WebMD and flying

For the record WebMD might be a great site for general health info, however when it comes to pregnancy its interesting at best. Advice such as "don't bother with a birth plan since labor is like weather and you can't predict its outcome," really irritates me. I was reading through the discussions and found a post by a nurse comparing labor and delivery to riding on an airplane. She said that the Dr. is like the pilot who really knows what's going on and what could happen. She didn't mention that this of course would infer that you, the laboring mommy are to be the passenger who is supposed to sit down and buckle up when ordered. Continuing on this thought, the nurses of course would be the stewardesses, conveying the pilot's wishes, offering you a blanket and some juice to sip on while your waiting. I find it rather amusing that hospitals and their staff don't seem to understand why we as moms hate being treated as if we are along for a ride. I guess maybe if they really think this way then they might ought to start reading all the reviews of why people are beginning to hate flying.

pumpkin challah and third trimester sleeplessness

So I found a recipe for Pumpkin Challah on http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2010/10/11/pumpkin-challah/   and I was very very excited to try it. Lately I have been craving all things pumpkin. Now you have to understand my idea of making home made bread is dumping ingredients in a bread maker and double checking the settings to ensure that it comes out perfect. Anyway I waited until my daughter was asleep before I got started. (I work better when I'm by myself and can focus). This of course means that I didn't get started on this project till around 9pm. Why did I start it this late instead of waiting until tomorrow? Well I felt, very strongly that I might never actually make it unless I did it that night and I had a crazy burst of energy that lasted until around 2:30am! Its crazy what pregnancy can do to you.

For the record it turned out beautifully! I highly recommend it. There's just a few things to consider before I ever start again.  I had no idea Challah would be so labor intensive!

1.My mixer broke a few months back and I haven't replaced it yet...so I did my ancestors proud and did
   everything with a wooden spoon or by hand. My hands are a little tired this morning.
2. It takes awhile to roll the dough into a shape you can braid. It didn't occur to me that having a rolling pin 
    would have been nice to get it started.
3. There was no warning on the recipe that it could make as much as 6 loaves comparable in size to what
    comes out of my bread maker!!!
4. I nearly went to sleep around 2:30 in the morning with a timer to wake me up. Glad I didn't because the
    recipe says to bake it for 1 hour but I felt Jesus told me to check it at 30 minutes into baking. It smelled
   done and sure enough it was just the right color of golden brown.

So after tasting some of this heavenly-ness that the bread becomes when its done I can say without doubt that I will in fact make it again. I do plan on having the tools I need next time and I think I'll ask a grandma to babysit and make it during the day! I'll post pics of the bread later so you can get the cravings for pumpkin challah as well. For now I think I'm going to go have some for breakfast and get ready to go to the park.

Oh notes on the recipe itself:
I used roasted pumpkin instead of canned. I also ended up using 9 cups of flour instead of 8. Finally as I mentioned earlier it only had to bake for 30 minutes instead of 1 hour.