Nesting

Well, Roger and I continue to be the rockstars that we are in preparing to travel...and now also for our first couple weeks home as new parents. Or at least we've hopefully made our lives a little easier in the meal preparation department. Today we spent part of our afternoon cooking meals that are now in the freezer waiting to be eaten at a later time....just in case Ari turns our world so upside down we don't have time to cook. With both of us cooking today it took no time at all and we were wondering why we don't plan meals ahead like this more often.

A batch of Roger's chicken enchiladas

(Btw, food is really hard to photograph without making it look strange and a little unappetizing.)

A new recipe from my brother --white bean chicken chili

....and regular chili

And just because I can't seem to get myself out of the kitchen these days, some time spent organizing my Tupperware cabinet. Roger reminded me it will just get destroyed multiple times once Ari gets here, but at least it looks pretty (and takes less than 10 minutes to find a container and matching lid) for now.

And tomorrow's project -- butternut and acorn squash baby food. And lasagna to be made and frozen for another day.

A few other accomplishments this weekend:

* Two car seats installed by Roger

* Baby monitor installed

* Jumperoo assembled

*A trip to Walgreens to purchase our "traveling medicine cabinet" (including a precautionary prescription of Cipro)

* an hour at the gym!!! (This may or may not be the first time I've been to the gym in a few...maybe more.....months)

* Wonderful time spent with friends and family

* A successful phone call to Ethiopia to arrange our driver for us while in-country

* A date night tonight to see Up in the Air and a drive through McDonald's at 8:30. How healthy of us. And ironic after we spent an entire day in the kitchen.

I foresee lots of laundry, packing, and housecleaning next weekend. This week I have decided to take a couple more depos. It helps the week fly by and, as much as I'm surprised to admit this, I already miss work. I've continued to work through December but have cut back drastically, and it has made me appreciate my work so much. I've always enjoyed my job and felt blessed by it, but I thought I'd be more than happy to say good-bye to it for a while once I became a mom. I think I'm going to continue to work on a limited basis when it's convenient for mine and Roger's schedule. Lucky for me I have the option to choose when I want to work, and I think we will be taking full advantage of that for a few months.