Update

24 week Doctor's Appointment

Not to much to report this month.

I gained 3.5 lbs

I'm measuring at 23 weeks

The nurse had the hardest time ever finding the baby's heartbeat. The baby must of been moving all over the place. The heartbeat was in the 140's.

I keep having this really horrible pain area my tail bone area. I haven't been able to run or walk in the past two weeks. The doctor told me that the pain is from delivering such a big baby last time. Leah must of stretched out all of my ligaments around my tailbone. Sitting in one place too long, even hurts after away. I'm really bummed about this. I really wanted to stay active but it might not happen now.

Plus, every time I try to walk on the treadmill by tailbone hurts plus my side is killing me as well. The doctor told me that pain is caused from my growing tummy and it's round ligament pain.


So, overall everything is going well but I'm having to realize that I can't do everything I want to do with my body. I'm just going to have to lazy and accept it.

Also, in three weeks we leave for our big trip to Gulf Shores for Spring Break and I can't wait to spend some time with the kids at the beach.

Plus, the kids want to fly to South Africa to pick up Grandma and Grandpa Nichols to take them with us to Gulf Shores...lol.

Anyways, the weather is so warm and nice at the moment. I just got back from the sand park. I'm completely red and sun burnt. I better make sure to pack some sunscreen. The doctor also told me that pregnant woman are more sensitive to the sun and will more than likely burn badly. I'm currently red...so I might need to stock up on some cream while I have a chance for the big trip.

Getting Ready For The Baby!

The baby is coming soon, so it's time to update Leah's bedroom. The only thing that is left to do is put up the crib which will go along the wall next to Leah's like new crib. We spent about $160 on the dresser which retails for over $800 plus $150 for the bed set. The bed retails for $500! I still can't believe that I talked the lady down on the price of the bedroom set plus the leather couches. Anyways, Leah's room looks so grown up and nice! Once the baby outgrows her crib, we will set up the other bed in the room. We're going to store the extra bed downstairs until it's time to use it. Isn't it beautiful?

Estate Sale Finds!!!!

I'm super cheap and always on the lookout for a good deal.

Well, yesterday after dropping off Leah at preschool. I decided to check out an Estate Sale that was close to my house.

I hit the jackpot

I managed to pick up a Bearrific Dresser with Photo Mirror for $160 and it retails for $1200! The owner of the house is a doctor and they bought this whole bedroom set and never used it. It's in like new condition!!!!!! 

Plus we picked up two twin bed frames with mattresses that were never even been slept in. I paid about $150 for each bed. The twin beds match the dresser! Yippee!!!!!
Okay, the best part. Flexsteel leather couch, loveseat plus ottoman. The retail price is close to $2,000. The estate sale wanted $800. I talk them down to $300!!!!!!

Moral of the story, it doesn't hurt to ask! The worst thing the lady could say was "no" but she didn't!

Once, everything is set up. I will post pictures!

Cub Scouts

Chapter 9-What's Cooking?

With an adult, bake cookies

Mission Complete!

Here's the recipe:

From the Ghirardelli Macadamia White Chip Cookies recipe on the back of the Ghirardelli Classic White Chips package

Prep time: 20 minutes | Cook time: 36 minutes | Total time: 56 minutes
Yield: 5 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups unsifted flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (11 oz. bag) white chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups Macadamia nuts, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Cream the butter and sugars until fluffy. Add the vanilla and eggs, one at a time, and beat well. Blend in the flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in the white chips and nuts.
3. Drop by teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheets (or lined with parchment). Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Cub scout note: Every Sunday morning before church Landon will be working on Bear Cub Scout book. Last week, we focused on Achievement 17: Information, Please. Landon completed requirement 17b: Play a game of charades with your family at home. Landon did a good job writing up the clues and acting out the words. Plus, this is Leah's favorite game to play. So, slowly but surely we are getting his cub scout Bear book done!

 

Running Group

Every Saturday morning is my time for myself with my running buddies. Even though my running is pretty a slow run with lots of walking breaks at the moment. The first twenty weeks of my pregnancy was a piece of cake. I was still working out five to six days a week. Running and lifting weights but I somehow pulled a muscle about two weeks ago and I haven't been the same. It sucks big time:( I'm just counting down the weeks and I can't wait to get my old body back. My running shirts are getting a little bit to small at the moment. So, I went to Twice but nice and pick up a bunch of cute tops to start wearing. Anyways, even if I have to crawl/drag myself out the door for the rest of the pregnancy that's fine with me. I need my time to recharge my batteries.

A great group of woman...lots of support. I'm not sure what's up with Tami's face but she looks like she's going to beat someone up...lol. Anyways, we had a professional photographer come this Saturday and he took pictures of us in action. I haven't seen all of the pictures but it was a ton of fun. He might be coming back to take a couple more shots of us in action.

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Workout is over, time for breakfast at Station Cafe! I love this part, I can't really keep up with anyone so this is the best part...catching up with everyone's business.

 

Love, Hug, & Kiss Day

If you remember from a couple of weeks ago about me posting about being feel'n a little bit guilty about not doing enough things with my daughter and boys. Well, I decided to do something about it. I came up with a list of activities that I wanted to do with the kids and we were able to accomplish most of the things on the list. We spent about two solid weeks craftings, decorating homemade Valentine's Day cards, decorating heart shape cookies, cutting out hearts and decorating the house with them, and best of all attending all three kids Valentine's Day class parties. I decided to make a huge slideshow so if you have a few moments just click on the slide show and you will see what we have been up to lately!

Plus, it's Valentine's Day and all I did was attend class parties and have all the neighborhood kids over for a huge play date. Andrew stayed for dinner and it was the best dinner ever. I don't remember the last time that I laughed so much at the dinner table. Leroy decided to attend his Gun Club meeting which means he will be in the dog house when he gets home. Anyways, the holidays are always super fun for the kids not so much for my hubby. He just doesn't care about the holidays. Oh well...it's time to get the kids off to bed.

I'm exhausted, the holidays are always so much work for mom. I really hope that my kids will appreciate it when they get older. I'm ready to crash at this very moment.

Snow Day

The first snow fall for the new year, it wasn't too much snow but it was just enough for the kids to have a snow day. Seriously, I think it was close to one inch of snow. The kids seriously had so much fun. It wasn't too cold outside so the kids had so much fun. Leah's best friend came over and they spent the majority of the time sledding down the side driveway. The boys had a blast throwing snowballs at each other. By the end of the day, most of the snow had melted away. Just one day of snow is prefect, too many snow days in a row can make me grouchy but yesterday it was a prefect snow day with the kids.

Ramblings....

The weather:::

We had a storm blow into our area which has resulted in some gloomy weather this weekend.  Earlier this week, we had highs of 65 and it got quite warm around here. It's funny how fast things can change, last year at this time we had a massive blizzard and this time it's warm and nice outside. I'm starting to think that spring will be coming early this year and we will end up with no snow days.

On my reading pile::: 
I discovered a brand new author this week, I have been reading her books all week long. She has two different types of books written for young adults. One of her group of books are fictional historical novels and the other group are for teenage girls. Her historical novels are super good and interesting. The teenage girl books are good but deal with alot of hard issues.

Laurie Halse Anderson

Fever 1793-a great book about the Yellow Fever outbreak in Philadelphia in 1793! I somehow missed this piece of information from History class in school. A real eye opener plus the pages flew by so fast. A nice quick read.

Chains-is a fictional historical novel about a young slave girl at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. The author does a great job incorporating small tib-bits of historical facts thru out the book. This is a trilogy set, I'm already working on the second book in the series called "Forge"!

Forge-the second book in the series about slavery in the Revolutionary War.

Speak-Another great book, it's a hard book to read but I thought the message at the end of the book was really powerful. Yes, the book is predictable but I still enjoyed it. I just found out that it was turned into a movie. I might have to see, if I can find it online to watch it.

On my TV:::

Mcleod's Daughters-the greatest drama ever filmed on the face of the earth. I love this show, it's about sister's running a ranch in Australia.

Antique Roadshow-I know but it's really informational and intersting. I usually watch this show while I'm busy sewing.

New recipes I tried this week:::

 Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken-two thumbs up, everyone loved it!

Pepperoni Pasta Salad -for this recipe, I just used all the veggies I had in the fridge which is a great way to use all of those leftover veggies from the past week.

On my to do list:::

Sewing-I'm going to start working on sewing a crazy quilt using all of my leftover scraps!
Finishing up my crochet ruffle scraf
Finishing up my knitted dishrags
Grocery Shopping on Thursday
Haircut on Tuesday
Leah has to get busy making her own valentine's cards for school
I'm planning on running on Mon/Wed

What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating:::

Finishing up my Daisy Square pillow, decided to make a felt back for it.
Some more sewing, not sure what yet. I need to find some new sewing projects for the baby. If you haven't heard yet, we are having a little girl!

Looking around the house:::

Leroy and the kids are busy sorting thru their coins and trying to find new ones to add to their coin collections. Leroy's Ipad is making all kinds of noises, I'm assuming Landon is playing a game on it. Landon was really upset that we asked him to take a shower this morning. He stormed off saying that showers are the worst thing ever. He hates to wash his hair, you would of thought we were the worst parents ever.... Leah just finished with her bath and is happily skipping around the house. Now, it's time to waste until it's time to go to church. I hate this afternoon church schedule, I can't wait to go back to the morning schedule!

Anyways, it was great week! Lots of sunshine plus we found out the sex of the baby! Another girl!!!!!!!!!! Now, the fun part coming up with a name that we all can agreed upon. I really like the name Lydia Rose but everyone else wants to go with Luci! Anyways, I will have the final say in the matter....hee hee!

All About...Leah!

One of the things, I'm trying to do is to spend some good quality time with my daughter! This week, we decided it would be fun to do a whole unit on Valentine's Day. Leah made homemade Valentine's Day cards, cut out hearts, and painted hearts. I decided it would be fun to take two potatoes and turn them into stamps. One potato stamp is a heart shape and the other one is the "letter L"! I also, managed to finish another unfinished project. I managed to sew an apron for my little girl. I did it, all by myself.  A few mistakes but she doesn't notice at all. I'm going to make her a bag, as my next project. I also appliqued on some hearts onto a shirt we picked up from the Salvation Army. It's really nice to be able to look back on all of the things we did together because it's all about to change once the new baby gets here. She wouldn't be the baby in the family for much longer.