23-24 weeks with Brody

 23 weeks

24 weeks

How far along? 24 weeks!
How big is baby? Your 10.5-to-11.8-inch fetus weighs about 12.7 to 20.8 ounces

What is baby doing this week?  Thebump.com says "

• His see-through skin is gradually becoming more opaque.
• And it's got a new pink glow, thanks to the small capillaries that have recently formed.

Symptoms:  Some sciatic pain, but I get adjusted every other day. Man, I wish I had known about Chiropractic when I was pregnant with Ava.  It is amazing!!
I have accrued pregnancy allergies.  I have never had allergies before so this is new to me. I have ordered a natural vitamin QB Complex that is a natural histamine to help with that.

Total weight gain:  whew!

Maternity clothes: Dresses are amazing!

Sleep: Pretty good actually! 

Best moment last week: My mom was able to feel Brody last week!  I have actually ran twice in the past few days. Makes me feel proud of myself!  Although, it makes me hungry the next day!

Movement: Yes please and thank you!

Cravings: Turkey sandwiches

Belly Button in or out: Creeping to the surface.

What I miss? BEER!!!

What I am looking forward to: hmmm

Milestones: Brody is at the viable stage!

How is daddy? Great. We just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary and enjoyed a date night Saturday.  He really is so fun to be with!

How is Ava?  She prays for "big big Brody and Ava a big sister every night.  Melts my heart!

Errands to prepare

                                                     Happy Friday! Wednesday I mean! 

It feels like Friday for sure to me!  Last day of work before a 4 day weekend.

Yes, Please! 

Yesterday, Ava and I slept in until about 6:45am.  I know, how lazy!  I got my grocery list and coupons together and did a few house chores.  All that was marked off my list, so I could get my workout on!

10 minute Bodyrock workout.  The portion between my arm and my boobs is super duper sore today! It was a good workout, so I glad take the soreness!

I hopped on the treadmill and did 5 easy peasy miles. 

I am pretty sure I am fully recovered from my Achilles injury, yay! I really missed running!

We got ready and headed out for our Target/Kroger run.

I timed our errands just right.

Nap on the way.

It is TOTALLY ok to take a nap with your sunglasses on upside down!!

At Target we needed dog food and Vue cups.  Lifting a 42lb bag of dogfood into the buggy and then in to your car is NO EASY FEAT!!

I'm sure I looked not so fantastic hefting that bad boy either!

Kroger was next on the list! This visit we did get a buggy car for Ava to ride in.  Although she teeters between riding in the car, walking, me holding her and if she is eating a snack, riding in the real seat of the buggy.  She is a blast!  Truly!

After saving about $40 at Kroger. woot woot!

We stopped at the Dollar tree to get a couple of things I knew would be there and of course be a dollar.

She wanted to carry the basket and "no help, mama".

Okie doke, sister!

I was putting the groceries away and Ava got really quiet.  I went into the living room and caught her in the act.

I made these for my brother's wedding and the other night Clint showed me that she had stuck her hand in and mixed all of the layers up.

I caught her this time and just laughed at her.  What can ya do?!  It's still pretty, plus she was having fun.

We played on the back porch with Pekka and read some books until Clint got home and did a little more playing. 

The rest of the afternoon was relaxing.  We went on a family walk around the neighborhood and carried glowsticks!  That was fun for Ava!

Supper was leftovers and nothing real exciting happened the rest of the night.  We watched a DVR'ed Scandal and The Voice. 

I got up this morning and had planned to run 3 miles.  Well, I got on the treadmill a little earlier this morning and had a little extra time to do 4 miles.  4 miles before 5am?!  Don't mind if I do!!!

Tomorrow will be full of cooking getting ready for Clint's family to come over.

We are making:

a smoked ham

turkey

sweet potatoes with marshmallows

mac n cheese

homemade rolls

Reeses cake

Peanut butter kiss cookies

sweet tea.

Whew we will be busy!!

Have a great day tomorrow! See y'all soon!!

His Call of Duty

That's right it is Wednesday!

I hope y'all had a great Tuesday!

Ava and I got up and I fixed her breakfast and I did my She Reads Truth reading and journaling.

This is such a blessing to my day!

I did my 15 minute workout and walked 2 miles in incline. Whew.  I got ready and got my coupons and plan of attack ready so we could go to Target and Kroger.

Target was up first!  I love Target!  I always scope the outer end caps for clearance deals!  You can use coupons on those and get even better deals!!  Plus you can use manufacturer coupons AND Target coupons on the same item.  OH and for every bag you bring in the store to use instead of theirs they give you $.05 back per bag?!!!   It is not much but EVERY bit helps!

Our first mission was to get

Call of Duty Back Ops 2 for Clint!

He really only plays video games at night after Ava goes to bed or just randomly, but each year for the past 3 I think we have bought THE game of the year.  Call of Duty is HUGE!  Yesterday, at one point there were over 400,000 people playing all over the WORLD!  And that was at like 4pm!  Crazy! I mean stores opened at midnight Wednesday morning for people to buy it!

Target was well stocked!!  YES!

We got some house cleaning products (METHOD products are AWESOME and plant based!), some VUE cups, M&Ms(coupons) oh and Ava some Christmas placemat coloring sheets! 

Next was Kroger.  We were both saddened that they didn't have to buggy car for Ava to ride in!

We started on our list!  Ava would walk down the aisles saying "we need this?" and I would say "nooo!(laughing the whole time at her).  We got to the pickles and she said "Aya needs pickles" and grinned like the Cheshire cat!  We didn't get the pickles. This kid is so funny!  I had her saying "crazy-pants" in the freezer aisle and the employee in that section was just a laughing.  Good times!

Apple for a snack on the way home!

We got home and to our surprise Clint was already home.  I guess he was excited to play his new game!

Ava was asleep, so I started to put together a recipe for homemade rolls and realized we didn't have any eggs. This is unheard of.  We ALWAYS have eggs until yesterday.  So, I told Clint I'd be back in a jiffy.  Well, 45 minutes later I got back home.  I saw my mom at the store and since I was getting her a turkey breast from that store (you could only get one and she wanted another for Thanksgiving) I told her to wait and I would run in and get it!   Well, of course she had to tell me stories from her Ladies Bible study from yesterday. 

I finally got home and Ava was still asleep, so I put the ingredients in the bread machine to make the dough and did some cleaning.  Clint was by then playing Call of Duty, so I emptied the dishwasher, dusted the house, sprayed the bathroom down and folded laundry.  While the husband plays, the wife gets housework done!  Ava finally woke up and we went up to the bonus room with Clint and hung out and caught up on The Voice from Monday night.  I went to put the rolls int he oven after they rose some.  They didn't rise that much.  I think the house was too cold.  Oh well, they were a trial run for Thanksgiving.  I know better for next week. 

I came down and made sausage cajun rice and cut up stuff for a salad.  Good, semi healthy and comforting supper! 

After supper was bath time for Ava.  Clint took care of that while I cleaned the kitchen and then it was family time until Ava went to bed!

All in all a good day!  No complaints and plenty blessed!

Have a good Wednesday and I'll see ya soon.

Tea parties and balloons

Hey there! Yep, it is Monday!

It is raining and the temperature is going to drop throughout the day.  Cold and rainy...yuck!

I hope you had a great weekend. We sure did.  Let me back up to Friday though first before I go into what we did Saturday and Sunday.

Clint has been making breakfast smoothies for us about 4 days a week.  He does NOT disappoint!

I'm never REALLY sure what is in these, but they are tasty and I know he uses healthy stuff, because Ava and I do the grocery shopping. ;-)

Ava stays at my parent's house on days I work, but I get a 2 hour lunch.  We live 5 minutes from my work and they live 5 minutes past my work, so I get lunch with her EVERY day I work!  Such a perk!

Tea party at lunch on Friday!

Saturday, we got up and I did a 2 mile walk on the treadmill at a 6.5% incline and 4.3 mph.  I worked up a good sweat!  I "tried" to run for a minute, but I could feel my Achilles pulling, so I slowed back down.  I will just walk for the next few days and continue to let it rest. (ugh)

Publix has turkeys for $.69/lb so I told Clint we needed to go for

1. we are hosting Thanksgiving for his family

2. the turkeys don't get ANY cheaper than that!

I deemed Saturday "No makeup" day!  Some days it is good to have a clean face and "no eyes on".

At Publix, an employee was handing out flowers and then Ava got a balloon!  She was tickled pink!

Clint suggested we stop at the little antique place!

It was AMAZING!  I could have stayed in there a while, well we did, but I could have stayed longer and spent lots of money!

We went home and watched Alabama, sadly get beat.  It was a somber house for about 45 min.

Clint turned on the grill and grilled hormone free steak for him and me a black bean burger.  I sauteed some asparagus and made a salad. 

GOOD STUFF!

Sunday morning I got up and did a bodyrock workout and then walked 1.5 miles at the same speed and incline as Saturday.

We got ready and headed to church. 

Ava was so excited to go. We let her wear her flower girl dress from my brother's wedding about a month ago. 

(wedding day picture)

She kept running around the house saying, "I'm a princess. "I'm a princess." And "we're going to church, we're going to church." 

Too funny!

After church, we went to my aunt and uncle's house for lunch. She had make your own sub sandwiches, chips, dip and meatballs.

YUM!

As soon as we got home, I put the ingredients in the bread machine for our weekly loaf of sandwhich bread. Hands down the best recipe!

Isn't that beautiful?!.

We lounged around until supper.  It was glorious! 

Supper was biscuits (gravy for Clint), eggs, and turkey bacon (and a banana for Ava).  LOVE breakfast ANY time of the day.

Have a great Monday and I'll see ya soon!!

Groceries and recipe keeper

Yippy skippy it is FRIDAY!!

I hope y'all had a great day yesterday!

We did for sure!

We got up and I had coffee and got Ava some cereal.  We chatted mama/toddler style and I did my She Reads Truth devotional while she watched Doc McStuffins (fantastic cartoon btw).

I'm pretty sure I have injured my Achilles to the point of a good week's rest from running. (sigh) But I can still Bodyrock...oh yea!

We had to meet a girl at 9am to get a Xmas gift for my sister and then we were off to Kroger and Trader Joe's. 

Ava fell asleep about 10 minutes away from Kroger and I thought she would wake up when I got her out of her carseat.  NOPE.  She slept until about 20 minutes into grocery shopping at Kroger.  I love this, but my arms are SORE today!  Workout and grocery shopping combo...yes please!!

Two things happened at Kroger that were note worthy though.

A guy got my attention and told me I was about to lose some cash out of my back pocket. 

Good Samaritan or a guy checking out my butt?!  Hmmm. I'll go with Good Samaritan!

Next, the guy using the sweepy buffer machine asked if I knew Spanish, when I said not enough he said he just thought I looked like I would speak it.  Hmmm..not quite sure about this one, but it gave me a chuckle!

I saved $55 at Kroger with coupons and store savings!  Woot woot!

Trader Joe's was up next.

"emergency" snack

We got what we needed there and some "fun" new stuff and headed on home.

I got 2 weeks worth of groceries and some things for Thanksgiving and spent $128!  I'll take that!!

It was about noon when we got home and had about 3 hours until Clint got home.  What do you do with 3 hours, when the groceries are done and the house is "semi" clean?

GROCERY SHOP of course!

This section AND the other section of the couch was FULL of groceries. 

Ava made me the BEST "sandwich" ever!

A little while later it was snack time.

Ava and I shares some organcic snow peas and carrots with French onion dip.

(yep, in a cool whip bowl)

Supper, was let me tell you FANTASTIC!

I made Iowa Girl Eats Homemade Hamburger Helper.

It was a family fave!

Ava had 2 little helpings and I couldn't stop talking about it!

I used ground turkey meat instead of hamburger, but follwed the rest of the recipe to a T.

I WILL be making it again...SOON!

It was so easy and healthier than the box hamburger helper.  Plus the ingredient list involved things I could pronounce!  Run over there NOW and make this soon!!!

I hope that you have a great weekend!

See ya soon!

A good day in the books!

Good morning all!  Even though my choice for President did not win the election, life will go on!  I know that control over the situation is in MUCH bigger HANDS and His plan will work out! 

Ok, now that that is out of the way!

It is a crisp fall morning and I started my day with a good bodyrock workout that had my legs shaky shaky! 

Ava and I left home a few minutes earlier because I had a coupon for Wendy's.  I got a medium black coffee and plain steel cut oats for $1.41!   WHO YEA!

Yesterday, Ava and I got up and I made coffee and got her breakfast.  I had planned on going to Kroger and Trader Joe's, but after I did my reading from She Reads Truth, I decided we were staying home.  I can run errands Thursday!

I had plenty to do around the house.  Laundry, deep cleaning, cleaning the kitchen, de-cluttering and PLAYING with my kiddo! 

We had such a great day!  I would clean, then play, clean, then play.  Good day in the books being a stay at home mama!

Clint got home a little early, whoo hoo, and we started watching some DVR'ed shows from Monday night, The Voice and Revolution.  Ava hadn't had a nap yet and she climbed up into my arms and fell asleep.  Instead of putting her down, I held her.  It was the best part of my day!  I cherish these moments and some might think I spoil her and we do, BUT there will come a time faster than I want it to come that she won't be able to sleep in my arms.  She slept and I enjoyed every second of it!

She woke up and played a bit and then before supper I went to give her a bath and fold some laundry.  Multi-tasking is a must as a SAHM!

Scuba diver in training?!

Before Clint went to play co-ed softball Monday night, he put together chicken chili!  It was fabulous.  He made enough for the neighborhood (he had to pull out the BIG crockpot!) so leftovers were on the menu for supper!

Sprinkled with some organic blue tortilla chips!  Holy yum!

After supper, while we flipped back and forth on the Election coverage, I tackled my LEAST favorite household chore!

Matching SOCKS!

I avoid matching them until I have a basket load to do!  Yes that's right a BASKET load!!

I found these Despicable Me glasses in the basket and put them on, and then Ava wanted to!

So funny is this kid!!

 Watching the election coverage and holding Pekka down, well I think he is sleeping, but having Ava roll all over him doesn't bother him evidently!

Well, off to working I go.  Have a great day!

See ya soon!

Halloween recap & busy Thursday

Yeah-yeah it is Friday!

Love me some Friday's! 

Halloween night I indeed got off work at 6pm and rushed home with a treat of pizza for supper.

It stayed warm in the oven until we got back from

TRICK OR TREATIN'.

We went to a local neighborhood and let me tell ya it was THE place to be.  Let's put it this way, if you lived there you needed to do some MAJOR candy stockin up!  There were kids, parents, and cars EVERYWHERE!  It was such a fun atmosphere to be in!  Clint sent me a picture of him putting face paint on Ava and it is the MOST disturbing picture of her EVER!  I will spare you the scary crying painted up face. 

Needless to say, when I got home, she had a squeaky clean face! 

Ava did so great!  Clint took her to most of the doors, she wanted him too.  I guess she felt safe with her big strong daddy! 

She wasn't to keen on saying "trick or treat" when she went up to the doors, but EVERY single time she said "thank you!"  I am all for our child being polite!

From house to house she would say, "daddy, i'm trick oh treatin" and "my punkin heavy."

Some graves in someone's yard.

There was one house that was SCARE-EEE!

The last 2 houses, she was brave-pants McGee and went to the doors herself and said "thank you".  Proud parental moment!

In the car on the way home, she got ONE dum-dum y'all!  That is it!  I choose not to give her anything else, just because and she had that one and she was fine.

We went to our next door neighbor's house and visited for a few and Ava handed out candy to some fellow trick o' treaters.

Yesterday was a busy day for us.  I got up and had some coffee and ran 1.5 miles on the treadmill.  Crappy Achilles!  Ugh.  I played it safe and got off when it started bothering me.  I did a 12 minute Bodyrock workout and whew it was a good one!

We got ready and headed to the office to do some cleaning before we met my bestie and her kiddos to look around for some plants and such.

Love these kids.  The baby isn't in the picture but here are the rugrats.

We left there after a too short visit and went to get my hair trimmed up.  This is the soonest I have ever gotten my hair trimmed.  I can usually got 3-4 MONTHS! Yea I know.  But this time was 2! 

She wanted to sit in my lap and look at the mirror. After this, she played with "piper" her doll and was completely good while my stylist, Jamie finished up.

Kroger was next up!  I love me some Kroger.  They have such great deals and organic foods to boot. 

I didn't need a whole lot, but I came across some great deals on things that I will be using in the next few weeks for Thanksgiving, so I snatched them up.  Fletcher, the little boy in the above picture had some goldfish, so that is all Ava talked about and to my amazement she spotted them in the aisle.  Well, since you "i spied" them, I can let you have a treat!

We got home and I put up the groceries and we went out to play.  When Clint got home we stayed outside and I cleaned the garage and he cut up the leaves.  Ava drew a picture and wanted to display it in her house!  Adorable!

After Clint got done, we let Pekka run like a crazy dog outside of his fence and Clint took Ava on a ride. (don't worry, no blades were on and he stayed on flat ground)

Gotta love country living1

We came in and got cleaned up and jammy-fied and snuggled a bit on the couch.

I finally got up and made supper.

Healthier chicken pot pie!

This was good! 

I boiled a hormone free chicken breast earlier so that was ready to be chopped up. 

I added 2 cans of Light Progress Chicken pot pie style soup and about a cup of frozen veggies. 

I put some butternut in the mircrowave to soften and then diced up about a cup and added it to the pot too.

I brought this to a boil and then simmered until I was ready to put in the dish.

I took some Pillsbury biscuits 4 in fact and cut them up into 4 pieces.

I poured the heated mixture into a baking dish and placed the cut up biscuit pieces on top.  I baked this for 27 minutes at 375 degress.

Comfort food goodness.

Well, I need to get some work done, so have a great Friday!

See ya soon.