Happy Halloween

Baby O Update #4

It's that time again- time for another baby update. I feel like I was just posting the last one and it's already been 6 weeks. Time is flying by these days and I can't decide if that's a good or bad thing. While I am really enjoying being pregnant, I am definitely getting anxious to meet this little boy and enjoy our cozy winter together.

How far along am I? 

I am currently 30 weeks 3 days. Cruising right along.

Do we have a name picked out?

We are sooo close! I would say that the name is pretty much set unless we fall in love with a totally new one in the next ten weeks. We are choosing not to share with everyone until the baby's birthday just in case an entirely different "that's the one" type of name comes along that we just have to use. But as for right now, we believe we have already found a perfect fit for the little man and have stopped looking for any new candidates.

How am I feeling?

I have two new friends who have been paying me a visit over the past month and look like they are here to stay. I would like to introduce you to Mrs. Reflux and her husband Mr. Restlessness. They are the annoying couple that tend to show up together during the middle of the night. To be concise, let's just say they suck and the nights around here are getting pretty rough. Fortunately, I'm a great daytime napper! I have also been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions- especially after a long day of running around and working. Nothing too uncomfortable but definitely noticeable. Overall though, I really am feeling pretty darn good. I'm trying my hardest not to complain about the little pregnancy nuisances too much knowing that I will probably turn in all of my whining sympathy cards during the last few weeks of the pregnancy. I'm hoping that the Christmas and New Year's craziness with be the perfect distraction for the final weeks!

Can I feel the baby moving?

Yes Yes Yes! I can finally say that this baby is moving all of the time! It took about 29 weeks to finally get in the swing of things. For a while, he was worrying us a little with his extremely mellow days. Even when I was resting, the kid wouldn't budge for hours at times. Well, those days seem to be over and I can finally feel him kicking around even while I am up and moving around myself. It's so reassuring and I love knowing he is growing like he should. Also, this kid is a hiccup maniac. I typically feel hiccups 2 or 3 times and day and they last 10 minutes or so. It's the strangest sensation and I absolutely love it!

How have we been planning for the baby?

We had our first baby shower last weekend. It was a couples shower with all of our favorite friends. More details and pics of the shower coming up in another post. We have also signed up for a childbirth class that we will be taking in mid November. Although I can handle myself in the "newborn care" arena, I definitely wanted to take an actual childbirth class so we can both be better prepared for the delivery of this little one. I am hoping that the class will help us feel more prepared and comfortable in the weeks to come. We are also in the process of picking a day to have some maternity photos taken. We haven't had any professional pictures taken since our wedding so it will be a great opportunity to not only take some great baby bump shots but also get a few new updated ones of the two of us.

Am I wearing maternity clothes?

I am wearing maternity pants 100% of the time now. They are the best thing that has even happened to me! After months of wearing these glorious zip free jeans, I'm sure I will forget to zip the fly of my real jeans once I transfer back to them post baby. I have a select few non-maternity shirts that I can still wear but most of them are getting too short and I am transitioning over to more and more maternity tanks, t's, and tops.

Baby stats? 

We had an ultrasound at 28 weeks to check in on the baby's size and growth. As I previously mentioned, we were getting a little nervous about his lack of movement and wanted to make sure he was looking a-okay. Everything measured perfectly. He was in the 54%tile and weighed 2 lbs 6 oz. He was also breech (with plenty of time to still flip into a more desired position) and 100% without a doubt still a BOY! :) 

Belly Pics?

26 weeks                                  28 weeks                                30 weeks

Milestones?

Making it to the 3rd trimester! I still can't believe we are in the final stretch of this whole adventure. Also, around two weeks ago a stranger finally came up to me and acknowledged the bump. It's about darn time. And the greatest milestone of the entire pregnancy? Passing my glucose tolerance test!!! It was a very close call but I officially passed and can still enjoy the sweet and carb filled foods I love most!

Lastly, I'll leave you with one more belly pic from 30 weeks. Last night we attended Jakob's annual "Nerd Ball" (as I lovingly call it) with all of his Loyola classmates and faculty members. It was the first time I needed to dress up since being pregnant and it was quite the adventure finding the perfect dress. Fortunately, I came across this little number which was pretty cute and actually ended up having a great night out with all of the science nerds. Shh... don't tell Jakob!

Iced Halloween Cookies

It has been a Halloween tradition of mine to make iced sugar cookies for 10+ years now. It started off as something I did with my high school friends and then became a tradition my college friends and I carried on. It has now become a fall ritual that we plan for every year. Everyone looks forward to a full day of rolling dough, icing cookies, and making a certain unmentionable "bonus cookie" with the end of the cookie dough remnants. This year was no exception.

It starts off with some simple sugar cookies. I have 20some Halloween cookie cutters.. Frankenstein, haunted houses, creepy cats, ghosts... the list goes on. 

 This year Kirsten and I decided to keep it simple and stick with pumpkins and leaves. How very fall-ish!

My Favorite Sugar Cookie Recipe-

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter or margarine (I use a combination of both)

1 egg

3 Tbs whipping cream (milk will work just fine)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

*Combine sugar, butter, egg, whipping cream, vanilla, and almond extract. Beat at a medium speed until light and fluffy. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until a soft dough forms. 

*Cover with plastic wrap and cool for 1-2 hours (this step in a must in working with rolled dough!)

*Heat oven to 400 degrees. Roll dough out on a floured surface until 1/4" thick and cut with your favorite cookie cutters. Transfer to a cookie sheet and bake for 5-7 minutes until the edges are golden brown.

For a change this year, we decided to make glossy icing rather than my favorite buttercream icing. While it's not quite as tasty as buttercream, the glossy icing makes for a really cute final product. The colors are brighter and the icing hardens a bit more for easier storage.  Plus, you can actually pipe the glossy icing onto the cookies which is a little more fun than using a plain ole knife if you ask me!

Glossy Sugar Cookie Icing-
3 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbs milk
3 Tbs light corn syrup
1 tsp almond extract
assorted food coloring

*Mix sugar and milk until smooth. Add in corn syrup and almond extract. You may need to add additional corn syrup until you get the perfect thin glossy consistency.
*Divide into small bowls, add food coloring, and pour into piping bags.

 Ice away!  Decorate with your favorite cookie decor. Sprinkles, etc.

Share with your friends!

After a l-o-n-g day of icing cookies, promise yourself you will not make sugar cookies again until next Halloween. That is unless you are crazy, which I most definitely am. I'm planning to make these babies again with the buttercream icing this weekend with another group of dedicated Halloween cookie decorators. We may have to pull out the cats and ghosts for a little change though- I don't think I can decorate another leaf for a while :) 

Baby Loves Robots.. We Hope

 We are really crossing our fingers that baby Ondrey likes robots. 

Or at the very least, isn't totally freaked out by them!

As I have mentioned before, we have been working on the nursery over the last few months and decided against any particular theme for the room. Knowing that we have plenty of years ahead of us when the little dude is into Cars or one of the Bob's (as in "Builder" or "Sponge"), we figured we would take advantage of this limited time and just enjoy decorating the room in bright colors and hoping it would simply look like a cute kids room. That was until Jakob found the robot painting mentioned in this post and fell in love with the idea of decorating the space with robots. Trying not to go over the top with the idea, we compromised on some simple Ikea frames and inexpensive robot postcards that we found at this cute Etsy shop. I love the final result and hope that the little guy will love them too.

I also hope he grows to love his furry siblings...

And loves heading off to school someday...

 And perhaps loves to make music or play sports...

But in the end, I can really only hope that he loves to love.. and knows how much he is loved.

They really are adorable little robots if I do say so myself.

Cookie Dough Dips

I was trying to come up with a new fruit dip yesterday when I stumbled upon this cute little blog with the most incredible idea....

COOKIE DOUGH DIPS!!

OMG! My sugar loving self was obsessed with the idea. I'm the girl who makes cookies and brownies solely for the moment when I can lick the dough off the spoon... over and over again. I could typically care less about the cookies or brownies themselves. Who says the dough can't be better than the finished product? 

I doubled the recipe below and thought I would give all four different dips a whirl. You can easily use the recipe below for one large batch of your favorite or split it in half and try out two of them. 

Basic Cookie Dough Dip

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 8oz block of softened cream cheese

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add brown sugar and whisk over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Set aside to cool.

In a mixer, blend cream cheese and powdered sugar. Slowly incorporate your cooled buttery brown sugar mix into the cream cheese mixture. Add appropriate mix-ins to make your favorite dip(s) below. Serve with apples, pretzels, graham crackers.. or maybe just hand everyone a spoon :)

And now, without further adieu, let me introduce you to my 4 new best friends...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

For this dip you simply add 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips to the original dough. 

 Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough 

This dip is my personal favorite. It really does taste like snickerdoodle dough.. love it!! I added 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg to the original dough.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

This one seemed to be the crowd favorite of the four. I added 1/2 cup of peanut butter and a 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips to the original dough. 

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

A chocolate lovers dream. Tastes just like brownie batter I tell you. Simply add 1/2 cup cocoa powder and 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips to the original dough. 

Pick your favorite. Or make em all! They really do make a sexy team all lined up together.

 Have fun!

(As a sidenote- I fully understand that it's a little crazy to photograph dips in a windowsill- I needed some natural light for my little point and shoot since I have learned to despise a flash. I just wanted to make sure you know that I am aware of the ridiculousness going on in these photos. Can't wait to have my camera back. I didn't think I would miss it this much!)  

Strolling Along...

As I was out this morning taking Marsh for a brisk fall walk, my mind wandered to this upcoming spring and the empty stroller parked in the corner of our nursery. A stroller that will soon be filled with my sweet baby boy. A stroller that Marshall will have to learn to walk next to as we stroll through our neighborhood during the sunny days of spring. A stroller that will take countless trips to parks and zoos and Starbucks. And while my nerves can get the best of me some days and the thought of actually giving birth makes me incredibly anxious, I can't help but look at that empty stroller and feel nothing but joyful anticipation and utter excitement for what is to come..

11 weeks to go!

Caramel Apple Pie

She's yummy looking, eh? She tastes even better than she looks- this I promise you. And this week she won me a dessert bake-off blue ribbon. Okay, okay, it may have been a condo association dessert competition and one of the entries may or may not have been rice crispy treats, but first place is first place! First place also comes with an engraved "trophy" (baking sheet) and cash money prize. Not too shabby condo association, not too shabby at all.

It seems only fair to share this award winning delicious apple pie recipe with you all. Based off of this popular recipe, it's really quite simple and will make a fancy pie maker out of even the least experienced baker.

Ingredients-

Pastry dough for a double pie crust (you can attempt to make your own homemade pie crust dough but mine is always a disaster and it's just so simple to use to pre-made refrigerated dough- you make the call)

6 large apples

1/2 cup butter

3 Tbs flour

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

3 Tbs jarred or homemade caramel sauce (optional)

Directions-

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Peel and slice apples.

Place one layer of pie crust into a pie pan. Fill with apples.

Roll out second layer of pie crust. Cut into 1 inch strips. Layer pastry strips in a woven "over and under" pattern for a beautiful "looks like you worked all day" lattice work crust.

Trim excess crust strips. Pinch bottom crust with two fingers to make a cute little pie edge.

Make your caramel sauce. Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add in flour and stir until a paste forms. Add water, sugar, brown sugar and spices. Bring to a boil.

Pour caramel sauce over the pie. Pour slowly so that the caramel sauce does not run over the sides. Oops!

 Place pie in the preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes.

  Turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake for 35 minutes more until golden brown.

If desired, drizzle with additional caramel sauce for a little extra somethin' somethin', or simply enjoy as is! There you have it- easy as pie!! :)

A Camping Getaway

When we first decided to take a camping trip with our fellow church friends in October I envisioned a chilly weekend spent bundled up shivering by a bonfire. Wrong-o! We had the most gorgeous weather with toasty sunny days in the 80's and chilly comfortable sleeping weather in the 50's at night. You couldn't have asked for more perfect camping weather.

We had a great time getting to know more of our ResCov friends and had ample time to relax. Relaxing for me meant lounging in a hammock..

and for Jakob meant "studying" at his makeshift desk.

With fall in full swing the foliage was absolutely beautiful. Bright colors everywhere! Was I able to take any pics of this fall beauty? Of course not. My nice camera is in Rome with my parents taking pictures of a whole different kind of beauty. 

While we may have enjoyed ourselves, I don't think it can even compare to how much fun this guy had.

Marshall was in absolute puppy heaven!! He was off his leash for 3 straight days and had the freedom to run and play like a pooch in the wild. This urban dog LOVED it. Running around like a maniac with his BFF Helo, swimming in the lake, snacking on an endless buffet of sticks, and playing fetch with multiple dog lovers .. let's just say he's still sleeping the wild weekend off.

All in all, I would say it was the perfect fall weekend. With good company, great fire roasted camping food, and a sleepy puppy, we couldn't have asked for more. Next year we will add a baby to the camping mix... a whole different kind of adventure awaits!

Homemade Applesauce

As a young girl I fondly remember having a Haralson apple tree in our backyard. We would look forward to my Grandpa Sandee coming over every fall and harvesting countless apples from our tree with us. I'm talking hundreds and hundreds of apples. After picking the apples, he would come inside and make large batches of his famous applesauce. Some to enjoy now, some to share with family and friends, and some to freeze for later. Store bought applesauce just can not compare to this fresh almost dessert like treat. This year, the Havens so nicely picked up a bag of honeycrisp apples for me while they were out apple picking in northern IL last weekend. Honeycrisps are the perfect baking apple- nice and crisp with the perfect ratio of sweet and tart. Of course, the first thing on my apple recipe to-do list was Grandpa's applesauce.

First, peel 4-5 large apples (you can easily double or triple this recipe). Cube into 1 inch chunks.

In a large pot add apples to 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp nutmeg.

Simmer for 10 minutes more until tender. Mash apples. I like to use a potato masher to keep it simple.

Enjoy hot right out of the pot (over vanilla ice-cream "Jessica style") or cool and serve chilled. Store in an airtight container in your fridge for a week or freeze and enjoy later.

That's only if you don't eat it all right away....