Fun at the Park

(with the bright sun.)

Whole Wheat Muffins

Well, folks - I have ventured into the world of whole wheat flour!!
Since I've been making all of our breads homemade, I thought I'd go a step further in making them even healthier by substituting some whole wheat flour in my recipes. I made these muffins tonight, which is a recipe I adapted from one I found online and they were pretty good!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup apple sauce
• 1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottom of 12 muffin tins.

Mix the first 6 ingredients in large bowl. In separate bowl, mix the milk, apple sauce and egg. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry all at once, and mix just until all the dry ingredients are wet. Don't overmix!

Bake for 17-20 minutes or until golden brown.

They're best served warm! I'm thinking they'd be delish with a streusel topping but I haven't tried that yet. I need a pastry blender first. Cutting butter with two knives is just too tedious for me.

In case you're counting, they're 119 calories per muffin.

This is What Happens When...

...you ask Hunter to check on his sister who just woke up from a nap while I get dinner in the oven. 

Kylee's Birthday Party

Kylee's birthday party was great! The theme I chose was polka dots, and it was such a fun theme to do!

For the invites, I just printed the info on card stock, and cut it to a square.Then I took polka-dotted scrap booking paper and glued it to the front. The "envelopes" were multi-colored CD jackets I picked up for super-cheap on eBay. Here is what the outside looked like:

 

 Here's the inside. I downloaded that polka-dotted font for free off the internet:

  

I made a polka-dotted birthday banner using scrapbook paper again:

 

 I also made little candy pouches with the scrapbook paper. I cut them into circles and glued them together using Elmer's glue, just leaving a slot open to slide the candy in. I let it dry for 24 hours before stuffing them with candy.

 

For decorations, we hung balloons and paper wheels from the ceiling. 

 

 The birthday girl LOVED the decorations. She kept looking up to the ceiling and talking about them!

 The polka-dotted cake was the most fun to do! My mom and I did fondant again, and it was so much easier than when we did it for Lightening McQueen. Some things we learned...using a KitchenAid Stand Mixer for the kneading is a life saver! Also, a full 24 hours of refrigeration makes it much easier to work with. Here is the finished product.

Kylee's cake just had buttercream frosting on it, and then I placed nonpareils all over it.

 We taped plates to curling ribbon and hung them on the wall for more decoration behind the cake table.

 Since it was a polka-dotted party, all the food was round. We had meatballs, a cheese ball with Ritz crackers, polka-dotted popcorn using this recipe, green and red grapes, cheese balls, and m&m's.

 

Here's a close up of the popcorn. It was SOOO good!

And here's the birthday girl! I don't have very many pictures of her though. She wasn't too cooperative for the camera.

 My mom and both of Greg's parents were able to come into town for the party, and we had lots of friends come too! I chuckled when I walked past the front door:

 As far as her cake goes, she was so exhausted at this point that she didn't eat much of it. She was actually falling asleep in the high chair!

 She did great though, and got lots of wonderful gifts. Thank you everyone who came to share this special day with our sweet baby girl!

33 Weeks

Not too much to report this week. I've had a couple people tell me I look bigger though. I'm not sure how I feel about this. They said it's just in my belly so I'm taking refuge in the fact that he's measuring normal size. 

Hunter has gotten to feel baby boy move and kick a few times this week, which really has been the first time he's felt anything. He gets a huge smile on his face when he feels it. I love it!

I think that's it for now!

Snuggling with My Babies

All three of them, haha. 

Wedding Vow Renewal

This whole month at church has been dedicated to the family. It started with the couple's retreat the first weekend in February and then we had revival which was geared towards the family as well. To end the revival, our church offered the opportunity this past Sunday night to renew wedding vows for anyone that wanted to. I'm so glad that we participated in it. After almost 6.5 years of marriage, I have such a better understanding of what those vows really mean. I loved having the opportunity to tell them to Gregory again to show him that I still mean them with my whole heart and am committed 100% to him for better or for worse. 

The picture was taken after the service. Isn't my man so handsome?! I'm so in love with him. 

32 Weeks and Ultrasound

I canNOT believe I'm 32 weeks already. I'm going to have a newborn here before we know it!

He is definitely growing, and he hurts me quite often. Kylee was never this rough, and I don't remember with Hunter since it was 5 years ago. All I know is he is a strong little boy and likes to be comfortable. He tried kicking my hip bone out of his way the other day...OUCH!

We had our ultrasound on Monday to follow-up from the last one for them to take a closer look at his ventricles in his brain. According to that doctor, he said everything looks perfect. He saw nothing to be concerned about - THANK YOU LORD! The ultrasound was actually done by a student, but there was the doctor and a very experienced tech watching from the other room. Because she was new, it took her quite a while to get some of the pictures she wanted, but I didn't mind looking at my boy for an hour. After she was finished, the doctor and seasoned tech came in and she got some more pictures. Greg was born with a cleft palate (but no cleft lip) so since they were already looking at so many details, they took a look to see if they could rule out a cleft palate. They looked at baby boy's profile, and then used a feature on the machine to watch the flow of the amniotic fluid. We saw streams going in and out of his nose as he would breathe it in and out, and then sometimes he would take it in his mouth and swallow it. With cleft palates, the two streams will swirl together after they go into his mouth, but they were independent from each other, so they said as best as they can tell, he doesn't have it. I wasn't concerned about it at all, since Hunter and Kylee never had one either but technology amazes me sometimes with what they can do and see! I loved how detailed they were though, because they made sure to see both precious hands, and both sweet little feet, and so many other body parts momma can't wait to kiss! Here's the pictures we got from it...

Here's his profile with his fist by his face:

And here is his sweet little lips and nose as if you're looking from below his chin:

 

His estimated weight at the ultrasound was 4 lbs 1 oz. If he gains the average .5 lb per week that they normally do in the last 10 weeks of pregnancy, he should be right around his sister's size. I hope he's more like Kylee and not Hunter!

Here's this week's belly pic:

 

Thank you to everyone that prayed for us and our baby concerning our ultrasound. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. We love you!!!

A Girl...

...and the love she has for her snuggle bear. 

31 Weeks

Ok, so even if no one other than my mom reads these, I'm glad I do these updates. I love being able to look back at Kylee's pregnancy and compare. Just like I am now, I was exhausted with her at this point. That makes me feel a little better. Nesting with her set in just a couple weeks from now so hopefully that happens soon! I had her room almost completely finished by 33 weeks. I'm not even close to that! I know I can't set up a room before he comes because we're not going to put the older two in the same room before we have to, but I've barely started a thing. Reading what I'd accomplished with her motivated me to try and start organizing closets though. I got some good progress done in her room yesterday and we bought a drawer organizer to help get Hunter's toys better organized. And I've officially started a "Items Needed for Baby Boy" list in my phone. 

In other news, WE HAVE A NAME!! My baby boy is no longer nameless! It feels good to be able to say that! Just last week before we were even close to having a name, we were talking about him and I almost called him by this name, like we'd already decided on it. It was the weirdest thing. Since then, I was pretty sold on it and Greg decided he was too. And it feels right for him. I'm very happy with our decision. :) Just a reminder, we're keeping it a secret until he's in our arms. I've had 2 friends just yesterday give me a hard time about it but you're not getting it out of me!! ;)

Pregnancy Comparison #3

Well here we are at Pregnancy Comparison #3! I know you're excited. Don't try and hide it.

Hands down, I was biggest with Hunter, and I think baby boy fits right in between. I was definitely smallest with Kylee...which is odd because I still weigh less now that I did at this point with either of the other two...but I've thought for a while that baby boy's birth size would be between his two siblings, and according to these pictures, it looks like I may be right.

What do y'all think???

Big Girl!

Trying to feed herself Mac and cheese!

30 Weeks and Ultrasound

WOW, I'm 75% done already! That's CRAZY!

Sleep has been better lately thanks to my HypnoBirthing book! As I said in my last post, I've been able to use the relaxation techniques in the book to make my RLS go away and get to sleep without taking medication to help me. I'm very excited about that!

Here's this week's pic:

I had a little girl at church last night come up to me and say, "You're having two babies. I can tell."

I didn't think I looked that big! ;) Children...they certainly don't hold anything back, do they?

Look at my new boots! Aren't they adorable?! (Thanks mom!) I didn't care that it was 60 degrees when I went to church...I wore them anyway! :)

I had an ultrasound this morning. If you remember, there was a slightly abnormal number during my anatomy ultrasound with something having to do with his kidneys and so my follow-up ultrasound was today. His kidneys look fine. However, the tech noted some prominence in his third and forth ventricles in his brain. No enlargement, just prominence. I'm not totally sure what this means, and the doctor told me not to worry. But he'd rather be safe than sorry and is referring me to East Carolina University to have a Stage 2 ultrasound done so a specialist can look at it. As far as what it means if there is an issue...he said it could mean 100 different things. So I really don't know. I just know that I'll schedule this next ultrasound at my appointment tomorrow and we'll go from there. My mind has 100 different thoughts running through me head about it all. The doctor told me it's probably nothing to worry about, yet I wonder how much they say just to ease our mind and make us feel better. What what I DO know is that God's got it all under control. And I'm resting in that. Prayers for our baby boy are very much appreciated though.

Here's a couple pics of our (approximate) 3lb 5oz sweet baby boy. :)

Car Seat Graduation

Our kids are so big! Hunter meets the "4 years and 40lbs" criteria for the booster car seat, so we switched him to that and Kylee got his old car seat. She's still rear facing because she's not quite 20 lbs but the picture shows she loves the switch nonetheless! She was talking up a storm and laughing when we strapped her in. And Hunter loves his too. I think his favorite feature are the built-in cup holders. Too bad we don't eat in the car...

January Goals Recap and February Goals

January Goals Recap
*Study 5 days a week in 1 Corinthians. Once again, fail. But I did finish the book of 1 Corinthians.
*Make a weekly to-do list, and complete it! I found this printable yesterday, so I'm going to print a few out and give them a try this month. This was a success! I like this printable. I think I'll keep using it as long as it keeps working! I LOVE crossing things off a list, so it definitely helped me.
*Do at least one load of laundry 5 days out of the week. Success, but I actually upped this to 2 loads/day sometime last month. Even if I keep up with 1 load, I start to fall behind by the end of the week.
*Memorize at least 2 more verses, and still remember the last 6. Success! The new verses under my belt are Romans 10:13 and Romans 6:23. And because my mom is so totally awesome, she gifted me the "Fighter Verses" app for my phone. I added all my verses on there and can periodically quiz myself of my old verses, and it has pre-made quizzes for any new verses to help me learn them. I love it!
*Continue making all our breads. Success! I made a couple new recipes this month.
One of those were pita pockets using this recipe. They were good! And WAY cheaper than the package of 4 for $3.50 at the grocery store!

 Check out that pocket!

 They made some yummy chicken pitas for dinner one night!

 I also made Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Bread.

This thing was so good...we all loved it. It didn't even last 24 hours. I guess that's a good thing, but my goodness, it took like 6 hours to make and was gone so quickly!

I also made the cupcakes that we had on Kylee's birthday from scratch...but they were not good. I definitely need to try them again with a new recipe...and make sure I don't over-beat my batter. It'll take some practice, I'm sure.
*Stop over-eating! Well, I'd have to say that numbers don't lie...according to the doctor's records I gained 4 lbs in 2 weeks...so I guess this is a total fail. But that happened the first 2 weeks of the month and since then I've been logging my calories again (like I did with Kylee's pregnancy.) I have another regular checkup on Friday and I think these numbers should be much better!
*Send out Kylee's birthday invites. Success! I do have 2 more to deliver, but those are being hand-delivered on Friday.
*Be consistent with Hunter's chore chart. Success! My little man earned over $5 this month! We have divvied up his earnings into Giving, Saving, and Spending envelopes and will be making a trip to Target soon so he can spend what's in his "Spending" envelope.
*Be consistent with Hunter brushing his teeth! Success! Most days I was good about having him brush his teeth when I brushed mine. Just need to continue the good habit!
*Read through Hypnobirthing. Well technically this is a fail, because I haven't finished it. But I'm more than halfway done and have been practicing the techniques in the book. I won't be doing HypnoBirthing to a T, but I'll definitely use a lot of the techniques in it during my labor. I've been using the relaxation techniques at night when I'm trying to sleep and they've actually been so successful that I've been able to get myself to sleep despite my RLS without the help of meds! I haven't needed a sleeping pill in about a week!
*Break Kylee of nursing at night. Success! I actually got right down to business with this one and did it in the beginning of the month. And actually, I weaned her completely. She is a big girl who is now a champ at sleeping through the night and is 100% on cow's milk. Momma was sad to wean, and I cried just like I did with Hunter, but I'll have another nurser soon enough. ;) This past month, (when my bladder cooperated) I had more uninterrupted sleep than I have in over a year! It's been totally awesome.

February Goals
My theme this month with most of my goals will be organization. I could have a baby next month (oh my goodness!) and I really need to get this house in order!
*Do at least 2 loads of laundry 5 days a week.
*Stop over-eating.
*Memorize 2 more verses, and still remember the last 8.
*Organize the kids' closets. In this house, we are blessed with a TON of closet space. The kids each have 2 closets in their rooms, Greg and I each have our own walk-in closets, I have two linen closets, and I even have an extra closet in my kitchen for stuff! The problem with this, however, is that I've kind of exploded behind each closet door. Since there's so much room, I just throw stuff in there and close the door. Since the older two kids will be sharing a room once baby boy is here, I want to go through all 4 of their closets and organize and consolidate.
*Organize my walk-in closet. I kind of exploded in there, too, with all my clothes...
*Organize this shelf:

As you can see, this shelf is in our bathroom. It's right next to my sink and it's where I keep all my makeup and stuff. But as you can also see, it's kind of a total mess. And I know Greg hates it. So I want it to be a little more aesthetically pleasing by February 31st.
*Throw a totally-awesome 1st birthday party for Ms. Kylee.
*Have an amazing time with Gregory on the couple's retreat with our church. I'm so excited for this! The last time we had time with just the two of us (for longer than just a dinner-date) was about a month before Hunter was born...over 4 years ago! I'd say a little getaway is LONGGGG overdue!