Boy or Girl??

It is getting close to that time...the time when we can finally end the guessing games and start calling the bump (...which is now about 17 times the size now as it was at the same point with Olivia...I blame her big head for stretching it all out in there...) by it's proper name.

We have friends who have opted to know the sex of their unborn babies, and many friends who haven't.  In this day and age, it seems almost a waste of good technology to wait.  Also I am super controlling, and I NEED TO KNOW what is kicking me, so I can start with the "(insert baby's name here) Hart, if you continue kicking me in the bladder you will be grounded straightaway until your first birthday!". 

OK, maybe a bit excessive, but at least I need to know if the attic full of lovely little girly clothes will be useful or if I need to pack them off to the US and England to be used by my sisters and my sister-in-law one happy day! 

What do I want? Well, I have never been more diplomatic.  I want a healthy baby.  This will most likely be our last baby to be honest, so I just want a little angel who sleeps and eats well.  

And sleeps well.  

And did I mention SLEEPS WELL.  

I have come to understand that travelling back and forth to visit the grandparents in the USA is not easy with one little munchkin, and now I am a bit nervous to see how it will be with TWO.  And if a third comes along...well, that will be the end of the visits until they are teenagers and I think my Dad wouldn't like that one bit. 

So in the run-up to the determination of the gender of our baby, let's play a fun game in super-non-scientific gender guessing.  The old wives tales...

 

Heart Rate - According to legend, 140+ beats per minute indicates a girl, and below 140 a boy.
          My result - GIRL 

Cravings - Some people believe sweet cravings means it's a girl. If you have to have salty or sour stuff, then it's a boy.
         My result - A sasquatch obviously, I am insatiable...sweet or salty aside.

Chinese Birth Chart - There is an ancient chart you can see HERE which is meant to be able to determine the sex of your baby by using your age and the month of conception. 
        My result - GIRL

Drano - the most bizarre one I have seen yet - Pee in a cup and put in a bit of Drano. If it turns green it is a girl, if it turns blue it s a boy.
        My result - Sod that. I just peed in a cup last week which nearly always ends in disaster and there is no real Drano here.  Sorry folks.  

Even and Odd - Legend has it that the Mayans determined a baby's sex by looking at the mother's age at conception and the year of conception. If both are even or odd, it's a girl. If one's even and one's odd, it's a boy.
       My result - GIRL 

Keys - Puy a key in front of a preggo and if she picks it up by the narrow part it is a girl and the round part a boy.  
      My result - BOY

Spots - If your skin breaks out like you are mid-puberty the culprit is a girl.
      My result - GIRL

Swinging Ring - Take off your wedding ring and tie it to a bit of string, if it swings in a circle it is a boy; back and forth it is a girl.
     My result - GIRL

Morning sickness - Lots of sickness in the first trimester means a girl.  Little or no, it's a boy.
     My result - GIRL

OK, so there is an overwhelming majority of GIRL results here - but to be fair, if I would have answered a few of these whilst pregnant with Olivia they would have pointed to BOY!  

Now we wait and see...I'll keep you posted folks!

xoxo sjkh

Sweet Hiatus...

Ahh...summer.  This is my official summer vacation, as I am a "teacher" of sorts, but somehow this summer seems to have been the busiest one to date.  I have not really stopped working (OK, on and off, but still, I am never without a bit of work here and there...), and there are many many things in this house that we have SWORN that will finally get done during the summer break!  Hubs is painting the exterior right at this very moment...he is the best (and MAN does it look nice...like a new house!). 

I have been busy too, crafting and creating, hosting tea parties with a very special little girly, potty training, going for bike and scooter rides, splishing around in the paddling pool, teaching Liv to chant USA USA! during the olympics to get on daddy's nerves....the list of fun goes on.  

Just a few of the things that have taken up my time...

BUNTING!!

I have found my new little hobby - now if I can get the old machine I use to perform 100% of the time, I will be golden...

Birthday bunting for Livvy's friend Samuele...

Flags ready to sew for my mum...

End of Year gifts for teachers...I cannot quite believe that Livvy will be 3 soon and starting preschool.  Wasn't it just the other day that she was a TEENSY WEENSY baby going with me to that same school and teaching with me??

Cowboy cookies! I have never seen a more confused group of Italians...they were slightly mystified as what to do!

CAKES! 

As usual...some things never change.

Yes, I made my own birthday cake.  And it was GOOD!

Banana cake with cream cheese frosting...divine!

And of course, the craftiest thing I have undertaken this summer...

Coming soon - Feb 2013

Yep.  That is a tiny arm and hand.  And a head that is most likely NOT going to be tiny, if you know my husband and my daughter at all. 

So there you have it.  The Hart family summer.  Lots of working and ice cream.  

We really know how to live it up ; )

xoxo sjkh

On Trend...

If you know me well, you know that I am generally not the person to worry about the newest "trend" in anything.  I don't have enough time, money or patience to worry if the shoes I'm wearing are the coolest at this particular moment.  My hair may look pretty fashionable for about the first 6 weeks after I cut it, then it starts its' "Mane Phase" in which I do not cut it or style it for several months afterwards (FYI - I am in month SEVEN of Mane Phase 2011-2012 right now. It is getting large and in charge.)  I love particular pieces in my wardrobe and rarely add anything new to it...but if I do get all crazy and hit the shops, my purchases are mostly the old stand-by colour palatte of black, white, gray or brown - although I did go all wild and add a yellow skirt this fall...look out world!  

So while fashion and style may not be my thing, as I am happy with the normal old me and my larger-than-life head of hair, there is actually ONE thing that I try to stay on top of trend-wise...

SWEETS!!

Pinterest is evil for someone like me.  I am not so much the one to look at or God-forbid re-pin a super easy 20 second crockpot dinner recipe.  I have taste buds - but no crockpot.  I like my food with nutrients in it and not stewed within an inch of it's life.  But you put an amazing cake in front of my face, or a challenging chocolate recipe, and you can be sure that I will accept the challenge.  

The Hart Test Kitchen is open for business.  

Liv's 1st Birthday Behemoth.

My brother's Banoffee Bday pie and Prada's Chicken Bday Cupcake!

Cakes. Cupcakes. Pies. Chocolate.

My own bday pastry layered cake with fresh custard...

Whatever it is - I have given it a whirl.  

Everyone has seen that Martha Stewart recipe where she blew out the eggs and refilled them with chocolate so that when you break off the REAL EGG SHELL, there is a ganache chocolate egg inside.  

A week's work yielded these beauties!

 Don't lie; you wanted to see the finished product, but damn if a sane woman would waste precious time and energy to do it.  Well, I wasted a week of my life doing it for Easter a couple years ago and it was TOTALLY worth it (Although I think my husband and I nearly fell out over an argument about how to swirl the hot chocolate around the inside of the shell...long story.)

Liv's 2nd Bday Elmo Cake pops!

So when a new challenge presents itself to me, I will indeed hesitate but that good old Amer-I-CAN spirit rears its ugly head every time and I usually wake up half-way though an attempt covered in flour, holding a piping bag and getting ready to throw in the towel.  This last time was no different. 

Perhaps you have seen the beautiful French macarons.  

 

 Sweet little meringue sandwiches.  

Tiny baby clouds of sugar and goodness.

They come in a rainbow of colours, flavours and look like happiness.

I gave in Saturday.  Challenge accepted.  

What made me give in, you ask - someone wrote in a baking forum that the only eggs that would ever be suitable for this recipe would be free range eggs.  I needed to prove that my eggs are indeed the best eggs in the entire universe - if not just the best in Via Pra Grande.

So I ground, whipped, stirred, melted and whisked my Saturday afternoon away.

I lovingly dripped food dye into the mix to make them the perfect Tiffany blue.

 

Then it got messy.  

Piping the mixture to perfect circles is not the easiest of jobs and if I must be so bold, it is a process best completed with a partner...I am stubborn, so I did not reuqest the assistance of Hart Husband, but next time I certainly shall.

Leave them to sit, and pop them in a low oven to cook for a few minutes.  

Lesson learned - My Tiffany blue quickly faded when they were too high in the oven.  Next time I shall sort that out...

Let them cool and then sandwich them with fresh fresh cream and jam. 

Another Hart Kitchen triumph!!

Not too bad for a first attempt!!

 Other proud moments in the Hart Family Kitchen...

Bday Castle Mania...

Bday cake for the big kids!

Recipe found here...best undertaken with a trusted sidekick.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/macaroons_04669
(Note - in the English language Macaroon and Macaron have come to mean the same thing, although the difference between the two is usually the use of coconut...)


xoxo sjkh

Secchione...

I have accepted that I am not the coolest person in the world.

Most of my childhood, I struggled to come to terms with gangly arms and legs. 

A very small head.  Broad shoulders. 

Really bad eyes and big glasses, braces for an underbite and lots of hand-me-downs.  

Bad hair...

I have a strange penchant for spouting off facts and correcting people's grammar.

I am rubbish at maths but have an uncanny knack for proper usage of the English language.  

I can sing a song after hearing the hook just once. 

I quote film lines.  A lot.

A tad bit clumsy as well...

I am geek.

Hear me roar.

My proper English husband doesn't quite like the 'labels' we Americans tend to use - Geek, Nerd, Jock and the like are all cliquey ways that we are divided in Small Town High School, USA.  

But unlike the negative connotation they had for me at 13-and-awkward years old, I have come to fully cherish my inner geekiness at 32-and-only-slightly-less-awkward years old.

Glasses AND a band uniform!? Love it!!

Married for five years now, this regression into Geek Town is only made more apparent by the stark contrast to the social lives of our single friends.  While they are out having drinks and dinner, I am slipping into my comfy PJs and settling in to watch Jersey Shore with the Hubs - and that drama is just about all I can handle...

I look comfortable as a Nerd, Hubby less so - he is cooler than me...

While they are thinking about heading out to the bars or a big concert, I am concerned that my tulips and hydrangeas are going to be destroyed by the excess rain we have been having.

While they are setting lunch dates and working in an office, I am cleaning my house in leg warmers and an Amy Winehouse-esque head scarf.  I have literally just put on a pair of wellie boots to go check on my three chickens...I'm worried about them in all this rain.

 Don't get me wrong, I don't feel weird about my current lifestyle.  Hubby and I certainly do cool things like go out to nice restaurants and throw hugely fun dinner parties.  But I'll be damned if the need for a cracking social life would ever trump our need to get that sweet baby girl into bed at a decent hour.  

Some people just need their sleep...Baby and Hubby included.  

What a couple...

So to all the people who have struggled with the label which has been given to you...

Embrace it, I say.  

Took me a while, but this Geek in leg warmers is here to stay...

Cool baby girl...she may have a chance...

xoxo sjkh

Muscle Cars

Just in case you don't know, I have the best family ever.

Specifically - the best father ever.

Now what makes a father so fantastic you ask?  Several things really.  

The first and foremost reason that my dad is so awesome is that he has four daughters and not one shotgun.  That, dear readers, is an accomplishment in itself.  

For with Steve Keusch, there is no need to brandish such means of intimidation.  

Don't know my father?  That is probably impossible.  

He actually knows everyone on this planet.  I have witnessed him strike up a conversation with someone he "knows" in every county of Indiana, several counties south of the river in Kentucky and even standing alongside the sparkling canals of Venice, Italy.  Admittedly he doesn't "know" these people per se - perhaps the better idiom is that he doesn't know a stranger.  

He listens.  He jokes.  

He makes you feel like what you have to say is pretty darn important - but he will not listen to bull.  He is a walking talking bullshit detector.  I know this first-hand.

He also takes time for his kids like no other dad in the world...there are 5 of us, so that is pretty darn time consuming.  He gives extra time on top of that for his grandkids...a mere 3 of those at the moment, but even if each of us has only two babies, I expect 10 grandchildren will keep him rather occupied in the future.  That's a lot of chocolate to hand out when Mommy and Daddy aren't looking...

The Bosses and the Fam

But the top top reason he is so great.  

He and my mom taught us how to be good.  

Good at everything we try.  Even if we are shit at whatever it is, they wanted us to succeed at life, not just at one thing.  This is the very reason why I can sew, cook, bake, change a tire, use a powertool, garden, wash a car, sand a fender...the list goes on. 

Instilled in each of us are the family values and work ethic that make our family a successful unit.  

Also instilled in all of us is a love for Muscle Cars.  

Random, you say?  Not if you know my father...

The family grocery-getter...

 I spent the formative years of my youth riding around in the back of this 1968 GT500KR Shelby. It was my mom's car, and if I am not mistaken, they really didn't know what the heck they had on their hands.  

I vividly remember being a backseat passenger in another GT500 Shelby riding round the Indianapolis Motor Speedway...my sister Keena and I taking the racing straps from the front to tether us in, as the angle of the track had us sliding all over the backseat.  My mom was probably about 38 weeks pregnant with my brother Kail...so these memories were made for us even whilst in the womb.

Every time I smell gasoline, exhaust from a carburated engine, or moth balls I am immediately transported back to my childhood - packing up the Shelby to take a ride for the weekend car show in Brown County national park.  Once a year, every May since I can remember...this was a pretty big deal for us kids.  We usually saw these "car friends" on just this one special occasion.
We were allowed to run free among the rows of polished muscle cars (never touching of course...the very first lesson we were taught upon delivery into this world).

We ran through the forests of the park all day, being sure to make it back for chili and hot dogs at lunch.  It was a different time...who knew back then that these family trips, all the car-washing, chamois-ing, and Armor All would stick with me for the rest of my life like it has. 

 The last time I spent that special yearly weekend in May with my family in Brown County, Indiana was two days before I left for Italy...an appropriate last weekend all together. 

Big blue sky and trees as far as the eye can see....I love Indiana...

And since that departure, there is not much more I long for than to once again spend that particular weekend stateside .  Plus the added desire to pass the Muscle Car love on to my baby girl...

We start 'em young...

So, while my husband is indeed a slightly younger version of my car-enthusiast father; he tends to favour the wrong side of the 70s....as well as the wrong side of the Atlantic.  He looks at and drools over British motors which I have never heard of, and all the while I can't imagine why he or anyone else for that matter wouldn't want to run a Classic Mustang.

My favourite!

 Agree to disagree I guess...because these wonderful days that formed my character and formed our strong Keusch family bond come in part from the hard work of the patriarch, Steve. 

Hard work as a body man, and even harder work as a daddy to all of us.  

One day I promise I will be back to help wash the cars and set out on the road to Brown County...

xoxo sjkh

PS - Family pictures taken by the fab Miss Meghan Hochgesang ; MH Photography ...Indiana people, you should RUN to your telephone to book her up.  Like, NOW.  For real, she is the best.


PPS- Did you know that my father is a rough customer to convince him to travel this way to come visit?  Do you think this worked??