Cause for celebration

I suddenly got over 1,000 page views on Thursday, January 31st, and I’m still not sure why… But regardless, hello to all the new readers! I happened to look at the statistics this morning, since it’s my blogaversary – I first posted 4 years ago today. There have been two developments in late 2012 that I think were particularly noteworthy. One, I finally had the blog moved to its own domain name, and I’m only sorry I didn’t do it sooner. It’s fantastic having a good URL to which you can refer people!

The second development, I’ve been keeping under wraps for a few months. Or perhaps I should say I’ve been keeping it under my shirt… The Engineer and I are expecting a baby in July! That’s in part why recipe updates have been a bit slow. You see, even when I liked a recipe, sometimes looking at pictures of it a week or two later made me a little queasy, and I had to write posts in several sittings. That Thanksgiving one nearly killed me! Plus, there were many weeks when I could not, for the life of me, think of what I would like to eat. I ended up digging through my blog archives more than my pile of recipes to try, for things that were fresh and not too heavy. (I want sushi, except I can’t have sushi, or miso soup, except I’m cutting way back on soy.) Brothy soups are awesome, people! And plain pasta, with maybe a little margarine or parmesan on top. Not to forget salads. But that’s usually not exciting enough for the blog! Plus, I pretty much lost my sweet tooth for a while, preferring lemon sorbet and Nilla wafers to any cupcake or chocolate chip cookie, which is obviously very unlike me. Now that I’m in the second trimester, though, I am starting to feel a little better.

Last night was actually the first time that I started showing a little (it could have been the shirt I was wearing or the way I was standing, but the Engineer and I noticed it several times in the evening). That being said, we notice it because we know I’m pregnant, but someone who doesn’t know me could still legitimately think it’s a burrito baby and nothing else. The fetus is supposed to be roughly the size of an avocado right now. I just love those websites that compare its size too that of produce! (For a list geared towards men and their stereotypical frame of reference instead, click here!) It was amazing how fast it went from a poppy seed to an apple seed to a blueberry. But it is, in fact, headed for the size of a melon, which I then have to push out of my lady garden, so that’s another story.

I want to reassure some of you who are bound to ask: I do not intend for this to turn into a mommy blog. I mean, obviously pregnancy and motherhood will affect even the food portion of it, as there are now a lot of foods that I either avoid entirely or cut back on (so you won’t see tofu or wine sauces for a while), and I will eventually have to talk about meals that freeze well or meals that you can prepare really quickly with a baby on one hip. There will also probably be a lull in late summer, as I adjust to the new addition. I will write posts related to babies or children or parenting once in a while, as there has always been a “slice of life” component to this blog, but really, the focus will still be on food, not babies.