Week 21 Update

Week 21 means we're starting month 6 of this pregnancy. Which means I have one month left of the second trimester! Crazy!

The bump. Also see: my attempt to push the mess from the weekend to the other side of our bed so it wouldn't show up in the picture. Fail. 

The garden. The backyard tomatoes are refusing to ripen. Brian's right, the front yard has much more sun. Now we know. 

Eggplants are slowing moving along. 

And the current heatwave is doing good things for our peppers. Sadly, once these two are done, there will be no more. It was way too cool for peppers and tomatoes this summer.

Baby Caleb!

On Tuesday, Baby C was officially deemed to be Baby Caleb. Our son will be here this winter. In celebration, we bought this at Target:

Woohoo for our boy! Brian's over the moon.*

I have to say, finding out that Caleb is completely perfect: all major organs in place and working, heartbeat on track, the right size for 20 weeks along, was the absolute best part. Our ultrasound tech was very sweet, telling us up front that she would be spending a lot of time measuring the brain and the heart and that was totally normal. That the doctor would come in after she was done and that was totally normal. That sometimes she gets quiet so she can focus and that was totally normal. However, she couldn't answer questions like "Is he ok? Is that heartbeat normal?" We'd have to wait for the doctor to answer those questions. So most of our time with her had baited breath on my end, which I really exhaled when the doctor came in to say that our boy looks great. 

We still like calling him "Baby C." It's such a cute nickname, but it's nice to call him by his full name too.

*Don't get me wrong, I'm excited too, but Brian is just beyond thrilled about the idea of having a son.

Only 20 more weeks or so! And the registry updates start....now!

Week 20 update

It's officially week 20! I am halfway through this pregnancy. It seems completely crazy that we're halfway through. I have a feeling this was the "good" half. Nagging back pain has started at night, thanks to the now necessary side-sleeping. Brian was a complete dear at some point in the middle of the night, rubbing my back- probably to help me get back to sleep so that he could get some sleep! 

Other than that we had a wonderful weekend with my family- my little sister was in town from LA so we made the most of the weekend with a concert, trip to the Zoo and dinner out to belatedly celebrate my Dad's birthday. 

Concert in Cedarburg. Low-rent version of Ravinia, totally perfect.

Sunday Breakfast: Peach & Sour Cream Pancakes

In an effort to cook through the Smitten Kitchen cookbook (every.single.recipe is a winner, I promise you) I made the Peach & Sour Cream pancakes on Sunday morning. They were perfect- light but filling, full of flavor and I managed not burn the peaches. Deb Perelman, the author, took a long time to write this cookbook and I trust her instructions implicitly. She mentions in the recipe notes that you can switch out some of the AP Flour for Whole Wheat, which I did. It went a long way in filling us up for a morning at church. 

The bump that's keeping me up...

The garden at 20 weeks.

The globe eggplants are starting to come in.

Baking Tuesday: Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

Last night I raced home from work and got right making my cookie dough- it needed a two hour chill before baking! I've had trouble with the scones and graham nuts so far from this book, but the cookie recipes? The cookie recipes are divine. The whole-wheat chocolate chip cookies a few weeks ago turned out so beautifully that I'm motivated to follow Boyce's instructions to a T. This means when she says "put the eggs and sugar in the mixer and mix on high for three minutes" I set a timer. Otherwise I wouldn't mix the eggs and sugar for that long, but I think it gave a lot of structure to this cookie dough. And I love that she makes big cookies- like the size of my hand cookies.

The Chocolate Chocolate Cookies live up to their name- they have an entire pound of bittersweet chocolate in them. They're from the Spelt chapter in Good to the Grain. I went to Whole Foods yesterday (armed with an anniversary gift card from Brian!!) for spelt flour and chocolate. Thankfully they've got spelt flour in the bulk section which saved me from buying a five pound bag. Frankly, I have no idea what the spelt flour changes in these cookies- I'd have to try them with whole-wheat or AP Flour to see.

You roll the dough in cocao nibs, so I'd be tempted to call this a triple chocolate cookie. They add a fantastic crunch.

Following instructions, letting the cookies cool on the parchment. Can I buy stock in parchment paper? I should.

Pregnant lady "snack."