5 Weeks Pregnant 8.26.11

*The content of this post is from Friday, August 26, 2011.

Today the baby is 5 weeks old!  (Well, not technically, but by doctor's dates....you know what I mean.)  Yay!  We are currently staying with my mom and dad.  Adam painted our countertops, and I cannot be around the fumes.  The fumes are AWFUL.  So we are here for a few days until we can head back home.  We enjoy being here. It's nice to spend some time with my parents. 

Speaking of parents, we are our get together on Sunday and broke the news.  We grilled out and had hot dogs and all of the fixins.  As we sat down to eat, Adam blessed the food.  At the end of the prayer, he said something like this, ".....and Lord, thank you for this new addition to our family, and please be with him/her and keep him/her healthy and just bless our family.  Amen."  As we looked up from the prayer, I scanned the table for reactions.  My eyes went to Adam first.  I'm not sure why.  But as I started to look away, I heard my mom say, "What?  Are you serious?"  Not in a bad tone, but a happy, 'I knew it' kind of tone.  I knew she knew!  She said she figured.  Nothing gets past my mom.  My dad had the quietest reaction of all.  He was processing I guess.  He obviously doesn't have the mommy intuition powers of my mom.  Adam's parents were surprised and excited, I though.  Until Adam's mom said, "It crossed my mind."  Man.  We can't surprise anyone....except silent Dad.  Haha.  He's excited though I'm sure.  Just surprised.  So the rest of the dinner involved us talking about names, nursery, the future, and just dreaming.  It was fun.  We also played Uno.  I played up the "have mercy on me, I'm pregnant" view.  It didn't work.  Oh well.  Being pregnant has got to count for something.  Oh yeah, I didn't have to paint the countertops. :)

Symptoms this week have been on and off.  Cramps here and there, odd tummy twinges, gags every once and a while (no throwing up), and fatigue.  I get tired after standing a while, and by 8 or 9, I'm ready for bed.  I'm awake now because I have reached my second wind.  Not good because the second wind can blow all night.  I have other symptoms as well, but it's not really appropriate to talk about.  You can google it.  They're typical symptoms.  My biggest problem of the week is this mouthful of vitamins.

They aren't huge, but still make me gag.

The vitamins are 1 Target brand prenatal (doctor approved), 2 MegaRed Krill oil caplsules (doctor approved, for DHA), and 1 Prometrium capsule.  The Prometrium is because my doctor would like for my progesterone level to be higher. 

Target Brand prenatal and MegaRed Krill oil (for DHA).  Prometrium not pictured.

I know I could get the prenatal all in one with the DHA and everything, but honestly these are the smallest individual vitamins I could find.  I hate taking this many, but I think it may be easier to do that than to choke down 1 huge pill.  If you know of some smaller prenatal, do tell!  I like Target's brand though.  Only $4.99 for a bottle!  The krill oil is a lot more expensive, but it is the smallest fish/krill capsules on the market as far as I know.


 And now for the nugget's weekly photo!

Baby at 5 weeks!  He/She is looking like a tadpole, and measuring to be the size of a sesamee seed.  All of the layers are forming to what will be the skin, the neural tube, and the cardiovascular system.  Such an important time!


Yay!  So exciting.  I really can't wait until 6 weeks.  I know it's still early at 6 weeks, but it seems A LOT less early than 4 and 5 weeks.  At this point we have only told our parents, my Aunt Becky and Uncle David, Sarah and Anna (cousins), and our family pastor at church.  Oh, well Adam has told everyone at work.  He has no patience.  He doesn't understand why we can't just tell everyone.  I guess we could.  It just seems like everyone waits a while.  I guess I'm afraid if we tell people now, they will see me as "less pregnant."  That's silly because you either are or you aren't.  But I guess in my mind there are degrees of more and less.  Anyway, my husband is ready for bed, so off we go.  Thanks for reading!

4 Weeks Pregnant 8.19.11

*This post was written Friday, August 19, 2011.


I found out 2 days ago that I was pregnant.  It seems sooooo much longer than that.  We still have not told anyone because we want to tell our parents first and tell them in person.  So we have planned for a get together on Sunday.  We figured my mom suspects, so we have told her that we are going to Six Flags next week and have asked her if she will watch Heidi.  Maybe that will get her off our trail!  Haha, but probably not.  I have learned that mothers know everything.  I wonder if I will know everything.  I took another test this morning just to make sure things were still happening since I happened to have a test left.  They definitely are.



Pregnant test taken 8.19.11  2nd line is so much darker!


I have a doctor's appt today. I will have my HCG levels checked to confirm everything and so we can make sure the levels continue to increase.  The joys of bloodwork.  But I have to be a big girl now. I took a picture so I can have a starting point for watching the baby bump!


 I am excited to get bigger as strange as that is.  It will be fun.  I really can't wait to feel the baby move.  Ahhh!  That will be so weird, but so beautiful.  Since we've seen mommy's first pic, here is the nugget's! (Nugget is affectionately name by Sarah).



I'm sorry about the naked butt, but this picture had the most information.  Picture compliments of Babycenter.com

    I will be posting updates each week on baby and me!  Thank you for following!

Delicious Red Dill Potatoes!

So all day today I have had a really bad pickle craving.  That is so cliche I know, but it's true.  So instead of eating a jar of pickles (which I might have done if we had any), I decided to make red dill potatoes.  I saw this recipe on youtube and decided to give it a try.

Before you begin, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  First, I scrubbed and rinsed my potatoes.  Mine came in a large bag from Ingles. I just fixed 6 tonight. 

Next, I began slicing the potatoes into wedges.  If you aren't sure how to do this, it's really simple.  First take a potato and cut it in half.

Next, turn the halves upside down.  You always want to do this because it keeps the potatoes from slipping around while you are trying to cut them.  Take those halves and cut them in half.

Now you can cut those halves into slices like so.  No need to cut at an angle, just slice straight down.

They will turn out to be little wedgies.....or wedges....whichever. :)

After they were all sliced, I put them into a pan.  I probably didn't have to, but I used 2 metal pans for 6 potatoes.  I just wanted to make sure I could get them all in one layer on the pan. 

Next, I drizzled them with olive oil.  Olive oil is always better when it comes out of one of these fancy olive oil pourer things.  It makes me feel like a fancy chef. 

After drizzling a good amount of olive oil, I heavily seasonsed the potatoes with dill, salt, and pepper.

Then I tossed them around to spread the olive oil and seasonings evenly.

I hope you don't think I take so many pictures to insult your intelligence.  I'm just a pictures girl.  I have to know what it looks like at each step.  Otherwise, I assume I have done it wrong.  Next, I put them in the oven (400 degrees) for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, I took them out, flipped them (I didn't flip each one, just kinda tossed them around) and put them back in the oven for 10 minutes.  When they came out, the were crisp around the edges and had a darker more golden appearance. 

These were SO DELICIOUS!  I really hope you'll try them.  They were so easy to make and would go with just about any meal.  Seafood, chicken, hamburgers, veggie night, eggs....pretty much anything I can think of.  My husband really liked them too.  He ate his with ketchup, and I ate mine plain.  Hope you enjoy!  Thanks for reading!

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

*This post is from 8/17/11.  This is the day we found out.*

"Oh my gosh!" Those are the words I was repeating over and over again out loud as I saw this.



Pregnant test taken Wednesday 8/17/11

I thought I was.  I knew I was.  I felt different, and I just knew it.  The week before I found out, I just felt....different.  But the day before I got this result, I started having cramps.  Normal, ya know, the "I'm gonna stay in my pjs all day and eat chocolate tomorrow" kind of cramps.  But the next morning, nothing.  So I jumped up and ran to CVS.  Ok, I drove, same thing.  I looked around the store to see if I saw anyone I knew, and as soon as I verified the coast was clear, I headed to the family planning section.  I grabbed the Early Response Test that had the 3rd test for free and headed to the check out.  I saw some gummy worms on the way and decided they wanted me to eat them.  So I snatched them up too.  As I finished at the checkout, the lady told me, "Good luck."  I'm not sure what she meant by that.  So I headed home, ripped open the package, and got down to business.  I was so surprised at how quickly the line came up.  I realize it is faint, but it is oh-so-there.  There is no tilting this sucker in the light.  You can see it plain as day!  I couldn't believe it.  I really couldn't.  The day before I was convinced the way of the women was upon me.  I even prepared myself with gummy worms at the store. 

I wasn't sure what to do next.  Call Adam?  No.  He always told me he didn't want me to tell him through a text or phone call.  He wanted it to be in person.  I sat down on the couch.  I was immediately overwhelmed.  I burst into tears and began praising God.  I thanked Him for our miracle and how unworthy I was to have the gift of life inside of me.  I praised Him for His love and mercy He had shown me in blessing me with the gift of fertility.  I prayed and begged Him that He would sustain the life inside of me and allow the little baby to be healthy.  It was a beautiful and humbling moment.

After I was able to calm down, I realized I needed to come up with a creative way to tell Adam.  So I do what I always do.  I got on the internet to find some inspiration.  I immediately came across a message board where a girl wrote a poem for her husband.  I used to love writing poetry in high school, so that is what I did.  I wrote Adam a poem. 


Poem written for Adam.  At the bottom it says "Love, Baby Hare."



I then wrapped it up in some cute packaging.  I already had a cute little cloth diaper I had ordered when I saw a deal on the internet that was too good to pass up.  I put the pregnancy test in the diaper and clipped the poem to the outside of the diaper.  Then I wrapped it up and put it in a bag.



Pregnancy test, cloth diaper, and poem all ready to be wrapped up!




This is what I wrote the poem on. It is half of a piece of stationary.



Adam's present!

I gave the present to Adam when he got home for his lunch break.  He had the biggest smile.  He was very surprised as well since the day before I had been feeling like I was about to begin the monthly funk.  I thought about catching his response on camera, but figured it would give it away if he walked in the door and I had my camera all set up.  But that image is in my mind.  He was very happy.  We had a fun little lunch date at Sonic and talked about baby names and how we couldn't believe what was happening.  We prayed over our lunch and thanked God for such an amazing and wonderful blessing.  I am so excited about this new chapter in our life! We are so blessed. Thank you Lord!

Fall/Winter Recipe: Homemade Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Today was a very rainy day around here.  Rainy days always give me a soup craving.  (And a blanket, warm socks, and nap craving.)  I thought about picking up some soup from Panera Bread, but meals there are so expensive, so I decided to make my own broccoli cheddar soup.  Here are the ingredients you will need!  Brands of course are up to you.  This recipe serves 8.

1 stick (1/2 cup) of melted butter
1/2 cup of flour
4 cups of half and half cream (I used fat free; use what you like)
4 cups of chicken stock
3 heads of broccoli
1 large carrot
16 ounces of grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

First thing you need to do is turn the stove top on low.  Put in your stick of butter.

Once the butter has melted, stir in the flour.  After you have stirred the butter and flour together for a couple minutes, add the half and half.

Continue stirring and add in the chicken stock.

Looks the same as before, doesn't it?  You have now made the base of the soup.  Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes.

While the base is simmering, go ahead and chop up your veggies.  I actually only ended up using 1 carrot.

I just peeled the carrots, and once I had them peeled, I used my hands and broke them into small bits and put them into the soup.  I was tired of chopping at that point. :)  After your base has simmered for 20 minutes, go ahead and add in the veggies.

Let the veggies cook into the base on low for 20 minutes.

Next, you are ready to add in the cheese!  Yum! 

                                                        Stir, and then add in the nutmeg.



Finally, stir it all up.  Add salt and pepper to taste. I found that mine needed a little bit of salt.  I didn't add pepper.  I'm not a pepper person.  Adam added some to his bowl though.

 I served my soup with a french baguette. 

Since it was only 2 of us for supper tonight, I only used half the baguette.  I cut that half in half and drizzled the halves with olive oil and sprinkled a little bit of salt for some flavor.

I popped it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Then it was time to eat!  The bread is so delicious in the soup.  It was the perfect rainy day supper.  Enjoy!



Fall Recipe: Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

I have seen a lot of delicious recipes on Pinterest lately.  I decided to try this one since I had all of the ingredients on hand.  This recipe can be done with or without chocolate chips, but being a chocoholic myself, they simply could not be left out.

This recipe only uses 3 ingredients: 1 can of pumpkin (I used a 15 oz. can), 1 box of cake or quick bread mix (I used Aldi's cinammon swirl quick bread.  If you were using cake mix you could use yellow cake mix or spice cake mix.  Spice would be really good!), and 1 bag of chocolate chips (you have to like chocolate A LOT to use the whole bag, I only used 3/4 of the bag and it was plenty of chocolate). 

Aldi's quick bread mix comes with 3 different packets: the bread mix, cinnamon topping, and icing. I mixed the bread and cinnamon mix together and saved the icing for another time.  After mixing the two packets together in the mixer, I added the pumpkin.  After it was all incorporated, I added the chocolate chips.

After greasing a muffin pan, I scooped the mix into the pan.  I filled each up at least 3/4 of the way up.  I like my muffins BIG. :)

Then I baked them at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

I ate my muffin warm with a glass of cold milk.  If you added chocolate to this recipe, trust me, you NEED a glass of milk.  The recipe actually made 15 regular sized muffins (I baked 3 more muffins after this batch).  Enjoy!

Fall Recipes: Boiled Peanuts

Everyone loves some hot, boiled peanuts, or at least my husband and I do.  It might be a southern thing, but it should be an everybody thing!  They are delicious.  I decided to try my hand at them one football-filled Saturday.  My side of the family and I are Auburn fans, my husband is a Tennessee fan, and my husband's side of the family are Alabama fans.  It's a wonder we all get along so well. :)  My husband and I have a truce though.  When Auburn is playing, we cheer for Auburn.  When Tennessee is playing, we cheer for Tennessee.  When they play each other, we try to keep the peace. :)  And if I make boiled peanuts....then everybody's happy!

We picked up a 5 lb. bag of peanuts last time we were at the grocery store.  My husband actually thought they were roasted and was disappointed to when he got home to find that they weren't.  No worries though; it just means I get to boil them!

I didn't actually use the whole 5 lb. bag.  Probably more like 2 or 3 lbs. at the most.  I set 2 pots out on the stove because I wanted to make 1 batch of regular salted and 1 batch of cajun. 

First, I made sure to rinse the peanuts really well using a strainer.

Then I filled both pots.  I made sure not to fill the pots all the way, because I needed to add enough water to be able to cover the peanuts.

This is how much I put in each pot.

Next, I filled each pot with water, and I set the stovetop to boil.

After the water began boiling, I added salt to each batch.  For the regular salted peanuts, I added about 1/2 a cup.  I ended up adding a little bit more later, but it probably totaled about 3/4 of a cup.

For the cajun peanuts, I only added 1/4 cup of salt. (Not pictured.)

I also added a 1/4 cup of cajun seasoning to my cajun batch.

This is actually a grill rub from Aldi, but it worked great as a seasoning.



About 1/4 cup of cajun seasoning.



Then, I covered the peanuts (not pictured) and let the boil for about 3 hours.  This is the max time you want to boil them if you are using the stovetop.  Too much longer, and you will just have mush.  I tested the peanuts at 1 hour, 2 hours, and 3 hours, and I found that 3 hours made the peanuts just soft enough.  They were still too raw before the 3 hour mark.  If you were going to cook the peanuts in a crockpot, it would be best to let them cook at least 5 hours, or better yet, overnight.  Since I didn't begin my batch til 11:00 a.m., stovetop it was.

After 3 hours, I turned off the heat.  You can tell that the peanuts are done if they sink after the heat is turned off.

Finally, using a strainer, just drain the water out of the pot.  Peanuts are ready!  Unfortunately, I don't have a proper final result photo since my husband and I had to dig in at this point, so here is one I borrowed!

Delicious!  They're a great snack for a football weekend!  What is your favorite snack to munch on during the game?