Just a Teaser

Here's just a teaser of Eli's room!

The painting is complete and the furniture has been shipped!

We still have a few little projects to do in the room before I show you the whole thing. : )

Nursery BEFORE

Nursery AFTER

(I don't know what's up with the flash on my camera. The top looks kind of weird here...but you get the jist of it!)

Wesley did a FANTASTIC job! I'm so proud of him!

The Munchies

I've been busy in the kitchen tonight. For supper we had turkey piccata, dirty rice, green beans, and toast. It was really, really good! And, fairly simple too, which is always a plus.

I was looking through some recipes after supper and decided to make some banana bread and homemade brownies. Well, sadly, the brownies were a BUST! I grabbed the wrong size dish and the brownies ran all over the sides into the bottom of the oven. It was one big soupy mess. Sad-I reeeally wanted brownies tonight!

Since Eli and I are in a munchie mood tonight. Here are my new favorite recipes.

(They're all dips that were made by teacher friends while we were at the beach, and they're all VERY EASY!)

Fiesta Ranch Dip:

*probably my favorite!

16 oz sour cream

1 pkg Ranch dressing mix

1/2 pkg Fiesta Ranch dressing mix

Mix well and serve with Ruffles.

BLT Dip:

1 cup mayo

1 cup sour cream

1 package of those Hormel bacon pieces

2 cherry tomatoes, diced and drained

Mix well and refrigerate. Serve with toasted rounds.

*OMG - Soooo good!

Pretzel Dip:

2 blocks cream cheese

8-16 oz shredded cheddar (depending on how cheesy you want things)

1/2 cup mayo

1 pkg Ranch dressing mix

Mix well and serve with pretzels.

*The girl I got this recipe from adds just a splash of beer to hers (when she's making it for non-preggo people) to make it fluffy, but I'm obviously not going to be doing that! : )

Baby Eli Update

Warning: Long, wordy post!

Tomorrow I'll be 27 weeks pregnant.

I've gained a total of about 18 (yikes!) pounds. Eli is just over 14 inches long and weighs a little more than 2 pounds - he's about the size of a roast! His lungs and immune system are maturing as well as his brain tissue and neurons. In fact, his brain waves now fire just like that of a newborn baby. At 27 weeks, Eli now has a regular sleep/wake pattern and may even be sucking his thumb!

I went to the doctor yesterday for my regular check up and the glucose test for gestational diabetes. I had to drink the orange stuff (Which really wasn't as bad as I expected. It kind of tasted like a flat Sunkist - it just left a burn in my throat) and then an hour later was pricked. The nurse said she'll call today only if the results were irregular, and then I would have to come back for a three hour test. Let's hope that's not necessary.

I'm still having persistent and sometimes very painful leg cramps. 13 more weeks is a long time for those to keep up. I'm already eating a banana a day, and drinking even more water than I already was, but now my doctor told me to start eating 2-3 Tums every night before bed because I may have a calcium deficiency. I despise Tums. It's not so much the flavor, but the texture. But, I guess I'll have to be getting over that. 13 weeks of eating 2-3 Tums/night means I'll have to eat somewhere between 182 and 273 Tums before Eli gets here!

The mini-melt down came when my doctor told me I couldn't really do anymore traveling. We had planned to go to Dallas this weekend with my parents to see my sister, whom I haven't seen since her wedding in December. We've also been planning (for over a year now) to go to Washington D.C. for our one year anniversary. When I brought up the topic of traveling, Dr. Simpson was NOT thrilled about that idea. You could see it on his face. He told me the only reason he was entertaining this discussion was because I haven't had any complications, my blood pressure is good, and I've had no swelling. He said we'll talk more about D.C. closer to time when we see how I'm doing then, but he didn't like it at all. He said if I do travel, we'll have to stop very often and let me walk around (which won't be a big deal - we'll have to stop very often for me to pee anyway!). He said I'm at an increased rate for blood clots, and he was concerned with my leg cramps.

I LOST IT when we left his office. You only get one first anniversary.

I'm at the end of my second trimester and now start going to the doctor every three weeks. While I love Eli, I'm over this whole being pregnant thing. I can't wait to sleep on my stomach again. I miss that! And, I can't wait to have my body back. There's so many gross details associated with pregnancy that I never knew (and won't share with you here). I'm so tired of hearing, "Gahh! You're huge!" and other variations of that. (There was one particular substitute at my school who about got an earful from me because of her comments. Some people have no filter!)

But, most of all, I'm soooo ready for Eli to be here!

Coming Soon: Picture of Eli's room!

What Will I Do Now?

Last night was the season finale of Biggest Loser. I don't know what I'll do now that it's over. I have to wait MONTHS for it to come back on! I guess I'll catch Jillian's new show on NBC.

Michael won and I was really happy for him. I was really thinking Ashley was going to, though. I was excited Koli won the at-home prize, but again, was really thinking Sherry was. I guess I was Team Pink this season.

Some of those people were still huge. How do you go on Biggest Loser and KNOW that you're going to be weighing-in in front of America and only lose 50 pounds in five months??? I was embarrassed for them!

On the other hand, some of those weigh less than what I do now. (Granted...I have baby weight - but still!) Kudos to them!

Wesley is pleased this show is over. He doesn't like it...or maybe it's the fact that I cried every week about people losing weight!!! : )

Random

Nothing new really to talk about tonight. Just a bunch of random stuff.

Has anyone else had neck pains associated with pregnancy? Mine have been persistent (since Thursday) and seem to worse the longer the day gets. I don't know if it's something pregnancy related or just something else. If it's not much better, I'm calling the doctor tomorrow. I still am not sleeping worth a flip

Just 9 more school days until summer! woo hoo!

I have my first shower - my school shower - next Monday. I'm really excited about it. My mom and MIL are both coming.

I ordered a bunch of clothes off the internet and they finally came in: a swimsuit (beach trip next weekend!), a pair of shorts, and three tops!

My "pseudo-first" Mother's Day was good. Wesley made me breakfast and gave me another Willow Tree that I LOVE!

We meant to take a picture on Mother's Day, so we'd have something to compare to next year, but we forgot. So, we were going to do it tonight, but again, I just remember and I'm already in my pjs. So, we'll just do it tomorrow and pretend like it's Mother's Day. Oh well, close enough!

Just 4 more days until the weekend and my parents come up! Yippee!

Long Time, No Post

So, it's been nearly a month since I last posted. I've had good intentions...I just haven't felt like it lately. I've had back pains off and on (although these have been better lately), difficulty sleeping (I really miss sleeping on my stomach), but mostly, I've been having awful leg cramps. Like, wake me up in the middle of the night crying-leg cramps. And, so, I just haven't felt like blogging!

But, I figured this week would be a good week to jump back into things.

This week Kelly's Korner is baby names!

I am now 24 weeks pregnant. I told Wesley, that's kind of scary. 24/40 - I'm 3/5 of the way there! 16 (give or take) weeks is not very long, and Eli Charles will be here!

We didn't tell our baby names until after we found out blue or pink. No real reason, just a little element of suspense. (And, no, we're not going to tell our girl name. Sorry!)

We picked the name Eli because we just liked it! Charles is a family name. Wesley and his dad both share that middle name, and it was his grandfather's name. To answer the most common questions: we will call him Eli, and no, it's not short for Elijah. We've actually had Eli's name picked out for years. We were one of those couples who picked their children's' names while we were dating!

August will be here soon, and I can't wait to meet Eli! I actually got my first ever Mother's Day present tonight.

It was a fun surprise, and I love it! Thanks, Momma and Daddy! : )

The Last Bit of Gatlinburg

The rest of our trip to Gatlinburg was awesome! We've done a lot of shopping (buying things for Eli and his room), playing cards/games (we are Phase 10 addicts), and watching of the Office (season 3) and Everybody Loves Raymond (season 4) that we brought with us (our favorite shows to watch together!).

But, we also spent a day doing the Ober Gatlinburg thing and walking around downtown.

I'm not a fan of roller coasters (unless they're the indoor kind....if I'm going to plummet to my death, I really don't want to know it's coming), so I hung on for dear life inside the tram.

But it was impossible NOT to take pictures. The view was amazing!

There were six towers we passed by.

I tried not to look down too much though!

This is the Delta chateau. The roof is made out of airplane wings!

I'm not sure who owns this one, but supposedly it is the exact replica of Barbie's dream house. I wish I could see the inside!

Supposedly Bernie Madoff also has (had?) a chateau on this mountain, but I wasn't looking when they pointed out which one it is (was?). The lady running the tram told us though that the banks now own it and so far, aren't selling.

Here's the ski slopes sans snow! Notice the chair lift on the right. You can see the snow machines too.

Isn't God's creation beautiful?!

The view heading back down the mountain.

We had a great, relaxing trip, but it sure is good to be home! : )