The countdown begins! Emma is a cutie, I'm getting organized and a recipe! WOW!

I had my doctor appointment yesterday. I'm a 2 and 70% effaced and the baby is at a -3 station. I was told that I have a 75% success rate of going through with a VBAC. I asked the doctor to strip my membranes and he did and told me that we would see what happens within the next 2-4 days. (By the way, isn't it funny how after you've had a baby and/or are pregnant conversations like this aren't a big deal?). I left the doctor's office kinda discouraged. I asked for a blessing and was given one and now I'm feeling better about it. Everything will be fine. I'm amazed at how many women said that their babies never dropped until after they were in heavy labor.

My previous doctor had mentioned to me that my pelvis might be shaped irregularly and consequently my babies wouldn't be able to drop. The doctor I saw yesterday (I have 7 that I see) mentioned something along those lines that my pelvis may be shaped in a way that the baby doesn't line up right in the canal. He also said that if the baby is more than 7 1/2 pounds I might not be able to push it out. Emma was 7 pounds 11 ounces. We will see what happens.

What's funny is my mom was able to push out some big babies. I was only 6 pounds 8 ounces but my brothers were 9 pounds at least. I thought I was shaped like her but maybe I'm not. My grandmother was also able to have babies naturally.

I'm just glad that I live in the modern world of medicine. If I were a pioneer Emma and I both would've died because they didn't know how to do anything with a baby that was stuck in the canal. YAY for modern medical knowledge!

My mom comes on Sunday and I'm really excited about that. I love having her around to help. She's such a good help and her and I are on the same page about most things. I honestly didn't think we would be when I moved out but it turns out we are pretty dang similar. Funny how that works!
Oh and my little girl LOVES DIRT! I don't think she's fully happy until she gets to get dirt all over herself. Such a silly little girl!

One of my main goals before Linnea came was to organize the toy room. Our friends had this cubby organizer that they got from target and Jacob and I decided that it was a must have for the toy room so we went and bought it. We got it on sale for $40 and it's normally $50. There are canvas boxes that you can buy to put in the cubbies for all the little toys and they are $7 each. Totally worth the money! I had Emma's toys in old diaper boxes before this so it looks much better.

And I was talking to my friend Ashley the other day about meal planning and I've decided to get organized again. Her and I have the same system and I have just been slacking on it for the last few months. Here's what you do: write a list of all the dishes you make, print of a blank calendar page (or just use your wall calendar) and write down a recipe for each day of the month. I write down the side dishes too so it kinda looks like a school lunch calendar when I'm finished. Then you can make a grocery list of of the ingredients that you will use. I try to make recipes with some similar ingredients so I cut down on the cost of groceries.

This week my calendar had on it Chocolate Chip pancakes (Emma requested them), BLT Sandwiches and 5 cup Salad(I'll post the recipe below), Chilli and Corn Bread, Baked Potato Bar with green salad, pizza, sweet and spicy chicken, and pork chops with apple stuffing and green beans. I have the recipe for the Pork Chops with Apple Stuffing on my blog as well as the Sweet and Spicy Chicken and Chilli recipe.

I set it up so that tonight we will have chilli and corn bread and then tomorrow night we will do a baked potato bar where I will use the leftover chilli for a topping. I also make homemade pizza every other week. We were doing it every week but that got to be too much pizza too often.

Here is the 5 up salad recipe:

One cup of each:

shredded coconut
sour cream
minni marshmallows
bananas
strawberries, peaches or mandarin oranges

Mix everything together and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

I made this last night and didn't refrigerate it sicne it was a last minute thing. I love the salad because it's so easy and really tasty. Don't use fat free sour cream though because it will taste like crap. I use light sour cream. Of course regular sour cream would taste best!

There is a reason why we clean out our fridge...

{This is NOT my fridge by the way}

My mom sent me this link and I was pretty much in shock/ grossed out! Read the article and tell me what you think! You won't believe it!

What the doctor says and what I'm making for dinner

I just got back from my doctor appointment. 38 weeks!!! Last week I was a 1 and 50% effaced and this week I'm 1.5 almost 2 and 60% effaced. The baby is still pretty high up. The doctor told me to have my membranes stripped at my next appointment to help speed the process and help my chances with going into labor on my own. I had that done with Emma and I started going into labor a week later. And apparently contrary to what I believed they will induce a VBAC patient with Pitocin if they so choose. He said that that was an option I could take. Jacob says no way in heck are they going to induce me so I guess that answers that question! He and I both feel that going into labor when my body is ready will be the best thing. Hopefully I will still be able to pull off a VBAC. Surgery of any kind just isn't good in my opinion.

Anyway, I am trying out a couple new recipes this week. Tonight I'm going to be making something called "Asparagus Brunch Pockets". They came from my Taste of Home Cookbook.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon diced pimientos
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Pinch pepper
• 1 tube (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent rolls
• 2 teaspoons butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon seasoned bread crumbs

Directions:

In a large saucepan, bring 1/2 in. of water to a boil. Add asparagus; cover and boil for 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, milk and mayonnaise until smooth. Stir in the pimientos, onion, salt and pepper.
Unroll crescent dough and separate into triangles; place on an ungreased baking sheet. Spoon 1 teaspoon of cream cheese mixture into the center of each triangle; top with asparagus. Top each with another teaspoonful of cream cheese mixture. Bring three corners of dough together and twist; pinch edges to seal.
Brush with butter; sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake at 375° for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Yield: 8 servings

I bought reduced fat crescent rolls so hopefully they won't be too fattening! I think they look super yummy.

Jacob is back on extended hours this week which means 14 hour days and he will work a full day (about 12 hours) on Saturday. We will be able to use that extra money! He will probably be on extended hours next week too with another possible 12 hour Saturday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Waiting...

That seems like all I have been doing the last week. It's a bit premature I know but I'm so ready to have this baby. I went to the doctor on Wednesday and I was dilated to a one and was 50% effaced. I am really excited about that because that never happened to me with Emma. On my due date I wasn't dilated or effaced at all.

So I have some questions for you lucky moms who actually got to go all the way through labor. What did you do to ease the pain of contractions? How was your recovery? What helped calm you?

I am going to wait as long as I can to get and epidural if I get one at all. I'm convinced that that's the main reason why I had to have a C-Section. That and I don't think my hips widened at all. (And I don't have hips. I'm built like my mom who also didn't have hips growing up but after having my brother got some).

For those second, third, fourth time mommies... what helps to ease the older kid(s) into having a little brother or sister at home? For those blog stockers out there reading this... I want your opinions too.

On a different note I have quite possibly the cutest little girl in the whole world (sorry but I'm really sure I do). Emma is such a little sweetie!This is a picture of her Sunday after Church. She let me do her hair in french braids! I haven't ever really been able to french braid hair. I didn't have any sisters and my mom had/has short hair. I think the first person I ever attempted to french braid their hair was Serena at girls camp our last year. I'm so excited to be able to do the "girly" stuff with Emma.

She is growing up so fast! Her favorite thing it do is play outside. What I love about her is she will put on her dress up clothes and want to go roll around in the dirt outside. That's my girl! She also loves to help me cook and clean! I've really appreciated this help recently. I haven't had to bend over and pick up a whole lot of stuff which has been good for my breathing!

Emma is a very active little girl! She loves to run and play hard with Jacob, myself and our dog Annie. We take Annie to an of leash dog park in the area and Emma loves to run around and chase the dogs.

She's a climber too! I can't believe how well Emma climbs. I've had a couple scares at the playground when I turn around and catch her climbing something that's really high up.

And now Emma is able to read her name and "Mom and Dad". She has a fascination with letters and learns them very quickly. It's fun to watch her try to copy the letters onto paper that she sees.

And no blog post would be complete without a recipe or two. I have a request to post a Lemon Bar recipe. So here is that one:

2 cups flour
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 cup butter
4 beaten eggs
2 cups sugar
1/3 c lemon juice
1/4 c flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

Sift together the 2 cups flour and powdered sugar. Cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture clings together. Press into an 8x8 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Beat together eggs, sugar and lemon juice. Sift together the 1/4 c flour and baking powder. Stir into egg mixture. Pour over baked crust. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes longer. Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar. Cool. Cut into bars. Yield 9 bars.

The last couple times I've made this recipe it hasn't turned out. Here is another one from Taste of Home that I'm going to try next time. I think they pretty much halved everything in my recipe.

• CRUST:
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup Domino® or C&H® Pure Cane Powdered Sugar
• TOPPING:
• 1 cup Domino® or C&H® Granulated Pure Cane Sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Domino® or C&H® Pure Cane Powdered Sugar
• Orange peel strips (1 to 3 inches), optional

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the flour, butter and confectioners' sugar; press into an ungreased 8-in. square baking pan. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat the sugar, eggs, flour, lemon juice, extract, baking powder and salt until frothy; pour over crust.
Bake for 18-22 minutes or until light golden brown. Dust with confectioners' sugar. Sprinkle with orange peel strips if desired. Yield: 9 servings.

I can't think of what else I want to post for a recipe! I'll give you some of our quick ideas for dinners that we use a lot in the Spring/Summer months:

BLT Sandwiches (had them on Monday night)
Taco Salad
Baked potato bar (we bake the potatoes outside on coals if it's really hot)
Fruit Salad (when it gets into the 107s here in the summer all we really want to eat is fruit and I also get some baby carrots and broccoli to eat too)
Spaghetti!
Breakfast for Dinner (one of Jacob's favorites)

I will sometimes if I'm on top of things make Jello and add bananas, strawberries, blackberries, or raspberries to it and we eat it as a side for dinner. Sometimes, I even get whipped cream to put on top (gasp!).

Reason #229 why I love 2 year olds...

This is our headlamp that we use for camping. Emma turned it on and put it around her waist. Jacob and I didn't notice anything until she turned around to leave the front room. She cracks us up! Never a dull moment in this house!