My Tried and True Freezer Meals

When I was about 36 weeks pregnant with Nicolas, I took an afternoon and cooked up a few weeks worth of freezer meals. It was one of the best things I have ever done for my own sanity! We were blessed with meals from friends and family for close to 2 weeks after he was born, but once those were over, I was still trying to recover and get into a new groove with school/homework/4 kids/no sleep/nursing every 8.2 seconds.... you get the point. Pulling out a frozen meal was a total lifesaver. I could add a salad and/or starch and have a complete meal in very little time, plus hardly any clean up from cooking! I was hooked and have been freezer cooking almost ever since! I cook about 2 weeks of meals at one time at it saves me so much time later on, not to mention it's great for our budget!

 I know there are tons of great blog posts out there on freezer cooking, so I'll keep this really simple. I just wanted to compile my favorites that are tried and true in case any of you wanted to try it out or you already do and want to check out some new recipes!

 A few tips:
 1) Make double, triple or quadruple of everything! That way you'll only be making 4-5 meals and have food for a few weeks.
 2) Almost everything listed here besides the casseroles can be frozen in ziplock bags lying flat to save room
 3) Wear comfy shoes when cooking. Especially if you're at the end of pregnancy. I still had swollen ankles at the end of the day, but my feet weren't quite as sore as they could have been. ;)
 4) With every recipe I added salt and pepper to my own taste

 Meatballs in BBQ sauce
 (I used the meatball recipe but just did good ol' Kraft honey BBQ sauce ;). I served with roasted potatoes and carrots.

Slow Cooker Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork
 (I only used the adobo sauce and not the Chipotle Peppers because it would have been a little on the spicy side for my kids) I served in tortillas with taco toppings, but you could also do it over rice.

 Black Bean Taco Soup
 Served with tortilla chips, sour cream and cheese.

Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore
 I kind of threw my own recipe together, but this is similar. Mine has bell peppers and zucchini.  Serve over rice or pasta.

Maple Dijon Chicken
 (I used honey instead of syrup. I've made this with chicken breast in the crock pot, or chicken thighs in the oven baked at 400 for about an hour. I preferred the thighs in the oven, but both were great!) Served with roasted veggies or rice.

 Teriyaki Chicken 
 I did frozen carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. I cooked it in the crock pot for a few hours, and then put it on the stovetop to thicken the sauce before serving over rice. The fresh ginger in this was amazing--definitely the best Asian dish I've ever made!

 Chicken and Dressing Casserole
 I made my own stuffing because we have an amazing family recipe and I can't imagine eating anything else!

 White Chicken Enchiladas
 I cannot find the recipe I used! But this one looks yummy and has good ratings. ;) The one I used had cream of chicken soup and sour cream, which I'm sure could be used in place of the cheese sauce.

I've done my own soup recipes-- Tortilla soup and Chicken soup. Potatoes and pasta do not freeze well, (besides in lasagna) so add that in later if that's part of your recipe.

 I've done a chicken alfredo. I did my own alfredo sauce, thin sliced chicken breast and spinach for good measure. I made the alfredo sauce thicker than normal because I knew the chicken juice would thin it out a bit as it cooked. This is great served over pasta or spaghetti squash for a healthier option.

 I've also frozen muffins, pancakes, breakfast sandwiches and bean and cheese tacos for the mornings. These are wonderful for early school mornings when I've gotten no sleep... no effort, and I know she's getting something filling nutritious.

 Hope that helps some of you. I cannot talk enough about cooking freezer meals. I LOVE it!

 If you freezer cook, leave me links to some of your recipes! I'm always looking for new ones. :)

The Birth of Nicolas

This birth was very, very different from my others. I am normally an early dilator, but this time I really wasn't. At my 39 week check up on Thursday I was only 1-2 centimeters at the most and 60% effaced. I know that early dilation doesn't mean anything, but I admit I was a little worried I would end up going late. Thankfully, that was not the case!

 We had been praying that I would go into labor that weekend for a number of reasons. The main reasons were so that my Mom could spend most of her time helping me out with the baby, and that my Mother-in-law would be present for the birth since she was out of town until then. 

 On Saturday (8/16), my Mom and I had a perfect day out. We shopped, ate lunch and got pedicures. When we came home, I rested a little and later on Nate and I went for a walk. No signs of labor at all, but the day was laid back and restful. We also found a little bassinet at a garage sale for $20, and set it up, as well as washing the car seat and getting it ready to go. When I went to bed Saturday night, it was the first night I felt totally ready for a new baby to enter our little world. Apparently, my body got the memo--and God answered a lot of prayers!

 At 4am on Sunday (8/17), I woke up to go the bathroom and discovered I was bleeding. I knew that things were starting and even though I tried to rest after that, I was too excited, so I straightened the house instead. I made the mistake of waking up my husband to tell him what was going on, and then he couldn't sleep either. 

 I called my midwife around 7am just to let her know what was going on and to make sure that it was normal to be bleeding like I was. They said that it sounded like things were starting up and I was pretty excited!

 At this point I was feeling slightly crampy but definitely not in labor yet. Nate took the kids to church and my Mom stayed home with me. I took a long walk and bounced on my ball. I was already pretty exhausted from getting less than 4 hours of sleep, so I rested on the couch a little bit too. I would have sporadic contractions here and there but nothing too painful.

 My midwife called around 11 and asked me to come in just to get checked since I have a history of very fast labors. At this point I was contracting about once every 10 minutes and by the way I was feeling was thinking I was about 3 centimeters. Before she hung up, she said, "it's going to be today!" which made me relieved, excited and nervous all at the same time.

 We arrived at the birth center and I was 3cm, 70% effaced, just as I thought I would be. The baby was a little high for her to break my water to get things going. 

 At this point she didn't want me to go home but she left it up to me if I wanted to go somewhere to walk or stay there. I knew I didn't want to lay around waiting for things to pick up on their own so we went to a shopping center to walk. We walked for about an hour and I was consistently contracting for 30 seconds every 2 minutes. Once again, things tapered off and we decided to go back to rest because I was exhausted and didn't feel like walking anymore. I laid on the bed and rested for about 30 minutes. In this time I had a few stronger contractions but nothing much different than I had been having. The break was nice, because I knew once "real" labor started it would be non-stop.

One last belly selfie while out walking(39 weeks, 3 days)

I decided to get in the shower a little before 5pm and this is when my active labor started. The contractions were getting stronger and I loved feeling the warm water on my belly. I held the bar in the shower and swayed my hips during contractions. They were back to 2 minutes apart, still only 30 seconds, but a lot stronger. At 5pm my water broke in the shower. I frantically texted my birth photographer to come now, because once my water breaks things happen very quickly. We also texted My MIL to come back, because things were finally happening. At this point I asked to get in the tub because I knew I wanted to labor in there.

She checked me in the tub and I was 5cm and 95% effaced. Labor was pretty intense at this point, and even though I was only 5, I knew it wouldn't be long. The water was extremely hot and I immediately started sweating, so Nate ran cool water over me which felt amazing. Thanks to bars in the tub, I was able to grip those during contractions instead of breaking Nate's hand like I normally do during labor. ;)

I mostly labored sitting in the tub, but I did try hands and knees for a little bit which I didn't really like.

At this point I was hating life. This labor was nothing like my other labors and I felt like I couldn't get in the groove of anything. My contractions never got longer than about 30 seconds and never really climaxed--they started out with full intensity and then just stopped. I still had 2 minutes in-between, which was so nice. At some point I asked that we call my sisters who were going to FaceTime for the birth. I started feeling pressure around 5:50PM and just tried to focus on the fact that it wouldn't be long now! My midwife saw me start to bear down and said it was time to get out of the tub. Because my last baby was almost 9 pounds, she didn't want me birthing in the tub because sometimes Moms of bigger babies can sit on them--yikes!  I was totally fine with that because I hadn't really decided if I wanted to birth in the water anyway.

I started pushing at 6PM with my weird, super short contractions. It didn't feel totally natural to me at this point and I was miserable. I know this sounds weird, but I usually love pushing because it's such a relief. This time it just didn't feel right. I kept asking, "is he coming down? I don't feel like these are effective at all!" I was desperate to get this baby out of me!

After about 20 minutes, my midwife checked me and said I had a little bit of cervix still left which was probably why my pushing felt ineffective to me. She said for the next push she would push it out of the way, and even though it hurt, she looked at me and said firmly, "You can do it", and I did.

Well, that did the trick! At 6:23PM in one push, Nicolas Jay came into this world and there is nothing that will ever compare to that feeling of having a screaming baby being laid on you after going through what feels like the valley of the shadow of death. It's horrible, it's beautiful, it's euphoric. 

I haven't really cried at my last 2 births, but I bawled like a baby this time. My labor was just so intense and hard and the relief I felt was overwhelming.

At approximately 2 minutes old, Nicolas made known that he was a boy and peed all over everything!

Nate has never been interested in cutting the cord :), so my Mom got to do it which was so special!

I was dying to know how much he weighed and was surprised when he was under 8 pounds-- 7lb 10oz! After having an almost 9 pound baby last time, I was very careful with what I ate and it paid off! I was very determined to not keep producing bigger and bigger babies each time!

There is nothing like the moments alone after everyone has gone home and the hustle and bustle of weighing and cleaning and checking temperatures has died down, when Nate and I just stare at our newest gift from God and feel overwhelmingly blessed. Another beautiful, perfect baby has been given to us and we do not take if for granted for one second!

Even though I would say this was my hardest labor, it was still only an hour and a half, just like my last 2 and I would take fast and furious any day over something long and drawn out.

Let me just say that I had the best support team ever. First of all, my husband is amazing and I could never do it without him. My Mom has birthed 9 babies and having her there means the world to me. My amazing Mom-in-law was a quiet presence and it was so special to have her a part of this moment!

I'm hoping to post pictures of the kids meeting their new baby brother sometime later this week. Happy Monday!

Welcome Nicolas!

Introducing:

 Nicolas Jay

 7lb, 10oz, 21 in

 August 17th, 2014

After many prayers that I would go into labor the weekend after my Mom got here and trying every old wives tale in the book, I went into labor on Sunday morning. It's amazing the little things God does in our lives to show us that he still answers prayer and cares about our every desire. To me, having a baby at the time that we prayed was nothing short of a miracle!

We could not be more in love. Nicolas has been a content, easy baby so far and we are so blessed for another healthy, perfect little boy!

Birth story to come. For now I have to go snuggle. :)

Daily Moments ~ Late Summer Edition

Right now the kids are sitting at the table with my Mom, eating warm cookies and milk and doing crafts. She's here until after I have the baby, which could be any day, and I'm already so much more relaxed with her here. She took the kids for dates today and they each came home with a special gifts and stories of vanilla ice cream cones and french fries. Meanwhile, I took a nap, made dinner and straightened up the house a little. Just having her here makes my life a thousand times easier and more relaxing. (Mom, want to stay forever?!)

 This summer has been super. Honestly, we have done just the right amount of little things over the weeks and enjoyed it to the fullest. I am relishing this time with my babies who are at such precious, fun ages. We have a few weeks before school starts and I think by then I will be just about ready!

Summer Moments:

Ice cream picnic and movie night--the kids loved this!

Got a Groupon for our local Children's Museum. The kids could spend all day there!

Miniature Bowling...so much fun!

Ball: $2.00. Look on his face: Priceless.

"Mommy, I'm pregnant." Bounce bounce bounce. He's been watching Mommy a lot this month ;)

A much needed few hours out alone for last minute baby shopping

Patiently waiting for their bedtime story

Date night selfie gone wrong ;)

My diligent little helper sorting socks

Yogurt Lover

Yesterday I had my 39 week appointment. Pretty hard to believe--this pregnancy has flown by way too fast! I'm very ready to have this baby, but also relishing these weeks of our family of 5 and no 2am wake up calls. ;) My blood platelets dropped to a crazy low number at 36 weeks and I became a high risk patient, which was stressful. Visited a blood specialist, got a detailed u/s of our beautiful baby boy and talked about which OBGYN and hospital to switch to. However, thanks to many people praying for me, my counts came up drastically within a few days. It was truly a miracle and I will still be allowed to deliver at the birth center, which I am so relieved and excited about! God is so good! My counts, while still low, are within a safe range and have stayed stable for the last 2 weeks!

 I'm hoping that my next post will be a baby announcement (fingers crossed!) and I would really appreciate the prayers for a fast, safe, easy delivery with no complications. Yes, I said fast and easy--because what expectant Mom wouldn't want that? :)

 I hope you all are enjoying these last wonderful weeks of summer!

Baby #4 ~ Week 34

How I'm feeling:
 Basically how every other pregnant woman feels at this point. Huge and uncomfortable--but still pretty good most of the time! I cannot complain. I'm still exercising and pretty active which keeps my energy levels up. I'm not quite ready to be "done", though--still have a lot to do this summer with the kids before baby comes along! One thing that has been different this pregnancy is sharp, lower abdominal pains. I've had the usual stretching pains before, but this has been different and has brought me to tears a few times. I'm told it's the pulling down of my uterus with not much muscle to hold it up because of multiple babies. And of course, I'm peeing like every hour or so at night, and even more frequently during the day! Oh, the joys. ;)

 Cravings?

 I mean, I could say I want sugar and everything bad for me--but really, that's the stuff I pretty much crave every other day when I'm not pregnant so I can't really blame it on pregnancy! I'm trying to be good, though, and limit my weight gain in these last weeks. So far so good in the weight department, and I'm hoping to gain the least I ever have this time around. We shall see!

Belly News:

 The thing is massive at this point. Sometimes it's hard to imagine I have 6 weeks of growing left, but I know that every pregnant mama feels the same way. My belly is oh-so-happy when it's floating in the pool, which is where I'm very blessed to spend usually a few hours a day. Talk about heavenly! I always tell people I would rather have my last trimester in the summer rather than the first--as crazy as it sounds considering the heat here--because not feeling morning sickness in the intense heat is a huge plus. And, the pool. Have I mentioned the pool? Yeah, I'm pretty much in love with it at this point.

 What I'm looking forward to:

 Honestly, this last month and a half of no baby! Does that sound bad? I can't wait to hold my precious little man, but right now I'm really focused on the three we have and making these last weeks super fun for them. This is my usual time of getting pretty sentimental about how our lives are about to change because I'm totally sappy like that, so we're making the most of the time we have left with no constant diaper changes, feeding, crying, sleepless nights, etc. ;) In about 3 weeks I know I will be so ready--just haven't quite reached that point yet!

 Will be back later this week with some day to day happenings around here.
 Happy Monday!

Baby #4, weeks 24-31

I have missed a ton of pregnancy updates this pregnancy, so I wanted to a little bit of a catch up. My last update was finding out we were having another precious baby boy. After that, Nate and I went to Florida and that was when I really started feeling super great and loving pregnancy again ;). May was extremely busy for me, as I mentioned before, so it really flew by. Really, this entire pregnancy has flown. I'm already buzzing through the last trimester and time doesn't seem to be slowing down yet!

Possibly the worst moment was when I came down with the stomach flu the night before I was shooting a wedding. Let me just tell you, throwing up at 7 months pregnant is not fun. You Mom's that have awful morning sickness--my hats off to you that you keep having more kids! I wouldn't do it, I know myself. I'm a wimp. Give me labor and delivery any day over that!

 At around 28 weeks, I had my glucose test as well as an ultrasound to check on my placenta. As usual it was a little low, but as of now it's moved to where it's supposed to be. Praise the Lord! The best part was seeing my precious little man again--seriously amazing. He was all smooched against the placenta, but she was still able to get a pretty decent 3D shot for me and I really fell in love with him more than ever.

24 weeks, 28 weeks & 30 weeks

As usual, my braxton hicks have started in full swing. My body likes to prepare early, even though I don't necessarily deliver very early. But when the time comes, it's fast, and I attribute that to my weeks...and weeks...and weeks of braxton hicks and eventually contractions.
 And speaking of labor--this time around we are going with a birth center and I am SO excited about it. I really needed to switch Doctors (much to my disappointment--they were amazing) because of fast labors and the minimum 40 minute drive to the hospital. I did a lot of research and really looked into water birth, because I would love to labor and possibly birth in a tub depending on how I'm feeling at the time. The only place that even had tubs to labor in was a birth center about 25 minutes away, so I went for a tour at the beginning of my pregnancy and fell in love. They have all of the equipment there for infant resuscitation, if, God forbid, it's needed, as well as IV's, medicines and pitocin for hemorrhaging, a wonderful relationship with the hospitals, etc, etc. I was so impressed with all of this, and since I've been blessed with 3 natural deliveries and no complications, Nate and I made the decision to switch to them. It has been amazing. I've worked with midwives since my first pregnancy and anyone who has knows how special they are! I have friends who have delivered there, and another friend due one day after me who is delivering there as well, which is so much fun!

 Anyway, other than sore feet at the end of a long day, a really bad digestive system (ehem) and feeling like I can't breathe at night--I'm doing great! And yes, rolling over and getting out of bed is officially an act of congress. I'm not complaining--every day with this sweet boy (name TBA at birth ;) inside of me is a true gift. I love every single movement, even when he does push against my bladder and crush the living daylights out of my lungs. I cherish every moment of this pregnancy, even the discomforts, and am so thankful that God has chosen me to carry another life into this world.

Celebrating Baby #4

Prior to this baby, I had found out the gender of my children 3 different ways—One at birth, one at the ultrasound and one with a gender reveal party. I have to say that for me, finding out at birth is best and even though I’ve had different reasons to find out beforehand the past few times, it will always be my favorite way. The delivery room suspense far surpasses the suspense of when you already know. I can’t explain it, but it is so incredible and I loved it!

 For our second, we found out at the ultrasound and I hated it. No climax, nor warning, just a sudden, simple “it’s a boy”, no excitement, no rush. It was awful and I cried afterwards because I wished I hadn’t found out. So, I knew that was never an option for me again.

 For Nathan we had a gender reveal with balloons, which I loved. There was so much excitement and suspense, and we had to wait 2 days after the ultrasound for my whole family to be present so there was a lot of guessing and talking about it before hand. I knew I definitely wanted to do that again with this baby, but this time with a cake so we could eat it and celebrate even more!

 I’m so thankful to our friends who came and took pictures so I didn’t have to worry about it. I just enjoyed the day and let them capture all of the excitement! So, without further ado, the gender reveal of baby #4!

I love seeing the facial expressions of my sis-in-law and all the kids!

ANOTHER BOY! I knew it! :)

Brooke's face in this seriously almost makes me cry. I know that she would have loved a sister, but she is absolutely thrilled for another baby brother! So sweet!

In answer to the most common question at this point, no, we haven't decided on a name. In fact, we have hardly talked about it! We usually don't fully decided on one until the last few months, anyway, so it will probably be a while. :)

 I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter Weekend! HE is risen!

Baby #4, Week 17

The bathroom got a makeover this weekend!

How I'm feeling:
 Back pain at the end of busy days (or when I don't workout/stretch), headaches and generally no motivation to clean my house is how I'm feeling...but this is only some of the time and I am not complaining. 80% of the time I feel perfectly normal! I'm so blessed. I'm super excited to be so close to the halfway point!

Cravings?
 "No Fruit Left behind" policy still in affect. My Dr. has recommended a low carb/low sugar diet (which I'm sure I'll write about sometime soon) so I"m trying to be good. I ate 4 brownies yesterday, if that can tell you where I'm at with the whole "low sugar" thing. Yup. Calories don't count on the weekends though, right? Most days, though, I do "good".

 Belly News?
 I'm still waiting to pop, but enjoying slowly getting bigger each week. I've noticed a little more of a roundness this week!


What I'm looking forward to:
 Without a doubt, finding out if this is a boy or girl in the next few weeks. I'm guessing boy!

Baby #4, Week 15

 How I’m feeling:

 I am feeling awesome! It dawned on me yesterday—I’m not exhausted anymore! I think all pregnant women would agree—the second trimester is definitely the best! I had my appointment last week and I’m measuring 4 days ahead. Normally I measure behind at this point, but I’m sure that the fact that it’s my fourth baby explains the bigger measurements!  Headaches have started, but that’s all part of it!

Cravings?

Nothing new. Still loving fruit—especially green apples, which is a common theme in my pregnancies.

Belly News:

I haven’t changed much! Sometimes I feel like I won't ever get bigger, but I know I need to enjoy the time that I’m feeling good, getting out of bed without the help of a crane effort and bending down without grunting. My skin will be stretched to the max before I know it J

 What I’m looking forward to:

Nothing in particular this week—just loving and enjoying each day with my babies.

**I'm about a week behind right now--I'll be 16 weeks tomorrow! Time is flying!**