This sweet girl means the world to me. Her imagination is going crazy, and she’s constantly looking for fun games to play, singing silly made up songs, and saying insanely cute things like, “I can’t wait to go in the sky!” … “I wanna pee on the grass. The grass kinda like a potty, Mama.” … “I have so many questions!!!” …and, “I want to hold the moon!” I am writing it all down and savoring every moment of her sweet, innocent, lovely laughter and spirit. I love her with all my heart.
The other day, she made a fort under a little side table that we have. I helped her make it cozy and she’s been playing, reading, and hiding under it all the time. The table is covered with a lace tablecloth so when she’s hiding I can peak at her through the lace. Being her mom, I was so overcome with her joy, silliness, and her beautiful smile that I grabbed my camera and shot a few photos through the holes in the lace…
.jpg) PIN .jpg) PIN.jpg) PIN PIN
She’s growing so quickly. After bringing Lulu home, G seems so much older than she did just a couple of weeks ago. It’s been a little hard. I miss her. She’s been my little shadow for two and half years and it feels foreign to have to be away from her so often. I’m loving the focused time with Lulu, but I miss my big girl too. Sometimes she seems so big, and other times she really needs her mommy and seems so little. It makes me feel so sad to not be able to be there to meet her every need right when she needs it met. She’s started saying, “I need mama time”, usually with tears in her eyes.
I’m doing my best to find one on one time with her while her sister sleeps. We read books, cuddle and watch a movie, or slip out for a quick date… by far my favorite one on one time with her these days is when she’s all tucked into bed and she says, “Mama you wanna cuddle wiv me?” We snuggle in the dark and giggle, cuddle, sing silly songs, and I soak in the memories. I try to commit everything about these moments to memory, the way she smells, the sound it makes when she sucks on the corner of her blankie, what it feels like to have her hold my face and look at me like I’m her favorite person on earth.
PIN
On Thursday, May 23rd, at 3:43am we welcomed Lulu Audrey Ceinwen into our family.
We are over the moon for our newest addition. We are home and settled, and everyone is happy and healthy. I can’t thank you enough for all your love and support throughout this pregnancy. Your emails, comments, care packages, and encouragement were appreciated more than you know. I’m looking forward to sharing my journey as a mother of two with you.
As we take some time to get settled in over the next week or so, I have some wonderful moms doing guest posts for me. I hope you enjoy them.
With love from our family,
Kyle, Kacie, Gigi and Lulu
This beautiful photo was taken by my sister.
PINI have eaten such an insane amount of milk (in the form of ice cream) during this pregnancy! Every week I’ve told myself, you’ve really got to stop eating so much ice cream, hot fudge sundaes, frozen yogurt, Blizzards… you get the idea. Yet, every week I couldn’t seem to resist just one little bit… so here we are at the end of the pregnancy and I gave up. In fact, I’m eating ice cream right now.
I have been craving a Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake the whole nine months. But, being me, I decided to make ice cream cakes with an Oreo crust myself. My best friend and her son have birthday’s a day a part, and they were having a party! The perfect excuse to experiment. I made a vanilla ice cream cake for the kids and an espresso ice cream cake for the grown ups! I headed into the endeavor having absolutely no idea what I was doing, but also with the knowledge that with ingredients like Oreos, fudge, ice cream and whipped cream, I really couldn’t do anything too disastrous. The results were, “I’ll have a third slice”, kind of amazing.
This recipe makes one cake.
ESPRESSO AND VANILLA ICE CREAM CAKE WITH OREOS AND FUDGE
Ingredients.
2 half gallons of ice cream, vanilla or espresso
fudge sauce (recipe below)
2 packages Oreo cookies
1/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
2 cups heavy cream, divided
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for serving
fine salt
Directions.
Pour one package of the Oreo cookies into a large bowl. Using your hand and a potato masher, crush the Oreos up into small chunks. Set aside.
The fudge sauce recipe is from Martha Stewart. For the fudge sauce, in a medium pot, combine corn syrup, 1/4 cup cream, 1/2 stick unsalted butter, 2/3 cup granulated sugar, cocoa, and pinch of salt; bring to a boil, whisking, over medium-high. Remove from heat and let fudge sauce cool.
Grease a 9×9 inch baking dish with vegetable oil. Line the pan completely with plastic wrap. Remove one half gallon of the ice cream from the freezer and allow it to soften a little bit while you make the Oreo crust. In a food processor, blend the second package the Oreos until they are completely crumbled and fine. With the food processor running, slowly add in 1/4 cup melted butter. Pour the crushed Oreo mixture into the dish. Spread evenly throughout the dish and press down firmly to compact the crust. Drizzle a bit of the fudge sauce over the crust.
By now your ice cream should be perfect to work with. Working with about one cup at a time, scoop the ice cream into the dish. The crust is delicate so be careful not to disturb it. Using your hands, gently spread and press the ice cream until you have about a one inch layer. Put the ice cream back in the freezer. Top this layer with a good coating of fudge sauce, and a handful or two or the crushed Oreos. Place the cake in the freezer and allow it to set for about 10 minutes. Repeat the layers: ice cream, fudge, Oreos. Finally do one last layer of ice cream and fudge. Put it in the freezer for one hour. Then, once the fudge is pretty set, cover with greased plastic wrap and freeze for 8-24 hours.
For serving…
Using a mixer, whip your remaining one cup of heavy cream into whipping cream. Gently add in the vanilla and confectioner’s sugar. Set aside.
When the cake is completely set, remove it from the freezer. Invert the cake on a large plate. Lay a hot washcloth over the bottom of the dish to release the cake. Remove the plastic wrap from the bottom of the cake. Place your serving platter on the bottom of the cake. Carefully flip over the cake, using both the serving platter and plate to hold it in place. Remove the plate, peel off the plastic wrap. Top with whipped cream, spread evenly about like frosting. Pop back in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Finally, using a sifter, dust the cake with cocoa powder. If you want, cut out a shape or letter from a piece of paper, lay it gently on the cake, and dust over it to create the W and K effect like in my photo.
PRINTABLE RECIPE.
ESPRESSO AND VANILLA ICE CREAM CAKE
Gigi is totally ready to be a big sister. We got her this wonderful book called, I’m a Big Sister (there’s a version for big brothers too) and G has been reading it to her baby doll a lot. It was actually surprisingly hard to find a completely thoughtful, positive book about becoming a big sister. A lot of them portrayted the big sibling as getting spoiled and bribed, and frankly, being awfully bratty! So, if you’re looking for a sweet one, this is it. It mentions ways she can be helpful, what she can do, and points out how very special she is.
PINThe other day she asked to get in the baby’s crib with her doll, tucked her in and proceeded to read the book to her. It was heart-melting. My favorite is when she reads, “Look at me! I’m your big sister!” She’s going to be such an amazing sis. We also have a few little presents tucked away for her from her baby sister. One thing she can use to “play” with her sis (an old school Fisher-Price doctor kit), and something just for her (a Melissa & Doug sticker book), and something silly (a bright purple calculator since she loves “doing calculations with my Dad”)!
She’s been cuddling my belly, and is more and more interested in feeling the baby move. And at our doctor appointment this morning they let her find the heartbeat all on her own, her eyes lit up and she was so excited and said, “That’s a silly baby!” She plays “midwife” all the time at home. Using a measuring tape to measure my belly, listening, and she even gets a little towel wipe the imaginary gel off my tummy… and today she put on her (imaginary) gloves and said, “Okay, Mama, I need to check your ‘gina!” Maybe she’s come with me to one too many appointments…
As ready as we are to welcome this little one, I’m also enjoying all of these moments.
I just can’t stop baking cookies. This baby girl is sure to be made completely of cookies and citrus fruit when she makes her debut. Lucky for me, Gigi loves making (and eating) cookies as much as I do. I’m spending lots of time baking, cooking, playing, cuddling, reading, visitng the park with her. Pretty soon we’ll be cooking together while a baby sister is strapped to my chest!
PIN
PIN
PIN
PIN
PINOATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES
Ingredients.
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 1/4 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries
Directions.
Adjust your oven racks to the top and bottom middle of the oven. Preheat your oven to 350˚F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, cream together the butter and the granulated sugar. Mix in the dark brown sugar, followed by the eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, gently whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir until incorporated. Finally, add in the oats and the raisins and stir until incorporated.
Scoop 3-4 tablespoons of cookie dough at a time onto the baking sheet. Space the cookies out about three inches, you can fit 8-10 on a baking sheet. Place the baking sheets in the oven and cook for 17-20 minutes, rotate the sheets halfway through baking. Remove the cookies from the oven when they are golden brown. Immediately, and carefully, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and let them rest for about 10 minutes.
PRINTABLE RECIPE.
OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES
In case you missed it, our cooking video for them is here!
|
.png)
.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}