Week 32 Doctor Visit

It's hard to believe it's already 32 weeks.  But, I'm so glad!!  Come on 40 weeks!  :-)

I had a great visit with the doctor today.  It lasted about 30 seconds, but it was great hearing a really strong, loud heartbeat!  She measured my tummy and said that was normal.  I asked her if my size was normal and she said everything was great.  She said there are two vertical muscles that go down the middle of your stomach and a lot of times, when it's your first baby, those muscles are strong and stay together for a long time and keep the uterus tucked in and down (something like that).  So, those of you that are worried about my size, there is no need!  Everything is just great! 

She asked if I was feeling the baby move and oh yes, I am.  I felt bad saying that it was uncomfortable, but she said that again, because it was the first, everything is tight and it could be quite painful when he kicks or moves.  Oh, I was so relieved to hear that because it is painful, especially at night.  Last night he discovered my ribs!  So, again, I'm just a normal pregnant girl!  Whew!  :-)

I go again in two weeks, and then after week 36, I go every week!  Yippee!!!  We are so excited to have this baby!  I can't believe that we get to keep him in our home and he'll be ours!!!!!  I'm so happy too that my sister gets her own little bundle of baby to keep in her home too and be hers!!!!!!!  What a wonderful blessing!!!!!!

Love to you all!

Amy

$2.00!!!

I just love garage sales!!!!  Today I was doing my 30 minutes of walking and came across a garage sale that had some boy baby clothes!  And they only wanted  25 cents each!  So, I made my little pile, waddled home, and got some quarters!  I am so tickled with them!  The hat and khaki pants are my favorite!

Too cute baby clothes!

Friday Night Singing

I had a really enjoyable night last night!  We went to a singing at our congregation.  They have them every Friday night in different towns and it goes through the summer.  Since it was at ours, we decided to go!  We sang for two hours and it sounded so good!  I really enjoyed having a variety of song leaders.  Each mostly led two songs-some were old men, and some were teenagers.  It was great!  What a great way to spend our evening-praising God!  One of the songs that we sang was You Are the Words and the Music.  Well, that might not be the title, but I thought it was a very fitting song.  We also sang Salvation Has Been Brought Down, Lean On His Arm, I'll Fly Away, and tons more.  I think the organizer of this likes to keep track of stuff and he said we sang 46 songs.  There were 134 people there from about 14 congregations around the area!  It was wonderful!

Squash

Won't it be nice when these are baby pictures instead of garden pictures?!  I can't wait!

I have a few yellow squash plants that are producing.  This picture is from the other day, but yesterday I picked three.  We've also had a nice two person harvest of green beans.  I cooked some yesterday and they were really good.  Nice and bright green.  I planted some pumpkins and they are blooming, but I haven't seen any little pumpkins yet, and the cantaloupe...well, I'm not sure about them.  There seems to be quite a few blooms, but it's not producing.  Maybe it will soon!

Ready for cooking!

Future of America!

So happy I got to attend this friend's baby shower!  We had a great time!

Fish Mobile

The fish mobile is finished!  Making little fish takes a lot longer than I had imagined.  Jeff was kind enough to hang it on Saturday!  I think with the air conditioner on, it will move the fish just fine.  I like the little blue one with the big eyes...it looks like it might belong on the short bus!  :-) 

Thanks again to Stefanie for helping me get started on this!  She made the patterns and the yellow fish!

Hanging from the ceiling.

One fish, two fish, orange fish, blue fish!

A school of fish!

Extending the life...

of a dresser!  One of the things I love about my husband is that he's productive and likes to repair things.    On Saturday, he spent a good three hours putting new slides into a dresser that he has had since childhood.  With the baby coming, I inherited it since it was a larger dresser, and have passed my smaller dresser onto the baby.  Anyway, I am so pleased!  I no longer have to worry about the drawers falling from their precariously perched positions and smashing my toes!   And they just glide back into the dresser so smoothly! 

Here he is hard at work!

Installing the last new slide.

Thanks so much Jeff!  I'm still getting used to them working correctly!

Eating Out, In!

Last night I wanted to do something a little different for supper and make it a little special!  I decided we were going to have a Mexican Fiesta and we were going to have a variety to eat, just like they do at restaurants!  I decided we would have leftover enchilada casserole, tostadas with the fixings, homemade wheat tortillas, refried beans, and some lettuce on the side.  It was so much fun to make!!!!!  It was just like we were eating out, but we weren't!  :)  The tortilla recipe that I found is so good too if you'd like to try it!  Mixing the dough is really really easy, then you let it rest for an hour, then cook them.  The cooking took the longest just because I made twenty of them.

Homemade wheat tortillas!

All while I was cooking them, I was thinking about my first trip to Mexico that I made with a couple from church at Westside.  A wonderful Mexican family had us over and the wife made tortillas.  Oh, they were so delicious.  She let me try to roll one and it definitely didn't end up circular.  Everyone got a good laugh.  :)  I have to say that my rolling skills haven't improved at all!  I think the one on top must be the best one of the bunch!
Here is the tortilla recipe!

Whole Wheat Flour Tortilla Recipe
(makes 10 or 20 smaller tortillas)
1/2 cup white bread flour or all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/4 cups boiling water

In the food processor, pulse both flours and salt.  Add shortening and pulse until blended.  Slowly add boiling water through tube until a wet dough forms.  (It makes a funny noise!)  It should be a bit sticky.  Form 10 or 20 balls of dough and rest on a cookie sheet under slightly damp towel or plastic wrap for at least an hour or up to 8 hours.

To cook tortillas, heat large frying pan on high heat.  (I used our pancake griddle.)  Roll out tortilla on floured surface until you reach your desired thickness.  Place tortilla on griddle and cook until you see a bubble form.  Flip tortilla and cook for about 30 seconds longer.  Roll out the next tortilla while the first one is cooking.  Eat immediately, refrigerate, or freeze.  (I just put them between a towel on a plate and they were still steaming hot by the end of the meal.)

Give it a try!  It's so neat!

Peach Muffins

Applesauce is a GREAT substitute for butter or oil when you are baking!  You will cut down tremendously on the calories and fat.  This morning I made wonderful peach muffins that my sister gave me the recipe for and substituted applesauce for the melted butter or oil that it called for and couldn't tell the difference at all!  I just buy the natural applesauce, no sugar added.  It's really great!

YUMMY!

Peach Muffins
1 can peaches diced, save juice
2 3/4 c. flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
3/4 c sugar
2 eggs
3/4 c buttermilk (I didn't have this either, so I used regular milk with about 3/4 t vinegar.  Worked fine!)
6 T oil, or 1/3 c butter (substitute applesauce if you want)
3 T peach juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Drain the peaches (saving a little juice) and dice into small pieces.
Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a bowl.Lightly beat eggs in another bowl and add buttermilk, oil (or applesauce), and peach juice.  Mix well.
Add this egg mixture and peaches to the dry ingredients.  Stir just until combined.
Spray paper muffin cups with non-stick spray (helps them come out really really easy) and bake for 25 minutes.  Makes 12-13 large muffins.

Enjoy!!

Hummingbird time!

I think this weekend I'll get out our hummingbird feeders.  I've heard some people have theirs out and we are missing out on the show!  It's always a sight because there is usually a "boss bird" that chases away the other birds.  We tried to help the others by getting another feeder and it worked for the most part.  The funny thing was Jeff switched the empty feeder with the full feeder the boss bird was guarding and he continued to stand guard at his post only he didn't know he was protecting an empty feeder! 

I'm looking forward to watching them again!

Pictures from last year that Jeff took:

2011 hummingbird

Last years boss bird standing guard

Babymoon? Possibly!

Last weekend we were able to go to Midland for a visit to see some of our family and church family.  It was a wonderful time!  I always feel like I am rushing around to try and visit everyone that I'd like to in a short time, but this time we were able to stay a day longer.  It was great!  I got to attend both worship services, a wonderful baby shower, and eat lunch with many great people!  We stayed with Harold (Jeff's granddad) and Louise, and had a great time visiting with them and playing the family game, Wahoo!  And Louise was so kind to fix us a huge breakfast on Monday morning!  We had eggs, bacon, and biscuits and it was so delicious.  :)

Playing Wahoo.  Louise and I won all three games, by the way!  :-)

Playing Wahoo after eating ice cream!

 I love having adventures with Jeff.  He is such a positive person and so much fun to be around.  On the way home, we got to stop and eat with my parents!  That was so great too!  And after that we hit a large rain storm, which washed off most of the Midland dirt that was attached to our car!  :)

Mom and Dad

Doctor's visit

I went to the doctor yesterday and got a good report!  I heard a beautiful, strong heartbeat got my tummy measured.  Everything checked out just fine!

I also had a chance to visit with my doctor a little about the birth, and it was very reassuring to me.  I had been worried as to how things were going to go, but she took the time to talk to me and it was so nice.  I would really like to have a positive birthing experience and a healthy baby as a result!

Along the baby line, Jeff and I are going to start attending prenatal classes once a week for four weeks starting in May.  They are supposed to prepare us for what to expect when we do have our baby boy!

Anyone have a baby name suggestion?  We have been asked so many times what his name is and we just don't know yet!  We do have a list, but it's so hard to choose!  :-)

Love to you all!

Amy

Livin' high on the hog tonight!

Boy, we're living high on the hog tonight!  We'd been gone this weekend so I knew we'd have some green beans to pick, but I didn't know it would be this many!  I can't wait to eat them.  There's nothing like greenbeans with the brightest color green you've ever seen sitting on your plate.  :-)  Well, I'm sure some things are better, but I really like how green fresh vegetables are!

I am also happy to report that we have about three, four, or five little yellow squash growing!  They are just the cutest things!  Jeff sprinkled some fertilizer around before we left for the weekend and with the rain we've had, things are just poppin' up!  It's pretty thrilling!

Garden fresh!

30 weeks!

Wow!  Only 10 more to go!  I am so excited.  Our baby's kicks, etc are getting stronger and I can feel his little body pushing out.  I massage my stomach a little at the hard places I feel until he moves himself around again.  It's so cool.  I am hoping the last ten weeks just fly by!  And I hope he comes just a few days before his due date...well, I want him to come really whenever he will be healthy and strong. 

30 weeks

Tree chopping weekend!

This weekend was very productive for Jeff and our family!  Last week his parents had a big storm go through and it half way uprooted a hackberry tree.  The trees look much bigger on the ground than they do in the ground!  Anyway, Jeff and I went to help (well, I just watched) cut up and haul off the tree.  Jeff and his dad, John, worked so hard all day long.  Here are some pictures.  It really was a beautiful day for it too. 

Son and Father-soon to be Daddy and Granddad!

John hauling off branches with his tractor!

A nice pose, I'd say!

Wouldn't you know, someone wouldn't let me climb up there!

Sawing of the limbs

Digging up and chopping the rest of the roots.

They worked sooooo hard on Saturday!  But I guess they didn't get enough of it out of their systems, because Sunday after church, they went out and trimmed more tree limbs!  :-)

Knock-out Roses

My roses have finally started blooming again! 

Garden Progress

Here is how our little garden spots look!

Corn

Started watering this yellow snapdragon and what do you know, it started blooming!

Lettuce patch

Green beans and such.

Chili Petin

Orange Crossandra-it's coming back!!!

Critters!

Much progress has been made on our little boy's room, but there is still stuff to do!  I was so lucky to have my friend Stefanie help me on the crib skirt and sheet, and the changing pad cover!  Thank you Stefanie so much!  I would post a picture here, but I didn't get one of us together!  We should definitely have documented how spread out we were in the living room.  :)  A table, two sewing machines, cutting mat, ironing board...and fabric everywhere! 

Today I finished the curtains!  And I am working on a fish mobile that will go over his crib.  I have some pictures done, but I haven't hung them yet.  One I'm really excited about, but need to find pictures.  I want to put both sets of grandparents in it, his uncle, and his other aunt and uncle, and us.  That way he knows his family loves him!  I'll post more pictures when more is done, but I wanted to at least post these. 

Curtains are up!

Rocking chair from a lady that used to live in Tioga, ND.  My big plans are to try and add cushions. 

Genesis 1:1

I would like to paint the dresser drawers...maybe.

Guest bed and nursery!

 There is still more to do, but I think the major stuff is done!

Victorious!

Jesus is victorious over death!  In our daily bible reading recently, I read Luke 24 and I have to say I think it might be one of my new favorites!  I don't know how many times I've read it before, but this time, I just loved reading it.  It was so hard to read about the crucifixion and Jesus being made fun of and tortured and then to read about him rising again was so hopeful!  All of the disciples were so joyous and it was so neat how he appeared to the two men on the road.  Everyone around Jerusalem must have been talking about the crucifixion and then about the tomb being empty.  The two men walking to Emmaus were talking about it.  And when Jesus appeared to them, they weren't able to recognize him until he broke bread with them and blessed it.  Then their eyes were opened! 

Those two men walked the 7 miles back to Jerusalem because they were so excited that they had to tell the others and then to have Jesus appear to them and the others again must have just been so awesome!  This is also just a side note, but I loved how Jesus asked for food and they gave him broiled fish!  He was still in the body this time and he needed to get some nourishment. 

I bet they were all hanging on to His every word, just as we should be.   And to see him be carried up into heaven!  How fulfilling!  I am so happy that he is in heaven waiting for us! 

I found Luke 24 to be so encouraging because Jesus conquered death.  People may have hurt him, mocked him, tormented him, but he overcame that.  Praise the Lord!  We, too, can be victorious if we are in Christ! 

Mushroom and Spinach White Pizza

Tonight I tried making a mushroom and spinach white pizza.  I tried a new pizza dough recipe with whole wheat in the breadmaker, and instead of a regular tomato sauce, I made a white sauce that I found online. It was a success!

Mushroom and Spinach Pizza

Follow the links below for the recipes!
Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
White Pizza Sauce
Mushroom and Spinach Pizza

I did make a few changes in these recipes to use what I had, but it still turned out well, so you can just play with it a little depending on what you have in the pantry.  I really recommend it for something different!

Rose Garden

When my friend Stefanie and her little girl were visiting us, we went to the park one day and had a picnic while the little girl played.  It was a beautiful day, although it was pretty hot and humid.  I've never been to the rose garden that they have at this park and thought it would be a great time to look at it because they were all in bloom.  It was really really neat.  I was surprised though, they didn't have many of the roses labeled with what kind they were! 

Stefanie wanted some belly pictures, so here's some she took along with a picture of a really pretty yellow rose that I took.

Pretty roses.

I liked the yellow.  They were really bright!

It smelled good too!

28 weeks

Only 12 weeks to go!  I just can't believe it.  Three months is not very long!  Fortunately, my friend Stefanie got to come and stay a few days last week and we were able to get some things for our baby boy done!  I will have to do a post later this week about it.  Then, Jeff and I rearranged two rooms yesterday to accommodate our new addition!  We have put the guest bed and the baby's crib in the same room.  That means that whomever comes to visit will have to do late night feedings!  Just kidding, just kidding.  I am really happy with the results and think it's going to work great!  Thanks Jeff for doing almost all of it!  You are really the best!  :-)

28 weeks!