Back from ultrasound ...

I just got back from my ultrasound this morning, I went to a different lab then last time cause I didn't like the people at the other lab. The lab I went to this time was close to my house and way nicer then the one by work. I had to wear a gown this time, where they don't do that at the other one. They only did the regular ultrasound at this lab so I didn't get to see the 3D one again but since the lady doing the ultrasound was a student and the ultrasound took longer then usual they offered me a free 8x10 picture!! The other lab gave me pics too but they were only 4x6 and I never got to pick which one I wanted. This lab explained everything to me all the way from my bladder (which was much fuller then last time) all the way down to babies toes! I was there for almost a whole hour, having to pee the whole time!! But it was worth it, the doctor there said that all the pics looked really good and this time baby co-operated and we could see the heart really good! I will try and post the updated pic of baby by this weekend!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4C Sugar

3/4C Packed brown sugar

1C Butter

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 lg. Egg

2 1/4C Flour

1 tsp. Baking soda

1/2 tsp. Salt

1C Nuts

2C Chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. In a large bowl beat sugars, butter, vanilla and egg. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.

3. On ungreased cookie sheet drop by rounded tablespoons.

4. Bake 8-10 minutes.

1 cookie = 135 Calories, 8g Fat, 15mg Chol, 80mg Sodium, 16g Carbs, 1g Protein.

***Lighter version *** For 5g Fat and 90 Calories decrease butter to 3/4C and omit nuts. Sub 1C choc. chips for the 2C. I also subbed the egg for 1/4C of egg beaters and found that 1C of choc. chips was too many (there wasn't enough dough). Next time I will reduce the chips even more to maybe 3/4C?

Tuna Macaroni Salad

2C Elbow macaroni (uncooked)

1/2C Frozen green peas

1C Tuna, drained

1C Mayo

1C Shredded cheddar cheese (if desired)

1/4C Sweet pickle relish

2 tsp. Lemon juice

3/4 tsp. Salt

1/4 tsp. Pepper

1 med. Celery stalk - chopped

1 sm. Onion - chopped

1. Cook macaroni as directed, adding peas for last 4-6 minutes, rinse with cold water and drain.

2. In large bowl mix macaroni, peas and remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to blend flavors.

1 Serving = 450 Cals, Fat 30g, Chol 35mg, Sodium 660mg, Carbs 30g, Pro 16g

***Lighter version*** For only 1g of fat and 210 cals use fat-free mayo, reduced fat cheddar cheese and water packed tuna (I omitted the cheese all together).

Happy hump day! ;)

Yesterday was grocery shopping day, which I had to do by myself and normally I'm OK with this cause I can take my time and check out new products - maybe find some good finds! ;) But yesterday made me very grumpy! I was fine until I got to the till to pay and there was no bag boy making me have to place all my groceries back into my buggy, I know it is something minor and something that most people just do anyway but for some reason it made me angry! Then the fact that I had to unload the car by myself and put all the groceries away by myself added to my frustration. I told hubby after he got home from his appointment that that was the last time I will go by myself to get our monthly groceries!!

The other guy I work with decided to come in today! He didn't even say anything about not being here yesterday and not calling!? Like he thinks it's OK to pick and choose which days he wants to work! ? Must be nice to be 66 and semi-retired making up your own schedule and screwing up everyone else's with no hard feelings?! Can you tell I'm a little bitter about this! ? .... jerk ..... ;) I can tell you now though I will never cancel another one of my appointments because of his schedule! They think I take lots of time off now for doctors appointments and such, what are they going to think when I have to go every 2 weeks to the doctors!!! :0

Hopefully tonight I will be able to work on cutting fabric!? Seems like every time I plan to work on it something else comes up, like trips to the hospital and grocery shopping! ? he he ;) After work today (since dipsh*t is in and I don't have to cover his late shift) I think I am going to stop at the paint store and try to find a nice jungle border for babies room. It's hard to find nice borders and I think what ever I find is going to depict what colors go on the walls cause it seems like it is going to be easier to match paint to the wallpaper then the wallpaper to paint!

Turkey Soft Tacos

1/2C Chicken broth

1 Med. Onion - chopped

1 Sm. Red or Green Pepper - diced

1/2C Frozen kernel corn

1/2lb Ground Turkey (I used chicken cause I couldn't find turkey)

4 cloves Garlic - chopped

1/2C salsa

1/4C fresh cilantro

8 Flour tortillas

Sour cream (optional)

1. In 10" skillet heat broth to boil. Cook onion, bell pepper and corn in broth for 2-3 min, stirring occasionally until veggies are crisp. Reduce heat to med-high.

2. Stir in turkey and garlic. Cook for 2 min., stir in salsa. Cook for about 5 min., stir occasionally until turkey is no longer pink. Stir in cilantro.

3. Spoon slightly less then 1/2C of turkey mixture down center of each warmed tortilla, roll tortilla and serve with sour cream.

1 serving = Cals 370, Fat 7g, Chol 40mg, Sodium 710mg, Carbs 58g, Protein 23g.

Just another day ...

So if you don't already know we are going to try and use cloth diapers instead of disposables. I'm not doing it to be enviromental or for other reasons people may say but I would like to use cloth because I've heard that it is easier to potty train the child, they will recognize the "wet" feeling sooner then kids that use disposables. My hubbies aunt is going to sew them all for us, all we have to do is cut the pattern and she will zip them together. But lately she has been bugging my MIL as to where the material is so I guess she wants to get started on them, which is nice ~ at least she wants to be prepared! ;) So, the inlaws stopped by last night after dinner to drop off the diaper material that needs to be cut still. My MIL has already cut all the white flannel that goes inside the diaper (5 dozen regular size and 3 dozen newborn size) she has also cut all the flannel with a pattern that goes on the outside for the newborn diapers so all I need to do is cut 5 dozen diapers out of the patterned material and the absorbant pads that get sewn in between. So I guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend! Which is OK cause hubby will probably be working in the basement. Last night he finished the demolision process so hopefully this weekend he will be building walls! ? :)

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2/3C Sugar

2/3C Packed brown sugar

1/2C Butter

1/2C Shortening

1 tsp Baking soda

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1 tsp. Vanilla

1/2 tsp. Baking powder

1/2 tsp. Salt

2 lg. Eggs

3C Quick oats

1C Flour

1C Raisins, nuts OR chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 375F.

2. In a large bowl beat all ingredients except oats, flour and raisins with mixer. Stir in oats, flour and raisins.

3. On ungreased cookie sheet drop by rounded tablespoon about 2 inches apart.

4. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until light brown.

1 Cookie = Calories 120, Fat 6g, Chol 20mg, Sodium 95mg, Carbs 15g, Protein 2g

***Lighter version*** For only 3g of Fat and 95 calories per cookie use Unsweetened Applesauce instead of shortening, 1/2C Egg beaters instead of eggs and increase Cinnamon and Vanilla to 1 1/2tsp.

Back to work ...

I had a nice long weekend, not too eventfull but it was nice. I don't think we did anything Friday night ? I can't remember, I think my 'baby brain' is starting to kick in cause I've had a lot of 'moments' lately!? ;) Saturday hubby started on the basement ~~ YEAH !! And I went shopping, to Costco for a few 'staples' (TP, Kleenex, Pop..etc). By the time I got home my FIL was over helping hubby disconnect all the electrical stuff, thankfully he is an electrician so we don't have to pay for someone to come out and do that! ;) I made some soup on Saturday "Wild Rice Soup" (I will post the recipe at the end of this), it was really good! Then on Sunday we decided to go visiting cause we haven't done that since before I was in the hospital, and later that night we went for dinner with my Dad and brother for Dad's birthday. We had to pick up my nephew who was with his Mom close to where we live so we figured we were going by there anyway we may as well pick him up instead of having my brother drive all that way. I was nice to spend a little quality time with my nephew something I don't get to do too often. Monday was a holiday, which was nice ~ we went shopping first thing in the morning for supplies for the basement. Then after lunch I baked some low fat oatmeal raisin cookies. I didn't copy this recipe down so I won't be able to post it today but I'll make sure to post it tomorrow. That's about all for our weekend, I'm so excited that the basement has been started on although I'm sure it will still take a good 2 months to finish, if it's not done by the end of April I told hubby that we should start on the baby room anyway! We can always work on the basement later!?

Wild Rice Soup

1/4C Butter

4 Med. celery sticks ~ sliced

2 Med. carrot sticks ~ sliced

1 lg. onion ~ chopped

1 Med. green pepper ~ chopped

1/4C plus 2 Tbsp flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

3C cooked wild rice

2C water

2 Cans chicken broth

3C half n' half

2/3C slivered toasted almonds (optional)

1/2C parsley

1. In 4qt saucepan or dutch oven melt butter. Cook celery, carrots, onion and green pepper about 10 min until crisp-tender, stirring frequently.

2. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Stir in wild rice, water and broth. Heat to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 min. Stir occasionally.

3. Stir in half n' half, almonds and parsley. Heat just until hot (do not boil or soup may curdle).

1 serving = Calories 345, Fat 20g, Chol 55mg, Carbs 31g, Protein 11g.

***Lighter version*** For only 3g of Fat and 215 calories use cooking spray instead of butter and 3C of Fat free half n' half.

Of course I made this using the lighter version, although I couldn't find Fat free 1/2 n 1/2 so I just used low fat but I skipped out on the almonds (a. because nuts are fattening and b. because I forgot to buy some). I also found that in step 2 it says to stir in the flour before the water and broth which I found made it hard to stir and it almost burned to the bottom of the pan, I would add your liquids first then the dry ingredients! ? O - also I didn't have "wild rice" so I just used regular instant white rice, which probably isn't as healthy but tasted good? Other then that it was a pretty simple recipe and tastes pretty darn good! ;)

More pics and some recipes!

~Before ~ Pre-pregnancy =


Not the best outfit to compare tummies but this is 12 weeks =


~Present day~ 21 weeks =


Front views

I also wanted to post some recipes that I have tried and thought were petty good, the first one is suppost to a loaf recipe but I made them as muffins instead and thought they turned out good.

Banana Bread

1 1/4C sugar

1/2C butter or margarine

2 Eggs (I subed and used 1/2C Egg Beaters instead)

1 1/2C Mashed bananas (3 ripe bananas)

1/2C Buttermilk (I subed and used 1/2C Plain yogurt instead)

1 tsp. Vanilla

2 1/2C Flour

1 tsp. Baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1C Chopped nuts (I subed and used 1C blueberries instead)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two 8x4 pans or one 9x5 pan, or use muffin liners like me!

2. In a large bowl stir sugar and butter until well mixed. Stir in eggs until well mixed. Stir in mashed bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla beat with spoon until smooth. Stir n flour, baking soda and salt until moistened. Stir in nuts and divide batter.

3. Bake 8" pan for about 1hr, 9" pan for aout 1 hr and 15 min and I baked my muffins for about 35 min or until toothpick came out clean. Cool for 10 min.

1 slice = Calories 70, Fat 2g, Chol 15mg, Sodium 95mg, Carbs 12g, Protein 1g.

I think that since I subed so many things that my recipe would be even lower in fat (nuts are pretty high fat and so is buttermilk but the berries and yogurt I used are fat free). They turned out really good, I think I next time I might try adding cinnamon to them cause they kinda tasted like they were missing something? Last night I made another new recipe for supper and it was pretty good too,

Roasted Vegetable Stew

5 small red potatoes - cut into fourth's

1 large onion - cut into fourths

1 med. green pepper - cut into fourths

1 med. red pepper - cut into fourths

1 med. carrot - chopped

1 sm. zucchini - chopped

4 oz. med. whole mushrooms

2 cloves garlic - finely chopped

2 Tbsp oil

1 can vegetable or chicken broth

2 cans Italian stewed tomatoes - undrained

1 1/4C uncooked rotini

2 Tbsp fresh parsley or 2 tsp dried

Fresh ground pepper (optional)

1. Set oven to broil. In large bowl toss potatoes, onion, peppers, carrot, zucchini, mushrooms, garlic and oil. In ungreased 15x10 pan spread veggie mixture - skin side up.

2. Broil 10-15 minutes. Remove veggies as they become soft. Coarsley chop potatoes, onions and peppers.

3. In 4 quart dutch oven mix vegetables, broth, tomatoes, and pasta. Heat to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer about 15 minutes stirring occasionally until pasta is tender. Sprinkle with parsley and pepper.

1 Serving (1 1/2c) = calories 245, Fat 5g, Chol 0mg, Sodium 680mg, Carbs 49g, Protein 7g

I found it kind odd how there was both potatoes and noodles in this recipe and I think next time I make it I will add less potatoes (if any) and more noodles. I also only had one can of reg stewed tomatoes and the other can was 'chili' spiced so it made it a little spicy but not too bad. I also omitted the zucchini cause we don't really like it but I think next time I will add a few more mushrooms and maybe a little corn instead. I also found that there was a few too many onions but they did add flavor so maybe I will roast them with the veggie mix but not add them to the stew part!? This recipe turned out to be more like a soup then stew but I think if I was to use more noodles they would suck up more of the juices? Anyway it was pretty good and had just a bit of spice to it (probably cause I used spicy stewed tomatoes though - I don't think it would normally be spicy if you stuck to the recipe?).