My failed Pinterest recipe...

Before I get started, I would like to say that I think I'm getting hot flashes.  Is this a result of pregnancy?  I NEVER get hot, especially in my office.  However, a few times today I've started getting really hot and even a bit sweaty.

But I cooled down and now feel normal.

Not sure if the heating/air conditioning is playing a trick on me or if my body is finally starting to heat up a bit with this pregnancy.

Just thought I'd mention that.

This weekend I decided I would make some soup that I could freeze and easily bring to the birthing center to eat while laboring.  Remember, since it's a birthing center there is no cafeteria.  Or even someone who cooks.  There is a kitchen, but you have to do your own cooking.

Since Ivan doesn't cook much I figure I better have some stuff prepared so that I don't starve.  There is a grocery store kinda close by and across a busy street there is McDonalds and Subway.  So we aren't completely in a food wasteland.

But, anyway, I figured this Gnocci, Sausage, and Spinach Soup that I found on Pinterest looked so yummy and was filled with carbs, fat, and veggies.  What a great thing to make.  Here is my versions (next to the real version):

Source: Picture on right is from Reeni at Cinnamon, Spice, and Everything Nice

Yeah, I'm not sure what happened.  I'm still really curious as to how Reeni (from Cinnamon, Spice, and Everything Nice) got hers to look so much tastier than mine.  And redish colored.  Hers looks like tomato cream and mine looks like alfredo.  I skipped the roasted red pepper but that was it.  Is the pepper what gave it such a richer color?  Did I pour in too much cream?  Hmm, not sure.  The soup isn't bad, it's pretty tasty actually, but I think it would taste better if it looked liker hers.

It's a mystery!

And since I have nothing else to talk about, here are some more pics of my lunch:

Lovely fruit

According the the Bradley Method nutrition guidelines, I'm suppose to eat a citrus fruit at least once a day.  So, every day I try to have an orange or grapefruit.  It's suppose to build strong membranes (so my water doesn't burst prematurely).  I've eaten so much citrus my baby will probably come out in it's bag of water!  And who can resist $1.99 lb cherries?  YUM!

Tricking myself into thinking I'm not drinking water...

In an attempt to drink more water, I decided to buy these sparkling waters with "essence" of fruit.  This one is raspberry and the other one I got was lemon/lime.  Hmm, "essence" doesn't actually mean a ton of flavor.  It's ok, but I sure would like something that tasted a bit more like Orangina, but without sugar or too many calories, of course...since the midwives told me to avoid drinking too much juice.  I think my body's too smart though - it doesn't really crave these drinks like it does Pepsi or real orange juice.  I guess it's better than water though.  And since my pee was the color of my bridesmaids' dresses, I better get on the drinking bandwagon!

Oh, and another tidbit of info.  Check out my new work shoes:

I am a fashion queen!

Yup, I have resorted to wearing tennis shoes every day to work.  I lost my work shoes last week (can't remember if I told you that or not) and had to wear flip flops and tennis shoes.  Then I found my work shoes and wore them but they were so tight I decided to wear tennis shoes instead.  And I haven't turned back.  Everyone in my office thinks I just got back from a walk and everyone in the street thinks that I changed out of my high-style pumps into tennis shoes (at least that what I pretend they think, since I don't actually know).

My feet are so much happier.

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What did you have for lunch today?

Have you ever made a recipe that you found on Pinterest?

What do your work shoes look like?

Birth Class Drop-outs

It's official.  Hubs and I have missed a total of 5 Bradley Method classes.  I know, I know - how prepared are we going to be if we never show up.  It wasn't all my fault though.  We missed the first one because I was on a business trip to Atlanta.  We missed the second and third because I was on a business trip to Las Vegas.  We missed the fourth last week because I was too tired.  And we missed tonight's class because I was too tired.

So, work and being tired seem to be to blame.  We really had plans to go today but it just didn't happen.  I had a semi-breakdown this afternoon and then we had to drive 45 minutes for my pre-natal visit and then an hour in the opposite direction to pick up our dog from his grooming appointment and then would have had to drive 30 minutes in another direction to get to class.  I didn't feel like it.  Plus, by the time we got home from picking up the dog, walking him, and grabbing a bite to eat it was almost 7pm - and that's what time class starts.  But we were 30 minutes away.  I feel badly - especially since we spent $300 on the classes and then have missed half.  I'm hoping she lets us make some of them up or at least borrow some of the videos to watch at home.  The information is interesting but by the end of the week, by 7pm, I'm pretty exhausted.

Today should have been nice and relaxing because I took a sick day.  I usually work from home when I have a doctor's appointment but I decided to just take the entire day as a sick day instead.  I thought I'd have some time to relax and catch up on life before my appointment, but it didn't work out that way.  Hence the mini-breakdown.  And by mini, I mean mini.  I don't actually have real breakdowns so really all that happened was that I wanted to cry.  A meltdown usually means that I actually cry.  That's pretty much it.

So what instigated my mini-breakdown?  Well, I got up and drove hubs to work and then came home.  I checked my work email (I had some press statements that I was waiting to get back and wanted to send out today - so wanted to make sure I checked my email a few times).  No one had emailed me since it was only 6:30am so I decided to take a nap.  I fell asleep until 9:15!  I then got up and flew into the shower and then rushed to get Dolce to his grooming appointment by 10am.  We were only a few minutes late (ok, more like ten).

After dropping him off I headed to PetSmart because I wanted to pick up a cover for our car seats to protect them from Dolce's massive amount of hair.  It's kind of embarrassing when we have someone in our car and they emerge looking like they just rolled around in a cotton bin!  I also picked up a few toys because Dolce didn't have any toys and I wanted him to have a few things to play with.  Next stop was Target because I was hoping to pick up a few things for the house.  I mainly wanted something to put our shoes on but ended up eliminating that from my list and instead buying a shower caddy to put my shampoo on, a new 10" frying pan (mine has a bunch of scratches on it and I worry about cancer), a mitten that gets dog hair off fabric, and a stud finder (as in studs found in houses, not good-looking men!).

I started getting pretty stressed because everything was adding up and we are trying to save money and I keep "throwing" it all away.  Moving and dogs are really expensive!

When I got home I got sucked into work and did that for a while - until hubs called me to ask if I had gotten my emissions test done. 

Whoops!  That was the other thing to do on my list and it had TOTALLY slipped my mind.  I had already asked for an extension so I don't have much more time.  So I looked for the emissions slip but couldn't find it.  I still haven't had time to fully unpack the house and so many things are still "lost".  I guess that's one of the things.  Apparently you can get your emissions test with your car registration though, so I figured that was good enough.  However, when I got to my car and decided to look for the registration, all I found was an old registration that expired in 2011. 

Ahhh!

That won't work and my new registration had come in October so I had NO IDEA where it might be.  So much for being organized.  Somehow I had managed to get my registration stickers on my license plate but had completely misplaced my actual registration card.

No emissions test today then.

I did go online and order a new registration for my car though.  And since it wouldn't come for a few weeks I figured I should print the temporary registration they give you - just in case hubs or I get stopped.  Well, I had never used the old printer my dad had given me last year so I pulled it out and tried to set it up.  After about an hour of setting it up and finding all the cords and printing the documents - it became apparent that it was out of ink and you couldn't make any of the registration information out. 

So, I gave up and decided that I wasn't going to do the emissions test and I would just print the emissions out at work.

But by now it was time for me to pick up hubs and head to our appointment.

So I got none of the things I wanted to get done, done.  Like wash our towels, put away our clean clothes from last week, wash the dishes, unpack, hang-up pictures, and RELAX.  Hence, the mini-meltdown and not going to class.

There is just too much to do!

And I started to hyperventilate when the receptionist was making my next few appointments and she was saying things like 36 week and 39 weeks and things like that.  I am running out to do things before Maple Baby comes!!!!

Hubs made me happy though when he decided to skip his golf league so he could go with me to my pre-natal visit.  I didn't even make it seem like he should come - I told him that I was totally fine going alone.  However, he said he really wanted to go with me so we went together.  I thought that was sweet.

And then I got a package in the mail from my lovely aunt with a bunch of onesies for Maple Baby!  She said that it was sad I only had one onesie and I was almost 8 months pregnant - so she sent a bunch.  And they were soooooooo cute!

And hubs said maybe we can play Yahtzee tonight.  And playing games always puts me in a good mood.  I'm trying to relax a bit because I keep reading about how stress really affects the baby and I don't want to give my baby ulcers.  And poor Maple Baby already had to live through A&P II with me and experience all that stress, and the stress from moving, and the stress from my trip to Vegas, and the stress of having so many things to buy and no money.  Ugg, poor Maple Baby.

How was your Thursday?

Were you stressed during your pregnancy at all?  If so, did your kids turn out ok?

Are you happy tomorrow is Friday???