M.O.S.T.

With Buford being on the Biggest Loser we have implemented a little thing around our house called MOST...Mandatory OutSide Time. We figured that Buford could best be served by a little more time outdoors rather than sleeping in all day long! Well...MOST has paid off! I took Buford Friday for his first Biggest Loser weigh in and he lost a whole pound! Apparently this is a big deal for "smaller" dogs as the vet tech made a big deal about his progress. His reward? A carrot of course.

Chi-town

Matt and I just got back from a GREAT trip to Chicago. I had never been before and we thought it would be the perfect place to go for a long weekend before Banks gets here (and before I get too huge and hot). The weather was perfect and it was so much fun being involved in the hustle and bustle of a big city! Our friends Dusty and Ashley Schultz live in Naperville, which is right outside of Chicago, so we stayed with them Thursday night and then took the train into Chicago Friday morning. We hit all the touristy spots but no, I didn't sport a fanny pack...

Thursday we took in a Cubs/Cardinals game

Friday we took a boat tour of the city, walked the Magnificient Mile and went to the Sears Tower

Friday night we went to see Mary Poppins...it was so good!

Saturday we went to Millenium Park, Grant Park, Buckingham Fountain, Navy Pier, and Oak Street Beach. I think we may have walked like 10 miles that day.

There are several things I learned about Chicago and myself while we were there:

-It is a Pepsi friendly city and with me only being "allowed" ONE Diet Coke a day this DID NOT go over well with me.

-All the shops/buildings have revolving doors...those things freak me out. I get nervous that I'm going to get caught up in the thing or that it's going to go too fast for me.

-Apparently Matt and I only take pictures when I'm on the right side and he's on the left...see above for proof.

-Chicago-style deep dish pizza is a pregnant girls dream...see how excited I am? They make the pizza backwards with the meat and cheese on bottom and the sauce on top. This thing was like an inch thick.

-When you're pregnant you cannot be picky about where you go to the bathroom. I went EVERYWHERE we visited. Gross, I know, but it got to be kind of comical for Matt. He ended up taking a picture of me either going to or returning from every bathroom I visited. Here I am coming from the bathroom at Navy Pier...

The latest on...

• Buford: Turns out being the Biggest Loser is hard work. Buford is having a hard time keeping up with his end of the contract...especially when his father keeps taking him to the bank where they give out TWO doggie treats in the drive through window. Tsk, tsk. He hasn't gone for a weigh in yet but I'm pretty nervous. It's been hard sticking to mandatory outdoor time and exercise with the weather being so yucky lately!


• Baby: He has a name!!! Michael Banks Still and we'll call him Banks. Michael is my dad's name and Banks is Matt's middle name and his mom's maiden name. I love family names and Matt has always said that he wanted to name his little boy Banks! My friend Libby has turned me on to consignment sales and I've gotten several great things for him at really reasonable prices...all smocked of course...I'm making him wear it while he can!! Look at these adorable burp cloths and bib Libby made!!
Banks also got his first Easter basket complete with Peter Cottontail books and a sweet stuffed bunny.


• Busted: This should really go under the baby update but I'm liking the bullet points and that everything starts with a "B". Anyway, I haven't told any of my clients at work that I'm expecting. First of all, it's about them, not me and secondly, I knew they'd figure it out sooner or later. Well, today EVERY one of my clients asked me if I was pregnant. Seriously, like two weeks ago I was buttoning my regular jeans and now there's this...


• Calcium is not my friend: After a "quick" 3:30 am trip to the ER, turns out I have kidney stones. Is this a gross thing to disclose on a blog? Anyway, calcium is the culprit. Guess there really is too much of a good thing! Good news is they did another ultrasound and a) he's still a boy and b) he weighed in at 15 ounces.


• Cooking: Two weekends ago my mom and dad came into town. We had given my mom a cooking class for her birthday, and we went Saturday night. The theme was Girls Night Out in Vegas. It was too much fun. We cooked foods from the famous restaurants in Vegas and had a blast doing it! Of course dessert was my favorite...peanut butter and chocolate ganache.

For our entree we made fancy pork chops, grilled asparagus and stone ground grits with goat cheese...YUM!