Well, happy birthday to me! Not too much pomp and circumstance this year, but Stephen did sneak off early this morning and surprised me with my favorite Starbucks coffee and pastries!!So with a nice shot of caffeine in the arm, I figured I'd finish up with these last posts and be done just in time to pack Carter up for his first trip to Austin this weekend!!
I'm headed that way for a few fun showers honoring my friend Carrie before she and her Tennessee mountain man, Ed, tie the knot. While I'm busy with girl things, Stephen's joining his dad for a bird's-eye view of the first UT game of the season from a seat in the new section of Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium! Should be a fun weekend! As you can see, Carter's pumped (and being brain washed early :)
Carter will also be meeting two of his great-grandparents for the first time - Papa and Grandma Bootzie. We'll have Carter, Stephen, Stephen's dad (Grandpa) and Grandpa's dad (Papa) all together so stay tuned for the inevitable 'four generations of men' moment I'm psyched about capturing!
Ok, so back to blogging. First things first, I've got to get the waterbaby group picture out of the way. As you may have read from my post Conception to Birth to Baptism , I get together with a fabulous bunch of ladies and babies every week that I met in a prenatal water aerobics group back with I was pregnant. Prenatal yoga was also involved, but no one really loved downward facing dog in their third trimester, so we all tended to skip that class and go to the extra water aerobic class instead. Since we all kinda met in the water, I think it was Lauren that first started referring to our kiddos as 'waterbabies' and thus the name was born.
It's just a gathering for lunch at someone's home, but we have the best time. Some weeks it's so hard to get out of the house, but those are usually the weeks when you need it the most! It's reassuring to hear you're not alone in all the stuff you inevitably go through as a mom. And every topic is fair game - we talk about all sorts of juicy stuff that I'm sure our husbands would be mortified to know is discussed :) Needless to say, it's great!
Up until two weeks ago, we'd never had the whole group together, but finally everyone was able to make it! All nine mommies and babies piled into Lani's living room! It was a riot to see all these babies together. They are all SO different from one another too. All different shapes and sizes and personalities. It just reminded me that every baby is an individual little miracle, unique and infinitely amazing.
So here's all nine babies born so far, ages 3 months to two weeks. They are lined up by age from left to right, and yes I realize this was cruel and unusual punishment to subject these little ones to a photo session for our amusement, but they humored us :)
From left to right: Ockham, Carter, Austin, Callie, Garrett, Ethan, Alejandro, John and baby Caroline Rose :)
I should add that Rene's little baby will complete our group of 10 when he/she finally arrives -Rene, I know when you're day comes, we're all going to be so elated to have a tiny baby in our midst again, we'll be fighting each other to hold him/her! We've already said we'll have to have a big "all the babies are finally here!" barbecue to celebrate.
The second thing I've got to throw in a post before I forget is this charming little recipe my mother-in-law sent. It's called the 5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake, but the e-mail referred to it as 'the most dangerous chocolate cake recipe in the world,' and I couldn't agree more!
I have zero will power when it comes to sweets, so we don't keep any in the house. Well, as soon as I got this e-mail I immediately did a mental run-down of all the ingredients in our pantry and fridge. Darn-it, wouldn't you know we were out of milk! But, where there is a will, there is a way! I remembered we had half-n-half. :)
Here it is....
5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
1 Coffee Mug
4 tablespoons flour(that's plain flour, not self-rising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
Nuts (optional)
Small splash of vanilla
Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high**. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT!
(this can serve 2 if you want to share!)
**Note: I had to cook it for 4 minutes, and we have a pretty powerful microwave, so I'd imagine depending on wattage, you may have to cook it for 4-6 minutes.
I'll be honest, it wasn't the best cake ever, kinda rubbery, but it was cake! And I bet with ice-cream it would be a delicious - after all, what isn't delicious with ice cream?! With a little powdered sugar it was so cute. I can image with a few raspberries and a mint sprig it would look down right picture-perfect.
So I'm off to pack - see some of y'all in Austin, and for the rest of y'all - Hook 'Em Horns!!!
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