Menu Plan- July 21

I'm getting back to menu plans, but only doing dinners for now.  Eventually, I'd like to plan out all of our food.  But for now, just dinners :)

1. Carnitas. Mmm.  I have a friend who had a baby yesterday (YAY!!!) so I'm hoping to bring her some.  I'll cook these whatever day she tells me she wants a meal.
2. Meatloaf
3. Chicken Fried Rice
4. Tatertot Casserole
5. Ham and Potatoes

We usually go out to eat once as a family and then eat out with my parents on Sundays, which is a late lunch due to church.  We end up getting a light snack instead of a meal Sunday evenings.

The boys start swimming lessons tomorrow.  They are very excited.  T has done a great job swimming so far this year and I'm sure he's going to do amazingly well with his lessons.  L has been timid, but has already come a LONG way with being comfortable in the water.  Since he's only 2 and timid, his lessons might be interesting.  But he will love them :)  (Swim pictures are from our visit to my sister's house)

Princess hasn't been sleeping.  I am one tired momma.  Being tired makes me cranky.  Poor kids.  But I keep reminding myself that this phase is temporary.  Hopefully the up-all-night phase will be very, very temporary!  For everyone's sake.....

Where has the time gone?

I realized the other day that it's been forever since I last blogged.  About two and a half years ago, I felt overwhelmed with house work, mothering, and life in general.  Well, baby girl is now the same age L was, and guess what!  I'm overwhelmed with, well, the exact same thing!  My house feels out.of.control!  We have way too much stuff and every time I start to go through it, I feel like we need to keep all of it. I feel guilty getting rid of things that were given to my kids, or things they picked out and bought (like Awana store stuff, or cheap stuff they spent "their" money one.  It's mostly pure junk).  If it's something big, like their basketball hoop, I feel like we spent too much money to just get rid of it!  We haven't gotten our money's worth from it.  But, they don't play with it so we probably never will.  And papers.  Those are the worst.  Stuff. Everywhere.  No where to put it!  Plus, we've decided that we want to pay off our car.  Besides our mortgage, it's our only debt.  BUT, God has convicted us that we need to pay that off.  We shouldn't be in debt to anyone, and while it's unrealistic to try to pay off our house right now, we need to put more effort toward paying off the minivan.  That thought is overwhelming, too.  Especially because I have a hard time passing up a shopping trip!  Those two issues kind of go together for me.  I have all of these grand ideas (thanks, pinterest) for how to organize my life, but those things cost money.  That's why it's overwhelming.  I feel trapped in a cluttered home, a cluttered life, with no way to escape.  God has also been working on my contentedness.  I cannot tell you how many times I have complained about one thing or another over the past couple of months.  The big one is that I feel like we have outgrown our house.  Like I said, we have too much stuff and nowhere to put it all.  I also feel like we NEED a yard.  A big one, with lots of room for two little boys to run and play.  And a driveway to ride bikes, scooters, and play with sidewalk chalk.  And we "need" a garage to store their bikes and scooters.  See, I have a long list of things we "need" and I have allowed myself to dwell on that way too much.  Thankfully, I have an amazing husband who knows when to (gently) call me out on these things and remind me that we have more than many people and we need to be thankful for what we do have instead of focusing on what we don't.  Sure, a yard would be amazing.  But we have parks nearby, a pool that we're members of, and a lake with beaches to swim and play in.  My boys have bikes and fun things, I just need to be creative about where to store them.  They won't feel like they are missing out on anything by not riding them in our driveway, because they're not.  They can ride their bikes other places.  Anyway, enough with my rambling.  I'm hoping that by getting back to this blog, I might become more disciplined and force myself to get my act together.  It worked two and a half years ago, so it should work again, right?  ;-)  But since it's been so long since my last post, I think I'll end this one with a recent picture of my sweet family:

Let's get back to meal plans!

Princess C will be a month old tomorrow.  Tomorrow!!!  A month!  Wow, how did that happen???  Anyway, now that she's been here for a month, it's time for us to start cooking for ourselves again.  We are eating our last freezer meal tonight and meals from friends have stopped (but I have been beyond blessed with almost two full weeks of meals from people!).  I really don't want my family eating out a ton, and even if I did, we are very limited with our food allergies...especially now that the Princess is having reflux and we have decided to see if cutting dairy from my diet (which will take it out of my breast milk).  So, it's time to start planning meals.

1. Meatloaf tonight.  Our last freezer meal :)
2. Ground Beef Shepherd's Pie  I have not tried this recipe, but we already have all of the ingredients so I'm going to make it.  Hope it's good!
3. Pot Roast in the crock pot, because I love my crock pot.
4. Hamburgers on the grill.
5. Either chicken tacos or chicken taquitos.  I'll probably decide which one at the last minute.
6. DH's bean, ground beef, and (dairy free) cheese meal.  It's not my favorite, but he loves it.  Plus he will be the one to make it!  Whoop whoop!

I'll end this post with a picture of my beautiful daughter.  I have a DAUGHTER!!!!   Yay!

Our Princess!!!

Our princess was born last week, almost two weeks ago now.  I wrote out her birth story for my facebook friends but decided I wanted it written on my blog, too.  But I think I'll just copy and paste it since my time on the computer is really limited these days.  These three miracles are keeping me BUSY and it's wonderful!  (Baby girl is C)

Princess’s birth story: I decided to go ahead and write this out.  Warning, it is about birth, so don’t read if it grosses you out J  I’ll try to make it short.  Contractions started at 1:30am.  They were not bad but I couldn’t sleep through them so I got up and cleaned the bathroom (looking back, it’s kind of funny since that’s where she was born!).  Around 2:30am, I woke J up and told him I thought I was in labor.  He got up with me and we tried timing them, but still, not consistent at all.  Doctors generally have you come in when contractions are 5 minutes apart, last a minute, and go on like that for an hour.   Some of mine were 2 minutes apart, some were 10.  Some lasted 30 seconds, some got close to a minute.  They stayed that way all morning long.  Around 6:30am, I was beyond frustrated that labor wasn’t progressing at all.  I was tired and wanted it to all be over, but it seemed like I had a looong way to go since the contractions still were not consistent.  I talked to my mom, complained a lot about how frustrated I was, and told her we would drop the boys off at her house once L woke up but that I didn’t think it was any rush.  We got off the phone, I laid down in bed and had the worst contraction of my life (I’ve had both boys without pain meds, but this was by far the worst).  It was awful.  My water broke and the contraction went on forever.  Once it finally stopped, J called my mom and told her she needed to get to our house quickly.  Before he was off the phone, I was screaming to call 911 (by this point, I had moved to the bathroom).  He asked me if I was sure, thought I might be overreacting, but did it anyway.  As he came up the stairs, I heard him telling the operator that I was in labor and felt like the baby was coming, but he wanted to make sure.  As he came into the bathroom, he could already see her head.  The 911 operator told him he needed to get me off the toilet and lying down.  I told him I couldn’t move.   She told him again he had to get me off and lying down.  I refused.  After some back and forth, he put her on speaker phone and the phone on the counter, then picked me up and stood me on the ground  (feel free to laugh.  Looking back, I see how ridiculous this was, but at the time, I couldn’t do it!).  I still couldn’t move and yelled at the poor lady on the phone when she tried insisting I lay down.  There wasn’t time for that and I honestly could.not.move. from all the pain.  C’s head was already out.  She told J to make sure her cord wasn’t wrapped around her neck and to expect the rest of her body to come out in the next couple of contractions, but before she finished her sentence, C was out.  I was finally able to lay down and follow her directions J J wrapped C in a towel, I laid down on the floor, and waited for the firemen, who took care of everything else.  They took me to the hospital, where both C and I looked perfectly healthy.  She weighed in at 7lbs even (half a pound smaller than her preemie brother!), 19 inches, and they are guessing she was born at 6:57, although I’m not sure how they figured that out?  She’s a peanut and absolutely perfect!  A lot of people have asked where the boys were during all of this.  Well, thankfully L was still asleep (he woke up as the firemen rushed into my room).  T was playing ipad on my bed when water broke and told J, “Yep, I think you’re right Dad.  The baby is coming today.”  He is too funny!  J tried to keep him out of the room as best he could during the rest of it, but he kept coming back to see what was going on.  My mom got some pretty interesting questions when she was watching him, but he thought the whole thing was pretty funny.  He’s always been curious about how bodies work (not just how babies come out, but about the whole body).  Maybe he will be a doctor some day J

Weekly Goals, 2/17-2/23

I did NOT do well on my goals from last week (the ones I never posted...) but the week before I did great!  I'll start with sharing those :-)

1. Catch up by 7 days on my Bible reading plan (so I will be 12 days behind, still way too many, but it's a start and more realistic than catching up completely)
2. Turn off all electronics between 9-12:30 every week day.
3. Freezer cooking. I want to make waffles and taquitos. Mmm mmm.
4. Play date
5. Doctor's appointment! The first of my weekly ones.
6. Get the car seats inspected by fire station before my doctor's appointment this week (L was born at 36 weeks, so I want to make sure it's in there nice and safe just in case........)
7. Sew a wet bag for my hospital bag. I realized that I can't pack any that I have here because we use them all on a regular basis. I've been wanting to make one, so this is the week! And it's the last item that needs to go into my bag :-D
8. Mail the Thank You cards I wrote last week. Need to buy stamps.
9. Finish prepping diapers. I prep them by washing them with towels so I don't waste water. Problem is we don't wash towels very often. I took the diapers to my parents' house and asked my mom to throw them in with her towels next time she washes. Then I'll wash them again with ours this week. After that, I'll just throw them in with L's diapers (since all of the oils will be off of them by that point) and be good to go!
10. Stick to meal plan.

As you can see, I finished all but two of these goals.  I came VERY close to finishing those two, but didn't.  Now for the sad news...I did not do any Bible reading last week, so I'm back to where I started, and then some.  My hubby loved my taquitos and they are no longer in the freezer.  I'm planning to make more very soon.  He agreed to help me with them so we can make even more.  They really are delicious!  This week, I'm not really sure if I'll be able to much.  Actually, I'm not sure if I'll be able to do much over the next couple of months!!  Baby girl is now full term and she could make her appearance any day now.  With that in mind, I'm going to have to be flexible and keep my list kind of light.  Even if she isn't born this week (or next....or the week after...), I'm still very big and uncomfortable.  I get tired very quickly and just don't have the energy.  So, having said that, here are my goals for this week :-)


1. Catch up on my Bible reading plan (Acts 16-28, Est 5-10, Gen 29-50, Mark 1-3)
2. Turn off all electronics between 9-12:30 every week day.
3. Freezer cooking. I want to make muffins, taquitos, and hamburgers (J will do the hamburgers)
4. Play date
5. Doctor's appointment!  37 weeks!
6. Paint Baby's room (another goal for J instead of me)
7. Do a craft with the boys. 
8. 1 complete load of laundry per day!
9. Daily reading with the boys.  T and I are working on Charlotte's Web, L just likes any random book.  I want to sit down with them for at least 20 minutes after lunch to read.
10. Stick to meal plan.

So there you have it.  My goals for this week.  A lot of sitting, some things for J, and whatever I don't get to, I don't get to.  It's ok :-)

Weekly Goals

The Money Saving Mom suggests setting 10 weekly goals, and I've decided that's a really good idea for me to try.  Just 10 things to focus on throughout the week.  Doesn't seem too overwhelming, and since she rarely finishes all of her goals, I won't feel so bad if I don't finish all of mine (although that would be nice!  Here are my goals for this week:

1. Catch up on my Bible reading (I'm waaaaay behind...)
2. Take the boys outside at least once!  (Confession: some of these are already done!  But I'm adding them since they are on my list)
3. Finish packing my hospital bags, since this little girl will be here sometime in the next 5 weeks :-D
4. Finish prepping the prefolds I bought new.  They have to be washed in hot water a few times before they work well.
5. Start freezer cooking!  We don't have a ton of room in our freeze, but I think this is important since we won't be able to accept food from our church food ministry.  Yay food allergies :-/
6. Install car seat!  We still don't have one.  Yikes!  But I'm picking it up from my friend tomorrow, if all works out.
7. Birthday dinner out with my hubby's family.  Did I mention my hubby turned 30???  What an old man, lol.  This is another one I'm done with already.  We went to a place I hate, but J loves.  I ate something that was ok, and then a few hours later, got hit badly with stupid food poisoning!  It. Was. AWFUL.
8. Pay our first of three HOA fees.
9. Finish Thank You cards for my baby shower.
10. This week, I have set a goal to turn off ALL electronics for the morning.  We can have them until breakfast, and then they go off until nap time.  This is mostly to help me focus on the important things (my kids...) instead of constantly checking my texts and facebook.  It's also to help the boys learn to do things other than play on the iPad or watch TV.  They've become just as addicted as I am....  NOT good.

So there you have it.  My goals.  Overall, I'm doing...ok on them.  Like I said, I got sick, really sick, yesterday so some of them went out the window.  Like the electronics goal.  All of us watched tv a lot yesterday.  But Daddy was in charge of the boys and I don't like to tell him how he needs to parent.  I was just happy he was here so I didn't have to do anything other than lay in bed and be sick.  I'll try to remember to update on how my week went and write down next week's goals in a few days.

Side note before I sign off.  Tomorrow I reach 35 weeks!  That means I have 35 days until my due date (tomorrow).  One week until the time Luke was born, 2 weeks until I am full term, who knows how long until this princess makes her debut :-D  Exciting stuff.  Ok, now I'm off to try to reach my goal of getting caught up on my Bible reading, at least a little bit!

Updated To Do List!

I've made a lot of progress on my pre-baby to do list, so I thought I'd update on here and get a good idea of what I have left.

* Get bunk beds for the boys, move T to L's room (bunk beds are taking a MONTH longer to come in...They were supposed to be here a week ago, now I might have the baby before they come. STRESSED!)  Still need to get this.  Just waiting on the beds.
* Paint Baby's room, decorate, get everything put away and ready (diapers, clothes, anything else that goes into her room)  Again, still waiting on the bunk beds so we can get started.  However, I have put all of her clothes in her dresser (which is currently in L's room, and L's clothes are in the dresser in T's room, C's future room.  Ha!  That makes a lot of sense, right?  But it's working.  For now.)
* WASH BABY CLOTHES!!!  DONE!  And they are put away!
* Install car seat. Actually, I need to get a car seat still. A friend offered to let us borrow hers since we only use them for about 4 months, but her daughter is still in it. Yikes! She planned to have her out of there a few months ago since she turned one in November. Lol. If we don't get it by the end of the month, I'll just go buy one.  Not done.  Another friend has offered us her car seat which is less than a year old and never been in an accident.  She said she will bring it to church tomorrow and we will get it installed next week.  Hopefully.
* Set up pack n play, which is where the princess will sleep for the first few months.  Half way done.  We realized that we somehow lost a part, so I had to order it.  It's one of the metal bars that supports the mattress.  Once that arrives, it will be VERY EASY to finish setting up.  Just put the bar in, and lay the mattress on top.  Everything else is set and ready.
* Wash all baby gear. Car seat cover, swing cover, bouncer seat cover, sheets, blankets, and the list just keeps on going....  DONE!
* Sanitize the one bottle we have just in case we decide to let her try a bottle, and the paci's. Done, mostly.  I decided not to sanitize the bottle until we know if we need it or not.  It would seem silly to sanitize it and then not use it.  I guess I could have waited on the paci's too, but I'm really hoping she takes those!
* Strip all diapers, especially since I bought some used newborn fluff.  DONE!!!  Whoop Whoop!
* Pack hospital bag. I'll post my list later with the things I'm packing. My goal is to bring as little as possible.  DONE!  I even have a little list of last minute things for J to add when the time comes.
* Pack a bag for the boys for Grammy and Papa's house.  I actually decided they don't need a bag packed for Grammy and Papa's house.  I brought extra clothes for both over already, diapers for L, they already have tooth brushes and paste for the boys, and anything else they might need.
* Baby shower next week  DONE!  It was fun.  I'll try to steal pictures from my mom and post them :)
* Start working on Freezer meals  Haven't even started.

I'm feeling really good about where we stand right now.  If she were born today, we would be prepared.  Sure, we don't have the car seat yet, but that's the last major thing we really need.  And it's not like a baby born at 34 weeks comes home two days after birth, anyway.  We would have time to get a car seat, either from one of our friends who have offered, or go buy one and get it all installed and checked before she would be ready to come home.  Same with the pack n play bar.  It will be here withing a week.  She could sleep in her swing, or even in our bed (I'm not against bed sharing when needed.  L slept in our bed for the first month or so because the ONLY place he would sleep was on top of me).

Ok, I was going to write more but the kids decided they want attention :)