Baby Steps: Birth Classes

{a funny birth class scene from baby momma}

We've been keeping ourselves busy lately taking lots of classes at the hospital.

Birth Classes: Once a week, we've spent an evening learning about the birth process, pain management options and comfort techniques. We still have one class and our hospital tour left.

Infant Care: We went to a session all about baby safety, where we learned about things like infant CPR, choking hazards and the latest SIDS research.

Nursing Prep: We also went to a seminar that covered everything you could want to know about nursing, without having actually tried it.

I wouldn't say attending any of these classes has been absolutely necessary, but they've helped us feel a lot more prepared about this whole parenting thing. Plus, our health insurance reimbursed most of the cost, so why not?

We got our baptism prep out of the way too. We met with a priest at the Newman Center to talk about the basics. If all goes well health-wise for Baby, we're planning to visit our families in Houston for a few weeks this summer and have the baptism while we're there. So, our priest at the Newman Center will write a letter to our parents' parish, giving us permission to baptize. After Baby arrives, we'll just have to finalize the date.

Mardi Gras Recipes

Citrus Punch
{From Adam's Mom}

Ingredients:
2 cups strong tea
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 cups lemon juice
3 cups pineapple juice
2 cups orange juice
3 liters ginger ale
Maraschino cherries

Directions:
1. Dissolve sugar in hot tea. Add juices of oranges, lemons and pineapple. Chill.
2. Add chilled ginger ale to juices when served. Add drained cherries and ice.

Shrimp Creole
{From Adam's Mom}

Ingredients:
1/3 cup oil
1/4 cup flour
1 pound shrimp
1 garlic bud, minced
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
2 tablespoons minced parsley
1 cup water
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

Directions:
1. Heat oil slightly in heavy skillet over high fire. Add flour and stir until light brown.
2. Lower heat, add shrimp and cook about three minutes or until raw shrimp are pink. The oil/flour mixture will coat the shrimp.
3. Add garlic, onion, green pepper and parsley and cook two minutes longer.
4. Raise heat, gradually add water and remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then simmer for thirty minutes.

King Cake
{From Southern Living}

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup warm water
1 egg
3 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Green, purple and yellow sprinkles

Directions:
1. Cook first four ingredients in a saucepan over low heat, stirring often, until butter melts. Cool mixture slightly.
2. Dissolve yeast and half tablespoon sugar in a fourth of a cup warm water in a large bowl; let stand five minutes. Add butter mixture, eggs, and two cups flour; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer two minutes or until smooth. Gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.
3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about ten minutes. Place in a well-greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, one hour or until doubled in bulk.
4. Stir together sugars and cinnamon; set aside.
5. Punch dough down; divide in half. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface; roll to a 28- x 10-inch rectangle. Spread cinnamon mixture and softened butter on dough. Roll dough, jellyroll fashion, starting at long side. Place dough roll, seam side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bring ends together to form an oval ring, moistening and pinching edges together to seal.
6. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, twenty minutes or until doubled in size.
7. Bake at 375 degrees for fifteen minutes or until golden.
8. To make frosting, stir together powdered sugar and melted butter. Add milk to reach desired consistency for drizzling; stir in vanilla. Spread on cooled cake and top with band of purple, green and yellow sprinkles.

I forgot to grab a picture of the shrimp creole, but it should look something like this. We also served red beans & rice and seven layer bars.

Rednal Benefit

Every February, the priests at the Newman Center throw a fancy dinner to benefit their retreat house, Rednal.



They open their swanky living area to the members of the community and let us students attend as well.





The raffle is always the highlight of the evening. They have a few grand prizes {like a $1,000 gift card to Nordstrom!} and different nationality-themed gift baskets.



Adam won something! We are very unlucky when it comes to drawings like this, so it was pretty exciting.



He won the Middle Eastern gift basket, which included delicacies like sesame fudge. Yay?

Five on Friday

1. My sister is coming to visit for her spring break!! I could not be more excited to see her. It's doubtful, but wouldn't it be great if Baby arrived while she was here?



2. We went to see The Muppets at the dollar theater last weekend. We are big Flight of the Conchords fans, so we had to see it after we learned that they wrote the music. It was really ridiculous and really funny.

3. We're in the midst of doing our taxes today. Oh, I will not miss these days of having nine different sources of income a year!



4. Did you know that Ash Wednesday, which isn't even a holy day of obligation, has the third highest mass attendance, after Christmas and Easter? I think it's because people like feeling all special and Catholic, which to me means we should embrace all of the Church's traditions, not try to downplay them.

5. The living room is officially clean. Only one room left to go, thank goodness.

Mardi Gras Party

Let's backtrack a bit. On Monday, we hosted a little Mardi Gras dinner for a few of our favorite married friends.



We put the folding table we got for Thanksgiving dinner to use again. It just so happens to be the same height and width as our regular kitchen table, so we pushed them together to make some more room.

The table decorations were just white bed sheets, the essential Mardi Gras beads, and some festive napkins. {I used two yards of fabric and this tutorial to make them. It took forever, but it was great practice for a beginner who can barely sew in a straight line like me!}

We served the meal buffet-style in the kitchen. Our favorite Cajun dishes {red beans & rice, shrimp creole} and, of course, King Cake.



The whole gang! If you come to a party at our house, you can almost guarantee that we will make you wear a silly hat. The paper plate hats were Natasha's awesome suggestion. Her, Abigail and I had a crafting session last week to make them.

Babies! All of the ladies in attendance were pregnant at the same time {although in Natasha's case, only for a few short weeks before little Audrey entered the world}. We are all due within five weeks of each other!

Ashes to Ashes

{two years ago, we got to spend ash wednesday at st. francis' basilica in assisi}

Well, it's Ash Wednesday. The first day of Lent. We've thought long and hard over the last month to determine our Lenten resolutions:

1. Exercising every day.

At eight months pregnant, for me this means going on a thirty-minute walk. For Adam, it means going for a run or working out at the gym on campus. We don't like to use Lent as just an excuse for self-improvement, but we really don't like exercising in the winter so it will be quite penitential, trust me. And if this has the side benefit of bringing a certain baby into the world a little sooner than expected, well, that's fine with me!

2. Unplugging the internet in our apartment.

Our problem with the internet is that we check it too frequently. It is such a distraction and a big time-waster. But this doesn't mean we'll completely avoid the internet for the next forty days. We are going to let ourselves get on the internet at the campus computer lab once a day for no more than an hour. {And I'll have to walk there, which coincides perfectly with our first resolution.} At home, we will let ourselves turn on the internet to watch things on Hulu and Netflix, but that's it. We want to learn to use the internet in a responsible manner. It's going to be really hard, but it will be so good for us.

Happy Birthday, Jenn!

Our sister-in-law, Jenn {married to Adam's oldest brother, Jeff} turns the big 3-0 today!

Three Things Jenn Loves:

Making homemade sushi.
James Bond books.
Her baby! Yep, Jeff and Jenn are having a baby in July. We are so excited to get the little cousins together!

Three Things Jenn Hates:

Staying up late.
Construction on her way to work.
Getting to the airport too early {as further illustrated in this not-so-funny at the time story}.


{Jeff and Jenn on a recent trip to Alaska.}

Happy Birthday, Jenn! We love you!

P.S. Here's her birthday post from last year.

Marriage Quirks

{amy jo photography}

In the year and a half we've been married, Adam and I have noticed a few trends:

1. When a toilet paper roll is about to run out, we each start using less and less, so we don't have to be the one to change it. Same goes with toothpaste; we squeeze every last drop out of the tube!

2. When we are sharing a dessert at a restaurant, it always becomes a race to eat your fair share before the dessert disappears. The one thing we can't even handle sharing is chip dip, which is our absolute favorite food, so we only let it into the house on very rare occasions. But when we do, we have to measure out our portions into separate little bowls {this also keeps us from eating the whole container at once...}

Five on Friday

1. Our Valentine's date night was obviously very romantic.



2. We've been doing a little college savings research. According to this calculator, if tuition keeps increasing at the same rate, it will cost $175,000 per year to send Baby to Notre Dame.

3. I finished Adam's hat! He would make an excellent model, don't you think?



4. My favorite author, Sophie Kinsella, released a new book this week. Too bad there's a hundred people in front of me requesting it at the library.

5. Our kitchen is officially clean! Two rooms down, two to go.

Pear Almond Tart

Adam's parents sent us some pears for Valentine's Day!

Pear Almond Tart
{From Southern Living}

Ingredients:
1 pie crust
3/4 cup slivered almonds
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 large fresh pears
3 tablespoons sliced almonds
1/3 cup apricot or peach jam
1 tablespoon orange juice

Directions:
1. Fit pie crust into a standard tart pan. Process slivered almonds in food processor until finely ground. Add half cup sugar, egg, and one tablespoon melted butter. Process until blended and spread over pastry.
2. Combine two cups water and lemon juice, stirring well. Peel and core pears. Dip pears in lemon juice mixture and drain well.
3. Cut pears in half vertically and then cut into 1/8-inch-thick lengthwise slices, keeping slices in order as they are cut. Arrange slices over almond mixture in the shape of six pear halves, letting slices fan out slightly.
4. Top pears with a fourth cup sugar, sprinkle with sliced almond and drizzle with two tablespoons melted butter. Bake at 400 degrees for forty to fifty minutes.
5. Combine preserves, a fourth cup water, two tablespoons sugar, and orange juice. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves. Carefully brush glaze over tart before servings.

Baby Steps: Nursery Ramblings

I couldn't resist this perfectly-color-coordinated cutie when I spotted him on the Anthro clearance rack. He's supposed to be a cow, but Adam says he looks more like a donkey and has named him Dominick {after a rather unfortunate Christmas song}.



We've finally saved enough in our furniture fund {aka our credit card cash back} for our dream desk! It's too big for our apartment right now, but we'll be hitting Ikea as soon as we move. Next on our wish list is this table. I have the crazy idea of cutting the legs down to size on our current dining table and turning it in to a kid's activity table {sort of like this}. I'm betting it wouldn't actually fit in the nursery though.

When it's time to upgrade to a big kid bed, I've got my eye on a Jenny Lind style bed frame to match the crib, since hopefully Baby will eventually share the room with a younger sibling. But maybe it would make sense to stick a twin bed in that room right away? That way at least one family member won't have to sleep on an air mattress when they're visiting.

While humidifiers may not be completely necessary, how cute are these?!

Okay, I officially promise to shut up about the nursery now. At least until it actually exists!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is the seventh year Adam has been my valentine. Whoa!

In our dating days, we tried to do something extra-special every year. My favorite was the year I was a freshman at Pitt and Adam was still a senior in high school. He sent me a letter on Valentine's Day and proceeded to send me one every single day until we were reunited at the end of the school year.

When we got married, we decided celebrating Valentine's Day in a big way was just too much unnecessary pressure. I mean, with Christmas, birthdays, our anniversary {and now Mother's and Father's Day!} it can just get out of hand. Besides, the little things we do for each other every day are way more romantic than big gestures.

So, for the past two years we've been keeping it simple. We use this day as an excuse to treat each other to something on our wish lists, since it's pretty much perfectly spaced between Christmas and our birthdays.

And as an excuse to go out for dinner, to the most romantic of restaurants, Chick-fil-A. {Hey, we've got to enjoy it while we can! Seattle very tragically doesn't have any.}

In the future, I think we will start making a bigger deal out of Valentine's Day again. Not for us, but for our kiddos. Winter needs all the spice it can get. And why not celebrate love? There are lots of cute ideas and traditions out there.

I hope you remember that you're loved today!

Spring Cleaning

I mentioned on Friday that spring cleaning is in full swing around here. My plan is to clean one room a week over four weeks.

Lately, I've swapped my cleaning supplies for a few cheaper and greener alternatives. Here are my new cleaning essentials:



Vinegar, baking soda, mild soap {I use Dr. Bronner's but any dish soap will do} and spray bottles {$1 in the gardening section at Ikea}.

1. All Purpose Cleaner = 2 tablespoons soap + 2 cups water

2. Bathroom Cleaner = soap + baking soda until you get a thick paste

3. Abrasive Cleaner = 1/4 cup baking soda + 3/4 cups water

4. Glass Cleaner = 1 cup vinegar + 1 cup water

5. Drain Cleaner = 1/2 cup baking soda + 1/2 cup vinegar + boiling water

And that's it! I also like to keep some rags and old-fashioned cloth diapers {the best dusters around} in my little cleaning arsenal.

My secret to not dying of boredom while spring cleaning is audio books. Right now, I'm listening to Bringing Up Bebe, which is all about French parenting. Very interesting!

P.S. What is your least favorite thing to clean? Mine is most definitely our cheap venetian blinds. They are so hard to get clean and not too pretty to look at either. I am determined to get rid of them in our next apartment.

Five on Friday

1. Spring cleaning commenced this week. The bathroom is complete!



2. We have gotten really, really bad about pressing the snooze button in the mornings. But this week, we got up with the first alarm every day! Saint Josemaria Escriva calls it "the heroic minute."

3. I've started knitting Adam's hat.



4. While compiling my recipe binder, I realized that I have never made chocolate chip cookies from scratch before. How can that be? I've heard this recipe is supposed to be the best ever, so I shall have to rectify the situation soon.

5. Shopping for baby gear is overwhelming. Bjorn or Ergo? Fuzzibunz or bumGenius? Sometimes, you just need to take a break. Preferably, with a Coke Icee.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Pineapple Upside Down Cake
{From Martha Stewart}

Ingredients:
20.5 ounce can pineapple rings
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Drain pineapple and place on a paper-towel-lined plate, turning once, for five minutes.
2. Melt six tablespoons butter and transfer to a nine-inch round cake pan. Sprinkle the bottom of the pan evenly with brown sugar and top with an even layer of pineapple rings.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, egg yolks and vanilla.
4. With an electric mixer, beat remaining butter and sugar until fluffy. Alternate adding flour mixture and egg mixture, beating until batter is just combined.
5. Pour batter into cake pan and bake for seventy minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for another ten minutes.
6. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan to release the cake. Plate a plate on top of the cake pan and invert the cake onto the plate. Serve with whipped cream!

Some notes: I baked this cake in an 8x8 glass pan instead, because I was feeling lazy and could put it in the dishwasher. Also, pineapple upside down cake is often served with little maraschino cherry halves in the center of each pineapple ring, but I left them out because Adam isn't a big fan. Lastly, I was really nervous to bake this because I thought it would be hard to get out of the pan all in one piece, but it slid right out with no problems. Must have something to do with the stick of melted butter coating the pan...

Baby Steps: Nursery Art

Since I have no idea what our next apartment will look like, it's hard to make decisions in this decorating arena. But I've been doing lots of brainstorming!

I am planning to splurge on these three prints for Baby's nursery, from the Etsy shop Sugar Fresh. They can be customized in the color of your choice, which in my case will be some combination of blue, green and yellow.



Depending on space and such, I'd really like to create a whole gallery wall centered around those prints. Sort of like this one from, of course, Young House Love. If it ends up happening, everything else will be free art. Like baby photos of mom and dad, their birth announcement, ultrasound pics, and perhaps a silhouette or something.

I love this idea of turning $4 Ikea spice racks into bookshelves.


{via}

And I'm always up for a good monogram, like this oversize letter from Hobby Lobby.


{via}

I'm not sure how much Baby will get out of a mobile by four months old, but they're fun anyway, right? I wouldn't mind trying to whip one up from scrap paper or fabric.


{paper mobile, fabric mobile}

We shall see how many of these ideas I can incorporate into Baby's room!

Dishes Decisions

We didn't register for dishes or china when we got married. I didn't want to hastily decide such an expensive and long-lasting purchase at the ripe old age of twenty-one.

Over the summer, I thought I had reached a decision and wanted to started collecting Fiestaware. But, I have been second-guessing myself ever since it was publicly proclaimed.

I finally realized that I am way too indecisive about dishes to limit myself to just one pattern. When we stopped at the Pottery Barn outlet over Christmas break, we invested in twelve nice white dinner plates.

And I can layer those with all the fun, colorful side plates and bowls I love so much. Here are our everyday dishes:



Side plates from Cath Kidston and latte bowls from Anthropologie.

{Side Note: If you ever feel like ordering something from Cath Kidston, do it over the phone rather than online. My order was $25 cheaper than I expected it to be!}

I'd love to eventually collect lots of holiday-themed side plates. Just for the major holidays, of course. I don't want to go overboard and have special plates just for Memorial Day.



Right now, we have Christmas side plates from West Elm with more festive latte bowls.

Next on my list are these babies, to break out for family birthday celebrations.



Cute, right?

Recipe Binder

So, I had this really cute recipe binder. But, it required copying the recipes down by hand onto notecards. Basically, I never updated it.

I crossed off my first new year's resolution and made myself a new recipe binder that involves typing instead. All it took was a pretty binder from Target, page protectors, dividers, and a whole lot of time.

Organizing the main course recipes was pretty easy, but the baked goods proved a little more challenging. I use a few baked good recipes all the time {like oatmeal cookies} but others {like apple pie} only get made once or twice a year.

I eventually decided to organize the less frequently used recipes by season. My main gal Martha has a seasonal eating guide on her recipe site that I found super helpful.



Here's my sparkly new recipe binder hanging out on the bookshelf with my magazine binder and cookbook collection!

Five on Friday

1. Do you remember reading Value Tales as a kid? Our school library had the whole collection. I found quite a few at Goodwill this week for fifty cents a piece! Some of the ones we are missing sell for upwards of $50 on Amazon.



2. I made pot roast for the first time yesterday. It was awesome and I have fallen in love with my crock pot all over again.

3. I finished my hat! And with the leftover yarn, I made a pom-pom which I am very on the fence about.



4. I think going to one of Meg's craft weekends would be my dream vacation.

5. My view at thirty weeks. Where are my feet?

Pasta Bake

Lately, I have been a little obsessed with the idea of preparing freezer meals for Baby's arrival. So obsessed that I may have emptied our freezer to figure out exactly how many casserole dishes I could stuff in there.

Anyway, here is a new {to me at least} recipe that I'm adding to the freezer meal list. Sorry about the not-so-appetizing picture. I actually served this when we had friends over for dinner. I always feel weird taking pictures of our meal when people are over, so I had to snap one of the leftovers.



Pasta Bake
{From Adam's Mom}

Ingredients:
1 pound gemelli pasta
1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup pesto
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9x13 casserole dish.
2. In a large frying pan over medium heat, heat one tablespoon olive oil. Add the onion and cook until it starts to soften, about three minutes. Add the ground beef and cook until no longer pink.
3. Drain off any excess fat. Add the tomatoes and one teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until most of the liquid evaporates, about ten minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the pesto.
4. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Toss with sauce.
5. Pour half the pasta into the baking dish and top with half the cheese. Repeat with remaining pasta and cheese. Bake for fifteen minutes. Serves six to eight.

Baby Steps: Nursery Textiles

Apartments are small spaces. Personally, I'm a fan of adopting a general color scheme for the whole place. I think it just makes things flow from room to room so much better.

I like seeing blue, green and yellow together, so I try to stick to those colors when decorating. And the nursery will be no exception!



Apparently, I also really like polka dots.

1. You know how Goodwill sells random things from Target? I found this changing pad cover, unopened, for $6.

2. I ordered three of these crib sheets {the ones with turquoise as the background color} on sale at Garnet Hill to the tune of $10 a piece.

3. The toys-and-books storage unit will be filled with $7 turquoise fabric boxes.

4. I'd like to make a seat cushion for the rocker and some sort of window treatments. I'm planning on using this fabric, Slim Dandy by Heather Bailey, to bring in some yellow and some contrast to all the polka dots. It's hard to tell with just the swatch, but the fabric looks like this in person.