Oh, Look at the Time

Yes it is 4:21 am on a Sunday morning. Ainsley and Ian are in blissful dreamland and here I sit finally up after 1.5 hours of restless tossing and turning in bed. The dreaded event has finally happened. I AM NO LONGER ABLE TO SLEEP ON MY STOMACH.

For some women, the worst part of pregnancy may be the nausea, extreme exhaustion, or later issues of discomfort and anticipation, my worst part is this. I am a 100% stomach sleeper. I can ONLY sleep on my stomach. This was the milestone I dreaded hitting the most with Ainsley, yes, even above being able to wear any of my normal pants.

I must say I got through it. I purchased a cheap body pillow from target that helped with side sleeping. And lets face it, towards the end a 6 hour night of sleep was a gift. But this my friends is WAY too early to be up before dawn. I thought I'd give in this morning as Ian is around today to watch Ainsley while I (presumably) nap later.

To make matters more interesting the things on my mind this morning to aid in the not going back to sleep were also completely pregnancy related delirium. I woke with a start at 3:06 paranoid that the cool mist humidifier in Ainsley's room had run out of water, was still running, and was surely about to start a fire. So I crept into her room only to startle her forcing me to do the whole bottle, diaper change routine that we've done so well weaning her off of. Once back in bed I proceeded to attempt to find a comfortable non stomach sleep position while contemplating the merits of getting up to make home made caramel rolls for breakfast. This was a tricky one as I also made my first batch of bread machine bread yesterday and have been salivating over the french toast that it would make ever since. Oh how food has taken over my life, again.

This time around, as far as the food goes, I am trying to live by the advice in my favorite pregnancy book, "make every calorie count". While I gained within the "normal" weight range with Ainsley I was on the outside especially for my short stature and I'm determined to be as healthy as I can with this baby. I never went nuts, well, maybe not never, but I definitely chose convenience and quantity over quality many a time. To aid in this attempt I have tried setting a rule for myself to only make a dessert once a week and once it's gone it's gone. SO hard to do. I have also tried re-focusing on meals (for the first few weeks we did lots of Trader Joe's pre-made meals, I couldn't fathom making dinner). This past week I must say, was a good success in that department. I pulled out a few old favorites (Smothered Chicken and Barley, Baked Bird's in a Nest) and made a few new dishes (Julie's Tarragon Chicken). OK, so a quarter pounder with cheese did sneak in there one night, but I couldn't help that Ainsley got sick and Ian didn't get home until after 6!

I have been watching tivoed (is that a verb?) episodes of Ina Garten's Back to Basics and am excited to make some of her recipes. I am thinking of using some of my birthday money to buy a few cookbooks on amazon. Is Mastering the Art of French Cooking practical at all?

Part of my new obsession with eating right and cooking with only the best ingredients (organic, free range, fair trade) came from a documentary that Ian and I watched Food Inc. If you haven't watched it DO, but only if you are ready to put aside some extra money for food each month because I guarantee it will change you. It is all about the plight of the american farmer, the mistreatment of both the workers and the animals and that every time we buy food we are voting for what we think is right. While the decision to support sustainable food practices is easy in theory, it is not on the pocket book. Luckily places like Costco sell free range organic meats (chicken and beef) in bulk and I've found ways to work a few vegetarian dishes in without Ian getting too antsy for meat. Thanks to places like Trader Joes and the 365 brand buying organic pantry items and shockingly produce and even dairy is very affordable. Sure I buy less food, but I think that's because I'm really savoring the food that I do eat.

A Sample Daily Menu:

Breakfast: Oatmeal with sweet milk, dried blueberries and chopped pecans or walnuts.

Lunch: Trader Joes veggie patch soup with homemade bread, cheese, and jam.

Snack: Organic pink lady apple

Dinner: Grilled wild caught Alaskan salmon, organic rice pilaf, roasted asparagus

Dessert: Sweet Milk chocolate chip cookies

Okay okay, the cookies are a stretch, but they are made with mostly organic ingredients as well and a GREAT alternative to the traditional nestle tollhouse recipe. They taste more like little chocolate chip shortbread bites. SO good.

You would think after getting all of these thoughts out I would be ready to go back to bed. No, I think I'll look up some gender neutral nursery ideas (we're contemplating not finding out the gender of this baby) and Ikea rugs (we still need a hallway runner and a bigger rug for Ainsley's room). So much to do. WAY too little time, but maybe not if I keep getting up at 4:21.