May 2010 – My Life As A Mama

Travel

Babymoon in Hawaii

By Kerena
May 27, 2010

That’s a new word to me. I had never heard it until I got knocked up. I think it’s defined as the last vacation you and the dude get to take before the baby takes over your life. (From the outside, I mean. It has already taken over from the inside.) Anyway, I was afraid we wouldn’t get to take a vacation, er, I mean babymoon, this summer. But, alas, we’re going to Maui next week and I CAN’T WAIT! We were given a timeshare to use and found a cheap rental car. Yippee! My plans for Maui: laziness, avoiding sunburn, eating lots of yummy fresh fruit and delicious food, and indulging in a big dish of Shave Ice every day. No, not Shaved Ice. It’s Shave Ice in Hawaii. Yeah, I don’t know. I suppose proper grammar isn’t important when you’re talking about something so refreshing and awesome.

Even though we’re not leaving for a week, I’ve already started laying out the stuff I want to pack. This is unusual for me. I’m a procrastinator and typically put off packing for anything until late the night before. I think this means I’m really excited for my trip! My husband and I have decided to share a suitcase, so we’ve got to pack light. We’re doing this because the airlines are now charging to check bags and we’re trying to save wherever we can. But our suitcase can’t be over 50 lbs. That sounds like a lot, but once you get all your junk packed and weigh your bag, it’s easy for it to be overweight. Ugh. You suck, airlines! Oh well. Good thing we’re going somewhere hot so we don’t have to take any heavy clothes. I’ll be living in summer dresses and my favorite Cobian flip flops all week! Yay for vacay!

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Food

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats

By Kerena
May 23, 2010

A few days ago I found this picture online.

YUMMY! I had to make them! So I did some Googling and found the recipe and went to work in my kitchen. Delicious and quite easy to make! But very rich. My husband loves peanut butter, but decided that he preferred the rice krispie squares without the fudge layers on top. Since I couldn’t have these little squares of high calorie yummyness in my house, I took them to work the next day, thinking they probably wouldn’t all get eaten. Nope! Within 2 hours they were all gone! And I got rave reviews. Here’s the recipe.

Oh, one more thing. Since I should give credit where credit is due, HERE is where I found the recipe.

Rice Krispies Treats

3 tablespoons butter
1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows or 4 cups miniature marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispies Cereal (or any puffed rice cereal)

In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Add Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated. Using buttered spatula or wax paper or wet hands, evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. (You may want to line your pan with parchment paper or waxed paper large enough to have flaps hanging over the sides. This will make it easy to pull the giant block of goodness out of the pan when it’s done. If you do this, be sure to also butter the paper so the treats will not stick.) Cool. Make Peanut Butter Fudge.

Peanut Butter Fudge
recipe from Alton Brown

1 cup butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound powdered sugar

Microwave butter and peanut butter for 2 minutes on high. Stir and microwave on high for 2 more minutes. Add vanilla and powdered sugar to peanut butter mixture and stir to combine with a wooden spoon. Pour over the Rice Krispy treats in the pan and spread evenly. Let cool in the fridge while you make the Chocolate Fudge.

Easy Chocolate Fudge

2 Tbsp butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 2/3 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

Combine butter, milk, sugar, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil; cook 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in marshmallows, chocolate, and vanilla. Beat for about 1 minute, or until marshmallows melt and mixture is thoroughly combined. Pour over peanut butter fudge, spread evenly and place in the fridge to harden and cool. Cut into 1-inch pieces or smaller and serve.

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Pregnancy

Half Way There

By Kerena
May 23, 2010

Guess whose pregnancy hit the half way point today. MINE!! I’m 20 weeks today. I can’t believe how fast it’s going! Before I know it, my little girl will be here. Oh my. So much to do. I’m soooooo excited to meet her!

They (“they” being pretty much everyone who has ever been pregnant) say one of the side effects of pregnancy is crazy dreams. And let me tell you, it’s true! Every night my dreams are full of crazy, random stuff. I don’t know where they come from. Random people who I haven’t seen or even thought about for years suddenly appear in my dreams. Usually I like dreaming, but a dreamless night of good sleep sounds sounds wonderful right now. Sometimes the dreams are stressful or scary. Bah. No good. Between all the crazy dreams and waking up to pee and having a new baby soon, I don’t think I’ll get a full night’s sleep again for a few years. *SIGH* Oh well. It’s all for a good cause, right? Yes yes. All good.

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Pregnancy

Sleep + Pregnancy = Oil + Water

By Kerena
May 18, 2010

It’s 3:40AM. I’ve been up since 3AM. Sleep feels far away. I think it’s because I forgot to take my sleeping pill when I went to bed. Can’t take it now. I’ll sleep all day! Ugh. I think it’ll be years before I ever sleep thru the night again. I mean with all the waking up at odd hours to pee and sleeping restlessly thru the pregnancy. Then the baby is going to want to eat at crazy times. It’s okay though. I’m not complaining. It’s all good and I’m happy.

Anyway, about my pregnancy. I’m 19 weeks, 2 days. Translation: I’m 4.5ish months. That 9 months of pregnancy thing is not exactly correct. Pregnancy doesn’t last exactly 9 months. It’s 40 weeks and when 40 weeks is divided by 4 weeks per month, that equals 10 months. I know there aren’t exactly 4 weeks per month, but it’s still a bit confusing to figure out. So I’m going with 4.5 right now. Since I’ll be 20 weeks on Sunday and that’s exactly half way, I figure 4.5 months works.

It’s going well, except for this sleep issue that I have. I had big bad nausea for the first 15-16 weeks. But it’s all good now. I had an ultrasound last week that revealed that the baby is a girl. Yay! I didn’t have a preference either way, but it’s just nice to now have a pronoun for the baby besides “it”. Nobody likes to be called “it”. No, she doesn’t have a name yet and when she does, it will be revealed when she comes out of me. I know. Smug, right? I figured that if we tell everyone what her name is, it’ll probably change because, well, I don’t know. It just probably will. Plus people love to give their opinions on names of babies who are still in the womb. Not cool. I don’t want to hear it. Therefore, no name until she shows her face.

Oh, here’s an interesting fact. My due date is 10-10-10. Pretty cool, huh? One more detail: this is my first pregnancy. I supposed that’s important.

Alright, I’m going to attempt sleep again. I need it. G’nite. Or, I supposed at this point g’mornin’ is more appropriate.

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