Oh Baby! Homemade Chocolate Espresso Whip Cream

We took MJ to the doctor this morning because he was acting a little bit funny and I thought he might have an ear infection.

I'm actually trying to get a smile out of him here. No dice. 

Welp. 

No ear infection, just super cranky teething baby, but it did get us out of the house! Which is awesome. I'm pretty happy about that. 

The weather is spectacular here today warm and sunny, just the way I like it! So in order for me to NOT spend my entire afternoon in the kitchen I'm making a simple ham with a sweet glaze for dinner with baked potatoes and... broccoli I think. Or maybe green beans. We'll see - I have both. ETA: we actually had carrots instead. Shhhh. 

ANYWAY

The point is I'm putting my effort into dessert today! We will be having sugar cookie sandwiches with homemade chocolate espresso whip cream in the middle. I'm super excited as this is something I've never made before and I kinda just made it up because it sounded yummy in my head. Here goes.

This is extremely simple and easy and OMG delicious.

Ingredients:
12 Sugar cookies (home made or store bought)
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons white sugar
1 teaspoon hot chocolate mix
1 teaspoon instant coffee

Method:
First things first, make sugar cookies! I used an extremely basic recipe which can be found here.

So good warm out of the oven. JP and I almost polished them all off before I even made the cream!

Once you have all the cookies made you can pair them up by size so you're all ready to make sandwiches and that way you know how many are left over you can eat now... 

Next gather the ingredients for your whip cream filling. While you're doing that and munching on some warm sugar cookies you want to put your mixing bowl in the fridge so it's cool when you begin mixing.

Sugar, instant coffee, hot cocoa mix, and fresh cream

Dump everything into your pre-cooled mixing bowl.

Yes, I really whip my cream by hand.

AND WHIP! And then whip some more. And once your arm feels like falling off switch arms and whip some more only not quite as coordinatedly as your dominant arm. Once you switch back because that arm feels like it's about to fall off you should have something like this:

YUM

I like to give it a few more stirs because I prefer my cream to be slightly more substantial when I'm using it as filling. So, I end up with this:

I could totally eat this whole bowl with a spoon.

All you have to do now is assemble cookie sandwiches!

OMNOM NOM NOM!

Easily one of my most delicious, simplest, and quick desserts. I love the way they turned out! Give it a try and let me know how they turn out for you!

TIP: Use a hand mixer. No seriously, if I had one I would have used it for this... my arm still hurts. 

Also, the cream from this recipe is EXTREMELY sweet. If you want something a little less sweet I would recommend using unsweetened cocoa powder instead of hot cocoa mix OR reducing the amount of sugar by 1 teaspoon.

On the decision to cloth diaper...

Disclaimer: I want to post about why JP and I chose to cloth diaper. I want to make it perfectly clear that I don't judge or hate on anyone who chooses not to cloth diaper.

The number 1 factor in our decision was the $$.

I like to think I'm frugal.

(I'm not.)

I just really like spending money on crap that I want. >.>  Now, of course I WANT our baby! Ha ha ha... most days. But what I really mean is new records for our record player... and new cook books, and fabric for my sewing machine, and a trip to Germany in a few months, and a trip home for Thanksgiving.... and.... and... and...

You know what I'm talking about here.

So, since we plan on having more kids than just MJ, we figured a $500 investment that could be spread out over a few kids and then possibly passed on or resold beats the hell out of $2000+ diapering each kid.

Secondary to that $$ issue there is the environmental concern. Disposable diapers sit in landfills basically forever. It's nasty. I can't throw a disposable diaper in a trash barrel and feel good about myself afterwards.

I just can't.

Using cloth is not nearly hard enough to justify disposable diapers in my opinion. Washing cloth diapers and hanging them out to dry doesn't have the impact on the environment that throwing away 10+ diapers every day does. With cloth poop goes where poop belongs, in the toilet, not in the garbage.

Also, I plan on potty training early. Like six-months-old early. Cloth diapers are not as comfortable as disposables are. It will be easier to potty train MJ because he is more aware of every time he eliminates than babies that can't feel the wetness because of how super absorbent 'sposies are.

One of the main reasons why it's so difficult to potty train a 2 or 3 year old is because parents have spent the past 2 or 3 years essentially "teaching" their child that it's okay and correct to eliminate in their diaper. They are so comfortable and used to doing it that way they struggle to adjust to going in the toilet.

A few more added perks:

-cloth diapers breathe better than disposables and help keep diaper rash at bay.
-no harsh chemicals against baby's delicate skin
-no need to rush out for diapers at 3am because you've suddenly run out
-there are many different varieties, some even use a plastic free disposable insert (best of both worlds!)
-take good care of them and they can be resold, sometimes at half the price you originally paid for them!


In addition to the reasons above, they're so freakin' cute!

How cute is that tush?

I love our cloth collection, I love that we can use them on future babies, I love that they will help him potty train easier, I love that they are better for the earth, and I love that MJ's but is so cute in them!

MJ's Birth Story

I was so relieved when my birthday past and I didn't go into labor. I didn't want to spend the day at the hospital and I didn't want to have to share birthdays, I wanted our baby to have his own special day. After that though, I was ready. I had been having false labor contractions almost every day since the previous Friday and I was totally in gear to have the baby out! Wednesday night before we went to bed I had another false labor for about and hour and half, I kept telling JP that I thought I might be able to give him a baby that night. Once the contractions stopped I was pretty disappointed and we went to sleep. My water broke at 3:00am and we called L&D to find out what they wanted us to do. I had discussed with the doctor laboring at home for as long as possible before coming in but they wanted me to come in right away because I wasn't having contractions. When we got to the hospital they hooked me up to the monitors and we waited for contractions to start with our fingers crossed that I wouldn't have to be induced. I was 3 cm dilated when we arrived. By 7am my contractions were in full swing and I was throwing up in between everyone. When the nurse checked me and I had made no progress at all I decided to have an epidural so I could get some rest. The anesthesiologist was there by 8:00, he had me hooked up by 8:30, and I was feeling a ton of relief by 9:00. I was actually able to nap between 10:00 and noon! The doctor came in around 2:00 and told me I was fully dilated but he wanted me to sit up and let gravity do some of the work for about an hour. He was back at 3:00 and I pushed for almost an hour and a half before MJ made his first appearance. The nurses and photographer were split right down the middle on what the sex of the baby would be. DH said boy, I said girl, and the doctor said he never guesses! They laid him on my belly and he just stared at me with those beautiful eyes. DH and I both teared up as we took in our son. I was able to hold him and bond with him uninterrupted for more than an hour before they asked to take him for his measurements. It was a truly wonderful experience. The labor and delivery went unbelievably smoothly. Everybody at the hospital was great and I felt both MJ and I were very safe in their hands. After he was born the Doctors became concerned about his weight loss. He lost over 10% of his body weight in 48 hours and because of my breast reduction surgery they couldn't be sure he was getting enough to eat from me. They kept us an extra two days to monitor him and they had us begin supplementing his feedings with SNS and formula. It was excruciatingly devastating knowing that I was incapable of feeding my own baby and keeping him healthy. We're home now and the doctor told us at his check up that we halved his weight loss in two days! The doctor said to keep and eye on his diapers but it seems like I'm producing plenty to cut back on the formula for now. His next appointment is on Friday and if the scale looks good hopefully we can move to BFing exclusively on demand. He's so perfect. JP and I are totally in love with him. 

Wordless because there are no words to describe this feeling...

MJ Born March 14th, 16:24  7lbs 13.8 ounces 20in 

Maternity Pictures

We had our Maternity Pictures taken last weekend by the lovely Leslie Bridges of Bridges to Memories. She shared a few sneak peaks with us and they are absolutely wonderful. I don't use the word blessed lightly because I don't believe in a deity but I am feeling truly blessed as I look at these pictures!

We are anxiously awaiting the birth of our first little surprise baby!! It wont be long now! 

So.... I'm pregnant.

YAY!!!!!!!

*jumping up and down in crazy excitment*

     -Although not really because right now it feels like my abdomen is folded in half and stuck to my pelvis... 

* weeping on the floor*

     -This is more accurate. 

DH and I went to the hospital today to get the blood test to confirm the news. Turns out I'm not on the right form of Tricare for one reason or another. So, they had to switch me from Tricare Standard to Tricare Prime which wont actually go into effect until Aug 1. That's awesome. Not only that but in a few months when the hubs and I move overseas for his new assignment I'll have to be switched to a whole new type of Tricare mid pregnancy. I'll also have to find a new doctor
                                                                    ...and try to decide on a birthing location
                                                                                                                                  ...and figure out the water birth situation I want to try.

*Imagine Timon saying, "Oh boy!"*

Fun. Super fun.

I am really excited about having a baby though. James is really excited too. He's been super cute the past week, taking care of me.

So there's this baby...

The count down began 9 months ago, and we've all been anxiously awaiting the birth of my nephew. Between talks of whose ugly feet he'll get and whether he'll have the maternal family double chin or not everyone was very excited. He would be the first Grand-baby in our family. It was a particularly rough pregnancy for the first time parents. Both of them told us for years they never wanted to have kids, then that suddenly changed. They did try to get pregnant but I imagine both of them had a few second thoughts along the way. Nicole had morning sickness throughout, ended up in the ER twice because of dehydration, and towards the end developed toxicity. Between the worry about the baby's health and Nicole's health my brother, Matthew, was a wreck.

Monday was the due date. Tuesday they went in for a check up and discovered something funky with the babies heart beat. Not the good king of funky either. The doctors decided to induce labor Wednesday morning. After 16 hours in the hospital, Monster was born at 10:38pm, June 1st, 2001.

7lbs 2oz, 21.5 inches