Gen Conf

If you're not watching this right now, you're missing out!
12-2 ET, 4-6 ET Sunday

But if you're not, good thing there are archives.
:)

We're having a . . .

BOY!!!

Looks like he might be a happy little guy.

See his grin?

He was certainly active. We watched him play with his umbilical cord and kick and grab his feet. There were moments where he had one hand in front of his mouth and others where he looked like he was rubbing his eyes with both hands. Near the end of the ultrasound, I started to feel sleepy in that chair, yawned a big yawn, and laid my head back to rest for a moment. Shortly after, the technician laughed and pointed out that he'd just laid his hand on his chest and laid back to take a nap. I knew how he felt!

If he does end up being a little fire-ball, I'm grateful mild-mannered Lil'S came first! I don't know what'll happen when the next one follows, but at least for now, it's going to be much easier to have a mild 2-yr-old boy and an active infant than it would be to have the reverse!

The technician tried to get a picture of him while he was grabbing his foot and again when he had both feet together at the same time, but he was too quick!

4-d

We've got another 4-d where he looks like he's rubbing his eyes with both hands.

We were worried about H's reaction if it turned out to be a boy, so the possibility of either gender was a topic we brought up a number of times with her. (She was so set on having a baby sister when we were expecting Lil'S that she started crying at his ultrasound . . . and kept crying . . . and kept crying. We certainly didn't want a repeat of that!) Right before we left for the appointment, I asked, "Hannah, what will you do if it's a boy?" Her response was fantastic: "Play monsters!" She then danced into the family room where Daddy was and sang out something like, "Daddy! If it's a boy, I'm going to play monsters with him and [Lil'S]!" She continued on about how she could run away and they could chase her.

We then all headed out the door in smiles.

What a relief!

Lil'S wasn't sure what to think about the whole thing. (He's turning 18 months on Thu, so it's a big week for him too! Hopefully I remember to get some good 18-mo pictures taken and posted.) He was a little concerned about the moving chair his Mommy was sitting in at the beginning. :) As Daddy held him during the ultrasound, he wasn't quite sure where he should be looking: at his Mommy in the chair, at the technician's computer screen, or the huge screen on the opposite wall. I don't know if he understood the whole "baby in mommy's tummy" thing. He knows about babies at least, so I think it'll sink in at some point before Little One comes. Eventually, he got down and wanted sit with Mommy, but then sister distracted him and he went off and played with her and the privacy curtain and anything else he could find while the technician took Little One's measurements and all. Gratefully there wasn't much he could get into trouble with. :)

What a fun afternoon!

Squash Seeds?

So, we've had these squash seeds sitting in the fridge the past few days, and my amazing husband baked them--and the others we added to the pile today--up with oil and salt. We'd heard for years of people snacking on pumpkin seeds (which always made my stomach curl, as I've always abhorred the smell of cooking pumpkin) and finally thought we'd give it a try. If you walked into our house, you'd think we were baking bread--seriously. Oh, our house smelled lovely!

The first batch was acorn squash seeds. I could not believe it, but they tasted like a mix between sunflower seeds and popcorn. It was awesome! (Although, more like sunflower seeds with the hulls, but not quite that bad.) The second batch was butternut squash seeds, which were faster cooking as the seeds are smaller. Once again, I couldn't believe what I tasted. They were light and crispy, like bits of flavored corn chips! I can't describe the flavor, though. You'll just have to try them yourself. ;) They were much more rich than the acorn squash. The chef-with-the-fantastic-accent recommended using them in place of croutons on green salads, and I would totally agree. Too rich to just snack on, for my tastes, but using them as salad or soup toppers? That sounds yummy!

Here are the instructions S followed, except we didn't wait for them to "pop". We considered them done when they were lightly toasted as we simply couldn't wait anymore!