Upcoming project: the new home addition

Before anyone begins thinking we're terribly crazy, our "new addition" has nothing to do with adding on to the existing structure of our home. We have yet to finish the kitchen (small glitch with the countertops), and we'd be really dumb to start something of that size in October with snow coming!

In actuality, the new addition comes in the form of a person...we are expecting our first child in May! (It seems even crazier to write this down than it does to just tell people, by the way. The enormity of the situation has yet to fully sink in!)

Our precious pup Sherpa, who turned five a couple weeks ago, will now be a big brother! He just doesn't know it yet. For those of you who would like the full story with the few details we have to this point, continue reading.

Finding Out
We found out we were pregnant on Sept. 12 with a home pregnancy test. The day before I competed in a triathlon in Connecticut. That morning I was feeling especially queasy, but since it was a.) 5 a.m. and b.) I get car sick and was in the back of a minivan, I didn't think much of it. I was also a little nervous since it was my first tri. By the time we got to the race and got our gear set up, I was totally fine.

I had been thinking I could be pregnant, but because tests cost about $10 each Andrew wouldn't let me get one until I was two weeks late. This is also because I had taken one the month before, after being about 5 days late. (TMI alert: I went off birth control pills several months ago because I did a lot of research and don't believe they are completely safe, so I've been late a lot since then. Alert over.)

Anywho, he conceded, I took the test and it was positive. The next day on Sept. 13, I called the doctor and had an appointment that day. They confirmed my pregnancy and said I was six weeks along.

Today I am 12 weeks and hopefully we'll get to hear the heartbeat this afternoon!

Sharing the News
We wanted to keep it a secret until the second trimester, which was difficult because I have been feeling terrible. I haven't been vomiting, but I'm constantly nauseous. Fun fun! I have said this a few times already and will say it again: I have no idea why women say "I want to be pregnant." You should say, "I want to have a baby." I will love and care for this child, but after the last few weeks, pregnancy is for the birds. I'm grateful for the time to prepare...I just really hope I start feeling better so I can actually read all the info I need to and stuff like that.

We did tell a couple of people early out of necessity, which did help that someone other than us knew. Over the last week we shared the news with our families, close friends and then our church on Sunday. I wrote a song to Oasis' "Wonderwall" to announce the news.

A few notable reactions:

My friend Kristin--screamed louder than anyone. Twice.

Our niece, Ava--Andrew said, "Ava, you're going to be a cousin." Silence. Her mom, Logan, said, "Wait, I'm going to be an aunt?!" to which Ava said, "I'm going to be an uncle!!"

Prophetic dreams: My friend Christie had a dream a few weeks ago that I was two months and showing, making an announcement at church. I found out yesterday that my friend Katharine also had a dream recently that I was pregnant.

Suspicious: my step-mother, great aunt and cousin Leah. I should point out that my step-sister-in-law is due in March, and my sister-in-law is due in April. Lots of babies!

Secrets
We are not going to find out what we're having, nor are we revealing names until the baby is here, in our arms and given said name. Sorry!!

Baking in the remodel

The events of this post happened about two months ago...oh well :)

So two months ago we were in August, and the kitchen remodel was in a similar state as it is now. That seems sad--we are making progress, just had a little hitch that I'll get into in another post. My friend Kristin's birthday was July 31, and my friend Laura's birthday was August 5. (You can read their blog here.) To celebrate, Kristin's husband, Mike, decided to have a little party for the two of them.

One day he handed me the August edition of Rachael Ray's magazine and showed me several fun birthday cake ideas. Kristin liked one in particular, but there were a few others she thought were pretty cool, too. I told him I'd make three of them: one that looked like pancakes, one where the cake is baked inside ice cream cones and one that was a rainbow-colored cake. Each was pretty easy and used a box mix, and two of the three were smaller looking so I figured it would be fun to have options. Now remember, I have no sink in my kitchen and no counters. I did have a working oven, though, so I assured Mike everything would be fine.

Fast forward to August 9, the day before the party. I got a call from Laura's husband, Caleb, asking if I might be able to pick up a cake he ordered from a bakery in Easthampton. At this point, I was unaware that anyone else was bringing dessert. He said it was a cake that he and Laura had tried and loved and that it would feed 20 people. I'm really glad Caleb called me because I knew we wouldn't have 20 people at the party, meaning I didn't need to bake three different cakes in addition to the one he ordered.

On to August 10. I decided to go with the pancake cake since that was the one Kristin really liked. Here is a picture from the magazine of the finished product:

I gathered all of my ingredients together on an IKEA cabinet that we were using in the living room.

You need a yellow cake mix, whatever the cake mix calls for, powdered sugar, water and sprinkles. I then got my set-up ready on the stove. Remember...no counters. (I didn't end up using my big mixer--it was easier to do my hand.)

I melted butter in my pan, had my cake mix ready in the bowl and then got to work. You pour the cake batter in your pan a little at a time the same way you would to make pancakes. Now I like Rachael Ray, but I will say I feel like the recipe lied a little. The cooking time given was about 8-9 minutes on the first side, then a few more on the other. I'm pretty sure I only needed about 2 minutes on the first side, then about 15 seconds on the other. Just cook them like you would pancakes--wait for the bubbles before you flip. It is a little trickier to flip cake batter as opposed to pancake batter, but if you work at it, it is possible I promise! (Andrew benefited from my mistakes, though!) Here are some cooking pics:

Once you make a stack, you can then make the icing drizzle for the top. The recipe said to mix powdered sugar together with water, then drizzle on the stack. I read on another blog that you could also use milk or orange juice. So I headed to the bathroom--my source of water--and made the topping, drizzled it and added sprinkles. Here's the finished cake--the icing doesn't look as thick as the one in the magazine, but it worked!

At this point I got really worried. The cake didn't look so great to me, I thought it would get too soggy since the party was in another hour, on and on. Andrew said it tasted good, but I wasn't convinced. I finished it up anyway and hoped for the best. I broke a wooden skewer in half, cut out a triangle of card stock, wrote happy birthday on the card stock, then taped the flag to the skewer. Voila! Who needs candles?

Turns out, the cake was great and everyone loved it. It definitely took more work than I anticipated--mainly because I was running through my house looking for better spatulas to flip with or trying to find a ladle for the batter, etc. Cooking and baking is definitely harder when your supplies are spread throughout your home.

One last note: The batter lasted me forever. I read on another blog that someone got 9 pancakes out of their batter. I got about 16! I made 7 or 8 for Kristin and Laura's party, then made the rest for Andrew and our house guest, Aaron. I made several of the pancakes, then I think just made a bowl of the icing for them to dip it in.

And, we're back in the game!

The game of dishes that is. Most of you have no idea what I just [mis]quoted, unless your name is Mike Thomas, but it's from one of my favorite movies--Ten Things I Hate About You. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character kisses Larisa Oleynik's character, she gets out of the car and he says, "And I'm back in the game!" and simultaneously hits the steering wheel for dramatic effect.

I apologize for that brief tangent, but since my last post lacked random humor, I felt it was needed :)

Anywho....our dishwasher works! Let that sink in...

OUR DISHWASHER WORKS!!!

Well, we hope. Our first full cycle has yet to complete. But we're 10 minutes in and no flood yet.

I realize these pictures will show a bit more work than what I've told you about to this point, but the news is so exciting I had to share this first. Expect some more backlogged-work-updates soon.

We woke up Saturday morning with nothing major to do until later in the evening, so Andrew decided to do some plumbing. And plumb he did. My beautiful husband hooked up our dishwasher in only a couple of hours and two trips to the store.

blurry....he caught me taking pictures

All I know is there was something about drilling holes in the floor, hooking up some PEX tubing, the use of teflon tape and voila, it worked! He ran a quick rinse cycle to make sure nothing leaked, then we loaded her up!

Because we don't have our countertops in yet, the dishwasher isn't "built-in" so to speak. When you open the door it becomes top heavy, so Andrew had to hold it while I loaded it. I've never seen dirty dishes look so beautiful.

Even better, free soap included!

And that green light and the minutes on the face mean it's working. Clean dishes minus the bathtub, here we come!!