28 weeks down

Whoa, can you believe that. I'm at the awkward stage in pregnancy where I don't have much time left, but it still feels like forever until he gets here. This pregnancy has honestly flown by. I'm sure I can accredit that to everything that we had going on. We've lost 3 family members, went home for a visit, made a move across the country, and bought a house. Now we are preparing for a deployment. That's a whole lot of stuff to handle at once so I see how it's gone by quickly. Here's my 28 week bump (that actually looks like a bump now). I don't know why the bottom part is not fully uploading!

Anyway, let's play some catch up from the past 4 weeks. I've had a few doctors appointments. Just normal ones. Heartbeat is still around the 160 range and he's still head down. I've gotten this nice little symptom where my arms will go numb for days at a time. Apparently it's normal. I've gained 5 pounds since my pre-pregnancy weight. That is not a complete total since I actually lost weight first, but I'm only counting from pre-pregnancy for now. My pre-pregnancy jeans no longer fit. I can still buckle them, but sitting is very uncomfortable. 

We finished a majority of the nursery. I made the crib skirt and a valance with the fabric I bought. I also plan to make a pillow to sit on the glider. Haven't gotten around to that yet. All of the furniture is set up. Chris and I were trying to make a mobile, but that idea failed miserably, so we made a canvas piece instead. We thought we'd use some of our baby shower decorations. It turned out nicely, in my opinion. All of the clothes are washed and in the dresser. We are pretty much set from newborn-3 months. After that I will have to start buying outfits and sleepers. There are still a few miscellaneous items we need to buy, but we're about 80% ready. If he were born today, we'd be alright to bring him home. Let's just hope he doesn't. He still needs to cook a while longer.

Speaking of that, I have still been having some random, painful contractions. It's nothing to worry about though. They are no consistent and it seems I am still in the clear. My GERD has made a wicked comeback. I was doing okay for a while there, but for the past week it has felt like something is stuck in my throat. I know there is nothing there, but it's still painful. I will be discussing this with my doctor ASAP because I can not go another 12ish weeks feeling this pain. I have to go in for my second gestational diabetes test next week after this sinus infection clears up. Thankfully it is only a one hour this time. I think that's about it for now. Update again in 4 weeks!

slow cooker pulled pork fajitas

Slow cooker, yay! These were a huge hit with all members of my family. Now I'll have different things to do on 'taco night' lol.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lb boneless pork loin roast

2 tablespoons of fajita seasoning

1 cup of salsa

1 green bell pepper, sliced 

1 red bell pepper, sliced

flour tortillas

shredded cheddar cheese

sour cream

Place pork into a 4 quart slow cooker. Sprinkle with the fajita seasoning and top with salsa. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Mine was perfect at 8 hours. Remove the pork and place on cutting board. Using two forks, shred it. Return it to the slow cooker and mix well. Add in the bell peppers and increase heat to high. Cover and cook for 30 minutes. Heat your tortillas so they are easier to manipulate. I just pop each into the microwave for 10 seconds. Use a slotted spoon, place a heaping spoonful in each tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese and add sour cream if desired. Eat up!

breakfast casserole

Who doesn't like breakfast for dinner? I love it. Here is a casserole for you. This makes A LOT of casserole. Like, my family of 3 could have eaten this for 3 days.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb bacon, chopped

1/4 cup ham, diced

1 bag (30 oz) frozen shredded hash browns, thawed and patted dry

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

9 large eggs

8 oz sour cream

1 1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

1 cup cornflakes, smashed into crumbs

2-3 tablespoons melted butter

Heat oven to 350F. Spray a 13x9" glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Cook bacon until it is crisp. Pat the extra grease off of it with a paper towel and then chop it up. Toss the bacon, ham, cheeses and hash browns together in a large bowl and then spoon into the baking dish. In the same bowl, beat the eggs, milk, sour cream, salt and pepper together with a whisk. Pour over the potato mixture. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes. In a small bowl, mix together the cornflake crumbs and butter. Sprinkle over the casserole and bake an additional 15-20 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

homemade 'ice cream'

Why did I put 'ice cream'? Well, simple. It's not really ice cream. My 2 year old thinks it is, though! I originally found this on Pinterest with the title 'single ingredient ice cream'. Single ingredient? Now, I remember making ice cream in school when I was in like 3rd grade. We definitely used more than one ingredient, so this made me want to find out what magic was the cause of this single ingredient ice cream. One word: bananas. Seriously. You can make 'ice cream' from bananas. I owe a ton of thanks to the writer over at Use Real Butter for posting this for me to stumble on. Although, my 'ice cream' was not a single ingredient, since we wanted more than just the banana flavor. Here's how you do it.

Ingredients:

4 bananas, slightly over ripe (some brown spots)

and then if you want flavor, I used:

2 tablespoons of peanut butter

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Slice your bananas into about 1/4" thick pieces. Put them in a bowl (or on a plate and cover) and freeze. It'll take at least an hour, depending on which you use. If you put them in a bowl, it will take longer since they are stacked on each other. You need them nice and frozen. Do not freeze an entire banana or you will have trouble cutting it up. Once the bananas are frozen, plop those suckers in a food processor (or a blender if you are me). Use the pulse setting. It will first look like tiny bits of gravel, but keep pulsing. After a few minutes, it looks like soft serve ice cream. You can stop there if you love banana taste, or if you are like me and want some more flavor, add in the peanut butter and vanilla (or whatever other tasty ingredients you want to add) and pulse until it's well blended. There you have it. 'Ice cream'. It's really soft in this state, so you can always put it back into a bowl and put it in the freezer for a bit if you want a firmer 'ice cream'. Here is what mine looked like:

I ate some soft right out of the blender, but froze the rest. As you can see, scooping it out after frozen was a bit difficult. I'd let it sit out for a few minutes before attempting to scoop. :) I'm so glad I found this recipe. My favorite part is that I can try so many different variations by adding in other things like blueberries or cocoa powder and my kid will think he's getting this delicious treat, when it's actually good for him! Yay!

mini ham and cheese quinoa cups

My friends and family will tell you, I love baking everything in my muffin pan. From desserts to dinners, if it can be miniaturized, best believe I'm going to attempt it. So I was really excited to stumble across Iowa Girl Eats recipe for mini ham and cheese quinoa cups. These little things are really filling, so we had a lot left over. They'd work great for a pot luck! As always, I altered the recipe to suit my family.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup uncooked quinoa

3 eggs

1/4 cup green bell pepper, diced

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup diced ham

1/4 cup of fresh parsley, chopped

2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350F. Cook quinoa according to package directions. In a large bowl, mix the cooked quinoa and all other ingredients. Spray your mini muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Spoon in mixture to the top of each cup. Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes. Once the edges are a golden brown they are done. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from the tin. They should pop out pretty effortlessly. Enjoy!

creamy garlic pasta

So, I haven't posted a recipe in a little while. I have some to share, but no pictures of them. It's been a hectic time. My husband really loves pasta so I thought I'd try out this garlic pasta. It's very simple and even my 2 year old liked it. I found the original recipe over at The Cheese Pusher.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons of olive oil

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tablespoons of butter

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

3 cups of chicken stock

1/2 lb angel hair pasta

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

3/4 cup of heavy cream

2 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped

In a large pot, heat up the olive oil. Add in garlic and cook for a few minutes. Add in butter until melted. Mix in the salt, pepper and chicken stock. Raise the heat to high until boiling. Add in the pasta and cook using the package directions. If your's turn out like mine, there is no need to drain as the chicken stock will have evaporated by this point. Lower heat to medium and mix in the parmesan cheese until melted. Turn off heat and add in the cream and parsley. Serve hot. 

belated father's day post

We aren't big on celebrating Hallmark holiday's. I personally don't think there needs to be a specific day to celebrate being a father (or mother). We should do that every day :). This year, however, I made an exception. If you read my last blog, you know that Christopher is going to be deploying shortly after the arrival of our second baby. I wanted to make sure he had a good day by doing something fun. So Conner and I set to planning a day out. We made this neat little card that we found on Pinterest. He was so proud of it.

We wanted to go one step further, though. We printed off a generic treasure map. Around the edges I wrote this message: "It's time for an adventure. Don't ask any questions. Grab the pink backpack, blue cooler and wear comfy clothes. Enter this address into the GPS: Strand Ave, Tybee Island." I was going to take him to the ocean for the first time. He's never seen it, and neither has our son. I packed the bag and cooler the night before and was able to sneak off to the store to buy a few last minute items which I stashed in the trunk. Sunday morning, we got up early and I got his favorite doughnuts for breakfast. After breakfast, Conner gave him the card and treasure map. Chris happily complied and off we went. 

We found a good parking spot and walked up to the beach. We spent a few hours building sandcastles and swimming. After we got tired out, we went to this little place for ice cream before we headed back home. It was a very successful day. Here's my favorite picture from the beach.

I don't know how I'm going to top this next year, especially since he won't be here physically. Sigh.

so much to process

I had sincerely thought about deleting this blog because I haven't been keeping up well with it, but I've decided (for now) to keep it. There has been so much going on lately in my mind. I am very overwhelmed with everything coming in the next few months. What better way to deal with it than putting it down in words?

Baby. That's an obvious one. Although thoroughly planned, we didn't expect it to happen so quickly. That has been explained previously. Then there was the slight gender disappointment, and not going to lie, still a bit sad that I won't have a little princess. However, completely happy that I get another little prince to spoil and love. I've really gone all out this time. There is a 95% chance that this is our last. Neither of us want to do anything permanent in case we change our minds in the future. Right now, we are very content with the thought of just two children. When we were expecting Conner, we were not in the position to buy nicer items. This time we are. At first I felt badly for it, like I was playing favorites since Conner did not get those things, but who am I kidding? Conner is one spoiled 2 year old. He has everything he could want and then some. Lucas will have the same. Mostly because we can, but more importantly because I would give up anything to make sure they can. Once you make the decision to have a child, it's no longer about you. The love I get back from them is plenty. :)

PCS. Obviously, we are in Georgia now. I had to leave all of my friends behind in El Paso. All that I had gotten used to the last 2 years. I love it here so far. Chris is still in processing, but he seems to like it here, too. It's been a big stress, but now a big relief. I'm glad to have somewhere to call a home. I know that there are a lot of people in this world who don't even have that. I haven't made many friends here yet, but that's okay. I'll slowly work up to that. My neighbors are all very friendly when we see them outside. We are still getting used to everything that Georgia has to offer - namely that rain and bugs. Haha.

Deployment. Along with the PCS comes that dreaded 'D' word. We knew it was coming. We could have gone anywhere, yet he chose somewhere that was deploying because that is what he wants to do. I stand behind him 100%. Do I like the idea of my husband and father of my children being put in danger? No, of course not. Who would? That's a silly question, but I get it a lot. It's part of the deal. He fights for our country and in turn, we get amazing benefits, a steady paycheck, and the opportunity to travel and meet amazing people. It's already been a big mess, this 'D' word. He was told he'd have enough time to get here, train up and go. Then we were told that the brigade he was going to had their deployment orders put on hold and we're no longer going. Then we were told that there are only 2 units within the brigade going now, both of which he is able to be placed into, leaving between August and November. He hasn't gotten his unit assignment yet. He will get that next week. Anyway, that's a 4 month gap. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a planner. I like to be able to have some sort of plan set in motion. And considering I am due right in the middle of those 4 months, yea, I was a little more that frustrated. Yesterday they were briefed on it again. The time frame is now between October-November. I can work with that. I'm due at the end of September. This means, unless I go wayyy over (this is my second, so I highly doubt it), he SHOULD be here for the birth. That's a big relief. Now I just need to find someone to be here for Conner. 

Last night it all kind of sank in. We finally have a time frame. We know that both of the units he could be placed in are going, regardless. This is really happening now. I've mentally prepared myself for this from the moment he brought up even wanting to enlist. No amount of preparation is going to brace me for the actuality of it. I know what happens now. He gets his assignment. He'll do some training. We'll have some meetings where spouses can get information. We might even have a deployment fair and a military ball. We'll go do a will, POA and any other necessary paperwork so that I can deal with things on the homefront while he's down range. Then we'll say 'see you later'. I get to be mommy and daddy for approximately 9 months. Pretty simple in those terms. I'm prepared for the sleepless nights. I'm going to have those anyway with a newborn in the house. But plain and simple, I'm about to lose half of myself for quite some time. Part of our foundation in this home will be halfway around the world. And that sucks. 

I know whatever obstacle is thrown our way will be taken on one at a time. I'm very thankful to have family and friends to lean on, even if they are far away. Most of all, I'm thankful for the two little boys that will be my rocks during this time. Bring it on.

ranch pork chops with parmesan mashed potatoes

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I LOVE MY CROCK POT!! Browsing Pinterest has brought me to so many good recipes and crafts. I found one for ranch pork chops. I was sold at 'ranch'. Then I saw that it involved my crock pot. That's when something similar to being at a casino and hitting the jackpot happened. These flashing lights went off in my head and I was almost jumping up and down like a kid in a candy store. YAY! I had to try it. My verdict - LOVE!!! This will definitely be a staple in this house. You can find the original recipe over here at Real Mom Kitchen. I like to change up recipes to suit my own family. You'll notice those changes below compared to the original recipe.

Ingredients:

6 pork chops about 1/2" thick

1 packet dry ranch dressing seasoning

1 (10 oz) can of cream of chicken soup

5 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

5 tablespoons of butter

1 cup of milk (more if you like the potatoes creamier)

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon of garlic salt 

salt and pepper to taste

In the crock pot (I have a 4 qt), mix the cream of chicken soup and package of dry ranch dressing seasoning. Add you pork chops on top of that and cook on low for 6 hours. About half an hour before the pork chops are finished, peel and cube the potatoes. Put in a large pot of cold water. Bring it to a boil. Once boiling, turn down to medium heat for approximately 12 minutes, or until you can pierce easily with a fork. Drain. I transferred the potatoes back to the same pot and used a hand mixer on the lowest setting until potatoes were 'mashed'. Add in the butter, garlic salt, salt, pepper, milk, and parmesan cheese and mix until well blended. Put a heaping spoonful on the middle of a plate. Top with a pork chop (or two) and pour some of the gravy over it. Delicioussss!

Let me tell you, baby Lucas approves. He's been doing somersaults since I finished dinner. Mmm.

cookie dough cheesecake

Oh, two things I have been really wanting lately are chocolate chip cookies and cheesecake. Thanks to Pinterest, I found this little gem. The original recipe is here, but I'll still spell it out for you.

Ingredients:

2 (8 oz packages) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

3/4 cup chocolate chip cookie dough (refrigerated or prepared)

1 graham pie crust (9 in)

Preheat to 350F. Beat cream cheese, vanilla and sugar in a large bowl until well blended. Add the eggs and mix until just blended. Take 1/2 cup of the cookie dough and drop by teaspoonfuls into the batter. Mix gently. Pour into the graham crust and top evenly with the remainder of the cookie dough. You can do just a ring around to make a crust, or cover the top. Bake for 40 minutes until center is almost set. Cool for a minimum of 3 hours, but preferably overnight. As you can see from my picture below, we only waited the 3 hours and it still needs time in there. However, it was just as delicious lol. 

Seriously, you guys have no idea how much effort it took to let it even set for 3 hours. My house still smells of sweet, cheesecake goodness. Mmm. Stay tuned. I will be doing my very first giveaway soon!

baby lucas update

Alright, it's about time I update everyone on our little guy. Well, the last week before we left El Paso, I brought the elective ultrasound picture in so that the doctor could put it in my records that we were having a boy. He looked at the picture, had the sonographer look at it, as well as a nurse, and all of them said they didn't see boy parts. I went into a fit. We had clearly seen what looked to be boy parts at the ultrasound, however, the picture the tech gave us did not show them. So I start second guessing. Frantically searching the internet and everything to find another elective ultrasound place. It was worth spending more money to find out for sure. They were wonderful and gave me pictures that for sure showed he was a male. 

Anyway, the drive from Texas to Illinois was a pain for the simple fact that my body was not used to be in a car for that long of a time period. It decided to retaliate and make my legs swell pretty badly. He then decided he would stop moving for almost 3 days. Scared me, but I waited it out because Conner had done something similar a few times and he always made me look like a liar when I finally went in. They'd hook me up to the monitors and he'd kick away. Once he started up again, it was such a relief. The drive from Illinois to Georgia wasn't nearly as bad. I assume since it was a shorter distance, so less time in the car.

I finally had gotten my appetite back and since we had been in a hotel and traveling for almost a month and eating super unhealthy, I gained all the weight I lost back and then a few. At 24 weeks, I was +3 over my pre-pregnancy weight. I was able to get a transfer appointment fairly quickly, which was like magic to me since at WBAMC in El Paso, it took forever to get an appointment. I had my very overdue anatomy scan today. He is measuring EXACTLY where he should be, 24 weeks 6 days. He is still head down against my cervix, but the tech said that I am still not effaced or anything so I shouldn't worry about it. That does explain all of the pain I've been having in that area. He was being a stubborn little guy and it took us almost an hour to get proper measurements.  Here is the best profile shot we got today:

At my second elective ultrasound, the tech found a second "hole" that shouldn't have been in his abdomen. She gave me a picture and told me to let the tech who did my anatomy scan know. That was one of our main focuses points today. It literally looks like my child has 2 stomachs lol. I actually ended up having two techs today so they could focus more on this. Both have come to the conclusion that the hole is where the gallbladder should be, and that it is very enlarged, but nothing I should be concerned about. Worst case scenario, he'll have to have it removed shortly after birth to prevent future problems. So for now, they're just going to keep a close eye on it, but it has gotten bigger since the last ultrasound which was 5 weeks ago, so I doubt it'll go down any. That's about all for now. I have an actual appointment on Friday and I'll have to schedule a second glucose test to see if anything has changed since the one I had done at 14 weeks. Other than that, just the normal stuff. Until next time.

georgia updates

Hello everyone! It has been far too long since I have been able to blog. Let me catch you up a little bit on what has been happening with the Myrda clan. The last blog I wrote was an in memory blog for my grandmother. It has been just over a month since her passing and I miss her terribly. Unfortunately, we also said goodbye to her brother 2 weeks after her passing. It has been a year of loss, and with each one we lose a little more of our hearts. However, I know they are no longer in pain and that comforts me.

Well, we left Fort Bliss on May 14. We flew down Chris's aunt Kari who got there on Mother's Day. We celebrated by going to Carlos & Mickey's. It was delicious. We hit the road early the next morning and made it to our halfway point in Oklahoma City, OK around 9pm. The worst part was that my legs were so swollen are sore from being in the car for so long. We stopped every few hours to walk around and also because Conner was in underwear and we wanted him to have plenty of stops to potty so he had no accidents. The next day we finished up and got to Oswego, IL around 9:30pm. 

We spent a few days with my mom and her husband in Earlville. Had our baby shower that weekend, which was awesome! I'm so thankful for Kari offering to throw it for me. I loved every part of it. We ended up selling our Crosstown Classic tickets because I had no idea that the NATO stuff was going on in Chicago that particular weekend and we didn't want to have to deal with all of the road closures and protesters. I was completely bummed, but I knew with the combination of the NATO stuff and the heat, my preggo self couldn't handle it. We spent a few more days with Chris's parents in Rochelle and then hit to road early for Georgia. We had to cut our visit to Illinois short so we could come close on our house. Nashville, TN was our stopping point, and boy was that traffic fun. I decided I felt well enough to drive one car so we didn't have to inconvenience anyone to come with us. Conner did really well, which was the biggest thing I was afraid of. The next day we finished up and made it to Ludowici. We stayed in the only tiny motel in this town for the night. I am happy to say that Conner did not have ANY accidents the entire trip!

That brings us to our house! On Friday, May 25, we officially became homeowners! Our builder met us at the motel and we followed him to our new home. This was necessary since this is a brand new subdivision and isn't on any maps. Seriously, you can Google this house and it says it doesn't exist. He took us on the most confusing route of back roads. I was terrified. I'm a city girl. Going from the suburbs of Chicago to El Paso was one thing. Going from El Paso to Ludowici, HAHAHA! Yea. To give you an idea of where I am located: I have to drive 20 minutes to the nearest place to buy groceries. I just came from a city where there was practically a WalMart on every corner. Big shock going from there to here. However, even just being here for a week and a half, I absolutely love the quiet. Here is our home:

That's the picture that the realtor sent us. I haven't taken any since our privacy fence was added. The grass is much more green as well. But just to show the general idea. Conner ran in and chose his room right away. We had to wait a few days for our household goods to arrive, so we made a lot of trips into Hinesville to just get out of the empty house. Once we got our stuff, we had everything set up within two days. Our house finally feels like home! 

I had a transfer appointment to Winn Medical Center last week, but I'll save the baby update for tomorrow, since I have an anatomy scan and can give a better update then. :) Hope you enjoyed our updates!