Merry Christmas

In sticking with the theme this year "Better Late Than Never" - our Christmas cards just went out. Three days after Christmas. But they were sent and we love them, and we hope you do, too.

Merry Christmas, from our family to yours. What a blessed year it's been!

PS: Huge thanks to Emily Forsberg for the amazing photo shoot. And thanks, also, to our friends who used Minted for their Christmas cards (and sent them on time!). We received a few, and loved them, so we used Minted for our cards and were thrilled.

Recipe: Coconut Shrimp Curry

I LOVE a good curry. Love. It's all I wanted for probably 4 months of my pregnancy. And I will never turn it down even now. So ever since my friend Abby posted this recipe, I've been dying to make it. And great news (for my belly) - I've actually been cooking over the past couple weeks. Gasp! Yes, it's been glorious.

Ingredients

• Canola oil (or coconut oil if you have it; I didn't)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tbsp curry powder
• 1 cup potatoes, cut into bite-size cubes (about 1/2 of a large potato)
• 7 oz coconut milk
• 7 oz milk
• 1/2 lb shrimp, peeled & deveined
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp honey (or sugar if you don't have honey)
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 3/4 cup frozen peas

Directions

1. In a large skillet, heat oil on medium high heat
2. Add curry powder; cook for about two minutes (at this point, your kitchen will smell AMAZING)
3. Stir in garlic; cook for about one minute
4. Mix in potatoes, then coconut milk, then milk; then shrimp, tomatoes, tomato past, honey and chili powder
5. Cover and simmer on medium low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally
6. Add frozen peas; cook for 2-3 more minutes
7. Serve over rice (I used basmati rice because it's my favorite)

I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and it's pretty easy, honestly. No photos, sorry. I ate it too fast. Don't judge me.

Mixed Emotions

There's a certain level of comfort in knowing that we will not have any more children for the next five years unless we want to. I won't get into the ins and outs (pun intended) of our sex life, but it does make things much more pleasant to know that there is a pretty much fool proof plan in place preventing any accidents.

Don't get me wrong, we want more kids. Just not right now. When I heard Jessica Simpson ispregnant again (already?!) I think my uterus tried to jump out of my body and into oncoming traffic. I am not ready to be pregnant again. Will I ever be ready to willingly take on those wretched nine months again? Probably. Sleep deprivation erases your memory, Men in Black style.

London is perfect. She is such a wonderful baby, sleeping well and happy to be on the go constantly. Each day she learns new "tricks". Each morning it seems like she's grown up overnight. I don't want to miss a moment of her childhood, I want to BE PRESENT for her every day. So no, we're not ready for two kids. Not for awhile, and I'm happy that medical science has advances that allow us to make the decision not to have more children right now.

But there's also a certain level of sadness that comes with it, for me at least. I had forgotten that part of it, that for all the good things about it, it does feel a bit ... final. And formal. There are no surprises. There is no "lets just see what happens". As much as I know I made the right decision, there is a level of sadness (read: hormones) that I think I underestimated.

But in another nine months, when I'm still sleeping regularly and not vomiting daily, I imagine I'll have forgotten all about that tiny bit of sadness. That "Irish twins" bullshit is for the birds.

Besides, London Claire seems pret-ty happy to be an only child for awhile longer.

Gosh I love that kid.