Well..hello there!!

So yes, I know that is has been a minute since my last post. Life has been a bit crazy and all over the place, but moving right along quickly. I can't believe I will be SIX MONTHS pregnant tomorrow. I know everyone says to make sure to enjoy your pregnancy because it goes by so fast, and I must admit that I need to start making more of a conscious effort to do that. It is really easy to get wrapped up in planning for when we meet our little man, instead of enjoying the time before he makes his big arrival.

A few weeks ago I got to go to a huge MEGA Les Mills event in  Arlington. It was a total blast. Basically it is an event where all the master instructors from New Zealand come, as well as all the national presenters for all of the Les Mills programs, and instructors come from all over the country..(and world) to work out all weekend and learn from the best of the best. It was cram packed and a test of my preggo endurance but I would not have missed it for anything.

Hmm...let's see here, what else is new. We started our baby boy's registry :) YAY so exciting. And we get to leave for Scotland on Wednesday to go my gorgeous sister-in-law's wedding. I am so beyond excited to get there, and LET THE CELEBRATING BEGIN!! It will be so nice to get to see family AND...I get to wear sweaters!!! Bring on the cool rainy weather please.

I thought it would be a good idea to post some recipes on here as I come across...or crave them :) I have never really been one for sweets, give me salty any day, but my baby boy here likes the occasional sweet from time to time. Eating healthy is really important to me, so it is nice to find recipes that feel like a splurge but in moderation are the perfect fix. Here is a recipe for some yummy cookies that my hubby likes.

HONEY OATMEAL-RAISIN COOKIES

*I found this recipe on the food network website from Ellie Krieger

INGREDIENTS:

• Cooking spray
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup smooth unsalted almond butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
• 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (or 1/2 cup each all-purpose and whole-wheat flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup raisins

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mist 2 baking sheets with cooking spray. Beat the butter, canola oil, honey, egg, almond butter and vanilla extract in a large bowl with a mixer until combined.

In another bowl, whisk the dry milk, flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir to combine. Stir in the oats and raisins.

Scoop tablespoonfuls of batter about 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake until golden, about 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Store in a loosely covered container for up to 3 days.

NUTRITION:

Per cookie: Calories 100; Fat 5 g (Saturated 1 g); Cholesterol 10 mg; Sodium 45 mg; Carbohydrate 13 g; Fiber 1 g; Protein 2 g

Ohhhhh and last but not least some updated belly pics....

I believe this was 20 weeks (just shy of 21) at the Les Mills event in Arlington. 

22 weeks :)

This baby be bumpin!!

Well that is it for now, hopefully I made up for the lack of posting!! I will try and not wait so long till the next time.

-Chels

Water Works

So not a whole lot has happened since my last post. Philip and I  have both just been trying to survive this ridiculous heat!!!! It is unbearable outside...I can't imagine being 8-9 months along in this. I am so thankful for the way the timing worked out as far as weather goes. I have never really been a summer girl. Sure I like it at first, and don't get me wrong I love the warmth and sunshine, but summer in Texas just means humidity, sunburns, heat advisories, heat strokes, bad hair days, dehydration, and basically hybernating until fall.


I LoOoOoOve the fall and winter. I love everything about it --- being around family, the holidays, the fun clothes, the smells, the shopping, the food, the feeling around Christmas time, and of course when Christmas music starts to play on the radio after Thanksgiving. It only seems appropriate that we would have a winter baby.I can't wait to bust out some jackets and sweaters. A long nice run in the brisk fall air sounds absolutely amazing right now.


So here is the belly low down for this week. I have getting some minor headaches and a little dizzy from time to time. I have still been feeling pretty good though, and I am able to keep running and working out as normal like I did before I was pregnant (with some slight modifications of course). Today in particular I have been bawling my eyes out like a little baby at the drop of a hat. I start to cry, and then cry more because I am crying. It is absolutely out of control. I have been missing our families a lot today and I am sure that has a lot to do with it, but I am going to say the raging preggo hormones have been the main source of tears shed. I was already a "crier" before this little one, I can only imagine how much worse it will get. I was one of those people that cried over cheesy Hallmark or Campbells Soup commercials....yeah I know. So the water works have been out in full force this past week, and will keep coming!






17 weeks!

 I am so excited because my amazingly sweet hubby is taking me on a surprise getaway this weekend for my birthday next week / babymoon. I am crazy stupid excited because I need a weekend away from everything, and can't imagine anyone I would want to spend it with more. When we come back we have so much to look forward to as well! We get to find out the sex of the baby very soon and I am tickled at the thought of getting to know if we will have a son or daughter. Telling our families will be really special too. Then in just shy of 6 weeks we will be back in Scotland for Philip's sister's wedding :)


That is about all I have for now! Stay cool everyone...


Chels

Chapter 1

So I really haven't been very good at doing this blogging, but I pinky promise that I am going to try and get better.




Here is a little recap of the past few months...


I found out we are PREGNANT! Huge surprise but we are so excited.

• Week 5: We found out we were expecting our little Love Bug.
• Week 6-10: I started to gain just a little bit of weight, but for some reason it felt like a ton. I dealt with all sorts of lovely quirks that come along with being preggo. I had horrible "morning sickness", and the whole "morning" thing is completely false. Whoever decided to call it morning sickness was playing a mean trick on pregnant women. I wasn't actually throwing up, at least not regularly, it was more of just that extreme nausea all day. That horrible feeling where you feel like you are just on the verge but nothing actually happens. I am so glad that those days are behind me!! At week 9 we had our first ultrasound and got to hear out Love Bug's heartbeat. Seeing and hearing our little one made it so much more exciting and so much more real. It was a very special moment for me and Philip. I wanted to show off those sonogram pictures to anyone who wanted to see, and I am sure to plenty strangers who didn't care! We also went to Austin to visit my lovely baby sister Meagan and her boyfriend Ryan. We had a great time, and every time I visit I want to move there. I had a "love at first sight" encounter with Austin in high school and I never been the same.
• Week 11-12: I started to feel slightly better dealing with the nausea, but I started to throw up after I would eat. I love my food, so this was so frustrating. I would feel fine and eat, but then throw up and be starving immediately after. Horrrrrrible. I called my doctor's office and my nurse told me I had developed "acid reflux" which is really common in pregnancy. She prescribed me some meds, and now I am a happy camper and stuffing my face. I was so happy to be out of the "First Trimester"!! I felt like I was moving up into a special club called the 2nd Trimester. It was where all the cool kids hang out and where a lot of those preggo quirks I talked about earlier subside. Phew!

• Week 13-15: Hello Baby Bump! I just looked like I had packed on a few, and then voila, a bump emerges. I was actually so excited,  it was the first time I felt like I was starting to look as pregnant as I felt. I was excited to wear more fitted shirts and show it off! Hopefully we can keep this "bump" contained to my stomach area. It seems like it gets a little more firm and a bit bigger day by day. It makes it all seem more real.

Bump Pictures: WEEK 14 - ( I wasn't really "bumping" before this so we started taking pictures)

My first baby...Miss Oakley

 

So that is the skinny on what I have been up to these past few weeks.




Ta-Ta for Now,
Chelsea