Let's Get Real About Having A Baby

     If you're familiar with my blog, you know we've been expecting a baby.  Well, we had our beautiful baby girl.  She was born one month ago today, and let me tell you - it has been much different than I expected.  In this post I'm going to get real with you.  
     When you are thinking about getting pregnant you worry about things like morning sickness, later in your pregnancy you worry about your water breaking in public, or how bad labor will hurt, or you think, "Oh my gosh, there is a human growing inside of me, and I am going to have to push it out!?"  All of those things are not so bad compared to something we don't even worry about or think about at all - the first few weeks of your child's life.  
     Seriously, labor and delivery is not a big deal.  It lasts like one day of your entire life.  You can be uncomfortable and in pain for a day.  Once you decide to go to the hospital they have magical potions there that make you feel less pain, or maybe even feel nothing at all.  
     Then you have a baby, that you are instantly in love with, and you are responsible for her LIFE.  She knows nothing, she doesn't know how to go to sleep, or eat, or do anything, and you have to make sure she doesn't die.  This may sound easy, because after all, she's just a baby, she can't walk or crawl or run away from you.  While she may not be mobile, it is way harder than you could ever imagine.  Oh, and in addition to taking care of her, you have to take care of yourself, because YOU JUST GAVE BIRTH.  Even though you are cared for at a hospital you are not miraculously healed.  Plus, you're an emotional mess.  
     First things first - the emotions.  No one warns you about the mess that you become after giving birth.  You hear about the "baby blues" and postpartum depression, but "that will never be you, you'll be so happy and in love with your baby."  False.  I don't think I'm an overly emotional person, but I cried ALL the time.  One of my first crying episodes happened when the baby was in her crib the day we came home from the hospital, my husband and I were in bed literally on the other side of the wall, like five steps away.  I was staring at the baby monitor watching her in her crib, she was quiet and I was sobbing, because my baby was all alone.  I said, "don't you think she's lonesome?"  My husband told me that she's been alone her whole life, she doesn't know anything different.  I know he was trying to be helpful and comforting, but that was a really sad thought, and did not make the crying stop. 
     Second - breast feeding is HARD!  Everyone talks about how natural it is, so you think if it's natural it must be easy.  Baby will just know what to do, and my body will just do it.  False.  Breast feeding is literally the hardest thing I have ever done.  It takes 3-5 days for your milk to come in.  In the mean time, baby just sucks and sucks and your nipples get raw and bloody and it's horrible.  Our daughter lost a ton of weight before my milk came in.  When it did, I was in so much pain from the rawness that nursing her was so painful.  I went to lactation consultants almost every other day.  I was putting special creams on, doing everything they said and it wasn't getting any easier.  Now I pump and give baby a bottle of breast milk and it is 100 times better for all of us.  

I became a better mother when I quit breast feeding our baby.  

Before I quit breast feeding I would try to make baby go back to sleep when she woke up to eat, so I wouldn't have to feed her.  Breast feeding had gotten to the point of me crying in pain the entire time she ate.  My husband tried to console me, he tried to help, I'm sure he felt helpless.  At the same time he really wanted our daughter to get the health benefits that come from breast milk.  Luckily pumping and bottling is working great for our family.  
     Third - you know NOTHING about parenting until you become a parent.  I was one of those girls who grew up babysitting, I was a nanny in the summer, I watch my nieces and nephews and husbands-cousins-kids.  Still I knew nothing about parenting.  My brother's family and a friend of mine have/had a family bed, where their child sleeps in their bed as an infant.  Before I had kids I thought "crazy hippies," now my favorite thing in the world is sleeping next to my baby.  When she's sleeping in her crib if she fusses, by the time I hear her and get out of bed and get to her, shes crying and it takes a while to console her back to sleep.  When she's right next to me and fusses a little all I have to do is put my hand on her and she's asleep again.  It's such sweet time together, too.  I also used to think pacifiers weren't a good idea.  I thought, If you give your baby a pacifier; she'll need braces when she'd older, and she won't be able to fall asleep without it, and you won't be able to get her to stop using it.  Then I had a child and after about three weeks, I thought, if I hear her cry for one more minute...!  I'm sure there are a thousand other things that I will change my mind about in the years to come, too.
     The first three weeks were really hard.  But let me tell you, it gets better.  My husband told me to put jeans on every day (instead of staying in pajama type clothes).  That helps.  Get out of the house.  Just being in fresh air or running an errand helps.  Each day gets easier and easier.  I can tell you, my baby is one month old today and we are doing good.  We have a routine (sort of), we leave the house, I figured out how to work the stroller, and there are so many good moments.  While we are all still over tired and figuring things out, I wouldn't change it for the world.

See, we're doing good.  Here is a picture of our one-month-birthday ballerina.  :-)

5 Tips for Talking with Pregnant Women

     I've been pregnant for one week short of 9 months.  During this last 9 months I have learned so much about how people interact with pregnant women.  Some of it is good and some of it is very, very, bad.  So, I thought I'd do you all a service and tell you how someone who is pregnant actually feels about what you are saying (or doing) to them.  

Here are some guidelines for interacting with pregnant women:

1. Ask before you touch.  I was super surprised by the number of people who just started touching my belly (even before I was showing!!).  Adult females, and kids are actually pretty good about asking first, but grown men just come up and touch you.  I know you have good intentions and are excited or curious about the baby, but my stomach is part of MY body, tucked right in between two places I cover up with a swimsuit.  Grown men, if a female wasn't pregnant would you ever just go up and touch her stomach?  I sure hope not!  Females are so body conscious that just the idea of someone touching my non-pregnant stomach kind of freaks me out, like I have to flex or make sure I don't feel squishy.  Don't get me wrong when people ask to touch my pregnant belly I say yes almost 100% of the time, especially if we are friends or family.  There may however be a day when my stomach is feeling especially sore or something where I would rather not have you touch me, especially if you just work in the same building as me, and I'm not even sure what your first name is.  

2. Please don't ask about my vagina.  This is an issue that comes up more with adult females.  Now that I'm close to my due date there have been so many women asking me totally inappropriate questions.  I understand that you are trying to find out when we all get to meet baby, but asking about if I'm dilated or how dilated or effaced I am is truly none of your business.  I know you're excited, we all are, but ask me when I think baby will be born.  If I don't really know you, I'll tell you baby's due June 3rd!  If we're acquaintances or new friends  I may tell you, the doctor said I'm measuring a week early!  If we're close friends or family and I think you actually want to know, I'll give you the details.

3. Don't forget it's my body we're talking about.  Yes, I have a human growing inside of me.  Yes, that is exciting and intriguing and weird.  I understand that you have questions or curiosities about it, but remember that we're essentially talking about my body.  If you wouldn't want someone to ask you the question you're about to ask me when you aren't pregnant, you probably shouldn't ask me even though I am pregnant.  It's the same with the touching, if you wouldn't want someone to touch you with no warning, please don't do it to me.  Remember the golden rule: treat others how you want to be treated.

4. I do NOT want to hear your birth stories, and if I do, I'll ask.  There have been SO many women who have told me all of the details of when they had their kids.  I do not want to know how long you pushed or how your epidural didn't take, or how it was the worst 19 minutes of your life, or anything about you giving birth.  If you really need to tell me something, tell me every birth is different, because that is always the point of your story.  
     I did ask my mother-in-law about my husbands birth, because in my mind, that could affect how I give birth.  I was curious about laboring in a bathtub, so I asked one of my best friends, who did that, about her experience.  I was weighing the pros and cons of an epidural and my sister decided not to have one with her second child, so I asked her about it.  I'll ask, if I want to know something.

 5. Watch HOW you say things.  This sounds kind of silly, but pregnant women have tons of hormones floating around in their bodies so we may be a little extra sensitive.  People say things to me like, "Every time I see you, your stomach looks bigger!" Thanks...?  I realize you are talking about the baby, my hormones are telling me that you're calling me fat.  Another phrase that drives me nuts is "You're still here?"  Uhmm, yes and my due date isn't for a couple of weeks, so it's nice to see you too...?  Apparently there are also some people that think the pregnancy waddle is cute, because they say things like, "Aww you're starting to waddle!"  Gross, I'm not a duck and that just means I'm as big as a house.  Again, I realize you are excited, but saying something like "You look really good!" or "I can't wait to meet your sweet baby." are better choices.  
     Here is the worst thing that people say to me (in my opinion, of course): "Don't you just LOVE being pregnant!"  I always want to respond with, "No.  I hate it usually.  Morning sickness, sucked.  I'm tired ALL the time.  I hate what it's doing to my body, and that I can't eat or drink certain things.  I really hate that I can't take medicine, especially when it's allergy season.  I hate that I'm always gassy and that people talk to you like you don't exist because its all about the baby.  I wish I could find just one sleeping position that doesn't hurt.  I wish it was easier to put my boots on." ...and I could go on and on.  

I'm not trying to sound pessimistic.  I'm actually usually very optimistic, and there are lots of things about pregnancy that aren't bad.  For instance, I love it when I can feel or SEE baby move.  I loved when we saw baby for the first time at our ultrasound.  I loved putting the baby room together and planning for baby.  I am SO excited to meet baby.  Honestly, I would do it all again in a heart beat because I'm so excited to become a mom and I know baby is going to be one of the best things that's ever happened to us.  I'm just trying to make people aware of the fact that we all need to think before we do or say things, especially when we are talking to a hormonal pregnant woman.  

Maternity Photos

     Not too long ago I stumbled upon this blog.  It's the blog of an engineer who is fairly new to the photography scene.  She decided that she wanted to focus on wedding photography, and she was looking for couples to take photos of to expand her portfolio.  I thought that was such a great idea, and a great opportunity for my husband and I to get some fun maternity photos taken.  So, I responded to the blog and a while ago we had our baby-bump-love-birds photo session!
     We met Jessica Lynn at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.  She was super friendly, and we had a great time!  Actually, I had a great time.  My husband doesn't love getting his picture taken.  Jessica was great!  She checked out good picture spots before we got there, and she told us how to pose and fixed us when we were doing something weird.  We took pictures at the Guthrie, the Stone Arch Bridge and the Mill ruins, all in less than 2 hours!  Which made my husband happy. :-)  We got some awesome shots!  Here are a few of my favorites.  

     If you like what you see and you are looking for a photographer check out Jessica Lynn!  She just launched her new website.  It is: www.lightandlovestories.com.  Jessica even decided to use a few photos of us on her website so she gifted us a matted photo from out shoot!  It made a super awesome addition to our baby room.

  

I am...

     I'm hoping not to offend anyone with this post, but when I set out to write a blog my aim was to write about not just the fluffy stuff, but the hard things too.  So, today I am going to stray from my typical blogs about getting ready for baby and write about something a little deeper, and a little more difficult to write about.  
     Not too long ago this photo showed up on my Facebook News Feed.  I have no idea who this little girl is, but she's adorable, so naturally I clicked on the picture to see what her sign was about.  When I read her sign it actually made me really sad, about what this beautiful little girl is being taught.  
     I've read the Bible; I have a Masters in Theology.  That by no means makes me an expert on this topic, but I do have some idea what I'm writing about, and my God would never tell me that I am dumb and that I am nothing.  In fact when I read the Bible, I find the opposite is true.  
     In the book of Proverbs 3:15 God says that we are more precious than silver, more costly than gold, more beautiful than diamonds and nothing compares to us.  
     In Jeremiah 1:5 God says, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born I set you apart."  The book of Jeremiah continues to tell us how worthy and loved we are in chapter 29:11 when we read, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  
     We learn that we are "marvelously and wonderfully made," in Psalm 139:14.  All of these Bible passages come from the Old Testament, where we also hear things like we are sinners, and fall short, but then the greatest day of all happens.  We see God's love for us like never before.  In the New Testament God shows us how grand His love for us is when He sends His only Son to die - for US.  Jesus lived in His mothers womb, was born and lived a fully human life - going through all of the struggles and strife of a human.  He was tempted as we are.  Not only was Jesus fully human but He was also fully divine.  He preformed miracles and His following grew.  The Kings and high and mighty powers of the time didn't like people following another human, who wasn't them, so Jesus was imprisoned and tortured.  He knew He was about to be killed, He was filled with horror and sadness, and He cried out to His Dad, "If it is possible let this cup be taken from me.  But your will be done, not mine."  - Matthew 26:39
     Can you imagine watching your child suffer, and cry for help?  You know he is going to be put through so much pain and suffering and be killed.  You could stop it, but you don't.  God didn't stop it because He knew that His Son had to die so that we, yes YOU and ME, could live.  My God loves me SO much.  He knows the number of hairs on my head (Luke 12:7).  
     
Religion tells me that I am:
- Precious
- Beautiful
- Worthy
- Set Apart
- Prosperous
- Marvelous
- Wonderful
- Loved more than anything in the world
     
     And this is not even scratching the surface of what religion tells me about how great I am.  Not only that, but in the pages of the Bible I am given advice, and put at ease.  I am comforted and encouraged.  
     A Bible verse that I clung to for a long time says, "Be still, and know that I am God." - Psalm 46:10.  To me, this says, "(Be still) calm down, relax, don't worry (and know) don't think or wonder, but have faith in the fact (that I am God), I am God - the one who created you and loves you so much that I sent my Son to die, for YOU.  Relax, I got this."  
     After actually reading the Bible and researching biblical times and cultures and traveling to Israel and learning so much about religion I can't see how people can be so against something that teaches love, and the golden rule (treat others how you would like to be treated), it teaches us to help others and encourages us through difficult times.  I wouldn't be able to survive one day without my faith and religion.  

Our Daughter

     This past weekend we went up north to visit my husbands family.  While on the road I said to Brian, "I hope our daughter is like you."  He responded with something like, "why?" or "what do you mean?"  I told him that I hope she is smart like him, and that he has so many good qualities I would love for her to have.  His next question surprised me.  He asked, "What do you want her to have from you?"  

     I'm not sure why this question surprised me so much.  Maybe because we were talking about him, and if we were talking about me I'd probably want to hear more about me, and not think to change the topic to him.  I don't know, but the question, 'what do I want my daughter to have from me,' was a really hard question.  I answered, "My eyes.  I have my daddy's eyes and I think it would be fun for her to have them too."  

     For my husband, I could come up with a million character traits, in a heartbeat, that I want our daughter to have.  For me, I could only come up with one trait - a physical one.  Eventually I came up with more, that I want her to be outgoing like me and confident enough to dance around and raise her hand in class, but, "I don't want her to be so outgoing where she talks all the time because that's annoying."  

     This simple conversation in the car made me wonder so many things.  Why is it so easy for us to see the good in others and more difficult to see it in ourselves?  Are we really that hard on ourselves or do we just not really think about our own character traits?  It also made me wonder if I came up with a physical trait for me, because I'm a girl.  I know that females are more than just pretty faces, but all of the media we see daily tells us differently.  Has the media affected my thoughts that much, enough to make my first thought of females be of beauty before all of the other things that women are so great at?  So many women have such fantastic inner beauty, which is what really matters!  I am a grown woman, and if I am so affected by what I see on the internet, TV and in magazines, I can't imagine how much it affects young girls!  

     I hope our daughter is smart, and kind.  That she is friendly and good at friendship. I hope she is helpful and happy and full of life.  I hope she is playful and can be herself, not try to be someone else.  I have lots of high hopes for our daughter, but most of all I hope she knows how much she is loved, and that she is loved for her inner beauty not just whats on the outside.  

Nesting!

     We get to meet our baby girl in just about 3 months!  One Saturday morning, my husband, Brian, and I decided to buy a crib and register for our upcoming baby.  This set the nesting mode in motion.  :-)  Our parents bought us a few of the "big" items and we are now in the full swing of getting ready for our sweet baby girl!
     The room that we are turning into the baby room is a mauve-y, brown color.  I'd maybe call it mocha.  We decided not to paint the room because it works for our daughter, and if we have a son one day it would work for a boy too.  That means that when I decorate I get to girl it up! 

First, Brian (with a tiny help from me) put together the rocking chair and the crib.  

     When we were registering we found a ton of cute pink things that had monkeys on them.  We decided that pink and monkeys would be a super cute theme for our baby room!  One weekend Brian went ice fishing, so I decided to get to work on the baby room.  We talked about what I was going to do to the room before he left, so it wasn't a total surprise.  Here is what happened:

     

     Ahh!  Those are zoo animals and monkeys in tutus dancing around the words!  (It's a Zebra, Hippo, Lion, Elephant, and 5 Little Monkeys.)  Ha!  I love it!

     The next weekend I was babysitting some relatives kiddos and my husband decided to put together the changing table/dresser.  This turned out to be quite a project.  It took him like 4 hours to put together, but it is so awesome and sturdy, and it's adorable!

     There was one more wall I wanted to girl up.  :-)  We bought a wall decal to put up, which apparently, you need to be an engineer to do.  Ha.  The decal is a tree and Brian had to put up the entire tree.  Literally, the one part that I started "helping" with we had to cut out with an exacto knife.  We hid it pretty well though, so that's good.  Even though Brian had to put up the tree I could do all the leaves and birds myself.  This is how it turned out.  

     Ahh!!  Can you tell we are excited!!  I love this wall and the entire baby room!!  We've still got plenty to do, but the baby room is coming along so nicely and the big stuff in there is done, so I thought I would share my excitement with you.  I can't wait until we get to meet our sweet baby girl! 

Kiki's Pancakes

I know this is only my 6th post, so I'm sorry that this is already my 2nd recipe post - but trust me this recipe is totally worth it!  

     About a year ago I wanted pancakes but we didn't have any pancake mix, so I decided to go online and find a yummy pancake recipe.  We also didn't have eggs and I wasn't planning on leaving the house to go buy any ingredients, so I searched for an egg-less pancake recipe and stumbled upon this little gem.  It's a recipe for blueberry pancakes (which I will also post below), and they are fantastic!!  One thing I especially like about this recipe is that it makes 1 serving.  At our house it's just my husband and I, and I have a habit of cooking for an army, so this recipe is kind of nice that way.  Though, sometimes we times the recipe by 10 and freeze the pancakes because then you can just pop them in the toaster on a work morning when you don't have time to cook.  They freeze well.  
     I'm not the only one who loves this recipe - my niece and nephews love them too, and so do their parents!  When my sister had her 2nd baby I made a big batch of these and froze them so her family could have easy breakfasts, because they had their hands full with a 2 year old and a new born.  My then 2 year old nephew is now almost 3 and whenever they have pancakes he still asks if they are Kiki's pancakes.  I also made these pancakes when my brothers family was in town.  A few days later I got a text asking for the recipe because my niece wanted the pancakes Kiki made.  My niece and nephews have parents that don't feed their children just anything.  My brothers kiddos love green smoothies and frequently ask for fruit as their dessert.  These pancakes are parent-approved!  They have oats in them, and the blueberries and vanilla extract make them sweet, so you can omit the sugar, plus oil is optional.  
     Now that I've gotten you so excited about these yummy pancakes, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:  (Remember this is for 1 serving, makes 2-3 pancakes)
- 1/3 cup of flour
- 2 Tbsp of rolled oats
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 2/3 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 Tbsp sugar (optional)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup of milk
- I add 1 Tbsp of oil and reduce the milk by that amount but again this is optional.
- 1/2 cup blueberries

Directions:
Mix all of the dry ingredients, then add the wet.  Stir, then fold in the blueberries.  Grease the griddle then cook your pancakes at 250*- 300*.  These pancakes are thicker so they need to cook at a lower temp for a longer time so that they cook all the way through.  Flip each pancake once.  Then devour the deliciousness!

     Since we fell in love with this recipe we have created many variations of it.  One of my nephews loves blackberries, so often times we replace the blueberries with blackberries - SO yummy!  I would imagine you could replace the blueberries with just about any berry you'd like.  Believe it or not, I don't always have fresh fruit in my house, so we have made them as just plain old pancakes too.  When I make them without fruit, I also take out the cinnamon, basically just because I'm not a huge cinnamon fan and when you don't have fruit in them, the cinnamon flavor really stands out.  
     My new favorite variation on these pancakes is Banana Chocolate Chip!  This morning I had a couple bananas that were getting old, and we had chocolate left over from Valentines day, so I decided to make Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes!  All I can say is YUM!

Here is the ingredient list for the Banana Chocolate Chip version:
- 1/3 cup of flour
- 2 Tbsp of rolled oats
- 2/3 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 Tbsp sugar (optional)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup of milk
- 1 large ripe banana, mashed
- 1/4 cup of chocolate chips.  (I just cut up "fun sized" Hershey bars to make chocolate chunks, but I would guess it was about 1/4 cup.  You can add as many chocolate chips as you would like.)

Mix and bake as you would in the recipe above, and again devour the yummy-ness!! 

     I plan to continue coming up with new variations since they all seem to turn out so well, so I will keep you posted on any extra great ones.  Maybe I'll have to try something maple-nutty or something less healthy like s'mores, or super healthy like "green" pancakes!  

Love is in the Air

     It's been a few weeks since I have written, so it's time for a new post.  I was thinking that since it was February I would write about love, but my blog would sound something like this...

"I'm feeling so blessed... I am so in love with this little baby girl growing in my belly... I have the best husband ever... I even love my dog so much more than I ever thought I would..."  

SO BORING!  And so braggadocios to those who aren't feeling all the love this month!  So, instead, I've decided to spare you my mushy love letter and share a few of my favorite blogs with  you.  

I've come across a lot of super awesome blogs lately, here are 3 of the best ones I've read this month.

This first blog may be slightly controversial, but I think it's fantastic.  The writer of this blog is a Christian woman, and she is sharing her view on contraception.  I happen to have a similar opinion on this topic, but I really like how she writes about it in her blog because she's done the research and gives facts, and if I were to write about it, it would just be my opinion.  You can find this blog here ---> Privilege and the Pill

Another great blog I read lately was, a father who had written a letter to his daughter about the make-up aisle at a store.  This blog is so sweet, and since I have a baby girl on the way, it makes me think about different issues my daughter will face. Here is the link for this feel-good blog. --->   Words from a Father

For the foodies out there, I also love this blog.  It is the blog of a food stylist, and a food photographer.  Two of the reasons I love it are because they don't just share recipes, they share stories that go along with them, AND the photography is amazing!  

Here's the link ---> Pheasant & Hare

Since I spared you the smooshy love post, here is a smooshy love engagement photo from a few years ago.  :-)

Baby's Gender Reveal Party!

     I don't know if you've heard, but there is a new trend going around...  The trend is having a gender reveal party for your soon-to-be baby.  Last night we hosted about 25 family members and friends for our baby's gender reveal party.  I would say at least 20 of them had never been to a gender reveal party before and many had never heard of such a thing.  It was really fun and everyone had a great time!  

     My husband and I decided that we would find out at the ultrasound if baby is a boy or a girl and then share the news with our family and friends at the party.  Another way you could do this is have the ultra sound person write it down for you then you can find out at the party too.  Just give the note to a baker and have a bakery make the cake.

     Our theme was pink and blue, but I've seen some really cute bumble bee themes, and such on Pinterest.  At the party we had some time for mingling and eating hors d'oeuvres. Then we did a fun "Old Wives Tales" activity where I wrote down some old wives tales and people guessed the answer.  At the end we would see if the old wives tales predicted I was having a boy or girl.  Then we would see if they were right.  

Here are the Old Wives Tales I used:

1. Cravings?  Sweet     Salty

2. Morning Sickness?  Yes     No

3. Mood?  Moody     Happy

4. Skin?  Acne     Dry

5. More Headaches?  No     Yes

6. Sleep Side?  Right     Left

7. Heartbeat?  >150     <150

I had 3 tales that predicted a girl and 4 that predicted a boy.  So, according to the Old Wives, I was having a boy.  

     Next we took a group photo of everyone that thought baby was a boy, and then a group picture of everyone who thought baby was a girl.  We had our guests support their "team" and wear their guess, either pink or blue.  

After this we had to cut into the cake and found out if baby is a boy or girl!

In the tart we looked for a layer of raspberries for a girl or blueberries for a boy.

The cake was a marble cake with the marble swirl being either pink or blue.

     I made 2 desserts because dessert is delicious and we invited a lot of people so I wanted to make sure we had enough.  The top one is a tart.  It's an Oreo cookie crust and the filling is basically cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice.  I put half of the mixture in the bottom of the pie crust then a layer of crushed up fruit.  Then I just put the rest of the lemon cream cheese mixture on top and decorated it with fresh berries and wrote on it with icing.  

     The cake is just a boxed vanilla cake.  To make it extra delicious, when following the directions on the back I used milk instead of water, melted butter instead of oil, 1 more egg than it said on the box and added about a tsp of vanilla.  It was super delicious.  After mixing together the batter I put about 1/3 of the batter into a separate bowl and used food coloring to die it pink or blue.   I put the regular mix in the pan, then put big drops of the colored mix on top and with a knife swirled it around to make the marble look.

My fabulous husband suggested that our moms cut into the desserts to get the first look.  This is what they found.

PINK FOR A BABY GIRL!!

     After we enjoyed some excitement, celebrating and delicious cake, I had everyone sign a onesie I had made for the baby.  Just something fun to remember the party by.  I think it turned out really cute.  

     The night was full of fun, excitement, lots of yummy food and loving family and friends.  We know it was a great party because we were exhausted afterward.  Brian and I are so excited to be having a sweet baby girl!

Here we are showing off the pink in our cake.  

(I wore pink and had Brian wear blue because we didn't want to give our surprise away!)

It was awesome, I would definitely suggest having a party like this if you are expecting!

Our Baby-Moon in Maui!

     My husband and I just got back from a week in Maui!  I was 20 weeks pregnant while we were there.  We had this trip planned long before I was pregnant, so I don't know that we can technically call it a baby-moon.  Don't get me wrong, we hoped I'd be pregnant but not everyone is lucky enough to get pregnant on their own schedule.  

     We realized this was the last vacation we would take for a long time, so we really soaked up the sun, and enjoyed every second of it.  In Maui we went to a Luau, went snorkeling and whale watching, watched the sunrise from the summit of Haleakala Volcano, drove the road to Hana, fished in the ocean, ate lots of great food, enjoyed the pools, beach and ocean and so much more!  

Here is a picture of the Luau we went to.  It was really cool to watch all the different dances, and watch them play with and twirl fire.  We also ate some yummy food at the Luau.

This is the view of the sunrise from the top of the volcano.

My husband learned to surf!  I didn't get great pictures, but here is one picture.

Alright, now for the yummy, yummy food!  Here is a picture of us out for a fancy dinner.

     This picture was taken at a restaurant called Pacific'o.  It was our favorite meal!  Pacific'o is a very nice, expensive restaurant.  We typically try to do one fancy dinner out while on vacation and sometimes, you feel like you get your moneys worth and other times you don't.  Well, at Pacific'o we felt like we definitely got our moneys worth!  We sat outside, and had an awesome view of the ocean, and the food was GREAT!!  I had filet mignon it was delicious, cooked perfectly and a good sized portion.  It also came with mashed potatoes and vegetables.  My husband had their version of surf and turf.  It was the same type of steak I had, paired with a lobster tail topped with caviar which also came with  the awesome potatoes.  Both portions were filling and we loved our meals.  We got dessert too!  I don't remember exactly what it was called, but it was chocolate and delicious!  The service was great as well.  

     Another place that we ate, that was awesome, was a place called Maui Brewing Co.  This was totally right up my hubby's ally.  He loves beer, has brewed his own beer, and loves to try local brews.  I was expecting this place to be a fun place for him, with bar food.  I was SO wrong!  Yes it was fun, but the food was awesome!!  We started with nachos from the appetizer menu.  They were amazing and had tons of toppings.  There wasn't one chip that was bare, and they used shredded cheese, not that nasty cheese sauce stuff.  So good!  Then we decided to have pizza and Brian told me I could order any of the pizzas I wanted and he'd share with me.  The pizza I picked was vegetarian.  It wasn't just like a veggie pizza, it was like a total hippy pizza.  There wasn't even marinara sauce on it.  The sauce was like macadamia nut pesto, and the toppings were like mushrooms, zucchini, garlic and sun dried tomatoes.  I don't remember exactly what was on it, but it was awesome!!  My husband's first reaction was, "What is that on your slice, a lemon?" Ha - it was a slice of yellow zucchini.  After he enjoyed his first slice he said, "Why can't we make pizza like this?"  It was SO good!!

     Two other places that you should try if you ever go to Maui are: Leilani's  and Leoda's.  Leilani's is right by all the resorts, and on the beach.  They have THE BEST fish tacos ever!  At Leoda's I had the special which was basically a pulled pork sandwich and it was fantastic!  Leoda's is known for their pies.  We split a banana cream pie and it was really good.  

     All in all our trip was so wonderful and relaxing, yet we did a lot and saw a lot.  Now we are ready for the next many many years to be filled with paying for kid stuff instead of vacations.  We realize our next few years will be filled with vacations to grandma and grandpa's house, and camping trips.  Although it's not as relaxing as Maui, it will be a great stage in our lives.  

Thanks for reading my blog!  Comment below if you have something to say!

Lemon Blueberry Scones, Mmmmm

I'm not typically a big recipe sharer, but I made scones this past weekend and my husband and I ate 8 of them the day I baked them, because they were SO good!  This kind of recipe I just have to share.  

Here are the ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
a pinch of salt (I did 1 twist of the salt grinder)
1 stick of cold butter (1/2 cup)
1 cup blueberries (I used frozen ones, because MN doesn't have fresh blueberries in winter.)
1 cup heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla

Glaze:
The juice from 1/2 a lemon
1/2 to 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Put the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a food processor (I got a new one I wanted to try out.  You could definitely just put it in a bowl and mix it with a mixer or your hands.)  Add the cold butter and mix.  The mixture should be crumbly and no crumbles should be bigger than pea sized.  

Pour your mixture into a bowl and add the heavy cream, EXCEPT 1 TBSP!, and vanilla.  Mix with a spoon until everything is moist, but don't over mix.  

Run hot water over your blueberries to thaw them out.  Drain the blueberries and stir them into the mixture.  

Place parchment paper on your baking sheets (so the scones come up easily and your baking sheets stay clean.)  Drop spoonfuls of your scone mix onto the cookie sheets.  I did pretty big spoonfuls.  We got 13 scones out of this mix.  

Brush the left over heavy cream on top of the scones to keep them moist.  Then sprinkle the scones with a little sugar.

Pop them in the oven for 20 minutes.

While the scones bake, make the glaze.  Pour 1/2 a cup of powdered sugar into a small bowl.  Then squeeze the juice of half of a lemon into the bowl.  Mix it until there are no lumps.  Keep adding powdered sugar until you get the consistency you like.  

Once the scones are done, let them cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, then drizzle the glaze over the scones.  

Eat all of them in one sitting because they are fantastic!  When I made them last weekend, they were gone in 3 days and only 2 of us were enjoying them.  



I got this recipe off of Pinterest and adapted it slightly from this website.

Comment below if you like blogs like this and I'll post more.  Or, if you think recipes in blogs are annoying tell me that too so I stop posting about food.  

Living in a Society Obsessed with Skinny... 18 Weeks Pregnant.

     I am female, of course I have had thoughts about not being skinny enough or fit enough.  I've seen peoples' constant Facebook posts about going to the gym, or how far they ran on a particular day.  I have noticed the magazines at the check out boasting how quickly a celebrity got her pre-baby body back, or gasping at what celebrity put on a few pounds, so heaven forbid she should wear a bikini. I have lived my life trying to fit in to these unrealistic guidelines we set for ourselves.  Don't get me wrong, I have never had an eating disorder, I just try to watch my weight, and do what I can to fit in.  
     Most women attempt to lose weight for their wedding.  When I got engaged, my future husband told me I had to gain weight for our wedding.  Slightly offended, I led him to a mirror and said something along the lines of, "are you kidding me, I look hot."  He said, "I can see all of your ribs, you look sick."  (Yes, I do have the best husband in the world.)  I ended up gaining about 10 pounds for our wedding, and I still think I looked hot in our wedding pictures.
     About a year later, we are expecting our first child.  We are so excited!  I've been to the doctor 3 times so far.  The last time I went I was 16 weeks along, and the first thing my doctor said to me was, "I'm concerned you haven't gained any weight."  I made a million excuses and then it finally came out, I didn't want to gain weight.  I just want to be like one of those cute pregnant girls that you can't even tell are pregnant from the back, and then they turn around and have a totally cute belly.  She told me, "If you want to have a healthy pregnancy you'll gain at least 25 pounds by June."  Yikes, that was a lot for me to take in.  My body was changing, making room for the little one, but she was right, I hadn't gained a pound.  I figured, the weight would come at the end, right now my baby is like the size of a peanut.  We talked about what I was eating and if I was getting enough calories, etc.  Of course, I was getting enough calories - ice cream is my favorite food.  So, my job for the next 4 weeks, was to eat 4 proteins a day, and gain 4 pounds.  Later that week, I got a little bug and couldn't keep food down.  I ended up losing 2 pounds.  I thought I was doing the right thing for my baby, cutting out fatty foods, eating more fruits and veggies.  I wasn't focused on gaining weight, because I've heard you only need to eat 200 extra calories a day when you're pregnant.  You're not eating for 2 fully grown humans, you're eating for you and a tiny peanut.  
     I was so so excited to become a mom, it never even occurred to me that weight would be an issue.  Now my husband asks me how much protein I've eaten today, or when I go into the kitchen and look in the fridge he helps me choose something of value to eat, for me and the baby.  I have 2 weeks until my next check up and still a few pounds to gain. Now, I am more concerned with having a healthy pregnancy than having a celebrity-skinny-pregnancy.  I feel blessed to have a life growing inside of me, and a husband who loves baby and I enough to tell me to gain weight, not to look like a swim suit model.