Baby Dumpling's Poppa

Stir Fry for beginners

Stir fry is very simple, you don't need to buy too much special stuff.  Actually the primary things that you need to buy is the cooking soy sauce and sesame oil.  Cooking soy sauce is different than the table soy sauce so you need to be careful when making your purchase.  It can be picked up in most Asian markets.  If you're not sure ask.  Some are sweet and some are salty, I prefer the salty.  So here's a list that might help to get you started:

• 1/4 pound or less of Chicken or beef or shrimp (you can do one or mix them, but I'll only explain using 1 because these cook at different speeds.)

• Celery (4 stocks)

• Mushrooms (cut is the easiest, just don't use canned)

• Napa cabbage

• Frozen Broccoli ( you can use fresh but I use frozen)

• Baby Bok Choy or some other type of greens

• Green onion

• Garlic

• Ginger (very small amount)

Start by chopping the celery into bite size pieces and put in a bowl then set aside.  The Nap cabbage and baby bok choy have 2 parts.  The stock part and the leave part.  You want to separate them then chop.  Put the stock part with the celery and the leave part into a bowl and set aside.  You'll use that at the end.  Chop the green onion, crush the garlic and peel a very small piece of ginger then chop very fine and put in a bowl then take a handful of sliced mushrooms and add it to the bowl as well.  Chop the meat you chose into bite size pieces or strips and place that into a bowl. Once you get everything chopped and in bowls (there is a reason to put them into separate bowls) you take your frying pan with large sides or wok.  Heat on high put some oil, not too much just enough to lightly cover the bottom (1/2 tsp), add the soy sauce (1 tablespoon) and the frozen broccoli.  You need to stir almost constantly, after all it's called stir fry for a reason.  After about 3-5 minutes add the bowl of celery and friends.  Continue to stir.  You may wish to add some salt, pepper and a pinch of chili flakes if you desire.  Keep stirring for about 3 more minutes, then add the mushrooms bowl with friends and meat.  If you bought sesame oil you want to add about a tablespoon now.  Keep stirring for another 4-5 minutes or until the meat looks cooked.  Then add your leafy bowl and stir.  Turn off heat your done.  I serve this 2 different ways.  I usually take it for lunch with top romen noodle.  If you take this for lunch with top romen you'll need a large bowl to cook the noodle in the microwave.  Put the top romen in a bowl covered with hot water, microwave for 3 minutes.  Drain the excess water and add the season packet then mix.  Add your stir fry on top and microwave for 1 minute.  That's lunch.  It's healthy and per serving costs less than $2.00 my estimate is about $1.00 even using London broil for the beef.  You could have it over rice it you want or eat it just the way it is.  Stir fry is an easy thing to adjust, try different things with it and discover what works well and what doesn't.  If you have questions you can always post it here and I'll answer it usually within a day. The only thing to remember is stir fry means stir while frying.  Don't put the stuff in the pan and watch burn.

Ice Cream Consumption during Pregnancy

Last week I played a really good joke on my wife.  We bought 2 packages, 16 bars, of Klondike ice cream.  I naturally helped myself to several, about 4-6, but didn't say anything to my wife that I was helping to eat them.  At the end of the week we were on the way to the grocery store and the list was missing the ice cream.  I told my wife that we are out of it and we need to buy more so she can have it when she wants it.  She told me that there was 1 left and I told her that I saw it last night but not this morning before we left for work.  At that point she started thinking that she at all 16 in less than a week.  I knew she was starting to feel guilty about eating so much when she said that we shouldn't buy so many.  I naturally wanted to know why and she said, "because I'm eating them and not remembering that I'm eating them."  I questioned her a little more about how many she knew that she ate.  She said she only remembered eating about 10, but since there's no more she must have eaten all.  I tried to hold my laughter as long as I could, but when I started laughing she thought I was laughing at her.  She was not showing a happy face, I knew that she had the feeling of being a pig and feeling fat.  I knew that I couldn't let her suffer more and since I had my laugh I confessed.  I thought as long as I told her then everything would be o.k. and she'd feel better knowing that it wasn't her.  That dream was very short lived.  My arm hurt til the next morning.   Lesson: Don't tease a pregnant woman about her consumption of ice cream no matter how funny it seems at the moment.

Vision Problems due to Pregnancy

Today at our doctor appointment my wife told the doc that she was having trouble with either dizziness or blurred vision.  The doctor explained that blurred vision is actually quite common and some women actually have to wear glasses toward the end of their pregnancy.  I thought this was kind of strange.  The recommendation from the doctor was to track these blurry or dizzy spells and let her know at the next visit.  Dizziness could be caused by the hormones same with the vision problems.  The question that I need to know is how bad the vision problem is or will be.  Is it still safe to let my wife drive the car?  I suspect the vision or dizzy problems don't last very long, maybe just a split second.  I hope my wife will track this, just in case there is something that needs to be done about it. 

How common is blurry vision or dizziness during the 3rd trimester?

Making Space for Baby

Today after our septic tank was finished we took quick trip over to the Home Depot to buy cabinets for the garage.  My wife's thinking is that we'll see a sale on diapers or we'll need a lot and we need some place to store them.  So we purchased 2 storage cabinets with doors and one shelving unit that can be built into 2 different configurations.  For some reason my wife thinks that I can set it as a tall shelving unit until I need a bench to work on then I can quickly take it apart and rebuild it into a bench.  Maybe I'll have her build it the first time so she will forget about changing it if a table/bench is needed.  Regardless of how it's put together the first time I'm sure that I'll insist that it stays that way.  I can build things and do things around the house, but I'm too lazy.  I really suspect my wife is trying to change me into being one of those guys that get things done quickly.  I do get things done quickly if there is an urgent need for it, but for now I'm just taking my time even with the life changing event happening just 2 months from now.  After the baby is born I might be one of those guys that's constantly fixing things around the house, but that would only be because I want to escape the crying or diaper changing duty.  I don't think it would be hard, my "honeydolist" is quite long so every time the baby needs changing I'll already have a plan that something needs fixing or adjusting.  I'll make it look more complicated than what it really is so my wife will think I'm really having a tough go of it, but in reality I'll be stalling then as soon as the crying and changing is over I'll be done.  Some might think this is mean that I'd leave the changing and calming to my wife but for the most part I'm really old fashion.  Unfortunately I know my wife and I'll get my share of both duties regardless of what I need to get done, but I'm going to try anyway.  So far my plan painting, new floors, roof cleaning, new yard, garage organization and baby room is not going well.  I'm currently almost 3 months behind schedule.  Most people say that when doing all these things it's expected to be this far behind, and I agree to a point.  These things will get done, and I know the baby won't mind sharing our bedroom for a few months while I finish her room.  Just because the baby won't mind doesn't mean the wife will tolerate it.  The wife might be happy the baby is in our room but won't be happy with these projects not being completed.  Maybe I will get lucky and she'll become so pre-occupied with shopping for baby that I won't get an ear full every weekend while I'm trying to watch John Wayne.

Septic Tank Pumping

The remodeling stuff is still progressing.  Today we had the septic tank pumped out.  The guy said that I didn't need to have it done for about 2 more years but since I have already decided to have it done I went ahead with it.  Now my tank doesn't need to be emptied for 6 years if things stay the same.  I am also preparing to have the yard redone with new plants, add top soil then reseed the grass so I asked about risers.  Risers are these tubes that connect to the top of the septic tank so when it needs to be pumped out you don't have to dig a big hole to do it.  Some say it costs less if you do that because the labor involved in digging a hole will be reduced.  Luckily I don't need to do that.  My tank is only 1 foot below the surface.  So if I add 3 inches of top soil I won't have a problem.  I also learned about the pump alarm.   It was explained that the orange box in my garage will sound when there is a problem with the pump and I would have about 300 gallons worth of space before it backs up into the house.  The advice was, "if you hear that sound, call someone immediately."  I wondered about that, so I asked if that is the same as when the water main breaks in the middle of the night and the reply was, "if you call me at midnight saying the pump alarm is going off. I'll tell you not to use the bathroom and go to bed I'll see you in the morning."  That's real comforting.  If the alarm goes off I silence it and wait until morning to call a septic repair person to come fix it.  From what I've heard if the pump goes out you can expect to pay a lot of money to fix it and you don't have a choice.  Well, it's nice to know that I have 1 less thing to worry about until the child is 6 years old.  I wonder if the child flushes something like my watch, wallet, or anything else that has value if the guy would be able to get it back.

Side note for myself:

The pump tank is on the right side of the first tank closest to the house.

Daddy Blogs

I've been reading a lot of blogs since my wife and I first decided to start trying to get pregnant, and I have come to the realization that those daddy, father type blogs really miss the mark.  I find myself learning more from the mom blog sites than the father blogs.  It seems that most of the father blog sites like to talk about the cool toys, the hot looking girls on the kid shows, watching the good looking mothers or girls at the wading pool.  They even post stuff about the baseball season.  None of these really have anything to do with being a father, they remind me of just plain guy sites disguised and father or daddy sites.  They don't discuss much about what is going with the children or the family.  How the family is adjusting to the child growing up, some of the things that keep them up at night.  I'm sure there are a few that are pretty good.  Lifeandtimesofanewdad is pretty good, but then this guy is close to 40 and he (correction made after comment reviewed) has a book published about fatherhood.  As I think about these sites I wonder if the wife of these guys actually has a large child that can wipe is own butt and a small child that can't. 

Maybe I'm just complaining about the lack of good parenting sites written by guys who are mature enough not to buy remote control cars for a 3 year old and then play with it themselves because the child is too small to understand the controls.  Perhaps I'll find more than can be counted on 1 hand.

THE FOLLOWING WAS ADDED THE DAY AFTER THE ORIGINAL POST:

Todd from Lifeandtimes made a comment and I feel that some clarification is in order.  Todd says that lifeandtimes is about him not about child rearing.  He's right it's not about pottie training yet, but it's worth the time to read his site.  Some might consider child rearing and parenting to be separate things, I don't.  Lifeandtimes, in my opinion (and since this is my site...) is about family and parenting through his eyes.  Please read the comments, take a look at Lifeandtimes, then decide for yourself.

Third Trimester Strangeness

When people think of women acting strange during pregnancy they think of crying, yelling, throwing things, etc.  But my wife is definitely pregnant and acting strange.  Last night I told my wife that she should start taking time off work, just a day here and there.  She asked me what I expected her to do when she takes these days off and I said, "you can rest, watch TV, relax, mow the grass, or even go shopping."  For some reason none of these things seem to interest her, so I said it's important that we really get started on buying the baby stuff so you really should go shopping on the days you take off from work.  Now maybe I'm not quite understanding things, which is not uncommon for me, but I've always thought that if the husband tells the wife that can she take off from work and spend the day shopping she would be happy.  Not my wife, she would rather go shopping on the weekend with me.  Just because I got her pregnant she feels it's her duty to torcher me? Maybe she is truly pregnant and not thinking clearly.  I tried another tactic or a different approach.  I said that I am getting the feeling that we are running out of time to get everything done before the baby is born, and it would really help if she could take some time off work and go shopping for the baby stuff.  She said nothing didn't agree or disagree with me.  She didn't show signs of being upset, angry, depressed or anything that would indicate what I would wake up to this morning.  When I got up this morning and made my way to the kitchen for coffee, my wife was already there and the coffee was brewing.  I kissed her on the cheek and said good morning.  She greeted me with, "I'm upset with you!"  So I watched her face expecting her to tell me why or what I did to make her upset with me.  There was no further explanation, she just went about making her tea.  I got a cup and poured coffee for myself and I asked her, "are you going to tell me why you're upset or is that top secret?"  I got no response so I figured it was something she either dreamed about or just thought about and it would take time before she could arrange it into something that I would understand.  After a while I asked again why she was upset with me and when she started explaining her reason to me she started laughing saying that it makes perfect sense when she thinks about it but when she tells me it sounded so stupid.  Luckily I didn't laugh otherwise this story would not have been written.  The joke around the office is," will I survive long enough to see my child born, or will my wife break the cast iron skillet over my head for the comments I make."  Anyway back to why she was upset.  It seems that me getting the feeling that we are way behind schedule and I need her to take time off work and go shopping upset her.  I can only say that it must be the third trimester hormones or strangeness because I cannot figure out what other reason a woman would be upset with her husband when he is giving her the green light and credit card to go shopping.

Why I started Blogging

This sounds like one of those papers kids are asked to write on the first day of school.  What I did on my summer vacation...I use to fail that because I would write, "on the first day of my summer vacation I woke up."  I always thought it was important to wake up.. but my teacher didn't see it the way I did.

Back to why I started or how I got started doing this.  I read on someone's blog. They were looking for someone who can help write on their blog site, so I applied and was accepted.  I never blogged before so I was not use to the software or actually how to do it. I wrote my first story in MS WORD, then did the spell/grammar check (I didn't want everyone to know that I'm terrible at spelling and grammer) then copied and pasted it. That apparently didn't work too well I found out later. I was given some advices and the next day I tried 2 more stories. I then got an email from the owner of the site telling me I'm fired. The reason was because my grammar and spelling was bad and my subject matter was not appropriate for that site.

I didn't understand this, because I had my wife read the stories and she's much better at grammar/spelling than I am. It passed her inspection, so I felt it was good enough. The context of the story that got me fired was how my life was before we got pregnant (Lets get Pregnant).  I didn't see anything wrong with it, neither did my wife... but I was fired anyway. At that time, I was ready to just not to blog again, but my wife insisted that I keep it up because in her opinion I write pretty good and the site owner that fired me was crazy. I love my wife very much and I know in marriage you help your partner exceed their own expectations. My wife does this for me and I hope I do the same for her.

So after several months and 55+ stories I'm getting several hits a day. One of my stories actually earned a blog link posted on The Wall Street Journal (WSJ.com). Out of all this I've only gotten 2 comments, 1 from a life long friend and another from the middle east who didn't like the idea of me mentioning a woman enjoying sex with her husband while trying to make a baby.This person posted a lot of links to their websites (which were in foreign character and language) and I think 5 or more links is too much, so I deleted it. But that's all the comments I've gotten.  It's hard to tell whether or not people are just clicking or actually reading.

I've read many blog posts.. made comments... some good, some I wish I could delete before anyone reads them, where the writer is complaining about the stuff that's going on in their lives. So today is my day to complain a little about no one taking a few moments to tell me what they think of the story I wrote. Not that I would care a whole lot, because the one who inspired me to write is my wife and she likes it. But I would take the time to read the comment and maybe even respond with a thank you note. 

There's my complaining for the day. If you don't like it... too bad, this is my site and no one can fire me except my wife.

Low Red Blood count during Pregnancy

We got results from the last time the vampire had a snack from my wife saying that her hematocrit (red blood count) was low.  I guess the vampire wasn't satisfied with the snack so he wants her to take a supplement and eat more foods rich with iron.  Here is an edited list of some excellent sources or foods high in iron:  Kidney, liver, prune juice, oysters, mussels, cream of wheat.  Here is what they said is a very good source: canned mackerel, heart, liverwurst, dark turkey meat, lean beef, clams, trout.  Some of these sound a little strange to recommend to a pregnant woman.  Mackerel was on the list of limited, tuna is listed as a good source but that's also on the limited consumption list.  I think it's a little strange that the first list of foods that pregnant women shouldn't eat or don't eat too much now is on the recommended list.  Aside from that my wife was happy to see some of her favorites on the list.  She's been wanting clams, oysters, mussels for a while now but I told her that she's been eating other kinds of sea food like anchovies and we need to be careful about how much.  Now that argument no longer holds, so I will get to try out my new stove cooking my Cajun Style Shellfish boil.  This means a road trip is in order.  I need to buy the extra large oysters from the market just North of Seattle, go to the large Asian grocery store a little further north of that so I can pick my own clams and mussels, then come home and find the paper that lists all the spices I use in the shellfish boil.  When I find the list I'll post it, not so much for other people but more for me.  That way I don't have to look for it every time I make a pot.

New Stove and Dishwasher

Finally after a month of living without a stove or a dishwasher finally they've been delivered and installed.  I had forgotten from my poor days what it felt like to live with out a stove.  I bought a single burner hotplate but I have lost touch with being able to cook effectively on it.  I remember when I first arrived in the Pacific Northwest I didn't have anything.  All my clothes could be packed into 2 very small overnight bags, I had no job and very little money.  Back then I was very creative cooking on a hotplate, I was able to cook my breakfast and dinner easily.  I was also more creative, I would make things like pasta sauce with shrimp.  I was able to buy a weeks worth of food for $26 at the Post Alley market place.  I hope that experience hasn't completely left my mind, I might need it some day.  I was able to have fresh broccoli, free range eggs, fresh shrimp, sometimes fresh oysters and all the stuff that Post Alley and Pike Place markets have to offer.  Now that I think of it this past month I just bought microwave food, I didn't cook anything fresh.  I hope that I can undo the damage before my checkup.  I can imagine how high my cholesterol is, or my triglycerides.  I should have no trouble getting back into real food cooking, after all I have a brand new stove and I am eager to start cooking.  I also have the new dishwasher to clean the mess after I'm done cooking...

Note to my wife:  I know I said I would clean the mess, but I meant that you will most likely get tired of looking at it waiting for me and you will try the new dishwasher...I love you...

I will have to think of what to cook...too bad it's not Thanksgiving with 15 people on the guest list.  Tonight I will admire my new appliances then tomorrow I'll get back to reality and figure out how I can get Home Depot to deliver the replacement hardwood for my dining room floor.  I've only been waiting for a month.  Maybe by the time the baby is old enough to go to college we'll have the house finished.