Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Pumpkin Patch

Mandy, Neacel and I went to a pumpkin patch with Mandy's family the other night. We got some cool pumpkins and I even took Neacel through a little haunted maze. He did well and came out saying "scawy."












Monday, October 25, 2010

Hurry Up Kiddo!!

Today was my last doctor's appointment before Broden makes his appearance. I don't know if I'm mostly excited, nervous, anxious, scared or what I'm feeling at this point. It's a good mix of everything I guess you could say. Everything went well, I had to have a NST (I think that's what it's called) done because Broden's movements have dropped considerably, I got swollen out of no where, and my blood pressure was higher then usual. So the doctor wanted to monitor everything for 20 minutes and click on a little button every time I felt him move. Luckily, everything looked great! Here is my biggest shock, I'm 1+cm (he said I can be stretched to 2cm) and have thinned out! I was just at the doctor Thursday and NOTHING was happening. So then he proceeds to tell me that I could go into labor before my scheduled date, but that it's kinda unlikely....follwed by a "I have been wrong many times before though!" So that made me happy, I'm now hoping that I will go into labor Friday or Saturday, but I won't hold my breath over it. But I will cross my fingers, and hope that all my house cleaning will help, even if just a tiny bit!

I also need to brag big time about Nick. Even though he is busy with school and a few projects, on top of studying for mid terms he has been the world's biggest help. Not the kind of help were I asked for it, or nagged him saying I need help. Nope the good ol' fashioned he did it himself kind of help. He has been taking care of Neacel 98% of the time when he is home, does dishes, picks up the rooms, and is always asking if I need anything, as I lay/sit on the couch. I am so thankful for him and all his help. He is a great father to Neacel and I know Broden will love him just as much.

We had a fun and exciting weekend, that Nick is working on putting up a post about. He almost begged me to let him post about it. I figured since he has done so much for me it's the least I can do :-)

P.S-Neacel now says "Push It" when putting things together, one problem....it sounds 100% like Bull ***t! YIKES!!!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Let the Countdown Begin!

So I went to the doctor today for a check up and left not feeling to thrilled. I saw a different doctor in the office today, and I like him a lot more then the other one that I usually see. They rotate doctors there so you don't really pick one, you just get whoever is working that day.

So the doctor today checked me and proceeds to say that there is no progress and he isn't sure where the other doctor saw progress. I'm closed about as tight as possible and not thinning, not even a little bit! He continues to say that Broden hasn't really dropped and it would be expected at this point. He then asked how big Neacel was as he was checking the paper work himself. I told him 8.14 and 22 inches. Now let me say, I've been crossing my fingers hoping and praying that Broden will be smaller, at least a heavy 7lb baby and maybe 20-21 inches. That would be ideal for me. He says that Broden is definitely longer, so expect about 21-22 inches again and that he will probably be just a lighter 8lb baby. Good thing we don't buy newborn clothing, because my kids are born to big for it. I just want a little newborn. A medium 7lbs baby and 19inches. Shorty and chunky, not long and solid! Either way, Broden is healthy, heartbeat is strong and he is still a very relaxed child...so far.

We are counting the days till we have Broden. I was told today, the chances of me going into labor are basically 1 in a million. So I guess I can stop walking and doing all the wives tales, hoping that something will work. We scheduled the c/s for November 1st at 8am! I have to be at the hospital about 6am and by 9am Ill be holding little Brody! I don't feel ready to have another, I still need to wash clothing, organize everything, redecorate the living room to accommodate the swing, bouncer and everything else that will end up out here. It won't get done in time, and poor Nick will have to take care of it while I'm in the hospital or once I get home.

But ready or not Brody will be here in 11 days!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Chicken Pizzaiola

So Mandy and I have been watching Everybody Loves Raymond a lot lately. On the show I have noticed them talk about "chicken pizzaiola" a couple of times. I didn't know what it was, but it sounded good to me. I googled it, and it said that "pizzaiola" is a term that refers to anything made with the flavors of pizza. Mmm. So I looked up a couple recipes and looked at what they put in it, and then I sort of made up my own, and it turned out really good. It's easy and you should make it. Now.

I made it for Mandy and I, but you can just multiply it for more people, or change ingredients to whatever you think tastes good.

2 chicken breasts
1 can of diced tomatoes
1/2 onion diced
1 green pepper diced
Handful of diced pepperoni
1 cup shredded cheese
1/8 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp garlic
1 jar pizza sauce
Italian herb seasoning to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil

I just took a baking dish and covered the bottom with olive oil. I then added the diced veggies and pepperoni to the dish, and seasoned them all with the garlic and the Italian herb seasoning. I placed the uncooked chicken on top of the veggies, and spooned a little of the veggie mixture on top of the chicken. I then salted and peppered the chicken. Then I covered the chicken with the pasta sauce, and then covered that with the cheeses.

I put it in the fridge to sit until we were ready to eat. We took it out 1/2 hour before cooking to let the dish warm up, and cooked it at 350 for 50 minutes. Oh man did it turn out tasty. Just place the chicken on a plate, and spoon on some veggies and some of the remaining liquid.

It was super easy to just throw it all together ahead of time, and plop it in the oven when we were ready to eat. Mmmm.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The Monday From H-E-Double Hockey Sticks

So our Monday started out like any other. The house was a mess, Neacel seemed to be in a mood and we had a few errands to run before Nick had to go study. We ran our errands, and Neacel wasn't that bad, apparently he just wanted out of the house for a while. We get home and Nick made lunch for Neacel, chicken nuggets and an apple. After the timer went off on the microwave, Nick opens it to see that one of the nuggets had caught on fire and was black. We laughed it off and had lunch.

Nick left around 1:30 to go to the library to catch up on some studying and to schedule his classes for next semester. Nap time is around 2, but I let Neacel stay up and watch his Caillou movie that he is obsessed with. While he watched his movie, I decided to tackle the giant mound of dishes in the sink. Not even half way through I realize the water isn't draining, so I hurry and put everything in the dishwasher and run the garbage disposal, water goes down, sink is now covered in a greasy mess and my left leg is giving out from standing there. I went to lay Neacel down around 2:30 because I was in much need of some curl up on the couch with a blanket and book quiet time. 3 rolls around, Neacel was still screaming in his room saying "I want up up" and I was taking deep breaths waiting for him to give into his overly tired feeling. I go into the kitchen for who knows what reason and find my sink in the process of overflowing....quickly I run the disposal again and it only gets on the counters a little bit, but still gross. I call maintenance, and tell them that this is the third time that its done this (once being Sunday while Nick was home, but not too bad of an overflow) The guy gets over here about 10 minutes later, and what do you know water is flowing down the sink just fine and nothing is coming up! We talk over Neacel still yelling at me and he tells me he has to run to the store to get some stuff to put down the drain. I'm thinking, I don't care what you do just fix the problem.

I go get Neacel and calm him down because an hour of screaming and crying over a nap isn't completely normal. He is acting 100% terrified and just wants to be held. So I sit in his room talking to him and calming him down, he is angry and completely worked up over something. I was in there for about an hour, just holding him like he was a newborn needing his mom. I laid him back down and the screaming starts right back up, this time with the troubled breathing that comes with crying a ton. So I carry him around the house with me waiting for the maintenance guy to return. I sit Neacel on the couch and turn on HGTV because I can't live without it and I'm now feeling completely stressed and still waiting for some "Me" time.

Maintenance shows up and he pours some goop down the sink and tells me to run hot water for 10 minutes down the drain in about 30 minutes, easy enough! He tells me then that this should fix the problem, which he is thinking is bacon grease covering a trap, and since we are hooked up with the 4 people above us, it could be anyone! BUT since we are the bottom floor we are going to be the ones who deal with the problems not anyone above us...thank you someone for putting grease down your drain, my Monday is just wonderful!

About 25 minutes later, Neacel is watching "Sarah's House" and drinking milk, but calm so who cares right? I walk into the kitchen, sink is about 5 seconds away from overflowing. I get everything off the counters and quickly try to stop it, nothing is working, and everything is just making it worse. Water is gushing out. I quickly call maintenance (which I might add is just a recording) and tell them that the sink is in the process of overflowing and to please get someone over here. I was told earlier that I don't want the counters to get wet...so I'm grabbing towels and everything else I can trying to stop the water. It's not stopping, so I quickly got to the point of I don't care, I'm not going to try and stop this. I go check on Neacel who is now asleep with pretzels in his hand, while sitting up. I lay him down on the couch and count that blessing.

Enjoy 2 pictures that I took while laughing and crying.

Its hard to tell but if you look at the top of the dishwasher you can see that there is water, unfortunately you can't see that it was pouring off the counter!


Long story short, after 2 hours,and 2 major MAJOR over flows later, Nick is home. Maintenance hasn't come back,I've called them 3 times letting them know that the kitchen was overflowing and water is pouring off my counters. Neacel is sleeping, I'm in tears because I'm exhausted, the kitchen counters have swelled (now I know why we didn't want the counters wet) cabinets have water in them, along with some drawers and I have a huge sterilite tub full of water because every time the sink starts to overflow I stand there rushing to put all this water in the tub. My stomach hurts, I'm stressed and angry, but Nick is home. He gladly makes us subs for dinner because the dishwasher can't hold anymore, and we are afraid to use the sink. I was afraid of using the stove because I can tell you that there is a good amount of water under that, along with all the bottom cabinets and dishwasher, because while I was mopping I could watch it run under there, and there was nothing I could do about it. I told Nick everything and even told him how at one point during the worse overflow I sat at the table in the dining room laughing and crying because I couldn't think of anything else to do at the time. Nick makes a call to maintenance, and I told him, its after 5 they are off for the night, no one is coming over, lets just pray that no one above us decides to do a large load of dishes or anything, because whenever someone else uses their sink, ours overflows!

Surprisingly, around 8 two guys show up ready to try and fix the problem. Unfortunately, they can't, so they put a cap on the pipe and tell us we can't use our sink till the other guys come over to fix it. Good thing its late and we don't need to use the sink for any reason. We try and laugh everything off, but at this point it's hard for me too. I'm tired, exhausted, stressed, and in a great amount of pain...37 weeks pregnant plus all of this chaos is just a cocktail for labor to start. Mine of course doesn't! We enjoy the rest of the night and put Neacel to bed, who I will quickly add was up till midnight playing in his room!

Nick is thrown for a loop with a horrible headache, I sat there trying to get him to go to bed, because HELLO it always works, and the last thing you want is to be in a bright room with the tv on, right? So he is in our bathroom getting ready for bed when I hear him say the toilet has now overflowed. Seriously? This is a joke right? It's 10:30 and I'm not mopping again. He assures me that he just flushed and it overflowed, we can't see why or anything. So he mops the floor and bleaches it. I'm in the other bathroom ringing out towels from our kitchen chaos so I can avoid them smelling any worse. He helps with the towels when he is done with mopping, each of them smelling horribly and full of food bits and what looks like a moldy greasy substance. We get everything cleaned and Nick has this bright idea of lets see if the toilet was a one time thing....he asked me if he should flush it again, I tell him I don't care but I'm not mopping or anything! I'm done for the night. This is what I hear *Flush* "No, no, NO, NO!" Followed by "Go down, go down....Mandy, the toilet overflowed again!" I couldn't help but to laugh! He then gets the opportunity to mop up the gross water and then bleach the floor. We finally make it to bed, bathroom smelling of bleach (which is to much for me right now), cap on the pipe in the kitchen, Neacel acting like a monkey, and I'm overly achy and have a hard time getting comfy. We were told maintenance would be here today (Tuesday), so I know that I'm getting up early because they could show up as early as 8, so I set my alarm, not happy about Monday, not happy at all!

So here we are Tuesday morning, its going on 10am. My alarm went off at 7am and Ive been up since then. I'm glad to say Neacel is just now waking up, but maintenance, who we were expecting early (because that's the way the other guys made it sound) still have not shown up. I could have slept in, I could still be laying in my warm, comfy, perfect queen size bed. Instead, I'm sitting in the cold living room, making as little noise as I can because I don't want Neacel to know I'm up yet, waiting for them to pound on the door while yelling maintenance....who wants to take a guess as to when they will actually show up? I'm going to play it safe and say sometime before 5pm so that I don't add anymore stress to this cocktail! Hope everyone enjoyed their Monday, I know looking back on it, I can't help but to laugh, I'm just hoping it wasn't a warning as to what is to come this week!

Friday, October 15, 2010

Neacel Quotes


Neacel has become quite the talker lately and we have heard some pretty funny things. Enjoy a list of things that we have heard from little monster

At Wendy's, Nick pulls up and Neacel says "ummm seventeen nuggets please" then we start laughing and he then says "Thank you"

Me- "Neacel pick up all of your toys"
Neacel- "I no want to"

Nick- "Neacel lets change your bum"
Neacel- "No, up up" (we change him before bedtime and his nap, he knows whats coming!)

"Check it out"

Neacel was coloring with concealer at my moms house. Nana (my mom) is cleaning him off, I walk over to him and tell him we need to talk
Me- "Neacel come talk to mom"
Neacel- "I at Nana's house"
Me- "So because you are at Nana's you think you can get away with things?"
Neacel- " I love you Nana (then kissed her on the cheek)"
Me- "Neacel you need to follow the rules no matter where we are"
Neacel- "I at Nana's house"
He knows that at Nana & Pops, and also at Grandma & Grandpa's, that he can get away with things that aren't allowed at home.

*Huge gasp* "A Choo choo train"

This is how he counts: two, fee (three), or (four), five, six, seben (seven), nine, (yells) TEN! eleben (eleven) irt-teen (thirteen),, if-teen (fifteen), ix-teen (sixteen) (yells) SEBEN-teen. Sesame Street has done wonders!

"Daddy, pay baket hoop wi me" (translation: daddy, play basket hoop with me)

While Nick is at school, I make an effort to play cars/trains with Neacel..here is usually what happens
Me- "vroom vroom" while playing on the mat with toys
Neacel- "No mom!" He then takes the toy from me and shows me the "right" way to play
Me- "sorry" I then do exactly what he did
Neacel- " No, daddy play cars with me"
I then try again
Neacel takes the toy from me and says "Mommy, TIME OUT!"

Nick- "I love you buddy"
Neacel- "I love you buddy"
Nick- (to me) "Bye Hun"
Neacel- "Buh bye hun"
He will call us whatever we call him, or if he hears Nick call me hun or something he will repeat that too.

"Brogen, where are you?"

"daddy, mails!" The first thing he wants to do when Nick gets home from school is go get the mail. Nick says that Neacel always knocks on peoples doors and slides business cards under doors.

"Heavy, help"

"Help, please" Please is said in the most pathetic begging type of way

"Bug....caca." then tries to touch it "ewwwww"

Don't ask him what he wants to eat, these are the only things he will ask for:
-cookies
-cereal
-cake
-nuggets
-fruit cup
-crackers

Me- "Neacel get out of the panty, you don't need anymore food"
Neacel- silent
Nick gets up to get him
Neacel- "Cookie" and quickly takes a bite so Nick doesn't take it away

"Cookie Monster" and will shove whatever he is eating into his mouth

"na na na.....BA-MAN!"

While toy shopping for his birthday Nick pointed out a Nerf gun he wanted to get him.
Nick- "Neacel wants this gun"
Me- "Nope keep moving"
Neacel- "Gun, Neacel!"
He said it in the check out too, how embarrassing that a 2 y/o is talking about a gun!

"Soccer side please" (soccer outside please)

(yelling) "Puppy, a no no" He says this to my moms dog when he is barking

"Come on, lets go!"

"Yay! I did it!" While jumping around

Monday, October 11, 2010

Brody!

So last Wednesday was my 35 week appointment, and I got bad news. I can't schedule my c/s earlier than the 30th, which is a Saturday so I have to wait till November 1st. I understand why and everything but honestly that just stresses me out with Nick's school schedule and Neacel.

As of then I was about 50% effaced and dilated 1cm. We left church early Sunday because I was in so much pain with the contractions, they are definitely getting stronger and much worse, I just pray they are doing their job and pushing to get Brody here soon. I really want to have him before Halloween, and to even be out of the hospital at that point too. So I'm hoping for any given minute I guess you could say. I have another appointment this Wednesday and will find out if the contractions are doing anything. If I'm 2cm then I can say that it won't be long at all, maybe a week at the most! I keep saying he will be here around 37 weeks, lets hope that's my mother intuition and not just hoping.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Maybe I Can..

So my motto when it comes to crafts has always been "I'll just pay for other people's craftiness." I've wanted to be crafty but it's never been a possibility with Quilted Bear around me. Well, now there is no craftiness around me, and even if there was, I have no money to purchase it. So I am finally learning how to be crafty on a budget, and I'll even admit that it's fun!

So my first attempt was making a car seat canopy for Broden. I don't have a picture, because I still need to buy a car seat and a picture would just be a big piece of square brown and blue fabric! So a friend of mine that lives about an hour away just opened a kids consignment shop, like kid to kid. Well, I thought what an opportunity, so after talking to her and figuring things out I made 3 car seat canopies for her store. The store just opened so things are slow but the ones I made are adorable. I still have yet to get pictures of those too. So I'm making these canopies now for extra money. I'm only charging $30 for them when they go for $50+ anywhere else. Of course, I haven't made anything yet but I'm hoping soon that things will take off. I'm thinking about posting an ad on craigslist for them, and maybe putting them in a few other kids stores around here, what do you think? Should I go for it, or wait till after I have Brody to see what I can handle?

For those of you that don't know, I love to bake! I love new recipes and trying new things. I enjoy having homemade sweets in the house for no reason. Well, in a previous post I mentioned that we were going apple picking; well we didn't because I have a husband that knows me better than I know myself. I wanted to go pick apples to make a homemade, from scratch apple pie. Nick knew that picking apples would be torture for him and Neacel, plus the wheather wasn't great so he bought me a large bag of apples. So the other night, I put a movie on for Neacel while Nick was at school and went to town. I peeled and cut 3lbs of apples, and did the fancy top on the pie and everything.


Before and after picture of the pie

Was it worth it? Yes! Would I do it again? If I was trying to show off or something!

It took almost 2 hours just to get everything sliced and put it all together. I'm happy to say that I love that I can now say that I've made a pie from scratch, but I think I'll let Martha Stewart keep her job. I think the next big baking project will have to be a chocolate lava cake or something from my Ghirardelli recipe book. Those are my loves, recipe books, I have plenty but at the same time not enough.

Neacel is getting his own wall in the house too! He loves to color, and I want to be able to display his work and yet its so hard to pick which ones to keep. So every month he is going to color 4 pictures with a theme (this month is Halloween, Nov-Thanksgiving etc etc) Those 4 pictures will be framed and changed every month and those will be the ones that I hold onto. School nights are also mommy & Neacel nights, we are going to start doing more crafts and fun things, so that when Brody gets here, he will know that he can count on something fun those nights, whether its coloring, finger paint, baking....anything!