Butterscotch Coffee Cake

This is one of my all time favorite recipes! I often take this coffee cake to work when we have special occasions and it's always a big hit. It's also super easy, which is always a plus!

Butterscotch Coffee Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
1 package vanilla instant pudding
1 package butterscotch instant pudding
4 eggs
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Mix together the cake mix, both pudding mixes, eggs, water, oil, and vanilla.
Combine topping together (sugar, cinnamon, and nuts.)
Lightly grease a 9x13 inch pan.
Pour about 1/2 of the batter into the pan.
Sprinkle 1/2 of the topping mixture into the pan.
Pour in the rest of the batter and sprinkle with the rest of the topping.
Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, lower temperature to 325 degrees for 20 minutes.

Enjoy :)

2 Months Old!

You are two months old JJ, June 22, 2011. Time is going too fast. I'm sure I will say this every time I write your monthly post. No matter how old you are, you will always be my little boy!



You are really growing! You have definitely outgrown the "newborn" stage. However you are still wearing newborn clothes and newborn size diapers. At your 2 month doctor appointment you weighed 9 lbs 8 oz and were 21 1/4 inches long! You are small, but you are mighty! You love to move around. You kick your legs and move your arms a lot. You have discovered your hands and love to watch them. You have also started sucking on your hands. Right now, you mostly suck on your whole hand and wrist, but occasionally you will find a finger. It is so fun to watch you!







You are just the sweetest baby. You are so good. You are happy to just sit and watch me when I need to get things done around the house. You love your bouncy seat, swing, playmat, and the floor. This month you have started to become so aware of what is going on around you. You will follow toys with your eyes when we move them from side to side. You love to be talked to. You smile and smile when we talk to you! Your smile absolutely melts my heart. It makes me so happy to see you smile.









You are nursing better. Mama gets frustrated sometimes, but we're still going strong. You are now going about 3 hours between feedings which is such a nice change. We can actually get out of the house and go places much easier and mama feels much less stress about you eating. Mommy will also pump and we will give you a bottle, which you take great! You still don't like to be burped, but you're doing better. Daddy is the master burper and sometimes mommy will hand you to him if he is around to burp you! Most nights you go to bed around 10:30 and will get up once around 3 to nurse and then again around 6:30. You go right back to sleep after eating, which is a wonderful blessing. Mommy loves when you only get up once during the night and I feel like a new person when I get longer periods of sleep. However, I love the time with you no matter what time of day or night it is. I treasure our cuddle time right after I have nursed and changed you, this is one of my favorite things! You still take several great naps during the day. You will nap anywhere.. the couch, floor, bouncy, swing, car seat! You do great in the car and usually fall asleep while we are driving. You don't mind getting a bath unless you get cold, then up get upset!







You are definitely a spoiled little boy, which I think is wonderful. You are so loved! Your hair is still long and everyone loves it and comments on it. You loved to be held and your family loves to hold you! You are such an amazing gift from God. We love you so much!

1 Month Old!

Oh my sweet JJ, I cannot believe you are already a month old! Time is going too fast. I tell you everyday I want you to stay little, but I'm so excited to see how you grow and change over the years. You are just the sweetest baby! This past month has been one of the best months of my life. (And hardest too!) You are such an incredible blessing and I am so thankful to be your mama!



You are still sleeping a lot, but starting at three weeks have had more and longer periods of time where you are wide awake and alert. We love seeing your darling blue eyes. We absolutely love all of your facial expressions. You are already very animated! You stretch and make the funniest faces when you first wake up. You will show a wide variety of emotions in such short amounts of time!



You love to have your hands by your face. You will cover your eyes or cover your ears when you are sleeping! When you are sleeping on a flat surface you love to have your hands above your head. You did not like your cradle at first, so you are sleeping in your car seat. At first you had your days and nights mixed up, but you are sleeping during the night much better now.



You will go 2-3 hours between nursing at night. For the most part, you nurse every 2hours during the day. Nursing has not come easily, but we are doing better. We have good days and we have bad days, but mommy and daddy know it is the best for you so we keep on pushing through the difficult days. Dr. Dick was worried about you not gaining weight and so we had to try to supplement with formula. You seemed to hate it! You would not take the formula from a bottle so we fed it to you using a syringe while you were breastfeeding. This seemed to work better but you started nursing much better and gaining weight so we're not doing it anymore. I love talking to you while you are nursing and absolutely love it when you watch me while you're eating.



You usually only cry when you are hungry and boy do you let us know! You will also cry if you pee through your clothes, which seems to happen a lot :) You also do not like to be naked!

You have stayed very tiny, and finally at 4 weeks were above your birth weight at 6 pounds 10 ounces. Mommy was so happy to have you gaining weight. You left the hospital weighing 6 pounds 4 ounces. At 1 week old you were 5 pounds 14 ounces, at 2 weeks you were 5 pounds 8 ounces, at 3 weeks you were 5 pounds 14 ounces and then at 4 weeks you were 6 pounds 10 ounces!



You are wearing newborn diapers and newborn clothes. Some of your newborn clothes are still too big for you!



You have a ton of hair, which mommy absolutely LOVES! Your hair seems to be the first thing people notice when they look at you. Everyone also comments about you being so small! Most people say you look like both your daddy and I.



You are a very happy baby. You love your swing and bouncy seat. You also love to just lay on the floor. You are happiest when you are in someones arms. You are a great cuddler! You respond to sound and move your head from side to side. You rolled over when you were 4 days old at the doctors office! You like to kick your legs and move around. We think you are going to be very athletic :)You have started to smile a little, which absolutely melts mama's heart! You also know your mommy and daddy's voices.



You have so many people that absolutely love you and are completely smitten with you! God has really blessed us with so many people that care about you.

I love you so much JJ and I am so glad you are mine!

Welcome Sweet JJ

God has blessed us with the most precious miracle... our sweet JJ. Our lives have been changed forever! We love you beyond words sweet boy.

James Russell Hornaday III
Born Friday, April 22, 2011 at 12:17 am
6 pounds 9 ounces, 19 3/4 inches long

"I sing for joy at the works of Your hands." Psalm 92:4

Getting Closer!

I am currently 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant! It seems crazy that I've been pregnant this long and that we are so close to having our sweet JJ in our arms. It really has gone fast. I think it has really helped that I've been pregnant during the school year and I've had so many other things to focus on with work. Being pregnant is such a miracle. My favorite part is feeling JJ move inside of me. I have loved watching him and feeling him move and kick around. I know I am really going to miss it. However, I could not be more ready to have him!

I have wanted to have a baby and be pregnant for so long, that I've really tired to enjoy every minute of my pregnancy. The past month has been the hardest for me. I continue to have terrible back pain and my ribs hurt constantly. Poor baby is just running out of room, but goodness is it uncomfortable. Also, as our due date has gotten closer it has become harder and harder to be patient and wait for his arrival.

Within the past 3 weeks, my blood pressure has really started to be high. We have had a non-stress test done at the hospital once every week for the past 3 weeks. Each time, JJ has looked great and has been very active! Yesterday at my 39 week appointment my blood pressure was the highest it has been, at 140/90. JJ is head down, very low, and in a good position, which was very exciting to hear! I was 1 cm dilated. Due to my high blood pressure, our doctor sent us over to the hospital to have a special ultrasound done and another NST. The ultrasound lasted about 30 minutes, and we LOVED being able to see our sweet boy. The technology amazes me! We could see his lips moving, his heart beating, and his lungs. He had one of his little feet up by his head, which made us laugh! We could see his hair and were even able to see color on the screen where blood was pumping through my placenta. From the ultrasound, they predicted that JJ weights about 6 lbs, so I'm excited he should be small. Definitely makes delivery a little less scary! HA! The ultrasound was unbelievable! Everything looked great during the ultrasound so we were sent to the OB where we had the NST. Again, he looked great so we were sent home! I have an appointment this afternoon with another doctor in town to see about possibly being induced due to my high blood pressure. We totally trust our doctor and know he wants what is absolutely best for me and the baby. We are so thankful for him and are anxious to find out what the doctor says today. I am feeling very anxious and just can't wait to find out what the plan is.

I am home today, and it would be my guess that even if I am not induced, I probably won't be able to go back to work. I am thankful that Heidi and Leona will have everything taken care of with my class and I won't have to worry about my kids at all. My class has been so sweet during my pregnancy. They love to feel my belly, ask if he's moving, and say the sweetest things! I can't wait to take JJ in to meet them once he's born!

My orders are to rest today and then we have our appointment this afternoon. Hopefully we will meet our boy VERY soon. I am BEYOND excited, I can hardly stand it!

35 weeks...


36 weeks...


37 weeks...


38 weeks...


Our first NST...

An Update

I am obviously not a good Blogger! I've got plenty of excuses, but I won't bother listing them all :) Life has been busy! My belly is definitely growing and we can hardly wait to meet our sweet boy. I've not been feeling great. I know I've really had a pretty easy pregnancy and for that I am very thankful. The first trimester was by far the best. I never had any morning sickness and other than feeling very tired and a little nauseous here and there, I felt pretty great. My second trimester was pretty good too. I had more energy. I did start getting some really bad headaches, but quickly learned that if I'd eat snacks between meals my headaches mostly stayed away. I wish I could say the third trimester has been as easy! Getting bigger has made me very uncomfortable. My back has been hurting so bad. It's my upper and middle part of my back and I have terrible sharp pains most of the day. I have not found anything that really helps. (Except for when James is rubbing it, which he has been wonderful at doing!) Baby boy is also pushing into my ribs, which is creating a lot of soreness. I struggle to get comfortable. I'm not sleeping well and have also fought a pretty bad cold. My emotions have also been all over the place. Just this weekend I've also started getting swollen. My feet and ankles are huge. They tingle! My hands are a little swollen but are not too bad. I am so thankful that the end is near and I know it is all so totally worth it. Hopefully in less than 6 weeks we will have our precious boy in our arms. Just the thought makes me giddy with excitement. I LONG to have him in my arms. I have LOVED the bonding we are doing while he is in my womb, but I am ready to snuggle him and kiss him and smell him!!! I've not officially announced his name on my blog. Sweet boy will be James Russell Hornaday III. Mama plans to call him JJ. It means a lot to daddy to have his son named after him and his grandpa Hornaday. And I will get total control over naming our next baby :) HA! I hope to keep up this blog better than I have, but I won't make any promises! Here are some pictures of my growing belly!

28 weeks...


29 weeks...


30 weeks...


33 weeks... (I missed taking photos during weeks 31 and 32)


34 weeks...

Family, Consignment Stores, and the Casino!

Last week was rough at school. James and I were also crazy busy after work all week and I was exhausted. I was so ready for the weekend, and thankfully we had a little get-away planned! We went to Southern Indiana to visit James sister Tracy and her husband Dave. It was such a relaxing and fun weekend! Saturday morning we relaxed and then went out looking for consignment stores, hoping to find some good deals on baby clothes. We didn't have much luck, but had a lot of fun looking. They also live in such a cute little town on the Ohio River and we enjoyed just driving around and looking. (And stopping by Dunkin' Donuts for an iced coffee! Ha!) Saturday night we went out to dinner at a little restaurant on the river that I have been wanting to eat at. The food was delicious and we had a great time talking. After dinner we headed to the Casino! James and I LOVE going to the Casino when we visit Tracy and Dave. We just play the slots and I really just like going to the bonus rounds because it's so much like a video game! I also really enjoy people watching at the Casino. Saturday was my lucky night... I won $42 on the Wizard of Oz slot machine! Ha! I was excited. It was crazy busy there, I could not believe all the people, but we had a great time. Of course the weekend went way too quickly, but we were thankful for the chance to visit with family and get away for a few days. Today, I am home enjoying a snow day and hope to get a lot of things accomplished around the house!