Saturday, August 30, 2008

36 Weeks and Counting

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Here I am. All of me. All 36 weeks of me. I had this same outfit on like 10 weeks ago and I certainly wasn't this big then! Gee wizz!! My midwife estimates him to be the same weight as Nadia when she was born, 7lbs 5oz. And I have a month to go. I hope I don't go that long. I don't think I will. I didn't with Nadia. It won't be long!

I have just one more meal to make and then I'm done with my list. I have a trip to Sam's Club and a co-op order to pick up. One more date with hubby. Baby's room is 95% finished. Birth kit is here. Just need the birth pool and well, the baby!

Off to do dishes. Dishwasher is still broke. Bummer.

Here is a funny pic, hubby was being silly.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Not So Much To Do....

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So it's been a week, and where am I at on my Baby To Do list? Well you'd be impressed. So far I have done (highlighted in red):

  • clean out kitchen fridge
  • clean out garage fridge
  • organize all freezers (kitchen, deep freeze and garage fridge freezer)
  • make and freeze meals
  • baby's room furniture
  • Andrew's vest
  • lace on bathroom curtain
  • basement curtains
  • clean car
  • dig flower bed
  • transplant bulbs
  • organize basement
  • find pre pregnancy clothes
  • sam's club list and order, tires
  • Co-op order
And my meals are as follows:
  • Double batch of pizza dough, makes 4 pizza crusts
  • Thick Minestrone Soup - 2 meals
  • Enchilito's - 1 meal
  • Monterey Beans and Cheese - 4 meals
  • Crusty Mexican Bean Bake - 2 meals
  • Cottage Cheese Casserole - 2 meals
  • Tangy Tuna Mac - 1 meal
  • Layered Zucchini - 2 meals
  • Beef Tamale Bake - 2 meals
And the things in blue? Well my sewing machine decided it wasn't going to do buttonholes anymore, so Andrew's vest is on hold, again. I've had the stuff for this vest since last years Father's Day. And the baby room furniture? Well it's all done and put together, I am just waiting on a changing table someone is giving us. Hopefully we'll get it soon. After we get that, I just need to stuff it full of baby stuff.

I was intellegent and planned to make some of these meals for this pay period's menu. I'll just make big batches. So that will take care of some of those. And the items on the to do list are slowly being knocked off. Like the Sam's Club and Co-op order. I can't pick those up until Sept 12, that's when the Co-op will be in. And I will pick that up in the city, which is where Sam's is. That's really driving me crazy that that will be on my list that long. Oh well. I hope I last that long.

I'm waiting on doing the kitchen fridge until it gets closer. I just did it not so long ago, so it doesn't look bad. Just will need a wiping down.

And I've come to the 'ouchy' part of pregnancy. I wake up in the morning sore. I can only sleep on my sides, so my shoulders get sore and achy from laying on them all night long. I'm starting to get the snide comments about being so big and it's not funny people. I'm hungry again, I mean like, even more so, and that means baby is growing again. My midwife gets a funny grin on her face when she feels the size of the baby. He's big. Her guess at time of arrival? About the same time we think too. Right around the time I need to go to the city to pick up my Sam's order! I could very well be in labor when I pick all this stuff up. Great. And I buy blocks of cheese to be cut up into smaller chunks and frozen. Oh well, keeping busy during labor is a good thing right?

And I am constantly thankful for our decision to stay at home for this baby. I just love my midwife. We have the same interests in other things besides just the birth of this baby. Her belief in the Lord is strong. That is so good. That is probably her strongest asset to me. She is very educated and experienced and I feel safe in her hands. I feel I can trust her. I am actually excited to have this baby and I mean have, as in I'm excited about the birth. I am not afraid. I feel like I'm in a good place right now. I thank the Lord for that.

I've been buying up some last minute things, like having more Red Raspberry Tea on hand, snappi's for diapers, extra's of my vitamins, stuff like that. So that I won't have to worry about getting it when the baby comes.

That's been life so far. I'll post an updated picture next week, I am OCD, so I have to be on even weeks. I know I know. But hey, we all have some mental illness, isn't that what they say? I sure hope so.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Forgot to mention....

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Although 'D-Day' is September 24, I have to make it to September 3. That is the day I'll be 37 weeks. My midwife says that typically baby boys are prone to more problems after birth than girls. So 37 weeks is the day that we are shooting for. After that he can come whenever he wants to. And truthfully, I'd be happy with that! Hubby and I have our own day in mind as to when he will come, but we're not sharing. I might add that hubby predicted when Nadia would come, and did it correctly! With the way this baby is poking me, goodness, I hope he's not late! I might add, though, that I have a co-op order to pick up in the 'city' along with my Sam's Club and tires shopping trip. The co-op only delivers once a month in this area, and that delivery is set for Sept 10. But I wouldn't be able to pick up till Sept 12. Sooo...... We'll see.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Much To Do....

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It's down to the count.....

And I've got so much to do!! I started on a nice list of things that I felt needed to be done before the baby comes and I'm well on my way to getting it done. I didn't think I had so much to do, though. And some of it is on my 'honey please' list. We don't do, honey do lists around here. Honey please works so much better. Andrew doesn't want me doing certain things until he can do his part, that's cool, I understand.
Some of my list pertains to meals for after the baby is here. I have been freezing portions of meals that we eat now, because, well I make enough to feed us more than once, so I thought why not freeze it. I've also made a list of meals to make that are easy to make and easy to reheat. I thought about listing that here, along with my list of things to do, for whatever reason. If you want any of the recipes, please let me know and I'll post them here.

My to do list:
  • clean out kitchen fridge
  • clean out garage fridge
  • organize all freezers (kitchen, deep freeze and garage fridge freezer)
  • make and freeze meals
  • baby's room furniture
  • Andrew's vest
  • lace on bathroom curtain
  • basement curtains
  • clean car
  • dig flower bed
  • transplant bulbs
  • organize basement
  • find pre pregnancy clothes
  • sam's club list and order, tires
  • Co-op order
And my meals are as follows:
  • Double batch of pizza dough, makes 4 pizza crusts
  • Thick Minestrone Soup - 2 meals
  • Enchilito's - 1 meal
  • Moneterey Beans and Cheese - 4 meals
  • Crusty Mexican Bean Bake - 2 meals
  • Cottage Cheese Casserole - 2 meals
  • Tangy Tuna Mac - 1 meal
  • Layered Zucchini - 2 meals
  • Beef Tamale Bake - 2 meals
I have a 5# bag of black beans which is the higest iron count of beans, so in all the bean recipes I will replace a part if not all for the black beans. I also bought disposable square cake pans for the casseroles. Most casseroles make for a 9x13, so if I just make a bit more, not much, I can split it between two cake pans and have two meals. Most of the time that's how it works out anyway. Most of these meals are altered, such as the noodles are partially cooked, or no cheese on top till I reheat or whatever. I did hire a mother's helper, so I am putting the reheating instructions on top, for either hubby, helper or mother in law (praise God for this woman! She is such a blessing, she is going to come watch Nadia while I am in labor and I don't really care if she's there. She is then going to stay a week to help out. Nadia loves her and I trust her implicitliy with my daughter.) can reheat it without much trouble. With those meals I've made or will make I'll have 20 meals. I already have a stash of soups, casseroles, and the like in the freezer. I need to count to find out just how much. I probably have 12 loaves of bread made. And I am going to make more, because when we need a loaf right now, we just pull it out. I am putting up all my green beans, or as much as I can for sides. I just ordered Mrs. Wages tomato sauces mixes and am going to make spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, salsa, ketchup, tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes. That will take care of that. Some of these recipes are served over rice and instead of making a whole thing of rice and freezing it all together, my mother in law said that a regular muffin cup is about 1/2 cup serving. So if I freeze the rice in there and then pop the 'rice' muffins out to store in a big bag, that will work out easier. That way I can just pull out what I need instead of thawing and refreezing the rice too many times. I've made a few zucchini breads for desserts, and my mother in law is bringing Tasty Kakes up. I have a list of what I need to buy to make these meals and am watching the sales to stock up. I am also stocking up on spaghetti noodles, you know, for really quick meals. And I'll keep a supply of peanut butter and jelly on hand for lunches. And I have a list of meals that can be thrown in the crock pot during a nap time in the AM. So, I am thinking I am well on my way to having things better prepared than when I had Nadia. The church provided meals then, and while I was appreciative, it was all beef! We don't do much beef, so when we do eat it, we don't feel so good. I don't know what meals we'll get this time, although I am sure we'll get some, but I don't want to plan on it and not have anything prepared.

The garden is coming in well. Our tomatoes are sharing with us daily, just a few here and there, but enough to eat fresh. Our jalapeno's are coming in nicely and our corn is just starting to tassle. I'm going to be digging the potatoes in a few days and our carrots can come out anytime. I just pulled the onions, so they are curing. My garlic is going to wait a little bit. That's about it. That's enough!

I hope you have a good evening!

Birthday Highlights

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Nadia had her third birthday this past weekend and I thought I'd share some of the pics with you. It was a good day and we all had fun. However, I don't think we'll be doing birthday parties for any of our children under the age of five from now on. The attention span was just too short at this age. Nonetheless, we all had fun.

Now for your viewing pleasure....
Nadia opened presents from her Grandmom and Grandpop the night before and got this cool little crown, she called herself a 'king.' We tried to explain that kings were men, be she insisted she was a king.

Since we didn't get clearance from other parents to put pics of the other girls, it will all be of Nadia. You can't be too sure these days. But there were three other little girls there. Truely a 'gaggle'.
We painted.

Grandpop always loves getting his fingers dirty.
My Andrew is a master story teller. One of his best 'pastoral' and 'papa' traits. Makes for a very good scripture reader. I could listen to him all day.

We also all made our own pizzas! The girls loved getting down and dirty with their food. And everyone had just what they wanted.

The theme, if there was one, was pink and purple butterflies. Here was the cake. I didn't tilt it all that much, I have visions of the cake flopping face first on the floor. Oh the horror!
And that was the day! It was exhausting. I am so glad it's over with! But I'm glad we were able to do it for her. She had fun.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Preggy Brain...Turned to Mush... Can't Think of a Good Title

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I am 33 weeks, just over a month to go. I mean really, I could have this baby in a month. ACK!! I had my latest midwife appt on friday. After she palpated my belly, she asked if I was sure of my conception date. Yes, I am. Within a day or two. Why do you ask? This baby is as big as one of the other women who is due this month. WHAT? She typically has between 4-6 lb babies. She has estimated that this baby is about 5lbs already. And if he continues on his current weight gain that means I'll have a potentially 8 lb baby, if he stays in there to the end. Good grief!! Well at least he's growing well. I had a gestational diabetes test and it was good, so I don't have to worry about that. And that was even after eating two peanut butter balls. Oh my goodness!! My bff and her hubby came this weekend and she brought these things. They are so addicting. If I get the recipe I'll share it with you. Divine!!

We all went hiking (easy, well the brochure said easy) and swimming at a local state park. It was very nice. I did very well, thank you, for being 8 months pregnant and anemic. Oy. Here are a few pics of all of us.


We are still waiting on the window people to come and measure the windows. I am so so scared God is going to do one of His things where the windows get put in the day before I go into labor. I mean, I realize the vast majority of women go to the hospital these days to have their babies, but, well, we are not planning on it. I really don't want to be vacuuming up dust and having contractions inbetween. But hey, maybe it will help the labor. Who knows?

We have been harvesting lots of goodies from our garden. I just picked a load and I mean a load of green beans from the garden for the second time in 4 days. They are prolific. And good. I have some leftovers from supper, maybe I'll heat them up. And we have zucchini coming out our ears, not to mention squash. I have been making so much zucchini stuff it's not funny. But hey, it keeps ya regular!! I have made zucchini brownies, zucchini cupcakes, zucchini cake, grilled zucchini, steamed, layered zucchini (which is like a zucchini lasagna, really good! Hubby loved it!) and that's all I can think of right now. We are getting some tomatoes, just a few here and there. But I can see it now, all of those green ones coming in all at once.

My little girl is turning three tomorrow. She is so healthy and vibrant. I thank God everyday for her health. There are so many children who struggle with illnesses and I thank God for Nadia's continued health. Her grandparents are coming up tomorrow and saturday we will be having a party. It's going to be cooler, so I guess no swimming in her birthday pool (poo), but we have sidewalk chalk, balloons, coloring, nail painting, book reading, pizza making, necklace making among other things to keep us busy. (I do not want to have down time with 5 little girls. Whose idea was it anyway to invite them all?) But it will be good, Nadia loves these other little girls and will have a blast. I'm sure it will be hard to get her to sleep saturday night.

I did get the recipe for those wonderful peanut butter balls, but I want to make them to give you an idea of what they look like. Project for today.....