April 29, 2011

A better video of Miles moving!



Here is another video of Miles... he just goes through BIG moving spurts. He has about 3 times a day where he rolls and kicks so much that it is fun to watch. This video captures a bit of that :)


I think this video is a bit better than the last one... hopefully you can see all the movement :)

Nothing really new to report other than Miles is REALLY big.. Last night for the first time, he kicked BOTH sides of my belly at once. He must have had one leg under him and the other spread out because he was somehow kicking the top of my belly on both sides... it was cool to watch and for Carl to feel but it is getting to be more and more uncomfortable everyday for me.... not to mention that he is also getting alarmingly close to my ribs and we still have 2 more months of growth to go!
This is my first time using youtube, so if you can't see the video, try clicking here

April 26, 2011

29 Week Check-up

Today I had my 29 week check up and am officially going to be going every 2 weeks now. It is crazy to think that I am far enough along to have to go in every 2 weeks instead of every month. SOOO here are the highlights of the visit and what's new (I'll try to keep it brief)

-I have gained 1 lb in the last 2 weeks... that brings me up to gaining 5 lbs total for this pregnancy.

- My sugar level was 87 today so I don't have to do the 3 hour glucose test and am healthy! No diabetes here!

-Miles is STILL measuring big... about 3 weeks further than he should.

-IF he is still measuring big, I will have to get another ultrasound in another month or two to check his weight gain to see if I need to be induced early or given a c-section (we are going to try to avoid both of those options).

-Miles is still moving A TON! He moves almost all day- kicking, punching, elbowing, or rolling. He does it all and I have only a little idea of what his movements actually are.

- I have started a "home planning binder". I made the binder have a tab where you plan out your meals for the week, so on Sunday I plan the meals and on Monday I shop for the groceries. Then I don't have to worry about what to make all week or if we have the ingredients because I have them all on hand. It seems to be working and is really easy. The binder also keeps track of other stuff, like what I need to do today, weekly chores, shopping lists, freezer and pantry inventory, and a place to put our bills so they don't get lost.

- I am getting more and more excited to see our son.... I just can't wait to see what he looks like and his personality.

-Carl started his rotations with pediatrics yesterday and got to hold a 9 hour old baby girl this morning. I am so jealous... but doing this is making him more excited to hold Miles.

Everything is going great for us. We are just adjusting to Carl being in rotations -he is really busy and only gets one day off a week instead of the whole weekend. I am trying to be more organized so that when Miles does get here, I have a system in place to keep our home running. The binder seems to be working, but we'll see how long I actually like using it :) Also, I am still working on my baby shower decorations and am having a hard time finding the motivation to actually sit down and do them. I hope to find that motivation sometime soon but I know it will all get done before May 21.

April 25, 2011

no slip socks and our first birthing class

We had our first birthing class on Saturday. We decided that because Carl is going to be so busy with school, we would do the weekend "crash course" that is 2 weeks of classes for 4 hours each time, instead of doing the normal 4 weeks of class that is 2 hours each time.

The class was great, we learned quite a bit about techniques that many women use during labor to help with the pain and things that Carl can do to help too. The doula suggested tons of great things that I think will be helpful. Plus, the class made me a bit more comfortable with the fact that pain is ok.

The doula did an experiment with ice that showed me I can handle pain with the right coping tools..... and having Carl there to support me made a big difference. It was a good class and it will be interesting to see what we learn about next week.

One of the things that was discussed was what to pack in the "go bag". So after class, Carl and I went to target to get some things that we didn't have yet for our bag. One of the things that were suggested were socks you can throw away for during the laboring process. I talked to Shelbie a few months ago and she suggested that I buy socks with the no-slip grips on the bottom. Then I could walk around without slipping and I wouldn't need slippers and socks.

When Carl and I went to Target, I found these HOT PINK SOCKS!!! Perfect for our "go bag"!!! Bright, colorful, fun, and my favorite color! BUT they didn't have the sticky thing on the bottom. So, instead of buying the sticky socks form walmart for $3, I decided to try a new craft with the socks I love from Target for $1. (I buy these socks all the time, in fact they are the only socks I own... about 15 pairs of white ones and about 10 pairs of black.... so I know that I like to wear them and they wont get too hot).

SEE!?? Bright, colorful, fun socks!

SOOO... with the help of these puffy paints (that I already owned thanks to my fun craftyness)

I was able to make my own sticky bottomed socks!!




I ended up making 2 different pairs. One with glow in the dark paint and one without.

All you have to do is get a pair of socks that you want to be no-slip and color dots ( or write words or your name or whatever you would like) on the bottom. Let it dry. ALL DONE!!!

It was so easy and now, I have hospital socks that I know I love to wear, that won't get my feel all sweaty, and look great! Plus they will be super easy to find in my bag :)

You could also do this to the bottom of your child's jammies to make them no-slip. I bet Miles is going to love having his foot-jammies or socks say his name. So, give it a try and let me know what you think!

April 24, 2011

Pictures at 6 months



Well, I know I said I would try to get pics taken and blogged, so here they are (sorry it took a bit longer than I thought it would to finally have the time to take pics )


MY BIG BELLY!!!





and, of course, the Jezzie!!! Carl took this one today while I was getting ready.
She is so cute!!!

April 19, 2011

Belly mover

Now that Miles is getting bigger and bigger, you can actually see when he is active. He moves so much and ends up moving my whole belly. I was laying in bed last night and took this video of Miles kicking. I'm not sure how much you will be able to see, but first he rolls and then if you look at the right side of my belly, you will see him kick!



My super cute little mover!!!

April 11, 2011

pregnancy update- officially 6 months!

I am officially 6 months pregnant. Since Sunday, I am in my third trimester! It has gone by so fast. I can't believe that Miles will be here in 3 more months. I will officially be a mom in 3 more months. It is so strange to think that I will FOREVER be mom to another person. Sooooo, here's an update on how things are going:

~I had the monthly doc appt last Tuesday. This was the first time I had to go alone! I got there right on time, waited for about 15 minutes in the waiting room with a little boy who REALLY needed a diaper change, but who's dad must not be able to smell... why does being pregnant mean I have to smell everything??? It was not fun.

~ I have officially gained weight in my pregnancy. I think Miles makes me want to eat like a teenage boy, even though I do not have the metabolism of that teenage boy. He makes me hungry all the time! Anyway, I have *gasp* gained 6 pounds since my last visit! AAAAAAAA!!!! I couldn't believe it.. maybe the scale was just off that day or something (hey, I bet you tell yourself the same thing when you gain weight). That leaves me with a total weight gain of 4 pounds. Yup, I have gained 4 pounds in the 6 months I have been pregnant.

~When I finally met with Margot, she asked me how I felt about those 6 pounds and, after hearing what I am sure she hears often about me not liking it at all, she reassured me and reminded me that this means my body has actually lost about 10 pounds so far and is healthy. I know... I know.... I have talked a LOT about weight gain but after struggling with weight since forever, it is hard to just be happy with or even just ok with gaining ANY weight. It is easier I guess to just vent it all away on the blog.

~My belly was measured and is the perfect size! Margot says that I am a textbook pregnant woman. Miles measures perfectly for the weeks I am and is growing great.

~I got to hear his heartbeat again, which was really neat... his heart is strong and because of the tool they use to hear it, sounds kind of like a really fast closing door.

~Miles officially wakes me up with his morning kicks. If he senses that I might be awake or getting close to waking up, he kicks and pushes me so much that I have to wake up. He is so strong! He is getting close to actually hurting me. It is no longer little flutters or soft pushes... he kicks and moves enough to actually distort my belly.

~Miles is the most active right when I wake up and right when I lay down for sleep. Those are the times he uses all his energy to kick me really hard... otherwise he just lightly pushes me throughout the day.

~He doesn't like to kick for anyone but Carl. If you feel him kick, consider yourself lucky because even if he is moving a ton, as soon as someone puts their hand on my belly he stops moving... BUT when it is Carl, even if Miles is sleeping, when his hand touches my belly and he talks to my belly Miles wakes up just to kick his dad.

~I am loving being pregnant. It is really fun and exciting.... although I hear that the last 3 months are the worst part. I can't really imagine anything being worse than the first 3, but we'll see!

~I will try to take and post my 6 month belly pics soon, but be warned.... my belly is getting SO big... I can't imagine it any bigger and I still have 3 more months of growing baby to accommodate!

April 8, 2011

Cravings

The only thing I have noticed about my body's food changes is BANANAS. I have always been so picky about the bananas I like to eat.
This is the only kind of banana I would eat.....
yellow with green on the top and NO brown at all.

Now, I find myself eating all kinds of bananas...

Bananas with a few spots,
The little spots don't bother me anymore... I still eat them



Even bananas with LOTS of spots..
I ate one that looked like this last night. YUM!




In fact, before being pregnant, I would only eat bananas that were like the number 4 or 5. Now I find myself eating bananas that are 4, 5, 6, or 7 (this is a chart of the ripening process for bananas... cool right?) I see bananas in the grocery store and crave them.

I want them on my cereal, as a snack, before bed, with lunch, on top of ice cream... I just see them and really want to eat them. It is weird for me to actually want bananas, but I there are worse cravings (like the fact that I also really want to eat doughnuts, but just don't let myself)... so bananas are a good thing!


April 6, 2011

Meatloaf?

This is my first time blogging from my phone, so I hope it works.
I haven't really ever made meatloaf and I never really ate it as a kid...in fact, I have only heard bad things about it... It is dry and isn't that great at all... Don't even waste the meat on it......BUT I decided it would be fun to give it a try anyway.
I found this amazing recipe for meatloaf and it was so good! Carl and I loved it! We even used ground turkey and out still turned out great.....sooooooo of you're looking for something to make for dinner tonight that is yummy, most, easy, and will be making you want thirds... Try meatloaf! It is much better than people give it credit for.


April 5, 2011

Crafts

Pupcakes 34

isn't this cute!?? Click here to see how to make it!


So I have been looking at SO many craft blogs (like how to make the cool cupcake surprise pictured above) and I am super jealous of the things some people can make! It makes me want to be able to sew. I could make such cool stuff, if only I really did know how to sew.... and had the room to do it all.

I have kind of formed an almost plan that consists of thinking about possibly using half of my garage as a "crafty"space (can you tell I am still in the thinking about it stage???LOL). I haven't discussed this with Carl and mostly it is just an idea I have. I have always known that I would like a room for my crafty items (I have some REALLY cool stuff, but can't use it due to space issues), but mostly this was an after med school idea.... a far away goal of someday having a room that is just for crafts where I could go to scrapbook or something. I see blogs that have cool stuff I could make, like this or this or this and I imagine all the stuff I could do while Carl is at school and it makes me want a crafty space now.

It would be a great way to keep busy while Carl is gone (and so I don't go crazy without a job) and fun and a great way to save money on gift giving (who doesn't like a sweet homemade thing?). I know that if it was in my garage, I couldn't use it during the summer-it would be too hot... but we have a space heater so I could use it during the winter!


I figure Miles could play in his play-pin while I sew or I could do it while he naps.... I just think that some of these things are SO cool and would be so fun to have..... now I just need the skills to actually do it. Maybe I will look into sewing classes..... but I doubt there are any in my tiny town. Hmmmm... where do you even look to find a class teaching sewing to someone who doesn't know anything about sewing? Suggestions?

I wish I had someone who lived closer to help me learn... I have such amazing sewers in my family and know that they would be willing to teach me, but I just live too far. I even OWN a sewing machine but, sadly, it sits alone in a box in my garage waiting for me to just pull it out.

April 4, 2011

A FREE e-book and more!

Just wanted to share a quick link.... Francine Rivers is one of my favorite authors.. she writes AMAZING books. If you have never read one of her books, start with Redeeming Love. It is amazing!

She is giving away a FREE e-book of Leota's Garden and you can enter to win her COMPLETE LIBRARY of books for FREE!!!!! Just click on this link for the book and the contest:


Even if you don't win, check out her books... she is a Christian author and her books are great... you won't be disappointed!

April 3, 2011

Sunday Baking time


I seem to go through phases where I enjoy baking (and have been going through it more and more now that I'm pregnant). Today I was lounging in bed, really just putting off having to get up because it's my last sleep in day this week too (now that Carl goes to school, I wake up with him and we get up at either 5 or 6 every morning) and started thinking about what we were going to eat for breakfast tomorrow.

Last week I made amazing pancakes. I used a mix and added this cinnamon apple stuff I had made for apple turnovers. It was really good- Apple pancakes! We ate them all week with peanut butter on top. It was so easy and yummy and kept us both full for awhile, which is very important for pregnant woman and students alike :).

This week, I decided to make muffins. They taste good and are easy to heat up every morning. SOOOOO... here is what I did:

I took regular muffin mix (the only one I can find that doesn't have transfat listed) and doctored it up! So easy.... the only thing the muffins called for is 1 cup of water.

I added:
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup chopped up almonds
1/2 frozen blueberries that I thawed out
1/4 cup craisins (I soak them in water for a few minutes)
1/4 flax seed
frozen slivered almonds on top

Here is what they turned out to be! They are SOOOO good! The almonds on top were frozen so they didn't burn and they taste so almondy and fruity.... YUM!!!

I also decided that while the oven was hot, I would make cookies... I had made them before but we gave some away to neighbors and they are SOOOO yummy, so I made more. Here is what to do:

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup splenda or regular sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp cinnamon (I am not sure if this is how much I added…. I just keep adding until it looks right. I most likely used a bit more than 1 Tbsp)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2-3 cups rolled oats depending on how oaty you like your cookies... the first time I made it I did 3 cups, this time I did about 2 1/2 cups
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1 1/4 cup raisins
3/4 cups MINI semisweet chocolate chips (if you use the mini chips, you can get away with using less but it still tastes good)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl cream shortening, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
3. Combine the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and flour and stir into creamed mixture
4. Add oatmeal, almonds, raisins, and chocolate chips and stir until well blended.
5. Drop by the spoonful onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.


The mix in my wonderful mixer... it makes cookies so easy!

The cookies on the sheet... If you make them bigger it will make about 60 cookies.



The finished product! YUM!!!

The cookies are so good! They are nutty and chocolaty and cinnamony but not too raisiny. A really good cookie that is easy to make and tasty to eat (even Carl says they are super yummy and he is a cookie expert!)



A weekend shopping trip


Yesterday we went shopping up in Albuquerque for Carl. He needed some new more professional clothes because for the next 2 years he will be working in a hospital with patients, so he has to look like a doctor!

We decided to go to Ross, TJ Maxx, and Marshals and on our way out we saw this:
The Jezzie had her head pushing through the tiny hole in our fence. She wanted to go too, but no.... we couldn't take her this time. It was really funny to see her with her head almost stuck trying to look at us through the fence!

When we got to ABQ, we started with Ross and found some GREAT clothes!!! They had a bunch of shirts, pants, and ties that looked great on Carl! The other store didn't really have much. I think we only found one pair of pants at TJ Maxx and nothing at Marshals BUT Ross had such great stuff that it was totally fine!
One of the nice outfits we got at Ross


Another great looking one!! (Carl makes for a great model, lol)

It was a really fun day and we even got to eat at this GREAT place that serves indian food with a friend of Carl's from Med school. It was fun and yummy!!

Here is what Carl ended up getting for school:

5 ties, 3 pairs of pants, and 6 shirts


Here are all the shirts.... white, black, light blue and green, silver, and a mauve colored one. He has a bunch of nice button up shirts, but he only had 3 that were solid, so that's what we went for.


The ties

We ended up getting Carl enough stuff that should mix well with the things he already has and all for under $200 (I know... I know.... $200??? That's a lot! but think about what you can get at Dillards for $200.... maybe 2 outfits. We got much more than that!)


Moral of today's post?? Shop at Ross for men's professional clothes. They look nice and are affordable! LOL