26 weeks

26 weeks, or 28 weeks? Or maybe even 29?! At our ultrasound today our little darling was measuring 28-29 weeks....approximately 3 weeks ahead of schedule! He's a whopping 2 lbs 12 oz, whereas my baby book said that babies are typically at 1 lb 13 oz at 26 weeks. Every time we measure this boy he's gotten bigger and bigger than the rest of the crowd. Ahead of the curve already! We're so proud :)

Still, despite my excitement at the possibility of having a deliciously chunky baby on my hands, I was worried that bigger is not better (or even just ok), and was concerned that something was wrong. I had to keep asking first the technician, then the perinatalogist, if baby was really doing ok, and all sources reported that he's just fine. Great even, because one of the concerns for our baby (because of all that radiation nastiness I had) was that he would be smaller than typical and developing behind schedule. Then I asked, as I always do, if anyone cared to change the due date, but no one wanted to because they used the most accurate method they could to predict it in the first place....so we could have one big baby on our hands. Or he could just come early-which would be lovely, as long as it isn't too early!

But to tell you the truth....I'm still a little bit nervous. Someone is going to have to deliver this child....

Weekend Mirths

With all of my busyness through the past week, I decided to have a quiet weekend. Actually, a quiet weekend descended upon me whether I wanted it or not-Jeff was away at work all Saturday and my generally fatigue and slight nausea meant that I wasn't going anywhere or doing anything.


So I baked. There were sweet potato biscuits for me and a layer cake for Jeff. And while the layer cake was positively, deliciously evil, you simply must try these sweet potato biscuits. Scrumptious! They have a nice balance of savory and sweet, which for me meant that I could eat them with honey drizzled all over them, or I could douse them with country gravy. Or eat them for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner (and I may or may not have done that). Not too heavy, but substantially layered make me think of a good ole Bob Evans biscuit with a touch of sweet potato and spice.


Sweet Potato Biscuits
adapted from recipe found here
Ingredients:

1 medium – large sweet potato, cooked, mashed, and cooled
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading and shaping
2 tablespoons light-brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp nutmeg
6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup buttermilk (or 1/3 cup milk plus a dash of distilled vinegar)
cinnamon butter or unsalted butter for brushing

Method:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a large bowl, or in a food processor (I have one now!), mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs ranging from bread crumb size to pea size (that took about 3, good 2-second l0ng pulses with my food processor). Pour into a deep and wide bowl.

In a 2-cup liquid measure, pour in buttermilk, then measure in sweet potatoes until total volume equals 1 1/3 C. Mix together, then add to dry ingredients.

Get in there with your hands and gently knead the sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture. Try to do this gently and efficiently- you don't want the heat of your hands to melt the butter, nor do you want to overwork the dough. Turn out onto a clean surface, shape into a round, then roll out to 1-in thickness. Cut with a biscuit cutter, a glass, or cut into rugged squares. Place on a greased cookie sheet, and bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden on top, puffed up, and flaky in the middle. Brush tops with butter immediately after removing from oven.

Enjoy!

Lamp Re-Vamp

As previously stated, I've been meaning to do this for a very long time. I love this old lamp shade. It's of a perfect barrel roundness, has great height and width, and diffuses a soft, glowing light. I once covered it in an adorable, shabby chic, delightfully frumpy floral fabric 3 years ago. With this being our third move, I've redecorated in a completely different way than ever before, trying to incorporate more masculine touches in with my love of feminine and antique. Sadly, I realized it was finally time for the shade to get a face-lift.

{my glorious old lamp shade}

What you'll need:
Lamp shade
Template (I got my quatrefoil one here)
Clear packing tape
Scissors
Paint: acrylic, fabric, or even craft paint
Sponge brush
Slightly firm paint brush (for touch-ups)

I'm slightly obsessed with quatrefoil patterns right now, so I searched about online and found a template. With a copy machine, I blew it up to a size relative to my shade (large-ish), then like that one time I made these, I covered both sides of the paper with clear packing tape and cut out the four-petaled design.

{getting everything ready; I thought to use contact paper, but I get angry at contact paper}

I then secured the template to the shade with tape (making sure the tape wouldn't block where I wanted any paint to go) and set my fingers to mixing up a lovely shade of red acrylic paint. I used acrylic paint because it's what I had around, but fabric or craft paint would work equally well. I sponged on the first layer, then removed all the templates and did a second layer and touch-ups with a brush. And....voila! A brand new (looking) lamp shade that bridges feminine and masculine design.


Added bonus: the soft, reddish-hued light now gives us a little bit of that cozy, romantic, "La vie en rose."

25 weeks

I'm loving my baby boy more and more. He's starting to get so big and I'm just certain he's a cutie, but his growth spurt is making me feel terrible, so though I love him I'm sure getting tired of feeling unwell. It doesn't matter if I eat, what I eat, how much I eat, or if I don't eat, I just never seem to feel good. Everyone told me the second trimester was the "honeymoon" trimester and when they felt the best, but at the end of this second set of 13 weeks I would avidly disagree. I think I handled the first round of sickness like a champ, but my heavily packed schedule combined with another bout of all-day-sickness is getting to be too much for me handle. I'm starting to think that in addition to a countdown to baby, I should really start counting down the days I have left in school.

On to the good part-little Jeff Jeff is growing marvelously and is hitting every developmental marker. All of his pieces and parts are in the right place and I'm following along behind him in good health (aside from aforementioned nastiness). He loves to have kicking fits at around 9:11am, 3:37pm and finish off the day with an 11:03pm show. We visited with our midwife last week and are working on finalizing our birthing plan and getting ready for the big day, and we can't wait to visit the perinatologist next week and get more baby pictures and have little Mr. measured. Just thinking about it makes me feel better :)

Weekend Mirths

Jeffrey took me out on the town Friday night for one of our dates that we always used to do when we were first married-dinner and a stroll around the mall. We visited all our old haunts, feeling giddy the whole time like we were sharing a special secret with every step and every minute together.

Sadly, Saturday was not nearly as pleasant. Three hours worth of cleaning checks, grimy hands from wiping my fingers over blinds and table tops, and dry mouth from explaining the recent internet issues to E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E, left me slightly grumpy and nearly exhausted for the rest of the day. Thankfully, we have nice tenants and one of the groups of girls brought Jeffrey and I delicious homemade apple pie-have I mentioned lately that I like appley things? Oh yes, I do very much.

Sunday brought us needed relaxation and family fun. My cousins Jeff and Dan came over for a hearty man-dinner of country fried steak and an evening full of games. Making country fried steak for a crowd made me realize: I need a deep fryer :) or maybe a healthier recipe for country fried steak....but I could do more with a deep fryer than I could with one measly recipe, so it's going on my "just because" wish list.


Finally, high on a mountain three years ago today, Mr. JM Klis asked me to marry him. The man gave me a big beautiful ring and s'mores all on the same night-but best of all was (and is) being able to call him mine.

It snowed!

Yes, it really did snow today. It's October and people are already driving around with snow-topped cars. Heaven help me. I need a drink- a warm, cozy drink that is. Chilly weather and the insatiable desire to nest in my home like a little bird are my excuses for making pipping hot chocolate from scratch, you can borrow them if you need to, but really, no excuse is needed to indulge in delights such as these.

Make one and get cozy!

{cookie dough hot chocolate}

{malted vanilla steamer}

{caramel hot chocolate float -in case where you live isn't quite so chilly yet}

{apple spice syrup- spice up cocoa or tea..... or anything}

{pumpkin spice white hot chocolate}

Weekend Mirths

Oh what a glorious weekend! I wish it had never ended.

Jeffrey attended his first ever college football game, thanks to my wonderful aunt Judi. BYU played Utah State, and since my cousin Travis plays for Utah State, we had a wonderful time rooting both ways. Not only was the game good to the last second, but we also got free BYU creamery ice cream! They must have known it Jeff's first time.

I loved showing the Jefe how to be a sideline participant in the whole affair, including how to "Rise and Shout" the Cougar fight song, how to roar along with Cosmo the cougar (our mascot), and how to defend your seats to the death when sneaky older persons are trying to steal them from you.

{free delicious LaVell Vanilla. thank you BYU, I needed something sweet}

{seats on the 40}

{this artsy fartsy is the only picture Jeff would let me take of us, and even then I had to sneak}

Jeffrey works all the live long day on Saturday, so in my spare time I've been slaving over creating a delicious new recipe: caramel apple pancakes! (to gratify my caramel apple obsession, no doubt). Maybe, and hopefully, I'll get it just right some day soon.

{caramel swirled pancakes}

{Sneak peak: crafting! I did something I should have done long ago...}

On Sunday, Jeffrey and I strolled through Rock Canyon Park, drinking in the crisp air and catching whiffs of Fall leaves. We tried and tried to pick out a name for baby, finally deciding that we simply cannot decide. This naming business is hard stuff. We had a name all planned out and in the bag and then one of us (ahem, it wasn't me) comes out and says he isn't so positive about what we were once so sure about, which left us with a lot of naming doubts-we're working through it. We both believe that names are really special but finding something that speaks to both of us has proven to be a challenge so far. That's what comes from wedding your opposite I suppose.