We're having a.......

........BABY!!!!!! Sorry, there will be no disclosure of gender in this post primarily because, well, we don't even know what we're having. We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday and we learned that we have quite a wiggler in there! We joked that our baby is either going to be a good guitarist like it's dad or a good dancer (also like it's dad) because it would not stop moving and flipping and waving it's arms around. It was pretty neat to see! The baby seemed to move its hands to where ever the tech placed the ultrasound probe (including over it's butt--how modest!) What a complete joy to see this little life inside of me in action! Graham and I were in awe! Granted, I see babies born around 25 weeks so I shouldn't be too surprised that they are so formed already at 20 weeks but somehow it is different when it is your own. We were able to watch the baby swallow (hooray, hopefully it will enjoy eating like it's mama) and Graham even saw it stick out it's tongue! This video is mostly of the baby opening it's mouth and swallowing--wow! When the tech zeroed in on the legs and feet, the baby "stood" on my cervix and did a little johnny-jump-up dance complete with lunges and all! It was precious.

Anyway, it was confirmed that my placenta is towards my spine so the movements I've been feeling over the past week have truly been the baby (they started on Sunday, exactly the date my dr predicted--how weird!) I'm sure I will post more shortly but in summary, everything looks great and the baby's size is right on target (a mere 12 oz!) We are overwhelmed by this little miracle from God!

We're having a.......

........BABY!!!!!! Sorry, there will be no disclosure of gender in this post primarily because, well, we don't even know what we're having. We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday and we learned that we have quite a wiggler in there! We joked that our baby is either going to be a good guitarist like it's dad or a good dancer (also like it's dad) because it would not stop moving and flipping and waving it's arms around. It was pretty neat to see! The baby seemed to move its hands to where ever the tech placed the ultrasound probe (including over it's butt--how modest!) What a complete joy to see this little life inside of me in action! Graham and I were in awe! Granted, I see babies born around 25 weeks so I shouldn't be too surprised that they are so formed already at 20 weeks but somehow it is different when it is your own. We were able to watch the baby swallow (hooray, hopefully it will enjoy eating like it's mama) and Graham even saw it stick out it's tongue! This video is mostly of the baby opening it's mouth and swallowing--wow! When the tech zeroed in on the legs and feet, the baby "stood" on my cervix and did a little johnny-jump-up dance complete with lunges and all! It was precious.

Anyway, it was confirmed that my placenta is towards my spine so the movements I've been feeling over the past week have truly been the baby (they started on Sunday, exactly the date my dr predicted--how weird!) I'm sure I will post more shortly but in summary, everything looks great and the baby's size is right on target (a mere 12 oz!) We are overwhelmed by this little miracle from God!

David

Have you seen this video? It is such a crack up! I can't help but giggle every time I watch it.

Conversation with Comcast

At church on Easter Sunday, we were challenged to simply our lives and figure out ways to save $1 a day for 50 days and then donate the $$ saved to fund digging wells in Uganda. Well, Graham and I have been trying to find ways to cut back on luxuries to meet this challenge--we haven't been to Starbucks in a whole week, I opted not to buy the strawberry plants that drew my attention at Home Depot, and with next week's menu, I'm going to try to tone down the gourmet meals and keep our food budget to a minimum. We also made the decision to cancel cable for the next 2 months to save ~$13/mo.

I got on the phone w/ a very nice lady from Comcast yesterday. First off, she couldn't get over how cool it was that our names were "Kelsie" and "Graham" (I think she must have been referring to Kelsey Grammer). Anyway, when she was done raving about our names and we finally got on to business, I totally failed in accessing our account. Apparently my name is not on our account and I couldn't recall the last 4 of Graham's soc sec # (we're still newlywed--how am I supposed to have it memorized already!!?), I couldn't give the exact $$ amount of our monthly payment, I was driving and so couldn't give her the checking account number where we make our payments from and I guess I even screwed up our address (she misheard me though---I really do at least know that by heart!!!)

Anyway, finally she decided she'd tortured me enough and asked what she could do for me. I told her I was wanting to cancel cable to save money. She informed we that because we get both our internet and tv through comcast that we're getting a discounted rate on the internet portion. If I were to cancel cable, the price of our internet would jump up to $57/mo (we currently pay $60/mo for internet AND cable). It didn't seem worth it to save only $3/mo so I was pretty much telling her nevermind when she told me that she could make a couple other changes for me. Would it be okay if she dropped our monthly cable fee to $10/mo and decreased our internet fee to $39/mo for a total of $49/mo??? Hmmm, let me think about it for a minute.....YES! I think that would be quite nice. So I guess I'm saving us $11/mo by doing really nothing other than call and threaten to cancel--wow! The only problem is that it kind of defeats the whole purpose of saving money by cutting back. We're definitely saving money but at no sacrificial cost to us! I guess we still need to find other places to simplify....

I guess the moral of the story is that it never hurts to call and see if you can't get a better rate for your current services....that is, if your name mirrors a movie star's. I think that definitely worked to our advantage!

Try this!!!

We discovered a new favorite recipe tonight--it's absolutely delicious! Graham has been tearing out recipes that look good to him from my cooking magazines for us to try. This one came from Sunset magazine and is definitely company-worthy. Of course it is a lot of work, as are most of the recipes that appeal to us....enjoy!!

Macadamia Chicken with Orange-Ginger Sauce and Coconut Pilaf

Yield 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup light coconut milk
1 cup finely chopped roasted, salted macadamia nuts* (about 4 oz.)
1 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs) or other fine dried bread crumbs
4 boned, skinned chicken breast halves (I used 6 large boneless thighs)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup chopped shallots
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup Viognier or other dry white wine (I didn't have any so just used extra chicken broth)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (from about 2 oranges)

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 375°. Put flour and coconut milk in separate wide, shallow bowls. In another bowl, mix nuts and panko. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Sprinkle all over with salt and pepper.
2. Put 2 tbsp. butter and 2 tbsp. olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Dredge chicken in flour, shaking off excess; dip into coconut milk, letting excess drip off; then press into nut mixture to coat on all sides. Reserve coconut milk. Lay chicken in frying pan in a single layer and cook until golden brown on the bottom, 3 to 4 minutes. With a spatula, turn pieces (taking care not to break off nut coating) and brown on the other side, 2 to 3 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to a baking pan and bake until no longer pink in center of thickest part (cut to test), 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, wipe any scorched nuts from pan with a paper towel. If pan is dry, add 1 tbsp. each butter and olive oil, then shallots, ginger, and garlic. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Pour in broth, wine, and orange juice. Boil until liquid is reduced by about half, 8 to 10 minutes.
4. Pour mixture into a blender and, holding lid down tightly with a towel, whirl until very smooth. Return sauce to frying pan and add 1/4 cup reserved coconut milk (discard remainder) and salt and pepper to taste; stir over low heat until hot, then pour into a small bowl.
5. Spoon Coconut Pilaf onto plates, top with chicken, and serve with sauce.
*Chop the nuts by pulsing briefly in a food processor. Finely shred the peel from the oranges and save it for the pilaf.

Coconut Pilaf

Yield: about 6 cups
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 1/2 cups jasmine rice
3/4 cup Viognier or other dry white wine (or chicken broth)
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons finely shredded orange peel
Preparation
1. Pour olive oil into a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until soft but not browned, about 4 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring, until slightly translucent at edges, about 2 minutes. Add wine and cook, stirring often, until absorbed, about 3 minutes. Add broth, coconut milk, and salt. Stir just to combine, then cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until rice is tender to the bite, 20 to 25 minutes.
2. Fluff with a fork and stir in orange peel.

Easter Pics

Currently at the Croziers.....

The paint is officially going on the wall in the baby's room! We're hoping the color works--it's going on a bit darker than we thought but then again we don't want it to look like the lighter beige of the rest of the walls in our place. Poor Graham has been busily at work today while I've done my best to stay out of the house to avoid the fumes. I did as much shopping as a tired girl could do and was fairly successful. I bought a curtain rod and some gorgeous green curtains for the nursery! Then I got to hang out with my sister-in-law Tash for a nice lunch and chat at her place....sometimes it pays to be pregnant, even if this is the only chore I am able to opt out of. :o)

Traditions

Graham and I have been having conversations on and off surrounding family traditions. I am realizing that my family had a LOT of traditions, many of which involved holidays and celebrations. I look back on them very fondly and hope to continue some and then start some new ones in our home.

In my house growing up, there was no such thing as "Easter." The church we were attending at the time always referred to the holiday as "Resurrection Sunday." I'm sure all of our unchurched friends probably thought we were crazy as we talked with eagerness about the upcoming Resurrection Sunday. Of course, although bunnies and eggs and any other pagan symbols were strongly discouraged as a part of the day, my parents let us celebrate as I think most "normal" kids did. We would always attend our church's Good Friday Service and then, after a somber departure, we would return home to dye eggs (there's probably something wrong with combining the two but.....) On "Resurrection Sunday" morning, we would wake up to a full breakfast of my mom's famous coffee cake, colored hard boiled eggs and of course an Easter basket filled with candy and a chocolate bunny. After church, we would all have to stay in our Easter outfits for our annual family picture with Peeps in from of the garage door (this was something my dad's family has done ever since he was little.) We then would have a nice lunch followed by an Easter egg hunt. Now here's the kicker which Graham finds absolutely hilarious: after hunting down all the plastic eggs, all of us kids would then meet together and dump out all of the contents onto the floor. We would proceed with dividing up equally between us, every single type of candy, going as far as to make sure that we each had an equal amount of each color of jelly bean or Robin's egg (yes, my family definitely valued fairness). :o)

As I type this post, I have eggs boiling in a stockpot and a loaf of Easter challah bread rising in the breadmachine. Graham and I are definitely carrying on the egg dying tradition but he told me that I don't need to give him an Easter basket or set up an egg hunt for him until we actually have kids. I think I've started a new annual tradition with the challah bread---yum! I picked up some Peeps today just so that we can take a nice "family" picture (even though I despise those yellow sugary blobs!) This is actually our first Easter at home as a married couple so it's our chance to set some traditions.

Last year we were in Italy on Easter in the Cinque Terre...we couldn't find any Peeps there (thankfully!) and we didn't have a garage door to pose in front of so we took this not so glamorous shot in front of the church we attending that morning (all in Italian).

It was rainy that day but we went hiking anyway and saw some great views.

We had Easter dinner in this town of Vernazza.

Since going to Italy is not likely to be an annual possibility, we're working on making some new traditions this year. What are your traditions?

I'm looking forward to....

1) Our trip to San Antontio at the end of the month. Graham has an oncology conference down there and so I get to be his date and tag along a) because I love Texas so much and b) he's reserved a very nice hotel with a pool and sunshine right on the Riverwalk. http://www.thehotelcontessa.com/default_.asp I just checked the weather forcast...it's 96 degrees there right now....I can't wait!

2) Our 9 day "Babymoon" to Kauai next month. Our first 5 nights will be at the Sheraton on this beach. We're still working on figuring out the accomodations for our last 3 nights but we think we have it narrowed down. I can't wait to spend some good alone time with my hubby!3) Hopefully a June trip down to Odgen, UT to visit our good friends the Butes (could be possibly be flying anymore in the next 3 months?)

4) Visiting a brand new baby and her parents Brant and Jackie in Portland when she arrives in late June.

5) Camping with my Dad's extended family at Lake Easton in July.

6) Renting a house and spending the weekend with the extended Crozier family cheering on some cousins on as they compete in the "Chelan Man Triatholon" in July.

7) Staying at http//www.bjarkoserra.com/projects-hat-island.html on Hat Island in early August with the Crozier clan.

8) BABY in September!

We are going to be busy!

Some reflections

I have been trying really hard to look on the bright side. We received "the letter" at the end of last month stating Graham did not make it into the grad school program at UW. It's taken me a while to blog about it and share the news with many people because we've both had a bit of a hard time with it. I'm not sure how it would have worked but our perfect plan was for Graham to begin school this summer, somehow have the baby between summer and fall quarter (!!!???) and then live frugally and push through for 3 years until he completed the program. At that point, he would look for a higher paying job so we could afford a house, sell our place and move closer to church where we could have more yard and a garden.

But, as is usually the case, apparently our plan was not God's plan. Of course there was a mix of emotions when we read the news: tears, relief, disappointment, confusion, rejection. I think the hardest part for Graham was swallowing the rejection piece although the program was super competitive and maybe only 5% of applicants got in (I am super proud of him and think he submitted a stellar application!) We found ourselves wondering if God was trying to beat it into our heads that this really isn't what He has for us since the answer was also no last year when Graham applied for Seattle U. Or, whether He's just trying to tell us that the timing still isn't right but to keep grad school on the back burner for the future.

To help me work through the disappointment that has arisen, I've come up with a running list of things that I am grateful for. I am thankful that:

-We now have a more clear answer of what at least the next 5 months will look like for us.
-Graham will have time to enjoying being a dad come fall without the guilt that would come along with balancing work, family, school and homework.
-I will not be forced to work to make ends meet for tuition payments.
-We will be able to easily take mid-week 3 day trips with Graham's great work schedule and me not working (lots more family time!)
-Graham will have time to continue to use his musical talents leading worship at church.
-We will get to enjoy the summer together as we prep for baby (UW's program would have started June 22nd).
-All the $$$ we've been saving for a down payment on a house won't have to go towards school.

We were very blessed on Sunday to hear our pastor preach about seeking out and following God's will rather than trying to fit God into our own will. We certainly weren't intentionally doing the latter but it was a refreshing reminder to forget ourselves and surrender to Christ's agenda for our lives. There certainly is a lot of comfort in that, knowing that we will be cared for and that whatever is ahead will be better for us in the long run. But along with the comfort comes fear of the unknown, not knowing quite where God will lead us next.

Phew, there's a bit on what we've been thinking and praying about lately. We're thankful for what God is teaching us and how we're growing in the process!

Our Nursery Palate....Revealed

After much deliberation, we have come up with the color scheme for our nursery! We decided to go against the trend and NOT find out the gender of our little one. This means we've been trying to get as creative as possible with nursery ideas while remaining gender neutral. Of course I suggested we go with green (my favorite color) but Graham promptly said "No more green!" since I already have a green kitchen, bedroom and master bathroom. :o) Wouldn't you know it though, we ended up with none other than GREEN in our color scheme (and I believe he was the one who picked it out).

We were have a hard time finding any bedding that we liked and when my mom learned of this, she promptly volunteered to make us some if we found fabric that we liked. She's very excited to be able to contribute to the baby's room and we're super excited not to have to spend $200+ for bedding that we don't even like.

After a few trips to fabric stores, here's what we came up with:

The fabrics will be used to make 2 crib sheets, a dust "ruffle" (although we're going for a less ruffley and more modern pleated look) and a crib bumper which we will use at some point although we're not quite sure when since they are technically a no-no due to SIDS risk in infancy (sometimes being in medicine, we just know too much for our own good!!!) The crib sheets will be made from the front fabric pictured and the more plain off-white fabric (it has small flowers on it). The chocolate brown fabric will be used for the bumper and the green fabric will turn into our ruffle with a chocolate brown accent ribbon running along the bottom half. As for the wall color, we are pulling from the beige/latte color in the crib sheet pattern pictured below.

Of course we'll make sure the room is bright and colorful enough by making a throw pillow for the nursing chair out of one of the fabrics and maybe covering a lampshade with another. We'll need to pick out curtains (I think we decided not to make those and we don't want them too froofy) and then Graham is going to paint a series of square painting for the walls.

Phew, I think we both heaved a sigh of relief after getting this portion of the planning figured out yesterday. Now we can move ahead with painting and maybe even starting the registering process. By the way, for the record, here are a couple pictures of the "nursery" before:

Anyway, we've been doing quite a bit in addition to planning the nursery which I hope to blog about shortly...in the meantime, enjoy this sneak preview of what is to come!