35 Weeks

October 17, 2014 nk3302 Comments

Do I look really tired in that picture, or is it just me? I really can’t believe we only have about 5 weeks to go! Baby Kiel is now weighing in at about 5.5 lbs, and from now until birth, weight gain will be mostly baby fat. His/her brain is growing rapidly, making the head heavier… and putting more pressure on my bladder!

How far along: 35 weeks
Gender: Still a mystery! 🙂 You only have a few weeks left to go vote here if you’d like!
Weight gain: 18 lbs
Symptoms: Minor back pain — one night I had some bad back pain, which made me appreciate my minor back pain. I’ve had more fatigue, but I’m wondering if that’s more from this cold that WILL NOT GO AWAY. I’m seriously mad at this cold virus, because I have things to do that do not include coughing while laying on the couch.
Maternity clothes: Definitely. And they’re even cuter with a big belly to fill them out. 🙂
Stretch marks: Not yet
Belly button in or out: Still in!
Sleep: Not so great lately. I have a hard time turning off my brain and getting to sleep, for one. Having a cold doesn’t help either with the coughing and congestion. And then throw in a couple of trips to the bathroom and the baby moving all over? It’s not a good combo for sleep.
Best moment(s) this week: Our Village Friends appointment. Everything is still looking good and right on track. My blood pressure is good, my weight gain is good, and my fundal height is right on target (35 cm). Baby Kiel is head down (so it’s the butt shoving into my ribs all the time), and his/her heartbeat is in the 140s (146-147). I’m so glad everything is going how it should! We had our consent class too — Andrew asked LOTS of questions, of course. I love him. 🙂 He’s going to be a good daddy.

My other best moment (much less exciting) was getting my hair cut! My hair has been driving me nuts, but I can’t explain why. It feels so much better now though. It’s the little things, isn’t it?
Miss anything: Just good sleep
Movement: You seriously need to ask? 🙂 Yes, all the time. And we love it!
Cravings: Not really
Looking forward to: Getting things set up for Baby! As you can see from the white board, I think the nesting phase has begun (finally). I was starting to think there was something wrong with me.

Recipes

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

October 15, 2014 nk330Leave a comment

Andrew and I went apple-picking with some friends a couple of weeks ago and came home with a lot of apples! So I started looking for some yummy-looking apple recipes. I’m not brave enough to try apple pie, because I hear crusts are tricky. Plus Andrew isn’t a big pie guy. Something about the cooked fruit…

Anyway, I was most excited to try out the caramel apple cupcakes recipe that I found at fort & field. And yes, they are delicious! The recipe makes a dozen cupcakes, which is about 11 more than we needed. So I brought 11 cupcakes to the childcare center that I used to work at. 🙂

Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2-3 Granny Smith or Rome apples (about 1 pound), peeled and shredded
1-1/2 cups chewy caramel candies
1 Tablespoon heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cupcake pan with baking liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Grate your apples to ensure you’ll get apple with every bite of caramel.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar and granulated sugars until smooth. Whisk in the oil and vanilla. Stir into the flour mixture until just combined; stir in the apples.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan until almost full. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
5. In a small, microwavable bowl, combine the caramels and cream. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between each one until caramel is melted and smooth. Dip cupcakes upside down into caramel and let cool. (I chose to just spoon the caramel on top and spread it with a spoon… seemed easier to me!)

That’s the cupcake that I barely shared with Andrew, because it was so delicious! 🙂 Oh, don’t put plastic wrap on them or you’ll be scraping caramel off and re-applying it to cupcakes. Probably should have seen that coming…

Baby Update

34 Weeks

October 10, 2014October 11, 2014 nk3302 Comments

Well, I’ve decided to stop with the weekly length updates, because at this point it really varies from baby to baby! But on average, our Baby weighs about 5 lbs and could be as long as 20 inches at this point. Weight will continue to increase, but length won’t change too much from here on out. Our little guy or girl now closes his/her eyes to sleep and opens them when awake. Baby Kiel’s fingernails are now at the tips of his/her fingers. I’m already nervous about having to trim those tiny nails!

How far along: 34 weeks
Gender: Still a mystery! 🙂 You can go vote here if you’d like!
Weight gain: 18 lbs… 2 lbs in one week?! What?!
Symptoms: A newer one that has been bothering me is a feeling of acid in my chest when I switch sides during the night while sleeping. It’s fairly minor, and it either goes away pretty quickly or I just fall right back to sleep! I’ve also had the occasional lightheaded feeling once in awhile. Trying to keep up on my water intake to help deal with that. Other than those, some back pain here and there and a headache once in awhile. Constipation is back too… lovely.
Maternity clothes: Definitely!
Stretch marks: Not yet
Belly button in or out: Still in!
Sleep: Not too bad most nights. My biggest issue is getting myself to actually GO to bed! Once I’m in bed, I feel tired, but I have a hard time making myself get there.
Best moment this week: Doing some baking! I planned on making something with apples from our apple-picking excursion, but I also needed to get rid of some over-ripe bananas and zucchini. So I made banana zucchini muffins and caramel apple cupcakes. Both turned out delicious! I will post recipes soon for those who want them.
Miss anything: Wearing shoes and rings! When I first put my shoes on, my toes are SO pinched. I don’t know if my feet are swelling or if they’re widening, which is apparently a pregnant lady issue. This is definitely a downside to being pregnant in fall — I really feel like I’m going to get funny looks if I go out in public wearing flip-flops right now. And my ring goes on fine in the morning, but it will not budge in the evening when I try to take it off! I had to soap up my hands to make my finger slippery enough to wriggle that bad boy off the other night.
Movement: All the time! Still getting 10+ kicks/movement in 10 minutes when I do my “kick count.” I like to pat what I assume is the baby’s butt when it’s pushing out. 🙂
Cravings: Lemonade and carbs. I really just want to eat pizza and pasta all the time.
Looking forward to: Our appointment next week. I’m not really worried about our little guy or girl, but I still want to know that everything is going well in there. We have our consent class at our next appointment too — things are really getting real!