Updates and things

I had my doc appt today and my 3 hour glucose test. It was torture. The test, not the doc appt. I don't handle really sugary things well anyways, and especially not on an empty stomach. I drank about 36 oz of water in those three hours just to keep from passing out or throwing up. At least it was something else in my stomach. 

Thankfully I had my last blood draw right before my doc appt and I was able to eat a Nutrigrain bar to tide me over until I could get some lunch. 

My appt went well. I'm 29 weeks now and feeling pretty darn good, uterus wise. I feel like my belly is smaller this time, so I made her measure it twice. I'm actually measuring a week ahead. Go figure. 

As for the kids, Peytonn starts school again the second week of August. That just totally crept up on me. I've spent the last week getting him uniforms, shoes, belt, backpack, etc. I was able to get everything on sale, which was nice. I was even able to get myself a pair of shoes for the Fall with a BOGO half off sale. I went with a charcoal gray madden girl "Toms" knock offs. They actually are roomier than the Toms I have and fit my high arch/high instep feet much better. 

I was also able to score some Fall clothing for Avonlea. Children's place had jeans for $10 and sleepers for $8, plus I had an extra 20% off coupon. I got her 18-24 month and they fit her great now. But I know they won't last all winter. So I went back and got all the same stuff but in 2T for later on.  At least someone in this house can wear skinny jeans and they look cute. 

 I love the stretchies without the feet in them! They are just thin, soft cotton jammies that are perfect for summer or Fall. 

Bennett starts school a week after Peytonn and will be going 5 afternoons a week this year. We have lots of school supplies to get in the next two weeks. This always seems like a hectic time of year for everyone! This baby better stay put until the middle of September when things start to settle down a bit and everyone is in the routine. 

It's about that time again folks

You know, when I get to that point in my pregnancies when all the 'fun' begins. Where I start to feel like a ticking time bomb. The anxiety and nervousness of 'when' and 'what ifs'. I'm 28 weeks this week and it was 29 weeks when I first got admitted to the hospital for pre-term labor with Peytonn. My water broke just 3 short weeks later and he spent 17 days in the NICU. 

I've learned a lot since those days, both about myself and pregnancy. I've come to terms over the past 6 years that I am not able to control when my body says 'I'm done!' And wants the baby out....now! I've learned to trust my mommy instinct when it comes to the care of my preemies and I'm not afraid to question the docs/nurses or voice my concerns. The relationship that I have with my doctor is much more than just a patient/doc one. She is my sound board, my comfort, and I completely trust her. She never makes me feel like I am forced to do anything and ultimately she leaves the decision up to me. Which I highly respect and love about her. Plus, we always laugh a ton during my appts which puts my nervousness to rest for a little while. 

This baby is growing beautifully and she reminds me each and everyday how active and alive she is. I am really praying to make it to 37 weeks this time, September 15th. Although, I've had in my head the date of 9/29/13 for a while now, 39 weeks. Could you imagine?! I would probably be the most miserable pregnant lady ever, but so extremely happy. 

I took my one hour glucose test this past week and failed by 2 points. So now I must take the 3 hour. Ugh. I've always passed the 3 hour so I hope I have the same results this time. 

Bending over and breathing no longer go in the same sentence together. My ankles are usually swollen by the end of the day. Not as bad as they were last Monday, but still noticeable. I'm exhausted all.the.time but still sleep like crap. Still doing weekly shots and I'm getting pretty good at finding a spot without any blood after. I've only reacted 3 times to my shots this pregnancy. Last time I had huge, itchy welts at the injection site for days after a shot. 

I'm not even going to talk about my weight gain. I think I'm around 15lbs now. Moving on.....

We received our crib from Ikea but they didn't send the mattress. Another one is on its way. Hoping to get that set up this week before Hubby leaves for AT. Still need to locate the newborn clothes and wash those. 

It will all come together. Eventually. And if not, I've got diapers and boobs and that should get us through. 

Baby's cloth diaper stash

It's no secret that we've cloth diapered each one of our children. That's 6 years of diapering.Geesh! This baby would be no different. There is just something about a cloth covered bum that gets me every time. I just love it. Minus the poop, of course. 

I had a few newborn diapers left over from Avonlea that I never sold and those started out this stash. And then I built it from there, keeping in mind what I really liked with Avonlea. I wanted to keep it pretty simple this time, using mostly prefolds/fitteds and covers for home and AIO's for outings/diaper bag, etc. 

I'm still waiting on a few items that I've recently purchased, but this is the majority of her stash:

Nine newborn AIO made by Nana's bottoms. Loved these with Avonlea, a very nice fit right from birth. And super affordable!

One rainbow cover from Greenline diapers. This is a one size cover but adjusts down to a newborn size. I ordered the one on the right. I'm really loving the bright rainbow colors this go round. And they are pretty gender neutral. 

Two Imagine AIO. Size newborn. 

Three Grovia AIO size newborn. These have two rise settings for small newborn to larger newborn. 

Two newborn AIO bumgenius diapers. We used these with Avonlea once her cord fell off. The only thing I don't like with these diapers is they will fit in the waist before they fit tiny legs. So these are mostly daytime diapers for us. 

These are all the covers. A few are left over from Avonlea and the rest are new. From left to right, top to bottom:

-Nb Fluffy's cover, nb loveybums wool cover, xs thirsties cover

-xs bummis super brite, preemie prowrap, nb imagine cover (green), nb rumparooz cover

-both nb basic connection pull on covers (blue and pink)

Newborn grovia fitted and nb orange diaper co snapless fitted. I also have 6 newborn bamboo terry squares and two newborn terry loops fitteds coming from ODC as well. 

Prefolds: top left are red edge nb zabi prefolds, top right are preemie prefolds. Bottom left are cottonbabies unbleached Indian prefolds in infant size. Bottoms right are nb/xs imagine bamboo/cotton prefolds. She will start in preemie and xs prefolds and then move to infant once she outgrows those. The preemie, red edge nb, and infants are all left over from Avonlea. 

That pretty much rounds out her newborn stash. I also have two dozen flat diapers that the girls will share. Once she outgrows this stash, she and Avonlea will share the one size stash that we currently use of flats/covers and Bumgenius 4.0 pockets. 

I know it seems like a lot of diapers, but newborns pee and poop a lot and can go through about 12-18 diapers a day. This will allow me to wash every 2 days with diapers to use for wash day. 

We use either Tide pods or Country Save to wash our diapers. We've never had 

a problem using either. Then we dry on medium or line dry in the sun for any staining. 

There you have it. Cloth is simple and easy to use. Even with small, newborns. 

Sewing projects

A few months ago I purchased a bunch of jersey knit fabric from Girl Charlee's website. I had every intention of making some skirts/dresses for myself and the girls. And then life happened and here we are. 

But, my babysitter went on vacation this past week which forced me to take Thursday and Friday off. I told myself that I was going to get some projects done during nap time. And I did!

I started off by making a maxi dress for myself out of some chevron fabric. It's turned out great!

 

I had enough fabric left over that I decided to make Avonlea a dress as well. Although I made hers without attaching it to a tank or a tshirt. I figured that as she grew, she could wear it as a skirt and get more wear out of it. 

I then decided to make a baby gown out of the remaining fabric. It was super easy. I just attached it to a newborn long sleeved onesie that I cropped. Then added elastic to the bottom. 

I think these will be out coming home outfits. I just adore them! I even made a hat for the baby. I'm not sure that it will fit, but we will see. 

I used this tutorial for my dress:

http://diymaternity.com/pants-skirts/jersey-maxi-skirt/

I used the same concept for Avonlea's skirt and for the gown. However, I just pleated the top of the gown where it attaches to the onesie instead of using elastic. 

On Friday I decided to make a carseat canopy from some leftover fabric. It turned out pretty well and wasn't that difficult. I used this tutorial:

http://simplekids.net/four-simple-diy-baby-projects/

I still have some fabric waiting for dresses and skirts. I'd like to make at least one more for myself and a couple matching ones for the girls. 

25 week update

There she be, my 25 week belly. This little girl is growing, stretching, kicking, and rolling! I definitely feel pregnant this week. Its getting harder to bend over, lay Avonlea down in her crib, my back hurts by the end of the day, and I am hot all.the.time!

I've gained about 10 lbs so far and I doubt that I will stay within my 15lb goal, but it does seem like the weight gain has slowed down a bit. I've only gained about a pound since my last doctor's appt. Speaking of the doctor, I got back at 26 weeks and then start every 2 week appts from that point forward.

I have been feeling pretty darn good  so far. And by that I mean my uterus! :) I am having very minimal contractions, usually 1-2 a day and they are typically at night when I lay down. That makes me very happy! I would be ecstatic to make it full term this time around. (what pregnant woman says that?!) But, I am exactly 10 weeks from the day I delivered Avonlea at 35 weeks. I really, really want to make it to 36-37  weeks. I cannot express enough how much I just want to deliver a baby that can stay with me and go home with me. I just want to experience that 'normal' birth experience that most women get. I want a healthy, full term baby girl!

As for names, I *think* we have it narrowed down to two. Which is great progress from the 27+ list we had just a few weeks ago. Her diaper stash is pretty much  complete and I'll do a post on that later. Really all I have left to do before she gets here is to locate and wash the newborn clothes, wash the carseat and swing covers, and put together the rock n play. That's a pretty short list. I guess when you're baby #4, there isn't a whole lot to prepare. Which is fine and dandy with me. I am kind of relieved to not have to put together a room this go round.

Overall, this pregnancy is going pretty darn good and I am extremely happy about that! I can't wait to meet this little girl, but I'd be happy to wait until October. :)

Bloglovin'

As you know, Google Reader is going away this summer. Bloglovin' is a great place to keep up to date on all of your favorite blogs.

I am happy to announce that I am now on Bloglovin' and you can easily follow me on there to keep up to date with Two Boys and a Little Lady!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Hope to see you all there!!

GF recipes

In the past month or so, we haven switched the kids to a gluten free diet. We originally made the switch for Bennett to see if it would help his sensory and his behavior. Once school let out for summer, it just seemed easier to do it for all the kids. I pack their lunches for the babysitter and family meals at home are all gluten free. It really hasn't been that hard of a switch, mostly because we eat a wide variety of things anyways. I only had to adjust our bread and pasta mostly, and be more aware of ingredients in processed foods. For example, who knew that regular soy sauce contains wheat?! It  sure does, so now I just buy the GF soy sauce. Doesn't taste a bit different. We also switched to corn tortillas for tacos instead of flour. We have always been aware of artificial flavors and sweetners, but I am extra vigilant about them now. We don't do red dye and we try to stay way from the other dyes as well. We have always sweetened with honey, maple syrup, etc.

Anyways, here are some of the recipes we have been making lately:

Soft GF sandwich bread:


GF bread from the store is down right disgusting. Trust me. We've tried every single brand out there. For a while we just did without bread or rolled things in corn tortillas. But my golly, sometimes a kid just wants a pb&j! So, mama went on a search for good, soft bread. My sister told me about this recipe that  she tried and thought it was really good. So we tried it, and the texture was soft and fluffy....amazing! We had pb&j that night for dinner and the kids were in heaven!! I've made it twice now and we are hooked. It also works great for eggs in a basket and french toast.

PB Oat breakfast cookies:

Really good!! No added sugar or flour! We made them GF by using GF oats.

Crunchy Apple and Grape salad:

Really Good!! The kids really enjoyed this.

Hawaiian BBQ Pork Burgers

 

We used GF buns and I always make our own BBQ sauce. These were super good!! Peytonn ate two burgers by himself! Bennett ate his without a bun, as always.

Crunchy Black Bean Tacos

Made these the other night for dinner. Super simply to make and really tasty. I used canned and rinsed black beans, mashed them slightly, added some fresh salsa, onion, and seasoning. Used cheddar cheese and sour cream on the side for dipping. Used coconut oil for frying. We ate these up! A great week night meal that's meat free. You could also easily add leftover shredded chicken or taco meat.

Homemade Spaghetti O's

Amazing! Seriously! Make this if you make nothing else! Uber easy and really really good! Peytonn likes the sauce as tomato soup without any pasta. I make GF pasta and the sauce separate. Then add them together in the individual bowls. We also use Whole Foods 365 brand of crushed tomatoes with basil as our tomato base.

There you have it! Going GF doesn't have to be difficult. Just making a few changes to your 'usuals' can transform your diet. Most foods are naturally GF: all meat (without breading), veggies, fruit, and most dairy. I am amazed at a lot of the yummy recipes I am finding to replace some of our usual gluten filled foods.