Park and Pool

Every Wednesday this summer, our Relief Society has organized a trip to a different park in the area. Some are nearby, others are farther afield. Today's park was Chastain Park, which I had never been to before as it's located in the perimeter, near Buckhead. It took us awhile to find the park, but it had the great benefit of being at least a little shady. With temperatures climbing up in the 90s (with the humidity) a little shade goes a long way.

We played at the park for a little bit before we decided to head to their pool which is free before noon. It was a great pool. The far end was shady and very shallow which was perfect for Zara. She's been taking swim lessons and is eager to swim every chance she gets. But Adelaide, however, hates the water and doesn't want to get in. But at this pool, Zara can swim around on her own and I don't have to worry about being in the pool with her the whole time. We will definitely return.

Seven Years

David and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary on Saturday, June 6th. Sometimes it's hard to believe that it's been that long and other times, it seems way too short. I feel like David and I have always been together. Strange to think there was a time when he wasn't in my life. 

David's parents have been offering for months to spend the night with Zara and Adelaide so we could have a whole day and night to ourselves. As much as I relished the thought of a whole night away from the girls, we just never did it because of David's work schedule or my anxiety over leaving the kids. But finally, I declared to David that I must have a night off and it should be over our anniversary weekend. So I forced him to take Friday off from work and finally commit to some plans. 

After bouncing a few ideas back and forth, we finally settled on nice dinner at a great restaurant and we snagged the last remaining reservation for what is considered Atlanta's best restaurant, Bacchanalia. David and I are both secretly foodies at heart and we love going out to good restaurants and eating well-prepared and plated food though we obviously don't get to do it too often. I was looking forward to Bacchanalia for weeks. 

But Thursday morning, I thought my dreams of culinary bliss were to be completely devastated by a particularly ill-timed case of food poisoning. I'm not sure what did me in, but I went to bed on Wednesday feeling rather queasy and was not surprised to awaken early on Thursday morning feeling even worse. I'm particularly fortunate to not be a frequent vomiter (I never throw up during my pregnancies) so I was both horrified and relieved to empty the contents of my stomach that morning. I felt pretty awful and slept through much of the day. I only ever managed to eat two popsicles and a piece of toast. Friday I had more luck eating but I was barely able to choke down the smallest amount of breakfast and lunch so I didn't have high hopes for relishing my entire 5 course meal that evening. 

In any event, David's mother arrived around 1pm and after finishing our last minute preparations, David and I took off to our first destination -- a nail salon to get pedicures. After our pedicures, we headed to our hotel to check in before getting ready for dinner. We had debated between staying at a hotel in downtown Atlanta where we'd be closer to the restaurant/nightlife, but ultimately decided to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn that was minutes away from the Atlanta temple. In addition to being much cheaper, we also wouldn't have to pay for parking. It seems a little silly to pay $30+ dollars to park downtown. 

With Friday traffic in full swing, it took us nearly an hour to get to the restaurant from our hotel, but we still arrived 10 minutes early for our 5:30 reservation (the only time slot they had left), but we were the first patrons to arrive and so we got the best seat in the house, a cozy corner table with an excellent view of the entire dining room and kitchen. The dinner service was impeccable and lasted 2 hours from start to finish. In addition to the 5-course tasting menu, they bring a lot of little sides and supplemental dishes. It was an incredible culinary experience and I'm grateful to say that my stomach behaved itself and I got to enjoy my entire meal. (I did have to take it slow and didn't get to eat everything.) 

This was our menu for the night and David insisted that I list what we had so we remember. I really wanted to take pictures of all our plates, but I thought that might be a little tacky so I resisted. 

Extra - Cheese puffs and Summer Squash Soup with Radish

First Course - David ordered the Chilled Maine Lobster and I ordered the Berkshire Pork Lonzino. I couldn't order most of the dishes from this course because most of them were raw, but I did love my thinly sliced pork with pickled vegetables. David liked his lobster. 

Extra - Bread 

Second Course - David got the Gulf Crab Fritter and I got the North Georgia Rainbow Trout. I think both of these were our favorite dishes of the night. I think David's crab fritter may have just nudged out my trout for the top slot, but both were really, really good. 

Third Course - I got the Wood Grilled Prime NY Strip and David got the Jamison Farm Lamb prepared three ways. These were both really good but not as stunning at the previous course. 

Fourth Course - For the cheese course, David got the Goat's Milk Feta with strawberry, cucumber and oats which was delicious. I ordered the Consider Bardwell Rupert which was a little disappointing. It was a very strong cheese and used a little heavy handedly and I couldn't finish my salad. This is the only course I wish I had ordered differently. 

Intermezzo - Strawberry buttermilk smoothie with chocolate shavings

Fifth Course - David ordered the Almond Tart while I got the only chocolate dessert on the menu, the Warm Valrhona Chocolate (which was very brownie-like) with gelato and toffee. Excellent dessert but very rich. 

But after that, they brought us a brown butter cupcake with cream cheese frosting (pictured above) as an anniversary extra. And THEN they brought out a selection of cookies. The cookies nearly did me in. For the first time in our marriage, David had to finish dessert because I couldn't do it. 

We left feeling very full and very satisfied. It was a very expensive but very delightful dining experience. There's nothing like good food and excellent service to make you feel content and happy. We loved our dinner. 

After dinner, we headed back to our hotel. We had planned on going swimming in the hotel pool, but I was too stuffed and still a little sick so we opted just to lay in bed and watch TV. The next morning, we had breakfast at our hotel before heading for the 10am session at the Atlanta temple. My next planned stop was lunch at The General Muir, a Jewish delicatessen near Emory University. We even drove all the way down there, but David and I were still so full from dinner and breakfast that we couldn't even bring ourselves to order anything and so opted for dessert. I'm still a little mad that I couldn't fit in a few latkes or some pastrami. 

We had a wonderful anniversary and I'm grateful to David's parents for watching the girls for us. I've never gotten to spend the night away from the kids and it was a such a treat to have all that alone time with David, just the two of us. I hope we get to do something like it again someday. 

32 Weeks

I figure that since this is probably the last time I'll be pregnant (barring some divine intervention or faulty birth control) I should try to document this pregnancy a little better. Not the greatest picture, but this is me at 32 weeks. 

I'm always surprised how often random people see me and know just by looking at my stomach that I'm having a boy. I know it's supposedly in how you carry, but honestly, I don't think there's really been a difference in how I've carried the girls versus this boy. And though many people say their pregnancies feel very different depending on the sex of their child, this has felt very similar to my previous pregnancies, though I'm maybe a little bit more tired. I do, however, feel gigantically huge, but I have to assume that's all in my head. Still, it's always disconcerting when you can't see your own feet.

I feel very fortunate that (so far) my pregnancy has been healthy and relatively easy with no unexpected complications or risks. I'm always anxious that something somewhere could go wrong, but so far, everything is proceeding as it should. Since Atlanta doesn't have any birth centers and I didn't feel quite comfortable with a homebirth,  I'm working with a group of midwives that deliver at one of two hospitals in metro Atlanta hospitals that offer waterbirths and have more natural childbirth friendly policies. Their practice and the hospital are both in Midtown Atlanta so it's a bit of a drive and I can only hope I don't go into labor at the height of rush hour traffic.

We have absolutely no idea what we're going to name this kid and I'm feeling rather uninspired by even the small list of candidates we've created so far.  Naming kids is hard, but I know we'll figure out something once he's born. The girls--especially Zara--are excited for their baby brother to arrive. I am too, until I remember how much I have to do still to prepare for his arrival and when I think about the actual process of giving birth. Again.

And don't even get me started on how freaked out I am about having 3 kids.

Happy Second Birthday to Adelaide!

This little girl had a birthday two weeks ago. I can't believe how fast two years have gone by and how much has changed in those two years. 

I often call Adelaide my mini-me and it's true in more ways than one. Not only does she look a lot like me at the same age (I seriously need to scan some of my baby photos to prove this) but she's inherited a lot of traits from me too (both bad and good). This little girl packs a big personality. She can be sweet and loving and easy going, but she can also be stubborn, demanding, and full of attitude. 

We kept her birthday celebrations pretty low key. I don't see the point of making a big fuss for babies/toddlers. David was able to leave work early to join us for dinner (though he unfortunately had to go back afterwards) and we had alfredo pasta bake which is always a winner.  

We opened up presents. (David seems to think I went a little overboard.) She got a new set of Duplo Legos, a writing board, play-doh and some new books and stickers. My mom bought her a new outfit and pajamas.

Of course, she seemed to like her $1 balloon the best. Go figure.

She wasn't so interested in opening her presents.

And she mostly just wanted to read her new books. 

After presents we had cake and ice cream. I was pretty proud of how my cupcakes turned out. (Mostly because I finally bought a big enough tip to make pretty swirly frosting.) Unlike her mother, however, Adelaide definitely prefers ice cream to cake. She gets that from her father.

And now a list of some of Adelaide's favorite things: 

FAVORITE FOOD: yogurt, chocolate milk

FAVORITE ANIMAL: cats and dogs

FAVORITE CANDY: cookies

FAVORITE BOOK: Brown Bear, The Spooky Old Tree

FAVORITE COLOR: Pink and purple

FAVORITE SHOW: Curious George

FAVORITE MOVIE: Frozen or The Lego Movie
FAVORITE SONG: Popcorn Popping, Once There Was a Snowman
FAVORITE PHRASE: I want _____ now. 

FAVORITE TOY: Stuffed animals, Noah's ark, and vet clinic (basically anything with animals), Legos
FAVORITE THING TO DO: Play on the Kindle, hop on pop
FAVORITE PLACE: Anywhere she can run, the park, nursery
NICKNAMES: Ladybug, Lady, Adelady