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You Are My Sunshine Baby Shower

Last week, my sweet in-laws threw me the perfect shower for our baby girl.

All I asked for was that there was donuts and biscuits and gravy, and I gave a direction for the theme.

Then my sister-in-law ran with it. I didn’t want a lot of fuss, so this was perfect for us to get people that we love in the same room to celebrate our newest addition.

We had flowers in the cutest little flower pots that were our favors for the event. I hope that others are better at gardening than we are.

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George didn’t mind the donuts either. Isn’t he so handsome?

My niece drew me a special message, and George wanted to add his circles which is his new trick.

I am lucky to share this cop wife life with this lady here. She made DC a sweet quilt, which I love. And it has elephants!

This little lady is going to be so well dressed.

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My niece bestowed all of her bows to her new cousin. She already has some hair, so hopefully we can put them to good use!

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I may be in trouble with this one. We have talked Sister up as much as we can, but his world is about to be shook up.

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I realized that I didn’t take very many group shots with people. I need to do better about that! Anyway, these are my work people. I spend most of my time with these two ladies. They make my time away from my family more enjoyable. And I know my job is in good hands while I am out for the summer with them at the wheel!

DC, you are my little sunshine. We are ready for you!

 

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My Reality

This last week our plans were totally flipped upside down.

I have had to accept a new reality.

More specifically, our baby girl will be here in 3 weeks meaning we will definitely not make it to her due date in June.

This means that the house will not be done by the time she is born.

This means that George will still be sleeping in the crib.

This means that all of DCs clothes are spread all over our dining room instead of nicely packed away in her nursery.

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It means a lot of things, but mostly that I need to not worry and be more zen.

At my doctor’s appointment last week, I earned myself an overnight stay at the hospital. My blood pressure was 173/120. It’s hard to believe that I was feeling completely normal before the visit.

I mean just last week, I was talking about how great things were going in my 33 week update.

But alas, apparently this is what my body does when it is pregnant. I have been diagnosed with mild pre-eclampsia again.

Obviously I was not calm when they broke the news of being stuck in the hospital and then to be told a few hours later what I had hoped I would avoid this time around. Read I was a blubbering mess.

I was distraught mostly because George was still at the sitter, and we had not even discussed a game plan of how to handle him while we were at the hospital. First light bulb that we are NOT ready! I could only think about all the things I thought I had time to do at home, with George, and at work. This obviously did not help bring my bp down at first…but I got there eventually.

The plus of being admitted to the hospital and being diagnosed again is that I am deemed high risk and the weekly ultrasounds have resumed.

It was everything to see my little girl again. To see her big ol’ belly that is measuring 3 weeks ahead. To see the tufts of hair on her head. To see her practicing breathing. To see her showing our ultrasound tech her karate chop moves. It was everything.

Unlike last time though, I was not put on bed-rest. Because I was able to regain some normal blood pressure measurements over night and my blood tests came back fine along with the fact that DC is measuring a week ahead (fun fact right now she weighs as much as George did when he was born), they let me go home the next afternoon. They are allowing me to do this out-patient for the time being, and again WITHOUT being on bed rest-yet. My protein levels are rising, so that could be the kicker at each appointment. I also have to keep a log of my blood pressure at home now to see what my normal day is like.

My new doctor explained to me that he feels confident that we can monitor this and I keep going as I was, but the difference being that this baby will be coming out at 37 weeks. So it looks like another induction is in my future. I am 34 weeks now friends.

So no Junebug for me. I get to now share my own birth month with my baby girl. It’s funny how both of our kids have not been born in their “original” due birth months.

Not being put on bed-rest is a God-send. I honestly do not know how I would have functioned this time around with having George. Plus this allows me to get every thing more squared away at work even if I can’t at home. Luckily, I have been preparing all semester, but still…I have been pushed into high gear!

So my reality is that her nursery isn’t done. My reality is that I am not going to worry about exercising these last few weeks. My reality is that my time alone with George is coming to a quick end, and we really haven’t done a whole lot to prepare him for siblinghood.

My reality is that I need to just let things go. She is going to come into a un-perfect world, but that isn’t going to make her any less perfect.

She will be the best little blessing we could have ever asked for.

But I have made a list to try to help ease our transition…You can’t take the Type-A personality out of me completely! List making combined with lots of praying is what is keeping me sane right now.

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I was able to get a lot of the list done this weekend, and I have the dining room and George’s current room set for what we need for at least her first two weeks. We will get to all the rest when the house is done and the time comes.

We are ready for you DC, but let’s wait the 3 weeks to make our meeting official!

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House Renovation Update

It is coming along. It is coming along. It is coming along.

For real. I have to tell myself this every day.

We are making progress, but all I am seeing is that I have no room for this baby…So pray for me. Pray for my husband so he can deal with me. Pray for our contractor that this timeline keeps moving down.

Some days I am in a hormonal panic that I don’t have things organized for DC’s arrival, and other days I am completely calm about the status of our house. This was completely insane to do this now, but she won’t know any different.

I just need to keep myself calm. She will be sleeping in our room for the first couple months anyway.

Here are some progression pictures. It is really fun to watch it all come together.

Seeing walls go up made it more realistic. Huge progress!

The dogs are going to love the new windows!

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Currently, my clothes are in piles in our spare room. So I cannot wait to get in this closet! I need to organize! I haven’t been able to nest AT ALL.

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Baby Girl and I barely fit through the studs.

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This will be the longest hallway. However, it will be perfect to put our family pictures throughout the years. We would have outgrown the walls in the dining room in the next couple years.

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Walls were my flashy gesture from the contractor this past week. I start really panicking when I can’t see things actually happening like the electrical. So Tom told our contractor that he needed to do something flashy every few days to calm me down.

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We are turning the new basement part into a gym. Both of us feel frustrated about our fitness. We both have access to gyms at work. However, it cuts into our time with the kids if we stay after, and we both feel like we don’t get the workout that we really want. We know having this at home will give us more flexibility since we won’t have to drive anywhere to get our sweat on. Tom dry-walled and painted all of this in two days. We both are so excited for this!

We just got the siding this week. AND I LOVE IT!

We will be painting the old house to match the siding here soon. Then we are going to add stone to cover the brick. Although, we probably will leave the brick in the back you see here, because no one sees that.

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So that is where we stand currently with the house.

It’s coming along.

 

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Baby 2: Thirty-Three Weeks

33 weeks

How far along: 33 weeks and 1 day. It was right after this update that I was put on bedrest with George, so we’ll see how DC treats me this week with our next appointment.

Sex of Baby W: Gal Pal

Weight gain: I have gained 14 lbs. Apparently though, I look huge and like I am about ready to pop. I get the comment at least once a day that I look like I am going to deliver any minute by the judge of my size. They seem astonished that I still have 7 weeks to go. The other day I was at an event, and almost every person I talked to said this. I wanted to have a recorder that said my due date, “I know the belly is making itself known and I know June is far away,” and “we are having a girl.” It was just slightly frustrating to be at a professional event and all people wanted to talk about was the size of my belly. (While I will admit, that I am also hormonal, so answering the same question literally 30 times got old.) I can still tie my shoes, so that’s something right?

Size of Baby W: ferret or pineapple.

Maternity clothes: All the time. I have been wearing some jersey dresses that aren’t maternity, but are much more forgiving with a bump. I have been getting a lot of comments this month about wearing heels still. Yes, I still wear them. They are part of my normal work wardrobe, and I don’t have any swelling so I’m still rocking them a couple times a week.  This bump ain’t stopping my game.

Baby items: We got all the decorations for her room. I can’t wait for our building to get done so I can get my hands on that room. I have also bought more moccasins that I found for $2. It was hard to resist buying every. single. color. I also bought her homecoming outfit. So so cute. We have our baby shower this upcoming week, so we’ll see what that party brings.

Belly button in or out:  It’s becoming an outie and poking out just a little.

Sleep: Sleep has been a little better these past couple weeks. I am surrounded by a wall of pillows. I also haven’t had to get up as much to pee, so that is allowing me to sleep a little more deeply.

Best moment the past few weeks: Easter weekend was a pretty great weekend. My dad and grandpa also came to visit, so that was fun to show them the house updates.

Worst moment the past few weeks: My blood pressure was up at my last appointment. I am hoping that it was a fluke because I wasn’t with my normal doctor and nurse, and they made me wait almost an hour before they saw me. This is about the time that I was put on bedrest due to pre-eclampsia with George, so I am hoping I can stay away from that. They had me do some extra tests that day, and those all came back normal. That was a relief that it didn’t cost me a trip to the hospital like I had to do several times with George before they officially put me on bedrest.

Miss anything: being able to have George sit on my lap comfortably. Deli sandwiches.

Cravings: I still haven’t fulfilled my Taco Bell craving. I won’t ever say no to a donut. I am still not a fan of many vegetables. I want a Dr. Pepper all the time. I have been craving Cheezits too.

Movement: She is moving a lot. She is also a lot more aggressive than I remember George being. However, they both like(d) to stick their butt out in the same spot next to my belly button. DC also likes to kick my kidneys REALLY hard. I have also started being able to feel her hiccups these last few weeks. She also loves grapefruit because she goes nuts after I eat it everyday.

Symptoms/how I am feeling: I am feeling really good. I am tired, and I have fallen asleep on the couch a few times lately. But all in all, I am doing well. I get my steps in most days, and I still am managing to carry George around. I have had a couple days where I have had morning sickness again. I am having some Braxton Hicks/cramps a couple times a day. My belly is also really itchy, so I have been much better about applying lotion to it a couple times a day. I hate driving because the belly pushes the seat belt so much to the side that it feels like it is choking me.

Looking forward to: My baby shower next weekend.

George told me yesterday that he wanted sister to come out. I hope that he is still this excited when she is born.

Here is George at 33 weeks.

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Our Taste of Blue Apron

I was fortunate enough to win a free trial of Blue Apron through a drawing at work. I have been wanting to try these meals for awhile, but I never wanted to pull the trigger on the cost.

I am not being compensated for this review; I just thought I would share our experience with these meals.

Here are my pros:

  • They perfectly portion all the ingredients. So there is no measurement or buying too much of something (like a whole bunch of celery when you only need one stalk).
  • No shopping is required. When you have a toddler, this is awesome. They just deliver it right to your door.
  • The instruction cards are really easy to follow. I like to follow recipes, and they make it super easy to do so. I also like that I can keep these to use again.
  • We were able to try recipes that we never would have thought to try. It was the first time I have ever used a shallot…In a house of two picky eaters, it was nice to break out of our norm.
  • They use really fresh ingredients, which makes me super happy. We need to do better staying away from processed food, so these made that easy to do.
  • Tom and I cooked together. Usually we divide and conquer with one dealing with George and the other dealing with the food. We were still able to give George attention, but help each other out in the kitchen thanks to the clear instructions. It was nice to do this together.
  • THE FOOD WAS DELICIOUS. It was the best fish we both have ever had. Tom admitted that even though there was some spices added, it wasn’t too much for him to handle, which is awesome. Normally I can’t add even pepper to our meals. There was not a meal that we didn’t like.

My cons:

  • They lied on the prep time. I think that is for more experienced chefs than me. Most of the recipes said that the prep time was 15 minutes. It took us much longer than that to cut and dice everything. I guess I was expecting some of these things to already be done for me too. So it probably took us almost twice as long to get to the finished product.
  • I really only felt like we could do these meals on the weekend because of the length of time to complete it. We try to keep our meals during the week to under 15 minutes (prep and cooking all included). We have some standard meals that we have down to a science, and Blue Apron definitely does not fit that bill. I may feel differently if our kids were older and could join in on the cooking process more. I just don’t want to spend all of George’s awake hours in front of the stove at night.
  • Speaking of the bill, I am still not sure that it is worth doing all the time. Plus looking at some of the meals, they just would not fly in our house. We just happen to have a week where there was nothing spicy or way out of our comfort zone food wise. I know you can halt or skip weeks so that is helpful, but still.
  • With Tom’s schedule, we will have to be selective on when we could order it. I need him to be here when we do these meals otherwise the time and effort is not worth it. I need the help, and I like that we are all trying it together.

All in all, it is something that Tom and I really enjoyed. We think we may do it a couple times a year to change up our routine. I am glad I won the chance to try it out!

Here are snapshots of our meals:

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  • Za’atar-Spiced Chicken with Pink Lemon Pan Sauce & Pearl Couscous-
    This had a high citrus flavor. The couscous was the best couscous I have ever had. It was big a fluffy. And it was the first time since being pregnant that I could stomach Brussels sprouts. (This baby girl does NOT like vegetables.) The instructions really helped me make the perfect chicken too.

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  • Spaghetti Bolognese with Butter Lettuce Salad & Creamy Italian Dressing-I really liked the pork aspect of this. I never considered ground pork an option. And we liked the mix of carrots in there too. We didn’t actually make the salad though because the dressing was made from a cheese that I wasn’t quite sure I could have, and neither of us like radishes. I have never made a spaghetti sauce that didn’t come from a jar (thanks Ragu), and it was much easier than I thought.
 

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  • Seared Catfish with Udon Noodles, Mushrooms & Carrots-This was our favorite meal for sure. It was so easy to cook the fish, and it was so so so good. I love these type of noodles, so I was really excited to see this meal on here. Then the mushrooms were just an extra bonus. There was not a single complaint about this meal. So worth the time! We will definitely make this again.

This was a fun culinary experience. Like I said, we will probably do this once or twice a year to change things up.

Have you tried Blue Apron or one of the other meal deliveries? What was your opinion of the meals, the prep time, in general?