Newly Pregnant?

Congratulations! And Yes, it's overwhelming - so much to learn for the biggest responsibility of your life :-)  Here are some of our favorite Peninsula resources for prego parents:

Pre-Natal Fitness (San Carlos)

Once you're prego the fitness rules change - talk to your OB about your personal fitness level. We love this class in San Carlos taught by Patty Dougherty, C.C.E. (she also teaches birthing classes and is a doula, what a combo!) Pre-Natal fitness is a great way to start a healthy pregnancy and meet other local moms who will be your greatest support system. This class is held Mondays & Wednesdays 5:45-6:45 at the San Carlos Adult Recreation Center. (I'm still attending the post-natal class with my little guy as babies are welcome!)

Check out & Sign  Up for a Birthing Class Series:

They can fill up fast so make sure to allow yourself plenty of time....the last few months get VERY hectic! We like the Basic Prenatal Package at Blossom Birth in Palo Alto...there's nothing basic about it! It covers all your new parent needs and you will feel well-prepared for the arrival of your new little one.

Sign up for emails from Baby Center (online) that are customized for your due due (and baby's age after birth). They're so informative that it reduces a lot of frustration - we love them so much we forward to our husbands and the grandparents!

OBGYN / Hospital / Insurance Relationships:

You may love your OB but you may NOT love what it means to have your OB deliver your baby. Each doctor has different relationships with different hospitals where they have permissions to deliver babies. Make sure your doctor and your hospital preferences match. I switched my doc after 26+ weeks in order to deliver at Sequoia hospital instead of Standford. (more details on that in a future post). It was hard to give up the OB that I loved and had a relationship with, especially when over 1/2 way done with being prego: my advice is if you have to switch do it as early as possible.  Make sure your health insurance covers all of the OB and hospital costs (or as much as possible). A vaginal birth without complications can be $30,000 without insurance.

Books & Magazines:

You'll be in info gathering mode from some time now and here are some of our favorite books/mags to fill your coffee table:

Books:

What to Expect: Classic and thorough but can be kind of boring :-)

From the Hips: Comprehensive and open-minded, great visual aids too!

Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy: Laugh out loud funny, but can get a little negative, read in small excerpts.

Magazines:

Fit Pregnancy and Mom & Baby (same publisher), super fun, stay fit and review new products!

Parents Magazine: This was gifted to me (great gift) and I read it wayyyy more than I thought I would while pregnant....I thought it was only for after baby was born...wrong!

Bay Area Parent: what every local padre needs!

Family Friendly Vacation Reviews

We've been listening to your requests and we'll be adding a new feature on family friendly vacations just in time for summer! Most comments refer to wanting vacation locations less than 2 hours a way that have accomodations and activities designed with kids in mind but are sophisticated for parents as well. We'll let you know what's HOT and what's NOT because everyone needs a great family fit!

Email us with your destination review requests! Our first destination will be Monterey, Ca.

SFPeninsulaParent@gmail.com

What's For Dinner? Slow Cooker: Pizza Chicken

 Set it and Forget it! :-) Happy Friday!

From About.Com: Busy Cooks

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 5 hours

Ingredients:

• 8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 bell peppers, cut into 1" pieces
• 2 cups pasta or pizza sauce
• 1 cup shredded pizza cheese

Preparation:

Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning and place in a 4-5 quart crockpot. Top with onions and bell peppers and pour pasta or pizza sauce over all. Cover crockpot and cook on low 4-5 hours until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Stir well, then sprinkle with cheese and let stand 5 minutes to melt cheese. Serve over hot cooked pasta or rice. 8 servings

Pre-Birth To Do List

So I have three girlfriends due in a span of three weeks this summer...I can't believe it!  They've all gone through their preparation routines and then asked me if they were missing anything. I found this list in the format of an email to my husband J about a month before my baby was born. My girlfirends thought it was super helpful....

J: email the HR person who works with the medical insurance about our hospital/OB/medication costs 

Have Resources on hand:
_Bookmark helpful internet sites - American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Sears, Dr. Spock
_Post phone numbers of "help lines" both day time (ob, lpch) and 24 hr numbers, put  family and friend numbers on white board for hubbie and other helpers
_Baby states of consciousness info - quiet alert state etc.
_Create flexible birth plan to give to nurses/doc at hospital http://www.babycenter.com/calculators-birthplan
_Create phone list for when CC is born / email list for initial photos  etc. www.callingpost.com  *Babe I need the numbers you want for our acct on website and read the instructions so you can leave the initial "he's here" message
_Legal guardian, will paperwork
_College fund set up
_Get Car Seat Inspected @ LPCH, I need you there to watch it be installed correctly
_Hospital Tour
_Hospital Tour Pre-Admit Paperwork

_Set up breast pump and sterilize parts for use - read directions
_Call nursing mother's counsel to have a counselor assigned in advance http://www.nursingmothers.org/  or La Leche League http://www.llli.org/Web/California.html
_Finish nursery setup - bedding & move crib, toy org, diaper station, bath station ready.

_Nursing station set up at rocking chair: snacks, bottled waters, breast shields, garbage can, clean towels
_Relocate book shelf & teaching materials, file paperwork and build 2nd file cabinet.
_Find/Interview Pediatrician

Shopping:
_Circumcision care: gauze pads and vaseline
_rubbing alcohol and cotton balls
_grooming kit with baby brush/nail clippers or file, etc.
_Medical kit: thermometer, infant tylenol, pedialyte
_Peanut shell sling for home use
_Hospital bag: night light, snacks for j, lavender oil smell stuff, birth ball


Questions for the OB:
_When do you reccommend supplementing formula for breastmilk?
_What % weight loss is considered "normal"? (10%?)
_Circumstances for a c-section
_Alternate pushing positions - do I have to be on my back for you to "catch" the baby?

This Weekend - New Feature!

The Dreaded Question:

What should we do this weekend? It gets even more complicated when you have a child (or children!) Check in with us for our new weekly feature "This Weekend"!

Skirt Steak With Pepitas Sauce and Warm Tortillas

Today's recipe is from the May issue of Real Simple

Makes 4 servings

Hands-on Time: 0hr 20m

This recipe is: Quick & Easy

Ingredients

• 1 1/2   pounds skirt steak
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 8  6-inch flour tortillas
• 1/2  red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2  cup   fresh cilantro
• 1/4  cup   pepitas
• 2   tablespoons   extra-virgin olive oil
• 2   tablespoons   fresh lime juice

Directions

1. Heat broiler. Season the steak with 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper and place on a rimmed broilerproof baking sheet. Broil to the desired doneness, 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium-rare. Let rest at least 5 minutes before slicing.
2. Warm the tortillas according to the package directions.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the onion, cilantro, pepitas, oil, lime juice, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Serve with the steak and tortillas.

Nutrition Per Serving

Calories   622 ;   Calories From Fat   46% ;   Protein   46g ;   Carbohydrate   37g ;   Sugar   2g ;   Fiber   3g ;   Fat   32g ;   Sat Fat   9g ;   Calcium   111mg ;   Iron   8mg ;   Sodium   965mg ;   Cholesterol   97mg

Real Simple, May 2009

Mom's Night Out: Cake Class

My Mother's Day present...very exciting. Chocolate cake...it's been a long time. (I'm excited to try to make bread from scratch this week too)

Here's my cake after a lot of frosting :-) I know the little boards underneath aren't cute...but you've got to use something to transfer it around.  Here it's sitting on the turn table....quite handy when you're decorating.

In Class tonight we worked on lettering, stars and dots....which all sounds simple enough but it makes your hand hurt like no other. I choose to do the stars on the edge of the cake which looks more like a flower border when you stick them close together. I chose to work with the same color frosting so that I might minize the look of any errors!

Okay - so my lettering is not that great....but practice makes perfect.  It's a lot more difficult off the practice card when you can't trace the letters and are free-handing!

Sooooooo I've only had 1 major blunder so far and I thought you'd appreciate this:

For the frosting instead of buying regular cubed vegetable flavor I bought cubed butter flavor...doesn't that sound more reasonable? (At least it does in this non-cook's head) Granted I didn't have the sheet right in front of me AND there are all those mystery ingredients including flavoring options, vanilla, butter, etc. Needless to say my pale yellow cake stood out in class. I did end up cutting the butter flavor with vanilla flavoring and I think it's pretty good! A happy accident at least this time around.