28 week appointment...

Daughter, would you mind explaining to your Mother why she has gained 9 lbs. in 4 weeks? I realize it's winter but you are not a squirrel...please stop storing food for your winter hibernation.

I had another dream this morning about you and you came out with these perfectly round cheeks, maybe you have squirrel tendencies after all.

Any who, we had another decent appointment I guess you could say. Your heart rate was 150 and my blood pressure and urine were once again clean. It was after those announcements that the appointment went south of the border.

Do you know why they call the glucose test a one hour glucose test?

It's because one hour from the time you drink your lovely orange beverage they are supposed to take your blood. Not one hour and forty five minutes later as was the case today. How they manage to misplace your file and then proceed to forget about you is beyond me but they did. It didn't help that I was dehydrated which meant trying to get blood was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Four nurses and five sticks later they finally found blood. This was after they all had to argue about who was going to do it and then proceed to ignore my request to just redo the test at another time when we were all better prepared. I was actually pretty proud of myself though. Needle sticks #3 and #4 were done after I pretty much told them to have at it. For anyone that knows me and the chore it is to get blood from my veins this is a new thing. Normally after the second one I wave the white flag and tell them to back the hell away before anyone gets hurt. It didn't even get dizzy from all of the commotion. I think Mommy has finally put on a pair of her big girl underwear...YAY!!

Hopefully they are able to use the blood and not force us to deal with it again. You didn't move much this morning and I knew why. Mommy hadn't fed you since around 7 o'clock last night so her lil' peanut was just hungry and tired of all the bull crap. I just fed you a single with cheese from Wendy's and you haven't stopped moving since. I guess since I have gained (gulp) 9 lbs. in such a short period of time that maybe a burger from Wendy's wasn't the greatest of ideas but I was in a rush to get home, feed your brothers, and then get back to work since I had been gone since 9:15 this morning. Hell...let's be honest, the cheeseburger probably wasn't smart but the thought of even considering going on a diet is just a joke. Our first Thanksgiving dinner is tomorrow followed by at least one more and then we head into the Christmas season which means Christmas parties, our holiday bake off, Christmas Eve, and then Christmas day. By then you will be a month away from joining us in the real world so why make myself suffer? Not only that but what kind of mother would I be if I didn't allow to you participate in all of the wonderful food during this season?

Antipasto Kabobs

Here is yet another baby shower appetizer...they were really yummy...minus the olives. I am not an olive fan if you couldn't tell...lol!


Anitpasto Kabobs~

Ingredients:
1 pkg. refrigerated cheese tortellini
40 black olives
40 green olives
2/3 C. Italian dressing
40 slices of pepperoni
20 slices of hard salami, halved
20 wooden kabobs

Directions:
1.) Cook tortellini according to package, drain and rinse in cold water.
2.) In a resealable plastic bad, add tortellini, olives, and dressing. Refrigerate for four hours or overnight.
3.) Drain and discard dressing.
4.) On each kabob, thread one of each olive, two slices of pepperoni, slice of salami, cheese tortellini. You may choose whatever order you would like for them to go in.

*Kathy also added little cubes of cheese to each of her kabobs since her kabob sticks were on the longer side. The cheese was a nice addition especially for this mother to be who needs her calcium!!

These were very yummy and one of my favorite items, without the olives of course!

Salami Roll Ups

As some of you may know, our first baby shower was held this past weekend. My step-dad Jim and his girlfriend Kathy were kind enough to host it in our honor. We received lots of wonderful presents including the wholesale box of diapers that my Grandparents got us. This box literally contains probably ten or so packages of diapers. They should go lovely with the presents they gave to Daniel. Only my Grandpa would be able to give hospital packaged gloves and surgical masks, those items go with the safety goggles, jumbo sized tweezers, and clothes pins. What they don't realize is that gift probably should have gone to me instead. I am definitely not looking forward to dirty diaper duty in our house, Daniel is much better with foul odors than what I am.

Anyway, now that the talk of dirty diapers make you think of appetizers...lol, here is one to share with you. My step-dad was on drink duty for the party while Kathy was the foodie. She made several different appetizers and she made enough to feed a small army. I will be sharing a few of the recipes here over the next few days since any of these items would be great for all of your holiday functions.


Kathy's Salami Roll Ups

Ingredients:
40-45 slices of salami
1 8oz. block cream cheese, softened
1/2 C. sour cream
4-5 green onions, finely chopped

Directions:
1.) Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, and green onions.
2.) Spoon onto each slice of salami and roll using a little of the mixture to "seal" the salami.
3.) Refrigerate for an hour or so to allow the mixture to firm up. (This is my suggestion)

I hope you enjoy and by the way...the salami rolls are shown on the second tier of the above picture. I thought I would point that out for those of you who might mistake the fruit kabobs for salami...lol.

Thanks again Father and Kathy...we had a wonderful time!




Happy Thanksgiving...gobble, gobble!!

Hamburger Hash

Quick post tonight. I stumbled upon this recipe over at Three on Food posted by Kathy who found it over on Heidi's blog. Daniel actually liked this after he added some ketchup...me on the other hand could live without it. We both agreed that next time we make it we will use sausage and mild salsa instead of hamburger and the diced tomatoes. I threw mine in the oven for a little while to brown the top which is why my cheese is a little browner.

Cheesy Hamburger Hash~

Ingredients:
1 lb. lean ground beef

1 bag frozen O'brien diced potatoes, the kind with onions and peppers

1 can diced tomatoes with Italian herbs, undrained

2 Tbsp parsley (we did a little less)

1/2 Tbsp garlic powder (we added fresh garlic)

1 - 2 cups shredded colby jack cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Cook ground beef, then drain but leave a small amount of the fat in the pan to cook the potatoes in. Heat remaining fat in pan on medium heat. Add frozen potatoes, cover and cook 10 minutes; stir occasionally. Season potatoes with salt and pepper to taste. To the potatoes, add beef, tomatoes, parsley and garlic powder; stir well. Cover and cook 5 minutes. Stir and pat mixture down. Sprinkle with cheese and cover and cook an additional 5 minutes.

Do you like Pink?

Peanut...do you like pink? As in the color pink?

If not then I am sorry. You have more pink clothing than I know what to do with. This is not entirely my fault, I swear. Just about everything that has been purchased for you is either all pink or has hints of pink through out.

Would you prefer purple, maybe a suttle shade of orange instead? You just let Mommy know okay dear!

I painted your room yellow, does that help a little bit? Of course the bedding Mommy bought you last night has pink all over it so once again, do you like pink? I sure hope you do, because if not, then I don't know what to tell you girlfriend!

We were going to remain neutral and do your room in a farm theme but I found your new bedding on e-bay for much, much cheaper. I knew I had to have it as soon as I saw it. See last week when I was starting to realize we probably wouldn't be able to afford your farm bedding, I started drawing up butterflies and lady bugs to paint on each of your walls. Little did I know that while surfing on e-bay last night for a cheaper version of the farm bedding that I would stumble upon the bedding I actually bought for you. The butterflies and lady bugs were almost identical to the ones that I had been drawing for you. I feel that it must have been fate that I stumbled upon it with less than two minutes to go before the end of the auction.

I really hope you like it. I am pretty sure you won't really care but I hope you like it just the same.

Baby Shower #1

This afternoon was our first baby shower. It also happened to be co-ed and kid friendly. We had so much fun and there was sooooo much food. Here are some pictures to enjoy including my latest belly shot.

All of the yummy food

The presents!

The cake, wouldn't know if it was yummy or not, my tummy wasn't cooperating later in the evening so I didn't get to try it out.

Whose belly is bigger??

Some of the siblings and me.

And lastly, my almost 28 week belly shot.

Another ultrasound (Revised)

We had another ultrasound today and honestly, I don't think I will ever tire of seeing my daughter on the big screen. They confirmed that yes she was in fact still a girl, not sure how I would have broken the news to our family had she have suddenly grown an extra part. She is still wonderful and healthy and is weighing in at 2lbs. 1oz., with a heart rate of 156. She has a nice round tummy and I believe she is going to have her Daddy's nose and her Mommy's lips. We finally got a nice profile shot of her today which I will try to post sometime tomorrow, it's quite entertaining. She had her right arm over her forehead as if she was having the worst day ever and people, if her top lip was stuck out any further it might swallow her bottom lip whole. My little peanut...I cannot wait until she is finally here so that I can snuggle and love on her in person!
~As promised I added the picture to the post. My sister said she looked just like her...I think she is going to look like her Daddy. I guess we will have to wait and see.