22 Weeks

I am 22 weeks today and happy to say that things are going great! Baby girl is growing and I can feel her getting stronger. I'm still loving pregnancy. And I think I'm finally to the point where when people see me (from the front) they can tell that I'm pregnant, and that's exciting for me! 

I have been able to feel this little girl moving around from about the time I was 16 weeks, and I love every nudge and movement that I've been able to feel! However, she has turned from my sweet little nudger into my karate chopper-kicker. Seriously, I think this one doesn't like to be still unless she's sleeping. It's not more than 10-15 minutes in between bursts of kicking and rolling. However, whenever she chooses to go into "Ninja Mode" Derek is either not with me or isn't close enough to be able to feel her move. And if he puts his hand on my stomach, she is so calm.

 It's so exciting that she's moving more and getting stronger! I love it. But, there is one down-side. 

Her new favorite target = my bladder. 

It is the weirdest feeling in the world to have a tiny little person stomping on your bladder. From the inside. 

I am SO excited to get this little girl here! She has already received some clothing from Grandma Dorene and The Brooksbys (Riley even helped pick them out), and I constantly go into the second bedroom just to pick up and look at the tiny little outfits. 

22 weeks down, 18 to go!

I'm a Pregnant Kickboxer

I'm taking a class this semester called Aerobic Fitness Techniques. It's a class where we basically learn how to be fitness instructors. Throughout the course of the semester, we are required to teach in class three different times, and teach outside of class ten different times. Well, today is my first time teaching in class.

I decided to put together a kickboxing routine, because lets face it, kickboxing is fun. And it does not involve me having to try and dance in front of a large group of people, which is most definitely a plus.

So I put together my routine and was practicing it last night. I shut all the blinds and stood in the kitchen looking into the bathroom so that I could see myself in the mirror. I felt slightly ridiculous once I saw Derek watching me.

"Derek! Don't watch me! It's embarrassing."

He just laughed at me. So I punched him.

The next thing I knew, he was standing next to me marching and following all the moves that I was doing. I started laughing and shoved him a little.

"What?! I'm just trying to be supportive! Come on, babe."

And he was. It was very cute to see him standing next to me trying to keep up with the fast-paced routine. It made me laugh and helped me to relax. Eventually, once I combined the knees with two roundhouse kicks and a punch, he got lost and gave up. But I give him a big fat A+ for being a good husband.

So yeah. I'm teaching in about forty minutes. I'm really nervous. But I'm also really excited! I think it's going to be really fun. I just hope my shirt doesn't bounce up and give the class a quick flash of my pregnant belly.

And just because I love this picture, I'm posting it so you can see it and love it too.
This is Derek and Hallie hanging out when we babysat for Abbie and Adam one Saturday night.

Hallie loves her Uncle Derek, and was perfectly content to sit next to him and play with her toy. She's such a doll!

Maybe?

So in my spare time (a.k.a. when I should be doing my homework) I like to think about what colors I want in the second bedroom for when I get to decorate it all cute and get it ready for this baby girl. I decided to actually try out some of the colors I was thinking about. So I took some of my favorite quotes/things, and put them together to make these three possible options for wall art in the nursery.

So what do you think? I like the colors, the creamy beige with the orange, teal, pink, and magenta. But I'm not set. Opinions?

20 Weeks: Halfway!

I'M HALF WAY THROUGH THIS PREGNANCY! 

Not only is that exciting in the hopes that I'll start showing more and people will be able to clearly tell I'm pregnant, but that means that this sweet little girl will be here in about twenty weeks! 

Now that I'm 20 weeks, here are some things I can still do:

1. I can still fit into my normal jeans. I do have to wear them a little bit lower than normal, but they haven't really gotten too much tighter. However, I'm pretty sure that within the next month I'll have to start doing the whole "rubber band around the button and through the button hole" trick.

2. I can still wear most of my normal shirts. Some of them are starting to get too short and will flash about an inch or so between the top of my jeans and the bottom of my shirt.

3. I can still eat whatever the heck I want and not get sick. I have had no sickness whatsoever, still, and am SO very grateful. 

4. I can still sleep in my favorite position: on my left side but with my shoulders rotated so that they lay more flat on the bed than my hips. Sounds weird, but I have slept that way for years. It's comfortable. Trust me.

5. I can still sleep through the night most of the time. If I do wake up, which happens about 50% of the time, it is just once and it is always between 3:00 and 4:00am.

I was in the middle of asking Derek a question when he snapped this one. And sadly, it's probably the best tummy shot he got. 

Alright, now for the fun stuff. Things I can't do anymore now that I'm 20 weeks pregnant:

1. I can't bend over as easily to tie my shoes, put on socks, etc. It shocked me at first when it was a strain and slightly uncomfortable, but I guess that's fairly normal!

2. I can't lay on my stomach. I haven't been able to do this since I was about 14 weeks along. If I do, I feel very uncomfortable and can feel this hard knot in my stomach. 

3. I can't go longer than 35 minutes in the day without having to go to the bathroom.

4. I can't just eat a bowl of cereal in the morning and pack a granola bar as a snack to get me through the school day. I have to pack at least one other snack.

5. I can't stop thinking about our little girl! She is always moving and rolling around, so she is constantly reminding me that she is still there and that I should be thinking about her instead of all the different canals, foramen, processes, and bones in the human skull. (It's for my anatomy lab... I'm not that weird.)

Here are some pictures from my 19 week ultrasound.

Her little profile! It's not a very good picture of her because she has her chin tucked and her shoulders hunched up.

It's a girl!

Her little leg.

Here's her little foot. They tried to get one of both her feet, but one was always in motion, so this is the best we have!

Love this little girl to pieces! 

A Mother's Arms

As a little girl, whenever I got sick, the first place I wanted to be was in my mother's arms. Those arms held me when I was first born, held me when I cried, and they have held me in a warm embrace during some of the happiest moments of my life. My mom has always been there for me. From volleyball, baseball and basketball games to swim meets, tennis matches, band and choir concerts, and plays, my mom was there. And after each event, no matter how poorly I played or sang, I got a hug from my mom with words of encouragement. She always told me that she loved me and was proud of me. And while I listened to her words, I remember most the feeling of giving my mom a hug. 

As I've grown up, I've been able to be the one to help comfort her at times. While it may not be something huge, just being there to put my arms around my mom and listen to her is something I do because I love her and want her to know how grateful I am for the many times that she has been there and done that for me. 

One of my favorite stories with my mom that basically sums up our relationship (which totally rocks, by the way) is one that I don't remember myself. I was little and sitting at the table coloring on a piece of paper. My paper was getting destroyed by the crayons clutched in my hands, because all I was doing was scribbling like mad. When I got up to proudly show my picture to my mother, she tried to be sensitive to my feelings and not ask, "What's that?". So instead she asked, "Taylor, can you tell me about your picture?" Apparently, I put my hands on my hips and looked at her and said, "It's just a bunch of scribbles, mom." Even from a young age I just said it how it is. 

I love my mom and will be eternally grateful for the wonderful example she has been for me and for the friend that she has been to me. 

I have gratitude and love for another mother. My wonderfully awesome husband Derek is the man that he is because of his amazing mother. She has always been so kind and loving to me, and I am looking forward to the years that we have ahead of us so that I can continue to get to know her. Derek may not be a man of many words, but his actions speak millions. I love to see how much he loves his mom. I feel blessed to be a part of his family, and to have my mother-in-law to be there for us. She is a sweet, tender-hearted, and loving person.

Now as I am an expectant mother I am even more grateful for the wonderful examples of these two mothers in my life. I can't wait for my little girl to meet her grandmothers and to realize how lucky she is to have them. I hope that as a mother I can be to my little girl what my mom was to me, and what Derek's mom was to him. 

I love you. Happy Mother's Day.

Our Perfect Third

Today, I am 19 weeks on the dot and so I had my ultrasound. You know, that one ultrasound where you get to find out something REALLY FUN. Yep! We found out the gender today. 

33% of you guessed that it would be a boy and 67% of you guessed that it would be a girl. So what is it?

We are SO EXCITED to be having this sweet little baby girl! She is really active, kicks me all the time, and showed that in the ultrasound today. She was wiggly and did not make it easy for the ultrasound tech to get all the pictures she needed. 

We already love her SO MUCH, and can't wait until we get to hold our precious baby girl! 

She's our perfect third.

Oreo & White Chocolate Pudding Cookies

Derek works in the men's locker room on campus, and he was telling me one time about how his co-worker always brings him food. Candy from the vending machine, pizza, etc. So he asked me if I would make cookies for him to take to work. And he specifically requested pudding cookies. No surprise there! This recipe makes some of the most moist, chewy, delicious cookies. Ever.

To make these cookies, the only special ingredient you need is a box of pudding mix. Derek wanted me to try making these cookies with the Oreo Cookies'n'Cream pudding, so I did! And they turned out beautifully.

So here it is! The recipe for Pudding Cookies.
 

INGREDIENTS

1 cup margarine

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 package Jell-O Instant Pudding

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 package chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, or whatever else you want to add!

First, you soften the butter and mix in the brown sugar, granulated sugar, Jell-O pudding mix, and vanilla.

Then, you add the eggs.

I'm always careful to make sure my eggs are fully blended, but not to over-blend.

Next, you add the flour and baking soda and mix well. I am especially careful here not to over-blend my ingredients so that you don't work the dough too much, and cause it to not be as moist.

Then add your chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, M&Ms, whatever you choose. I made these cookies with the Oreo pudding which already had chunks of Oreo cookies in it, so I used just white chocolate chips.

Like how my kitchen counter gets progressively messier with each picture? Haha, it's how I bake.

I just love the look of cookie dough! Especially this dough because it is fluffy and smooth and moist.

I always bake on stoneware. I'm addicted to it! If you've ever read any of the other "baking posts" I've put on here, then you will know that I've baked with stoneware since a teenager, and I will never bake on anything else.

I use a medium sized ice cream scoop from Pampered Chef to scoop out my dough. It makes a great sized cookie.

With the oven at 375 F bake these cookies for 8-10 minutes. With stoneware, the first time around will take longer because after the first batch, your stone is hot so the cookies bake faster. Anyways, my first batch was in the oven for 11 minutes, and the next two were in the oven for just 9.

If you're baking on stoneware, take the cookies out before they look 100% done. I always make sure they are a little bit brown on the top and then tap one cookie slightly with my finger. If everything looks good, I take them out and let them sit on the stone for 3-4 minutes. During that time the cookies continue to bake on the stone, finishing up to perfection!

And then you have delicious pudding cookies to enjoy with every fiber of your being. This recipe always gives me three full batches plus three or four more cookies. 

You'll definitely want some milk with these babies! So good. 

18 Weeks & Stuff

I am 18 weeks today! Only two more weeks until I am halfway through this pregnancy. It's crazy to me how quickly things have gone by already.

And there I am in all of my baby bump glory. It's fun that I'm slowly starting to show more so that people might actually believe me when I say I'm pregnant. 

This little baby is getting more active by the day! I feel more kicks and wiggles than I did a couple weeks ago, and that makes me really happy! However, it does tend to distract me from my schoolwork and studying. I mean, come on! Who wouldn't start thinking about baby stuff after feeling a few kicks? 

Derek and I get to find out the gender in ONE WEEK. I can't wait. It is seriously going to be one of the best days ever. Not only will I have finished all of my first round exams in all of my classes (for some it's round two), but I will be able to know if I'm growing a little girl or boy! I've decided that even though Derek and I aren't going to have a gender reveal party, I'm still making a cake. And I will dye the frosting whatever color I want to correspond with the baby's gender. 

This is the cake I'm going to make. It's called a Lemonade Layer Cake. I've been drooling over it ever since I stumbled across it in looking for good cake recipes online.

Also! My mom is going to throw me a baby shower in Washington in August, and so I've been looking around online for fun ideas. And I found this idea for an activity. It's just an idea that's been floating around in my head. The version I made is a little bit different than the one I saw online (and I made the little paper myself) but I think this is pretty cool.

It's called "Wishes for Baby" and each guest takes one and finishes the sentences. You fill in things like, "I hope that you... dream big" or "I hope that you get... your dad's long legs". (I sure hope my kids get their dad's height!) And then at the bottom the guest signs their name and puts the paper in a basket or another container. Then the mom-to-be pulls one out of the basket and whoever's paper it is wins a small prize. So it's a sweet note for the baby plus a prize winning opportunity! 

I think it'd be pretty cool to have all these wishes for the baby from close friends and family. Plus, it's a fun way to remember everyone that came to your shower.

Well, I am SO EXCITED to be a mom, and I am SO ANXIOUS to find out the gender!

Marshmallowy Goodness Popcorn

Derek and I both have quite challenging semesters ahead of us. Our classes require a lot of us outside of class, and so our lives are quite boring. We go to school, come home, do homework, eat, do more homework, and go to bed. So once Derek got off work tonight we came home and decided that we would work on homework and make an FHE treat. 

Our treat was a recipe I saw on Pinterest today. I call it Marshmallowy Goodness Popcorn.

You will need:

12 cups of popcorn

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

Mini marshmallows

Our 12 cups of popped popcorn.

First, you melt the butter and brown sugar in the microwave for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes. Mine was done at 1 1/2 minutes, but the original recipe says 2. Then, add the marshmallows. ADD AS MANY AS YOU WANT. I love to add tons more marshmallows than called for in any recipe requiring marshmallows, so that my treat is an ooey gooey sticky mess.

Mix the marshmallows into the melted butter and brown sugar mixture and make sure that they get coated. Then microwave until marshmallows are melted. To avoid over-microwaving, I just did 30 second intervals, stirring after each time.

And this is what you will get! Look at how lovely and marshmallowy that looks!
Then you pour it over your popcorn and stir it all together to make sure that all of the corn gets coated in the marshmallow goodness.

And ta da!! There you have it folks. Marshmallowy Goodness Popcorn. Not as yummy to me as caramel corn, but still very good and really easy to make. It probably took us a total of 8 minutes to make this popcorn.

LOOK AT THAT. So good. So good.

Happy FHE to us!

Don't mind how terrible I look in this picture. I had worked out earlier that evening, I have "washing my face hair", and no make up. And please forgive my poor photography skills. Me + Camera Phone + A Husband who is a foot taller than me = his head being cut off in just about every picture I take.