21 Weeks

Pregnancy: 21 weeks.. just over half way there

Sleep: Sleeping a little better... Matt got me a body pillow for Mother's Day

Gender: BOY

Names: Matt and I are starting to look into names. Matt even thinks that we should wait until our little one is born... HELLO does he not understand the need to get things monogramed

Feeling: Feeling great!

Health: So leading up to week 18 I was in a TON of pain each day. By the end of the night I was not able to put weight on my left leg and my nights usually end with a back massage from Matt and tears. At my 18 week appointment our doctor prescribed physical therapy and I have been getting massages for the last two weeks to release some of the tension in my back. Things are actually starting to look up. My doctor also thinks that as the pregnancy progresses and the baby weight moves up that the weight will shift and come off the nerve... we will see... fingers crossed!

During our 18 week ultrasound the baby was measuring one week early so according the their calculations I might be 22 weeks at this point or I just have a big baby. Each time that we have been to the doctors our little boy has measured ahead of their last calculations...

Another item that came up is that my placenta is currently a little lower than where they like for it to be. This means that we will have another big ultrasound appointment around 28 weeks to see if there has been any movement and if not they will continue to monitor as I might need a C-Section to ensure that it does not burst during delivery... Might be a little TMI for some folks but these posts are also for us to look back on and remember things so there will be a few times when a little more info is shared. :-)

Movements: Emma was finally able to feel movement around week 19! She was so excited.

Next Appointment: OB: May 31st at 23 weeks!!

Non Baby Highlight of the Week:

• Emma finished Awana last week. Awana is a program at our church where kids get together to memorize Bible verses, play, and fellowship together. This was Emma's 1st year in Awana but the last year that she would be in the SPARKS group. There are three sparks books and typically children complete one book a year... Not our Emma though! She completed all THREE books in the one year! We are sooo proud of her!

Emma's 8th Birthday Party

A few weeks ago we threw an American Girl birthday party for Emma's 8th Birthday. Of course it ended up raining that day (as it always does for Emma's parties)... so that meant that we had 13 girls inside our house for the party... just a little stress for this pregger mom who had planned for the girls to be outside playing the whole time...

I am happy to say that all survived and I would like to make the proclamation that I will NEVER throw a party like this again. It was honestly three weeks ago and I am just getting over the trauma enough to speak about the events of the day... Girls had fun but I was traumatized.

Emma and I made all of the decorations with my silhouette machine that I got for Christmas. We got a HUGE book of American Girl Scrapbook paper (150 pages) that I cut to make banners, pinwheels, signs, bands for water bottles, gift bags and much more. With my 50% of Michael’s coupon the paper was only $12.50 and well worth the expense! Plus we still have like 100 pages to use for future arts projects.

Here are a few photos of the day that I took... before things got too crazy. A good friend also took some and I will share those later.

Emma LOVED wrapping the American Girl paper around the bottles of water... or course none of the girls reached for water when fruit punch and Lemonade were also available.. but I had to have them on hand... two days later Emma peeled off these bands and we put on pink and blue ones for the gender party.

The yummy table filled with goodies and sweets... If you choose to have a party like this let me recommend NOT serving red velvet cake to 13 eight year olds in your living room... You will need to invest in new furniture after!

Loved these Wilson cupcake wrappers from Michaels.

Found a photo of chocolate covered Oreos on Pinterest... DO NOT ever try to make these! You will go through two packages of double stuffed oreos just to get 12 oreo pops and you will scream obscenities all over your house as the cookies break each time you touch them... the two that you see in the front were the only ones that look right.... towards the end I just poured the melted chocolate over to ensure that they didn't break during the dipping process.... NOT WORTH IT !

We served the girls pizza, pigs in a blanket, chicken nuggets, pretzels and fruit... not the healthiest but easy!

Made these goodie bags for each of the girls with their first initial in the front. The bags included Candy, a notebook, pencils, and twisty straws.

I thought that we were going to have to scrap the piñata since we were indoors... but with a little creativity from the guys were able to literally "pull it off"... more on that in a second...

As the girls started to arrive they all went down to our basement where we had set up tables and they played with their American Girl dolls... p.s. giving the girls fruit punch and Paint down here... not my best idea... that damn rain just ruined all of my plans... let's just say there maybe a few stains in this carpet...

Here are the guys coming up with a way to still do the piñata... they poked holes in the sides and treaded through 13 pieces of twine and had each girl pull at the same time... crazy!

At least Emma and all the girls had a great time! That is all that matters!

More photos to come at a later date.

White Chicken Enchiladas

So two nights ago I cooked up this yummy recipe found on Pinterest! We didn't celebrate Cinco de Mayo so this was our belated celebration... minus the margaritas.

Ingredients:

- 8 Flour Soft Taco shells

- 2 cups of shredded chicken (I used a rotisserie Chicken)

- 2 Cups shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

- 3T Butter

- 3T flour

- 2 Cups Chicken Broth

- 1 Cup Sour Cream

- 1 (4.5 oz) can diced green chillies

Preheated oven to 350 degrees. Shredded my chicken and combined in a bowl with 1 Cup of cheese. Mixed together. 

 Scooped filling into the middle of each Tortilla and rolled up

Placed in a 9x13 glass pan

In a sauce pan I melted the butter, stirred in the flour and let cook for 1 minute. Next I added the broth and whisked until smooth. I cooked over medium heat (stirring frequently) until thick and bubbly.

Added the Sour Cream and Chilies... Do NOT bring back up to a boil as you do not want to have curdled sour cream!

Poured over my enchiladas and topped with remaining cup of cheese.

Baked for 22 minutes and broiled for 3 minutes to allow the cheese to darken.

While I was waiting for my enchiladas to bake I made some spanish rice and guacamole!

YUMMY. Matt loved this dish and thinks that the next time we should make it with the phesant that we have down in our freezer... I will let you know how that turns out.

IT'S A BOY!!!

Okay so I'm totally failing at this whole blogging thing!

OVER a week ago Matt and I found out that our little Baby Park is a BOY!

I was SOOO surprised to see the blue when we cut into the Gender cake... We all wanted a boy but I had convinced myself that we were going to have a little girl. Almost every Old Wives tale pointed in that direction...

•      Baby’s heartbeat was above 140

•      I've been craving sweets

•      I did have morning sickness

•      I have been Moody

•       My Skin has been Dry

•      I've been sleeping on my Right side

•      I have not had headaches

So the only one that indicated a boy was my dry skin... which I could really do without at this point.

I was convinced that we were going to have a girl but I was SOOOO wrong. On Friday morning we went in for our 18 week ultrasound and closed our eyes and turned our heads when they went down below the bellybutton. At the conclusion of our ultrasound the tech placed a card noting the gender of our baby into an envelope. I took that envelope to Emma's dental appointment and the receptionist called the bakery and revealed the sex of our baby! It was crazy carrying around that envelope all day but I was just so excited about everyone finding out together that night! There was NO way that I was going to ruin the surprise... and besides in my mind I already knew that it was going to say girl... Well later Friday night when we cut into the cake I just started crying the second we pulled out a slice with blue icing in the middle. I was so overwhelmed! So caught off guard!

Emma of course was jumping up and down like crazy and so excited that she was right and that the baby was a boy! We couldn't be happier!

I know that I owe you photos of the gender reveal party and I will pass as soon as we have them but until that time here are the latest photos of our little BOY!... Now to figure out a name!

Still here...

I am still here! Just super busy between work, Emma's birthday party last week, and our gender reveal party coming up TOMORROW!
Today We have our 18 week appointment with our regular doctor and we will have a chance to hear the heartbeat and I can talk about my back pains.

Things have been crazy as I said... in fact right now my life feels like this...

Yes, this is a photo of seventeen 8/9 year old girls PILED on a pinata... There is just so much going on and between my personal and professional life I feel like I am literally being pulled in a million directions. I just really need to learn to SLOW DOWN. The 12 hour work days and two parties in a week are just too much. After Friday I am looking forward to taking a deep breath and just relaxing the rest of the weekend and finally downloading some photos from my camera!

Here is what you will have to look forward to in the next week!
Thursday: 18 Week Update ... Will come late tonight after my Doctor appointment!
Friday: NO POST... Busy getting ready for the big party
Monday: Gender Reveal and 19 week post
Tuesday: Emma's Birthday Party
Wednesday: Few of my favorite things
Thursday: Gender Reveal Party Photos
Friday: No post... in Boston for work

Two wheeled adventures

So I mentioned in my 16 week check in that Emma has finally learned to ride her bike without her training wheels!!!

This is something that we have been trying to get her to do for a few years now but due to a fall (with training wheels) a few years back she has been terrified and cries every time we would bring it up. On the other hand even going on rides with training wheels was beginning to be a struggle because any time she would put pressure on one of the wheels it would start to bend and move causing her bike to become unbalances. Let's just say that our bike rides would end in frustration and tears... usually from me!!! She was too big for training wheels but not willing to try it without... even with the peer pressure of friends riding two wheelers! (YES everyone... I was rooting for peer pressure in this circumstance!) I had even internally come to peace with the fact that Emma might never learn to ride a bike!

WELL... two weekends ago everything changed. It was like she woke up an eight year old and decided that it was just time. Not exactly but that is what it feels like to me! Matt was doing some work outside last Saturday and asked Emma if she wanted to ride her bike in front of the house while he was out. He also brought up taking off her training wheels (as we do all the time)... well Emma declined (as she did all the time). Well that afternoon Matt was back outside and I encouraged Emma to also go out and play in the yard... 30 minutes later a breathless little girl (yes I'm in denial about the fact that she is now 8 and a big girl) came inside with her Barbie helmet (sniffle sniffle... see she is still my little girl) on yelling for me to go outside.

This is what I found!!!!!!

17 Weeks

Shirt: Old Navy

Jeans: Gap

Pregnancy: 17 weeks

Weight Gain:  Forgot to check

Sleep: Still not having much luck in the sleep department. Last night I did manage to stay on my left side until about 4 a.m. (1 hr before getting up) so that was a huge accomplishment. Matt bought a new pillow top mattress and that is helping.

Gender: TBD

Names: Emma is still a bit stuck on wanting twins so her favorite names are Harper & Hunter. Still deciding on the official name though

Feeling: I'm feeling good! Had a small emotional breakdown last Friday. I was just feeling overwhelmed by things but made it through and managed to get a ton done over the weekend.

Health: I have a pinched nerve in my back that has been killing me this last week. Matt has tried to help out but it might be time to invest in a massage.

Movement: feeling regular movements. Emma still has not been able to feel a kick yet. They are just still so light from the outside.

Belly: Finally big enough to fill in one of my favorite dresses from Gap! I wore it yesterday to a work event in Atlanta and got a ton of complements.

Non Baby Highlight of the Week:

• Emma has started outdoor soccer again! We had our first game on Saturday and her team won 4-0! IT is so great seeing all of the girls work together! She has been on the same team since Kindergarten and  they are just an amazing group of girls!
• On a non-child front... Matt took me on a date on Saturday night to see Hunger Games! Book was better but still a great movie! Matt didn't read the books so he asked a million questions!

Next Appointment: OB: Thursday, April 26th at 18w5d & Ultrasound: Friday, April 27th at 18w5d