domestic efforts.

Nate worked most of Saturday, so I spent the day cleaning. I think it's nesting starting to kick in. That and having clutter and cat hair everywhere and a sink full of dirty dishes just makes me stressed out. I've been intending to do a good cleaning but have lacked motivation, so I decided I'd not only clean but do a little rearranging.

My efforts were concentrated on the living room. I moved a couple of short bookcases from the study (soon to be baby room) into the front room, pushed the TV to a spot under the window, and slightly moved the couches a bit to the south. The result was a room that not only feels clean, it feels inviting. The arrangement opened up a little more floor space, and the bookshelves make it a room to come sit and read, not just watch TV.

When Nate got home, he carried my mixer down from the attic so I could make a strawberry cheesecake. Our last trip to the Cheesecake Factory, we skipped dessert because the cheesecake always disappoints us, especially for the price. I used a strawberry cheesecake recipe that is easy. Unfortunately the instructions on the website are just one big paragraph, so I wrote it out as 1) crust, 2) strawberry sauce, and 3) cheesecake.

Maybe I let it mix long enough to get plenty of air into it, but this cheesecake turned out to be the best—the creamiest and most beautiful—cheesecake I've ever made. It didn't even crack in the oven.

The worst part about cheesecake is having to refrigerate it overnight, which means waiting to eat it. But we enjoyed it on Sunday afternoon. Mmmm.

Sunday afternoons always make me worry we have a carbon monoxide leak. Naps for everyone! (We have a CO detector, don't worry.) We just crash really hard and wake up feeling like we got hit by a truck. That's what Sunday afternoons are for, right?

Baby Jones countdown: 9 weeks, 5 days.