thirty-two weeks

I feel soooo pregnant.

How far along? 32 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 24 lbs

Maternity clothes? Oh yea.

Stretch marks? Unfortunately so.

Sleep: I seem to only be able to get four hours a sleep a night, but then I have to take a nap during the day as well because I'm so exhausted.

Best moment this week: Everyone loved the cinnamon rolls I made, and the cake I made came out freaking awesome.

Miss Anything? Not looking and feeling a big fat buffoon and being able to eat normally.  Damn child has crushed all of my organs.

Movement: Active as always, except she really is running out of room so sometimes it's painful when she moves especially when she finds a comfy spot like my spleen to sit on.

Food cravings: Mac-N-Cheese when I'm hungry.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Lately, I don't seem to be having much of an appetite, it seems to come and go.  She's really pushing my limit on comfort.

Gender: Girl

Labor Signs: No, although the other day I did have Kyle tell me to not work too hard because I may go into labor...

Symptoms: Now my right hip is killing me, at least she's keeping it even.

Belly Button in or out? Still flat, Kyle's convinced one of these days it will pop.

Rings on or off? Still wearing them, although I should probably remove them soon - just saw a post about someone having to have the rings cut off.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Exhausted..she is taking everything out of me.

Looking forward to: We get to see our baby one last time before she's born.  For her growth ultrasound to make sure everything is growing and that she is actually the correct gestational age.

winning wednesday

Originally I baked a chocolate cake for our department birthday party.  At the end of every month we celebrate the birthdays in that month.  The day of, I found out we were cancelling the cake party due to the Thanksgiving holiday so now I have a massive chocolate cake that I have no idea what to do with.  Now I kind of feel bad for making Kyle slave over the icing since I messed up on the icing.  Now I guess I'll bring it to Thanksgiving dinner.  It won't keep until we come back to work.

This upcoming recipe is yet another chocolate based one, however, it's the first time I've ever made chocolate cake from scratch.  I've always used the pre-mixed, pre-made batter.  Not really much you can do to mess those up.  Thankfully I had all of the ingredients needed.

The recipe is Chocolate Cake !  Yum!  She claims it's the best chocolate cake - but I'll be the judge of that.  As a pregnant lady, I feel like I am more qualified in judging taste better then others.  Okay, seriously after bringing this into work twice, yes, people loved this.

The original recipe called for espresso powder.  I removed that ingredient from the list because I'm pregnant and didn't want it in the batter.  Many of the recent recipes I've done have called for the oven to be at 350 degrees, I've found that it's too hot and cooks too fast, burning parts that are touching the pan but the middle isn't cooked completely.  So I usually lower the temperature to 325 degrees and it usually doesn't take too much for it to cook completely.

Items you will need:
for the chocolate cake:
large mixing bowl
mixer
cake pan

for the frosting:
large mixing bowl
mixer

Ingredients you will need:
for the chocolate cake:
2 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
3/4 cups of cocoa
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 cup of boiling water

for the chocolate frosting:
1 1/2 cups of butter
1 cup of cocoa
5 cups of confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup of milk (8 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Prep & cooking:
for the cake:
1. Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt to a large bowl and whisk through to ensure that the batter is mixed.
2. Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together on a medium speed until well combined.
3. Reducing the speed of the mixer, carefully add boiling water to the cake batter.
4. Beat on a high speed for about a minute to add air to the batter.
5. Depending on pan size, pour the batter into the cake pan or two cake pans.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
7. Stick a toothpick to make sure the cake is fully cooked before removing.

for the frosting:
8. Add cocoa to a large bowl
9. Add the softened butter until well combined.
10. Add sugar and milk to cocoa mixture (add 1 cup of confectioner's sugar first, then a tablespoon of milk).  After each addition, turn the mixer on to blend in the ingredients.
11. Add vanilla extract.

Note: If the frosting appears too dry, add more milk, one tablespoon at a time.  If it appears too wet, add confectioners sugar one tablespoon at a time.

monday fun day

I would have to say in all of the baking recipes I chose to make while pregnant, there were only three recipes that I was worried about messing up.  The first one: chocolate chip muffins, the second one: cinnamon rolls, and the last one the blueberry scones (which I haven't made yet).

This recipe is the Cinnamon Rolls .  It was considered an easy recipe (and it really is). I removed the coffee out of the glaze since I was pregnant.  I've never used yeast before, so I was a little hesitant on baking with it.  Not only that, but I also didn't use the yeast she recommended since I couldn't find it in my stores.

Totally forgot that I didn't have a rolling pin or a large cutting board or the freaking ground cinnamon so while the cinnamon rolls were resting, I ended up letting them sit too long when I went out to buy the ground cinnamon.  I also forgot the salt :/ I had to roll that came in the wax paper to roll out the cinnamon roll batter - fail.

Despite making four batches, I didn't like any of the batches.  Everyone else did though, they said it tasted better than store bought, but I think they were just being nice.

Items you will need:
for the rolls:
large mixing bowl
small mixing bowl
large spoon

for the filling:
large cutting board
rolling pin
knife or pizza cutter
aluminum foil
pyrex pie bowl
small mixing bowl

for the glaze:
small mixing bowl

Ingredients you will need:
for the rolls:
2 ¾ cups of all purpose flour
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
2 ¼ teaspoons of yeast (I couldn't find the yeast she mentioned)
½ cup of water
¼ cup of milk
2 ½ tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 large egg

for the filling:
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 ½ tablespoons of ground cinnamon
¼ cup of sugar

for the glaze:
1 cup of confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of milk

Prep & cooking:
for the rolls:
1. Place the flour, sugar and yeast in the large mixing bowl and mix until completely dispersed.
2. Then heat the water, milk and butter in the small sized bowl a microwave until it is hot (about 2 minutes).
3. Pour in the heated water, milk and butter mixture into the flour, sugar, and yeast mixture.
4. Using the large spoon begin mixing the batter until it is completely dissolved and is more doughy. you'll be able to tell by how the mixture changes from a powdery consistency to a more doughy one.
5. Lightly flour the cutting board, and place the dough onto this. Knead it for about 3-4 minutes.
6. Next, lightly grease the medium sized bowl and place the dough in the bowl to sit for 10 minutes - not any longer or the dough will change consistency and it won't be flaky.
*Before starting on the filling, turn the oven on 200 degrees, make sure it heats up completely to that temperature before turning off the oven.*

for the filling:
7. Take the dough out of the mixing bowl and using the rolling pin start to roll out the dough into a rectangular shape. Don't stress in case it doesn't come out to a perfect rectangle. Just make sure that the dough is rolled out completely.
8. Now take the softened butter and coat the rolled out dough generously.
9. Start sprinkling the cinnamon and sugar mix out, try to make sure it is spread out evenly. I know it sounds like a lot of cinnamon and sugar mix, but you want the cinnamon rolls to be cinnamony (I made the mistake of not adding enough the first batch, and you couldn't taste it throughout).
10. Roll the dough up tightly, you may get three rolls within the roll itself. (If you want to make them smaller, cut the dough in half and then roll it up.) The second batch I made mini rolls.
11. Now cut the rolled up dough into as many pieces as you want, it was about 11 pieces for me, if you're looking to make them smaller, cut the dough into more slices.
12. Lightly grease a pan (I used a pyrex pie bowl) and place the rolls into this.
13. Make sure you've turned off the oven before you place these in. The oven should have been turned before the filling part is done.
14. Let the rolls sit in the over for about 60 minutes.
15. They should have doubled in size.
16. Now turn the oven up to 325 degrees and let bake for about 25 minutes or lightly browned (she recommends placing aluminum foil over the pie dish after the first 15 minutes) to avoid heavy browning. (I noticed while they didn't brown on the top, they did brown on the bottom.)

Make the glaze only after the cinnamon rolls are done.

for the glaze:
17. Mix the confectioner's sugar, milk, and vanilla extract in a bowl.
18. Now pour mix onto the cinnamon rolls.
19. Let the rolls cool down for a bit before eating.

And there you have it, cinnamon rolls!  Although the first batch didn't come out perfectly, the smell of the cinnamon rolls baking in the oven was wonderful.  I would say for the first time, it didn't come out too badly.  I think I drove Kyle nuts by pestering him to try the rolls in each batch I made.

thirty-one weeks

How far along? 31 weeks  - single digits from here on out!

Total weight gain/loss: Officially 24 lbs

Maternity clothes? Oh yea.

Stretch marks? Unfortunately so.

Sleep: At first it was because she was so active, now it's because I have to get up and pee every five minutes.

Best moment this week: I think Sophie dropped around 30 weeks, but I definitely noticed it on Monday night that my belly was significantly lower then it has been since I've carried high all pregnancy.

Miss Anything? Not having a bruised stomach from her banging against it all day.

Movement: She's very active during the day, then settles down for the night.  She gets active again when Kyle comes home and he starts talking.

Food cravings: I used to hate pickles before I got pregnant, now I actually like them.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Eating too much

Gender: Girl

Labor Signs: No, although the other day I did have Kyle tell me to not work too hard because I may go into labor...

Symptoms: Swelllingggg and heartburn.

Belly Button in or out? Straining to be an outtie.

Rings on or off? On.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Tired.

Looking forward to: having my body again and not sharing it with another person.

Story of the week: Last night I thought I was dying, and I told Kyle.  He told me that it was heartburn.  I've never had heartburn before.  He laughed at me because of how dramatic I was being but did get some Tums for me to help with the heartburn.

You know I have to say I really like my doctor.  Not only does she make me feel better about the weight I've gained (saying that I needed to gain this amount of weight, but also that I am pregnant, and that I'm not eating excessively so to not worry about the fact that I am packing on the pounds) but she also makes me laugh when I ask her some of the questions.  One of the questions I asked was is it normal to not be able to breathe as much.  Her response?  " Yes, it's normal, as the baby gets larger everything is compressed and she's compressed your diaphragm a lot and breathing will get harder as it's diverted to the baby." I then said, "Well I kind of need to breathe."  And she said, "Don't worry, right now your body will keep you alive enough to sustain your child." She was totally joking, but I honestly just feel like an incubator for my child.

Monday fun day - red velvet cupcakes!

This is one of the recipes that I'm sure many people are familiar with, however this one was made from scratch rather than using cupcake or cake batter that was already made. Red Velvet Cupcakes - I didn't realize that red velvet was essentially chocolate cupcake dyed red.  Simple as that.

The original recipe made 24 regular sized cupcakes. However, at my store, they only carried the

half gallon size of buttermilk, so I made double the amount of cupcakes, but in two separate batches. I made one Saturday night because I had nothing better to do (Kyle was at a bachelor party for his friend all night), and Sunday evening when Kyle was at work.

I changed some of the directions since I found the original steps to make it more complicated then need be.  I found the icing to be tricky. According to Kyle, I mugged the icing instead of beat the icing. I seem to have an issue with that. I ended up adding at least 4-5 more tablespoons of flour to help thicken it up and 2 more tablespoons of confectioner's sugar. I put it in the fridge to help as well, but the moment it hit the humid weather, it started to melt :( They still came out great though!  I think in this case, heavy cream would have been better than milk in this case, to help thicken the frosting.

Items you will need:
for the cupcakes:
large mixing bowl
mixer
whisk
spoon

for the frosting:
2 saucepans
2 small bowls
1 medium mixing bowl
1 whisk
1 spatula

Ingredients you will need:
for the cupcakes:
1/3 cup of cocoa
3 tablespoons of red food coloring
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cups of butter
1 1/2 cups of sugar
4 egg yolks
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon of salt
2 1/4 cups of sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon white vinegar

for the frosting:
1 cup of milk
3 tablespoons of flour
1/8 teaspoon of salt
8 oz of of white chocolate
1 cup of butter
1 1/2 cups of confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Prep & cooking:
for the cupcakes:
Make sure the oven is turned on to 325 degrees.
1. Add all of the ingredients in one by one.
2. Put in the red food color, vanilla extract, and cocoa in first.
3. Melt the butter in the microwave and put into the mixing bowl.
4. Add the four eggs, buttermilk and salt in.
5. Add the flour, baking soda and vinegar into the batter.
6. Now take out the mixer and mix the ingredients, start on the lowest setting first, and as the batter is more mixed, put it on the higher setting.
7. Some of the ingredients will be on the side of the mixing bowl, use a spoon to scrap it into the mix again.
8. Start the mixer again and mix the ingredients again until the batter comes out red.
9. It shouldn't be lumpy, but there will be parts that have some stuff in it because of the cocoa.

Once the cupcakes are done, let them cool to room temperature, and then place them in the fridge to cool and then take out of the fridge to frost.

for the frosting:
10. Whisk the milk, flour, and salt into a small sauce pan over a medium heat until the mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Depending on your stove, it should take about 1-2 minutes.
11. After this is done, pour into a small bowl to cool.
12. Melt the white chocolate chips, using the second sauce pan and allow to cool.
13. Beat the butter and confectioner's sugar together, add in the melted chocolate chips in and the milk.
14. Beat all of the ingredients together until it is smooth and fluffy.

thirty weeks

Ignore my cat, he wanted to be in the picture

How far along? 30 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 21 + lbs Knowing my luck I'll have packed on at least 5 lbs in a month and my nurse will harrass me about the weight gain and how I'm getting too big too fast blah blah.  Don't get me wrong I love my nurse, but I feel like crap after weighing in.

Maternity clothes? all I wear are dresses, skirts and sweaters.

Stretch marks? Yes... :( darn genetics.

Sleep: I sleep a lot now.  A nap when I get home and then I get up for a couple of hours to do some things and then go back to bed.

Best moment this week: The saints won on Sunday! W H O D A T ! And the muffins I made earlier this week were a hit in the office.

Miss Anything? Breathing normally and not being winded when I walk fast.

Movement: Anyone see Dune?  It literally feels like that worm that move around in Dune.  The other day her head just poked my stomach out an extra couple of inches, kind of creepy.

Food cravings: I love the nestle rich hot chocolate that we have at work.  thank god it's only 80 calories, seeing as I drink it every single day.  I'd be huge if it was any more than that.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Certain smells.

Gender: Girl

Labor Signs: No, although the other day I did have Kyle tell me to not work too hard because I may go into labor...

Symptoms: I've developed cankles...gross and we're in boot weather and I can't fit my fat ankles into any of my boots!

Belly Button in or out? It feels more and more like a crater everyday, it's like parts of it want to be an outtie, and other parts want it to be an innie.

Rings on or off? on, although my fingers look kind of like hams.

Happy or Moody most of the time: TIRED.  I'm always tired now.

Looking forward to: not having nightmares.  Apparently I punched Kyle the other night when I was having one - oops.

Story of the week:

Most of our nights, when either Kyle and I are both awake and conscience we usually spend it watching Bones episodes and guessing what Sophie's doing in my stomach.  Kyle's been able to feel Sophie move around for a while now, however, whenever he does put his hand to feel her move, she stops - typical.  He really hasn't seen her move through my stomach either, he's felt it.  She's gotten to the point where it's not really kicking anymore but more like subtle movements.  Well last night, Kyle was talking to Sophie, saying that he loved her, and her response to that was to kick him right in the head.  It was pretty hilarious because it was completely unexpected.  He then got to really see her move when he put the remote on my stomach and there she was kicking it all over the place, she got so exbuerant at one point, I thought she was going to kick the remote right off my stomach.

Chalkboard Extravaganza

After being inspired by Little Baby Garvin's chalkboard tutorial I knew that I had to have a chalkboard for Sophie.  I had no luck finding a painting like the one she mentions in her blog, so I just eventually gave up and didn't think about it for a couple of months.

Well a few days ago, I needed to buy some plywood for Sophie's name plate, and thought, why don't I just use the excess plywood to make a chalkboard.  Since unfortunately plywood doesn't come in nice small squares or rectangles, the smallest is a 2x2.  Definitely too large for her name.  My roommate Nick and I went to Home Depot and bought a 2x4 piece of plywood that could be cut down into a smaller chalkboard and the other be used for her name plate.

On Monday, Nick cut it down to size, and I painted it on Tuesday with the chalkboard paint.  Using Little Baby Garvin's suggestion, I bought Rust-Oleum .  It ended up working really welly.  However, I didn't realize after I wrote on it, I was supposed to wait 3 days before actually using it - FAIL.  Then I didn't condition the board - SECOND FAIL.

So after writing on it, I had to erase the board completely, let it dry and repaint it because I messed up on the directions.

So now I have wait 10 days before using it again, if I follow the directions.  See how it's kind of chalky and dusty behind the word "trimester?"  Yeah that's because I messed up and it didn't erase that well.  Anyway, I still am waiting to get a frame, and eventually this will be hung up in Sophie's room or in her play room either way.

UPDATE:

I ran into several problems with this chalkboard in the past couple of weeks and finally was able to fix them after a suggestion from my roommate.

My first problem was that the chalk would wipe off, but the residue of the chalk would remain.  No matter how many times it was wiped down.  The second problem was the chalk didn't go on that smoothly.  I couldn't figure out why the chalk was so insistent on remaining there until my roommate suggested I sand down the chalkboard.  So last night I sanded down the chalkboard with my roommate's Dremel and while it definitely rubbed off a good amount of paint, it made the board much smoother.

After I sanded down the board, I repainted the board with the Rust-O-Leum twice.  Once to cover up the sanded parts, and the second time to make sure that it was a smooth finish.

I tried writing on the board again tonight and this time I used a sponge to wipe down the board, and a paper towel to wipe away any excess water and it actually came out looking so much better.  So clearly it was the rough nature of the plywood that I used.

I eventually will need to have the chalkboard mounted onto Sophie's wall, but for right now, I'll just have to use it on the floor.

Monday fun day - chocolate chip muffins

So since my pregnancy has really kicked into high gear, I think I'm in the phase many women experience: nesting.  I wish I could say my nesting was more related to cleaning, however, it seems it’s more towards baking.  I never liked baking before I got pregnant, couldn’t even bake, never attempted, and let alone came near an oven.  Now, I’m nearing the end of my 7 month, and all I seem to want to do is bake.  Bake, bake, bake, bake!  So much to the point that I've been baking lots of cakes, cupcakes, and brownies, all chocolate of course.

Thankfully, most of what I have made hasn’t burned the house down.  However, it took me three batches for the muffins to come out looking like muffins and not oddly misshapen blobs of whatever.  The first batch I burned completely.  The second batch, I beat too much (basically mugged the batter) and the heat was still too high.  The third one finally came out looking like a muffin.  I just had to alter the recipe I was using to make it look like a muffin.  It could have been my oven though.  My oven is crap.

I would say the first mistake I made in the baking process was that I didn’t watch the time and let the muffins burn.  Unlike cake or cupcakes, you don’t smell the burning as quickly.Another thing that I think helped was I didn’t originally split the dry and liquid ingredients – big mistake.Definitely need to that in order for them to come out better. Lastly, it really is okay if the muffin batter looks lumpy as all heck.  It bothered me a lot in the second batch, hence the reason I mugged them. I really had to get over the fact that they were going to just look lumpy.

It’s even okay if some flour is showing when you put them in the pan – don’t freak like I did.  I would say I probably flipped my shit I was so worried about what it would taste like.

The directions I used said to turn the oven to 400 degrees, I think by having it this high the bottom of the muffin burned before the top was actually cooked.So I reduced the heat down to 325 degrees.It took longer, about 21 minutes, but it came out much nicer this time.

I used the easiest recipe I could find to make muffins and altered it to have chocolate chips.  They came out great, according to my co-workers.  I also had to make sure Kyle tasted every single batch, before I brought them in – he doesn’t even really like sweets, so I’m sure that drove him nuts.

Items you will need:
Three toothpicks
Two mixing bowls
Two  measuring cups (1 cup size, and ½ cup size)
Two teaspoons (1 teaspoon size, ½ teaspoon size)
One tablespoon (1 tablespoon size)
One regular sized bowl.

Ingredients you will need:
4 cups of butter or ½ a stick
2 cups of flour
1 cup of whole milk (I used skim milk, and it came out fine)
½ cup of Domino’s sugar
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
½ teaspoon of salt
1 egg

Prep & cooking:
1. Using the regular bowl you pulled out, microwave the 4 tablespoons of butter for 1 minute.
2. Take out of the microwave, and make sure all of it’s melted.
3. Leave the butter in this bowl to cool down to room temperature.
4. Do not place in the fridge, it will start to solidify again.
5. Using one mixing bowl, place all of the dry ingredients in this bowl.
6. 2 cups of flour, ½ cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon of baking powder, ½ teaspoon of salt, 1 /2 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips.
7. Place this bowl to the side and now move to the liquid ingredients.
8. Using the second mixing bowl, crack the egg into it first.
9. Put the vanilla extract in next.
10. Now add milk to the egg/vanilla mix.
11. After the butter has cooled, pour it slowly into the mix.
12. DO NOT pour the hot butter into the mix –  it will inadvertently cook the egg, which you don’t want to do.
13. Make sure to thoroughly mix these ingredients together.
14. Follow this carefully, if you do not follow this direction, your muffins can come out look misshapen or hard.
15. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and no more than 10 seconds slowly and gently mix the ingredients together.
16. You will see pockets of flour in the batch and it will also look lumpy – I mean really lumpy.  That is okay.
17. You do not want to over mix the batter.
18. The original recipe said to pour the ingredients into the baking pan, I just spooned them in since my batter was very clumpy.

Baking:
1. Make sure your baking pan has been properly greased with Pam Baking or you can using muffin liners.
2. Place the muffin tin in the oven (make sure it’s at 325 degrees).
3. Put the timer on for 7 minutes.
4. After 7 minutes is up, check your muffins.  Make sure they aren’t burning.
5. Set the timer for another 7 minutes.  This is where you’ll do a toothpick test just in case they are cooking faster than anticipated because of the variance in the oven heat.  Do the toothpick test about halfway through the 7 minutes.
6. If the muffins aren’t ready after 14 minutes, do another 7 minutes, this time you should be watching the muffins much more carefully.  This is the time where they can burn very easily.  Make sure to do the toothpick test at least twice within these last 7 minutes.  The moment the toothpick test shows that nothing comes out when you poke the muffin, take the muffins out of the oven immediately and set them to cool.

*toothpick test – essentially you use a toothpick to poke the top of the muffin to see if the muffin is fully cooked or not.  If when the toothpick is pulled out it has parts of the muffin on it, it’s not ready to be taken out of the oven yet.  If the toothpick is clean when you pull it out, the muffins are ready to be taken out of the oven.*

twenty-nine weeks

How far along? 29 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 20 lbs - down a lb.

Maternity clothes? I live in dresses and skirts nowadays, I can't stand wearing pants anymore.  They are so much more comfortable and less restricting, especially since my belly seems to be growing at epic rates.

Stretch marks? Yes I have a couple - boo hoo hoo :( I knew I was going to get them.

Sleep: I seem to be waking up at 6 am EVERY SINGLE DAY, at least my child is putting herself to good use as an alarm clock.

Best moment this week: Started my new job and found out I do not have gestational diabetes.

Miss Anything? Being able to walk without getting out of breath, sitting without feeling pain from everything being compressed.  Jumping into bed.  Not feeling like a big fat whale.

Movement: The other day, I swear I felt her flip into the downward position.  Like a little rumble.

Food cravings: I want chocolate chip pancakes so badly....I should have Kyle make me some.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Greek yogurt.

Gender: Girl

Labor Signs: Nope.

Symptoms: It hurts to sit down now, everything feels compressed.  I literally have to lean back to feel comfortable.  My back is always killing me now.  Not only that, but my stomach has grown nearly an inch since last week.  I hate sitting my chair and something falls down, I have to really think if I want the item back.

Belly Button in or out? Flat, I'm sure it will be an outtie one of these days.  Just waiting for it to finally pop.

Rings on or off? Depending on the day, they fit perfectly, other days, they feel really tight.  With the cooler days they are looser.

Happy or Moody most of the time: For the most part, happy - except when I look in a mirror.

Looking forward to: People not telling I have so much further to go, thanks you don't need to remind me.

Monday fun day - easy brownies

So I mentioned in my last weekly post that I was starting my new job tomorrow.  Since I'm starting my new job and the fact that the Saints lost, I decided to make brownies.  I actually got this recipe from a friend, however, I also found it on allrecipes.com so she may have gotten it from here.  Either way, credit goes to them.  The directions are very similar, but her recipe is a slightly smaller version, which I decided to use.

Seriously though, these brownies are really easy to make.  I'm not the best baker, and I made these easily and they came out great.  So I would consider this an easy recipe for anyone to make.

Items you will need:
1 large pot
1 cake spatula
1 measuring cup
1/3 cup
1/2 cup
1 teaspoon
1 mixer
1 pan or 1 mini cupcake pan

Ingredients you will need:
1 cup of Domino's sugar
1/2 cup of butter (Land O Lakes has the perfect sized stick of 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup of all purpose flower
1/3 cup of Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs (medium or large works well)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder

Prep & cooking:
*pre heat the oven to 350 degrees*
1. First use the pot that's already out and turn the stove heat on low (or 2-3 depending on how your stove is).
2. Place the butter stick in, and let it melt most of the way.  You'll want a nice liquid form of butter.
3. Leave the pot on the heat, but make sure that the heat is low so that the ingredients aren't burned.
4. Place all of the rest of the ingredients into the pot - it doesn't matter the order.
5. Depending on if you're using an electric or a gas stove, take the pot off the heat, and then use the mixer.
6. Using the mixer, mix the ingredients until you get a nice consistency and it's fully mixed.
7. Now, carefully pour the mix into whatever pan you plan on using to bake the brownies, this is where you'll need the cake spatula to help scoop out the rest of the mix
8. Depending on what you chose, it will take either 12-15 minutes or 25-30 minutes.  For the pan it will take 25-30 minutes, for the mini cupcakes it will take 12-15 minutes.

And viola, brownies are done!

failing the glucose test

I got my results back my number was 139, I needed a 130 or below.  Of course, I fail by 9 points.  This doesn't mean I have gestational diabetes, it just means that I could have it.

To confirm that I don't have it, I had to do the three hour test, which is more intensive.  Many people fail the one hour test and pass the three hour test with flying colors.  I'm hoping I'm one of those people.  Although, everything I've predicted about this pregnancy has been correct, so we'll see if I actually pass the three hour test.

The worst thing about the three hour test - the blood draws.  They had to draw my blood four times.  So it's not only time consuming but kind of painful, and I got a nice big bruise from having my blood drawn so many times.

If I end up having GD, I will have to monitor my blood sugar four times a day, and alter my diet, and a bunch of other things my doctor didn't want to tell me in case I didn't have it.  So I'm hoping I don't have it.  For the sake of my sanity and health and Kyle's sanity.

I also don't look forward to the change in my diet.  If modifying my diet doesn't help with GD than I have take pills to help with the GD or have insulin shots.  Neither of which I'm looking forward to at all.  Another thing I found out, getting gestational diabetes also can make you prone to have diabetes 2 later on in life.  Even if I keep my weight in check or exercise, it can still be a potential problem later down the road.

I also found out that I'm slightly anemic too.  Apparently, Sophie's stealing all of my iron and using it for herself.  I'm sure my calcium is low as well.  It's hard to keep up drinking four servings of milk a day.  It's 32 oz.  I don't like milk that much either.  I'm finding out next week whether or not I failed the 3 hour test.

Gestational Diabetes food

Although if I do fail, I found a great link with gestational diabetes recipes site should I have to modify my diet.

nursery plans

So I decided to actually really sit down and really think about Sophie's room and where everything should go.  I decided to downsize the items that are in her room.

Originally, I had furniture that was handed down to me (from a friend) in Sophie's room.  It was a beautiful dresser with a mirror attached, nightstand, and a smaller dresser.  This is the new layout that I'm thinking for her room.

With this layout it allows for a more open concept seeing as her room has a bookcase attached to the wall, leaving me with three walls.  Her room is also kind of small meaning I have less room to work with.

While this only shows the big items, there will be smaller items in the room that will be in the room.  In the middle of her room, she'll have an animal carpet since her room has a wooden floor, kind of cold for the winter.  The crib, changing table and right in front of the glider will have smaller rugs for warmth. Most likely it will be memory foam bath mats (yes, you read that correctly), because I'm sure lots of standing will be done there.

It's November, and her room still isn't finished, but we've made good progress.  We have everything there, just not set up.  One thing that will be added in last will be her chalkboard - that mama's currently using in her weekly pictures.

I'm also still looking for a glider and have accommodated her room to have one if we find one, but if we don't, we'll just use the extra room in her room for something else.

What we have left to do:

Stock changing table with Sophie's stuff

Re-organize Sophie's room

Buy a rug

Buy a glider

Buy some wall shelves

Buy more hangers for her clothes...girl has too many clothes.