A Wonderful Surprise for WIAW

Another Wednesday here and another round of foods. Interestingly, even though I initially reportedthat I have no aversions, I’ve stumbled upon quite a few “problem” foods that, for one reason or another, have caused enough trauma to make me want to avoid them. That list includes:

• Chipotle—I’ve now gotten two severe cases of stress stomach (aggravation of my nonulcer dyspepsia) immediately after eating Chipotle, so while I still enjoy the food, I think it’s best to avoid it altogether. But man, they have good guacamole.
• Candied nuts—This one is so strange. While we were in Europe and I was only a few weeks pregnant, Terry went crazy over the candied nuts available at Oktoberfest. I ate a few handfuls one day, but after that I felt completely repulsed whenever I smelled them around Europe (which, surprisingly, was rather often). Ironically, we never eat or buy candied almonds here in LA, but of course one day (before we had announced the pregnancy), we went to a football game with Terry’s family, and Terry’s uncle kept offering everyone—what else?—candied almonds. Ugh. My stomach churned every time they went by, but since we weren't announcing yet I had to just deal.
• Morning tea—Another weird one. Most books and my doctor agree that some caffeine (up to 250 mg, or about one or two cups of coffee) each day is okay. I don’t drink coffee, but normally I love my morning cup of tea. Lately (just the last two weeks or so), while I still think tea sounds good, I’m just not enjoying the taste. So I may need to find a new morning routine to enjoy, because sipping out of my mug while curling up with the kitten—even for five minutes—makes the mornings just a little bit better. Perhaps five minutes of reading or stretching instead…
• Sweets—I did mention this one last time, but I feel it’s worth another shout out because I never would have expected it. I think I assumed my sweet tooth would get even more intense with pregnancy (although, when you crave sweets after breakfast, how much worse can it get?), but it’s gone the other way. Some days, I don’t eat any dessert. It’s not an aversion; it’s just a lack of desire. And that’s just so strange.

But overall, I’ve enjoyed most foods as I normally do, especially homemade foods. I think the Chipotle incidents have made me nervous about eating out. But I went to Lazy Dog Café the other day and enjoyed their chicken hummus salad and edamame without any problems. Here’s what I ate today:

Since my morning started extra early (I subbed for a teacher whose schedule begins at 6:45), I ate an extra hearty breakfast to get me through to lunch—a small bowl of cereal plus one and a half pieces of French toast topped with peanut butter, sliced almonds, and syrup.

For my midmorning snacks I had an apple around 9 am and then a KIND bar at 11 am. I grabbed a small brownie from the faculty room before the last class of the day, around noon. It was only okay.

And then I got the world’s best Christmas present: Terry came home early!!! He was supposed to arrive Friday, but he showed up at my school and was waiting in the office when I finished work. Of course, several of my friends were in the office at the time, so I turned bright red, but I was too thrilled to see Terry to be embarrassed. What a wonderful way to celebrate the season! I was even happier than the time I bought all those OXO containers:

On the way home, we stopped for a few groceries at TJs. I had a giant spaghetti squash waiting for us at home, and I couldn’t wait to roast it up to enjoy with that spinach, some marinara, and mozzarella. But since that process too awhile, we decided to plate up a big board of salami, cheeses, crackers, hummus, and cucumbers, plus a spinach salad. We also nibbled on a few Christmas cookies, a gift from our neighbor. I left the squash for Terry for dinner and headed to work.

After a fun, quick day of work, I heated up some leftover spaghetti squash with mozzarella and then devoured another bowl of cereal. 

And now I'm so tired from it all that I can't eat or write anymore. It was a long day, but a wonderful surprise in the middle made it a fantastic one. I still can't believe Terry is home for the holidays (at least through the first weekend in January!), and I'm beyond thrilled. 

Another little fun surprise today was a sweet gift from my mom--more maternity clothes! She got my some leggings and a few tops. I'll be sure to snap some photos of my maternity outfits, because I've found it pretty tough to do maternity shopping. Mostly, I've stuck with Pea in the Pod (sale items only) and Motherhood. I'll let you know how I feel about the quality once I've worn things a few times!

Hope you had as wonderful a day as I did!