Still nothing going on in the baby department

My doctor did say that I would have him before Christmas - which I am expecting. Also saying that he's between 7.5-8 pounds now - that's quite enough. :o)

Attitude of gratitude

It's been a while since I've done this - figured that it was about time. I need to do this for my sake more than any other.

I'm thankful for a godly husband who is willing to let me have the bed all to myself when I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep. I'm thankful that we don't usually struggle with worrying about the same issues, either - we can help each other out - giving a better perspective.

I'm thankful that it's December - meaning - I WILL NOT be pregnant at Christmas :o)
I'm thankful that as uncomfortable as this pregnancy deal has been, it could have been much worse! My blood pressure has been fine, not a lot of swelling, Prilosec is my wonder drug, I still have food aversions - but no nausea anymore.

I'm thankful for a longsuffering God - Who is patient and merciful to me.

So many more things to be thankful for...........

Still waiting

Waiting for Matthew to decide to make his appearance - I ate jalopenos last night for dinner and had Mark rub my feet - no effect. Matthew still hasn't dropped.

Waiting for our computer to be done - should be able to pick it up today.

Absolutely nothing!

That's what my OB doc said when he checked on Monday to see if I was getting ready to go into labor.
He didn't have to say it like that!

Tagged!

Our computer crashed on Saturday - I'm sitting in Mark's office trying to catch up on e-mails and blogs :o)

These things are always hard for me to do. 5 unusual things?? I guess I don't feel like there is that much unusual about me. Maybe these are just things that you didn't know about me :o) - here it goes:

1. If we didn't truly believe that we would be destitute and living under a bridge, Mark and I would move to New York City in a heartbeat. We loved it. We stayed on the Upper West Side - close to Columbia University. It was great not having to worry about a car and all of the things that go along with it! I think that the food is fresher there than at our local grocery stores - there are markets on just aobut every corner. We could walk to any type of ethnic/diverse restaurant that we wanted - and I do admit it - the pizza is great!

2. Being pregnant - to me - is like dating. I don't particularly like it - but it's what you have to do in order to get the desired effect. (Not including adoption, of course - but we can't afford that). Don't get me wrong - it's not that I'm not thankful - I really am. Maybe it's because these situations just reveal my tendencies to worry/doubt/fear. I don't like "not knowing".

3. I'm not a kid person. Yes, that sounds just as horrible as #2. Let's just say that, given the choice, I would rather spend an afternoon at a nursing home than a daycare center.

4. This may truly be the unusual thing about me: I always have red toe nail polish on. You can take the polish off my toe nails right now and see my perpetually orange toe nails - because I'm too lazy to put a base coat on.

5. If it weren't so bad for me, I would eat dessert and skip dinner. I'm a sweets girl! Twice I have ordered dessert for my meal at a restaurant instead of dinner when out with friends. I haven't done it much, because I just felt a little silly. Why get the dinner at O'Charley's when you know you would rather have their carrot cake?!

Dumpling recipe

Here are a couple of versions of the dumpling recipe. I'll give you the easiest one first.
This is what Summer told me that she put in her dumplings:
one package of ground pork (I'm guessing about a pound)
one small green bell pepper
celery (which I didn't detect)
one green onion
a bit of soy sauce

She put everything in a blender so that the veggies were all very finely chopped and then added the meat and soy sauce. Put a little bit of the mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper and wet the edges with water then press the edges together, you can also just fold the wrapper to make a triangle, too. She put them in a big skillet with maybe 1T of vegetable oil and put the lid on. When the dumplings puffed up, she took the lid off and moved them around. They were lightly browned on the bottom. She just put the platter of them on the table and we dipped them in our own bowls of soy sauce mixed with some Chinese vinegar and some red pepper sauce.

Here is the recipe that I used: I had found a basic recipe in a Chinese cookbook
around a pound of ground pork
half a green bell pepper
one green onion
one stalk of celery
1/2 t of ginger
2T or so of soy sauce
1T of Chinese cooking sherry
dash of sugar

I put everything in the food processor - this was the easiest part.
As for cooking them, my recipe called for putting 1T of vegetable oil in the pan putting the dumplings in and then adding some stock over the dumplings. Honestly, though they tasted good - the wrappers stuck together - so it was a bit messy. None of my pans were officially nonstick - so maybe that was the difference. Mine didn't puff up like Summer's either. But like I said - they were yummy - had a little more flavor than Summer's, they were just sticky - hers weren't.
I'll have to experiment more.

Overall I do recommend them - nice for a change. It took me about 45 minutes - an hour just assemble them.

I do want to know if any of you guys try it and how they turn out!!!

Dumplings for dinner

A couple of weeks ago, our Chinese friends, Steven and Summer invited us over to their house for dinner. Summer was making dumplings for dinner for all of us. She was still making them when we arrived, so I was able to help her out. They're actually pretty easy to make - though a bit time consuming. Steven and Summer said that these are pretty common for dinner in China. They were soooo good! Even Mark used chopsticks - he's really getting the hang of them. :o)
As a treat, for Mark and me, I made dumplings for dinner tonight. I haven't cooked them yet - Mark's not home from work. But, if they turn out well, I'd like to make some up and keep them in the freezer.