This was the hardest week of the pregnancy so far. Work was very difficult because physically I’m reaching the point where it’s literally painful at times to sit and certain clothes that touch my belly on it’s lower half really hurt. My belly is very tender and nausea has returned in a big way.
I’m lucky that I have a very supportive husband who takes good care of me because I don’t think I could have handled this without him! I think my discomfort was made more intense by lack of sleep as well since it’s not easy to get comfortable then either and I wake up very early each morning.
I’m still walking daily but I haven’t taken a run in quite a while due to my very tender to the touch belly so maybe I’m done with running, I can’t quite tell yet.
On to the photo!
It’s still blaringly white! haha. I’m sooo excited to have the little bugger in there out here with me but I know I have to wait a little longer. I have so many wonderful friends who have blessed me with gifts and I am going to do a whole post soon on a woman who gave me a collection of cloth diapers that she hand made along with wipes, nursing pads and a few boxes of other things! Just wait until you see her incredible handiwork.
I’m going now to my first baby shower! I’ve never had a baby shower so I’m not sure what it’ll be like on the receiving end but I know that I’m very lucky and blessed to have a great family and circle of friends like I do.
Have a wonderful day and I’ll be back!
I’m coming towards the end of my pregnancy and there are some things I’m slowly but surely learning. One of those things has been understanding preparation and how important it is. I am looking forward at the things that will be changing and I’m wanting to make sure I’m ready and that takes preparation.
Here are a few things I plan on having prepared before they are needed…..
1. Obviously the baby room has to be ready before the little man gets here and obviously, it’s not ready yet…..
but it’s a work in progress at least. This is something we’re getting slowly working on getting taken care of . Shane has been a huge help in moving things where they need to be (or out of the house completely) and so I’m just rushing around trying to get the place cleaned. So far, great improvement has been made.
2. Once the baby comes and the few weeks afterward start I want to have things ready to make it easier to focus on the baby and not on how many dishes are in the sink or where the next meal is coming from. So, for the next few Saturdays (depending on how many I have left) I’ll be making bulk batches of easily freezable meals for dinners to come. I am okay with letting the house go for as long as I need to until getting into a regular schedule with the baby but one thing I can’t handle is a gross kitchen so I’ll be buying a stock of easily recyclable disposable dishes so that we won’t have to worry about washing. It’ll take a great burden off my (and Shane’s) shoulders to not think about that.
3. The other thing, which is farther in the future, is baby food. I plan on making all my baby food of course and instead of waiting until he’s ready to eat food I want to be prepared and have plenty of back up on hand so that though I’ll be making most of it fresh for him I will have a lot of it stored for those tight moments that inevitably come when times get busy or things come up.
4. Schedules schedules schedules. This is the key to not becoming the frazzled mother. I’m convinced of it. Even if you don’t stick to a schedule all the time having one is a very nice fall back and I find that even just making one is therapeutic. I love scheduling things and writing goals for the day/week/month or whatever.
5. Discipline. The ultimate preparation is preparing your child for life. I believe discipline not only helps you maintain a calmer home environment but it also prepares teaches your child that no matter where you are in life there are consequences for their actions whether good or bad. This is the mothers goal is it not? To give their child the tools they need to understand the world enough to be successful in life.
Anyway, I’m off to prepare some more!
Question: Do you like to prepare or are you more of a spur of the moment person?
I get into a thing, when it comes to summer. and it has to do with gardens and what comes from them…….right now, it’s tomatoes. I hope I don’t bore you!
Ummmmm drool! These goodnesses were just itching to be eaten and I wasn’t one to keep them from getting what they need! So I chopped these bad boys up into a salad.
I couldn’t do anything with these except eat them. I literally ate this bowl like finger food. My real dinner was some pasta with….you guessed it, tomatoes. With hotsauce!
It was good. I won’t lie. I mean, all those tomatoes are going to sooth my stomach. I have felt SUPER nauseous the past two days and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast this morning because of it. Which is bad I know so I tried to make up for it.
Breakfast though didn’t involve tomatoes. It was chia oatmeal with stewed apples that I canned last fall!
I still have quite a few quarts from apples I stole from an abandoned orchard in the middle of the night. Don’t tell anyone. It was one of my favorite adventures of 2009.
- 1 cup oatmeal
- 1 scoop chia seeds
- 1 cup stewed apples
- 1 large scoop of peanut butter (all melty of course)
This is for about three breakfasts though so third it if you want to have it only once! It was filling, but not enough to stave away the fast approaching and nearly ever present nausea. I want to have this baby! Shoot.
Question: Is there a food you could eat every day?
Happy Tuesday all! It’s a perfectly beautiful day outside and it was near torture being stuck inside! I did go out and walk my two miles at lunch which was heaven and made me want to run away and find a pool but other wise I was indoors the whole day:( However, last night I was able to get out and pick some gorgeous tomatoes and some basil to create deliciousness for Shaners and myself.
The colors were incredible and I felt inspired by them so first things first I pulled out a thin crust that I’d been saving and whipped up a garlic/parsley olive oil spread for it.
- olive oil
- garlic
- chopped parsley
- sea salt
- chopped oregano
I spread this thinly all over the pizza crust and put it in the oven at 350 to warm up. Then I cut up tomatoes and laid them on a plate with two layers of paper towels to pull out some of the excess juices.
Once the pizza crust had spent some quality time in the oven I pulled it out and put down a layer of grated Parmesan cheese. I then layered the tomatoes on top of that and the put down basil and mozzarella cheese.
Oh my. Yes it was just as fresh and delicious as it looks! However, I myself like the even fresher fare and so instead of pizza I made myself a tomato salad with more of the juicy, garden tomatoes!
You thought the pizza looked good!!! This salad was loaded with flavor and even protein!
- chopped tomatoes
- garbonzo beans
- fresh basil and parsley
- mozzarella cheese
- garlic
- sea salt
- balsamic vinegar
- olive oil
THAT was a satisfying salad. It’s impossible to explain summer flavors. You just have to have them. Go grow tomatoes! You’ll never regret it for a second. They’re like a guilty pleasure except it’s not guilty but so addicting that you can’t help feeling a little controlled by them. I’ll leave you with this.
Question: What is your summer vice? The pool? Watermelon? Mine’s definitely the sunshine but tomatoes come at a close second.
Last night my mom took me and all four of my sisters to go out to dinner and see Dream Girls Broadway Show that was traveling through town. Obviously my sisters were happy to see me. hehehe
We hung around outside at my grandma’s chatting for a while we waited to go to dinner and of course we took some pictures because it’s rare that all of my sisters and mom get to be together at once these days!
Obviously Angela and I are acting like a married couple but I’m not sure why. See how tall they all are!
Just us girlies in this one. I don’t know how I have such a beautiful family but you could just say it’s good genes.
Now, on to the food! At McCoy’s I got a Greek pasta that was truly delicious! It had feta cheese, spinach, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, herbs and onions. I took the leftovers home for Shane’s lunch!
Mom had the tomato basil pizza which inspired the dinner I made for Shane tonight….more on that later!
Angela had a gorgeous tortellini dish that was to die for! I’m not sure what was in it though. She let me take the leftovers home for Shane too. hehe. So sweet!
Here are the ladies enjoying dinner and the nice weather! It was a beautiful night.
Here’s where the good genes come in….just look at my mom, she looks like she’s one of the sisters!
Lastly, my little French sister and me. She’s back to stay and I can’t wait to spend much more time around her!
The show was great (although a bit long for this pregnant lady!) and the time we spent together was so much fun. A beautiful summer evening with some of my favorite people!!
