Birthday and Baby Shower Fun

My birthday (Kay) is two weeks after Greg's birthday. Our friend Tom also happens to have the same birthday as me. So since we've been friends, we get together on our birthdays. Greg was so patient with me this year as every other day I would change my mind about what kind of cake and dinner I wanted. Finally, I decided I wanted a cookies 'n cream ice cream roll cake and belgian waffles with fresh fruit for dinner (we'd just bought a waffle iron). For some strange reason, however, ice cream roll cakes are not as popular as they once were. Greg could not find a good one anywhere. Some employees didn't even know what a roll or log cake was (deprived children). I gave Greg other options, but being the engineer he is, he had to make one. He found a recipe for an ice cream log cake and off to the kitchen he went. The waffles were relatively easy (but SO good) so he spent most of his time on the cake. Tom wanted apple pie, so his wife Steph obliged and they both came over after the cake was done. It was so much fun and I was SO impressed with Greg's baking skills. The cake was chocolate with cookies 'n cream ice cream. The white on the outside is powdered sugar. We had a great time celebrating with Tom and Steph and their daughter.

Then, as if our birthdays weren't enough fun, I had my first baby shower today with Greg's family. Considering I am only 36 weeks and this is my first pregnancy, it was a little surprising when my doctor told me I was already 3 cm dilated last week. I still don't think I'm having this baby early, but it was freaking us out a tiny bit that we weren't at all prepared. Which is why this baby shower was such perfect timing. Greg's stepmom, her sisters, and Greg's sister did an awesome job with everything from decorating to the games to the food. Marilee (Greg's stepmom) even went out of her way to make me pink pizzelles (an Italian cookie which I LOVE and which I now must purchase an iron for). We got every essential that we didn't already have which you HAVE to have to take care of a newborn. So, now it's okay if she comes early. And I am seriously hoping that now that it's okay if she comes early, she waits 4 more weeks! Reverse psychology works on the unborn, right?

More and More Pictures

Greg's birthday on April 21 was nice and relaxing. The chocolate peanut butter molten lava cakes took a little longer than planned, but were very yummy and turned out exactly as expected. Greg and I both love peanut butter so there wasn't quite enough for our taste. If I make them again I will put more peanut butter filling in. Also, I used semi-sweet chocolate rather than dark. I found the recipe here: http://www.mysweetandsaucy.com/2009/03/chocolate-peanut-butter-molten-cake/

And I finally took pictures again. Here I am at 33 weeks (a couple days ago). I feel huge and am starting to have trouble moving around a bit. We went shopping for a recliner to put in the nursery and after reclining in one, I couldn't get out. Luckily Greg was there and helped me out. :) We also had the first-half of our childbirth classes this morning. It was very informative and the instructor was great. I was concerned that she would push certain methods or techniques over others, but she was great about presenting just the medical facts about options or reasons for doing things. It was also very interesting as she would ask questions and I realized I knew a lot more about pregnancy and labor than I thought. It was reassuring to only have 2 or 3 new pieces of information thrown at us rather than 50 pieces. Then again, the second-half of the class is next week, so maybe that will be information overload. :)