Foodie.... Not Fattie!

Crunchy Granola

(not as healthy as I would like it to be)

Yummy Layered Jell-O

I Love Pintrest! I have found so many yummy foods to try. Neat hair do ideas, ideas for Luke's Mickey Mouse themed birthday party. And AWESOME craft ideas. If any of you want an invite leave your email addy and I'll invite you! And you can join me on this craze.

As you may have noticed on my little blinkie on the side I have reached my 20 lbs mark, and going strong. I am constantly looking for more inspirations and routines to try. Started to include a "Fab Ab February" Routine to my workout. I really doubt I will get FAB abs in just a month... Well I might, but it's well hidden under layers and layers of fat. So I will continue to do them and hope my pants and shirts fit a little looser. Planks really are killer. They look simple enough, but if you do them correctly.... Wow! Burn baby burn!

Adalei's finger is doing great. Still doing the bandage changes daily. Today she is a little mopey but snuggly. It is a cold snowy day, makes me extra snuggly too. So I don't mind.

Well 5-14 inches of snow expected here. Only about 2 inches maybe here so far. So I hope tomorrows drive to work goes okay. Safe travels and stay warm!

Cindy

Daddy's Little Baby

Well Ryan felt the baby move a week or so ago, but last night was fun too. I have been seeing my belly jump with the baby's movement and have been trying to get Ryan to notice them. He is way too impatient to watch for long. Luckily the baby gave him a big kick/move right before he gave up. He looked at me and said "that was you hiccuping wasn't it?" Um, no honey that was the baby. "Really, that was huge! I swore that was you!" He then proceeded to get really close to my belly so he could see me and and talking to my belly. It was cute.

I am stealing my dear friend Sarah's idea about thing to post about the baby and such.


How Far Along: 26 weeks and 1 day.

How much weight have you gained: About 10 pounds. More than I should be. I have 3 months of rapid baby growth, so most of the weight is just me. Argh. I am trying to limit it to 15 pounds. I did decent with Luke, I ended up gaining 22 all together. We'll see how this one goes.

How big is Baby: The baby sites say about 1.6 pounds, and is 14 inches long.

Cravings: Anything ice cream related, cheese, pickles, fresh fruit ( glad about that one, because I have not been eating too healthy lately), peanut butter. None of this all together mind you. I did however try a peanut butter cheese sandwich, which was disgusting.

Labor signs: Not as frequent lately. Thank goodness. I am starting to have more inner thigh aches??? I still get a few contractions here and there, no biggie though. :)

Maternity Clothes: I got this really cute pink and white striped hooded shirt from Shopko that I adore. It hugs the good and smooths out the bad. I look REALLY pregnant, but it's a good thing!

Sleep: Now that's a topic I could rant on and on about. My hips and shoulder hurt so much anymore, I turn on one side and once that side hurts, I switch. The problem is my opposite side hasn't recovered yet by the time I turn back on it. Frequent trips to the bathroom, and the muscle/ligaments in the lower pelvic region just give me the sharpest pain ever when I go to get out of bed. Which makes a bathroom trips more aggravating than just the fact of doing so multiple times. I have to do this ugly awkward roll out of bed. Not a pretty sight I am sure! :)

Milestone: Ryan seeing and feeling the baby move. Too precious.


I am still fretting the Breastfeeding issue. I know there is nothing I can do about it, yet. I have been looking up multiple breast pumps, The Medela is my choice even if it is $$$, we got to have a good one. the great thing is, at the home care equipment here in town I get a discount for being an employee. Awesome, and first I probably will just rent, to make sure this all goes well, and then, if I get a new one, they deduct the amount that that I paid for renting one price off the new one from the amount. Awesome huh!?

I am not sure who all reads my blog but I have something fun planned and am not allowed to share all the details here, due to that fact. However, I would really like to share with you whats up my sleeve. I will be happy to inform most of you, if you ask. But please refrain from asking other members of my family, because they might be the person I am trying to keep it secret from. * Wink wink*

Anyways.... Have a great day!!!!

Love
Cindy

Day off. Day of fun.

Tidying up the house as I go today. Try to keep everything orderly, since I work again for two more days. I hate the one day off scam. Just give me my days straight up and then I can relax longer. Oh well. I have from a 4 day weekend coming up.

So far I have gotten laundry done, cleaned out the dishwasher, fed the fam breakfast. Tidied up the bedroom and bathroom. Next is bath for Luke and play-doh time. First play-doh time ever so we will see how this goes. I am not sure where my camera is. I might have to snap some pic with my phone cam. Which are not very good quality. This afternoon we are going to take Luke out and do some sledding if the weather permits doing so. Its rather windy here this morning so I don't want my buddy to get too cold.

I am going to make some Spilt Pea Soup for supper I think. Ryan made Finnish Coffee Bread yesterday so that will be a nice extra with our meal.

The baby is moving so much more now. I could actually feel him/her on the outside! I was pretty excited. I tried to get Ryan to feel the same, but all he could feel was his own pulse in his hand.... The baby even kicked pretty good after Daddy was talking to him/her! Drat! maybe next time!
Anyways I had better get little guy cleaned up.

Stay Warm!
Cindy

5 Day Weekend

Oh man I am so excited that it is my weekend. I don't return to work until Wednesday! Woohoo! However, I am sick. Ugh! I have a terrible sinus congestion, ears hurting, sneezing, coughing, achy cold something. I went to bed at 930 last night, but I slept terrible. I am glad I didn't have to work, because I would have had to call in sick. So what are my plans for my lovely weekend. Well tonight is a Christmas party for Ryan's work. I hope I am feeling okay. I really don't want to get all dolled up to go to it... Sigh.

Saturday, Ryan is going to work on the bathroom cabinet. I am excited about that! Ready to get some of our bathroom organized a little better, and the plan Ryan has for the cabinet, is awesome. I think it will look great. What a man I have!!

Sunday is all about going to church. They cancelled church due to the weather last week, so I am really excited to to church this week! I love Singing Christmas songs. Afterwards, we probably will be working on the cabinet and cleaning the house.

Monday, clean the house. Clean the house. Maybe even go to Ryan's work and clean his office. I am hoping to shampoo the carpets here and there.

Tuesday. Bake, and cook. Bake and cook! All the yummy goodies for our Christmas dinners!!
I am making:

• truffles
• deviled eggs
• ramen noodle salad
• turtle cheese cake
• and probably something else I haven't thought of yet.

Well I hopefully will be on here again, Just thought I'd stop in for now, but If I don't, have a good weekend.

Cindy

Try it!

Hello all,

I am a novice cook and even more novice baker. I am messy in the kitchen and I LIKE IT! Ryan doesn't however. Ryan is a wonderful baker-- he makes half a dozen loaves of bread in and evening and is very clean and efficient. I admire his talent. I want to become a better cook/baker also, so I can feed my family good food too. So, I made it a personal goal to try to make something out of Ryan's mothers cookbook, or something completely new I have never even considered making. Doing this at least once a week on my days off-- if I am home. Last week we were gone so that didn't pan out well, but other than that I have tried to make quite a few things already, and most of them I was completely and pleasantly surprised at the turnout. Here are the things I have tried:

The Cheesecake Nibbles-- which you can get the recipe in an earlier post here.

Apple Cake with Apple syrup- Yum!

I tried Holly's pot roast in our convection oven, I thought its was --okay. I had picked a tough piece of meat to try, but the convection oven made it much more tender, the veggies didn't cook very well and had to stick them in the microwave.... its was okay though. I will have to try again sometime.

Stir fry made with tofu. I have never done anything with or even ate tofu (knowingly) before. It actually turned out great. The Woman's Day magazine also gave some great sauces to make with it and different ideas for add ins. I have made it twice now with a different sauce and different veggies. The sweet and sour sauce was excellent, last night we tried the peanut sauce-- I liked it at first but after some time the sauce made me want to vomit in my mouth a little. Ryan wants to have it again however. Ryan doesn't like peppers or mushrooms, so that limits some of my options, but I realized there are a lot more veggies out there that would work great. We'll see what we try next time.

Banana Bread-- I have tried this twice now with our convection oven and it is not turning out right. It still tastes good, but either the sides are close to burnt or the inside is gooey.... Maybe the third time will be a charm. I am going to try it in normal bake mode and not convection mode. See if that helps.

Pumpkin Cheesecake-- We went Olive Garden when we went to Omaha this last weekend . It's a must-stop anytime we are near one on our travels. We ate way too much food and couldn't get dessert-- which was a delectable Pumpkin Cheesecake. So, Ryan mentioned that that could be my food project this week. So currently it is sitting in the fridge chilling. That was the only complaint so far, I can't taste it after its done baking... Grrrrr.. (that was my stomach growling by the way). Ryan is even more disappointed, he was wanting to dive into it last night, I had to hold him back! I will hopefully post a pic of my newest project, and if its worth it, I will include the recipe.

Oh yeah I got Way to much pumpkin puree so i am also making pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting tonight.

I am enjoying this baking stuff SO much. I never cared for it before, I love it with this plan that I have to try something new. That way you don't get stuck in a rut of the same food and you find new favorites to try more often. I encourage you all to try this sometime, I love getting a random magazine and trying one recipe, my favorite magazine right now is Woman's Day, I have gotten 3 recipes out of already. Good stuff!

I would love to try one of your favorite recipes too. Just leave the recipe in a comment!!!

Cindy

Swirled Cheesecake Nibbles

Ingredients:
36 vanilla wafers
1 2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® SWIRLED™ Semi-Sweet & Premier White Morsels, divided
2 pkgs. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions:PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Place 36 2-inch foil bake cups on baking sheet(s) with sides. Place one vanilla wafer, flat-side down, on bottom of each cup. Place 5 to 6 morsels on top of each wafer. BEAT cream cheese, sugar and flour in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla extract; beat well. Spoon heaping tablespoon of cream cheese mixture into each bake cup. BAKE for 15 to 17 minutes or until just set and not browned. Remove from oven to wire rack. While still warm, top cheesecakes with remaining morsels. Morsels will soften but will retain shape. Cool completely. Cover and refrigerate.

They are yummy!!! Mine doesn't look anything like the ones on the webpage does.... Check out the Nestle webpage for more yummy recipes like this.

Indulged,

Cindy