Two more weeks...please?

Roughly two more weeks until the due date. Maegwin seems to have no interest in preparing for her life at large. She is head down but happily floating there. No dilating..no effacing. At least on the bright side I know doctors won't let you go more than two weeks past the due date anymore but that would put a damper on the holiday plans. We have Mom coming out on Christmas with the family here, Dad coming out the day after Christmas and then Mom #2 and Laura coming out for New Year's. I'd like some time to at least get into a little bit of a routine before then (or at least be home from the hospital :p) Ok, the fact that she is gigantic and crushing my lungs isn't helping either. The doctor estimates she will be between 7.5 and 8 pounds. I was secretly hoping for a smaller baby so that she would be a)easier to push out and b)stay tiny and cute for a little longer. Oh well, as long as she is healthy we will both be very happy.

In other news we found out at Planck's vet appointment last week that he has developed a bit of a heart murmur. Nothing too serious yet the vet says but they want to do some baseline testing so they can compare against it. Apparently it is common in the smaller dogs and many live for years without any effect. He has actually been more playful and active the last year or so than he was when we got him so I'm not too worried. I was very sad that day though and kept feeling the need to cuddle him constantly. I hope he is still with us for a very long time. I've never met such a mild mannered, sweet dog and I've had a ton in my lifetime. Never have I seen a dog so happy to occupy the bottom rung in the pack.

Things are pretty much ready for the baby to get here. We have the basinette set up. I even laid out the really pretty bunting my mom made in it. She is going to be so warm and comfy in that thing.

The last thing left to get is diapers which Mom is going to order tomorrow! My co-workers were kind enough to do a collection for me and got enough money to buy two things off my registry! We were so pleased. They got us the Ergo carrier (which Josh has already practiced strapping on with Planck playing the part of the baby) and the stroller base for our car seat. Yay! We also purchased a second car finally. We bought a 2010 Toyota Prius and boy do we love it. It took a while for them to locate a blue one but it was totally worth the wait. As Josh says, it's never been so much fun to drive the speed limit. We're averaging about 50 mpg highway and about 55 mpg city. Sometimes we can get it to go up to 100 mpg when we're running mostly on electric. It is amazingly roomy as well. It will be interesting to see how much overall our gasoline consumption goes down. Even though we now commute separately, we're using it for all our errands and weekend driving which is honestly where we tend to use the gas most.

I've been knitting mostly on Christmas things. I have finished up another pair of socks for Maegwin though. They are made of the same yarn as a pair I have. I'm hoping to get a photo of us both wearing them together. To give an idea of scale, Josh modeled them on his toes for me.

I'm hoping to whip up a few hats before she gets here. We had our first snow today-a gentle reminder of things to come.

I attended my last Stamp Camp sans baby and I was really pleased with how my cards came out this time. I'm excited to send everyone their Christmas cards this year. Here are a few of my favs:



Tomorrow we're doing the annual post-Thanksgiving yarn crawl. My mom, aunt, and I all go to as many local yarn shops as we can hit in one day. It should be fun though I probably will buy very little if anything. Yeah, I did buy a Prius...that's like my yarn budget for the next several years out there. Not to mention along with the baby coming is the reduced pay coming. It's totally worth it though to be home with her for at least a little while.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

T-minus three weeks and counting

Woohoo 37 weeks! We're getting pretty anxious for baby Maegwin to get here. She's getting really strong in there and kicking me. Sometimes I can feel her bony little heel or foot pretty clearly. We're almost prepared, basically we just need diapers. We're going to use disposable diapers for at least the first week or two since I don't want to ruin nice ones with the icky stuff. That gives us a bit more leeway on building up the Bum Genius stash. So far we have seven. All my co-workers had a shower for me and got us the Ergo baby carrier and the stroller frame to go with our car seat. I was really surprised. It was so generous of all of them. I'll miss them all while I'm out. One of my co-workers, Chris, also was purging baby stuff from his baby who is now two. We scored a swing, playmat, and cart liner for $50. I was very happy since we needed a swing and the playmat is really neat with lots of interactive things for when she is a bit older. The basinette came from Josh's family along with a tiny De La Salle sweatshirt that Josh was very happy about.

Lately I've been on a bit of a baking kick. As the weather starts to turn cooler I get excited about firing up the oven more often without worrying about it making the house too hot. I'm really into the bread making and Josh has been enjoying the fruits of my labors. I've tried whole wheat and a wheat blend loaf. I like them both and am going to try adding in some milk and honey to the next one to get a more sandwich bread kind of consistency. I also made cinnamon rolls which oddly are really easy. No more Pillsbury dough in a can or Cinnabons! I know, I know, *yawn* where are the pictures!? Well I documented my cinnamon roll making journey in steps. I used the food processor with the dough attachment to mix everything together and then rolled it out on the island (I'm better at this now and have since figured out that my silicone baking mat is awesome for dough rolling).

Once they were rolled out came the fun part. I slathered some butter on there and then coated the dough with a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. I think the cardamom is the secret. It's such a neglected spice but it has an amazing flavor and just wants to be loved.

Note, the sun is now coming up in this picture. I'm glad my marble rolling pin made it in there. I love that thing. Anyone who wants to work with dough-spring for the marble, it is worth every penny! Nuts you say? Say no more!

Mmm, pecans...Then I rolled it all up and threw them into my beloved springform pan. Again, go for the glass bottom one. People always comment on it and it makes nice presentations.

And finally the icing. I made a double recipe and scraped out some vanilla from the beans we had to put in it.

Josh pronounced them the best cinnamon rolls he had ever eaten.

I'll have to post more later today, Planck has a vet appointment. We are also invited to an OSU vs. Michigan party. Now, I hate football or rather I am extremely indifferent to it. I'm treating this as more of a sociological experiment where I will observe the behavior of others. I'm just hoping a few people there will not be into the game and will talk to me. It is with all of Josh's co-workers so I don't know anyone. Otherwise, I'm packing some knitting so I can at least finish up some socks.