1 August, 2012

17 Week Bump

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.

PROVERBS 3:5,6

I’m starting to think that wearing dresses all the time is keeping me from realizing how much I am growing. It will be so nice to have these weekly pictures to look back on to see how much my body and baby are changing. Here is my weekly baby bump update:

How Far Along: 17 week and baby is measuring at 18 weeks

Total Weight Gain: 10 pounds, bring on the frozen yogurt!

Food Cravings: Fresh Fruit! Even though I can’t stand the temps lately, I don’t want summer and its endless supply of fresh fruit to end.

What I Miss: Being able to stay up past ten o’clock. A new wave of tiredness has come over me. If I’m ever in a vertical position, it’s over.

Symptoms: Pregnancy Brain! I feel like am losing my mind. I couldn’t find my keys the other day only to discover that I had left them in my ignition.

Baby Movement: After dozing off on the couch, I awoke to the feeling of movement in my lower stomach. I swear I finally felt the baby move!

Maternity Attire: I still am avoiding buying new clothes like it’s the plague, but I am getting a little tired of my current dress rotation.

Hurl Factor: While watching an episode of “Pregnant in Heels,” I literally had to leave the room because I almost threw up when the women taste tested breast milk. Yuck!

Annoyances: Having to wake up at least three times a night to use the bathroom. Geez, my bladder must be taking a beating.

Weekly Highlight: Found a special delivery on my porch the other day. My mom sent me not one but two of my favorite baby blankets by Little Giraffe. They are the softest blankets ever!

What was your favorite baby blanket?

31 July, 2012

Pasta Primavera

Don’t be upset by the results you didn’t get with the work you didn’t do.

UNKNOWN

So many things have changed in my life since I got pregnant. The biggest difference for me is my lack of focus or what some people like to refer to as pregnancy brain. While blogging used to come so easily to me, now I am lucky if I have enough energy just to make dinner, let alone take pictures and write about it.

I know things are going to get much harder after the baby’s arrival, but I imagined that I would have ten months to really prepare myself. With my new ever-forgetful brain, I question if I will be ready and what areas of my life will suffer from neglect. Trying to make the most of what I can with each day, I made sure to celebrate my first baby’s birthday tonight.

I can’t believe my little girl, Nellie, is six! She has been such a joy in Chris and my life. To celebrate the big day, I even mustard up enough energy to cook a healthy meal to enjoy.

Pasta Primavera

Ingredients:

1 (24 ounce) can stewed tomatoes

4 Tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 zucchini, chopped

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 cup carrot, shredded

4 serving rotini pasta

Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, combine tomatoes, butter, and garlic powder. Bring to a boil. The reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.

2. Heat olive oil in separate skillet over medium heat. Sauté the zucchini for ten minutes until it reaches desired consistency.

3. Cook pasta according to directions. Continue stirring pasta sauce using spoon to crush the tomatoes.

4. Shred carrots and set aside.

5. Layer pasta with fresh carrots, sauce, zucchini, and Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

I’m not a huge fan of cooked carrots, so I opted to top my pasta with fresh ones. It added a fantastic crunch to the dish. From here on out, fresh carrots are going to be a staple in my pasta dishes.