Chilean Independence Day Celebration

PE and I have been busy in the kitchen the last week! September 18th was Chilean Independence Day, and we celebrate every year by cooking yummy chilean food. This year we added a few new things, and planned on having lot's of people over on Friday and Saturday to enjoy the food with us. We didn't have as many people come as we had counted on, so we had plenty of leftovers.

Empanadas are a classic that we do every year. We make the classic beef empanadas and we do some cheese empanadas. They are a fair amount of work to make, but are definitely worth it!

We also make completos every year. They are a lot simpler to make. Fry a hot dog, put it in a good bun, add guacamole, tomatoes, mayo w/ lime, and hot sauce. Delicious!

This year we tried making a new dessert called "Torta de Mil Hojas," or a thousand-layer cake. Basically it's layers of pie-like crust stuck together with dulce de leche (basically caramel). Instead of making one big cake that is about 14 layers thick, we made smaller ones that were 4 layers thick. They took a fair amount of time to make, but they were yummy!

We had a few other dishes like repullo, ensalada de papas, and mote, but I didn't get any pictures of those. All in all, it was a very successful chilean day celebration!

Favorite Part

Favorite part of pregnancy: 

Being able to feel (with my hand) a little foot pressing against my belly.

Only a few layers of skin and muscle separate us, can't wait to meet this baby!

Ready for Baby?

I hit 35 weeks yesterday! And are we ready for the baby? Yes, and no...

PE and I are a pretty laid back couple. We have a TON of friends also expecting little ones, and most of them already have their nurseries set up, names picked out, etc. (And many are due months after us!!!) If you come to our apartment and want to see the nursery, we will show you our 2nd bedroom which looks nothing at all like a nursery. There's not even a crib in there yet! And do we have a name picked out? Or at least a small list of names we both like? Nope!

Well, good news is that I finally bought a crib! It will get here sometime in the next 2 weeks. Setting up a crib at week 37 isn't cutting it too close is it?  :)  We're actually not planning on using the crib at first, so it really doesn't matter.

So I think at first glance it doesn't seem like we are prepared at all. I know that we won't have the cutest nursery, but it will be functional. I know that eventually (probably at the hospital) we will finally pick a good name for our baby. Although PE thinks we should just wait until they are old enough to pick a name for themselves...

But I think we are ready in the ways that really matter. I think we have a strong, healthy marriage. I'm glad that we have had the past 4 years to build and strengthen our relationship, and I know that it is the right time for us to add children to our family.

We have no illusions that raising children will be easy. But we are ready for it. I like to say that we are ready to experience the rude awakening of parenthood.

And I hope I don't make it sound like we are dreading it, because we're not. We are really excited for this baby. I'm excited to be a mom, and to see PE be a dad. We just don't have any false illusions of how easy or perfect everything will be. It'll be hard and challenging, but PE and I are always up for a good challenge!