Friday Letters

Dear Hubby!

Your daily hard work does NOT go unnoticed! What a guy to work all day and come home on your lunch break to hook up our washer instead of relaxing before you go back. I love watching you play with Jules, melts my heart every time! She loves you so much and I love watching her run when you come in the door from work. 

Dear Jules,

You are SWEETNESS! I love catching you sitting in your room flipping through your books like such a sweetheart! Though this week we've been having lots of disciplining moments, it's only because I love you! I am here to teach you all the things that are right and good instead of what your sinful nature would like you to do :) You've done such a good job with not emptying my plants! Now lets work on being nice to baby kitty instead of carrying it around by it's neck hahahha.

Dear Me, 

Just because you're pregnant, nauseous and constantly cleaning doesn't mean you can stay in your sweats, not wear make-up and try to rock the messy bun. Remember you said you'd never turn into "that person!" well here she is in all her glory. Get it together! LOL

Dear Nap time, 

Thanks for suddenly becoming a very unproductive time! No matter how motivated I am (or how much I've told myself I will get done while she naps!), once I leave that dark, lullaby music room it's all I can do to not collapse on the couch! 

Dear Flu Bug,

STOP COMING AROUND! You are NOT welcome in my home! I mean seriously, how many times can you cycle around. My daughter is trying to GAIN weight so she can't afford another bug. Thank you and goodbye!

Dear Winter,

We are no longer friends. I never have liked your cold, dark self but now with a 1 year old who is constantly sick I don't like you AT ALL. So hurry up summer months! I miss you! Juliana thinks inside "fun" is only fun for so long, we both want to go out and play without becoming ice cycles.

Dear Elmo, 

Though my daughter had never seen you in any way shape or form somehow you made your way into our home and apparently into her heart. Whoever created you did an excellent job determining how to captivate a 1 year old! Now everything Elmo is ALL she wants! my goodness!

Dear Baby #2,

I am sorry I keep forgetting to pray for you and think about you!!!! Is this the start of what 2 kids is like? hahaha. With Jules my pregnancy is all I thought about now I'm so preoccupied taking care of her I sometimes get so excited when I remember, "Oh yea! I'm pregnant!" I love you and do pray for you!!!! 

Happy Friday Readers! 

Weekly Pregnancy Update!

How far along: 

9 weeks!

Total weight gain: 

Some weight loss due to sickness but gaining it back :) Don't worry it'll ALLLLL come back in time :) 

Maternity Clothes: 

nope

Stretch marks:

 Not from this pregnancy :S

Sleep: 

Not great :( Keep waking up to pee a billion times.sigh.

Best moment this week:

 Feeling a LITTLE better !

 Miss Anything? 

hahah energy please?

Movement: 

Can't feel my little sweetness yet! Well, I can feel it's EFFECTS on me :) 

Food cravings: 

blah, nothing! Actually soup is the one thing that I just want all the time, the hot broth makes me feel better! 

Anything making you queasy or sick: 

everything? :( Dinner time especially, even thinking about dinner makes me feel sick. so weird! 

Gender: 

Can't tell yet!!!!

Belly Button in or out?

In. LOL and slightly saggy around the edges from last time :S

Wedding rings on or off?

 On. 

Happy or Moody most of the time: 

I can get pretty moody :( Crying during movies that aren't sad, crying when tired, ya know, the usual preggers hormones hahaha!

Looking forward to:

 Having my first appointment!!! Can't wait to hear my baby love's heartbeat!

Dinner Tonight

MMmmmmm homemade split pea soup for dinner!

Poor Jeremy is probably getting so sick of soup but it's really the only thing that always sounds good for me! I've been making him dinners then can't eat a bite :( So soup has become a regular around here these days, which is so funny because normally I hate soup. But baby B must love it :) The hot broth just feels so good for my nausea!!!! 

We had a fun little family dinner on Christmas Eve (the 3 of us :) But we have TONS of ham left over, so split pea soup is what's for dinner!

Recipe : 

(keep in mind I was just dumping stuff in so this is the "basic" idea)

1 lb dry split peas

ham hock 

2 cups chopped ham

1 chopped onion

2 chopped carrots

2 cups chopped celery

4 cups Chicken Stock (should have made it but didn't this time)

2 cups of water

Salt, pepper, a bay leaf, dried thyme, oregano and parsley (how ever much you want!) 

Throw it in the crock pot on low, near the end take the bone out. Most of the ham on it will have fallen off. Serve with yummy bread!!!!!

Happy Day after Christmas!

I'm sure you were just waiting around to read what I have done today :)

Well folks, we are in the full swing of discipline over here. I am thrilled my girl is growing but I have to say, the first year of simple sweetness is wonderful. She has now purposefully been disobeying, isn't that fun! 

It's like she's picked certain things to repeat over and over, like emptying my plants of their dirt. lol. Today has been at least 5 times of me walking in and her stopping mid-grab, watching my reaction with her handfuls of dirt. And as I approach to say no  (and sometimes is also hard to keep a straight face cause she's just so CUTE even when she's being defiant!), she runs away. Lovely. Once I've snatched her and am trying to return her to the plant to empty her hands and have a "sweet little teaching moment" she collapses herself on the ground and refuses to make eye contact. WOW --- human nature 101!!!! And who says we're not sinful in nature?!?!?!

So we've been doing a lot of that this morning. She also bit me for the first time today :( Right through my skin :( I hope my daughter is not that kid who bites other people's kids!!! We will work on this one hard as well! NO biting!!!!! She's been getting really frustrated lately when she can't communicate what she wants, so I'm trying to teach her signs and other ways to get help or attention if she needs something. 

Poor girl is also on antibiotics cause our kitten scratched her and it got infected. Say what?!?! This child, she gets everything.

It's amazing how much I underestimated what she can understand. I still treat her as if she has no clue what's going on so Jeremy and I started doing little tests. Telling her to go do this or that or grab me this or give daddy that. She gets it ALL! So she definitely understands what she is not supposed to do :) 

In other news! I am 8 weeks pregnant and feelin it!!!! Sick sick sick but I know it will pass soon. Carbonation helps a lot. You also know you're in this phase of pregnancy when you start realizing all the places you could lay down to take a nap as you're working around your house! I went to pick something off the floor and the thought going through my mind was "I could just lean up against the wall right there......" REALLY!?!? So  funny.
I am also determined to keep a pregnancy journal this time! Maybe I will use my blog to keep me accountable :) 

Jeremy proposed 5 years ago today :) Love him! 

Seems so long ago! I love that we are more in love now than we were then.....that it just keeps getting better :) 

And lastly our house is a Christmas bomb. Wrapping paper, crafts, cookies along with the usual dishes and laundry makes it look like a tornado went through. So I'm off to tackle that while I still have some of her nap time left! 

Not my favorite morning.

There are SO many great moments as a parent, but I am also just beginning to learn there are very hard moments too.

 This morning was not my favorite. 

Took Juliana to her 15 month appointment which should be routine and just checking growth. Well, she's still the same weight :(, has been getting sick pretty much constantly her whole life and has been having a few other random weird symptoms too (blue lips, shaking, lots of diarrhea and vomit and fever, etc). So after shots and all that fun, we were over for a blood test (NOT FUN). I've already had to do this when she was 4 months old and really sick, but at least then she just sat there and cried, now that she's bigger I had to basically pin her down and hold her arm down while they tried to get her blood. Once they finally got a vein I kid you not the blood was BARELY going up the tube. Took FOREVER to get like 1/4 teaspoon of blood. The seat was all wet from her tears :( SAD MOMENT as a mommy. At least I held off crying till we got in the car. 

The next appointment we have is with a GI specialist cause the Dr. thinks something might be wrong in there :( After that we'll move onto the allergist. Part of me knows that this is all the beginning steps just to rule out a number of things but it's still hard that we can't just have one regular appointment where everything looks great and we go on our way. 

I am blessed to have a child and I know she'll be fine, just frustrating to have to put her through all these tests.

Praying for a good result from her blood test! 

An order of Pad Thai please!

Ever since we were Thailand for a while, I have been in LOVE with Thai food. Thai food is known for it's amazing blends of spicy, sour and sweet. Everything from their curry to soups to noodles is amazing.
But my favorite is still the classic -- Pad Thai. While nothing can compare with authentic, off the street THAILAND Pad Thai. There are several places here that are really good! After lots of years of trying all the Thai places around (such hard work but I sacrificed and got it done :) I definitely have my favorites. 

But we can't go out for Thai food all the time ($$$$$) So I've found my favorite for at home cookin!

The "A Taste of Thai" kit has a larger sauce packet, although I like the Thai Kitchen ingredients better and the overall taste is more authentic. 

(did you even think you needed this information?Haha)

BUT the Taste of Thai noodles are WAY thicker and I like that too!

The fun part about the boxes at home is that you have the freedom to either keep it simple and authentic, or just go ahead and throw in bell peppers, carrots, whatever. 

I like to keep ours basic :) Just the protein (tofu and chicken), noodles, bean sprouts, egg and green onion. 

Even though I was only cooking for the 2 of us I made 2 boxes (and we hardly had left overs :S) so I tried one of each :) Yummmmmoooo! 

And although in Thailand you would just get the basic Pad Thai dish wrapped in a banana leaf, I DO love the toppings we've added here in the good ol USA :)  My favorites are fresh bean sprouts, shredded carrot, cucumber ribbons with rice vinegar, peanuts and cilantro with lime juice!

 DELICIOUS! 

Go make some Pad Thai and enjoy!!!!!

Beer-glazed sausage and apples with green beans

What's for dinner???

I made this a couple nights ago and it was SUPER good! It's great for these cold nights yet still doesn't leave you feeling yucky and full of carbs!

Enjoy!

What you'll need

• 1 12 oz. bottle Belgium-style wheat beer (I used Blue Moon)
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
• 1 14-16 oz. package smoked sausage, such as kielbasa, cut in 3-inch pieces
• 1/2 lb. fresh green beans
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 medium cooking apples, cored and thinly sliced (I used Fuji apples)
• 2 tbsp. packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. finely shredded orange peel

In a large saucepan combine 1/2 of the beer and the crushed red pepper. Bring it to boiling. Next, add the sausage and the green beans. Return the mixture to a simmer. Cover the saucepan, and cook 5-8 minutes, or until the beans are tender. Then, drain the saucepan and set the meat and beans aside. Next, in a large skillet melt 1 tbsp of the butter, then add the apples. Cook the apples, turning occasionally, until they are just tender. Transfer them to a platter. Add the sausage and green beans to the skillet you cooked the apples in. Cook the mixture, turning occasionally, until the sausage is browned on all sides. Once the sausage is browned, remove it and the beans from the skillet and drain the fat. Next, carefully add the remaining beer to skillet (mixture may foam) and stir to scrape up the browned bits. Add the remaining 1 tbsp of butter, brown sugar, cider vinegar, and orange peel to the skillet. Bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and boil the glaze gently, uncovered, for 5-6 minutes or until slightly thickened. Place the sausage and green beans back into the skillet to coat in the glaze. Then, fold in the apples. Mix over low heat until warmed through. Serve warm, and enjoy!

Mmmmmm so delicious! I served it alongside couscous! 

Update Time!

We've had a fun past few weeks around here! Here's what's been going on in our little family 

 Found out I was pregnant on Thanksgiving morning :) Such a fun surprise! We are so excited for Baby #2! I can't wait to see my precious girl as a big sister. 

We got to go out on a fun date to celebrate our new baby coming :) Sometimes life just gets SO busy it's hard to remember to take the time to make these memories!

Had such a fun night at the lights parade last night! Love this town :) 

We got a kitten!!!! Juliana LOOOOOVES him! I couldn't be happier that he lets her "pet" him (more like hitting him......working on that!) and he comes up to her an plays with her! Love it!

Me, my baby and baby kitty! (Don't mind the orange peal she is spitting out)

Our house has been stomach flu city this past week and a half :( Jules came down with it and right when she got better Jeremy started. I am still to go :( :( :( oh joy.

Along with this exciting pregnancy I have been SO much more nauseous than last time. Seriously I have felt like I am going to throw up, all day every day for over a week. Dry toast and tea have been my staple :( PLEASE go away soon! Hurry up 2nd Trimester! 

hahaha we saw this online and thought it was a hilarious announcement! 

Christmas time!!!!!!!!!!! We are working away on presents and homemade goodies! If I have to be stuck at home with a bunch of sickos at least I can look at my tree and listen to fun music. 

And right now I'm plopped on the couch eating an entire box of sour candy while baby love sleeps :)