A few minor things to report from here, and then some associated media! First of all, Chris and I are the proud parents of a new camcorder. It was our Valentine's Day present to ourselves—we figured we'll want to be able to record some of Pigwidgeon's big milestones and, of course, share them with y'all! In the spirit of that, I have created our first movie and posted it on the blog. Obviously, since Pigwidgeon is still in utero, he can't be the star yet. So, that honor falls to Luna and Bitsy, who willingly shared their cuteness with the camera for a cinematic masterpiece. Okay, I'm embellishing a bit here. The video work is terrible, and the video editing isn't much better. But it's my first try, so I suppose it's as good as I can expect at this point! The main point was to try to shoot some video, edit it into a little movie, and add some fun captions and a soundtrack...all accomplished. I'll have to work on lighting settings and camera shake before I start really getting into little movies—right now it's a bit dark and shaky.

 

Second, our friend Amber Sisson is a great photographer, and she asked us if we'd pose for a few shots for her. We were honored to oblige, and the pictures turned out great! Wish I would've worn a shirt that showed my lucky belly a bit more, but live and learn—I just look rather paunchy in most of these, rather than 8 1/2 months pregnant. I posted a few of my favorites in a new album on our blog—check it out! And to see more of Amber's stuff, check out her website at Amber James Photography.

 

In case you're wondering, the lovely cake shot is not Amber's work. It's a picture I took of the chocolate vinegar cake I made for our Oscar Night fete, where Kim, Dave, and Amber came over to watch the show, play some Monopoly (I am the goddess!! Ha ha—first time in my life I've ever won that darn game!), and eat some yummy jambalaya prepared by Kim. (Wish I had a pic of the jambalaya for you!) So now you're saying, "Chocolate vinegar cake?" Yep—it's an old family favorite. The vinegar is the "secret ingredient" that keeps it moist. Supposedly it's an old Weight Watchers recipe from 1960 or thereabouts, but I can't verify that last part for sure. Nonetheless, it was as yummy as I remember it! Kim asked for the recipe, so I'm going to post it at the end of this blog. It's so easy and yummy!

 

And last but definitely not least, three cheers for Chris!!! He has officially finished writing his master's thesis! Now he just has to do revisions, which will take some time but are definitely the easier part of the process. And, he will be graduating in May, unless something drastic comes up. It has been years in the making, but I'm sure it will be worth every minute to him when he walks up to receive his diploma. VERY proud of him—he has managed to not only write a master's thesis in this past few months, but also be an incredibly attentive husband to his pregnant wife. I'm a pretty self-sufficient pregnant woman (or I try to be), but like any other woman in this situation, I have my moments where I burst into tears over something or am just too darn tired to do the things I normally would. And Chris has stepped up to the plate every time and been with me every step of the way, despite working full time and working late into the night to finish off his thesis. I couldn't ask for a better husband.  Pigwidgeon and I are going to be cheering louder than anyone come May—yay for Chris! And now I'm getting hopelessly sappy. (You see what pregnancy hormones do to even a "jaded old battle-ax" like me?!? That's Chris's term for me, and it's sadly fitting sometimes!)

 

So, without further ado, the cake recipe:

 

 

3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups sugar
6 Tbsp. cocoa
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup salad oil
2 Tbsp. vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups cold water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, sugar cocoa and salt. Make 3 "wells" in the dry ingredients. In one, put salad oil. In another, put the vinegar. In the last, put the vanilla. Pour 2 cups of cold water over whole thing and mix. Bake at 350 for 25–30 minutes (or until toothpick in center comes out clean). A word of warning: This took much longer to bake in our oven, which, granted, tends to be funky. But my Mom, who has made this cake for years, tells me this is often the case. In her words, "You walk a fine line between getting the edges overcooked and the center undercooked, so watch it closely to see when it's done."

So, we had our 32-week checkup at the OB office today, and all is well! Pigwidgeon is measuring 33 weeks along, so he's well on his way to being full-term. His heartbeat is strong, and best of all, he has turned into a head-down position in anticipation for a nice, normal delivery. Yay for him! Other than causing his mama persistent heartburn on an everyday basis, he's being quite a congenial little fellow and doing everything he's supposed to do, which makes his mama and papa rest easy. Whew! 

 

Not much else new going on here. Just starting to count down the days...hard to believe there are less than 60 left until my due date. It'll be here before we know it!

Well, I'm officially eight months pregnant now, so I figured it was time to add a new belly picture...or two. I've been called "huge" several times now, which I'm loving! (Only time in my life I'll ever ENJOY being referred to as "huge!") Check out the "Big Bellies and Birthday Girl" album to see the massive belly.

 

So what's the "Birthday Girl" part?? Miss Bits, of course! My sweet, senile old dog turned 13 yesterday. She looks pretty good for 13, I think. Alas, I couldn't get her a grooming appointment for earlier in the week, so she was a bit scruffy on her birthday. Today she had a lovely haircut, and now she is both exhausted and beautiful once again! (Well, she's always beautiful to me, but she's generally more presentable now, too.)

 

Pigwidgeon continues to do well. He kicks up a storm these days! I suggested that we name him "Beckham," in honor of the U.S.'s newest soccer star...but unfortunately, Chris nixed that one. (Too bad—I thought Beck was a very cute name for a little boy!) At any rate, we have a good time watching the "earthquakes" in my belly at night, when Pigwidgeon tends to be very active.

 

We just found out that technically, 37 to 42 weeks is considered a full-term pregnancy. So, given that I'm now 32 weeks along, Pigwidgeon could potentially arrive anywhere between the next five and ten weeks. YIKES! I'm torn between wanting to meet him in five weeks and being terrified that he'll show up that soon! (I've got a few "problem child" books that I need to get to the printer before his arrival, and five weeks may not be QUITE enough time for that. But I guess we'll just wait and see when he wants to come.)

 

Our Bradley childbirth classes are continuing to go well. We are learning a lot! And, we have found a hospital that we're happy with. It's about an hour drive from our house, but it is MUCH better than the closer hospital (which is still a good 35 minutes from us—there aren't any close ones we can go to). As an added bonus, this hospital happens to be mere minutes from my sister's house, so she and her family will be able to see Pigwidgeon when he is truly a NEW newborn!!

 

And, in non-baby news, Chris is SO close to being finished with his thesis. He is filing for a May graduation today, so the end is in sight! (He can still push out the graduation another semester if need be, but we are pretty sure he can get it all wrapped up in time for May...a HUGE relief for him! And, okay, for me, too. It'll be nice to have my husband back in the evenings and on weekends. Right now he spends a lot of nights writing, and the same is true for the weekends. But it will all be worth it, come May....)

 

Guess that's it for now. Hope you are all well!