My goodness...

Has it really been three whole months? I guess the dates don't lie!

As I said three months ago, I had lost my will to cook. Even being in culinary school didn't help. I ended up having to drop my two culinary classes though, because I had no way back and forth to campus (the rest of them are online.) I'm going to re-enroll in them for the spring semester. I did, however, get a great knife kit out of the deal. Don't worry, I plan on doing a blog post about them.

We're now in our 31st week of this pregnancy and, even though my pelvis feels like it's been broken, things have finally started going better. I think I've hit my nesting phase where I finally feel like I have a little bit of energy throughout the day! This paired with being hungry all the time has restored my faith in cooking.

Last night I threw together some BBQ Bacon Chicken that I couldn't get enough of. Then tonight I had no clue what to make. All I knew was that it would involve chicken breast, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and pasta. I ended up with a dish that was AMAZING! (I'll have the recipes for both up here soon!)

I think part of my renewed faith in cooking has come from the impending holiday season. Last year I made huge baskets filled with homemade goodies for our family and friends and they were a HUGE hit! I was debating on doing similar ones this year, but was iffy considering the fact that our baby is due on December 23rd. I think I've finally decided to go ahead and do it. I figure it I spread it out over the next two months, that it shouldn't be that bad. People might end up with a Tupperware full of random, half finished candy! hahaha We will see.

I just thought I would pop in and say hello to everyone. I can't believe I still have 40 followers! I guess it's hard to remember to delete something that you have forgotten about (Lucky for me!)

I am going to go through my google reader tonight, and will probably be posting links to great posts that I hope you all will read. Plus, I'll post my latest two recipes!

FDA Plans to Limit Amount of Salt Allowed In Processed Foods

The Food and Drug Administration is planning an unprecedented effort to gradually reduce the salt consumed each day by Americans, saying that less sodium in everything from soup to nuts would prevent thousands of deaths from hypertension and heart disease. The initiative, to be launched this year, would eventually lead to the first legal limits on the amount of salt allowed in food products.

-Washington Post

All  I can say about this is, FINALLY! Our intake of sodium is through the roof. Click the title to read the rest of the article!

Interesting News!

These past few weeks have been crazy. I've felt like everything had been flipped on it's ear! Then this past Wednesday we found out why....

            

It came as a total shock to us. We weren't trying and definitely wasn't expecting it, but it happened! I believe the shock is finally wearing off, and I'm becoming more and more excited about it! I'm about 5 weeks now, and my first drs appointment is May 18th. Yay!

If this is anything like my first pregnancy, then I will spend most of it in the kitchen, experimenting with new recipes! I look forward to sharing the next several months with all of you. Be it the good, the bad, and/or the ugly!

House Hunting, Birthday Parties, and This Thing We Call Life

I think we need a good laugh...

Things are hectic... to say the very least. I have so much going on at the moment. Here is a briefing of my life at the moment...

1. Find a job. 
2. Plan my kiddo's birthday party.
3. Keep everyone fed (this is taking more and more effort on my part) 
4. Get some Dr.'s appointments lined up. 
5. Try and get everything together, so that I can preregister Kali for preschool. 
6. Spend time with all the people in my life at the moment (yet again, becoming increasingly hard)
7. Keep this blog up-to-date. 
8. Get another blog up and going for a friend
9. Oh and house hunt. 

I'm so freaking tired! It doesn't help that I've been in this funk lately, to where I just want to lay in bed all day! 

I have so many recipes I need to get posted on here. I promise to try and get them all typed up tonight, so that I can post them over the next couple of days!!

I hope everyone is having great weather! It's been beautiful here! 

Happy Birthday Bugga

This time 4 years ago, I was laying in a hospital bed, exhausted, after being in labor all night. I was lucky, I had a pretty smooth labor and delivery! 

All day on the 10th, I cooked and cleaned! I couldn't sit still. My mother kept telling me that I was going to go into labor that night. My response.... "GOOD!" I was 2 days past my due date, and ready to meet my girly! That night, after dinner, I noticed that I seemed to be leaking fluids. I waited a while and it continued, so around 10pm I called the Dr. 

Of course, my Dr. wasn't on call that night, but the one who was told me to wait an hour to see if I started having contractions. The slowest hour of my life finally passed and then I called the Dr. back. The conversation went something like this... 

Dr.: "Have the contractions started yet?"
me: "No, but I'm still leaking."
Dr.: "Well, you're probably not in labor."
me: "Don't you think I should go to L&D just to make sure. Last thing I want is a dry birth!"
Dr.: "Oh, well, you may be right then. Head that way. I'll tell them to expect you."

This conversation completely sums up why I'm not a Dr. person! They never seem to know what they're doing! 

So, off we went to the hospital. I got there about 11:30 and they hooked me up to all the monitors, got me in a gown, and put me in bed. We went over what was going on, and then the nurse came in with this tiny strip of paper wrapped around the tip of her finger. She explained to me that she was going to swab it around my you-know-what and if it turned blue, then my water had burst. 

I still laugh when I think about it, because it always reminded me of the strips restaurants use to check the sanitizer water! 

Needless to say, she swabbed and it turned dark green. "Well I don't think I've ever seen it turn that color!" These are not the words you want to hear when you are having your first kid. I was not there to be a first on anything! 

The nurse concluded that I was not in labor, that I was urinating on myself. 

Now... I know that as your pregnancy progresses, that sometimes, some people will have leaks like this! I am not saying anything bad about it, at all! 

I just wasn't one of these people. I hadn't had a problem with that at all during my pregnancy! I informed the nurse of this, with which she tried to placate me! "It's ok to admit that you have some leakage honey!" 

For 1: Don't honey me... you do not know me... at all! 

For 2: If I tell you I haven't had a leakage problem, then I HAVEN'T HAD A LEAKAGE PROBLEM! 

For 3: Never, EVER, argue with an aggravated, tired, pregnant woman!  

So she then called the Dr and filled him in. He told her to slap a pad on me, "just to make sure I actually had a leakage of some sort." Because I would totally make this up! Oh yes, laying in a hospital for hours, being accused of peeing on myself, is just loads of fun! 

Off the little nurse went to get me a pad. I put it on, kept it there for about an hour, and then called her back. She looked at it, and then said, "Oh, well that's not urine at all, is it?" At this point I just wanted to smack her in the forehead and say, "DUH LADY!" but i didn't. I kept my cool and just nodded. 

She called the Dr. back and he ordered an ultrasound to check my amniotic fluid levels. By this point I'm sleepy, hungry, and very, very cranky! So sometime between 1 and 2am, the U/S tech comes in. I get the fabulously, sticky, cold jelly on my belly, and away she goes to take a visual tour of my uterus. She looks at it for approximately 3 seconds, and exclaims, "You're definitely in labor! You're fluid is getting low." 

She calls the nurse back into the room, and shows her what I had know all along, and then explains to me that my girly's head is so low, that she blocking my cervix. Hence the reason my water was slowly leaking. 

YAY! I was actually in labor. The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful. The Dr came in and pushed my girly back up a little, so that she wouldn't have a cone head, and my water could proporly bust. Buddy, when he done that the contractions started! After a while I ended up getting an epidural, and at 7:24am my beautiful baby entered to world! 

Happy Birthday Kali bug! You have been the absolute best thing that could have ever happened to me! 

I LOVE YOU! 

Resolutions, Green Monsters, and Other Random Tidbits

Who here makes New Year's resolutions?  I, for one, do not! If I don't make them, then I can't break them. Great system, huh?

This year I made the mistake of making a resolution; Quite a few actually. Here is what I drunkenly promised myself when the clock struck twelve:

1. I would eat less meat. I'm a total omnivore. I enjoy meat, but I understand the impact that eating less of it can have on our environment. 
2. I would start eating better. This included eating more greens, buying more organic, cutting out the processed foods, ect...
3. I would make an effort to reduce my carbon footprint. 

As for #1... I fail. Throughout the end of 2009 I started instituting "Meatless Monday." I have somehow managed to stray from that. It just sometimes seems easier to make chicken, then it is to find a vegetarian recipe that everyone in my house can agree on. This is nothing more than pure laziness on my part. I plan on rectifying this. Starting next Monday I'm going to reinstate Meatless Monday's in our house! Anyone know of any bloggers that link up for that? If I can't find one and/or some of you are interested, I'll just start my own McLinky for it! 

(click it to see the full size version... it's funny!)

As for # 2... 

I have definitely been working more greens into our diets, as well as trying to make sure our meals are more well rounded! I've also stopped buying a lot of the processed foods that we normally ate. I've also started making Green Monsters. A lot of the blogs I read are constantly raving about them, so today I thought I would try them. They're not bad. I definitely need to tweak my fruits a little bit, just to get the taste right. Check out this post from The Clean Eating Momma to learn more about Green Monsters.

Last, but not least #3.... 

This one is something that I've always tried to do every day. We already recycle, and make sure that we don't keep random lights or appliances turned on, along with a so much more. My big this for this goal is to start buying locally more. I'm hoping to be able to get all of my produce and meats locally by the end of the summer. I'm going to do some more research on other ways to reduce your carbon footprint, and then do a big post about it soon. 

So there are my resolutions. I haven't been doing the best I could, but I am going to make a conscience effort to change that! 

What were some of your resolutions? Have you kept them? 

Tuesday Blog Hop *Favorite Photos*

 Here are a few of my favorite photos! Hope you enjoy!

 

This pic is of my daughter, Kali. She found a, as she calls them, "wok", and was so excited to show me.

My fiance, Wezul, and my daughter, Kali. This picture completely embodies their relationship! They are so incredibly goofy, especially when there is a camera present!

If the previous picture portrays my fiance and my daughter, then this one is perfect for him and his daughter. He is a naturally goofy person, and usually she just stands there giving him that "what are you doing" look!

This is one of my favorites of my fiance and myself. He was laying on my back and I just randomly snapped a picture!

Too cute

This is just too cute.... make you're own stick figure family :)

Make your Stick Figure Family at FreeFlashToys.com

Click here to make yours!