Advice? ;)

So here it goes!

Sometime within then next 3 weeks we should be welcoming our little (hopefully) girl into the world!  I have received a couple of FANTASTIC tips from Drew's sister and wanted to open up the lines of communication with other mom's who have those just all too wonderful child care pointers ;)

1. Keep a tub of water with oxy clean in the laundry room and when your baby craps all over its sheets/clothes etc just throw them in this tub and let them sit, keep adding to the tub and then dump the whole thing in the washing machine. She swears by this method and says it results in no stains and less work ;)  I love it and will def be giving this a try!

2. Layer your crib (this one I had read about as well). Don't just have one mattress pad/sheet, instead layer x 3. mattress pad/sheet, mattress pad/sheet etc. So that once again when your baby messes all over you can just strip off a layer and still have a crib that is made without having to try and make the crib up in the middle of the night. This is by far the most useful for me so far because I can barely even reach down far enough to make the crib in the first place. hehe.

3?  Please help with further parenting suggestions.  xoxooxo, nervous and excited mom-to-be!

Measurements, and not the sexy kind.

Quick pregnancy update after this mornings prenatal appointment.

So this is the third prenatal appointment in a row that has shown my uterus to be measuring larger than normal for how far along I am.  The midwife has reassured me that she does not feel any extra liquid so they are ruling out extra amniotic fluid.  She also does not think the baby is on the large size.  

..Instead she thinks the reason for the measurements is a combination of the fact that the baby is still not in a head down position (She is sitting sideways with her feet down) and that my torso is so short.  Basically this is the same thing she told me at my last appointment as well.  

...So now what? She gave me the option of ordering an ultrasound now or to wait for two more weeks measure again and see if the results are the same and then order the ultrasound to figure out what is going on. I'm secretly hoping that my due date is off and that I'm really two or three weeks further along than we think lol. That would be awesome hehe.  I chose the wait two weeks and re measure option.  

In the meantime I need to figure out a way to get this baby head down so that if I'm still measuring large even with her in the correct position we know its either just my size or an incorrect due date.  She suggests inverting myself (safely) lol... maybe it's time to clean six months of dust off 'the pole' lol... Hope I can still get into my inverted yoga positions.  Sigh.

*For anyone not familiar with uterus measurements (cuz I sure as hell wasn't!), here's a lil crash course based on what I have been able to gather :)  Ok so the uterus is the thing inside a female that expands to house the fetus, amniotic fluid, and placenta, it grows something like 1000x its normal size during pregnancy and then shrinks back down in the months after giving birth (why women still look pregnant even after delivering).  They measure this externally from where they feel the top of your uterus (right now on me that is basically right under my breasts) to the top of your pubic bone.  This measurement correlates to how many weeks into pregnancy you are (only accurate after 20 weeks of pregnancy) if this number is off either - or + by 1 or 2 cm its considered to be ok and still in the normal range but they will keep an eye on things (that's how specific these measurements are) if you have a + or - of 3 cm or more they usually order an ultrasound to see what is going on or to adjust your due date.   ...So that's your crash course into the 'sexy' art of uterus measurement.

7 month workouts! Prego weeks 28-32 gettting closer!

Third trimester is here and boy have things changed. A resurgence of FATIGUE, backache and increasing joint issues, accompanied by the pressure of a huge belly on my pelvis and overheating due to an increase in metabolic rate is making for an interesting workout experience. Walking is now harder than doing my elliptical cardio workout, and I am lucky to make it over 4 miles on the elliptical!  Still not giving up... yet! ;)

Week 28  (7 Months)

8/26  4 mi, 400 cals

8/27  Nada

8/28  Nada

8/29  4 mi, 400 cals

8/30  Psych appt... fun times LOL

8/31  4 mi, 400 cals

Week 29

9/1  5 mi, 500 cals

9/2  5 mi, 500 cals

9/3  2 mi, 200 cals -75 days to go!

9/4  5 mi, 500 cals

9/5  OMG busy day, house flooding, & did step 1 of the BELLY CAST! So awesome!

9/6  Drew duty - 4 mi, 400 cals

9/7  Nada

Week 30

9/8 - 4 mi, 400 cals

9/9 - 4 mi, 400 cals, resistance band and core work

9/10 - Short Hike.

9/11 - Hike!

9/12   Prenatal appointment

9/13 - Happy Birthday Mom!

9/14 - Nada

Week 31

9/15 - 4 mi, 400 cals

9/16 - Nada

9/17 - 6 mi, 600 cals

9/18 - 60 days to go! (Nada)

9/19 - Nada

9/20 - 4 mi, 400 cals

9/21 - 4.5 mi, 450 cals

Onwards to week 32 better known as the start of the 8th month of pregnancy!!!!

Apple of my eye ;) Cheesecake recipe! (finally)

Apple Walnut Cheesecake

*Ingredients -

• CRUST
• 1 cup cinnamon graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (can use pecans as well)
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• FILLING
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened (you can do 3 packages with some added sugar to taste for a thicker filling ;) )
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• (can add a pinch of cinnamon if you are a cinnamon lover like me)
•  APPLE TOPPING
• 4 cups apples - (basically 4 apples) peeled, cored & thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts 

  

*Directions -  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep apples, crush graham crackers, chop walnuts, and make sure butter is very soft (or slightly melted)
2. In a large bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs, 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts, 3 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and melted butter; 
3. Press into the bottom of a 9" springform pan. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, combine soft cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar. Mix at medium speed until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time adding vanilla. Pour filling into the baked crust. 
5. Thinly slice the peeled and cored apples.  Microwave the apple slices for a 90 seconds to get some of the liquid out (if you skip this step the apple topping may make your cheesecake a runny mess)
6. In a small bowl, stir together 1/3 cup sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Add this to the microwaved apples stirring to coat apples.  Drain excess moisture from the coated apples and spoon onto top of filling (or arrange individual slices in the design of your choosing) 
7. Optional step: Create a crumb coat topping! Mix together some softened butter, brown sugar and white sugar and add in 1/4 cup chopped walnuts. Sprinkle this on top of the cheesecake to give it a beautiful yummy finish. 
8. Bake in a water bath (I use a cookie sheet filled with water and aluminum foil around the springform pan to protect the cheesecake from any water leaking in) This will keep your cheesecake from cracking.
9. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes. Turn off oven and open oven door but leave cheesecake in oven for another hour to set up completely. This step is to make sure the cheesecake sets up w/o having to overcook it.

Highest bid for a piece of this cheesecake, $30! No Joke. IT'S AWESOME!

Hot August Mornings, Afternoons, & Nights... Workouts for month 6 of pregnancy

Pregnancy Week 24

7/29  - 7 mi, 700 cals
(hip and other joint issues continue, cannot safely do band work, can barely lift leg to put on socks or slip on shoe)

7/30 - Nada

7/31 - 7 mi, 700 cals

8/1   - 5 mi, 500 cals
Drew duty :( Received a very gracious gift card from granny n papa for the baby!! THANK YOU!!!! :)

8/2   - Nada

8/3   - 5 mi, 500 cals

Pregnancy Week 25

8/4 - Nada

8/5 - Nada (felt like crap... honestly lol)

8/6 - Hike

8/7 - 4 mi, 400 cals

8/8 - 6 mi, 600 cals

8/9 - Nada

8/10 - 5 mi, 500 cals, light core and resistance band work

Pregnancy Week 26

8/11 - 5 mi, 500 cals

8/12 - Labs and prenatal appointment (measuring 2-3 weeks bigger than normal)

8/13 - 5 mi, 500 cals

8/14 - Drew's 27th Birthday!

8/15 - My 28th Birthday! Yay for still getting calls to play late teen/early 20's - Reason 1,000,350 why being short and having a doll face is AWESOME lol ;)

8/16 - Family in town on Alaskan Cruise :) - No workout

8/17 - 5 mi, 500 cals

Pregnancy Week 27 - End of 2nd trimester!

8/18 - 5 mi, 500 cals

8/19 - Nada (Drew home!!!!!) :)

8/20 - Nada

8/21 - 5 mi, 500 cals

8/22 - I'm an auntie again! Congrats David and Sara, can't wait to meet baby Noah!!! :)

8/23 - 5 mi, 500 cals

8/24-  Nada

Cardio workouts decreasing in frequency and overall length, strength training workouts are almost never being done due to the pelvic/hip/joint pain I am experiencing at this point in pregnancy.  BRING ON THE 3rd TRIMESTER!!! HOOOOOMESTRETCHHHHHH! (:

Can we get married again?

Puke alert!

So we had just finished working out upstairs and I came downstairs to do core and band work when this song came on that neither of us had heard before. There was a pause as I am extremely critical (of everything) of music and needed that wine tasting moment of sloshing the wine around in my mouth before I could decide if this song was legitimately worthy of my admiration or should be spit into a bucket (channel changed).  ...Verdict momentary bliss upon realizing how sweet this song was! Followed by a memory I will cherish forever. Drew getting excited and saying, "this would have been my song to you, can we get married again so we can play this song at our wedding?" - I know this probably makes you want to rip that spit bucket out of my hands and puke ur guts out, but OMG, sweetest thing ever. I can't believe what we have together, I can't believe my fortune, there is a huge difference between love and being in love, I spent 7 years of my life learning that lesson, and it looks like I just may have gotten it right this time ;)

Love you baby!

Team pink!

So here is the over due BLOG in response to our ultrasound on 6/24 @ 19 weeks!

We will get back all the results next week during my prenatal appointment, but we did find out that we are in fact going to be having a little GIRL!  

The ultrasound tech was less than warm when we first walked in, she didn't even introduce herself, just told Drew where he could sit and that he wasn't allowed to take photos and told me to get on the table... She then struggled to figure out how to unbutton my jeans (I'm guessing not many people wear jeans to their ultrasound - I was assuming I would have to strip down so I didn't think it was an issue lol) anyway, I unbuttoned them and that was all the extra space she needed to proceed, so pants got to stay on which was good because that room was FREEZING!

I signed the consent saying that we wanted to know the gender ;) hehe, and the procedure started.  First let me say, thank goodness for the warmed up jelly stuff they squirt on your belly, because as I already mentioned it was Freezing in the room!! The whole ultrasound lasted about 45 minutes.  It was amazing.  We could see her squirming around moving her arms above her head and stretching out.  It was pretty low key until she finally told us that it was a GIRL!  At this moment I started crying, I couldn't help it, she asked Drew to get me tissues, and said that tears were a pretty common reaction and that I would have cried either way. I told her she was right because I went in with no gender preference, I knew that the world would provide to us what we were meant to have.  I knew Drew had secretly wanted a girl from the beginning but I couldn't help worrying that he somehow may be disappointed (I blame society for this irrational fear that led to additional unnecessary tears) 

Drew became giddy for the rest of the ultrasound, like he was laughing for no reason and then making jokes that made me laugh and thus screwing up the ultrasound at those moments because the baby would go crazy whenever I laughed!  It was like night and day once the ultrasound tech saw my tears, she suddenly became very umm what's the word, 'NICE, FRIENDLY... A JOY'.  (She was a big, homely woman originally from the south and just another person I have crossed paths with who treats me like crap until they find out I'm human... I thought being prego would change that, but judging by her and the two stylists I have gotten in basic arguments with at my local hair salon, and the normal glares I'm guessing it hasn't changed my intimidation factor by a noticeable amount, maybe it's cuz my boobs just keep growing who knows? LOLOL - I tend to prefer the women who compliment Drew on his fortune in capturing me and are overly nice instead... a much better reaction than immediate BITCHY, wouldn't u agree? lol... ok enough of that - for now-, back to the positive)  So Drew was so friken cute I couldn't even stand it. I teared up off and on for the remainder of the exam and Drew asked all kinds of questions and continued making me laugh and the tech as well.  The funniest thing he said was, oh no, we have to pay for her wedding! I had to keep reminding him to take one step at a time because his head was reeling with possible outcomes from parental missteps.  I am pretty sure the ultrasound tech thought we were both preciously crazy by the time we left lol.

We then went to WALMART and Drew bought some pink I love my Daddy stuff for the baby!

It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience and since this will be our only child it was, once in a lifetime! The weirdest thing was going in with ideas for names and then feeling like the names were no longer appropriate once seeing her 'on TV' ;) So we spent the weekend going through the baby name book Sandy (Drew's sis, I so love her!) had sent to us, and looking online.  And we came up with new names we never even considered before including one I just completely made up. (cuz you know how I don't like to have anything that someone else has unless I change it first lol) 

So far this second trimester has been one of the happiest if not happiest times of my life.  I do believe the first trimester would not have been so awful for me if it weren't for the vitamin deficiencies that basically kept me in bed... that was terrible for me physically and even more so mentally, I should be having my blood tested again soon to see if I am still anemic or if I have kicked its butt.  I am so thankful for the past two months and though there are days where I feel weak from not being able to eat enough and vitamins not making up for that, for the most part I have been able to maintain a very healthy diet and keep my energy level at an acceptable rate :) I am truly thankful every day that I feel good and hope it holds out!  Cannot wait to meet her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More later, but I think this is PLENTY LONG for now!

Thanks for reading, xoxxoxoxox