Max & Kaylee

so here i am. it's monday afternoon. and it's hot out. and i love it. except that the heat is draining. oh man, oh man! tomorrow we leave for california, for my cousin's wedding festivities. the dog has been dropped off at the kennel, the laundry is all done and the packing is in the preliminary stages. that is what i need to get to work on next.

3 c. flour, divided 

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c. unsalted butter 

1/2 c. oil

1 1/4c. granulated sugar 

2 Tbsp lemon zest

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/3 c. fresh lemon juice 

3/4 c. buttermilk

2 c. diced fresh rhubarb (I remember using about 3-4 cups rhubarb)

2 c. powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

4 tsp fresh lemon juice mixed with 3 Tbsp water

-Preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare basic bundt pan.

-In bowl of stand mixer, add sugar, butter and oil and beat until light and fluffy in texture as well as color, about 5 minutes.

-Meanwhile, in medium bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine well and set aside.

-To sugar mixture, add lemon zest and beat to combine.

-One at a time, add egg and beat to combine well. Add vanilla, beating to combine well.

-Add lemon juice and buttermilk, mixing to combine well.

-Stop mixer and scrape down sides of bowl.

-With mixer on lowest speed, add flour mixture and mix until almost combined.

-Stop mixer and remove bowl.

-Using large spatula, fold rhubarb into batter just until combined.

-Pour batter into bundt pan.

-Tap on counter to remove air bubbles, smooth top of batter away from center of pan.

-Place into preheated oven on rack in center of oven and bake until toothpick inserted into center of pan comes out clean, about 1 hour (mine took about 10 minutes longer than an hour...)

-Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 20 minutes.

-Turn cake out onto wire rack and cool completely.

-Once cake is cool, in medium bowl, combine powdered sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice, 1 tsp at a time until medium consistency is achieved.

-Drizzle icing over top of cake to decorate and serve.

i just got done making a lemon-rhubarb bundt cake and can't wait to slice a piece to eat! it looks SO good! and i have finally finished all the laundry and cleaning for the day, so can finally move on to something else!

i had my 17-week doctor appointment yesterday. it was brief, but the dr said that the baby is growing well. and we listened to the heartbeat - a good, strong heartbeat. the baby was really squirming - it was hard to get a good listen :) my ultrasound is scheduled for a few weeks from this monday! i am excited! i remember being so impressed by technology last year at the ultrasound - just being able to see the baby on the screen and watch all the cool things that the technician measures and is able to do. i think it's super amazing!

it's been a good week. the first few days were spent visiting a dear friend. we did some shopping, eating and LOTS of chatting. it was a good break from being home, L had fun hanging with her auntie B, and it was great being able to have some relaxed girl time. the weather has really gotten nice, so i went out and bought a blow-up kiddie pool. we filled it up, got L lathered with sunscreen and plopped her into it. she did really well and seemed to like being in the water (or at least she liked chewing on the toys that were in the water, ha ha!). i have pictures and will get them up soon.

next week, we are heading out to california for a wedding. a lot of family is able to be out there, so it will be a great time to catch up, see people and show L off to those who haven't met her yet! all this to say, i don't know if i'll be bringing my computer, so don't know if there will be any/very many posts while we're gone. so don't worry if it seems that i've fallen off the face of the earth - we're just on vacation!

haven't heard from max in almost three weeks (again. ugh). this means that in the last 6 weeks, i have had one phone call from him. that's it. no email, no calls, no nothing. it's not my favorite thing and i am trying really hard to stay positive. i know he is busy and i keep praying that God would give me the strength to wait patiently. i have his fish package all ready to go - it's filled with a bunch of magazines, goldfish, finding nemo fruit snacks, tuna, swedish fish and a few other things. i think it's a great package and i can't wait to get it out to him! after this one goes out, i am working on a father's day package to send to him. but am running low on good ideas for what to send to him as a daddy. any suggestions?

speaking of which, i am going to get to work on editing some video of L to include in the package. and cut myself a piece of that cake that has been yelling my name. yum-o.

i might be slightly in love with this song. whenever it comes on the radio, i turn it up an extra few notches. and i find myself humming it throughout the day. makes me smile and think of my maxwell :) i hadn't watched the official video until today. and to show y'all a little of my preggo emotional-ness, i may have gotten all teary at the old couple sitting in the chairs. old couples tend to have that effect on me, ha ha! i am so excited to grow old with my own husband and seeing visions of others having done that makes me get a little sappy!!! anyways, enjoy!

i was thinking today that i had forgotten to mention how L's ECG had turned out. the nurse called and told me that everything had looked great in the test. and that we didn't need to worry about the murmur. good to know. and we also went to see the pediatric urologist last week to check on her little lonely kidney (L only has one, to remind y'all). the ultrasound showed that her kidney IS growing, but not a huge amount. the hydronephrosis (a nice way to say that there is extra fluid in the kidney) is still there and looks the same. so basically, it has not gotten any better, but also hasn't gotten any worse. so for now, we just keep monitoring it and we'll check back in with the urologist in a few months. so that is our news with all our dr. appointments from last week.

so my husband may or may not be a total fish nerd. let me explain...when i met him (while working together at a coffee shop...but that's another story for another day...), we would talk about what we did outside of work. he talked frequently about fish. the fish conversations actually started after i took a vacation to hawaii, came back and told my co-worker (now my husband) about my snorkeling experience. and he started naming off all sorts of saltwater fish, what they looked like and where they might live. from that point on, i would ask him questions and he would tell me bits and pieces about his fish knowledge. as i continued to get to know him, i came to find out that he bought and sold fish and fish equipment to different people all over the city where we lived. his biggest love in the fish world lies in saltwater aquariums, particularly in clownfish (like nemo, in the movie, finding nemo). he knows a LOT about clownfish and has even done some clownfish breeding. i now know more about clownfish than i ever thought i would know in my entire life, ha ha! at one point, while dating him, he had at least 10 fish tanks set up in his little apartment, with lots of clownfish, that he would buy and then sell to various other clownfish breeders and enthusiasts. it was a bit crazy! and although i hope to never have our house over-run with clownfish like his apartment was, i know that at some point, we will drag his favorite fish tank out and set up a little clownfish haven in our home :)

i received my first ever blog award from mel at head in the game. heart in the sand. she thinks i have a sweet blog. thanks mel! this is exciting! woot! so now i am going to award some lovely ladies, whose blogs i enjoy reading:

1. the somarribas @ the somarribas

2. mrs. thomas @ being a better wife

3. lola @ alis volat propriis

4. emily @ the day in the life of a usmc girlfriend

5. ines @ the few. the proud. the wife.

6. kassandra @ financially fit mommy

7. mrs. wookie @ wookie & co

8. L @ our fabulously crazy life

9. kristen @ hope abound

10. staci @ random ramblings of a military wife

check out their blogs and have fun reading!

comparing it to my belly when i was preggo with L, i feel like i look like i did when i was 20 weeks last year. which makes sense, seeing as this is my second baby, that i would start showing earlier. i am giving up on regular jeans - they are just getting too darn tight and uncomfortable - i always want to walk around with the button undone. which is silly when i have preggo jeans hanging in my closet. maybe i am just not ready for preggo jeans again! oh well, too late for that, i guess :) i was supposed to have a dr appt yesterday to check the progress of the baby and schedule the ultrasound, but he cancelled, so i will have to wait until next week. everything is going well, as far as i can tell, and i am excited to see what the dr has to say.

the month of may is national military appreciation month. but specifically, today is military spouse appreciation day! for those of you who don't know, it was instated in 1984 by president ronald reagan, in order to recognize and honor the sacrifices and contributions of military spouses. annually, it is the friday before mother's day. thank you to all you spouses out there. if it wasn't for you, i don't know where most of our military would be. i don't even have words to express my thoughts about being a spouse of someone in the military and all the quotes i find just seem so cheesy. so all i have is thank you; for what you do, who you are and for the love and support you provide. you have a tough job (one that some people like to tell me is one of the hardest) and i feel so much respect for all those who take it on.

i still can't believe how huge i got with L and can't believe it's all gonna happen again! it still feels surreal. i mean, i know i am already 15 weeks along (which feels far already!), but because i haven't started to really show or feel the baby yet or had an ultrasound, it feels almost un-real. except that i did hear the heartbeat and my pants are getting way way way too tight. the preggo jeans are definitely going to be making an appearance very shortly. cause these pants have become super uncomfortable during the last week. i must have been dreaming, but i was convinced the other day that i felt the little blueberry (my nickname for this little one that's growing in my belly) move. i know it's a little too early, so it was probably just normal stomach rumblings. but it felt like a little teeny baby punch. who knows?

our weekend was pretty good. poor little L was still fighting her first cold. and of course, it got worse before it got better. we all felt so sorry for her. she was super congested, had a hoarse, barky cough and was super tired. it was easy to tell that she just didn't feel good at all. luckily though, she did sleep through the night. which helped her get a little better, and helped me get my needed preggo sleep :) she is still getting over it, but is definitely on the mend. the good news is, she is a super happy sick baby. was smiley and laughing, even though we could tell she felt miserable. i am still praying that she is 100% better by thursday, so she can get the all-clear at her physical. i sure don't want to miss her echocardiogram next monday or have to re-schedule way in the future.

so i've been getting myself more and more acquainted with the blogging world and as i have, i have found more and more blogs by military spouses, which has been really cool. to be able to read their adventures, challenges and stories have allowed me to realize that although sometimes i feel quite alone in this deployment, there are so many others that are going through similar things.