Baby B - Week 27

What a doozie of a week! Week 27 was probably the craziest week of my pregnancy so far… finished up a long work week with a big conference! Feeding the 829 women proved to be quite the challenge while 7 months pregnant. I happen to believe that pacing back and forth across the church on Saturday I must have logged at least 3 miles. Happy now that it went relatively smooth and it is over! The rest of Saturday and all of Sunday were spent recuperating with my feet up and long naps. Hence this post is late.

Other than the craziness of the week, we did happen to have some great celebratory moments. Thursday we celebrated my last day at work and the first as a stay at home mommy. My mom came into town and we’ve been getting ready to make some progress on our house and the nursery. We bought the dresser and shelves for the nursery closet and had fun oohing and ahhing over adorable clothing my mom brought with her. Seriously this little baby girl is making hearts melt already:) We also met our pediatrician for a getting to know you interview on Wednesday and absolutely love the practice and her. So excited to cross that off the list. Some things we love: there are only 6 doctors, you always speak to your doctor and not to a nurse, doctor on call for after hours, someone who is very open and flexible if we decide to alter any care, 95% of the time we will see our doctor, and the practice is relatively close. Feels good to have that done.

I also had my appointment with my OB Dr. Flom. I love her too and could not be happier with the care she is giving to our family as a whole. If anyone needs an OB I would highly recommend Dr. Flom and the practice, John Haugen and Assoc. (that is if you live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area). This week was the often dreaded glucose test which much to my surprise I passed with flying colors. I happened to come home and eat candy afterwards…naturally. We also were able to see baby girl on ultrasound again…that was ultrasound number 7 and much to our surprise we’ll have to go back for another one around week 34. My placenta is still not quite where they would like it so we’re praying as baby grows bigger everything will move up a little higher.

How big is baby?
This week baby is 2 pounds and 14 1/2 inches long. She’s busy showing rapid brain movement, her lungs are getting stronger, and she’s starting to get the hiccups. When we saw her via ultrasound she was happy as can be hanging out in happy baby yoga pose. It was so cute watching her grabbing her toes with her hands!

How am I feeling?

Overwhelmed is probably the best explanation. It’s been a long week and now that it’s over I’m glad I’m finally just home and able to tackle so many things around our house. We’re living in chaos…I have piles everywhere, my office is a disaster, our furniture comes this week…so I’m trying to take everyday as it comes. One day at a time. One minute at a time. Without getting grumpy. One surprise that I’ve noticed during my pregnancy is how much the hormone shifts have affected my attitude. Never throughout the entire infertility process, even with all the fake hormones being pumped through my body, did I ever feel like this. I’m ready for this person to go away in a few months and feel like my old self.

How am I changing?

These past two weeks I’ve definitely noticed a change in the size of the bump. At this past appointment I was measuring a week early and I’m beginning to wonder if we are on to something. I’ve mentioned before that we’re sure we are in for a bigger baby at birth but I’m just beginning to realize what this means for me in the meantime. It’s getting harder to put on socks, tie my shoes, and all things related and I have 12 weeks left! Hard to imagine what I’ll look like at week 40:)

Little Tidbits:

Weight Gained: 1; total of 18
Days my mom is here: 5…so excited to have her here!
Furniture being delivered: 3 pieces…our new couch and chair and hopefully our crib
Days until our first shower: 6

Giveaway winners!

I feel that for a first timer in the blog giveaway realm things have gone pretty well.  Though the field was relatively small, just 7 entries, everyone had a great chance of winning…which to me was exciting! 

Without further adieu the winners according to Random.org were:

AMANDA and BRITTANY!

Congratulations ladies…I hope you enjoy your treats at Starbucks and reading your little guys this super cute book!

(please contact me with your addresses…thanks)

We’re also celebrating today at our house…it’s my last day at my part time job and you know what else that means…

It’s my first day as a stay at home mommy!

Everyone has their own things they love. Some women really love their jobs and want to stay, others feel the pull to stay home, some have to work and other don’t. All of these decisions are personal and should be made between you and your spouse. But for me…this is all I’ve ever wanted to do…be at home, serving my husband and my family, and ultimately the Lord. So as you can imagine, I’m beyond excited for what’s to come!

Enjoy your Thursday…looks like it will be a beautiful day!

Book Review and a GIVEAWAY!

For the past year or so I’ve been so happy to be able to give book reviews in exchange for free books through the Blogging for Books program by Multnomah Press. I’ve received some great books not only to read but also to review. You can imagine that I was so excited to see a kids book pop up on my list of approved choices. With this baby girl on the way, I’ll take as many books as I can get. One thing I would love to instill in her is a love of literature and reading; I mean I was an English major:) And even if she doesn’t that’s okay, it will just mean she’s a little more like her daddy…whom I love more than anything:)

The book I received this time was God Gave Us Love by Lisa Tawn Bergren. Her books are always delightful and the illustrations so very cute. Some of her other books include: God Gave Us You and God Gave us Christmas.

God Gave Us Love is a story about Little Cub and his Grandpa. The two of them set out on a fun day of fishing and along the way Little Cub’s curiosity gets the best of him, like most little ones, and he has plenty of questions for his Grandpa. His questions revolve around why we must love others…a good question for children and adults alike. Grandpa’s answer: we love because God loves us so much and we should desire to love as God loves.

The book is aimed at ages 3 and up which I find to be perfect. The book is a little wordy at times but some things require careful words to explain them thoroughly. Overall I think the book is a very cute story between a Grandpa and his grandchild, inspiring children and adults alike to pray for love; to love others, strangers, family, etc. as Christ loves us.

*I was given this book by WaterBrook Press Multnomah Publishers in exchange for my review*

As far as the giveaway, well I have two extra copies of the book and I would love to give them away to two lucky readers! Included along with the book will be a $5 giftcard to Starbucks for the mommies and daddies to enjoy as they read to their little ones!

To Enter:

1) Leave a comment on this post completing this sentence: “My favorite book as a child or favorite book to read to a child is/was __________”
2) Be sure to include your name when you respond.
3) Giveaway will end at midnight on Wednesday April 11.
4) ONE entry per person

Winners will be chosen randomly and  will be announced Thursday on the blog so be sure to check back!

Baby B - 26 weeks

Happy Easter!

Well the 26th week has come and gone which means according to all books, doctors, and others we are now in the third trimester and ready to conquer the home stretch.

Starting with today, we had a great Easter celebrating our Savior’s resurrection with good food and great company! A couple of our friends came over to feast on Easter yummies and stayed to watch the end of the Master’s tournament. I headed out for a walk and did a couple organizational things in my office. This next week will be extra busy as I finish up work and get ready for our annual church women’s conference. I help on the committee to organize and execute the lunch; this year there are over 820 women!

The picture for this week makes me smile. I bought this dress 13 years ago in high school when I worked at the Gap for some ridiculous low price. I never wore it b/c for some reason it was cut with extra fabric in the front that I never felt comfortable in. And I SAVED it, with the tags on, for 13 years in hopes of wearing it while pregnant. Well at day one of 27 weeks it fits perfectly!

Last week, which was week 26, was pretty uneventful. Biggest part: we knocked one more thing off the nursery list and ordered our rug. I’m crossing my fingers and toes in hopes that it will look great and the hunt will be over. Here’s what we went with:

The final pieces are coming together…hopefully I’ll have a new mood board ready to go one of these days!

How big is baby?

Baby is growing big and strong. This week she’s as big as a head of lettuce.
She’s almost 2 pounds in weight and measures right around 14 inches. I’m curious to see this week at my appt. just how big she is. Back at 19 weeks they noticed that I had a low lying placenta so we’re having it checked out after I do my gestational diabetes test. Hoping everything turns out great!

How am I feeling?

Still pretty good. I think I jinxed myself last week when I mentioned that I was sleeping great. Unfortunately this week that all seemed to go by the wayside. I’m only usually up once at night but I get tired early and so by 2 or 3 when I wake up, I’m pretty wide awake. Hoping this changes but I’m resigned to believing it’s here for good. I also made the decision to quit the Y…I’ve been doing great getting there, but classes are out of the question at this point and to be honest, all I want to do is walk outside and enjoy the sunshine. So that’s the plan until baby comes. Walking every day so if anyone wants to join me, I’d love the company!

How am I changing?

This belly is getting HUGE! Seriously, I don’t even want to imagine how big it will be at the end. I just keep putting it out of my mind and telling myself how amazing God created the human body. I can still see my toes but not my whole foot like before so I would say belly growth has been the biggest change this past week.

Little Tidbits:

Total number of ultrasounds after Wednesday: 7
Baby items purchased: a few; Ebay is no longer my friend:)
Looking forward to: my mom coming for a whole week!
Pounds gained: 2; total of 17

He Came to Save

Keep us near;
help us in our finite to know your infinite more deeply.

Keep us needy;
help us to see You…our only hope, our only desire.

Keep us at the cross;
help us to see you in our place, our sin bearing down.

On a day like today, I imagine, with the sun bearing down, He rose and walked down the sandy path, with a cross of wood upon His shoulders.  He walked knowingly, expectantly. He would redeem His Father’s people on this day. He took the wrath, the beating, the pain, the agony. Without complaint. And yet, as the hour drew nearer, the weight of an eternity of sin upon His shoulders, He cried out.

”Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani”

As Philip Graham Ryken put it,

“Jesus Christ could tell when his intimacy with God the Father was interrupted. When that happened, he knew that he had been forsaken…It was as if God had taken a giant bucket and scooped up all the sins of his people-all the jealousy, and the anger and the lying, all the rebellion and the stealing and the incest, all the hypocrisy and the envy and the swearing-and dumped them all out on Jesus Christ…Once he had done that, the Father had to forsake all that sin. When Jesus was wearing our sin on the cross, God the Father could not bear to look at the sin or at his Son. He had to avert his gaze…When Jesus Christ picked up our sins, he became a curse for us, and when he became a curse for us, he was accursed by God. God was not forsaking his Son as much as he was forsaking the sin the Son was carrying.” (Guthrie, 87)

Can you imagine? My mind cannot comprehend, the pain He took on, the forsaking He endured, the sacrifice He made. And yet on this day we can rejoice. If He has called us by name, cleansed our hearts as only He can, and given us hearts of flesh…today we can remember, with gratitude overflowing. Our Savior took on the sin of the world so that we may have new life.

Amazing.

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As an endnote, we have some favorites that we use in preparing our hearts for Easter throughout the Lenten season. We highly recommend:

Keep Me Near the Cross by Nancy Guthrie (quote above from this book)
Lenten Lights by Noel Piper
Treasuring God in our Traditions by Noel Piper (great ideas for little ones)

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Wishing you all a very blessed Easter as we remember together our Savior!

Strawberry Salad with Pecan Crusted Chicken

A few weeks ago, after a pregnancy induced NEED for fruit compelled me to buy a huge container of strawberries from Costco, I made this salad. Completely made up on the fly…well not really, I mean my step-mom makes the best dressing for her Strawberry Spinach salad, so I used that for the dressing. The rest, well that was all made up.

If I remember right, that week was beautiful…summer weather on the brink of spring and this was definitely a taste of summer. Adding the pecan crusted chicken turned this salad into something that was entrée worthy in our house. The hubs will do salad for dinner as long as there is enough substance on the salad. I also served this with a demi loaf of whole wheat french bread lathered with butter so that may have helped too!

Everything comes together really easily and you can have dinner ready in under 30 minutes, even with all the cutting, dredging, and assembling. Not only is it relatively easy to throw together but it’s delicious as well! Can’t wait for summer to be here.

Strawberry Salad with Pecan Crusted Chicken
Serves 2

Ingredients:
Spinach (as much as you want), chopped up
Romaine, thinly sliced and chopped
2 stalks of celery sliced thin
4-5 large strawberries (about 3/4 C thinly sliced)
1/4 C slivered almonds, toasted

Chicken:
1 pound of chicken breasts, fileted (leaves you with four thin pieces if you start with two breasts like we did)
6 Ritz crackers
1/4-1/2 C of pecans, toasted
3 T olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Dressing:
Mix together in a salad dressing container or pyrex measuring cup.
1/4 C Olive Oil
2-3 T of Sugar, add more if necessary
2 T vinegar (apple cider or white will work)

1. Start out by prepping and cooking the chicken. Filet the breasts in half; they end up thinner. Remove any fat and set aside.

2. Chop up the crackers and pecans. I use our food processor to do this job really quick. You want this as fine as you can get it. Once ground pour into bowl and season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine

3.  Place chicken one piece at a time into the crumbs, completely covering it. Repeat with additional pieces.

4. Heat 3 T olive oil on medium heat in a fry pan. If you don’t use a non-stick fry pan you will end up needing more oil to keep the chicken from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Once the oil is heated place 1-2 pieces of chicken into the oil. Cook until the one side is brown and flip to cook through. Approximately 7 minutes. Repeat until finished. Set aside on paper towels to drain off any extra oil.

5. Assemble the salad ingredients in a large bowl; spinach, romaine, celery, almonds, and strawberries. Toss the salad with the dressing. Place on plates and top with sliced chicken.

Baby B - 25 Weeks

We returned home during week 25 and so this week has been all about re-adjusting to reality! No more sunshine and beaches; instead days are filled with work and laundry:) In terms of baby girl, this week was also filled with fun purchases and brainstorming our new nursery design. We bought our crib! So that is one thing off the list and good thing we finally made the purchase because it could take as long as 10 weeks to get here. Hopefully she doesn’t come a day early!

Also the big pink pouf came in the mail and I love it! We got a great deal on it since I was able to use my work discount and it will add a great pop of color in the now more neutral setting. We hope to use it often when baby is playing on the rug and us older ones would like a place to perch while interacting. We plan to place it in the book corner along with wall shelves filled with books!


How big is baby?

Baby is growing right along. This week she is approximately 13.5 inches long and weighs in between 1.5 and 2 pounds. I had a feeling she had a growth spurt because I definitely did! She is busy adding weight and hair and can now differentiate between which was is up and down. Smart girl!
How am I feeling?

Very excited to have her here with us. Every week I feel like I say the same things; I’m growing more tired and my back hurts. While these things are true I am not complaining! I’m loving being pregnant, feeling her move all about. I know that these things are only momentary and I’m very fortunate to have had a very easy pregnancy without any sickness and I can still sleep through the night, only getting up once! That is cause for celebration:)

There are some slight, normal fears of what life will look like on the other side and we’re trying to take the time now to keep our marriage our number one priority after the Lord. We’re very thankful for the 5 years of marriage under our belts before baby! In the next few weeks as life slows down a bit we hope to crack open all of our books regarding baby. We’re very open and know she may never fit the mold of the books, but it’s always good to be a little more educated!

How am I changing?

Physical changes have been fewer and fewer…unless you count a growing belly:) But a few changes have included my belly button protruding further out and the linea negra has showed up. It’s also getting harder to do normal things like put on socks. I know this will only get harder but I was a little surprised how quickly it caught up with me!

Little Tidbits:

Weight gain: after two weeks of not checking, I’m up 2 pounds TOTAL: 15
Birds chirping: indefinite, spring is on it’s way!
Trips back to WI planned: 3
Days until work is done: 11

Days until due date: 97!!
Names being considered: I have a favorite, Alex has yet to share his:)