Me eat cookie

I know I know, two posts within almost a matter of hours..... I'm inspired because I realized I forgot to post the link to the recipe to cookies that I made for our Thanksgiving feast.  I waited until Thursday morning, when we needed to be up north by about 11/11:30... But they were super quick and delicious, and embodied everything for Thanksgiving - pumpkin, dessert, and instead of the dried cherries I used dried cranberries to make it a bit more festive.

Here's the recipe - I HIGHLY recommend...

http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/pumpkin-oatmeal-cookies/

I didn't have parchment paper, so I just lightly greased the baking sheet.  I think that I probably cooked them a bit too long (and I was on the light side).  So definitely keep an eye on them.

They were a pretty big hit though, and they felt pretty light after such a heavy meal.

So enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  I hope that everyone ate to their hearts content, laughed until their bellies hurt, and just enjoyed the holiday.  I know I did all of those things, and I'm still trying to figure out how to breathe with my abdomen being taken over by a nearly 2 lb baby.  It makes it really hard to gorge myself, which was slightly disappointing.  But, probably better for me in the long run.

We spent the day up north at John's parents house, my dad came in from Dayton, and we had a great time.  This time my dad used flour instead of powdered sugar for the gravy (oops!), John smoked a ham, Pat cooked a turkey, and we had all the regular fixing's and it was fantastic!  We all laughed and shared stories, exactly what I envision the holiday to be.  I can't even imagine what our next year will be like with our little guy being a part of it.  And if he's anything like JuliAnna's little boy, he'll be walking (!!!) or if he's anything like me, he'll will have no interest in walking whatsoever. 

On more baby related news, we have been working on the nursery transformation.  We decided to get rid of the green walls (which I have disliked since we moved in) and really get going on it.  It was quite the process as I'm a little bit of a mini-hoarder.  But we managed to box everything up, take the shelves off the wall, and get crackin'.  Actually, John did pretty much all of it.  He took the week off and spent it going up and down ladders and inhaling paint.  It was quite the success in the end.  He did a wonderful job.  We picked a gray color that is nearly the same color as the rest of the house, on accident, but I think it will go great as a backdrop for all of the things we have going in to the room. 

The other day we were listening to the radio, and the people were talking about "how you know when your guy is ready for a baby'... and most of the answers were the standard "he's noticing babies.... he wants to hold a baby...".  I realized mine this last week.  I realized how ready John was for our little guy when he started becoming a little bit crazed with house projects.  He has been a man on a mission.  We got a new faucet for our kitchen, we painted the nursery, we started looking at vanities for our bathrooms, and started talking about all the things that we want to get done in the next four months.  I wish I had realized all of these things before, I might have pushed or this baby thing a little earlier so that our house could have been in a much different level of completeness! 

I have promised pictures for a while now, and I would hate to disappoint, so below are some pictures of the room:

 Cleanest this floor has looked for as long as we've been here.  This wall is where we will have the crib, the non-window wall.

 The wall without the window will have the shelves on it, as well as the dresser/changing table.

 Now the doors to the closet need to be painted - they used to be the best looking thing in the room, now they look terrible!

Oh yeah, I look awesome.  Haha.

I'm excited to start getting all the pieces put together and really get everything going.  Crib is on the horizon, possibly stroller, and I'm still trolling craigslist looking for the perfect mid-century wooden dresser.  I've already gotten a Paddington Bear and an orange corduroy aardvark, and we have a stash of things from my Aunt Kelly and John's family... So we are getting there.  And we are getting excited about everything -- if only I could figure out what my maternity policy will be so that I can start getting prepared for that.  One day.... one day.

How's pregnancy treating me you might ask?  Well, so far it's been going exceptionally well.  My doctor says I'm looking good, I'm passing all my "tests", my glucose levels are ridiculously normal, my questions are pretty mundane, and I'm feeling great.  I'm having some serious problems in my left hip, a hip that hurt before and now seems like it's just kind of falling apart.  But the good news is that  I start PT this week to try and help me loosen it up.  As long as it helps me so that I can walk by the end of this pregnancy, then I think it will be a win for me.  I'm looking forward to that for sure.  

Oh fun fact - I finally was able to feel him move!  Now, I don't get to feel him very often, but it was pretty exciting to feel him really start moving.  I was starting to get really nervous, I had asked my doctor about it and she wasn't worried at all.  She said it could still be too early, and it would be intermittent.  But that Sunday after my appointment I was woken up by this crazy feeling in my belly.  I started pressing my hands and I could actually feel him on the outside moving around as well.  It was pretty fantastic, not going to lie.  But of course, it's like 9am and John is still not quite up yet.  I whispered at him to see if he was awake yet (he wasn't) so then I just laid there and hoped that John would wake up before the little guy decided to stop moving around.  Luckily, not too long after John rolled towards me and I was able to get him to put his hand and he actually was able to feel it too.  It was pretty awesome.  Not going to lie.  Since then, it's been really sporadic, but I like being able to feel it every once in a while.  He moved around a little bit after lunch/dinner tonight, so I was feeling pretty confident that he must be my kid if he's excited about Thanksgiving food.   Ha.

I wish I had more to say -- other than the stomach skin feeling like an Indian rug burn, it's been "easy" and I feel so incredibly lucky.  I'm hoping that there are no more all-nighters in my future (I still don't think I've recovered from that), and much more rest and relaxation.  John has been fantastic, and he gets me water and cooks dinner and does dishes... many of those things he did before, but he does them in a much happier way than he used to.  Ha.  

Without further ado - here are my latest pictures... I finally broke down and bought maternity pants and clothes.  I have to say, why on EARTH don't we just live in elastic pants?  They are amazing!  I didn't realize what I was missing, and I'm sad that I am waiting until nearly my 3rd trimester to get started with them.  I now essentially wear comfy pants all day long.  I heart pregnancy.  :)

(Oh yeah, and next Friday -- not tomorrow Friday -- is the start of my third trimester.... holy crap balls)

 Week 23:  The Peaceful Papaya (still not moving... still waiting)

 Week 24: The Erratic Ear of Corn (just felt movement!!)

Week 25:  The Effervescent Eggplant (still kickin')

I waited a little long to take the picture this week, but at least I managed to get it in before the next week rolls in.  Here's to my last week of the 2nd trimester!  Hopefully it goes as well as the others have been so far.  Looking forward to the final stage, and riding out the rest of this crazy journey.

Sandy Lake Michigan

It's been a while.  I've been so busy with work, it's a little bit overwhelming.  Hopefully these deadlines can end soon so that I can resume a normal pace and normal stress level.  Until then... yikes!  It's going to be quite the end of the year, but I guess that just means it will help everything move along a little bit faster.  Good and bad?

The other day I had a field visit, so I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the Hurricane Sandy effect on Lake Michigan.  I've seen some big waves on the lakefront before, and these were probably barely bigger than some, but with all the hype it was hard to resist walking over there.  Driving back along Lakeshore Drive, all the shoulders and pull-outs were full of people who had pulled over, gotten out of their car, and walked to take pictures.  People are a little crazy.

I walked over to Belmont Harbor and then walked along the lakefront down to Diversey.  So many people were out with cameras and camera phones documenting it all.  People were down by the edge with the waves getting their pictures taken in Mickey Mouse Fantasia style.  I saw some guy start screaming at some people who were on the lower level of the concrete path about how he'd seen people die that way and how dumb they were being.  They were sheepish after that.  I made a highlight reel for someone when I was engulfed in a giant wave - or at least I hope I did, because otherwise it was totally not worth it.  I was being exceptionally careful.  I was on the other side of the boulders on the GRASS - probably 75'-100' from the water's edge and 20' above it.  I turned my back and within minutes I was completely engulfed... Sheets of water on either side of me and over my head.  I was soaked across my back, but you couldn't even tell from the front.  It was miserably cold.  About 15 minutes later, I was hit by a second wave in a separate section of the lakefront.  I chose to take the bus home instead of walking the 2 miles back... I thought my legs were going to freeze up, and while they didn't freeze they did turn a lovely shade of cherry tomato red. 

Here is some of what I saw:

 Glad I made the trek, but really wish I hadn't gotten hit by those dumb waves... I also wish it could have been sunny so that my pictures didn't look so gray... but it was exceptionally gray that day.

Now for the pregnancy stuff.  Wish I had more updates.  I really don't, other than pictures - which I guess is better than no news, right?  I still feel great... I still fit in my regular pants and generally most of my clothes.  Some things are more comfortable than others.  I think it helps that I've always worn clothes that are more on the "bigger" side than on the "tight" side, so that probably helps a lot.  

I'm getting a weird burning sensation across the top of my stomach - it feels like an Indian Rug Burn across the meeting of my rib cage.  So that's awesome... Heartburn has started to intermittently set in.  I wasn't prepared for that at all because I've never had heartburn really in my life.  It's super aggravating so I truly feel for people that suffer from it on a regular basis. I don't know that I could survive.

On the movement front, I'm waiting.  I've tried a couple of things to see if I'm just not paying enough attention, so I've spent time relaxing before going to bed trying to concentrate, and I've had the exact same response as I had in Ireland -- I fall asleep.  So, I'm either really bad at this intuitive thing, or he's just not really moving in a way that I can feel him yet.  Either way, I would like it to happen soon, I think that would be a good way to ease some of my anxiety.

We are starting to look into classes.  They are so expensive... I was shocked.  I figured it would be like "you're going to spend a fortune having a baby at our hospital, let's go ahead and give you a break on this one".... Strangely enough - no.  It's one giant money-making scheme I tell you!

Our roommate moved out this last weekend, so we are free and clear to start making updates to the spare room and start the transformation into a nursery.  That's exciting, overwhelming, exhausting to just think about.  We have to start by moving out the desk, which means we have to make room for the desk elsewhere... and move shelves and paint walls, and get rugs, and get baby things.  I don't know quite where to start, but I heard from a really smart friend that we should look into a crib sooner than later - especially with the holidays coming.  So that's probably going to be one of our big pushes (pun intended?) in the next few weeks.  Hopefully we find something we can both agree on that doesn't make me faint with cost.  Looking forward to getting some of these projects started though!  

So, I guess I'll just cut to the chase and show the latest pictures.  I put Weeks 21 and 22 next to Week 8 just for comparison sake.  I guess it's safe to say that my belly is bigger than I thought it was...  In the morning I look almost normal, but by the end of the day with gravity and tired ab muscles it definitely sticks out more.  I'm really into comfy pants. 

Week 21:  The Boy Banana (Chalupa Batman!!)

Week 22:  The Stationary Spaghetti Squash  (Still chillin' without me feeling anything...)

So there you have it.. the latest and greatest from our little world here in Chicago.

Tomorrow is bridesmaids dress shopping... I think that me in my 6th month of pregnancy is equal to me 3 months post partum, right??

Oh, and I finally broke down to get a body type pillow, and I think it's helping.  I don't have as much of an urge to sleep on my back anymore, so the panic of denying blood and oxygen to the little guy isn't as strong.  Means a little more sleep for me!

Can't believe it's already November... so close to Thanksgiving and then rolling into Christmas.  This is going to go so fast...