The Superbowl

Yes, the superbowl. Remember how I said I had some old pictures that I had been meaning to put on the blog? With the new computer, I want to make sure I have everything posted that is on this computer. 

The superbowl was so long ago, I don't even remember who played. But these few pictures that I did take prove that we fried up some chicken wings:

Served them with two difference sauces, hot and mild:

Served homemade pulled pork sliders:

And cucumber water since everyone had to work the next morning:

Hopefully one of our teams will be in it this year. And by one of our teams, I mean the Falcons.

Spray Painting our Door Knobs

I had read quite a few posts about people spray painting their door knobs or faucets around the house. Rustoleum makes a universal spray paint in an 'oil rubbed bronze' color. 

When we purchased our house, the couple who owned it took a ton of time to make sure everything was updated / redone / etc. She was an interior designer and he was a big DIY guy. On closing, they said, "The only thing we didn't get to was replacing all of the door knobs." Our door knobs were still brass. At about $20 a pop, and a total of 17 interior door knobs (not to mention the deadbolts to the outside) - this was an investment we were not going to make. 

The brass door knobs had white paint on them, when the doors or trim were sloppily painted without removing or covering the knobs. I figured that even if the paint didn't work - we couldn't be in worse shape than we currently were. Plus, we could always buy door knobs if they really bothered us. 

Instead of taking all of the knobs off - I did them a few at a time. It took a few weeks to have them all finished, but I have to say, I love the way it looks. 

First, I cleaned the knobs with soft scrub. I saw that many people sanded the knobs. I figured the soft scrub would roughen them up a bit and I could save a step.

I took both knobs off, as well as the strike plate. I rigged some solo cups with holes in them to hold the door knob up. I didn't want to spray, wait for it to dry, flip it over, wait for that to dry. I wanted something much more efficient.

Once I had the knobs back on, I took a small paint brush and a spray of the paint and painted any screw heads that were visible. 

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

I think it looks so much better!

After a few months now, I can say that the paint holds up really well. The strike plates have seen the most wear - but it's not that noticeable. I saw that many people just purchased new strike plates - which we can always do in the future. 

It took a little bit of effort, but doing a few at a time made a huge difference. Honestly, it doesn't take much more time than replacing all of the knobs! And saved us over $300!

Now I am hunting around the house for what else I can spray paint!

Happy Saturday

Saturday called for a lazy fall morning. We put our fall wreath out. I made homemade pumpkin spice lattes. (Still not 100% like Starbucks. I have been practicing each fall. I promise if I get it right, I'll post the recipe.) The PSL were drank outside in the cool air with these two:

Secondly, this is my life:

And this made me so happy. The sight of the pacifiers drying on the counter made it really real that we were going to have a baby around the house soon. So many years of babysitting - houses filled with baby toys and pacifiers - kitchens littered with dirty bottles. I just couldn't wait to have one of my own. I even used to secretly wish that a baby would end up on my parent's door step, and I could help take care of it. I'm sure my parents are really disappointed that that didn't happen. I can't wait to hold her and snuggle her and kiss her face. Someone remind me of this when its 3 am and she wont sleep! :)

36 Weeks

How far along: 36 weeks.

How big is baby: Last week she weighed in at 6 pounds even. This means she's around 6.5 lbs this week.

Weight Gain: 28 pounds.

Symptoms: By the end of the day, my work flats no longer fit. Baby hiccups have been happening around 5 times a day for awhile now - but this month they have been very strong. Still not sleeping at all, but that's just preparing me for the future. My iron is now back to a normal level - I still have to keep taking it, but that's why I have finally been feeling like a normal person. As far as we can tell, baby girl is healthy, so I really can't complain about anything.

Cravings:  Salad! It is all I want. Mmmm, salad.

Aversions:  Same ones: cloves and cocoa butter.

What I miss:  Not much because I keep thinking about how quickly this has gone by. I know I will miss being pregnant - so I can wait another few weeks for a rare steak or a pumpkin beer!

Looking forward to: Meeting our baby girl and giving her a name!

Best moment this month:  Our trip to Charleston - which I promise to post about shortly. I thought for sure it would be our final ultrasound. But we really couldn't see much because she is so big. Plus the lady was semi-rushing, so we didn't get any good pictures. We found out that she has no hair and that she was right on target at 6 pounds. So I guess she's not our little chunker anymore! We will see when she is born though! The tech also said that she was 100% a girl. That if they hand me a boy in the hospital, we can hand it right back because there's no way its our baby. 

Worst moment this month: Probably attempting to paint my toenails. Let's just say that that is the last time that is done by me. I will run and get them painted one last time around my due date. 

Overall, it has been a great month. I am slowing down a little bit due to back pain. I also have to strategically place pillows when laying on the couch. If I sit straight up she kicks me from lack of room - and I can't lay on my back because I can't breathe that way. Sleep doesn't exist - but I can't tell you how much better it feels to have the iron back up. I'll take being sleepy over the feeling that I can't physically move because my body is so exhausted. So many people told me that once I hit 30 weeks, I would start to feel awful. That scared me because I couldn't imagine it continuing to get worse. I'm here to say that every pregnancy is different - and each week I have felt better and better. So never listen to what "they" say. 

Technically, this could be my last monthly post - but if family history is on our side - I'll be back again at 40 weeks.

35 Weeks

Had to get one in my Falcons jersey for the first win of the season. Looks pretty ridiculous, but it still fits. 

We are getting to crunch time now, between the hospital tour, lots of baby laundry, and needing to eventually figure out the car seat. Getting excited!!

Just for fun, this time last year: (my mom took this when I wasn't looking).

Banana Bread

K: I made banana bread for breakfast!

D: You mean kiwi bread?

K: ...nope.

D: I mean .. cucumber bread?!

K: Didn't make that either.

D: Come on. Whats that vegetable? Zucchini!! Zucchini bread?

K: That is the bread you are thinking of. But nope, like I said, I made banana bread.

Baby brain?

34 Weeks

Still feeling great! Still wanting lots of veggies. We walked 9 miles one day last week while we were in Charleston. 

I am trying to stay active. We need to be more consistent about going for walks. I keep telling Dan he needs to walk me after work each day.

During the day, if it weren't for not being able to scoot my chair close to my desk anymore or accidently hitting my stomach with a meeting room door, I would completely forget I am pregnant. Nighttime is a different story - but I think the 'sleeping well' ship has sailed for the foreseeable future. 

I am sure all of this means she is no where near arrival - which is fine by me. I want her to cook much longer.

Caprese Salad

I am apparently awful at growing tomatoes. The worst part is that the plant doesn't die. It produces tons of baby green tomatoes, and then they stop growing and all start to turn red, and then rot. It's such a tease.

They never grow to their full size and then ripen. I've spent money on organic fungicides, organic pesticides, miracle grow, etc. Out of my two plants, hours of watering, three months time (and still growing!), and around 100 green tomatoes, I have only gotten two ripe ones. I think that means that each tomato cost me about $10 - $15. 

Jalapenos though? I'm growing a tree out back, this plant is so happy. 

Anyway, at least we made something delicious with the two tomatoes my crop yielded this summer. 

Pumpkin Spice M&Ms

Halloween stuff is out in stores already! This makes me so happy because it is my favorite holiday. I always feel obliged to choose Christmas - and it is nice that this holiday spans an entire month - but there's something about Halloween that makes me so happy. (Case in point, our baby girl already owns this: Baby Gap Boo Onesie and I really want to buy her this and these).

As Dan and I were perusing the Halloween candy at Target - knowing full well that it is far too early to purchase Halloween candy (it would all be eaten before October .. or Friday), we ran across this little gem:

Pumpkin Spice M&Ms.

Even the pumpkin himself is unsure about the flavor.

BUT, both having pumpkin spice lattes in our hands, we knew we had to try them. 

Let me be the first to tell you ..... not worth it!

They taste like those cinnamon drop candies mixed with chocolate. Both delicious, only separately.

Unless you like the idea of about 3 m&m's and one red hot in your mouth at the same time, steer clear of these. 

We will be sticking with the tried and true candies this Halloween. 

33 Weeks

I have been craving salads. I have been eating them for lunch and dinner everyday. And I will say, I feel awesome. I am still not sleeping much, so I'm definitely more tired during the day than I was in the second trimester. But I can honestly say for the past week or so, I have felt less pregnant than I have the entire time. 

I heard that you become a different kind of tired in the third trimester. One where you feel large and hot and everything takes more effort. My doctor said this usually hits around 30 weeks - and I did have a full week around 30/31 where I thought it was all downhill from there. 

With morning sickness until 20 weeks and anemia following immediately - I never got that second trimester 'relief.' I actually feel 100% like myself for the first time during this pregnancy. And I am loving it!

Whether its the salads or not, or something incredibly short lived - I am going to enjoy it while I can. 

Smores

Last weekend we had people over, had a bonfire, and featured these:

I honestly can't remember the last time I had a smore. They were even better than I remembered. 

We had an usually cool night for August - but I can see us repeating this a few times this fall and winter. Yum!

After the morning sickness ..

The first day that I actually felt normal around dinner time -- ie not sick, all I wanted was something healthy. After months of eating whatever I could keep down: crackers, noodles, frosted flakes (who knows..), I just wanted vegetables. So this is what we had:

Salad, corn on the cob, grilled vegetables, caprese salad, portobello mushrooms, sea bass, and an orange soda for Dan. Delicious!