Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Fall Fun

We have been having so much fun with Fall activities. And today I woke up to a cold, dark morning and realized that it really is Fall – I’m not just being excited too soon like I usually am for seasons and holidays.

 

This week we had one of my friends over with her little boy that is just about a week older than Annabelle. Annabelle loves him and talks about him constantly which is pretty funny because they really aren’t around each other very much. They had grilled cheese sandwiches and then got to work painting pumpkins in the garage. We used painters tape to make their initials on their pumpkins, and then just let them go at it. I think this will be our standard pumpkin decorating for the next few years. Annabelle loved it and laid in bed for a half hour that night talking about her friend and paint and pumpkins.







Last night during the Royal’s game I made homemade pumpkin bars with homemade cream cheese icing. Yes, I said “homemade” twice. I had to really emphasize that because most of my baking comes from a box and a tub of icing. I was pretty proud. While I was waiting for them to cool to ice, I made some treats for Annabelle’s daycare celebration. A friend sent me this idea for a healthier treat from Pinterest. I think they turned out so cute.



Today Belle was so excited to dress in a special Halloween shirt! I have a few outfits for her so decided to start a day or two early.





She looks so big to me lately. We have been ready to switch her to her big girl bed for a while now, but I keep getting really emotional about it. Tomorrow we are ripping off the band aid and switching.Tonight will be her last night in her crib. I’m not kidding when I say that “It Won’t Be Like This For Long” came on my Pandora this morning and I definitely had to redo my makeup.

 

Friday, October 24, 2014

Vera Baby Sale

I'm a little worried Vera Bradley is doing away with their baby line because everthing is on major major sale. (Vera bradley.com)

Instead of researching it though I decided to take advantage of it. I grabbed Baby Girl's coming home from the hospital outfit, a matching lovey bunny from Belle, and the sleeper gown before they were sold out. 


You have to check out this sale if you have girls under 12 months. I have some pieces from when Belle was little and they really are good quality in addition to being so incredibly adorable!

How snuggly is Baby Girl going to be in this outfit for her big trip home from the hospital!


And I thought this sleeper is too sweet!





Friday, October 17, 2014

Balance

Lately I can’t get enough of salads and apples during the work day. So that’s great. But in all honesty, by the end of the day, for dinner, I have been wanting Chinese food every single night. That or cereal! David has been so great about indulging in this little craving session and not making me feel bad about it, but oh man, it has to stop soon. I can’t think of many cravings that would be worse than my obsession with fried rice, sesame chicken, and egg rolls. Seriously, I would eat it every single night but have backed off to once a week.

 

At least throughout the day my cravings have stayed pretty healthy.

 

My favorite lunch right now is a salad and an apple. Pretty good. I have been all over the place on my salads, but most commonly it is a spinach, kale, carrots, broccoli, almond, and cranberry mix with Vidalia onion dressing. Yum!



And I’m not being too hard on myself about this Chinese food kick. Let’s face it, I felt sick and vomited for almost 30 weeks and pretty soon I will be too big to really eat much of anything. So a couple of weeks of fried rice can’t be all that bad.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

31 Weeks and a Fun Weekend

Today I’m already 31 weeks along. This Friday marks two months form our due date. I can’t believe it.


We finished painting Annabelle’s room last week and have been airing it out and adding details. (Pictures to come.) I am making her one of those ribbon picture hanger thingys. I don’t know what they are called. And we have her sheets and quilt all ready. And all of her clothes are moved to her new closet. I am not sure when I will actually pull the trigger and move her. I am trying to keep her a baby for a bit longer. But it’s nice to have her room almost done because that means that I can work on the nursery. I can’t even express my joy and excitement about having my two girls here so soon.

 

Speaking of my other girl (who has a name but we just don’t want to announce it yet), she’s doing great! We had an appointment Friday and her heart rate is 140s, maybe 150 which is just perfect. I hadn’t gained any weight since the last appointment (just two weeks ago) and my stomach was measuring at about 28 weeks instead of almost 31. My doctor didn’t seemed concerned about this at all. I was in shock only because I was thinking that I was huge and would measure big. I feel her moving around all the time! Like all the time. I am at peace that she’s completely fine and that the measurements just aren’t too accurate.


This past weekend was so special and fun. Sister #2 was in town, Sister #1 and my mom came over for bagels, we celebrated a dear friend and her baby boy at a baby shower, went to the orchard, and spent time relaxing. I told Annabelle a hundred times how she truly was my best little friend.




I love dragging her everywhere with me and I love how talkative she is. She tells me full stories now – well in pieces, but I help her fill in the blanks. She is just such an amazing little girl. I made her dress like me today and was thinking about how much fun it will be to dress my girls alike soon enough.



I hope you have a great Fall week friends! Tonight is Tiny Tot Town. I am always curious if Annabelle will love these types of events and she always surprises me. She seems to have little to no social anxiety like I do, so I try to be sure to get out of my comfort zone and take her to these events. She’s so fun!


 

Monday, October 6, 2014

We Can't Get Enough of Fall

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Fall?

We had a wonderful weekend spending some much needed time together as a family of three. We actually didn’t do anything extraordinary this weekend at all - which makes for some of my favorite memories.

 

Friday Annabelle spent time with her grandma and of course, baked. This is one of their favorite things to do together.



Friday night we spent some time celebrating friends’ birthdays and then went home to put Annabelle to bed and cheer on our Royals! Who isn’t excited about the Royals right now? It’s impossible to not be!



Saturday morning we woke up and made a big breakfast and ran errands. We prepped Annabelle’s big girl room for painting, bought all the supplies, (David) washed the walls and removed all the remaining traces of wallpaper, bought the paint, and are now completely ready to paint this week. We had every intention of painting this weekend but it was just too beautiful and we were having too much fun with our little girl.





We watched a ton of sports, went on lots of walks, went to church, ran errands, and relaxed. It was wonderful. While Belle and I were running some errands without Davidon Sunday afternoon, he made the most delicious chili ever! David’s chili and a Royals win - It was a perfect end to a perfect weekend.



 


Friday, October 3, 2014

Black Bean and Quinoa Casserole

We tried this dinner last night and I have to say that it was pretty good. I think we will be adding it to the regular rotation when we want Mexican but something a little bit different.

 

I found the recipe here:http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1239857

 

I do have to say it took a tiny bit of prep for a week night dinner – next time I will probably wait until a weekend so I can start the prep early.



 

I really love quinoa so I added more than a cup. I think the only variation I will do next time is to use something a little more spicy than the medium salsa I used. Or maybe add more? I forgot to take a picture of it when it came out of the oven- but here's before.



I served this with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt and my homemade guacamole.

 


For guacamole I do two ripe avocados, some chopped onion, chopped garlic, chopped tomato, and a splash of lemon juice. I actually prefer lime but didn’t have one. Annabelle loves guacamole. We give her one chip and she pretty much uses the chip as a spoon.