never got the head start i was planning.  on anything.  so behind.  BUT the good news is that as of last week, i started feeling a little better!

how's everything going?
with the baby?  good!  we've done a few ultrasounds and have done tests, and everything looks good!  i brought out my maternity jeans last week.  at 14 weeks!!!  i don't know when i started wearing maternity pants last time, but i KNOW it wasn't this early!

were you pregnant in that race photo? did you know in that race photo that you were pregnant?

yes i was pregnant in that photo, and it was my little secret when i pointed to my "number" as the photog came up to me.  he loved it, he thought i was so proud.  i kind of was, but not because of the paper pinned to me!

why no facebook comments?
i just haven't told all my co-workers/team yet.  i'm telling them tomorrow, then i'll probably put something on fb.


belly pic?
blahhhh um, here's what i've got.  12 weeks.  i probably have a better belly now though.

will you be finding out the sex? {this temporarily disappeared from this post}yes! in just a few weeks we'll have "the big" ultrasound and we're asking the technician to seal the answer in an envelope.  we plan to open the envelope on christmas morning!

scenes from thanksgiving

 

snacks - nothing very interesting, just some munchies for the afternoon

piper's two favorite things: the ipad and a spoon

and when it was time, patrick and i started putting out the much-anticipated thanksgiving feast.

besides the greenbean casserole, cumin roasted cauliflower with pomegranate and mint, cream braised brussels sprouts, cranberry orange sauce, and stuffing that we had here, ryan brought some kick-ass mashed potatoes and my dad made alton brown's corn bread pudding.  and then the turkey and gravy turned out beautifully!

i started arranging the spread

and setting the table,

while wendy kept piper occupied,

and patrick carved the bird.

it was a wonderful family thanksgiving!

the cranberry chess pie that i ended up waiting an hour for from hoosie mama pie co just didn't hold a candle to the CHOCOLATE pecan pie that patrick made!!  patrick also made me a pumpkin pie, since hoosier mama sold out.  not only that, but ryan and wendy brought delicious cupcakes.  there was definitely no shortage of dessert.  we were all very full as we thought of the many things we have to be thankful for!

thanksgiving helper

this year we were thankful to have such a good helper on hand.

piper helped by making sure the strainer tasted ok,

by styling half her hair herself (not saying which half),

by leading us in a relaxing session of yoga,

and by supervising the guys.

couldn't have done it without her.

thanks pipes!

bib number?

speaking of the bucktown 5k ...
and please don't mention this next part on facebook...
i'm pretty bummed that i can't seem to steal a clear picture of this:
but can you tell what bib number that is?

did i say bib number?

sorry, what i totally meant was ...

can you tell what BABY number that is?

bucktown 5k

yes, november is almost over and i am still posting about october.  the first weekend in october marked my 6th consecutive bucktown 5k!  i say it every year, but i love this race because it was the first i ever did in chicago, and it's in our own little neighborhood.  and since i was at a wedding the night before, i almost didn't get up the next morning ... but i made it

mid run cell phone pic

let the thanksgiving grocery shopping begin!

as you all know, thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. this year, my dad will be in town from norway, though tove won't be able to make it.  and as he'll be coming here after a stop in oregon, we'll get to enjoy frank-selected oregon pinot noir to complement dinner.  we're doing dinner at our place, with ryan, wendy and my dad.  and we'll follow dinner with poker and dessert.

we're doing the turkey here, and then typically ryan, my dad and patrick all collaborate on making the gravy, trying to remember how they deglazed and made the rue the year before. 

i think ryan and wendy are bringing the stuffing.  as for pie, while we could just make one from the the abundance of pie pumpkins at whole foods, i'm going to try and snag a pumpkin pie from hoosier mama pie co because i'm 1) obsessed with that place, and 2) they already sold out all their pre-orders, so now i'm determined to get one of their first-come-first-served selection on tuesday.

here's what else we're thinking about:

cumin seed roasted cauliflower with pomegranate and yogurt this smitten kitchen recipe is adapted from Melissa Clark’s new cookbook, Cook This Now, which was mentioned on an NPR story this morning:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/10/cumin-seed-roasted-cauliflower-with-yogurt/
almost regular ole' greenbean casserole with fried onions, but more local, fresh and from scratch
http://www.thecurvycarrot.com/2011/11/18/fresh-green-bean-casserole/
cream braised brussels sprouts
http://orangette.blogspot.com/2006/12/best-thing-since-brussels-sprouts.html

local carrots & parsnips roasted with salt and pepper

cranberry frangipane crostata
http://www.sunset.com/food-wine/holidays-occasions/farm-thanksgiving-recipes-00418000073766/page7.html

can't wait to hear what everyone else is doing for thanksgiving!

trick or treating

we weren't sure if we were going to take piper trick-or-treating this year.  we wondered if she was still too young to enjoy it. but at the last minute i decided to rush home from work.  to think, i almost let work get in the way of this!!  she loved it, and i am so glad we didn't miss out!

piper used the pumpkin that aunt leslie sent. we stopped into a few stores in our neighborhood that were handing out candy, as a warm up, but this was the first actual house we went to.  after she picked out her piece of candy, she tried to give it back! 

then we saw two very young firefighters knocking on the door at the fire station.  piper made her way over to join them.

she made her way on in when the firemen answered the door.

she headed right past the candy, to explore the station on her own. later, piper.

she loved it in there! we even got to sit in a fire truck (patrick was the most excited for that part).

then we turned downt the street where we heard there would be some good trick-or-treating.

this house kind of looks like halloween even when it's not halloween!

here piper is taking her sweet time deciding on which candy to pick. 

patrick said she picked whoppers every time.

most of my photos look like this.

that's patrick's butt on the left.

enjoying the halloween commotion!

the weirdest thing about trick or treating in the city is that piper didn't actually knock on any doors!!!  this was the only door where piper got to knock, and it was just the glass door, so the people inside could see us coming anyway.  everyone who is offering candy seems to sit on their porches.  is it like that for anyone else out there?  maybe it's just different these days?  even though i miss the door knocking and lead up to a big "trick or treat" shout, the porch sitting kind of gives it a nice "block party" feel. what would happen if it were a colder halloween?  i hope people are prepared to bundle up!

these people will be ready for a cold halloween - they had a heat lamp set up on their porch!

we found the "good" street!

s

piper was  getting tired, and it was getting colder, so we finally plopped her in the stroller to head home.  she was NOT happy we put an end to all the fun.

even though it's dark and blurry, i love that you can still tell the leaves had changed color for fall!

home again, look how happy this girl is.

we didn't let her eat any candy, but she sure looks like she knows what it is!

she carried that charms pop and m&m packet around the house all night.

we finally realized that she was actually sucking the lollipop through the folds in the wrapper. 

no wonder she wouldn't put that candy down!

 such a great first trick or treating experience.
not only did piper love it, but we loved it too!

costume day and more

while miss amanda's halloween bbq was on a weekend in early october, the kids had a costume party at school closer to halloween.  they spent the weeks leading up to it finishing all of their halloween art projects and the older kids got to help cook for their party. 

 here are the kids picking out pumpkins

i don't know what this is, football practice?

the elementary school behind miss a's just got an artificial field.

the kids at the the school actually play in their "grass" now because it's never weather stricken!

pumpkin art project

that's mimi helping piper

just playing

more playing

and finally ... costume day at school!! 

our little family nurse practioner!

courtesy of our friend amber richert!