Recipe - Mahi Mahi

I'm not a big fish fan - I LOVE shrimp, crab, and lobster, but aside from shellfish, I don't eat it.  But, Jarrod has been asking if we could make more fish since it's good for us and he likes it.  So, when we went out to dinner to celebrate our ultrasound, he ordered fish tacos with Mahi Mahi and I tried it and it wasn't bad.  So, I bought some for dinner this week.  


Last night, I made a marinade with 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup orange juice, a clove of garlic minced, and 2 tbsp. soy sauce with a little salt and pepper.  I left the mahi mahi to sit in it for about 45 minutes and then we grilled them on the grill pan and served it with rice and veggies.  To my surprise, I really liked it...even went back for more.  And, what REALLY shocked us both was that Gavin took several bites!  Looks like I'll be making mahi mahi more often.  :)

Wordless Wednesday - Mr. Independent

Krispy Kreme!

Gavin is definitely my kid when it comes to sweets.  He loves him some dessert!  Ever since Daddy took him to Krispy Kreme on Christmas Eve, he points out the "donut shop" every time we drive by.  So, I knew I had to take him to the Krispy Kreme tour when our playgroup had it scheduled.  He loved it!

He got to feel a donut before it was cooked.  He said it was "squishy."

 He watched the donuts go into the oil and get cooked, and then it was time to decorate his own.  After the nice lady dipped it in chocolate, he was allowed to put his sprinkles on.  

Walking away with his donut in his bag, feeling very proud of himself! :) 

And time to enjoy!

And the sweet little boy was looking out for his daddy...he told me I had to buy some to take home for him, too! :)

Nursery progress

So, as I said earlier, since moving the furniture into the nursery, I've been really motivated to work in there.  We spent a lot of time getting things done this weekend and started putting clothes into the drawers etc.  Here are some pictures of how it looks right now, with lots more still to do.

The bins obviously don't belong.  :)  I'm still working on sorting out clothes.  We went with the Pooh bedding when I was pregnant with Gavin so it would be 'gender neutral' but now that we've used it for a boy (as with everything else baby related we have) I'm finding myself wishing we had more girly things.  But, I know it will work and we're making do.  I'm on a mission to girl-ify the nursery more.  Our first step was to swap out the hardware on the dressers.  Who knew it would be so hard!  I can't find anything that I like that will look right without spending a ton of money.  Some of the ones I've found are like $9 each....and we need 13!  So, that's still a work in progress.   I'll update pictures as we go along.  

On a photography note:  I took this pics without a flash and am realizing they are looking kinda blurry.  I think I might finally splurge and order a new lens.  I'm not sure though.  Anyone reading this have a 50mm 1.8 lens?  That's what I'm looking at right now, but  I'd love to hear from someone that has used it.  

22 Weeks!

Sorry, Tori - yet another shadow picture. 

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 22 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby Hamm is the size of a papaya and weighs about a pound.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +2lbs from last week again - 16lbs total...I'm sure the warm lava chocolate chip cookie thing I got at Red Lobster wasn't good for my weight gain this week!

Maternity Clothes: Yep, pretty much everything (except sweats). 

Gender: It's a GIRL!!!  When the name is decided, it will be kept a secret until she arrives.  

Movement: Finally feeling a little something at least once a day.  Still waiting for it to be strong enough for Jarrod and Gavin to feel it, too.  

Sleep: I'm sleeping really good right now. 

What I miss:  Not much - trying to enjoy this one since it will probably be our last.

Cravings: Back to wanting spicy food all the time, which Jarrod loves.  

Symptoms:  No new symptoms this week.

Best Moment this week: Working in the nursery and learning about another friend's pregnancy this week.  :)

We spent a lot of time in the nursery this weekend.  Jarrod got a lot of the baby stuff out of the attic and Gavin loved going through it.  He loved sitting in the baby bathtub, playing on the playmat, and going through all the toys.  Jake's mom, Jen, gave me a bag of adorable baby clothes last week so that got me motivated to wash clothes that I had and start putting them in drawers.  Of course, then Jarrod joked that the baby will turn out to really be a boy and we'll only have pink.  Now I keep thinking about that!  We might go to an ultrasound spa here and do a quick ultrasound for confirmation just to ease my mind.  We'll see...  I'll post pics of the nursery a little later.  :)  

Sweet Story to Share

I just wanted to share this sweet story.  Today in the car, Gavin asked me to sing him a song.  I asked what song he wanted to hear and he requested Twinkle Twinkle (a current favorite.)  So, I sang it, and he asked for a different song.  So, I sang Baa Baa Black Sheep.  After it was finished I told him that my grandpa used to sing that to me when I was a little girl.  The rest of the conversation went like this:
Gavin: "Your grandpa?"
Me:  "Yep, your great grandpa Buck!"
Gavin: "Great Grandpa Buck?"
Me: "That's right.  He used to sing it to me when Mommy was little like you.  Now he lives in heaven though."
Gavin: "Can we go visit your grandpa in heaven in May?"  
:)


{Gavin is currently obsessed with 'in May.'  He knows we're going to Florida in May, so now he wants to do everything else 'in May' too.}  

Baby on the Brain

It seems that since we found out Baby Hamm is a Baby Sister, all I've been doing is baby stuff!  Much of my time has been spent sorting through baby clothes and deciding what boy stuff I want to keep, pass on, sell, etc.  After spending 10 minutes in the attic on Sunday when it was 78 degrees out and realizing how sweltering hot it already was up there, we decided we're bringing all the baby stuff down this weekend.  The Pack n Play is already set up and more will be coming in - we don't have the room in the garage to store it and let's just face it, it's fun to see the baby stuff everywhere!  I love how much I'm feeling her move these days, but I can't wait for Jarrod and Gavin to be able to feel and see it, too.  I think Gavin will love that!  He's been so sweet, kissing my belly and singing to baby sister.  Jarrod and I were talking the other night about how in four short months, Baby Sister will be here.  Then, he reminded me that it will be four HOT, miserable months.  Thanks, babe.  I do realize that....I'll be spending the summer sitting in Gavin's baby pool, I'm sure.  :)

End of the Year Teacher gift idea!

A quick business plug here - as we approach the end of the school year, don't forget how much teachers love food!  Order a Nana's Apple Cake and I'll email you this cute little poem to attach.  Just wrap it up with a couple apples for a cute and easy gift!  Contact me for me info. :)

Recipe - Singapore Fried Noodles

I saw this recipe on a message board last week and couldn't wait to try it this week.  It was really easy and really yummy!  I used green onions instead of garlic chives just because Walmart doesn't exactly have the best produce selection and they were similar enough.  I can't wait to make these again!  Jarrod was late coming home from work and ate his reheated and thought they were so good he didn't even save me leftovers! :)
Singapore Fried Noodles

Wordless Wednesday

I know it's supposed to be 'Wordless' Wednesday, but after looking at the pic again, I think it needs an explanation - because it makes it even cuter!  I snapped this on my phone Sunday while we were driving home from Sam's Club.  Jarrod rolled Gavin's window down all the way while we were driving and he was enjoyed the warm spring breeze! :)

When did he get so big?

Jarrod and I have been talking this past week about how Gavin seems like he is so big all of a sudden!  Maybe it's the shorts that make his legs look so long and skinny.  I don't know.  But he is growing up so fast!  The other day, he was getting into my drawers, pulling out things he should be, and I couldn't help but think how he's too big!  So I snapped this photo.

Then I had to grab him up for a big hug and told him I wanted to take a picture of him and Mommy.  I love this little bug! 

Then he wanted to take pictures of us, too! :) 

Next month, we'll have a 3 year old!  WOW!

Gavin's New Furniture

Well, here it is!  Gavin's new furniture is in and assembled!  The room isn't complete.  We still need to find a bookshelf and add some little things here or there, but here are the photos I took over the weekend.  He LOVES the bed, hence the silly faces.

I've talked about how large this furniture is.  To give you an idea, if I stand next to his bed, the mattress is at my hip.  We got an ottoman to put at the foot of the bed so he and I can use it to climb up onto the bed at night.  

The really cool thing about this bed is that he has a hiding spot in it and a place to play underneath!  

The great thing about getting his furniture in is that the dressers are now in the nursery and I feel like I can really get started on that room.  We emptied all the drawers and started filling them with gender neutral clothes we already have and some girly things that we've started collecting.  I can't wait to get that room together!

21 Weeks!

I played around with the settings and different places in the house so that there wouldn't be a shadow this time.  Tori told me I had to stop posting pics with a shadow because it makes me look huge.  :)  Now if only I could figure out a way to make my face look less chubby.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 21 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby Hamm is the size of a banana.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +2lbs from last week - 14lbs total.

{Funny story about weighing this week - I walked into the bathroom this morning to weigh myself and Jarrod says, "Whoa, Mama!  Looking large this morning!"  Then I step on the scale and say, "Wow, 2 lbs this week," and Jarrod of course says, "I told you you were looking large!"  I know this would offend some people, but it doesn't bother me at all.  I just laughed.}

Maternity Clothes: Yep, pretty much everything (except sweats). 

Gender: It's a GIRL!!!  When the name is decided, it will be kept a secret until she arrives.  

Movement: Finally feeling a little something at least once a day.  Still waiting for it to be strong enough for Jarrod and Gavin to feel it, too.  

Sleep: I'm sleeping pretty good right now. 

What I miss:  Not much - trying to enjoy this one since it will probably be our last.

Cravings: Back to wanting spicy food all the time, which Jarrod loves.  

Symptoms:  No new symptoms this week.

Best Moment this week: Getting Gavin's new room set up and the furniture moved into the nursery.  It finally feels like I can get the nursery going!

What we're up to

I'm hoping to get around to taking more photos in the next week. We've just been really busy...  Today carpet cleaners came, so I spent 2 hours trying to keep Gavin on the bed with me. Didn't really work so luckily our neighbor was home and let him come play.  Now he's finally napping (well supposed to be....he should be asleep soon) and I had time to check my email, etc.  I'm washing up all his new bedding because his new furniture will be here today!  I'm so excited to get it all together and in his room and the white furniture into the nursery, because then I feel like I can really start getting things for Baby Sister done, too.  I've been spending way too much time on Amazon finding things we need and things we don't really need but I'd love to have.  Who knew finding out we're having a girl would spark a major urge to shop???  I have a party tonight, Jarrod's busy pretty much all day tomorrow for work stuff, so I'm looking forward to Sunday when we can spend all day here together and get stuff done!  Pics of Gavin's new room to come!  I think the only major things we still want to get him are a lamp and a new bookshelf.  He's going to look so small in his big full size bed!

Giveaway!

Are you on Facebook?  My Tastefully Simple business is!  Click here to 'Like' my page: Jen's TS Page  When we have 100 likes (just 9 to go) I'll do another giveaway.  I use my page to advertise incentives, new products, recipes, and much more!  Check it out!

Pictures of Sweet Baby Girl

This was what she looked like the first time we saw her...

 And last week, we saw this!  :)  Here's her cute little face.

 In this picture, she's trying to turn over, probably to avoid getting her picture taken...so you see the side of her face and her arm/elbow sticking out.

 The ultrasound tech was really good at explaining what she was doing and what she was taking pictures of, but I wasn't too impressed with the shots she took to print off for us.  We didn't get the traditional profile pic that all moms-to-be show off.  And this is the one she took of her foot.  Not the greatest if you ask me...

Here's proof she's a girl! 

 And lastly, here's one that made me think she was a boy at first...but these are her legs and the umbilical cord between her legs.