My great blogging/twitter/wine friend, Jess, interviewed me this week for her Follow Friday feature on her blog, Taking it One Step at a Time.  She’s absolutely hysterical, and she sells Lia Sophia…which happens to be a weakness of mine.

You can hop on over and read the interview HERE.

{Amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe coming up later today, but first I have to take Samuel to the pediatrician!}

Well, after my two week almost-absence, things are back to normal here in The Brunette Foodie household.

Where was I you ask?

A glorious two week vacation with my three favorite boys: Nathan, Samuel, and Stitch {the pug}.

Nathan and I started planning this trip when I was about 30 weeks pregnant.  It took a lot of planning and scheduling, but we managed it with no hiccups.

First stop: North Carolina to see Steve & Cat

{Samuel’s reaction to the outfit I picked out for him.}

Second stop: Washington D.C. to see Callie

{stolen from Callie’s Facebook page}

Third stop:  Pennsylvania to see my family

{who are these people?!?}

Fourth stop:  Ohio to see Nathan’s family

{Samuel with his great-grandfather a few days before he turned 90}

{Samuel in seersucker during his great-grandfather’s birthday party}

Fifth stop: another Ohio city to see Nathan’s aunt & uncle and my sorority sisters

Sixth stop:  Cumberland Falls, Kentucky

Finally back home!

Oh, and while in Ohio, Nathan surprised me with a copy of What’s New, Cupcake? So expect a LOT of cupcake recipes in the next few months.

Unfortunately Nathan is slow to upload his photos, so the only ones I have right now are from my phone.  I’ll have to post more once he gets to it!

Yesterday we took Samuel in for his 1 month photos.  How is he already a month old?!?  Anyway, they turned out spectacular.

Here is my favorite:

Last week, I resigned from my job that I loved.  It was a tough decision, but Nathan and I talked about the realities of what it would entail for me to keep working I knew it was the right thing to do.  My commute was over an hour each way, and it just wasn’t worth it to me to be away from Samuel over 10 hours a day!  So, I’m officially a stay-at-home mom.  As much as I love working and having a career, I’m excited to spend the days with my little boy.  We’re having a blast together, and I’m glad that won’t be up at the end of 8 weeks.

On that note, I am trying to get into some sort of routine which I realize is a joke with a newborn.  I signed up for FLYlady to help me keep on top of the cleaning.  I’m also really trying to stay on top of my correspondence and emails.  Sending handwritten notes is one of my favorite things to do, so I want to make sure I find the time to keep doing that.

I’ve also signed up for a mom’s group, and I’ve taken on a new volunteer position at Church in addition to teaching Sunday School!  I also have my Junior League commitments and placement at Grady Hospital and the Nearly New Shop.  Keeping busy definitely shouldn’t be a problem.

The exciting thing about where we live now is that there is room for me to have an office.  I’m definitely going to need one to stay on top of everything.  I have a lot of the things I need already, because I’ve always decorated my offices at work to my taste {down to pink legal tablets!}.  My hope is to have that all set up by the end of next week.

Any suggestions on how to decorate the office are more than welcome!  I’m trying to do bright colors: pinks, greens, yellows, etc.  The walls are an off-white, and I’m not going to paint them.  There is a big window right next to where I am going to put the desk.

Ready…GO!

Hello hello!

Things have been wonderfully busy around here these days.  My in laws are in town to visit with Samuel, and we’ve been keeping active.  I haven’t been at my computer for more than 5 minutes it seems {and that was to pay bills…ugh}.  So far we’ve been to brunch, the library, dinner, Target, and we’re heading out to Stone Mountain later today I believe.  Samuel is enjoying his time with family, and he is eating up all of the attention.

A few days ago, Samuel was spitting up pretty badly {or at least I thought it was bad…no one else did}, so I called the pediatrician.  They had me cut out a LOT of foods from my diet to see if something I ate was making his stomach upset.  {This is going to lead to a whole post on breastfeeding one of these days.}  During my 48 hours of staying away from most vegetables and a lot of other foods.  I decided I had to do something to make my oatmeal a little more filling & delicious, so I added some peaches!

To make the above oatmeal:

• 2/3 cup quick oats
• 1 1/2 tbs cinnamon sugar
• 3/4 peach, diced

It was so delicious, and it felt like dinner.  Thankfully, I’m back to eating regular foods.  It seems Samuel has an aversion to onion.  I’ll just need to avoid that so long as I am breastfeeding.  No big deal!

Samuel is 3 weeks old today.  I can’t believe we’re almost at a MONTH.  Next Tuesday are his month old portraits, and I am so excited to see how they turn out.  We got his newborn photos in the mail a few days ago, and they are just absolutely adorable.

In honor of Samuel turning 3 weeks old, I leave you with this adorable picture.  He’s in his monogrammed hippo towel after his bath a few days ago.  It just makes me swoon!

{This week’s menu is posted.}

Samuel is 13 days old today.  WHERE is time going?!?

Today is my second day home alone with Samuel.  I spent Friday relaxing with the baby and dog after my mom left to go back to Pennsylvania, so today is the first day where I actually have to get things done.  This morning was spent running laundry, cleaning the dining room, and singing Old McDonald more times than I can count.  I am eating my lunch right now while Samuel entertains himself in the {magical} Fisher Price Little Lamb swing for a few minutes.

You see my child has decided he’s only taking 2 naps a day and neither is more than an hour and a half: one in the AM and one in the PM.  This has happened the past two days, so during those naps I am attempting to do housework in a fury.  I’m sure I’ll adjust, but I don’t think I have ever dusted so fast in my life!

This afternoon Samuel and I are venturing out to meet some of my girlfriends for coffee.  The plan is to meet at a Starbucks in a Super Target.  This way I can spend some time with my friends, and then pick up a few items that we need.  Then later tonight {assuming it doesn’t rain} Nathan, Samuel, Stitch, and I are going to hit up the park for a nice long walk.  We haven’t unpacked our stroller yet, because I’ve been so obsessed with my Moby wrap…but I think we’ll give the stroller a try tonight.

More recipes to come later this week.  Pinky swear!

I know I said I’d be back this week with recipes, and I swear I will…but for now you have to deal with another non-food post.

Yesterday was our second anniversary, and we could not have enjoyed it more any other way.  My mom is in town this week to meet and hang out with her first grandchild.  We decided that we would spend the day in downtown Roswell eating lunch and doing a little shopping.

So, this morning I got Samuel dressed {in what could be one of the cutest onesies ever}, and we all headed out to downtown.  We did a little shopping at The Chandlery and then went to STREET for lunch {slowest. service. ever.}  After we ate some delicious sandwiches, we headed over to LOLA too look at their off-beat gifts.  Nathan even snapped this picture of Samuel and I perusing:

{If you don’t own a Moby wrap and have a baby, RUN to get one.  They sell them in Target now, but only in black.}

After we walked around some we headed back home for some relaxing.  Dinner was steak, roasted peppers, and baked beans…followed by pie leftover from yesterday {we had a 4th of July get together last night}.

Then we gave Samuel his first bath!  He absolutely loved the water, and he was so pleasant.  After I subjected him to no less than 20 pictures of the event, I humiliated him further by wrapping him up in his duck bathrobe!

It was honestly the best anniversary I could have imagined.  Last year for our first anniversary I was bedridden after my surgery so we couldn’t do anything.  This year was a blast!  I am looking forward to another amazing year of marriage!

You may {or may not} have noticed I disappeared for a week-ish.  Our baby boy was born on June 29, 2010 at 2:02 AM!

I went into the hospital on Sunday June 27th to prep for an induction the next morning.  I was induced on Monday, labored for 17 hours, and Samuel was born via c-section at 2:02 AM on Tuesday June 29th!  He weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and was 21 inches long!  He’s so long and skinny!

Everyone is doing great, and I am recovering amazingly well.  I was up and walking around the next day, and I was able to stop pain meds less than 24 hours after my c-section.  I am going to credit a lot of exercise during my pregnancy and the fact I had a similar incision done for surgery last summer.

We left the hospital on Friday around lunchtime, and we have been enjoying having him home.

Samuel is a great little sleeper & eater.  Now that we have breastfeeding down, things are going so incredibly well.  Nathan and I are over the moon, and we can hardly stand to put Samuel down.  One of us is almost always holding him

I should be back to posting some recipes again this week, but as you can tell I am WAY behind.  My parents are in town this week, and then my in laws are coming shortly after…but I want to get caught up!  I have some great recipes to share with you, and I am planning to get back to menu planning next week.

I’ll leave you with a picture of Samuel in his going home outfit:

{this week’s menu is posted}

I apologize for my spotty posting {again}.  We FINALLY have working home internet, so expect a slew of recipe posts starting tomorrow.  I am definitely going to be playing catch up over the next few days.

This weekend was wonderful.  If you follow me on Twitter, then you know I graduated on Saturday with my MBA in Finance.  My parents and twin brothers came all the way from Pennsylvania just to spend the weekend celebrating with me.  Unfortunately Nathan was not able to be in town this weekend due to his work schedule, but we sent him a picture!

They arrived on Friday after being delayed {they were supposed to come on Thursday}, and we got right down to business.  Friday night we spent a lot of time eating and unpacking some boxes still left from our move.  We also went through all of Samuel’s clothes, sorted them by size, and got them in the closet.

My mom and I were lucky enough to score tickets to a great baby event on Saturday.  We loaded up on some great free items, and my mom generously purchased me a Moby wrap!  I am so excited to carry little Samuel around with me and not have to deal with a stroller all of the time.  The event was great, and I was able to learn a lot about new products, toys, and other baby things.

After the baby event, we headed back to our place to get ready for graduation.  There are some pictures I plan to post, but I have to wait for my mom to send them to me.  It was a great graduation, and I am SO GLAD to be done.  After graduation we headed out to dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant: Ippolito’s in Sandy Springs {review coming soon!}.

Sunday we spent the morning waiting on AT&T to come fix the internet and the arrival of our new refrigerator!  Nathan also got back from his work trip, and we got to all spend some time together.  My mom, brother Eric, and I headed out to Target for some nursery items while my dad and brother Tom did some errands of their own.  Nathan took a nap .  When everyone came back together, I made a delicious dinner and some dessert {recipes coming soon}.  After dinner the guys tried to work on putting together nursery furniture, but unfortunately some of it was damaged so we’ll need to finish that in a few days. 

I am completely exhausted today.  It was so great to have guests in town, but I could use a nice long nap after work…instead I’ll be posting some recipes and getting things back to normal around here!

I can’t find my iPhone charger hence my pictures remain stuck on my phone.  There isn’t much to see anyway.  I have 2 awesome recipes to post, but I don’t want to do it until I have the photos.  The pictures make the food look SO GOOD.

In other news, yesterday I hit the 32 week mark aka the “denial” period of my pregnancy.  I have 8ish weeks left, and I am in full on oh I definitely don’t have 20,000 things to do before Samuel gets here mode.  Except I do.

Moving about 10 days ago was rough.  I was coming down with something {which turned out to be strep throat}, and I am still not 100% back to healthy.  Not to mention Nathan has been mostly out of town leaving me to navigate the new town, the unpacked boxes, and dealing with the pets.  Oh also?  It’s finals week at school.  However, I am DONE on Thursday.  I graduate on May 22nd, and my parents {and possibly 2 of the 4 siblings} are coming to town.  My mom and I have tickets for this awesome baby event while she is here, and I am planning to trick my dad into helping me hang curtains.

So, life has been busy is what I am saying here.

Luckily, I did manage to get some of the things checked off my Samuel to do list {first posted here}.  Let’s look at the updated version shall we?

Here are some of the major items left on our pregnancy to do list:

1. Sign up for our childbirth and parenting classes at Northside Hospital. We have actually taken our first class {Parenting Basics for your ATL folks.  Do it.  It’s awesome.}, and we have our L&D tour, and 2 Saturdays of birth prep left.
2. Finish the letters for Samuel’s nursery.  Um, still not done.  They need another coat of paint, ribbon, and to be hung. 
3. Pick up The Baby Book by Dr. Sears. Not done.  I honestly probably won’t read this.  I’ve found some good info online.
4. Start interviewing pediatricians {maybe we’ll do this.  I may just ask my OB for a recommendation and go with it.} We have a pediatrician practice!  I went by myself a few weeks ago to meet with a potential practice.  Then they weren’t accepting new patients, but I was notified this morning that they are.  I called IMMEDIATELY.  Samuel has a practice now!
5. Finish registering! Done.  Thank God.
6. Make the mobile for Samuel’s nursery.   Not. Even. Started.
7. Interview nannies and/or decide if someone is going to stay-at-home. This is something we need to talk more seriously about soon.  As you can probably know {or realize}, Nathan is gone 80% of the time for work.  We haven’t decided what our plans our exactly.  Right now, I’d love to find something I can do from home that is flexible.  Of course, we still need to interview some nannies.  I should get on that.
8. Cook & freeze meals for when we first get home with Samuel. I’ll start this in a few weeks.
9. Install the car seat and take it to the fire station to make sure it is safely in there. My parents are bringing the car seat with them when they come for graduation.  We’ll probably install it shortly thereafter.
10. Pick out our birth announcements, and order the envelopes so I can address them before Samuel gets here. DONE.
11. Pack hospital bag. Thought about it.  Does that count?
12. Wash Samuel’s clothes.  I haven’t started this yet, but once graduation passes it is going to become a top priority.  I also need to wash the cloth diapers. 
13. Buy any items we need at the last minute. We still need to get a rocking chair and maybe another dresser.  I also need to do some damage at The Container Store and IKEA to buy some organization items.
14. Consider getting a second car.  We only have a Ford Fusion that is “technically” mine, but we haven’t had a need for two cars.  I really want a Lincoln Aviator or Ford Edge.  Maybe I’ll finally get one!   This will wait.  With how much Nathan travels there is just no point in getting a second car.  We almost never need the car at the same time.

New tasks:

1. Finish assembling the nursery furniture.
2. Buy a crib mattress.
3. Monogram the pillow sham {and buy a pillow}.
4. Throw out all of our baby medication thanks to the McNeil recall.
5. Buy the blackout curtains for the nursery.
6. Put together all baby things {like the swing for instance}.
7. Maternity photos!

Am I missing anything?  I am sure there is a good possibility I am, and once I get started I’ll think of 100 more things!

I am by no means an expert on pregnancy.  At 30 weeks {WHAT?!?} with my first child I barely know anything.  However, there are a few products that I believe have made my pregnancy a little easier.  I’ve had a pregnancy plagued with morning sickness up until about 25-26 weeks and I started out high risk although that is no longer the case {thank goodness}.  It has been a great experience overall, and Nathan and I have had a blast!

I do have some great products to recommend that have made pregnancy {and my preparation of Samuel’s arrival} easier.  I wanted to share them so that others could have the experience with them that I have.

1. Bella Band: If you aren’t familiar, this is basically a maternity pants panel that you were with non-maternity clothes.  It helped me stay out of maternity clothes until about 14 weeks…some pants even longer.
2. Parenting: Early Years magazine:  I somehow started getting this magazine without subscribing, and I absolutely love it.  There is advice on everything from feeding solids to baby clothes to exercises for post-baby.  I look forward to getting it every month.
3. Vaseline Intensive Care Cocoa Butter Deep Conditioning Body Lotion: I picked this up at CVS one day early in my pregnancy, and I haven’t looked back.  I hate hate hate the way cocoa butter smells, but this one doesn’t smell very much at all!  It keeps my stomach from itching, and it has done a great job moisturizing my skin.
4. Flintstone Gummies Vitamins: Due to my horrific morning sickness, I couldn’t keep down pre-natal vitamins.  My doctor swooped in, and he told me to go ahead and switch to the gummies made for kids!  By taking 2 a day and making sure I am getting enough calcium I am meeting the vitamin recommendations for pregnant women.  They taste great, and I love to eat them after dinner as a “dessert” of sorts.
5. Boppy Total Body Pillow: I am a back sleeper, but unfortunately at about 12 weeks my doctor told me it was time to switch to my side.  I had to find a way to  make it comfortable, because I hate it.  Nathan and I picked this up at Babies R Us, and I really like it.  The contour makes it very comfortable, and doesn’t take up too much space.  As someone who is not a side sleeper, I needed something that would work.  This definitely did the trick!