Quickening

So... over the past week I have for sure felt some wonderfully gentle butterflies coming from the little one. In my mind I owe this to two things, first, I am soon to be twenty weeks (half-way there already) pregnant! And secondly, I have been enjoying some of my families' classic recipes over this winter break.

We celebrated Christ's birth with a merry little Christmas dinner at our house, with my very good friend, Kristen and a new friend from school, Manda. It was a great time of cooking together, enjoying our labors and competing with each other in our new favorite game, Ticket to Ride. Kristen and I had spent the days before baking Christmas cookies, attempting a new recipe for sticky buns and prepping special dishes, like my mom's fruit jello and broccoli cheese potatoes. Mmm, good. Lots of excellent food thanks to our "Base run" back in November. I had been saving a bag of caramels just to make Calorie Bars. I remember making them for years, even when I was younger one Christmas I made them and then gave them away as gifts. They are just that good! I think baby really benefited from this holiday. I have now gained five pounds and really feel like eating quite a bit. Its all so fun. Sometimes after eating, I actually fee like my belly is growing by the minute!

The steal of my maternity days, has to be these adorable skinny jeans from H&M. I am so in love with them- and only 15 Euros! While wearing them, I am much more comfortable, and feel more confident in my pregnancy because I am giving baby more room to grow and move around. He/she is definetly trying to say, "thank you mommy, I enjoyed all that Christmas food!"