When I woke up this morning to snow, I knew it would be a great day to get some outside snow pictures with CD. It wasn't unbearably cold and the snow was coming straight down in big flakes. I realized my camera was in my car (which was with H) so I left CD with my mom to brave the roads to go get the camera. When I got to my mom's, CD was NOT cooperating. He did not want to put his snow boots on and was throwing a hissy fit. I was basically forcing him to... because I really wanted to get some pictures. Mom of the year, eh? I knew he'd have fun once he got out in the snow. After about 30 minutes of whining, time outs, crying, ripping socks and boots on and off, we got him ready to go out into the snow. I was so excited because he was finally enjoying the snow and big juicy flakes were falling from the sky.... perfect for pictures. I clicked my camera on, and ....


the battery was dead. And I had no spare battery :( Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.


I did have my handy-dandy iPhone though... so at least I was able to capture the fun, even if it wasn't like I was hoping.

Finally happy after the series of meltdowns before coming outside.

Chillin' with his little snowman we made. The snowman was his little buddy. He squatted there by him for quite a while and they chatted it up. I looked down and CD held up 2 fingers to the snowman and said - "Two." I said, "Did he ask how old you are?" CD said, "Yeah!" lol.

"Two" is his automatic response to any question from a stranger.

What's your name? Two.

How are you? Two.

How old are you? Two.

Two outta three.

And a close up of the little ugly snowman. We were limited on resources for his mouth. He looks skeptical.








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First pregnancy update

Well bloggers - this mama is pregnant with #2!


Pregnancy: 15 weeks 2 days

Weight Gain: +4lbs as of 12 weeks. I have my 16 week appointment next Wednesday and I'm a little afraid to step on the scale, not gunna lie.

Sleep: I've been sleeping wonderfully. It's not as comfortable to sleep on my belly anymore

Gender: Don't know and won't find out! At first I was thinking boy... but now I'm thinking girl. I'm sticking with girl for a while.

Name: I like a lot of names, but we haven't been able to agree on too many yet.

Feeling: Great! No more nausea, still somewhat energetic.

Health: I could be exercising more.... but I'm in overall good health and so is baby. It's been my goal to drink at least 64 ounces of water a day, which has been attainable so far.

Heartbeat: 145-150bpm (from 171bpm at 10 weeks)

Movement: I've been feeling little flutters for the past couple of weeks. Sometimes I'm not sure if it's baby moving or just gas... but there have been a handful of times I know for certain it's baby. :)


I think, since we're not finding out the sex, this baby needs a nickname so I don't have to keep calling it "it" and "baby." Any ideas?

We've been telling Cooper there is a baby in mommy's belly. At night when he prays with daddy he prays for baby too. It's so sweet. When I use the doppler to listen to the baby's heartbeat he always points to my belly and says, "Baby! Baby!" We'll see if he's still so excited once he/she actually gets here :)


Here is my most recent "belly bump" or lack thereof. I didn't start showing with Cooper until around 25 weeks... so we'll see if it takes that long with #2.

Here is a short video of the baby's heartbeat. I first found the HB with my doppler at home at 9w2d. It used to take 15-20 minutes to find it because it was so small. It's crazy how big the baby has gotten since then! It took me all of 5 seconds to find the baby's HB this time around.

And of course there is some of Cooper in the video too. :) He was dancing to the sound of the HB like it was music.

New recipes!

For lunch yesterday I decided to make my own version of Johnnies new Strawberry Spinach Salad. It was just me for lunch, no way I could get the little guy to eat a salad!

Strawberry Spinach Salad
Spinach
1 cup-ish Strawberries
1T Feta Cheese
1T Pecans
10 sprays of salad spritzer raspberry balsamic dressing

WW PointsPlus = 5 points (check me on this, I'm still not 100% how this new program stuff works)

This was VERY easy to throw together and it was DELISH! I will definitely be making this again. 

For dinner I decided to try out WW's Vegetable Lasagna recipe. It was a little more complicated. (Well, not actually complicated, but chopping and roasting vegetables = complicated to this girl)

Vegetable Lasagna 

1 medium, raw eggplant (peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick)

1 medium zucchini (sliced 1/4-inch thick)

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 clove garlic

28 oz canned tomatoes, whole, chopped, in their own juice

10 oz mushrooms (bleh, we hate mushrooms so we omitted this)

1 large green pepper, chopped

1/2 cup parsley, flat leaf, chopped

5 pieces no cook lasagna noodles 

2 oz Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Spray 2 baking sheets and an 8-inch-square baking dish with nonstick spray. Arrange the eggplant and zucchini slices on the baking sheets, overlapping a few slices, if necessary. Spray the tops with nonstick spray, sprinkle with the salt and pepper, and bake until tender, 15 minutes. Set aside (leave the oven on).

Heat a large nonstick skillet. Swirl in the oil, then add the garlic. Sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, mushrooms, frying peppers, parsley, and another grinding of the pepper; cook over medium-low heat until the sauce is bubbling but not yet thickened. Remove from the heat. (The sauce can be made up to 3 days ahead at this point; just transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate.)

I've never purchased lasagna noodles in my adult life..... so this is what the kind I bought looked like :) You're supposed to get the "no bake" kind. 

Spread 1⁄2 cup of the sauce evenly over the bottom of the baking dish. Cover with 1 or 2 lasagna noodles (depending on the size you are using); top with one-fourth of the eggplant and zucchini slices, then top with another 1⁄2 cup of the sauce. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the Parmesan cheese. Repeat the procedure to make 4 more layers, ending with a layer of noodles topped with sauce. If any sauce remains, pour it on the top and around the edges of the lasagna. Be sure to use all the sauce (it’s needed to cook the noodles). Press down gently on the lasagna with a spatula to help the noodles absorb the sauce; the lasagna will compact as it cooks.

Ok, 1/2 cup of sauce was NOTHING. I think next time I'll use an 8x8 pan instead of 9x13.

I used more noodles than it said because of the size of my pan

I will also likely make more eggplant and zucchini than it said for next time. There was almost nothing left and I only did 3 layers, not 4.

All done before going into the oven!

Cooked and ready to eat!

Even the little guy liked it! (Although it was messy, so we had to lose the shirt :-) )

This afternoon for lunch I decided carbs sounded good. Potatoes aren't the healthiest of all choices, but it was simple to make and very filling! 

Broccoli Cheddar Potatoes 

Pretty self explanatory.... 

Bake 2 potatoes at 400 degrees for an hour, slice open and put in cheddar cheese and steamed broccoli (I added a little garlic). Cook for another 5-10 minutes and serve! 

Me and the little guy CHOWED on these today for lunch. Very, very good! 

I need a moment.

I just made a huge beautiful blog post. Filled with recipe info, pictures and fun. 


Somehow, it disappeared and there is no way to recover it. 


Instead of getting mad and throwing my lovely new iMac through the window, I'm going to *breathe* and take a short break. I'll be back in a moment.... 


*sigh* 

Quick Update....

For the first time, in too long, I'm sitting down to meal plan for the week. It's sucked up most of my evening, but probably because I'm out of the habit of doing it.

Here is how I roll:

Lunch

Soup

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Bean Burrito with fruit

Black Bean Burger with fruit

Tomato Mozzarella Salad

Eat Clean Egg Salad

Dinner

Vegetable Lasagna

Southwest Spaghetti Squash 

Pasta with Chicken and Broccoli 

Cheese and Broccoli Potato with salad

Crispy Chicken Bites with Sweet Potato Fries

Breakfast will likely be a Green Monster every morning. 

My monster grocery list for my shopping trip tomorrow:

Bananas

Tomato

Potatoes

Apples

Oranges

Onion

Green Onion, small

Celery

Eggplant

Zucchini

Strawberries

Broccoli – Fresh, 3cups

Green Pepper

2 Sweet Potatoes

Spinach

Mixed Greens

Silk

Fresh Mozzarella

Feta Cheese

Cheddar Cheese – Reduced Fat 

Parmesan Cheese, Reduced Fat, Grated

Cottage Cheese, Fat Free

Pecans

Almonds

Canned Tomato, whole, chopped in juice

14.5oz Mexican-style tomatoes

1 can black beans 

Lasagna noodles, no cook, 5- 6.5x7-inch or 10- 3.5x6.5inch

Tortillas 

8oz brown rice pasta shapes 

Broccoli - Frozen

Frozen Mixed Vegetables

Buns 

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Yogurt

Plain low fat yogurt

Eggs

Chicken Seasoning

Curry Powder 

Oat Bran

Wheat Germ

Sea Salt

White Pepper

I will definitely be posting pictures and recipes for these yummy dishes as I make them :) 

Also - check out this blog, where I got several of these recipes: Clean Eating Machine

She references this book many times in her blog, so I'm definitely adding it to my Christmas list! 

Hey Weight Watcher people! What do you think of the new "PointsPlus" plan? I am jumping on the bandwagon! I was catching up on all the new info about it this evening. It seems to be much healthier than the previous version of WW "points." And - hello 0 point fruit!! Yessssss.....