The Results Are In!!!

So, I'm at 22 weeks now, and I just had my third ultrasound this morning where my doctor was able to determine the baby's gender. FINALLY WE KNOW!!! WE'RE SO EXCITED!!! Here are some of the ultrasound pictures:

The pictures above are (1) the spine; (2) the leg bone (femur); and (3) the head. What a little darling!! Also, here's a photo of the big event -- my smarty-pants doctor squishing the ultrasound thingie into my stomach:

So, here are the results:

IT'S A BOY!!!! WE'RE HAVING A LITTLE TIMMY!!!

My doctor described him as "well-endowed," which made his daddy proud. She had no doubt that it's a boy. We are absolutely thrilled, but a little more surprised than we'd expected, because everyone we know (including me and Tim) was assuming that it was a girl. Surprise surprise! It sounds like Tim was on target when he originally assigned Tadpole the co-nickname of Leonard. But, we're very happy to know. Now we can remove half of our prospective names, which is very helpful, and we can also start buying boy clothes and boy colors, instead of just the ambiguous green and yellow items. Everything else on the ultrasound looked fine, and it seems like he's developing normally, which is great, great, great news. We're very excited. :-)

Also, I'm always interested in seeing pictures of my cute pregnant friends, so if you have the same curiosity, then I'll indulge that. Here's a photo of beautifat pregnant Jean at 22 weeks:

Yay!!!

The Whoopie Pie

"Hi, my name is Whoopie Pie ("... Hi, Whoopie Pie..."), and I'm a delicious Pennsylvania Dutch baked good."

So, Tim and I baked whoopie pies several nights ago, and since no one seems to know what a whoopie pie is (shocking!! appalling!!), I decided to post a couple recipes below. If you ever visit Amish country, you can find whoopie pies in pretty much any bakery or grocery store. I've even purchased them from the occasional roadside stand that sells fresh produce, breads, jams, pies, and other desserts. Basically, a whoopie pie consists of two cakelike chocolate cookies with cream in the middle (like a delicious softie Oreo).

Here's a recipe for genuine whoopie pies (makes 12), care of AllRecipes.com:

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Directions:

(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets. Sift together the 2 cups flour, baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, cocoa, and 1 cup sugar. Set aside.

(2) In a medium bowl, stir together the egg, oil, 1 tsp vanilla, and 3/4 cup milk until well blended. Gradually stir in the sifted dry ingredients. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto the greased cookie sheets.

(3) Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until firm. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

(4) To make the filling: in a medium saucepan, whisk together the 1/2 cup milk and 2 1/2 Tbsp flour. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until thick. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, beat together the shortening, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 Tbsp vanilla. Stir in the cooked milk mixture and beat for an additional 20 minutes, until really fluffy. Spread the filling between two cookies. Enjoy!

When Tim and I made them the other night, we actually pressed the "Easy Button" and used a much simpler recipe that calls for Devil's Food cake mix. They weren't genuine whoopie pies (the cakes were too light and fluffy), but they made for a delicious dessert nonetheless. That recipe is also available on AllRecipes.com at this link.

Happy baking!

The Holidays Are Here!

The Wooden Welcome Pumpkin is on the door, and the Harvest Centerpiece is on the coffee table. (This represents the extent of my autumn home decor.) THE HOLIDAY SEASON HAS BEGUN!!! Yaaaaay.

I Love Soup and Whoopie Pies and Helicopters

This past week while Tim was chugging along with his arty classes and homework assignments, I traveled to Austin, Texas, for work, and I got to ride in a helicopter for the first (and unfortunately probably last) time!!! It was crazy awesome!!! We were consulting on a huge, 10,000-acre property outside of the city, and our clients figured that the best way to get the gist of the landscape would be to fly. It was so exciting to get in and get buckled and put on the really heavy headphones with the little microphone. And then we took off! It was fast at first, but it also felt really light and weightless, which I wasn't expecting. We soared over the countryside for about ten minutes, and then touched down again. I was instructed when I exited to "step out and walk to the front of the helicopter," because apparently there's a propeller on the back that can get ya if you're not careful. It was wild! Here are some photos:

Jean's rearin' to go!

And we're off!

See the shadow of the helicopter on the river?

The lovely Texas countryside.

Another stretch of river.

What a pro!

Thanks for the ride, mister!

So, the helicopter ride was certainly the highlight of my trip, but I also got the opportunity to eat at Cracker Barrel, which is among my top 5 favorite restaurants. (Hashbrown casserole... fried apples... biscuits... heavenly!) It was good times.

Then, since Tim and I felt like we'd seen little of each other lately, we decided to have a date-night-in on Saturday, where we baked whoopie pies (shout-out to the PA Dutch) and played Scene-It 2nd Edition, which we just purchased. It was fun! Tim won the game (just barely!), but I kept my pride that evening, as explained in the photos below:

Look at him in his Megatron t-shirt, all covered in whoopie batter, hahaha. He is so adorable. (And I promise that he's actually a very responsible, professional person when he's at school.)

Nothing new to report with Tadpole-Leonard... two more weeks until we find out if it's a boy, girl, giraffe, or robot. My below-belly-button area is still growing, slowly but surely (meaning that I love stretchy pants right now), and I promise I'll post a picture as soon as I have that cute, bonafide pregnant belly. My most pronounced pregnancy craving thus far has been soup, which is a really strange craving, given that it comes in so many different flavors and textures and varieties. Mostly I love Chicken & Stars and Italian Wedding soup. They're just so warm and yummy. I've also been craving fruits and veggies, especially tomatoes. And I just called Tim at work to ask him to bring home some pre-cooked ham that I can put into the new organic macaroni and cheese that I bought the other day. That just sounds SO GOOD to me right now... Am I weird? I think I'm weird.