Is there a culinary version of nesting? Because I hate hate HATE scrubbing baseboards and folding laundry, but simultaneously prepping 4 recipes? That I can handle. That’s FUN.

Last night I made these Oatmeal Carmelitas.

Oh, hello friend. I like you.

The were so good but goooooooey. I put them in the fridge to firm up… but then they were too hard to cut… so I let them sit out again… and then they got gooey. I guess the best bet is to just eat the entire pan in one sitting and not worry about cutting them.

Also made 2 batches of these Stuffed Peppers with Tomato Basil Cream Sauce. One for our sweet friends The Hartgroves (and new baby Belle!), and one to freeze for when baby girl gets here. Full disclosure: This photo is actually from when I made them a couple years ago. Basically the batch I made is in the freezer right now and I’m too lazy to get up and take a picture.

Finally, I made a batch of this Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad. Basically it just sounded good. Right now it’s still marinating in the fridge, so I’ll have to let you know how it is. Pretty though, right?

Hope everyone has a great weekend! For some reason (don’t ask me why- I was probably watching 16 & Pregnant whilst eating an entire box of popsicles or something equally important) I haven’t been to bed before 1:30 at all this week… so I’m going to go pass out now.

Doctor’s appointment days are both a blessing and a curse. I go weekly now, and on one hand it’s fun to hear baby girl’s heartbeat and find out that she’s measuring right on track.

On the other hand, I get my hopes up every week that there will be SOME sign of impending labor. Dilation, effacement, anything. But no. I never dilated past 1 cm with Jack, and this baby is looking like she’s just as stubborn. I must have an AWESOME uterus… no one wants to leave.

Back to the bright side. My friend Monica (the one who takes the amazing photos) delivered her 3rd daughter, Nicolette, at my hospital yesterday so I got to pop in and snuggle some sweet baby girl after my doctor’s appointment. And THEN we bumped into Lauren and Robert at dinner and I got to steal Caroline for a little while, too. So I guess I did get my baby fix today.

Got my Jack fix, too. Courtesy of Mint Milanos (or “cement cookies” according to Jack). I’m not above bribing for snuggles.

Look at that face. He totally knows what he’s doing.

We finally tried the new Taco Joint tonight! I love the location- much closer to our house, and it’s open 7 days a week and for dinner, too. The other one is only open for breakfast & lunch, M-Sat. Oh, and this one has plenty of seating.

I had the taco salad with brisket:

The brisket was a little bland (desperately needed salt) but I loved the jalapeno ranch dressing. Next time I want to try the spicy pork tacos.

Right now I have Oatmeal Carmelitas cooling on the counter and they smell SO GOOD. Full report tomorrow.

This week is flying. Anyone else?

I’m a bad blogger. We were supposed to meet friends for dinner tonight at the new Taco Joint, but it was unexpectedly closed for repairs when we arrived. Bummer. We headed to Scalini’s instead… unfortunately I completely forgot to take a picture of my (delicious chicken, spinach and artichoke) pizza. It probably wouldn’t have been a great shot anyway because Jack kept leaning over and plucking pieces of chicken off of it. That’s when he wasn’t crumbling saltines over the top, of course.

So instead, here are a few pictures from our day.

I took Jack to the pool this morning. The local schools aren’t out until Friday, so I’m trying to take advantage of the lack of crowds this week… plus I’m sure our pool trips will be few and far between once baby girl is here. Gotta soak it up now.

We had so much fun. I just love hanging out with my little man. I know I’ve said it before but I’m getting all nostalgic about our last few days as “just the two of us.” My goal this week was to sleep train him for his naps (right now our routine is like 3 books, 4 songs, and then I rock him for forever until he’s COMPLETELY asleep before putting him in the bed… ridiculous), but then today I started thinking about how I probably won’t get to rock him soon… and got all teary and just gave in yet again. I’ll probably hate myself for this when I have a screaming newborn and he won’t nap, but it’s okay for now.

I think I finally have my hospital bag all packed. If any of you are looking for good resources on what to pack for the hospital, I recommend this or this or this. Don’t ask me… when I packed for Jack’s birth, literally NONE of the clothes I brought fit and I ended up wearing a pair of Brian’s PJ pants the entire time I was in the hospital.

Apparently I forgot to pack something this time, too:

(That would be cuter if she didn’t shed all over everything. And let’s not even get into the pug stamp… don’t ask.)

I’ll try to be a better blogger tomorrow!!

I have an app on my phone that updates you weekly on your pregnancy, and this week (37- full term!) it informed me that I should “No longer be gaining weight.”

HAHAHAHAHA. HAHA.

Apparently the app doesn’t factor in things like 30th birthdays and Memorial Day weekend.

This weekend was awesome and I have the material/photos for the world’s longest post. I’ll try to abbreviate… On Friday my parents kept Jack so that Brian and I could go out for a birthday/early anniversary (since on our actual anniversary, we’ll have a 1 week old on our hands) dinner. We ended up at Driftwood, a new seafood restaurant in Oak Cliff. The food was amazing. We shared a Maine lobster roll “small plate”:

Then I had had the grilled shrimp, which was served on a polenta cake over butter beans and chorizo. We also shared the roasted brussels sprouts, which were in a spicy-sweet glaze with pork belly. Brian was digging around for pork belly like he was on a bacon-y treasure hunt:

Saturday, my actual birthday, wasn’t all that exciting. We picked up Jack, grabbed In & Out for lunch, headed to Northpark to get Jack some new kicks, I made a Target run, then we made our first trip to the pool (it opened this weekend- woohoo!). Sunday was spent getting baby-related chores done and then at our neighbor’s for a cookout/rib cookoff.

Our little neighborhood library held a big Memorial Day parade & festival as a fundraiser, so we headed there this morning. This is why I love our neighborhood:

It’s FULL of kids and families who turn up for stuff like this. They shut down the entire street and had a bounce house, slide, train rides, cake walk, caricatures, face painting.

And like I said, all the proceeds go towards this amazing little library that a former teacher opened in the top floor of her house. Jack and I are there at least twice a month because he can run around and pull stuff off shelves and scan his own books and Mrs. K just smiles and gives him a sticker.

Jack and Alex were not impressed with their lollipop cake walk consolation prizes.

Anyway, this afternoon Brian and my dad moved some stuff out of the nursery and then picked up a glider I found on Craig’s List. It’s cute but a little (okay, a lot) dingy. Any suggestions on how to clean upholstery? It’s light yellow so I’m concerned about leaving water spots on the fabric.

Tonight my mom had us, my brother and my grandparents over for a belated birthday dinner. Would you be impressed or horrified if I told you that I ate this entire steak?

Okay, I really didn’t. I COULD eat 50 bowls of this, though… cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and carrots in loads of vinegar and dill.

Guess who got the Special Plate?? Peach cobbler and lemonade pie for dessert.

Anyway, I had a really good birthday weekend. Lots of time with family and friends, some relaxing, a little bit of productivity (I’m panicking as June 11 quickly approaches), good food… can’t really ask for more.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Jack and I had a fun day today- we spent the morning with friends at the Arboretum, which is always awesome because: 1. Pretty flowers! and, more importantly, 2. It WEARS JACK OUT. That membership is pretty much the greatest thing ever. The kid naps for at least a solid 2 1/2 hours afterward.

Tonight we met my parents for dinner at Fernando’s. I know we’ve eaten there before but it’s been at least 5 years. Anyway, I was super impressed. First of all- three salsas? Nice.

I’m kind of in love with that light green one. I have no idea what’s in it… avocado? It’s slightly creamy.

I had the brisket tacos for dinner. I love that they give you both guacamole and sour cream on the side:

Also impressed by the kids menu. They actually have fajitas for the kiddos, not just chicken fingers and corn dogs.

My parents gave me an early bday present

Don’t they look super awesome with my Target yoga pants??? I can’t wait to wear real clothes again. Tonight my dad asked me what I was planning on wearing to the hospital to deliver, and Brian informed him that I was going to borrow the parachute from Little Gym. Ass.

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

So it seems like Jack’s sleep schedule is FINALLY getting back to normal. The transition to the toddler bed was super easy (too easy) at first… then he figured out that he could get OUT of the bed and it went all to hell: Bringing toys into bed, coming out of his room, waking up 2 hours earlier than usual, taking super short naps. Now he’s back to sleeping until 8 or after and his naps are right around 2 hours. That’s a huge relief.

We had our weekly OB appointment today. Sonogram looked good- baby girl is frank breech (butt-down) and facing my back, so we couldn’t get a good look at her face. She seems right on target size-wise. I’m not dilated at all, but that’s fine since we have a c-section scheduled anyway. It’s amazing how similar these pregnancies are: both frank breech, no braxton hicks/labor signs, BIG babes.

It was just Jack and I for dinner tonight, so I pulled out a standby: Mediterranean Chicken Flatbread.

It’s really tough: Heat some whole wheat naan in the oven, spread with hummus then top with shredded chicken, chopped artichoke hearts, finely diced cucumbers, feta, a little olive oil and fresh pepper.

Love it, love it, love it. I made Jack a nice little mazza plate of naan strips, hummus, a pile of feta and some grapes. He LOVED the hummus and really took to the feta, too. We had some deep conversations at dinner:

Me: Jack, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Jack: I just want to be Jack.

Me: What should mommy be when she grows up?

Jack: Fireman?

LOL. Okay, then.

Hope everyone had a great day!

We had a big night. Jack and I headed over to my parents’ house after his nap to go for a swim- holy moly, why haven’t I been doing this more?? My poor hips are SO SORE all the time now. I wake up hourly and have to switch positions, which is hard because I have this to contend with:

My body pillow is her mortal enemy. She barks at it/me all night until I allow her to squeeze her fat pug chub into the 3 inches of space between me and the pillow.

Anyway, the swimming was awesome because it’s the first time in months that I haven’t felt uncomfortable and like a giant whale (which is ironic, because I’m sure that’s EXACTLY what I looked like). Jack loved it, too.

We capped off the evening with a trip to Buy Buy Baby to pick up a bunch of last-minute stuff for the babe. My parents bought us our double stroller, which was so, so nice of them and a HUGE relief to us. So I think we’re basically set for baby girl’s arrival… woohoo!

Last night I was craving brownies, then I stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest for Vegan Black Bean Brownie Bites. I had most of the ingredients on hand so I decided to give it a shot.

No flour, no eggs, no butter. Just black beans, flax seeds, cocoa powder, coconut oil, sugar, chocolate chips… in the food processor:

And voila.

Okay, these are really REALLY good. I swear, they taste just like gooey, dark chocolate brownies. They’re not overly sweet and you can’t taste the black beans at all.

I converted the recipe to make a larger batch and added cinnamon to make mine a Mexican chocolate version.

Vegan Mexican Chocolate Brownies

Adapted from My Little Celebration

• 1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 Tbs ground flaxseed
• 5 Tbs water
• 2 Tbs coconut oil
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• dash salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp espresso powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 Tbs chocolate sprinkles (I used my awesome Dutch chocolate sprinkles)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a small bowl, combine ground flax and water and allow to stand for 5 minutes.

3. In the food processor, combine ingredients from black beans through cinnamon. Puree. Stir in chocolate chips and sprinkles.

4. Divide batter evenly into muffin tins (I used a cookie scoop and it ended up being 1 scoop per tin). Bake for 17-20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Good stuff! And healthy… except when you add this on top. Oops.

Don’t let the black beans scare you off. Just give it a shot.

Remember how I mentioned that I was doing a bunch of baby laundry last night? Wellllll… I threw some of Jack’s stuff in there, and apparently he had a crayon in his pocket. So this morning I opened the dryer to find an entire load of blue splatter-painted clothes. Many of them tiny, adorable BABY GIRL CLOTHES. Not cool. I freaked out, and Jack kept giving me patronizing smiles and saying, “Isss okay, mommy! Isss okay.”

Um, not okay. But after two cycles of multi-hour soaking/washing in a super exact (no) mixture of Oxyclean, borax, Clorox 2, baking soda, detergent and basically anything else I could find in the laundry room, I think we have MOST of the stains out.

The point is, if you need easy comfort food, I have a good recipe for you: Creamy Tomato Basil Soup.

(For the record, that white swirl you see on top is goat cheese… that’s right, I went there.)

I made a big batch of it this weekend and ate, I kid you not, THREE bowls of it last night. Jack gobbled it up, too. We had grilled cheese alongside and little man was elbow-deep in the soup bowl dipping his sandwich. That’s my boy.

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 3 Tbs unsalted butter, divided
• 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 2 x 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 18 fresh basil leaves (just a big bunch, you don’t have to be exact), minced
• 1 Tbs sugar
• 1 cup half and half
• Salt & pepper

1. In a dutch oven, heat olive oil and 1 Tbs of butter over medium high. When butter has melted, add onion and garlic and saute until onion is soft- about 5 minutes. Be careful not to burn the garlic.

2. Add tomatoes and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes- until the tomatoes lose that “canned” taste. Add more chicken broth if it seems too thick.

3. Add sugar and basil. Stir. Whisk in half and half and remaining 2 Tbs of butter and heat through. Add salt, pepper and/or more sugar to taste.

SO perfect with a good grilled cheese! Almost good enough to make you forget that your newborn daughter will be wearing a blue-splattered gown.

Oh, and before I forget… here’s a video I took of Jack on Friday. We were getting ready to read his favorite book, Leonardo the Terrible Monster, when he just jumped in and “read” the entire book to me. So of course I grabbed my camera and had him do it all over again:

Sweet Adeline Update: The surgery went great!! She is settled in her room and her heart is beating on its own. She’s hooked up to all kinds of equipment and the next 24-48 hours will be critical, so keep praying… but this little lady is a fighter.

(For more updates, check out Camille & Scott’s blog here)

So here’s a dirty little secret I’ve been keeping from the blog:

I’m turning THIRTY on Saturday.

AHHHHH!! Actually, I haven’t been thinking about it much at all. Here’s a tip: If you’re prone to stress about a milestone birthday, plan to get pregnant about 9 months before that day. Then you’ll be too busy worrying about things like insurance and breast pumps to give a crap about your age. Problem solved! I’m a genius.

So I wasn’t expecting anything at all when Brian and I walked into Crossroads for breakfast on Saturday. My parents kept Jack the night before (not unusual) and we had a nice little date night to see What to Expect When You’re Expecting (loved it) at Studio Movie Grill. Anyway, it seemed a little fishy when we walked into the restaurant and Brian told me that my parents were sitting upstairs… because there aren’t any tables upstairs. And then halfway up I see my grandparents, a bunch of my friends, Jack’s friends…

HEY! A surprise party!

So, so sweet… though I think my initial reaction was along the lines of, “WHAT THE HELL? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME SO THAT I COULD HAVE SHOWERED OR SOMETHING???”

(Such a nice wife I am… let’s chalk that up to pregnancy hormones. Though I was looking pretty scrub-ish.)

Anyway, I wish I’d had my camera on me- but I did manage to snap a few pics with my phone.

Apparently Brian had been planning this for a month. The last surprise party he threw me was for my 19th birthday and involved contraband mimosas in my tiny dorm room. Oh, how times have changed…

So we kicked off birthday week in style. The rest of the weekend was spent getting ready for baby girl: Cleaned out the nursery closet, washed more clothes/burb cloths/blankets, shopped for a coming home outfit. Three more weeks!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Off to fold tiny laundry.

ALSO- Baby Adeline goes in for her first big surgery tomorrow (Monday). You can read all of the details about the procedures here. Please continue to pray for this sweet girl, her family & the surgical team!

Today was Jack’s last day of Mother’s Day Out until after the baby comes. YIKES. Meaning this was probably my last “alone” day for, oh, 2 years? I get more done in my one toddler-free afternoon than I do all week. And really important stuff, too… like scouting out Big Lots for Philosophy makeup.

I read on one of my favorite beauty blogs that both Philosophy and Calvin Klein cosmetics had been popping up at Big Lots, so of course I had to head over there to check it out (and not, as Brian asked, “to get stabbed?“… our Big Lots are a little rough).

Anyway, I did not get stabbed. I DID, however, hit the motha’ load of $3 makeup…

Woohoo! This stuff is normally $20+ each and I got ALL of it for less than that.

I ran a few more errands- got my Sephora b-day present, grabbed gifts for Jack’s mother’s day out teachers, and a couple more things for the ol’ hospital bag. Holy moly, Target has some awesome baby girl stuff right now… like this ikat romper. Ridiculous. Then my sweet mom called and offered to take me to lunch. Yes, please! We ended up at Ziziki’s.

Ziziki Bread: Cheesy pita bread with yogurt sauce.

Split the Greek salad:

Chicken souvlaki:

Brian had to work late so Jack & I met friends for dinner, stopped at Whole Foods for some popsicles (my pregnancy addiction), and now I’m about to drop. Hope everyone has a fun weekend!!