Heartburn Tea update....

I posted about this tea that I found at Babies R Us the other day and I have to say ....I LOVE IT. It tastes good and after 3 consecutive nights of using it after my meal ...it seems to be working! Woohoo! :)

Baby gear....

I had to share some of the adorable little items I added to the registry this weekend! So cute!


I love this little turtle play gym!!!! And this sweet little elephant themed pack and play!!!

Quesadilla Recipe...

***The recipe is mine, the picture is not :)***

Josh and I love Mexican food....so any chance I get to create my own version of a dish from restaurants I'll do it. Here is another favorite of ours that I'd like to share with you.

What you'll need:

(How much you will need: I've only made it for Josh and I so I never need very much of each ingredient...except cheese...my husband LOVES cheese. I would estimate for two you need about 1/3 cup of the corn, 1/3 cup of the peppers and 1/3 of the black beans, onions I add only a little, so I would say a tbsp finely chopped onion)

whole wheat (or whatever you prefer) tortillas

sour cream for dipping

Sargento artisan mexican cheese blend

chicken or beef strips ***saute the chicken or beef strips and set aside until ready to assemble***

cilantro for garnish

Corn

black beans

red, green, yellow peppers

onion or shallot

***These will be sauted in olive oil and then added to the tortillas before grilling the tortillas***

garlic powder

salt/ pepper

cayenne pepper

***season the veggie mix to taste***

Once everything is prepped, just assemble your quesadillas and grill on both sides...then cut into wedges, plate, garnish with a dollop of sour cream in the center, add a sprig of cilantro and you're good to go! Enjoy!

Newbie mistake...lesson learned!

Ever since I got pregnant I've been thinking about what decor we wanted for the nursery. We pretty much had an idea all along of what we wanted....nature themed....woodland creatures....that sort of thing. Since at the time I wasn't in school yet, silly me thought, "oh I'll just make it all myself....curtains, bedding, you name it!" Yeah right....now at 6 months preggo and busy/tired all the time, I'm realizing that that's just not gonna happen. I tend to let my good intentions get the best of me and think I can do it all! Guess I have to accept the fact that I'm not superwoman...shoot! Not to mention I seem to be having a really hard time pulling the whole thing together. So we had to go back to the drawing board and start over...using as much of what we had gotten already and making it work.

So....here are some lessons I learned from all of this:

#1 Wait until you know what you're having before picking the decor (if you're finding out the sex) because no matter how much you think you want a neutral nursery, you might change your mind once you know!

Check.

#2 Unless you have the time and energy to tackle a major project like making a nursery from scratch....don't kid yourself!

Check.

#3 When trying to plan a nursery....pick the bedding first....then the rest of the accents/colors!

Check.

At first I was so frustrated with myself, about the whole thing because nothing was turning out the way I had hoped ( I love the individual pieces, but it's just not working as a whole) but you know what, thanks to my sweet hubby, we're laughing at it now. Thank GOD it's pretty simple fixes...repaint the picture frames and letters....pick the bedding and accessories... not too bad. Everything can be reused. If the artwork doesn't work then it will work just as well in the living room. Crisis averted. (I was losing sleep over this people! Lol...I'm blaming the crazy preggo hormones, but I felt like I was just picking the wrong thing for my child! I can't explain how nutty I felt until I had it all figured out! Please tell me I'm not alone in this ;0) lol!)

Anyway, so here's what we came up with....like I said, the "theme" is still the same, just more masculine and colorful. :)

Heartburn relief...I hope!

I haven't tried it yet, I just bought it today, but I'm praying it works! :)

23 weeks...

He's growing!!!!

Daddy modeling the shirt our dear friends got him for Father's day! :)

How far along? 23 weeks and 2 days today!

How big is baby Jaden? He's a little over a pound and about 8 in in length. He's filling out a bit adding subcutaneous fat...his movements are becoming more and more obvious as he's gaining strength and getting bigger.

Weight gain: I haven't weighed myself yet this week but I'm guessing between 20 and 22 lbs. I've noticed quite an increase in the size of the belly in the last few weeks!

Maternity clothes: Definitely. I need to buy more!

Sleep: What's that?!

Best moment of the week: Josh got to see Jaden moving around in my belly....he's been so active! It's the neatest and strangest thing all at the same time! Another cute moment....Josh: "Jaden needs to hurry up and get here!" Me: "Umm...no...he needs to finish baking!" (Daddy is eager to meet his little boy! It melts my heart! He's getting more and more excited! He's already a great daddy!)

Foods I love: Hmm...well, I love salads and fresh veggies and such, but for some reason while I enjoy eating them, I always regret it afterward. I get nauseous and the heartburn has been out of control lately. It doesn't matter what I eat I feel like I swallowed pure acid! Tums isn't really working to well! It's not doing much of anything actually. I still love my veggie bacon! I almost cried last week when both Walmart and Publix were out of it! So this week I bought three packs, just in case, lol! Still love my Nutella on whole wheat bread, and Kashi cereal. Bananas.....Mexican food....

Movement: Definitely...it's the best thing in the world. It makes all the heartburn and rearranging of my pelvis (...that's a whole other story lol. I think Jaden's trying to get comfortable...and boy it's been hurting!) it makes it well worth it to see my belly dancing!

Belly button: Outie, and we're noticing the linea nigra...I thought I was seeing it, but wasn't sure and then Josh pointed it out....

Morning sickness: It mostly depends what I eat. The last few weeks I've had it in the afternoon and evenings and after eating salads and fresh veggies....I don't get it....but hey....as long as he's healthy!

too cute!

I found these today online....I LOVE THEM. They're so cute!

http://www.beehivekitchenware.com/products/products.php?itemno=BS-B&cat=category_baby

PS- I'm sorry I've been so absent all week. I'm slammed with statistics....but I needed to take a break and look at baby stuff for a little while today! ;0)

One of my favorite things....

about our weekends...is spending time with my husband in the mornings eating a home made breakfast! That's a little tradition I hope to continue as we have our children...it's our special family time! :)

22 weeks...

How far along: 22 weeks today!

How big is baby Jaden? Approximately 7.6 inches and 12-13 oz. The ticker says he's around the size of a papaya fruit. His senses and awareness are increasing daily. He is able to learn about his body and surroundings through touch now. He is sucking his thumb...has fully grown fingernails and is wiggling around a lot more!

Total weight gain: 18 lbs!!! I couldn't believe it when I stepped on the scale at Publix this evening! The belly is really starting to grow! Fast! Just in the last week we've noticed quite a change!

Maternity clothes: Yup! In the last week I've come to terms with the fact that while most maternity shirts are still too big...at least the ones I had been given and the ones I saw at Target....I am not able to squeeze into many pre-pregnancy shirts anymore. They're getting far too tight at this point. I look ridiculous in most of my clothes, lol. Even some of the smaller maternity pants are looking more like spandex! I'm not sure what's grown more....the behind or the belly! ;0)

Sleep: I don't know what it is...I mean I've never been a great sleeper, even before pregnancy, but lately I just sleep terribly! I wake up so much during the night for various reasons...mostly because I need a potty break, or a glass of water (or my kitty boy decides 2 am is a great time for love?!) ....Josh and I have to get up way early to get him out of the door by 4:15 ish in the a.m. so he can commute 2 hrs to his job...by the time I crawl back into bed...and finally fall back asleep I'm lucky to get an extra 45 min to an hour before my alarm goes off...you get the idea. I'm exhausted most days!

Best moment of the week: I got to watch my belly bouncing around, lol. On Tuesday that little boy was moving around like he was training for some sort of sporting event! It was priceless! It was the first time I got to see the belly moving!

Also Daddy came up with a nickname for his boy, lol. "Little big J" haha....I don't know where he comes up with this stuff! ;0)

Foods I love/hate: Still loving OJ....Veggie bacon...homemade enchiladas!!! Still love my Nutella. Kashi go lean Cereal! Hot breakfast (hashbrowns, scrambled eggs with cheese, pancakes, etc)...I bought gummy prenatals and vitamin C and I actually look forward to taking them now, lol! Thank you Target!

Movement: Yes! I love it! There is nothing like it. It makes my heart melt!

Belly button: Oh yes, it's continuing it's journey outward! It pokes through my clothes for sure!

Morning Sickness: Oddly the last few nights I've been nauseous....this whole week was kind of "off" for me...but we're way better than at the beginning...certainly can't complain there! Could be way worse!

Meatloaf redo...

I had been trying to find a good recipe for meatloaf for Josh for a very long time. In fact, when we first got married he thought he didn't like meatloaf....he just never had MY meatloaf recipe ;0) After playing with several different recipes over the years I've come up with one of my own that he LOVES! Sweet success!

*The above pic isn't a pic of my meatloaf because I was a slacker and forgot to take a pic...but you get the idea ;0)*

**I make it large enough for dinner and leftovers for him (since I'm a vegetarian, lol)

...so basically it serves 2**

Approx. 10 oz ground beef

1 tbsp shallots

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1 rounded tbsp brown sugar

1/3-1/2 cup bread crumbs

2 tbsp ketchup

1/8 cup milk

one egg

shredded sharp cheddar

mix all ingredients together...add half of the mixture into a glass baking dish (spray with cooking spray first) making a "crater" in the center, add in shredded sharp cheddar and top with remaining mix. Bake at 400 degrees until browned on top and internal temp reaches approximately 165 degrees.

ENJOY! :)

21 weeks...the pics

These were taken way late....it's been a busy week. We took them yesterday at 21 weeks and 5 days, still counts though right?! I mean technically it's still 21 weeks ;0)

(I had to include my sweet little Lelani "holding" and "hugging" her human brother! It was too sweet not to share!)

I can't figure out how to move the pics around in the order I want them??? Any tips?

Sunday Scriptures...

Today in Church we started a new topic called "Heading Home", by Pastor Todd. It's a study about Phlilipians. I love our Church! Our Pastors are amazing godly men that somehow manage to deliver a powerful message that feels very personal week after week! When we switched churches at the very beginning of this year I was very nervous about the whole idea...for many reasons. Mostly I just tend to feel uncomfortable meeting new people. I tend to be very shy at first...anyway, it's a larger church than I am used to, and we've had kind of a crazy schedule and many days of morning sickness over the last 7 months so actually meeting and getting to know people has been a rather slow process, but we've both felt more at peace at this church than any of the others before. We actually feel spiritually fed which is something we hadn't really felt in a while.

Anyway, what I was getting at was that as always, Pastor Todd's message was very on topic with where Josh and I are in our lives right now.
One of the verses he brought up was Philipians 1:27 "Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven"....in other words, we need to stand out from the crowd. We should behave in a way that shines a bright light in a dark world. (Not exactly always an easy task when you feel Satan trying to beat you down with one challenge after the next, but never the less it is our calling). This world is not our home and we should always stay focused on eternity and behave accordingly.

Some of the other points he made:

Philipians 1:6
" GOD, who began a good work in you will continue HIS work until it is completed"
***However spiritual growth doesn't just happen, you have to be intentional about it. You have to put forth a good effort in growing spiritually...know what truly matters in life and focus on those things***

You were made for eternity!
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" 2 Cor 4:18


He closed with this quote:
"It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one" CS Lewis


I hope that everyone had a blessed weekend! Ours was rather busy and in some ways frustrating, (poor Josh is going through a lot at work and feels pretty discouraged and stressed out. His truck unfortunately needed a lot of work when we took it in for routine things...costing us way more than we were ready to spend, I have a big test tomorrow that I feel nowhere near ready to take....the kitties are headed to the Vet next Saturday for their annual appts which usually ends up costing a fortune....and the following week we need to try and take the car in for new tires and breaks as well....among other things! My prayer is that we both make it through the next couple of weeks and not get discouraged. Staying focused on the important things! :)

If you have a chance this week, stop by this blog www.our-journey-to-parenthood.blogspot.com/ and pray for this couple. They had to deliver their little baby boy at 27 weeks due to some complications. You may have noticed the little button on my blog...I'm sure they'd appreciate all the support and prayers they can get!
Have a wonderful week and if my comments and blog entries are still a bit sporatic or non-existent I'm sorry...we've got a lot going on right now. I'll do my best to keep in touch! :) Much love!

21 weeks....

How far along: 21 weeks and 1 day!

How big is baby Jaden? He is measuring approximately 7.2 inches long and probably about 12 or 13 oz...the book I have says 11...but he weighed that at the ultrasound a week ago. The little pregnancy ticker says he's the size of a banana....but that doesn't really seem right, lol?!

Total weight gain: roughly 13 lbs, but I haven't checked it this week.

Maternity clothes: still bottoms...I'd so love to go on a shopping spree right now ;0)

Sleep: Pretty much the same. I had a couple of nights where I slept better because I'm not coughing as much, but of course I still have to get up for regular potty breaks....

Best Moment of the week: Yesterday during class little Jaden was going bananas in my belly! Haha! I was trying so hard to focus on Statistics and he kept kicking and punching. He was WAY more active yesterday than he has been thus far! It was so funny. I had a huge grin on my face!

Foods I love/hate: I'm still loving the veggie bacon, fruits, and veggies (although I haven't been eating all that great since I got sick) and lately I've been craving cole slaw and veggie egg rolls, as well as sandwhiches!

I still don't care for much onion or garlic, which is good since it gives me heartburn anyway. I get heartburn even with out being pregnant but this week I've had it even more than usual. Sometimes it feels like I swallowed a fire breathing dragon!

Movement: definitely! He's becoming more active.

Belly button: has definitely popped out! If I can muster the nerve I'll post a pic....it's still a little odd to me having had an innie all my life, lol.

Morning sickness: not really...only on occasion. Fine by me! :)

mmm.....

Ina Garten's Crunchy Asian Noodle Salad!

www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/crunchy-noodle-salad-recipe/index.html

I'm sure I've mentioned it before....I love watching Barefoot Contessa! This afternoon she made this salad and to be honest...I may have been drooling just a little! :0) Thought I'd share the link with you to the recipe. Enjoy!

I'm in love with this store!

I finally looked at the maternity clothes at Motherhood Maternity! I AM IN LOVE! These clothes are soo cute! I posted pics of some of my favorites (I could post A LOT more...but thought I'd spare you ;0) lol). They're perfect for work/church, etc! So cute!

Diaper bag search....

(www.babiesrus.com)

I've been searching for diaper bags for a while now (well, pretty much since I found out I was pregnant). I hadn't really been able to find one that I LOVE....they were either too expensive, too small, not neutral enough, had bad reviews, or a combination of these things. It was to the point where I thought I was going to have to make one. Which under different circumstance would be just fine, but sometimes I take on more than I can handle...and I still have a lot of projects to tackle. Not to mention I'm still learning to sew...pillow cases are pretty simple, but to attempt a quality diaper bag....that's a bit more advanced than I think my skills are.

Then the other day I found this beauty! The pattern is lovely, reviews are good, the price is great and it supposedly is larger than the picture makes it look...with out qualifying as a suit case. I've seen some so small you wonder how you'll fit everything in them and some so large you wonder how am I going to carry this diaper bad and an infant????

Anyone else have these troubles with diaper bags? ;0)

July 4th....

20 weeks 3 days...

Jaden and I attempted to be festive even though I was still feeling icky. You can't see it in the pic, but we were wearing a red necklace too ;0)

Monday, Monday!

Let me tell you, I am so thankful that there is no school today! I can't believe I still have not gotten caught up on all of my schoolwork. Not to mention this icky thing my body is trying desperately to fight just does not want to go away. I hope that you all had a great Holiday weekend. Our Church service yesterday was so awesome! I love our pastors. If you ever want to check them out online...www.gochristfellowship.com.

We actually didn't really do too much as far as celebrating....we had been invited to Josh's sisters house, but with three little ones, I didn't really think that getting them sick too would be a great idea. Plus there was plenty to do around the house. Josh has been busy with his music on the weekends since he really doesn't get any time during the week. The weather was pretty dreary too. I heard some people shooting off fireworks, but I didn't see any...usually when they shoot them off at the fair grounds we can see them from our balcony. I think by 10pm I was dozing off while working on my Statistics homework and decided to attempt getting in bed. By 10:15 I was back out on the couch because my coughing was keeping my poor husband up. I figured one of us should be able to sleep.

Jaden was more active yesterday, he gave me a few good kicks. It makes me so much more relaxed when I can feel him wiggling and kicking! I enjoy that part of pregnancy so very much! The belly is changing. I read this week that right about now the uterus is lifting higher up into the abdominal area and I'm thinking that may be why I wasn't able to feel him as much the last several days, he may have been positioned in a way that made it hard to feel...you can definitely see the change in my belly. My belly button is coming out more and more...Josh and I were just laughing about it yesterday. Just in the last day it's changed so much.

I can't wait to get going on more projects at home. It seems like there just isn't enough time to do it all. I was so happy that I made time for a little bit on Saturday. I really want to start making some progress on it before I get too big, lol. I doubt I'll be able to do too much of that sort of thing in the third trimester when the belly is protruding so far out that bending is nearly impossible ;0)

Anyway, that's about all that's been going on around here! :0) Hope you all had a lovely weekend! Much love!

Sunday Scriptures....

Wisdom:

I have been spending a lot of time in proverbs, particularly searching for advice on wisdom. I am by nature a very emotional person and in the past have often made rash decisions based on emotions rather than patience and wisdom. Often it's those decisions we look back on and think "Why did I do that? If only I had...." Thank GOD he's never let any true harm come our way, but I definitely want to educate myself better in this area so that when baby Jaden gets here I can set a good example for him. Hopefully he'll avoid making his parents mistakes.

So here's what I found yesterday....I found many more in the last several days/weeks, but I figured I go ahead and just share a few.

"...wisdom is more precious than rubies" Proverbs 8:11

"the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" Proverbs 9:10

"a fool finds pleasure in evil conduct, but a man of understanding delights in wisdom" Proverbs 10:23

"wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out in the gateways of the city she makes her speech" Proverbs 1:20-21

(this one is my favorite because it says to me that wisdom already is a part of us....we just have to quiet all of the noise of the world to discern what she is trying to tell us!)

Happy Sunday and happy 4th of July! I pray it's a great day for you and your families.

Love,

Nadine

20 weeks...

How far along? 20 weeks and 1 day

How big is baby? He is about the size of a small canteloupe. He weighs 11 oz! Scalp hair and toenails are beginning to grow.

Total weight gain: 12 lbs

Maternity clothes: Still just bottoms. Tops still seem to be fitting...a few have gotten a little snug, but most of the maternity tops are just too big.

Sleep: This week was rough because I've been sick which doesn't help at all. I had some very sleepless nights. We're trying to get back on schedule...

Best moment of the week: Ultrasound! WE FOUND OUT WE'RE HAVING A BOY!!!!

Foods I love: same

Foods I hate: same

Movement: Yes, although the last couple days he's been a little lazy ;0) We saw him wiggling around on the ultrasound, but since then it hasn't been as noticable. He gave Daddy a couple of kicks last night, otherwise I'd be freaking out. I hate when I can't feel him move...it's so reassuring to feel that he's ok ;0)

Gender: He's a boy!!! Jaden Scott!

Belly Button: on it's way out

Morning Sickness: not very often now...only in the evenings on occasion and when I get too hungry.

For Baby Cohen!!!