We're Moving!!!

...to a new URL that is
You can find Mr. Baker and I at 1tspvanilla.blogspot.com
See you soon,
Tschuss!

Things I did not expect about pregnancy

I had always thought that I'd be one of those women who would be spending most of their pregnancy over the toilet seat, have massive food cravings, and embrace my beautiful prego body!

I was wrong

I had absolutely no morning sickness, and no cravings

There is one other thing I can quite explain nor can google. For some reason now I am so easily embarrassed and self-conscious. One of my friends says I must be having a girl because girls tend to give you a much more hormonal pregnancy. I still cannot bring myself to post pregnancy photos or even announce my pregnancy on facebook. My mom asked me if I was embarrassed to be pregnant. It must be hormones, I vaguely remember when I was 13 and had my first period--at first I was excited to finally be on the road to womanhood, but then I was disgusted and embarrassed about it, even in front of my own mom. I remember bringing something into her room and the thought that I was on my period just made me feel awkward. Yep now I really do think it's hormones, just like being 12 and 13 again. I was rather cranky last month, this month I'm all weepy--perhaps my friend is right about it being because I'm having a girl (I really hope she's right.)

Me likey smoothies!

So rewind to last year, I was talking to my best friend Mrs Kidd. I asked her about pregnancy bc I knew she wanted to  have a baby, however she and Mike decided to wait until April when she graduated from college. At the time I was planning on waiting a little while too, but after Mr Baker and I were married we knew we should start our family. Imagine my surprise when I call up my other best friend, Mrs Johnson, to announce the good news and she informs me that Mrs Kidd, who is also her twin sister, may be expecting as well. As it turns out Mrs Kidd is only four days behind me.
Needless to say we call in gab about our pregnancies whenever we talk. It's amazing how different two pregnancies can be between two women. Mrs. Kidd has it rough with nausea and is still unwell, whereas mine was extremely mild and often alleviated by a little snack or drink of ginger ale. However I've got sick (as in coughing sneezing sick) often whereas she hasn't.  There is one thing that we share and that is a desire to have as healthy a pregnancy as possible.
I figured that eating normally and my usual lifestyle  would suffice--I'm not one to just slough around on the couch eating bonbons while watching Bewitched re-runs on hulu (that is when I'm not sick). Apparently I was mistaken. While at work yesterday I happened to step on a scale and found that I was a touch above where I wanted to be thus far along. Although I am more active in my housework and I walk everywhere, I did all that before AND I ran 30 min four times a week. I also didn't have time to make homemade fudge and chocolate pies, nor did I buy the occasional date night ice cream. Reforms have to be made
It's not like I was eating grossly before, when expecting--you gain weight, but reviewing what constituted as a healthy diet there were a few changes to be made...and add exercise.
So for the benefit of my Mrs. Kidd as well I am posting my meal plan
4 servings of protein
4 servings calcium
5servings wholegrain
4 servings super veggies and fruit (This one gave me some concern--how on earth will I eat all these FRESH fruits and vegetables...I'm German, my tastebuds have been genetically programmed to reject any fruit that hasn't been cooked into a sugary pie filling loaded on a buttery pastry and served as a side dish to freshly whipped cream)
2 servings other veggies and fruit
I got this from the ubiguitous "What to expect when your expecting"

Breakfast
8 oc glass of water (I actually drink it before every meal now)
1/2 cup cereal w/ 1 cup of milk

2nd Breakfast (which I sip while I'm getting ready after my morning chores and shower)
8oc glass of water
Pumpkin pie smoothie (recipe to follow---it takes care of all four servings of "super veggies and fruits" and is cheap)

3rd Breakfast (after daily chores)
8oc glass of water
Eggs and toast

Lunch (this is our big meal of the day rather than dinner and we eat it around 2 or 3 in the afternoon)
8 oc glass of water
Pasta or rice
protein (small amount of meat or beans--for instance tomorrow I making Swabian pretzels and will make a hummus to eat with it, but sometimes we eat it with ham and cheese
veggie

Dinner
8 oc glass of water
Baked potato (never gets old)

Snack
8 oc glass of water
cheese and bread

8oc glass of milk before bed

.....and the homemade fudge and cake, I'll have a little bit and give the rest to the visiting teachers

Pumpkin pie smoothie
1/2cup canned pumpkin
1 cup milk
dash of cinnamon
dash of clover
dash of vanilla
brown sugar to taste
peanut butter optional
ice cubes

I looked at this yesterday and thought "how on earth will I eat all that?" but the other secret is portion control. When I scooped half a cup of cereal into my bowl this morning, it looked rather depressing as it was soooo small, but then the thought of a smoothie in an hour perked me up. Besides that after drinking a glass of water I found myself surprisingly full from my miniature bowl of cereal (perhaps I should eat it out of a smaller bowl). Yet, because my fullness was half result of water, I was hungry again in time for second breakfast. Portions control and water before meals are the key to over eating I think

Oma would be proud

Perhaps it's early symptoms of nesting, or cleaning under the influence of Cheryl Mendelson, or the fact that I've started volunteering at the ever so pristine Rexburg Temple that I've been doing a thorough cleaning of the house. Monday was Laundry day (oh if only you could see how good Mr. Baker's shirts looked after ironing). Today I tackled the Kitchen and tomorrow is Bathroom and grocery shopping. Thursday is the livingroom, and friday is baking. I can't wait to try out a recipe for Chocolate Prune Cake since I have a whole bottle of prune juice sitting in my freezer from when Mr. Baker was sick (it helped flush out a nasty cold he had).

Speaking of Mr. Baker, he doesn't know it yet but I have been subtly introducing German ways into our home. He didn't see anything behind the use of my German tablecloths,doilies, or embroidered things, nor the use of lentils in chili rather than kidney beans. He didn't make a fuss when I told him the big meal of the day would be lunch rather than dinner, or when I called him mein liebling or schatzi. Will he say anything when I start making Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (more commonly known as Black Forest Cake) or Sandkuchen. for desserts, or Fleischkuechle or Kaese Spaetzle? Or how about  Weck , Bauernbrot or Bavarian Pretzel sticks--I think not, as long as it tastes good (and from time to time I make him Yakisoba or some other Asian food from time to time or as long as there's some fruit or juice in the fridge he won't notice a thing until one of his children climbs into his arms and whispers "Ich liebe dich, Vati"

Headache...

...go away

Time for a goal

I picked up this great book at the DI.

Blame it on my parents providing me with every "Little House" and "Little House" spin off book under the sun when I was a kid, my  incessant watching of the tv show "Little House on the Prairie" during my summers as a tween, or my obsession with Jane Austen in my late teens and college days--but I've always been fascinated by those crafts and habits of the 19th century and have wanted to learn or improve my skills on them. So I have set the goal to work through all the projects of this book. There certainly are some that are very dated and not aesthetically pleasing but I will have to use my creativity to modify them into something I'd want to spend time on. And I am certainly not going to strap myself down to any one year time frame to get it all done--THAT would be impossible! But I will make the commitment to work everyday for at least 30 mins on my current project, and blog my progress

My first project is the basic patchwork quilt

And since I have a number of colorful pre-cut squares that I inherited from the wife of Mr. Baker's boss, this piece of cake pattern should be even simpler

Although some aren't all the same size, but I can handle varying lengths as long as they are the same width--that can add a touch of whimsy to it

(perhaps one day I can make something with these scraps...)

I also add a few squares of this yarnball/globe patterned fabricate...this is me cutting out squares. One day we'll upgrade to a measuring board and rotary cutter, but for now we make do with what we have

Then I divided them into groups to be sewn together

 

And so the work continues another day

the things we eat..

Ham cooked in mustard sauce...

Add husband cutting up the bread to be toasted...

equals delicious lunch!

...I don't do cold sandwichs

BOOK SALE!!

The library had a book sale and I found some great things

I think I'll frame these to decorate with

There were a ton of old magazines dating from the mid-40's all the way back to the 1890's...SNAGGED!

it's so good to have something to stuff our beautiful built-ins with :)

It made reminesce about Mulan...

Look at made this...

.....and I thought it was supper cute too, and I haven't worn it since...make your own clothes is like that sometimes I guess lol :)

Oh my Mr Baker what big eyebrows you have...

Know this that any man left alone with his own freshly cut hair will do any number of creative things with it

...like make eyebrows

at least I don't have to worry as much about him going bald in old age

My friend said it made my house look Mexican...I say it looks fun

I love Christmas lights!!! That soft, ambient, starry glow that is so reminiscent of happy, heavenly holiday memories just thrills me. So Mr Baker and I snagged a few cheap lines of Christmas lights after the holidays and started hanging them

And of course mini love notes make everything better. I cant wait to paint the kitchen yellow, then those colored lights will REALLY pop!

Sometimes a Baker does mess up in the kitchen

I was cravin' some homemade pizza the other day and so I grabbed some dough from the fridge and thus commenced....until I found out too late that it was SUGAR COOKIE dough I had grabbed and not PIZZA dough---I need to label those zippy bags. It tasted ok, and yet Mr. Baker and I left it in the fridge until it went bad

We got a PACKAGE!!!

We opened our door one day to find A PACKAGE!!! I wanted to open it right away, but we were running late so I had to wait a WHOLE HOUR!! But when we got back:

My sweety opening the package and then I fell in love with the packaging

..

Soooo cute!!!

It's a star with our names and wedding date on it. It was made by the Knudsens, a couple who served with Mr Baker when he was ELDER Baker.

I think it's those unreturnable, hand made with love gifts that are really special:)

What to do when you have leftover this, but you want to make that. no1

So I had some left over onion soup  as you see

But wanted to make this for Mr. Baker and I

Except that I don't have steak...and several other ingredients. However I enjoy most of all try to do the best I can with what I got. So let's begin with some spinach

Make a sauce with the leftover onion soup

One of these days I'll get one of those little mini whisks

Next I put the cheese bread in to melt

And then promptly forget about it and almost burn them beyond edibility

Meat covers a multitude of sins when you're feeding a man

He bites it....

HE LOVES IT!!! (and then bolts it to work, cause he's late;) ) Notice the empty plate ;)

It warms my heart to only see the crumbs :)

Chores...

Look how serene everything looks on Laundry day number 1

....I'm not going to show you what half of my living room looks like though.
I'm currently (trying) to reading "Home Comforts" by Cheryl Mendelson

It's quite the inspiration to be the consummate housekeeper. I think many of us look at housekeeping as a means of keeping up appearances when company comes over. However Cheryl argues that housekeeping is a means of providing a comfortable (and healthy) home for you and the ones you love.
Namely this guy:

Some day I'll get to all of this...some day.

Oh, Mr Baker

You may ask yourself, how can she love a man who makes himself a snack consisting of  dry, leftover rice, ketchup, and mozzarella cheese all shoved in a microwave?

Well, when he takes to leaving little notes around the house everyday, you find a lot of things easy to forgive :)

Especially since he looks so good washing dishes in one of my aprons.

Love you Mr Baker :)

Our favorite thing CURRY!

 Mr. Baker made dinner Saturday night, we love curry, it's one of our favorite dishes :)

I love being Mrs. Baker :)