Baby M is Here!

She's here! Baby M arrived on September 15th at 0954 after 17.5 hours of labor. She weighed 6 lbs., 12 oz. and is 18 3/4 inches long. We think she's just perfect and are so in love with this little girl! Ive got lots of posts planned for the upcoming weeks... if I can just find the time to finish them!

Happy Monday!

Brain Dump and Giveaway Winner

Just dropping in with a quick update.

I just love posts that are quick and to the point!

Ill be 40 weeks pregnant tomorrow!

I cant believe it's been 40 weeks already! 

No baby yet, but I have been having some contractions. 

Fingers crossed.

This little girl just might come on her due date. 

My birthday is on Monday, the 19th.

Im REALLY hoping she doesnt wait until then to come.

Also, I cant wait to eat birthday cake!

Yes, I love cake.

The winner of the cloth wipes giveaway from Turtles R Us is...

#7 Cat! 

Congrats!

Please send me your address and email so I can connect you with the owner

of Turtles R Us to claim your prize. 

I really wish I could get a pumpkin spice latte here. 

Ive been reading about all of you enjoying yours and Im totally jealous.

The cafe on base here has a Harvest Spice latte... Im going to try it asap, but 

Im sure it isnt going to be the same.

I read on another blog about these fantastic things called Pumpkin Delights from

Little Debbie.

Have any of you ever tried them? They sound delicious! 

Im pretty sure they dont sell those here. 

Im loving having my mom here! 

She's been such a great help and great company.

Yay for the return of NFL football!!! 

So sad my fav Peyton Manning is out.

I think Im gonna root for the Packers and Jets this year.

Anyone but the Chargers (my husbands favorite!). 

Happy Tuesday!

Too Hot to Handle!

*Dont forget to enter my giveaway! Cloth wipes that can be used for anything and would make a great gift! And they are super cute!

Source

 So we all know what these little darlings are, yes? 

A few weeks ago I found a recipe on Pinterest for bacon, jalapeno and cream cheese poppers.

YUM.

Source

I made them for a party and they were a huge hit. 

So when our squadron's August social rolled around, I thought these would be perfect

to bring. Everyone always brings a dessert, so I really wanted to make an app. 

When I made these the first time, I used sliced jalapenos from a jar since that was all that

I had on hand. When I attempted to make them the second time, I bought fresh jalapenos

since that's what the recipe called for and they looked so good. 

I began by cutting up the jalapenos- ten of them- and then frying the bacon. As I was frying 

the bacon, a couple of the fingers on my left hand began to tingle. 

I thought it was weird, but maybe the grease was just popping up on me? 

After cooking the bacon, I started hand washing the dishes.
That's when my left hand began to burn.

BURN.

And that's when I realized that it wasnt the bacon grease.
It was the jalapenos!

Ive been cooking with jalapenos for years people, and have never worn gloves while
handling them. While I realize that peppers can cause chemical burns on skin, it never even
occurred to me that they might burn me.
Because they never have.
Until now.

I have never felt a fire burning pain like that before. It felt as if I was constantly
holding my hand over an open flame or a hot stovetop.
My entire left hand, centered in the palm and
bases of my fingers, was covered in a horrible chemical burn from these jalapenos.
Im thinking that either my skin is super sensitive due to pregnancy,
or those were just some ridiculously hot peppers.

When the burning intensified shortly after I realized what was going on, I immediately
ran to my favorite medical source:
Google.

I could have easily looked in my own medical books, but my hand felt like it was ON FIRE
and thinking rationally wasnt high on my list.

Thankfully I found a website with extensive information and advice on the occurrence
of chemical burns from jalapenos with tons of first hand recommendations.

For the next FIVE hours, I tried every home remedy listed.
Multiple times.
I even called my OB doctor, my parents and my best friends asking for advice.

Let me tell you what didnt work:

Egg whites
Alcohol
Soap and water
Yogurt
Lemon juice
Baking soda and water
Milk
Baking soda and milk
Sugar scrub
Ice
Tylenol

Finally, after five hours of failed attempts, I found something that did work.

Palmolive and Germ-X.

I soaked my dry hand in Palmolive for several minutes, washed it off and dried it, used the Germ-X,
let it dry and then did the whole thing over again.

The pain instantly decreased and slowly faded away after a couple of hours.
My hand was sore for the rest of the night and for the next two days,
it peeled. It was an awful sight to see my entire palm and the skin on all of my
fingers peeling off, but at least it wasnt burning.

So, moral of the story?

Wear gloves when cooking with jalapenos.

Just do it.
The searing, burning pain just isnt worth chancing it.

Happy Labor Day! 

Birth Month Celebration

If you've been reading my blog for at least a year, you know that September is my most favorite month of the year. Why? It's my birth month, NFL football begins, wine and beer festivals begin here in Germany, Pumpkin Spice Lattes (!) come back and it's the beginning of Fall, my favorite season, just to name a few reasons. This year it also means the birth of our first child, a very monumental event indeed.

To celebrate Ive got an awesome giveaway for you! 

About a month ago I entered a giveaway on another blog to win something from a super cute Etsy shop called TurtlesRUS. Unfortunately I didnt win the giveaway, but that didnt stop me from ordering something from her shop. 

Im going to veer off here to a story, but I promise, it's related!

While I was home in the States in June, my mom and I decided to go to our local fabric store to look for a fabric I liked to make Baby M's nursery bedding. I had looked everywhere online and could not find anything that I liked, not to mention, the prices were more than what I wanted to spend. While we were at the fabric store, I found it! The. One. I had finally found a fabric that I loved. It had a white background, was very colorful (not just pink or purple) and had small butterflies and ladybugs of all different colors. It was exactly what Id been looking for. We immediately started choosing coordinating fabrics with which to make the curtains, pillows and bed skirt. I couldnt believe we'd struck gold on our first outing. I kept thinking, "Yes! This is perfect!" 

And then it wasnt. 

The catch? (Because there's always a catch right?) They only had a small piece of the fabric. In their entire warehouse of a store. Seriously. It was only enough to make a very small curtain. I was beyond bummed! My hopes had gotten so high, only to come crashing right down. Im sure some of you are thinking how melodramatic this sounds. Im mean, come on, it's just fabric right? Well, yes, but after searching for months, this was the only fabric that I even remotely liked, so it meant more to me than just a piece of fabric.

We went ahead and bought the small scrap to see if perhaps we could find it online and put all of the other coordinating fabrics back. My mom suggested that we head up to my aunt's to see if she had seen the fabric before or knew where we could get it, since she makes baby quilts. When we arrived at my aunt's and I showed her the fabric she was shocked. She immediately went out to her car and brought in a baby blanket made out of the exact same fabric!!! She had found the fabric at the same store two weeks prior! She bought it and made me a quilt out of it. I was ecstatic! We couldnt believe that out of the literally thousands of fabrics at that store, we'd chosen the very same one. It was definitely meant to be. Mom and I went back the next day and bought all of the coordinating fabrics, ribbons and accessories which she used to make the bed skirt, closet cover, curtain and pillows.

Fast forward back to the TurtlesRUs giveaway (I bet you thought Id never get back to my original story, huh?). When I was entering the giveaway, I went to the Etsy shop and looked around to see what I would chose if I won. Imagine my surprise and utter delight when I saw 2 dozen cloth wipes in the exact same pattern as my baby quilt and curtain! I couldnt wait to see if I won the contest or not, so I went ahead and ordered them.

Baby M's Nursery bedding! 

These cloth wipes are adorable, soft, eco-friendly and so, so affordable. The pattern matches my fabric perfectly. I cant wait to use them on Baby M! I received them so quickly too, especially for an APO address.

The matching cloth wipes!! 

When I wrote to Kayla at TurtlesRUs and told her how happy I was with the product, she graciously offered up one dozen cloth wipes to you, my readers! Even if you arent a mom or mom-to-be, these would make a great gift!

To Enter: 

Mandatory- 

"Like" TurtlesRUS on Facebook

www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Turtles-R-Us/119431367851

AND 

"Like" TutlesRUs on Etsy OR your favorite item in her shop

www.etsy.com/shop/TurtlesRUs?ref=pr_shop

Once you've completed those two you can earn extra entries by:

Following this blog (one entry)

Tweeting about the giveaway (one entry)

Blogging about the giveaway (one entry)

That's four chances to win! 

Just leave me a comment for each entry please. 

Super simple right?

Dont forget to leave me your email address in at least one of the comments.
This giveaway will close September 10th.
I will email the winner asap, depending on when Baby M decides to make her debut.

Good luck! 

Super cute wipes from TurtlesRUS! 

I love this fabric!