{Thankful}

Today was a roller coaster of emotions, to say the least.
From celebrating my 8 year anniversary with my hubs, Abby, to joining my family in honoring my father-in-law with a well-deserved award from the Town of Orangeville … to spending the entire morning of my day worrying that there was something wrong with my baby …

Long story short …  by noon today, I realized I hadn’t felt my baby move for nearly half of the day … which is very unlike this baby. It’s such a wiggly-kicking-hiccupy-kinda baby so far. In hopes of making the baby wake up, I ate a chocolate bar to see if the lovely sugar high would wake up little peanut and make him/her roll around. I sat in the parking lot of the grocery store and waited. I waited and waited to feel movement … but nothing.  And not to sound paranoid, but this baby hasn’t STOPPED moving since I could first feel and see movement very early in my pregnancy (around 14 weeks). So to sit there in the dead silence of my car, quietly, rubbing my belly, poking at the baby and trying to get the baby to move around or kick or do anything … seriously … it felt like my heart could explode with grief. I called my husband and had him meet me at his work, we waited a little while longer (still no movements from the baby) and then went up to the hospital to see … dare I say it … if we could hear a heart beat.
Walking down that long corridor to the delivery unit of the hospital, rubbing my belly and feeling a huge, unexplainable emptiness in my soul, I honestly couldn’t hold back the tears. The nurses greeted me with a serious look on their faces …

“I guess you’re a bit nervous right now,” one nurse said, as she led me to an empty hospital room.
Yes, that was an understatement of the decade.

I’m not a natural ‘worry-wart’ but in this situation, I was worrying. We whispered prayers of safety for the baby and held our breath as the nurse hooked me up to the monitors while I lay on the hospital bed. Still, during all of this, no movement.

And then,  we waited. And there it was … the heart beat … the sweet, sweet sound of the rhythmic heartbeat of our baby.

Our baby was okay.

A *huge* wave of relief washed over me … everything was okay. Everything was fine. But it felt so close to things NOT being okay … I have never felt that before. The empty feeling, the fear, the unknown … but everything was okay … and I didn’t need to worry anymore. This day could’ve ended so differently.

I’m so incredibly grateful and relived that everything is okay … God is good and faithful …

…and I cannot wait for this baby to arrive – healthy and safe.

37 weeks tomorrow!

On the lighter side of my day, the cupcake fairy dropped off some yummy treats for my family today – wow!!!!! I gotta say, Tabitha Irwin of Yum Yum Cakes is pretty sweet and you definitely cheered me up! I had just returned home from the hospital to open my door to see these yummy treats and her smiling face …

Thank you, Tabi! You are awesome!

And what goes better with a scrumptious, fluffy cupcake than an amazing cup of coffee?

I’ve been dying to share this recipe on the blog. Ohhh, man, it’s sooo delicious! Last week, I was able to treat myself to a Pumpkin Spice Latte at a local coffee shop and fell. IN. LOVE. SCRUMPTIOUS!

But alas, I am home most days and do not venture out much, nor do I want to spend a small fortune on a speciality coffee … so I figured out how to make it at home.

Do you want to know how?!
I bet you do! 😉

It’s super simple. Here’s the recipe.
1) Make syrup – equal parts water with equal parts sugar – boil on the stove, stirring lots until all the sugar is dissolved.

2. Add in some pumpkin spices … almost whatever you want, according to your tastes. I added nutmeg, a bit of cinnamon & pumpkin pie spice – about a teaspoon of each.

3. Then I stirred (still on the stove) for a few minutes.

4. Strained the syrup through cheesecloth into a measuring cup to get out all the flakey bits from the spices.

5. Then, added some vanilla extract (again, about a teaspon or a bit more), stirred some more and poured into the glass containers.

6. Add a bit to your coffee and then steam some milk or whip some cream and reward yourself with a big topping of this delicious goodness.

7. Dust with the fluffy topping with cinnamon or nutmeg.

And there you have it – the most delicious fall treat for a cozy afternoon at home … (store in the fridge until you need it next) ….

Sit back, relax, and enjoy how beautiful life can truly be … I am so thankful for the beauty in today.