Belly Pic 5 and more

Starting on the left, the pictures are from weeks 31 and 33 (last Friday). As of now we have less than 7 weeks to go! I'm feeling great besides some tingles and swelling in my right hand.

My Golden Birthday was great! Chris gave me beautiful jewelry and an unforgettable card. The other wives made a fabulous dinner and cake for me and spoiled me with presents. It was really nice! I'm so thankful for the wonderful women I've met this season. I couldn't have asked for more.

September is going to be a very busy month for me. I'm flying back to Florida in 2 days with Brody, so my least favorite activity is here....packing! Today my friend Julie is coming over to help me get all packed up; seems like things get done so much quicker when someone else helps guide you along, so I'm grateful that she volunteered for the job!

We're closing on our new home in Tampa on Sept 10th. It's about 10-15 minutes east of our current home so there's even more packing in my near future. The movers are going to take care of most of the packing though, thank goodness! We've had great memories in our old home however short our stay there was, but the new house is amazing and we're looking forward to having everyone over and starting our new family memories there.

And then of course there's getting ready for baby Maxwell! So much to do...so much to do!

An exclusive interview with two Chris Perezes

This is an exerpt from a blog posting by Indians writer Anthony Castrovince. It's hilarious...click on the link after the excerpt for the full blog post:

"A long, losing season needs its subplots and surprises to keep things entertaining. And if you've been following the 2010 Cleveland Indians on Twitter this year, you've probably found entertainment in the recent creation of closer Chris Perez's Twitter alter ego, @PureRage_Perez.

The real Chris Perez is on Twitter at @ChrisPerez54. But as of this writing, the real Perez has 54 less followers than the fake one.

Thanks to the cooperation of both Chris and Pure Rage, I was able to gain unprecedented access into the minds and lives of both men, and it is my pleasure to share the results with you here. Below are 13 questions I posed to each Perez, followed by their respective answers."

http://castrovince.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/08/an_exclusive_interview_with_tw.html

Recipe for Chicken & Shrimp Paella

Last weekend some of the other Indians wives and I went to dinner to celebrate a birthday and had so much fun we decided to have dinner together more often and rotate cooks. One of the other wives and I were hanging out a few days ago and were checking out the menu from a Spanish restaurant nearby her apartment and drooled over the prospect of having paella. Naturally we scheduled our first dinner and put paella on the menu! Tonight was the night so we went to the West Side Market this aftenoon for some fresh chicken, shrimp and veggies and went home to cook. The paella was delicious and none remained after dinner so I've decided the recipe is post worthy. It served 6 ladies.

INGREDIENTS:
7 chicken thighs - bone in and skin on
1/3 pound cooked shrimp - medium sized
1 1/2 cups saffron rice
2 cups Swanson less sodium chicken stock
1/2 can of diced tomatoes-no salt added (14.5oz can)
1/2 cup frozen peas (optional)
1/2 sweet onion chopped
1/2 red onion chopped
1/2 small red pepper
1/2 small orange pepper
1/2 small green pepper
8 garlic cloves minced
1 lemon
Vegetable oil (or olive oil for taste)

DIRECTIONS:
-Heat approx 2 tbsp oil large skillet over medium-high heat to get the skilled hot
-Add chicken skin side down and brown 4 minutes
-Flip chicken and brown 2 minutes on the bottom side
-Add onions and garlic to the skillet and cook 3 more minutes
-Add rice to the skillet and stir to get rice coated with oil and juices
-Let the rice brown a little (stir as necessary)
-Add the diced tomatoes and a good amount of liquid from the can
-Allow to cook for a minute or two and do not stir often
-Add chicken stock
-Turn heat to medium-low and simmer covered (add salt if desired now or add later)
-In the meantime, heat 1 1/2 tbsp oil in a pan over medium-low heat to saute the peppers
-Saute the peppers until cooked but firm
-Check on the paella after 15 minutes or so to make sure there's enough liquid to cook the rice (if not, add more chicken stock)
-When the rice is almost finished, stir in the cooked shrimp, frozen peas and sauted peppers and re-cover until the rice is finsihed-approx 5 minutes (if the rice is already finished, then remove the skillet from the heat and let the paella flavors mix and cook by the steam from within)
-Leave covered until ready to serve and before serving, squeeze half the lemon over the paella
-Place a few lemon wedges or slices over the paella and serve!

*Note: Will likely need salting-I added some salt when I cooked the rice but it needed more when served-do not oversalt while cooking. We salted as necessary ourselves when eating.

Trivia

I just played the License Plate Game to test my knowledge of random information. With a score of 80% I guess something has sunk in on all of my road trips! Click on the link below to see how you will do! Post your score in the comments section below :)

The License Plate Game

Score: 80% (12 out of 15)

That's The Way

This past Saturday was the baseball wives joint baby shower. We received so many wonderful gifts for Maxwell - he wont go naked after all ;) I am one of 6 pregnant wives this year! 2 women had their babies within the last couple of months and the rest of us are due between September and January. Baby boom?? It's pretty incredible to be going through the ups and downs of pregnancy with so many friends; all of us experiencing similar feelings and watching each other grow and prepare to be mothers. [Pics below - baby shower]

Chris and I also spent some time with his family this past weekend. Uncle Bobby, aunt Millie and cousin Lyndsay drove up from South Carolina making stops along the way at hot spots from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. They treated Chris and I to brunch at another spot on their food tour, Lucky's Cafe, here in Cleveland. I shared deliciously thick waffles with Lyndsay although I must say the breakfast burrito Millie ordered and let me taste was surprisingly delicious! Needless to say, I am now a total addict for Lucky's Cafe. Chris and I made a return trip four days later and shared Mac and Cheese and grilled cheese with caramelized onions....YUMMMMMM! I want it again now just thinking about it!

Following brunch we toured the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and its archives. It's amazing how much memorabilia they hold in the archives. Clothing, shoes, instruments, photos, letters, lyrics, childhood items and more! They alternate the items on display but I don't know that they will ever really show all of the items they have! Having a close up look at the musicians clothing really puts into perspective their size. They are so much smaller than they appear. It was also really cool seeing the musicians hand written song lyrics; to see what they first thought and wrote down, and then crossed out to rewrite the lyrics to some of the most popular songs we know today. Billy Joel's "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" was really written while he was eating at an Italian restaurant! Sauce on the paper and all! I wondered what the Hall of Fame will have to show for current and future artists who write their lyrics on computers? Time will tell... [Pics below - family at the Hall of Fame & Chris signing the Wall of Fame]

Belly Pic 4: Welcome to the 3rd Trimester!

Here are the latest pictures - from the left: 26, 28 and 29 weeks (outfit is still the same at 29 weeks but the picture and color quality from the webcam have nothing on a real camera). Anyway we're moving right along, 2 trimester's down and 1 to go! Pregnancy mood swings are in full effect and worst in the evenings, so try to avoid me if you can...(so sorry Chris). I know that I'm being a witch but I just can't stop myself :( It's awful.

We've been calling the baby Maxwell Alexander for about a month or so and it seems to have stuck, so that's most likely what he will be named when he arrives. His movements have been more frequent, strong and predictable and at times he rests his bony tush right up to my belly so that part of my belly is very firm! Last weekend I hardly felt him move at all so the doc set me up with a stress test and ultrasound this past Monday & Thursday. Thank goodness he's doing just fine and back to normal. I don't really have any good ultrasound pics to post - they're hard to make out so hang tight until the next one. He is 3 pounds already...might just be a big baby after all!

Belly Pic 3 (Updated July 2)

I'm sorry for the delay of pictures - its been a while since Chris was home on a picture day (Friday) but here's the latest. For your comparison pictured left to right is 19 weeks, 21 weeks and today 25 weeks (July 2). I'm larger and more uncomfortable as the weeks go on! I started swimming a few weeks ago and love it. It feels so good to be in the pool and moving around. The baby seems to really enjoy it also. He has been moving more frequently this week and Chris has been able to feel him squirm, especially today :) It's great being able to share this experience with him in any way I can.

Evermore

I rang the doorbell and heard the familiar buzz granting me access into the house. I went up the staircase lined with black and white wallpaper which is still in perfect condition, not an edge in sight peeling. The door opens and the white tile is sparkling. Everything looks just like I remember. Aside from a new stove top the kitchen is the same, the carpet is the same-worn on the staircase where me and my siblings slid down one too many times, couches still perfectly preserved in plastic. Grandma Barbara hands me some photo albums to look through with my sister Mindy while she cooks up some of her delicious food. When we finished looking through all of the albums I put them away and noticed some toys that we used to play with as kids: the Bingo wheel my brother and sisters would spin, the building set we would fight over to make towering masterpieces, the hanging curtains I wore when I pretend married my childhood crush. It's all still there. Even though I hadn't been to my grandma's house in a while before that visit, it felt like I had just been there yesterday and that no time had passed at all. We live in such a fast paced world where everything changes so quickly and were constantly looking forward to the next great thing, its easy to forget how sometimes the unchanged can be so nice.

Ultrasound 3 - 19 weeks 3 days

Our third and "big" ultrasound was May 24th. Chris was finally able to join me so I didn't have to feel like a single mom! I really enjoyed having him there to share the experience and was hoping he could see the baby squirm around like it did last time, only the baby slept through the entire ultrasound :(

So it's a boy and he is growing so quickly. I can't believe I'm more than halfway there. This pregnancy is flying by...I'm sure in 10 weeks I am going to be saying the opposite!

It's a Boy!!

Glitterfy.com - Glitter Graphics

So my gender dreams were accurate...maybe its not just an old wives tale! Everything looks good...brain, spine, bones etc! His heartbeat is now 141. We're very excited!!

A Few Random Pictures & Events

Mindy & Jonathan's 2nd 24th Birthday Dinner @ Benihana:

One of the cake's from birthday dinner @ dads - thanks for all the helping hands to make this!

Event for Boys & Girls Club of Cleveland - one of the official Cleveland Indians Charities. It was a bowling event (obviously), Indians vs. Browns teams. Amy, pictured below on the right is an amazing bowler and deserved to take the trophy home having won best female bowler out of all the bowlers there! I on the other hand, won the worst female bowler and took home a lovely vase from Crate & Barrel and some coupons for free bowling :) Honestly though, I wasn't even that bad! There was some serious competition (see Amy & Jackie below: two of the many competitive bowlers)!

Me with Onion, my favorite hot dog at the field! Love her new hot pink purse! LOL

MLB Opening Day April 5, 2010

2010 is the first year Chris is on the Opening Day roster! Congratulations Chris! This also means it is the first year I got to attend Opening Day hoopla! The Indians opened the year in Chicago at U.S. Cellular Field against the White Sox on a beautiful day, to a sold out, excited crowd. The atmosphere was of pure joy and hope for a great season. There were even fighter jets flying overhead during the Star Spangled Banner!
**Click on the pictures to enlarge** (Chris is #54)

Unfortunately, the Tribe lost the first game, much to the delight of the White Sox crowd. The second game went better-Chris made his 2010 debut as Closer and got his first save of the 2010 season! Go Chris!!

Opening Day at home vs. the Texas Rangers on April 12, 2010 was pretty exciting also! Chris made his debut at home, there were balloons, a flag presentation and a sold out crowd...Unfortunately the Indians lost and the fans disappeared with no sign of return...

Quotes I've Enjoyed Recently

*Excerpt from an article in the May 2010 Oprah magazine on yourself and relationships:
"Your relationships with others reflect your relationship with yourself, wherever you may be in your personal development.
The key to meaningful connections with the people in your life is making yourself whole by honoring your body, mind, and spirit, filling the voids that cause you not to love yourself. You can't give love if you don't have it. And you can't receive (or even perceive) it because you won't recognize it when it shows up. You've got to care for yourself in order to be able to care for others."
-Oprah

*Quote used at the end of one of my favorite shows:
"If I am what I have and if I lose what I have who then am I?"
-Erich Fromm

*Written to me in a card and very applicable in my life:
"Life throws us many turns and curves, bend with them and you will come out smiling"
-Dad & Pat

Belly Pics 2 :)

Updated pictures: Starting on the left is 16 weeks followed by today at 19 weeks! Its growing more than the mirror let on! My jeans officially no longer close and the be band is in full use! Loving dresses...wish the Cleveland weather would warm up some so I could wear some more :) Also just bought my first few maternity tops from the Gap Maternity store...they are so soft and flattering! Monday morning we will find out the sex of the baby so make sure your vote is in for the sex of the baby before the poll closes Sunday night!

Recipe For Penne Alla Vodka

This recipe is an altered version of Rachel Ray's You Won't Be Single For Long Vodka Cream Pasta recipe. Serves 4-6.

INGREDIENTS:
4 cloves garlic minced
1 whole shallot minced
28oz crushed tomatoes
1 cup vodka (not the cheap stuff)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 to 3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
fresh basil leaves
1 lb penne or your favorite pasta
*Optional - add grilled / rotisserie chicken

DIRECTIONS:
-Heat large saucepan over low-medium heat
-Add butter, oil, garlic, shallots & cook until you can smell the aroma, approx 3-5min (brown slightly)
-Add vodka to the pan and reduce the amount to half, approx 3-5 min
-Add chicken broth and crushed tomatoes
-Return the sauce to a bubble and then reduce it to a simmer
-Add red pepper flakes, salt and pepper
-Let simmer for 45 min for the sauce to thicken and blend
-Add the heavy cream starting with 1/2 cup first and add more depending on desired creaminess/color and bring back to a simmer.
-Remove from heat
-When serving, top with some fresh basil leaves.

*Note: I did not have the heavy cream on hand last time and used 2% milk instead. I brought it to room temperature first. While the sauce was not as creamy it was still thick and delish!

When Good Intentions Go Bad

Last weekend I was in St. Louis with friends enjoying an Apple Pie Concrete at my favorite frozen custard location, Ted Drewes, on Chippewa Street. For those of you that have never been to Ted Drewes, please refer to the picture of this location - the crowd is an accurate depiction any night of the week and multiplies after a Cardinal baseball game. Anyway on my most recent visit, there was a small party bus parked on the street and we wondered who was out partying and making this awesome pit stop? Turns out to have been a bunch of kids no older than 10 or 12 chaperoned by one of the kids parents and a friend. How nice of them to take the kids and their friends out right? Well it quickly became blatantly obvious who the bus was actually for....the wasted adults, drinks in hand. One of the parents thought it would be a hoot to jump into someones convertible in the parking lot while a friend took her picture all the while a child was saying "mom that's not your car!" Really makes me wonder how some people get to be parents. And if I happened to be one of the children's parents this mom was supposed to be supervising also out for some frozen custard, I don't know what I would have done! It's unbelievable that this mother didn't seem to care what kind of message this was portraying to the children, most of which weren't hers...

Belly Pics :)

Starting on the left, the first picture is at 7w4d, then 13w4d, then 15w. More to come!

Fun New Poll!

Make sure to cast your vote for the sex of the baby! The poll is on the right side of this page under the picture of the dogs. I can't wait to see what it is :)

I've moved...again

After a 16 hour drive with Chris's dad, I've arrived in Cleveland. The audio book of choice for this trip was The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It was a good story but not exciting enough to keep me awake. I listened to 3/4 the book but I'll probably read the rest of it.

We are living in the same apartment complex as last year but in a different apartment. We are in the corner of the community by the forest. It's really nice and quiet; not too many people walk by so the dogs barking is kept to a minimum which I REALLY like! Our furniture was delivered before I arrived and I bought some colorful kitchenware and bedding...I wasn't planning to take it home but I like it so much I just might! The only thing I have left to do is unpack my clothes.

Tomorrow I am flying to Chicago with Chris's dad to see my first baseball season game opener against the White Sox on Monday. I am really excited to see what hoopla they have planned. The dogs are staying in Cleveland with our new sitter Sonya. All is set and I'm ready for an exciting season!

Spring Training - Goodyear, AZ

Since spring training is coming to an end this week its time to post. Arizona is beautiful. Goodyear is a new city so everything there is new...and brown. Brown landscaping, brown homes...brown brown brown. I could only stay there so long without having color withdrawal. Anyway its so amazing that we live in a country that has so many different terrains depending on where you are. The mountains were beautiful! Phoenix is in a valley so the mountains were everywhere. The stadium was really nice and Chris even gave me a backstage tour of the clubhouse. It is an amazing facility both indoors and out. He's very lucky. Here's a quick rundown of my week:

We went to the professional bull riding competition and saw real cowboys perform. I am not thrilled with how they make the bulls crazy but that's for another day:

Raul & Teresa's - amazing home style Mexican food. I asked what was in a burro and the waitress laughed and told the bartender...he looked at me and laughed too (I figured it was short for burrito but I don't like beans so I wanted to make sure there weren't any)


Goodyear Ballpark!


Black Bear Diner: one of the many items we ate for breakfast one morning. This is what a real bear claw looks like! YUMMY

Ultrasound 2 - 11 weeks 4 days

I am still at the doctors office. Today's ultrasound was so much more exciting than the first (sorry Court) I couldn't wait to write! I got to see the baby swimming all around using its arms and legs! Its approximately 2 inches now and about 4 days ahead of schedule. I can't believe how much its changed since my last visit only 3 weeks ago. It looks like a little person now :) The baby would hardly stay still long enough for the technician to take the measurements of the neck fluid for the nuchal translucency test! When it did, she said the space for the fluid looks good and it has a nasal bone. I'm about to have blood drawn to finish up the testing but so far so good!

My First Ultrasound!

Yesterday was my first ultrasound! After reading more than one sad story on my babycenter.com October 2010 babies chat group about a mom going in for her ultrasound and there just being an empty sac I wondered if I would be the same since I've been feeling so good. Thankfully that was not the case. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT but there's actually a baby inside of me! My own little alien :)


First the technician pointed out the beating heart and then the stubby arms and legs, head and then she put the sound on and I could hear the heart beating! It was beating so fast. It was so amazing! The baby is growing on pace and even 2 days ahead but the doctor wants to stay conservative on the "due date". No worries though I like the 15th-it's very even. My next appointment is March 30 for my 11-12 week ultrascreen. I'm 9 weeks now and thankfully I'm not so tired all the time anymore. My skin is even starting to improve! The second trimester is just around the corner and I can't wait!


P.S. If you click on the picture it will enlarge.

The Self Directed Search

Lately I've had some trouble figuring out what to do with my free time so I thought it would be a good idea to take the Self Directed Search. It is a questionnaire that helps you find the career which best matches your interests and abilities...I would translate the result into a volunteer opportunity perhaps or a part-time job. It also gives you a listing of hobbies you might enjoy. The theory is that there are 6 groups which people can be loosely classified into:

Realistic-likes to work with things more than people.
Investigative-likes to explore and understand things or events, rather than persuade others or sell them things.
Artistic-likes to work with creative ideas and self-expression more than routines and rules.
Social-likes to help, teach, and counsel people more than engage in mechanical or technical activity.
Enterprising-like to persuade or direct others more than work on scientific or complicated topics.
Conventional-likes to follow orderly routines and meet clear standards, avoiding work that does not have clear directions.

So 20 minutes later my results appear:

The three groups that best fit me in order of most to least were conventional, social and enterprising. The top career that might interest me...systems accountant...types of hobbies I might enjoy-playing card games and the collection of random items like souvenir spoons...I believe this is where the saying FML comes in handy.

Fun at the Theater

What do you do when you get to the movie theater a little too early to see your movie of choice? Sit in the theater waiting for your movie to start or go to the screening of another movie at the theater?

When was the last time you saw two movies for the price of one? Prior to today the last time I can remember was when I was a kid in Brooklyn...our trips to the movies were quite infrequent as taking 4 children to the movies can be quite a handful. I guess thats why we stayed for two!

Today, my sister in law Courtney and I were 45 minutes early to see Valentine's Day so we decided to sit in on the movie least likely to require background information an hour deep - Shutter Island. It ended up being a very engaging movie so when it came time to switch over we wanted to know what the ending was going to be! Soo after Valentine's Day was over we made a daring dash across the snackbar and snuck into a later showing of Shutter Island which happened to be at the point right where we left off! How perfect. The rush of getting caught didn't hurt either!

I love this commercial:

It's Official

Two things are official: 1-I'm pregnant and 2-baseball season is under way!

Chris and I went to our first OB appointment this past Tuesday and were bombarded by a massive amount of questions, pamphlets and information. How do you feel? What is your family history? Are you taking prenatal vitamins? Our due date is October 15th. Take more Calcium. There will be many sonograms. A visit to the OB once a month then twice a month, then once a week! Oh my! Talk about being overwhelmed and this is only the beginning. I'll be heading back to the doc March 1st for the first sonogram to make sure the baby is developing correctly and everything is going alright. Chris and I are really excited!

I can't believe how fast this off-season flew by and it’s actually been one of the longest yet. Chris packed up yesterday and flew out to Arizona today...given my hatred for packing, I'm feeling pretty good that I didn't go to spring training with him but I'll miss him. This will be the longest we've spent apart since he went to play in the world cup but now we'll be using the magic of Skype to stay connected.

That’s all for my first post...stay tuned for more