Reed's First Weeks

What a BLESSING!! No one could ever describe just how amazing it is to have a child. I NEVER imagined the love that I actually have for Reed! From the moment he started screaming I fell in love. In fact, I spent most of the first 2 weeks crying (happy tears) just everytime that I looked at him or thought about how blessed we are to have him. I love being his mommy! I am so glad God chose for me and Wes to be Reed's parents! It has been a busy 4 weeks for sure. The first week Reed was VERY sleepy ALL the time. He is a little more alert now and does not fall asleep as easily ;)He usually eats about every 3 hours, but sometimes only 2 hours (he is a growing boy). I am tired, but I have enjoyed taking care of him. I decided that I just am not going to get much sleep right now! haha. I try to sleep when Reed sleeps even if that means I sleep all day in 2-3 hour increments and I get absolutely nothing done. The house doesn't stay as clean as usual, I am way behind on thank you notes, and trying to hurriedly get out birth announcements. :-) We have been pretty much stuck in the house the past 4 weeks. I have got out a few times when Wes was home with Reed to go run errands. Reed has been out with me to the pediatricin, kroger, and to get his newborn pictures taken. Tonight we are going to attempt a big outing to the homecoming football game- Go Cougars! SO... we will see how that goes. It feels good to get out of the house though, especially with the recent fall-like weather.
Wes has been a GREAT dad!! I cannot believe how truly awesome he has been. I enjoy our weekends together as a FAMILY when he is off work. I am already dreading the fact that when I go back to work in November that I will be working weekend nights and will miss that special time, BUT it is the best option for Reed and our family right now.

Baby Reed update!

We have progressed a little bit over the past few weeks! The last two times that I have been at the doctor I have been 1cm and 60%. I will turn 39 weeks tomorrow according to the EDD. Next Thursday I will go to the doctor again and depending on what progress I have made, we could possibly be inducing Monday August 22nd! At that point I will be 40 weeks. Wes is ready for him to be here NOW! haha I am still feeling great and patient that he will be here when he is ready :)

Watch me Grow.... Baby bump pictures!

15 weeks
22 weeks
23 weeks
26 weeks
30 weeks
35 weeks
37 weeks
38 weeks

30 weeks

28 weeks & Baby Reed

Well we have reached the third trimester mark! Time is flying! And it is June 3rd... already hitting a sticky hot of 100 degrees outside. Wow. This week has been eventful. We got another sonogram (most likely our last) and were able to see what Reed is up to. He was moving all over the place, of course, and looked amazing. They went through all the major organs and everything looked great. I am not an expert at looking at sonograms by no means, but if they point something out I can usually see it. For instance, the amazing 4-chambered heart beating away, corpus callosum, spine, lips, nose, feet, etc. When the doctor got to the pulmonary artery she kept going on and on about how "beautiful" it was! Haha... I could not see this pulmonary artery nor would I even be able to tell whether it was beautiful or not, but I liked to hear her say that. She even brought in a Medical yr2 student and another nurse JUST to show them this "beautiful" pulmonary artery. :)

We also were able to see Reed in 3D or 4D- not sure which it was... That was the best part! Luckily he cooperated with us and let us see his face for a little bit. He is way way down in the pelvis so the top of his head was shadowed and we could not tell if he had hair. I am SURE that he does not b-c Wes and I were both somewhat bald at birth- and if the old heartburn myth has any truth to it then he definitely is bald because I have had VERY LITTLE heartburn and I am a big spicy food eater ;)

We got to see him making sucking motions with his mouth- how amazing it is not only to see them in 3D or 4D, but that it is like a live video feed where you can see them move!? He even yawned for us one time. Of course, he was also punching and kicking his limbs all over the place. Not to mention how cute the little guy is! ;) Haha I instantly recognized this and now could just stare at those sonogram pictures all day. I am in "big trouble," Wes says. I just can't wait to cuddle and kiss him all over. This boy will be ruined by me... oh well :)From what I can tell, so far he looks like Wes to me?!

He is already 2lbs. and 12oz. (about 5 oz. more than my pregnancy books say he should be). He is in the higher end of the 50th-90th percentile in growth patterns and when seeing this the nurse said "He's gonna be a chunky one." Haha. Oh great and little ole me :] I am so glad he is healthy and strong though! Definitely strong! His 'little' kicks and punches are beginning to "hurt" and startle me they are so powerful. I am pretty sure I have a bruised rib and it has been hurting for a few weeks now.. really bad. It worsens with more activity and reaching/turning certain ways. But Dr. Bean is aware and it is not affecting my breathing. It does however hurt when I am laughing, which makes it difficult and quite painful to live with Wes ;)
I now have gained about 20 pounds. My waist size is now 33.5 inches.
*Picture of "the bump" coming later on today*

"Summer Chicken Pasta"

Wes' favorite!! Found this recipe in my bridal edition Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and have been cooking it for years. It is really simple. It is a dry pasta.... not saucy. The only liquid ingredients used are chicken broth and dry white wine. Definitely not a "comfort food" as we like to say in the South, but great for a summer supper after a long day. Although, Wes demands it year round. Probably not something that kids would be too fond of, but I don't know because I was surprised Wes liked it so much.


Here's the recipe:
cook time=30 minutes
ingredients
8 oz. packaged dried whole wheat or regular penne pasta
12 oz. skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-size strips
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. olive oil or cooking oil, divided
3 large cloves garlic, minced
3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup shredded basil leaves
3 Tbsp. snipped fresh oregano
1/4 cup shaved Parmesan cheese
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
directions
1. Cook pasta in lightly salted boiling water according to package directions. Drain and return to saucepan; keep warm.

2. Meanwhile, season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and garlic; cook and stir about 5 minutes or until chicken is tender and no longer pink. Remove from skillet; keep warm.

3. Add remaining olive oil to skillet. Cook mushrooms and onion in hot olive oil until just tender, stirring occasionally. Carefully add chicken broth and white wine. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Boil gently, uncovered, about 2 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half. Remove skillet from heat.

4. Add cooked pasta, chicken, cherry tomatoes, basil, and oregano to mushroom mixture; toss to coat. Transfer to a serving dish; sprinkle with shaved Parmesan cheese and freshly ground pepper. Serve immediately. Makes 6 servings.

nutrition facts
Calories284 Total Fat(g)8 Saturated Fat(g)2, Monounsaturated Fat(g)4, Polyunsaturated Fat (g)1, Cholesterol (mg)35, Sodium (mg)271, Carbohydrate (g)33, Total Sugar (g)4, Fiber (g)4, Protein (g)22, Calcium (DV%)8, Iron (DV%)11, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

22 weeks

The past few weeks have been Great! FREE of sickness and I have really enjoyed it. I am pretty sure this past week that I just woke up one day and had a belly. It felt like it all of a sudden appeared and now it is obvious that I am pregnant. I had 4 random people come up to me at work in a single night asking if I was pregnant! Since I feel like "the bump" appeared out of nowhere, it is a little weird to see myself in the mirror. I felt so unsure of myself the other day. haha. I had people basically bash me for saying that. You have to understand though... I have (obviously) never looked this way. I have been the same size for a loooong time. I know that I am not "fat" and plenty of people tell me how great I look (thanks), but it is still so weird to see myself look this way. I'm happy though and wouldn't change it for anything.

We cleaned out the nursery this weekend. It has basically been somewhat of a storage room since we moved in & Wes uses the closet in there for his coaching clothes. Those will have to stay b-c there is no room anywhere else and well, Reed doesn't need much of a closet anyways. :) I am still searching for a changing table- they are quite expensive. The one that matches our crib set costs more than the crib did! No thanks. I have found some bedding that I like and got so excited the other day as I was scanning through and found it for SALE $123!!! With my 10% off for being a new customer = $113 I immediately started clicking online in order to purchase and clicked confirm only to find out they were out of stock! Whaaaat?! disappointment. Hopefully more will come in soon. Everywhere else this bedding is at least $250, so you can understand my excitement/disappointment. I also bought some signs to start painting for Reed's room!
This was a door sign given to me by a good friend who helped me to pick out NINE hostess gifts for a shower! Not an easy task.... She was such a big help and then gave me this! How sweet and super CUTE!

Spaghetti Pie !

One of my FAVORITES !!
Sounds Weird and doesn't make the best presentation, but oh so good! It does not come out in such a pretty pie piece right out of the oven.. it has to settle a bit if you are concerned with making it look pretty. It never looks pretty when I eat it because it is just too good to let settle, haha. This picture was actually taken today when I got out a piece from leftovers. A lovely co-worker introduced this recipe to me, and I came home to find it sitting right there in my BHG cookbook! There are several variations to the recipe, but I have used the same one each time I've made it. Here is the recipe from the Better Homes & Garden website:

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/pasta/spaghetti-pie/

I made some small changes.... I chose not to use cottage cheese, which I am sure tastes fine, just a personal preference. I instead used 1 cup of ricotta cheese and I mixed it with a small dollop of light sour cream so that it would spread a little easier. I also used hamburger meat over sausage since that is what I use to make my normal spaghetti. Enjoy! ;)

What to do with leftover chicken??

Make chicken alfredo!!


Leftover chicken; there is always some kind of pasta in the pantry; and I could have used the homemade sauce recipe (I shared it in a previous post) with stuff on hand: whipping cream, butter, flour, s&p... but this time I actually had some Boutini sauce in the freezer! Boutini makes a GREAT alfredo sauce & it can be easily frozen and defrosted. For the chicken I used the same Italian marinade I use for the base of my BBQ chicken (several dry Italian seasonings and Italian dsg). And it was Good! :)

Baby Crib

Crib purchased! I fell in love with this crib the moment I saw it & Wes liked it a lot too! I like the arched back and love the detail in the "legs and feet" of the crib. It's actually not in the exact color we were looking for (to match our rocker) but we liked it so much that it did not matter.

It ended up matcing the rocker pretty well though... We can't really see a difference.

We got a great deal on this crib at Woodland Furniture in Woodland, MS. It was about $450 dollars cheaper than the exact same crib found here in the metro area.
This is the Munire Newport Lifestyle 7900 crib.

Scallops over cauliflower potato puree

Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light's March Issue. I have provided you with a link:
MyRecipes

Buttermilk Pancakes

Recipe for homemade buttermilk pancakes:

1cup of flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp of salt
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 1/8 cup of buttermilk
1 egg

Preheat a large skillet or electric griddle. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. Add the egg, buttermilk, and butter. Stir together lightly, but keep it lumpy. The batter should look thick, lumpy, and puffy. Drop onto cooking surface and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side. (I don't time... I just watch for the edges to get bubbly and flip to desired browness)
Never be afraid of making HOMEMADE pancakes again!! This is EASY! :)They taste great with berry syrups like Smuckers strawberry or blueberry. Yum.

Nothing to see yet, but you have all been asking for it....

So here it is:




I can tell that I am thicker and feel pudgier in the belly, but this picture does not really look the way I feel! Haha. I have been keeping up with my waist size. Started out at 27.5 and this week I am 28.5!
We have made it to 15 weeks! WHEW... finally getting past the constant nausea, and looking forward to actually enjoying the pregnancy. This past weekend we did a little spring cleaning and emptied out the guest room. Sorry, friends, for now there is no longer a guest room. It was refreshing to get that out of the way and I was able to put my new rocker/glider together. Which I got on SALE at Target and it looks great- very comfortable!


Spring break weekend (at least Wes still gets a spring break) we are going to stay with friends in Starkville and hopefully are going to purchase a crib at Woodland Furniture. Of course I am new to this baby thing and have absolutely no idea what I am looking for?!

We had a checkup with the doctor yesterday. Baby's heartbeat was 140bpm and it sounded great :) We did the blood test to check for spinia bifida and down's, etc. There is no history of this in either of our families, but wanted to check anyways. I have officially gained 4 pounds! I lost 2 or 3 while I was sick and finally got back up to pre-pregnancy wt. and now +4 more :) More exciting news is that we will be finding out the sex of the baby March 16th!!! Cannot wait. We will be surprising family that night after church if everything goes as planned.

Chicken & Spinach Alfredo Pizza!

Yummy! This was super easy (with my pizza dough and chicken shortcut) Pilsbury now makes a pizza dough in a can... just like their biscuits and crescent rolls.. all you have to do is roll it out! We have used it several times before to make homemade pizzas and it is GOOD. Wes said we should never buy frozen pizza again.. hah.



Anyways, the alfredo sauce was homemade. I guess that was the only difficult part, but if you have never made alfredo sauce, don't be scared... it's easy. You just need butter, heavy whipping cream, and flour. You have to add salt and pepper to taste so be careful not to get too much or too little, but that gets easier with practice :) This recipe called for some garlic and crushed red pepper added in the cream sauce. Once that is done, just spread it out on the pizza dough. Then put about a handful (or however much you want) of baby spinach. After that, you can add the chicken.... I did not go to trouble cutting up and making my own chicken... I am all about what is easiest. I bought one of those rotisserrie chickens from Kroger, deboned it, and added that to the pizza.

I bought a whole tomato and sliced it up to put on with the chicken and spinach. The recipe called for cherry tomatoes.. the change was just my preference. Then, of course, add mozzerella cheese!

Little Wes or Brittany on the way...

So I have been telling myself to get on and blog about this for quite some time now, but things have been busy and...believe it or not... I have been too tired to come sit at the computer and blog! Anyways, it is true. We are having a baby! He/she is due August 23rd. We are very excited.. we have been waiting several months for that home pregnancy test to turn positive! God's timing is perfect, we know that. Wes is kindof freaking out a little bit.. haha. As for me, I am every pregnancy sign and sympton by the book! I have NO idea why they call it "morning" sickness... It has been quite more than that to me leaving me nauseated at all hours of the day. Thank goodness my DR got me some Zofran- it has helped me to feel less miserable. The fatigue is strange. I am tired a lot anyways from working night shifts, but this tiredness will just all of a sudden hit me like a train and I won't be able to keep my eyes open. The urinary frequency is very annoying. And that will last until the end(and probably get worse). I never have been one to wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, but that happens at least once if not twice now :( Hopefully this nausea will pass soon... I think I can handle the other stuff. I am 8 weeks and 3 days now. I heard the heartbeat and got sonogram pictures at my appointment when I was six weeks. I was definitely not expecting to hear the heartbeat that early!! If I would have known, I would have made sure poor Wes was there, but he missed it :( We go back in 2 weeks though.. it makes me a little anxious to be in between appointments not knowing what is going on. I am praying that Little Prather is growing strong.

I will follow

Where you go, I'll go
Where you stay, I'll stay
When you move, I'll move
I will follow...

All your ways are good
All your ways are sure
I will trust in you alone
Higher than my side
High above my life
I will trust in you alone

Where you go, I'll go
Where you stay, I'll stay
When you move, I'll move
I will follow you
Who you love, I'll love
How you serve I'll serve
If this life I lose, I will follow you
I will follow you

Light unto the world
Light unto my life
I will live for you alone
You're the one I seek
Knowing I will find
All I need in you alone, in you alone

In you there's life everlasting
In you there's freedom for my soul
In you there joy, unending joy
and I will follow

-Chris Tomlin-
As this is my prayer. Not to make my own plans, but to wait for God's plans and to follow wholeheartedly.