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As of today, exactly, I am 5 months and two weeks preggers! It sure has been going fast; it seems like yesterday I just told everyone my big news yet it has already been over 4 months since then.

I haven't been taking pictures of my belly becuase I haven't really had much to report or show. I did take one pic at 3 1/2 months and just recently this week for my 5 1/2 months. The most recent one shows my forming baby bump - so cute! Unfortunately I can't find the usb cord for my camera to upload them. I might have to order another one...again.

I have been posting my pregnancy blogs on www.inwithfashion.com and www.inwithfitness.com, but I have decided to start my own personal blog. It will be http://trisha.matrixblogsuite.com. Go there to see pics, ultrasounds, and bulletin reminders relating to me and my pregnancy. 

One step closer to being a "mommy" - still seems odd to me, but I'm sure I will adjust.  

Emily Kaufman, aka "The Travel Mom"

I love going on vacation. However, for me -- and, I would guess, for many other moms -- sometimes taking a vacation ends up being just as much work as staying at home; the only difference is the location. Here are some of the ways I've figured out how to make trips more enjoyable and less stressful for me:

Location, Location, Location

1. Pick a destination that really, truly offers something for every family member.

Cruise, Anyone?

2. Look for vacation spots, such as family cruise lines or resorts, that offer structured programs for kids of all ages, from little ones to teenagers.

Know (and Voice) Your Expectations

3. Be clear with family members ahead of time about the expectations you have for your vacation experience, from the types of activities you want to participate in to the curfew you set for your kids.

Stop! In the Name of Fun

4. Don't overschedule. We run around so much at home, from meetings to practices to tutors, that vacation is the time to stop and relax.

Permission to Check Out

5. Designate a specific time each day as your "check in" time with the electronics: computers, BlackBerries and cell phones. Other than that, give yourself permission to check out.

Genevieve Thiers

Ever feel nostalgic for the days when pizza and sundaes were a special treat for kids during a babysitting job? Most of you probably remember babysitting gigs of old, where you could pig out with the kids and not feel guilty because it was a "date night." These days, with the childhood obesity trend, food scares, rising numbers of child allergies and an increase in lifestyle choices, feeding the kids has become just plain complicated. Use the following tips to exercise control over what your kids eat — without driving your sitter up the wall.

Contain yourself
Sometimes, the best way to indicate what's off-limits is to quarantine it. "I set aside a separate cupboard filled with snacks and food that my husband and I approve for the kids," says Columbus Mom of five Tanya D. "The sitter knows only to use this cupboard when feeding the kids. She can eat anything in the house, but the kids have to have those foods."

Quarantining an area of "approved" foods has some real advantages. The sitter won't have to check ingredients, worry about allergies or count calories.

On a more general note, it's also a good idea to not purchase things that the kids should not eat. Small storehouses of sweets or other off-limits treats are fine for you and the adults in the hour, but getting kids to eat healthfully from a separate cabinet in a kitchen that's filled with Oreos and Yoo-hoos is a tough job. Just make sure the kids haven't found out about any of the secret areas where your snacks are hiding, or they might find a way to sneak them during the job.

Make lists, lists and more lists
When parents leave the house for a night out, chances are there's a checklist on the fridge with emergency numbers, household information and safety notes. Why not add food information as well? Make a list that specifies your kids' ages, their food preferences, their feeding times, their allergies and medications. If you are feeling really creative, accentuate it with lists of ingredients that the kids can't have, calorie counts that you want them to have per day or even healthy recipes. Anything goes. The more specific you can be, the more the sitter will appreciate it because they won't have to worry about your reaction when you get home and see a Snickers wrapper on the floor.

Track food
Not sure what the kids are eating? Get a log. "I have my sitters fill out a 'food log" that details what the kids ate for the day," says Indiana mom of two Patsy C. "It helps the sitter to contain what they are eating because she has to write it all down, and it helps me to get an accurate count of what's being eaten. Better still, I can ask for less sugar, less carbs or similar when I am seeing too much of one thing in the lists."

Not excited about the idea of adding to your sitter's workload? Simply ask him or her at the end of the day what the kids ate, and make suggestions accordingly. The more information you can give on a consistent basis, the better.

Make cooking classy
If your sitters will be cooking on the job, make sure to cook at least one meal with them, so that you can educate them on where everything is in the kitchen and tell them about what you do and don't like health-wise. Kosher families, especially, should make sure to spend time with their sitter and educate them on the location of kitchen utensils and which should be used with which. If a sitter cooks with you, he or she will be able to see your major preferences (i.e. olive oil vs. butter) and even your minor ones (no extreme sugar — it makes the kids hyper.

Share your style
Is your family kosher, vegan, vegetarian, raw foods or organic? If so, take the time to educate your sitter about your choices, and make sure to warn them in the interview about what they will be encountering. "I once hired a sitter without asking her her food preferences and then realized she was vegetarian," says Ohio dad of one Warren F. "I found out that I had to buy lots of vegetarian food — she could not handle the idea of preparing meat."

There are several ways you can educate your sitter about your food choice. Get them books to read, direct them toward online sources and chat with them any time they have a question about your kitchen or eating habits. Also be aware that they might make a few mistakes, and prepare to be forgiving. If a sitter is great with the kids, always give them the benefit of the doubt if they mix up the kosher dairy and meat spoons. Keep teaching. They'll be worth it in the long run.

My mother worked, and I turned out okay. In fact, my mother worked a lot. She was a teacher until I was born, then she added a Ph.D. in psychology, followed by a law degree and a legal career that would have made her father proud. Eventually she entered the international insurance business. No, I don't understand what an international insurance expert does any more than I understand what an international lawyer does, but it certainly gets her lots of frequent-flier miles.

My mother worked, and I turned out okay. I recited this like a mantra through nine months of pregnancy. Not only did she work, but she loved working, and yet ... we had dinner each night as a family (takeout, usually, but let's not quibble). I never came home to an empty house after school. There was always someone to help with my homework (or bring it to school when I forgot it) or pick me up and tuck me in when I was sick.

My mother worked, and I turned out okay. Within days after Evan was born, I knew he would be okay, too. One afternoon I loaded him into his stroller intending to sit in the broiling sun in the courtyard of our Houston apartment building and edit a manuscript while he slept. The elevator was broken. I had to bounce the stroller down the stairs. He woke up on the very last step, and his screams were accompanied by the unmistakable sound of a diaper being dirtied. I carried the stroller back up the stairs, changed the diaper, nursed him back to sleep, then collapsed in a miserable, sweaty heap on the couch.

Yes, Evan's mother would work, and Evan would be okay. But whether his mother would be okay was far from certain.

When our native Texan was three months old we moved back to New York and took up the life of suburban commuters. It was a life led to the rhythm of a portable breast pump and the whistle of the early-evening train. Missing the 6:19 from Grand Central meant missing bedtime and bathtime at home. Some nights that broke my heart. Other nights I was secretly relieved (but racked with guilt at my relief) that there'd be that much less for me to do when I finally made it home.

"How did you do it?" I asked my mother in a tone that was more accusation than compliment. "How did you study for the bar exam and keep us fed? How did you write your thesis and proofread our homework? How come your generation did it and mine is losing its collective mind?"

In the world according to Mom, the answer is threefold. First, she says, my life really is more complicated. She was a mother first. Then she had a career. She didn't graduate from law school until I was a senior in high school. When her youngest child left for college, Mom was forty-two years old and there was no one waiting at home for a bath and a story. When I am forty-two my youngest will still be in elementary school. Mom did things serially while my generation does them simultaneously.

That said, Mom gently suggests that me and mine all think too much. Working mothers, she reminds us, have always felt torn. It's just that there are more of us now, in jobs that are more fulfilling partly because they are more demanding, and we are not a group who sees a need to shoulder our frustrations quietly. There is a hint of reprimand in her voice when she says this. Her own mother worked, and she turned out okay -- but there were times when her parents just couldn't be there. "That's why they call it work," she says, quoting my grandmother.

But the most important difference between my life and hers, the reason I felt like a failure and she felt like an adventurer, is a difference I came to see only after I had children of my own. When I look back on my childhood, I remember the security of knowing someone else was always there. What my naive eyes didn't notice was who that someone was. When my mother wasn't home, my father was, straightening patients' teeth in his suite of offices attached to the house, greeting me when I came off the school bus every afternoon, bringing my homework when I forgot it (truth be told, he sent his receptionist to do that, but I was relieved to be rescued), and tucking me in when I was sick.

Yes, my mother worked, and I turned out okay.

Thank you, Mom and Dad.

From LIFE'S WORK by Lisa Belkin. Copright © 2002 by Lisa Belkin.

Game time is fast approaching and with the teams already set, it's time for us ladies to get the menu ready for the big time fun. These simple, fun recipes are sure to bring in the fans.

Baked Artichoke Dip

What You Need:

1 Cup Chopped Spinach

1 14oz Can Quartered Artichoke Hearts, Chopped

1 Cup Mayonnaise

1/4 Package Cream Cheese, Softened

2 Cloves Garlic, Minced

1/8 Cup Dry Bread Crumbs

1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese, Grated

1/8 Tsp Pepper

What To Do...

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees

20 Combine all ingredients and place in baking dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes and serve with crackers.

Crowd Pleaser Buffalo Wings

What You Need...

2 Lbs Chicken Wings

Salt & Pepper

3 Cups Vegetable Oil, For Deep Frying

2 Tbsp Margarine

2 Tbsp Tabasco Sauce or Other Hot Sauce

1 Tsp White Wine Vinegar

What To Do...

1) Cut wings in half at the joint. Discard wing tip. Rinse, pat dry and sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste.

2) Heat oil in a deep fryer or deep sided pot to 350 degrees. Add half of the wings and cook until golden brown, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain & repeat with second batch.

3) Melt margarine in a small saucepan. Stir in hot sauce and vinegar. Remove from heat. Pour hot sauce over fried chicken wings and toss to coat. Serve with blue cheese dressing and sliced celery sticks.

Chicken Quesadillas

What You Need...

2 Tbsp Chicken Broth

1/4 Cup Chopped Onion

1 Small Garlic Clove, Minced

1/4 Cup Chopped Bell Pepper

2 Chili Peppers, Minced

3 Plum Tomatoes, Chopped

Vegetable Cooking Spray

8 Flour Tortillas

1 Cup Reduced Fat Cheddar Cheese, Shredded

1 1/2 Cups Cooked Chicken

Garnish: Salsa & Fat Free Sour Cream

What To Do...

1) In medium ckillet, saute the oniopns, garlic, and peppers in the chicken broth until soft. Add the chili peppers and tomatoes, and simmer for a few more minutes until the liquid has evaporated. Add the chicken and stir well to combine.

2) Spray a cold skillet with the veggie spray, and heat over medium heat. Place a tortilla in the pan and prinkle with 1/8 cup of the cheese. Add about a 1/4 of the chicken mixture and top with another 1/8 cup cheese. Cover with another tortilla and cook for 2-3 minutes or until brown.

Flip the quesadilla over and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cut into wedges. Repeat with the remaining tortillas. Service with salsa and fat-free sour cream.

Blonde Brownies

What You Need...

2 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour

2 1/2 Tsps Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Salt

1 3/4 Cups Packed Brown Sugar

3/4 Cup Butter or Margarine, Softened

3 Large Eggs

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Cups Nestle Toll House Semi Sweet Chocolate Morsels

What To Do...

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 15 x 10" jelly-roll pan

2) Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Beat sugar and butter in a large mixer bowl until creamy. beat in eggs and vanilla extract; grdually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Spread into prepared jelly-roll pan.

3) Bake for 20-25 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack.