300 Days of Sunshine

August has been such a fun and busy month in the Southwest!  The weather is beautiful (and much more bearable than June and July) and we have welcomed three groups of visitors to our home.  My inlaws were here at the beginning of the month and had the opportunity to see our new house for the first time, help us get the baby's nursery ready, and watch Jaycob race in a triathlon.  The following weekend was a blast when both my brother and sister and their fiances made the trip to visit us for a rare "siblings weekend" before their upcoming weddings.  And last weekend my two best friends from college, who were both bridesmaids in my wedding a few years ago, took some time off for a Southwest getaway.  Their trip coincided with Santa Fe's famous "Indian Market," the city's largest annual art festival. We always have so much fun entertaining guests and taking them to all our favorite Santa Fe spots!  This is one of the best cities in the U.S. for culture, a...

Third trimester is here!  Baby Girl is the size of an eggplant and weighs 2.5 pounds.  Her lungs have surfactant, she opens and closes her eyes, and she brings her little hands to her mouth.  She is moving around like crazy and practicing her gymnastics routines (inspired by Simone and Ali, of course)!  She can hear my voice and we have started reading to her every night.  We are completing our last session of the Childbirth Education class this week and I had one meeting with my doula.  I am definitely in "nesting mode" as I pick out furniture for the nursery, work on knitting and crocheting my baby blankets, finish projects around the house, and fill Baby's closet with clothes and blankets.  With 11 weeks to go, we are on the home stretch!  I, however, am in no rush for Baby to arrive.  I love being pregnant, carrying my baby throughout the day, sharing my body with her, keeping her safe from the world, feeling her little kicks and stretc...

Happy August!  Between hosting visitors, beginning our childbirth education classes, and cheering on Jaycob in his many triathlons, it's a busy month in our household!  Here are a few tidbits about life lately... 1)  We celebrated our pooch's 5th birthday last week!  I can't believe she's already five (and that she sometimes still acts like she's two)!  Having a dog brings so much joy to our house every day and I can't imagine life without her.  I am really eager to see how she adapts to having a little (human) sister in a few months. Kua with her new giraffe toy 2)  The long-awaited "8th Harry Potter book" is finally here!  I just started it this week.  Unlike J.K. Rowling's other books, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child  is written as a script for the play that debuted in London earlier this summer (and that my mom and sister were fortunate enough to see on stage at the Palace Theater in London!).  I look ...

I am so appreciative of my wonderful coworkers.  Before my recent vacations I had a few stressful weeks at work.  There were a number of trauma patients and repeat admissions, and a lot of young people in the hospital.  Providing compassionate care takes a toll on employees, but in healthcare, just like many professions, the only way we get through the week is with support from wonderful people who help us paddle our boats through the rapids. I'm long overdue for bringing baked goods to work, but I found this delicious recipe from my favorite blogger this week!  I bring you Symphony Bars, named from the melted Hershey's Symphony chocolate bars on top.  These bars taste like cookie dough and the milk chocolate is silky and smooth.  They were a hit in my office!  Enjoy! The good stuff Getting ready to bake the bars Chocolate-y goodness! Yum! Symphony Bars Recipe from The Brown Eyed Baker Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups all-purpos...

This summer has been the hottest that I remember since moving to Santa Fe five years ago.  We've had a number of days over 90 degrees, which is somewhat unusual for this area.  Kua is pretty lackadaisical on her afternoon walks and my garden is seriously struggling.  I'm thankful that we don't have much humidity here, and also thankful that we had enough sense to install central AC last summer!  From what I've read, though, we are not the only region with extreme heat: residents of Tucson, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and even Colorado Springs are seeing record high temps over 100 degrees. I just returned from two back-to-back vacations in some hot and sticky cities!  My mom and I spent a week at her timeshare in Virginia Beach, VA, where we spent our days lounging at the beach, riding bikes, walking in the sand, stand-up paddle boarding, reading beach books, and enjoying fresh seafood.  It was so wonderful to have a few days of relaxation without an itinerary. ...