Scenes From Thanksgiving

The little guy is in my Ergo carrier. That thing is a life saver!

My MIL really knows how to decorate! 

Onyx's Grandpa and Great Grandpa right there!

 

The pears were our place holders on the table. Cool right?

Cousinly love!

  

 

 

Food, games and family...

It was a good Thanksgiving indeed.

Good Stuff!

Growing, growing, and more growing...!

Many things in my life have really turned around lately. 

Many -if not most- for the better! And for that, I am truly thankful. 

However life has a funny way of balancing itself out.

       I have gained 30 "mama pounds", or at least that is what I am going to call them. (It makes me feel better!) Jared has been so sweet about it. For some reason, he thinks I look beautiful in a whole new way and seems pretty genuine about it! So I'd count that as a plus because mentally, emotionally and physically, I think I am doing pretty well for having this lil boy in my stomach for 34 weeks now. I have not even had a breakdown! Unless you count crying over silly little things like cute pictures on the internet a breakdown, because then I've had many, many breakdowns!

      In the past I brought up that we did not like our midwife. Well ya know what I did? I finally got the courage to change our care provider! With the support of our new Bradley Class friends (Bless our classmates and our teacher for being so wonderful!) Jared and I said enough was enough. We let it go on too long and now I wish I changed sooner! Our new midwife is only 15 minutes farther then our last and she is so comfortable to be around! I even feel a little sad because I will only get to see her for appointments during the next month or so until we have our baby and then *poof* she will be out of our lives! I think I am going to bake her some awesome pastries when this is all over.

Speaking of which, I never posted pictures of the carrot cake I made for my father in law!

Yes, it was amazing...

and yes, I am getting off topic but if you made a carrot cake this good, you too would be proud!

I'll be posting more good stuff soon, but it's but deeper and for now you can just enjoy some belly pics and a close up of cake. Hope you like it!

Too Many Tamales?

Does anyone else watch cooking shows while eating something mediocre pretending it's that tantalizing lasagna, heavenly quiche, or the crumbly fruit tart the chef is making? Well, I do and I have a favorite. Good Eats. I love that show, it's so geeky but I love the little facts and men dressed in food suits as Alton Brown explains food chemistry. (I need the visual aid) I love it, love it, love it. That man can make even grits (gross!) look delish, and I end up wanting to make everything he makes in his show. He has mind powers, I think.

About two months ago I watched one of his episodes. Tamales. I guess I never fully appreciated the art that goes into tamales because I didn't know exactly what they were. So for a couple months now I have had the ingredients sitting aside waiting for that perfect night, tamale night. And it finally happened last week!

I can't follow recipes to save my life, but I knew the basic idea was to make them vegetarian and I heard a lot of good things about adobo chili sauce. Let me just tell you, adobo sauce is the best sauce ever. I'd never lie to you! It's the honest truth! I don't know why I have not been eating it since I was a toddler. 22 years before adobo sauce is far too long for anyone to wait. Anyways I am getting side tracked. My veggie tamales took about three hours to make, 1. I was going pretty slow and 2. They do take quite a bit of time, but they were so worth it. I apologize for not having a recipe on hand to share but if I may give you some advice; don't be afraid of lard. It's truly just as "gross" as butter. Also, adobo sauce. Try it and you wont regret it.

 The only thing I am sad about is I added some vegetarian chipotle sausage in my mix *Original Field Roast Brand* (I highly recommend them) and the very first ingredient is wheat gluten. I forgot Jared can't have gluten anymore... So I pretty much ate all 30 or so tamales by myself. I tried to pretend it was just too many for little ol' me to eat, but there are NEVER too many tamales. :)

Scenes From The "Surprise" Baby Shower

Firstly, I would like to admit my insane love for baby booties,

in little baby pants or not. In my book, they are probably one of the cutest things of all time.

Here was our little venue. My mother set the whole thing up as a surprise in this little tea shop! 

 

Before and after.
The cucumber tomato sandwiches were my favorite by far! 

We had a mixed Jasmine tea with all the goodies in the pots,
so we had to strain it with the charming little strainer above. 

I am pretty sure the only person who remembered to do it every time was the only guy there.

Jared. 

As seen below, having a hard time lending his fancy camera to my sister to take pictures. 

Does anyone else feel extremely awkward posing for pictures?

I always feel like I look like a bit of a goob when I am doing all that posey stuff.

I consider these our modeling shots. 

Want some balloon string or cups? 

Too bad! I like the stacker cups, they're cool! You could have some string though.

 

Jared bending his paper clips from our game, into a bracelet.  

He is pretty imaginative, which will come in as a pretty useful trait when he is a dad!

See? It's the baby butt thing again.
Love me some duck butts. Hahaha

These are my two (not so little anymore) sisters. They are really growing up into lovely ladies.

Growing up their nick names were Squidly and Goo. 

I am not even telling you what I was called! 

 

She seems to be under the impression that Onyx belongs to her.
Onyx is not lacking in loving aunties, that's for sure.

 

Above is the little locket my best friend "Spiffy" gave to me for my birthday. I LOVE it!

This is their pregnancy impression. I really did not have to do much. ;)

Can you tell I am kind of excited to meet him?

Here is Jared's shower gift to me. I have been wanting an Ergo baby carrier forever! SO thankful!

Golden Gram. Mum. Me!

... and the sisters. 

I was 26 weeks then.

27 now.

Suddenly time seems to be flying!

Like Jared always says, "Be. Here. Now."