Look how fast they grow!

11w5d

Since our last u/s which was at 7w2d our little blob is now a baby!  Arms waving, stretching and rolling and the whole nine yards.  We have been told the nub is a girl nub but we won't know for sure for another 8 weeks or so!  Look at 'her', I can't wait to meet our child!

Happy Father's Day

Just a quick Happy Father's day to all the dads out there.  Have a great day!

My first CSA share!

It's week 5 for the local CSA and my first week because I applied after they filled up but she opened up 10 more places this week so I snapped it up!
This week I got:-

1 head Savoy Cabbage
1 head Iceberg Lettuce
2 Types of leaf lettuce
Spinach (and lots of it!)
Kale
Beets
Cauliflower
Broccoli
1 Zucchini
2 Onions
Rhubarb
Sugar Snap Peas

My share is $15 a week and it runs through the Fall.  I can't wait to see what we will get next week.  I know we will be eating a LOT of salads this week!!

Yuck!

I really am not a big fan of the first trimester.  First you have so many unknowns and uncertainties and if you, like me have ever had any first trimester losses or beyond, you will know it is VERY stressful.  Second the nausea...oh how I hate thee.  I can't cook because smells make me nauseas, I can't eat because everything sounds disgusting.  and Third, pure exhaustion!  I can't get anything done because I am exhausted all the time!  I can deal with up every three hours better than this nonsense makes no sense exhaustion!

I am on 400mg of Prometrium for low progesterone which I am pretty sure is what exacerbates the last 2 symptoms.  I also have so much spotting this pregnancy I am plain tired and frustrated.  Oh how I wish I was in the 2nd trimester already!

7w 3d

Here is Dot at 7w 3d and the heart is now at 143 bpm  Amazing what 4 days makes!

6w 5d

6w 5d Baby Dot!

And food is the last ting on my mind right now, nausea kicks in late afternoon and evening which is good I suppose because at least I can just sleep through it!

Double Stroller

I'm a planner.  I try to plan what I can because I want to be prepared in case anything unplanned happens.  KWIM?  Well since we started TTC again I have been looking for a double stroller since we will be using it for a couple of years at least.  Especially for family walks and the likes.  I was seriously disappointed in the offerings out there.  I loathe Baby Trend and Graco because they are so poorly made and flimsy.  I went with Britax for DS1 and DS2 both and I will reuse the Britax infant seat for this one.  I did lack a double stroller however and rather than buying another single stroller I wanted something that 1 person could handle.

These are the ones I have shortlisted so far:-

Britax B Ready (June 2010) $499 + $149 for the 2nd seat

Baby Jogger Mini Double $399 + $54 for the adapter bar

There are Pro's and Con's to each but I still haven't decided which one I want and until the B Ready hits the stores next month I won't be able to make my mind up.  I really want to get a hands on comparison before I decide.  I guess we have plenty of time!

We're expecting #3!!

Yes you read right, I am pregnant with baby #3!!

We found out May 13th with a HPT and I immediately started testing like crazy to make sure I REALLY was pregnant!

So yup pretty sure we are pregnant now!  My first OB appointment was this past Wednesday and at that point she thought I measured 7 weeks ( I was only 5w 4d by my calculations) So I had some blood work done and the next day we went to get an ultrasound to make sure what my DD would be.

The Dot measured in at 5 weeks which was perfect by my dates, however because it was still too early we did not see the heartbeat like we had with Henry's at 6w 1d.  So I went back Friday for more blood work and I am scheduled for yet another photo op (ultrasound) next Thursday.

So far I feel like a pin cushion that has been dragged through a bush backwards all night long.  So typical pregnancy for me :)

I am back!

And I scored very well in my Finals so the break from blogging was well worth while!  I have a whole bunch of recipes I want to post so I guess I will post them one at a time and intersperse some news and new things going on with us too.  Stay tuned, there's a lot that has been happening!!

2 weeks!

I apologize in advance if you are looking for my yummy recipes but I have a very hectic 2 weeks ahead of me.  I have 2 papers due and 2 finals to study for but I have a whole slew of recipes and posts I want to do too.  Be back in 2 weeks with a lot of pictures and recipes.

Oh and wish me luck!  I think I'm going to NEED it!

Buffalo Chicken Soup

Buffalo chicken soup

1 lb chicken Breast
2 Tbsp rice flour (You can use regular all-purpose flour if you are not making it GF)
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp butter
1 onion
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
4 c chicken broth
1/2 cup Frank's Hot Sauce
1 c Noodles (I use Schar Penne)
3/4 c blue cheese, crumbled (Optional)

· Dredge the chicken cubes in  flour, and season lightly with salt and pepper.
· Melt the butter in a big pot, and brown the chicken on all sides. 

- Remove the chicken from the pot and stir in the vegetables.
· Cook the vegetables over medium-low heat until softened.
· Add the chicken and stir in the chicken broth, hot sauce and noodles.
· Bring to a simmer and cook about fifteen minutes, until noodles are tender. Or you can cook the noodles to al dente in another pot drain and rinse.  I do this when Toby wants to take it to work and reheat.  All he has to do is heat the soup up and add the cold noodles.
· Serve with Bleu cheese if you like, I don't because I do not like Bleu cheese!

Henry is 1!

One year ago today we were blessed with the arrival of our second son after 6 years of TTC!

Happy 1st Birthday Henry!

I will post pics after Sunday when we do the cake!  Should be interesting seeing as he is most definitely tactilely defensive.

Homemade Granola Bars

As part of my plan for eating healthier now the weather is better I made homemade granola bars last night and this morning.  I did not use honey in my recipe because babies up to the age of 2yrs old can not take honey due to the possibility of botulism spores in the honey.

Again a very healthy and basic recipe, the butter probably makes it higher calorie than I would like but growing babies need fats to help their brains and nervous system grow so I am sticking with this one :)

Easy Granola Bars

½ cup butter
½ cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons corn syrup (Or a mix of syrup and honey if you like)
2 1/3 cups quick cooking oats (I used 1 cup quick cook and 1 1/3 cups regular oats)

Grease an 8×8 pan.

Combine the butter, brown sugar and corn syrup in a pan and stir constantly over medium heat until butter melts, sugar dissolves, and mixture is smooth.

Remove from heat and add oats. Stir well until oats are well coated. 

At this point you can add a cup of any of these (Craisins, Raisins, Chocolate Chips) we like the craisins a lot!

Spread mixture into 8×8 or similar pan. Bake at 350 for 22 minutes. 

Cool 5 minutes and cut into bars. 

Cool for about 1 hour more in the pan and then remove bars from the pan.

At the time of publishing I have made 4 batches of granola, craisins, raisin, Choc chip and rocky road.

Banana Bread

Last night I baked a couple of loaves of Banana Bread which were not only gluten-free but also did not contain any milk which I fear Henry is allergic to.  I buy organic bananas when I see them at the grocery or pick them up when I goto Jungle Jim's.  However we can not eat a whole bunch before they go bad so I simply drop them in a ziploc bag and freeze them until I have enough for Banana Bread.  When I am ready to use them I just get them out and let them thaw on the counter for an hour or two.  This makes them really easy to squeeze out of the skin and no additional mashing is needed, I just add it to my mixture and stir.

I use the recipe below but last night I doubled it to make 2 loaves.  Feel free to substitute the Xanthan Gum and GF All-purpose Blend for regular AP flour if you don't have any Gluten allergies or you're baking for friends.  There are no nuts in this recipe so it is a relatively allergen friendly recipe; however adding a cup of chopped nuts or raisins in it is entirely optional and according to your own needs.

Enjoy!

Easy Gluten-Free Banana Bread Recipe

1/3 cup Oil
2/3 cup Brown sugar, packed
2 large Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups All-purpose gluten-free flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 cups Mashed ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x5-inch non-stick loaf pan.

Cream together oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in large bowl. Add flour, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder and cinnamon to egg mixture, alternating with bananas.

Beat until smooth. Batter will be somewhat soft. Transfer to pan.

Bake 9x5" loaf for 1 hour

Domestic Violence isn't going to go away if you ignore it!

I mentioned in a post earlier that I have had experience with Domestic Violence.  Let me rephrase that.

I was a victim of Domestic Violence and I am a survivor.

Bet you didn't know that about me huh?  What you NEED to know about DV is it can happen to anyone, regardless of race, sex or age.  It's not about intelligence or how much money you have.  It is about loss of control or rather control exerted over one individual that they do not even realize is happening.

I still find it difficult to write about this because it seems like once you are labelled a victim you will always have that label.  I don't like labels, as those that know me well will know.  I do know this, the more we can reach out to men, women or children who are victims of abuse the more we can help, educate and prevent.

Abuse comes in many forms, it can be physical, sexual, emotional or financial.  Often when we think of Domestic Violence we envisage bruises and broken bones.  What about emotional abuse, where threats are made to guilt an individual into doing what they want or financial abuse, where an individual has no financial freedom at all because the abuser is controlling all the finances.  In each case the victim is trapped or led to believe they are trapped.  What they need is a way to escape.

Here are 2 things you can provide a victim so they can find the help they need.

http://www.ndvh.org/

1−800−799−SAFE (7233)


I also have access to information through Mary Kay Ash's Charitable Foundation, like door hangers and information sheets.  If you know a Mary Kay Consultant they can hook you up, if not let me know.  I am more than happy to provide these resources to those that need it.

Remember there is no face of DV, you never can tell who a victim is until it is too late.

Happy Mother's Day!

No I'm not a time traveler, nor are you late!  Today is Mother's Day in England.  It is traditionally the 4th Sunday in Lent.  Not sure how the date was chosen here, it was very confusing for a while that's for sure.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY for all the Mums in England.

Meal planning and other money saving tips!

A friend recently asked me how I planned my meals so I sent her this week's menu.  I do not plan lunches and breakfasts because as a family we're not all up at the same time and because DH works swing shifts we can not all eat at the same time even on the weekends.  Same goes for lunches.  I do make a big effort for the evening meal though because Brandon and I both eat then and that is one meal even DH can have some f even if it means packing it and reheating it later.

So this weeks menu:-

Monday:- Tacos, Corn Cake, Refried Beans and homemade salsa
Tuesday:- Lasagna
Wednesday:- Chicken, beansprouts and baby bok choi stir fry with jasmine rice
Thursday:- Tomato Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches
Friday:- Chicken and vegetable Tikka Masala and Basmati Rice
Saturday:- Leftovers and Sandwiches
Sunday:- Crawfish at Pappadeaux

Next week's menu is looking like this so far:-

Monday:- Shepherd's Pie
Tuesday:- Brunch for dinner
Wednesday:- Steamed fish with ginger and green onion and Jasmine Rice
Thursday:-
Friday:- Leftovers and Sandwiches
Saturday:-  Pork chops, egg and tomato sauce with Jasmine rice
Sunday:-

There are holes still because I haven't decided what I want to do on Sunday and Thursday, I have 2 dinners in mind that are interchangeable.

I shop on either Thursday or Friday and get everything I need for the upcoming week.  Leftover and Sandwiches days often fall on the days DH is gone for a double shift, which makes very good use of leftovers.  Also I try to plan an eat out day so I can get a break and give my kitchen a rest ;)  All the dishes I make are enough to feed a family of 4 or more.  I don't try to scale down because I know for lunches etc... it is much healthier to fix a small portion of leftovers than goto McDonald's or any other fast food joint.

I also stay way within budget when I grocery shop this way.  I only have what I need on my list plus breakfast foods and of course I use what I have in my pantry which incidentally is emptying quite nicely!

Diaper Shower cont...

So here it is the Diaper Cake.  I left it pretty simple because I feel sometimes these things can get pretty garish if you try to pile too much onto it.

And my rather pathetic attempt at a Yellow cake with Chocolate frosting and Blue icing.

NOT terribly happy with this one.  Will have to practice more in the future.

Diaper Shower

For my good friend Jeanette who is expecting her second baby in March we are holding a baby shower for her. For her shower theme we chose diapers since she is expecting a second boy and she will probably need more diapers than anything else.  So I am baking a cake and making a diaper 'cake'.  This is the base Diaper cake:

I made this myself with nothing more than a Pizza Pan and a box of 96 Swaddlers Diapers and a some balloon ribbon.  The finished product is sitting in cellophane on my dining room table right now but I will wait to show that until after the shower on Sunday, keeping it a surprise for Jeanette until then :)

Yesterday heaven received another Angel...

I didn't know her, I probably never met her but her story has been heavy on my heart since I heard about it yesterday.

She was Rhonda Wyatt, aged 31.  She was a mother and wife and a victim of Domestic Violence.  She lived in the same town I do, that is all I know...that is all I need to know.  Domestic Violence has been trivialized, used as a weapon in ugly break-ups and now this.  Three children are now without a mother and a father who will no doubt be incarcerated for the foreseeable future.  When something like this happens right on your doorstep, it makes you wake up and realize that the existence you live is in no way fulfilled.  In fact just wanting to pay the bills and making sure your children are safe are not enough.  There are others we should be aware and mindful of.  There are others who NEED you, because without you no-one cares.

This isn't the first time I have felt this.  I know in life we make choices and we have to deal with these choices or learn to live with them.  As a young adult I made some choices that have been very profound.  Indeed if it weren't for those choices I would not be here now and be a mother to two beautiful boys.  I will share more about my experiences with Domestic Violence over the next few days because it is now a duty to educate and to be a advocate for those who no longer have a voice.

R.I.P Rhonda Wyatt.  I am sorry I did not do more for you.

Pampers

Since Henry was born all I have used are and bought are Pampers diapers. Apart from the Huggies diapers that were bought for us as part of one of my showers we have pretty much only used the Swaddlers and the Cruisers with a dabble in the Baby dry which we did not like at all.  Last year right at about the time Henry started growing out of the Swaddlers we experimented with the cruiser and did not like them.  They were awful but Huggies wasn't cutting it either and Baby dry were very rough. Right about this time I discovered Pampers Cruisers Premium Absorbency.  The6 were a little pricier but I gave a box a try and that is what we have used ever since. Today I received an email from Pampers regarding their latest product...a NEW Pampers Cruisers with Drymax.  Hmmm, curious as I am I requested the sample and am now eagerly awaiting its arrival.  I also learnt they are selling limited quantities of it on a pre-release basis on Feb 24th, so I guess I will trawl the stores that day too to buy me up a pack or two.  Could this be the one?  Cheaper than the premiums and keeps henry dry?  We shall see, watch this space!

Get your free New Pampers Cruisers sample here!

2009 GF Staples

Another year, another update on what we keep handy in the house. All is good and it seems gluten-free living is becoming more and more normal!

So here is my updated list!

Pamela's Baking mix
Gluten-Free Pantry Beth's All-Purpose GF Baking Flour (cup to cup conversion)

Masa Corn Flour
Rice flour
Tapioca Flour
Sweet Rice flour
Organic Oatmeal (Apprently DH is tolerant of this kind of oatmeal so that is good!)
LaChoy Soy (This was the only wheat-free, msg free Soy we could find thus far)
LaChoy Teriyaki (Again wheat and msg free)
Tinkyada Pasta Sheets (Makes awesome lasagna, can't tel the difference!)
Schar Spaghetti and pastas (These hold up realy well and we love the texture!)
Cornito Mystic Flames Pasta (They are Hungarian, wheat, gluten and egg free)  These I use for any dishes that call for egg noodles.
Basmati Rice
Jasmine Rice
Cinnamon Chex

Things we found locally

http://www.sinfullygf.com/

They make pizza and sandwiches and sell breads and cookies.

www.tinassweettreats.com

She bakes out of her home and makes the most divine pecan rolls!

Halloween 2009

My pumpkin and his very proud brother!

The very yummy cheesecake brownies!

Here is the recipe for the infamous cheesecake brownies, they are infamous because they were the first sign that I was well and truly pregnant!

Cheesecake Brownies

1 package (21 ounces) brownie mix, batter prepared according to package directions.

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

2 eggs

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Coat a 9" x 13" baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Spread half of the brownie batter into the baking pan.

In a medium-sized bowl, with an electric beater on medium speed, combine the cream cheese, eggs, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy.

Spoon over the brownie batter, then top with the remaining half of the brownie batter.

Using a table knife, cut through the batter and swirl to create a marbled effect.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool, then cut into bars and serve, or cover and chill until ready to serve.

Serves: 12 to 15

Note: I make these GF too with a GF Brownie mix and have tried it with the Betty Crocker Brownie mix. They are very. very RICH! Be warned. I only know of one person that can devour a whole tray of these and he is a Brownie fiend!

OMG Morning, noon and night sickness!

I had morning sickness with my first pregnancy so I knew what was coming. What I wasn't prepared for was the full force morning, noon and night sickness! It started with the 2 nights before we left for England. I had baked a double batch of cheesecake brownies to take to a friend's Hog roast. That night was so nauseated by the chocolaty aroma I hardly got any sleep. At the Hog Roast we chilled out in the pool and I nursed a huge Margarita unable to even finish half of it (this should have been a HUGE clue!)

Nausea wasn't a issue it was the hurling my guts from the moment I woke up to the moment I laid back down again. I was sick literally 24/7 with brief breaks so I could inhale cheeseburgers and fries (they were the only things I could stomach at the time).

This lasted well into the 2nd trimester at which point heartburn took over. My eating for 2 plan was thwarted. I barely gained 15lbs in the first 2 trimesters. the last 5lbs came at the end when the little one finally dropped giving me room to eat!

First ultrasound

So while we were in England I had called the OB office and scheduled a slew of tests and checks for when we returned. This included betas and an ultrasound. With my background it was inevitable they were going to monitor me to ensure this pregnancy was viable. The first 3 months we were literally sitting on the edge of the seat!

Here is the bean at 6 weeks gestation, that morning we also saw his heart fluttering!

Haven't been on for a while...

But I have a lot to share!





July 21st 2009, we flew out to England to visit my family. This would be Toby's first visit and the first time he would meet the rest of my family. On this particular morning we were all taking it in turns to take showers and finish our packing so we could take our evening flight out of CVG to LGW. This was also the morning I took a pregnancy test which at first looked very much negative.




As you can see the test got progressively darker during our 12 day stay in England. In fact as you can see on the last test, the positive result line is darker than the control line! We were having our second baby!!!!....finally.