Half Way There!!

20 weeks seems like a long time, but surprisingly it went by fast! A lot has happened since October...moving to Cheyenne, battling HG, the holidays, and a rapidly growing belly!

In approximately 137 days we will be holding our little one...at times I get nervous thinking about the responsibilities that lie ahead, but then my excitement of becoming a mommy takes over and I want the time to speed up!

Baby has become quite active the past few weeks, especially after dinner! It is the most amazing feeling and I cannot wait for James to be able to feel the movement of our little one! According to Baby Center and other online sites, Baby is about 11" and 12oz...and steadily gaining weight. We have our anatomy scan tomorrow and should get a more accurate size (pictures to come!). Even though we are at the point where we could find out the sex of the baby, we are NOT going to...makes the anticipation for July even greater!!! I tend to use the word 'it' often because I don't want to say 'he/she'...I am not even leaning towards one gender or another...where as with pregnancy #1 I just KNEW it was a girl the whole time. It is fun to be held in suspense :-)

20 weeks...wow...so thankful to be on the downhill side of this pregnancy! {I say this because I am already thinking about baby #2!!}

Yummy in my tummy!

It is common knowledge that every pregnant lady has a go-to food or craving at some point during there 40 weeks with child.

Mine....

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

 

For the longest time nothing sounded good, nor could I keep down what I did eat. Bananas had become a "safe" food, but weren't filling me up. So I branched out and started eating banana smoothies...something just didn't taste right though. I then decided to add my other "safe" food...peanut butter. **JACKPOT** I had created the perfect snack and began to crave it everyday! While it may not be the healthiest of snacks, I was able to keep it down and get nutrients that myself and baby desperately needed. I now have to limit myself to 2, maybe 3, a week. But they are oh so yummy in my growing tummy :-)

 

Pinterest Recipes

Being that I am a stay-at-home wife (soon to be MOM) I love to have a home cooked meal on the table for James every night when he gets off work. While living in Virginia I didn't have my recipe box with me so I reverted to finding recipes online...this lead me to the wonderfulness call Pinterest!! I have become somewhat addicted to Pinterest...my recipe board has 115 meals in it and I have made almost half of them (with great success)!!

When meal planning this past week I picked a recipe called Spicy Thai Noodles, I read the ingredients and added what I need to my grocery list (I never actaully read the full recipe). Well, last night I went to make dinner and realized the recipe was actually for a COLD pasta salad...I was expecting a HOT main dish :-/ So, I did some altering of the recipe...something I try to never do since I am terrible with mixing flavors. After omitting and adding a few ingredients dinner was ready and it smelled wonderful. James took a bite and declared it fabulous, I took a bite and agreed 100%! I had made my *own* recipe and was very proud of it!!

Here is the original recipe:


















Now here is my version:

1/2 Box of Linguine Pasta
3-4 Chicken Breasts - thawed and cubbed 1"
1 TBSP Vegetable Oil
Dash of Onion Powder
Dash of Garlic Salt
1 - 2 TBSP of Crushed Red Pepper (I used 2 and it was VERY HOT)
1/2 Cup Sesame Oil
6 TBSP Honey
6 TBSP Soy Sauce
1/4 Cup Chunky Peanut Butter
Sesame Seeds

1. Cook Pasta according to package.
2. Poor vegetable oil in electric skillet with cubbed chicken, season with onion powder and garlic salt (I didn't measure). Cook until chicken is done, drain excess oil.
3. Meanwhile, heat sesame oil and crushed red pepper in small sauce pan over medium heat on stove. Once bubbling, strain out pepper (I left some in), then wisk in honey and soy sauce.
4. Drain noodles and poor over chicken, add oil mixture and peanut butter. Stir and let simmer 3 or 4 minutes. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve hot!

**I am not smart enough to type it on a recipe card and add to blog, sorry. I hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy it as much as James and I :-)

Here are a few other recipes I have tried from Pinterest and LOVE:
Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken
Taco Stuffed Shells
Baked Potato Soup
Homemade Crunch Wrap Supreme
Crockpot BBQ Chicken

The beginnings of Little Lyle's Nursery...

Now that the rest of our house is (almost) all unpacked and organized, it is time to start the nursery!! When moving in anything labeled "kids", "baby" or "toys" was piled into the room that would become the nursery, it was more than I expected...I guess that is what happens when you teach kindergarten for 6 years :-)

 



Last week we purchased a crib, so that my dad can get a head start on making the rest of the nursery furniture {changing table/dresser and hutch}...so excited to see what he comes up with!!

The inspiration for our nursery is the book "Lyle, Lyle Crocodile" by Bernard Waber.

 

Since we are not finding out the sex of our little one we are going with gender neutral colors...yellow and green to match the book! We also purchased Little Lyle's first stuffed animal...

 

Lyle came in the mail yesterday and we were SOOO excited!! Let the decorating begin...22 weeks until the little occupant arrives!