Phone Photo Dump

I don't know about you, but the picture album on my phone is filled with the randomness of our life. Here's a little glimpse:

A preview of the letters I made for Cooper's room

Going on a walk.. with the monkey

A birthday present from etsy. L.o.v.e.

At the library- on a play date with Carter's friend, Addison

Jeremy took Carter to get an oil change on my car... haha

My handsome boy

Brother shirts from etsy!

A really bad attempt at taking my own belly shot

Don't ask. I have no idea what he was trying to do.

Enjoy a beautiful night outside

Coconuts the Kangaroo @ Whole Foods

Sometimes I wonder what my magazine subscriptions say about me...

Apparently, my husband has a side business that I didn't know about... I found these @ Whole Foods and if you know Jer, you know he LOVES Peanut Butter & Chocolate :)

Boston Cream Pie/Cake, anyone?

Another poor attempt at a belly shot

Easter egg hunt in the backyard

Bunny cake for Easter!

"I throwed dirt on daddy's hair, daddy's forehead, daddy's eyes, daddy's nose, daddy's mouth, & daddy's chin" -Carter

Painting

Palm Sunday

Our "new" dining room set. Thanks, craigslist!

The infamous rat from Petsmart. Carter was OBSESSSSED.

Our bonus room in the process of being painted.

Coloring at daddy's office.

At the park with Bella, Poppy, & Romeo

A braided bread loaf I made from scratch.

The shirt says it all.

Some of my finds at a recent consignment sale. Cute boy clothes are hard to come by, but I was pretty proud of these!

Trying on big boy underwear for the first time.

Meeting his cousin, Matthew, for the first time.

A Valentine's bear from Poppy.

Adorable even when he's sick and sleeping... <3

Need a Few Good Recipes?

Here are 3 new recipes I've tried this weekend. We have enjoyed each one and even though they are on the "light" side, my hubby loved them too!

{Click on each one to go to the page w/the recipe}

The Pioneer Woman's Spinach Salad

*I used turkey bacon since we don't eat pork and replaced the bacon grease in the dressing with extra-virgin olive oil. I also cut the recipe in half for the 2 of us.

Grilled Chicken Salad with Feta, Fresh Corn, and Blueberries

*I replaced the lemon with a lime and cut this recipe in half too.

Browned Butter Blueberry Muffins

Muffins are one of my very favorite things to bake (and eat) and I've tried a TON of different recipes. These muffins are outstanding. You will not be disappointed!!

I hope you enjoy these recipes and savor the goodness that is in each one.

Happy Eating!

30 Weeks

Well, here we are. 30 weeks already? My "Baby Bump" app told me today that we have 68 days to go! Oh my! I'm getting more and more ready to meet this little man, but I am also fill with slight panic thinking of all the things we have left to do before he arrives.

Here's a run down of the latest progressions:

-I still have a decent amount of energy on most days. That being said, I usually collapse into bed each night.. utterly exhausted from the demands of pregnancy combined with taking care of the world's most active 2 year old :)

-Varicose veins. I didn't have these little boogers last time I was pregnant and not only are they unattractive, but they hurt.. a lot! I have a really bad vein on the back of my left thigh... it's twisted and bulging... and causes a lot of discomfort. Poor Jeremy has had to examine more times than he's cared to, but he never complains.

-As I've entered my 3rd trimester, my appetite has tapered off some. Really this means that I'm no longer eating like a starved animal, but just a normal, growing pregnant woman :) I'm hoping my weight gain reflects this change and also starts to taper off. As with Carter, I gained a huge chunk of weight in the 2nd trimester.

-We've been talking to Carter about having a baby brother and I think he understands the best that he can. He regularly lifts my shirt up and says that he needs to "wuv baby Coop." And last weekend, he brought some lotion over to me, lifted my shirt up, and said, "Baby Coop needs wotion." He's also fascinated with babies whenever we see them out in public or in the neighborhood. The other night he ran up to a family taking a walk and proceeded to hug and "wuv" the baby girl in the stroller. This makes me hopeful that he will love and adore his baby brother.

However, I also know how I acted as a 2 1/2 year old when my sister, Ashley, came along... and Carter is very much like me in some of those ways. I LOVED my sister, but was very jealous of the time and attention that she took away from me. Carter, like me, is already very demanding of my attention and I fully expect him to exhibit signs of jealously. He likes to be the center of attention (particularly around family) and baby Cooper may interrupt that just a bit. I am SO thankful we have so much family close by. Family that will dote on Carter and continue to make him feel special during this time.

-Most of all, we are continuing to pray for a healthy baby boy. I am praying for a smooth delivery and that God would continue to ordain each step of the way. Thanks for walking along side us on this journey.

-I hope to post some updated pictures soon! My phone is overflowing with random snapshots of our life :)

Breakfast Experiments

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, which is a good thing for me because I LOVE it! I must confess that I could eat a bagel and cream cheese every day for the rest of my life and not tire of them, but pregnancy has made me reevaluate how I start my day. While bagels aren't bad for you, there are certainly better options out there. Options that give you a better "bang for your calories", if you will.

Like, for example, my friend, OATMEAL :)

My favorite oatmeal is McCann's Irish Oatmeal (quick cooking).

No other brands really compare to its taste and texture, though I recently found Country Choice Organic Oats (quick cooking) on sale at Whole Foods and have been really happy with them too.

I've been getting pretty creative about what I put in my oatmeal... because who wants to eat boring, bland oatmeal? Not me. So, here's a list of random ingredients that I've tried adding.. not all together, of course.

Fruit

Bananas (sliced)

Blueberries

Strawberries

Peaches

Apples (diced)

Additional Toppings

Sliced Almonds

Dried Fruit

Coconut

Something Sweet

Brown Sugar

Agave Nectar

Milk

1% Milk

Vanilla Soy Milk

This morning my combination included bananas, blueberries, coconut, a little agave nectar, & milk. Delicious ... and the coconut was a nice, unexpected touch. Another favorite is brown sugar and apples with milk. If you use the vanilla soy milk, you probably won't need to add any more sugar since the milk is sweetened and the fruit adds some sweetness too.

Let me know if you have any other combinations that you enjoy! The possibilities are endless.

26 Weeks

Tomorrow I will be 26 weeks pregnant! It's so hard to believe that I'm almost to my 3rd trimester! Where does the time go?! {Never mind, I know the answer to that... it's a cute 2 year old named Carter... who also happens to be extremely demanding of his mommy's time.} As you can tell by the picture above (sorry about the poor quality again.. blame it on the ipod touch), baby Cooper has grown a lot over the past month!! Here are some of the highlights:

-I'm still feeling really good on most days and haven't yet hit the "I feel HUGE" point of pregnancy ... YET.

-I'm thankful that (for the most part) the heat has held off in TN. I'm not really looking forward to being huge and hot :)

-I am still trying to workout 3-4 times per week. My parents have a treadmill at their house, so I'm making good use of it these days. It works out nicely because I can go in the afternoons while Carter enjoys some playtime at Bella's! I'm also going to the gym when I can at night.

-I haven't had any real "cravings" other than food in general :) It seems that I'm always hungry and have the appetite of a horse, but unfortunately, not the room to hold it all. I've found that eating several small meals a day is better than indulging all at once.

-We've picked out a paint color for the nursery called Pistachio Ice Cream. I'm REALLY hoping it looks good because I've had a rough time finding a green color that isn't mint, sage, or yellow-green. We'll see :) Cooper's bedding is ready to go. It's called Farm Patch by Pottery Barn Kids. I love it and am currently on the hunt for some art prints to match! There is still lots to be done on the nursery, but I'm slowly making progress in transitioning it from a guest bedroom. Pics to come!

-Overall, I've been more relaxed with this pregnancy than I was with Carter. I think it has a lot to do with God's grace and mercy in calming my anxiety, but it also helps that having another boy requires a lot less preparation than it did the first time around. Thanks for your continue prayers!

Easy Strawberry Pie

Like strawberries? Got some to use up?

Our Whole Foods recently had organic strawberries on sale for $1.99/lb ... so after saving some for Carter's snack and then using some in a DELICIOUS spinach salad (spinach, grilled chicken, strawberries, feta cheese, & balsamic vinaigrette) for Sunday lunch... I still had a whole pound left. I decided to make this yummy and EASY Strawberry Pie. It's one of my mom's old recipes and I hope you enjoy it!

STRAWBERRY PIE

2 quarts fresh strawberries (I used 1 lb and it was plenty)

1 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup water

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 package strawberry Jell-O

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 pie crust shell

Bake pie shell as directed. Let cool.

Mix together 1 cup of the strawberries, cornstarch, water, Jell-O, sugar, & lemon juice. Boil for approximately 2 minutes or until clear. Cool. {I didn't cool it all the way.. just so that it was warm and not scalding hot from boiling} Mix this mixture with the remaining strawberries.

Pour into baked pie shell. Refrigerate for 3 hours.

Top with whipped cream or Cool Whip if desired.

photo credit

Carter: 28 Months

Here is a little of what our sweet boy is up to these days:

-Carter is absolutely obsessed with animals... live animals, pictures of animals, animal figurines, etc. He can name just about any animal you show him including different types of insects such as daddy-longlegs, centipedes, dragonflies... you get the idea. Jeremy found a couple of apps for our Ipod Touch that have really encouraged his learning in this area. They show pictures of different animals along with the name and sound that they make. Carter is so crazy about the apps that we have to strongly limit the time he can play with them.

-Carter can name all the letters of the alphabet. He also knows the sounds for all of the letters.

-He has started spelling out different words. I looked on our refrigerator the other day and he had spelled out the words "CAT" and "YES" with his magnetic letters. He has also memorized how to spell the words YES, NO, STOP, GO, DOG, MAMA, and CARTER.

-He can identify numbers 1-11 and sometimes a few numbers between 12 and 20.

-His favorite TV show is still Little Einsteins, though he also enjoys Super Why, Max & Ruby, and sometimes Sesame Street.

-Carter continues to LOVE books. We make weekly trips to the library, which he really looks forward to.

-He can identify all his colors and really likes to color. He once adamantly corrected my mom when she noted that he was using an orange crayon. "No, Ba {Bella}... it's PEACH". Oh... excuse me, Mr. Particular :)

-Carter is still a very good eater. His favorite foods are fruit (especially blueberries & strawberries), chicken, milk, (especially vanilla soy milk and chocolate milk), goldfish, and cookies.

-He still LOVES Chick-fil-A, but also really enjoys eating at Chipotle.

-I have decided that my trade-off for him being such a good eater is the fact that he is a TERRIBLE sleeper. We've had sleep issues with Carter pretty much since he was born. I'm absolutely positive this is God's way of playing a practical joke on me since I LOVE to sleep and require a lot of it. Some months are better than others and the past 3 months or so have been going really well, but something changed on Easter and we are back to the sleep battle. He struggles to take naps (unless in the car) and really struggles to go to sleep at night. Many times over the past week, it has taken us 2++ hours to get him to sleep and even then sometimes it doesn't work. This is EXHAUSTING for Jeremy and I and we are really praying it's just a phase. Carter is currently "sleeping" in his toddler bed (though he usually ends up in our bed at some point during the night) and we need to transition him to a big-boy bed at some point before August.

-I'll end on a more positive note :) Carter's language is continuing to develop rapidly. He talks allll the time and is discovering new words every day. A few days ago, we were reading a book and I pointed to an animal and asked him to identify it. He confidently said, "It's an antelope!" ... and it was perfectly clear! This is HUGE progress for a boy who started saying "mama" consistently just 6 months ago!

I'll try to be back soon with a pregnancy update. Our other little guy is getting big inside his mama!