Showing posts with label Baby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baby. Show all posts

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Dreams do come true

As some of you know if you have been following me for a while, it took my husband and I SIX long years to welcome our little boy into the world. During those six years there was countless hours of day dreaming and picturing what our life would be like with a child. Those dreams were especially prevalent during the holiday months. Louie and I are holiday obsessed. October/November/December are our favorite months of the whole year. There is just something about these last three months of the year that just make me happy. I always imagined the traditions we would start, the activities we would do, and the places we would go once we had a family.

The dream has finally come true for us. We now have Lincoln. Our beautiful *almost* 7 month old little boy who is the best thing EVER, and all those things I dreamed of doing we can start doing! Last weekend we went to Oak Glen, CA and visited an apple farm and pumpkin patch with my parents. Although the place was busier than a summer day at Disneyland we still had a good time. Next year we intend to plan better and go up earlier in September AND on a weekday though I will say! Lincoln was so curious with all the new things to see. The corn mazes, the apples on the trees, the pumpkins in the ground-he loved it all! It was SO hard to get a picture of him looking at the camera! 












Since we didn't get a pumpkin at Oak Glen, I found a local pumpkin farm that was local and we decided to go there and check it out. There wasn't too many left on the vine there either but we did have a really good time. They had some animals there Lincoln enjoyed watching and it was fun to visit a 'real farm'. We ended up getting one big carving pumpkin, 2 pumpkins that we were told we best for pies, 1 pumpkin that is apparently the best for pumpkin bread and 1 baby pumpkin for Lincoln of course. He again was so curious with the straw on the ground or the pumpkins around him it was hard to get a picture of him looking at the camera! We can't wait to continue going to these places together every year. 









Monday, August 19, 2013

Easy Crockpot Lasagna



So remember my last post about how I mentioned that since becoming a mom, cooking lately has needed to be something quick and fairly easy? Well, my crockpot has been getting a lot of love from me lately because it does just that. Its easy and is automatically done at dinner time. Earlier in the day is when Lincoln is content playing with something for a few minutes and its an easy opportunity for me to throw together a crockpot dinner. This recipe is one of my favorites! 



Ingredients:
*1 lb ground beef (You could use ground turkey or veggie meat substitute to make this vegetarian)
*Lasagna noodles
*28oz of marinara (or your favorite jar spaghetti sauce)
*1 small onion, diced
*1 container low fat cottage cheese
*12 oz light mozzarella cheese
*Parmesan cheese & dried parsley for topping
*salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Brown ground beef with the diced onion. Drain the fat. 



Spoon 1 cup of your marinara in the bottom of your crockpot.



Mix the remaining sauce with the beef. 



Place your lasagna noodles over the sauce in the crockpot. Doesn't have to be fancy. Mine sure wasn't ;)  



Spread about 1/3 of the meat mixture over the noodles. 



Put about 3/4 cup cottage cheese evenly over the meat mixture.



Top with around 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (you guys should know by now I don't measure, these are all close estimates ha!)



Do another layer of noodles, meat mixture, cottage cheese, shredded cheese



Repeat once more and end with your shredded cheese on top. 



Sprinkle on some Parmesan and some dried parsley and cook on LOW for 3.5-4 hours. 



Serve and your done!




I made mine with some lazy garlic bread (basically just french rolls with butter, granulated garlic, parm & parsley broiled in the oven!) :) Enjoy!


























Friday, June 28, 2013

My Labor and Delivery Story

So I realized I haven't even done a blog about becoming a mom. How do I even put it into words? I'm not sure. We waited 6 long years for this miracle and he is the biggest blessing we have ever received. 

Lincoln Anthony was born on March 20, 2013 at 8:59am after an emergency c-section, weighing 8lb13oz and 20.5" long. I guess I could start with my labor and delivery.

A c-section was my biggest fear when it came to labor. I dreamed of that moment of birthing my son and having him placed on my chest. Around 8:00pm on March 19 I started to have contractions. Louie frantically got the house ready, cleaning and doing last minute preparations. At the time I wasn't even sure I was REALLY in labor. Contractions started at about 30 seconds long and were every 4-5 minutes. Since the actual contraction was so short I thought they were just braxton hicks. They were hardly painful either. After a few hours of it continuing, I decided to take a shower and relax and see if that helped. So I took a shower, and laid on the couch while watching Bones on netflix. Contractions were getting closer and longer. I figured I would call the hospital to see if I should come in, they said to come in just to see so we got in the car and went. We probably got there around 2am. I was checked to see how dilated I was (which was more painful than ANY contraction I had let me tell you) and was about 5 cm. I couldn't believe it. I was having a BABY. After that my contractions started hyper stimming. So basically I was having one long contraction with no breaks. They gave me a shot to try to slow the contractions down which didn't help. Eventually I was moved into a room, and my parents showed up. I got the epidural and felt SO much better. But the combination (I think) of the drugs put Lincoln into distress. His heart rate started to drop, more than they would like to see. My Dr got to the hospital and checked me and I was about 7-8cm and she broke my water to try to help because we were really trying to avoid a c-section. Also should add, the combination of all these drugs REALLY put me into another world. I was SO out of it. Time meant nothing to me. 3 hours felt like 10 minutes to me. She broke my water and it didn't help and Lincoln's heart rate kept dropping. They tried to put fluid back inside, but that also didn't help. Finally, his heart rate got so bad, out of nowhere every nurse on the floor was in my room, prepping me for a c-section. I knew thats what needed to be done but I was terrified. I just remember looking and Louie with tears streaming down my face. I was wheeled off into the room, and I was SO out of it. As they were prepping me I remember almost falling asleep. I started to get really nauseous so they gave me the ridiculous lima bean to throw up in, but thankfully I never needed it. Louie finally got into the room, and it was time for them to start the c-section. I remember telling Louie "talk to me, just talk to me" and he was so scared he said "I...I dont know what to talk about". I started asking him about work, and lord knows what else, and they told me I was going to feel some pressure. They weren't kidding! It felt as if they set a car on top of my chest. It felt as if my ribs would break at any moment.  Then Lincoln was born. I heard him cry and just looked at Louie and said "oh my god, we have a baby, thats our baby"



I remember my Dr telling me that Lincoln did NOT want to come out, she said he was trying to squirm away from her. His cord was also wrapped around his neck AND he was holding it like suspenders. My kid, I swear. lol. 

I was wheeled back into the room, but all that is fuzzy. I wasn't breathing well. I was hardly breathing at ALL. They kept shaking me telling me to breathe. I just felt like I was going to fall asleep but I wanted to see him so badly. I knew he was in the room, I could hear him but I couldn't see him. I believe at this point the nurse was giving him a bath. She finally brought him to me and he started to nurse right away. I remember thinking "oh this doesn't hurt like I thought it would". This was all really fuzzy and I can't remember how long I was in there until I went to the post partum room. They gave me this little contraption that I had to breathe in and out of to get my lungs working better. 






Luckily we had a private room. But getting rest in a hospital is impossible. The walls are thin, nurses come in constantly, or they would forget to shut the door and the halls were loud. My nurse made me get up out of the bed that night I believe. SO painful! I thought my stomach would just rip right open. They told me moving and walking would make me feel better and heal faster. They were right, but it was still horrible. I was SO ready to get home though so I walked as much as I could. I told them thursday night I was ready to leave the next morning. They seemed surprised I wanted to leave so early, but I hated it there and I needed to get home. Friday morning came and we were so excited. The pediatrician came in and listened to his heart, and told me that she heard a heart murmur. My heart sank. I had heard of heart murmurs before, but was not knowledgeable about them at all. She told me they would need to do an echo cardiogram and they wheeled him away from me. I broke down. I was so worried for him. I got dressed and met him in there while it was being preformed. Apparently during it though his heart rate kept dropping when he would fall asleep, so we had to sit there with him a little longer as they monitored that. They told me that we would get the results that following Monday at his first dr appointment. 



I couldn't imagine waiting that long and I hoped I could try to put it out of my mind until then. 

We went back into our room after that, and finished packing and put Lincoln in his first outfit ever (which he wasn't very happy about lol), and we were on our way home! Finally! 







Monday, June 3, 2013

Lactation Cookies

Now that I'm a mom (totally need to do a blog post on that trust me I know), nursing is something I'm very passionate about. It's something I was always determined to do when I was pregnant, and even before. Everyone says how difficult it can be, and boy they weren't kidding! When Lincoln was about a week old I almost gave up. But I saw a lactation consultant and stuck it out. 

I have a manual pump, and I try to pump a couple times a week in between feedings so I can have some on hand for emergencies or if Grandma and Grandpa want to babysit. However, pumping for me is almost pointless. Lincoln nurses quite often during the day so when I try to pump during a nap in between feedings I'm lucky if I get .5-1oz from BOTH breasts. I tried taking some supplements (ie fenugreek) and didn't see a difference. So last night I decided to try lactation cookies! I have yet to see if they actually work, but here is the recipe anyway!




Lactation Cookies:






Ingredients:
  • 1 cup butter or margarine
  • 1 & 1/2 cups brown sugar 
  • 5-6 tablespoons water 
  • 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal 
  • 2 teaspoons chia seeds 
  • 2 large eggs 
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups flour 
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups oats, thick cut if you can get them
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup macadamia nuts (or any nuts you like)
  • 2-4 tablespoons of brewers yeast (be generous THIS is what should boost your supply) 
Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 350…
1) Mix together 2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal, chia seeds and water, set aside for 3-5 minutes.

2) Cream (with a hand mixer or stand mixer) butter and brown sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mix well. 

3) Stir flaxseed mixture and add with vanilla to the margarine mix. Beat until blended.
4) Sift together dry ingredients, except oats, nuts and chips.
5) Add to your butter mixture. Stir in oats, nuts and chips.

6) Scoop or drop onto baking sheet, preferably lined with parchment. 

Bake for 8-12 minutes, depending on size of cookies.



MAKES TONS OF COOKIES! You may want to cut the recipe in half to try first.