There's always something on my mind...

Like food for example. (and a couple other things that I will address below) I do love a good recipe! Tonight I thought about making Scalloped Potatoes for dinner. I LOVE Scalloped Potatoes! My mommy made them when they came over for Spring Break. We had an Easter dinner together and then made Scalloped potatoes the next night.

2 pounds potatoes (about 6 medium)
3 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 1/2 c milk
1 small onion, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
1 Tablespoon butter

Peel and thinly slice potatoes to make about 4 cups. Heat 3 T butter in saucepan over low heat until melted. Blend in flour, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth and bubbly; remove form heat. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir one minute.

Arrange potatoes in greased 2 quart casserole dish in 3 layers, topping each of the first two layers with 1/2 of the onion and 1/3 of the white sauce. Top with remaining potatoes and sauce. Dot with 1 Tbs butter. Cover and cook in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and cook until potatoes are tender, 60-70 minutes longer. Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving. 6 servings.

We add granulated garlic to this recipe and it tastes awesome! Also, if you have left over ham from dinner or want to buy some to put into the potatoes... that tastes awesome too. Use powdered milk when making this recipe. You can't taste the difference and it will make it cheaper.

I think this recipe sounds so good! I haven't tried it yet, but I will be soon. It's called Very Berry-licious Smoothies and comes from tasteofhome.com
Ingredients:
2 cups cranberry juice
4 cups frozen unsweetened strawberries
2 cups frozen unsweetened raspberries
2 cartons (6 ounces each) blackberry yogurt
Directions: In a blender, combine half of the ingredients; cover and process until blended. Pour into chilled glasses. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Serve immediately. Yield: 6 servings.


You could easily cut this recipe in half so it would only make 3 servings. Since I know the nutrition facts I will give them to you. 1 cup is 148 calories 1 gram of fat 3 mg cholesterol 34 mg sodium 34 g carbohydrates 3 g fiber and 4 g protein.

Also... my doctors appointment went well yesterday. I gained 4 pounds in 2 weeks! I don't know what the heck I did! I haven't been eating a lot (I've been forgetting ironically enough). It must be water weight. My blood pressure was 112/68 which made me happy. I'm glad I don't have to worry about it. I've now gained 23 pounds which is such a big number compared to Emma. I guess I'll be in the "normal" weight gain for this one.

The baby is head down and my cervix is softening! My cervix was rock hard on my due date with Emma so this news is encouraging. I knew something different was happening with this pregnancy because I actually feel hip pain. My hips are definitely widening this time. They never did with Emma so she never dropped and my cervix never softened. I'm crossing my fingers hoping this means I will get to experience a "normal" labor. There really isn't a normal labor though I've realized.

For now I'm just relaxing trying to keep my house clean in case I go into labor and need someone to come over and stay with Emma. My goals for the rest of this week and up until I have the baby are:

• to organize the cupboards so someone coming into my house can see where the food is


• clean all the bedding


• pack my hospital bag


• get all the rest of the crap out of Linnea's room


• plant my flowers in the flower garden


• clean out the fridge

I keep thinking I have to get all these things done because I won't be able to get them done as fast after having this little baby. If I start out having a natural delivery and end up having a C-Section like I did with Emma... I'm going to be on bed rest for 2 weeks and not able to lift more than 20 pounds for 6 weeks. I wasn't a good girl after I had Emma and was lifting heavy stuff, doing deep cleaning and pretty much not being on bed rest. Let's just say I was grateful for 800 mg Ibuprofen and Oxycontin!

SO... to avoid that situation I have to get all this stuff done so there isn't any heavy lifting to do after I have Linnea.

I found this picture and just love it! I think it describes mine and Emma's relationship from the very beginning. She's my buddy. I'm looking forward to having another buddy.