A Baby Bracket

There are two things Forest is most excited about right now: 1) becoming a daddy, and 2) NCAA men's basketball. You put the two together and what do you get? He comes up with the idea of filling out a tournament bracket for our unborn child.

About three days before the tournament began, he started asking her which teams were the winners. He would lean over right next to my belly, and say, for example, "In the first round, we've got Oklahoma playing Morgan State. Do you want Oklahoma . . . (pause) . . . or Morgan State?" As long as she was awake, he would usually get some type of response out of her in the form of a kick or a roll of the knee after one of the named teams. Such responses were interpreted as her "pick" for that part of the bracket.
At length, we arrived at the conclusion that Louisville was our baby's chosen champion, and submitted her completed bracket. Although it isn't doing the greatest, it's still managing to stay ahead of the bracket representing our friend Scott's cat.

Role Models for Motherhood

A couple of Saturdays ago my good friend Aubrey threw me a baby shower in our hometown, Bloomington. The entire event was so sweet because it allowed me to see many of the people who helped me grow up from age five until I left for college. I went home from the shower with not only plentiful gifts for our baby, but valuable advice for taking care of her when she arrives. The "growing up" process continues . . .

Here is Aubrey with her mother Karen, who hosted the party, and her son Landon.

April, pictured below, was one of my church youth leaders in high school, and also helped organize the party.
Donna was one of my church youth leaders as well. Her husband was my bishop while I was finishing my college coursework at U of I, and they were both a huge support while Forest and I were engaged.
Laura let me babysit her children almost weekly for about five years while I was in junior high and high school. Here she is with her oldest daughter, Jessica, who is now seventeen. To think she was only seven when I first started watching her . . .
. . . time certainly flies. Thanks to my mother and all the other women in my life who have taught me the the important role mothers play in families--I will have a lot more to learn in the coming months, but I have so many outstanding examples to turn to for inspiration. And thanks to Aubrey and Karen for their thoughtfulness and generosity in planning such a memorable shower.

A Birthday Surprise for Forest

I take tremendous pleasure in surprising Forest on his birthdays. While we were dating, I told him I had to attend a rehearsal the evening of his birthday, and that I probably would not be able to see him. The rehearsal was in fact a different evening, and I waited at the doorstep of his apartment with a cake in hand to surprise him when he got home from the lab. I didn't allow him to make himself a tuna sandwich for dinner that night, despite his original plans.

While we were engaged, there was a national conference for the American String Teachers Association in Detroit, scheduled for the week of his birthday. I planned to attend with some other students in my department at school, but arranged for a group of us to leave the day after Forest's birthday (without telling him). I managed to convince him that my ride was departing for the conference on his actual birthday, and even had him drop me off at the music building with my suitcase (which was mostly empty).
Forest's father came into town that night to take him out for some pizza--but swung by my apartment first to pick me up, dropped me off at Papa Del's, then went to get Forest. I was delighted to see his jaw drop upon sight of me as he walked into the restaurant.
This year I successfully staged another surprise for Forest at Papa Del's. I had him believe there was a baby shower for me in Bloomington that day which would hinder any celebratory dinner plans. We planned to just get together for lunch beforehand, and I picked him up after his lab group meeting to take him out for Papa Del's.
Waiting at a table for us were two of Forest's closest friends: Scott and Gavin. We don't get to see them too often, as Scott lives in Chicago and Gavin in Minneapolis. But both of them were willing to come down for the purpose of surprising Forest and eating some Papa Del's pizza--which Scott attests is better than any he has tried in Chicago.
I was pleased to watch Forest's face break into a smile as he sat to join them, and he proceeded converse with his old buddies in a characteristic banter filled with dry humor and Seinfeld references.

Our order encountered a couple of mistakes in the kitchen, which awarded us with an entire extra pizza. We ended up going back to our apartment with one large super stuffed pizza and two additional slices in excess.

That afternoon the guys enjoyed some Guitar Hero and Mario Kart on the Wii . . .

. . . and since I had no baby shower to go to that day, I finished frosting a birthday cake for my Forest.

Not the most elegant, but it got its point across.

Later, another one of Forest's long-time friends, Meg, came over bearing gifts: a six-pack of bottled Strawberry Crush. She obviously knows how to party.

Happy Birthday, Forest . . . and once again, SURPRISE!

Re-tasting Summer

This past summer was like a second honeymoon for me and Forest. We were able to spend an entire three months in the Portland area, thanks to a cushy internship provided by Intel.

When our friend Cheryl found out about the internship, she got us a gift certificate to a top-notch Italian restaurant in Portland called "Portofino." My mouth waters just to remember our trip there last July. Now, if you would permit my taste buds to take a brief stroll down memory lane . . .

. . . they would definitely reminisce about the appetizer. We ordered a dish of homemade gnocchi cooked in white truffle oil. The flavor was incredible, and the texture was perfect--every bite seemed to just melt in our mouths.

The dessert was very memorable, as well. Flaming crème brûlée with Oregon berries.

We know that dishes like these are not easily recreated in a conventional (or--perhaps in our case--substandard) kitchen, but for some reason we keep trying anyway.

The other day we attempted some homemade gnocchi . . .

. . . fried up in white truffle oil and sprinkled with grated parmesan cheese.

Let's be honest--it was nowhere near the perfection of Portofino. But not a bad try. The white truffle flavor still came through.

As a slightly early birthday gift, I gave Forest a crème brûlée kit with four mini ramekins and, of course, a blowtorch. Just look at the mischievous grin on his face as he tries out this flame-emitting device for the first time.
He actually told me he wished he had such a toy as a child, which makes me think I should hide the blowtorch if we ever have small boys in our family.

Despite the crafty smile, Forest proceeded to use the torch solely for its intended purpose.

No Oregon berries--but again, not a bad try for a job by Forest and Ivy.

Cello on my Belly-o

So far I have still been able to fit my cello on top of my belly, so I made a goal to do a recital with my students before our baby is born. A fellow cellist and friend, Jenina (pictured below) helped me organize it for last Saturday.

In addition to having our students play, we each performed a piece ourselves. Another friend, Linda, accompanied me on piano for the Saint-Saens concerto. It was a little unnerving to perform this piece for my students, knowing there were challenging passages that would not be played to perfection--yet wanting to set the best example for them that I could. At any rate, I had a lot of fun trying.

Here I am with my students: Aidan, Sebastian, and Andrew. They were a little shy about smiling, as you can see, but all three of them did a fabulous job on their solos. Keep it up, boys!

Our little piglet

On Tuesday I had my second sonogram done, and this fascinating process allowed Forest and me to actually see our baby again. This time she appears to have a more human-like face--although she was giving herself a bit of a pig snout by squishing her nose into my belly in the above shot.

Here she is from the side:

. . . and here she is waving her little hand in front of her face:

An Ivy Birthday

Forest gave me a bouquet of flowers--with my favorite lillies tucked in, still waiting to bloom.

Here's my budding belly, still waiting to pop out our baby...when her birthday comes. Although it's an obvious fact that one's date of birth determines one's annual "birthday," for some reason there are times when it seems baffling and wondrous that this is how birthdays really come about in the first place.

In any case, my favorite thing about birthdays is getting the chance to hear from close friends and family members all in one day. I think I spent the entire afternoon and part of the evening just talking on the phone with people I love.

I requested homemade cheese ravioli for dinner. Here is what they looked like:

In case you haven't noticed, we have really been working through the Dorie baking book, lately. Here are some shots of her Cottage Cheese Pufflets, which topped off our meal:

They looked (and tasted) like mini croissants

I am hopeful that a substantial dose of wisdom comes with the year I get to add to my age--I get the feeling that motherhood is going to require every scrap of sageness I can come up with.