a little recap of the past weeks.

this is the last bi-weekly post for my pregnancy. one chapter finished another one begins! overall it's been a pretty spectacular journey. i look forward to sharing a bit of it here. probably not as often as during my pregnancy... you know when i had a lot more time on my hands, but i hope to share some special moments with you all.

Liam (birth to 1 week)

Liam Carter Rittenhouse
 last saturday after 41 weeks in the womb, our darling baby boy took his exit and came to greet us!
he took our breath away ( still does)
emotions were never higher.
he was instantly the most beautiful thing i ever laid eyes on.
we are loving getting to know him... his smile, his cry, his coos, his facial expressions, his body movements. it's all pretty exciting.
we have a son!

italian week

we love italian food around these parts! what's not to love. cheese, tomatoes, basil, homemade dough! recently i made the best  baked eggplant parmesan! recipe can be found here. it was  really simple, it just took a little bit of extra prep time to crisp the eggplant first before you bake it with the sauce and cheese! the eggplant came from the farmers market and with the addition of fresh herbs from the garden it was incredible!

the other is a calzone ( although it was more stromboli* like if you ask me) the dough recipe was from a calzone recipe. i just added my own filling. mozarella, parmesan, hot italian turkey sausage and tomato sauce. baked it on a pizza stone to crisp it up nicely! it worked great! i'm starting to get the hang of this pizza dough thing. i try a new recipe almost every time... but for calzones this is the one i'm sticking with. found here.

* so apparently the stromboli is a more native food to the east coast, specifically the philadelphia area. it's debatable of course, but interesting to hear about for the first time for this east coast girl.

40 weeks + 3 days

 

life at 10 months: 

• here we are in this place of limbo. all we can do is wait. i can honestly say that besides some insomnia and slight discomforts we are still at a joyful place.  waiting can be fun.
• the past week or so has been a big social time. catching up with many of our close friends. dinners, breakfasts, short walks, ice cream adventures and out of state friends coming to visit.
• in hopes of bringing on the baby i've been fed much spicy food. a smorgasbord really. some mexican, indian and chinese... to no avail. thank goodness i don't get heartburn.
• i've been in the kitchen a lot these days. making bread, calzones, summer salads... just enjoying the extra time i have to spend on our meals. thankfully i have an awesome husband to help clean up. i'm usually pooped half way through dinner.
• i've also been knitting a bunch. just simple wash rags to keep my hands busy. we needed some fresh ones anyway.
• we've also done some pretty intense cleaning and organizing around here. it needed to get done. it's been in the plans for months, so i'm pretty happy we made it happen.
• yesterday the grocery store was my big adventure
• maybe today, giving birth will be... here's to hoping.

coconut lime + salted caramel chocolate cupcakes

 in case you read this blog for cake updates and not life ones... this is a post for you!

recently i made some coconut cupcakes with lime butter-cream frosting! they turned out even better than expected.  i used a tried and true vanilla cupcake recipe and just added a 3/4 c. flaked sweetened coconut and added 1 1/2 t. coconut extract to the batter! 

lime butter-cream frosting:

1 stick butter

4oz. cream cheese

1 bag powdered sugar (approximately)

zest from 1 lime

juice from 2 limes

milk

beat till desired consistency! i also added some lime zest to sanding sugar to sprinkle on top! it made the lime flavor pop even more, plus it looked pretty!

they got nick named "island cupcakes" at the party i took them to. i couldn't agree with that name more!

these were some of the cupcakes from my baby shower. salted caramel chocolate cupcakes. inspired by the martha stewart recipe, but were revised quite a bit. they turned out great. yes, i decorated my own shower cupcakes (baked by mom) but it was fun... and thinking back on it, you know, i did my wedding cakes too. it's just what i do. i'm a cake girl!

crafting some more baby things

 iron on onesies! perhaps my favorite projects, just because it was so quick!

 recycled t-shirt top knot hats.

 of course there are some knit items. i know it's july but it's cotton and who knows, maybe somewhere (definitely not our home) but some where might be really cool?

my love of flag garlands prevails. hand sewn felt flags.

town parade

we live in a cute little town. i'd almost consider it a village. it's been fun getting to know our neighbors and go to the fun events it throws throughout the year. this was our first time at the 4th of july parade!

38 weeks

• at my last appointment with the midwife, she was feeling around to make sure of the baby's position and she exclaimed " oh your having a contraction!" my response " oh, is that what that is?" apparently i've been having mild contractions unbeknownst to me. haha.

•  3-5... the average number of times i'm awake or have to get up at night. i think i'm in training for what's to come.
• we enjoyed a leisurely 4th of july. local town parade and a picnic.
• popsicles, fans, pools, cold showers and ice packs are my friends right about now. ( my other ankle finally decided it was hot enough outside to swell)
• was a little over the moon that i found a non maternity dress in my closet the that still fit me!
• went to my first farmer's market of the season! ( there's a whole new world of fun out there when you aren't working every saturday morning)
• chips ( our kitty) was being really cute at our little outdoor photo shoot.
• that's about it ( for now)

baby room: before and after

here we are... many months later, a few coats of paint, lots of love and labor ( thanks to jason) we have a finished baby room. if you know anything about our house... well this is a very special thing for us. we tackle about 5 projects at a time usually and it's hard to see progress in that. so this  room really means a lot to both of us. a project complete. start to finish. once the "work" was done i had a lot of fun putting the finishing touches on it! some of my favorites being our baby pictures hanging on the wall above the changing table, embroidery done by my mom, the bird mobile i made out of recycled fabric from my grandmother and artwork pulled out of old children's encyclopedias. 

hope you enjoyed a piece of our nest.