Getting Ready For Baby: stocking the freezer

(cooking day from January 2010)

I am in high gear trying to get things in place before baby girl gets here. One thing I want to do is stock our freezer with easy meals for after her birth. Cooking dinner on a good day, now, is difficult. I can only imagine what it will be like with a newborn strapped to my chest!

I will have a massive day, or days of cooking at the beginning of October.

Here is my list:

Lasagna x2

Various soups (corn chowder, broccoli cheese, ham lentil) each x2

Homemade pizzas x5

Burritos x20

Goolash x2

Stuffed shells x2

Barbacoa meat for tacos etc x2 full roast

Freezer mashed potato x4

marinated ckn breast x6

Roasts x3

Homemade waffles x10

Meatloaf x3

various muffins (banana sour cream, to die for blueberry) x2 dozen

So far I have my list put together and I only need to make an ingredient list, do my shopping and get a cookin!

Dress up with Nie Nie

Knight Charlie and Nie Nie on the Front Porch

While down at Nie Nie and Papa's house we had a party for cousin Sophia, who turned one. Nie Nie made costumes for all the kids. Princess capes and flower head bands for the girls and Brave Knight breast shields for the boys. She even made the birthday girl a Queen cape. The boys LOVE dress up, so this was right up their alley. Nie Nie is so talented and really likes to play. The kids just love her and always have a great time with her!

Knight Charlie ready for battle


Tommy was really into the Princess capes but pretended that he was a ghost (Nie Nie, I think we need a princess cape.....hint hint :)


He stands with such authority



I just love these boys and it warms my heart to see how much they love each other!

Thanks Nie Nie for the fun memories!

Grandma and Grandpa aka Nie Nie and Papa

We spent last weekend with Grandma and Grandpa, known to Thomas as Nie Nie and Papa. We had a great time visiting with them and other family. The boys wanted pictures taken with Grandma and Grandpa right before we departed. Charlie was very sad to be saying goodbye.


It was also the first time that I heard Tommy refer to Nie Nie as "Grandma". He lovingly nicknamed her Nie Nie long ago and it stuck.

Love you Nie Nie and Papa!!

Marriage proposal

Last week I was driving Charlie and Miss S. to church to drop Charlie off for VBS. Trent had the day off and was busy taking Tommy to swimming lessons. The car was quiet except for the music I had playing in the background, when all of a sudden I hear from the back seat
Charlie "S when we grow up will you marry me?"
Miss S replied "ummmm, if my mommy says it is ok"
Charlie "Cause I really want to marry you when we grow up, we can have a dog, do you want a dog?
Miss S "I already have a dog, rocky" she replied in her silliest voice
Charlie "no, we can have our own dog and a cat"
Miss S "ok"
Charlie "S, just don't tell Maggie. Because I think she really wants to marry me" he said in a quiet whisper

I didn't say a word, just listened with a big old cheesey grin on my face and tried not to laugh. Charlie was the sweetest thing. He had told me a few days earlier that he wanted to marry Miss S. when he grew up, that he would buy her pink and purple flowers because those are her favorite colors, but that he knew he had to wait until they were older and she was ready....to funny! I also thought it was so sweet that he was worried about his other little friend, Maggie and not wanting to hurt her feelings...what a gentleman.

Whoever marries Charlie will be one lucky lady! He has his Daddy's sense of loyalty, loves fiercely, wants to please you and is so much fun! But watch out ladies, Miss S is a tough act to follow :)

Freckles

(Charlie's first freckle, in the corner of his eye)

Last summer, 2009, I noticed one lonely little freckle on the inner corner of Charlie's right eye. Trent has asked a few times when and if the boys would get freckles, I assumed at some point they would. Last summer was the start, for Charlie. I made a mental note of it, something I wanted to record in the long list of milestones that he has accomplished. Acquiring freckles is a milestone in our family as both Trent and my bodies are kissed with them.

This summer, 2010, Charlie's sweet little face has been kissed by them as well. The bridge of his nose and plump little checks are sprinkled with them. Oh, how we love each and everyone!
Welcome freckles!

Big Boy Bed

Tommy has been resisting the move to a big boy bed and frankly, I have been resisting the move as well! He sleeps SO well in his cribby, 12 hours at night and 2+ hour nap each day. WHY would I want to mess with that?!

We have slowly started preparing the boys that soon not only would Tommy be sleeping in a big boy bed, but that they would be sharing a room. Daddy put up the bunk beds, we transitioned Charlie to the top bunk and started to get things ready for Tommy's big move.

Then two weeks ago, Tommy said he wanted to sleep in the Big Boy Room in his bed. He really wanted to so we went for it that evening. It wasn't as bad as I had thought but it did take 2 hours for everyone to be asleep and we decided to move Charlie into our bed after Thomas was caught in the top bunk trying to suffocate his brother with pillows ;) This did NOT surprise me AT ALL. The boys were SO excited to be sleeping in the same room together, so that is good! However, the next morning Charlie said "Mama, it isn't so fun to sleep together". Yeah, I wouldn't like getting tosseled by my little brother either!

So, it certainly hasn't gone the way I would of LOVED it to go, you know, they both settle in and fall asleep within minutes, no suffocating of each other with pillows, no need for discipline from Mom, no banging on the walls and crying. However, it has gone FAR better then I was dreading it would go.

Tommy has done really good about staying in his bed and only getting out to use the bathroom. And nap time has been perfect with just him in the room, so that is reassuring. I bet that with some time they will be able to go to bed at the same time, in the same room.

Doesn't he look so big in his big boy bed? I can not believe that my baby is not so much a baby anymore! He has asked to me to "rock" him before bed but his rocker is in the nursery....his old room, it seems so empty without him in it!

I am so excited for all the changes that lay ahead of us, but when I look at Thomas my heart sinks a little. I know I will love this new baby girl so completely, just like I do our boys. But for 3+years Tommy has been the "baby" and I honestly wondered if he would be our last. Our baby is growing up and in a few short months he will no longer be the baby. Oh, but he will always be my last baby boy!

Love you Thomas! We are so proud of all the big milestones you have made recently!! You are such a star!

Baby Update: 28 weeks

(profile of baby)

Here she is, our sweet little girl. I already think she looks like her brothers!

(front shot of baby's face)

When Tommy saw this picture he said "whoooo, Halloween guy" because it is a skeletal view of of the babies face :)
And here is an outside of view of our little lady. Chin is long gone and so are the ankles, all small sacrifices :)

Baby is growing great, she is measuring a week larger then what she actually is which is not a surprise to us. My OB has been preparing me for another large baby. It will be whatever it is going to be :)

The lab in my OB's office did not do our genetic testing that we had ordered. They took my blood for it and then for some reason tossed the blood before running the test. When the mistake was caught, I was over the deadline for being able to have the tests run and have correct results. When pregnant it seems that all tests are time sensitive and need to be preformed within certain weeks of your pregnancy. Needless to say, I was not to thrilled about the mistake. However, from all the ultrasounds we have had everything looks great, so that is reassuring.

This week I went in for my Gestational Diabetes test. I failed the first test :( but this also happened when I was pregnant with Charlie and I didnt have GD. So, I am praying that I don't have it this time either! I go back on Thursday for the 3 hour, 3 blood draw test...yippee!! Nie Nie is coming to stay with the boys and take them to their swimming lesson. Knowing that she will be with them really makes me feel so much better about the whole day. I am definitely stressed, but trying to stay positive. And besides, I can use that 3 hour of alone time to work on some of the Christmas presents that I have been busy making :)

Lately I have just been trying to stay positive. My body does not enjoy being pregnant. I LOVE the outcome but the journey getting there is usually a rough one for me and this pregnancy has been harder then the others for several reasons. I have been battling a lot of anxiety lately, just from being in chronic pain of my pelvis separating, worrying about loss of baby, and trying to maintain life as "normal" for Charlie and Thomas. But with a lot of prayer and reading of scripture I find that I am winning this battle with my anxiety, one step at a time. I know that God is in control and that the pain I am experiencing right now is only temporary, that I need to turn over this baby to God and not worry, and that our boys are just fine whether then watch tv most of the morning or I am able to take them out on adventure. I know myself, and I am starting to hit that wall of "I can't do this any longer". I know that I have at least 12 weeks to go, and so I am trying to stay as positive as possible and slow down my pace a little. I keep reminding myself that our life is truly wonderful right now, and I am trying each day to enjoy every moment of it. I feel so blessed to be carrying this little one!

Trent has been WONDERFUL in these last 7.5months! He rubs my back almost every night, puts up with my snoring, runs out to get ice cream when a craving hits, takes the boys on adventures with him giving me some much needed down time, carries all laundry baskets upstairs, does not complain about ordering take out...again and continues to plug away at all the house projects that are needing attention before our little one arrives. I can tell he is excited to have a daughter and often comments when we are out about what teenage girls are wearing. I have a feeling that he is going to be rather protective of little baby girl!

Charlie is still excited about having a sister and looks through my pregnancy books often. I have been very straight forward with answering his questions as to how the baby will get out of my tummy, how it got there etc. Tommy seems to be excited too, however, I sense a bit of jealousy already. In the last few days he has reminded me that he is the baby and that he wants to go back in my tummy. Even though he has enjoyed moving to the Big Boy Room, I think that it is a bit unsettling to him to see us slowly redo the nursery that was not to long ago his room. We are doing things slowly and I think that will help him, but he is still very aware of what is going on.

12 weeks to go, the time is flying by!!