Welcome Baby Boy!

I've been a bit busy lately with this (not so) little guy, Baby Boy, and his zany big sister, Goose.

He's 6 weeks old now and has been an amazing little baby. A great sleeper, excellent at nursing, and generally happy. He was born via scheduled c-section (more on that later) and weighed 9 lbs 1 oz. By his 2 week checkup, he was up to 9 lbs 15.5 oz. I love big babies. Yay for successful breastfeeding!

We couldn't have gotten luckier with these two beautiful and happy kids of ours!

Helpful Product- Bumkins Waterproof Superbib

When Goose would still wear bibs (months ago!), I loved her Bumkins SuperBib. It was light enough to fold up and shove in my purse without taking up too much room, yet large enough to cover her shirt and waterproof.

The waterproof part really saved us when she started drinking from cups with straws at restaurants. They're also machine washable, don't seem to stain easily, and dry quickly.

(This post is my own opinion. I did not receive compensation, in the form of money or free product, for my opinion.)

Preparing for Baby: Freezer Meals

I'm in a panic trying to get everything in order before Baby Boy arrives in a little over 3 months. That's not a lot of time, especially since my belly is already the size of a small house and will only get much much bigger.

One of my preparation items is freezer meals. You know, so we don't starve while taking care of a screaming newborn. On no sleep. With a 2 year old. Scary.

Here is a recipe that we recently tested and approved for the freezer meal list for Baby Boy's arrival. It is delicious, easy, and goes from freezer to oven without the inconvenience of thawing (not hard, just easy to forget!). It would also be good for a single person as you freeze each portion individually.

Rosemary Chicken with Zucchini, from Real Simple

Serves 4 | Hands-On Time: 15m | Total Time: 1hr 15m

Ingredients:

• 1 pound new potatoes
• 2 carrots
• 2 small zucchini
• olive oil
• whole-grain mustard
• 1 bunch rosemary
• kosher salt and pepper
• 4 6-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 4 1-quart resealable plastic freezer bags

 Directions:

1. Freeze it: Quarter the potatoes. Peel the carrots. Cut the carrots and zucchini into 2-inch sticks. Mix them in a bowl with 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons mustard, 1 tablespoon rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Season the chicken with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Divide everything among 4 bags. Freeze, until ready to cook, for up to 3 months.
2. Cook it: Heat oven to 400° F. Remove the bags from the freezer (you'll need 1 bag for each serving). Empty the contents of the bags into a baking dish. Roast for 25 minutes. Toss the vegetables, turn the chicken, and continue roasting until the chicken is cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes more. Divide among individual plates. 

---------------------

Do you have any good and easy freezer recipes to share?

No Matter How Many Times You've Felt It Before

it's still a creepy little miracle to feel and see a baby moving around in your body. Every time. It's the first communication between a mother and child, and it's amazing.

Baby Boy is moving a lot lately and his movements are big enough and wild enough to be seen on the outside. J-bird feels it nightly when we're on the couch after Goose goes to sleep, or when we're in bed trying to quiet our minds and finally fall asleep. I'm loving every minute of this wild boy moving around in there. I don't know if this will be our last kid/my last pregnancy or not so I'm soaking it in.

Quiet lately. Here's why.

I've been quiet lately regarding my personal life. Why? Because we're having another baby!!!

photo courtesy of Breibeest

After our previous loss, I wanted to wait until what I considered a safe zone before I told anyone outside of closest friends and family about our little miracle. I feel safe(r) now and decided that I'm ready to tell the world. We're having a baby BOY this fall! A boy!

I'm over halfway to baby and I'm just now feeling pregnant. I'm just now letting myself be pregnant. I'm just now believing that we're adding another person to our family. Even though I've been showing for weeks now (I tend to show early), I've been hiding out so I don't have to say, "Yes, I'm pregnant, due this fall." I didn't want to jinx it. I still don't.

I'm still nervous, and it's sad that I can't enjoy this pregnancy with the naivete that I had when I was pregnant with Goose. Even though he looks healthy from the scan and I feel him move all day (and night), I still hesitate to buy baby boy clothes or really work on converting the nursery to a boy room for fear that something will happen and we won't be bringing home a healthy baby after all.

I could worry myself sick day and night thinking of all the things that could happen to our baby boy, or to me. I have to choose not to do that, not to go there. I have to have a little faith that we won't be given more than we can handle. I have to believe that we'll experience another healthy and happy miracle this fall, and our family will grow to four strong.

I'm having a baby. It's a boy.