BABY!!

Baby Day: Due on June 4th, 2011

Here I am at 13 weeks and as you can see there isn't a whole lot to look at other than the fact that I look like I overate at dinner - which I probably did. At this stage in my pregnancy (almost 14 weeks) I am actually still -1lb. below my starting pregnancy weight - that would be the benefit of planning a super intense event right smack dab in the middle of my first trimester (probably helped by the fact that I could no longer enjoy my evening wine). I was on my feet and so busy the entire time I had no time to think about overeating, sleeping or getting sick. Oh but now...now I have time to eat and I can assure you that this baby is no longer starving or sleep deprived.

I had my 2nd doctors appointment today and we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time which was super exciting. I had an ultrasound at 10 weeks and we were able to see the heartbeat, but to actually hear the little one swimming around inside of me made us both so happy!

Jer and I decided last night (after some pretty serious debates) that we are going to be surprised and not find out the sex of the baby. I was rooting for that all along, but he really wanted to find out the sex and so we struck a deal: I agreed to his budget on the baby room, which was more than fair, but as those of you who know my husband well can attest - money talks with this man. Part II of our little deal however was that with any future children we will find out the sex. That I can also live with if he'll let me have this one surprise! So there it is, we will all wait another 26 weeks to see what this little bundle of joy will be. Any guesses?

At this point in my pregnancy I am:

- Feeling really good - haven't experienced any sickness - haven't experienced any cravings or any real food aversions - still a little tired - still a little moody - have felt the baby flutter 2 times.

Sweet Potato Recipe

I made this sweet potato recipe for Thanksgiving dinner and Sam asked me for it so I told her that I'd post it on the blog. This is simply the best sweet potato casserole that I have ever had, it's more like dessert than anything else. And as you can see by the recipe it goes straight from your lips to your hips...definitely not something you want to eat once a week, but for the occasional holiday dinner it is a must try!

Crust:

1 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/3 stick of butter

Sweet Potato Mixture:

3 cups mashed sweet potatoes

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2 eggs well beaten

1 stick butter melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine brown sugar, flour, nuts and butter in mixing bowl. Set aside. Combine sweet potatoes, sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs and butter in a mixing bowl in the order listed. Mix thoroughly. Pour mixture into buttered baking dish. Sprinkle the surface of the sweet potato mixture evenly with the crust mixture. Bake for 30 minutes. Allow to set at least 30 minutes before serving.

Throwdown!!

Well everybody that knows me knows that I love to cook. When I actually sit down in front of the TV and relax (which isn't often) there are 2 things that I watch - HGTV and Food Network. Combine my love to cook and my love for Food Network with my admiration for the woman who seems to do it all and I am fixated on the TV and nobody better bother me! I tell you this story because what started out as an exciting hour of TV has now turned into an obsession as I impatiently wait to make Pumpkin Bread pudding for our Thanksgiving feast. For any of you that watched this show last Wednesday you know what I am talking about.

I really hope that after all of this drooling and fantasizing, this dessert turns out to be all that I have it cracked up to be in my head. I am still going to make my traditional pumpkin pie, because if this flops I still need a good pie to redeem myself - plus Jeremy has been waiting for me to make pumpkin pie all season, but I can't wait to report. Meanwhile check out the recipe I attached the link above.

Washington DC

There is nothing that quite compares to the east coast in the fall. We had such a quick trip back to DC mainly because the purpose of our visit was to attend a conference, but we still got to squeeze in a few fun touristy things and enjoy the pretty change in season (which we certainly don't get here)! The conference was great in my opinion. There were 44 attendees, mostly researchers from across the US and some from Europe, 7 family's and representatives from both the NIH and FDA. All in all I think we accomplished what we set out to do which was get people involved in a cohesive discussion with the hope that it will enable them to work together in their search for a cure for Batten's.

Jer had never been back to DC before and so we tried to squeeze in a few important places. I would say that the highlight of our trip was a nice evening walk around the monuments followed up by a great dinner at Equinox. We also crammed in visits to Arlington Cemetery, 4 of the Smithsonian museums and my favorite the Holocaust Memorial. I guess that I was too young to really appreciate the Holocaust museum the last go around, but I honestly could have spent 2 days there this trip. Of course we didn't have the time and so we whizzed through there, but I am really still reeling over just how brutal the Holocaust really was. Sounds crazy, because I know we've all learned about it in school, but I am such a visual person and for some reason it really impacted me seeing the videos and replicas of the gas chambers...it was just so sad to think that someone could really kill all of those people just because they had a different belief. I know that I'm not going to solve the problems of humanity in this blog, but I really do encourage anyone that visits DC to go back there and check it out if you haven't.

The end of a long and busy fall

Look at that stud, that is one good looking man!

I am marking the end of a very long and busy fall. Since the last post the Blake's Purpose committee has completed our 3rd and I must say very successful Blake's Purpose event, raising nearly $225,000! Jeremy and I followed that up with a great trip back to Washington DC to attend a Batten's Disease conference at the NIH that the Blake's Purpose Foundation co-sponsored with about 7 other family organizations, finally settling back in to normal life last week. I am so relieved to have all of this behind me and yet so happy that I once again get to be a part of something so much bigger than me. I have been very overwhelmed this year with all that I have had on my plate and yet there is a part of me that would miss this if I ever stopped fighting and raising money for these kids.