January 29, 2011

Sushi


A few days ago I was looking at blogs and came across this post explaining how to make sushi. It looked SO good (and if you've ever been pregnant, you KNOW that when you see something that you like, you crave eating it until you finally do eat it.... or is that just me?) I looked at this picture for days and days and finally told Carl that we should try to make sushi here at home. It could be fun.... right?

So on Wednesday we went and bought a bunch of fresh food: asparagus, cucumber, avocado, bell pepper, zucchini, onion, and fresh just got to the store tuna. We also picked up some sushi rice, rice vinegar, seaweed, and a few other items.

I thought about my favorite sushi (the tempura asparagus roll) and decided that we should try to make tempura as an appetizer. WE WERE SET!

We had originally planned for this to be a sweet date on Thursday since Brock had said they would be here Friday.... but he changed his mind and came on Thursday so we changed our mind and decided it would be fun to try all together :)

Here are some pics of our endeavors:
This is the tempera we made... well, after we all ate most of it. It was SOOOOO good... but it took us awhile to get the hang of the batter thickness and the oil temperature
The start of a roll

Carl's roll after he cut it open


This is a better pic of Carl's tuna roll he made - tuna, avacado, red and yellow bell pepper



This was Brock's roll- tuna, tempera asparagus, avocado, and yellow bell pepper



These beauties were my roll!- Temper asparagus, carrot, avocado, cucumber (next time, I would use more rice)

Making sushi together :) We had a very full table with all of the fillings!


We had fun and making your own sushi is so easy AND you get to control what you put in it. It was a lot of fun and I would totally do it again. The only down side is since I'm pregnant, I have a major easy gag reflex. If I have too much in my mouth at one time, I gag.... this was a little problem since you have to eat sushi whole.... SOOOOOOO I think I will wait until I am not pregnant to eat sushi again.... It will be a bit more enjoyable then :)

So be brave and try to make sushi with some friends at your home... it is super fun and tasty (only recommend to those not currently pregnant).

January 27, 2011

ultrasound- girl or boy????

We had another ultrasound today and it was fun. There is a doctor here who donates her time to Carenet for free ultrasounds. Her name is Mia and she was really nice. We had done another one with her in early December and the baby had measured off about a week.... well, this time (just like the one in late December) the baby measured perfectly! I am 16 weeks and 4 days and that was the measurement she got.

If you have never seen an ultrasound, you are missing out. They are so cool! Not because of the gel they put on or the little wand they use, or even because of the super grainy picture of weird looking body parts BUT because you actually get to see God's work in action. He is the only one who knows what is going on inside all the time. I can say that everything feels ok, but to actually SEE what is going on is a totally different story.

Our baby is doing fantastic. He/she is just moving and shaking! About an hour before the ultrasound, I ate an orange for a snack and apparently the baby LOVED the extra sugar that provided. When the doctor kept the wand things still, you could see our baby just moving all over. It was like a little party inside... the doctor made the comment, "when you start to feel the baby move, I don't think you will ever stop.... He's just moving so much!" and no..... we are not sure if I am growing a little boy or girl.

The baby is not at all shy.... when we asked if she could see what we were having, our baby had his/her little legs wide open. She took a picture and said, "hmm... well it looks like a boy to me!" but she wanted another picture just to make sure, so she moved the wand around and our baby crossed his/her legs! LOL

After a few minutes of pushing around, the baby moved and she took another picture... well, in that one the baby looked like it could have been a girl! What a little stinker already :) When we were finished the doc said that her best guess is the baby's a boy... she gives it a 60% chance for a boy and 40% for a girl.

I guess we will have to wait for the super new high-tech ultrasound in February (and even then, we still might not know). God is holding the secret so far and that's ok with us. I guess we can live with a few more weeks of not knowing :)

January 26, 2011

A few belly pics



This is a picture of what I looked like the weekend after I found out I was pregnant. It is a picture of me at 1 month.

I took this one at 15 weeks.

Carl took this one yesterday after a shower at 16 weeks.

My belly is HUGE! I can't believe how it has just grown. It feels like I just woke up one day and all of a sudden had a BIG belly. The baby is about 5 inches from head to bum and my uterus is about to my belly button. It is like the baby just pushed everything up to make more room.

Yesterday I caught Carl talking on the phone to our neighbor telling him, "yeah... she's doing ok. Her belly is getting big. It seems to get bigger everyday."
To which our neighbor responded, "I don't think you are supposed to say that...ha ha."

Yeah. That comment doesn't exactly instill confidence in my body, but I know he meant it in the best way. He even made up for it by giving me a great back massage that night (while repeatedly telling me how great I look).

I haven't noticeably felt the baby move, but I really am not sure what I should be feeling. I DO however feel my uterus stretching and growing almost everyday. It is kind of like a light pinching on the sides, kind of like REALLY mild cramps (my nurse midwife said this was very normal). It is weird to feel the growing of the baby but not really feel the baby moving around. I wonder if this is just because of the position of the baby (maybe he/she really likes my back) or if I am feeling it and just don't realize. Oh well, I have read that it is normal to start feeling the baby between 16 and 20 weeks.

I will try to take more pictures, but no guarantees when they will be posted.

January 24, 2011

16 weeks and counting


I am finally 16 weeks. Wow. I am a bit surprised at how fast this got here. In a week and a half I will be 4 months. It shocks me how fast time is going.

My niece is over a month old and my stepsister (Jessica) just had her baby boy yesterday. I can't believe how time is just FLYING! I was talking to my mom last night and she made the off-hand comment, "You're next!!" and it hit me that I AM next! As long as everything keeps going well, I will be the next in our family to have a baby. A part of me is a little nervous for the unknown, but MOST of me is so excited that I can't wait for him/her to be here already!

I bet you are wondering why there is a picture of yellow flowerish things on my blog. Well, I have been trying to find things to do since Carl is in the office studying all day and I decided to start planning my baby shower. My friend Lauren is going to help me with the one in Farmington, but she has 2 kids and I have SO MUCH free time. I know she is SO busy so I really hope she doesn't mind me being the one to plan it all. The biggest reason I have started planning it is because I am SO excited (and it is still like 3 months away from now. LOL. I am such a nerd). I decided to share a bit of what I have come up with (I haven't decided IF i want to tell anyone what ALL my plans are, but here is a hint). I have made my own flowers. I have scoured the blogging and internet world and have come up with a cool theme where I can save some money by making my own decorations! This is just a piece of what can keep me busy for the next few months.

I have really looked into ways I can save money by making my own decorations and this was one thing that I thought would look good but not cost much.... (my sister Shelbie did these and made them into beautiful flower balls that I LOVED!!!!! so I will prob make a few of those too... Thanks Shelb for having such a cute baby shower that I could steal borrow ideas from).

Here is a close up of the flowers I have made.

Sorry it is not the BEST shot, but you get the idea.

Well, not much is new in the pregnancy department, other than I now TOTALLY look pregnant. I have moved from the "ate too many tacos" look to the "hmm.... I think she is pregnant" look.

Carl likes to rub my belly... it still is a little weird for me because I have never really liked him to touch my stomach... it just reminds me of how much I don't like that part of me. BUT I know it is different now. He thinks it is cute that the baby pokes out and I think it is nice for him to see a daily reminder that we are having a baby and everything is going so well.

To sum things up... I feel great (not feeling sick at all!), I finally look pregnant instead of fat, I'm planning my baby shower because I don't want to wait, and I'm an aunt now to TWO kids! Man.... what a busy time this is :)

January 19, 2011

Date night


Carl and I had a date night last night and had so much fun! I decided that I REALLY like the melting pot. We have been there a few times and it is SO expensive so we normally just get a small pot of cheese fondue and a chocolate fondue. They are so yummy! I love it! There are some things about the melting pot that I don't really like. For instance: they ALWAYS seat two people in the "romantic" dark hallway that is so dark and the booths are shaped weird. I even went with my sister and they sat us here. I have sat in the same dark hallway 4 times! I hate it. Plus you always leave so full..... more full then if you ate anywhere else. AND it is so expensive (yeah, I know I already mentioned this, but it needs mentioning agian).

SOOOOOO.... for our date, I decided that I would do homemade melting pot fondue (I even found the recipes of the kinds we like to make at home). We went and got groceries the night before and Carl had no idea what I was shopping for. He couldn't even guess what I was planning. It wasn't until we started cooking together that he was finally able to figure out what I was planning.

We made the cheese fondue and sat at our coffee table and ate while watching Lady and the Tramp (I figured it was kind of a sweet movie that we haven't seen in awhile).


Here is my "fondue" pot or otherwise known as a small crockpot. It worked ok but I bet an actual fondue pot would have done a better job. You can also see the veggies and bread we cut up as dippers.

Here is the sweetest part of the movie... right before they kissed :)

We watched the rest of the movie and rested our tummies. We talked about how long it had been since we've seen this show and cuddled on the futon for awhile.

Then, when we were finally a bit hungry again (or 2 hours later), we decided to start making the chocolate fondue. I made it in the microwave.... just chocolate chips, milk, and peanut butter.... melt, stir, and enjoy.

We dipped strawberries (my favorite), brownies, pound cake, and coconut covered marshmallows (you can find these at any grocery store). It was SOOOOO good! I ate so many strawberries! Yum!

Well, I hope you all find a good idea for a fun date with your spouse (or boyfriend).
It was so good and really fun! WAY better than going to the melting pot (cheaper too!).... Here are the recipes I used :)



Melting Pot Spinach Artichoke Fondue
Ingredients
5oz. of Light Beer (I used chicken stock and it was good!)
3oz. (just under 1/3 cup) chopped
cooked spinach
3oz. (just under 1/3 cup) chopped artichoke hearts
1 demitasse (I used a heaping tsp) spoon of minced garlic
8oz. (1 cup) shredded cheddar cheese
5 turns of cracked black
pepper

3 cups of cubed bread - french/rye/pumpernickel
2 cups of vegetables - coliflower/carrots/celery/broccoli
Directions
- First heat the beer on high heat until hot, add spinach, artichoke hearts and minced garlic and stir with a fork.
- Slowly add shredder cheddar. Whip continuously with a fork. Continue to add cheese and whip until your cheese is a "warm honey" consistency. (You HAVE to add the cheese REALLY slow or it wont melt)
- Add pepper.
- Stir with a fork until the consistency is uniform.
- Turn the heat down to low, place bread and vegetables in to a basket or platter.
- Skewer bread and vegetables and dip into cheese fondue.
- Serves 2 to 4 people.

Number of Servings: 4
The Melting Pot Original Chocolate Fondue
ingredients
· 1 11-1/2-ounce package milk chocolate pieces
· 1/4 cup milk
· 1 tablespoon crunchy peanut butter
· Milk
· Assorted fruits (such as orange sections, whole strawberries, pear slices, banana slices, apple slices)
· Angel-food cake or pound cake cubes
· Marshmallows
directions
1. In the top of a double boiler placed over gently simmering water, or in heavy small saucepan, combine the chocolate pieces and 1/4 cup milk. Heat, stirring constantly, over low heat until chocolate is melted and smooth. Stir in the peanut butter. Cook and stir till heated through. Stir in additional milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency. (I just melted it in the microwave and it worked great for us)
2. Pour mixture into a fondue pot; place over fondue burner set on low. With fondue forks or long skewers, dip fruit dippers, cake cubes and/or marshmallows into chocolate mixture. (Will hold up to 1 hour on low. If mixture gets too thick, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time.) Makes 5 (1/4-cup) servings.

January 16, 2011

Nesting changes

Well, I think I have finally moved into the "nesting" phase of pregnancy. I have looked at countless baby/pregnancy websites and read about almost everything. I think about babies and even dream about it.

We had Carl's brother and his girlfriend stay here Friday night (which was a bunch of fun. It was really nice to see them both) and after they left on Saturday, I had Carl move our living room around. Now, for those of you who have seen my house, you know that my living room is tiny. It is so small and with all of our furniture I really didn't think that we could have it any other way than it was when we moved in. WELL, my pregnant brain decided that it COULD be moved and should be so we can have more space for the baby stuff that we will have. Well, I think it looks GREAT and it was a shock to wake up to a big change this morning, but I LOVE IT!
See for yourself!
This is the view from the kitchen
The view from the guest bedroom/nursery/office (that's what happens when you live in a small 2 bedroom house... one room has multiple functions)

The view from the front door.
It seems like our living room is twice the size it used to be. Granted, we got rid of a few things (a dvd stand, a side table, and a lamp) but I think that it just looks so different than before... if you haven't been to my house, you can look here and read another blog I did and get an idea of what it used to look like.

Carl was so nice about it too... it was 9:30 at night and I just all of a sudden asked if we could move the living room and he said sure. He cleaned up behind the tv, while I moved the furniture around. We made a great team and finished putting it all together by 11. SO... What do you think of my "new" living room?


January 11, 2011

Another Monthly Visit... warning, it's a bit long

Today Carl and I had another monthly doc visit.... I guess it is more of a monthly certified nurse midwife (CNM) visit :) It was for 10:30 and went REALLY well! I think the hardest part of an early appt is they make you pee in a cup EVERY TIME you visit, and who always needs to pee?I'm sure it will get so much easier later, but I normally don't drink a lot in the morning (you could say an older teaching/ student habit where you couldn't really go use the restroom in the morning, so you just don't drink as much). Other than that, having an early appt is nice! We had the waiting room to ourselves and just talked while we waited:)

When we got called back, they always have me stand on the scale... now is it just me ladies, or is that a kind of torture for us? Anyway... I have dreaded the moment of actually seeing what I weigh (because they ask you later, so I can't just close my eyes and be oblivious to whatever it may say) especially since the holidays are over.... I could only imagine how much extra weight I gained in the 2 1/2 weeks I was in Farmington and my mom cooked such great food for us... ok, ok, it wasn't just the food but the goodies!! So much chocolate and everything and I was FINALLY feeling good, so I indulged a little.

Well... when I finally got on that scale, I saw that I had actually LOST 4 lbs since our first visit and 1 lb since our last visit 4 weeks ago! YEAH!!!!! I am so glad. I actually worried and had talked myself into being ok with gaining back a few pounds, but I am so happy (and in case you were wondering, YES my CNM is totally ok with my weight so far).

After our weigh in, I was brought back into a room and met with our CNM. Our CNM is so nice and her name is Margot (just like my aunt!). She is always so knowledgeable and willing to talk about ANY concerns I have. It is so nice! She doesn't just talk to me though, she will look at Carl and explain things in a medical term since she knows he is in med school. She really knows what she is doing and makes me feel like being pregnant is so natural and that what I am feeling and experiencing is totally normal (the first visit she asked me if I felt nauseous or tired, when I replied yes she said, "good...I don't trust ladies who experience no pregnancy symptoms." She just makes me laugh and it is nice to have someone you trust.

While we were there, we got to hear the babies heartbeat. It was so neat! We had heard it a few months ago, but only for a few seconds and with a terrible ultrasound. The last appt we went to Margot couldn't find the baby (he/she was hiding somewhere so we didn't hear anything). Today we were able to get a GOOD listen at the baby and it was nice to know that everything is still going so well.

On a TOTAL side note, here is what Carl did today after our appt and after we ate lunch... I sat on the couch and read and he......

slept! LOL
He was so tired from studying that he took almost a 2 hour nap!! Isn't he cute?!

January 3, 2011

Christmas and other baby related items :)


Well, once again I have taken awhile between blogging, but we were out of town visiting family for Christmas :) Right before we left, we were able to get an ultrasound and saw the baby move! It was so cool! We saw him/her just moving arms and legs. It was just an amazing experience. I thought I would share a picture of him/her with you... so here it is (wish I could show you all the pics we had taken, but they aren't uploading for some reason)

Sorry if it is a bit blurry, but it was taken with my phone :)

I am now officially out of my first trimester and feeling GREAT! I don't feel sick anymore (although I am still hungry all the time) and feel like I have a bit more energy! It is so great.... I finally feel so much better!

I also thought I would share some pictures form Christmas that Linley took (THANKS LIN!!)
Us opening presents at Carl's mom's house on Christmas Eve

All of Carl's family on Christmas Day eating lunch together

After lunch, hanging out at Grandmother's house

Wish we had more pics, but we forgot the camera at home! It was a fun vacation and I can't believe it will be the last one without a baby! It blows my mind to think that I am already 13 weeks and everyday I get closer to having a baby! There are so many things I am excited for (feeling the baby move, getting to see if it is a boy or girl, seeing who our baby looks more like, watching him/her sleep and grow up!) It is just so wonderful to think of all the great things that are ahead of us :)