6.

we always just heat up leftovers on sundays. especially now with church from 1-4, it's so much easier to come home and just heat something up and eat, instead of taking time to make a big meal. so leftovers on sunday...

reheated polenta and beans, and rosti pancakes. i took the leftover rosti we had (essentially a hashbrown pie with wild rice and onions), added the carrot puree, and mixed it all up with a pancake batter. they were...interesting...definitely a savory pancake NOT worth repeating! i also had leftover pie dough from apple pies i made last sunday, so i whipped up a couple of blueberry crumble pies. we had a lot of dessert after not enjoying dinner so much...

5.

veggie pizza!! we love having homemade pizza on the weekends. i was just going to make pizza margarita, but we had so many veggies still in the fridge, we decided to make veggie pizza with a spinach cesaer salad on the side.

4.

breakfast: oatmeal squares cereal, fruit

lunch: tomato sandwiches, leftover steamed veggies, baked chips, and we shared the last slice of homemade apple pie

dinner: there is nothing better than a big plate of pasta at the end of a long week! except maybe a big bowl of pasta (butternut squash and spinach ravioli) covered in my homemade 7-veggie tomato sauce and parmesan cheese!

3.

breakfast: homemade granola cereal, dried apricots

lunch: tzatziki with tomato slices and feta, pita, almonds, popcorn, v8 fusion

dinner: cheesy polenta with black beans/salsa/tomatoes/cottage cheese/guacamole (now that's a plate!)

2.

breakfast: cottage cheese and fruit, wheat toast

lunch: egg salad roll up with spinach, red/yellow/orange pepper slices, baked chips

dinner: wild rice and potato rosti with carrot puree, steamed veggies, mango and orange slices, wheat toast

1.

being the domestic goddess that i am, i derive great pleasure from catering to david's dinner requests. i love to cook, and love to eat what i cook even more, so it's a win-win. he mentioned last week he'd like to go meatless for a while. i always plan at least 2 meatless dinners a week, but we decided to try to go meatless for the whole month of march. we bid farewell to february with five guys, and began meatless today. i'm not saying vegetarian because we're still doing eggs and animal products. although i guess cutting those would be vegan, not vegetarian...anyway, time to put my nutrition skills to the test!

breakfast: oatmeal with banana, walnuts and maple syrup

lunch: tzatziki with pita and feta cheese crumbles, greek yogurt (pomegranate flavor!), fruit, almonds, v8 fusion juice

dinner: quinoa pilaf with apples and pecans, baked sweet potato with sauteed peppers, spinach salad

hello, monday

food co-op craze

i've joined the bountiful baskets food co-op craze here in the valley.

the basic basket: $15 (all those fruits and veggies)

5 loaves of 9-grain bread: $10

you decide...

when i posted the clone post, david said that's when he realized pace looks nothing like him. so we dug out my old baby photos and realized pace does actually have a little of me in him! i think he's a perfect mix of the two of us:

i'm 7 mos old in this photo:

(too bad i don't have the jumpsuit anymore...)

4 mos old in this photo:

david says the vacant stare says it all (...ha ha):

david as a baby:

(i don't know what age he was in these photos)

and you thought cloning wasn't legal...

4 months already

14 lbs 1/2 oz (30 %ile)

24 3/4" (42 %ile)

he's a little shrimp, but sticking to his growth curve just fine. i know the "percentiles" don't mean much. this kid is totally proportionate, nurses like a champ, and sleeps a good 9 hours at night. he has rolls on his thighs, a cute little belly, and rolls for wrists. and i L-O-V-E that gummy little mouth!

we love this little guy--melt downs and all! his pouty face was too cute--i made him keep crying so i could get some good shots. bad mom, right?!

i'm partial to his cuteness

these legs were made for walking

i had a dream the other night that pace was running through our kitchen on his little 3-month old legs. his little diaper-tail was wagging, he was giggling, and running so fast! with all the kicking and backwards scooting already happening, i'm pretty sure this kid will be running before crawling...

merry christmas to all

what's for dinner?

best christmas present ever--braces off!

11 lbs 10 oz of baby goodness

2 month stats:

11 lbs 10 oz, 45th percentile

22 3/4" long, 40th percentile

pace is already so active--i think he's going to start running before crawling or walking. if we lay him down on a blanket, his legs start kicking a mile a minute. his favorite letter is "o" and he's learning to say "goo"--he'll repeat both to us with a huge grin if we say them to him. nights are going great, i think. he always sleeps from 8/830pm until anywhere between 1230-230am, and then after that he's up every 2-3 hours. this little guy cannot have chocolate milk...any time i eat chocolate, even just a bite of something, he's a mess the next 24 hours. any baby weight i've lost in the last 3 weeks i think is due to cutting chocolate out of my diet, not the exercise...ha ha. overall he's an incredibly happy little man. lots of smiles, coos, and giggles. he even seems to chuckle to himself as he's falling asleep, like he's telling himself a great joke. so fun!

a few of our favorites

"whatch'ya up to?"

"you said church is three hours long?!"

"staring contest?--you're on!"

"i'm strong to the finish 'cause i eats me spinach"

"we're having lunch soon, right?"

our little pace cadet

after 35 hours of this:

we finally met this little guy:

(it took us a couple of days, but we finally named him)

Pace Andrew Coombs

Born: 10.14.2010

7 lbs 7 oz

20"

he is definitely his daddy's son: brown hair, brown eyes (brown from birth, no newborn blue!), a smile to die for, cheeks you want to kiss and snuggle. he is mellow, peaceful, and so, so precious.

pace did not like the bright lights, camera flashes, and cold room when he was born. wailing and flailing--he was very uncomfortable. david walked right over to the warmer and began talking to him. pace immediately calmed down, and tracked david with his eyes until he could "see" david (or at least look in the direction david's voice was coming from), and locked his gaze on david for a full 3-5 minutes. david reads out loud to me while i'm cooking dinner, so we're sure pace got to know david's voice in utero. i am so glad these boys have taken to each other--what a special bond to have from birth. i'm one lucky girl.

pace loves a good snuggle. i tried to convince my orthodontist to take my braces off before i had the baby, so i wouldn't look like a 13 year-old in labor...didn't happen. you might get better smiles in the next month or so...

i tried doing a cute photo shoot today, but pace just got a more and more worried look on his face. welcome to two weeks old, little pacemaker!

alice

david says the only reason march is the favorite on our girl name poll is because i failed to put alice up there, as well. i didn't know that name was still on the plate for discussion, but it apparently is. so we're adding another girl name to the poll--vote if you love alice...

the countdown is on

3 weeks to go until baby coombs makes his/her appearance...but who's counting?

essentials are ready:

1. we can bring baby home from the hospital, although david says "we won't need" the newborn padding insert in the carseat (good up to 11lbs)...he also asked me what the average length of a newborn is, and i told him between 18-21". he kind of smirked and said, "ours is going to be 24." so in david's head i'm going to birth a 12+ lb. 24" newborn...now that's fatherly pride!

2. a full hamper of laundered gender neutral onesies and sleepers. if baby really is as "above average" as david thinks, we won't be needing half of this hamper.

3. we are ready to change baby's bottom. at least for the first 24 hours. we will be getting more of these essentials at costco--nice coupons on diapers and wipes this week!

4. a place for baby to sleep. baby's room is still empty...we are planning on doing the big baby spree when we see a reimbursement check from aflac. until then, baby can camp out next to our bed.

5. baby's room is painted...just waiting for all the fun stuff...

all that's left? your vote! are we having a boy or a girl? which is your favorite name from our list? stay tuned!

(by the way, if anyone knows how to change the color of the poll lettering so it isn't grey on grey, let me know...)

what the womens are for

the biggest perk of working part-time nights now instead of full-time days is that i get to have lunch with david every day. i'll pack a fun lunch and we'll have a picnic in the park during his lunch break. one day last week he was waiting for me to arrive and an old hispanic man struck up a conversation with him. david told him he was waiting for me to bring him lunch. the man smiled and said, "ahhh, that's why God put the womens on the earth!" i think it was doubly satisfying when he saw i'd prepared fajitas.