All Things Loved In August

Butter, buttermilk pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes, hashbrowns, waffles, peanut butter, waffles with peanut butter, bacon, french toast, syrup, bread, cinnamon rolls, cinnamon oatmeal, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Golden Grahams, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Honey Nut Chex, honey, honey on my Honey Nut Chex, orange juice, Nerds candy, gummi bears, Twizzlers, salt & vinegar potato chips, BBQ kettle chips, popcorn, pretzels, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered pretzels stuffed with peanut butter, saltine cracker toffee bars, boneless buffalo chicken wings, Granite City buffalo chicken flatbread, Granite City Idaho Nachos, pasta, ham, and baked potatoes.

...to name just a few things.

Bargain Shopping

I love this purple necklace--mostly because it didn't cost me a dime! It was originally $30, but had been marked down to $10, and on the day I was there all clearance was an additional 40% off, so the final price came to $6. I had a reward certificate to use as my payment, so it cost me exactly $0. Gotta love a great deal!

Necklace: The Limited
Top: Gap Outlet
Jeans: Gap
Shoes: Nicole
Pregnancy: 19 weeks

Saltine Cracker Toffee Bars

If you like salty and sweet combinations, this recipe is going to blow your mind. My friend Drew made these for a get together we had a few weeks ago and it was love at first taste. As I was biting into my first one Drew said, "The nice thing about these bars is they're so rich you can really only eat just one."

That night I ate two.

About a week later my friend Jill made a batch and brought some over because she didn't want them all in her house.

That night I ate seven.

Then I decided to make my own batch. It had been about a week since I'd sunk my teeth into one and I was the baby was craving them like crazy. I was so excited to have an entire pan of toffee bars just for G and I to enjoy. Surely a WHOLE BATCH would last us at least a week, right?

Less than 24 hours later they were gone.

All of them.

I hope you're getting the idea here. These bars are THAT GOOD. Don't say I didn't warn you when you're making them every weekend and getting into domestic disputes over who ate the last one (like G and I did yesterday--oh yeah, did I mention I made 2 more batches last weekend?).

Now that I have your interest piqued, let me get those taste buds watering.

What You Need
Saltine Crackers
1 c. Butter
1 ½ c. Brown Sugar
Chocolate Chips

To start, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Next, grease a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan, and then lay out your saltine crackers in a nice orderly fashion:


Next, boil butter (the real stuff people--save the margarine for your mama!) and brown sugar in a saucepan for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. I like to melt the butter and brown sugar over medium heat until it's all melted and stirred together, and then I crank it up to high heat and boil for 3 minutes:


I had to stop stirring for a second to snap this picture, but you have no excuse--KEEP STIRRING!


After you've boiled for 3 minutes, pour mixture over your pan of saltine crackers:


Spread it around nice and evenly. I like to use my purple spatula but you probably only have a boring white one. Hey, don't feel bad. I didn't have cable until I was in my twenties.


Bake at 350 degrees for 4 minutes.

Remove from oven and top with chocolate chips:


Spread chocolate chips while still warm:


It may not look pretty, but oh my goodness it tastes so good!

I let them cool on the counter for a few minutes and then cut them along the lines of the saltine crackers so one bar is the size of one saltine cracker. After they're cut I put them in the fridge to cool completely. Once cooled completely I eat them all transfer them to an airtight container and keep them stored in the fridge. I had planned to show you a picture of them all cut up and nicely laid out on a plate, but I'm sure by now you're not surprised to hear that we ate them all before I got the picture taken. Maybe next time.

And that's all there is to it! I hope you love this recipe as much as I do. If you try it, let me know what you think!

Perfume Flower Ring

I've really been addicted to jewel-toned blues and teals lately, but what I really wanted to highlight in this post is my fun funky flower ring.

Top: Banana Republic Outlet
Capris: Target
Shoes: Nicole (from DSW)
Ring: Victoria's Secret
Pregnancy: 19 weeks


It's topped with a cluster of pretty pearlized gold-dotted flowers...


...and when you slide them over there's a surprise inside! A little pot of Victoria's Secret Heavenly Bloom solid perfume (which smells just dreamy).


This ring makes me wish that all my rings had little surprises inside--like gum. Or Nerds candy. Or a GPS navigation system. The possibilities are endless, really.

What would you want in your dream ring?

Pregnancy: Week 20

Monday, August 17
I'm in my twenties! (Which is something I can say for the next ten weeks of my pregnancy, but only the next 5 weeks for my age.) Today we had our 20 week ultrasound, which was so much fun! We invited G's parents, Steve and Pam, to join us since this is their first grandchild and they'd never seen an ultrasound before--it was so special to have them there with us. Our baby was very active and put on quite the little show for her grandparents! They confirmed that our little girl truly is, without a doubt, a little girl (time to commit to paint colors!) and we got the news that everything looks perfect. We couldn't be happier!

She kept her chin tucked down into her chest during most of the ultrasound, so we couldn't get a really good look at her face, but here she is--just hanging out in the womb! Here you can see her head (more of a profile view) looking down, her shoulders, chest, and her arms at her sides.



I am so in love with this picture--I can't stop staring at it. She has her hands up in front of her face like she's being all bashful and thinking, "No pictures, please." And look at that cute little nose! Oh how I love our little girl!


Her spine:


Check out that foot--it's HUGE! No wonder I could feel her kicks so early in my pregnancy, lol! I'm not sure how zoomed in this picture is, but even the ultrasound technician commented on how big her feet are. I may have to hide my shoes sooner than I originally thought!


In addition to being "perfect" (you knew I couldn't resist bringing that up again, right?) our little girl currently weighs 12 ounces and has a heart rate of 163bpm. Her uterus is now fully formed and her ovaries are holding about seven million primitive eggs--which BETTER not see any action for a VERY LONG TIME.

I'm still feeling great! Pregnancy seems to agree with me and I'm loving my changing body and growing baby bump. I'm still feeling a few seconds of dizziness every once in a while, but it's nothing I can't handle. I'm sleeping much better this week. I had started drinking coffee last week--one small cup each morning of half-caf, half-decaf--and I'm pretty sure this was why I couldn't get a good night's sleep last week. I didn't think such a small amount of caffeine at 8am could effect my sleep over 12 hours later, but I haven't had any coffee this week and I've been sleeping great, so that's what it must have been.

Tuesday, August 18
This super-human pregnancy sense of smell is out of control. This morning I could smell the urine when running past spots where dogs had recently peed. At least I hope it was dogs...

Wednesday, August 19
Playing 3 games of sand volleyball in the pouring rain at 20 weeks pregnant while I could be sleeping is not my happy place.

That's all I'm going to say about Wednesday.

Thursday, August 20
G felt the baby move for the first time last night! Her kicks have been getting stronger so I was hoping he'd be able to feel her soon. Well, last night was the night! We were laying in bed and he was talking to her like he does every night (love that!) and she started moving around. I grabbed his hand and pressed it down on my belly and before long she placed a whopper of a kick right where his hand was! "Did you feel that?" I asked at the exact same time that he looked at me smiling and said, "I felt that one!" It was so exciting!

Additional Pregnancy Week 20 Posts:
Maternity Jeans
Turquoise Necklace
20 Week Baby Bump

Back: Pregnancy: Week 19

Next: Pregnancy: Week 21

Little Black Dress

I mentioned in a previous post that I've been on a dress kick lately. Here's another one I recently sported--my first maternity dress! This one came with a spaghetti string tie around the empire waist, but I'm not really a fan of those, so I changed it out for this pink and orange plaid tie-belt. Much better!

Dress: Liz Lange Maternity from Target (borrowed from my friend Deb)
Belt: Old Navy
Shoes: Ralph Lauren
Nail Color: OPI's Koala Beary
Pregnancy: 18 weeks




Hope you all have a great weekend!

Interested in getting your maternity wardrobe started? You can find affordable maternity clothes at Appleseed Maternity.

Today's Thought

I wish my car's windshield had SPF protection so I wouldn't have to worry about my hands prematurely aging while driving on a sunny day.

A View from the (Floral) Top

I think the pattern on this floral top (first seen here--back in the days when I could still drink wine...ah, wine...) can look a little "grandmothery" so I decided to pair it with my favorite red T-straps (seen here and here and here) to spice it up a bit.

Top: New York & Company
Dress shorts: The Limited
Shoes: Nine West
Pregnancy: 18 weeks


A view from the top--in case you were wondering what I see when I look down at my toes (while I can still see them)!

Black Shirt Dress

I've really been on a dress kick lately. It's so much easier to just throw on a dress than it is to mess with buttons that don't quite button and zippers that don't zip up all the way. I've had this shirt dress for quite awhile and decided I better get one last wear out of it this summer while I still can!

Dress: New York & Company
Shoes: Nine West
Pregnancy: 18 weeks

Pregnancy: Week 19

Aug 10
Today marks the start of my 19th week! Our little girl is 6" long and weighs 1/2 a pound (think Nicole Richie, only shorter). Baby's working hard at growing, and I'm working hard at pumping blood to make it all happen--right now my heart is pumping 50% more blood than usual. And let me tell you, I've got the dizziness (and forgetfulness!) to prove it. I have really low blood pressure normally, so all this extra blood pumping has really been making me feel faint lately--but the good news is it only happens if I stand up too quickly. If I take my time I'm usually pretty good.

G and I have been looking into daycares over the past few weeks and today we met our winner! We're going with a woman who does in-home daycare near us. She came highly recommended by our good friends Andy and Deb--two of the best parents we know. We're so excited to have this big "to-do" checked off our list!

Aug 11
I accidentally starved my poor child this morning and she made it clear she wasn't happy! I was in a rush because I had an early meeting, so I only had time for a really quick (and really small) breakfast. Well my meeting went AN HOUR over schedule and I didn't have any snacks on me, so I had to wait OVER THREE HOURS before I could eat again! I was starving! I hadn't felt the baby all morning, but once my first bite of oatmeal was swallowed she just started kicking the hell out of me--HARD! This is the hardest she's ever kicked! I just looked down apologetically and said, "I know, I know! I'm sorry! I promise this won't happen again!!" and scarfed down my food as fast as humanly possible. She's a sassy little thing!

Aug 12
I can't believe how strong our little girl's kicks are already! She was kicking away again this afternoon while I was sitting at my desk, so I put my hand on my belly to see if I could feel her kicks from the outside, and I totally could! Hopefully she's kicking strong again tonight so G can finally feel her too!

Aug 13
I've noticed that my belly is beginning to get a little dry and flaky (and itchy), but just at the very top. I've been using some "belly butter" to hopefully prevent stretch marks, but apparently I need to do a better job of moisturizing. I also haven't been sleeping very well this week. I'm not physically uncomfortable, so that doesn't explain it. I just want a good night's rest!

Aug 14
Had a scare at work today. I found out that one of my co-workers (who is also pregnant--she's due a day after me) may have the H1N1 virus (the swine flu). She wasn't feeling well yesterday and went to the doctor this morning. We have a very small office with a staff of only about 20 people and a lot of shared spaces--bathroom, kitchen, water cooler, etc. She told her doctor there are three other pregnant women at her office right now (myself and two others) so we were notified immediately since pregnant women are at such a high risk. I called my doctor's office to see if there was anything I needed to know or do. They are prescribing me Tamiflu as a precautionary measure and if I feel even the slightest symptom I need to go in ASAP. I just hope my co-worker will be okay and that no one else gets sick!

Aug 15
Our volleyball league had an end-of-season party today--free food, free drinks, and a tournament. It was a pretty warm day so I took it easy and sat out a few matches. I have to say, however, that it was much harder to sit on the sidelines and watch than it was to actually play. We won the tournament (woohoo!) and I had my first stranger request to rub my belly (weird!).

Additional Pregnancy Week 19 Posts:
Perfume Flower Ring
Bargain Shopping

Back: Pregnancy: Week 18

Next: Pregnancy: Week 20

Skirt Dress

I've been seeing this idea around the blogosphere and decided to give it a try for a recent date night with G--it's a floor-length skirt pulled up and worn as a knee-length dress!

Skirt: Old Navy
Belt: Gap
Shoes: White Mountain (from DSW)
Pregnancy: 17 weeks



I especially loved how full and flowy it was at the bottom. It was a lot of fun to wear for our night on the town!

Running While Pregnant

Disclaimer: Every person is different and every pregnancy is different. In consultation with my doctor, this is what I’ve found works for me. If you are pregnant, please consult your doctor regarding your running (or any other fitness routine) to find out what would be best for you.

I'm a firm believer that you have to spend energy to make energy, and this has never been more true for me than during my pregnancy. There were days early in my pregnancy when I was so fatigued that the simple act of walking up the stairs to go to bed was so exhausting it brought tears to my eyes. But luckily I soon noticed that I had a lot more energy on the days I worked out compared to the days I didn't. Because of this, I started to increase my work out frequency (but not my work out intensity--that has been significantly lowered) early in my first trimester--and this included keeping up with my running.

Running while pregnant has certainly been an adjustment! Once I found out I was pregnant, I slowed my running pace by about 2 minutes/mile and started using the heart rate monitor that came with my runner's watch (a gift from G last Christmas). I set my watch so an alarm goes off if my heart rate hits 168 beats per minute (bpm)--my absolute max--although my goal was to keep my heart rate around 150bpm. Running that much slower wasn't easy at first. I’d often find myself creeping up to my old pace and then sure enough my heart rate alarm would go off, warning me to slow things down. It took about a week or so, but eventually I adjusted and settled into my new pace.

Right now I'm running 3 miles every weekday morning before work, and 5 miles on either Saturday or Sunday (for a total of 20 miles each week) and it’s been going great. If I notice my heart rate creeping up to 160bpm I slow my pace down. If my alarm goes off because I’ve hit 168 (which rarely happens anymore, but sometimes a steep hill will do it) I immediately stop and stretch until my heart rate returns to 150bpm. In the beginning my heart rate average would be anywhere from 150-160bpm/run, but now I've got it down to average about 140bpm/run. Becoming more consistent with my slower pace has really helped. I've also noticed that on cooler mornings my heart rate is even lower. We had a couple of fairly chilly mornings this summer and my heart rate average was in the 130s/run.

Running while pregnant is a whole new way of thinking. Gone are the days of going for a personal best or challenging myself to sprint up the huge hill on my way home. These days the only time I check my pace time is to make sure I’m running slow enough. And while I’ve adjusted to this new way of running, there are times I wish I could wear a sign that says: I’M 4 MONTHS PREGNANT & MY DOCTOR MAKES ME RUN THIS SLOW!

The other day a girl ran past me during my weekend run. It was the first time I’d been passed since being pregnant, and sure enough the competitor in me started picking up the pace.

And then my heart rate alarm went off.

Ah yes--that faithful reminder that I'm running for two.

I immediately stopped and stretched and humbly watched that girl run out of sight as I waited for my heart rate to slow down. And then I smiled to myself as I realized--there's just no extra room for competitiveness when there's a baby on board.

Red Dress & A Windy Day

It was so windy on this day, but luckily I didn't have any wardrobe malfunctions!

Dress: Gap Outlet
Shoes: Nicole (from DSW)
Pregnancy: 17 weeks

Here's a little tip I like to keep in mind when buying an empire waist dress: I try to look for styles that limit any gathering to just the center of the dress (like this one). A lot of times gathered fabric all the way around the waistline makes you look "hippier" than you are.

Got any dress buying tips of your own to share? I'd love to hear them!

Pregnancy: Week 18

Aug 4
Week 18! Our baby is currently 5.5" long and is developing yawning and hiccuping skills, and forming fingerprints. Not to mention moving around like crazy! I feel him/her all throughout the day now. I love our little baby more and more with each little thump!

Bump Analysis: 8 weeks (left) versus 18 weeks (right). I'm wearing the same pair of jeans in each picture so you can really see the difference. Grow baby grow!

Aug 6
I could barely sleep last night. Tomorrow morning is our appointment when we get to find out the gender of our baby and I am SO EXCITED!! I expected to have a hard time sleeping tonight due to the anticipation, but didn't realize it would start two days ahead of time. I kept waking up and checking the clock to see if it was time to wake up yet, and then I'd have to remind myself that tomorrow is Thursday, not Friday (the day of our appointment) and to stop waking up! Yeah, that didn't work. Guess I know what's in store for me again tonight!

Aug 7
Today was one of the greatest days of my life--we found out we're having a GIRL! We couldn't be more thrilled! I wrote more about it (and included the latest ultrasound pictures) in this post, but forgot to add that everything still looks great! Our baby girl's heart rate is 153bpm and she's looking strong and healthy. We get another look at her in just over a week when we have our 20 week ultrasound--can't wait!

Greg and I spent the entire day sharing our big news, and I couldn't even get the words out without crying I was so happy! I'M GOING TO HAVE A DAUGHTER! All my life when I've pictured myself with a child it's always been a little girl. I am so grateful for this amazing gift. (And now I'm crying again--jeesh!)

We went to Cosi for dinner (I've decided big fancy dinners are a complete waste of money now that I can't enjoy them with a glass--or bottle--of wine) and enjoyed some pizza and oreo s'mores. The pizza was good but the s'mores were the best! They bring a miniature tabletop firepit out to your table along with a platter of s'mores fixings and you roast your own marshmallows and build your own s'mores right at your table. It's delicious!


Aug 8
My sister Apryl and her son Rylee stopped by today and gave us our very first girl clothes--they are so cute!

Aug 9
G and I went to a movie this afternoon (we saw Funny People) and this little girl was once again just kicking away. She definitely loves the theatre!

I also spent the day working on the nursery--pouring over paint swatches, considering furniture arrangement--all that fun stuff. No decisions on anything yet, but I'm certainly having fun dreaming!

Additional Pregnancy Week 18 Posts:
It's a GIRL!
Black Shirt Dress
A View from the (Floral) Top
Little Black Dress

Back: Pregnancy: Weeks 14-17

Next: Pregnancy: Week 19

It's a GIRL!

G and I are thrilled to announce that we're having a baby GIRL!

I was 18 weeks and 4 days pregnant on Friday when we went in for our ultrasound to determine our baby's gender. G held my hand the entire time while we both stared at the screen and excitedly waited for the news. Now I'm no expert on reading ultrasounds, but as I watched the screen while the ultrasound technician moved the wand around to view our baby's nether regions I was certain I saw girl parts. But the technician didn't say anything! She just kept moving the wand and looking around. "Okay," I thought, "maybe that was just a hand or something."

BUT THERE IT IS AGAIN!

I glanced at the technician waiting for her to confirm what I was pretty sure I'd seen twice now, but she just kept focused on the screen, moving the little wand around. Finally she froze the screen on a shot of what I had already decided was a vagina--or a hand--and said, "I didn't want to say anything until I saw it a few times, and now I'm certain. It's a girl!"

"REALLY?!?" I exclaimed while simultaneously bursting into tears and deciding I was a genius at ultrasound reading. "In 17 years I've never been wrong!" she confidently replied.

G and I proudly looked at each other, shared a celebratory kiss, and then focused our attention back on the screen to stare in awe at our beautiful little baby girl.

And here she is! Now I do realize she looks like a little alien baby in the 3D/4D ultrasound pictures--but we think she's the cutest damn alien baby we've ever seen!



And yes, I'm going for Mother of the Year by flashing my poor unborn child's privates all across the internet, but I figured she's fairly unrecognizable at this point--this could be any alien baby's vagina. I'm pretty confident social services will let it slide.

G and I spent the rest of the weekend celebrating our wonderful news, and now it's time to start on the nursery!