Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Pregnancy Update- 38 weeks!

How far along? 38.4 weeks

Total weight gain/loss? lost 4 more lbs!

Stretch marks?  Nothing new.

Hows the sleep? Starting to suck! I'm up several times a night now between peeing and being uncomfortable!

Best moment this week? Contractions! Feel like we're moving forward towards the end now!
   
Movement? He was really active last night after I was done having the contractions!

Food cravings? soft ice cream, it's all I can think about!

Sex of baby? It's a boy!!!!

Labor signs? see my update at the bottom.

Belly button, in or out? OUT!

What are you missing? WINE!

What are you looking forward to? holding him for the first time!!

Other updates?

Had my weekly appointment today. Baby boy is in perfect position, I'm measuring 2 weeks behind (which means he's dropping and my tummy is shrinking), and I'm a fingertip to 1cm dilated. All things are progressing in the right direction. My Dr. was going to strip my membranes today but she couldn't quite get there with how much I'm dilated, so we'll try next week as long as I'm a little more dilated! Her words were, "Looks like you've got at least another week ahead of you, but I've learned NEVER to trust second babies! You can be barely dilated in the morning and be in Labor and Delivery that night!".

I'm certainly having some cramping from the cervical check today and I had a good hour+ of contractions last night, so progress is certainly happening! I don't want to rush him along or anything but I am ready to be done being pregnant! I'm sure just about every pregnant lady has said that at one time or another!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Freezer Cooking

With my due date less than a month away now I made the decision that I wanted to get a bunch of freezer meals stocked up. That way after the little guy arrives I will have some quick and easy to prepare meals. I started scouring Pinterest and made up a spreadsheet of recipes that sounded good to me and then had hubby go through and pick out 10 that he liked too. I used my spreadsheet to help myself create a shopping list and printed it out.

First thing I did was go shopping in my own pantry, fridge and freezer. We butcher our own cows so I knew I would have lots of ground round and lots of frozen veggies from our garden. Then I reviewed my spreadsheet and eliminated all the things that I already had on hand. Saturday morning we went off to the store and bought all the things I needed to get our meals made. It cost me approximately $120 to buy all the supplies, I didn't think that was too bad.

Here's what we came up with. Some are slow cooker meals and require nothing more than chopping things and tossing them in freezer bags, others require some minimal cooking.

  1. Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken
  2. Chicken Cordon Bleu Bundles
  3. Ranch Pork Chops and Potatoes
  4. Marinated and Baked Pork Chops
  5. Stephanies Goulash/Beef Stew
  6. Savory Vegetable Beef Stew
  7. Loaded Baked Potato Casserole
  8. Baked Ziti 
  9. Lasagna
  10. Chicken Caccatorie


Click the link below to see all the recipes we used! All of the recipes are linked back to the page where I got them from, except the last 3 which were recipes I already had.

Some of these recipes make more than one meal, so all in all I got 15 meals out of these 10 recipes! I also had 2 large chicken breasts left over so I tossed them in a bag with some Italian dressing and got an extra meal!
Finished product!

I wish I had taken pictures as I went along (it was pretty much controlled chaos), but I didn't think of it until later on. Maybe next time!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Mess Free Painting (Paint in a Bag)

Have I told you about this yet?I don't think I have. Thanks to Pinterest I have found a great way to entertain Bug when I need a few minutes to get something done like the dishes, or make dinner! It's a fantastic way for her to paint (which she LOVES) without the big clean up afterwards. Normally I don't mind a mess but when you just need 10 minutes of distraction, you don't want a 15 minute clean up at the end, so this is the perfect solution.

Here's what you'll need:
A gallon size Ziploc bag 
Paints (we used fingerpaints but you can use whatever you have on hand, Tempra would work great too)
Q-tips
Tape (preferably something strong like duct tape)


I squirted two blobs of paint into the bag, we were working on the color green that week so I thought I would do one bag of blue and yellow to create green and another bag with green in it.
  Smoosh the paint around and try to push out as much of the air as you can (smoosh is a word, right?). After you seal the bag tape it shut to prevent any explosions! I forgot to take a picture after I taped it, sorry!

Then arm your toddler with a q-tip and hand over the bags! (You can see the duct tape in this picture!) You can even tape the bag to the surface where they are going to paint, or hang it up in a window to let the sun shine through!
such concentration!
 She had a blast, it kept her entertained until dinner was ready and she wanted to come back to it after we were done eating!

Friday, April 12, 2013

Another Survey but with a picture!

How far along? 36 weeks

Total weight gain/loss? I am up 13lbs, not too bad!

Stretch marks?  Nothing new.

Hows the sleep?Not so bad, even if I am getting up to pee twice a night. 

Best moment this week? watching Bug talk to and kiss my belly. She's constantly asking to "talk to brother" which results in my shirt being pulled up and pants down so she can talk into my belly button!
   
Movement? Lots! Last night was pretty painful, but I know that means he's doing well in there so I'll deal!

Food cravings? nothing really, at the moment at least!

Sex of baby? It's a boy!!!!

Labor signs? None.

Belly button, in or out? OUT :(

What are you missing? meh, I'm just ready for the end.

What are you looking forward to? having him in my arms!

Other updates? I have my Group B Strep coming up on Tuesday and yesterday marked having one month left!!



So I've debated and debated over whether or not to post this picture anywhere, but I've finally decided that it's too sweet and too dear to me not to share it. I was embarrassed by the stretch marks but I earned every one of those stripes creating Bug, there's nothing to be embarrassed about!

Here's my Bug giving Baby Brother kisses!