Bouncing Baby 3!

When I realized that I may be pregnant back at the beginning of March, we both decided to keep it under wraps for as long as possible. It was mostly an experiment. After I visited the Doctor and he changed my date to 2 weeks later than I thought, it seemed like it would be easy. Now, at 17 weeks, I am bursting to tell the world! If for no other reason than that I don’t want people to think I am getting fat.

We are all very excited about this new adventure! I am confident that the girls will be excellent helpers. Funny thing about the 3rd pregnancy is that you experience a completely different form of excitement. I feel like I know what is going on this time around. My Dr. appointments are much shorter without the list of questions and we are generally just more relaxed. This has made it easier to just focus on the life that is growing and the baby that will be joining our family. There have been some rough points. I had just gotten back to a size and shape that I was really happy with so it feels like my body is going through some different changes than I experienced with the girls. This also means that I am healthier at this point than I was the girls and I am still able to work out which I didn’t even attempt with them. I experienced nausea like I have never felt before! I am honestly quite shocked that we were able to hide it for so long considering how many different commodes I have become acquainted with!

At our 13 week appointment, our Doctor strongly urged us to consider progesterone shots starting at 16 weeks. This new version of progesterone, nicknamed 17P, has proven helpful in preventing pre-term labor. As we have had 2 babies born at 35 weeks and 3 days, we decided that it was the obvious choice. We still have no idea why the girls were born premature but we are optimistically hopeful that this new regimen will be successful. The shots began at 16 weeks and will continue until 36. We are doing them at home…Jared is looking forward to that adventure, I am less enthusiastic

As we progress through this adventure, we ask for prayer for energy, good health and peace. Extra prayer for a looong pregnancy would be very welcome! We are shooting for a full term baby at 37 weeks! If we go to 42, I won’t complain!

 

 

At 12 weeks with my little copy cat. At this point we told Emily and she began to tell everyone she ran into. But since she also said there was a baby in her belly, nobody believed her

13 weeks. I thought the nausea was supposed to go away at this point…

15 weeks. We missed 14 because we were both just so tired we forgot This past week I began to feel so much better! Then the heartburn started. But Zantac has become a good friend of mine and we are getting much better. My energy is returning and we are getting things done around the house.

16 and a half weeks. I went to the doctor the day of this photo and got to see pictures of my little munchkin! We started the progesterone shots today and I feel much more confident after doing one. Bambino is doing wonderfully and growing great! I am feeling great after a very relaxing weekend with my Mama in Denver. We got to see my beautiful cousins wedding and shopped until our feet begged us to stop. I know that is probably the last time I will be able to do that for a long time so I reveled in every moment. 2 days after I got the shot, I started to feel the side effects. Nausea has returned in a completely different form, I am getting migraine headaches and dizziness. Unfortunately, more than 4 tylenol a day is not recommended when you are prone to pre-term labor and progesterone makes you metabolize it faster. Meaning that the tylenol I took an hour ago kicked in in 15 minutes but wore off 30 minutes later. My high risk nurse recommended not taking it at all if possible so I have only been taking it when the headaches get so bad the dizziness sets in.

Ice, Ice, Baby! 17 weeks!

We told Molly the afternoon this photo was taken and she immediately asked if she could feed the baby and change the babies diapers. Her servants heart is showing through

April Recipes

60) Woohoo! 1/3 of the way done! I tried a cauliflower chowder earlier this year and we all thought it was okay but not great. It certainly wasn’t as meaty as hubby prefers his soups to be. So I found a new recipe and tried again. Because it is April 3rd and we seem to be having a blizzard of sorts, c’mon Nebrasaka, it was the perfect night for a hearty soup. This recipe was so much better than the first. It was very similar to potato chowder but infinitely healthier, if you care about that sort of thing. My eldest hates potatoes so this was a good soup for her. I did make some alterations, shocking I know. Rather than bacon, I used some leftover ham from the fridge. I added some celery salt because I think it is essential to potato soups and at the end, when I tasted it, I decided that it was probably a little bland for hubbies taste so I added about a cup of cheddar. We all loved it! I also increased the amount of celery and carrots because I thought they seemed low.

http://damndelicious.net/2014/03/22/cauliflower-chowder/

 

61) This was a really nice and super easy supper for a night I didn’t want to cook. Fortunately I have a hubby who loves grilling! It took about 5 minutes to prep and NO dishes! Win in my book!

http://goodenessgracious.com/2012/04/ham-pineapple-kabobs.html#_a5y_p=1316905

 

62) I love biscuits and gravy! I don’t normally use a recipe but I decided to see if this one that was all over Pinterest was really that much better than what I was making. It was pretty much exactly the same But if you are someone who needs a recipe to try something new then give this a shot! So good!

http://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/13569044/bob-evans-sausage-gravy/

 

63) This one has been on my list for awhile. I happened to have some leftover ham so I thought it was a good time to give it a shot. Plus Molly is always thrilled if I make something with broccoli in it. It was quite yummy.

http://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/64164571/chicken-cordon-bleu-casserole-recipe/

 

64) For some reason I was really wanting a piece of chocolate cake. And when I mentioned it to my girls they went ape. So we made a cake. I have been wanting to try a wacky cake for awhile and this one was excellent! Not quite as rich and sweet as the typical chocolate cake which I loved. And it is sooo cheap and easy! Takes less time to mix up than it did for me to find the vanilla in my disastrous cupboards! Give it a shot! You won’t be disappointed.

http://www.sweetlittlebluebird.com/2013/06/tried-true-tuesday-coffee-kahlua-crazy.html

 

65) I like easy meals. Sometimes I really want to make something elaborate and crazy but most night I like easy and yummy. This one was good for just that.

http://haiyenskitchen.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/italian-dressing-caramelized-chicken/

 

66) I have tried chicken parmesan before but most recipes call for mayo in them. My hubby doesn’t love mayo and I find it overpowering in the recipes. So I sat down to watch my favorite cooking show last week and they happened to be featuring this dish I wished to conquer. My favorite thing about this show is that they actually test dozens of methods and ingredients before recommending it to their viewers. I have yet to try anything that we didn’t absolutely love. If you get the PBS channel Create and are interested in learning more about cooking, I would encourage you to watch Americas Test Kitchen. It is on every night at 11 pm CT. I believe it is on earlier as well but I never remember when. They make it fun to watch as well as give many helpful tips. Only the current seasons recipes are available online for free so if this looks like something you want to try, sign up for a free membership and print it out immediately.

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/7323-best-chicken-parmesan#

 

67) A couple of my daycare kids are gluten intolerant and the poor kiddoes are pretty much stuck with apples and oranges every day for snack. So I am attempting to expand my gluten free recipe library. These were fun and easy. I think the 7 year old could have done the entire thing without me. I would have added some honey to them as they were not very sweet but overall they were good and all the kids loved them. They were also incredibly healthy so yay for that!

http://nomnompaleo.com/post/5332432340/civilized-cavemans-apple-cinnamon-cookies

 

68) Jared made these tonight and they were okay but nothing we loved. Neither one of us liked working with ground chicken at all. Slimey, smelly and odd! We won’t be making it again. I was a bit bummed because it sounded so good. I think we will try the same flavors but just grill chicken breasts.

http://homeiswheretheholmansare.blogspot.com/2010/06/spicy-hawaiian-burgers.html