38 WEEKS + 2 DAY

Happy Veteran's Day to all and a huge thank you to all who have served and are serving still! This family appreciates all of you and all you have done for us directly and indirectly.

 

How far along?  38 Weeks + 2 Day.  12 days left! Almost down to the single digits!
Total weight gain:  29 pounds. 
Maternity clothes?  Well apparently my maternity shirts don't want to fit over my belly anymore, but my non-maternity jeans are still fitting.  My outfits end up looking like very unattractive belly shirts.    
Sleep:  Bleh. I'm lucky if I can sleep until 3 am before my brain turns on for the day and I start going through the list of all the things I need to get done. 
Best moment this week:  We had the 38 week dr. appointment and as usual, hearing that little heart beating away is the best moment.  I've had some unsure feelings about how my doctor would respond and work with our doula, so we were lucky enough to have our doula take time out of her morning to come to the appointment with me.  And after the introductions and talks, I feel way better that we're all playing on the same team.  That just ups my excitement for the labor and delivery and make for a great week.  Do you know how awesome it is to be going into labor and delivery for a second time after a horrendous experience the first time and being flat out excited for it?  I don't have any nervous feelings about this.
Cravings:  Cold frosting all the way.  Any other time, I hate frosting, but tell me there's a tub in the fridge and I will eat that entire tub before you can finish asking me "What about your blood sugar?"
Symptoms:  The new one at this point in this pregnancy is mild swelling.  I've been lucky to avoid any swelling up until now, but I hit that point where it just happens despite my every effort to counteract it.  I entirely admit, the sugary snacks that I cave into every once in a while doesn't help with the water retention.  Other than that - still feeling those Braxton Hicks and nesting.  Oh nesting, I want to clean all.the.things. Just too bad I don't get enough sleep at night to give me the energy to follow through on it all.
Looking forward to:  Really, I'm just looking forward to meeting this baby, stop having to check my blood sugar and going on maternity leave.  I've got Conner home with me these next couple weeks while I'm still pulling off a full time job.  It's tough and exhausting.  I just want to get on maternity leave so I only have one full time job to focus on.  After all, it's not easy quieting a screaming two year old while you're on a conference call meeting.

 Big brother wanted to get in the pics but didn't want to look for the camera. Of course.

WEEKEND WRAP UP

It's becoming more exciting (and overwhelming!) that we are down to our last weekends as a family of three.  Every weekend that we get closer to this little new addition, the less energy I have to keep up and the more energy Conner has. That's how I perceive it.  In reality, Conner always has this absurd high level of energy, but it seems more since I am progressively getting slower.

 

These evenings are filled with Conner shouting "Com'mon, daddy!" as Joe chases him through the house. These are the days that I am so grateful to have a husband that can work all day and come home, get chores done, and somehow pull out a crazy amount of energy to chase this little boy around.  And then there is plenty of "wrestling" between the two and outdoor leaf pile jumping.  I get exhausted just watching these two.

 

We just came off a rare November week of sunny skies and temps in the 70's, and the weekend greeted us with more familiar fall weather in the 40's and 50's.  The cooler temps didn't stop us from getting out and enjoying what we could before the bitter cold and snow come.

 

Saturday morning we played around the yard, and I was able to get in some practice with my new camera lens.  I'm trying to get as familiar as I can with it before #2 comes, and I admittedly just have fun with taking pictures.  Unfortunately, I don't have a child that cares to smile for the camera so of the 100 pictures that I take of him outside playing, I get about 6 pictures of him actually looking my way.  He likes to give this mama a challenge.

 

I'm so excited to say that the nursery is 95% complete!!  I only have one more thing to do in there and we are done!  I can't wait to show everyone what we've done.  We also moved the changing table from Conner's room into the nursery, and that in itself makes it feel so complete.  Now all we need is that baby.

 

Conner took a three hour nap on Saturday! I love the free time that long naps give me, but whoa, we pay the price with a very unhappy toddler when he sleeps that long.  That's usually about the time that I suggest we talk to Nana and Papa which perks him up and gets him happy again, so FaceTime we did! 

We FaceTime my parents every week and have done that since Conner was born (sometimes multiple times a week). We are far from a technological family, but it is amazing how helpful that has been to establish and grow a relationship with his grandparents.  It also amazes me that he knows what buttons to push to open up the program and call Papa.  So after our FaceTime fix on Saturday we were back to one happy little boy.

 Can you see that crazy hair of his?!

 This boy.  I just wanted one picture with his daddy and he had to jump in the leaves right as I snapped the pic.

 A daddy's boy all the way.

 Conner shut himself in the chicken pen. Typical.

 Conner, you are my sweet little bundle of energy.

Do you know what this is??? It's the first package of Joe's venison that we pulled out the freezer. By far the best tasting venison I have ever had and top that off with roasted seasoned potatoes... yes, please!

 

Sunday was great. Why? Because I snuck in a nap. Sunday naps are amazing, and I usually hate naps.  We started the day with our dog running away taking herself on a walk. That girl is too friendly and free-spirited that Joe and I are going to put up a fenced in area for her.  We'll see how that goes with stopping her from sprinting off.  A shock collar and electric fence doesn't stop her so we'll see if a fence does. Doubt it.

 

Fortunately, I found her in time to get her home before loading up and heading to church.  And since the afternoon was one of those perfect fall days with crisp air and sunny skies, we picked up lunch and headed to the park in town to eat and let that little boy burn off energy.  There was a little girl that was Conner's age at the park and she was persistent to get Conner to play with her.  It took him a while for him to warm up, but I gotta hand it to that little girl, she kept at him until he finally played on the slide with her.  Little boy is already getting chased around by cute girls on the playground.

 

After I got Conner down for his nap, that's when I snuck away and took one myself.  Joe as usual spent his time more productively by cleaning up the leaves from the yard.  Leaves - they are a never ending task around here and Joe's most hated thing to do.

We had to implement the "eat and run".  Conner will take a quick bite of food and run off to play and repeats that cycle over and over.

 

Conner had his last day of daycare on Friday, so we are ending this weekend and entering into a week that is sure to be stressful. All the more reason to really enjoy the family time this weekend.  It will be hard working full time and having this little boy around.  I envision these next two weeks will be me feeling like a terrible parent because I will let him watch way too many cartoons just so I can focus on work and get through meetings on the phone. 

Hope you all had a great weekend! 



37 WEEKS + 1 DAY

 

20 days left! I admit the pictures are from yesterday, but close enough.  I had just enough time to snap a few pics last night, and that's about it.

 

Yesterday we had our 37 week check up and our pre-registration with the hospital.  This is getting real!

 

The prenatal appointment went good as usual.  Blood pressure, heartbeat (my favorite part), and everything else was normal.  Normal is so perfect.  The hospital registration went really well too.  We decided to skip the tour since we just went through this a little over two years ago and went straight for the paperwork.  It seemed like there was a lot less paperwork/questions this time around, and trust me, it was appreciated.

 

Joe and I got out earlier than we expected and we couldn't pass up the rare opportunity of a 70 degree day in November in downtown TC without a kid.  We did a 3:30pm dinner date at the Grand Traverse Pie Company. yummm.  Joe snuck in about 3 bites of apple pie before I had that entire slice devoured.  He's a good husband.  He will let me have the majority of any dessert.

 

 

How far along?  37 Weeks + 1 Day.  20 days left!
Total weight gain:  28 pounds. (Halloween candy. So guilty.)
Maternity clothes?  Yep.   
Sleep:  Broken up.  At this point I'm getting used to it, but time change hasn't helped.
Best moment this week:  Conner's 2 year check up was less than fun, but I was pretty excited to see his weight finally go from the 9-12% range up to 32nd percentile! Getting to hear baby #2's little heartbeat going strong. Unexpected dinner date with my favorite man in the world. Oh! I can't forget... my new camera lens was a major highlight.
Cravings:  Flavored sparkling water and apples with peanut butter.  Conner and I have been eating peanut butter straight out of the jar.
Symptoms:  Hello nesting! With the realization that this baby could be here any day, I've been going crazy finishing projects and cleaning the house.  Braxton Hicks contractions have been making themselves known a ton these days.  Wow, they are a lot stronger and more frequent this time around!
Looking forward to:  At this point, I'm looking forward to crossing items off the "get-done" list.  I'm pretty committed to finishing the nursery this week and then I need to pack a hospital bag. Let that last sentence sink in... yes, it's finally time to pack a hospital bag!

Solo shot of the baby.





HALLOWEEN 2015

This weekend had so many moments where I just wanted to lock myself in my bedroom and escape the stress that a little two year old can bring on.  I'm accustomed to high stress situations at work with some serious money on the line, but somehow a two year makes that stress seem so easy to deal with.  There were so many moments where I just wanted to hand him off to someone else and walk away.  But then something happens and I laugh so hard my sides hurt and all is good again.

 

So let me tell you how Friday went.  Conner had his 2 year doctor check up on Friday, and I was looking forward to it for a long time.  I think the problem started when Joe said he needed to stay at work a little late and couldn't meet me. Then I found out that Conner puked on his pants at daycare, and he didn't have another pair of pants to wear.  (The temps were in the 40s by the way.) Instead, he had a summertime romper.

 

After I got there to pick him up 20 minutes late, I was hoping that I could just wipe off the puke and have wear those dirty pants to the appointment.  Work with what you got, right? That didn't work.  His pants were rinsed and they were still wet.

 

So there's that.

 

His awesome daycare provider did let us snatch an extra pair of pants from another little boy.  Yes! And then Conner for the first time ever decided to jump in a mud puddle as we headed out to my car and got everything soaked.  pants. shoes. romper. (he still had that on since he didn't have a shirt.) We were back at square one, and then he decided to be so traumatized by that that he just cried. the.whole.time.

 

And there's that.

 

We got so lucky.  I had a pair of shorts and long sleeve t-shirt in my car from who knows when.  So as the time quickly ticked away, we hurried and changed in the car and got over to the appointment as soon as possible.  Nothing makes you feel like an awesome parent more than walking your toddler into a doctor's office in shorts while the weather is cold.

 

I can't even tell all the details that just kept making this afternoon go downhill because I'd be typing forever so I'll just hit the next main point.  Once we got into the exam room, the nurse wanted to prick his finger to check iron levels.  And this is where I instantly got mad that Joe skipped out on the appointment.  They wanted me to hold Conner so they could poke his finger and get blood.  Yeah, right.  It was a 10+ minute battle with the nurse and I trying our hardest to get Conner to be still to quickly get the blood.  We have a lot of boys on my side of the family so trust me when I say that Conner's strength is absurd for his age.  I've always called him my little Samson.  I got to the point where we laid him on his back, and I laid on top of him and he still managed to twist himself onto his belly.

 

Then from there it was blood everywhere.  On the walls. exam table. belly. face. legs. arms. everywhere.  Then we had the pleasure to wait for the doctor for over an hour to do her exam.  And then we finished with a flu shot on top.  There's even more still that went downhill, but we'll just end Friday night there.

 

Let move on to Saturday.

 

I consider this year's Halloween a success (if you lower your expectations).  Conner nailed it looking cute in his dinosaur costume this year.  I admit, it's the same costume he wore last year, but it fit, so we rocked it.

 

Snoozin' on the way to trick or treating since there was no nap Saturday afternoon.

 

 

The weather was cold and rainy, go figure. Thank you to the GT Mall for having an indoor alternative to trick or treating.  We met up with Shannon and the boys at the (crowded!) mall and went through about half of the mall collecting candy, stickers and store coupons? Just go with the flow I guess.  By the time we hit Target (and only 1 stop from Auntie Anne's), Conner decided it would be a good time to start having a breakdown unless we let him go into Target.

 

At that point, we broke away from Shannon and the boys so Conner could have his Target fix.  That of course meant that he wanted to run and hide between all the clothes racks and aisles.  Typical two year old. Joe and I finally coaxed down to the toy aisle to let him look around.  We actually found a couple of wooden trains for about $2 each, so we let him pick out a couple instead of going around for more candy.  That was a perfect alternative.

 

 

Afterwards, we hit up Joe's grandparents' house for a little visit.  Just a side note on the one of the many reasons I love Joe's grandma - at 80+ years old she still dresses up on Halloween to hand out candy.  That woman is the best.

 

 

 

As for Sunday, not much happened there. Conner was pretty sick and snotty nosed so we stayed home all day.  I conquered a lot on my nursery to-do list.  Joe got some stuff done around the house and took some time to catch up on sleep.

 

Highlight of the weekend (besides my cute little dinosaur), I ordered a new lens for my camera that got delivered this weekend.  Talk about being super excited for this little baby to come and take some precious photos!

 

  

WHAT'S COOKING | CAJUN JAMBALAYA PASTA

One of our favorite recipes around here is the Cajun jambalaya pasta.  In my head I like to call it Nouille Andouille because that's fun to say, but when I say it out loud I call it jambalaya which is still fun to say but not as fun.

 

This recipe was inspired by a dish that I used to get a local restaurant when I worked on the south side of Chicago.  Like a lot of my recipes, I try to recreate my favorite meals from my life in Chicago because the food there is amazing.  To be honest, the food at our favorite restaurants are the only things that Joe and I miss about that area (and friends too of course).

 

 

Cajun Jambalaya Pasta

"Nouille Andouille"

 

1 lb smoked sausage, cut in 1/4" slices

1 lb boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cut in 1" squares

2 Tbs Cajun seasoning

1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips 

1 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips 

1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips 

1 onion, cut into thin strips

1 Tbs minced garlic

1 Tbs Cajun seasoning

2 roma tomatoes, diced

1 c chicken broth

1 pound tri-color rotini

salt and pepper to taste

 

Heat up a large pot of water to a boil.  Cook pasta as directed on box.

 

Place cut chicken breasts in a mixing bowl and sprinkle 2 tbs of Cajun seasoning over chicken.  Toss chicken until even coasted with Cajun spice.  Brown sausage in a large saute pan over a medium low heat.  Remove and put aside. Place chicken in saute pan and cook until about half done. 

 

Add peppers and onions. Cook until peppers are half done and add garlic to the pan. Season the ingredients with salt, pepper and the additional 1 tbs cajun spice.

 

Add diced tomatoes and chicken broth into the sauté pan and cook until the chicken is done and vegetables are tender.  Add sausage back into the sauté pan and stir.

 

Dish pasta into a bowl and spoon jambalaya over the pasta.

 

One of these days I'm going to try making this recipe with zucchini as the noodles and see how that turns out.  If anyone decides to try using the zucchini instead of pasta, let me know how it turns out!

36 WEEKS

28 days.  That is all that's left in this baby countdown. Well, plus or minus depending on what this little baby decides for an official birth date.  Only one month that we will be a family of three.  One month to get meals prepped and frozen for the weeks following delivery.  One month to finish everything on my baby to-do list.  One month to clean every crack and crevice of this house (thanks to nesting).  One month to get out with family and friends before I hibernate for the winter with a baby.  One month of sleep left.  At this point, every day counts.

 

We had the 36 week dr appointment this morning.  Everything is still looking great from blood pressure to heartbeat to belly growth.  According to my doctor, this baby and belly are growing spot on.  At this point the baby is almost 6 pounds and over 18 1/2" long (babycenter.com). In other words, this baby would fit into newborn size clothes now!

 

 

How far along?  36 Weeks.  28 days and counting!
Total weight gain:  25 pounds. 
Maternity clothes?  Yes.  Same old story here.   
Sleep:  So-so.  At this point, it's usually the joint pain from sleeping on my side that wakes me up.
Best moment this week:  I was telling my friend this week that my belly button won't make up its mind on whether it wants to be an innie or an outie.  Her daughter took care of that for me when she walked up after I made that statement and pointed to my belly button saying, "Hey, I can see the baby's hand." Yep. So in conclusion - 1) That gives me a good laugh every time I think about what she said.  You gotta love kids' viewpoint on things. 2) I think I have to consider it officially an outie after that comment no matter how much I'm in denial about it.

Other great moments from the week include carving a pumpkin with Conner for the first time and having a date with Karra and Amy (always a great time with those two). We talked, lunched and laughed.  Karra even started pinpointing little body parts of the baby which gave me a good description of how the baby is sitting.  The second she found a foot I started crying.  It literally hit me at that moment that this little baby is more than an idea.  It's a real little being waiting to join our family.
Cravings:  I'm lucky if I have an appetite at this point.  Every once in a while I'll be in the mood for something specific.  This week it's been Snickers or Twix.  Must be getting close to Halloween to get that candy craving. Other than that.. cold apples with peanut butter.
Symptoms:  Some days I feel dead to the world with zero energy and other days I have some serious nesting going on.  Saturday was a zero energy day and Sunday was a nesting day.  I'm in the mindset that everything has to be clean and ready since this baby could make an appearance sooner than we anticipate.  My fingers are crossed that this baby actually comes about 5-7 days late though which makes me feel like the only 8 month pregnant lady to say that.
Looking forward to:  Finishing the nursery over the next couple of weeks.  I've got a handful of projects that I still need to start!  I've made so many trips to Joann Fabrics that I'm thinking I should just pick up a job application there.  Conner has his 24 month doctor check up this week, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how that goes.  And, some girl time with Karra and Amy is on the calendar.

PUMPKIN CARVING 2015

We officially have a carved pumpkin sitting on our porch now!  We were able to have a full night as a family since Joe was never called out for work, so it was a good thing we chose last night to do it.  This is the first pumpkin we've carved with Conner.  Life with this little boy keeps getting better as he grows up and we get to start doing these fun activities together.  He gets into it now and shows more excitement which is a blast for me and Joe.  I love these little first milestones.

 

It didn't take me long to think of a design for Conner's pumpkin.  He's been into Mickey a ton lately, so we had to do a Mickey silhouette, right? And it was probably the easiest pumpkin design I've ever done since it's literally only three circles.  I love it when things are easy!

 

Taking a peek inside.

For a little boy that loves getting messy, there was a lot of convincing involved for him to reach inside and touch the pumpkin guts.

And here we are still trying to convince him to get his hands down in there.

Do you know what this face is?  This is the face of a little boy that started sneaking pumpkin seeds into his mouth to eat.  No cleaning or toasting necessary - straight from the pumpkin to the mouth.

 

He was trying to get us to eat them raw too.

This was Conner's favorite part because he actually wanted to be front and center while we cleaned the inside with a spoon.

We're not sure what this little boy was trying to say, but he kept throwing his hand up to Joe and telling him "no" to something.

Conner got to push the cutout of Mickey's head all by himself.

 

Mickey pumpkin complete with the lit candle.

 

How did they plan their faces to match expressions?