A bit of May

I cant believe we are almost halfway through May! I've been counting down to this month since September as The Month the Baby Comes. And now, here it is, just minding it's own business, casually passing by.

We have had a wonderful couple weeks. The weather has been grabbing us by the hand and leading us towards summer, giving us crisp air and clear skies. It's been HOT the past couple days and as I look ahead to a week of weather in the 80's, I say a little prayer for women who will be pregnant over the rest of the summer. Lord have mercy. 

The day before Cinco de Mayo, my mom and aunt threw us a fajita-filled party in celebration of our sweet baby. The house filled up with familiar faces and delicious Mexican food and I spent the evening introducing Matt to my parent's family-like friends. (I tried to supervise as best I could, considering most of these people have known me since the day I was born and have plenty of potential blackmail material...)

We were so blessed by that night! I was so grateful for each and every generous gift given to us, but I was especially moved by the blanket my mom's friend Sally made for our baby. It is so soft and perfectly woven together, in the the most beautiful icy blue/gray yarn! I treasure it so much, and it's not even mine! The crafter in me knows how much work and time goes into a gift like that and we appreciate it so much. It's waiting for him in his Moses' basket for when he arrives home!

Thank you again, Sally!

This past Saturday, thanks to the wonders of technology and the generosity of my mother-in-law, I sat in on a Skype baby shower with family in Alabama! It was so sweet. Packages were arriving in the mail weeks before, with notes insisting I don't open them until the party. Friday afternoon, the doorbell rang and I received the most beautiful bouquet of flowers! Barbara thought of everything; she even had Matt pick up a little pink box of cupcakes from the bakery. It was so sweet and so fun to get a little time in with our family out there. This baby has some pretty wonderful grandmas and aunties! Thank you so much, family!

On Sunday, I enjoyed celebrating my wonderful mother. Her last mother's day before she has to share it my sister and me! We enjoyed a delicious brunch at the restaurant where my brother cooks, which kept us happy & full until about 8pm. After that, we enjoyed Guatemalan brisket tacos, one of Matt's many knee-buckling meat creations. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was so glad to be with my mom. I can't remember the last time I was with her on Mother's Day.

I love her so much! 

On a much more hormonal note, I have been so overwhelmed by how much love and generosity we've received in anticipation of this baby. As I was putting things away in the nursery yesterday, I looked around and realized everything in there has been a gift from someone. Everything from the dresser-turned-changing-table I was gifted a couple years ago, to the baby shoes lined up, to his precious Moses' basket, to the banner strung on the wall (made by his auntie Brittney!), to the quilt folded over his crib, is an extension of love to us from the people in our life. There have been some moments of panic over the past 9 months, where I wondered "how we were going to ___", but God has met every one of our needs so far and we have been immensely blessed. Thank you for loving our baby so much! 

Maternity Shoot

A few weeks ago, Matt and I had the pleasure of doing a maternity shoot with Joshua Veldstra. This lucky guy is dating my best friend Brittney, so of course I've heard a lot about him and seen a lot of his photography. But I finally got to see him in action! I was a little intimidated to step (waddle) in front of his camera, since he normally shoots with models (and has been recognized several times by Vogue), but it ended up being really fun and easy. I'm hardly even still mad at him for whisking Brittney away to live in Alaska. Here are some of my favorites:

 

I can't believe I'm facing the last few weeks of this pregnancy. Since I found out I was expecting the earliest day possible (my doctor furrowed her eyebrows in disbelief when I told her I had a positive pregnancy test), it seems like this pregnancy has lasted forever. And then at the same time, it has just whizzed by.

I hardly even remember my second trimester, but this one is going by nice and slow. Despite hard days, and every pregnancy symptom intensifying in the evenings, I've loved being pregnant. (Is anyone else picturing the scene from Friends when Rachel says that a few days before her due date and then they cut to a scene of her overdue and miserable?) Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely looking forward to sleeping on my stomach and putting on my running shoes by myself, but I have been blessed with a pretty fun and easy 8 months and I'm so thankful. I wouldn't mind if he came a little early and I missed out on the last couple weeks, since my back is starting to ache and I've been in the same pajama pants for four weeks. But I'm mostly trying to enjoy it; you only have your first pregnancy once, right?

I think the main thing I'll miss is my extrovert-dream-come-true of having someone with me all the time, stirring around. This kid is so active! At my first appointment with my new doctor here, she was trying to find his heartbeat and looked up with wide eyes as my abdomen thrust around before saying "hm, you are definitely going to have your hands full...". We're so thankful to have a healthy, active baby but we are already brainstorming ways to keep up with him (as if there are better solutions than coffee).

Joshua and Brittney did a great job of finding flattering poses for us the whole shoot (not an easy task when there's a 33 week pregnant woman draped in a black maxi dress), but I especially love these last two pictures. We were about to head back to the car when Matt asked if we could take one more shot and bent down to kiss my stomach. I love how they turned out and I love how genuine Matt's face is. It's not easy getting him comfortable in front of a camera, but he loves kissing that baby. He always goes a little nuts when he hears Matt's voice. I can't wait to see those two together!

Thank you again for a wonderful shoot, Joshua! I love having such great shots of our almost-family-of-three.

Easter Sunday

Here are a few shots from our time with family over Easter weekend: 

I got to see my beautiful cousins and meet their beautiful, new babies! Out of seven female cousins in our whole family, five of us are pregnant this year. It's just been nuts. It was so fun snuggling their babes and watching the rest of the family ooh and ahh over the new additions. Our family get-togethers will never be the same! It was such a fun weekend. It was very relaxing and as usual, Aunt Jackie lavished delicious food and drinks on us. I'm always taking mental notes on her hosting skills (note: serve whipped cream to top on berry danishes and coffee).

Although a family weekend isn't complete without my brother and sister there, it was still really wonderful to gather with family over a holiday; something I really missed living down in California! Thank you again for having us, Jepsens! We love any time we get to be with you guys. 

I am 36 weeks! In the home stretch and getting as "ready" as possible before our little guy makes his debut. So far all that means is washing a few loads of little baby laundry and putting a box of PopTarts in my otherwise empty hospital bag.

A sweet, sweet Saturday

A few weekends ago, I was spoiled to death by my wonderful friends Melanie, Kat and Brittney with a baby shower. Having thrown a few showers before, it does not escape me how much work and time goes into something like that! Yet despite very full schedules (like moving out of state the same week or raising seven month old twins), they still made time to celebrate my little babe. I felt incredible loved and known by them! From the invitations right down to the Krispy Kreme doughnuts piled high on a cake stand, I was so happy.

Kat's lovely (and adorably decorated) home filled up on a Saturday morning for a brunch consisting of all my favorite breakfast foods and drinks. A serious highlight for me were the blueberry pancake cupcakes topped with maple frosting. Between those and the two or three mason jars full of chocolate milk I sucked down, I think I had more sugar that morning than in my entire pregnancy.

I enjoyed seeing my sweet friends of the northwest! This is my friend Chelsea, who I've been friends with for over ten years and now we are both expecting boys in late May! I have been really lucky to be pregnant alongside many of my friends. My pregnancy has overlapped with ten of my friends and cousins. Watch out people, it's contagious.

Besides the blessing of just being amongst my favorites ladies and treats, my favorite part of the shower was when guests were asked to share a piece of advice or a funny story about motherhood. Debbie had a bit of both to share and this picture captured the story perfectly. You don't even want to know what she is fictionally holding in her hand...

 

I am so thankful for all the thoughtful gifts that help me feel a little more prepared for his arrival! It was kind of surreal opening up packages with baby bottles and itsy bitsy pairs of pants. Made everything feel a little more real. Above is a hand-stitched quilt made with much love by Saki's mom. In case you don't remember, Saki designed and sewed my wedding dress for me. Talented genes swimming around in that family! I adore that blanket and constantly unfold it and smooth my hands over the beautiful squares. That picture doesn't do it justice!

 

Look who made it down for my shower! My fabulous aunt Jackie was down for the weekend and joined in on the celebration. She spoiled us rotten with a package full of infant Alabama football gear for Matt (including a baby fedora, which I pick up just about every day and squeal), the cutest onesie she crafted up and a beautiful Mose's basket with handmade lining in it! It's gorgeous. You will be seeing countless pictures of our little baby laying in it over the next few months, so I'll spare you for now.  I'm so glad she was able to come and I loved spending the weekend with her. 

This is my favorite picture from the shower. A sweet moment candidly caught as the party was wrapping up. I am so happy to live near my family again and enjoy all the time with my mom preparing for the baby. My parents have been a huge blessing to our little family as we adjust to a new city and gear up for a whole new season of life. I must admit, I miss the authentic Mexican food and constant sunshine that California has to offer, but I haven't once wondered if we made the right choice moving up to the northwest.

 

Thank you again, sweet friends, for coming together and planning a celebration that made me feel so loved. It was unreal sitting in a living room full of women from all different parts of my life expressing excitement and joy for a baby that isn't even here yet! Love you three so much.

Coconut Granola

I've been on a major granola kick lately. My first trimester, I had about a ten minute window once my eyes were open to eat before the nausea set in for the day. Now, in my third trimester, the baby practically kicks me out of bed to go find something to eat in the mornings. Luckily, once I have a huge jar of this stuff made, all it takes is a splash of milk to "make" breakfast.

These have been my favorite add-ins recently:

I stir them in with my standard granola base (recipe below) and toast them for about 10 minutes on low heat. (My hyper-sensitive pregnancy senses started noticing that over-toasted granola tastes like burned popcorn. Yuck. I use to bake granola all day to get is as crunchy as possible, but now I take it out as soon as the oats clump together and it's still plenty crunchy and the flavor is great!)

Granola Base
(makes about 2 cups)

2 cups old fashioned oats
2-3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil (or oil of choice)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large pinch of fine sea salt

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
2. Warm your honey & coconut oil together until liquidy (skip this step if using regular oil; coconut oil is solid at room temperature).
3. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl until well-coated. Stir in any add-ins that you want (except dried fruit or chocolate chips, add those in after granola has cooled).
4. Spread mixture on an ungreased baking sheet and pinch together into clumps.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, stirring once, or until fragrant (it'll smell like delicious, warm cookies). Sometimes this is about 15 minutes for me, depending on what oven I'm using.
6. Allow to cool and store in a mason jar or air-tight container. Keeps for about 2 weeks (if it lasts that long!)

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Bits & pieces of February

Halfway through March seems like a good time to recap February, right? Looking back, we had a pretty eventful month. It was the last few weeks of my second trimester (that went fast) and it also turned out to be our last month living in California! We knew it was time to make a decision about where we wanted to settle in before the baby comes in May, and we decided to move up near my parents. This puts our plans to move to Nashville on hold for a year or two, but allows us the priceless gift of having family around as we start our own.

After much encouragement from his recruiters, Matt decided we should move up here before he has a job. Kind of a risk, but the clock is ticking on my ability to get off the couch without help up, let alone move to another state, so we went for it. His job in California was incredibly understanding and wonderful, and even offered him some part time work for the next six weeks, giving us a nice buffer while he job hunts. He has to make a few short business trips back to California, but we are so thankful to be able to transition with our same insurance & coverage. The first few days we got here, he already had a lot of activity with interviews and inquiries about his resume, praise God!

So, we made the decision to move about two weeks before we hit the road. Luckily, we only had to pack up our one, little room in the Clother's household, since everything else has been in storage since we packed up our house in April and headed off to Alabama. Easiest move we've ever had! This is about our fourth move in our 2.5 years of marriage, so we're pros at this point. I was a little slowed down by my big belly, but other than that it went really well.

Since we just went on a little getaway a few weeks ago, we decided to throw a dinner party for friends on Valentine's Day. I'm so glad we got to do that, since just a few days later we were booking Uhauls and putting in our notices at work. It was really great to spend time together, these people have been like our family down here. Lots of laughs and spaghetti were had.

Because our time was limited before we left, we decided to throw a party to make sure we got all of our goodbyes in. Matt smoked up some delicious eats, of course, and we pretty soon worlds collided as the living room filled up from friends of every area of our life down there.

After eight loyal years together, I decided to sell my car. It's dying a very slow, expensive death and probably not the best "family" car to begin with. That was the beginning of many goodbyes that week!

My last day of work was the night before we left. I was sad to leave my sweet job at Meadow, but was sent off very well by the lovely ladies there. Working in that beautiful boutique in the middle of charming, downtown Ventura was a serious highlight of my time in California.

Two twelve hour days of driving later, we pulled the Uhaul up to my parent's house just in time for hors d'oeuvres and the Oscars!

We breathed a long sigh of relief after two long weeks of work, packing and good byes. Our friends sent us off so well; we felt incredibly loved by them. Lots of precious little gifts for our baby boy that I can't stop thumbing through! So much love. We left behind a really great crowd down there, but are glad to be here.

We've settled into the downstairs apartment of my parent's house for now until Matt gets a job and we can find our own place. We are praying he finds a job this month so we can get settled into our own space before the baby comes-only 10 weeks away! How did that happen?! But whatever happens, we are just so grateful to be near family, and back in the northwest! I've been soaking up all the signs of spring around here. Frogs croaking, robins pulling worms out of the grass, blooms on the trees. I forgot how wonderful and refreshing it is to see the seasons change.

Thank you to everyone who helped us move, yet again, and to the warm welcome we received once we got here! We are very blessed.

Bakery Style Chocolate Muffins

On Saturday morning, our housemates recruited a few people to help them plant some trees in their front yard. I love baking on the weekends and decided to whip up a treat to serve with coffee for the lovely volunteers.

I love chocolate muffins, but let's be honest about what's really happening here. We're eating cupcakes. Cupcakes filled with various chocolate chunks and chips, at around 9 in the morning. Once you face the facts on that, you can move on and just enjoy them. 

I found this recipe on the ever-so-reliable website of King Arthur Flour. I reduced the amount of sugar the original recipe called for and they were still perfectly sweet and delicious. The chocolate chips make this already-dense batter quite heavy, so make sure you give the batter a chance to rest before putting them in the oven.

Chocolate Muffins
Makes 12

2/3 cup Dutch-process cocoa (or regular, but Dutch is better!)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons vinegar
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
1 tablespoon coarse white or raw sugar (optional topping) 

-Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line or grease a 12 cup muffin tin. (Lower the temp to 350 right after you pop the muffin tin in, the blast of heat will help raise up the muffin top.)  

-In a large mixing bowl, whisk together cocoa powder, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips. Set aside.

-In a medium-sized bowl, stir together eggs, milk, vanilla, vinegar and melted butter. (Make sure the butter isn't too hot or you'll cook your egg!) Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Set aside batter and let it rest for at least 20 minutes. (Batter will be thick and dense.)

-Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, all the way up to the rim. Sprinkle with raw or coarse sugar. 

-Pop them in the oven and lower temp to 350 degrees. Cook for 16-20 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Allow them to cool for about five minutes before taking them out of the tin. 

Serve warm, preferably buttered and with a cold glass of milk! Yum! I'm so glad we had a house full of people to help me eat these. Also, I need to remind myself not to walk past the bakery section of Costco when I'm waiting for my prescription to be filled so I don't see a tray of chocolate muffins and then come up with an excuse to bake them. Lesson learned.