Baby Hiatus

I've been on a baby hiatus taking care of this little guy:




Lucan Richard was born on June 3rd at 4:46 am. 8 lb 7 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. He was a healthy baby! I had two things on my birth plan that I was fairly adamant about - I wanted an epidural and I absolutely did not want a cesarean unless it was a medical emergency. Everything else was negotiable. I only got one out of the two - I did not have a cesarean. Which means I didn't get drugs. :( We ended up waiting too long at home before heading to the hospital and by the time I was admitted, they checked me and I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. After 3 hours of intense pushing, baby K made his appearance into the world!

Motherhood, by far, has been the most intense and life-changing adventure I've ever embarked on. Never have I felt less in control of my life. Never have I doubted myself so much. I also don't think I've cried this much in a decade. And yet, never have I loved something so richly.


We have been struggling with breastfeeding. My life seems consumed by it. Weigh - breastfeed - weigh again to check his intake - bottlefeed - pump. Repeat the 1 hour process again in another 2 hours. Add in a couple of wee hour feedings and middle of the night crying (Lucan - not me, although sometimes I feel like crying) and you've got a good picture of what my life looks like presently. I've found myself wondering when life will ever feel "normal" again. Lance typically tells me when Lucan is 18 years-old. I don't find it helpful.

In the midst of all my doubting, anxiety, and exhaustion, I know that our feeding struggles are God's plan for us. He has humbled me and shown me that my story will be used for someone else's encouragement in the future. The most important thing is for my baby to be healthy and happy. This can take the form of breastfeeding or formula feeding.

And Lucan is thriving and robust. Since birth 24 days ago, he has gained a solid 2 lbs and 2 oz. My little man is doing well.






So please excuse the sporadic postings and absences. Hopefully life will settle into a pattern soon!

Freezer Meal Update

After a solid weekend + a few additional weeknights, there's a part of me that hates being in my kitchen. Really, I do. Too much at once. Here's a run down of everything I did with the help of my sous chef:

• 3 lbs of diced onion



• 2 lbs of sliced celery



• 6 lbs of sliced carrots



• 2 lbs of shredded cheese



• 4 lbs of fried hamburger with diced onion



• 4 lbs of fried hamburger



• taco casserole



• meatloaf



• 2 chicken cacciatore



• 2 pizza braids



• vegetable beef stew



• 2 shepherd's pie



• chicken santa fe rice



• cheesy chicken and rice



• rosemary penne chicken and broccoli



• southwest chicken wrap filling



• 6 stuffed green peppers



• 3 dozen blueberry muffins



• 9 c. of granola

Yes and no, to feeling adequately prepped and ready. I really wanted to make multiples of all of those meals, but I didn't. I think I'm going to feel hoarder-esk and not want to actually eat the meals until we are in dire straights of hunger. Per the advice of my friend Erika, I may save some for when my maternity leave is up and I go back to work. I'm sure that will be a rough transition.

Strawberry Trifle

A few years back I decided I needed a trifle bowl. Really, no one needs a trifle bowl. But I enjoy it and the few times I use it a year makes me happy. Trifles are one of my favorite spring desserts to make. Typically fruit is in season, readily available, and not crazy expensive. Trifle desserts present themselves very well. They are always very pretty with layers of fruit, pudding, and cake.

The type of trifle I made here is what I call a cheater dessert. I have a few of those up my sleeve. It's a cheater dessert because I didn't actually have to bake anything with it - all I did was assemble it. I prepped the fruit, the angel food cake and the pudding the night before and then assembled it about an hour prior to serving it. Definitely a cheater dessert :)

Ingredients
1 small package instant vanilla pudding mix (I used cheesecake pudding instead)
2 cups cold milk
1 (9 inch) angel food cake, torn into cubes
2 bananas, sliced
Fresh strawberries, sliced
Fresh blueberries
1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed


Directions
Prepare pudding with milk according to package directions. Gently fold in whipped topping. Refrigerate until set.

In a trifle bowl or other glass serving dish, layer the cake pieces, the pudding mixture, and the fruit. Repeat layers. Cover and chill before serving.

39.5 weeks

Here's a couple of photos of my torpedo shaped body. My friend Sarah said that I would be amazed by the shape of the changes my body would undergo - she wasn't kidding. I definitely think that the baby has dropped too. We'll see what changes this week brings! We are so close to the end.

Lance also insisted that Fire wanted his 39 week photo taken too. Neither Fire or myself are convinced.

Nursery Reveal!

From the very beginning I had visions of a nursery that wasn't overtly "baby." I wasn't keen on pastels or anything overly cutesy. With our available budget and the size limitations of the room, I didn't have plans of grandeur or anything too over the top. Our nursery, in my humble opinion, is exactly what I hoped it would be.

I wanted wainscoting early on, which Lance was firmly against. But it's really hard to tell your pregnant wife no, especially when she happens to be a very determined individual bent on staging an attack from all sides. This would include recruiting various friends to tell Lance wainscoting was awesome, classic, and never goes out of style as well as me emailing Lance various blog posts about how great wainscoting is and then "browsing" for wainscoting at Home Depot. Like I said, determined :)

I think the results are awesome. Lance can now consider himself to be a real DIY man!



The nursery is a happy medium, of something old, something borrowed, and something new.
The blinds were actually in our guest room and were swapped out and put in the nursery.

The hanging wall shelves were already in here. Do you see the Twins teddy bear on the shelf? It was a shower gift from some dear friends who know Lance well. Lance has already started brainstorming about how he can properly introduce the baby to baseball and how to root from the Twins (even when they are having a terrible season).

The short bookshelf contains books that were gifted to us at one of our baby showers. The left bin is a tiger bin from Target, which was a baby shower gift from my cooking club friends. It contains extra bedding. The monkey bin on the right is also from Target and contains a few infant toys.



The crib and mattress were from Target. The bedding is from Pottery Barn Kids - their Bright Stripe bedroom collection. I purchased the bedding off of craigslist in March. There's a funny story about that purchase, you'll have to ask me about it if you want the whole story though.



The dresser/changing table combo was purchased off of craigslist too. My parents gifted us the rocking chair. The floor lamp in the corner was another craigslist find too. You can't tell from the picture, but it has small star cut-outs on the top and bottom of the shade. The brown and cream clothes hamper was a baby shower gift from Target.



The table in the corner was a reject table from my mom and dad's house. It used to have a yellow table cloth covering it. I had my own unsuccessful adventure in navy blue Rit Dye which resulted in a dingy gray tablecloth. Needless to say, I ended up buying an entirely new tablecloth from K-Mart (who knew those tablecloths were so hard to find!)



The prints on the wall are an Etsy find. They are probably as "baby" as I got with the nursery. They feature pictures of animals in various classic colors and prints.

One of the trickiest things I found was finding the right shade of neutral tan/beige. I know, it's beige. How hard could it be? I didn't want it too dark, too gray, or too pink. Believe me, beige is hard! We ended up going with Sherwin Williams' Urban Putty. I really like it. I was very pleased with the choice. One thing to note - I am a better painter than Lance. He really is slow :)

The finishing touches on the mop board were concluded Wed night. I think the OB put the fear of God in Lance when the doctor said that he thought there was a 50/50 chance of me making my next appointment. When we got home, Lance hopped to it and finished it all up!

I love our nursery. The base is neutral enough where with a few switches it could easily become a nursery for a girl or, better yet, just be a regular bedroom for whoever lives here next. I hope you enjoyed the tour and I hope our baby likes sleeping in here!

Sneak Preview: Baby K Nursery!

Look for more pictures this weekend!

The view from 38 weeks

Here's me and all of my 38-week glory. I'm feeling large.

I'm one of those blessed women who have a relatively complication-free pregnancy. No real morning sickness, no problems, nada. Yes, I am fully aware that I'm lucky, feel free to hate me a bit. I have had some sciatica issues and lower back pain, but even still, not a huge issue. I did fail my original blood glucose screen (note to self: don't down two packages of fruit snacks prior to the screen, it will cause a spike - big surprise!) and I did have to do the full-blown blood glucose test complete with 18 hours of fasting, dehydration, and 4 blood draws. That was not fun. But that's been the only real issue so far. I have some fears that this means my labor is going to be no picnic or that this baby is going to never sleep. I need to just trust in God for the strength to get through those things.

At 38 weeks I'm still going strong - for the most part. I'm getting uncomfortable, feeling more bulky and achy after sitting for prolonged periods of time as well as being tired, but I'm not entirely over being pregnant either. I think this is mostly due to the fact that my mile long to-do list isn't complete. I'm getting a little nervous about my stamina when it comes to my superhuman freezer cooking. Maybe my super special sous-chef (aka: Lance) will throw his pregnant wife a bone and help. I'm sure he will. My husband is great like that. It's good to remind myself about his Godly helpfulness.

My doctor appointments are uneventful, which I'm thankful for. Normal weight gain, normal blood pressure, normal heart rate. Normal, normal, normal. I spend more time waiting for the doctor than I spend with the doctor. All in all, baby K and I are doing well.

I think that we are getting pretty ready to bring this baby home. We're going closer to settling on a name, the nursery is almost complete (meaning all the essential items are done, I still have some non-essential sewing to finish), the crib is up, the pack n' play is assembled, the bouncy seat is assembled, all of baby's clothing is sorted and laundered, our hospital bag is mostly packed. I keep trying to find a sane balance of over packing and having the right balance of what we need. I have a good chunk of my shower thank you's written. One of my favorite places in our house is the nursery. It's perfect and serene. Especially without having a crying baby to put in there :) Once the last of the decorating is complete, I'll post photos.

Freezer cooking

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you realize that Lance and I have a problem with our refrigerator, freezer and pantry. At any given time, they are stuffed to the gills. It would be completely unfair to place all the blame on me - just ask Lance about the great chicken shortage of 2011 along with the great bacon shortage of the summer of 2010. During those "shortages" Lance picked up several pounds of chicken breasts, whole chickens, and huge freezer bags of chicken breasts. Any time bacon is on sale, Lance picks up at least 5 pounds of it. While I could be the one to blame for my pantry, the freezer isn't completely my fault. And we have half a side of beef at the bottom the freezer to boot. Again - not my fault there are times when I have problems closing the lid. I do contribute to the problem as I like to buy several varieties of ice cream and don't like to finish any of them :) (somehow I've inherited my father's closure issues, even though I'm adopted!) Our friend, Ryan, the other night asked us if we even know what is in our freezer. The answer to that question: yes and no. Lance and I "audit" our deep-freeze twice a year and take inventory of everything that's in there. Not at all surprising, we are always a little bit astounded by the contents. It's probably time to do another audit, especially as I embark on some pre-baby freezer cooking. Here's my list of everything I'd like to cook or prep prior to Baby K's arrival on ~June 2.

Prep:

• Carrots


• Celery


• Onions


• Zucchini


• Hamburger


• Chicken


• Roast a turkey (he's old. He's begging to be roasted)


• Shred huge blocks of costco cheese


• Chicken stock


• Grind round steak into hamburger

Prepare:

• Spaghetti sauce


• Taco casserole (2)


• Granola


• Spaghetti pie (2)


• Meatloaf (2)


• Meat balls (2)


• Taco meat (5 lbs)


• Chicken cacciatore (2)


• Chicken fried rice (3)


• Shepherd's pie (doubtful as it's super labor intensive and let's be real, I don't have that kind of time!)


• Chicken Santa Fe (2)


• Enchiladas (beef & chicken)


• Chili (2)


• Vegetable beef stew (2)


• Beer stuffed cheese burgers (10)

And maybe if I'm lucky I'll do a few loaves of bread or some cookies. If only I had a cook or a friend or family member who would just finish this list for me ;)

I have this feeling I'm being slightly ridiculous and more than a little unrealistic. But like one of my favorite sayings "Those who fail to prepare, prepare to fail" I might as well give this my best attempt as there's nothing like being too ready. This coming from the woman who hasn't finished her birth plan or packing for the hospital (truth be told - it's only Lance's stuff that still need to be packed)

Heroes

2,000 bid Iowa soldier farewell - Omaha.com

Our neighbor, James Justice, died in Afghanistan last weekend. Please keep his wife, Mandy, and their daughter, Caydence, in your prayers. Be proud of those serving overseas, they are making the ultimate sacrifice.

James was a good guy. He worked hard and was a good neighbor. You could find him mowing his lawn at 10:30 at night and two winters when we got piles and piles of snow, we would periodically find our driveway already shoveled by James. We would have neighborly chats over the fence about our lives. When James left to serve earlier this spring he told me that he had mixed feelings about leaving. A part of him longed to be in the action, serving alongside his military family. The other part of him was torn as this would be the first time since Caydence was born that he would be away from her. But like any soldier who loved his country, James eventually found himself back at the front. James died just one day prior to the death of Bin Laden. The timing seems ironic to me, but who am I to argue with God's timing?

It was James' wish to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The military will only pay once for the body to be shipped back home; therefore the family is having to raise funds to have James buried in Washington DC. If you feel led to help the family - donations can be made to Veridian Credit Union: James Justice Benefit Account, 5910 University Avenue in West Des Moines, 50266.

"God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you" -St. Augustine

Be at rest James.

Not fair.

Lance says I don't get a mother's day this year present because I'm not a mother. Really? Should he argue with his 9-month pregnant wife about the infinitesimal detail of whether or not she's technically a "mother?" I think not. (Besides I'm a cat mother - I have Fire) This seems especially unfair as, more than likely, he'll be a father in time for Father's Day and will be eligible for a Father's Day present (although if I have anything to say about it, if he's skipping me, I'm skipping him).

Based on all of this knowledge, I'm treating myself to a pedicure. I'm 9 months pregnant. It's May, the start of pedicure season. I need a fun dose of summer color, like one of the OPI colors below. My pregnant belly prevents me from painting my own toes. I think that in itself is a good enough reason.

Happy Mother's Day me!

PS - Lance told me the other day that pregnant ladies would make the perfect mall Santas because they already have the belly. Yet another inappropriate comment by dear husband :)