32 Weeks Pregnant

We are in the home stretch, my friends! It's so great to be in the 30s. At least, I'm happy because I can see the end in sight! 

Good things have been happening. 

I haven't had a migraine in a long time. I don't even get headaches all that much anymore. It's a miracle! I pretty much only get headaches when I eat too much sugar, so it's also great knowing the reason for the headaches isn't my high blood pressure. 

Alternatively, I get faint more often. I can't sing in church because it makes me feel light headed. I often need to take breaks from whatever I'm doing (even if it's just sitting in church for an hour) to keep me feeling good. 

Another thing I realized is that I have had much less heartburn than I did with Chris. I had it every day with him, no matter what. This time around I only get it when I eat heartburn inducing foods like tomatoes or chocolate (yes, chocolate--it's sad). But it can be remedied by Tums, whereas last time I took medicine everyday to keep it under control, plus Tums when it was really bad. My conclusion: this baby may be coming out a baldy. 

Medically speaking, all is staying the same. My gestational diabetes test came back perfect, my preeclamptic blood work/urine test is at the same levels it was in May, and my blood pressure continues to reside around 135/80. I consider this awesome news! I'm also not getting any vision problems, since I don't have migraines, which is what put me on bed rest last time. So I am feeling extremely optimistic that I will not get preeclampsia. And hopefully no bedrest! 

Our little girl is growing nicely. From the ultrasounds I have had, she looks to be perfectly normal. Her only abnormality is that she is measuring over a week ahead. At my 30 weeks and 1 day ultrasound she was measuring at 31 weeks and 3 days, which is about 3 pounds 14 ounces. What's crazy to me is that Chris was born at 36.5 weeks and weighed only two pounds more than she does at 30 weeks! She is apparently in the 80th percentile. Big baby! And I feel it. 

Another difference between this baby and Chris is that this little girl seems to enjoy chillin on my bladder. I've never had so many close calls to letting a little pee escape as I do with her. She enjoys kicking me square on the bladder. I told Jed that it's often like she feels my bladder and thinks to herself, "What's this? What's this?" as she repeatedly pokes it. 

I also get some cramping every night. Braxton Hicks? Having these nightly practices of contractions makes me feel like my body is a lot more prepared to give birth to this child than it was for Chris. That makes me happy! 

In general, despite the sciatica, often sore back, and general tiredness, I feel a great happiness about this pregnancy. Things appear to be going great, and I can't help but be grateful through the pain!

And now for a picture update! A nice mirror selfie was the best I could do with Jed at work. But I think you get the gist!  

Also, here's a comparison with me at 33 weeks when I was pregnant with Chris. I'm a lot bigger this time around, but boy, was I swollen last time! This also gives me great hope that I won't get preeclampsia this time around, as swelling is one of the symptoms of preeclampsia. Clearly I am not nearly as swollen, and now Jed is home from work and has confirmed that indeed, I was much more swollen last time. Yay yay yay! 

Chris: 2 1/2 years old!

This child is a wonder. What a smarty pants he is. And what a crazy child he is!

He learns new words daily. Some of his favorites: bunch (jump and also dump), meechoo (he says this when he wants to shake your hand because he wants you to say "nice to meet you"), hold on (when he's standing on a chair and wants me to move it so he can watch me cook), and various things, like "see goose" (silly goose). In general, he has a word or two for everything we do. I can't even begin to name everything he can say. He has started saying "me truck" for "my truck," which is awesome. 

He loves to count. He generally says "one, two, three, six." But he can identify some of his numbers now, which is awesome. 

He loves to jump or run after you say either "on your mark, get set, go" or "one two three go" (which when he says it is, it's "two-ee, go!"). 

He plays with his blocks multiple times a day. He loves to stack anything he can. He is surprisingly good at getting his towers pretty tall! We've brought out his duplos (large Legos) and he loves those. 

Cars, trains, and planes continue to be his main love. Grandma and grandpa have some trains from Thomas the Train and he loves those. They also have tractors that he loves to play with. 

He loves to swim. It's taken some practice, but last time we went, after protestation when I pulled him in, he almost immediately loved swimming on his tummy while I and his floaty supported him. He even would jump in from the side of the pool as I caught him, as well as stick his face close enough to the water to blow some bubbles. It is a great improvement! The only bad part was that he never wanted to get out!

Other improvements. He in general is getting better at following directions. He will now hold my hand as we walk from the car into a store. He will walk when I tell him, though he will continually ask to run. He is getting a lot better at sharing. He will share snacks and share most toys. He's pretty funny when he wants something: he will stretch his arms straight and get super close to what he wants, without actually touching it, while moving his fingers like he's pretending to grab the object. Most of the time he will listen to us and give it up if we tell him to, but sometimes he won't.

With this better direction following, however, comes more sophisticated ways of trying to avoid following directions. His tantrums are a little more ridiculous (he is even getting better at making his fake cry sound more realistic) but time out has helped with those when he just won't calm down. 

He also continues to be very affectionate. I guess that comes when you have a mommy and daddy who love to give kisses and hugs! His hugs are improving as he will squeeze his arms around your neck (side note-- now that he knows how to squeeze those arms, piggy back rides actually feel safe andnnot like he will fall backwards at any moment). Just today, he made a mess with the DVDs (books, he called them), and I gently told him no, we don't touch those. As I started cleaning them up, he kept saying "No Chris," obviously knowing he did wrong, but then he started hugging me and kissing me. It was too cute. Obviously he was trying to make it up to me, and I loved it. We always follow time outs with hugs and kisses, too, so I think that may have been where that came from as well.

Does he realize a baby is coming? Doubtful. I continually ask him where the baby is in Mommy's tummy and usually he'll just pat my nearest limb, but every once in a while he will touch my belly. Often he touches his own belly. Once, I tried to get him to feel the baby when she was hiccuping, but I'm not sure if he registered what was happening. I think things will become clearer as it gets closer. I have a few friends with babies who have been born or will be born this or next month, so I hope as we go visit and I hold the babies, he will start to understand that one of these will be in our house soon! Once we get his room moved around with the baby bassinet, swing, and baby things in there, I'm hoping that will help as well. 

He continues to recognize his letters and can say pretty much all of them. He even sings a pretty decent ABC song, too! He does great with puzzles and can do two piece, stand alone puzzles really well. He loves to read and sometimes pretend to read to himself. I often find him looking through books in his crib when I get him from his nap (we put books in his crib so that when he wakes up, he won't cry). He loves when I sing and has started singing along sometimes. Lately, he likes to listen to The Lion King in the car, and he will sing along with Hakuna Matata (which when he says it, is "kuna tata."). 

Chris is amazing at playing pretend. It wasn't even something I sat down to teach him (I mention this because several months ago I had the thought, "I probably need to actually teach him what pretend is," but I never did). It's been amazing. He will pretend to get tissues for me (hormonal mom has apparently cried enough in his presence that he thinks I need tissues all the time), he will pretend to change his stuffed animals' diapers (or even the Darth Vader doll's diaper), he will pretend to eat food, pretend to play the piano, etc. It makes me extremely happy to see him get more advanced and more independent in his play time. 

He is more active outside. He loves to be on the swing, both on his tummy and sitting with me pushing. He loves to run.

He follows routines really well now. He can put his clothes in the dirty hamper, put his shoes away in the closet or go get his shoes and try to put them on when I tell him. He knows where most of his toys go when we clean up. He will start to drain the bathwater and put away his bath toys to let me know when he is done with his bath. He puts trash in the trash can and dishes in the sink (though trash often ends up in the sink).

While the last six months or so have been kind of difficult when it comes to what he will eat and won't eat, I can tell we are generally improving. He goes through phases with his food. The first phase is the amount he eats. Some days, I can hardly get him to eat a thing. Other days, he has huge meals. There's not much to be done except continue to serve him the normal amount and hope that day will be a good one! I can pretty much guarantee that if I serve sausage or fruit snacks, he will eat as many as I put on his plate and usually asks for more.

His other phase involves what food he eats. He's been picky for a while, but I think we're starting to get over some of that. He is willing to try almost anything I am eating, which has led to him eating peppers, hamburgers, and other things he never would have tried before. It was shocking the first few times he asked to have a bite of my food, but once he started doing it more regularly, it's been awesome. So I see improvements in what he eats. He still has days where he won't eat anything, but I think that has more to do with just not wanting to eat anything rather than not wanting to eat that specific thing. I have found that putting the food in front of him and then not mentioning it is the best way to get him to eat. It seems that when I suggest he try any food, he will reject it immediately. 

Chris has made other improvements in his behavior too. I have tried to offer him choices more often when he has to do something he does not want to. For example, bath time used to be awful when it came time to wash his hair because he hated the water on his head. I started offering to do it with the blue cup we use or with the shower head, and just having that one choice to make has caused him to not complain at all about it. It's amazing! 

Potty training. Back in May, I thought I'd try it out. Whew it did not go so well. Despite showing a lot of readiness signs, he could not handle the really tight schedule of getting on and off the toilet so much. I also didn't want to clean up messes on the carpet, so staying in the bathroom all morning was hard on him. So we didn't even make it for two days. At the beginning of August, we had a nice open week, so I thought I'd try it again. This time had vast improvements. We used underwear, instead of keeping him naked, which helped him realize when he had an accident. He also will sit on the toilet for up to 45 minutes as long as I have the iPad set up so he can watch Clifford or Curious George. However, over the week we had many accidents, and only once when I caught him in an accident and got him on the toilet. As a pregnant mommy, sitting on the floor all morning was tough on me. I had the intention of keeping him in pull ups and just getting him on the toilet regularly, to potty train at a very slow pace, but that has not happened. Will I try to do that this month? Probably not, but it's on my mind to try. So perhaps we are not destined to have only one the baby in diapers when she is born, but that's just fine.

Lastly, he has a funny habit that whenever he cries, he must wipe his eyes and nose with a tissue or wipe afterwards. It must be done very thoroughly too. Sometimes, he even has to wipe his sheet off where the tears dropped. So he has a thing with wetness on his face, which is amusing. Even his fake cries, where no tears have been shed, must end with a tissue. 

Alright, and now some pictures and a video!

Eating like a dog (with your face in the bowl) is messy.

Playing the piano with his new friend.

A tower Chris built all by himself! 

At our favorite park. We love this cute little stream!

Fun times with his duplos

Chris loves to look through paper towel rolls ("See you!"), so I made him binoculars with toilet paper rolls. They may be ugly, but he loves them!

Our last playdate at the pool. He had a blast! 

26 Week Pregnancy Update

Note: this was written at 26 weeks.... and I'm not sure why I never published it! Oh well! 

Here we are at 26 weeks! 

I was right, the second trimester has been better! But we are fast approaching the third and already I'm getting ready to be done with this pregnancy. 

Updates:

Feeling pretty big. I'm really not sure how much bigger I can get!

Back pain, while not good, is still not as bad as the hip pain. Hip pain, as well as knee pain, is really killing me right now. 

Sleep.... Oh sleep. I remember you. It's been over a week of restless nights. Various things happen: I can't fall asleep for an hour or two, my hips hurt too much so I wake up 10+ times a night, I have to readjust my position every time I wake up, and sometimes I wake up for an hour or so in the middle of the night. And you know, I expect sleep to be a problem during pregnancy, but I was hoping it wouldn't appear until after 32 weeks or so. I have a few things to try (essential oils all night long, sleep on the couch, and even Benedryl if it comes to that), and hopefully something will work because all my restlessness is disturbing Jed's sleep! (Update: I have made the couch into my bed! I can have a cocoon of pillows all around me, and having to move around all the time doesn't bother Jed. It's not ideal but I can actually get a good nights sleep!)

Migraines. They are in control! I get headaches less frequently and migraines rarely. Thank. Good. Ness. The prescription medicine the doctor gave me really helped and it almost seems to have reset the headaches. 

Blood pressure. Not so good. I keep having episodes of feeling faint, over tired or over exerted, and breathless. Not great. A busy day usually means a seriously exhausted me by dinner time. So, no exercising (not that I was anyways but the pressure is totally off!), lots of breaks, and lots of laying down. I'm still only hypertensive and not preeclamptic so that's good news. 

The baby moves a TON. I love it. She is an active child already. The only down side is she hits more vital organs than Chris ever did. So if later on in the pregnancy, when she's stronger, please forgive me if I yelp in pain because she hit my bladder or kidney. It's happened already and it hurts. But I just love seeing my belly move when she moves. I love feeling it with my hand. I love how Jed can feel the baby move now. 

And yes, we found out she is a girl. We plan in calling her Kara and while I tell everyone that it's not 100% until she's born and we see her, we refer often to her as Kara so I am pretty positive that will be her name. And by the by, it will be pronounced "care-uh" not "car-uh." If she's not Kara, she will probably be Eve.

I got some wonderful advice from a new friend who is also pregnant with her second, due in October. She received this advice and passed it along. It is that when you have a situation when both children need you, both are crying, soothe the toddler first and the newborn second. Instinct initially told me, no the baby is more helpless they need me first! But she explained that if you do it the other way around, the toddler will quickly start to resent the baby, and that's when the hitting and hurting of the baby start up or get worse. She said the woman who gave her this advice told her that when she started helping the toddler first, she saw an overnight difference in how the toddler treated the baby. I love that advice!

Other pregnancy things... My finger is too big to wear my wedding ring. I have gained about 10 pounds so far in the pregnancy. No sickness. I can even be late eating a snack or meal and not throw up, but I will feel sick up to the point I eat. Can't tell if I have any new stretch marks (my belly was covered in the last one) but I don't think I do. I'm always hot but having a fan in every room of the house saves my life. 

26 Weeks Pregnant

And here are the pictures we took for our gender reveal:

I love how interested Chris is in seeing what's in the box.

Chris at 2 years old

(Note: this blog post was written during the summer, though by written I just wrote down lots of thoughts at random times so I would remember to put them in a blog post. So here it is!)


Chris a fun toddler who seems like he never stops moving!

It seemed like Chris took a while to start talking, and then suddenly, he says a ton! He repeats a lot of what we say. Some of the words are:

• Maga and Paca (grandma and grandpa) 
• Make (when I'm cooking something, usually when he wants to help cook)
• Hippa or heppa (hippo)
• Kennies (cousins or candy)

He often mixes up the first and last syllables of the words, like cup is usually "puc." He also is making two or three word sentences with some of the things we say often. In general, though, he still talks in a lot of gibberish.

Chris loves his baths. It's a great break for both of us, so sometimes he gets a bath at noon when the morning has been rough. He could play in the bath for over a half hour, and I throw some pillows on the ground and get to rest for a bit while I watch him. He also loves to swim, though mostly he just likes to sit on the side of the pool and splash his feet. Twice I have forced him in with me. The first time, he cried the whole time and clung to me. The second time, after some protestation, he finally let me put him on his tummy to swim, which he loved. We got a puddle jumper floaty (the kind that goes across the chest and on your arms). We love it! It kept him up the couple of times he has fallen in.

He still loves cars. He lines them up front and back or next to each other. His favorite is still the red cars. At the family reunion, Chris got a present of the firetruck from Cars, and for a good week, that firetruck never left his sight (and usually didn't even leave his hand). 

Whenever we go outside, Chris digs. He loves the dirt and loves sand. He likes to push his hand into the dirt (palm down), then lift his hand covered in dirt, and then let it fall off. His nails get dirty fast! 

He will pray by repeating words after us. He can only repeat one word at a time, so it takes a long time to pray. He also recently learned to close his eyes. Previously, when we would say "close your eyes," he would cover them with his hands. Now he can close his eyes and fold his arms at the same time. 

Chris still knows his letter very well. He can identify almost all of them, if he wants to. He still can't say a lot of the names (like j, g, x, w). He can count to 4 by himself, however usually his counting goes something like "one, two, ten!" And however he counts, he always ends prematurely with and excited "ten!" He loves to say ten.

He's still a momma's boy. He still loves to cuddle, but usually only when I'm putting him to bed. He still sucks on his arm, too, when falling asleep or watching a movie.

He loves to sing songs. Anytime we are in a group of people, he wants to perform and sing one of three songs: Eensy Weensy Spider, Popcorn Popping, or Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam. At bedtime, he loves for me to sing at bedtime. He can name many Primary songs.

He's getting better with following directions. Usually, he will do it, but if he doesn't want to listen, he will generally stop what he is doing, and just stand there, glancing to the side at us. He has a bit of a stubborn streak right now, but we continue to work on that. Along with following directions, he has a hard time following where he point. We will point to an object he is looking for, and he almost never can find it! I hope this improves soon. 

And now, a random smattering of picture from this summer!

Scooping the sand

In Utah, Grandma and Grandpa's house; Chris found the doggie door!

Swimming! This is his floaty that we love so much.

Chris loves to give his stuffed animals hugs and say "Awww."

At a splash pad in Loomis. He loved the splash pad!

Chris is Two!

(Note: this was written way back in March when Chris was actually turning two. Why it wasn't published? I never really finished it. Now I don't care and I just want it up!)

Well, almost. His birthday is the 13th, just 11 days away! We will be gone for his birthday, and so since a desire to blog hit me, I thought I would take advantage now and write a post about our little boy. Also, I think there's some family out far away in Utah that would love a post full of pictures--and this certainly will be!

Isn't it amazing he is two? Here are some throwback pictures of him just to document in one post the changes he's been through already:

One day old Chris!

Here he is one week old

One month old.... 

Look at the tuft of hair.... I think this is around six months old.

And now he is such a big boy!

There is so much to be said about Chris. Where to start.... how about with his speaking abilities? His words change all the time.... for example, he got really good at saying "up" when he wanted you to pick him up. However, not long ago he learned "apple" for the fruit (which he applies to all fruit), and now he says "apple" for "up" instead. He's got "mama" and "dada" down great--which we love! He used to say "ow ow" for water but now says "wa wa." He can say "iPad"..... yeah not sure if we should be proud of that one. 

While on the subject of iPad, he loves to use the iPad. He can navigate that thing so well. It's incredible. He has some games he likes, but generally goes straight for the videos I uploaded (Toy Story and Monsters Inc. are his faves right now) and the PBS Kids app. He loves Super Why and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. If we are at Grandma's house, he also love to watch Bubble Guppies on her TV. 

Back to words.... he loves to have conversations and tell you all about things. Generally it's just nonsense words, but it's a lot of nonsense! He loves to chat. He loves to come and get right in my face to tell me things. Whenever we meet someone new, he always points to each of us, as if he is introducing us, saying "Mama.... Dada" and then the conversation is usually about shoes. He likes to point out that he is wearing shoes, that I am wearing shoes, and that everyone is wearing shoes. He is very good at saying the word shoes, too. 

One trick he is learning is following directions! It is amazing. I can tell him to put his cup in the sink, throw away his fruit snack baggie, clean up, go to Daddy, etc. and he will do it! I should say CAN do it because this child has an opinion about everything. He is very decisive about what he will or won't eat, what he wants to do or watch (example: once we were looking at movies, and I suggested Toy Story, but he didn't want that, he wanted Toy Story 2.... decisive.), and what he will obey and won't obey. He says the word "no" extremely well. Lately he says it in such a funny way. He will say "no" in such a way as if to say, "of course not, why would you ever suggest it." He also likes to whisper "no" a lot. We've laughed too many times at that, so he thinks it's funny to whisper no all the time....

He is still a mama's boy. I feel like he goes through phases, and we are in a clingy phase. He doesn't like me to leave (for dates or even to go to the bathroom), and will cry and run after me. It's very sad. I pretty much always have to let him in when I go to the bathroom now.... And even for Nursery he cries when I leave. I have to be the mean mommy who flees the room and ignores his cries. 

He is very sweet a lot too. He loves to give kisses and hugs/cuddles. When we are grocery shopping and he is in the cart, he will often reach out and pull me close for a hug, or sometimes kisses. It's adorable. Whenever he is playing, he always comes over to lay his head on me. Once he did so, and he bonked my head really hard. I said ow, and he started to walk away. Then he turned around, rubbed my head, and gave me a kiss on the mouth and cheek! How sweet is that? 

Discipline has been a learning curve for Jed and I. We have wondered when it was appropriate for time out, counting to three, etc. We've started time outs, and they are becoming a little effective. One triumph we had was with dinner time. As any toddler does, sometimes they just won't eat. And sometimes, they are ridiculous about not eating (screaming, throwing food, only wanting to eat candy, etc.). So a few weeks ago, Jed told him if he didn't eat, to bed he went. He got a few warnings, then Jed started to take him to bed. Chris obviously did not want to, and so once at his room, Jed gave him one more chance to come eat. Chris said yes to come back and eat, and the second he sat down, he accepted a bite of food! It was amazing! We've only had to use that a couple of times since, but each time he catches on quicker that he will in fact go to bed if he won't eat. 

I've also started saying, "First ______, then _______." This was a strategy we used when I taught school. For example, first veggies, then treat. Last week I used it for "first kale chip, then water" and he ate the kale chip (our first time trying those--we both loved them!) right away. It's amazing when you get to a stage where you can reason with them a bit. 

Chris loves to sing songs. Actually, he loves it when we sing to him and he does action. His favorites are: Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Wheels on the Bus, Popcorn Popping, and Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam. He's pretty adorable to watch with his strange actions. 

He is slowly learning more things.... we've worked a lot with his colors and sometimes he can identify right right ball or puzzle piece if I tell him to get the red one or blue one. Those are the colors  he likes the most, and so those are the ones he has learned first. He doesn't know numbers and I am realizing he doesn't know any letters at all..... we don't even sing the ABCs song! That should change. 

He is definitely still in diapers. He has plenty of exposure to the potty (remember how he has to accompany me all the time), but still he doesn't show any interest or readiness for it. Maybe by the time baby number two comes around he will be ready to try it out. 

His favorite activities include: 

• reading books
• playing on the iPod 
• watching movies
• exploring outside
• going in the car
• grocery shopping (he likes putting the food in the back)
• being tickled and thrown around by Daddy
• doing headstands and somersaults (assisted by us, but not for long!)
• running around with his cousins
• playing with cars and balls
• puzzles
• going on walks
• swinging
• making videos on the iPod
• calling Daddy on the phone
• smelling and trying on Mommy's essential oils
• playing on the piano
• Blowing bubbles, as evidenced by the following video:

Some of his favorite foods: (this one is hard as it changes often)

• juice
• apples/applesauce
• smoothies
• cheese (specifically--shredded. Only the messiest and hardest form of cheese to eat)
• pretzels
• Wheat Things
• fruit snacks
• broccoli and cauliflower (this one still baffles me, but he loves these)
• chicken
• rice (plain or with ice on top)
• carrots (this one is a hit or miss)
• cereal
• cinnamon toast
• fish
• french fries
• ketchup (he has been known to take a spoon to it.... so gross)
• yogurt, especially with granola on top
• corn (this kid can handle a corn on the cob as well as any adult)

Foods he does NOT like:

• bananas (almost 90% of the time.... and randomly it's all he wants to eat)
• lettuce/salad
• beans
• strawberries
• potatoes, mashed potatoes (which he used to LOVE)
• oranges or mandarins
• most things I offer at dinner.... until he is forced to eat a bit and then he generally loves it. Funny how that works.

From Apple Hill in October where he tripped and got a fat lip. :(

Seeing the Christmas lights.

Adorable little church outfit from his G'parents.

I love to cuddle with him while he's sleeping! 

 This next picture is of something he does often. Where he got it, I'm not sure, and why he does it, I'm not sure... but randomly, he will walk around with his finger or hand holding his chin saying, "hm...." It's pretty adorable and super funny. We must have a child that is very pensive.

Hm...

Livin' the life. Water and juice!

Family night out to the pet store! No animals were purchased. We just wanted to explore! Chris LOVED the fish.

Simple Lemon Curd

This is no food blog, but since I could not find the recipe I wanted online, I thought it would be good to put it out there on the World Wide Web! Hopefully this helps those out there looking for a simple recipe for lemon curd like I was!

Recently, I saw a suggestion on Pinterest to put lemon curd in crepes. Yum! I love lemon and I love lemon curd. So, I thought I'd make some. However, my search online was not fun. There are so many recipes out there, many of them using a double boiler (which I don't have and I don't like using the bowl method), most of them straining the curd (do that many people really scramble the eggs? it seems like an easy thing to prevent), many of them adding the ingredients in different orders, and in general, most of them seemed more involved than I wanted in a simple lemon curd recipe! There was even a microwave version, but that one involved cooking it for one minute intervals, and the thought of sitting by the microwave and cooking it one minute at a time for 15 minutes sounded tedious! Also, it did not sound like you would be in very good control. Anyways, the problems people seemed to have were these:

1. Scrambled eggs. The recipes I found all used a double boiler and/or they strained the curd at the end to get out little bits of cooked egg. I felt like this could be avoided really easily by tempering the eggs and heating it on low.

2. Bitter tasting. I have read that when you cook the zest it tastes bitter. Some added the zest at the end, and so I chose to do this.

Finally I found a recipe that I could work with. It's Ina Garten's recipe (Barefoot Contessa on Food Network), and I also saw it on another blog. I liked this recipe the best of all my searching, but I still made changes. Here is my recipe, which turned out perfectly:

This is a picture from the blog I mentioned, Tried and Tasty. Just as this is no food blog, I am no food photographer!

Simple Lemon Curd


Ingredients

Zest of 3 large lemons (I used 5 small)

1/2 c. lemon juice (my five lemons almost made enough, so I used a bit of bottled juice)

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 stick (1/2 c.) butter

1/8 tsp. salt

4 extra-large eggs (I used 4 large and one yolk)



Zest the lemons and set zest aside. Juice the lemons (being sure to keep those seeds out!) and add into a 2 quart saucepan, along with the sugar, butter, and salt. Heat on low until butter and sugar are completely melted/dissolved. As that heats, whisk the eggs in a medium sized bowl until combined. Once the sugar mixture is heated, slowly temper the eggs by constantly whisking the eggs while very slowly pouring in the sugar mixture (I would pause often in my pouring to give the eggs a chance to heat up without overwhelming them). When you have added all the sugar mixture into the eggs, pour the new mixture back into the saucepan, and again heat it on low. Stir (or whisk) constantly for about 10-15 minutes (took me 15), until you can see whisk marks in the curd and it coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and add the zest. Pour into a clean bowl, and cover with plastic wrap, putting the wrap directly on the curd to prevent a skin forming. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate up to one week. Makes about 3 cups.


With this method, you should have no problem with scrambled eggs nor any bitter taste. The key to making lemon curd is keeping it low and slow. I hope this helps others searching for a great tasting but simple recipe for lemon curd!