Learning to Reupholster

A few months after I found out I was pregnant I saw a chevron rocking chair on pintrest. I thought it was so cute and decided I wanted one for my baby's nursery. I bought this chair at the thrift store for $12. I have never reupholstered anything in my life. I took the original fabric off and used it as a pattern for the chevron fabric. This project ended up taking a very long time. It was a lot of work to pull out all the staples and tear it all apart. It was worth the work though. I LOVE the final product! I also made the crib bumper to match. I have learned a lot about sewing the last few months with all my baby projects. Thank you to my sweet Grandma and Great Grandma for the sewing lessons in high school. 

Crock-pot Freezer Meals

 

I was on pintrest the other day and saw a link for freezer meals. You prepare the meals beforehand and put them in the freezer Then when you are ready to eat them you pull them out and stick them in the crock-pot. It sounds like a great idea for when the baby comes. I went shopping today and decided to try it out for the next week or so. If the meals are good then I will make another big batch in a month or so. That way when the baby comes I will have a freezer stocked with meals. I made a crazy shopping list with meats and veggies. I had seen in the Albertson's add that chicken was on sale for $1.67/lb and when I got to the store pork was that price too! I have never seen pork for that price and yes, I bought a ton of pork. I spent about $17.00 on meat and I have enough for 12 meals. Smokin' deal! Here are the meals I made.

Chicken Alfredo
Cream of Mushroom Chicken
Tariyaki Chicken
Orange Chicken
BBQ Chicken
Pork Stew (2 meals)
Apple Pork Chops (2 meals)
Pork Roast and Potatoes

I only had a few pork meals planned so I also have 1 ½ pork roasts left for 3 more meals. Preparing the meals took 1 1/2 hours and I have 10 meals completely ready for the crock-pot. The real test will be over the next week or two when I find out how they taste! If they are good then I might do a follow-up post with the recipes.

Yes, I really do have a baby in there.

 

For the last few months, when people hear that I am pregnant they all tend to think I do not look very far along. Lucky me right? It is a compliment not to look pregnant while pregnant right? Well, that all changed over the last few weeks. My baby bump really popped. Although it is fun for the baby to be growing and for me to start looking pregnant, it was not so much fun to pop out so fast. I have had really bad muscle pain in my abs and back (which I have heard happens to a lot of women with their first pregnancy). Two weeks ago, I tore a muscle in my back. I wasn't sure what was wrong, but I knew I was in a lot of pain. After a stressful night in the hospital, my doctor said I was not having contractions, not passing kidney stones, my appendix was fine, and that it was just a torn muscle. Bed rest time! Although it sounds nice and relaxing, it is not easy to just lay around in pain. It was hard to not go to work, and to rely on others for everything. I am back on my feet now, and feeling much better. Lesson learned: There is a reason pregnant ladies should take it easy, even if you feel like a rockstar in your 2nd trimester.

 

Me at 26 weeks, him at almost 25... getting closer to meeting this boy!

 

 

One of the perks to having that back trouble was that I got to have another ultrasound and see this little guy. I think he has the cutest profile ever! I can't wait for my 3D ultrasound in a month or so. Despite a rough week, I am loving pregnancy. This baby is so much fun right now. He squirms around ALL the time. Sometimes, Rob can even see my belly move (kind of creepy looking, just try not to think of the movie Alien). I am grateful that it was just a torn muscle and not anything too serious. I feel so blessed to have this healthy active baby on the way.

Cooking up deliciousness

A few weeks ago I made cake pops for a friends baby shower. The theme was "She's ready to pop!". We had cake pops, popcorn, fruit pops, and soda pop. I forgot to take a picture of the refreshment table, so this cake pop shot will have to do. They were so cute with the pink insides, because my friend is having a girl.

Pink Cake Pops:

1 strawberry cake (cooked)

1/3 can cream cheese frosting

1 bag chocolate morsels

sucker sticks

 After the cake is baked and cooled crumble it in your hands. Add cream cheese frosting and mush into a cake dough. Shape and roll cake dough into balls. I usually freeze the cake dough balls for about an hour to help them stay together. Melt chocolate in a cup or bowl until thin and runny. Dip the tip of a sucker stick in the chocolate then stab it into a cake dough ball. Let dry then dip the whole cake ball on the stick into the chocolate. I stab holes into a cereal box and jab the sticks into the box to let the cake pops dry.

 I drizzled these ones with pink white chocolate. The strawberry cake made them really cute but also really sweet. I have made these a few times and my favorite kind are red velvet with white chocolate. Cake pops are so yummy and super cute for parties!

Also this week I made Homemade Ice Cream and Caramel Corn. 

The ice cream I did not want to used a recipe that had eggs in it so I searched and found this one and it was good! 

Homemade Ice Cream (no eggs):

2 cans sweetened condensed milk

1 package (1oz.) instant vanilla pudding

1 T. vanilla extract

1/2 gallon whole milk

Rock salt

Ice

Combined sweetened condensed milk, dry pudding mix, and vanilla. (I mix it all together in the ice cream maker can.) Slowly add whole milk until it reaches the fill line in the ice cream maker can. Mix well with a spoon to ensure the sweetened condensed milk is not just stuck at the bottom of the can. Mix in ice cream maker for 40-60 min. You can freeze it for up to a week. Cover with saran wrap or wax paper directly on ice cream in a tupperware to prevent ice crystals. 

I used cheesecake pudding, it was really sweet. My dad gave me an ice cream maker for my birthday. It is such a fun gift and I can't wait to try different flavors of ice cream.

Now for the caramel corn. I also got an air pop popcorn maker for my birthday from my sis-in-law, spoiled I know :). I wanted to try this present out this weekend too. If you can't tell I have a sweet tooth and didn't just want to just make buttered popcorn. I really wanted caramel corn and my mom has a really good recipe but it calls for karo syrup and I didn't have any. Oh, well I will just make caramel without the karo syrup. Guess what? It worked!

Caramel Corn

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 cup popcorn seeds

Melt butter in sauce pan on medium heat. Add brown sugar and cook until smooth. Slowly add sweetened condensed milk. Continue to cook on medium heat (soft boil) until caramel is at the "soft ball" stage. (You can test for soft ball stage by dripping some caramel into a cold glass of water. When it forms a soft caramel ball then you know the caramel has been cooking long enough.) Remove from heat. Pop the popcorn seeds in an air popper. Drizzle and stir caramel over popcorn. Let cool and then devour!

We had ice cream sundaes the night before I made the popcorn. So I tossed some leftover toppings (nuts, m&m's) into the caramel corn. 

My Baby Boy!

20 weeks!