5 weeks

How far along? 5 weeks

Due Date: According to my LMP August 29, 2011.  According to Fertility Friend and my ovulation date, August 28, 2011. Not much of a difference

Total weight gain/loss: +5lbs thanks to the holidays. I am going to Zumba tonight to help take care of some of that!

Maternity clothes? Not yet. My jeans still fit fine.

Stretch Marks? Not yet. I do have a few light ones on my sides from the previous pregnancies, but none on my belly.

Sleep: exhausted!!! I can easily sleep 10+ hours at night and still wake up exhausted and with swollen eyes.

Best moment this week: My sister finally announcing that she is pregnant as well!!! She is 4 weeks ahead of me and we both are due in August! Oh, and we have the same doc and deliver at the same hospital. This should be fun! :)

Movement: still too early for this

Food cravings: food in general....does that count? :)

Food aversions: sweets

  

Gender: unknown

Labor Signs: too early

Belly Button in or out? Innie and has never popped out. Although, I've never made it past 34 weeks so who knows if I make it full term.

What I miss: being able to go out for drinks with the girls. I miss my margaritas!

What I am looking forward to: my first doc appointment next month and sharing this experience with my sister.

  

Milestones: Our baby is the size of a sesame seed and his/her brain and heart will develop this week. How cool is that?!

*I am not afraid to share our pregnancy so early on. I feel (and this is MY opinion for myself) that pregnancy is a complete joy to share with the world. Yes, I may have a miscarriage, but I'm not ashamed if that should happen. Sometimes it does and it's in God's hands. I will share and be overjoyed while God has given me this opportunity to carry a precious little baby. If He decides to end my pregnancy, then that is His will. 

It's over

Christmas that is. We have so many places to go on Christmas that it almost seems never ending sometimes. We had a wonderful Christmas and are very blessed with the great family and friends that we have. 

The boys got lots of wonderful toys. Peytonn was very excited to receive a big boy Razor scooter from Santa. Both boys got new Keen sandals for the summer. They also got lots of trucks, tractors, and big blocks. 

Hubby and I didn't exchange gifts because we bought a new T.V. last month and that was our anniversary and Christmas present to each other.  Hubby got some giftcards to Lowe's and some clothing as well. He also got some accessories for his truck.

I got some great items as well. My favorites are the new Vera Bradley baby bag that I got from my sister.

I also got the cookbook from Pioneer Woman. Love it!!!

I absolutely love her recipes and this cookbook. It is designed very much like her website where the recipes have a complete step by step tutorial for the recipe. So far I have made 2 recipes from the cookbook: Chicken spaghetti and Chocolate Sheet cake. Both were excellent, as expected! Every recipe that I have ever tried of hers is wonderful. I highly recommend you check out her website: Pioneer Woman

And it begins..

I had my first moment of "I think I'm going to throw up!" this morning. Actually, it stated during the night. I just remember throwing the covers off at 2am and running to the bathroom. I stood over the toilet and kept spitting. Finally the feeling passed and I was able to walk back to the bed. I don't know if I just got too hot while sleeping, but I remember being extremely hot when I ran to the bathroom.

Then when I woke up at 6am, I still felt like crap and that I might throw up. I wasn't able to eat any breakfast. I was able to get my Prilosec and Vitamin C pill down with some water before even the water made me want to throw up.  I took my 3 vitamin pills and my Omega pill with me to work in the hopes that I would be able to take them later.

It was really hard to pack my lunch this morning when I couldn't even stomach any breakfast. I just packed a few ravioli left over from last night and a salad. Nothing too heavy or big, in case I still wasn't feeling well.

I called the doc about my heartburn.  They told me to do a 14 day cycle of Prilosec and see if that gave me any relief. If not, then I could call back. I am on day 2 and no relief so far. The package says it can take up to 4 days. I also have this constant knot in my throat. It makes me feel like something is stuck in there and that I am choking.  This is bad, but I almost wished I would have thrown up so that maybe it would get rid of this knot in my throat.

I've also fell asleep for the past 2 nights with Peytonn at 7:30 or 8pm. I then just crawl in bed and sleep the rest of the night and still wake up with bags under my eyes at 6am. I am just so exhausted! Now I remember how exhausting the first trimester is!

I also got my maternity pants in the mail the other day. I got my ususal size in Gap jeans. They barely fit, I mean I could get them up, but definitely not cute! So I exchanged them for the next size up. I really like the fit of the dress pants, they are very relaxed through the hip and thigh, which I like. I would highly recommend them!

Maternity pants

I wrote a little bit yesterday about buying some maternity jeans and pants. I currently have none because I gave all of my maternity clothing away after having Bennett.  I own 3 pairs of the Long and Lean jeans from Gap and they are my absolute favorite jeans, EVER! I just adore them. They fit in all the right places. I am kind of sad that eventually I won't be able to fit in them anymore. So, I went searching on Gap's website to see if they had anything similar in maternity jeans. Sure enough, they have Long and Lean maternity jeans!!! Score!

I got a pair and I am glad I did last week when they were $10 cheaper than they are now. I also got them in the Demi panel, instead of the full panel. I had the full panel when I was preggo with Bennett and they always slipped down. I felt like I was constantly pulling my pants up. I am hoping the Demi panel fits a little more snug and will keep them up.

I also got a pair of black dress pants for the days that I have Court. When at Gap last month, I tried on their Perfect Trouser Pants and I really liked the fit. It is similar to the jeans that I adore. To my surprise, they also have them in maternity pants. I also got the Demi panel as well and glad that I got them last week when they were $20 cheaper!!

I think comfortable pants that you feel good in are so important! Especially when you are pregnant. No body wants to be uncomfortable. It is so worth the money when you are going to be wearing them for at least 7-8 months.

Adversions

Surprisingly, it has started already. I brought a ham sandwich for lunch today (don't worry, it wasn't lunch meat ham, it was real ham). I ate about 3/4 of it and then it started to not taste too good anymore. The heart burn hit hard again today. I called my doctor's office and they told me to try Prilosec and call back if that didn't give me any relief.

I came home from work and immediately went to the area of my pantry where I keep my home canned items. I rifled through them until I found the pickled beets I had canned a few months ago. I opened them and had that "oh my gosh, these are so good!" moment. It was amazing!

And sweets don't sound good at all! I am a total sweets person, not a candy person, but a dessert person I guess. I love to make cakes, brownies, cookies, etc. But right now (thankfully for my waistline!) they don't sounds tasty at all.

I've also found that the best thing to give me a few moments of relief from the heartburn is a nice hot cup of my pregnancy tea. I drink a cup every night, but I might start taking some to work with me to help during the day.

I also gave away all of my maternity clothes after I had Bennett. What was I thinking?! I ordered 2 pairs of pants from Gap the other day because I know sooner, rather than later, I'm going to need them. Now when I get dressed and nothing will fit, I will have some comfy pants to put on. I still don't have any shirts, but I don't think I will need them for a while. I have plenty of longer shirts that should do the job until about 20 weeks or so.  I am also hoping to maybe get some gift cards for Christmas which might allow me to get some new clothes.

I'm also itching to  buy some itty bitty newborn fluff! But I am trying to hold off until we find out the gender of the baby. I have had blue or green for so long, that if it's a girl, I would really like some pink and purple diapers. Hopefully I can stay strong and wait!

..and baby makes 5!

That's right, we're expecting baby #3!

We found out on our 4 year wedding anniversary, December 16th! We are very excited and apparently Peytonn has no problem telling people that mommy has a baby in her belly. Even before I knew I was pregnant!! Such a smart kid! :)

Everyone keeps asking me if we are hoping for a girl. We were praying for a baby and we'll take whatever God gives us.  This pregnancy already feels different than the last two. The heartburn has hit hard, even before I knew I was pregnant. It is pretty much constant, even in the morning before I eat or drink anything. I've tried over the counter stuff and the next step is calling the doc. Nothing has even helped so far.  I am wondering if there are certain foods you can avoid to help with it or if its just going to be everything. Hmmm.....any suggestions?

A few recipes

I love finding new recipes and trying them out at home. Today I am going to share two recipes that I recently tried and the family really enjoyed them.

The first recipe is Ground Beef Stroganoff. I got this recipe from Mommy's Kitchen when she posted her December meal plan. The beef stroganoff that I remember was basically Hamburger Helper (gag!) and I pretty much have never been a fan of Hamburger Helper. I was reluctant to try this recipe because it does use ground beef, but it had some pretty good reviews. I thought I would give it a whirl.

Ground Beef Stroganoff
1 - lb. hamburger
1 - can cream of mushroom soup
1 - packet brown gravy mix
4 oz - sour cream
2 - tbsp. chopped onion
salt & pepper (to taste)
1 - small can sliced mushrooms
Egg noodles, rice or mashed potatoes

Brown & cook hamburger with chopped onion, salt and pepper. While the meat is browning, Start the noodles, rice or mashed potatoes to cook. Drain off any grease from the hamburger. Add cream of mushroom soup, gravy mix (prepared accord. to packet directions) mix together and simmer over low heat about 10-15 minutes. Add mushrooms and the sour cream mix until thoroughly blended. Serve over cooked noodles, mashed potatoes or rice.

*I did make some substitutions/changes according to our tastes and what I had available. Instead of canned cream of mushroom soup, I had some homemade in the freezer. I pulled that out and used about 2 cups of homemade cream of mushroom soup. (trust me, it tastes sooooo much better!) I also didn't have a packet of gravy mix, so I just added some beef base to the mixture and it tasted great! I left out the sliced mushrooms because my cream of mushroom soup had pieces of mushroom already in it. I also added a bit more than 4oz of sour cream. I didn't measure it, but maybe about 6-8oz if I had to guess. We like ours creamy. I also threw in about 1/2 cup of frozen peas to the mixture and let it heat thoroughly. I served mine over no yolk egg noodles. 

The kids and hubby really enjoyed this. As for me, I thought it was much better than Hamburger Helper and was a quick and easy dinner that pleased everyone.

The next recipe I am going to share is from a cookbook. The cookbook comes from a local hospital's Labor & Delivery Unit. This was shared by my friend Kim, it's titled Mom's Famous Lasagna.  I made this for the first time on a week night when a friend and her two boys were coming over to play and eat dinner with us. We all really enjoyed it and I think it's my favorite lasagna recipe that I have found so far. I am making it again for dinner tonight.

Mom's Famous Lasagna

1 lb ground beef

1 packet spaghetti sauce mix

1 can (14oz) petite diced tomatoes

1 can (8oz) tomato sauce

2 cloves minced garlic

1 egg

1 cup cottage cheese

2 pkgs sliced mozzarella cheese

8 lasagna noodles

Brown ground beef in a skillet and drain off fat. Add the packet of spaghetti mix, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and garlic. Simmer for 40 minutes covered. (I did not do this the first time I made it and it still tasted great!) Meanwhile, cook 8 lasagna noodles as directed on box. Mix together the egg and cottage cheese in a small bowl.  After the tomato sauce has completely simmered, place a small amount of sauce on the bottom of the 9x13 pan. (just enough to keep the noodles from sticking to the pan) Place 4 noodles on the bottom of the baking pan, followed by 1/3 of the remaining tomato sauce, then half of the sliced cheese, then half of the cottage cheese mixture. Repeat the next layer beginning with the last 4 lasagna noodles, then sauce, then mozzarella cheese, and finally the cottage cheese mixture. Top lasagna with remaining sauce. Bake at 350 degrees, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes. 

We had this entire lasagna eaten in 24 hours. That doesn't happen often! This time, I am simmering the sauce for the 40 minutes. I am also adding some onion, green pepper, and mushrooms for a chunky veggie sauce. I also added a bit more than 1cup of the cottage cheese. We like the cheese mixture. I really recommend that you try this recipe. It is so good and a crowd pleaser!