Pregnancy Updates

So I am still pregnant. People have been asking me for a while if I was ready to stop being pregnant and have the baby already. I kept saying no, I feel great... that was until Thursday. That was when I hit the pregnancy wall so to speak. I was ready.... now. It might have something to do with the fact that after being crampy for a few days and thinking I had lost my mucus plug my doctor told me "nope. no change." ARG!

Anyway, my blood pressure has been high as of lately, so I have a non-stress test this afternoon to make sure that the baby is tolerating it well. If I pass the test, I continue to be pregnant. If I fail the test I could be induced shortly. Right now we just have to wait and see.

I'll keep you posted.

Monkey Bread Obsession

Lately I have been OBSESSED with monkey bread. I don't know exactly why, but I have made three loaves this week and hubby made one last night. I have finally (or I should say we, hubby helped) perfected my monkey bread recipe and I thought I would share:

Molly's Monkey Bread

1/2 cup sugar
3 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
2 large cans refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (like Grands) or 4 small cans of refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter (melted)

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 12-cup fluted tube pan.

2. In large plastic food-storage bag, mix sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon. Separate dough into biscuits; cut each into quarters. Shake in bag to coat. Arrange in pan, adding walnuts and raisins among the biscuit pieces.

3. Mix brown sugar, butter, 1 tsp. cinnamon, and remaining cinnamon sugar mixture from bag; pour over biscuit pieces.

4. Bake 28 to 32 minutes or until golden brown and no longer doughy in center. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn upside down onto serving plate; pull apart to serve. Serve warm.

I'm Still Here...

And the baby is still inside.

Since I don;t really have much to say I thought I would share some Maternity Pics that hubby took when I was 32 weeks preggo. Not much has changed looks wise since then, just more stretch marks.

Great Blog About Real Bodies

Maybe I am just sensitive about this topic right now, but I found a great blog called The Shape of a Mother. showing real women's bodies during and after pregnancy. There is some nudity, so be warned if that type of thing offends you or you don't want your children to see it.

Check it out!

http://theshapeofamother.com/

Hubby's Dream Come True

Things I Learned Yesterday

1. Chocolate is not my friend. Not because I don't like him, but I don't like the people he hangs around with... namely heartburn and indigestion.

2. My ankles and my calves have had a love child... her name is CANKLE.

3. "You're carrying like a girl" (i.e. you look FAT from behind now too) is the cruelest phrase in the English language.

4. "You're still here" (i.e. you haven't had that baby yet???) comes in a close second.

Check, Check!

I was able to check one more thing of the pre-baby to do list today. I found a laundromat where you can drop things off, have them washed, and pick them up later that day. This is the best thing I have ever heard of. For some reason I was really dreading taking the comforter to the laundromat and sitting there while it washed and dried. But for a whopping $12.00 (I would have cost at least $10.00 to do it myself) someone will take care of it while I am at work. Well worth the addition $2.00 in my opinion.

Boy will it be nice to sleep under comforter that does NOT smell like two large labradors!

What a Great Idea!

So I was reading Motherload, who linked to Danny Seo's Blog, who had this picture showcasing organic bedding. I however could care less about the organic bedding... LOOK AT THAT WREATH!!! When I was younger, that would be 3rd grade through college I rode horses and competed in my fair share of horse shows. Somewhere in my mother's attic is a plastic bag filled with the ribbons I won. I didn't want to get rid of them but I didn't have any where to store them, nor did I have anything to do with them until now... I will be making that wreath!

What a great summer or in-between season wreath for the front door. And since I have the wreath form and all the ribbons, it would be FREE!

[Update: Someone else took this idea and ran with it... Looks good Corgipants!]

New Nursery Additions

Hubby and I went and returned a few things to Babies R Us this weekend and with all of that store credit we were able to get, among other things, a swivel glider and nursing stool for the baby's room.



The swivel glider was such a great deal. Regularly $299.00 the floor model was on clearance for $90.90. It is a little dirty on the bottom, but nothing that the upholstery attachment on my new carpet cleaner can't handle. Since it was on clearance and there was no matching ottoman (which would take up way too much room ) I opted for the Medela Nursing Stool, which several friends have used and love. For $25.00 how could you beat it.

How I Make My Challah

Step 1: Gather the ingredients
Step 2: Add wet ingredients to the bread maker pan

Step 3: Add the dry ingredients (minus the yeast) on top of the wet.
Step 4: Add the yest on top of the dry ingredients.

Step 5: Turn the bread maker to the dough setting for a 1.5 pound loaf
Step 6: Once the bread maker is finished turning raw ingredients into dough, turn out onto a non-stick surface. I LOVE my roulpat.
Step 7: Divdie dough into 3 (somewhat) equal portions.
Step 8: Roll each portion into equal length ropes.
Step 9: Start braiding. I start from the middle and braid to one end, flip the dough around and braid to the other. Thanks to Ari from Baking and Books for that idea.


Step 10: Place the braid into a greased 1.5 pound loaf pan and let rise for 30-45 minutes.


Step 11: Bake!

36 weeks and counting...

I had my 36 week checkup this morning and despite looking as if the baby had dropped I am assured by my OB that the baby is still very high up and I am not dilated at all.

Hubby keeps saying that I am going to have the baby next week but it looks like that is a little early. Thank God! I am not mentally ready yet and I still haven't shampooed the carpets yet.

Pecan Sticky Biscuits --- :)

Today as I was getting ready to go to work, I picked up the last of the holiday goodies, packed them in a bag and hauled them with me where I stationed them in the staff lounge. Feeling very proud of myself that I had cleaned all the goodies out of the house so I wouldn't over indulge any more I started to trawl though my favorite blogs. I came to bake or break and saw these. Now I have to have them... right now... or at least tonight when I get home.

Update: The universe WANTS me to make these as one of my co-workers just handed me a bag of pecans that she picked off of the trees in her family's pecan grove in Georgia.

Stocking up

'Tis the season for stocking up thanks to after-Christmas sales. I have been trying not to go overboard, as I am so apt to do, and this year have been pretty successful since I don't really feel like leaving the house much anymore.

Any way, thanks to 50% and 75% off sales I have been able to stock up on the following items:

-- Holiday cards for next year
-- Ribbon for sprucing up plain brown wrapping paper
-- Gift tags for the same purpose
-- Candy for baking (m & m's, Reeses Peices, and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups)
-- Body Wash from Bath and Body Works
-- Meat. The end of the month is the beat time to shop for meat and when I usually find veal, sausage, and steak at obscenely cheap prices.

I have also been picking up some non-sale (but essential) items in preparations for mommy-hood. Things like nursing bras, a nursing nightgown and robe, breast pads, milk storage bags, Purell, wipes, and who knows what else.

Cooking up a Storm

Maybe it is all part of nesting, or maybe it is because I have been off for over a week and have regained some energy, but I have been cooking up a storm.

Monday I made the Barefoot Contessa's Coconut Cupcakes for a potluck New Year's Eve party as well as Bran Muffins for the freezer (cross that off the pre-baby to do list).

Tuesday for diner we had meatball sandwiches. I made the meatballs (of course) and 2 pouinds extra for the freezer (also crossed off the to-do list). I even made the rolls to put the meatballs on. Hubby had bought me the Bread Bible Cookbook and I used the Whole Wheat Sesame Long Roll recipe. Boy were they good!

Last night I made Orange Peel Chicken and served it with brown jasmine rice (purchased at Trader Joes) and steamed broccoli. It was really good, there were hardly any leftovers, I really feel like I haven't eaten chicken in forever and have been craving it recently.

Tonight I will be making one of my favorite meals which is oven fried talapia (my version of a Weightwatchers Recipe for Fish and Chips, minus the chips) served with cheddar grits (I use real cheddar cheese not processed cheese crap and add a dash of tabasco to bring out the cheese flavor) and roasted artichoke hearts. Yum!