Flying

Wow, peeps. The year 2010 is already flying by. I cannot believe that it is going to be February tomorrow.

Only one more month of pregnancy left! That is hard to believe. This go-round has seemed to go much more quickly than the last, probably because I've done it before and every sensation is not a novelty to me (plus, I have a toddler who keeps me busy!). I know this last month is going to go really quickly, too, just as the rest of my pregnancy has.

The rapidity with which time is flying by is also cemented in my mind by the pictures I was just looking at. Noah is definitely not a baby anymore--I've spent the evening putting together a photo book for 2009 and looking at pics from a year ago. It's bittersweet to look back at those photos and feel both proud at how much he's grown in the last year and also kind of sad at all the ages and stages that we'll never visit again with this kid. It really is true that the time goes by so fast.

Maybe this is belated, but Happy 2010!

Happy Birthday to the Naterator

Today is Nathan's birthday! Happy 28th Birthday, Nathan!

His gift from me was 28 Trader Joe's Pound Plus chocolate bars. Um, yes, that would be over 30 pounds of chocolate. He loves those chocolate bars, and we won't have a Trader Joe's anywhere near us after we move. We've joked about how we should buy a bunch of their chocolate before we leave, but I don't think he thought we'd actually do it, so I surprised him with one bar for each year of his life for his birthday. It was a heavy boxful of yumminess.

And the yumminess didn't stop there, because I made him a carrot cake from scratch. (I'm kind of proud of myself for the "from scratch" part.) The funny thing is that the recipe only makes one layer, and I thought, "Gee, I think a birthday cake should be two layers," so I doubled the recipe and made a two layer carrot cake. Let me just tell you: those are no ordinary layers. They are pretty darn dense. That cake seriously weighs like 10 lbs. I am not kidding.

So I guess, all things accounted for, Nathan received at least 40 lbs. of yumminess for his birthday.

Happy Birthday, Babe!

The News

I have an announcement. Many of you know our news already, but some of you don't, and I figured it's about time we shared it.

Last fall, Nathan accepted a job with one of the oil companies in Houston as a geologist. Which means that we'll be moving back to Texas as soon as Nathan finishes his Ph.D.

Yay! We are really excited about all the promise this kernel of information holds, and we're gearing up to move on to a new phase in our lives. All of this means that we have a busy spring and summer ahead of us! We're going to have a baby, a big move, a new job, and a two-year-old to help adjust to all of this. We'll have lived in Boston for more than five and a half years--we'll be sad to leave our friends, our church, and our quaint little apartment. But I think Nathan will be glad to start a regular job, and we'll both be glad to be closer to our families.

So that's our big news! Nathan will be finishing up his degree sometime between March and May, so Houston, get ready. Here we come.

Noah's New Stats

Noah Thomas had his two-year well baby visit today. (Is it still called that? He's not much of a baby anymore.) Here are his new stats:

Weight: 29 lbs. (50-75th percentile)
Height: 37" (>95th percentile)

As usual, he is tall and lean. And awful cute. :)

Pregnancy Stuff

So. Here's some stuff that's been going on lately.

First of all, I am having a harder time sleeping. This has been happening off and on this entire pregnancy, but today I couldn't sleep at naptime, and that is usually the time I crash after not getting a good night's sleep the night before. I don't know what is up, except that maybe I had too much caffeine in the form of Diet Coke.

I am sitting here icing my ankles because I fell down the steps in front of our house. Well, I fell down the step, anyway--the very last one. But I turned one ankle funny and knocked the other one really nicely on the concrete slab that holds the flower bed. I fell when I was about 8 months along with Noah, but it was less stupid, because it was on black ice, and I feel like anybody could slip and fall on black ice. But this was in front of my own house, and there was no ice to speak of. Just my ankle giving out on me or my own silly self missing the last step. In any case, I am pretty sure the baby is fine (that is not what hurts), but if I've fractured my foot or something, I'm going to feel really annoyed.
*Update, Friday* I called my doctor's office, and they insisted that I come in for a non-stress test, just to double check that the baby is okay. She is totally fine. It's just my ankles and pride that hurt. :)

I'm getting a little freaked out about giving birth again. Here's the deal: I'm planning to try for a VBAC. I had a C-section last time after pushing for 3 hours, and I felt very strongly at the time that I wished the labor had finished out normally rather than ending in a C-section (though I'm not one of those moms who felt like a failure for not having the baby the "right" way--I feel much more strongly that it's a priority that everyone is healthy at the end--it's just that the C-section was more unpleasant than the pushing). Anyway, there are risks with both the VBAC and a second C-section. A second cesarean would mean that there is no chance for a VBAC in the future, and it increases the risk in further pregnancies. And the risk with a VBAC is that about .5-1% are unsuccessful because of a rupture on the scar from the last C-section, which is pretty scary because it's life-threatening, though it's fairly rare. Anyway, I've been reading up on it and feel a little better about things, because every other factor seems to be in my favor in terms of the likelihood that I'll have a smooth labor. But still, I'm freaking out a little bit. Of course, I've been noticing that I've been freaking out about one thing or another every day for the last three days, so this may just be the pregnancy talking. But what I want to know is if any of you have had a VBAC, and if so, how it went and whether you have any advice to share.

So that's my pregnancy update. Right now I'm 34 and a half weeks along--I can't believe I only have five and a half weeks left! Up until now, I've felt a little unprepared to have another tiny being invade our household, but now I'm just getting excited to meet her. :)

New Noah Stuff

• Over Christmas, he learned to say his name. The syllables are very distinct, and when he first got it, he'd say "No-AHHH!" with an expression of such pride on his face. He knew it was a big deal, and he was thrilled with himself and said it with much exuberance!
  
• He really loves his baby sister. He is almost always willing to give my belly a hug and a kiss (half the time he runs up and does it voluntarily). In fact, he often tries to lift up my shirt when we're in public so he can pat it--we are learning that you don't lift Mommy's shirt in Target. :) Anyway, he knows there is a baby in there with eyes and knees and a nose and hands, etc. When he put his hands on my belly today, she kicked him, and he ran off to tell Daddy that she "bumped" him.
  
• He is learning new words every day. Today's new word is "Surprise!", or really, "'Prise!"
• We are watching figure skating right now. It's Noah's first introduction to it, and he thinks it is pretty cool, especially the jumps. He keeps trying to show us how the skaters spin around.
• Like one of his parents (the one who is not me), he is a bit of a perfectionist and can get frustrated when he can't do something right as quickly as he'd like, such as getting a train back on the track. At such times, we usually have a case of the flying train. We're working on getting him to just slow down, be gentle and careful, and try again.
  
• He likes trains more than trucks, he likes couch cushion forts, and he loves tunnels (so he can pretend he's a train).
• He is pretending more and more these days. Lately, he sits underneath his high chair and pretends he's in a car. We play a game where I ask him to get me some apple juice (or milk or bread or ice cream or . . . ) from the store, so he pretends to go and come back, then he crawls out and hands me the imaginary juice, which I thank him for and drink with great delight.
  
• The kid loves hot tea and asks for it nearly every day.
• He thinks it's hilarious to steal your seat whenever you stand up.
• He hums a lot to himself and will sing when we ask him to. Last week, when I picked him up from the nursery at Mom to Mom, they mentioned that they had had a music time. So on the way home, I asked him what songs they sang. I asked him if they sang "Deep and Wide" and began to sing it, and he chimed right in with "deee wiiiii." I was so surprised when he started singing, and it was very sweet.
• He also managed to access the "On Demand" section on our TV this morning, select, purchase, and start playing '(500) Days of Summer.' We now have the movie for 24 hours, which wouldn't be so bad since I've been wanting to see it, except for the fact that, coincidentally, we just received it yesterday from Netflix!

Sledding!

We all went sledding again this weekend! Well, Nathan and Noah did the sledding. I stood at the bottom of the hill and took pictures since getting up and down off the couch with this belly is challenge enough--don't ask me to get up and down off the ground, thank you very much. Anyway, I got a cute video and picture. Noah enjoyed himself much more than he did the last time.

Girl Names

Nathan and I have yet to settle on a name for our baby girl. We were just discussing tonight how we have a couple of favorites, but we're not ready to settle down and choose one yet. So I thought I'd ask you what you think.

Here are some names we like (in no particular order, for any of you who might be trying to guess which ones are highest on our list right now!):

Emma
Ella
Miriam
Elizabeth
Jane
Caroline
Evangeline
Lilah
Lydia
Lily
Susannah

A few things:
-I prefer names that are feminine and definitely for a girl, not names that could also be used for a boy.
-I tend to like classic names that are kind of elegant.
-I much prefer names that actually mean something.
-I'm interested in any other pretty biblical names you might come up with.
-I'm toying with the idea of a two-syllable name with either a "b" or an "n" in it, but I haven't found a ringer yet (two syllables because Lauren, Nathan, and Noah all have two syllables, and b's and n's because I think they go nicely with "Benesh").

As you can see, we have a ways to go to make a decision in the short amount of time we have left (only 7 weeks until the due date!).

Does all of that give you an idea of the type of names we like? If so, please leave a comment with suggestions. No promises, but I'm interested to see what you come up with. :)

Noah is Two!

Today was Noah's second birthday! I can't believe it!

We had a little train party for him. And by "little," I mean that it was pretty much a play date with cake. But it was a pretty cool cake, and we had a pretty fun time. Our friends the Robinsons stopped by with their kiddos to help us celebrate.

Here he is playing with some trains (of course) with his friend Nathan.
He's wearing the train conductor shirt that my parents bought him at Hermann Park, when we rode the train there over Christmas.

Here is the pretty neat cake we made him. For Christmas, my parents gave me a train cake pan that I had requested just for this occasion. I decorated most of the cars, and Nathan decorated the little scene. Noah actually got into trouble on his birthday morn because he could not keep his hands off it.

Tell me this kid is not a character. Look at that pose.
Happy Birthday, kiddo!

He didn't quite get that you're supposed to wait until the end of the Happy Birthday song to blow out the candle. So he kept blowing it out as soon as Nathan lit it. He loves to blow candles out and couldn't be told otherwise. Part of what made it so funny was that the candle was about two feet away from him, but somehow he had great aim with his blowing. The kid has some breath control, I'm telling you. Maybe he'll be a singer or play a wind instrument when he grows up.

Here he is with some of his booty.

That's my boy! Gotta love that face.

-----

Noah Thomas Benesh
born January 9, 2008

The Rest of Our Christmas Trip

The remainder of our Christmas trip occurred mostly in Waco, with Nathan's family. We really enjoyed seeing everyone on that side of the family, opening gifts, playing games, and just hanging out. Noah and Nathan really enjoyed playing outside, even though it was pretty chilly--Nathan was helping his dad with some burn piles, and at times they'd take Noah out with them on the four wheelers (his new favorite thing ever).

One of the other highlights of Noah's experience there was going to Baylor's Mayborn Museum, where they had a model train exhibit. It was similar to the one we went to outside of Boston, only it was actually about four or five times as big and quite a bit more varied.

Noah loved this little exhibit, where he could push buttons to make the trains go.

We also toured around the children's area of the museum, which is quite extensive. I thought this little exhibit was pretty cool--it's all the Waco landmarks. Nathan and his parents took Noah the rest of the way through the children's section, but I was pretty tired that day, which accounts for the lack of museum pictures beyond this point. :)

Here are Noah and Grandpa, relaxing together.

(Obviously, I was having camera issues here, but I still thought this was pretty cute.)

And because we could not leave out a picture of Noah's new favorite activity ever, here he is with Nathan on one of the four wheelers. Don't let his expression fool you; he was having a great time. In fact, he got to ride them so often that he ended up learning how to turn them on--a two-step process--just by watching. It cracked us up.

All in all, we had a great trip to Texas!

Cream Cheese Chicken

Hey peeps,

I have a recipe that I'm putting up on the blog more for my own convenience than because I think everyone will fall over themselves to make it. But I actually make this dish a lot, and I always have to go search for the recipe online then figure out how exactly I alter it again every time I make it. So I thought that for my own sake, as well as to share it with you, I'd post it here.

It's called Cream Cheese Chicken. I found this recipe on crockpot365.blogspot.com, where a woman used her crock pot every day for a year. In my opinion, some of the recipes on that site are only mediocre (she would probably agree, since most of them are new to her and she gives a review of each one after she posts it), but we like this one, and I actually make it a lot.

There are two versions of the recipe that she posts, and they are found here. Personally, I find them yummy but highly overseasoned, so that is the main difference you will see in my version of the recipe below. For one of her recipes, you use canned cream of something soup. For the other, you make your own cream of mushroom soup and use that. I have always made my own cream of mushroom soup, following the recipe she references, and it makes so much soup that it causes me to end up with about six bags of two-cup servings in the freezer (you can always split it in half, if you want). But here is the perk I've discovered: this is a no-brainer meal, because the two main ingredients are the cream of mushroom soup and chicken. The rest of the ingredients are things I always have on hand, like seasonings, onions, egg noodles, and cream cheese. Which means that when I am not sure what to do for dinner, or when I am totally uninspired and think I have no ingredients for something yummy, I can always reach into the freezer, grab some frozen chicken breasts and a bag of frozen homemade cream of mushroom soup, and I have a meal. Which is exactly what happened today.

So for our mutual benefit, below is the recipe for Cream Cheese Chicken, preceded by Cream of Mushroom Soup. When making my soup from scratch, I cook it in the crock pot the day before (or overnight), reserve the two cups I need in the crock for the following meal, and store the rest in 2-cup increments in freezer bags. Then, on the following day, I put the rest of the ingredients for the chicken dish in the slow cooker and let that cook until it's time to eat.

By the way, this makes a large amount of food--I have used it to feed a crowd before. And one more tip: rather than topping the egg noodles with the chicken at the end, I prefer to stir them in. They seem to combine better that way. Also, I usually serve this with fresh bread and a green veggie, and so far this has proven to be a toddler-friendly meal, at least at our house.

Enjoy!

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Cream of Mushroom Soup
original recipe found here

2 lbs. mushrooms, sliced
juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tablespoons chopped onion
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
2 cups water
4 cups vegetable broth
1 quart of milk (to add later)

Put the mushrooms, spices, and lemon juice in to the slow cooker. Add the water and broth. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Carefully use an immersible hand blender and blend until smooth (or blend in the food processor/blender in batches). Stir in the milk.

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Cream Cheese Chicken

2 cups homemade cream of mushroom soup
4 frozen chicken breasts
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cloves minced garlic
1-1/2 blocks of cream cheese (to add later)
half a large package of egg noodles (about 6-8 oz.), cooked (to add later)

Put everything except for the cream cheese and noodles in the slow cooker. Cook on low for six hours, or until the chicken is cooked through. Shred the chicken with two large forks. Stir in the block of cream cheese. Turn the slow cooker up to high and cook for an additional 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese is completely melted. Stir in the cooked egg noodles.

Facebook Permeation

Does anyone else think of their life in terms of Facebook statuses throughout the day?

Lauren Benesh . . .

• noticed today that I am starting to move a lot slower now.
• wonders if she will get the house cleaned up and organized in time for Noah's birthday this weekend.
• made bread from her new bread machine cookbook, and it was excellent.
  
• is still amused that Livvy got fat while we were gone.
• thought she was heading to bed early but finished her book instead.
• 's eyes are stinging because she's so tired.
  
• is thankful God loves this baby girl more than I ever could.

How the Cats Fared

We were out of town for a solid two weeks and left the care of our cats to a couple of friends. Here's what we found when we got back:

They are totally attention-starved, Livvy especially. She cannot get enough petting. It's annoying. I made the mistake of petting her for about a minute when I was still in bed early this morning, and then she took the next several minutes to walk all over both Nathan and me meowing loudly and licking us. Annoying.

They are fat! Well, not really fat, but they did totally pudge up while we were gone! What in the world?! We can't figure out why, exactly. Nathan theorizes it's a combination of them being depressed we were gone and the fact that the temp in our apartment was turned way down, so that maybe the cold temperatures made them instinctively put on a little more weight. Anyway, we were pretty surprised to see that they were a little more hefty when we got home.

Excuse me for the excessive use of italics in this post.

Happy New Year!

Hello again to the blog world!

Sorry I've been out of touch for the last week or two . . . actually, I'm not that sorry. :) It's been nice to take a technological hiatus. I've done lots of reading and a fair bit of crocheting. Wanna see what I've been up to?

Just before we left on our trip, I ran across some crocheting patterns for baby girl sweaters and dresses that a friend had given to me four or five years ago. At the time, I thought, "I am going to tuck these away and make them when I have a baby girl." Of course, I forgot all about them, so when I saw them again, I was so pleased.

So far, I've nearly completed this cardigan in an ivory/light yellow color. I got some blue and green ribbon to go on it:

And I've just started on this dress. Isn't it the sweetest thing?

I'm trying to take advantage of the fact that I'm currently bitten by the crocheting bug to get some things done. I am really terrible about getting excited about a craft project, starting it, then abandoning it halfway through when I lose interest. So I'm trying to complete these projects before the desire deserts me. They're so cute that I don't want to have them incomplete when the time comes for Baby Girl to actually wear them.

I've also been doing some reading. I've read the first book of Francine Rivers' Mark of the Lion series, though so far I think I like Redeeming Love better. I also received the last two books of the Emily of New Moon trilogy for Christmas, and I've started book #2. The Emily books are by the same author as Anne of Green Gables, and I like them a lot.

Other than reading and crocheting, I have enjoyed NOT having to cook or plan meals. I do derive a lot of satisfaction out of those things in my normal life, but it's been great to take a break from them for a short while and let others do the planning.

So, peeps, what did you do over your break that you enjoyed? Do tell.

(By the way, more pictures from the rest of our trip will be up sometime soon.)