Katie & Justin

It’s crazy how much time I spend now thinking about food.

In the beginning of the pregnancy, when I was repulsed by basically anything that was edible, I remember staring at my dinner plate one night — disgusted — and saying to Justin, “Am I ever going to like eating ever again?!”

My diet back then was pretty much bread, crackers and mints. How things have changed!

Now I feel like I get hungry about every two hours. On weekends I’ll often ask Justin, “What’s for second lunch?” Or, even better, “What’s for second breakfast?”

We went to brunch recently and I was debating between two options (one savory, one sweet — always the trickiest part about brunch). I was THIS CLOSE to just ordering both and pretending Justin and I were going to “share” the extra meal. But even for a pregnant lady, I thought that might be pushing it…. or at least maybe wait till month 9? Or 8? 7 is probably fine…

For the most part I want to eat breakfast foods more than anything else — eggs, potatoes, bacon, Eggo waffles, pancakes, donuts, bagels, etc. I don’t know if those are necessarily cravings though. Of course there’s ice cream and whipped cream, too, but those are just always delicious.

As for specific cravings, I have had a couple of random ones come and go at different points. My mom’s theory is that you end up craving things you enjoyed during your own childhood. I don’t think there needs to be any further proof beyond the fact that she used to eat cottage cheese, tuna fish salad and bake beans together when she was a kid, and then sure enough, that’s what she wanted to eat when she was pregnant. (Gross!!)

For me, I think that theory has bearing out as well. It’s been all the special treats I would get as a kid — things I wouldn’t eat all the time but only on certain occasions.

First it was wafer cookies, which my grandma used to give us when we’d have ice cream sundaes while visiting her house. I was at the grocery store a few weeks ago and suddenly really wanted to buy these. I couldn’t decide on the flavor and bought both vanilla and strawberry!

Then it was Pizza Hut’s personal pan pizza. (Not a bigger size — it has to be the mini version! They taste much better, I swear.) When I was in school, we had a reading club called “Book-It” where if you read a certain amount in a certain period of time, you’d get a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. I used do this all the time. My mom would pick me up from school during my lunch break and we’d go pick up the food from Pizza Hut to bring home to eat.

Although I’ve thought about these teeny pizzas many times, I haven’t actually had any. There was one day in particular I was running errands and planned to get one from the Pizza Hut inside Target, but to my surprise, it had been replaced by some kind of healthy food store. Not cool! At this point, I was so set on Pizza Hut, I googled it to see where else I could find another one and drove to the next location only to find that it, too, had been replaced by something else! So unfortunately I gave up my hunt. I’m not sure if there are any more Pizza Huts left in the city!

A couple of other things I’ve thought a lot about but haven’t actually had: ho-ho’s and nutty buddy’s, the Little Debbie treats we’d get to pick out when we’d be on vacation in Missouri. The ho-ho’s have come to mind in the morning when I shower, although I haven’t bought any yet. And I actually had a dream once about nutty buddy’s where I was in the grocery store and kept walking by them. I’d say no, go on to another aisle but then come back, look at them, then say no, and repeat. Such an exciting dream!

Somewhat similar to the gross tuna fish/beans/cottage cheese combo, when I was younger I’d have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with corn chips inside the sandwich. The other day Justin was asking me what groceries to get, and I was trying to think of things I could bring to work for lunch and I thought of those sandwiches. Even though I requested the ingredients and it sounded good to me at the time, I haven’t actually made one yet.

Also, once during a walk with Justin and Luc, I really had a hankering for a Lunchable. Again, I rarely had those as a kid but I think once awhile I convinced my mom to get me one. I don’t think I can eat the processed meat that’s in those now. But I did stop at a 7/11 to buy some string cheese, and then ate cheese and crackers when we got back home. (This has become my favorite snack. I eat cheese and crackers all the time now!)

Finally, my current kick is chocolate milk. I wanted this so bad one morning that I stopped by Dunkin’ Donuts on my way to work and bought a bottle of Nesquik. Since then, we picked up chocolate syrup on another walk and I’ve made it several times at night. I definitely used to make it a lot when I was younger — or at least sneak into my dad’s, who had a nice cold metal cup full in the fridge almost every night!

Mmmm, actually I have to go now…time for some chocolate milk!