25 Week Recap

I just finished week 25! We had our 4D ultrasound yesterday, that is a story and process in itself. But we did get a few good pictures of HER (yes we confirmed) face, legs, and arms. We have a disc of video, but i'm having a hard time turning that into a picture, so I'll have to have Daniel help me and post it later. But she is adorable!!

Yesterday I had my glucose test and found out today that I passed. We were both actually shocked, Daniel especially. But we're so grateful I did!

Our little girl is measuring further behind that she should be and I was told to eat more and to increase my protein. So even though my tummy already looks big, I'm doing what I can to make it even bigger! I'll go back to the dr's in 3 weeks.

How Far Along: 25 weeks

Size of Baby: Cauliflower. About 13-14 inches long, and 1.4 lbs. She is supposed to be about 2 lbs right now. We're hoping she'll put on some weight pretty quick.

Weight Gain: 12 lbs

Gender: Girl

Movement: All the time. There are some days that she doesn't stop moving, then some days where I just feel her every so often.

Sleep: Up until last night, it's been pretty rough. I wake up with my hips and legs in a lot of pain....it kind of feels like when I had growing pains as a kid. But last night was the first night in a while I slept really good. i'm hoping that continues!

Maternity Clothes: All pants and most shirts.

Symptoms: A little heartburn, achy hips and back

Aversions: Hamburgers

Cravings: Chocolate, cake, sugar.....basically the bad things

What I miss: Sleeping on my back

Best Moment of the Week: Seeing our little girl and knowing she is doing okay

What I'm looking forward to: Fully embracing the pink! Up until now i was holding back some because I really wanted to know for sure she was really a girl. So I'm ready to completely dive in to the pink polka dotted world!

love

laura

Girls Nite In

Daniel is travelling this week with a few friends, one of them being my friend's husband. With the boys gone, my friend planned a little Girls Nite In at her house last night for a few of us.

We had fudge brownies, rolos (from AMERICA!), popcorn, and hot drinks (it's been a lot cooler here lately).

My friend asked us to bring some old magazines to use for a craft project she had planned for us. I wish I had taken more pictures, because my friend had set up a cute craft station and also a mani/pedi station with lotions, towels, places to soak our feet etc....It was so cute!

Our craft last night was to cut things out of the magazine-words, pictures, etc...to make a collage of "Where are We now?" So the 5 of us cut thru magazines to make our collage of where we are now-our general feeling of where we are in life, how we feel about things going on, etc....then we shared it.

This was mine:

Yes, it is already hanging on my fridge. I had my nephews artwork hanging there, so it just made sense to add mine :)

The main theme for mine was Celebrate the Season. No matter where Father has me in life, or what part of the roller coaster (up or down), I feel like I am on-I want to celebrate whatever season He has me in. Easier said than done sometimes.

The cupcake, polka dots, and Valentine stand for our little girl, who is due around V day-and how much I want her to wear cupcakes and polka dots for life, ha! Then there's the pic of the sandwich because you better believe I will be having a huge lunch meat sandwich after our little one arrives. 

I just wanted to share this, I thought it was a great idea and craft to have at your next girls nite, or just to use as an icebreaker to get to know people better.

has anyone done this before?

love

laura

My 12 pound Pumpkin

No, I am not talking about my baby, because that would be frightening. 

With Daniel being out of town, I made a list of things I wanted to do while he was gone...the usual-go thru winter clothes (see what will still fit this preggo mama), run certain errands, and also try to bake and freeze some breads in prep for baby. 

I've been good at freezing meals before, but freezing breads and cookies is a new thing to me, and I will say-I like it! 

So I waddled my way to the market to buy a few veggies and a pumpkin. My plan was to puree the pumpkin, and make some muffins and breads to freeze.

I picked out a large pumpkin and the lady told me, "it's really heavy." Yeah yeah yeah, I'll be fine. 

So when she handed me the pumpkin, I almost dropped it. It was 12 pounds!!!! I know because I weighed it when I got home. Honestly, I didn't even think I was going to make it home. I know many of you carry around your 30 lb child all the time, but an oddly shaped pumpkin is a completely different story. I had to stop several times on the way back home to readjust, and was thankful I hadn't bought some other things that had been on my list. Granted, the market isn't a full mile from our house, but it's not like it's next door either! (and yes, my right bicep was sore the next day)

So I got home, weighed the pumpkin and got to work. I cut it in fourths, scraped the seeds out, and cooked it for about an hour and a half.

After I pureed the pumpkin, my plan was to freeze the puree in one cup baggies, and leave a few cups out to bake with. However, I ran out of ziplocks, so right now I have two large bowls of puree in my fridge.

So yesterday morning I decided to make Pumpkin spice pancakes. I didn't put the sugar cinnamon topping on, I just ate these like regular pancakes-butter and syrup. Let me tell you, these were delicious!!!!!!!!!!

Since it was just me, I halved the recipe, and got about 5 large pancakes out of it. I will probably make these again tomorrow too!

I made my fave Cream of Pumpkin Soup for dinner Friday night......yummmm yummmmm. Sorry I don't have a picture, but trust me it was yummy. I found the recipe here....I've never made the croutons. 

Saturday, I went to work on pumpkin bread and muffins. I used this recipe (but doubled it), and used 5 eggs. I ground 1 cup of oatmeal and substituted that for a cup of flour. I got 1 large loaf, 2 mini's, and 12 muffins. i froze everything but one mini loaf. And for Daniel, I added chocolate chips.

Right now I also have several pounds of fruit-some familiar, some not, in my kitchen. Friday my teacher showed up with several bags of different fruits for me to try. Let's just say I really took one for the team. 

I had my teacher and her friend over last night for dinner, and received several more pounds of fruit. This time, I at least knew what they were. :) 

In other news, I've been watching Season 1 of Downton Abbey. This morning I woke up and had the thought that it would be lovely if people would start calling me "Your Ladyship." Maybe a few too many episodes?? 

What do you like to freeze?? Any DA fans out there?

love

laura

24 Week Recap

I just finished week 24, which is CRAZY!! How is this pregnancy flying by so fast??? Daniel left yesterday for a week in the mountains, so we snapped this picture before he left. So it's just me and the baby! I generally always lose weight when Daniel travels, because I don't cook as much. I have a feeling it might be different this time!

I'm still feeling really good overall and loving pregnancy. Sometimes I forget I'm pregnant, and then walk by a mirror, and I'm like WHOA! I also think I might've started waddling. I was walking down our hallway a few times today and caught myself thinking "oh am I waddling??" And then I try to make myself walk like a normal person and not a duck, ha, as if I have any control over it!

How Far Along: 24 weeks!

Size of Baby: Cantaloupe-12 inches long and almost 1 1/2 lbs. By the way, I read my uterus is the size of a soccer ball now...which kind of freaks me out to think about having a soccer ball in my tummy, but after looking at pics of myself, it's hard to deny, ha!

Weight Gain: 12 lbs

Gender: Girl

Movement: All the time! Every morning at 7:30, it's like clockwork, then throughout the day too. I've also felt her in the middle of the night when I'm rolling over too.

Sleep: It's okay. I feel like I'm sleeping, but waking up more tired than usual. I actually had to lay down 3 days in a row cos I was tired. Maybe what I didn't feel the first trimester is catching up?

Maternity Clothes: Yep! All pants, and most shirts, except around the house I'll still wear my old T-shirts...my belly just shows a little bit :)

Symptoms: Heartburn for the first time in my life! So far, just a few times, but I was not a fan of it. And feeling more tired. And I'm still going the bathroom about every 5 minutes.

Aversions: Hamburgers still.

Cravings: Chocolate. Sweets, fried foods.

What I miss: Daniel right now, but not too much else

Best Moment this week: Last Saturday, I was sitting on the couch feeling baby move. Then all of a sudden I thought I saw my belly move. It was the first time I could see and feel her move from the outside. Later that afternoon Daniel felt her move for the first time. It was amazing, and I'm so glad he felt her move! I love feeling her move and watching my belly move too, love.it.

What I'm looking forward to: Next Thursday we go for the 4D ultrasound (and to confirm she really is a girl, ha!), and I have my glucose test. I'm obviously looking forward to the ultrasound part. I cannot wait to see her little face!!!!!!

This past Sunday I was dressed up a little so we took a few pics outside. This ones my favorite.

We're 99% sure on her first name, but still deciding on her middle name. We call her by her first name all the time. If we can make up our mind soon, I'll post her name!

love

laura

23 Week Recap

I just finished week 23 and I feel GREAT! I really am enjoying this stage of pregnancy...I look pregnant and nothing is really uncomfortable or hurting. I'm so thankful this pregnancy has been as smooth as it has. I'm just hoping the next one isn't payback for how easy this one has been, ha!

How far Along: 23 Weeks

Size of Baby: Large Mango, about a foot long and a little over a pound

Weight Gain: 11 pounds

Gender: Girl

Movement: Every day, mostly after I've eaten

Sleep: Pretty good!

Maternity Clothes: All my pants are maternity and most my shirts. I'm wearing mostly maternity shirts because I like to wear my shirts long and my regular ones are too short.

Symptoms: I've been having to go the bathroom a lot more lately, I feel like i'm back in the first trimester. I feel like I'm about to burst, and then will hardly go anything. It's weird.

Aversions: Hamburgers

Cravings: Chocolate, warm/hot water, food in general

What I miss: Sleeping on my back

Best Moment of the week: Using Facetime to talk with my sister this morning and showing each other our belly bumps. Also, this week is the first time a local person told me that I didn't look pregnant. So far most locals comment (continuously) on how big my stomach is.

What I'm looking forward to: Eating!

love

laura

Best Recipe EVER and other news

I have a friend who has a recipe blog that I steal borrow several recipes from. She has a recipe for Easy French Bread that I've been wanting to try for a while. But any bread recipe that includes waiting time for something to rise, I tend to shy away from. I generally prefer to go straight from start to finish when I'm baking, so I don't usually go for recipes that include waiting time.

(dough rising the second time)

However.....

Another friend of mine just had a baby and I was planning on bringing them lasagna for dinner. I thought this would be a great time to try to my friends recipe. Because who doesn't love homemade bread I always say??

(do you see the perfection???)

I have to say, this is the EASIEST bread recipe I have ever made!  I would like to say it's foolproof.

You can find the recipe here. I made 4 loaves, and I think next time I'll do 5. I still had to squish my bread into my pan because the dough was too long. And 5 is always better than 4 :)

I did put the egg wash on 3 of the loaves, and I think I preferred it that way. The bread smelled SOOO good while it was rising and baking, I can't even tell you. We've already eaten one loaf, and it was perfect! Seriously, please try this recipe!

In other news.......I ordered a Boppy from a local website here. Because it was so cheap, I had my doubts on if it would be real or if I was would end up just receiving the Boppy cover, but look what came!!!

It's a CUPCAKE Boppy, oh my goodness, how cute is it?!?!?!?!?!?

And it's double sided!!!

(you can't really see it, but there are little hearts on this side)

I'm SO excited that it worked out, and to add to our little cupcake collection!!

Also.....I went out yesterday to run some errands and saw this......

The leaves were changing! I have never seen this before in our city. We have 'seasons,' but we don't ever get below freezing, so things don't really die. They just stay the same color all year round. 

It's like seeing a rainbow for the very time, just slightly less dramatic.

Tomorrow is week 23 recap!

love

laura

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

It's fall. Which means it's PUMPKIN TIME!!

Until last year, I had never tasted pumpkin and had convinced myself I didn't like it. Then a friend made a few recipes with pumpkin and I loved every one of them!

We buy our pumpkins in the market here....they look like long squash. I cut the pumpkin in half, deseed, cook for about an hour or so, then scoop out the pumpkin and puree it with a little bit of water. One pumpkin can get me about 10 cups of pumpkin puree. I still had pumpkin in the freezer from last winter, so i decided to get my fall baking on this past weekend.

I've been wanting to make a pumpkin muffin, instead of just regular pumpkin bread. But I wanted to make the recipe a little healthier. All of the healthy recipes online included ingredients I can't get here and/or sounded too healthy to even taste good.

So I took my regular pumpkin bread recipe and tweaked it a little. I have to get my splenda from the states, so I never cook with it. I always use it just for my coffee. But I decided to splurge and use it in this recipe, and it worked really well!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup oats

3/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/3 tsp baking powder

1 Tbs ground flax seed

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup Splenda sugar blends (mine was a little closer to 1/3)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup oil (plus 1 Tbs)

2 eggs

1 cup pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 350 (175 C)

In large mixing bowl, combine all of your dry ingredients. Mix well.

Add pumpkin, oil, and eggs to dry mixture. Mix well.

Grease muffin pans. I used a 1/4 measuring cup to pour the batter into the muffin tins. They were about 2/3 full. I baked these for about 22 minutes....you might want to check these at 20 minutes. When a toothpick comes out clean, remove from oven.

Cool in muffin pans for about 5 minutes. Then use a knife to go around the edges to loosen the muffin. Then remove the muffins and allow to cool on a baking rack for about 10 minutes.

Makes about 15 muffins. You could also make this into bread if you wanted. 

These were REALLY good! Daniel said he couldn't taste the difference between this and the regular pumpkin bread recipe. The main change was decreasing the flour and adding in the oats. Also adding ground flax and Splenda. These are super moist, and taste really sweet! 

I was worried that the oatmeal would give it a strange texture, but you couldn't even tell it was in there. These may not be the healthiest pumpkin muffins, but they are really good tasting ones!

I also experimented a little when I made my granola bars. I like adding in nuts like cashews, almonds, and peanuts, but the nuts don't seem to mix that well with the granola mixture. So yesterday I decided to blend the nuts first, then just add them in. They weren't as chewy as normal, so next time I need to add a little bit more honey. But I like how they came out. One change I have made to the original recipe, is I also add almost 1/2 cup of peanut butter. And when I half the recipe, I use a 7X11 pan, because an 8X8 is too small. 

When you take the granola bars out of the oven, you can either freeze them first for about 45 minutes, or cool in the fridge for about an hour. Then take them out and cut them. Because it's cooler here now,  I leave these out, but during the summer, they always stay in the fridge. I think they're chewier that way. 

love

laura

22 Week Recap

I finished week 22 on Friday. Sorry I didn't get this post up, I didn't shower on Friday and Saturday I was in my pj's the whole day. But I was showered and dressed this morning, so here ya go :)
And yes, I realize the stripes are not really helping me look slimmer, but have you noticed that striped shirts are always horizontal, and not vertical, even maternity. weird. And as I read in my pregnancy book this week, I'm not fat, I'm just pregnant :)

How far Along: 22 weeks

Size of Baby: Papaya-10-12 inches long, weighs about a pound

(disclaimer: last week I said the baby was 11 inches-I have no idea where that came from, she was actually about 8 or 9)

Weight Gain: 10 lbs..another reason I was avoiding this post. Apparently I gained 4 pounds last week. I am pretty sure it is a fluke, because how is that even possible???

Gender: GIRL!

Movement: Everyday...some days she moves all time, and sometimes I just feel her a few times throughout the day.

Sleep: Pretty good.

Maternity Clothes: Yes-all pants and a combo of regular and maternity shirts

Symptoms: Nothing really.....other than hunger

Aversions: Daniel wants to make homemade hamburgers and I keep putting it off. It's the one thing that just hasn't sounded good at all.  And the last time I ate one was in the first trimester, and it didn't go so well.

Cravings: Chocolate. Oh my gosh the hunger I've had this past week!!!! I have had to have so much self control it isn't even funny. I can just eat one bite of chocolate and all I can think about is wanting to finish off the entire cake or bag of candy. Seriously, it's the strangest thing ever. I'm a little scared at how intense my cravings are for chocolate.

What I miss: not much of anything

Best Moment of the Week: Having my mom here. It was so nice to just talk about babies, and ask her my questions, and have her right here to answer them. I'm so glad she was able to come visit.

What I'm looking forward to: Eating??? And getting back into a good exercise schedule. With travelling and having my mom in town, I haven't been running or walking as much as I normally do. Hopefully I can slow down this weight gain a little bit.

One thing I've really enjoyed is having dry hair. I know that's weird, but I have ALWAYS had really oily skin and hair. And pregnancy has made my skin and hair really dry. I've been washing my hair every 4 days. It's so wonderful!!

love

laura