Meal Plan: 2/26/12 - 3/3/12

For some reason, I failed to bring out many favorites in our meal plan this week and we're, instead, going to make three new recipes (or two...maybe).  I think I've been feeling guilty because our really old-school favorites all are processed junk (hot dogs & mac and cheese; something with tater tots, etc.) and for some reason I can NEVER remember our favorites of all of the new recipes we try.  We try at least one new recipe a week because of all of the cooking blogs I read and, of course, Pinterest.  I just can't remember which were our favorites so we can try them again. Hopefully I can come up with some new favorites for next week so life is a little simpler!

Sunday: Burritos with The Hubby's family.  The Hubby's mom makes her own meat sauce that the family has in shells with refried beans and other normal toppings.  My brother-in-law hosted everyone at his house and he made up a batch of it--yum!  I'm paying for it today, but it was delicious while I was eating it.

Monday: Not So Dirty Dirty Rice.  I'm excited to try this--I think the family will enjoy it and it could become a new favorite!


Tuesday: Brinner (Pancakes, Fried Potatoes, and Turkey Bacon) This was on the meal plan for last week but we didn't end up making it, so we'll be trying it again this week.  I need something quick since I need to leave the house by 6:40 or so for book club and this is usually a pretty quick meal.  We'll see, though, since this meal doesn't typically yield leftovers for the next day's lunch--we might end up making some else.


Wednesday: Panda Express Orange Chicken Copycat This is our cooking club recipe for the week (and a possible candidate for Tuesday's meal).  I think it sounds delicious, although I don't know if I'll deep-fry the chicken.


Thursday: Cajun Shrimp Pasta (except with chicken) I saw shrimp in the Kroger ad this week and thought of this dish immediately (I'll double it), but then couldn't find the shrimp I'd wanted.  Since I don't cook with it often, I'm not comfortable with having shrimp that isn't tail-less and deveined (WTF does that even mean???) and whenever I find bags that are tail-less and deveined, they seem to be already cooked.  Can someone help me figure out what I should be buying?  In any case, I might just make this meal with chicken instead of shrimp.

Friday: Smoked Sausage, Potatoes, and Cabbage One of our tried and true meals that might get cooked earlier in the week due to the large amount of leftovers it generates.  Sometimes I wonder why I even assign days to the meals.

Saturday: No Idea  I got into the bad habit of only planning for 6 meals a week so we were able to go out one night, but since we don't have any plans for the coming weekend, I don't know why I didn't plan on cooking Saturday night as well.  We'll either make something up from all the food in our house or end up going out/ordering in.

Allergist Appointment

I talked about our appointment with the allergist last year here and it was time for a check-up for Baby Girl today.  As a recap: we thought she was allergic to milk, but has no milk allergy and a very mild contact allergy to eggs.  We were told to hold off on nuts until she turned 3.  She hasn't had any pure eggs since our appointment last year and we've only seen one breakout from a stovetop macaroni and cheese that I made that had an egg as a binder.  I've made dishes like this where you bake it and it was fine--I'm wondering if the egg didn't get warm enough or something.  The nice thing about her allergy is that as soon as we wipe off her face, the breakout goes away.

Baby Girl was tested again using the skin prick test.  She reacted much more poorly than she did last year--she listened SO well and didn't move, but was laying on the table (I sat next to her and rubbed her hair and face) crying big tears.  As soon as I was allowed to, I picked her up and snuggled her.  She was fine within about 30 seconds, but I felt horrible for her after seeing those tears rolling down her cheeks.  We were left alone for 15 minutes to allow the spots to react and she did GREAT not touching her back.  She even told The Hubby and me not to touch her back when we were picking her up.  She played with the toys they had there and was very sweet to everyone, as usual.

The doctor came back in when the timer went off and checked her out.  The egg spot hardly reacted at all, which is great news!  He said that in a few months we can start to slowly introduce some egg to build up her tolerance and to help encourage her body to outgrow the allergy.  He also said we could introduce peanut butter whenever we want.  Because The Hubby and I eat a fair amount of it, Baby Girl has been interested in trying it for awhile (but will say "I don't like peanut butter" or "I don't like eggs" when asked--we've tried explaining to her that it's just that they don't like her very much...).

I did have a revelation this morning about how different things like this will be once Baby Boy is here.  We always schedule appointments as early as possible so we can just go straight from home, but we won't want to have to take Baby Boy with us in the future, so we'll either have to divide and conquer (The Hubby and I have each only missed one doctor appointment for Baby Girl and both were sick appointments) or run Baby Boy to the sitter and then go to Baby Girl's appointment (or vice versa).  The things you don't think about....

31 Weeks

How am I feeling? A development that I wanted to make sure to mention in case there are other women who might be pregnant in the future are reading...for the last few weeks I've been seeing specs of blood in my tissues in the morning.  I haven't had a full-blown nose bleed like I know some women have during pregnancy, but I have seen some.

Last night I struggled some with a foot cramp.  My toes cramped, the top of my foot cramped, AND the outside of my foot cramped.  The Hubby tried rubbing it (of course he was already sleeping when it happened...) and it helped until I tried to lay my leg back in its original position.  I ended up having to rub it really hard myself and then get up and stand on it for a few minutes.  It didn't cramp again, but that was really painful and something I hope doesn't keep happening!

Also, I'm confident that I'm waddling now, especially at the end of the day and ESPECIALLY when I need to pee or Baby Boy is pushing down near my bladder.  I find myself walking with my feet turned out and try to fix it, but it doesn't stay fixed for long.

I've also been working on trying to find a comfortable way to sleep.  The last two nights have been relatively successful with a knee support pillow between my legs and another pillow wedged behind me.  It means that I'm taking up more room in the bed, but I think The Hubby is going to just need to deal with it at this point.

Weight thoughts: NO WEIGHT GAIN between doctor appointments (3 weeks)! (as I sit here stuffing a Reese's Cup in my face...)


Doctor appointments?  We had one on Wednesday and it was awesome.  It started with no weight gain.  Oh, did I already say that?  It was my very first prenatal appointment where I didn't gain any weight between appointments in either pregnancy.  Woo!

I had a fairly low blood pressure again, which the nurse was very excited about (but it was unnerving to me).  It was 98/56, I think.  I know the top number was in the 90s and the bottom in the 50s.  When I'm not pregnant, I hover right around 120/75 or so, but I did maintain a lower blood pressure while pregnant with Baby Girl--just not THIS low!  My doctor told me it wasn't a problem and that it would probably rise through the remainder of my pregnancy.

I told the doctor that I was pretty sure Baby Boy was still transverse and she started feeling and couldn't tell at all.  She said I have "hard lumps all over my belly"--haha.  She was fairly confident she felt a butt on my upper right side, so she thought she'd find the heartbeat closer to my belly button and was right about that.  She couldn't tell, though, if I was feeling movement on my lower left side from hands and feet or if it was the head.  She used the doppler to measure his heartrate and it was in the 130s, which was pretty slow for him.  I commented on it and as we listened, it went up to the 150s.  LOL  Silly little man!  He moved around some more and his heartrate jumped into the 160s.  Crazy kid.  It was fun, though.

The last thing she did was measure my fundal length--I'm measuring 2 weeks ahead, which I'd guess means I was measuring at 32 cm (I was 30.5 weeks at the appointment).  She wasn't concerned at all and I'm pretty sure that's because of the extra padding I carry on top of baby.  She did say we'd do an ultrasound as we get closer to make sure he isn't too big and we talked a bit about how inaccurate those are--apparently she says it has an error rate of up to 10-20%.

I go back on March 6th.

Movement?  Oh yes.  As I've said many times, this little guy loves to move!  He responds to peanut butter and seems to calm down when his daddy puts his hand on my belly.  He loves to kick Baby Girl when she's laying on me and do a lot of rolling and moving throughout the day.  Today he was kicking/hitting the underside of my right boob!


Baby preparation? I went and met with a friend on Tuesday to pick up some baby clothes and things--amazing!  I don't think she reads the blog, but if she does....thank you!!!!  We are going to go through it tonight to see what's in there and assess what we might still need.  I've been stocking up on diapers when I find deals, so I feel fairly set there, at least for a little while.  The Hubby looked at the boxes I'd purchased and tried to estimate how long they would last...and I laughed at him.  Apparently he doesn't remember the newborn stage as well as I do.

Conversation with Baby Girl

From this morning in the car

Baby Girl: Daddy, I want you to tell me a story, please.

Daddy: Okay.  Once upon a time, there was a beautiful little girl named...

Baby Girl: Baby Girl (except, of course, she said her name...which she can finally pronounce entirely)

Daddy: And she spelled her name...

Baby Girl: [insert letters of Baby Girl's name here]

Daddy: One day, Baby Girl's mommy and daddy told her she was going to be a big sister.  That meant she was going to have a baby brother.  What did they call that baby brother?

BG: Boomer

Daddy: And what was his real name going to be?

BG: [insert name that Baby Girl has decided upon that we'll probably go with since how can you deny a sweet little girl who says the name so well in that little girl voice of hers????]

Daddy:  And where is that little baby?

BG: In Mommy's tummy

Daddy: Right.  He's in there growing big and strong.

BG:  Like ME!

Daddy: And that little baby is going to come in late...

BG: April!

Daddy: What's Boomer going to eat when he comes out of mommy's tummy?

BG: Broccoli.

[pause]

BG: Smooshed up broccoli

Daddy: (laughing) Right.  But when he first comes out, he'll only eat milk.  Do you know that when Boomer starts eating real food that you can help feed him?

BG: Yeah!  And I can teach him to play games...

Daddy: Eventually, but at first he'll be sort of floppy and not do much other than eat, sleep, and cry.  But once he gets bigger you can lay on the floor and teach him how to roll over. Like a dog.

[pause]

[pause]

BG: I'm going to put this sock on my hand.  (in high-pitched voice) Hi, I'm a sock puppet.  My name is LaLa.

End scene

Green Smoothie

Last week I started doing some research about how I could increase the amount of folic acid I'm taking in through foods, rather than through my vitamins, as my trusty old Flintstones had started making me slightly nauseous.  I found that quite a few of the folic acid-rich foods are also acidic and they were therefore quickly crossed off my list--I'm struggling enough with my reflux these days!  Through my reading, I found that spinach and kale are great sources of folic acid.  Upon reading that, I remembered seeing posts about green smoothies floating across my Google Reader.  I asked friends, searched online, and chatted with some people and got a good idea of what, exactly, goes into a green smoothie.  The answer?  Just about anything with some spinach!

I gathered information and, armed with that, headed to the grocery store.  I decided on my grocery store when I saw that Meijer had spinach and strawberries as part of their $10 for 10 items and get the 11th item free promotion.  I picked up some wheat germ at the suggestion of a coworker and passed on a flaxseed (which apparently has mixed reviews for pregnant women) and grabbed some Greek yogurt.  Last night I took some almost-spoiled strawberries, washed, and froze them.  They'll be perfect for smoothies.

This morning in the midst of running around getting Baby Girl and myself ready for the day (The Hubby had to go to work very early, so I was totally thrown off--he usually does most of the prep in the mornings!) I retrieved my smoothie maker from the basement and started tossing in ingredients.  It took awhile to figure out the proportions of ingredients to make it into an actual drink, but once I got there, it was actually pretty yummy.  I'll be trying more flavors in the future (only used strawberries today) and also might try my actual blender.  The smoothie maker didn't do a great job chopping up the spinach or strawberries in places.  Although the chunks of strawberries weren't unpleasant, the chunks of spinach sort of were...

I'm pleased to report that this also gets the Baby Girl Seal of Approval.  She saw my drink and wanted to try it, so I let her.  She even came back for a second drink!  Her only complaint was while I was blending.  She came into the kitchen and said, "I can't hear the TV."  Kiddo, Mickey Mouse can wait--mama is making something yummy!

Have you ever had a green smoothie?  If so, what do you put in yours?  If you haven't tried it, it's a great way to get extra nutrition into your breakfast and you can't even tell there's spinach in there except for the green color!

Meal Plan: 2/19/12 - 2/25/12

Our meal plans are becoming more and more uninspired.  I'm sticking to them and we're cooking at home most nights, which is a nice change for our wallets.  We did have a treat on Saturday night, which I will blog about very soon.

I got home from the grocery this week and found that I'd only planned on 6 meals this week, including the one out on Tuesday night, so I looked through the cupboards and the refrigerator and improvised.  And then of course that was the meal that The Hubby chose for last night, although I forgot (AGAIN) to heat up the sauce that I'd bought to make our hot dogs coneys.

Sunday: Coneys Hot dogs and Mac & Cheese with broccoli--we had buns left over from last week (just steam them over the hot dogs to soften them up!), I found the mac & cheese recipe online and I'd bought the hot dogs at the grocery this week because they were only $1
Monday: Homemade pizza
Tuesday: Out before Baby Girl's last swim lesson and to use a Groupon
Wednesday: Taco Chicken Bowls (for my cooking club)
Thursday: Chicken Fried Rice with Steamed Broccoli
Friday: Breakfast (pancakes, fried potatoes, and turkey bacon)
Saturday: Spaghetti & Meatballs

30 Weeks

I was gasping at 29 weeks last week, but now 30?  Seriously?  It feels like a major turning point for me having that "3" in the front of the number.  That also means that we're moving into the territory of having a single digit number of weeks left.  Eek!  Panic commencing.


How am I feeling? Generally okay.  Nothing majorly new since I last posted.  I've been having some major hip pain from laying on my sides all night.  My preferred sleeping position is on my side but with one leg slung over the other, putting pressure on my belly and Baby Boy doesn't seem to like it when I do that.  It's when I accidentally do this that I realize that he's still likely transverse.  I've got a pillow for between my knees that works to help keep me in the correct position but also means that I've got a lot of hip pain when I wake in the morning.  I should really probably fire up that yoga DVD that I bought for $1 at the beginning of my pregnancy...


Weight thoughts: Meh--it is what it is.  We'll find out on Wednesday how bad it is.


Doctor appointments?  This Wednesday--woo!

Movement?  Oh yeah.  I'm getting a LOT of movement up VERY high these days and I remember feeling that with Baby Girl, too.  Some of the movement on my right side is starting to get a little painful, which I never had with Baby Girl.  He still has his nightly dance party while I watch TV--I think sometime this week I called it "a rave" on Facebook.  I've found that he loves to kick his big sister when she's sitting on my lap.  Tormenting her already...


Baby preparation? We went to 4 thrift stores and a discount furniture store on Saturday morning searching for a rocking chair and found nothing.  I did figure out which of the thrift stores near us are nicer, though, and may head to it when I need to fill in Baby Boy's wardrobe.  But his room still sits the same as it has.  We'll get to it eventually... :)

What Do You Need?

We've had a few people ask recently what sort of things we need for Baby Boy.  We're quickly realizing that there's very little that we need, thankfully (which is why people don't have showers for second babies).  I think I'm going to get some hand-me-down clothing from a friend, but don't have any idea yet what sizes, seasons (her boys were born in August) or quantity for those. :)  But otherwise it's just replacing the pink with blue.  So much of Baby Girl's clothing, bibs, blankets, and everything is pink. PINK!

We need to work in the nursery very soon, as I'm getting more run down by the day and want to have the energy to decorate the way I want.  In there, we just need some sort of rocking chair and then would like to buy some bedding and wall hangings.  Luckily we do have some general-neutral sheets and swaddles that will be fine for awhile, but I would love to really decorate the room and enjoy it like he's my first child (I don't want him to start getting a complex already!!!).  The walls are already tan and we are leaving up the vinyl lettering with the words to "You Are My Sunshine", so that just means a few wall hangings and bedding.  Here are some themes that I like, although we probably won't buy a full set unless it's cheaper that way:

From Target

Also from Target--I like the geometric stuff a bit better

Also Target (are you sensing a theme?  I actually really like some Walmart, but am having trouble linking the photos here...)

I'm finding myself drawn more to greens than blues, but am not opposed to either.  I do like muted colors more than bright, though.

I also need to buy a new cover to my nursing pillow because I broke the zipper last time.  I have some Amazon gift cards thanks to Swagbucks, so I think I can get it for free that way.

I did realize, though, that there was one thing that I am going to start telling people we'd love if they ask what they can get us--restaurant gift cards and frozen meals!  Until I started putting myself into this situation, I never would have thought of it, but I remember how overwhelming the thought of cooking was last time and realized that this would be perfect (and it will be my go-to gift for parents from now on, I think).  

After doing our assessment, I'm actually fairly surprised at how little we need to buy to be prepared for Baby Boy.  I've been buying some diapers and will need to stock up on size 1's when I see deals, but we're otherwise doing really well!

29 Weeks

Twenty-nine weeks?  Seriously?  How did that happen?  Last I checked I was still safely in the 2nd trimester!


How am I feeling? Besides the sickness, pretty good.  Acid is still flaring up sometimes for reasons I can't determine (like this morning...).  I'm getting to the point where I'm pretty sore when I wake up in the morning, even when I use my pillow that goes between my knees.  I'm finding that my hips are sore from laying on them all night.  My limbs are still going numb regularly, which is disconcerting, but not troubling (it usually means I've been laying on them too long).

As far as new developments, my belly button is doing the crazy thing where it stretches out horizontally.  It's getting really shallow and very wide.  It never popped out with Baby Girl, so I'm hoping it won't this time either.  I also noticed recently that my stretch marks from last time are extending (as I told The Hubby, my stretch marks are getting stretch marks).  I'm not too worried about it, surprisingly.  The one change that has been bothersome to me, though, is that I have a freckle.  This sounds weird, but I have NEVER had freckles in my life and I found one on the right side of my nose on my cheek.  I know people talk about lots of skin changes that can happen in pregnancy, but I didn't have anything like this last time.  Weird.


Weight thoughts: I'm aiming for 3 pounds or less for the gain between last appointment and the one next Wednesday.  Not sure if I'll make it.  I'm just not eating that much but still seem to keep gaining.  I've given myself license to eat a few more treats, but my portion sizes have honestly been pretty small.


Doctor appointments?  Nothing until 2/22.

Movement?  Yep--Baby Boy is definitely still scooting around in there.  I've noticed that he LOVES peanut butter.  Baby Girl actually asked me if Boomer was kicking me and I told her "Yep!  He loves peanut butter." Her response: "He's doing a peanut butter dance".  Adorable.

I can't really tell what his position is now.  I think it's probably the same, but today I've been feeling more movement straight up from my belly button and even a bit in my upper left quadrant (previously most had been in my upper right quadrant), so it's possible that he's turned some.  I've actually been feeling movement almost everywhere today, so who knows.  My doctor is good about being able to feel, so she'll probably be able to tell me next week.


Baby preparation? With all the sickness, we've just been trying to keep our heads above water and not end up in the hospital.  So no, no more prep has been done :)

Valentine's Day

Like everyone other person across the blogosphere (or so it seems), I want to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day isn't really a holiday we make a big deal out of in our household.  Sure, I love loving my husband and telling him how much I love him, but I don't need this special day to do it.  I definitely don't need overpriced flowers or the hassle of crowds and reservations for dinner.  In the past (even before kids) we've cooked nice dinners at home and generally just enjoyed some time with each other.  I wear a ring almost daily that The Hubby got me on our first Valentine's Day--10 years ago today.  He didn't know at that time that the gemstone would match our first child's birthstone (a ruby)--he was just going for the Kay special!

Special days this year have been a bit of a bust for us.  Our fifth anniversary came and went last June without much ado, as we chose instead to spend that weekend celebrating the collective 30th birthdays of our close-knit group of college friends and just never remembered to plan something else.  My birthday was when I was feeling some morning sickness and wasn't able to enjoy the food.  So it just seems fitting that both The Hubby and I are under the weather and busy all day on Valentine's Day.

We did, however, make time to go to lunch together.  We split a $5 footlong at Subway--romantic, right?  We both agreed that it matches our personalities perfectly and that it's a great thing that we didn't make big plans and then end up sick.  We'll spend the evening with the product of our love taking her to swimming lessons.  Because of the time of the lessons, we can't get back to the house to cook, so we'll be eating out again tonight.  Baby Girl made a special request for dinner--"Mc-Dack-Donalds"--which I think we'll fulfill.  I also have a coupon for a local restaurant, but The Hubby is skeptical whether we'll be able to get in and out of there quickly enough on Valentine's Day, so we'll likely defer that choice until next week (the coupon expires next week).

So there you go--my thoughts on Valentine's Day.  Whether you celebrate with a $100 per plate dinner or nothing at all, I hope you tell the people in your life how much you love and appreciate them.

Sick, part 2

(I apologize in advance for the scattered nature of this post.  You'll discover at the end why my brain isn't working terribly well.)

My mom came up to watch Baby Girl on Thursday so The Hubby and I could go to work. We are incredibly grateful that we have someone who can come in relatively short notice and who we know will give Baby Girl everything she needs to feel better.

When we left in the morning, the fever was still hanging around at 102. Baby Girl got plenty of snuggles and some applesauce and apple juice. She fell asleep in my mom's lap around 1:30 (naptime is typically between 12:30 and 1:00, so it's no wonder...) and slept there until just before we got home at 5:00. Wow. Lo and behold, when she woke up, the fever was gone! Thank goodness. She was still coughing and her nose was running a small amount, but the fact that the fever was gone was a huge victory.

By Wednesday of her fever (day 3), Baby Girl was acting slightly lethargic and didn't have much interest in eating.  I can honestly say that this was the very first time in many sicknesses that her eating has been affected.  It was scary and frustrating at the same time.  By Saturday, though, her eating was already returning to normal.  We found that she lost 2-4 pounds over just a few days.

Friday the sickness seemed like an average cold with an ugly cough.  The snotty nose appeared after the cough, but by Sunday both were in full swing.  I think the cough was slightly better yesterday, but am not sure.  She's back at the sitter today.  If this had been an average cold, this would probably be a day we'd keep her home, but since she'd been out for 5 days already, had been getting really bad cabin fever (she'd been in the car three times since last Sunday and only got out somewhere other than home once--at the doctor), and the sickness came from the sitter, we think she'll be fine.

Friday night, though, I noticed that The Hubby's eyes were very red.  It wasn't abnormal for him--he has REALLY sensitive eyes that get really red from being tired or sick or just dry.  Saturday they didn't look much better, which had me concerned.  I asked about them, but he wasn't concerned, so I let it go.  Sunday morning, though, when I woke up with Baby Girl at 5 a.m. (!), he told me that his eyelids were crusted over.  Great.  So I took Baby Girl to the recliner after failing to get her to go to sleep in her rocking chair in her room, and we both finally fell asleep at 6 a.m. and slept there until 8:30.  The Hubby got out of bed around that time as well and I found out that the clinic inside our local grocery store opened at 10 on Sunday mornings and suggested that he go there.

Around 11:30, he texted me with his diagnosis: ear infection, sinus infection, and pink eye.  Awesome.  I'd already snapped at him that morning for touching his eye then touching something else and told him that the reason pink eye doesn't usually spread between adults is because adults have the common sense to wash their hands after touching their eyes.  So it was a great morning all around already.  He got three medications and came home and we ate lunch.

The day went fairly normally until 9:45.  Baby Girl had been in bed for almost 2 hours and was suddenly crying.  I went to her and she wouldn't tell me why she was crying, but fell asleep immediately in my arms.  I had a hard time transferring her back into her bed (she was facing the wrong direction), but she didn't seem phased by turning around and laying there awake.  We went to bed and she woke up at 10:30 (The Hubby went in--same sort of thing), 11 (I went in--same sort of thing), and 11:30.  When she cried at 11:30, I asked The Hubby if I should just take her to the recliner and her stomped out of the room.  Neither of us is at our best in the middle of the night and sick, apparently.  I didn't hear from him again all night and when the alarm went off this morning and I subsequently turned it off and overslept (I don't know how to work his stupid alarm clock!), he still wasn't there.  I woke them both up at 7 in the recliner.

Aaaannnddd....when I woke up I had a not-so-pleasant surprise.  I now have the cold portion of the sickness.  I'd been coughing some over the last 5 days, but never felt sick, but now it's definitely a head cold for me, complete with sneezing, coughing and snot, just in time to start a work week.  Great.

If we can keep the pink eye contained to The Hubby, though, I consider it a victory.  Keep your fingers crossed for rapid healing in our household!

Meal Plan 2/12/12 - 2/18/12

This has been a really rough week for us (although we didn't go out to eat once--I'm really proud of us) and this next week will mean a lot of rest and recuperation, hopefully, as the sickness still persists (an update on all of that will come very soon--I started it on the iPad, but didn't like the interface there, so I want to use the actual laptop to type it up).  You'll see that I picked some pretty easy meals--I just don't have the energy to devote to dinners, although I did get motivated and made a loaf of bread from scratch yesterday and hope to make some sugar cookie bars today (I'll share them at work--we're taking some fruit to Baby Girl's sitter for the Valentine's Day party since someone is already bringing cupcakes). :)

Sunday: Tortellini and Garden Vegetable Bake--this is the recipe this week for my cooking club I'm doing.  It's a lot longer preparation than I can typically handle on a weeknight, so I'll make it tonight and then plan on reheating it for lunch Monday and then for another dinner later in the week.

Monday: Slow Cooker German-Style Pork Roast with Sauerkraut and Potatoes--I had half of a pork roast left that I wanted to use in a new way and have some potatoes hanging out with no plan, so this is the recipe I found.  This is another meal that I'm hoping will work for lunch (we always plan on having leftovers for lunches) and and another dinner.

Tuesday: Assuming Baby Girl doesn't get worse or a secondary illness, we'll be going to her second week of swim lessons (we missed the real second week last week).  This means we will be eating out--I hope we'll eat early enough that we don't run into a bunch of people dining out for Valentine's Day.  I have a Groupon that I'd like to use.

Wednesday: Pizza--I had a leftover pizza crust from last week's BBQ Chicken Pizza and already need to buy some mushrooms, so I'd guess it'll be a mushroom pizza.

Thursday: More Tortellini and Garden Vegetable Bake

Friday: Coneys & Tater Tots--I'm lazy and just use canned coney sauce, even though I found a great Skyline copycat recipe I'd like to try someday.  Someday.  Maybe once Baby Boy is at least 6 months old...

Saturday: More pork roast

(We might also, if everyone is feeling fairly healthy, go out for a friend's birthday that was 2/6.  If that happens, any of these meals can easily be deferred to the following week.)

28 Weeks

It's been a rough week for sure (see my previous post), which sort of explains my delay in posting this update.  Sort of.  I'll be 29 weeks on Saturday.  One of these days I'll post these in a timely fashion but for now this is what you get!


How am I feeling? Not horrible.  Baby Boy is starting to crowd my lungs, which is causing some breathing discomfort.  As I mentioned in my last update, I keep forgetting that I'm 28 weeks pregnant.  I just got back from taking a walk (to get a bagel...don't think I'm actually going out for my health!) and had some major discomfort in the left side of my abdomen once I realized that I was walking too quickly for my body.  I've also suddenly been having some sleeping trouble.  I had a hard time getting comfortable last night and am still waking very regularly (at least once per night) with a body part that is numb.

Weight thoughts: Still frustrated, but trying not to think about it.  I'm eating when I'm hungry and I'm trying to be smart about what I'm eating and eating lots of fruits and veggies.  And a Shamrock Shake.  Try not to judge.


Doctor appointments?  Nothing until 2/22.

Movement?  Yes!  Baby Boy is VERY active, especially in the evenings.  I have a feeling we're going to have a definite witching hour in the evenings with him.  I had my first experience with painful movement right at 28 weeks--it felt like he was trying to bruise me from the inside.  I'm pretty sure he's still transverse, based on a very emphatic flourish of movement that I got last night when I must have rolled too far toward my stomach.  It was like he was letting me know that I was squishing his head--he was flailing on both sides of my stomach, waving his arms and kicking his legs.

Baby preparation? Our basement is done, which means that the nursery is the only huge project we need to tackle before his arrival.  We haven't even thought about it much, though.  If we're healthy this weekend, maybe we'll go shopping and see if there's anything that we really like.

The biggest news, though, is that we are about 90% sure that we have a name.  We had narrowed our list down to about 3 names and had said them all to Baby Girl to make her feel involved.  Now when we ask her what Boomer's (our nickname for Baby Boy) real name is going to be, she'll respond with one of the names consistently.  We question her about the other two and she says, "No..." and tells us the name she likes.  We could obviously convince her of a different name, but listening to her say it has convinced us that we like it, so I'm guessing it's going to be Baby Boy's name.  And no, I'm not sharing with anyone.  Hopefully Baby Girl doesn't either!

Sick Days

I've been delaying this post until I had some sort of resolution...but we're still just not there.

Saturday morning Baby Girl coughed once or twice.  We assumed a cold was coming on--no big deal, especially since we hadn't been sick since prior to Christmas.  We still shipped her off to her Grandma and Papaw's for the night for Grandma's birthday (yes, a night off for us is a birthday gift for my mom).  They came back Sunday night and we went out to dinner and nothing seemed off.  When I took Baby Girl to bed that night, she felt a little warm.  She was still acting normal and since she always feels a teeny bit warm to me, I didn't worry too much.  She was coughing a bit more, but again, nothing to worry about.  Something in my Mommy Gut told me to take her temperature before she fell asleep and I'm glad I did--101.1 orally (the first time she's ever had her temperature taken that way, actually--she did remarkably well).  I gave her some Tylenol and she slept a normal night.

I went downstairs to talk to The Hubby.  I know a fever isn't a big deal for most kids, but the only fevers we've seen have knocked Baby Girl out and were due to double ear infections.  She's cut almost all of her teeth and we've never had a fever from them.  She's had 6 (I think) single ear infections and no fevers from them.  She's had countless colds...no fevers.  So for her to have a fever of 101.1 was a fairly big deal.  We decided to wait and see how she was feeling Monday morning to decide what to do, but did compare our work schedules and The Hubby concluded he could stay home all day if I could stay home on Tuesday.

Her temperature was between 101 and 102 on Monday.

And Tuesday.

And again today.

WTF?

Yesterday the cough got so bad that it woke her from her nap, which hasn't happened very many times, no matter how bad her coughs have been.  She'd been sleeping for about 45 minutes when she woke up.  Once I'd concluded that she wasn't going to go back to sleep on her own, I gathered her up and took her into our bedroom to snuggle.  At first I didn't think she'd fall asleep, but after just a few songs, she was breathing heavily, stirring only to cough.  At some point, I dozed off, too, and woke when she'd shift or cough.  Around 4:00 I was done napping and turned on the TV quietly.  It wasn't until 4:20 that she woke up--she slept with me for 2 hours and 20 minutes!  Wow.  The only bad part about it was that she kept coughing in my face...I'm sure it's inevitable that I'm going to end up with this cold.  I just hope it doesn't come with the fever. But getting a snuggle with my busy 2 1/2 year old was blissful.

I called the doctor yesterday and the nurse thought that we should wait out the fever and keep treating it if it was over 101.  She said we should call back today if the cough got worse or the fever didn't subside.

Today I stayed home for the morning then did the switch with The Hubby at our place of work at noon.  After Baby Girl's nap, her temp was still 102, so she was given acetaminophen and The Hubby and I decided that he should call the doctor again.  He took Baby Girl to see a doctor and was told that her lungs sound perfect and her ears look perfect.  He said to keep treating the fever with acetaminophen and ibuprofen and to give some cough medicine at bedtime to help her sleep. If she starts getting thicker snot, we're supposed to call and have an antibiotic called in.

So I have no resolution.  I'd love to be reporting that the fever has broken or that the cough has subsided, but the cough just seems to keep getting worse and the fever is still there.  I'm facing The Working Mom Guilt--juggling both my responsibilities at home and at work and feeling guilty for not being able to give 100% to either one.  On top of that, while we have The Best Sick Leave Policy Ever, I'm feeling stressed because I need to have 240 hours banked by the time Baby Boy arrives.  I'm around 250 as of the end of January and while I will keep earning hours over the next few months, I already know I'll be burning time for my doctor appointments, staying home with Baby Girl, and then for myself if I end up with this.  It will all be okay--just another thing to worry about.

27 Weeks

How am I feeling? Physically, fairly good.  I'm definitely feeling more and more pregnant, but still have moments of forgetting how pregnant I am.  For instance, I jogged down the street with Baby Girl yesterday and when I was done was shocked at the tightness that I was feeling.  I also will walk at a quicker pace, but then realize how out of breath I am and how much my ankles hurt.  My reflux is mainly in check and I've been able to even enjoy some salsa and tomato-based foods.  I did try to drink a Diet Coke last Sunday and had a REALLY rough evening.  No more of that until after Baby Boy arrives!

Emotionally, I'm worried about bonding with Baby Boy.  Now that I know his positioning and have heard his heartbeat again, I feel a bit more connected to him, but I just find myself wondering how I can possibly love him as much as his sister.  I'm sure it will all be okay once he's here--just anxious about it for now.

I'm also having trouble with my weight gain, which I'll discuss below.

Weight thoughts: I've been weighing myself sporadically at home and had headed to the doctor feeling fairly optimistic and hoping for a weight gain of about 3 pounds.  Unfortunately, what I got was a weight gain of 9 pounds!  That means I'm up 27 pounds since my 7 week appointment--not what I was hoping for.  I thought something was wrong and expressed that to my doctor and she agreed that it was unlikely that I'd gained that much.  I've been a lot more careful about my portion sizes because of the reflux, so I'd assumed my weight gain would be minimal.  However, when I weighed myself this morning at home, the scale reflected the same weight gain.  In fact, I now weigh the same as I did when I delivered Baby Girl, which is also the same weight I was when I got married.  And it's only going up from here.

I'm really upset about this.  I know it's not the end of the world, but I had thought I was doing really well.  I'm now going to cut out some of the peanut butter I've been eating (it's been an easy protein for me so I've been having it twice a day--once on toast in the morning and also in the afternoon with an apple) and hope to start getting out for more walks.  I'm obviously not going to starve myself or obsess *too* much, but it's painful to see another large weight gain.


Doctor appointments?  I just had one yesterday, which is why I waited to post (I'll technically turn 28 weeks on Saturday).  My appointment was at 1:45 p.m., so I finished my glucose drink at 12:55 and told the receptionist when I arrived.  At 1:55 they still hadn't called me back, so I approached the receptionist and she immediately knew why I was there.  She ran and got someone to draw my blood and we did the glucose screening.  My number was 103 and they wanted it at 134 or below--what a load off my mind!  I went back to the waiting room to wait for awhile longer, then the nurse took us back to a room.  She took my weight, urine, and blood pressure (crazy low for me--98/54, I think, because I hadn't had much food since breakfast in anticipation of my glucose screening), then left us alone again.  I'm lucky The Hubby brought our iPad to the appointment because we didn't actually see the doctor until after 2:45.

Dr. S was apologetic about being late and then asked how baby's movement is.  I told her about my suspicion that he might have turned to head down, but then that he might be transverse again, so she checked my stomach and confirmed that he was at an angle--his feet/bum toward my right shoulder and his head toward my left hip.  She immediately found the heartbeat (154 bpm) and reassured me that he has plenty of time to turn.  We talked about my candidacy for a VBAC (she thinks I'm a really good candidate) and my reflux issues.  She suggested I try some Mylanta if I think I'm going to have something that might really upset my stomach on top of the Zantac that I'll continue to take twice per day.

Movement?  Oh goodness, yes.  As of Wednesday the 25th, I was very sure that Baby Boy was transverse.  I was feeling kicks and hits on both of my sides at the same time.  Then Thursday night (the 26th) I had a lot of steady pressure and for the next 4 days or so only felt fairly light movement down very low.  I thought maybe he'd turned to a head-down position.  Then on Tuesday the 31st I started feeling movement on both sides again.  Since our doctor appointment yesterday, I've been very aware of what I'm feeling.  I'm feeling LOTS of kicks under my right breast and some more rolling-type movement in the middle of my stomach (likely either a shoulder or his butt).  I'm also getting some movement on my lower left side and some light movement down very low (which I would assume would be a hand).

Baby preparation? We've been working hard at getting better habits in regards to keeping our house clean (more on that very soon) and have also been organizing our basement so we can create a 2nd living room with more toy storage down there.  But we haven't touched the nursery recently.  We're shipping Baby Girl off to my parents' house this weekend for my mom's birthday, so maybe we'll work more in the nursery then.