But I lika da fried foods :(

If you've never watched/heard of Over the Hedge that joke made no sense to you. :p

For the past month or so my taste buds have taken a turn for the worse. Or so I thought. I can't stand the taste of fried foods (mainly Red Robins awesome garlic fries boo hoo) & to top it off I can't eat alot. Alot meaning a normal portion. Now if I were on a diet this would be awesome but I'm not & having to decide what meal I can enjoy within 3 bites isn't my idea of a good time.

So lately I've been looking (please read: not willing to take the time to cook) healthy alternatives has been rather draining. Until this past weekend. After reading a recent post from my fellow veggie head Angelina posted this drool worthy recipe. Every since I stopped eating meat (5 years ago) one of the dishes I missed the most was a Flauta. After quickly becoming a member to Vegetarian Times I began searching & printing out various recipes. I decided that the Penne with pasta & vegetables recipe would make a perfect side dish. Paul loves to cook so it was nice having help in the kitchen. Especially since I'm a whiner when it gets too hot. :p

The only change I made was I added lemon pepper to the pasta. I love lemon pepper. I add it to everything, it's the yin to my yang. Paul doesn't understand the obsession but agreed it added a nice flavor to the mix. What I loved most about the entire meal was that it was healthy and my stomach didn't hurt afterward! Yay! For the time being (there's no commitment since I don't know how far my love for cheese goes) but I want to omit cheese as much as possible from my diet. I think that will help my stomach problems go away & heck meals are great w/out the fatty goodness!

The pasta was not only awesome the night of but it also made a wonderful potato salad the next day! I'm not a fan of leftovers but even I grabbed bowl for lunch. :)

Baby J rates this delicious dish worthy of 2 karate style kicks!

Sidenote: I suck. I forgot the computer plug for my camera. :( I'll have to upload pics another time. But by all means check out the linkys!

Introducing Baby J!

Today was our 2nd appt. At the first one they ran a bunch of test. Blood, urine & pap. It was a very informative appt. but at the same time it was all very scary & new. Dr. Samudio has been phenomenal. She took the time to answer all our questions (whether they were silly or not) & even cracked a few jokes. By the end of our appt. I felt more at ease & couldn't wait to return.

Little did I know how nerve wracking the 2nd visit would be. I'm a very nervous person to begin with so it wasn't too uncommon for me to freak out a little. I just wanted to hear the heartbeat. I knew once I heard my baby everything would be fabulous.

And it was :)

On our way to the doctors office we began our first (of many) dvds for Baby J. We told him/her how much we loved him/her & how excited we were for this day & many days to come. :) It was a nice ice breaker before arriving to her office. We waited a short bit & then I was called in for another urine test & to check my . As soon as Dr. Samudio came into the office she remembered us. YAY! I'm sure she has many patients so you never know. She went over all my test (100% perfect), confirmed I'm 10 weeks pregnant w/a due date of January 6th & I finally learned my blood type. O positive. How I went 26 years never knowing this bit of personal information is beyond me.

After our quick update she said we were going to listen to the baby J's heart & next month we would get an ultrasound. I'm sure it didn't take long to find but WOW it felt like forever until we heard it. Baby J's perfect little heartbeat. I didn't cry but I could feel the relieve come over my whole body. We're having a baby!!!!

After the heartbeat she said, "let's do an ultrasound now!" YAY again! I was kind of sad when she said we'd have to wait but now we didn't. :) So we went to the next room, started up the camcorder & saw the cutest mini baby ever. Baby J was bouncing around like a gymnast! It all felt so surreal but very calming all at once. I can't describe it but after our appt. I started to cry.

We're having a baby. :)

So the larger version came out very blurry :/

The baby's head is on the left with his/her little arms crossing over. I swear w/all my might that I can make out an eye & little nose. Paul said I'm crazy but I'm the mama so I can see these crucial details!!!