How I spent my morning

This morning I decided to give myself a break from all the things I usually try to get done while Maia is in school. I'm only 8 weeks from having the baby, and I'm starting to feel some of the aches and pains of pregnancy more profoundly than before. So this is how I spent my morning:

9:00- Drop off Maia at pre-school
9:30- Arrive at OBGYN for appointment
10:00-Leave OBGYN appointment and begin craving a killer brownie.
10:10- Arrive at DLM and purchase what I have been craving. (I bought a cookie for Maia too.)
10:20- Plop myself on the couch to watch DVR'd episode of Desperate Housewives while eating
killer brownie.
11:10- Leave to go pick-up Maia

Yes, this is the good life. In only 8 weeks, I won't have any alone time for awhile, so I'm going to savor these moments.

Mommy gets a make-over

We recently attended a birthday party for our neighbor, and a little make-up compact was in the goodie bag. Of course, Maia adored it immediately and rubbed the make-up all over her face. Then it was my turn to get a make-over. I was a good sport, but as we waited for the camera batteries to charge, my face became increasingly itchy. I'm not sure what was in the "make-up," but it did not feel very good. Needless to say, I have hidden this away where she will not find it for awhile! My skin can't handle too much of Maia's creativity.

Bread Continued

Making bread seems like such a domestic thing to do, so I decided to give it a try. I was very optimistic as I began the long yet not overly complicated process of baking bread from scratch. Overall, it was a positive experience, though there are some things I will change when I do it again. First of all, I apparently did not give myself enough time to get everything done, leading to less rising time and a flatter bread with a denser consistency. It was definitely a fun and educational activity for Maia. She was an excellent sport and I even let her stay up past her bedtime to sample the bread.


Yummy! Maia ate two pieces as soon as we cut it, but did not want to touch it the next day. I think it had something to do with the consistency. Yoshi tried to be nice and noted that it kind of resembled pound cake. I ate all of the bread throughout the week and made myself like it!

As you can see, the height of the bread is not quite right. It is a little too short and could have used an additional 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to rise. My neighbor who bakes bread all the time told me she sometimes starts the process in the morning in order for it to be done by dinnertime, so next time I'll definitely allocate more time. We didn't start until 5:30, and the bread wasn't ready to cut until well after 9:00.

We were so full of optimism!

A close up right before the final rise!

I thought that letting the bread rise this far was good enough, but it needed to get even bigger before I started baking it. Next time, hopefully our bread be even more delicious. It was definitely a great experience that made me feel a bit more domestic!

A Video Documentary of our Breadmaking Experience

We recently decided, with a little encouragement from my friend, to attempt making bread from scratch. It was definitely an interesting experience, and produced lots of blog-worthy material.

Unfortunately, these videos are in reverse order. I tried to correct the sequence, but have not figured out exactly how to do it. Apparently, it is impossible. Please feel free to watch them in any order you would like!

Video #3: Taking a Break for a Little Entertainment

Video #2: Beating Up the Bread

Video #1: Getting Ingredients Ready

Stay tuned for the photo documentary, which actually features pictures of the BREAD.

Belly Shots!

I am approximately 30 weeks pregnant, but I feel much bigger than I did when I was pregnant with Maia. Maybe I'll have to re-think that natural child birth I have planned.

This is my belly shot the night before I gave birth to Maia.





My belly shot today with about 8 weeks left until my due date!

Wearing the right outfit, I can still manage to look overweight rather than pregnant.

Halloween Video

This is a brief video of our party. The one wearing the black shirt with the giant belly is me!

Halloween 2008

Our Halloween this year was incredibly fun. Maia had been looking forward to it for months, and we were so happy when the day finally arrived. We were able to share it with lots of our neighbors and friends, which made it even better!

Belle, Ariel, and Cinderella all ended up trick-or-treating together. It was quite thematic and adorable. Ariel is hiding in this picture!

No matter how many houses we went to, the allure of candy did not wear off!

All three princesses approaching a very well-decorated house!

Did I mention that they were excited?

We ran into another neighbor while trick-or-treating. Maia paused for a picture.

Some of our friends posing for a group picture right before trick-or-treating officially started. They were ready to go!

We managed to squeeze 16 kids and 18 adults into our tiny house. It was a lot of fun until the last 20 minutes or so. I found myself wishing for a larger house because a bunch of screaming kids in one space can be overwhelming (especially when one of them is yours!)

Our neighbor and Maia's preferred babysitter. She begs to play with her. The little duck is our other neighbor. Her twin, dressed as a skunk, is running around somewhere.

This is Maia's best friend and her mom and dad. They are super-fun!

Peter Pan with his mom. More of our neighbors and good friends!