Pregnancy: 22 Weeks and 5 Days

I cannot believe I'll be 23 weeks along this Saturday!  That's more than halfway through this pregnancy!  Especially since we're going to induce sometime in August, since I'm considered double whammy high risk.

And yes, that IS a medical term lol.

So far, everything continues to go smoothly.  As I mentioned in my Menu Planning Monday post, I'm finally able to cook again, which has been really nice!  Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy my hiatus from the kitchen for a bit; however, I do enjoy cooking, and four months was a pretty long break!  I still have super-smell, but it's like the smells don't affect me as negatively as they used to...which is wonderful!

My RA hasn't responded to the pregnancy at all.  I'm taking 20 mg of prednisone a day, which basically lets me function as long as I don't overdo it.  Anyone care to guess how often I overdo?  Because it's waaay more than I should lol.  Anyway, I know a lot of my friends and family (and doctors) were hoping that I would get some pregnancy-caused relief starting in the second trimester.  After all, 75% of women with RA see some sort of remission.  I, however, am not at all surprised that my RA is not following the expected path.  It has seldom played ball in any other respect, so I really wasn't hanging my hat on the hope that it would this time.  That all said, the prednisone helps, and so does my wonderful hubby, so it's all good!

Other than that we continue to get the house ready!  I have a great local carpet cleaning company here today, cleaning the downstairs carpet and tile.  Oh my gosh, my carpets were SO DIRTY!!!  They actually changed colors as the guys worked.  Of course, that makes sense, seeing as we've been here for 3 years now (when did THAT happen?!?) and we've never cleaned the carpets.  Bryan and I painted the nursery a couple of weeks ago, and all the main furniture has been ordered, so those are some big check marks off the list.  Today, I'm upstairs with the pups cataloging donations and watching TV while the wonderful carpet cleaners work.  I figure I'll have them come back out to do the upstairs sometime in late June or July...that way it's freshly cleaned before we bring Caylee home!  And of course, that cleaning will mark the end of the pups' upstairs privileges lol.

Speaking of, little Miss Caylee continues to grow bigger and stronger every day!  Bryan and I have already preregistered for her delivery at the hospital, and we're signed up for a hospital tour/birthing class and a childcare class.  Those aren't until June--I wanted to do them sooner, but they ran out of room.  Speaking of running out of room, I've been feeling Caylee move for about the past two weeks, but this week she has really ramped up her efforts to make her presence felt!  She was so active the other night that she actually kept me awake after one of my many pee breaks!  I love feeling her kick and punch and move arounds--Bryan says I get a huge smile every time she does.  Sometimes the strangeness of the sensation sends me into giggle fits...it's the coolest sensation ever, but also one of the weirdest!  I can't wait until she really starts kicking the crap out of me...that way Bryan will get to feel her too!  We go back in next week for a check up and ultrasound...possibly our last Caylee sighting until she's in our arms.  I can't wait to see her again!!!

So that's the basic update rundown!  Now, I think I'm going to get back to cataloging...or maybe take a nap.  ;-)

Menu Planning Monday! No, Really!!!

I CAN COOK AGAIN!!!

Seriously, one of the hardest parts of this whole pregnancy thing (aside from no alcohol and no deli meats) has been my inability to cook.  First, it was because of the nausea combined with pregnancy Super Nose.  I could barely stand the smell of cooked food, let alone stand the smell of cooking food.  Then there was the aversion to raw meat...yeah, that was less than fun.  That's still there to some extent, but I think it's at a manageable level.  At least, it is today, so I'm going to assume it will be this whole week!  Lol I know what assuming does...but we'll see how it goes!

This whole return to cooking thing is timely too!  Little Caylee is growing bigger every day!  And moving around like crazy!  Yep, I can finally feel her moving and I never get tired of it!  I can't wait until she really starts kicking the crap out of me so that Bryan can feel her too!  Plus, we generally save more money when I'm cooking and, at this point, every dollar saved will help when Miss Caylee makes her arrival.  So, without further ado, here's the Menu Plan this week!

MONDAY:  Meat muffins and veggies

TUESDAY:  Lasagna and veggies

WEDNESDAY:  Dump BBQ Jelly Chicken

THURSDAY:  Spaghetti and meatballs

FRIDAY:  Sushi.  Hey, California rolls are still fair game!!!

SATURDAY:  TBA.  Possibly our night out this week.

SUNDAY:  Pizza!

Caylee Magnolia

That's the name of our little baby GIRL!!!

She's growing big and strong, consistently measuring about 5 days ahead of schedule.  As of today's checkup, her heart rate is 161 and I'll be 20 weeks along on Saturday!  I can't believe I'm almost halfway through this pregnancy!  I actually pre-registered with the hospital today, which makes the remaining 4 month period seem amazingly short.

Bryan and I have started ramping up our efforts to get the house ready.

We've made a ton of progress cleaning out the nursery this week, which is a good thing seeing as it has served as our catch-all storage room for the past three years!  I still have about four boxes to go through and sort out things to keep from things to donate and Bryan has a couple more. 

The painting project that is our bedroom and bathroom should be done within the next week, and then we'll move on to picking out the paint color for the nursery and painting it!  We've ordered the crib and the mattress, and picked out the bedding.  I'm still playing around with ideas for closet organization in the nursery, and we're looking at several different options for the rest of the nursery furniture.  Needless to say, we've been very busy and still have quite a bit to do!  Of course, I know none of it compares to how busy we'll be once she's here, but I can't wait until she's done baking!

I hope everyone is doing well, and I'll try to do better about updating more often!

Special Delivery!

Hello all!  I know...a 3 month hiatus is a bit extreme, even for me!  However, I promise I have a very good reason.

I'M PREGNANT!!!!!

I thought about posting sooner, but it was a case of my mind (and heart) being SO FULL that I just couldn't bring myself to write any of it down.  If I had started, I don't know if I would have been able to stop!  

As I've mentioned before, Bryan and I had been trying to get me pregnant since February of 2011.  Having gone off of all my RA medications back in November of 2010, we knew we only had until January of 2012 to try.  At that point, my rheumatologist really wanted me back on my meds...and as of the beginning of this past December, we were beginning to feel that was exactly what was going to happen.  In other words, we were getting a bit discouraged.  At one point, we even decided to stop trying altogether.  Obviously, that decision didn't stick lol.

On Christmas Day, I took a home pregnancy test, and it came back positive!  I'm now 13 weeks along, and we just had our first trimester screening ultrasound.  The baby looks completely healthy, and sure likes to kick and squirm!  I can't feel the movements yet, of course, but they were fun to watch on the ultrasound screen!

In another 5 weeks we'll find out for sure what we're having!  I'm just glad the baby is healthy, and glad to have made it through the first trimester.  I know I'm still very early in my pregnancy, but all signs are indicating a strong, healthy little one growing inside me!

The increase in my sense of smell is unreal, and the nausea hasn't been pleasant...but it also hasn't been too bad!  I've only thrown up once!  And this past week it finally started to get slightly better!  That said, morning sickness is a misnomer.  I get nauseous in the evenings, which has made figuring out dinners a challenge!  But that's ok...hopefully in a couple more weeks I'll be mostly nausea free and can start cooking again!

Our due date is September 2nd, but the baby will be here in August.  Because of my high risk status, my OBGyn wants to schedule an induction sometime in the second half of August, which is perfectly fine by me!  Oh, and you can bet your behind that I WILL have an epidural lol!

So, that's what's been going on with me the past few months! 

 Bryan and I are so very excited about our little one!

Menu Planning Tuesday!

Life is good!  It's been extremely busy lately, which explains the lack of posts.  However, I'm going to make a concerted effort to start posting regularly again.  Heck, I can always squeeze in a knitting post or two!  Speaking of, I'm almost done with my Gan Gan's Christmas shawl!

Other than that, Thanksgiving has come and gone.  It's strange to me that we're already at the end of November 2011.  Normally, we head to the hill country for Thanksgiving, but not this year.  I had some doctor appointments to sort out, so we stayed in town.  That's not to say we didn't still have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We celebrated with Bryan's Papa and Mimi, and Aunt Kris and the kiddos, on Wednesday night, and then we spent all day Thursday with Bouncer and Alicia and his parents!  It was a wonderful day and--thanks to Alicia--a wonderful meal!  The Aggie football game could have had a happier ending, but it was a wonderful holiday overall.

Oh, and Bryan finished painting the living room!  Now, we just have to touch up the stairwell, and paint our bedroom and bath!

Anyway, that's a brief update--on to the menu plan this week!

Breakfast:  some combination of egg, toast, fruit and/or yogurt with cottage cheese with milk

Lunch:  turkey and cheese sandwich or PBJ for me, leftovers or buying for Bryan

Dinner:

MONDAY:  We went out to eat.

TUESDAY: Grilled Shrimp Tostadas.

WEDNESDAY: Gan Gan's Meatloaf

THURSDAY: Feta and Basil Stuffed Chicken

FRIDAY:  Salad with Pan-fried Lime Chicken

SATURDAY:  Bryan has a ride, so I may or may not be on my own.  If I am--sushi!  If not, out to eat!

SUNDAY: Spaghetti with Meatballs and Garlic Bread

Knitting Up A Storm: Baby Booties!

No, they're not for me.

I have several amazing friends who have either just popped out a baby or who are about to!  I am so happy for them and their hubbies, and for the little ones who are about to enter into some pretty amazing, loving families.  To celebrate their arrival to this crazy party we call life, I bought a great knitting pattern book called Blankets, Booties and Bears by Debbie Bliss and picked out several booty patterns to attempt.

These projects were not without their challenges, especially because they were all knit on size 2 needles.  Talk about tiny knitting needles!  Also, these were my first attempts at baby booties, and as such, incorporated my first attempts at several knitting techniques.  But it was so much fun to watch these projects grow and come together!

The first set was a pair of purple and pink booties for Kaz and Ron's Eva, who should make her appearance towards the very end of the year!

 The second pair of booties were little blue boots for Arena and James's Andrew, who arrived a bit ahead of schedule.  He's growing and getting stronger every day and sure is a cutie!

The second set of booties was actually two pairs of cute little boots!  Melissa and Dustin are welcoming twin girls this coming January!  I didn't want to make anything "matchy matchy", so I reversed the colors instead!

If the babies get their daddies' feet, then these will fit right away!  If not, they might have to grow into them.  But either way, these booties will keep their little toes all nice and cozy!

Menu Planning Wednesday!

Hello y'all! I promise there are posts in the works that have nothing to do with menu planning. There's a knitting project post and a life update post and a friends post and a faith post. But all of that has to wait until I can actually type on a keyboard again instead of playing hunt-and-peck on the IPad's touchscreen. Yes, the RA is still that bad. But things could still be worse! And let me just say I am so grateful for the blessing that is my wonderful husband. Anyway, here's this week's menu plan.
Breakfast: eggs w/ toast, yogurt w/ fruit
Lunch: Ham and Cheese Sandwich or leftovers
Dinner:
Wednesday: Feta and Basil Stuffed Chicken
Thursday: Fettuccine w/ Alfredo Sauce and Immitation Crab Meat
Friday: Big Salad w/ Lime Chicken Tenders
Saturday: Leftovers or out to eat
Sunday: Spaghetti and Meatballs w/ Garlic Bread