baking for baby

Today I went to a friend's baby shower and it was great. I met up with some old friends and spent time bonding with my fellow mom to be. She is also having a little girl so it was fun to watch her open girlie gifts. Over the past few months I have really learned from her and shared similar experiences. I feel like I am following in her footsteps. It's a blessing to have several pregnant women growing with me and even new moms who offer great advice and words of wisdom. Thanks to you all!

So back to the days main event...everyone was asked to bring something to the shower. I signed up to bring cupcakes because I thought they were the easiest and the cutest. For those of you that know me really well, I'm not the one who usually does all the cooking or baking. That would be where my loving husband comes into the picture. He's the chef in this household and usually comes to my recuse when he sees me struggle in the kitchen. So when I told him I signed up for cupcakes I was expecting him to eagerly look up a fun, tasty recipe. To my dismay he left me alone to create and pull something together.

Ok, ok, so he didn't leave me completely alone because he knows better. It's almost always a guarantee that whatever I cook is going to end up burnt. Today I mixed up all the ingredients, poured them into the little molds, and put them into the oven, minutes later i completely forgot I had put anything in the oven. Ooops! But at least I turned the oven on! Right? Joel quickly got up and ran over to the oven to pull them out. Basically he came to my rescue and saved me from what could have been my hundredth baking disaster. Thank you Joel for keeping an eye on me!

So maybe I'm not a baker but I do enjoy moments of being creative. I found these cute cupcake decorating ideas online for baby showers and I had seen some from other showers that I was wanting to try for myself. One I had seen was decorated like a baby rattle. It was an ambitious task but I went for it (I mean, if the cupcakes weren't going to be edible, at least they were going to look edible). Here is a picture of what i pulled together

They were a hit at the shower and the girls said they were good. I never tried them because I was too full by the time dessert came around. I guess next time I should try them before I serve them to a group of people. Hopefully I didn't leave any ingredients out(another thing I'm guilty of) I guess I'm learning along the way.

Joel's rebuttal:

Hey, I didn't feel like baking. Sue me.

decorating with a kick

Joel and I have really been blessed. Not only do we have a loving family, we also have generous, giving and loving friends. Several of which have offered to lend or even give us things to help prepare for our little girl.

As some of you may know, Joel and I have been traveling lots lately. I feel like we are hardly ever home and when we are, we are always on the run. So when we came home from our most recent trip I had a sudden urge to start combing through many of our belongings and trying to figure out where they would go once the baby comes into our life. We have an entire office that we will turn into a nursery which means we either have to sell, donate or figure out how we can turn our furniture into something baby friendly. It's really got me to start thinking about how we our going to decorate and plan for the nursery. And I'm loving every bit of it.

I guess it doesn't hurt that I'm also feeling our little girl move. That's right...she's MOVING around now. It's hard to explain the feeling but it's not little flutters, it's more like little nudges. Reminders to me throughout the day that she is here. This could explain my sudden urge to plan the nursery and if so, then I really like the reminders. It's so amazing to know that something is in me and growing and stretching. The other day Joel and I went to the doctor and we actually saw her hiccuping on the screen. It was so cool. We also saw her little arms reach out and make a punch. My guess is that she is making space in my womb as she continues to grow bigger. She's almost a pound now!

I've found that over the past couple of weeks she tends to rest in the morning and then become more active in the afternoon and night. Almost everyday when I lay down to go to sleep she wakes up and starts moving around. I'm used to not being able to fall asleep because I'm not tired enough, the lights are on, or there is too much noise but I never thought about not being able to sleep because something in my belly would be keeping me up. The feeling is great though and I'm excited to share it with Joel. I can reach over and put his hand on my stomach and have him feel her for a while. He finally gets to share some of my moments with her.

As she grows and makes bigger movements I'm curious to find out how I'm going to change. How will I take shape? What other things will I experience with her and how will I apply them to my life? What little messages will she send me over the course of the next few months? I'm looking forward to it all even if that means i get an extra kick or two.

Think Pink

I never dreamed that I would love the color pink so much. We just found out we are having a GIRL and I've been dreaming in pink ever since. GiRl gIrL GiRl!!! I'm so excited and can hardly contain myself. Joel and I really didn't have a preference for the sex of the baby but I can't help but feel spoiled to decorate and pick out all the cutest, girliest things possible. Joel doesn't share my pink enthusiasm but he's more then ecstatic that we are having a girl.

I'm 19 weeks pregnant right now and starting to show. Just the other day I felt our baby girl moving around in my belly. She is 1/2lb right now so I'm figuring as she's growing and getting bigger she's most likely getting restless or just checking out the space. I'm looking forward to feeling bigger movements as she grows and tires of being in my belly.

So now we get to start some real planning. Any tips out there? Decorating ideas, baby necessities, where to shop? In the mean time I've been reading up and taking notes from fellow moms. I've let Joel know that I want to paint the baby room pink. I'm trying to ease him in to all the girl things to come, although he's in for some big changes either way. We even got our first pink outfit! Joel seems to be ok with this one. :)

Thanks Nick and Nikki!!!!

I find myself often thinking about how much this little girl is going to love him and look up to him. Then I think about how Joel is going to be such an awesome dad and fall in love with the color pink just like me.

not a typical day

Today was unlike any other. I've been doing as much baby reading as possible in my free time. Although I haven't been able to keep up on everything I have tried to stay up to speed at least on a weekly basis. In my latest late night readings I've learned that my hormone levels are out of whack and that my emotions could at any time get the best of me.

Well...today I woke up and my emotions attacked. I couldn't explain what was happening but I felt powerless against myself. Like a 5 year old trapped in a 26 year old body. The littlest thing meant the world to me and for a slight second I might actually have thought my own world was about to crumble. To make matters worse, when I tried to explain my feelings to my loving husband I clearly recall him giggling as I tried to hold back my tears from flaring up even more. Again, picture a little girl in despair...I could hardly breathe let alone explain what I was feeling. Joel really did have the best intentions and was doing his best to understand me. I really just caught him off guard and he didn't know how to respond. Plus I looked ridiculous.

The moment I got my emotions all out of my system I was back to my old self. I was even able to joke about it with Joel later in the day and share the story with most of my friends. It was funny, made no sense, and was so random. I decided it's best to categorize any future happenings like this as 'incidents'. It helps me to feel a little less crazy and I find I can laugh at myself much easier.

yoga anyone?

So the other day I went to my first prenatal yoga class. Never a big fan of yoga I wasn't sure what to expect. My one experience with yoga prior to pregnancy was slow and boring and I actually think I may have fallen asleep. At the urge of my doctor I checked it out anyways and read up a little on it before my class. I also asked Alexa, one of my best friends, that also happens to be pregnant to come along with me. (by the way, having a pregnant best friend is awesome)

So we both showed up at the class yoga mats in hand ready to conquer any pose that came our way. I must say, prenatal yoga is much more challenging than I ever expected. In addition to all the breathing techniques, I found myself in interesting positions that were stretching parts of my body I didn't know could be stretched. I realized that I really do have the worst posture ever and that standing up straight for long periods of time is more uncomfortable to me than being hunched over. Apparently I also like to hold my breath when I'm in deep lunges. I can only imagine how red my face would get before our kind instructor would whisper, "breathe Kimberly." Despite my trouble breathing the class was great. I learned a lot about myself, my body and what great benefits there are to practicing yoga while pregnant.

I may be unbalanced and uncoordinated already, and I will probably get worse as this belly gets bigger. But for now I'm going to give this yoga thing a shot.

for anyone interested in yoga (prenatal or not) here's the info for where i go:
www.glowingyoga.com