25 Weeks Pregnant & WILW

WILW - Pregnancy Edition

Im linking up, b/c its Wed...and I forget nearly almost every Wed!

Here's what Im loving:

{1} Older..

Im not completely LOVING getting older, but today is my birthday and I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family in my life. I've received so many sweet messages, gifts and cards, and I feel so loved!

{2} Baby Boy:

Below is my 25 week update.. I have been trying to do one every week with a pic.. but sometimes I get a little busy, and tired!

25 Weeks
Size of baby: A Rutebegga? (that’s what the internet says).. In other words.. 1.5 lbs.
Gender: IT IS A BOY!!
Weight Gain: I think Im around 20 lbs so far.. yea so far..more to be gained im sure!
How am I feeling: Been getting some pains here and there.. mostly when I’ve done too much.
Appointments/Events: Nov. 4th for my glucose test
Craving: Chocolate..yes just in time for Halloween! Im loving having fresh apples, and grapes
Missing: Being able to tie my shoes, and not be so winded from climbing our stairs!
Baby Moving: I think he has completely turned around if I had to guess.. Im feeling kicks above my belly button now..Since 23 weeks seems like Im feeling him all over, I guess he’s growing.. on the left, right, top and bottom.
Funny Things: SJ will randomly say she wants to see him, or give him huggies.. She loves playing in his room, and riding his wooden tricycle.
Special Buys/Finds This Week: The crib is here! So is a new stuffed animal, and a few clothing items here and there.. Im ordering his rocking chair and dresser hopefully soon!

{3} My sweet SJ..

Lately she's been so hysterical and sweet.. like this morning when I opened her door to wake her, she rolled over and sweetly said "good morning momma"... my sweet girl.. I cannot wait to see what a wonderful big sister she will be.

So thats what Im loving on this rainy, grey, birthday day..

Crafty Post...

Crafty...

I began these burp cloths a long time ago.. and knowing my friend Megan was having a girl, i knew I had time before I would see her though, since she lives in Ohio..

So while we were there I gave her these 4 of my first ever burp cloths!

I love this Amy Butler fabric..and the more I practiced, the better I got..
Im making a couple for baby #2 as well..

I also gave my friend Traci this Sushi Set gift for her little girl. I found the image and idea on Pinterest. I just love Pinterest!

October Week In Pics & Recipe

Week in Pics!

Monday we had swim lessons, and after I treated Samantha to one of her favorite places.. Panera! We got a very berry smoothie (free) with my reward card, and a baguette to snack on. She waves hi and bye to Panera from the car, and knows where it is in our village when we pass by...

Tuesday...after nap we did a little coloring.. She's getting so good at drawing faces!
For dinner I tried a new recipe I found from Jessica.. who got it from Pinterest I beleive. They were SOOOO good.. Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps! Im making them again very soon!
1 cup cooked, shredded chicken
Mexican-esque marinade or taco seasoning for the chicken
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 T. chili powder
1/2 t. cumin
1/2 t. garlic salt
1 can black beans (drain and rinse)
1/2 onion
Rotel, very well drained
sour cream
shredded cheddar, or Mexican blend cheese
burrito-size flour tortillas
Full Recipe HERE!

Wednesday, I needed a BIG starbucks...Samantha was up a bit overnight, so I was exhausted. I think these LAST two teeth (molars) are really giving her some trouble...

When work and dinner was done, Mat and SJ said they had to run an errand, and they came back with a little pre-birthday treat. Orange Chocolate Sponge Candy.... a whole big box.. Momma's FAVORITE!!!
Thursday we had brother's crib delivered, and we set it up, which prompted me to do more OCD organizing of all his adorable clothes, and stuff in his room

I love nesting ... and I get to decorate his sweet nursery, b/c I never got the chance to do it for SJ, cause we knew we were moving 4 months after she was born, so we waited till we bought this house

After naptime, me and SJ needed some groceries for dinner. Mathew's sister visited us this weekend from Washington,DC, so I had a HUGE pot of homemade sauce simmering all day.. It warmed up the entire house, and made everything so cozy.. along with all my fall candles..

Our dinner on Thursday night... we had Sauce, Cucumber Salad, and Fresh Bread with Homemade Garlic-Herb Butter I made from Fresh Oregano and Parsley from our Herb Garden... yum!!!

Friday, Daddy and Teta Nina, and SJ went to the Zoo, Momma worked and made two dozen cupcakes for my cousin Colin's Birthday on Saturday. My cousin (his mom) put in a cupcake order. I was on the HUNT for Yellow and Blue sprinkles, and after going to 4 stores, including JoAnn's and Michaels, FINALLY the lady at the bakery department at our grocery store took the sprinkles out of the bakery and sold them to me in bulk!

We made homemade pizza for dinner, and then had fresh donuts and cut up honeycrisp apples for dessert! It was a great end to a long and busy week..

Turkey Dinner and Tart Recipe!

Yesterday (Sunday) We were invited for a Turkey Dinner at my friend Nicole's Mom's House.Nicole and I used to play together as kids, so we and our Mom's have been friends for over 25 years! We both have little girls now that are 10 days apart, so its always so nice to get the girls together and see each other.. Oh, and we're both Pregnant again, and due about 10 days apart AGAIN.. too funny, right?

We were gonna get together and then it turned into a dinner invite, which was sooo soo nice. I felt like I was eating Thanksgiving dinner, Nicole's Mom and Aunt are such amazing cooks! We had Turkey, Mashed Taters, Stuffing, Corn, Broccoli, and yummy Dinner Rolls and Bread.

I made desserts so I thought I'd share the one recipe.

Autumn Fruit Tart

I've never ever made a tart in my life.. In fact, I had to buy a tart shell that morning, because I never registered for one when I got married, never bought one..

I got the recipe from an old Land O' Lakes "Fall Baking" Magazine that I bought last year and held on to.. I love collecting good magazines with recipes/pics.

So you can find the recipe HERE.

The crust is made from Hazelnuts, Nilla Wafers and Butter.. Mmmm It was so yum
You bake the crust for about 8 minutes, Then add the filling...

Here's the recipe again from their website, which by the way is my new fav for looking up recipes.. Everything looks so delicious!
Crust
1 1/4 cups crushed vanilla wafer cookies1/2 cup finely chopped hazelnuts1/4 cup Land O Lakes® Butter, melted
Filling
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
3 Land O Lakes® All-Natural Eggs
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons Land O Lakes® Butter, melted
1 tablespoon brandy or apple juice, if desired
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1 medium (1 cup) apple, peeled, chopped
Topping
1/2 cup whipping cream, whipped
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:Heat oven to 350°F. Stir together all crust ingredients in small bowl. Press onto bottom and up sides of greased 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Bake 8 minutes.

Combine sugar, corn syrup, eggs, flour, 2 tablespoons melted butter, brandy and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon in medium bowl; mix well. Stir in hazelnuts, apricots and apple. Spoon mixture into crust. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until deep golden brown. Cool 15 minutes. Remove side of pan.

Combine all topping ingredients in small bowl. Beat at high speed until stiff peaks form. Serve with tart.

Never been a fan of a lot of fruit in desserts, but trust me, this one was amazing.. a good one for Turkey Day for SURE!!

Just in case the kiddos didnt approve of the tart, I made Oatmeal Cookies and mixed in some autumn m&m's.. they definately liked those..
And, of course after traveling this week, I forgot my CAMERA!! So my phone was taking some awful dark pics of the girls, and then when visiting, I just forgot actually!.. But Samantha had a great time with Avery.. they hugged, they kissed, they shared, and played with toys.. it was such a nice visit!

I couldnt leave this picture out.. This is Abe.. Nicole's Mom's kitty.. He is the sweetest most loveable cat. Mathew and I fell in love and wanted to take him home with us.. We totally miss having a cat around.. but with Baby Boy coming we think we'll wait till next Fall maybe.. If we could pick the perfect cat with the perfect personality, this cat would be it.. He was so sweet...

We finished dinner/dessert, and headed home, and last night SJ woke up at 4am saying "something hurts" but wouldnt tell me what.. oh gosh.. I am so so sleepy today... Im halfway through my stiff coffee and afraid that might not be enough to carry me through the day/evening.. we have swim lessons tonight..

Happy Monday I guess, right?

In the Buckeye State

Ohio Visit...

We spend a week in Ohio and we had a great time.

For starters.. we walked into my in-laws house greeted by hugs, and freshly baked cookies...

{amazing pb sandwich cookies}

Samantha did NOT nap at ALL that day in the car like she usually does.. so she was extra silly, and super funny..
{silly face}

{surprise face}
But you can tell in these eyes, as she carried her baby watermelon from Baka's garden, that she was soooo tired.. but she would fight it all day long till bedtime..

The next day we didnt do much. We had a nice dinner that evening, Burgers on the grill, and we went to do a little grocery shopping at night. Lucky for SJ they have "race cars" at the grocery stores in Ohio too..

Tuesday I dont have any real pictures from, but I worked all day, and we had burgers on the grill with fresh tomato salad for dinner.

Wednesday I woke up to two sweet things..

1. This precious kitten, (1 of 7 wild cats that live at Baka's) His name is Bubba..

2. Homemade DonutsSamantha took a really good nap, so she got to have a taste when she woke up

They were so delicious...

We went to dinner at great grandma julie's house that evening and had the best potato pancakes, and ukrainian sausage I've ever had..

I wish potato pancakes tasted just as good cooled... but they are best just after they are done.

Thursday we went to the Amish Country.

It was quite a drive, but we got some really yummy lunch and visited all the bulk shoppes and got some good stuff like Buckwheat Pancake Mix, Oats, Candy, Candles, and some other snacks.

On the way home she napped for about an hour, but it was clearly not enough, she was soo incredibly cranky when we got back to the house.

I had planned to take her to Julie's house to meet some of my college friends, but the way she was melting down left and right, I just couldnt do it.. She AND I would have been miserable!

Friday it turned really really cool.. only high in 50's and rainy.

I went to see Megan my friend in the morning and her new baby Emily.

It was so good to see her, and she gave me some boy clothes for baby #2 AND some much needed maternity clothes!!

I came home and we ordered pizza for dinner, and packed for the ride home the next day.

It was a fun week, and it went really really fast!

We had never been to Ohio for this long before, and a couple nights Samantha was saying she wanted to go home and crying...Bedtime was a nightmare ... every night but ONE I had to really spend a lot of time with her until she fell asleep. I think she's getting older, and really did miss her house.. Visiting is fun of course .. but bedtime is NOT.. at least for Momma and SJ.

This is SJ on the ride home. She slept the ENTIRE way home.. I dont think she's done that since we made a trip to visit when she was 9 months old.

What Im Loving Wednesday {Ohio Edition}

WILW - Ohio Edition!

Coming to you from Ohio! We are visiting my in-laws for the week.

AS soon as we got here.. fresh homemade Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies.. um yea...

They're almost gone now.. I have to get the recipe before I leave

Im Loving just being here.. I lived here for almost 10 years before we moved to NC, and before I met Mathew, had a baby... yadda yadda.. so I love coming back to visit and see friends and fam!

Im also loving Buckeyes... ever have em? I found a pretty good recipe HERE, and maybe I'll make em one day.. If you like chocolate and peanut butter.. this is your kind of sweet.

I THINK I might be loving these before we leave.. they have Krispy Kreme here! They had one in Wilmington when we lived in NC.. and we did frequent it a LOT when I was preggers with SJ.. ahh they are SOOOO good fresh.. not the same when you buy em in the store..


I am loving that Im 23 weeks and little man is kicking and kicking away in there.. very very good feeling!

23 Weeks {In Ohio}

23 Weeks – Spending It in Ohio
Size of baby: About size of a large Mango

Gender: IT IS A BOY!!
Weight Gain: I weighed myself while at the in-laws.. I think I gained another 2lbs. – All scales are different so I don’t know for sure
How am I feeling: Really good.. although the bigger I get the more tired I feel
Appointments/Events:
Nov. 4th for my glucose test

Craving: Its really not fair to ask this questions…IM AT MY INLAWS…I crave everything.. Its like being at your own restaurant.. My mother in laws home cooking is amazing.. I always gain weight when I’m here .. Pregnant or not! She already made homemade peanut butter sandwich cookies, pizzelles, for dinner we had creamy mashed potatoes, chicken sautéed in olive oil with onions and peppers.. and fresh tomato salad.. tonight we’re having Ham Roll Ups…oh my word.. I’m stopping now.
Missing:
Sleep… yes already.. I’m getting pretty uncomfortable, and I’m constantly waking in the middle of the night switching sides, and putting the pillows in the right places.. oh, and waking to go to the bathroom at least once..
{23 week shot}

Baby Moving:
I can see him moving around if I lift my shirt up now.. he seems to be pretty low down there.
Funny Things:
Cant think of anything really funny. She loves playing in his room, and she loves to kiss my belly.
Special Buys/Finds This Week:
We’re in Ohio… but I did find another cute blanket I ordered.. and I found another crib sheet from PBK that I need to get with my coupon this week!

Eggplant Parmesan Casserole & Chicken Fried Rice

Last week we had some random dinner ideas... we had lots of random ingridients/recipes/leftovers... and we had a sorft of smorgasbord dinner... These two meals didnt quite "go together" at all.. but I needed to use our last eggplant from the garden, and I had chicken leftover that I needed to use.. so there ya go:

Eggplant Parm Casserole & Chicken Fried Rice
They were both equally really good!

The rice i had made before.. but the Eggplant was soo easy and good. I got this recipe from our grocery store .. last weekend's post I mentioned they had an Italian themed event going on, and with every taste there was a recipe card to go with it..very nice.. love my grocery store.
Eggplant Parmesan 1 eggplant sliced

1/2 jar sauce - i used a Pomodoro -

3 tbsp olive oil

breadcrumbs

1/2 cup parm cheese
salt and pepper to taste

shredded mozz cheese

Begin with 1/2 of the sauce on the bottom of greased 9x12 pan

Lay Eggplant slices on top of sauce.. Drizzle Olive Oil, Breadcrumbs, Salt and Pepper, and parm cheese.(just a sprinkle)

Add other 1/2 of sauce mozz cheese, and thats IT!

Bake COVERED 40 min @450.
Easy.Delish.No frying involved!

Gooey Cheese .. mmm it was so good..

Chicken Fried Rice
The recipe I used was from this site.. but you really need to mix and taste.. depending on how you like it and as a bonus .. Samantha LOVED IT!!... Here are my ingredients I used:
Rice, Chicken, Eggs, Peas, Soy, Salt, Pepper, Oil

Spicy Mayo
When living in NC we'd frequent our local sushi/hibatchi restaurant, and I had never had spicy mayo served with fried rice.. but it was really good.
there are many recipes online available, but here's the way I made it...
Siriacha Sauce
Mayo
Pinch of Sugar
Salt/Pepper
I added a little garlic powder too. And its much better if you mix and let this sauce sit for a while, maybe even a day or two before you make the rice.