Monday, February 6, 2012

What Have I Been Up To? Well, Let Me Fill You In...

I have been so busy lately in general, and haven't had much time to blog. Thought maybe I would give an update on what has been going on with me lately....

I have been mostly just hanging in there, trying to get through Joe going to school and working more then usual and not being home near as much. I have been getting read for nice weather and all of the up coming photo shoots! I have a new lens on the way, along with lots of new studio equipment so I can have a better set up indoors.  I can not wait to get some of this stuff into action. Hopefully we will be doing some major potty training soon. I soooo want the munchkin out of diapers before the new baby gets here. So I have been planning our attack on that.  I have been trying out all kinds of new recipes, not only to make our meal rotations more interesting, but to find some good ones to freeze to build up my frozen meal stock for when the baby arrives. One thing I did make last week that I HIGHLY recommend was a recipe for Cashew Chicken. It was ridiculous. I left out the ginger cuz I didn't have any on hand and added a little arrowroot to the marinade when it was put back into the pan and heated to use as the sauce, but otherwise I pretty much followed the directions.



This weekend was BUSY!

Saturday morning we went on a family grocery shopping trip. We have been doing the grocery shopping as a family the past couple of months and I have been loving it. Usually just the munchkin and I will go, but lately Joe has been coming along. Not only is it great that he can pick out stuff for himself and can't complain that I didn't get enough snacks for him, but it's just nice having his company along for the trip. I try to only do our major grocery shopping once or twice a month and then make quick and easy trips in between from stores closer to us as things come up. I do this because the stores we buy a majority of our groceries from are kinda a trek to get to. It's not that bad, but it takes a good 2 to 2.5 hours to drive there, hit up both stores and then drive home. So it's best to go on a weekend day and we usually head out after breakfast so that we can get back home in time for lunch and the munchkin's nap. Plus when Joe is with us, he'll push the cart, while I just wander around the store and then loads the groceries and all that jazz too. I mean, why wouldn't I love that??

Saturday evening we went to my parents house for dinner. My sister Erin and her boyfriend Chad, along with Chad's brother, came over with Erin's two girls. My sister Amy also dropped off her daughter Q to hang out as well. We had a full house! It was fun having all of the cousins together to play. They go wild the entire time and completely destroy everything in their path.  We stayed there till about 9:00 and brought the munchkin home and put her down to to bed about 9:30pm. She was so riled up she didn't actually fall asleep until about 11:30pm. She just laid in bed talking to herself and singing. Then she slept in till 9:00am the next morning. Joe was pretty stoked about this since it was his morning to wake up with her.

I also got to check out the progress of the little mini farm house bed that my dad is making for me for photo shoots. I have been scouring the internet trying to find a good deal on one, but they are just so damn expensive! I wanted a little wooden doll bed to take pics of newborns in, so I found some plans and emailed them to my dad asking him if there was anyway he could build it for me. This was last week. He said yes and already had it finished this weekend! It has to sit and dry for a couple of days, but then it will be good to go. I can't wait to use it. I have a newborn shoot coming up very soon and will definitely be trying it out then :) AND as a bonus, he is making an extra one for the munchkin to put her dolls in. She's going to love it!

Sunday morning I made some scrambled eggs and biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I made lots extra so I could have them for breakfast throughout the week. I seriously can't believe how good this stuff is! If you would like to try out a healthy, gluten free gravy recipe, you MUST make THIS. And if you want some amazing biscuits to go with them, try THESE! I still can't believe how good those damn biscuits are. And with some butter and fruit spread... oh my!

After breakfast, I had a massage appointment at noon. It's really awkward sometimes, getting a massage while pregnant, but totally worth it. Even though I am actually feeling pretty good lately, I still am getting some new aches and pains that are kinda annoying and it felt really good to get some of those worked out a little. It's crazy how suddenly heavier my belly has been feeling the last week or so. When I am just walking around I don't even feel pregnant, but if I am trying to get up from sitting on the floor or something, I feel like I am suddenly 50 lbs heavier! My right shoulder and extending down through my arm, has also been a little sore. It became so sore when I was pregnant with the munchkin, that I would actually lose some feeling in my hand. It hasn't gotten nearly that bad yet, but it's pretty uncomfortable sometimes.

Sunday evening, we headed over to my sister Amy's house to watch the Superbowl. I made some bacon wrapped dates stuffed with herbed goat cheese. They were so good! No one else would hardly touch them though, so I was glad I only made one batch. I think most of the people there had no idea what a date was and it totally wierded them out. I guess they did look a little strange. Oh well, more for me. I also made a huge batch of guacamole and everyone tore that up... so that made me feel a little better. I can't believe how how much food was there. It was INSANE. I almost felt guilty for some reason seeing that much food just sitting around, knowing there was no way we were going to eat it all.  There was atleast 5 different desserts, all kinds of dips, a nacho stand with all the toppings imaginable, pizza, pizza ryes, along with all kinds of other miscellaneous items. I totally stuffed myself on Amy's chicken wings, my guacamole and my mom's cheesy white chicken nacho dip. My favorite part of the evening though, was the half time show. Not only because Madonna was awesome and totally rocked it, but the munchkin put on her own little show right below the TV. She danced around and shook her booty like nobody's business, while everyone cheered her on.  Girlfriend was cracking me up! I wish so bad that I had video taped it.  ARGH!!!! I went home exhausted last night and after watching an episode of Shameful (anyone watch this show? I highly recommend it... so good), I went in the bedroom and passed out.

Tonight I am looking forward to staying home and relaxing a little. I am going to let the hubs make dinner (even though he doesn't know it yet) so I can just hang out with the munchkin and play with her until she goes to bed. The Bachelor is on (yes I watch and love the Bachelor... I have no idea why), so I am going to make some homemade popcorn and watch that tonight. Then the rest of the week will be crazy busy and we'll be gearing up for Joe leaving Thursday for the weekend, so I think I deserve an evening with my feet up.

I am going to try to take a belly pic tonight to post. I am almost 19 weeks now and my belly is much bigger then my last 16 week pic, so I definitely need an update. Two more weeks from today we find out the sex of the baby... I CAN NOT WAIT!


4 comments:

Gina said...

I'd have eaten your dates. Just sayin'.

Laura said...

Oh I know you would have Gina ;)

Anna said...

I would have torn those dates up too...just talking to you about them Sunday made me hungry. Madonna did totally rock that half-time show!

Kristina Clemens said...

Congrats on you coming little attraction! I've had three babies and each arrival is so unique and special. It's so cool that Madonna can get up there and still put younger artists to shame, no? =)
Kristina J.