9lbs and Sunday traditions

Went down to the dam to feed the ducks yesterday. And we saw a mama duck with her baby ducklings! They were a little bigger than chicks but it was still cool to see. Hopefully we'll see some baby geese here in the next few days. Cristian is weird about photos so I find myself constantly sneaking them. He might have to get over the picture taking thing cause I think it's great! And I totally want my daughter to have pictures of us when she's older. A fun personal past time of mine is looking back in my parents old photo albums and catching a glimpse into the people they were at my age. Good times, and I'd like to do the same thing for my family.

Anyway, had another appointment this morning.
Was able to clear some things up. She's looking fine and my doctor was glad about the increase in movement. I guess the problem was I needed to break my meals up into smaller groups and eat more throughout the day as opposed to 2 big meals a day. It makes sense, but it is a challenge to do that, especially when I've kind of trained myself to not eat unless I'm hungry. Looks like the guy who did my ultrasound at 5 months LIED. My official due date is May 24th, just like they said at the beginning. This being said, NOW my daughter looks more like she'll be a 9 pounder. Still crossing my fingers she'll come early, and apparently so is my doctor. Guess we'll see how things go. Also-happy note- haven't gained any weight. :D

Last night we went over to Voune's house for a little Sunday BBQ. It was pretty fun, after everyone got over talking about how huge I apparently am. I still don't really see it, as I'm exactly where I should be for my body. Sure, I look pregnant-but doesn't everyone 3 weeks away from delivering? Anyway. It's Tiana's 2nd birthday next Sunday (Cristian god daughter) and we won't be able to go (to far away from home) so we picked up her presents early. 3 huge puzzles, a water toy with bucket and shovel attached and some bubbles. Perfect for a 2 year old I say, and she loved the puzzle pieces! Points to us.

Hoping our tax return comes soon!

Greek Salad

Made the salad last night for Cristian. I was POSITIVE he wasn't going to enjoy it because it's basically all the ingredients he doesn't like. Spinach, red onion, olives, and tomatoes. He tried it though and flipped out. Thought it was delicious and told me he'd wished I'd made more. I probably would have, had I known. That was the original plan but I didn't want it all to go bad if I was the only one eating it. I suppose we found a salad that's a keeper. And he liked the feta cheese (I can't believe he'd never tried it before).

Anyway.
This morning I tried to make him pancakes before I left for church. It was from a mix I got with a bunch of other things from one of Victoria's room mates. I burned the first couple and then when I finally made one which was decent I tried it. To me pancakes are supposed to be light and fluffy but this thing was so dense I started choking on it. Needless to say I scrapped the whole thing and he ended up making ME breakfast instead. Eggs, tortilla, ham, salsa. It was pretty good.


Church was nice.
In Relief Society while sitting there I was hit by a hot flash out of nowhere. I started sweating so bad and my stomach felt so odd. I started to fan myself but then found I was shaking like crazy! Part of me was like "Oh my, here we go.. it's happening!!" and the other half was "Bah! I'm not ready!". Turns out it's normal ( and she's not coming yet), and probably just has something do to with my hormones. I was a little shaky walking out to the car and the craving for ice cream hit. LOL. Man.. this pregnancy. So once back at my parents house I had a few scoops of Super Chocolate Brownie ice cream Talisa found buried away in the freezer. Totally hit the spot and now I'm thinking about taking a nap.

Later Cristian and I will go feed the ducks, and then he's got to go out to his parents for some things. Maybe I'll take a nap while he does that- Tacos for dinner.
Have a lovely Sunday everyone! Relax and enjoy this sunshine!

Spiders and Cologne

Cristian killed a spider for me yesterday.
I came home and saw one crawling along the window of the inside of our house. Stealthily I slipped my shoe off and smashed the sucker into the glass. Cristian came running up the stairs probably afraid if I went after the other one the glass would break. LOL. He killed it and then we set up a spider trap by the door. (I also plan on spraying the doors and windows with something that will assure their deaths) It's a really old house so there are cracks under all the doors and the windows are not in the best condition. That's fine. But doesn't mean I'm willing to let these disgusting creatures become a part of our home. :D

I'm just so glad he's killing them now. Before he had this weird thing about it. "Well, they're not hurting anyone". Actually. Yes. They are. Me in fact. They are hurting ME. I pulled the "well you're going to have to start killing them unless you want your wife and daughter to be bitten..." act on him and since then he's responded wonderfully. :D

I wanted to do a little update on our budget system were working into place.
We're going to start with the envelope system. It's worked well for my parents and I think it would work well for him since you can physically see the money depleting as you go through each envelope. I think the problem with him using a card is you really don't see the money, you just slide and swipe and go about on your little way. I'm also trying to help him understand that just knowing how much is in our checking isn't budgeting. It's about planning where the money from each pay check goes, and once you're out-you can't buy anything or dip into emergency funds. I think this will work. If it doesn't I have some other ideas in mind. Of course I'm open to ideas if any of you have them. We definitely need to get this under control though.

Yesterday I went to a cooking circut with mum. It was awesome. We talked about salads and were provided with a few recipes. Also, we were able to try 2 of them. My favorite was the Greek Salad. I'm hopefully going to purchase the ingredients for it today and all the fixings for the dressing.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
Spinach
Tomatoes, diced
Cucumbers, sliced
Red onions, sliced paper-thin
Feta cheese
Sunflower seeds
Olives, pitted
Pepperoncinis

Vinaigrette Suggestion
1/2 C Olive oil
1/4 C red wine vinegar
1 t garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 C lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Directions
Combine all salad ingredients in the proportion that you like.
Whisk oil, vinegar, garlic powder, oregano, lemon juice in bowl to blend.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Add a little vinaigrette to salad and toss to coat.

Seriously could have eat a HUGE bowl of this. Delicious. And totally healthy!

In other news I think it's high time we purchase Cristian some cologne. He would be embarrassed about me sharing this but I think it's hilarious. I've been wondering what he's been wearing because the smell has been really familiar. For whatever reason I couldn't place it and this morning I discovered what he's been doing. We have an air freshner in our room that has a timer to spray every 36 minutes ( strange time I know). He's been taking it out of the sprayer every morning and using that to "freshen up" as opposed to some legitimate cologne. Maybe I should feel sad at the lengths we're both going to in order to save money for a little family but I just laughed and laughed... I'm still laughing. So after work today we're going to sort that out (poor guy) and hopefully we'll have a few minutes to look around at scales.

I'm really looking forward to moving around again and being more physical once Violet has made her appearance. I've been looking up workouts I can do from home, and some that even incorporate her into them. It'll be good to have that to work on. I'm also on this cook of looking up some healthier meals for us to eat and that are within our budget. Good things ahead.

I'm out at my parents posting this. The mama bird is still on her little next by the front door. She has 4-5 eggs in there! I can't wait to see some baby birds chirping in that thing! So cute!



Saw this, so true :D

Comcast or Cash?

This morning I had the opportunity to help babysit Tayson (Casi's son), and also Violet's future husband:
That's him on my arm, and this is me 3 weeks away from my due date. It's definitely time for her to make her appearance wouldn't you say? I sure would! Cristian came over for lunch at the house (fish tacos)- I personally thought they were pretty good. Victoria did a good job and I feel full. Later I had to take Cristian back to work.

Cristian and my sister have this..thing..between them. I'm not sure what it is but they like to tease each other relentlessly back and forth. I don't really get it but I suppose as long of them neither actually get upset about something then it's fine. Right? I dunno. Anyway, my point is before we left Cristian decided to pull a little prank on her. This is what it looks like (and I think she has yet to see it):
Here's the story. A few months ago when we were in the process of cleaning out Cristian's shop and closing the place down we needed to find a place to store his car. My parents were kind enough to let us use the left side of their house (where we used to have an old gray van parked) for storing it. We had one of Victoria's friends tow it up and while they were trying to get it off the dolly Victoria headed out somewhere. On her way out of the driveway she crashed into one of the old empty garbage cans by the side of the house. Pretty funny for us, probably a little embarrassing for her but.. whatever. Anyways, Cristian likes to bring this up as often as he can to torment her (in a weird brotherly way) and so this was his way of accomplishing that this afternoon. Not sure what she'll say when she sees it, but I hope she finds it funny.

I finally got invited to Pinterest! I've been waiting for awhile which was probably a good thing because I can already tell I'm going to be one of those addicts. There's just so many things on that sight and so many good ideas. I wish I could come up with amazing creative things to do with leftovers, and old furniture and whatever but..... no. I found this awesome dresser garden. Cristian has an old one we were thinking about using for some of Violet's things, but it's to grungy and dirty and it probably won't get any better by cleaning it- we could use it for that though!

Lots of ideas.
I've got to be home around 4 because I guess some Comcast guy is coming out to check if we can get a signal where we live for wi-fi. Sighs.

8 to 8 1/2 LBS

This morning I had another appointment with the baby doctor. I haven't been feeling her move much so I was anxious to get in there and explain my concern.
Some good uncomplicated news first: I haven't gained any weight! Which is awesome, because I really just want to stay within the recommended weight gain. So things are on track that way.
They checked up some other things: blood pressure, heart beat, etc and then put me on the monitor because of the lack of movement.

She said I should be feeling 8 movements in an hour and if I'm not I should be in the hospital hooked up to a monitor. The thing is though, I hardly ever get that many movements so I'd be in there ALL THE TIME. She then said if that was the case then I should be doing it. Also, there could be a number reasons this was happening. It could be Violet's not getting enough oxygen to her brain, something wrong with the placenta, maybe I'm not focusing enough to feel the smaller movements and she really DOES have good movement, or perhaps she's just a sleepy baby. Because they don't know for sure what the issue could be it's reason to worry. It may be they have to induce me just to be sure. She's fully developed and on track to be about 8 8 1/2 lbs if I carry her full term but it may be we have her come a little sooner-depending on how the next few days go.
She also said she hoped that wouldn't be the case since I'm not dilated AT ALL and I could be in the hospital for a VERY long time if she has to induce. Not to sure what to think about everything at the moment but my sweet baby girl may be coming a little sooner than planned (I kind of knew already, just wasn't sure of why I felt that way-now I do).

In other news we finally have a blender/food processor/ mixer. This thing can do EVERYTHING. Cristian made peach mango slushies last night that were delicious. Definitely feeling awesome about the purchase. Pictures to come!!

face maced

Yep. Cristian was face maced at work yesterday afternoon (after the baby shower). I got a call from him at the 711 where he was trying to wash it off his face, but instead mostly just got it in his eyes. He was knocking on a customers door trying to pick up a collection when the guy flung it open, said "Get off my property" and sprayed him in the face. A few moments later the guy ran and Cristian called the store, who told him to call the cops.


Don't worry.
He's fine. This is him after he got out of the shower up at the hospital ( since it happened while on the job the company had to make sure that everything was good)
I can't believe this actually happened. They did catch the guy and he was arrested and charged with assault. I'm glad. Not gonna lie. But the customer certainly tried to. He told the cops he "thought it was a Mexican who was trying to steal his car parts". Um, that makes sense. Because if I was trying to steal someone's stuff I would knock on the door to make sure the guy knew about it.... duh....
Apparently though they've had trouble with this guy for the past 7 years but haven't been able to get him for anything (he's into Meth I suppose to) so... they finally did at poor Cristian's expense. He's pretty excited about the story though.

Right now I'm waiting for Talisa ( my sister) and her friends to show up so I can do a photo shoot for them in their prom dresses...more later maybe.

Baby Shower

Today was Violet and my baby shower. I slept SO well last night which resulted in me having a hard time peeling myself from the sheets early this morning. I haven't slept well in a few weeks and just didn't want it to end. But I did it. I got up, ate some breakfast and got ready for the day. I even had lunch half way ready for Cristian by the time he came home for his lunch break.

I was kind of anxious about the shower. I'm not really into being the center of attention for anything (I struggled with this at my bridal shower to) but things went better than expected and we recieved some really adorable things. The food was delicious and the turn out was decent. It was nice to see everyone and to talk with someone (Maria) about the upcoming weeks ahead of me. 3 1/2 weeks to go, which really means she could come anytime. The sooner, the better is what I'm feeling. So ready to get some of this weight off my frame and get to know my little girl. I'm so curious about what she'll look like and what her personality will be like. I almost have everything in place- need to go and pick up the crib and maybe stock up on a few things. I can take getting a nursing gown off my list since mum bought me one (really nice of her) and I got a gift card to Motherhood which is probably going to go towards a nursing bra :D

Cristian got to miss out on all the fun today because of work-really wish he could have been here with me, he would have LOVED it. But he'll see all those things later tonight.

Watching Maria run around with her babies today made me so excited.
Oh, and some other good news. I think I've finally convinced Cristian that coming up with some kind of budget system is a good idea. I'm not sure why he's so repelled by the idea of managing money (especially since he's the only one working right now) but... we're gonna have to get him over that if we're ever going to achieve any kind of financial security or zero debt. I'm going to try a few things and we'll see how each system turns out. It's gonna be trial and error for awhile.

This next month we'll be able to check off 2 more things that have been keeping us tight in the money area. To have to shop debt paid off, and not have to worry about this other thing with Cristian it will be some extra money to work with. And it will (personally) be a huge lift off my shoulders.

We don't know how much things are going to cost for Violet. Big changes coming up and I'd like us to be as secure as we can be for our current situation.
The shower wore me out and Cristian gets off at 630-better get a quick nap in.

Stokes and Bones

Cristian had his day off yesterday-which normally means a lot of running around trying to get done things that can only be done when he's with me. We worked out some of the things we've got to get done for him before Violet arrives and then spent some time outdoors!

We went to go feed to ducks at First Dam, it's something we really enjoy doing. I was feeding the geese out of my hand and even got him to try it. Think it scared him a bit, and I'll be honest, I kind of jumped back when one of the birds accidently nipped my finger. We saw some other ducks sitting on top of their eggs-it was pretty sweet to see. Next we went up to 3rd dam to try and see some rainbow trout-failed, then headed to Stokes Nature Trail.

I was really excited to show him the Red-Snapper Turtle they have there, the snakes, and even the tarantula but once there we found out it was closed (perhaps another day). All in all it felt good to be out and about enjoying the weather and getting a little bit of exercise. I almost crashed once home, but managed to put together something for dinner. We watched 2 episodes of Bones (we both are really enjoying this show) and then I crashed.








Totally nesting.
Everytime I walk by our new car seat I get excited. I just can't believe in a little under 4 weeks there's going to be a LIVE HUMAN BABY GIRL IN THAT THING. Pretty excited, but also a little anxious about all the changes. Also. I've been cleaning out cupboards so there is room for some of her things. Still need to figure out how I'm going to move my dresser, the mattress and frame I've been using on the floor ( because I can't fight Cristian for the blankets or space on the bed anymore-too much work) and where to fit the crib (which I still need to pick up from Melissa).

I'll probably have to figure out how to make more space after the baby shower tomorrow also. It's all good though.
Came out to my parents for a bit and saw the mama bird sitting in her nest. I'm so lame though, I tried to take a picture of her to put on this thing and scared her. :(

Probably a bad idea.
Need to figure out dinner tonight.

baby birds? yes please!

This morning I had to provide Medicaid with "proof of pregnancy". I don't know why I find this so hilarious. Maybe because the reason why they have this rule is because you KNOW somebody tried to fake their pregnancy and likely succeeded. Classic right? Oh the things we do for money. And stuff.

All good though, I sent in the faxes and hopefully here in the next couple of days I'll get a call saying we're clear and things are up and going. That would be a huge relief off my shoulders since I just found out we still have some other things of Cristian's to sort out before our daughter is here. Money is tight. But hopefully we'll make it.

Wanted to post this:
It's something that's given me a lift the last couple of days. We've been seeing a big fat red robin building this thing in my mum's wreath she hadn't taken down from Christmas. It's right next to the front door and so I've been wondering if the mama bird will actually nest in it. Turns out my sister Victoria has been walking in and out of the front door a lot today and mama bird has been sitting perched in it a couple of times. Unfortunately she wasn't there when I wanted to take a picture but I just love seeing stuff like this. Just warms my heart a little bit. I know, mushy right.. I mean seriously.. baby birds? But just think about the things that bring you simple joys and you'll understand what I'm feeling.

Not sure what we're going to do tonight to keep up my plan of interacting more with each other, and doing things that we normally don't do. I've been cramped up in the house all winter and with the weather warming up, my need to do things outside and active has been festering. Oh dear. Cristian doesn't know what he married ;) We did bucket lists last night, and it was fun to see what goals and dreams we both had. We even had several that we're the very same! (those pics will be added a little later)

Baby shower this Saturday and I'm kind of looking forward to it and more and more I'm becoming excited about being a mom. Saw some young mom's like me playing in the park with their little ones and I realized I just wanted Violet to be here. I can't wait to show her nature, take her places, teach her things and watch her grow. I hope she's as happy and active as the other babies I've been spending time with.

Anyways, we still have lots to get done today (it's Cristian's day off) so I better get going.
Hope you all have a good day!

tortillas to papusas

Been reading a friends blog (same friend I mentioned in the post before) and she came up with a list of fun ideas for her and her husband to make sure their spending quality time together ( They have 2 children and time is stretched). Don't get me wrong, it's not like Cristian and I are lacking in this area right now, we tend to have lots of fun and get lots of laughs out of just about everything. I just wanted to start doing some different things. By the time he gets off work at the end of the day we're both exhausted and sitting down to watch a movie sounds pretty good. I'd like to start limiting the amount of time we spend watching it. And so, I was reading some things on her list and one of them was "You teach me something, I'll teach you something".

So. Last night I had Cristian teach me how to make tortillas..which turned into papusas. It was pretty fun and we made a huge mess but I think he enjoyed it. All it is, is cornmeal, water, and then you put whatever you want in them (we used cheese, tomatoes, and marinated BBQ hamburger), and then put a little dash of Olive oil in the pan, fry them up and lastly, top them with whatever you want (we used salsa and sour cream) He LOVES to cook and is very talented at it. Now I've got to come up with something I can teach him. That'll be a different night. Tonight we're doing another thing on the list I thought would be fun. Each make a bucket list of at least 20 things and exchange and talk about them over dinner. I'm pretty excited to see what he has on his list, and it's given me something to think about today as I've cleaned our apartment.

Dusting, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom. I'd really like to start on cleaning out the window sills, and doing all of the windows in general. We live in the basement of an old house so I'm going to have to wait until this little one is out of me. I can't bend down that far ha ha!
I'm also implementing this other goal Melissa had posted on her blog: "No dishes in the sink". And so far ( this is only day 3 mind you) it has worked pretty well. Both of us have a hard time keeping the dishes out of the sink. We'll see how long we can both keep this up.

Anyways: Some pics from papusa night :DIn other news we should find out if we're approved for financial help with labor and delivery in the next couple of days. Everyone please cross your fingers! Also, hopefully we'll be getting the internet at our house this week-and what a sweetheart-Cristian checked with our landlord to give me the go on planting a garden!! Now I need to figure out where and what and how!

New stroller and car seat

Yes! We finally purchased a stroller and car seat combination. Have any of you out there seen "the Office" episode where Jan comes for a baby shower. Dwight with that stroller, hillarious. We went to Kid to Kid (Cristian knew all about it) and found a great deal. Almost exactly what I wanted (I wanted the transparent window on the top to be slightly bigger) and only $74. It has the wheels I want, it's been gently used and I think it will be perfect for Violet. I also love that it's collapses easily. It's also a cute color (earthy stripes). I'm not sure how Cristian felt pushing it around the store but I know for me the whole "I'm going to be a mom in almost exactly a month or sooner" finally hit me.

The whole thing has been a little surreal. And maybe that's why it's taken us so long to start getting things together. I haven't bought her any clothes, still haven't picked up the crib or prepared anything else. In fact I've been avoiding all the baby aisles and talking to people with children, oh, AND discussing the baby shower. It all hit me last night though and today all I can think about is getting the house clean, having meals prepared and getting my bag, her bag and Cristian's things in place. I believe this is what they call "nesting".

It might also explain why all of a sudden I want to go out and purchase baby books and puzzles.

Also. According to my last appt I'm 35 weeks along, which would push her arrival forward ANOTHER 2 weeks. May 9th. But I suppose instead of worrying about things I have no other choice but to let my baby girl decide when she's ready.

I hope she's ready soon.
After we've made a few more preparations.

Been reading a friends blog. She has all these good ideas about eating healthy, how to make time to keep up on exercise and sleep, cheap and fun creative things she does with her 2 adorable little kids, and how to make sure that her husband is involved in all of it. She touches on fun holiday ideas and traditions that their family has and has some interesting things to read. Mostly what I get from it is how much she LOVES being a wife and mother and right now I'm finding that very uplifting. I worry I'm not going to do a good job. Or that I'm not going to be satisfied being only those things. I am hoping though, with her arrival those things will change and I won't be thinking about all the selfish adventures I'm missing out on with this new event.

Travel ( I think this one is hard right now because we didn't really have a honeymoon, and with the job that Cristian has now it will be 8 more months until he can take time off. I AM grateful he has it-don't get me wrong)
School (for now)


I realize that's only 2 things, but in this moment, sacrificing those things seems hard. Once she's here I'm sure there won't be any time to worry about it. I just want to love it as much as she seems to. And as far as giving up things that I love to do-I'm hoping I find fun things to do WITH her which will be uplifting, productive, and satisfying for both of us. In all of this I worry about my husband. This little one will be occupying every crevice of my world for the first few months, getting used to her, putting together a routine, and trying to get bits of sleep and exercise in every chance I can get.

I've been reading about how new daddy's sometimes tend to feel neglected, or under appreciated. I've been trying to come up with some ideas I can put together NOW to help stave off some of that-if it happens. I'm pretty awful and voicing to him how much I DO appreciate what he's doing for our family and I need to put more effort into changing that. So time to put my thinking cap on and come up with a few things.

Tonight he's going to teach me how to make tortillas. Which means I need to get home, take the meat out of our freezer, and clean up the kitchen.