Are you sleeping?

My in-laws are visiting from Portland this week. My father-in-law is always very interested in how well the baby is sleeping, how well she's eating and other such things. Last night I was bragging to him about how we started sleep training pretty early and that she sleeps for ten to eleven hours in a row. Fast forward to three-thirty this morning, I was awoken by Amelia playfully kicking the side of her bed. I figured she would go back to sleep in a few minutes so I left her alone. She continued to kick for another ten minutes and then she got bored and started crying. I gave that a few minutes then I put her binkie back in her mouth and laid down. Not a minute later, she started crying again so I put her binkie back in again. We did this song and dance routine for an HOUR. I had the same thing happen when Fern was a baby (but more extreme). When Fern was two months old she inexplicably started sleeping twelve hours in a row. After a month of that I told a few people (read- all of my friends on facebook). It seemed like the moment I talked about it the spell was broken and she promptly went back to waking up EVERY.THREE.HOURS. So I guess you could say I didn't learn my lesson then but I have certainly learned it now! We'll see how Amelia does tonight. This time around, though, I am armed with more information on outsmarting babies.

Daily Craving

I am pregnant (again). My cravings are not as strong this time and they are generally more healthy. This is a good thing because I am determined that I am going to gain a lot less weight than I did the first time around. I also have more tools to help me loose weight after the baby. One of these tools is "The O2 Diet" by Keri Glassman. I bought this book after I read about it in a magazine (Women's Health, I think). One of my favorite recipes in the book was a salad recipe and I recent started having a craving for it, so here it is:

Quick Cobb Salad
ORAC Value: 3,200
Makes 1 serving
Ingredients
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon grapeseed oil
1⁄4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh dill
2 cups chopped red leaf or romaine lettuce
1⁄2 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1⁄4 cup thinly sliced cucumber, quartered
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons chopped avocado
1 tablespoon shelled raw or roasted sunflower seeds
1 tablespoon shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
2 slices (2 ounces) roasted prepackaged or deli-sliced turkey
2 slices (2 ounces) uncured prepackaged or deli-sliced ham
Directions
Combine the lemon juice, oil, and dill in a small bowl. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Set aside.
Toss the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, avocado, sunflower seeds, and cheese with the reserved dressing in a medium bowl.
Lay 1 slice of the turkey flat on the work surface. Layer the ham slice flat on top, then the remaining turkey and ham slices, and tightly roll up. Slice the meat roll crosswise into thin pinwheels and scatter them on top of the salad.

I mixed the onion with the olive oil and lemon juice so it would become part of the dressing. I also could not find my sunflower seeds so I used some pine nuts I found in the freezer. I am not a fan of dill and I dislike raw onions but for some reason I really, really like them in this salad. http://www.nutritiouslife.com/recipes/?cat=4&paged=2