Move over Martha!

I think that I should receive the mother of the year award for the dinner I made tonight. In honor of Valentine’s Day I made a heart shaped meatloaf, pink mashed potatoes, sliced beets cut in a heart shape, with chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. Take that Martha! I was even able to have Irene over to eat with us for the first time in many months.

We have done all our snack food shopping for the trip…twice. We are just not yet mature enough to keep snack food in the house. I had forgotten how yummy Pringles are! And the ones with the blue dyed trivia questions, they are educational and delicious!

Finally I was able to procure a few pairs of maternity jeans. The first pair was so comfortable but didn’t stay up to well, so I devised a plan to slit them open and tighten up the elastic. While looking for a good place to cut I discovered a slit and a button. These pants have adjustable elastic. I am such a geek, but my first thought was that I am the luckiest pregnant woman in the entire world. It made me that happy!

The other morning Katherine asked me if Noah was having “breakfast milk.” I told her yes, and it was in fact called orange juice as I giggled. Turns out she was referring to Carnation Instant Breakfast, which we have recently discovered is also quite delicious!

I am having that follow up ultrasound tomorrow. I am always nervous that I am going to see the sex of the baby. Since I can’t really tell the head from the butt until the ultrasound tech points it out there probably isn’t a heck of a lot of danger there. I will be happy to have it done with. I feel like is another “loose end” that needs tying up before we leave on Saturday, and there are a lot of them! Our neighbor is happy to gerbil sit, so that is a huge relief. I was stressing about the little guys.

For those of you familiar with all our weird car trouble, such as the need to idle for 5-10 minutes before driving, the not starting, and the stalling out in when ever in reverse, you will be surprised to know that all the issues were solved with the installation of a new battery. Our mechanic was insistent that the problem could not be battery related, but after a failure to start and a visit from AAA, whom I LOVE, we were convinced by Mr. Tow Truck Man that with our vehicle the battery can make the computer go insane, and that is apparently just what was happening. When we asked for the battery to be tested we were told they couldn’t get even a little charge, so new battery and no more trouble! YEA! Now we need a new tire and are completely torn between buying one of the special tires on the vehicle and spending a tad more for 4 normal tires. The special tires don’t help with the gas mileage at all, but they look nice, and they are “special” and I think they make the van run better. I have had great traction with the van, and we have even taken it up dirt mountain roads to look at property, so I NEED the special tires, right? Right!

All right, I must get off the computer…much packing to do!