Gender Update!

I really didn't mean to lie when I said I would update soon. I honestly still thought it was soon until I looked at a calendar. Where the heck did November go? Moving on...

It's a girl!

We are incredibly excited! Wor was determined we were having a girl since I told him I liked the name Lily and the middle name Ann. Ever since then I have not even been able to discuss the possibility of another name. He won't hear of it. I bring it up and he says "no, her name is Lily Ann." And yes people Ann is just the middle name, not to be used in connection to her first name at all times. There has been confusion about this part cough cough ATRIN. I am not huge on announcing a baby name before they are actually born but Becca kind of spilled the beans on that one. I think she was excited for her little namesake!

So far I have to say I am not a huge fan of being pregnant. OK so there probably aren't a lot of women who are but I have heard of some. I think if I didn't work or go to school I would like it a lot. Because then I could sleep all day which is all I want to do. When I am at school I fantasize about going home and sleeping instead of going to work. I have seriously considered clocking out at work and taking a nap right there on my keyboard. Here is an example:

Today I took the day off of work so I could write my 10 page paper that is due tomorrow. I get home from school about 11:30. I flop on my bed set my alarm clock for half and hour and sleep...I hit snooze a few times so in reality I don't get up until 12:30. I then go heat up my lunch because the only reason I stopped pressing snooze is that my stomach was literally hurting from hunger. I work for about an hour on my paper and then I decide another nap is called for. An hour later I wake up and go downstairs to get some Jello hoping that it will wake me up enough to work on my paper some more. It works...sort of. See I'm sitting here writing on the blog instead of actually writing my paper. And now all I want to do is fall asleep again...

Friends, relatives, websites and doctors have all promised me a burst of energy this trimester...

Where

Is

It

??????????????

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Really would it be our blog if we didn't include a kitty picture?

I am not going to even offer an explanation as to why I haven't posted in months except to say that life happens.

I think pretty much everyone who actually reads our blog already knows that we are having a baby in April. But in case I'm wrong...surprise! We find out the sex of the baby on Wednesday so hopefully I will remember to post an update. Wor is determined that we are having a girl. I have absolutely no idea what I think at this point. Most mom's say they have a hunch of some kind...I've got nothing. I have started to feel the baby move which is really exciting! As I am starting to show Wor is getting more and more excited. I think it's starting to feel real for him now that there is something visual to him to see saying "Yeah I'm gonna be a Dad!" We will update more on Baby Thongthai soon.

17 weeks

I wanted to share my two favorite muffin recipes tonight. Banana and pumpkin. Keep in mind in my kitchen both of these flavors is usually followed by "chocolate chip" but hey everyone is different!

The banana muffin recipe was a lucky find on Allrecipes. This is my favorite recipe sharing site. I always go for the recipes that have TONS of reviews and really high ratings. I feel like that way I am getting a varied and hopefully accurate average. This search method hasn't failed me yet! This particular recipe has 1,161 reviews with a 4.5/5 star average...it's a winner!

Banana Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large bananas, mashed

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup butter melted

Combine the banana, sugar, egg and butter and blend together. Whisk in the baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk in flour. If you are going to mix anything else in cough cough chocolate chips do it now.

Bake at 350 degrees in a lined muffin pan. They will need to bake for 12-20 minutes.

The pumpkin muffin recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen. I really enjoy this food blog and my family seems to really enjoy these muffins. These muffins get requested more than anything I make, especially by my mom (no this does not include Wors request for fried rice).

Pumpkin Muffins

from Smitten Kitchen

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup solid pure pumpkin puree (make sure it isn't pumpkin pie filling)

1/3 cup oil

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I typically dash a little nutmeg, clove and then a lot of cinnamon in as a substitute)

1 1/4 cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon extra set aside for later

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon set aside

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. After blended whisk flour in just until blended. If you want to add chocolate chips do so after the flour is mixed in. Distribute to 12 lined muffin cups. Combine the 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Sprinkle over each cup of batter. Bake at 350 degrees until they muffins bounce back, approximately 12-18 minutes.

It's Been Months

So I realized the other day that it has been forever since I updated this blog. Maybe it's because I am just not motivated to write about life in general anymore. I discovered food blogs last fall and have really enjoyed perusing the recipes and BEAUTIFUL pictures. I really don't have to ponder what to cook these days. I have to restrain myself.

All these beautiful food blogs have really inspired me. In the past few months the itch to start my own has really become unbearable. I need to design one (I might just have to ask Mary for some help on that), buy a good camera and actually learn something about photography. But as exams are quickly approaching...my food blog itch will just have to wait for a bit.

But for other news in life:

We bought a new car! Wor and I have shared a car since we got married and it was kind of a pain. Sure, we live 5 minutes away from both of our offices and from school. Sure, we have plenty of family and friends in the area that we could bum rides from if we really wanted to. Sure, we saved a heck of a lot on car insurance. But not having to schedule grocery store runs around when I need to pick Wor up is really nice. So here's what we got (don't ask me why the picture is so huge...I can't figure that out either):

Rachel and Ross got married in March. I was sick the whole time but luckily the rest of the family followed suit the day AFTER the wedding. Whew! Here is a picture of the lovely couple:

Our kitchen is being mostly remodeled this weekend! I will update with pictures of that soon!