Seeing Double

No, you're not seeing things...

...there really are two of them.

One is Tessa (of course). The other is Tessa's cousin, Max.

You see, Michael's sister has a dachshund, too. In fact, they got Max way before we got Tessa--Max is 7 years old, while Tessa is 4 years old. We spent so much time with Max and grew to love him so much that we knew when the time came to get a dog, we wanted a dachshund as well.

Tessa and Max have only ever "met" one time before, and it was a few years back, when Melissa was pregnant with Brendan. The meeting didn't go so well--Tessa was bossy and they kept getting into little brawls. However, we knew we wanted to try again some day; we've just never actually done it... until now.

Last weekend, Tessa made the trip with us to Melissa's. The weather was really nice, and we figured that worst case scenario, we could keep one inside and one outside if they weren't getting along. But you see... they got along swimmingly.

In fact, they were so damn cute together that we can't wait to do it again.

When we first got there, there was a lot of sniffing involved. And then there were games of chase. There were a few (teeny tiny) brawls--which, I think, is to be expected as they establish who is dominant and test their boundaries with each other.

By the end... they were kissin' cousins. *LOVE*

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Wine-Themed Cake

My brother is getting married in October, so on Sunday the bridesmaids hosted a bridal shower for his fiancee, Marie. The atmosphere was designed to be pretty elegant, and we loosely planned the event around a theme of "wine and cheese."

Because the attendance was going to be quite large, I knew early on that I wanted to make my first two-tier cake. I considered a few different designs, but all incorporated grapes. Some involved piping grape shapes out of buttercream, but the ones I loved the most used real grapes to garnish the cake.

Even with the two-tier cake (I used a 9" double layer and 6" double layer cakes for mine), I was worried we wouldn't have quite enough cake, so I also made two dozen cupcakes to supplement. Both tiers of the cake were chocolate, and the cupcakes were vanilla. I positioned everything on my trusty dusty 2'x2' board, covered in a plum-colored fabric.

You're not seeing things--the grapes have a little bit of a sparkle to them. I made "frosted" grapes to give them a little extra something. It was my first time using such a method, so it required a little trial and error. Most of the directions I found for frosted grapes involved dipping the grapes in egg whites and then dipping them in sanding sugar. I didn't want to feed raw egg whites to strangers, so I found an alternative--I was able to make an "egg white solution" using meringue powder and water. And it's salmonella-free! :)

Anyway, the trial and error part came into play when it came time to figure out how much solution to leave on the grapes to dip them. At first, I was leaving too much, so the sugar was clumping up. I eventually figured out that dipping the grapes, then dabbing them with paper towels worked to get a lot of excess moisture off, then I'd dip them. If you're interested in frosted grapes, just Google--there are tons of recipes/directions out there.

The night before the shower, I frosted the cakes, assembled them (again, if you want to know how to securely assemble two tiers, Google is a great resource), then added the shell borders. I also piped frosting onto the cupcakes, and, of course, prepared the sugared grapes.

The morning of the shower, I transported the cake, cupcakes, and grapes to the shower location separately. Once there, I got to work on garnishing everything. I topped each cupcake with a single frosted grape. For the cake, I used a large bunch of grapes for the top, then used smaller bunches on other areas of the cake. To help secure the grapes to the cake, I piped dollops of frosting in the spots where I wanted to stick them, using the frosting as "glue." As a finishing touch, I added little beads of frosting all over the sides of the layers.

Done!

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33 Weeks: Mama's First Cankles

All in all, things are relatively the same as last week.

This weekend was rough. On Saturday, we spent much of the day outside at my sister-in-law's house. We spent about five hours total in the car driving to and from that family visit, and when we got home in the evening, I spent somewhere between 3-4 hours on my feet in the kitchen, working on a cake.

At the end of the night, my back was killing me and my feet hurt. When I looked down at them, I was shocked at their appearance; I had my first-ever set of cankles!! My feet and toes were so fat I didn't even recognize them as my own. They weren't the most swollen feet I've ever seen or anything (in fact, the swelling would probably be considered relatively mild), but suddenly going from having hardly any swelling problems to having big, swollen feet was quite the shocker.

On Sunday, I spent way too many hours on my feet again, as it was my brother's fiancee's bridal shower and as one of the bridesmaids/hosts, it required more time on my feet than it did sitting down. It was nice, a success, and a good time was had by all, but OHMYGOD I was hurting by the end of it. My feet were swollen again, killing me, and my back--ouch. At one point later that day, I put my sneakers on and they were SO TIGHT. I would look down at my feet and just start laughing because I couldn't believe they were mine. It's a very weird feeling to not recognize your own feet.

I spent the majority of the remainder of my Sunday laid up on the couch with my feet propped up, but even Monday morning, I still felt like I had been hit by a truck. I guess I'm just starting to feel the effects of carrying around an extra 20+ pounds. I don't think my body is cut out for this!

Speaking of extra weight, let's check out my belly pic for the week, shall we?

33 Weeks Pregnant

I did end up retiring my engagement/wedding rings from everyday wear yesterday. They still fit, but with the swelling I had over the weekend and the increase in tightness of the rings, I just don't want to chance it anymore. They're usually relatively loose on me, and now that they're feeling kind of tight--it's time to take them off. I did buy a cheapie substitute to get me through. :)

The baby's movement has been cracking me up this week. The slow stretches and pulls are so amazing to watch and feel, and every once in a while, he/she will kick me repeatedly in the same spot--strong kicks that occur three or four times in a row. I can feel him/her getting stronger and it's kind of awe-inspiring. The other night, I was lying in bed and I suddenly saw a small bump appear on my belly, through my shirt. I pressed on it with my fingers and it was hard. By the time I lifted up my shirt to inspect it more closely, it had disappeared and that area of my belly was soft again. But I'm pretty damn sure that lump was a foot!

I've also started feeling baby hiccups on a daily basis now. On Saturday morning, I pulled out the doppler to listen to the babe's heartbeat. While I was listening, I was hearing this little sound that kept coming through over the heartbeat. After a few seconds, I realized that my stomach would move ever so slightly at the exact same time I heard the unidentified noises. It was then that I realized--I was listening to the baby's hiccups! Now, they seem so obvious every time the baby has them... I don't know whether the baby has suddenly grown big enough for me to feel them more prominently, or if I've just been oblivious up until now. Because prior to Saturday, I had only felt them once (a few weeks back), but now, like I said--I feel them every day! It's pretty cute.

We continue to pick up little things here and there for the baby. We're working on finishing things up in the nursery, building up our cloth diaper stash and supplies, and last weekend, we purchased "going home" outfits--one for a boy and one for a girl. :) It's fun to go into the nursery and look at all of the little things.

We have our second (and last) baby shower on Saturday, so we're looking forward to that. Once we get through that, we'll buy whatever else we still need, then I should be able to take and share some preliminary nursery pics! (The final ones won't be ready until after the baby is born, as we are holding out on a few things until whether we know it's a boy or a girl.)

Oh! And one of the most exciting things about this week is that we're officially in August. We woke up on Sunday morning and said, "Hey! Now we can say we're having a baby 'next month!'" A pretty big milestone, I'd say. :) We have a relatively busy month, too, so I'm sure it'll help keep things moving along for us. I cannot wait to meet this baby!

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Decoy

I managed to squeak another week out of my engagement/wedding rings, but this morning, they were too tight for comfort. So I went "naked" for the day, and hated it.

During my lunch break, I took a ride to do a little shopping, and decided to take a look at some substitutes. And while they are poor excuses for the real thing, this cheap-o ring set still manages to make me feel a little bit better.

This is what $13 will buy you. HA!

And with that, I have rings again. Anyone want to venture a guess how long it'll take before they turn my finger green? :) They are a little big on me but I guess I have some room to grow into them. And should I happen to need to get these cut off for some reason, there will be no tears!

Question, though: If not for swollen pregnant women, just who are these ring sets for? Are there teenage girls walking around who want to pretend to be married? I don't get it. I was shocked at how many fake engagement/wedding ring sets could be found at places like Claire's, The Icing, and JCPenney.

Anyway, I'm hoping that I'll still be able to wear my real ones on "good" days, and I'll likely go bare-fingered much of the time, too. But for those occasions when I really miss my rings, I'm all set!

And now I'll begin counting down the days until I can wear my real ones again...

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Chicken Enchilada Dip Roll-Ups

For a family party with my in-laws this weekend, I decided to do something new for a change--I made an appetizer instead of dessert!

I've had these roll-ups bookmarked FOREVER, so it was nice to dig it out of the "to try" archives and give them a whirl. They were super simple to put together, and really tasty, too!

I mixed everything together for the filling the night before the party, then made the roll-ups on site at the party. I'd suggest waiting as long as possible before making the roll-ups to prevent them from getting soggy.

The original recipe apparently was meant to be a dip--so if you don't want to roll up the mixture into tortillas, just set it out in a bowl with some tortilla chips! We taste-tested the filling with some chips right after we made it, and it was definitely great both ways. The roll-ups make for a nice presentation, though, and are easy to eat at a party as they make a great finger food.

Chicken Enchilada Dip Roll-Ups
(Source: Adapted from Delicious Meliscious)

Ingredients:
- 2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened (I used light cream cheese)
- 1 1/3 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
- 1 tsp. garlic, finely minced
- 1 1/2 tbsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. cumin
- cayenne pepper to taste
- salt to taste
- Approximately 12 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded
- 1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
- 4 green onions, chopped
- 1 (14 oz.) can petite diced tomatoes
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 package tortillas (any flavor you like--we used plain flour tortillas)

Directions:
1. Mix cheeses together until well blended.

2. Add all remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.

3. Spread filling evenly onto entire tortilla (all the way to the edges). Roll and cut into slices. Repeat with tortillas until filling is gone.

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