One More Week!!!!

Here is my pregnancy shot at 39 weeks-

Things I WON'T miss about being pregnant:

Random strangers rubbing my belly, heartburn, pain and discomfort, waking up in the night to pee, peeing every 20 minutes, my ever changing body, waddling, people commenting on my body, having to sleep on my side, my lack of clothing options, swollen feet, feeling incredibly unattractive, having a hard time bending over, constantly being kicked in the ribs...

Things I actually WILL miss about being pregnant:

Feeling the baby kick and move around, the heat-pack Ben warms up for me every night, one-on-one time with Caden every day... and thats about it :)

1-2-3-GO!!

This video is a few months old now, but I love watching Caden in it. He LOVES when Daddy comes home from work! Usually, he's been waiting by the door for about 10 minutes by the time Ben comes home. Caden always has something in mind for them to do (spinning around, playing the Wii, building Lego) and can't even wait for Ben to take his shoes off! Ben is such a great Dad!

Caden has been growing up SO quickly this past month. His speech has improved a lot- he is constantly trying out new words and phrases and you can tell he feels very proud of himself! My favorite speech "improvement" this past month has been that he has stopped calling me mom ("maaah") and started calling me mommy ("maah-ee"). He is such a stud!

2 years old!

I can't believe that my little baby is TWO years old!

Caden is so full of life and has such an intense personality! He is so caring and just loves being around people. He always wants to make sure that everyone around him is happy.

Caden loves to have fun. He has such a love for life. His laugh is so contagious.

He is so active and always on the run... but when he does slow down,

he gives the best cuddles in the world!

I love this kid so much!

Mmmmm....

Yesterday I made 8 dozen cookies. Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chunk cookies. What am I doing making 8 dozen cookies when I have sworn off sugar, you may ask?! I don't know. I think it makes me feel normal to be able to bake even though I can't eat what I've made.

So, I will continue to spend my time opening zip-loc bags full of cookies and sniffing until my nose hurts. Yes, that's what I'll do. Thankfully there are a lot of people who can use an uplift and who have a better metabolism than I do, so I have places to send these cookies when I can't take it any longer :)

Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies

(For pictures and a recipe for maple frosting, click here)

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup self-rising flour (I used all-purpose flour and added 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt)
3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks

Directions:

Whisk together flour and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter.

Add both sugars and beat until light and fluffy.

Add vanilla.

Add eggs one at a time and beat until combined.

Add flour/spice mixture to sugar mixture in three additions. Alternate with pumpkin in two additions, ending with flour mixture.

Stir in chopped pecans and chocolate chunks.

Drop on cookie tray lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes about four dozen cookies.

Let cool.

Enjoy!

Shaving Cream Fight!

Gas to drive to Utah: $200

20 bottles of shaving cream: $40

Shaving cream fight: Priceless!

The last few weeks!

I keep checking all of your blogs just to get disappointed with the lack of updates! So here is my attempt at doing better with blogging. Hopefully I'll be able to stalk your blogs soon and not be disappointed :)

I had a cake order for Michelle Dahl (remember her from elementary school?) I had to deliver it all the way to Banff. The cake turned out great. I was really happy with it, it wasn't a difficult design but it was different than most cakes I've done which was refreshing! I also made 75 cupcakes which turned out well too. The whole order went so smoothly and I've finally found some recipes that I really love (I love making them and Ben and Caden love eating them... perfect!) After we delivered the cake, we hung out in Banff for the evening. I think Banff is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I wish I could get up there more often.

Last week Ben was off work for the entire week! We had such a fun vacation! No responsibilities (meaning church stuff, of course there was still laundry to do, meals to make, floors to clean, you know... mom stuff). We went to the zoo, LICS, riley park, out to eat, had a picnic, went to a movie, went boating, shopping and lots more. It was so fun to just be able to be together with no stress. I do have some cute pictures from the week, but I can't download pictures onto my computer right now!! I have so many pictures I need to update this blog with.

We also had another ultrasound last week. The tech was convinced that we are definitely having a girl! We are so excited! I've been looking at names ever since! I really didn't care what the sex of the baby was, but its just so nice to know and be able to start planning! (Let the pink shopping BEGIN!) The best part about the ultrasound was that the baby is measuring perfectly! I have been measuring small so my midwives sent me in to make sure the baby was okay. I was so relieved that she is! Also, my placenta has moved far enough up that I don't need a c-section! WOOHOO!

Caden has initiated going pee in the toilet two days in a row now! Mostly because he is in love with this book ... also the praise he gets after he goes pee or poo sure helps! I need a new toilet though because his little one leaks every time he pees (stupid sale items). I always end up cleaning up the pee while cheering for him. Being a mother can be so glamourous!

Caden is getting a little confused with what's real and what's not lately. He had so much fun boating last week that now every time we read a book and he sees a boat, he tries to climb inside the book and cries "BO! BO!". He has also attempted multiple times to climb inside computers to play with Lightning McQueen or to lick pictures of ice-cream cones on signs. Haha, he really is at such a fun age and I am constantly so impressed with how smart he is!

Ready... or Not!

A few weeks ago, I had a big realization... that whether I am ready or not, in less than 3 months I will be a mom to TWO kids. Realizing this scared me so much that I lost a lot of sleep that night! Since I have been home from Utah I have been tearing my house apart trying to get ready for a baby. I have a busy summer with a lot of wedding cake orders (Side note: I finally raised my prices to what they should be... and people are still booking, woohoo!) so I am trying to get as much done as I can now. I don't want to be stuck with an 8 month whale-belly and still have lots of work to do.

The biggest thing I've been working on is getting my basement cleaned out. If any of you have seen my basement in the last year or so, you'll understand why I haven't had time to update my blog lately :) It was a mess! I should have taken a picture before I started attacking it. It is such a good feeling to get a mess FINALLY cleaned up. In one day, I had to take 9 trips to the garbage bin (with both of my hands full of garbage bags, boxes, etc). But I still have a LONG way to go down there. Once the basement has been cleaned out, I am going to buy a big area rug and make the basement into our new study and playroom. After that, I will be able to get the baby's room ready (our current computer/ junk room).

My laptop is so full that I don't have any space to upload any more pictures! So next I need to clean out my computer, haha, and make space to upload the pictures from our amazing Utah trip! I can't wait to show everyone the pictures from our shaving cream fight :)

Okay enough about cleaning. BO-RING!