since the weather has gotten nice and chilly (except for today, with it being in the 70's and on a tornardo watch) i have decided to start baking. a lot. jon and i won't be home for christmas this year, making it the first year i've ever not celebrated with my family. sad. with that, i decided that i want us as a family to carry on family traditions as well as start some new ones of our own. every year my mom makes a plethora of cookies, so i decided for the first time i will get all the recipes and make a bunch of my own. over the years she has added some new ones, but i'm sticking with the originals for the most part. in the last week i have made chocolate mint snow-top cookies, snickerdoodles, no bake coconut cookies, peanut butter blossoms, mrs. field's oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies, and a new addition by me; andes mint fudge. at first jon was semi-annoyed at the added expense and absurd amount of cookies, but it has been such a nostalgic experience for me and i think he started to realize that. all i have left to make are coconut chocolate chip cookies and a few new additions....mint chocolate covered pretzels and hot peppermint fudge. in a couple weeks i'm gonna jar the fudge in crafty mason jars (blog and pictures to follow) and plate up assortments of cookies and pass them out to friends :) if any of those cookies sound tasty to you, message me on facebook and i'll be happy to share the recipe.
now for a bump update. makena is growing like a weed. and because of that, i got "lectured" by my doctor about gaining too much weight in between appointments. she did tell me that it looks like i'm only gaining in my belly, which is good. she said to "just" cut out carbs and sugars (umm, are you kidding me?) from my diet. there is no way i'd be able to completely do that but for the sake of my body i've decided to shape up when it comes to my food and snack choices. i did a grocery run and bought healthy snacks like celery and carrots and broccoli and hummus and pita. It's no flavor blasted extreme goldfish but i guess i need to stop being selfish and give both me and my baby the proper nutrients. i have my glucose test coming up in 2 weeks. for those of you who don't know what that is, you basically have to drink an overly-sugary drink and then get your blood drawn to check for gestational diabetes. with the amount of sugar i was eating up until a week ago, i'm slightly considered i won't "pass" the test. results to follow. we also had an appointment with the high risk OB last week which was awesome. i brought jon just in case they did an ultrasound, since he had to miss the 19 week one. turns out they did do one! i was overjoyed that he got to see his daughter squirming around inside of me. of course she was jabbing, punching and kicking me as usual. the doctor was even surprised at how strong and active she is. again he commented on how chubby her cheeks are and how round her little face is. i can't believe our baby is gonna be a chunky monkey! it's pretty dang cute but where in the world did that come from? he also noted that she is measuring about a week ahead in every category. i asked if she is gonna be a big baby and he said that typically when they develop this quickly so early on, it continues throughout the pregnancy. maybe we will end up having a valentine's day baby? she weighed 1 lb 15 ounces last thursday so she's definitely over 2 lbs by now. everything looked great, including the placenta which is where my blood would clot, but he said it looks very clear!
 |
| 25 weeks. starting to really fill out these maternity shirts :) |
 |
| straight shot of her face with her right hand up by her eye. |
 |
| profile of our little chunky monkey. |
last but not least i'll give a little update of our financial situation. as you know, we recently switched to the envelope cash method and are loving it. we finally sold jon's truck which was a huge blessing because in doing that, we were able to pay off that loan and put 11k toward my jeep. also, our car insurance dropped by about $75 a month. it's amazing to see how God will provide if you stop and listen to what He's telling you to do. other things that have "fallen into place" this month include a $100/month decrease in our rent for next year, cheaper gas bill and unexpected and generous baby gifts showing up in the mail. i can't encourage this new financial approach enough. in less than 6 months we will be debt-free (all we have left is a small balance on the jeep) and the burden and stress that has been lifted because of it is overwhelming. learning to make sacrifices and have patience has been a much-needed lesson for me and it's great to watch it pay off now.
i'll leave you with that for today. check back in a few days for some new recipes (including chicken and corn chowder and flavored kale chips) and a couple of crafts that i've been working on (including cute fridge magnets, button art and date night ideas). xoxo!
No comments:
Post a Comment