I've been tagged

Melissa tagged me so here are my lists of fours:

1. four shows that you watch:
(1) Dexter
(2) Desperate Housewives
(3) Glee
(4) Tosh.0


2. four things you are passionate about:
(1) Cooking and baking
(2) Elephants
(3) Breast Cancer Awareness
(4) Teaching


3. four phrases you say a lot:
(1) Seriously?!
(2) You are the worst dogs ever!
(3) If this is a tattle I don't want to hear it.
(4) You have go to be kidding.


4. four things you've learned from the past:
(1) everything happens for a reason
(2) When you get going on the right path, life becomes easier.
(3) I am a strong person.
(4) It's not always black and white, sometimes there are shades of gray.


5. four places you would like to go:
(1) Africa
(2) France
(3) Key West
(4) The elephant sanctuary in Tennessee


6. four things you did yesterday:
(1) Went to Pig and Chick
(2) Laundry
(3) Complained about being uncomfortable
(4) Made 72 cupcakes and a birthday cake for Keith


7. four things you are looking forward to:
(1) giving birth (actually just having a baby the physical birth not so much)
(2) Time off work
(3) Being skinny again
(4) Eating blue cheese and Sushi


8. four things you love about winter: This is tough because I hate Winter
(1) Not seeing overweight people in tube tops
(2) Sleeping with lots of blankets
(3) Snow days
(4) not having to shave my legs as often



9. four bloggers who should share their list of fours:
They have all already done it :)

Something came over me today

People have been asking me if I'm nesting. I have to admit that I literally HATE housework. If I were rich I would throw out dishes and clothes and buy new ones instead of clean them. I don't like my house to be dirty so I do clean it, but I hate every minute of it. I hear people say that they like to clean and step back and look at it, not me. As soon as I'm done I just think, "and I get to do it all again next week".

Now back to the point, I think I am in the baking mood instead of the cleaning mood. Today is Keith's birthday so I made homemade pancakes (ie not with Bisquick) and sausage for breakfast. Then I made his cake- four layers of chocolate cake with raspberry mousse between topped with chocolate ganache. I made him this cake last year or the year before and it was delicious but not beautiful. Again it is not beautiful. I guess I don't work slowly or patiently enough to get the mousse even between each layer so it ends up not being level on top with mousse leaking out the sides. But since it's just family coming to eat it, I guess it's okay.


The next project to tackle was some kind of treat to put in a box that all of the first grade teachers are making to give to our office, custodians, etc. This is how I know I'm crazy. Instead of saying, "I'm 37 weeks pregnant, I'll make chocolate chip cookies." I said, "I'll make mini cupcakes". Granted mini cupcakes with buttercream icing are not that hard to make so here is where the crazy comes in. I decided to make chocolate cakes with peppermint icing. I then decided that the icing had to be striped like a candy cane or a peppermint candy. They turned out cute, but why do I do these things to myself?


Finally after 3 hours in the kitchen I was done. I went to take a shower and noticed that I had swollen feet, ankles, and hands. Luckily after putting my feet up and drinking 2 glasses of water the swelling has gone down and I'm fine. However I already have another baking project lined up for a Christmas Eve party..............

It's getting hard

So I don't think I have complained too much during my pregnancy, my husband might disagree but I think I've pretty much just dealt with it. Now that I'm just 32 days away from my due date, I feel like complaining. This week it has started to feel like the muscles at the top of my giant stomach are ripping apart. It literally feels like at any moment there is just going to be a huge rip right below my boobs and Jackson is going to start waving at me. I have heartburn pretty much constantly from about 4pm until I go to bed, regardless of what I eat. I cannot sleep, I either have to wake up to pee constantly (last night it was literally 5 times in 2 hours) or I get leg cramps that I have to stretch out. I have also started having these sharp pains in my legs/hips. It's not in the back but in the front and down my leg. It makes me limp which makes all 23 of my students and many of my colleagues ask "what's wrong". Since I'm in pain it's really hard not to respond "LOOK AT ME, I'M ABOUT TO EXPLODE. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS WRONG?" I usually just say something like, "I'm okay" or "he must be moving around today". Today I did lose my poise a little when a substitute said "wow you got big really fast" I said in a very flat tone "I'm due in 32 days, I'm 9 months pregnant, I did not get big fast" and shut my classroom door!

A friend of mine recently blogged about how hard it is to be a new mom and took some heat for it, so just to clarify: I'm so thankful that I was able to conceive and carry a child to full term without any complications. I cannot wait to meet my son and see what he looks like, I'm thrilled to add a baby to our family but being pregnant is hard. There is truly no way to understand what it's like until you have done it.

I would post a picture but I can't bring myself to. It is truly unbelievable that I look like this. I really appreciate my lying friends who keep telling me that I look cute and that I don't even look pregnant from the back. That's what friends are for!

I have a stroller!

Not that I have a baby to put in it but I got a stroller today. I went to BuyBuyBaby thinking that I wanted either the BOB Revolution or the Phil and Ted sport buggy. I ended up with the Baby Jogger Summit XC. I liked it a lot better than the other two. It seems more durable and had more padding. I still need to buy the kit to attach the car seat. Now I'll have no excuse to not get back in shape after he's born (yeah right I bet I think of a few)!


By the way, if you haven't been to Buy Buy Baby I suggest you check it out. It's huge. It's owned by Bed Bath and Beyond and is set up pretty similarly. They have everything for babies and a huge selection to choose from. Today was my first time there but I think I'll be frequenting more often, plus they send out coupons like Bed Bath and Beyond does so you can save $5 off one item or sometimes 20% off one item.

Our Christmas card

Peppermint Dots Christmas Card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

coolest thing since sliced bread

What could it be, you ask. Why it's Shutterfly, which is basically my favorite invention ever. I have loved Shutterfly for years. You can just share pictures if you want or you can order prints to be delivered to your house or a local Target. You can make photobooks, which I am obsessed with. I made one for our wedding and then duplicated it in a smaller size and gave them to people as gifts. I seriously have about 10 photo books from Shutterfly. I also used Shutterfly to make our Save the Dates for the wedding. It was so easy and they turned out really pretty.

You can also make really cool personalized calendars to give as gifts or keep for yourself. I am already planning to make baby Jackson a calendar model next year :)

Well the folks over at Shutterfly have decided to bless bloggers with 50 free holiday cards. I am planning to send out our holiday cards soon. This year they will also be serving as mementos of our pregnancy for family and friends who haven't gotten to see the bump grow. I am really excited about them. I am planning to use this design, because pregnant ladies are supposed to "glow":But there are so many fabulous ones to choose from on the website that you can find one to fit any style.

I also really like this design
which you can find here.

So if you are a fellow blogger who also loves Shutterfly or you just want to give it a try now is the perfect time! For more details about the 50 free cards visit the Shutterfly site here.

Couples' shower

Not the best picture of me but I guess at 8 months you get what you get!

On Friday my three best friends threw an awesome couples' shower for Keith and me. Candace, Kristin, and Amy worked really hard and made it a very special evening for us. We had about 15 people there and we got some great gifts.

Candace's daughter, Lizzy, snuck herself into our girl photo. She's so cute, so I guess she can stay.

Lizzy posing with Keith.

The girls suggested baby photos of Keith and me as well as a sonogram for a center piece. It turned out really cute.

I could have eaten that whole pan of mac and cheese myself!

The cute cake my mom made.

The diaper cake made by Kristin.
Opening presents