Is there a Daddy in the house?

People always ask me how I think Ruark will handle having a new baby...my answer? He is going to love it! He constantly talks about the baby and tell her, "night night baby". But lately he's taken to something even sweeter. He like to lay out the blanket put down one of our dogs wrap her up and carry her around. He burps her, he kisses her and rocks her back in forth. It is SO cute! I can't help thinking what a good big brother he will be. I know we are all looking forward to her coming to our home!

Girly Projects

I am LOVING the idea of having a girl! Even though our ultrasound isn't until March 15th, I still am dreaming of lace and ribbons and bows. I tried to tell myself to hold off and wait until mid-March to start projects but I couldn't! So many fun things to do and change so that I have things fit for a little princess. It started with the moses basket. I bought it so it could be used for a boy or a girl, thinking neutral was the way to go. While the idea was a good one, I'm ready to see pink in this house! So the ideas started churning and before Chase knew what was going on lace, fabric paper dolls, pink and well...MORE pink took over the office.

BEFORE:

I bought the bassinet when Ruark was 6 months old, and never had the chance to really use it more than just if I was cooking in the front room. I always wished it had a soft pillow for his head. So I made a pillow and pillow case...it wasn't girly enough!

So I added some lace and NOW I am satisfied!

This is the finished quilt. The back is minky so it's all soft and cuddly.

I can't wait to wrap her up and bring her home to something so cozy, warm and beautiful! Now everyone just keep your fingers crossed that it REALLY IS a girl! :)

My Sweetheart

Last Sunday we were so lucky to have the 5th Sunday and receive a special lesson in a ward. It was titled "Marriage and Divorce". It went along with a address given by President Spencer W. Kimball. It was such a beautiful talk and it went along perfectly with our next holiday Valentine's Day. As so many people if our family are getting divorced or are recently divorced, it has given Chase and I a lot of time to contemplate our marriage and strengthen it again.

Right now Chase and I are doing the 14 days of Valentines. Where we are doing something special for each other every day until Valentines Day. Yesterday Chase and I ran our treats to all of our home teaching and visiting teaching families. I found these adorable boxes, liners and toppers at Wal-Mart. Then Chase and I threw together some cupcakes and ran them out to everyone.

I have to share this recipe too. What can I say! I'm pregnant right now and food sounds SO good. But these cupcakes turned out so amazing and they were so fast!

All Fool's Cake

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup oil

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup hot water

Put all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Except hot water. Beat thoroughly and then add hot water. Bake in 9 X 13 inch pan for 30 minutes at 350*. For cupcakes bake for 20 minutes at 350*.

So SIMPLE!

But then when they are completely cool (IT WILL MELT FROSTING IF IT'S EVEN A LITTLE WARM) top with my marshmallow frosting! If there was a frosting I were ever to bathe in, this would be the one.

Start with 2 egg whites stiffly beaten. Bring 1 cup white karo syrup to a boil and then pour slowly into egg whites while beating. This is most easily done in a mixer. Then add in 1/4 - 1/2 cup white sugar depending on how sweet you want it. Beat until stiff foaming peaks (about 5-7 minutes) Frost cake and top with shredded coconut!

Happy Valentine's everyone, I hope you all read that talk with your spouse this Valentine's season. What a great time to fall in love with your spouse all over again!

Potty Trained!

It's now been almost 2 WEEKS since Ruark had an accident. He is doing AWESOME! We love it! I'm so happy to not being doing diapers for the next 8 months! Let alone all the money we're going to be saving!

On Ruark's first day without accidents he was feeling pretty cool and decided he wanted to wear his leather jacket around the house all day...with no pants. He looked pretty cute and stylish :)

We celebrated with HOT FUDGE SUNDAES, and man were they good! This is my FAVORITE recipe for hot fudge and I thought I would share my family secret :)

Boil:

1 cup cream

1 cube butter

1 cup white corn syrup

Add:

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

(Whisk all these ingredients together before you add to the boiled liquid or else the cocoa powder will leave clumps)

Boil together until you get to a "soft ball stage" and then remove from heat and add

1 tsp vanilla

BEST HOT FUDGE RECIPE EVER. It hardens when it touches the ice cream but then goes chewy when it gets in your mouth, I hope you all enjoy!

***On a side note. This is also my no bake cookie recipe so if I have a bunch of hot fudge left over I throw in oatmeal, coconut, walnuts and marshmallows and I have cookies too!

Gender Maker says....IT'S A GIRL :)

Here I am at 12 weeks, I feel huge already. I'm not surprised though, I got a belly really fast with Ruark too and then it stayed really tiny. Surprisingly after it got this big it went back down and now you can barely tell again, pregnancy is weird. I'm 13.5 weeks now and I'm almost back to flat!

Of course while I waiting to get pregnant this baby I was constantly searching for things to try next time I was pregnant. I ran across a test called Intelligender in the Walgreens during one of my many couponing trips. I was so excited I told my friend Amy she should try it. So she took it and it was wrong! HUGE disappointment. So I did more searching, reading reviews and blogs. I found a blood test...that cost $150! :/

So the search continued until I found a test called the gender maker! I was so excited to read the reviews on all the sites and so I bought one. Waited so impatiently for a week for it to arrive. (apparently my mail lady delivered it to the wrong house, she does that quite often) So frustrating!

So I called my mom and sisters and told them it was here. They were so excited that my mom called me at 6:00 the next morning to tell me to wake up and take the test. So I took the test...PINK PINK PINK! It said it's a girl, and I'm hoping so badly that it's right!

*TWO gender maker tests told me I was having a girl. They were wrong.

Potty Training Update!

Potty training can be a little overwhelming! Yesterday I THOUGHT we were doing really well. No major accidents, so I thought to myself 3 days must be some kind of a record...then I was going to bed and we smelled something awful. Uh-oh.

Ruark has been getting really embarrassed when he has an accident. Plus he gets really upset because he doesn't get any candy if he doesn't make it in the potty. So apparently he pooped somewhere in my house and then stashed it under my bed because he didn't want us to know. GROSS! Yes, I WILL be sterilizing my carpets thoroughly this weekend!

My sweet friend Amy sent me a message with so many GREAT ideas for potty training, I thought I would share for all you moms out there who are embarking on this same journey with me!

First idea was to figure out what motivates your child. Ruark was easy CANDY! This kid LOVES LOVES LOVES sugar, I don't know where he get it. :) So for me it was an easy thought to use that for his treat when he goes potty. When he goes potty, you hear a big shout "YAY....CANDY!!" He knows every time he goes potty he gets some candy. Amy gave her kids 2 pieces or candy if they "tried" to go and 5 pieces of candy if they went potty.

One of her friends went to the dollar store and picked up a bunch of random toys like cars, stickers and candy and then wrapped them all and put them in a basket. The first time they went potty they got a prize then it was every two and so on. I LOVE this idea.

She said jump, cheer and praise them when they go. Call grandma, anything to get them excited to want to do it again. Another thing that helped her was to have another child who is about the same age and is potty trained to come over and show them how to do it. It helped her kids to see other little people being potty trained.

Another thing she did was go to the store and pick out a prize, for her daughter it was a doll. The doll had to stay in the bathroom but she could hold her in the package if she was sitting on the potty. She only got the doll after she went poop and pee on the same day. I'm going to the toy store tonight!

Also give them A LOT of liquid to encourage them to go, and don't get too stressed. Potty training is like a roller coaster. Some days I am so happy and other days I am so frustrated I want to cry and give up. But I'm looking forward to a few months without doing diapers! Even if it does mean I'll be doing more laundry!

The Blessing Dress

We tried for a girl. For months I read up on all the old wives tells, all the methods people use and combined everything to try to get a girl this time around. I balanced my pH through diet, Chase balanced HIS pH, we used the Shettles method and everything else we could read. Now we're just waiting to see if all of our hard work paid off! My doctor thinks in might be a girl from her heartbeat, as does the ultrasound tech. Ruark's heartbeat was 110 bpm and this baby is 172bpm. Huge difference. In a few weeks we'll see if it's a boy or girl.

Well at the start of this pregnancy my mom, sisters and I were all looking at flower girl dresses. We buy flower girl dresses for my nieces every year because they are usually the best prices and most beautiful, plus we can get them in every size we need. You can click here to see the dress we picked this year. On all these sites they are co-mingled with all these blessing dresses. So we all kept browsing through these beautiful dresses when I came to this BEAUTIFUL dress called the "bianca". I was in love, until I saw the price $405.00! There is NO WAY I would spend that much. But it was perfect, it was just like my wedding dress, but I quickly killed that idea. Late one night I did some searching trying to see if I could find it on any site for less, finally I searched ebay.

Lost of the dress came up, but it wasn't until I search for it more specifically that I found it!! It was brand new and marked down to $60.00. I bought it! I was so happy with my purchase I called my mom and sent pictures to all my sisters. No one could believe the deal I got! My hopes were crushed when I looked on my paypal and it said I was receiving a refund. I opened the message and was about to start my search again when I read the words, "you probably didn't notice that it was a buy now or best offer sale, I would have accepted $20.00 less. So I am refunding $20.00 to you".

$40.00 for a dress costing over $400?!? I'm so happy! I have had the dress home with me for a few weeks now and it is perfect. I hope this baby is a girl because I can't wait see my gorgeous daughter dressed in this beautiful gown!