Dear Lily- You are 1 month

Dear Lily,

You are already a month old and your dad and I couldn’t be more in love with you! You have been an absolute joy, although we do have to work on your day/night confusion. However, your long naps during the day allow your mama to catch up on her own sleep. Your dad and I also appreciate that you are sleeping longer through the night, but you are such a noisy sleeper that I’ve turned into an even lighter sleeper!

We love to watch your facial expressions. There is nothing sweeter to see and hear you laugh in your sleep. I wish I could just video you for 24 hours so that I can show you off to the world just how cute and wonderful you are! Or have it as leverage for your teenage years. =)

You also like to mess with mama and daddy by going to through diapers like there is no tomorrow. Somehow you’ve got your timing just right that you know you have a new diaper on and go to town before we even have a chance to get you dressed again. That is talent, my darling. I told your dad I knew you were an overachiever when your umbilical cord fell off only after 2 days!

You already super alert to your surroundings, following voices and playing with your Mr. Caterpillar. And oh, how you love to watch the ceiling fans. Daddy says you already know when I come into a room. You are doing so well with your tummy time, especially when tummy time is on mama or daddy.

Thank you, little one, for bearing with us as we navigate this new adventure as your parents and being so good natured to let your mom have a shower everyday.

Love you lots and lots,

Your mama

What's For Dinner Wednesday: Tequila Shrimp

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• White onion, minced
• Garlic
• Salt
• Uncooked shrimp, peeled & de-veined
• 1/2 cup tequila
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

• Heat oil on medium heat, cook onion and garlic until translucent.
• Add shrimp and cook until pink. Remove pan from heat, add tequila. Return to heat and cook until alcohol has evaporated and shrimp are fully cooked.
• Remove from heat and add lime juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

This shrimp is so versatile that it can be paired with a variety of sides. I have usually gone with brown rice or orzo. A few slices of avocado also brightens it up.  The recipe itself is very simple and takes almost no time to prepare. And one more note, if you can, I would recommend buying shrimp already peeled and de-veined, definitely worth the extra dollars to not have to mess with that.
   

*Original recipe courtesy of www.chow.com.

Feel Good Friday: Blessed

There is always some magazine article telling women and men what they are doing wrong in their marriages or relationships and how they should fix it. Basically, a battle of the sexes diatribe.  Ryan and I do read these articles with a huge handful of salt, have a good laughing battle of wills ourselves, and then just chalk it up to nonsense.

In these articles, I see a recurring theme of how women "resent" their man because they can't seem to get him to do any sort of housework without nagging, and it makes me appreciate that I have a man who is not like any husband that these articles are referring to.

So, I wanted to end the week on an upbeat note and focus on the positive instead of the negative. 

I am blessed to have a husband, who:

• not only knows how to do a load of laundry, but will actually do it just because some of his clothes are high maintenance and I shouldn't be responsible for that;
• will willingly load/unload the dishwasher without being asked;
• who knows how to cook and wants to cook to give me a break sometimes;
• in spite of having our own spending money, still wants to spoil me;
• doesn't expect me to do all the housework just because we are now in more traditional marriage roles than we were previously;
• who knows how to say thank you, and does so, often.

What are you blessed to have in your partner?

Monday Mania: Tough Question

I have been getting this question a lot since we've moved out to Arizona: what has been the toughest adjustment?

It's been mainly two things for me.

First and foremost, is having to establish a new group of friends. The first time Ryan went out of town on business, I remember texting my friend in Atlanta, "Okay, NOW I am lonely" because I didn't have anyone to hang out with while he was gone. And since I'm not working full-time, I don't have an automatic potential friend-pool through a job. I have really had to step out of my comfort zone and seek out local women's groups to get out of the house on my own and around some estrogen. It's totally like being the new kid in school half way through the year.

The second is that I just don't know my way around this town like I did Atlanta.  Traffic in Atlanta is the pits, and I could always whip up a backup route or shortcut in the blink of an eye. Here, not so much. I just can't see the layout in my head for a quick alternate way to anywhere if I need to yet. Thankfully, this town is set up on a grid system, so that I can play chance and eventually hit a street that is recognizable to me that will get me to where I need. Which leads me to being very dependent on Google Maps and GPS. Very rare was it that I had to consult Google Maps for directions, but now, I literally have to check before I leave the house and then make sure that I have my GPS with me.

If you've ever had to move to a completely new city after living in one place for quite awhile, what was your toughest adjustment?

IRONMAN 3

This is what my rock star brother did yesterday:

I spent a lot of the afternoon and night tracking him throughout the race and trying to catch him on the live stream feed, but that one didn't work out so well. It is truly amazing how connected we all can be with technology these days.

But, needless to say, I am one PROUD sister!! 

This was his 3rd IRONMAN competition and certainly not his last. According to his previous races, it looks like that he scored some PR times.

He is a total inspiration in dedication to achieving your goals. This is what makes all those practices and early mornings worth it.

Congratulations, Kevin!

My equally awesome parents went with him, as they have been with him for all his full IRONMAN races, to New Zealand to cheer him on.  They will be stopping by for a visit on their way back home. Can't wait to see them!

What's for Dinner Wednesday: Tilapia with Pesto and Roasted Tomatoes

**Main recipe courtesy of www.closetcooking.com**

Shopping/ingredient list:

• 2 tilapia fillets (or however many you want)
• Pesto (2 tablespoons)
• Lemon (peel and juice)
• Garlic (4 cloves)  
• Grape tomatoes (1 container)
• Olive oil (I like to use extra virgin olive oil)
• Salt and pepper  

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 425°.
• Toss tomatoes with oil, garlic, salt, and pepper.
• Roast tomatoes in oven for 10-15 minutes.
• Mix lemon juice with pesto.
• Cut the rind into slices.
• Season fish with salt and pepper on both sides.
• Set the slices on top of the tomatoes and place the fish on top.
• Spread the pesto onto fish.
• Bake the fish for 10-15 minutes. 

Serve with whatever sides you want, but I usually go for brown rice and steamed broccoli.

 
 

Let's Go Roma! and then Let's Go Homa!

Our whirlwind European tour was drawing to a close and our last stop was Roma.

We took a commuter train that lasted about 3 hours. Apparently, we passed through some beautiful Italian countryside, as in Under the Tuscan Sun, Italian vineyard beautiful, but we didn't get to see it. The windows for our seats were completely covered by an advertisement. Fail. So, I just had to occupy myself with the beverage cart that brought copious amounts of espresso and wine.

When we arrived into the city, we made our way to the hotel, checked in, and then set out to find, what else? Lunch! I love that eating in Europe is not rushed. Two hour meals are not unusual and could be considered on the shorter end of meal times. You get to sit, relax, and ENJOY the company and the food. After lunch, we wandered around the city for a bit and then went back to the hotel for a little siesta before dinner.

The next morning Ryan took me on the walking tour of Rome. We hit the Colosseum, Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus), Forum Boarium, Capitoline Hill, the Forum ruins, and Il Vittoriano. There are also several aquaduct ruins and just fascinating historical buildings that are amazing. We also happened along an apartment/dormitory complex that looked like it was going through some major excavations. What happened was that the complex was wanting to expand, but when they went to break ground, they found some more ancient ruins and now had to excavate instead of building. I joked to Ryan that Italians are probably so used to this happening that when it does, they get upset because there will be a delay in productivity. But if something like this were to happen in the States, we would be over the moon.

The walking tour didn't take very long so on the way back we stopped at a cute little restaurant that was decorated in Cracker Barrel style in that it was all kitschy. A great atmosphere with the wait staff breaking into song every now and then, and they gave us a free eggplant starter that was yummy! Another thing about eating in Europe, everything is so fresh. I noticed that the menus will indicate if an item is made from a frozen product. We could definitely tell that the pizza and pasta that we had that day was fresh dough and fresh pasta. After lunch, we trekked over to the Fontana di Trevi. I threw in the requisite coin and off we went to get away from the enormous crowd of tourists. We stopped for an afternoon gelato and wine. Once again, we stopped for a siesta before dinner. Our last dinner in Roma was stupendous. We were plied with several complimentary starters and my main course was a penne vodka dish that was made table side. Molto bene! Unfortunately, and I do mean unfortunately, with all the starters that were provided, I did not have it in me to indulge in the dessert cart.  Both Ryan and I settled for a cappuccino and caffé corretto. A very enjoyable end to our time in Roma and Europe.

So the trip home. On the plus side, we made all of our flights. The bad side, we had to do what I call the Home Alone sprint for each of our connections. We had a connection in NYC and Atlanta. The connection in NYC would have been fine had our flight from Roma not been over an hour late, nor had we had to wait 45 minutes for our luggage to come through just to recheck it again. Thankfully, both Ryan and I have global entry that allowed us to bypass the hours long line at customs. Thankfully, a Delta counter agent let us cut through the security line (where we saw Penn Jillette, of Penn and Teller fame, waiting in line just like the commoners). We knew the connection in Atlanta would be a little dicey as we only had 40 minutes between flights, and we were arriving in E terminal and departing from B terminal, but yet again, we were late leaving NYC, so again, we ran from the gate to the train and from the train to the gate. And then we were home.

What an amazing, amazing trip! I had a grand ol' time and can't wait to go back! Thanks to Ryan for taking me on this trip of a lifetime!