Monday, October 28, 2013

Double Digits

As alluded to in my post yesterday, we are, indeed, expecting baby number 8. I am just over 12 weeks pregnant, so just a few days shy of the second trimester. Baby is due in early to mid May. This will push our family into the double digits - "family of ten"... WOW! It really seems like just yesterday that we were waiting for little Solomon to arrive.

I went for my first checkup last week and heard the heartbeat, which is always so reassuring. The pregnancy is going well. My main pregnancy symptom is more fatigue than usual, which is fairly common. At this point, it is always very important for me to slow down and make sure I get a nap every day, and don't go to bed too late at night.

Some of my regular readers may know that I typically suffer from extreme, all-day morning sickness, also known as hyperemesis. Well, I am happy to say that after suffering through many pregnancies with terrible sickness before this current one, I have finally put together the puzzle pieces of all my research on the topic of morning sickness/NVP/hyperemesis, and have discovered the cause and cure for morning sickness, mild to severe. I realize that is a pretty bold claim. Consequently, my nausea has been minimal compared to what it usually would be. When I do get sick, it's about 10% of what I would have experienced in the past, and even then, it's always because of straying from the cure, and always reversible. Rather than being bedridden and miserable, I have been able to carry on with most of my regular obligations and carry on a normal level of activities.

I started writing on a blog post months ago explaining all the science behind it, and will publish it as soon as I wrap it up, now that we have announced the pregnancy.

So hold out, dear fellow sufferers! Help is on the way. 

Sunday, October 27, 2013

A Little Fall Riddle




First one to correctly caption this picture gets... bragging rights :)

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Mummy Dogs

As part of our "All Through the Ages" history-based unit study, the kids and I have been studying Ancient Egypt.

We try to have a special meal and/or activity each week relating to each era, so when I saw the idea of "Mummy Dogs" on Pinterest, I was immediately sold on them. Basically, they are like "pigs in a blanket", except that we used pretzel dough instead of biscuits, which we then wrapped mummy-style.



The kids had a blast. For me, this definitely beat the idea of "mummifying" each other in rolls and rolls of toilet paper... :)






Thursday, October 24, 2013

More cake decorating

I went to the third of my four cake decorating classes today. This is just the most basic, level I class offered by Wilton. Going to the class definitely teaches a lot more skills than just trying to work through the book on my own, plus it is so much fun! Our instructor is a really funny Mexican lady, who teaches the class bilingually, in English and Spanish, so I am improving my Spanish, too. :)


Next class, we are decorating a character cake.

I love how she taught us how to make the colored ribbons.

Of course, cake is never going to be a health food. I do make my own buttercream frosting, and only use the natural, plant-based food colors, but oh, there is so much sugar still! The kids were scandalized that I scraped the frosting off the decorated cupcakes from the last class before letting them eat them. 

I am going to take a break until next year before taking the level II class, because I have been baking so many more treats than usual while doing these classes. Combining that with the holidays just seems like total overkill. 

But yes, it's super fun! I highly recommend it!