The past few days....

.....have gone by very slowly. I miss being at work mainly because it makes the time go by so much faster. The weeks tend to fly by when I'm busy with my caseload which has made my pregnancy go by faster. Plus, being at work, it was nice to know that I wasn't burning up my PTO. But, it is what it is and I'm okay with it. I do wish that the time would go by faster though. Seriously, I asked Husband today, "I get paid this Thursday, right?" He said, "No, you just got paid last Thursday." I get paid every other Thursday. So it has only been 4 days since payday and I feel like twice as much time has gone by. I also feel like it has been a while since I was last at work, when in reality, I was just there last week Wednesday to drop off my FMLA paperwork. I miss feeling productive. Work is the only thing that has made me feel productive since I'm pretty much useless when it comes to anything physical (so really, anything here at home like housework or whatever). Husband is such a wonderful guy though. Every time I bring this up he tells me to stop feeling so bad, because I am very productive. "You are helping Sofie grow, and that's more important than anything else right now. That is a lot of work!" He's right. I love him. I'm so lucky. Every time I turn around he is doing something to help me or make me feel good about myself. I'm so happy, for a million reasons, even though I can't work right now or do certain things that I want to do. For me, it's a good trade off, to be home and know that the baby is healthy.

It also hit me how exhausted this last stretch of pregnancy can make a person. I've heard it from my friends who have already had babies, but now I know what they are talking about. I told Husband today that I'm sort of glad that my midwife took me off of work. I'm allowed to go out for an hour or so a day and I find that even after any type of errand or outing, I'm just wrecked and need a nap. That's not to say I couldn't handle being at work right now. I'd make it work by being busy which would most likely distract me from realizing how tired I am - but I'm really grateful that I don't have to worry about it. I'm grateful that I don't have to fight to drag myself out of bed every day and be to work at 6am five days a week. It sounds exhausting. And I'm grateful that I'm allowed to nap whenever I feel that I need to. And I don't have to feel guilty about it. I'm someone who would never have requested to be taken off of work early. I had planned on working up until I went into labor. I still would have, too. So in a way I'm glad that I was taken off of work against my will. At this point, it is definitely better for me and for the baby. I'm sure that once I'm ready to go back, I'll be really happy to be going back. For now, it sure is nice to just spend time with Husband and rest when I need to. Part of me hopes the baby comes before he starts his job on July 11. Then he won't have to miss any work to be with me at the hospital, and he can also be home with me and Sofie for a bit. But at the same time, it's best for her to stay in my tummy for as long as possible. She'll come when she's ready! :)

Today the agenda included getting the oil changed in the car and getting the car washed. I decided to go along with Husband so I could get out of the house. After that was done, I wanted lunch, so we went to get something to eat at the mall so I could also try and find a cute shirt (I didn't find one). The small amount of walking was nice, but I was really tired after that. Husband wanted to stop at Target and find something for the changing table. I ended up waiting in the car. We also stopped at the pet store to pick up cat food for Monster, and I also waited in the car. As soon as we got home, I took off my clothes and laid in bed near the air conditioning. Seems to be pretty typical for me after I do anything.

My next appointment is this Wednesday. We'll get to do our birth plan and I will have a NST. So more on that later.

Oh! I had a bunch of rhubarb from the farmer's market along with a pint of strawberries. So Saturday night I made rhubarb cake and rhubarb pie. I couldn't decide which one I wanted, so I made both. I really wanted to blog it but I couldn't find our camera anywhere. I looked in only one spot though. I was too lazy to look further. I figured if I spent too much time trying to find the camera, I'd use up my energy and not want to bake anything. So I have no pictures, but I will give you the recipes. I promise, if you like rhubarb, you'll really like these both. Cake recipe is from my Nana. :)

Rhubarb Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
3 cups rhubarb, chopped into half-inch pieces
1 cup of sugar
1 big tub Cool Whip

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F (or whatever it says on the box). In a bowl, mix rhubarb with sugar and set aside. In another bowl, prepare the cake mix as directed on the box. Pour into a 9x13 inch pan. Spread rhubarb mixture over cake and cover evenly. Cover the entire thing with the tub of Cool Whip. I know this seems weird, but trust me, it's going to be really good!! Bake uncovered for around 10-20 minutes longer than it says on the box. If you check the cake and see that it's really liquidy in the middle, keep in the oven and check every 10 minutes until you see it stop jiggling.

Let cool on the counter to room temperature and then store it in the fridge. Serve it with whipped cream. You can eat this warm right away or cold from the fridge. It's good both ways. Some people flip the cake over onto a platter, like a pineapple upside-down cake. If you do that though, treat it like a pineapple upside-down cake and wait until it's slightly cool and run a knife around the edge of the pan first so it doesn't fall apart and ruin your life. The rhubarb sinks to the bottom of the cake after baking and makes a yummy custardy caramelly texture and I could seriously eat the entire pan.

Rhubarb-Strawberry Pie

Pastry for double crust pie
3 cups chopped rhubarb*
2 cups chopped strawberries*
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 T flour or cornstarch
1/4 tsp nutmeg
dash of salt
1 T butter

1 egg white, lightly beaten
**Sanding sugar

*try to make the rhubarb and strawberry pieces around the same size

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

In a large bowl, toss together the chopped rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, cornstarch (or flour), salt and nutmeg so that the fruit is all coated. Set aside and let stand for around 15 minutes.

Roll out pastry dough (or unroll the store-bought dough if you were like me and too lazy to make your own). Line your deep dish pie plate with the bottom crust. Pour fruit mixture into the crust. Dot with butter. Brush egg white on the edges of the crust. Place the top crust on the pie and seal the edges together with the bottom crust. Flute the edges and cut slits in the top of the crust for air vents.

**If you want, brush the top crust with egg white and dust with sanding sugar (it looks pretty after you bake it). This is totally optional! :)

Bake for an hour. Store in the fridge after cooling.

I wish I had taken pictures. Oh well.