Crafts, Baking, Toes, and Thanksgiving

Two Sundays ago, I got it in my head that I wanted to make momma's cinnamon rolls.  The only probably was that I decided to double the recipe and I started at at 3:30 in the afternoon.

This was when Grey took over - It was close to 8:00 and I was completely worn out.  He proceeded to clean everything up, help me bake them, and then he frosted them all.  He's a keeper. :)  We didn't finish until 9:30!

Our low(er) carb Thanksgiving!  Turkey (in the crockpot), Mac and Cheese (in the crockpot), mini biscuits, sauteed green beans, and roasted broccoli

Our bathroom robes have literally been hanging on the edge of the tub for the past year so I decided to hang them up!  I found the little shelf at a thrift store for $4.00. :)  (The S fell over right as I took the pic!)

 I'm finally starting on our Christmas tree skirt!  I've had the pattern and the material for over a year now!  YAY!

This was our AMAZING Thanksgiving dessert - A chocolate chip cheesecake with a thick chocolate ganache on top.  It was actually fairly easy to make - click HERE for the recipe!

 Grey said it was amazing but a little rich - I could have eaten the entire thing.

 My sweet co-workers took me out for my FIRST EVER pedicure!  I felt like a princess and have worn flipflops or gone barefoot since then (even though it snowed yesterday) so everyone could see my toes!

This year Grey and I are thankful for:

Each other and how our marriage has grown in the past year

Little James and his good health 

Grey's job situation resolving from last April

A Jesus loving church with new friends!

We love you guys - Happy Thanksgiving!!!

You might be a Lancaster woman if...

You got asked what you wanted to be when you grew up from a sweet old man in Sam's.
You currently have 1 big ham, 2 huge turkeys, and 1 large turkey breast in your freezer. 
You have 3 weeks of school left before retirement :)
You woke up early this morning to craft before church.
Your husband officially has 1 semester of grad school left!
You decided to bake a double recipe of cinnamon rolls last week and didn't finish until 9:30 at night.
You crashed mid cinnamon roll baking and your poor hubby had to take over.
You're day dreaming about alcohol :) 
You have plans to make goodie boxes for the neighbors during Christmas break.
Your lower carb thanksgiving will consist of that turkey breast, whole grain Mac and cheese, roasted broccoli, sautéed green beans, mini biscuits, and a chocolate chip cheesecake with a ganache topping. I can't wait!

Random Thoughts

As if you thought the last post wasn't random enough...

I'm addicted to Burt's Bee's Chapstick - I've got 6-7 tubes that are ALL currently being used.  My favorites are the original, the blueberry, and the 4 hr conditioning. 

From a random student:  Mrs. L - are we ever going to see you skinny again?

Grey has informed me that since being pregnant, I snore every night.  I never did it before, just apparently only these past 8 months.

Speaking of...Apparently I was snoring in bed last night at 8:45.  The tiredness is sinking in.

Happy weekend guys!

Wants

I want snow!
I want Thanksgiving break to hurry up!
I want cooler temps all the time!
I want Christmas break to hurry up!
I want my old clothes to fit again!
I want chicken tenders, subway, chocolate chip cookies, cheesecake, pizza, and FUDGE!
I want James to hurry up!
I want to sleep more than 9 hours a night while I can!
I really want to be able to breastfeed!
I REALLY WANT FUDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fudge fudge fudge fudge fudge.....yummmmmmm
-B

32 weeks and Random things

*Grey and I have been working on a massive Thomas Kinkade puzzle for the past couple of weekends.  Well, let me clarify.  I did the edges and then kinda got tired of it. :)  He picked out a ridiculously hard one with only snow and trees.  Geez. Nobody's got time for that! ;)

*I LOVE this cooler weather - can I get an AMEN!?

*Our mantle is decorated for Thanksgiving and it makes me happy.  I'll try and take pictures soon.

*Today I had my second baby shower with the church!  James is very blessed and got lots of goodies. :)  Grey has suggested that since the gifts are for him, we wait until he's big enough so that he can write thank you cards.  Thoughts?

*The cats have turned into cuddle worms. As soon as I sit down, one of them always attempts to sit in my lap. Currently, it's Oliver. It's actually pretty cute.  They like to lay in my lap and rest their heads on my belly.

*We're going to have a royal dethroning when James is born.  I went to let the cats out of their room this morning and found one in the crib and one in the changing pad.  Geez.

*I officially have four weeks left until Christmas break and then WHO KNOWS WHEN JAMES IS COMING?!  AH!!!!!!!!!!  1 week +2 days until Thanksgiving and then 2 weeks +3 days until Christmas!

*Speaking of...We're officially done (except for Nora) with the Christmas shopping!  Yay us!

Ok - 32 weeks!

Feeling:  On the "eh" side of good...if that makes any sense.  I have good days and bad days.  75% of the time, I feel fine.  The other 25%, I've got major pressure, I waddle like a penguin, and I've got cramping (whether that is from my uterus growing or those fake contraction things).  My feet are starting to swell at night on a regular basis.  It's actually a little bit painful to turn over at night.  I'm scared that I'm going to have to start waking Grey up to help me turn over. :)  My rings still fit and I've got no stretch marks which amazes me.  My poor tummy has never ever been this big.

My blood sugar levels have been good - not a single one over.  Even on days when I've not really watched what I've eaten and not exercised, I'm close to my limit but I haven't gone over.  I'm still trying to figure out the whole food thing though.  I'm constantly hungry in the morning until I've eaten my lunch.  My fingers hurt and my pinky finger actually ended up bruising yesterday. :(

Weight gain:  I've been at 15lbs for the past 3 weeks and this week, I gained 2lbs.  I figured I was due to gain some.

Cravings:  Chocolate!  I can usually get away with a little bit as my bedtime snack and still have normal fasting levels in the morning

Coming up:  I've got an appointment the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and then they'll start seeing me weekly!

A Rant

Can I just complain for a little bit?
I went to my diabetes training yesterday afternoon.   First of all, the lady told me some awesome news about WATER BEING CARB FREE!  Really? Thanks.  I've already counted you out as being knowledgeable.

2nd - I was BY FAR the most knowledgeable preggo in the class.  One woman brought her smoker husband in with a footlong sub. (Can't eat that anymore friend!) When asked if anyone looked at labels, I was the only one nodding.  Do I know that fruit juice has a lot of sugar?  Yep. Do I need to be taught what a serving size means?  Nope.  Did our insurance cover this awesome wealth of knowledge that I took away from a 2 hour class?  Nope. I want my money back.

3rd - I'm supposed to keep my blood sugar levels under 120.  Exercise helps to lower it so if you can, you're supposed to walk a tiny bit after every meal.  I didn't walk at all yesterday and I had a flippin potato for dinner.  You know what?  My levels were still below 120.  Today, the highest reading I had was 96 and that was after ritz crackers and ice cream. 

4th - My needle thing sucks.  I'm supposed to test right when I get up and 2 hours after breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  My fasting prick was fine.  Every other time tonight, I've had to prick TWICE to draw enough blood.  So instead of 4 pricks on my one poor finger, it got to experience 7 today.  THAT'S NOT FUN.

I need to remember that this is all to help out the kiddo.  I'd rather easily be able to control it than have to give myself shots.
9 weeks more. 63 days. I can do this.
-B

I'm sorry, WHAT?!

What can two (relatively normal - both acting and looking) individuals  produce when they create a living being?

Was Darth Vadar your #1 guess?  The kid is looking up at you. 

WHAT?!  We don't have big noses!  We don't have GINORMOUS lips?! WHO'S KID IS THIS?! 

What about a monkey?  Was that your second guess?  

This kid is not ours.  Maybe he is Jesus incarnate?

I'm a little bit ashamed to admit that I don't find our kid to be beautiful at this point. Yikes.  Momma of the Year award goes to...me!

Other stats:  James currently weighs 3.9lbs and is in the 37th percentile (He's little - maybe that's the reason for the hollowed out face?)

His heart beat was 137.

I still haven't gained any weight in the past two weeks so I'm stuck (currently) at 15lbs.  My blood pressure was good (the 2nd time she took it).  They gave me the packet to pre-register at the hospital and this preggo left it in the ultrasound room.  Next time I guess!  I did finally get my flu shot! Yay!

Seriously - anyone want to claim this kid? ;)

-B

Randoms

I took a bath yesterday...IT WAS UTTERLY DISAPPOINTING. ;)
Usually I spend a good hour in the bath tub with steamy water, my "beverage of choice", and a book.
Now that I'm pregnant, no steamy water and no "beverage of choice."
Disappointing.  I attempted to shave my legs yesterday...got about 85% of them shaved! :)  I couldn't reach the other spots!

Plans for the weekend?
Cleaning! I'm starting to do the deep cleaning - vacuuming floors, washing floors, washing rugs etc.
I'd also like to try and make my own Thanksgiving burlap bunting so we'll see how that goes!

What have I been eating since my diet changed?   I'm so glad you asked.
For breakfast every morning: 
1 1/4 cup cottage cheese
1 whole wheat diabetic waffle

Snack:
Strawberry greek yogurt (frozen) with 24 cocoa dusted almonds

Lunch:
Chicken Salad and 1/2 cup of nuts
OR
Last week I had chicken and veggie stir fry (no rice) with a few stalks of celery and peanut butter

Snack:
Cheese and a Nature's Valley protein bar

Dinner: (This week)
Chicken salad again or 1 cup of chili with lots of sauteed spinach and feta cheese
If I have extra carbs leftover from dinner, I usually have milk or a low carb ice cream bar

Tomorrow is my last day of work for the week!  I've got a OB appointment Friday morning and then my diabetes training at lunch time.  From Friday on, I've got to start poking my fingers. :(
Hope y'all have a good rest of the week!

30 weeks!

For comparison, here is the 27 week pic!

And.......(drum roll...)  30 weeks!  James is definitely growing! 

Feeling:  Tired.  My lower back pain is still around.  It's getting really hard to roll from side to side at night.  I'm still sleeping ok for the most part until I have to change sides.  I actually tend to wake Grey up because I'm moaning so much trying to roll over. :)

Weight gain:  Up to 15lbs although I gained nothing this past week.  I'm contributing that to my change in diet.

Cravings:  Everything I can't have (or have unlimited quantities of). Chocolate mainly.  I want chocolate muffins, pumpkin spice bagels, chocolate cheesecake, candy bars, oreos, chocolate chip cookies, christmas cookies, and mac and cheese

James:  According to Baby Center, James is about 16 inches long and weighs 3lbs!

Movement:  I felt hiccups for the first time!!! I think the little guy is also head down.  The hiccups were in the lower part of my abdomen and the strong kicks have been up by my ribs.

Coming up:  I just had my first baby shower thrown by my mom and sisters and it was amazing to have all my friends from college there to love on and support me.  :)  I've got a regular check up this Friday, along with my diabetes training, and then in 2 weeks, I've got a growth scan/ultrasound! :)  We'll get to see our kiddo!!!

70 DAYS OR LESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Halloween!

I managed to make it without eating a SINGLE piece of candy, go me!!!

We had 4 (total) trick-or-treaters which was a 400% increase from last year!  GO US!

Our next door neighbors built a bonfire in their front yard and we sat out and talked all night waiting for trick-or-treaters...SO MUCH FUN!

Good times!  Tomorrow is James' first baby shower!!!!! AH!!!!!!!!