Thank you, Lord, for the rain!

I was working on something and heard quite the noise coming from outside. I looked out and this is what I saw!

We really need the rain, so I am definitely thankful for it. I'm almost more thankful that Robby and I didn't get caught out in it 30 minutes earlier!!

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Wordless Wednesday: Sweet, Curious Boy!

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17 Weeks

This wasn't the best top to wear to try to show the bump. It just generally makes me look big! Haha!

How far along: 17 weeks (that is seriously so crazy to me!)

Size of baby:

Maternity Clothes: just pants, still able to wear most regular shirts

Movement: I haven't felt any movements this week. I've felt a little pressure like the baby is pushing towards my belly button, but I don't know if that's actually what's happening.

Sleep: Ehh, I don't think I'm going to get sleep for the next 3 years at least! I've just surrendered to that!

Symptoms: Hungry! That's about it.

Food cravings/aversions: Macaroni and cheese (the kind out of a box), baked beans, and eggs. Not all together though!

What I am looking forward to: Our big appointment in 2 weeks!!

Nothing scares him!

Robby LOVES it when Tim scares him. His whole body will jump and then he will laugh so hard! He also is climbing all over everything! Yesterday, after our walk we were sitting at the picnic tables and he was putting his fingers between the slats to pull himself onto the table top and trying to swing his leg up. Then yesterday evening, he was sitting on Tim's chest while Tim was laying on the floor. Then he climbed up on the ottoman all by himself! He loves to climb and explore. He bonks his head, gets stuck, and falls down but he just laughs it off! I watch him and cringe at what he's going to do, then I'm amazed at how he actually accomplished it!

Yesterday, I had been "scaring" him and he was laughing so hard. So I got a little bit on video.

After our walk yesterday morning, we got home and it was nap time. I put him down, he let out two cries and was out. Lately, nap times have been rough, but he slept for almost 2 1/2 hours. It was heavenly compared to the recent 30-45 minute naps! When he woke up, I went to get him and just had to laugh when I saw his face!




He slept really hard on his blanket and had indentions all over the left side of his face!

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The Great Double Stroller Quest

About a week or two after I found out that we had another bundle of joy on the way it clicked with me that we were going to need a double stroller.  If Robby were going to be 2 or so, I would almost consider not getting one, since he would be able to walk pretty well at that point and I could teach him to hold onto the stroller to walk beside me.  But since he will still be perfecting that cute little toddle of a walk when this baby comes, I don't think we have much of a choice but to get a double stroller.  We love our travel system for Robby and had planned to use it whenever we had baby #2, but did not expect it would be so soon.  Since we don't need to get a new infant carrier/carseat, I wanted to get a double stroller in which I could snap or strap it into.

For those who haven't thought much about double strollers, there are essentially two types: side-by-side and tandem.  There are benefits and drawbacks of each, and no matter which type you get, it's going to be a pain to maneuver.  I began my plead on Facebook to find out what kind of stroller we should get.  I got a little help, but found that the best help I received was simply stopping moms pushing them around the mall or on a sidewalk and asking them what they thought of whatever stroller they were pushing.  Unanimously, they all said to go with a side-by-side.  Most of them had a tandem stroller in the past and had pretty much negative things to say about them.  As much as you would think a double stroller was difficult to get around in a store, a tandem was actually more difficult because it's so long you can't turn it between racks and things.  Also, depending on how you distribute the weight, it can be next to impossible to get the front end to go where you are wanting.  One of my own realizations regarding the tandem stroller was that I am essentially going to have two babies.  Robby is still going to rely on me for pretty much everything, so I need him to be within an arms reach and also easy to keep an eye on.  If I have him at the front, I can't see what he's doing/needing or get to him as easily as bending over the handlebars.  

So, that meant I was set on a side-by-side.  But oh, what type of side-by-side?  There are umbrella type side-by-sides that are very light and much narrower.  Or the heavy duty jogging type, which are generally wider.  I tried a few of the lighter side-by-sides and really liked the Combi Twin Sport EX

A huge perk to this one was that our carseat (which isn't really adaptable with any other brand stroller or carseat base) actually clicked in!  It was very light and super narrow.  It was only a tad wider than our current stroller.  When it folded up, it folded in half, then over in half again so it took up the same amount of space as a single stroller!  There were only a few negatives about this one.  First, it wasn't super heavy duty and I intend to get out and walk most days with the kids, so I wasn't sure that the wheels and frame would hold up well over the next 3-4 years.  Also, the one we tried out in the store seemed really flimsy.  The frame would really wiggle and sway as you shook it lightly from the handlebars.  The worker said he thought it was just like that because it was the demo.  I went home and read lots of reviews.  It was pretty evenly mixed on durability.  Some said it was great and others said it wasn't holding up well.  But other than that, it had great reviews.  Also, I wasn't going to be able to fit my diaper bag in the basket underneath, so I would have to get a hook attachment to go on the handlebar.

Next, since I do want a stroller that will hold up well with lots of outdoor walking and things, I decided to look at the jogging strollers.  Many people recommended the Bob jogging stroller.  We drove up to Austin yesterday and went to Buy Buy Baby to try out this one, as well as several others I had been researching.  After trying this one out, I realized that it is almost as long as some tandem strollers.  Also, the price is quite steep (However, I had almost decided that if I was totally and completely blown away by it and it was just perfect, I might consider getting a stroller that expensive.  I just wasn't that blown away by it.) and I would have to spend about $150 more on the snack/drink trays for the kids, the carseat adaptor, and the parent tray attachment.  I just didn't think it was worth spending that much on it.  

I was looking around and saw one that looked great.  I had Tim pull it down so I could look at it.  It steered like a dream.  Pretty much every part that was fabric came off so it could be cleaned and all the parts were so adjustable, each baby could have their own little personalized space.  The car seat fit in perfectly.  Robby fit in it perfectly.  It had everything we needed and wanted.  I loved it!  It didn't have a price tag on it so I asked a worker how much it was.  She looked it up and of course it was an expensive one.  I tried it out again, but just couldn't justify spending that much money on it.  

I really wanted to try out the Joovy ScooterX2 because it has really good ratings and is pretty narrow.  But I couldn't find any stores that carried it where I could try it out.  I emailed the company and they said my only option was to buy it, put it together, try it out indoors, then return it for a full refund if I decided I didn't want it.  I really don't want to purchase something like this without trying it out first and I definitely don't want to go through the hassle of purchasing it, putting it together, then deciding it's not right and having to return it and wait forever for the refund!  

So, after trying out lots of strollers, some expensive, some not so expensive, we think we have decided on the Baby Trend Navigator.  

It is really easy to steer, the carseat straps in, and snack and drink trays are already included.  The basket underneath is really big and there is a parent tray with drink holders.  The only negative (and there will be a negative to any stroller we decide on, it is just a matter of deciding which negatives are deal breakers and which aren't) is that it is wider than all the other double joggers that we looked at.  But I have talked to two people who have this stroller and they said they don't have any trouble getting through doors, as long as there is a handicapped door.  We measured the wheel base and measured our front door (not that it matters since we won't be bringing it up 3 flights of stairs!) and it is several inches narrower than the doorway.  I also looked up what a standard door of a business is required to be and they are supposed to be wider than what the stroller measures.  I know that I will have to maneuver it through some doors and I just won't be able to go into some stores (which would be the case with whatever stroller we end up with).  But the fact that it is a great size and will be good for when the kiddos are even 4 and 5 makes it worth it to me.  I don't want to buy a stroller in 2 years because Robby is too big for it and then spend just as much money on a bigger stroller and only use it for 2 more years. I want something that will last and be able to grow with our needs as they change.

Changing the subject, while we were at Buy Buy Baby we decided to look around.  Even though we didn't need anything, it seemed like such a waste to go and not explore the whole store!  :-)  We saw some amazing things we had never seen, nor had never heard of before!  

First was this incredible swing/bouncy seat.  

If we were planning on having 2 more kids after this one, I think I would try to talk Tim into letting me spend the money on it!  It was so cool just to watch.  

Next was this carseat and stroller combo.  

In front of it was a page showing all the stars who have it for their kids.  I'm sure that is it's biggest selling point!  I just imagine that this is what the future of travel systems looks like!

I'm beginning to think that the baby gear market is like the wedding market: they push things that you just have to have to give your child the perfect infancy and childhood, when really we all turned out just fine and didn't have floating baby seats or space pods for carseats!

Anxiety

A very close friend and I were texting back and forth this morning about worries we have.  What started the conversation was we had both read an extremely sad story of a 4 month old in a tragic accident.  She mentioned that she has had to stop reading some blogs because the stories of lost pregnancies and death of babies were just to overwhelming.  When I was pregnant. there were certain blogs Tim told me I could no longer read because I was getting too upset about it all.  When we first had Robby, I was paranoid that he would just stop breathing.  This wasn't just something that I worried about with Robby.  Every time I would babysit babies, even as a teenager, I would go in every 15 minutes or so as the baby was sleeping to make sure they were still breathing.  It is a paralyzing fear that I have.  With Robby, I was to the point where I would end up waking him up because I would rustle him if I couldn't hear him breathing.  So, Tim took over the "check on Robby to make sure he's breathing" ritual every night.  Now I don't worry about it quite so much.  Sometimes, if he has napped an extremely long time or is sleeping in pretty late during the morning, my mind will start to wander to the fear of something having happened to him.  But I'm doing better.  I used to lay awake at night and just worry that he wasn't breathing.  I finally just had to turn it over to the Lord.  I would fall asleep praying that God would keep my baby alive through the night.  I don't know if that's weird or not, but that's the only way I could find comfort.

At this point, I don't overly worry too much about Robby.  There are still times that my mind will go to those worst case scenarios, but the times that it happens are much fewer.  Unfortunately, now there is a new worry that I have.  Pretty much every night as we lay in bed, I tell Tim that I'm worried something might be wrong with this baby.  I have only felt the baby move maybe 3 times, and I thought I should be feeling it more at this point.  Also, we didn't actually hear the heartbeat at the last appointment.  We only saw it on the screen.  While that should have been enough, I feel that since I didn't actually hear it and the dr didn't give me a beats/minute, something might be wrong.  I worry because I was taking such high doses of ibuprofen, birth control, a muscle relaxer and sleeping pill, not to mention that I hadn't taken prenatal vitamins during almost the entire first trimester!  Tim looked up the medications I was taking and there is practically no harm in them, they just aren't recommended to take when pregnant because there are many unknowns.  I know that I am still relatively early on in the pregnancy and I won't really be able to experience predictable movements for a while, but I just can't shake that fear that I've been having.  I'm hoping that after my appointment in a few weeks and get to see this sweet baby again, hear the heartbeat, and learn that all the organs look good that I will feel better.  Until then, I will continue to fall asleep at night praying that both of my babies stay safe and healthy.

Wordless Wednesday: Teething Smile

21

16 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

(only one picture this week because they didn't turn out that great (ie: I looked extra fat in all of them))

How far along: 16 weeks

Size of baby: 5 inches, 5 ounces, about the size of a turnip

Maternity Clothes: just pants, still able to wear most regular shirts

Movement: Only occasionally; I will feel some pushing, but I haven't felt any flutters again.  

Sleep: I'm not sleeping that well, but that's only because Robby has been having some sleeping issues!

Symptoms: I'm still very tired and always hungry.  Other than that, I get dizzy at times and I've actually been more emotional this time around than I was with Robby.

Food cravings/aversions: EGGS!  I wake up thinking about eggs and I just can't get enough of them!  

What I am looking forward to: We get to find out if this sweet baby is a boy or a girl in 3 weeks!  

Assisted Walking

Robby has been doing this for a few weeks now but I finally got it on video. He walks up and down the coffee table, side stepping! He has walked with us holding his hands, also, but sometimes he just decides he wants to sit down in the middle of it all!

(He's fussing at the end of it because he can't reach Annie's chewy that's on the table)

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Chicken Enchiladas (version 2.0)

I posted my usual chicken enchilada recipe a couple of years ago.  As much as I like that recipe, I was looking for a change.  I have been following Foodie Friends and one of their challenges was enchiladas.  One person posted about making Paula Deen's chicken enchiladas, but they didn't post the recipe.  What intrigued me about the recipe was that it used cream cheese.  I had never thought about using it in enchiladas, so it sent me searching for this recipe.  I found a low fat version someone adapted and I found a version with a tomatillo sauce, but neither of them sounded amazing to me.  So I took a little of this recipe, a little of that recipe, and a little of my own and made these.  We both really liked them.  When we had them for leftovers the next night, I made Tim's refried beans to go along with them.  Mmmm, so good!!

Ingredients:
-20 tortillas (I didn't use quite this many, but it depends on how full you make them as to how many you will need)
-2 cans red enchilada sauce
-4 chicken breasts
-1 can cream of chicken soup
-8 oz pkg cream cheese
-minced garlic and onion, 1 tsp each
-2-4 cups shredded cheese, ideally monterrey jack, as well as cheddar.  I could only find a white blend of Mexican cheeses and the cheddar

Directions:
Cook the chicken.  I melted a little butter in the pan, seasoned with a sea salt and garlic grinder we have, as well as a little pepper.  Once cooked, tear chicken apart with to forks.  In a large bowl, combine cooked chicken, softened cream cheese, cream of chicken soup, garlic and onion, and a cup or so of a mix of the two cheeses.  Mix all ingredients.  Spray two 9x13 pans, then pour a little enchilada sauce on the bottom of each pan.  Spoon desired amount of chicken mixture in tortillas, roll, place seam side down in the pan.  After all enchiladas are placed in the pan, pour remainder of sauce over them (I didn't quite use 2 full cans).  Top with the rest of the cheese.  There will be a lot of cheese on top, but you want all of the exposed tortillas covered in either sauce or cheese or they will get hard and crunchy.  Cover with foil, bake at 350 for 30 minutes, uncover and bake 10 more minutes until cheese is bubbly.

They were really good and the amount of cheese was just the way I like!  This made enough for 3 meals for us.  It's kind of hard to cut in half thought, consider you would have to use half a can of cream of chicken soup, but you can try.  Anytime I halve a recipe it NEVER turns out right, so we just deal with the leftovers!  I don't know if you could freeze one pan of them.  What do you think?

I think I've posted Tim's refried beans recipe, but in case I didn't, they are super easy.

Ingredients:
-1 Tbsp oil
-1 tsp minced garlic
-1 tsp minced onion
-1 cup chicken broth
-1 can pinto beans, drained
-1 can black beans, drained

Directions:
Sweat the garlic and onion in the oil for several minutes.  Add beans and broth.  Simmer for about 30 minutes.  You can either drain all the liquid, setting the liquid aside and adding it back to make it the desired consistency or you can just leave all the liquid in and let the beans thicken while it stands.  Use a blender or food processor to get the beans mashed to the right consistency.  Our blender broke and our food processor was out of reach, so we used a potato masher.  They were a bit lumpier than they would have been otherwise, but still good!

Attitude Adjustment

This week started out pretty rough.  We had plans to go on a trip.  That got canceled rather abruptly.  We had to rework our budget.  That made me feel helpless.  Robby has been waking up an extra time each night to eat.  That made the nights short.  Tim was having to go in extremely early and wasn't getting home until late.  That made the days really long.  I was tired.  I was lonely.  I cried more times than I could count.  One day, I was just ready to give up.  Throw in the towel.  I questioned God as to why He would even think to give me another child to care for when I couldn't even handle the one I already had, plus manage our home, finances, and schedules.  I love where we are living.  I love my husband.  I love my son.  I love staying home.  But all these things were causing me so much stress and frustration.  I finally sat down and had to have a come to Jesus meeting with myself.  I realized, through the tears, that this was the life we had chosen for ourselves, but more importantly, the one God had chosen for us.  He knows what I can handle and what I can't.  And He won't give me more than I can handle.  God has given me everything I have ever prayed for, and I react by getting frustrated?  How selfish I was being!  After realizing these things, I decided that everything was going to be the way I made it.  I am naturally a positive person and I needed to get back to that.  I woke up Wednesday with a totally different attitude.  I got up, got ready, got my sweet chattering boy out of his crib and got him ready so we could go to Costco.  After that, we got to have lunch at home with Tim (something that happened in a week or so).  Then we decided to go ahead and go on to the grocery store.  Normally, I wouldn't tackle Costco and the grocery store in one day, but I decided to do it.  I got home, tried a new recipe for dinner and enjoyed a wonderful evening with my husband.  Thursday, Robby woke up at 4:30!  Just a tad earlier than we like to start our days around here.  :-)  Instead of being huffy, like I had been the other mornings he did this, I went in, gathered up my smiling, sweet boy and brought him in the living room to play.  (I put him in his pack n play and turned on Veggie Tales to distract him enough to be content with playing by himself because I was a bit too tired to keep up with a baby all over the place!)  Once he was tired enough to go down for a brief nap, I jumped in the shower and got somewhat ready, then laid down for about 45 minutes to get a little power nap.  Once Robby woke back up, I finished getting us both ready and we drove about 10 miles north to the newer, nicer, quieter Target to walk around and get a few things.  Sometimes, just walking through Target changes my outlook for the day, as silly as that sounds!  We got home, just in time for lunch with Tim.  That afternoon we went up to the pharmacy for a little bit, ran to the BX, and then to the commissary for something I had forgotten the day before.  By the time we were done with all that, Tim was coming home for the day.  He actually got home around 5:30, which was very nice.  He has been off today, which we both needed.  We needed to relax and recharge.  Things are quite crazy at work for him and he has a lot on his shoulders.  Today, at the end of the week, I feel completely different than I did at the beginning of the week.  I feel much more hopeful and positive.  It's amazing how simply deciding to make an adjustment in my thinking has resulted in a refreshing outlook.

Breakfast Burritos (that turned out to be tacos!)

Tim is off today (Hallelujah!) so I told him I would make breakfast burritos this morning.  He has been going in in early and working late for several weeks now.  He hasn't taken leave since my cousin Emily's wedding in early July.  So he was due a day off!  We were supposed to be going to Amarillo this weekend for a wedding, but that didn't work out, so we are just planning to relax and enjoy our time together instead.

There is a little Mexican restaurant across the street from our apartment complex that has the best breakfast burritos.  The one I like to get has potato, egg, cheese, and refried beans in it.  So good!  I made country fried potatoes earlier this week with dinner and realized while I was cooking them that they would be really good in a breakfast burrito.  Last night we had enchiladas (which I will post about, also) and homemade refried beans, we had some leftover so I wanted to put those in the burritos, as well.

Here is what you will need:

Ingredients:
-A few potatoes (we used 3 for 4 burritos but had enough left over for a 5th burrito), washed and cubed
-Oil
-Garlic and onion, minced
-Salt and pepper to taste
-Tortillas (however many you want, I suggest the burrito size, not the fajita size :-)
-1 Tbs butter
-Eggs, we used 5
-Cheese
-Refried beans (or bacon, sausage, whatever protein you want)

Directions:
First, boil your potatoes for a few minutes, just to get the cooking process started.

While they are boiling, heat a few tablespoons of oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and onions and saute.

After about 5 minutes of boiling, drain potatoes and add to the oil.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and cook for between 7-10 minutes depending on how many potatoes you have.  Uncover and cook about 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.  When done, drain on a paper towel lined plate.  In a separate pan, melt a bit of butter and cook eggs, salt and pepper to taste.  When almost done cooking, add cheese.

Since our beans were already made, we just heated them in the microwave while we were cooking everything else.  Layer everything in tortillas. We did beans first, then eggs, potatoes and a little more cheese.  Since our tortillas weren't big enough, we couldn't tuck and roll, so we just made tacos out of them.

If you decide to use bacon or sausage instead of beans, cook them first then use the grease from the meat to cook the potatoes.

Obviously, these are not something we would make every morning, but they are fun and very tasty for every now and then!

Eight Months!

Eight months??  No, Little Man, it can't be!!  You are growing, changing, and learning like crazy.  It's crazy to me to think that you have not yet been outside of me as long as you were inside of me, but I can't really remember life before you.  Of course I remember specific memories, but life doesn't seem to have matter all that much.  Your daddy and I both agree on that!  You make us laugh so much.

You are still sleeping well, as long as you aren't battling your allergies or having tooth issues.  You generally go to bed between 7-8 each night, after a bath and bottle.  You wake up between 4-6 for a bottle, then go back to bed for a few hours.  You have stopped taking a paci.  That was odd to me, but I'm not going to fight it.  It started when you were congested and couldn't breath through your nose and you just haven't wanted it since then.  We will try to give it to you but you won't take it.  I'm about ready to go ahead and toss them!  You take at least two naps a day.  Usually you go down around 10 or so and wake up around noon, sometimes 1 depending on how busy you were that morning.  Then you take a quicker afternoon nap, from around 3-4 or so.  Of course you have your days where you completely throw me for a loop and only take a 30 minute nap!  But those days are few and far between (Thank goodness!).

You love to play!  You have some favorite toys right now.  Some little cups that go inside of each other seem to be your favorite right now.  You usually put one in each hand and clap them together.  Speaking of clapping, you are making the motion with your hands and meeting them together, just not making the clapping noise.  It's so cute to see you do that when you get excited.  It's usually accompanied by you bouncing and giggling, which makes it even cuter!  You recently have learned to make a new noise with your mouth.  It's kind of like a kissy noise, but not made with your lips.  It's too hard to explain.  I'll try to get it on video at some point.  You are pulling up on absolutely everything!  Even things that I think are too tall for you to reach, you grab hold and pull yourself up.  Each day you get better and better at it.  You have walked the length of the ottoman and the coffee table, holding on of course.  We dropped your crib mattress about a month ago, but you still are able to pull yourself up and stand when you really don't want to be in there.  I am still trying to get used to walking in to check on you and seeing your little head popped over the top staring at me!

You are army crawling like crazy.  You are quite fast at it, too, especially if you see something you shouldn't get into and my back is turned!  Before I know it, you have found a random cord, our shoes, or even the corner of a rug you have pulled up.  Also, you are making the waving motion with your left hand.  You don't do it with your right hand yet and you don't actually wave to anyone but yourself!  Sometimes when you are really upset you will be crying and waving your hand.  I think you just like the movement of your wrist.  You get frustrated when you can't do something just right.  I try my hardest to simply encourage you from afar to keep trying.  You are getting better at calming yourself down.  Of course, if you are extremely upset or really hurt yourself, I swoop you up and hold you for a bit.  You are enjoying climbing under the coffee table all the time, unfortunately that means you bonk your head all the time.  Most of the time you don't even bat an eye, but if you are tired you will get very upset.

You are saying a few words, but haven't associated them with what they are.  You say "mama" (usually you say "my mama" and it's so cute!), "dada", "hi", "hey", "yay" and a few others.  I try to point to what you are saying when you say it, but I don't know if that is really making a difference.  You will eventually understand what you are saying.  I'm just enjoying you figuring out how to make different sounds.

Generally, 9 month clothes fit you best, but you still have some 6 month bottoms I can put you in that work (barely) and I actually have some 3 month polos that I can still get on you, but should probably go ahead and retire.  We went shopping a few weekends ago and got you quite a few fall/winter shirts and a few pair of pants.  I can't wait for it to cool down so you can wear your fun JBU colored rugby shirts!  You are going to look pretty adorable in them!

You take about 3 8oz bottles a day, along with 2-3 foods a day.  You eat every 3.5-4 hours.  You enjoy apples and oatmeal in the mornings, a veggie blend in the afternoon, and a meat and veggie in the evening.  You have had some stage 3 meals, with the chunkier bits of meat or noodles.  You do well with those, so we will be doing more of those now.  You love your mum-mums, as well as little puffs that you can pick up and eat.  It's weird to think in a few months you will be eating pretty much whatever we eat, just little bitty bites of it!  You still just have your bottom two teeth.  You're top two teeth have been trying to come in for over a week now.  I'm beginning to think they never will (just kidding, they'll come in!)!

We usually go up to see Daddy at work a few times a week.  We try to get out of the house once a day, even if we don't really have a place we need to be.  You usually get a little restless (as do I), so it's nice to get out and drive around or stop by the pharmacy and see Daddy.  Everyone just loves you.  You've been nicknamed "Baby Caps" by one of the guys.  You definitely are the spitting image of your daddy.  I took a picture of you the other day and couldn't believe it when I looked at it.  You look JUST like he did at your age!  It's truly incredible.

Robby, you have been more of a blessing than we could have ever imagined you being.  Of course, we dreamed about how amazing you would be, but you have far far surpassed our dreams.  You are the best little boy.  We love you and love being your mommy and daddy.

15 Weeks

It seems like I JUST got done doing these!! Haha!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 15 weeks

Size of baby: 4-5 inches, 3-5 oz (about the size of an avacado)

Maternity Clothes: I have two pair of jeans that are not maternity that still fit, other than that, I have definitely already pulled out all of the maternity jeans. My shirts are just my regular shirts. I got rid of all of my maternity shirts, except for one (that doesn't look like a maternity shirt) and I have one that Catie got for me, so I need to be able to stretch (literally and figuratively) my non-maternity shirts as long as I can.

Movement: When I was pregnant with Robby, I never felt the "flutters" everyone always talks about. I felt very distinct kicks and movements. But this time, I have felt a few flutters at times. Nothing predictable, but cute little flutters.

Sleep: I wake up consistently around 4 every morning and can't usually fall asleep until 6. It's very frustrating. I think I'm just going to have to get used to the fact that I'm not going to get very much sleep for the next 3 more years, at least, and get a good attitude about it (I tend to be quite cranky lately when I'm tired)

Symptoms: I often wondered when I was pregnant with Robby if any future pregnancy would be different. Things were so easy during that pregnancy. I napped whenever I needed (which was often because I was always so tired!). This time around, obviously, things are a bit different, mainly because of already having Robby. I am still exhausted, I just can't nap during the day. Sometimes I'm so tired, I'm delirious. I am just a walking zombie until Tim gets home and can take over Robby so I can relax. I'm trying not to waste these months away with just Robby by being tired. Other than being tired, I'm dizzy and hungry all the time. Thankfully, no nausea or other typically handicapping symptoms.

Food Cravings/Aversions: I'm not craving anything in particular, but pretty much anything sounds good. I think I could eat every hour that I'm awake!

What I am looking forward to: We find out if all the organs look healthy (which is something I'm actually very concerned about this time around) and hopefully, if Robby is getting a little brother or a little sister in 4 weeks! I'm really looking forward to this feeling more real, and being able to name our little sweet pea will definitely make it feel that way!

All About Me From A to Z

Catie tagged me to take this survey.  I don't normally participate in them, but I love reading others.  So it's probably a good thing she tagged me so I feel obligated to do it!  I should finally participate after observing so much!


So here we go:
{a} age: 27, I have to ask Tim all the time how old I am
{b} bed size: queen
{c} chore you hate: I absolutely hate any outside chores.
{d} dogs: we have 2- Leo is a lab mix, and is currently staying at Tim's parent's since we are in the apartment; Annie is a red, (supposedly) miniature dachshund.  They were definitely our babies before Robby got here!
{e} essential start to your day: Ummm, it would be too cheesy if I said seeing Robby smile, wouldn't it?  
{f} favorite color: Purple
{g} gold or silver: Silver
{h} height: 5'3” (thank goodness "w" isn't "weight")
{i} instruments you play: none
{j} job title: Wife and stay-at-home mom
{k} kids: Robby, born January 14, and Baby Weigle, due March 2012
{l} live: Schertz, TX (northeastern San Antonio
{m} main article of clothing: Jeans.  I try to wear interesting tops (I usually fail) because Tim got onto me a while back for only wearing solid colored, crew neck t-shirts!
{n} nicknames: My family calls me "Ranj"
{o} overnight hospital stays: A few nights for tests to be run when I was 15 and then when I had Robby.
{p} pet peeve: People who don't actually listen, unfortunately, I am guilty of this at times as well.
{q} quote: Umm, don't really have one.
{r} righty or lefty: Lefty
{s} siblings: An older brother, Ryan
{t} time you wake up: Usually between 7-8, unless Robby is really sleeping in.  It's funny, I used to wake up at 5am to work out for an hour before I got ready for work.  Now, 5 seems obscene!
{u} university attended: John Brown University!  
{v} vegetables you dislike: I dislike uncooked onions and I'm not a fan of bell peppers
{w} what makes you run late: My sweet, wonderful husband!  Although he is doing much better since joining the AF.  We are rarely late now.
{x} x-rays: I guess just dental
{y} yummy food: Mexican food!!  Along with sooo many others!
{z} zoo animal: Elephant


I'm going to tag Kristy, Sarah, and Silvy!

Weekend Fun

For Tim's birthday I got him tickets to the University of Texas football game against BYU for this weekend.  He has been to a few UT games, but never one at Austin, so we were both excited to get to go.  When I bought the tickets, the game was scheduled for 1pm and I never bothered to check it again.  It wasn't until Friday night that we found out it was at 6pm.  I'm just glad we found out before we left early and got there 6 hours before the game started!  Tim's parents came up to take care of Robby while we were gone.  We got there in time to meet up with a friend who was tailgating.

We headed to the stadium about an hour before the game started.  It's a good thing we didn't get to our seats much sooner because we were directly in the sun!  

About 45 minutes into the game, the sun went down enough that everyone wasn't holding their hands over their eyes so they could see!  Sadly, I was dizzy pretty much the entire time, so while everyone else stood to watch the game, I had to sit and try to catch the plays on the big screen.  It was still fun to be there, though!  We actually were sitting with quite a few BYU fans.  There was a couple in front of us where were cheering for BYU.  I noticed she was pregnant.  I have no idea what possessed me to do this, because usually I'm too nervous to start up a conversation with a stranger, but I asked her how far along she was.  She said 5 months.  I then (stupidly) asked if it was her first one.  She replied that it was in fact her 5th.  I am pretty sure I looked like quite the idiot when my mouth dropped.  I told her I was pregnant with our 2nd and gave her the shortened story of our surprise.  She congratulated me and was very excited.  We spoke a few more times throughout the game, as did her husband to Tim.  When the game ended and they were leaving (UT won), they shook our hands and the husband handed us a slip of paper.  They had written "To find a great family church in your area, visit www. mormon . org" then had their names and phone number.  Tim and I just kind of smiled, and later reflected on what they must thought of little, ole, naive me thinking it was her first pregnancy!  They probably thought we were such a young couple just starting our family and would be good recruits!  

It took us a while to get out of the parking garage and back onto 35.  I was starving at that point so we stopped and one of Tim's favorite childhood burger places in Austin, Short Stop, and got something to eat.  We got home before midnight.  Robby had a bit of a rough time, going to bed around 7ish, then waking up 9:30ish ready to play!  He finally went to sleep for good about 30 minutes or so before we got back.  It was weird to me for him to be in bed asleep when we got home.  I missed him while we were gone, but it was fun for us to have some time minus the baby.  We held hands the whole way home from the game, without me having to let go to turn around and give a bottle, paci, or toy.  It was a nice break for us!

Pregnancy Dreams

Although I don't have many pregnancy symptoms (other than being tired and dizzy all the time), I have the craziest, most vivid dreams.  I have talked to several other women who had dreams like this when they were pregnant.  They can range between dreams about the delivery to dreams involving friends from high school I haven't seen in years.  Sometimes I wake up and have to ask Tim if something actually happened or not, because they are that real.  When I was pregnant with Robby, I would get very angry in my dreams and would actually cuss.  I don't cuss in real life, so I would wake up and ask Tim if I had said something bad!  It made me nervous that I might actually do that in real life when I least expected it!  On Saturday night, I had a dream that my doctor called me and told me she was setting me up to be induced this week.  I asked if she was sure, since I was only 15 weeks along.  She said yes and it was very important that I come in on Tuesday to be induced.  Come to find out, it was because the hospital had offered a pizza party to the group of doctors who delivered the most babies.  Ya know, because I hear doctors just love pizza parties!  I just couldn't believe that I actually went along with it in my dream!  Last night I had a dream about bugs (my least favorite kind of dreams!).  I was holding Robby and we were suddenly covered in these black ant-like bugs that we couldn't get off of us.  I started freaking out majorly.  I don't remember how it ended, but I woke up itching and thinking I had bugs all over me.  And I definitely check Robby over to make sure he didn't have any on him!  I'm interested, for those of you who have been pregnant, did you have vivid dreams?  If so, what is the craziest pregnancy dream that you had?

Baby #2

Since announcing that we are expecting our second little bundle of joy, we have gotten quite a few questions from people.  I thought I would address some of them and fill you in on this crazy story.

1. (The most common question) Did you plan to have them this close together?
We definitely did not.  I was actually very content with just having Robby.  Although several members of our family informed me of their strong opinions of not wanting Robby to be an only child, I really was considering keeping it just him.  I have a few reasons for that.  First, I wanted to focus on just him.  There are so many milestones that he is and will accomplish and I wanted to be able to enjoy them all without anything else needing my attention.  Second, I didn't want to short change a second child.  So many have told me that their second one spends a lot of time in their swing or in their crib, because the first is so active and requires so much constant attention.  The thought of that is sad to me.  I want to be able to focus on this second baby just as much as I was able to focus on Robby.  I loved the quiet times of just holding and staring at Robby.  I cherish the mornings when we would snuggle and roll around on the bed after Tim left for work.  I won't be able to have as carefree of mornings with this second baby as I was able to have with Robby.  I know that people have second, third, and fourth children all the time and they make it work, it's just not how I pictured things.  I am just praying that Robby reaches all of his baby milestones before this baby arrives so I can at least feel like I could focus on and appreciate all of them.  Third, Robby has literally been a perfect baby.  Does he cry?  Yes.  Does he scream?  Yes.  Does he get upset when he's tired or hungry?  Yes.  But that's really about it.  He's a very adaptable baby.  After several days home after being born, he was sleeping through the night and putting himself on a schedule.  His days are predictable and he loves to get out and see people.  If he screams or cries, it's for a reason and once that issue is resolved, he's happy again (except for right now while he's teething!)  Lots of people have told me that since he has been so great, the second baby will be quite the handful (why people say things like this to people - just like feeling the need to share their horror labor and delivery stories or worst case scenario baby stories - I will never understand).  I pray this won't be the case, as it will be quite overwhelming the first several months after this baby is born.

2. Did you know you were pregnant?
Again, no, I didn't!  When I was pregnant with Robby I never had any typical pregnancy symptoms, and this pregnancy has been the same.  I haven't had any morning sickness or anything.  The only thing is that I'm tired (but I was tired before, so I don't know that being tired is actually from being pregnant!) and extremely hungry.  The difference between this pregnancy and the last is that we were trying with Robby, although not that long, so I was paying attention and could track back to exactly when I got pregnant.  With this one, I have no idea!  The timeline is a little fuzzy.  I nursed Robby until late June when my milk suddenly dried up overnight.  My friend, Catie, actually asked me that day if I could be pregnant.  I believe my response was, "Heck no" or something like that!  After I could no longer nurse, I went ahead and started birth control.  I started out taking it just like I did before I went off of it to get pregnant with Robby.  I took 3 months worth straight through at a time.

3. How did you find out you were pregnant?
It wasn't until 3 weeks ago when I went off of the birth control to have my period that I thought something was funny.  I was on a trip to Arkansas at the time, and being pregnant couldn't have been further from my mind.  I did tell Tim over the phone that it hadn't come yet, so he said before I started my next round of birth control I needed to take a pregnancy test.  As soon as he picked me up from the airport and we got home, I took the test.  Y'all, as soon as I peed on that stick it turned positive.  The control line took longer to show up than the positive line did!  All I could do was yell Tim's name.  He ran in, holding Robby, and got the biggest grin on his face.  I just had to sit there for a bit to let it "sink in", even though I don't know if it still has or not!

4. How far along are you?
Well, I assumed that I was somewhere between 6-10 weeks just because of how quickly the test turned positive.  I was only 3 weeks along when I took the test when I was pregnant with Robby and it took about 30 seconds to a minute for the line to show, and it was quite faint.  I assumed that I got pregnant when I was on birth control, because we didn't take extra precautions once I started taking it and probably didn't give it time to actually get in my system.  I was very anxious to get to my doctors appointment on Tuesday to make sure the baby was healthy, as I hadn't been taking prenatal vitamins, had been taking strong doses of ibuprofen for headaches, and had been taking birth control regularly.   When the doctor was ready to do the ultrasound, she first did an abdominal exam.  She looked at me quite surprised when she could already feel my uterus and said that I might be further along than we thought.  She proceeded with the internal ultrasound.  Tim and I nearly fell on the floor when she told us the baby was too big to see internally.  She started the abdominal ultrasound and found the baby right away. We were able to clearly see the head, body, arms, legs, and even fingers!  The baby was just bouncing around and waving like crazy!  We could not believe it when the doctor informed us that we were 14 weeks along!  I am completely out of the first trimester and didn't even know I was pregnant!  When we track it back, I got pregnant before I even stopped nursing, and that was probably the reason my milk dried up.  Our due date is March 6, 2012.

5. What do you think you are having?
Well, I never had a gut feeling with Robby, but for some reason, I just have this feeling we are having another boy.  I have no idea why.  Everyone in our family is pulling for a little girl.  Of course we would be thrilled either way.  I don't know if I'm feeling it's a boy because that is a comforting thought to me.  I know what to do with a boy and we could reuse everything.  Thankfully, we don't have to wait long to find out if it's a boy or girl, we will know at our next appointment in 4 weeks!  How crazy is that?  If it's a girl, we will be naming her Abigail Lauren (which is what we had picked out for a girl the last pregnancy).  If it's a boy, we know the middle name will be Edward (my grandfather's middle name) but haven't been able to decide on a first name that we both love.  Picking Robby's name was so easy.  We knew several years before we even got pregnant that if we ever had a boy we would name him Robert, after our sister-in-law's brother who was killed in Iraq.  And William is a common family name on both sides of our families.  I love that it is part of both of our brothers' names, as well as Robby's paternal grandfather's and maternal great grandfather's name.  We just want to pick a first name that is meaningful to both of us.

6. Will you be having anymore?
Heck no!!  Either Tim or I will be taken care of to no longer be able to have anymore children.  We are happy with two and are excited that they will be close and be best friends, but we have no desire to have any more.

I haven't had the chance to take any belly pictures this time around, but I plan to starting next week at the 15 week mark.  Most of my jeans I can no longer button.  I have two pair that I can wear, other than the maternity jeans that I have.  I'm going to have to buy some maternity shirts at some point, because I already got rid of the 5 shirts I had when I was pregnant with Robby!  I have one shirt that Catie got for me, but other than that I don't have any.  I'm hoping to be able to do what I did last time and still wear some of my non-maternity tops for a long while!

Thank you, everyone, for your encouragement and sweet comments on Facebook and emails.  We are very excited about this new baby and are ready to get started on this crazy adventure that God has decided for us!

Pasta Carbonara

It took me quite a while to get back into cooking and baking once Robby was born.  We had a sweet friend in Amarillo who had everyone in her small group at church sign up to bring us meals for 2 whole weeks after Robby was born.  It was incredible.  I would cook things here and there, but nothing creative or exciting.  And every chance there was for Tim to take us out to eat, I let him!  Recently, the bug has bitten me and I've been in the kitchen more.  I think what started it was Tim telling everyone at the pharmacy that I baked and they started asking for things.  So I felt obligated to bake something for them at least once a week.  That forced me to get back in there and get going.  Yesterday, I was craving pasta all day.  In our house, we don't eat spaghetti.  Tim doesn't like it, but that's fine with me.  It's never been one of my favorites and I know I will be making it soon enough when the kids don't want to eat anything but plain spaghetti and sauce!  Anyway, I remembered that we made pasta carbonara a long time ago, in fact I think Tim actually made it for us because he found a recipe and wanted to do it himself.  I looked up a simple recipe and got going on it.  We always have spaghetti noodles, garlic, and parmesan cheese on hand.  Usually we have bacon, but this time we didn't.  So I ran to the store to get bacon (I needed to blackberries anyway for the cobbler I decided to make for dessert).  This recipe is simple, but was so good!  I changed it just a tad, so here is what I did:

Chicken Carbonara

Ingredients
-1 package spaghetti noodles
-1 pound bacon
-1 Tbsp garlic
-pepper
-4 eggs
-salt
-1 cup parmesan cheese (I prefer the refrigerated, shredded kind rather than the grated)

Directions
Get your noodles cooking according to the directions on the box.  Also, whisk eggs in a small bowl and season with salt.  While your noodles are boiling, cook your bacon in a pan on medium high until crispy.  Take out the bacon and let drain on a paper towel.  Reserve about 1/4 cup of the bacon grease, discard the rest.  Once the bacon as cooled, crumble or chop it and set aside.  Drain noodles, reserving about 1 cup of the pasta water.  Return the 1/4 cub bacon grease to the pan over medium/low heat.  Add garlic and a little black pepper and saute for about a minute.  Add the pasta and bacon, and toss.  Remove from the heat, add the eggs and toss well to coat.  You don't want scrambled eggs in your pasta, so make sure the eggs aren't cooking as you toss it.  Now, add the cheese and toss some more.

It's very simple and doesn't take much time.  You get pretty much all of it done and ready to go while the pasta is cooking.  Just make sure you have a good pair of tongs, it makes it much easier.  The ones I had weren't good for what I was trying to do so it made it a bit difficult to toss effectively!

I also made a super easy blackberry cobbler by the Pioneer Woman.  I definitely satisfied my cravings with our meal last night!