Holy Guacamole! It's Avocado Week!

Evening stroll along the Grand River, Grand Rapids, MI, after dinner with my grandparents.

I didn't post for a while, as you can see, because I didn't have much to say. I blew right through lemon week and orange week. It's hard being as sick as I was. But there's good news. The nausea seems to be done for the most part, and I'm eating again. All in all, I lost 20 lbs. I've been eating pumpkin cream cheese dip, soy chai lattes, and lots of avocado to try to gain some weight back.

It's fitting that I would be enjoying avocado so much right now, because that's about how big the baby is this week. She or he is starting to grow hair follicles and toe nails. Baby's kidneys have been working for a couple of weeks now, which means that baby can pee. In preparation, we bought some g diapers from a very nice family on Craigslist - just a few to try. Here's hoping they live up to the hype and work equally well with cloth or disposable inserts.

We did some traveling over the last two months that I haven't written much about. We took one long car trip to Michigan, and a short one to Connecticut. In Michigan, we met our friends' new baby, toured another friend's organic farm, ate some of my favorite Michigan foods, and visited with my family. All in all, it was a wonderful time. In Connecticut, we caught up with Andrew's family, shared lots of gross pregnancy news, and put together a showroom's worth of IKEA furniture, which made for another successful trip.

Andrew and Dee making their way to the shore at Saugatuck State Park, MI, after a nice walk through the woods.

Josh @ Soil Power Farm showing off his tomatillos. They were delicious! Hopefully the baby likes fruits and veggies as much as we do. We got to try Josh's potatoes, tomatoes, fancy lettuce, watermelon, yellow cucumbers, and lots more.

One last thing, if you want to make that delicious pumpkin cream cheese dip, here's the recipe. I gave it out a few years ago, but I don't expect people to hang on to things for that long. I know I don't.

Lindsy's Spectacular Pumpkin Dip

1 brick of cream cheese (full or reduced fat), softened

1/2 cup of canned pumpkin 

1/3 cup of brown sugar

Nutmeg to taste (a few shakes)

Maple (flavored) syrup to taste

- Dump everything in a mixing bowl and mix. I use a stand mixer every time.

- Start the mixer on slow and then build up to a medium high speed until smooth

- Add nutmeg and syrup to taste and blend on slow speed

- Dump in a bowl and refrigerate. Lick the spoon, the mixer attachment, and the bowl

- Use for dipping apples and pears, smear on bagels or pancakes, what ever you want

** Do not use Trader Joe's cream cheese. I don't know why, but it sucks. It will make your dip really runny. You want it to be almost mousse or pudding like when it's done.