A Nick @ Night Special

Before I get to the special, here's what blogging looks like @ our place now:

Brookston and I

Okay, and now to the Nick @ Night Special:

Ever since we've been home with the boys Nick has added a new show to his late night line-up. A few nights ago I woke up to Nick sitting up in bed feeling all over in the sheets. I asked him what he was doing, and he replied "I can't find it."
"Find what?" I responded.
"The baby" He says matter of factly.
"What do you mean?" I ask, unaware as of yet that he's asleep.
"I... I can't find the baby in the bed."
"What?" (I'm still getting used to this new sleep talking thing)
"The baby that we're feeding -- I can't find him."
Finally I realize I'm viewing the new Nick @ Night special. "Nick, we're not feeding the babies right now."
"I know. Because I can't find it." He says, still searching about, this time he's feeling my arm and shoulder.
I started to laugh, I couldn't help it. This seemed to frustrate him a little, and he continued feeling around the sheets. "Nick, you're asleep. There's not a baby in the bed." He pauses for a moment...
"There's not?"
"No, you're asleep." It took some more convincing and he finally laid back down.

I knew I was seeing a new Nick @ Night special when the next night I again woke to Nick groping at my shoulder. "Nick?" I ask.
"Yeah?" he responds.
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to find the baby, do you have him?"
I start laughing immediately. "No, love, I don't have the baby."
At this point I notice that Nick is tenderly holding his pillow in his arms. As I watch he lays it down on the bed and slowly begins swaddling it in the sheets. I couldn't stop laughing long enough to tell him he was asleep this time. Finally, once I had control of myself, I told him "That's not a baby, Nick. It's your pillow. He stopped for a moment, looking slightly confused. "It's your pillow", I say again, "Just lay your head down on it, Love."
After a moment he did so and asked why I was laughing.

Ahhhh, what an awesome guy.

Our boys are hot models, thanks to Rebecca Mudrick

Brookston and Everett

My good friend Rebecca Mudrick strikes again! Not only did she take the beautiful picture shown above moments after their entrance into this fine world, she also captured their excessive good looks a week after their birth. Check out her pictures at her professional blog here.

I cried the instant the page loaded. Rebecca is so talented and I will sit and stare at these images far too much, I'm sure. Be sure to thank her for me on her blog.

blogging has just become easier

ever since i wrote the title to this post, nicole has been sitting here saying, "i want to blog more, but i never know what to post. what you wrote sounded good." of course, i can't remember what i wrote because i deleted it after i realized it was nonsense. something about how when you have kids all you have to do is put a bunch of pictures up of them and you have a great blog--she thinks i said a "most excellent blog". i was thinking more specifically about posts that get long winded and boring--you know the ones where you talk about how your parents came over and you ate turkey sandwiches and they helped you fix that leaky toilet that keeps running through the night and through your dreams. nobody really understands what's going on in the pictures except your parents, but your parents don't even know your blog exists. so, case in point, here are some baby pictures:

Chillin' in the hospital getting ready to go home.

We made it home.

In Grandpa's arms.

M.C. Hammerpooh

The eagle eye.

Nicole is brewing a nice big long meaningful post. I'm confident that she'll post it sometime in the future--probably not in the past, since it's not already posted, and we lost the keys to the DeLorean.

We have just a quick moment. Here is a marvelous slideshow put together by our good friend Rebecca Mudrick of Darling Art Photography. Not only does this make a priceless gift, but she also gave a lot of her time to help give invaluable coaching during the delivery. We owe her so much.

http://www.darling-art.com/darkroom/share/?client/empey

We're so happy to have our boys with us, to have them healthy, and to be headed home from the hospital today. For those curious souls Everett Burke Empey was born at 2:08 pm, June 3rd, weighing in at 6 lbs 5 oz, followed not-so-closely by Brookston Green Empey born at 10:27 pm, June 3rd, weighing in at 6 lbs 13 oz.

We had lots of great doctors and nurses, and also owe Nick's mother, LaDawn, a great deal as well for driving down from Indiana to be here for the delivery. And also on more thanks to Metta Prieto, who provided child care for Rebecca's monkeys during the night. Metta also took some great photos the day before we went to the hospital. Metta's pictures.

We are sooo appreciative of everyone's prayers and thoughts. We know for a fact that they were answered.

We will write more later with more details, but for now enjoy the slideshow!

It's a date.

Me @ 35 weeks
I can no longer fit into shoes.

Notice how I never actually made the 34 week update...Ah, well.

Now I'm 36 weeks along, and doing just fine for the most part. At about 34 weeks I was diagnosed with Cholestasis of Pregnancy, which basically means that my gallbladder isn't working as well, thanks to all those hormones and lack of space in my body. The result is a build-up of bile salts in the skin that makes me itch all over. There's also a risk to the babies, and therefore they recommended that if I hadn't gone into labor before week 37 they would induce me.

They put me on a pill to help bind up the bile in my body and send it on out, and wow, what a pill. I don't mean to be a whiner, but I was pretty proud of the way my body had been handling pregnancy -- I'd been feeling great, and this pill finally made me feel truly pregnant. The list of side effects* makes one wonder "who would willingly put that sort of thing in their mouth and swallow?" My body celebrated Memorial Day with my first ever pregnant lady throw up extravaganza accompanied with a nice gastrointestinal (distress) number. A nice way to memorialize the pregnancy, I'd say. My body is so thoughtful.

Anyway, on a happier note, today we went in for our last growth ultrasound and Baby A is estimated at 6lbs 1oz and Baby B is estimated at 6lbs 5oz. Baby B is somewhat transverse, and after a lot of deliberation and thought we decided to schedule a C-section. So, we have a date!

We'll meet our boys this Tuesday, June 2nd sometime around 11:30am!

*Ursodiol 300MG - Common Side Effects: constipation; diarrhea; dry skin; gas; headache; indigestion; metallic taste; muscle or joint pain; nausea; skin rash; stomach pain; swellling; tiredness.

nick @ night

The other night whilst attempting to roll awkwardly from my left side to my right, I found myself in considerable pain. I think it was my stomach trying to separate from my body or something like that, you never know when you're pregnant. I gasped out loud and clutched at my belly and Nick sat straight up in bed. I didn't want him to worry that I was going in to labor so I quickly said "Don't worry, I'm not going into labor, my stomach is just protesting about the position change." Nick, with a gesture of deep concern, reached over and touched my arm lightly and said in a worried voice: "Did you enter all the team names into the database?"

Unlike my good friend Nick, I'm quite alert coming out of sleep and quickly realized that what I was expecting to be sympathy was instead my husband dreaming about Tecmo Superbowl.

Nice.

"You're asleep" I responded, somewhat irritatedly (if it hadn't been Tecmo I might not have been irritated), "go ahead and lay back down, love." Nick did so, and as he rolled away from me I heard him mumble, "Yeah, gotta enter those names."

I certainly hope I don't go into labor in the middle of the night...

a favorite summer recipe

Cooking Light is a friend of mine with some great ideas. I thought I'd share one of them with you today, because I don't know what else to blog about that won't involve me talking about things that I'm scared of. I need to post a 34 weeks along (*eeeeeeeep* deep breath) post soon, since yesterday marked exactly 34 weeks for me.

So anyway, on to the recipe:

Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad
note: this recipe rates 5 stars on myrecipes.com and on my kitchen table

The creamy dressing mellows the heat from the chiles—and best of all, it can be prepared in less than 30 minutes.

Yield

4 servings (serving size: 2 1/2 cups)

Ingredients

Dressing:

• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2/3 cup light sour cream
• 1 tablespoon minced chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 4 teaspoons fresh lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Salad:

• 4 cups shredded romaine lettuce
• 2 cups chopped roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 2 breasts)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup diced peeled avocado
• 1/3 cup thinly vertically sliced red onion
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (8 3/4-ounce) can no-salt-added whole-kernel corn, rinsed and drained

Preparation

To prepare dressing, combine first 7 ingredients, stirring well.

To prepare salad, combine lettuce and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle dressing over salad; toss gently to coat. Serve immediately.

Tip: Add a spoonful of adobo sauce for a spicier salad. Kidney or pinto beans also taste great in this dish.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 249 (30% from fat)

Fat: 8.2g (sat 2.8g,mono 2.9g,poly 0.7g)

Protein: 23.3g

Carbohydrate: 25.1g

Fiber: 7g

Cholesterol: 50mg

Iron: 2.2mg

Sodium: 650mg

Calcium: 106mg

David Bonom, Cooking Light, AUGUST 2006

Notes from me:
-I saved the rest of my little can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce by:
1. blending the rest of the can in my food processor
2. laying out a wax sheet of paper on a cookie sheet
3. and measuring out 1 tbsp portions in little heaps on said paper
4. and freezing them in the freezer.
5. then I put the little lumps in a zip lock freezer bag to use whenever I need some.

-I think it's fun to say 'chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.' Go ahead and try it out.

-In my current gravid state I can't handle a full tbsp of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, so I use a tsp and it's still nice. So, if you're averse to spicy food this could be a solution for you too.

-If you're looking for sides, serve this with tortilla or corn chips and a watermelon mango fruit salad.


I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as Nick and I do. =)