Showcasing... Dimples

When I was pregnant I said the one physical attribute that I really want our child to get from either one of us was Adam's dimple - well we lucked out and Jacqueline got not just one dimple, but two! This is the first picture where I could capture them.

Bad Dog

Many of you know how we had a slight humping problem with Brutis before he got fixed. Well he will very rarely hump anything except his girlfriend (our friends Cam and Tara`s dog Jazz) - but this past week Brutis discovered something else to try and hump.

Yes, you guessed it - he humped Jacqueline!

I had Jackie on the floor laying on her back and Brutis thought this would be a good opportunity to hump her - well he only humped her legs and I quickly stopped him - but the damage had already been done.

We laughed good and hard over this one.

Linguine With Shrimp Scampi

Many of you know about my love of food, not just eating it, but cooking as well. One of my favourite TV channels is the Food Network. My absolute favourite cook is Ina Garten. She has an amazing passion for food and does not cook for anything but fantastic flavour.

So far I have 4 of her 5 cook books (plans to get the missing one are in the works). The best part about watching her show is everything she does is in her books. The other day I came across this recipe and planned to make it in a day or two, well when I saw her make it on her show that day I knew it was something I just had to make.

Be careful though – it seems everything Ina does has a pound of butter in it – yes they are not the healthiest recipes – but if you are looking for something to taste AMAZING – she is your lady. With this one – I would strongly recommend using the butter since it becomes the sauce to the dish.

Linguine with Shrimp Scampi*

Vegetable oil
Kosher salt
1 ½ pounds linguine
6 tbsp unsalted butter
5 tbsp good olive oil
3 tbsp minced garlic (9 cloves)
2 pounds large shrimp (about 32 shrimp), peeled and deveined
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
¾ cup chopped fresh parsley
Grated zest of 1 lemon
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (4 lemons)
½ lemon, thinly sliced in half rounds
¼ tsp hot red pepper flakes

Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the linguine, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, in another large (12 inch), heavy bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Ad the shrimp, 1 tablespoon of salt and the pepper and sauté until the shrimp have turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back n the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve.

Serve 6.

Taken from Barefoot Contessa – Family Style by Ina Garten

Enjoy!

6 Week Photo Shoot

The Andrus Family

On Sunday the Andrus family came over for a visit; Dave, Karalee and Dawson.

Karalee and I went to school together grades 7-12. Dawson is 5 ½ months old now (you might remember him from early December when we went and visited when he was just 3 weeks old.

Starr's 30th Birthday

Our good friend Starr had the big 3-0 this past weekend. Saturday started out with the girls heading out for a spa birthday party. I forgot the camera but had a great time getting a pedicure, drinking mimosas, eating chocolate dipped fruit and cupcakes.

The night started out with just the girls – I headed up to Starr’s sister’s house and we got picked up by a limo to drive around and then take us downtown. Once we arrived downtown we met up with the guys a more friends at a new martini bar called Blink.

Here are a bunch of photo from the night – Adam’s Mom came into town and baby sat so we both could help Starr celebrate.

We had a great time – but going out like that comes with a price (we got home at 1:00 and were quite tired the next day).

Starr's sister Krista and friend Kim

Tara and Jenny

Tara, Starr and Jenny

Jenny

Starr and Cory

Jenny and Adam

Adam - looking oh so fine!

Starr and her sisters (Amber and Krista)

Girls dancing (Kim, Starr and Krista)

Our growing little girl

So today I took Jacqueline to the doctor for a check in.

Birth weight - 7 pounds 1 ounce
Current weight - 9 pounds 11 ounces

Birth length - 19 1/4 inches
Current length - 21 inches

So she is growing - we have already noticed a few of the smaller sleepers no longer fit her, and she is quickly filling out the others.

Becoming a Mom

Quite a few people have asked me how I like being a Mom so far.

Do I feel like a Mom? I don’t know – what is a Mom suppose to feel like?

Do I wake up in the middle of the night when she is crying? Yes and no – if Adam is on duty, then no, but this can be attributed to a number of things – first I think part of my sleeping brain knows that Adam is on duty and he is more than capable of handling any situation that will arise, also if he is on duty then that means the baby monitor sitting on my night stand is not on – specifically to allow me to get some sleep. But, when I am on duty – I will wake up before the actual crying starts (thankfully it takes her a while to wake up and starts with little baby noises).

Do I think about how she is doing when I leave the house without her? Again – that depends, I usually think about how Adam is doing, is she crying the whole time, is he getting frustrated? But there have been plenty of times when I don’t think about her – our Friday night date – before the conversation came around to her – no – I did not; it was nice to be out with my husband and talk about / think about other things.

But as I watched TV yesterday and today and continued to follow the tragic events at Virginia Tech – I could now start to imagine what the parents of children killed were going through. A level of fear and sorrow that I think until you are a parent, you can’t imagine; and as I gaze upon her innocent sleeping face, I realize that I would throw myself in front of any gunman to save her.

So far, I would have to say I don’t really feel like a Mom – but when will that happen? When she says Mama for the first time? When I do my first over night away from her and realize that I just have to call and see how she is doing? (Well, I wanted to do that when we left the dog for the first time??)

So do I like being a Mom? I would have to say yes – I love my little girl, I think she is the most beautiful baby in the world (I think every Mom thinks that about their kids – so in that respect I feel like a Mom). I love that I get to share this incredible experience of becoming a parent with Adam

I think I have come to the conclusion that you become a Mom or Dad by title only when the baby is born, but you become a Mom or Dad by true definition by how you react and respond to you new responsibility.eat HHea

Margo's Rosemary Chicken*

2 tsp cooking oil
10 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 cup water
1 cup white wine
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup ketchup
2 tbsp brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp grated onion
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp dill weed
1 tsp chicken bullion powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp paprika
1 garlic clove, minced

Heat cooking oil in non-stick frying pan on medium. Add chicken and cook for about 4 minutes per side until browned. Transfer to ungreased 2 ½ quart casserole dish.

Combine remaining 16 ingredients in medium saucepan. Heat and stir on medium-high heat until boiling. Pour over chicken. Cover and bake in 350F oven for about 1 hour until chicken is tender.

If desired, thicken sauce with mixture of 1 ½ tbsp cornstarch and 3 tbsp water. Boil gently, stirring constantly, until thickened.

Serves 10.
Jenny’s notes – I made this for dinner today and served it over rice, since I was not serving 10 people I only used 4 chicken breasts but kept the sauce recipe the same (Adam loves sauce and usually there is not enough – in this case we had plenty).

*Taken from Company's Coming Most Loved Main Courses

Adam a hair dresser??

I think not!

Adam took the opportunity after work today to give Jackie a new hair style. What do you think?

The Birthday Celebrations Continue

To celebrate my birthday the Nadeau family brought the party to our house - Mom and Dad brought over Lasagna, salad and garlic bread, Blake and Karen brought the cake and Paul and Catalina brought the ice cream. We supplied the house.

Dinner with the Craigs

Before I got pregnant and during our lives were very busy, very rarely was there a weekend where we did not have plans and were busy running all over the place. But as many of you that have had children know, as the estimated arrival date draws near, you stop planning things (you never know if you will make it or not). Come the middle of February Adam and I would often look at each other on a Saturday morning while drinking coffee and ponder what to do all day.
After Jackie was born, well - life just takes on a different form, going to Wal-Mart is a major excursion that requires hours of planning and often ends up getting delayed due to a diaper catastrophe. But this weekend - we had so many things planned I felt like we were back to our normal selves.

Saturday evening we headed out for dinner with the Craig family. If you are a parent with small children (or have been in the recent past) you know how hard it is to find a restaurant in Calgary that is 1 - child friendly and 2 - takes reservations. Okay - those two actually do not exist, I am not sure if the restaurant industry thinks parents with small children cannot be trusted to actually show up for their reservation or what - but we wanted a place we could go to that we did not have to wait 45 minutes for a table when there would be 4 adults, 2 infants and 1 toddler.

Our solution - Montana's - show up at 5:00 and you should be able to get a table - but we noticed that if you show up at 5:15 - you will have to wait.
Anyway - dinner was great - both babies slept the whole time allowing for some good Adult conversations as we dreamed about the impending camping season.

Tara and Jenny

Adam and Cam

Dinner Date

Friday after work we headed out to Canmore, Grandma and Grandpa graciously baby sat while Adam and I headed out for a dinner date. We had a wonderful meal at Treo restaurant in Canmore, but even better than the food was the time we got to spend with each other.

Wine - I had my first glass of wine - okay I had 2 small glasses and could totally feel it - wow I am a lightweight.

Our Birthday's

Our birthday picture together

Happy Berfhday Mommy

How much do I love my husband?

So yesterday Adam came home from work with a birthday card for me from him, but he also picked up a card that Jacqueline gave to me. Here is a picture of the envelope. I love how he made the writing look like a little kid did it - complete with spelling mistakes.


Since it would be just the two of us eating dinner last night, and we will have birthday cake later with family, I picked up 2 eclairs and adorned mine with a birthday candle.

Jacqueline's birthday gift to Mom - she slept through dinner so it allowed us to eat together - not always possible since late afternoon and the evening is her fussy time. We are more that fine with this though - it means she sleeps better at night.

Birthdays

Happy Birthday to me!

Well for those of you that do not know - today is my 28th birthday! Wow - I am getting old (but I better be careful who I say that too - Adam is still 6 years older than me...).

Our plans for celebrating - so far nothing, it is hard to make big plans with a one month old (I have told Adam that I expect a big party for my 30th).

One month - today Jacqueline is one month old!! WOW - I can't believe how quickly this month has gone by, next thing I know she will be going to kindergarten and then moving away for collage. Okay - I think I have a bit of time for those.

If you have not seen her recently, she is already noticeably bigger, there are some sleepers that she does not fit into anymore and we really notice her size when putting on a new diaper.

She is also so much more alert, she loves to look out the window with her big wide eyes and we are having more more awake time during the day (so far we are able to keep this to the daytime and not night time).

Pictures - I will have Adam take a photo of us later today - so pictures to follow tomorrow.

My Mother in Law

This past week I had the privilege of having Adam's Mom stay with us. She was an amazing help as I was a bit sick to start the week off. Having her here allowed for me to get some much needed sleep.
She got a chance to spend some quality time with Jacqueline and get to know her a little bit better.

On Thursday we headed downtown to have lunch with Adam and experienced for the first time not being allowed in somewhere due to having someone under 18 with us. I guess they thought we might slip a shot of Tequila into her bottle. LOL

Well, it was great to have Diana here with us - thanks so much... next week we are on out own....

The Boys and Their Girls...

On Friday night as I went out for a movie with Tara and Starr, Tara's husband and kids came down to our house to hang out. Cam and Tara have a daughter Jarilyn (2 1/2) and Charlie (1 month).

The boys and their girls

Cam and Charlie

Tara and Jacqueline

Adam with Charlie and Jacqueline

Brutis and Jacqueline

A lot of people like to take picture of their children growing up next to a large teddy bear or something similar. Well we happened to get a picture of Jacqueline at 2 1/2 weeks next to her measuring stick.