i wanna win!

so...this isn't a mia post.  this is a post for me to win a new Dyson vacuum!  the author of Baby Rabies is giving one away.  plus, she's really funny, so you should totally follow her blog.

crock-pot black bean chili with cilantro and lime

we were having friends over last night, so i decided i wanted to cook.  now, i'm not a cook all the time kind of girl, so i wanted something easy.  i turned to my trusty crock-pot.  i found this recipie, and thought "i LOVE cilantro and lime!"  so, i found my recipie.  i did change up a few small things though...

crock-pot black bean chili with cilantro and lime

2 onions, chopped
extra virgin olive oil, for browning onions and meat
1 lb ground beef (i used ground sirloin)
1 quart beef stock
3 cans (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15 oz) refried beans (i used a mexican style)
2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1 packet chili seasoning (i got mine from the hispanic aisle of my grocery store)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (i bought 4 limes, but only needed 3)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

heat some olive oil in a large skillet and sautee the onions until they are soft and transluscent.  add them to your pre-heated (on low) crock-pot.  if needed, add more olive oil to the skillet and begin to brown the meat.  once browned, add to the onions in the crock-pot.

while cooking the onions and meat, put the beef stock in a pot and simmer to reduce to 2 cups.  that will be half of the original pint.  put beans into a colander and rinse until no foam appears.

once the beef stock has reduced, whisk in the refried beans until thoroughly mixed.  add stock/refried bean mixture, rinsed black beans, diced tomatoes, and chili seasoning to the crock-pot. 

cook 6-8 hours on low.  about 15 minutes before serving, add in chopped cilantro and lime juice.

mine served 4, with 3 of us having seconds, with some left over to go in the fridge.  i topped mine with shredded mild cheddar cheese, sour cream, and tortilla strips.

NOTE:  cooking time can depend on your particular crock-pot.  i was only able to cook mine for about 5-6 hours because i got a late start.  once i put the crock-pot on warm and let it sit for a little while, it thickened up quite a bit, and when i just warmed up a bowl, it was thicker as well.  moral of the story, make sure to cook it the full amount of time. 

ANOTHER NOTE:  this was a chili with beef, but i think the recipie can be modified to make a chicken tortilla type soup, simply by substituting the beef/beef stock for shredded chicken and chicken stock.  i will be trying it this way next time.

ribbon wreath

this isn't baby related, but i just had to share my ribbon wreath.

it was SUPER  easy to do.  it only took a few hours on a saturday night.

you can find the directions here!

p.s. 4 month pictures and update to come soon!

beyond words...

...just look.

even though we lost...

mia was ready for gameday!

give me a minute...

i'll fix it!

eta: working?

we have a roller!

date night.

we had a date night monday night!  grandma bev kept the babe, and the hubs and i went to see a movie.  we saw the time traveler's wife, and it was SO good!  i've had the book for a while, but haven't quite gotten around to reading it.  i usually like the book better than the movie, so i'm sort of glad i saw the movie first. 

i highly recommend it!  hubs even liked it!

new family member!

i almost forgot!  we welcomed a new member to the family yesterday!

meet ava!  she was born at 3:39 pm.  she is the daughter of my cousin/sister/best friend, deserey.  des wanted to give birth med-free, and by george, she did it!  i was present for the entire labor and delivery, and i now have a newfound respect for any woman who gives birth naturally.  it was the most intense thing i've ever experienced in my life!  i'm so very proud of her.

her auntie loves her so very much!

day at grandma's.

today we ventured to grandma bev's.  mia had a great time.

she hung out with great-grandma glenna for a while.  i actually caught a smile!

and grandma has a new toy for her to play with at her house!  she's not quite big enough for it yet...we had to stuff blankets in front of her, so she wouldn't lean all the way forward.  and her feet don't quite touch the ground yet.  she had a good time, though.

first night without baby.

i finally did it. i had a night without mia, and i missed her terribly. she stayed with my parents last night since i had to have an early morning procedure done at my GYN office. it was nice, but i missed her the whole time. i couldn't wait to pick her up today! chris and i were able to go to applebee's for happy hour, and i only had one blue moon before i thought i would pass out from exhaustion!

she did very well. according to mom, she went down for the night around 10 pm (!) and got up around 10 am. hopefully this is a trend and she stops staying up until 1 or 2 am. she's asleep right now, and i'm hoping she stays that way!



oh, and for the record, colposcopies suck.

3 months

i can't believe it's been 3 months already! time goes by SO fast these days.

sitting on the couch like a big girl!

whadda you lookin' at, mommy?

photo shoots sure do wear a girl out!


i've been back to work for a few weeks now. it's really nice to be getting out of the house by myself, but i sure do miss my mia moo when i'm gone!


sunday mia and i will be joined by the fabulous sara streit for a photo session. i can't wait to see what she comes up with! i'll be sure to share the pictures with all of you.

random 2 - month pictures.

we have a crib sleeper! we put her in it our first night back from FL, and she's been sleeping there ever since!

she went to her first wedding and met her boyfriend, mason!


she met her gaga for the first time!

she smiles!

2 Months!

holy crap.

she'll be 3 months in a week!

flawrida!

also known as "florida".

mia did great in the car! we stopped ever 2-3 hours to feed, which tacked on an extra few hours, but it wasn't so bad.

the one day we went to the beach, she slept pretty much the whole time. she did the same whenever we went to the pool, as well.

all in all, it was a nice, relaxing vacay. destin, FL is highly recommended by me! and mia!

lots of crap!

i have tons of stuff to show you! have patience...

and we're off!

we're heading out this morning for mia's first vacation, and my first since our honeymoon almost a year and a half ago! here's hoping i survive a road trip with my 2-month old and my mother!

pictures to come!

baby loot!

all these goodies from the children's place for $15!

7 weeks

well, she's 7 weeks old! our days consist of eating, sleeping, diaper changing, and lounging in the swing/on the couch. she's starting to smile a little more now, and her head control is getting better and better. she's still sleeping through the night in the bassinet, but unfortunately she's a tummy sleeper. that means that she's usually soaken wet when we get up in the morning. she's still too little for overnight diapers, and putting an extra diaper (in a larger size) on her at night didn't do any good. i guess we'll just have to power through it! we're leaving for florida in 5 days, so i'm busy packing us both up for that...daddy can't join us. :( we'll be going with mamaw, uncle josh and aunt jen, and mia's cousins, hannah and aubrey. it should be fun, and i'll have lots of great pictures! here are a few from the past week...

1 Month!

well, my girl turned 1 month old on sunday. slow down time! she had her 1 month check up with the pediatrician yesterday, and she has grown to 8 pounds, 6 ounces, and is now 20 inches long! it's crazy to hold her and feel how tiny she still is, and then realize that she was so much smaller!

4 weeks!

my little nugget is 4 weeks old! my how the time flies!

photo shoot time!

first bath!

mommy and mia!

picture time!

why are you taking my picture and not changing my diaper?

chilling out after she ate.

she wasn't really feeling her bouncer.

how it happened.

here's my birth story...or what i can remember of it!

so, on wednesday may 27th, i was supposed to have a doctor's appointment. i went in, and apparently they had scheduled my appointment at a different office. stupid heads. i was really disappointed because i had been having a gut feeling that something had been happening in uterus-land. we rescheduled my appointment for the next day at 1 pm.

chris and i went to bed that night, and of course i had problems falling asleep. story of my life. i want to say that around 3 am i felt the first of my contractions. now, up until this point i hadn't felt anything that i considered to be braxton hicks, so at first i wasn't really sure what i was feeling, i just knew that it kind of hurt. after timing a few at about 10 minutes apart, i got out of bed and moved to the couch to see if the shift would make them go away. well, they didn't. i started timing on contraction master, and by around 5-6 am they were pretty consistently at 5 minutes apart. now, i had been told by one of my doctors that the magic number was 5 minutes apart for at least an hour. i thought, hmmmm...i think maybe i should call. i for sure didn't think that i would make it to my scheduled 1 pm appointment, so i got on the phone. the OB on call told me that she thought i was in early labor, and that if i wanted i could come on in to the office when it opened at 8 and she would go ahead and check me out. awesome. so, i woke chris up, got dressed, and off we went.

at this point (8 am), the contractions weren't unbearable, but they were definitely enough to stop me in my tracks. at this point i was positive that i would be having a baby that day. i got in to see the doctor, and i was at 1 cm. 1 cm!!!!! i was SO upset and disappointed. when i heard that i started to get really scared because if i was only at 1 cm, and the contractions were hurting as much as they were, i couln't even imagine how much worse they were going to get!

and worse, they got. we were sent home, and i didn't move from the couch. my amazing husband timed the contractions for me and rubbed my back. they eventually started being around 3 minutes apart, and by 1:30 i had had enough. i called L&D, and they told me that i needed to come in.

after i got settled into the exam room and fitted with all my monitors, the doctor came in, and i was almost 4 cm! woohoo! they moved me to a room, got admitted, and all that other good stuff. i would like to say that i got my epidural right away and everything was right as rain, but unfortunately that didn't happen! after they FINALLY got my IV in (which took 4 needle sticks, 2 nurses, and the anesthesiologist) they decided that i was too dehydrated and wanted me to get a bag of fluids in before they would give me the epi.

through all of this, they were having trouble getting mia's HB with the external monitor. the decision was made to put in the internal one, which is attached to the top of the baby's head. while they were doing this, the doctor was going to break my water, since i had never noticed it break. well, to everyone's surprise, my water had already been broken! this caused a small problem, since this meant that nobody had any idea what time my water had actually broken. this meant IV antibiotics for me.

around 5 or 6, we finally got through the first bag of fluids, so it was epidural time! this (along with the IV) was one of the things that i was most afraid of going into labor, but i'll tell you what, at this point i wasn't even worried! i just wanted to not feel the contractions anymore! i hadn't been checked since i was admitted, so i'm not sure how far along i was, but if i had to guess i would say i was around 6 or 7 cm by the time i got the epi. afterwards, i was in HEAVEN. get the epi...it's the best thing ever.

after the epi i was having some blood pressure issues, so i was put on oxygen for pretty much the rest of my labor. it sucked. we were also having problems with the external monitor picking up my contractions. the OB wanted to insert an internal monitor for that as well, but when he went in to do it, i was at 9 cm!

once i hit 10 cm, i did not start pushing right away. mia still hadn't dropped as much as they wanted, so they let me "labor down" for a few hours. this was nice because i got to just relax in my room with chris and my mom. finally, around 9:45, we started to push. that first push was so weird because it didn't feel like it did anything at all. it must have though, because at 10:52 pm, after a little over an hour of pushing, we had little mia!

i didn't get to hold her for over an hour because i tore, so i needed some stitches, plus there was an issue with my placenta and amniotic sac. i don't remember the term the OB used for it, but it made it very difficult for the two to be delivered. the OB ended up having to manually remove them, which, of course, called for MORE IV antibiotics. it didn't hurt, but it was pretty darn uncomfortable.

if i could give anyone just one piece of advice, this is it: if you have ANY hemmrhoids before you go into labor, take care of them! i had one that i let go because it just never bothered me, so i thought it was fine. oh boy. like i said, TAKE CARE OF IT BEFOREHAND.

so there it is. 20 hours of labor later, i had my beautiful, perfect baby girl.

i suck at blogging...

so, it's been a while. a lot has happened since my last post. second baby shower, last day of work, doctor visits, a lack of belly pictures. but, the most substantial thing that happened was this...

meet my daughter! amelia (mia) lynn was born on may 28, 2009 at 10:52 pm. she was a perfect little peanut, weighing in at a whopping 5 pounds, 15 ounces and was 19 inches long! i'm so in love with her.

she had her 1 week check-up today, and the pediatrician said she was perfect! she's already back to her birth weight, she's eating great, and (fingers crossed, knocking on wood, and anything else that is lucky) hardly fusses at all. i couldn't ask for a better baby.

i'll get to posting more pictures and possibly a birth story (if anyone is interested) later. she should be waking up to eat anytime!

shower time!

my first shower was on sunday, and it was hosted by some fabulous girls that i work with. it was a lot of fun, there was AWESOME food, and they were all SO generous! i didn't really take a lot of pictures (i was too busy eating!), but i did take one of the awesome cake...

karen rocks. and a gratuitous shot of my baby boy...of course i brought him to my shower!

he was so good!

on another note...my mom just called. she and my aunt are out shower shopping and apparently BRU discontinued my entire nursery collection. awesome. thanks BRU. it's a good thing i talked chris into letting me buy the bedding.

so...



remember this:





and this:



ALL MINE. ::cue excited, hysterical giggles::



the fabulous chicco travel system is courtesy of my mother in law. oh, how i love that woman.



and what did i find when i walked into BRU one day with a $5 reward coupon? my diaper bag that i thought was online only and that had been out of stock FOREVER. i guess they decided to start carrying it in the stores. SCORE.



so, i now have a carseat base installed in my car, and a stroller in my trunk. the infant seat/carrier is still at mother in laws, awaiting my second shower in two weeks. total awesomeness.



still haven't made much progress in the baby's room. we're working on painting the dresser. the drawers are done, just need to finish up the big piece. i'm about to cut back my hours at work, so hopefully that will help with some major productivity in that area. things need to start getting done. this little girl's arrival is right around the corner?


holy crap.

i've been busy.

i've had a busy few weeks. lots of work, my birthday, anniversary, easter. i also have baby showers every sunday for the next three weeks (only two are for me...the other is for a friend). i'm soooo exhausted! and swollen...oh, the swelling. it's a little better today, but the past few days it was absolutely horrendous.

i'll try to update more...but i can't make any promises!

30 week belly.

i took two belly pics this week: one clothed and one bare.



clothed.......

and bare.........

10 (ish) weeks to go!

30 weeks (tomorrow)

tomorrow i hit the 30 week mark. 30 weeks down, 10 more to go. it's terrifying.

i had my rhogam shot today. it went in my butt. it didn't really hurt, but it did sting. i also had blood drawn beforehand, and i must say that i get better at it each time it's done. i've come a long way since passing out in the chair when i was in high school! i'm still terrified of the iv and epidural, but i guess i'll make it through.

the date is set for shower #2. my first is on april 26th, and the second will be on may 3rd. i'm really excited.

i'm also super stoked that my MIL offered to purchase out travel system. ::wipes sweat off brow:: i need to learn to stop stressing myself and realize that things will work out!

i am for sure doing a bump picture this week. it's been what...three weeks since my last one? i'll take one tomorrow, i promise!

i now think that i need to find more to eat.

28 weeks.

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

no belly picture this week, i think. i'm already at 28 wks, 4 days, so i may as well wait until friday when i hit 29 wks.

it's st. patrick's day. i would give my left arm for an irish car bomb and some strongbow pints. le sigh.

that is all. i'm going to play with my puppy.

gap outlet.

i HATE the gap outlet. my main reason is because when i'm shopping, i do not like to dig to find things. i like them to be readily available for me to find them. and it's always a madhouse, as it was today. my first mistake was going on a sunday afternoon, but seeing as how i had a 30% off friends and family coupon that was good through today only, i didn't have much of a choice. i can't even tell you how many times i've visited the gap outlet, only to leave with empty hands. i just get too frustrated by the amounts of people and how i can never ever find anything easily.

today, i actually left with a new pair of maternity jeans and jean capris! i was so excited. i looked through the baby stuff for about a minute and a half before i just couldn't take it anymore. all in all though, i mark the visit as a success, seeing as though i walked out with two pairs of maternity pants for under $15. score.

28 week post to come.

27 weeks.

Here's what's going on this week...

This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother her, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

i've started feeling a lot more pain in the past week. i've been feeling some pelvic pain (especially when i'm working) which is really slowing me down. i probably try and do too much at work, but i can't help it!

i had an OB appointment this week as well. everything looked good, as usual, and i found out that i passed my glucose screen. hooray! they also told me that i'll need to go in the next week or so for my rhogam injection. i hate shots, so i'm not looking forward to it. i've heard that it isn't all that bad though.

the date for my work shower has been set, and i'm getting super excited! my good friends megan and julia are throwing it for me, and it tickles me pink to see how excited they are about it. it makes me feel good that people care that much about me (and little mia).

i believe that's all for now. until next time!

as promised...

mia's bedding!

it is from the amy coe collection at BRU. i LOVE it.

it's over!

i had my 1 hour glucose test today. it wasn't that bad. i had the orange drink, and it tasted like sugary, orange juicy juice. i was worried that i wouldn't be able to drink it in the 5 minute time frame, but it was easy. the worst part was the hour of waiting. they only took two vials of blood, which was nice because it was over so quickly! if you know me well, you know that i am NOT a fan of having blood drawn. let's just say, i've had a few incidents in the past. now i just have to keep my fingers crossed and hope i passed. the 3 hour test does NOT sound like fun.

we bought mia's crib mattress and bedding yesterday! pics to come, as soon as i get it set up.

25 weeks

i finally got off my butt and took a picture. here i am at 25 weeks and 2 days.

week 25

here is what baby is up to...

this is what The Bump says about baby:

Let your spouse put an ear to your belly -- he might be able to pick up baby's heartbeat (no stethoscope required). Inside the womb, the formation of tiny capillaries is giving baby a healthy pink glow. Baby's also soaking up your antibodies, getting the immune system ready for life outside the womb. Eyes are forming, and baby will soon perfect the blink -- perfect for batting those freshly grown lashes.

i can't believe how big she's getting! there's still a LOT of growing left to do though. hooray for my little eggplant!

sleepy

i'm still tired. all of the time. especially on days that i work. oh well. i'm going to be tired all the time for a while, i guess.

nothing really going on in baby-land. we did a little more registering at BRU last week, which was fun as always. i still haven't decided what bottles to use. meh.

the date has been set for my work shower, which i'm really excited about! all the girls are so awesome...everybody is so excited. i can't wait for april to get here!

still waiting on my chicco goodness to be released. i stalk the chicco website daily. i also stopped some lady in the mall food court yesterday who had a chicco stroller and asked her how much she loved it. probably thought i was crazy. oh well.

new bump picture to come. i'm lazy.

and that is all. thank you, come again.

success!!!

after a loooong search, i have finally found my travel system! and playard...and high-chair...



for some reason i've been dead set on finding a whole set that matches...call me anal...call me whatever. i kept finding travel systems that i would sort of like or a playard, but lo and behold, there wouldn't be a matching set. i finally found a set at target, which i wasn't that happy about because i DO NOT want to register there. plus, i wasn't in love with the set, it was just the only thing i had found that i sort of liked.



then finally...i came across this:


it's pink!!!! and not over-the-top pink! and there's a playard and high-chair to match! it's a new collection from chicco, and it actually hasn't been released yet. the playard and high-chair are set to be released some time this month, while the travel system comes out in march. now all that needs to happen is for BRU to carry it, so i can add it to my registry! i'm so excited.

to breastfeed...

or not breastfeed...that is the question. i'm so conflicted on this. i know that it will save us some money early on and that it's so much better for the baby than formula, but the whole concept freaks me out. it seriously gives me the willies. i have a LOT of thinking to do.

do any of you have any opinions on the subject?

today

today was a special day. not only did we find out the gender of the baby, this is the day one year ago that my aunt kelley passed away of a heart attack. she was 46 years old.

my aunt was ridiculously special. she is with me every day. case in point: she LOVED butterflies. absolutely loved them. the tech who did my ultrasound was wearing butterfly scrubs. after the ultrasound, we went to IHOP. the server gave me a pen with butterflies to sign the credit card slip. i miss her, but things like this make me smile.

it's a...

GIRL!!!!!

more later.

here we go...

getting ready to leave for ultrasound #2. here's hoping they can get the goods! i'll update later...

pregnancy fatigue is really irritating.

i decided that i wanted to get some stuff done around the apartment today. you know, the usual stuff...laundry, general cleaning, give the dog a bath. i vacuumed, started a load of laundry, and started feeling pretty good about myself. i got through about 1 and 1/2 loads of laundry and started to fade...pretty quickly. i have absolutely no energy left and still have a load in the dryer, and of course it's the sheets and duvet which means i'll have to make the bed when it's finished. ugh. still on my list of things to do? cleaning both of the bathrooms, wiping down the crib with lysol disinfecting wipes, and dusting. tomorrow?

i asked my husband on saturday to take the trash out since he was off work. what is still piling up in my dining room? two bags of trash and an empty cardboard box, with another full bag about to be taken out of the can. do you think i'm asking too much of him? we're supposed to start experiencing a winter storm later tonight, so you can bet that i won't be trekking out to the dumpster tomorrow. i want my trash taken out!

my first baby must-have

i MUST have this diaper bag. as of right now (unless i find something i love more), it is non-negotiable. k? thanks.