Accidental Pre-Mommy Learning Experience

Tonight I had a mini crash course in what I may expect in the years that are soon to come.

Picture it, dinner time. I'm hungry, the boy is hungry, the dog is hungry and no one wants to cook. Fantastic.

Usually I have an idea of what I'd like to make for dinner ahead of time but in recent months there's no reason for it because by time for dinner Tadpole may want something entirely off menu.

A few days ago my cousin Brandy posted that her sister-in-law was making her pork chops. PORK CHOPS! ME WANT!

I like, at all times, to have some pork chops in the freezer. After a few days, or possibly a week (who can tell? - the days all run together when you don't have a "real" job) I finally got around to doing something about thawing those frozen chops. And by "I finally got around to doing something", I mean this morning before the boy left for work I asked him to move them from the freezer into the fridge.

Back to the dilemma of everyone being hungry and no one being willing to cook. The result was the same as always. I man up and get in the kitchen.

Too tired to properly braise pork chops, create a demi-glace, and separately make some mushrooms to go with mine (because the boy doesn't eat "fungi"), I decide to fry them.

Side dishes would have to take a bake seat tonight because there were four thumbs in this house belonging to "this person" who wasn't willing to put in the effort. This knowledge made me play in my mind that scene from the chickenpox South Park episode.

Cartman: So, what kind of side dishes are we going to enjoy this evening with our frozen waffles?
(pause)
Cartman: Am I to understand there will be no side dishes?

In an attempt to cut down on time in the kitchen I prepare a zip-lock bag with what can essentially be considered a shake 'n bake mix. The plan was to have the boy be my helper and shake while I coat and re-coat the floured and panko'd pork chops as well as fried them. As I prepared my personal shake 'n bake mix I envisioned a toddling Tadpole in the kitchen helping mommy fry food for dinner.

The process went much slower than anticipated, much as I have been told that things go when you have a little one who wants to help. The difference here is the boy didn't particularly want to help. Visions of a toddling Tadpole helping "shake" food for dinner have not faded but have been altered to mommy having better sense and starting dinner much earlier.

The boy had never eaten fried pork chops and I am always happy to be the direct cause of his experiencing and enjoying a new dish. In the end, all parties involved were in agreeNOMt. The boy even decided to make his own inside-out chopwhich.

Thankfully dessert was much easier. Take 1 mini watermelon, cut in half, and share with a loved one. Feed remainder to furry loved one.

Another Liz Lemon Moment

It's been a hot minute since my last blog. There are a lot of things going on here right now. I am trying to get some more aprons together for you before I load any to Etsy and being pregnant has been (to say the least) a very interesting new development that is taking some getting used to.

I'll do my best in the near future to leave you with a more involved blog but it's been a while since I left you with a Liz Lemon moment.

And now, Liz Lemon:

I Am A Time Lord

Pro-Portional Designs is going to turn one very soon (October 24th) and is about to expand. Over this last year you have seen me move from a few small bags, to adding a couple of scarves, to introducing baby things, and for those who do not already know – aprons.

The aprons are not the expansion I’m referring to, that would make my posts saying that I had some new announcements coming up for you anything but new.

My trip to Virginia was not only because I was home-sick after not being able to visit for over a year but choosing to surprise my mother with this news on her birthday. Harder still for the boy, was waiting just over another week to tell his family on his own birthday as planned.

This morning the boy and I attended my very first sonogram for our first baby. This news has been hard not to blurt out for months now and harder still with one of the two friends I told leaving “hinty” comments all over my pages (*shakes fist at the perpetrator*).



The boy and I tried our hardest to prepare to be unable to see any distinguishable baby and at first it looked like things were going just that way. Suddenly, there was a very clear baby on the screen and a very clear heart-beat. For years we had been under the impression that babies do not kick in the womb and what is mistaken for kicks is actually the baby turning over or practicing breathing. This was not at all the case this morning. Once the doctor went in for a close-up view we saw a flurry of activity

I have concluded that having this second heart within my body is enough to now classify me as a time lord (see physiology).

Due Date: March 31st, 2011
Estimated date of conception: June 23rd, 2010
Boy or girl? We have no idea yet and will not be able to find out for a while yet.
Will we want to find out? Yes.
Will we tell you when we know? If you want to know then yes.
What day did you find out? We were 100% sure Friday, August 13th
Names? We have a few in mind and if any of you want to throw a name into the ring for consideration we are willing to listen. Right now we are not sharing our top running baby names but will tell you some of the silly names friends and family have thrown out as well as what we are currently referring to our fetus was (Tadpole).

Suggested names (mostly from brother-in-law's and their friends):
Fickle
Seven
Cheeseburger
Rodrick
Roger (Suggested by a family friend named Roger)
Ironhide
Ken More
Penelope (there was a second part to this that I can't remember but it ended up sound like a hooker name)
Angus
Ichabod (but most likely they meant this one)
Optimus
Carlos
Juan
Jesus
Satan

It's at this point I should probably mention in the boys family we aren't all known for giving pets and toys "standard" names and the fact that my in-laws live on a farm with a thousand animals to name as we please, doesn't help.

Examples of (a few) pet names:
Cats: Commander Caviar, Admiral Tuna, Steak, Seven, Cheeto (shown), Snacks, Fox-bear, Mayday
Ducks: Huey, Dewey, Louie
Geese: Peep, Napoleon, Genghis Khan
Pig: Piggy
Rabbits: Bubbles, Fudball
Goat: Pollyanna
Dogs: Awesome Possum, Cthulhu, Panda, Fudd, Fattie, Noodles