36 Weeks

On Thursday I hit the 36 week mark in my pregnancy.  It's funny to think that 36 weeks is as far as I got in my pregnancy with Nathan.  Natalie was born at 39 weeks. I wonder what this baby will decide to do??

At my midwife appointment this week I had my group B strep test and an internal exam.  According to my midwife, the baby is "crazy low" (which is not at all a surprise to me or my poor pelvis!) and I am 1 cm dilated but not yet effaced.  My Braxton-Hicks contractions have been increasing, as have my trips to the bathroom! :)  I am in that training for a newborn phase of needing to get up every 1-3 hours at night.  My body is definitely getting itself ready for the next stage!

As far as my "to-do before baby" spreadsheet, almost everything is crossed off the list! Really all that needs to happen on the homefront before the baby arrives is to pack my hospital bag, pack the kids' overnight bags and install the infant carseat.  I still have a lot on my pre-maternity leave to-do list at work, so I am trying to plug away at that a little bit in the evenings as well as at the office.  Never a dull moment!

36 week belly!

Freezer Meals

In my quest to get as much prepared as possible before the unknown of a new baby arrives in our life, I spent the weekend making freezer meals.  I had some ideas about what I was going to make going into it, but tracking down the recipes, making a coded spreadsheet shopping list (yes, I am that anal!), looking at sales and clipping coupons at Meijer and Target took me a lot longer than I anticipated.  Then three hours of shopping later (perhaps going out on the first Saturday after the polar vortex was not the best idea???), unpacking all the groceries, sorting them into their various recipes, chopping all the veggies (thank you, US figure skating championships for the entertainment while chopping!), and Saturday was done.  I cooked all morning yesterday and then took a break to go in and conduct some training at work all afternoon, and then assembled burritos in front of the Golden Globes. Relaxing weekend? Nope. Satisfyingly productive? Yes!

Here is what I made:

Last-Minute Lasagna: made a double batch, one for the freezer and one for dinner this week.

Italian Turkey Soup: made a double batch, both for the freezer.

Chicken, Bean and Cheese Burritos: doubled the bean/cheese/salsa amounts and cooked a family pack of chicken thighs in the crockpot and had enough filling for 24 burritos.

One Skillet White Bean & Sausage Stew: made a double batch, one for the freezer and one for dinner this week.

Quesadilla Casserole: made a double batch, one for the freezer and one for dinner this week.

This site has a lot of crockpot recipes for the freezer.  I prepped single batches of the Sausage & Peppers and the Teryaki Pork Chops for the freezer.

34 Weeks

One of the reasons I have been so behind on my blog for the last 8 months is that I have been working hard on growing another human while parenting two other little humans, working full time, and trying to spend time with my husband and friends too!  As a result, I have not documented this pregnancy nearly as well as I should have.  But, better late than never!  

I am 34 weeks pregnant! What? Wow. It seems a little crazy that we are so close to meeting our new baby girl.  My second and third trimesters have gone pretty smoothly.  For the most part I have felt really good and been able to keep up with the kids.  Just this week I have become officially uncomfortable!  Baby 3PO has dropped into my pelvis, and boy can I feel it!  At my appointment this week, the doc confirmed that she is head-down, so that is good.  Hopefully she stays that way.  I am measuring right at 34 weeks, the baby is very active (she gives a heck of a punch to my bladder on a regular basis!), and her heartbeat is strong. 

I am definitely bigger this time around than with either of my other pregnancies, although I have gained less weight this time.  The clerk at the grocery store today guessed correctly that I'm carrying a girl. :)  For fun, here is link to the 35 week update with Natalie, which also includes photos of 35 weeks pregnant with Nathan. :)

I am in full nesting mode--trying my best to get as many Is dotted and Ts crossed at home and at work before officially becoming a family of five.  Wish me luck! :)

Baby Quilt!

Although I have been working on it since before Halloween, the last two snow days allowed me to capitalize on the kids' "rest time" (oh how I wish I could reliably call it nap time) to finish up the quilt for baby girl! 

Early in my pregnancy I was pretty sure that I wanted to do an animal theme for the quilt, either zoo animals or woodland creatures.  It turns out that most of the fabrics with these themes are in blue/brown/greens, which was just a little too "boy" for my liking.  When I found these elephants, I was smitten!  The rest of the fabrics quickly found their way into my cart in a whirlwind of excellent fabric store karma.  Since I had stopped at the store on a whim, I didn't have a pattern in mind, so I had to guesstimate when at the cutting table.  Cutting out the elephants ate up a lot more fabric than I anticipated, which required me to get a bit creative when piecing the back, but it turned out that I had exactly enough fabric! Whew!

Laying out the elephants to figure out how big I wanted the quilt to be.

Figuring out the layout for the 9-patch blocks that are interspersed with the elephants

Quilting underway!

Finished!!

Snow Ice Cream!

Yesterday and today have been snow days for me and the kids!  Michigan is in the midst of a "polar vortex," which means LOTS of snow, air temps below zero with wind chills of -36! Brr. So needless to say, even though all three of us love to play outside in the snow, that was just toooooo cold to go outside.  We have been having fun doing art projects, baking, and playing Uno.  However, all three of us were getting more than a little stir crazy this afternoon.  The internet to the rescue! I decided that we should try out this recipe for snow ice cream. 

As you can see, we have plenty of the main ingredient right out of the back door!

Here are all the ingredients: big bowl of fresh snow, 2 cups milk or cream (we did a mix of 1/2 percent milk and half & half creamer), 2 Tblsp vanilla extract (we used yummy Mexican vanilla), 1 cup sugar, 2 adorable and eager helpers. :)

Just mix everything together, and you're done! Easy-peasy, and yummy!

My taste-testers approved. I had to double check them and have some myself though. 

 Bonus photo of my sweet boy.

Big Kids' Room

One of my projects over winter break was to get Natalie moved into her "big gull bed" and get both Nathan and Natalie settled into their new living arrangements as roommates.  Of course I also had to do a little bit of decorating!

So far the adjustment for both of them is going pretty well.  Natalie is so excited to be a big girl, and Nathan never liked being in his room by himself at night.  The two of them stay up later than they should talking to each other, but other than being a little overtired, they are doing great!  We moved the baby monitor into their room during the transition period, and it means that we get to listen in on some of their cute conversations.  We think that this time together will be so good for their already strong friendship.  

The bunk beds--they are sporting the Christmas quilts that my mom made for each kiddo, with their baby quilts decorating the foot of the bed.  I would eventually like to switch the window treatments to a light-blocking pull-down shade and a valance, but for now the light-blocking drapes work fine.

I found the dresser on Craigslist for $80 (score!) and repainted some white shelves that I've had for ages.  Then I just mixed and matched the artwork that was in each of their rooms.

I got all Pinterest-y and painted the infamous Ikea spice racks for some additional book storage. Each kiddo has one of these at the head of their bunk too for nighttime reading material.

I installed another shelf and bar in the closet (and have since moved in the rest of Natalie's clothes).  Nathan loves the fact that his shirts are easy to reach in the morning.