So I think Julius is camera shy. He’ll be smiling and laughing for me for hours, and as soon as I take the cell phone out he freezes up and stops. It is almost impossible to make him smile on camera! I really have no idea why.
Last week we took Julius to JcPenney portrait studio to get his pictures taken and he would not smile AT ALL. Not one real smile – a couple half smiles or smirks but that’s it. The photographer tried so hard too – making ridiculous noises and voices and faces. No smile. It seemed as if he was thinking, “what is this lady doing? She must be crazy. Perhaps it would be rude to laugh at her insanity”. Of course as soon as we left the room he started smiling.
Trust us – his lack of huge smile didn’t stop us from buying lots of photos!
Speaking of smiling on command, my sister-in-law (who is currently pregnant) recently recalled a situation that also happened to me. When she went for her regularly scheduled baby check up, the OB checked the baby’s heart rate using a fetal doppler. If you haven’t seen one before the fetal doppler is basically a small microphone that they lube up and rub over your belly. When they find the right spot on your belly to hear the baby’s heartbeat it sounds like a scratchy whirring dishwasher. After a few seconds you can recognize that all the dishwashing noise (hopefully) has a regular pattern, which you then conclude might be a fast tiny heartbeat. The first time it happens, all that train of thought goes through your head and you are a bit confused for a while. Once you realize it is the baby’s heartbeat it is a relief that the baby is indeed in there and doing well. After the first time, you just cut straight to the latter feeling of relief.
Well, the interesting thing that my sister-in-law mentioned to me is that when they finally found the heartbeat the first time the OB looked up at her expectantly. And I don’t mean a glance, they looked right into her face and didn’t say anything, just waiting for a reaction. She said she felt the need to put on a show and act exceedingly happy or maybe break down crying to show how grateful she was to be hearing this tiny dishwasher. Obviously after the initial “what am I listening to” confusion she was happy, but her “oh is that is the heartbeat” smile didn’t seem like what they were expecting. The same situation (find heartbeat, look expectantly at your face for a reaction) happened to me every single time I went to the OB for a prenatal checkup. Even when I was 9 months pregnant and Julius was kicking me while they were looking for his heartbeat, they looked up at me and patiently waited for my reaction. Don’t get me wrong, I was relieved every time they told me the heartbeat was normal, but I never felt like I gave them the face they wanted. Which leads me to wonder, what exactly are they looking for, and what percentage of the female population give it that they watch you every time? Perhaps (as usual) we’re the weird ones and it’s the reaction of two engineers that’s just atypical. Anyone else have this experience? Or did you cry tears of joy?
On a lighter note, this recipe will have you crying tears of joy with how easy it is to make (okay, maybe only if you get really emotional about tuna fish). This is a quick version of Tuna Casserole that you can stick in the crock pot and forget about until lunch. While delicious, it is extremely filling, so you may want to consider splitting it with a friend. But it is easy to prepare and as a bonus for all you mamas, it’s meal you can eat with just one hand!
Crock pot tuna casserole
Ingredients
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ¼ cup water
- ¾ cup egg noodles
- ½ cup frozen green beans
- ½ 12 oz can chunk light tuna, drained
- ½ 10.5 oz can cream of mushroom soup
- ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup crunched potato chips
Combine everything except chips in the little dipper crock pot. Cook for 2-3 hours. Top with crushed potato chips right before serving.
It’s difficult to make Tuna Casserole very attractive… but trust me it is tasty!
