Pregnancy cravings fulfilled

When I saw pictures of homemade bagels on one of my favorite cooking blogs, baby and I had to have them stat. When my friend Karlee said her version of them turned out great, I knew it was time to make my craving a reality.

It was somewhat of a long process, but surprisingly easy. The end result was even more delicious than I expected.

I topped mine with cinnamon sugar (the best option, in my opinion), some with freshly grated parmesan, a couple with Annie's "everything" topping and left the rest of them plain. Annie was right — there is no going back to store-bought bagels after trying the homemade version.

I am totally on a homemade-version-of-store-bought-foods kick right now. I'm lovin' the granola bars my friend Jessie made for a freezer meal party we had. The recipes I have tried have always been for hard granola bars, but these are so soft and chewy.

Another pregnancy temptation was fulfilled this afternoon: cinnamon rolls. My baking pro friend offered to teach me how to make them, so I wasn't about to say no. They were the best cinnamon rolls I have ever had. No joke.

I welcome any ideas for things you love to bake or cook homemade style.

Aunt Haley

Clay went out of town last week (a common occurrence in the last year) and my little sister, Haley, volunteered to stay with me while he was gone. She was such a huge help — especially when Ellie got really sick. I don't know what I would have done without someone there to help me when I had to hold her down and give her medicine and clear her nose, then make a store run for Pedialyte in the middle of the night.

Even just having her there so I wouldn't be alone through the nights and during the day so we could have some company was priceless. But on top of that, she helped me cook, clean and do laundry and she babysat Ellie while I went to the gym and spent some time with friends.

I am lucky to have a sister so close who is so willing to help me out.

It also helps that Haley and Clay have a great boss who made it easy for Haley to help me out if I needed it, even if it was during her work hours.

This girl is an amazing one. I told her if I am having twins, she is dropping out of school and work and being my full-time nanny. She said yes. :)

Love ya, Haley!

Goals

I made some resolutions on New Year's Eve, and decided to go public with them this year to make me more accountable and so I can review how I did with them next year. Plus, winning this got me extra motivated! Here goes:

- Eat At least 5 full servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Thank goodness for green smoothies.
(I know the recommendation is 10, but I've gotta start small.)

- Work out 6 days a week for at least 30 minutes (and ideally go to couple of one-hour gym classes per week).

- Go to the temple once a month with Clay.

- Gospel study every day.

-FHE every Monday night (This has been a tough one with our small family. Tips?)

- Make a conscious effort every day to be a more positive person.

I have a lot more goals, but I think I'll start here. Good luck to us all!

Yoga & Baby bumps.

I've been incorporating yoga into my workout routine to try and get over the sleep issues I've been having. I love when Ellie joins right in -- pantless, doll-in-hand and everything.

Oh and if you noticed my tummy is looking a little rounder, that's because it sure is. I heard that after having your first child a baby bump shows up sooner because of muscle memory, etc., but it still surprises me a little.

It's like my body said, "Pregnant? I can do pregnant." And decided to start taking that shape it knew so well for 9 months with Ellie.

A little news . . .

I'm havin' a baby! She or he is due mid-July, and we are so happy.

Some tidbits about this pregnancy:

-We were really hoping for a warm-weather birthday. We're so excited the timing worked out for that.

-Morning sickness started on day 1 and ended around week 6. It was not bad at all.

-However, I have had sleeping issues from day 1 to make up for it. No fun. I've also been on quite the emotional roller coaster, but that is to be expected, I guess. :)

-I have been craving salty foods galore and not so much sweet stuff like I did with ellie.

-My body is not reacting well to dairy this time around.

-This pregnancy is flying by. I'm 14 weeks along and can't believe we already find out the gender in a couple months. We wanted to wait a little longer to tell people, so that's part of it.

-I blacked out when I had my blood work done at my first appointment. Just like last time, they had to escort a loopy me to a recovery room and feed me juice. C'est la vie.

-Ellie says she has a "pretend baby" in her belly and she proceeds to "push" it out and hold it. She talks about helping me feed the baby and change his/her diaper. She loved hearing the baby's heartbeat and told everyone about it for the following few days.

I am still in denial that I am really pregnant with a human the size of a lemon and that I am going to go through the "Mawathon of Wabor" (Baby Mama, anyone?) again and add another little one to our family. I definitely get a little nervous about the whole thing sometimes, but overall, I am so happy and grateful to be carrying another baby.

Tiny dancer

I was getting ready to go to a ballet class a friend and I just started and Ellie said, "I need to go to a dance class too! I want to dance with mommy!" We couldn't say no, so we brought her to the studio with us. Clay stayed with her while I danced and as soon as class was over, she ran in and said, "let's dance!" Good thing she starts gymnastics soon to get some of those wiggles out.

I wrote in my journal the other day that Ellie said, "Some day I tell a story and sing on the stage. When I get older." Later that day, we went to the library and she got on the top step of the story circle and sand "Twinle, Twinkle." This girl is already a little performer and I kind of love it. It's so fun to see her personality develop.

Another Ellie quote that made me laugh the other day was when we were snuggling on my bed (her new favorite pasttime) and she said, "You're the best, mom. You're so cute!" She knows just what to say to make my day. :)

I love how she calls breakfast "bress-kess" and says "ness-kess" for necklace. She is still scared of the vacuum and the blentec and demands to snuggle on my bed when we have to turn them on. She is still ever-attached to the binky, but she is still rockin the potty training. This week, we started ditching the diapers completely aside from naps and bedtime, and although leaving the house was scary the first few times, she is getting the hang of going to the potty wherever we are. We couldn't do it without our portable potty seat though!

She still loves pretending (to catch butterflies, to have picnics, to host cooking shows ...) it's so fun to watch her imagination develop.

I love my little girl -- she is my best bud!

summer in january.

Clay had a day off last week, and we took advantage of it by going to a fun indoor pool.

I got my exercise for the day in by swimming some laps (my new favorite workout)

then I joined Clay and Ellie in the lazy river.

Playing in the water reminded me of summer, and it was so fun.

Winter always brings bouts of the blues to our house, so I'm always looking for new ways to fight them. The extended fall weather has helped a lot ... but now that the snow is here, we will just have to bundle up and fight the cold to get a little but of sunshine.

I thought winter would be hard with an active toddler on top of the lack of happy-mood-inducing sunshine, but that part hasn't been too bad. Most of the time, Ellie is content to pretend, color and play with play dough all day and I often have to bribe her to leave her "projects" behind to go outside or hop in the car so we can get out of the house.

Luckily, there are storytimes galore at libraries, book stores, etc. around here and we take full advantage of those. And I am slowly getting back into sewing some simple things (so far -- some fun yellow curtains for our bedroom, headbands and a hooded towel. Lots more on the list -- like this adorable cardigan).

But, still, I am already holding out for those days in March, April, May . . . when the sun starts peeking through the clouds and we can go outside without a heavy coat!