There's definitely some pressure happening now, which is new and exciting. Uncomfortable contractions and cramps alone were getting a little commonplace, so it's nice to have the new addition. I'm also attracting all kinds of comments from people in the past 2 days, strangely enough. Way more than normal. Apparently I look like I'm ready to go, according to lady at Michael's. And the lady in line at DSW looked concerned for her own well-being when I answered the due date question with "yesterday." That, along with the unsolicited but funny advice from the dad at the zoo has proved that being a little late isn't so bad.
Here's how the dogs are handling the situation:
Lucy wants to take out her frustration by exercising with her ball.
Brodie is clearly very stressed out.
Here's some pictures for this week. Do not be alarmed. I don't expect the baby to fall out of my stomach, despite it appearing that way in the head-on pictures. Seriously. It worried me when I saw it, but I'm pretty sure that no baby has ever spontaneously been birthed that way. It really does look bigger from the front, I think.
Let's all say a little prayer for my skin. It looks like it's screaming and begging for help.
Let's all say a little prayer for my skin. It looks like it's screaming and begging for help.
**********
Since not much is happening on the kid front, I'll update you with a few things I've made that aren't the baby.
I found my new go-to brownie recipe. Here it is. It's so good. The brownies turned out chewy and fudgy, as opposed to dry and cakey. This truly is the way they were intended. If you want cakey brownies, make a chocolate cake. Jordan was a big fan. Big fan. A few points of interest:
1. Based on many years of faithfully watching Alton Brown's show on Food Network, I always sift dry ingredients. This recipe (like most) doesn't specifically say to, but you should do it. Makes for a finer texture. Duh.
2. I used 1 bag of milk chocolate chips and 1 bag of semi-sweet chips. Ghiradelli, because they're better. It was worth it. The semi-sweet ones were the first bag to go into the mix and the milk were the second. I did this so that any chips that didn't melt prior to or during baking would be yummy milk chocolate chips. I just thought it would taste better. And I'm sure I was right because they were ultra delicious.
I made this for breakfast yesterday. I had some yellow nectarines that were getting on time to eat or toss and decided to mix them with some strawberries. Yum. Things I did different with this recipe:
1. I was lazy and didn't really measure anything. Eyeballing didn't hurt a damn thing. It's a pretty thrown-together recipe according to the poster, so it's cool.
2. I used a few tablespoons of honey in place of maple syrup. Yes, I'm one of 3 people in the world that doesn't dig on the maple syrup. I even order honey for my waffles when we go out. Sue me. I also didn't use nuts. Jordan is allergic and I don't like them in my food. I think coconut could have been a nice addition, though and I'm thinking I'll try it next time.
3. I used a mixture of brown and turbinado sugars. It's what I had. I also used less than what the recipe called for. It seemed a bit overkill to be sweetening up fruit AND sweetening with syrup (or in my case, honey). I'm just sayin.
4. I added cinnamon. It was lovely.
5. I had no milk, but I had both half & half and heavy cream (don't ask). So I winged it and used both, hoping that it would make it even more fattening and delicious. And I was right.
It's just a quick and dirty, oven-baked oatmeal. Couldn't be simpler. But considering the instant nature of all things breakfast, it was a nice departure from a smoothie or bagel. And it gets rid of some fruit that may be on it's last day.
I also made veggie pot pies. Well, not so much pot pies, more like pot-pie pouches. I don't have small ramekins, so I just stuffed puff pastry with a delicious filling that I threw together and baked. I'd just like to point out that they turned out really good. I have no recipe for this. It was born of a desire to have Mimi's chicken pot pie (it's glorious), minus the meat and meat broth. Clearly that cannot happen, so I had to take matters into my own hands.
**********
We'll be spending a lot more time at the zoo until this kid comes. Seeing as how it's in a canyon and can make a fit person huff and puff, it's a good way to try to walk this kid out of me. We've actually run into another couple from our birth class there - she was a week overdue at the time. It's a popular thing to do, I guess ;-) Plus, the elephants and meerkats are great. I did get shit on by a bird yesterday between the big cats and the elephants. I was hoping it was good luck. Turns out, it was just shit.
