Need to cut back

I've mentioned before that during this last pregnancy, I couldn't eat any sweets because it made me sick. Or maybe it made the baby sick. Whichever, I couldn't eat much without feeling yucky. So, I really cut back. Which was good! But now that the baby is here, my sweet tooth has come back with a vengeance. And with that, my adult acne has come back. It cleared up during pregnancy but now it's back. It's not bad, just there, coming and going. And I've noticed it comes when I've been eating sweets. I'm doing better these days though, moderating treats, so that has helped, which has been nice. :)

Time for play

I wish we had more time to play. I wish we had more time for vacations. But alas, we college students don't. No extra cash. This year we've really worked on getting out of debt. Soon we won't have a car payment, woohoo! And if everything goes right, we'll have one credit card paid off and only one left, woohoo! So we may not be able to go to Disneyland or take an Orlando vacation anytime soon, but one day. One day, we will have the money to go and it will be awesome!

Back to work

This week was my last for classes. On one hand, it was nice to be done. On the other, that means I'll be going back to work. Which starts tomorrow. My 40 hour work week starts tomorrow. Me being away from home for 11 hours a day, starts tomorrow. Me being away from my family and brand new baby, starts tomorrow. I can't believe it starts tomorrow.

I'm grateful graduation is so close and this is my last rotation for school, but it's going to be a rough week. I'm nervous to leave home for so long but I know my children are in good hands. My husband does an awesome job with them, so I'm not worried about that. It's the emotional part that worries me. I'm also nervous about this clinical in general. We're supposed to be at entry level for our program and I don't feel like I am. Hopefully I know enough and this rotation goes as well as the last one.

I better finish getting my things together. Wish me luck! I can do this. 8 weeks isn't forever!

Not often

It's not often I see a product and go with the more expensive one. Brands don't matter much to me but price does. Yet today, I splurged. I went looking in the invitations and thank you card section of a local store hoping to buy more thank you cards. There were some expensive ones that were really nice and some that were cheaper that were nice too. Seemed logical to buy the in expensive ones. That was until I saw some super cute cards that I just had to buy lol! They weren't the most expensive or the least but I loved them. Sometimes, it's ok to splurge! Especially when it's only by a dollar or two. :)

Yearn to learn!

I can't believe that before this year is out, I will be a licensed physical therapist assistant. Woohoo! I still have a lot to do and a lot to learn, but that will come with time and hard work. I've been thinking about specific things I'd like to learn. One big one, is billing. Sure, I've seen machines like the epson tm-t88iv but I don't really know how they work or even if that's something I need to learn in my field. I do want to learn how patients and their insurance are billed. You'd think it wouldn't be that hard but I've heard it's a nightmare. Here's to hoping when I do get settled into a job, I'll have a great teacher to show me the ropes!

Stove Top Easy Brunch Casserole

One of my goals this year has been to make dinnertime easier. So, I make a list of the meals we'll eat for the whole week along with a list of what ingredients we will need. This has really helped make dinnertime easier one everyone. Plus, we're not tempted to eat out as often.

Along with my goal is to try new recipes. This is one of them and I'm happy to say it was delicious! The original recipe is here, and the way we made it is below. It was really good the day we made it and even the next day as leftovers (which is saying a lot because we don't usually care for leftovers.) If you try it, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. :)



Stove Top Easy Brunch Casserole

1 box Stove Top Stuffing Mix

2 cups milk

1 pkg. (8 oz.) Turkey bacon, cooked, crumbled

6 eggs

1 cup KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/2 tsp. salt

Heat oven to 350ºF. Mix all ingredients in large bowl. Spoon into greased 13x9-inch pan. Bake 45 to 50 min. or until center is set.

Thinking ahead

This year we're really trying hard to not spend as much money. We don't want to be in debt forever and with student loans that aren't too far off from having to pay back, we don't want to make things worse. One thing we've tried to do is go on little vacations with our family but I'm not sure we'll be able to go anywhere this year. I mean it would be nice taking a vacation but I doubt it will happen. So I'm pretty sure we wouldn't need good sam motorhome towing unless by chance someone had a motorhome for us to use and we did end up taking a vacation. That would be nice lol! It's ok though, maybe we'll be able to go somewhere next year.

Working out, but not really

For one of my classes we have to get with a partner and workout together. We work with one person for 4 weeks then someone new for another 4 weeks. My first 4 weeks, I was still pregnant and couldn't do much. I did some easy stretches and a few lower extremity strengthening exercises. Now that I've had the baby, I can't do much more. I don't need a pulse oximeter after my exercises because I can't do a lot just yet. Right now I'm working on some easy upper extremity resistance exercises and some walking too. I can't wait until I hit the 6 week postpartum mark and can up my workouts and slowly start adding in some runs too!

Good for you Patrick

"Not disabilities at all, more abilities." Wow, what an amazing statement! Can you imagine how different out world would be if everyone thought this way? I love Patrick's story and think he's absolutely amazing. Life throws us curve balls but even in the direst of situations we can have a positive outlook. It's all about making a choice. Patrick's family made a choice and look at all the wonderful things Patrick can do now. Good for him. Way to go Patrick!

Close call

My husband is the one that gets cold sores. Not me. He's had a fair number through out our marriage. I've had zero. When he gets one, he does really well not to have it spread to any of our family. No kisses for a week sucks but hey, no one wants a cold sore! Did you know a cold sore is from the herpes simplex virus? I think they're a pain in the neck and not the most attractive. Like I've said, I've never had one but just recently I thought I was getting my first one ever. I nearly freaked. But thankfully, it turned out to be nothing. Whew! I like not having cold sores and I surely don't want to start!

Well dang

Out of three pregnancies, this last one was great when it came to my acne. For the first time, it actually cleared up during pregnancy instead of getting worse yay! Want to know how to get rid of blackheads, just get pregnant lol! I'm totally kidding. But being pregnant did improve my skin. It was pretty surprising at first but I loved it. It was probably a combination of being pregnant and not eating a lot of sweets (made me sick during pregnancy). But now, I'm not pregnant and back to eating sweets. So it's probably mostly my fault my acne isn't better lol.

Grateful

I have forgotten how tired it can be having a newborn. I don't know why I thought I would feel less tired AFTER the baby was born lol. My husband tells me part of it is because I'm breastfeeding and that can be draining (no pun intended lol). But at night, even though I do get some sleep, I have to wake up every few hours to feed the baby. Thankfully, I have a great husband who helps out at night. I don't need sleeping pills to get some sleep. When the baby is awake but doesn't need to eat, my wonderful hubby takes care of her. He's been so great! Thanks babe. :)

Texas Cream of Potato Soup

Let me preface this post by saying we don't eat a lot of soups. Why? There's not many we like. Occasionally, chicken noodle soup or tomato, but even those are pretty rare. Now, I've tried to make soup before but there wasn't a recipe worth repeating. Until now!! Holy banana peel, this recipe is so divinely yummy! I think my SIL gave it to me years ago but it was lost amongst all of my other recipes. I'm glad I found it because we loved it. My husband made this and he said other than taking a little time to throw together, it was easy to do. He didn't add the onion or celery, but it still turned out delicious. If you like soup or even if you don't like soup, you should try this recipe. It's so good!! I can't wait for dinner tomorrow. :D

Texas Cream of Potato Soup

Ingredients:

3 cups	Potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup	Carrots, sliced
8 oz	Bacon
1 cup	Onion, chopped
1 cup	Celery, chopped
2 cups	Half and half
1 cup	Velveeta cheese, cubed
¼ tsp	Parsley flakes
¼ tsp	Celery salt
¼ tsp	Garlic salt
1 ½ tsp	Salt
¼ tsp	Black pepper
2 TBS	Cornstarch
2 cups	Milk

Directions:

1. Boil potatoes and carrots in pot (just barely cover with water) until done. Drain and set aside.

2. Cook bacon until crisp. Reserve bacon drippings and sauté celery and onion in drippings for 10 minutes.

3. Combine in pot, potatoes, bacon, sautéed vegetables and next 7 ingredients.

4. Stir cornstarch into milk and then put in soup.

5. Simmer about 30 minutes.

Dry skin

I have had a very large sweet tooth since giving birth to my little girl. It's probably because I couldn't eat many sweets when I was pregnant because I would get really sick afterward. The baby didn't like sweets we figured. But now that she's here I can eat sweets again yay! But I've wondered if my daughter still doesn't like them because after I eat a treat, she gets fussy. Her skin has broken out too, although I think that's common. Thankfully we don't have to worry about accutane side effects or anything like that because we don't put anything on her skin except mild baby soap during a bath. Hopefully we figure out what's making her fussy. If it's sweets, well, looks like I'll be losing weight sooner than I expected lol!

Learning new things

It's funny the different things I've forgotten about having a newborn. But that's ok because I'm asking lots of questions and learning quite a bit. One thing I didn't remember was the rash that some babies get. Did you know it's called erythema toxicum? Interesting isn't it? My little girl got it all over her but has since cleared up really well. It kind of looked like acne but of course it's not. Thankfully she doesn't have to worry about that or getting rid of blackheads. All she has to do is be cute and adorable. No worries for her. :)

She's here!

Yes, we did have our baby girl! Baby E made it safe and sound! (I won't post any specifics about her on here, but if you want to know more, give me your email and I will send you out some pictures with more information.) My labor/delivery was the longest and hardest I've had to endure, but I'm grateful for a great husband and midwife who helped me through it. We are still in awe that we have three little girls as part of our family. When did we grow up? lol

We are loving having a newborn in the house again. We can't stop giving her hugs and kisses! Even her sisters are doting all the time. What can we say, there's something so incredibly precious about a newborn! They have the sweetest little spirit and you can tell they came straight from Heavenly Father's arms. We love you Baby E and we're so glad you're finally here!

No joke

This last pregnancy of mine, I heard a lot of things. Well, I usually hear a lot of different things during pregnancy but this last time, more so than usual. One of the biggest things was concerning prenatal vitamins. One lady, instead of telling me to take the best prenatal vitamins, told me to not take any at all. She said her daughter was told to stop taking her prenatal vitamin so she wouldn't be so nauseous everyday. Her daughter did stop and felt a 100% better. For me though, that wasn't an option. I tend to have a low iron count when pregnant and by mid-pregnancy have to add an iron supplement. But I had a different friend tell me about taking a B6 supplement and a 1/2 of a Unisom to help combat nausea and that helped me. We do what works!

Rough times

We have family members and friends who have recently lost their jobs and are now having to job search yet again. I feel so bad for them. Especially the ones that have been at their jobs for years and have just been let go. I know companies have to make cut backs, especially when sales and products are down but it still doesn't seen right. Hopefully everyone we know can find a job soon. And for all of the people we don't know who are looking for jobs, I hope things work out for them too.

No way!

This has to be one the neatest things I've seen in awhile. Wow, I had no idea that this happened. Who sits around and thinks to them self "I wonder what would happen if we took 2000 picture frames of a single drop of water?" I don't know, but I'm glad they did because this is really cool. I love that the little water bubble bounces. Very neat. :)

Grateful

I'm grateful we have a computer. And I'm really grateful we have two. I remember having to take turns with my husband and that got a little hairy during the times when we both needed a computer to do our homework. We haven't had two notebook computers for long, but we've sure enjoyed them. I'm also grateful that my husband knows how to take care of them and fix any problems that come up. Thankfully we don't have too many problems and the ones we've had, have been minor. It's been a blessing for sure!

Easier is nice

For Christmas, my husband bought me a new jewelry box. My last one wasn't really a jewelry box, more of a box that I put my things in. This one though, is really nice and it stands up. I can hang up all my necklaces on this rotating rack, put my rings in another spot, and there are little drawers to put brooches and other miscellaneous items. I don't have to worry about loose diamonds or having to dig for the right necklace. It's been perfect! Thanks babe. :)

I can't help it

When I see something funny, I like to post it. I know I've posted a lot of videos recently, but they're funny. And I'm 9 months pregnant. And I have nothing else to say right now. So enjoy. :)

Some things should be easier

Like technology for instance. Seriously, how many times have you had a problem with piece of technology? I've mentioned that my MIL recently bought an Acer Aspire. But what I didn't mention, was the problems she's had with it. Well, nothing too awful, just some kinks my husband has to work out. Now my BIL's computer on the hand, holy cow, has it been a nightmare. My husband has spent hours trying to fix the dumb thing. Technology is great and all, but it really shouldn't be so difficult. Some of us have lives lol!

This is funny

Ha ha ha!

Carry on.

It's been a good day

I woke up this morning with the worst charlie horse. I don't get them very often but when they come, I rub them out and they go away within about a minute. Not so much today. I tried to rub the cramp out and stretch the muscle but it was too tight. I started to cry it hurt so bad and my husband was sweet to try and help rub the area. We finally made the muscle relax after almost five minutes. Ouchie, ouchie!

But after that wake up call, the rest of my day went pretty well. My mom was in town for my baby shower today so we all got ready for that. The girls came with me because hubby had to work and they had a lot of fun! The shower went well even though a lot of people canceled at the last minute. My friend that threw the shower did a great job. It was so sweet of her to do it!

After the shower, we came home and relaxed. I even took a small nap lol! The girls are in bed now and I need to start my homework. Hubby will be here soon too. It's been a good day. I feel very blessed. :)