It's a Beautiful Day!

Today has been a fantastic day! Jared took the day off of work and he came with me to my Naturopath appointment while my Mom came to look after the kids. The Naturopath told me to just keep on avoiding the foods that bother me and basically just keep on doing what I've been doing. I really felt like I was supposed to be prayed for at church this past Sunday, but I didn't feel like just having someone I don't really know well pray for me. I went and talked to my friend and she asked me how I was doing and then said she would keep praying for me. Then she asked, "Actually, can I pray for you right now?" Of course, I said yes, so she did and since then, I have felt amazing all week! I ate pumpernickel bread with spinach dip last night which had sour cream, cheese, and mayonnaise in it and had not one single symptom afterward! I also had some chocolate chip cookies with no problems! Jared and I went out for lunch after my appointment and I had a caesar salad and 3 cheese penne and not a single symptom! Praise the Lord! When we got home, my aunt needed help learning how to upload pictures onto Facebook, so my Mom + I went over there and I helped her with that and we visited for a bit. Then, I came back home and decided to take Kiera to the store. Her 2nd sticker chart was full (she gets stickers for good behavior or for waking up dry in the morning), so she got to pick a treat or a toy from the store. She found the perfect toy for herself: a plastic princess echo microphone! We also went to the pet store and my sister-in-law works there, so she brought out a shih-tzu puppy for Kiera to pet and let Kiera feed the fish. It was fun watching Kiera enjoy the animals and getting to chat with my sister-in-law. Then, I came home and warmed up some supper for the kids + I. Jared wasn't hungry and left for a friend's house shortly after that. Now Kiera is watching Winnie the Pooh, Blake is playing, and then it's bedtime! I rarely ever have busy days like that, so it was a really nice change from staying at home every day (during the week) and it was great getting to spend most of the day with Jared while getting a break from the kids! I also enjoyed the sunshine + warmer temperatures. Thank you, Lord, for a beautiful, fun day!

Baby Details

It's great to finally have our baby news made public!  We actually told our families at Christmas and then started telling our friends after that, so it hasn't really been a big secret.  We wrapped up the positive pregnancy test and gave it to our families.  They were all really surprised, except for my Mom-in-law.  She had been bugging us and asking about it and I actually lied to her, which I felt bad about!  My Mom didn’t have her glasses on when she opened it, so she was holding it, starting at it really confused, and wondering why we were giving her a thermometer for Christmas!  Ha ha!  I had my camera ready for when she finally realized what it was and this was her expression.

Priceless!  I have very much enjoyed watching peoples’ reactions.  Jared’s Dad immediately got tears in his eyes, which was very sweet.  Oh, and as a side note, my digestion problems started before I got pregnant and have nothing to do with the pregnancy.

This was a planned pregnancy and we are planning to be done our family after this one.  We actually sort of started trying at the end of August, but soon discovered that for me, it’s not physically possible to get pregnant while breastfeeding, as I had no cycle.  We decided to wait until I could safely switch Blake to 3% milk in October and then a month later I got pregnant.  I am now 14 1/2 weeks along and due in the middle of August.  Blake + this baby will be 21 months apart, so 3 months closer together than our first 2 kids.

I had a scare 3 1/2 weeks ago at my first doctor’s appointment.  I went and she couldn’t find the baby’s heartbeat.  It’s a bit early to find it at 11 weeks, but with thin people, you can often hear the baby’s heartbeat earlier.  She immediately booked me for an ultrasound which was the following day.  Those 24 hours between appointments was hard for me.  I had sharp pain close to my stomach the week-end before, so thoughts of possible miscarriage were running through my head.  I did some crying and a ton of praying.  I had our families and some friends praying as well.  I kept asking God for life.  I decided to go to the ultrasound by myself as I felt peace about it.  It was really hard to know how to prepare myself for the appointment, though, as I knew I was either going to be hearing amazing, joyful news, or totally devastating news.  I had also prayed for a really nice ultrasound tech and she was super nice + friendly!  The first things she said to me were, “I’m having a hard time getting the baby’s measurements because the baby is so active and there’s only one in there!”  PRAISE THE LORD!!!!  I was SO relieved that the baby is totally healthy!  There had also been a lot of jokes about twins and the night before the ultrasound, my friend had a dream that Jared had warmed up 2 bottles and the reason there were 2 bottles was because we had twins.  I prefer to have one baby at a time, so that was good news to me. :)  I got to see the baby’s heartbeat (which was strong) flickering on the screen, and I got to see their little arms + legs moving.  It’s incredible that at 11 weeks the baby is almost fully formed!  Everything was there that was supposed to be there!  When I saw the baby, I said, “Wow!  What a miracle!”  We are truly blessed to have another miracle on the way! :)

Very Thankful

“The more I count these blessings, the more I realize that they really are not the product of my own efforts. They are truly gifts of grace from God above. It’s incredible to open my eyes to them week after week. And humbling. That I should be graced with such wonders? Me… whose heart is weak and black, yet covered with much mercy. How great is Your unfailing love, Lord God of all!” ~Sharaya Crossan

Today, I am thankful for:

591. Freedom to worship Jesus in this country

592. This, which I haven’t had since last year

 

593. When Blake says, “Hi!” in his cute baby voice

594. The gorgeous hoar frost on the trees a couple of weeks ago

595. Leftovers, which means less cooking for me

596.

597. Homemade lemonade, which I made for the first time yesterday and it’s great!

598. “Fun” toes (I decided to brighten things up)

599. When piano students catch on to new things

600. NEW LIFE!!!! :D :D

Wednesday Recipe

This is another soup that I make usually once a week.  I love it and since starting this diet, I have really come to enjoy mushrooms a lot more.  I still wouldn’t eat them plain or with dip, but I really enjoy them in soups and on salads and I don’t mind them on pizza anymore.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 tsp. olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped (I skip this)

3 cups white mushrooms, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced (I do 1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder)

1/4 tsp. basil

1/8 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

3 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp. green onions, chopped

Bring these next 3 to a boil separately (makes a thick sauce):

2 tbsp. butter (I use olive oil)

3 tbsp. flour (I use white rice flour)

2 cups milk (I use almond milk)

Cook 1st 6 ingredients with olive oil until dry.  Gradually add broth + lemon juice and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, add the thick sauce and simmer for 10 min.

I’m really excited that I ate cheese yesterday and it had no ill effects on me!  Praise the Lord!  I really like meals with cheese, so I’m pumped about that! :)  Next experiment: pancakes made with normal flour.  Hoping and praying that goes just as well!

A Hard Week-end

This past week-end was definitely not the greatest. It started off with some really fun plans that I had for Friday night getting postponed, so that was disappointing. We were running low on groceries and I wasn't sure what to make for supper. It was really nice outside, so I suggested Jared should bbq some hot dogs. I, obviously, am not supposed to eat hot dogs, but I was low on food options, so I decided to have one along with a salad. I had terrible stomach pain after that and just felt rotten, and then that night I was up several times with the runs and one round of puking. Jared got sick the next day, but his symptoms were a bit different. He had a fever and a headache and we both just lay on different couches for most of the day. I REALLY needed to go to the store for some groceries but was feeling very weak and exhausted. I dragged my butt to the store anyway and picked up the essentials. Then, I came back and quickly cooked up some rice pasta and homemade alfredo sauce for myself. I took it along in my purse and went to that baby's funeral. I knew there was going to be a light supper after consisting of buns, lunch meat, cheese, etc. and I didn't want to cheat after what I had just been through, so I brought my own supper.

The funeral was sad, of course, but also filled with hope as the focus was on Jesus. Part of the message that stood out was when our pastor said, "When you're filled with pain, the best thing you can do is worship Jesus." He's the only one who can take away the pain. There were a few difficult moments for me. The first was when the couple came walking in and the Dad was carrying a little white box with his baby's body inside (it was closed). They walked in while the band softly played an instrumental version of "Jesus Loves Me." It made me want to bawl my eyes out, but I managed to not. Then, the pastor told about how their baby died in his Mom's arms with his Daddy holding his hand. That was really hard for me to hear. They picked the songs for the funeral and they chose: Amazing Grace, How Great Is Our God, and It Is Well With My Soul. Wow! To me, that was a testimony of their complete trust in the Lord. The other hard part for me was right as the meal was starting, they showed a slideshow. The first part was one song with mostly maternity pictures. The 2nd part was them with their baby and the song they chose was "You Are So Beautiful To Me." I start to cry every time I think about it. They took quite a few pictures in the 23 hours he was alive with family members and some just of him and there were some really beautiful ones. The hardest ones for me were when they were bending over and kissing his face. I decided ahead of time that I wasn't going to go see the burial and it turns out I was so weak that standing and walking were difficult for me. I bottled up most of my tears and then let them all out after I got home. I was sitting on the rocking chair in the living room, reading my Bible and talking to Jesus and I just sat there and cried. The next morning (yesterday), I woke up and started praying and just started crying again. I'm extremely blessed that I've now only been to 3 funerals in my life. The 1st was my Grandpa when I was 2, which I don't remember. The 2nd was Jared's uncle who died of cancer when I was pregnant with Kiera. I think I met him once at our wedding, so I totally didn't know him.

Yesterday, I played keyboard and sung for praise + worship at church. During the practice, I still felt really weak and had to sit on a tall chair. I prayed and asked God for special strength to be able to stand for worship during the service, and He answered and I was able to stand! After, I was so exhausted just sitting on a chair during the message, but felt a bit better by the time we got home. We ordered a pizza for lunch and I haven't had any problems from it, so I'm wondering if my body is ok with wheat + dairy. I haven't tried them just by themselves yet, so I'm planning to do that in the next couple of weeks. Jared went to go see a movie with friends in the evening and I really wasn't looking forward to being by myself with the kids, but it went really well! We ended up dancing and running around in the kitchen singing, "You're So Good To Me, Lord!" Then, we rested and sat down on the floor and sung, "Amazing Grace." It was just one of those moments I want to save in my memory forever. So, the week-end was hard but it ended off really well and I experienced God's grace. He is so good in every situation!

A Surprising Invitation

On Monday, we had a knock at our door. We opened it to discover our neighbor standing there. She handed us an envelope and said, "I'm here to invite you to my wedding." WHAT??!!! She's in her 60's, never been married, and we had NO idea there was a man in her life. She said she's only been engaged for a month and the wedding is in 3 weeks! She's marrying a man from down the street who's wife died and he has a big family. She wears dresses and her hair up in a bun, covered by a black cap and that's the kind of church she comes from, so we were very surprised and delighted to be invited! I'm planning to wear a nice sweater, a long black skirt, my hair up, and not a lot of jewelry and make-up. I just want to respect the way they do things and not draw a lot of attention to myself, although people will probably notice that we're "different" anyway. Maybe if I could find one of those black cap things...(hee hee) She said we don't need to RSVP as their weddings are fairly casual and there's just a light lunch after. Their weddings are part of their Sunday morning church service, so we get to experience a different kind of church service than what we're used to. We're very happy for her as she is such a nice, sweet lady and we'll miss not having her right next door, as she will be moving into his house. She said we could gladly bring our kids, but we're going to a hockey game the night before, so my parents are taking both kids for the night. That way we won't have to worry about attracting even more attention to ourselves during the service/wedding as Blake likes to walk around and make a lot of noise and Kiera likes to dance. We won't know anyone, except for our neighbor, so that's an uncomfortable thought for me, but it's good to get out of my comfort zone! Should be interesting!

Dress It Up

It's time for another mid-week recipe. I've had to start reading the ingredients on everything that I buy and sometimes I've been quite surprised. There are so many chemicals! I was shocked at how many cans of soup and packaged soups have MSG in them: Monosodium Glutamate. Anyway, I have to make my own salad dressings because there is soybean oil in basically all of them, plus some of my favorites also have dairy + eggs. This is by far my favorite dressing so far! The salad I eat it with consists of romaine lettuce, cut up apples, and cut up broccoli. I also add chicken sometimes. I know that sounds strange, but it tastes SO good! Here is the recipe:

Lemon Poppyseed Dressing

1/4 cup white sugar (I do less sugar and then add some agave nectar)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp. diced green onions
1/2 tsp. mustard
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tbsp. poppyseeds

Put it all in a blender and that's it! It tastes EXACTLY like the bottled dressing. I do have to go to a mirror and pick poppyseeds out of my teeth after, so just a warning! :)