Two successful recipes!!

Over the last week I've made both the Beef Stew and Veggie Beef soup from our adventure in Cooking Once a Month.  Both were DELICIOUS and definitely repeatable.  Since we were so impressed with both, I'm combining our reactions.

Meals: Beef Stew and Veggie Beef Soup
Roselyn's Rating (based on a scale of "Licking Out the Crock Pot" to "Pitching the Whole Damn Thing"): Pretty darn close to Licking Out the Crock Pot for the stew.  We served it over egg noodles and it was divine! The soup was very good as well and it will definitely last more than 2 meals.
Brian's Rating (based on a scale of "Licking Out the Crock Pot" to "Pitching the Whole Damn Thing"): When we had the stew, I believe B said something along the lines of 'this is one recipe I'll look forward to having again'. And considering the fact that it had peppers AND onions, that's saying something! Last night when the soup was on the menu, he was equally impressed but I expected that since it's just plain ol' veggie soup with some ground beef thrown in.

General Reactions: SOOOOOOO good! I had the stew as leftovers twice since the original evening and will probably have it again tonight.  Both B and I took the soup for lunch today.  I thought it was equally as good today as last night, and we'll see what B says later!

What I'd Change for Next Time: I think both recipes needed a little more salt and pepper.  It was easy enough to add them bowl by bowl so I probably wouldn't add more to the baggies pre-freeze. 
 
 
We still have the Healthy Barbeque Chicken and the Roast and another bag of each of the recipes I've done.  So far the idea of only cooking once in a while seems to be going really well.  My bank account is liking it too because we haven't had to do major shopping since our big shopping day!

Crockpot dinner, 1st attempt...

Meal: Teriyaki Chicken

Roselyn's Rating (based on a scale of "Licking Out the Crock Pot" to "Pitching the Whole Damn Thing"): Meh, could be worse! The other bag will get made but probably not until all the others are gone.  My reaction could most likely be attributed to the fact that any soy sauce based dish has sounded good to me before it's cooked and then sounds, smells and tastes disgusting to me once it's cooked.

Brian's Rating (based on a scale of "Licking Out the Crock Pot" to "Pitching the Whole Damn Thing"): Definitely better than expected!

General Reactions: The apartment smelled amazing as soon as we came home.  The new crock pot Brian bought me for Christmas worked very well.  Since it has a timer on it, I was able to turn it on before I left for work and it switched to Warm after 8 hours.  I'm wondering if maybe that could have been a contributing factor to my not enjoying dinner as much.  It's possible that everything had cooked for too long.  Which I suppose is better than not cooked enough :)

What I'd Change for Next Time: Because I do love teriyaki so much, I'm willing to try this again. (Especially if I make it AFTER the baby is born :) I think he/she is not a fan of Chinese/Japanese food!)

Next time I think I would save this one for a day when I'm going to be home earlier or leave later so the crock pot on for a total of nine and a half hours.  I know that having it change from Low to Warm means that it's not cooking at the same rate, but it has to be still cooking that whole time. 

I'd also like to try adding some more seasoning to it.  I think it needed more ginger and less soy sauce flavor. And maybe some garlic? Or I should say MORE garlic, there was some in there but not enough.

Next time I think I'll try cutting the chicken into smaller pieces before freezing it OR shredding the chicken after it's cooked.  And since it's served over rice, I'd like to try thickening the sauce before serving it.  The sauce was really runny and definitely would have been better if it had some substance to it.

The other thing that could have stood in my way of enjoying dinner tonight was that we got rear ended on the way home.  There was no visible damage to the Scion but it still shook us both up.  The kid who hit us looked like he was going to cry and kept apologizing.  He really didn't hit us that hard.  Neither of our seatbelts locked up and the car didn't move at all really. Brian's going to take the car to the dealership first thing tomorrow morning and get it checked out to make sure we don't need to turn anything in to the insurance.  We're both really okay.  Honestly, if we hadn't heard the noise of him hitting us, we wouldn't have known (mostly). That being said, I'm glad I have an appointment with Dr. Lamade on Thursday.  I just need to hear the baby's heartbeat again to make me feel all better. :)

I should really learn NOT to read certain posts!

Let me just start out saying that I L-O-V-E, love being pregnant! Other than not being able to eat all I want because my stomach is getting squished by baybee and won't hold everything, I have no complaints :)

That being said, I really need to stop reading blogs/posts about moms who have lost their babies long after that first scary 12 week period.  I have been doing everything in my power to keep this baby healthy and baking until June but every little twinge scares me.  I don't want to spend the next 16ish weeks worrying, but that's easier said than done.  ::sigh::

Anyway... yesterday was my birthday! :) The big 2-9. Wow. :) I ate A LOT A LOT A LOT and paid for it with feeling uncomfortable all night, but it was worth it.  Sarah and I spent the better part of 5 hours doing this. We'll see how they turn out when we start cooking them this week! There was only one massive mess which was a combination of my not making sure the bag was sealed and a broken seal on one of the Teriyaki Chicken bags. But all's well that ends well, we got it all cleaned up and transferred to a new bag.

I also got free cake at The Hitching Post thanks to the owner George.  We've gotten to know him during our pre-Happy Hour visits and he was kind enough to surprise me after brunch :) And I can't forget the Sublime Cupcake run! B and I decided that I didn't need a whole cake (neither of us are big cake eaters) and didn't have room for an ice cream cake, so Sublime was my birthday treat this year.

Thursday I have another appointment with Dr. Lamade for the little tweeblet, so I'll write an update then on the important stuff :)

Boob giveaway!

Okay, they're not really giving away boobs... I've got enough of them! But I figured I'd enter to win this give away in hopes that I'm as lucky as Sarah!

One thing I need to get on with is finding suitable things to nurse in!  One of the women on the June board at the Bump had this posted so I thought I'd give it a chance.  You could always register and then give it to me if you win.... :) Help Roselyn keep the ladies covered!!

Updates and pictures and lists, oh my!

We have officially reached 22 weeks!

• How big is baby: Our little one is between 10.5 to 11.8 inches and weighs about 12.7 to 20.8 ounces, the size of a papaya <3 And officially big enough that the little tweeblet's movements are pretty obvious to me :)
   
• Weight gain/loss: Around 5 net pounds since November, which means I'm FINALLY starting to gain weight! (never thought I'd be cheering for weight gain...)
• Stretch marks: Just a few on the sides of my bump, nothing major.  :) And every little mark is more than welcome, that means the baby is growing!!
   
• Maternity clothes: Almost exculusively now... and I'm good with that.  I'd rather be comfy and cute than overflowing my clothes!
• Sleep: Meh... I get a solid four hours a night and then am restless for a few hours.  I'm sleeping mostly on my side now but I wake up occasionaly on my back.  Which makes my back hurt after a little bit. :( I think this is just my body preparing itself for when the tiny one arrives <3
•  Food cravings or aversions: None really... I eat what I'm hungry for and avoid what doesn't sound good to me.  The babe definitely likes sweets though! We got an email a few weeks ago about the baseball team selling Krispy Kreme donuts and as soon as I asked one of my kids if they were selling them the baby started jumping around like crazy!
• Movement: All over the place now!  It's mostly at the end of the day and early in the morning.  Sometimes I can feel 10 to 15 kicks, punches, jumps in a row and other times it's just a few here and there.  I cannot wait until B can feel the kicks too :)
   
• What I miss: Being able to take whatever cold/allergy meds I want!  We spent this past weekend cleaning out our bedroom to make room for the baby and the dust was unbearable!  I was okay while we were cleaning but Saturday night into Sunday I barely slept between 2 and 8.  Last night I took Benedryl and that seemed to help but I am not going to make taking it a habit.  I know it's safe occasionaly but I know how out of it I get when I take Benedryl, so what's it doing to the baby??
   
• Misc: I've (FINALLY) started having dreams about the baby! I've heard that if you dream about the sex of your baby you're most likely right. Both last night and Thursday night I dreamt about a sweet little baby girl with bright blue eyes and brown hair <3 Both B and I would be thrilled with a boy or a girl, but I FEEL like we're having a girl. Maybe it's wishful thinking (my sisters both just had girls in April and May last year, so if we have a girl we'll get lots of hand me downs!) or the fact that everyone in my family had a girl first, but I'm holding to this baby being a girl :)
• We haven't decided on a girl name yet but we've narrowed it down from 50 to 20  :) We've also narrowed the list of boy names down, but again no clear winner yet.

Sooo, since day 1 (or more like day 21) of this pregnancy I've been confused about my due date.  Based on my LMP, the due date would be June 19th.  Which just so happens to be our 3rd anniversary <3 Based on ovulation (thanks to my Clear Blue Easy Fertility Monitor-seriously if you want to get pregnant buy one of these) my due date would be June 26th.  According to our first appointment with the RN and Dr. Lamade the date would be June 21st.  HOWEVER whenever we have an ultrasound the date is back to the 19th! I think I'm going to stick with the 21st since (a) it's in the middle and (b) I'd rather be planning on meeting this little one at the end of the month and then SURPRISE we get to meet her him the sweetness earlier :)

Not that my due date really matters that much since this baby will be born via c-section. Thanks to my myomectomy (nasty fibroid removal) six years ago, Dr. Lamade thinks it's best if we avoid the risk of tearing and do the c-section.  Because we (especially Dr. Lamade) don't want for me to go into labor at all if possible, we'll schedule the section for a week to 10 days before 40 weeks.  I think Dr. Lamade is more antsy/excited for this baby than most people we know so he's itching (just as much as us!) for this baby to arrive.  When we saw him at the end of January he mentioned delivering the baby at the beginning of June! :) Now, if my EDD is June 19th, ten days early would be June 9th which is early June.  We have school until June 6th so if he wants to deliver before then I'll have to take sick days, which is FANTASTIC by me!! <3 I cannot believe that in less than 4 months I'll be a mommy!

My computer does not want to cooperate, so my plan to upload multiple pictures has fallen through :( But here's our most recent ultrasound!! :)

 My little thumb-sucker at 20 weeks :)

 

Things I Need to Get Done Before The Baybee Comes...

• Find a cute shower invitation
• Send out said invites for March 24th
• Create and carry out a menu for the shower
• Pick out a crib for baby to sleep in
• Assemble the crib
• Realize that the crib should not be assembled in OUR bedroom, but instead in the second bedroom.  The baby won't sleep in it right away anyway and will sleep in the pack n' play in our room.
• Clean out the second bedroom
• Reassemble the crib in the baby's room/guest room
• Find a dresser/changing table for the baby
• Write a letter to the school board requesting FMLA for next school year
• Clean/reorganize my classroom so my sub can find things!
• Attend my baby shower on March 24th BEFORE the risk of being put on travel restriction
• Buy any other "must haves" before the tiny one shows up

I'm sure there are a million other things I need to do, but that's all I've got for now!

 

The excitement got to me...

So I've had this delicious little secret from the majority of people for the last 18-ish weeks.  Well, it was a complete secret from all my my darling husband (and Katelyn) for 12-ish weeks and then from the majority of people until Christmas when we filled our families in on the news.

If you haven't guessed yet...

We're having a baby!! :) I wasn't going to make a big announcement to the world until after our 20 week appointment, but like I said, the excitement got to me :)

I'm 17 weeks, 5 days right now, but here's a better update...

• How big is baby: We're between the size of an onion and a sweet potato :) about 5.1 inches long and weighs about 5.9 ounces. The baby's rubbery cartilage is now turning to bone and gaining some fat there. 
• Weight gain/loss: At my last appointment (2 weeks ago) I was still down 2 pounds since I got pregnant. Our scale at home doesn't seem to be completely accurate, but I'm thinking I'm at 0 weight gain so far.  Looking at me though you would think I had gained 5 to 10 pounds all in one certain area. I just read on The Bump that by the 17th week I should have gained 5 to 10 pounds... I really don't think I've done that.  Although... I did lose 6 pounds between the start of my pregnancy and week 8 and then I've been slowly gaining. Hmm... maybe I have gained some weight!! 
• Stretch marks: No noticeable ones yet, but I do think I'm getting some on my stomach. HA! I wrote this before I had a chance to actually check for stretch marks and OH they are there! Nasty little things... I have some lovely red/pink ones on my stomach and something that looks like white um.. marbling on my sides. Yuck.
• Maternity clothes: I am COMPLETELY in all maternity pants now. I have yet to pack away all my non-maternity clothes because I'm still paranoid I'll need them. No work maternity shirts though.  As a teacher, I try to not wear clingy things anyway so my baggy shirts are working just fine right now.
• Sleep: I'm definitely less tired than I was a few weeks ago, but I could still go for a nap most days. I'm not really sleeping through the night most nights.  I usually get up at 1:30ish to pee and then I'm also awake somewhere between 3 and 4. This is an improvement over my going to bed at 8:30, waking up at 11, 1, 3, and 5 that I had going on before Christmas!
• Food cravings or aversions: Fruit, fruit and more fruit!! I went through a period (about week 5 to 10) where all I wanted was apples, and then until Christmas it was oranges, Clementines to be exact, but now it's strawberries <3 I eat around a quart of strawberries a day (which is hard on the wallet!!) and could probably eat more if I had the chance. I don't really have any aversions, I'm just not in the mood for some things.
• Movement: I don't know if it's movement or not, but at night when I lie on my back I feel... something in my belly. I sort of feels like it's getting tight and then relaxing. Not sure if it's my imagination or the baybee stretching or what but it's there most nights. :) Dr. Lamade (our god of an OBGYN) said not to worry about not feeling anything until 20 weeks so we still have a little time.
• What I miss: A few weeks ago it was alcohol, and then cold cuts.  Now I can't think of anything that I'm missing.  I could definitely go for some coffee occasionally but I can live without it.

Overall things are fantastic :) I'm not sick anymore.  Never really was, just a little nausous. I really don't think I look pregnant though, just fat.  I cannot wait until I get that cute little bump <3

I know, I know...

I have been incredibly lax about this whole blogging thing. The thing is the everyday stuff isn't exciting enough to note and the exciting stuff is too exciting to just throw out there! So here's the super quick, super glossing over the details update of the life of yours truly....

• Christmas was lovely, except for the fact that I had a tooth pulled and it hurt like a mother for days.  Still aches now. We did Christmas Eve with the Adams family and attending church with the Grube-lets. Christmas Day was with the in-laws. Then we drove from the parents' houses back to our cozy apartment for our own Christmas. Then BACK up again for Christmas at Grandma's and Christmas proper with my immediate family. And the tooth extraction fun-ness.  Where I almost passed out thanks to our buddy Codeine. Fun.
• New Years was also spent in the great north.  I did not see the ball drop. Again this year. This time it was a combination of my (recent-ish) exhaustion and the pain killers.
• The first week of 2012 was spent running around to appointments and such.  Including a semi emergency on the tooth front. And to Williamsport for check-ups. I don't think there was one whole day last week where we weren't traveling or contemplating travel.
• This past weekend we visited the Smiths and the Farm Show. Relaxing in the aspect that it's what we wanted to do, but not the same as staying in bed all day.
• And last, but certainly not least, we found out between Thanksgiving and Christmas that there will be not one but TWO Aldrich grandchildren in June of this year. :)

.... and we'll leave it at that <3 hehehe...