Kai came over on Monday, bringing a loaded sandwich from Jersey Mikes and a grocery bag of vegetables from her garden, which let me tell you, is AMAZING. Six or seven raised beds, mounds of mulch, produce that looks and tastes perfect. 
It seemed like a pretty inspired thing when I thought of it in the shower. We had two avocados about to walk away, and three kiwis forgotten in the crisper. Both are exotic green fruits... one is rich and fatty, the other sweet and tangy. 
Anyhow, if I had added more sugar and flour, I think it might have worked. But the sign that these are truly a failure is that we still have most of them sitting in a bag on the counter. Usually Joe and I polish off a dozen muffins in a day or two.
Kai and Chris McQueen came over Friday night with Basil Soup, using basil from their awesome garden. Kai learned to make this soup from her host family when she lived in France. If I had the recipe, I'd post it.
She also brought very soft cake mix cookies... which Joe and I ate too fast.
Stephen was behaving his best.
Stephen recently decided he likes to hang out on my desk, as long as there's someone there to keep him company. This was taken yesterday.
Rachel Jensen, my friend and neighbor down the street, brought us a dinner of Jerk Chicken, Asian cabbage salad and baked beans on Tuesday evening. The chicken had a little kick... but not too hot :-) And I really liked the sweet dressing for the salad, even the next day when everything is all soggy and soaked in the sauce.
DiAnna Young and her son Caleb and daughter Micheala brought over a spaghetti dinner last night, complete with salad, garlic bread and a chocolate cake! Her spaghetti was true comfort food-- I liked the big pieces of mushroom, tomato and ground beef already mixed in.
Joe bought me this hummingbird feeder and it has been a great source of entertainment, hanging just outside our back window. There are three hummingbirds that spend all day chasing each other and making their high-pitched tweeets as they duke it out. One bird in particular seems to have laid claim to the feeder. He's more often perched on the wire that it's suspended from than eating from one of the plastic flowers. We've already gone through one batch of the store-bought solution. We made our own "nectar" using one part sugar to four parts boiling water. I feel better giving them something that doesn't have artificial coloring in it. This also eliminates the bright red poop everywhere. Did you know hummingbirds have tongues? I guess that should be obvious since other birds have them, but watch this video and you'll see what I mean.
Though this is the first week on my own... it's not really. Restoration House sisters have lined up meals for us each night. I'm very blessed because I've not had time to make anything but a quick salad nicoise since Stephen was born.
A rare moment of peace. Stephen usually takes his morning naps OK, but cries through the afternoon... pretty much non-stop from feeding to feeding. Don't know how to handle this, but I guess he's still only 16 days old, so we'll cut him some slack.
I'm so glad that we had one day of holiday before tackling this week -- my first week on my own with baby at home. Mom and Dad left early Monday morning. 
I was elated to get out of the house...
We went to Dot's on the bypass. That was the last restaurant I ate at with Emily Chappelear while still pregnant. 
It's been tough getting enough calories to feed myself and baby. So we treated ourselves to some southern comfort food. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and greenbeans for me, potroast and fries for Joe (he only ordered it because that was my second choice on the menu :0) What a lucky girl I am.
The great thing about going to a restaurant at 4:15 is that service is lickity-split, we got a window seat with good photo lighting and the restaurant, which with its high ceilings can be noisy, was nice and quiet. Only a few other customers... a family with two toddlers, a single woman slowly savoring a bowl of soup, a elderly gentleman who seemed to know the owners. It made for a very nice date.... Plus we had the "Brownie Dot" for dessert. More of a chocolate cake than brownie, but they were nice enough to put the ice cream on the side. I'm back to watching my dairy intake now that I'm not pregnant. Seems all my old tummy troubles are returning.
We saw this little guy lounging around on our fence the other day. Maybe he thinks he's a guard-squirrel.
Now we really know Stephen is a man after my own heart. He likes Hoops and YoYo and he likes the IKEA fish mobile.
They're having a staring contest.
Peach freezer jam, made by mom and I last week with the peaches from the Fairview auction. Unfortunatly I think it's the culprit behind my bright orange diarrhea and Stephen's bright orange poo. Thus spurring the conversation with Kai. 
Tasty farmstand corn, chicken with thyme from Parrino's garden and some pasta salad.
Some beautiful Haigh Truffles all the way from Australia, where my brother-in-law Jack just GOT ENGAGED!! :-) Congrats to you and Oriole. 
My mom and Joe's mom have been whipping up lots of tasty things.
This is the photo they took at the hospital just before we left on Tuesday morning. My experience at the hospital was worth writing about, and I'd like to write about it ... later. Let's focus on the fun stuff first.
This is a photo I took of Stephen Saturday afternoon. I was already having contractions at this point. He LOVED to be on the right side of my belly. I called in "triangle stomach" because from my angle it looked like I had some kind of wedge-shaped being inside me.
Tracey had the Chicago dog... My dad said we should have asked if they use Vienna beef. But the toppings seem fairly authentic. Don't know what I think of the neon relish though :-)
"Chicago" burger. Guess that just means a burger with chicago hotdog toppings.
Mine was the eggplant parmesan sandwich... but I think they gave me lasagna on a baguette instead. It was tasty, but a little odd not getting any eggplant in my eggplant parmesan.
Caprice salad from the garden, using lemon boy tomatoes and basil.
Also makes a mighty good open-faced sandwich.
And all the garden eating has been fuel for home improvement projects. Here's dad and Joe putting up bookshelves in our living room/Joe's new office since he got bumped from the nursery.
