Los Porchs

Bringin' it back ya'll...

This has been a relatively quite week; we were able to sneak up to my parent's cabin to relax for the weekend and begin making arrangements for the baby's baptism.  We opened the car seat/stroller combo that my father-in-law and mother-in-law gave us and were pumped to think about Baby Porch being here in the next 15 weeks (my app says 105 days to go but we all know we're on her schedule now).  We're excited to brew the batch of beer that we'll have at the baby shower and I'll be working on some crafty projects for a May wedding -- the perfect rainy weekend activities!  Once I figure out how to defeat this heartburn, I will be ready to rock!   How far along?  25 weeks Total weight gain:   11.6 pounds (normal, according to the app) Maternity clothes?    I've given up on pants that aren't yoga or maternity.  Shirts-wise, I need the length of the maternity tops because I HATE pulling my shirt down a billion times a day.  Plus side, my options are l

We had the opportunity to meet with the priest at the church up north this weekend and he has agreed to baptize Baby Porch in early September.  It will likely be her first trip to the cabin and only seems fitting that it be the weekend she's welcomed to the north woods, she be welcomed into the Catholic church.  We're pretty excited about it and appreciate the priest's flexibility with regards to the date; we don't know when she'll join us so it's hard to make concrete plans, but early September seems perfect.  Maybe there will be a Packers game we can watch too, hit all of the milestones at once ;) xoxo

I heard back from the OB today and I passed the glucose test, which is kind of a relief given the amount of sugar my body has taken in over the past 6 months (that first month we were all about Sour Patch Kids) and my overall love for fruit.  So it was nice to hear my body was doing well for once.  Go body! Then the nurse paused (and I knew there was more, likely bad, news) and said, "But you are anemic so you'll need to take iron every day, opposite of your prenatal vitamin."  There it is.  Haha, I think I'm always kind of on the cusp of anemia so this wasn't exactly news to me.  But it did remind me of when I had my surgery back in the day and had to take iron 3x a day afterwards -- and found myself the day of an appointment vomiting in the shower as a result & begging the doctor to lessen the dose.  That was when I started taking the prenatal vitamin since it had so much of what they wanted me to take in one neat little (who are we kidding, those things

My fellow infertile homies now on the other side... Remember that feeling when you found out you were pregnant and you had that urge to buy the Doppler thing so you could check in on your growing nugget whenever you wanted? Ugh I wanted it so badly but decided I would likely be using it every minute of every day and as such decided not to purchase one. Today at our appointment with the ob, we slammed our orange glucose drink and waited for the blood draw. We saw Dr. G who was just going to take a quick listen with the Doppler. His face said it all before his words did... "Sounds a little irregular. I think we better do an ultrasound." The one time I tell Porch he's all good and doesn't need to accompany me to the appointment is (of course) a time when I needed his calm, level-headed demeanor as I instantly took a trip to What If Town. I sat in the waiting room for about 15 minutes & was called to the ultrasound room. The nurse who escorted me looked a l

There they are... got my first big hit of hormonal pregnancy tears this morning as I thought about baptizing our daughter & where we'd like to baptize her.  It just kind of hit me all at once with more clarity than I could have ever expected. Let me back up a hot second; we attended a Lutheran Easter service this Sunday while visiting family and I was so totally turned off by this pastor's sermon and approach that it made me really reflect on what my beliefs are and when I feel most connected to a sense of faith.  Porch and I spoke in great detail about our hopes for our daughter and none of them included the messages being delivered at that Easter service -- the implicit messages, obviously.  There's not a terrible amount of difference between the Lutheran service and the Catholic service, but there was just a vibe that turned us both off. As I drove to work this morning, it came over me as I was thinking about where we could baptize our daughter.  We don't pla

How far along?  23 weeks Total weight gain:  I think officially I'm at about 6 pounds total gained. Maternity clothes?    All hail the yoga pant and it's equally divine sidekick, the maternity legging!  Swoon!  I'm still attempting to wear a few of my non-maternity tops but am quickly realizing that I'll be out of that phase soon. Stretch marks?   None yet Sleep:   Some nights I can make it through the night, others I end up peeing a few times Best moment this week:  Reading stories with Baby Porch! Miss anything?   I miss being able to move quickly and I miss my energy levels. Food cravings:  Nothing that I'm aware of ... Anything making you queasy or sick?  Nothing really... just Mondays ;) Gender:  Baby Girl :) Labor signs:  Not yet!  Keep marinating, love nugget! Symptoms:  The bump, heartburn, frequent urination... Belly button in or out?   In... dangerously close to out. Wedding rings on or off:  On.  And loose.  And I'm kinda sa

I may, in fact, have been Italian in another life. Porch and I both love manicotti so when I found this recipe, I went for it. I had never made manicotti before and was nervous about stuffing the noodles. This was also the recipe that inspired me to buy chicken in bulk and then just shred it all and store it in 1C baggies in the freezer (trust me, this is totally worth the investment of your time). We both loved how this turned out & will definitely be making it again!!! Chicken Manicotti Ingredients 7 pieces Manicotti, cooked according to instructions 1 cup part skim Ricotta cheese ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese 1 cup shredded cooked chicken 1 egg 1 teaspoon oregano salt and black pepper 1 can Italian style crushed tomatoes 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves ¼ cup Parmesan cheese 6-8 basil leaves Instructions In medium bowl, combine cooked shredded chicken, Ricotta cheese, Parmesan chees

Listen people.   Those frozen taquitos are okay... so-so at best.  This recipe is amazing and I kid you not when I share that I heard Porch mutter to himself no less than three times while eating, "This is so good."  I even got a "you really nailed this honey."  Needless to say, this recipe is TOTALLY in the rotation.  It was so easy, I had the prep done in no time and after 15 minutes in the oven, we were shoving our faces full of deliciousness. I'm willing to share this one with you because it basically rocked my socks off.   It's worth noting that I recently decided to save my sanity and boiled/shredded roughly 3 pounds of chicken and then packaged them into 1C baggies in the freezer.  It was a pain in the ass but the time spent totally paid itself back tonight when I waltzed over to the freezer & pulled out 2C of shredded chicken.  Just sayin. Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos Ingredients: 1/2 cup (4 oz) cream cheese (light works fine

My big goal for today is to go through my side of our closet and start thinking about what I'm going to be able to wear this spring/summer and pack up the non-maternity stuff into a tote and let myself have the space for clothes I actually can wear!  I'm all about the maxi dresses and preggo lady leggings and have been working to get those puppies front and center in the closet. We looked at our calendar from now until the big circled date of August 12th when we anticipate Baby Porch will join us and realized how quickly summer is filling up!  I'm so excited! xoxo

Time goes so quickly these days!  We have roughly 126 days until Little Miss joins our familia.  It seems like so long, right?  Wrong.  It's so hard to believe that we're already 5 1/2 months into this adventure but I love her movements.  She seems to be really active in the morning around 9 and again in the afternoon and when I lay my hot body down at night to go to bed around 10:30.  I've been reading to her when I get home from work.  Today we read It's Okay to be Different by Todd Parr.  Have I ever told you how much I love Todd Parr?  SO MUCH!  We even used his The Grandma Book  and The Grandpa Book   to announce our pregnancy to the grandparents.  We've been talking about the upcoming showers and it's so crazy to think about June (which is seriously just around the corner, is it not) and asking friends and family to save the dates for us to celebrate!  We love to party ;) I've been thinking about camping this summer and how that might be for me..

Her movement has been so much fun, it's like an inside joke between her and I as no one else can feel it yet.  I can feel my energy level changing and I feel like I can move as fast as I'd like, but the bruises on my legs (from smashing into my desk) tell another story.  I seem to forget this extra body I'm carrying with me.  :)  So I'm working on moving slower.  I find myself thinking about what she'll be like... what her temperament will be like, will it be a good fit for Porch and I?  Will it be easy or will we have a slight mismatch?   How far along?  21 weeks Total weight gain:  Happy to report that Porch thinks I'm all belly & I'm just gonna go with that.  Until the doctor tells me there's something wrong, I'm just gonna go ahead and roll with it. Maternity clothes?    I am wearing the belly band more and more!  My sweatpants are getting tight in the waist. Stretch marks?   None yet, I have been a lotioning machine because I'