Food pictures as promised

I love this kid. She's so cute :) Even covered in squash!

Coolest Thing!

I follow a lot of other blogs-seriously, I'm not talking one or two-it's a LOT. I have some good pregnancy/mommy blogs that I enjoy but my favorite ones have to be the BAKING and COOKING blogs. I just love it. I can't explain how much I enjoy getting new recipes and seeing how creative other folks are out there. The hubby appreciates these blogs too-especially at dinner time. He just doesn't realize that I find the recipes for all our best meals/desserts from other sites. He still thinks I'm just that good...shhh! Don't tell!!
Being as how I am still pretty new to the whole blogging thing I never realized how much COOL stuff is out there in blog-land. Some of these people actually give away prizes! Now, I've never actually won any of those said prizes but it's still kind of thrilling to enter and think "what if..." And even when I don't win I still find all sorts of neat stuff online.
::I will get to the point of this story eventually::
As I was scrolling through my fave blogs yesterday, (at least I think it was yesterday-days are blurring now that I'm on maternity leave) I found that one of them was hosting a giveaway! The nice blogger from Bake It Pretty was featuring a cookbook prize (and we all know I do loooove the cookbooks-I seriously need a bookshelf for all of mine at this point-or maybe an intervention). Sweet Kathleen's Cookbook:Old fashioned coffee cakes, loaf cakes and pound cakes.
Is your mouth watering? Mine is...Mmmmm...pound cake.
All you had to do to enter was peruse Ms Sweet Kat's blog and post a comment on what type of recipe you'd like to see her make. Easy enough right? ::and I totally found the yummiest looking Pecan Bar Cookies to make while I was there::
So I'm good at following directions. I posted my thoughts-which were obviously about chocolate. Because I love chocolate. Seriously. LOVE. Chocolate.
:: eating a piece of chocolate pie as I type ::
Lo and behold, this morning as I was again scrolling through the blogs I follow, I noticed that Sweet Kat put up a CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE GLAZE recipe. Be still my heart. I'm in love.
And she did it just for me! Seriously! Look at the link. I have a shout out. That nice lady took pity on my pregnant, waddling, chocolate craving self and posted a recipe just for ME.

There's no way the doctor can comment on my weight gain this week! I have an excuse! If someone posts a recipe just for you then you are totally obligated to make it and eat the whole thing right? Right?

Let's just pretend that I wouldn't go on and do that already without the obligation part shall we....

Guess what I did on my first official day of maternity leave?
::And I use the term maternity leave loosely-I'm actually still seeing a couple clients each week but I'm not driving all the way to the office anymore::
On my first day of maternity leave I made 80+ muffins.
From scratch.
Why you ask?
No clue...sounded like a good idea at the time.
The freezer is now FULL of muffins.

Total Embarassment, Blonde Hair and Delta

I haven't posted a recent prego picture-for good reason. They all turn out hideous! Trust me on this one. I am so embarassed to even post it...
Oh.Goodness.I.Look.HUGE.

And because I realize with that huge belly, the chubby cheeks and the beginning of a double chin glaring at you it was probably difficult to notice that I have blonde hairs now...here is a nicely cropped picture so you can focus on the hair!
I had to do one of those photos where you take the picture of yourself with your arms all stretched out but it made my double chin go away...score!
I have to say that it looks far more shocking in real life than this picture...

And just because Delta was looking super cute while I had the camera out:

Doctor Visit Part 2

Well.....it didn't go quite as planned.

I got threatened to be sent to a nutritionist because I ate like a pig and it showed on the scale might have gained a tad too much weight in the last month...oops. I think the only thing that saved me was the fact that I fessed up about all the junk food I've been indulging in. If I'd have gone the whole "Well, I have no clue why that gigantic number appeared on the scale nice doctor..." route I'd have been sent straight away to the nutritionist. And then I'd have to keep a food journal...
No.Way.Jose.
Honesty is the best policy. I got a lecture but I lived through it. And I've been banned from taking leftover pizza to work anymore. And banned from Milky Ways. And banned from girlscout cookies (HA! I ate them all already! Boo yeah!) And banned from that great fast food joint down the road that makes the BEST milkshakes (oops...Dana is reading over my shoulder and vetoed that ban. Knew I married him for a reason...).
Who else thinks my doctor is evil satanic just plain cruel?
The good news is that I have excellent blood pressure and a had a great number on my diabetes test. Yay me! The doctor said she's not too concerned about my weight because the baby is growing normally and all my vitals and scores and such are fine. She basically just said I should slow down because it'll be not so fun to try to lose it all afterwards.

As for my whine fest....I read her totally wrong. She was NOT sympathetic to my complaints. Here is the short version of what happened...
Me: *whine, whine, whine, whine, whine*
Doctor: Oh yeah, I remember feeling all that when I was pregnant.
Me: *whine, whine, whine, whine...but with far less conviction and starting to lose my nerve*
Doctor: Yep, sounds like you're pregnant. Sucks to be you!
Me: ::insert blank stare because I did not come prepared with a plan B::
Doctor: See you in 4 weeks!
Me: ::waddles out the door::

Must find new way of gaining sympathy from doctor...

An apple a day...

An apple a day is probably what I should have been doing. Instead, I've been substituting a candy cane or three here and there...
I had a doctor's appointment today. It all went very well except for the obscene amount of weight I've gained over the last 4 weeks.
As Dana and I walked to the back to get weight and vitals the nurse asked if I'd always weighed with my shoes on. I nicely explained that indeed I do keep my shoes on because it makes me feel a tad better when I see the number pop up on the scale. I can rationalize it as "Oh it's not so bad, my shoes were on!" So I jump right on up on that scale (and I might have heard it groan like my Wii fit does...) and the nurse looks down at the number at the same time I did. I gasp and she goes, "Yeah, you should take your shoes off..."
So I took the hooker boots off (Dana's name, not mine!) which was no small task mind you and jump back on. The scale drops 2lbs but let me assure you the number was still ridiculous.
But anyways, enough vanity and tears...
My cystic fibrosis test came back negative. Didn't really doubt it would come back any other way but that's still a good thing.
My quad screen came back normal or "no greater risk than anyone else your age." Again, yay.
And we heard little baby Beard's heartbeat again. The little sucker was trying to pull a slick one on the old Doc and kept rolling around but she found him/her!
I scheduled the BIG ultrasound for next month so we'll be able to find out if baby Beard has a weewee or girly bits! And if it has all 10 fingers and limbs and all that other important stuff....

Pouting...

I feel like a fat, little sausage today.
Which strangely makes me want some Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
I do see how self-destructive and slightly illogical that is.
Either way, I still want some!