Week 28 (and a half)

Wednesday marked the 28th week and I have officially entered the third trimester, woot-woot for the home stretch! According to Parents.com, little boo is this size: 

He/she is approximately 15 inches long and weighing in at a whopping 2.something pounds. Apparently he/she should be putting on about a half pound or so per week from here on out so be prepared to watch me pack on some major poundage. Speaking of which, I haven't been nearly as cautious as I was with Gabriel's pregnancy, so I've already hit about 20 pounds. I'm thinking my goal of staying under 30 might be slightly out of reach - oh well!

I'm so thankful that thus far, it's been a pretty easy pregnancy. I'm feeling sore at night, rolling over every hour-on-the-hour has become the ultimate chore, and I am so sick of having to wake up to pee every 2 hours, but it could be worse! I would say the worst symptom I've had is the itching. My elbows and behind one, yes - just one, weird I know, knee have been itching like nobody's business!

I had my 1-hour glucose test two days ago and I'm so happy that the numbers came back fine. With Gabriel, I failed the 1-hour test so they made me do the 3-hour glucose test. You have to drink a disgusting orange-flavored syrup, wait an hour, draw blood, wait another hour, draw blood, wait another hour, draw blood...needless to say, it is not something I'd want to spend a morning doing.

They also found out that I'm anemic and need to start supplementing with iron. It makes complete sense - I was feeling so lethargic during the day and in the mornings was having such a hard time getting up to make Adrian's breakfast. I'm a pretty early riser and prefer to start my mornings between 6:30 and 7:00, depending on when Adrian gets up, and that was such a struggle that Adrian even caught me napping one day with Gabriel, something that NEVER happens. I'm looking forward to starting the iron pills and hopefully having a little more energy.

In terms of the impending labor at the end of this whole thing, I'm still going to try for a VBAC. I'm so excited to be able to go into labor on my own and experience all of the emotions and pain and everything all over again. It's such an empowering process and I'm crossing my fingers that my body continues to cooperate so I can try for a natural, intervention-free delivery!

Here's a picture of me today, feeling great:

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Teresa's graduation and Julian

Last Wednesday, my sister graduated from her Certified Nurse's Assistant program. For those who know my sister, you know that she has really struggled with school; what takes someone an hour to complete will take her several so she really has to work hard to stay at the same pace as everyone else. It doesn't make her any less smart, just means she has to put in significantly more effort.

During her senior year of high school, she was accepted to Northern Arizona University. Adrian and I drove her out there, went to her orientation, got her settled in and wished her well. Throughout the year, it became clear to her that she wasn't cut out to live so far away from family when she needed more support both emotionally and educationally. I made it very clear to her that I was not supportive of her leaving - it would be such a shame for her to miss out on the experiences and growth that comes with living on campus and becoming an individual. She still wanted to get into nursing so she started out with the CNA program in Coalinga and boy, did she make me so proud! I was worried that she would go up there, live with my grandparents and her friend who went with her, and fall into the middle of the pack, as is her usual. She flourished up there, getting great scores on her tests (probably better than I ever got in college!) and ended up getting valedictorian of the entire program! She's coming home to live with me and do her pre-req's for the nursing program out here and I am so excited...

When I got back from Coalinga to watch Teresa, Adrian, Gabriel and I did our annual trip to Julian with Nicole, James and James' mom, Karen. This is the third year that the three of us have gone up there during the fall/winter and the second time that we all did it together. James and Gabriel were buds and he spent the whole trip riding on James' shoulders. Unfortunately, we didn't get a ton of pictures, but here are a few...

Sunday Funday - Another day in the kitchen

My feet are sore, legs are swollen and my back is a little achy, but I am stuffed and satisfied with yummy goodness. The morning started out with spiced apple crepes and chocolate-cream cheese crepes for breakfast. I wouldn't say they were the best I've ever made because I was missing a couple of crucial ingredients, but they were still pretty decent.

For lunch/dinner/tasty football-watching food, I made a classic chili. You can find the recipe here. I exchanged the tomato juice for the same amount of stewed and diced tomatoes since I didn't have any on hand and it was fabulous. Probably the best chili I ever made, although you can't really compare since the only other chili I made, I decided one adobo chile wasn't enough so I added three. If you have ever used chili adobo, you know that it was HOT, as in, can't feel my lips because they are burning off of my face hot. But try that recipe if you like chili, it was some of the better chili I've ever eaten.

From Heat Oven to 350 - yet again, my photos do not do justice...

And now for the coup de grâce, chocolate chip cheesecake bars. I used this chocolate chip cookie recipe and I have to admit, it was way better than the normal Nestle recipe that I generally make. Here is where the rest came from. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, make chocolate chip cookie dough and cheesecake filling as directed. Use large glass dish and give a healthy dose of cooking spray. Use half of the cookie dough as a bottom layer, then add all of the cheesecake filling, then add top layer of cookie dough. Bake for 35-45 minutes and be prepared to enter the most blissful, food-induced euphoria. I am forcing Adrian to take the rest of the pan to work tomorrow for fear that by the time he gets home, all he'll find are crumbs.

We decided that I'm going to  have to start cooking healthy food again.The last time I stayed home when Gabriel was little, all I did was cook and although the food was delicious, we collectively gained several many pounds. We both want to reign things in so that we don't become matching fat blobs. I think I'm going to try some yummy Weight Watcher's recipes this week, so be on the look out!

Fall Wreath and Mantle

Yet again, Pinterest has inspired some craftiness in me! I decided that I wanted to have a cute fall mantle and I wanted to make a wreath, both of which I've accomplished for very little money.

I purchased the items below plus some florist's wire for about $15, not bad when the going price for a store-bought wreath is over $20.

It was pretty simple actually - I used wire cutters to snip the flowers off  with enough stem to poke into the branches, placed them where I wanted, and voila! That was it!

Here's the finished product:

It's a little bottom heavy but that's because I couldn't decide in what direction it would hang or where I would tie the bow...I could re-do it but I think it looks fine as-is. I think I might add a bigger bow at the top next time, it seems a little small compared to the flowers, but since it was my first time tying a bow like that I wasn't sure how much ribbon I'd need.

Here's my fall mantle so far...it's a work in progress though! I still need to add some vertical pieces in the background because it's a little too low. Either way, it's make my house feel a little more home-y :)

Watch out for more projects coming up! Adrian has challenged me to sew at least Gabriel, but preferably all of us, Halloween costumes. Since I don't even know how to thread my new sewing machine this could get very interesting...

I'm 2 for 2 today - Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Turkey Enchilada Casserole

My husband is overjoyed because I am finally cooking again. Before, I was working full-time and he was never home until late, so I generally relied on quesadillas and mac 'n cheese for Gabriel and myself. Adrian would just eat out every single day - he'd generally skip breakfast, eat fast food for lunch and take clients out so he could expense his dinner. Some people love to eat out, but we are home-cookin' kind of folk. After a certain point, take-out starts to look revolting and the thought of how much money we've wasted on eating out disgusts me even further.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I'm a pretty decent cook. I thought it ran in my blood - maybe just on my dad's side - because my mom swears that she was an awful cook when she first married my dad. Apparently they lived on Ricearoni and my dad grilled steak. That was it. I don't recall her every being bad and now she's a fabulous chef, not just delicious and super tasty food, but she's whipped up quite a few delicious Weight Watchers meals too.

My addiction to Pinterest has helped inspire me to make a few things today. I made the Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich, originally posted on BS' In The Kitchen.  It was a huge hit with Adrian; by the time I had finished my own sandwich, all that was left were crumbs from the two sandwiches that I made him.

{This is his original photo - none of mine would do it justice.}

I changed my recipe up from his just a tiny bit...

Ingredients:

• 3 Jalapenos
• 4 Bacon Strips
• 2 Tbsp Cream Cheese
• 2 Tbsp Ranch Dressing (and in fact, it could have used more)
• Chives (chopped)
• Cheddar Cheese
• Butter
• Wheat Bread

Roast the jalapenos - I did mine in the flames on the stove but you could probably do it in the oven or on the BBQ just as well. The skin should be charred well when you are done. Put them in a Ziploc while you work on your other ingredients. Combine the cream cheese, chives and ranch (I used the   homemade kind made with a packet) in  a small bowl. Stick the bacon in the microwave for 3 minutes, covered with a paper towel. Peel the skin off the jalapenos and slice thinly. Slice cheese. Make sandwich by spreading cream cheese mixture on one side, cheddar cheese lays on the other, jalapeno and bacon in the middle. Butter the outsides of the bread and make just like you would a grilled cheese. I covered the pan so the cheese would melt faster. Slice down the middle and enjoy!

Dinner was  much more my own creation, though still inspired by some recent posts on Pinterest about Cheesy Enchilada Casserole.

{This photo was taken from the website that inspired me, Six Sisters' Stuff}

Ingredients:

• 6 Corn Tortilla
• 28oz. Can of Red Enchilada Sauce
• 1 lb Ground 85/15 Turkey
• 1 Green Bell Pepper (diced)
• 1 Onion (chopped)
• 1 Tomato (diced)
• 1 Can of Corn
• 1 Can of Black Beans
• Cheddar Cheese
• Black Olives
• Cumin, Coriander, Chili Powder, Pepper and Salt to taste
• Cilantro and Sour Cream as garnish

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. I started by chopping all of my veggies, first the onion and bell pepper, which I put on medium heat in a large pan with the turkey to brown. Add your cumin, coriander, chili powder, salt and pepper to taste. I would guess it was probably about a teaspoon to a teaspoon and a half of each except the salt and pepper - use your discretion on those. Open all of your cans (I hate getting stuck at the last minute without having opened everything!). Once the turkey has browned, drain but do not remove from the pan, but do take it off the heat. Add your beans, corn and tomato - mix. Spray an 11x17 pan with cooking spray. Cover the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of enchilada sauce. You must be careful about how much you add because it could make your casserole too saucy in the end. Our corn tortillas were pretty big so to cover the bottom took 3 - 2 full and 1 ripped in half. Layer with meat mixture and then with cheese. Add a little more enchilada sauce. Layer another set of tortillas. With the remaining meat mixture, I actually put some sauce into it and mixed it before I added it to the dish. Layer the meat and then another healthy layer of cheese. In all, I used about 3/4 of the can of enchilada sauce. At this point, I put olives on half of the casserole as Adrian isn't the hugest fan of them. Pop in the oven covered with tin foil for 30 minutes, uncover for an additional 5, and you're done. Hope you love it as much as we did!

The Occupy Wall Street Movement

I have become fascinated with the ideas that Occupy Wall Street represents. I've always been somewhat drawn to the ideas of the Sixties, with its new, radical, progressive way of thinking and I feel that same draw to this national concept. What started as a loosely-formed group of ideas involving social and governmental reform with a group of Canadian activists has now become a well-formed concept, demanding less corporate involvement in government, less corruption and more economic equality. The movement has swept across the United States with alarming speed and strength, with demonstrations already occuring in over 16 cities and more popping up weekly (including San Diego, starting today!).

They are calling themselves the 99 Percent - as in those occupying and the people the represent. They are the 99% of Americans who are not benefitting from the state of the government and economy. They are people who played by the rules and the system still isn't working for them. They are drowning in thousands of dollars of student debt, losing their homes, searching for work and wondering how and why this happened to them.

They are my brother-in-laws, who were so hard-hit in their construction employment by the economic crash, that they were threatened many, many times with foreclosure, sold anything of value to eat, worked where ever they could to make a buck for their families. They are the stories of our friends, family, acquaintences - who haven't made bad decisions, just simply tried to play the game.

In reality, the actual percentage is not representative of the people.

"If you’re in the 85th percentile, for instance, your household is making more than $100,000, and you’re probably doing okay. If you’re in the 95th percentile, your household is making more than $150,000." - Washington Post

But that really isn't the point, is it? It's about frustration. It's about hope. It's about changing a corrupt government, a broken system. It's about people.

I am inspired.