Preheat oven with a pizza stone to 550F; place pizza stone on the bottom shelf in the oven. Top the dough with the garlic sauce, caramelized onions, tempeh bacon and shredded Brussels. Bake for 8 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let sit for 2-3 minutes before cutting. Drizzle with sriracha if desired.
I have been up since early this morning for Neil’s first half marathon and after getting a little dehydrated and burned cheering on runners I’m ready to crash. So until tomorrow I’ll leave you with a few photos from the day.
How far along are you: 33 Weeks — ONLY 49 DAYS LEFT!!!
How big is the baby: This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He’s rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren’t fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don’t entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood. (source)
Baby’s Gender: We both think it’s a boy (most of the time).
Baby’s Name: We have a name for a boy or a girl
Weight Gained: 22-23 lbs
Clothes: My tops are getting shorter and for bottoms I’m pretty much down to leggings. Luckily, I have a few dresses that still work, although I was disappointed to find that two dresses that worked for me before are now WAY too short to be worn in public. I also am on a mission to find a bathing suit this weekend so that I can hopefully get in some swim time at the tennis club (husband gets in free – work perk!). I plan on only buying a top because my regular bottoms seem to still fit okay and I have little swim skirts I can wear with them so I’d rather not take on the expense of a full tankini and one pieces just look ridiculous on me.
How are you feeling: I am getting tired out really easily now but I am otherwise feeling pretty good. I have been napping in the afternoon which has really been helping my energy levels and still making sure to get lots of walks in. We have had some crazy heat lately though which really hasn’t helped when I am already tired out though.
What do you miss: I miss running still but what I really miss this week is having my girlfriends around. My two BFF’s live 5-9 hours away (Toronto and NYC) and right now it would be so nice to have them around while I finish my last trimester and get ready for this baby to come.
Cravings: WATERMELON. I have eaten so much watermelon in the last week, I just can’t get enough. Also ranch dip which I am waiting on my order of vegan ranch packets from Kaycee.
How are you sleeping: Sleeping is going fairly well, I get up 4-5 times a night to pee but otherwise doing pretty well.
Workouts: This week I skipped yoga for a much needed nap after a ridiculously busy weekend but I have made sure to get in a number of walks.
Things I’m looking forward to: Our baby shower! Finishing work (only 5 more weeks!!!)
In other news:
I am ready to go shopping for baby but I’m trying to hold off on buying anything off our tworegistries until the shower.
It finally hit me hard this week that we are having a baby and I need to finish my pre-baby projects because they could be here in as few as four weeks <– my husband keeps reminding me of his because a guy he works with wife just had their first at 36.5 weeks.
We are still on track to launch Naturally Family on June 4th but until then check us out of Facebook and Twitter.
When I first started practicing yoga I did almost all of my practices at home through the guidance of a variety of yoga DVD’s. As I became more confident I finally signed up for a few different types of yoga for beginners series to allow me to try yoga in a real studio and with a real teacher, this is when my love for yoga really started to develop. There really is nothing that compares to practicing at a studio with others and a live teacher but sometimes there are just things that get in the way (lack of studios, cost, time, etc.) that result in home practice being the best (or only) option. Luckily, there are a number of really great DVD’s out there for beginners and beyond.
My personal recommendations:
Rodney Yee’s Abs Yoga for Beginners: If you haven’t picked up on the trend already- I LOVE Rodney Yee. I have around six (maybe more) of his yoga DVD’s and there isn’t one that I don’t like. This has really become one of my favorites and I have missed being able to do it since I became pregnant. I think this is a great beginners workout for the abs, however if you are a little more advanced I would direct you to his Core Cross Train yoga workout instead. This is a great and slightly challenging abs workout that is perfect for beginners.
Rodney Yee’s A.M. P.M. Yoga:This is one my absolute favorite yoga DVD’s and I can’t wait to get back to doing it regularly. The A.M. Yoga with Rodney Yee is just what I need to jump start my day and is wonderful for those who are new to yoga, are looking for a short yoga session to start their day or those who are looking for a relaxed practice. To be honest I HATE the P.M. portion of the DVD that is with Patricia Walden, just a personal annoyance with her practice and her all white spandex body suit. That being said it I would recommend this even if all you use it for is the A.M. Yoga portion.
A.M. Yoga For Your Week: Another favorite DVD of mine is this A.M. Yoga for Your Week with Rodney Yee. It is very different from the first a.m. yoga one that I mentioned above. There are five 20-minute workouts that each focus on different types of poses including Standing Poses, Twists, Backbends, Forward Bends and Hip Openers. It is great for both beginners and intermediates. Although it is called “A.M. Yoga” I love to do this DVD at any time of the day. I really like to do the hip openers after a run, it gives me a great stretch.
Ashtanga Yoga Beginners Practice:I am not a lover of ashtanga yoga but I did find that this was a great introduction to the practice. I honestly don’t use this DVD any longer but I felt that it should be included in this list because even though I personally am not a fan of Ashtanga yoga, I did find that this was a really great beginners introduction to it. I used this DVD when Neil and I took a six-week beginners Ashtanga series a few years ago and it is right on track with what we learned. I have to say that the Nicki Doane has a bit of a monotone voice which can make it a little challenging to listen to but once you get over that it’s a good DVD.
This upcoming weekend is a big weekend for Memorial Day BBQ’s and Parties so I have rounded up a few of my favorite recipes that would work really well for this weekend!
What are your plans for the weekend? Neil is running the two person relay of the Vermont City Marathon and then we are going to spend Monday celebrating our anniversary (a few days early) with massages at The Essex.
Yesterday Neil headed out on a 10 mile run and when he returned we headed out to pick my grandma for a picnic. We enjoyed the beautiful weather, sandwiches and then headed back to her place for a few rounds of cards. It was really a wonderful Sunday.
Saturday morning started out bright and early with our Natural Baby Care Class taught by our doula Sarah. In this class we discussed a variety of topics including attachment theory parenting, breastfeeding basics (we’ll learn more about this in our breastfeeding class in a few weeks), newborn hygiene, baby cues, newborn sleep, cloth diapering, car seat safety and babywearing. We learned so much and I can’t wait to share this on our new family blog Naturally Family launching in 2 weeks.
It was such a beautiful day that we decided to head downtown to the Burlington Farmer’s Market after our Natural Baby Care Class We walked around and decided to share a raspberry lime popsicle at the Adam’s Berry Farm stand while we decided what we wanted for lunch. We checked out a few food stands but in the end left disappointed that our favorite Tibetan stand was all out of the veggie options, that’s what we get for arriving too late in the day!
We ended up heading over to the new Himalayan restaurant to give it a try and because it had similar options to our favorite Tibetan stand. We ordered off the lunch menu which came with a drink, an appetizer and an entree. I ordered a housemade lemonade, pakora and chana masala, Neil decided to go with the spiced ice tea, dal and vegetable momos. The lemonade was good, not too sweet and not too tart but the real star was Neil’s spiced iced tea, it was amazing. Once our food came we decided to share everything and both the dal and the parkoras were really tasty. We waited awhile for our entrees to finally come out but when they did we really enjoyed both the momos and the chana. Overall we enjoyed the food although it took a bit longer than we would have liked for us to get our food (we were there over an hour, most of it waiting) and we both would have liked a little more spice (but we just love spicier food).
After lunch we decided to really take advantage of the beautiful weather and spent a few hours wandering around downtown enjoying the day. It had been weeks since we really had a Saturday to spend together and so we decided to treat our Saturday afternoon/evening like a mini-staycation. We did a little window shopping and then decided to pop into El Cortijo for an afternoon snack since we our lunch was fairly light and we had plans for a late dinner with friends.
At El Cortijo we enjoyed a ginger beer and a basket of chips, salsa and guacamole- a perfect hot afternoon snack.
After our snack we headed home for an afternoon nap and then we were off to dinner with friends. I decided not to take any photos but there was good food, good conversation and lots of laughs.
A.M. Yoga For Your Week
