Happy Birthday Pearl!

This little lady is a whole year old today!  It's crazy to think that we've had her as a part of our family for nine months already, but this whole year has felt like it has flown by.

Bringing Pearl home was one of the best things we ever did.  She really has brought joy into our lives every single day, with her endless puppy kisses and infectious happiness.  She loves us unconditionally and we love her just the same.  There is no better way to wake up than with her snuffly nose poking at my face!

We celebrated today with a brand new toy and lots of treats, plus a ton of extra attention.  Since we brought baby V home, Pearl has unfortunately taken a bit of a back seat in terms of attention from S and I, even though we do our best to make sure she feels included and loved.  I hope that spoiling her a little today makes her feel extra special and that she knows how important she is to all of us.

Having her has been an absolute blast and I really can't wait to see my two babies grow up together and become the best of friends.  Happy 1st Birthday, Pearl!  Here's to many more awesome years together!

Love, K.

And Then We Were Four.

Friends, I'd very much like to introduce you to my daughter, Violet.

This tiny baby, my little bean, decided to make her entrance into the world on her due date, November 2nd. Probably the one day we weren't expecting her to appear! She weighed a healthy 6 pounds 9 ounces and measured 19.5 inches. She is, without a doubt, the most beautiful person I have ever seen and both S and I are completely and utterly in love with her.

The past two weeks, we've all been settling in to our new routine. I'm still recovering from the birth (it wasn't too bad but hey, I had a baby, so I'm taking it easy) so S is doing lots more around the house. He's already back at work so my days are filled with a million cuddles, nappy changes, endless feeding and trying to do more than just stare at her for hours on end. Not that I'm succeeding too much with that last one, because she's adorable.

We couldn't be happier with our amazing daughter. I still can't quite believe I'm a Mum. It feels like she's always been here and I really can't imagine life without her now. Little V is just the best and her arrival has made our family complete. Pearl adores her too, which is so awesome. I can't wait to see them grow up together!

I'm so excited for the future, to watch her become her own person. I'm trying hard to appreciate every moment in the present too, even the midnight feeding and her sad cries when she's gassy. The past two weeks have zoomed by, I can't imagine how quickly the next month or year is going to go. We're soaking it all in and doing our best and it's been so much fun already. We've already learned so much from our little one and we're so happy to be on this journey all together. Yay parenthood!

I'll leave this here since my baby needs some food in her belly and I can't wait another moment to hold her tight and breathe in that incredible new baby smell! I hope you guys are all set for an amazing week!

Love, K.

Snapshots.

It's been a while since I updated and, while I'd like to say it's because I've been super busy, in reality I've just been super tired.  Hefting my baby belly around, getting up for twice-nightly bathroom visits (such a joy!) and long waits to see the doctor have, quite simply, worn me out.  These days, my favourite things to do are veg out in front of the T.V. with my feet up, sneak in an afternoon nap and drink several cups of tea.  It's such a hard life!

In lieu of a bunch of actual exciting things to write about, I thought I'd share some pictures from the last few weeks, a little insight into what's been going on around these parts.  I know these lazy days aren't going to last much longer so I'm making the most of them now, before the fun begins!

Pearl being mysterious

Hot chocolate and a confetti doughnut!

Kind friends

The best pancake wrap ever

A little blanket for my little bean

I rescued a mouse

Who doesn't love a bowl of sweeties?

At just about 39 weeks

Conveniently, despite doing sod all for the last few weeks, I've done zero things on my baby bucket list.  With my due date just one week away, I think we need to get cracking!  Here's to a week full of fun, quality time and plenty of snoozing on the sofa!

Love, K.

Baby Bucket List.

The prettiest tree in the park.

With the arrival of our little one growing closer every day, the way that our lives are going to change after she gets here has been on my mind a lot.  I know, of course, that nothing will ever be quite the same again, but it's the little things that I think will be the most evident.  Things like deciding on a whim to take a trip somewhere or a late-night stop for ice cream.  Even being able to sleep in on a lazy Sunday morning might be a challenge.

I've come up with a little bucket list, a few things that I'd like S and I to do before the baby is here.  I want it to be like a celebration, events that mark the end of one stage of our lives and welcome the next one.

• See a film at the cinema and eat lots of popcorn
• Spend a whole day just hanging out, watching movies and being mega lazy
• Visit NYC
• Have a date night, get dressed up and go out to a restaurant

It's not a huge list, since we don't have a whole bunch of time before the bean is born, and there's nothing especially fancy on there, since we're not fancy people.  Just a few simple things that are all the more special now.  It's exciting to think that once we've checked off those four items, it'll be time for us to add one more to our family!

Have you got anything planned for the coming weeks?  What exciting things are you up to?  I hope you're having a wonderful day and you've an awesome week ahead.

Love, K.

Time Marches On.

And quickly, too!  Can you believe it's almost October?  It was starting to feel a lot like autumn here in the last few weeks, but a heatwave this weekend has made me reconsider getting out all my cardigans and sticking with t-shirts for the time being!  At least the tree at the front of our apartment seems to realise the seasons are changing, the leaves on it are looking prettier every day.

We've only had a little bit of rain so far, so we've been enjoying gorgeous blue skies and lots of sunshine.  I just hope it gets properly cooler soon, I'm like a walking furnace at the moment.  Speaking of being hot and huge...

Holy baby bumps!  I have very rapidly expanded!  I've hit week number 35 in my pregnancy and I'm really feeling it.  Thank goodness the end is in sight!  I feel very lucky to have had such an easy pregnancy, with only the usual discomforts to moan about.  I thought I might get away with having a teeny bump right up until birth but the bean has clearly decided she needs a growth spurt and as such, I have been eating all the things and getting plenty of rest.

Looking so jazzed.

We've got a buggy and a cot and a car seat, now we just need to stock up on the essentials like a ton of wipes and nappies.  It's exciting, getting towards the end and knowing that very soon we're going to have a little baby (and I'll hopefully be able to roll over in bed with ease once more!).  With all the excitement comes a good share of nerves, too; with the actual birth drawing ever-closer, I've been thinking a lot about what it's going to be like and trying to prepare myself for the event.  I'll be glad when it's all done and dusted and we're bringing home our little one, that's when the real fun begins!

In the spirit of taking it easy and eating, I'm spending this evening on the sofa with a movie and some popcorn!  As much as I'd like to scoff all the delicious but unhealthy things (I'm looking at you, ice cream) I thought I'd pop some corn from the kernels on the stove and add a little bit of icing sugar (the powdered stuff) for a touch of sweetness, just enough to curb my craving.

I hope you've had a great weekend and you've got a wonderful week ahead of you!  Happy Sunday!

Love, K.

Tiny Little Hats.

I haven't crocheted in the longest time.  It feels like an age since I last settled in for an evening of crafting, mostly because I've been too lazy to dig out my hooks and wool from the cupboard.  Since we moved, and I handily knew where everything was located, I decided that Saturday night would be a great time to cuddle up with my pup, watch a movie and try to remember how to crochet.

Luckily, I recalled enough to whip up a couple of hats for the little bean.  I'm so pleased with how neatly they turned out, considering I'm a little rusty!  In a weird way, making these hats gave me a big reality hit; I feel her moving every day, I go to doctor's appointments and I see my tummy growing, but it was sitting and creating something for my baby to wear that brought it home for me.  One day, in the not too distant future, I'll be able to slip these little hats onto her head when we get ready to go out.  That's crazy.

I really enjoyed taking it easy for a couple of hours while I watched 'Snow White and The Huntsman' and Pearl snoozed on the sofa.  I see a trip to Michael's in the near future to pick up some super soft yarn and attempt a little something else for the bean.

Have you been creating lately?  I hope you had a fantastic weekend and you've got an awesome week ahead!

Love, K.

Thirty-One Weeks.

Holy cowbells.  I've hit the thirty-one week mark in my pregnancy.  While my bump is not that big, the doctor said that it's a good size considering my short torso and that baby and I are doing just fine.  The perk of the tiny torso is the little bump; the downside is I feel every kick, nudge and wallop, most of which seem to be aimed at my ribs!  It's great to feel the little bean squiggle around in there so I can't complain too much!

We've decided that, with two-ish months to go before the bean arrives, it'd be nice to let everyone know...

We were both jazzed to find out that we're having a daughter!  She's certainly an active one so I've no doubt we'll have our hands full when she arrives.  I've not had a lot of experience with babies but thankfully, Pearl has been helping me practice my baby-cuddling skills.

What a sweetie!  She's got such a gentle nature, I know she's going to be such a gem when our little one is here and that they're going to be the best of friends.

So, the countdown begins!  Over the next couple of months, we've got lots of planning and preparation to do to be as ready as possible for our new addition.  I'm looking forward to checking out buggies and car seats and packing my hospital bag and doing all that fun stuff before the hard work really begins.  It's an exciting time for us!

I hope you had a great weekend and you've got an awesome week ahead of you!

Love, K.

What A Week.

The past seven days have been a little bit crazy in these parts.

Last Saturday, I had the most awesome early birthday gift from a good friend of ours; S, our friend and I took a trip into NYC and headed over to Broadway to see 'Once', which was so good.  Going to the theatre is one of my absolute favourite things and seeing a musical is just the best.  It was a truly wonderful day, with lots of laughs and yummy food.

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My rainbow-sprinkled New York cookie!

Sunday and Monday were significantly less fun but pretty awesome nonetheless.  We finally moved out of our apartment and away from our crummy neighbours!  Huzzah!  It was a lot of hard work, especially for S as I couldn't do much lifting and carrying, and we were both knackered by the end of Monday night.  Our new place is a little bigger and everything we could possibly want is super close by (we live opposite a supermarket and the park.  Score.).  Moving to a new place always takes a little getting used to and I'm not sure how long we'll be in this particular apartment, but we're making the most of everything and enjoying the change of scenery.

We can see the Empire State building from our living room, how fancy!

Tuesday was a pretty special day for me, since I got to celebrate my twenty-sixth birthday!  All in all, it was a pretty sedate affair, with a visit from the cable guy to hook up the T.V. and internet, lots of puppy cuddles and a trip to my favourite mac and cheese spot for dinner.  The evening was spent hanging out on the sofa watching movies with Pearl curled up between us, which suit me just fine.

Birthday slippers!

I'm glad that things are getting back to a more normal pace now, mostly because I get worn out so quickly these days!  We're slowly in the process of making our apartment feel more homely and looking at lots of baby things (who knew there were so many varieties of buggy?) and we're definitely taking things a little bit easier now too!

I hope you've had a great week so far and you've got lots of wonderful things planned for your weekend!

Love, K.

28 Weeks Later.

We made it to the third trimester!  Woo!  And yay for being able to use a zombie movie as a post title!

I can't quite believe I'm already 28 weeks into my pregnancy!  It feels like forever ago that we found out we were expecting and scheduling our first doctor's appointment, now we're busy looking at buggies and tiny socks and figuring out which nappies are best to buy in bulk.  Crazy times.

I've been feeling pretty good, apart from the expected aches and pains that come with growing a little person.  I'm grateful that my back isn't hurting too much, although my bump is pretty small considering I'm so far along.  When people ask me, they're often surprised when I tell them my due date!  As long as the doctor says everything is okay, I'm pretty content with my little bump and not having to worry about my weight.  I'm under no illusion that I won't grow considerably over the next two months though!

So. Many. Boxes.

We're busy getting everything packed up and ready for our move, which we're going to be making as soon as possible.  We're just waiting to get the thumbs up on a place that we're interested in and then it'll be all systems go!  Our apartment is such a mess, I'm doing a little bit of sorting and organising every day (I get tired so quickly now!) and trying my best to pile my boxes neatly.  I'll be so glad when we're out of here and getting settled in our new home.

I hope that you all are looking forward to a great week and that you had an awesome weekend, too.  I'm going to settle in for the afternoon with some packing, T.V. and puppy snuggles!

Love, K.

My Favourite Month.

I am so jazzed that it's August.  While I can't quite believe we're already in the 8th month of 2014 (and that I'm only ten weeks away from being considered full-term in my pregnancy - whaaaaat), I absolutely love the fact that it's here and that we get 31 whole days of it.

I might be a little biased in my love of August because it's the month my birthday falls in, but it's my favourite for other reasons too!  As a child, I loved it because I never once had to go to school on my birthday.  The summer holidays would start in mid-July, ending in early September, which meant that the whole of August was away from school.  The whole month.  It didn't get much better than that.

Being in the northern hemisphere also means that August, for me, has always been a month of warmth and sunshine.  Not the potentially suffocating, cloying heat of July, but a much nicer, less oppressive string of days that mean not having to wear a jacket or cardigan and nights that are cool enough for comfortable sleep.

For me, August is the month of lazy afternoons spent reading in the garden, trips to the beach, eating fish and chips by the sea, soft vanilla cones from the ice cream van and long dresses.  More recently, it's grown to include taking early walks by the river, making at least one trip into NYC for some so-bad-for-you-it's-good street food and gallons of iced tea.  It's having the air conditioning on less and the windows open more.  And yes, it's a month of celebrations, of birthday cake and a new year ahead.  It's just a month full of awesome, really!

I hope you all are having a great, relaxing weekend and that you've got a wonderful week ahead of you.

Love, K.

Getting My Read On.

One of the goals I set myself this year was to read 24 books.  Since January, I've only managed to finish six.  Before the beginning of last week, I'd only read four.  As someone who would call herself a bookworm, I've been sadly lacking on the reading front and I realised I'd been restricting myself; I was holding out to read something new, that I'd never read before, rather than diving into the familiar world of stories I'd already consumed and the books we already owned.

I also realised that most of the books we had, including those I'd brought with me from England, I'd only read once.  So I got stuck in, rediscovering the terrors of the Martians and the brutality of both human and Triffid alike.  Escaping from the science fiction, I'm currently immersed in two stories that run parallel, of a man searching for a link to his ancestry and the history of his family.

It's such a joy to be back in both familiar and unfamiliar territory; there are so many aspects of each novel that I'd forgotten or perhaps glossed over on the first read.  While I recalled the stories, I relished the details as new and thoroughly enjoyed the hours I spent engrossed in the pages.  It was like I'd forgotten just how much I loved to read and in this last week, I've remembered.

I think for the foreseeable future, between house-hunting and the other day-to-day, I'm going to be found curled up on the sofa with a cup of tea, nose firmly buried in some wonderful work of fiction!  Do you love to read?  What have you read lately that you've really enjoyed?

You know what else I love about re-reading books?  Finding things you've tucked between the pages for safekeeping, like this picture of me and the lead singer of my favourite band!  This must've been taken six or seven years ago and you know, I still have the hat, scarf and jacket that I was wearing there.  It was such a great moment, I was thrilled to find the photo again.  Ahh, memories!

Love, K.

Moments.

S makes really great steak sandwiches.

One pooped puppy.

Mango, nectarine, banana, raspberries and strawberries for breakfast.

S found one with my name on!  Woo!

Homemade pizza which was even better the next day (find the recipe for the base here)

The prettiest sunset.

Happy Sunday friends!  I hope you're having a wonderful weekend full of moments that make you smile.

Love, K.

Recipe #5 - Caramel Shortbread.

My Mum makes killer caramel shortbread.  When I went home for a few weeks last year, I was sure to nab the recipe she uses so I could have a bash at making it myself one day.  It's so crumbly and sweet and one piece is always just enough to sate any craving.  And it only uses six ingredients, bonus!

To make the shortbread base, you will need 150 grams of butter, 100 grams of sugar and 275 grams of all purpose flour.  For the caramel filling, you'll need 100 grams of butter, 100 grams of sugar, 2 tablespoons of golden syrup (or light corn syrup if you can't find it) and 1 large can of condensed milk.  For the chocolate topping, you'll need about 100 grams of milk chocolate, preferably the kind designed for cooking but chocolate drops will do in a pinch!

First, the shortbread.  I made sure to leave my butter out for a little while before starting, so that it was easy to work with, and I preheated the oven to 350 degrees F.  I creamed the butter and sugar together and gradually worked in the flour, until I had a nice crumbly mix.

I dumped the mix out onto my non-stick baking pan (yes, I finally got a flat one!) and pressed it out to create the base, making sure I got right into the corners.

I then popped it into the oven for about 20 minutes, checking it at 15.  You want to make sure that it's a little golden around the edges but still pretty pale and it'll have a bit of give when you press it lightly.  The base needs to be left to cool completely before topping it with caramel.

To make the caramel, I put the butter, sugar, golden syrup and condensed milk into a saucepan and heated it gently until all the sugar had dissolved.

Pre-melting!

Once all the sugar had dissolved and that grainy feel had vanished, I increased the heat until the mixture was boiling.  Once it had started a strong boil, I stirred it constantly for about 5 minutes before removing from the heat and allowing it to settle.

Action shot!

I tried to make caramel once before and it was an absolute disaster, so I crossed my fingers and this time it came out pretty well!  I did learn, however, that humidity is the enemy of caramel and other similar sweets and while it was resting, I did get a little bit of separation from the butter.  Not to fear, if this does happen I recommend giving it a good stir and another gentle heat to try and incorporate the oils back in.  That worked for me!

Once your caramel has rested for a little while and stopped bubbling, you can pour it right onto that lovely shortbread base.

I left this to cool on the counter and then popped it into the fridge to ensure it set properly.  Once it was cold, I got my chocolate topping ready!

Once all your chocolate is melted, just pour it on top of the caramel and leave to cool before putting it back in the fridge and letting it set until the chocolate is solid.

In order to get this tasty treat out of the tin, all I did was turn it over onto a chopping board and give it a few hard thumps on the bottom.  If you're not using a non-stick pan, do make sure it's well-greased and/or well-lined to avoid sticking!

Look at all those slices!  I learned from my Mum that it's better to cut on the shortbread side, you're less likely to get a ton of cracks in your chocolate topping and it can be tricky to flip it back over, too!

Ahh, the perfectly delicious combination of shortbread, caramel and chocolate!  All in the right proportions, too!  This really is a decadent little treat, it melts in your mouth and will forever remind me of being at home in England.  To store it, I popped my slices between layers of kitchen roll in an old biscuit tin from Christmas and I've got it in the fridge, since it's so hot and sticky here at the moment.

I'm so proud that it came out just right, especially since my last caramel attempt was so terribly unsuccessful!  It tastes just like my Mum's (well, it's almost as good - it's never quite as good as your Mum's, is it!) and I've got a feeling it'll be a firm favourite in our house from now on!

Have you baked or cooked a family favourite for the first time?  How did it go?  I hope you're having a grand week so far and that the weather is being kind to you!

Love, K.