Try This for Dinner

Tacos in Pasta Shells

1 ¼ pounds Lean ground beef
3 oz Cream cheese
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Chili Powder
18 Jumbo pasta shells
2 Tbsp Butter, melted
1 cup Taco sauce
1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
1 ½ cups Crushed tortilla chips
1 cup Sour cream


Directions:

1. In a large skillet, brown beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add cream cheese, salt, and chili powder; mix and simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente; drain. Toss cooked shells in butter.
3. Preheat oven to 350*
4. Fill shells with beef mixture and arrange in a 9X13 inch baking dish; pour taco sauce over shells. Cover with foil and bake in oven for 15 minutes.
5. Remove dish from oven and top with Cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese and tortilla chips; return dish to oven to cook for 15 minutes more.
6. Top with sour cream, olives, and onions.

Enjoy!!!

Just outside the front door

I looked out the window and what did I see? A buck!
Aubree didn't seem to care about wildlife yet.

She's pretty cute though if you asked me.
I go back to work on Monday. That was the
quickest three months of my life!
Now Daddy Dom will be on duty.

The Face of Immunizations

Bree went in for her two month check and immunizations. She is usually a sweet, happy baby (as seen above), but this is what she looked like when the Tylenol was about to ware off.


I did not enjoy the inconsolable crying baby thing, but I love her pouty bottom lip. It made me laugh every time despite of her pain and distress. That pouty bottom lip has to be the cutest darn thing ever (aside from her smile). I couldn't capture her pout in full force because it would change by the time I had my camera ready, but the next photo captures some of the spirit. Thankfully the first few hours were the worst and then she settled down to her sweet self once again.



Sadly I return to work soon and life will seem more like it was before Bree was born except now I will miss her while I sit at my desk all day.

Welcome to Aubree

Aubree arrived via c-section on 4/27 at 12:24.

She weighed in at 6 lbs 13 oz and is 19 inches long.

She has been a great baby so far and we are thrilled to get to know her.

We are home from the hospital today.

37 Weeks!!!

I'm on bedrest this week because my blood pressure decided to start creeping up. At least it waited until the last week of pregnancy. I was sent to labor and delivery for monitoring and labs on Monday, but they let me go home. Oh, while I was there Aubree finally decided to have a reactive non-stress test. That was nice to see. Dom was slightly disappointed that I came home empty handed. I'm having trouble sleeping at night lately anyway, so it's kind of nice to just take a nap when the whim strikes me and not try to keep my eyes open at my desk. It's my pre-baby vacation. My doctor moved up the c-section date a couple days, so the plan now is to welcome Aubree on Monday 4/27. I'm going to have a hard time sleeping on Sunday night. I'm doing well though over all and trying to keep the nesting down to a minimum at this point.

Caved in to Peer Pressure

Just in time for Easter weekend here is a shot of my egg shaped belly

(as requested).

Enjoy and Happy Easter a couple days early...don't say I never gave you anything.

34 week picture

Here's our most recent ultrasound (til Thursday when I get another) from last week. Yay! I've started nesting and that has been fun. I'm also obsessed with eating California Rolls for lunch and Cottage Cheese for snack. Mmm. Just enjoying the great weather today and wishing it would stick around a while. 3 1/2 weeks to go!!!

My not so “non” stress test

I went in to the doctor’s office yesterday for a non-stress test on baby Aubree. This test for those of you that don’t know is to monitor the baby’s heartbeat and the hope is that within 20-30 minutes there are 2-3 heart rate increases that go along with kicks/movement of the baby. Aubree was kicking and squirming right up until I sat down and got strapped in. Then she slept. The entire time! Because of my history with loss I was sent right over to labor and delivery for a biophysical profile. This is an ultrasound that rates the baby on criteria such as amniotic fluid level, practicing of breathing, kicks, and tone. Anyway, she passed that test easily (thank goodness). I was eventually sent home with a strawberry-banana smoothie and a promise to head over to the doctor’s office again today for another non-stress test. Of course the worry wart that I am was mildly stressed out over the whole ordeal. It also brought back some Orion memories. He didn’t do so well on the biophysical profile ultrasounds. Anyway, I went today to the doctor’s office armed with a Jamba Juice and candy bars (candy bars were my back up plan). She had an active morning already, so I was nervous about the napping again, but that smoothie helped…so much so that she didn’t stay still long (and I saved the candy bars for later). She kept moving away from the heart monitor, so I really had to press that thing against her. Thankfully we passed and were out of the office forty minutes later. Hurray. I was so dreading another trip to Labor and Delivery!

My belly is getting quite large (as it should) and just last week I had my first two belly rubs in one afternoon. Thankfully they were both women I know and not total strangers at the grocery store. I’m also happy to report that I do not have high blood pressure (yet). I’m managing to keep it down which makes me happy since that’s what put me on bedrest with Orion. I’d be stoked if things continued on this track until my c-section date! I have five weeks to go!!!

28 week ultrasound

First things first: I had a 28 week ultrasound this morning and Aubree seems to be growing right on schedule. She is 2lbs 10oz at this point. It was nice to see her lips and nose today as well since she was hiding her face at my 20 week ultrasound. She’s a cutie pie…I just know it. For those that have asked my due date is May 10 (mother’s day) but my doctor wants to deliver the end of April or very first of May. I’m getting another ultrasound a few weeks before delivery to check her growth and determine the delivery date. (I’m getting a c-section). I’ve also been asked how we picked a name. I have had the name Aubrey on a list for years now, but decided to change the spelling to Aubree so that we can shorten it to Bree if we want to. Christine for the middle name is my wonderful mother in law’s first name.

Top Chef: I was so happy to see Miami Jeff (he’s easy on the eyes) back last night even if it was just for one more week. I think he should have won the challenge over Carla, but what can I do about it. It seemed that the judges really liked his food last night and had no criticism. I thought Stefan should have gone home, but that’s not based on his cooking…just his attitude. I have a feeling he is a better chef than Fabio. It’s hard for me to be a judge since I can see their food, but can’t actually taste it. I guess my pick to win would be Carla or Stefan at this point because I’m just not a huge fan of Hosea’s. I feel like perhaps Jamie or Miami Jeff would have been better contenders for the finale with Carla and Stefan. That’s my two cents worth on that show.

Tasty Treat

This is a totally easy and tasty treat. I halved this recipe and will make the second half tonight. Feel free to add a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I used Gala Apples. I’m sure another citrus soda would work just as well Squirt maybe if you are against using a caffeinated beverage.

Apple Dumplings

INGREDIENTS
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
2 (8 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent roll dough
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle Mountain Dew ™

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350*. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Cut each apple into 8 wedges and set aside. Separate the crescent roll dough into triangles. Roll each apple wedge in crescent roll dough starting at the smallest end. Pinch to seal and place in the baking dish.
Melt butter in a small saucepan and stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Pour over the apple dumplings. Pour Mountain Dew™ over the dumplings.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

You can thank me later!!

Pregnancy brain!

I can start my car and take my keys out of the ignition when I warm it up…this is probably a bad thing to be able to remove keys once the car is started, but I lock the car up and go about my business. Well, today I started my car at lunch and was about to go home to eat when I remembered that a co-worker brought in chocolate birthday cake for me. Naturally I had to go back inside to retrieve that cake in case I wanted a bite or two after eating lunch. I locked my door without taking the keys out of the ignition…dang it! I realize that my spare emergency key thing is also in the car. I called Dom (who was home 5-10 minutes prior) to ask if he could drive over real quick and let me in with the spare keys. He had left for Sunriver. Ugh. Long story short he came (because he is just that great) and saved the day and my car definitely had a warmed engine at that point. I’m blaming this incident on having pregnancy brain. After all this I ended up not eating cake while on my lunch break. Silly, silly me.

Random thoughts

I’m just about to start my third trimester and I’m so excited to get a huge belly along with achy hips and back. I already waddle a little depending on how achy my lower back might be, so I know this will become more of a constant in the coming months. Aubree has been dancing in my tummy quite often and I have been savoring every second of it. I feel pretty darn good except for the heartburn I get sometimes at night. Oh, and I’m hungry like a truck driver. I especially love strawberries, eggs, sausage, Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, oh, avocados yum! Can I go eat now?

Tonight I’m looking forward to watching Fringe, one of my favorite shows! I love Pacey…oops, Peter is his character’s name now. It helps that Fringe is a great show and I’m not just watching to be loyal to Pacey. He’s the reason I watched the first show, but the story kept me interested.

Okay, so here are my two cents on the Bachelor. I am not a big fan of Naomi sorry to say. I like the three other girls left, but I am still skeptical of the relationship working out. I’m not really feeling like he should definitely choose one over the others. Maybe I’ll have a stronger opinion after the hometown dates. How about this though…maybe even though DeAnna chose someone else over Jason perhaps their relationship will work out somehow…who knows. I like DeAnna and I like Jason. People make mistakes. It’s just entertainment to me after all. Those TV relationships are doomed from the start anyhow.