Memorial Day Weekend

Yesterday I spent most of the day cleaning and doing laundry. And by cleaning, I mean cleaning out the rooms upstairs. I had let one of the rooms up there completely go and since it's the room we're going to use as a nursery, I thought I'd better start getting all the crap cleared out. I should have taken a picture of it before…let's just say, there wasn't much room to walk through the room. Now it's nice and clean and so is the closet! There's already some baby stuff in there too!

Our Memorial Day weekend was great and relaxing! On Friday night we went to dinner with Mike's parents and had a great time. Saturday Mike had a much needed massage and I stayed home and cleaned bathrooms. The rest of the day was pretty relaxing…meaning we did nothing but lay around! That evening we went to HEB and got brushetta turkey sliders to grill. Mike liked them…they did not agree with my pregnant belly. I ate a lot of mac & cheese instead!

Sunday was our precious Pasha's 7th birthday! It's hard to believe she's that old already. She's still so active and has such a personality. We hit up the pool that afternoon, which is always interesting on a holiday weekend. It was crowded and there were quite a few people there who I'm pretty sure do not live anywhere close to our town……no really, I heard them talking about how it took them an hour to get there! Even though our neighborhood pool is nice, I think we will head to a different township pool on the weekends! That evening, we went to church, where we sat through what may have been one of the best Masses I've ever been to. It was a mass of Thanksgiving and was given by a newly ordained priest who grew up in our parish. He looked so young for a priest, but is only a year younger than me. His whole family was there and his homily was fabulous! It reminded my mom of going to her uncle's first mass as a newly ordained priest over 45 years ago. We were still talking about what a great mass it was on Monday. 

Monday was pretty lazy and relaxing too. We took a walk that morning, went to lunch, and ran a couple of errands before coming home and taking a nap. We grilled burgers that night and watched The Voice!

Yummy, cheddar, bacon, bbq burgers! (If you want to make your burger great, go buy the buns from Fuddruckers!)

We're 17 weeks today and I'm still waking up nauseous and having to take the zofran. Other than that and the occasional TERRIBLE headache, I'm doing okay….just finding it hard to wait for that 20 week anatomy scan and our gender reveal party when we know if we're having a girl or boy!

The Vinylmations that came for our gender reveal party......we started collecting the vinylmations on our last trip to Disney and one of these will be a great addition!

pups & kisses,

  Tiffany

Don't mess with a pregnant lady

Yesterday was not a fun day. When I got up, I was excited to go get a prenatal massage and an adjustment from my chiropractor. My appointment was at 8 am and as I pulled into their parking lot, Mike texted me asking if between 8 and 10 was okay for the AC repair man to come. Of course not! He forgot all about my appointment! He changed the AC repair to 10-12. I had my massage and was moving to my adjustment when I looked at my phone. I had 6 missed texted messages, 3 missed calls, and a voicemail….mostly from Mike and one from my neighbor. I immediately called Mike and found out our house alarm was going off because the family room sensor went off. I immediately thought the worst. Today is actually 3 years since we moved into this house and that's never happened. My mom, who works at my chiropractor's office, was worried about me driving home carefully and about my blood pressure. I left my appointment without my adjustment and drove home carefully, knowing the police had been dispatched. I called my neighbor on my drive home and she said the police had already come and gone and when she first heard the alarm, she came over and looked through the front windows and didn't see anything. I got home, called Mike as I entered, and all was fine. We're not sure what it was, but it did throw my morning for a loop. Really, all that time I was thinking about our precious dogs and hoping they were okay…and they were. Still not sure what set the alarm off….as my wonderful Grandad said, "It might have been a mosquito hawk," and it very well could have been!

Next, the AC repair man. Remember he was supposed to be here between 10 and 12. He showed up at 1:45….just a tad late! He fixed the problem and thankfully didn't charge us, because he thinks he caused the problem when he was here checking the system a month ago. BUT, while he was here I got a phone call from one of our credit card companies. The card I've had the longest was compromised. It seems like this happens all the time. It happened to our other card last month, my parent's card twice in the past 4 months, and my mother--in-law. These credit card companies need to find a way to make theses cards duplicate-proof!!!

AND now for the kicker! I've mentioned before that we're a sponsor couple for those getting married in our church. Well, last night around 6, the head lady showed up at our house, UNANNOUNCED! It was just me and the dogs, Mike wasn't home yet. She basically walked right in when I answered the door and let me have it about not turning in a form. She used the word  "FRANTIC" about 3 times. This whole thing completely threw me off. I tried getting a few words in, but it was pointless. I think of all things that Tuesday, this got me going the most! Without going into the whole story, she left, I was beyond MAD, and I printed off a new form and hand delivered it to the church last night. I attached a note on it and I may have respectfully taken out my frustrations on a different lady, but oh well. I then got home and wrote a nice, long email to the lady that showed up at my house. I made sure to tell her I didn't appreciate her tone or how she treated me in our own home, as we are volunteers with the church. I also told her I was pregnant and occasionally deal with high blood pressure. Point of this story….DON"T MESS WITH A PREGNANT LADY!

ACTUALLY, the real point of this story is…..things happen in life that upset us..maybe a bit more when we are carrying child, but at the end of the day, we have our families, friends, homes, and possessions. All of which is more than those in Moore, Oklahoma have. The destruction that this tornado has caused is absolutely heartbreaking. I can't imagine having my home leveled, along with everything around me, along with an entire elementary school while school was in session. I've cried several times watching the coverage, from people who feel lucky and blessed to be alive but have nothing, a lady finding her dog during an interview, a teacher who laid on top of her students and prayed out loud for God to protect them, to a mother who ran 6 blocks to try to find her kindergartner and thank goodness, did find her alive! Some would be heartless and say, these people live here and should expect tornadoes….but NO ONE should ever expect that 200 mile per hour winds from a storm that reaches 2 miles wide is going to come…….it doesn't happen, until Monday, May 19, 2013. Mother Nature is a powerful and scary force. I will continue to pray for those effected and for the miracle that there are still survivors found in that school.

pups & kisses,

  Tiffany

Busy, but fun

Friday morning my awesome sister and her fiancé came over in the morning to help me clean off our back patio. We also attempted to clean our gas grill that hasn't been used in about a year. After starting the daunting task, we realized there were a lot of broken parts and it'd be easier to just get a new one! Then we Goodwilled our old patio set, along with the lounge chairs from my parent's old house. That evening, I made dinner…I think it was the first Friday in over a month I actually cooked! I of course, didn't take any pictures, but I'll post the recipe below. It's a salad with Doritos crusted chicken tenders!

Saturday morning my crazy husband ran over 6 miles after not running all week, because work is so busy. He then came home, re-hydrated and went on a 3 mile walk with me. After doing some work around the house, we went to the pool. It wasn't too crowded which was nice, but the water was a bit cold! That evening we went to dinner at Pappasito's and then to Lowes to buy a new grill and look at new patio furniture.

Relaxing by the pool

Sunday was so nice and productive! Mike played golf while I cleaned out my closet and hung up all the maternity clothes I've bought. I did wear a cute maternity dress to dinner on Saturday night, but I'm still in my normal clothes for the most part. Mike didn't get home in time for church, so I met my parents there and then came home and picked Mike up for dinner. We just went up to our favorite local pizza place and had a quick dinner.

This week is already getting pretty busy! Today I ran errands all morning, tomorrow I have a massage and an adjustment, which I'm looking really forward to, and I have to wait around for the AC repair man to come…..apparently one of the drains on the side of the house is continuously leaking and shouldn't be. Wednesday I'm stuck at home all day for something that's not too exciting. I have to do a 24 hour urine test before my 16 week appointment on Thursday morning. It's to make sure my kidneys are working properly and not contributing to my high blood pressure…which I'm pretty sure is not the case after consulting with the high risk doctor 2 weeks ago. I can't wait for Thursday morning when we get to hear our little one's heart beat again! I'm so glad these weeks are flying by!!!!

Have a great week!

pups & kisses,

  Tiffany

Justin's Chicken Tender Salad....adapted from Aaron McCargo Jr. on the Food Network

Ingredients
1 (8-ounce) bag spicy chips (recommended: Doritos)
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs, beaten
4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch strips
1 cup vegetable oil
1 to 2 tablespoons Big Daddy Seasoning, recipe follows
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
2 cups field greens
1 (12-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups diced plum tomatoes
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 (16-ounce) bottle ranch dressing

Directions
With hands crush each bag of chips separately into a shallow dish. In another shallow dish, add 1 cup of flour and in another shallow dish; beat 3 eggs. Dredge chicken strips in flour, then egg and finally into the crushed tortillas. Dredge half the chicken in the spicy chips and the other half into the blue corn chips. Transfer to plate. Sprinkle with Big Daddy seasoning.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add oil. Add chicken strips 1 at a time and pan- fry until golden and cooked through, about 3 minutes on each side. Remove from pan onto a plate and reserve.

In a large bowl, toss together lettuce, field greens, beans, plum tomatoes, Cheddar, and fresh cilantro. Top with cooked chicken and ranch dressing.

Big Daddy Seasoning:
1 tablespoon smokey paprika
1 tablespoon granulated onion powder
1 tablespoon cup granulated garlic powder
3 teapsoons seasoned salt
1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
1 teaspoon cup kosher salt
In a small bowl, mix ingredients together.

15 Weeks

Today exactly, we are 15 weeks along. We announced to our friends on Facebook last night that we're expected our first child in early November. There was some major college basketball news yesterday and my sister-in-law brought us a baby Jayhawk jersey, so it was perfect timing for us to announce. (Major college basketball news: Andrew Wiggins, the #1 recruit in the country, best since LaBron James, signed with Kansas yesterday…ironically, FSU was also an option for him)

I haven't been blogging much because my first trimester was pretty rough! I couldn't open the fridge or pantry without gagging because my nausea was so bad, which led to me NOT cooking! Below is a small recap of our 1st 13 weeks. Although it was rough, I am looking so forward to feeling the baby kick for the first time….I have a feeling once that happens, those bad weeks will disappear!

February 22: The morning of my sister's birthday I woke up nauseous. I was 2 days away from starting that time of the month and it could have very easily been that making me feel bad. I decided to take a pregnancy test anyway and in less than a minute it read POSITIVE! I was so excited! I took 2 more tests later in the day just to make sure..they were also POSITIVE! I had this grand idea of getting baby balloons and tying them to our dogs' collars so when Mike got home from work, the dogs would go running to him with the baby balloons. THAT DID NOT HAPPEN! I got the balloons, tied them to Pasha and she freaked out! Started running around the kitchen looking behind her as if she was trying to get rid of them! I finally stopped her and cut them off her collar. I decided to just tie them to a bar stool and place them in the hallway where Mike comes in from the garage. When he walked in, he just stopped and gave me a funny look. He couldn't believe it either! We shared some happy tears and then hurried to my sister's birthday celebration. Thank goodness I had a run the next morning and was able to use that as my excuse as to why I wasn't drinking!

The next few weeks were fine, life was normal, I felt fine! Then week 5 hit!

March 10: I woke up that morning and wished I wouldn't have! I haven't been that sick since 2007 when I ended up in the hospital with mono! I wasn't able to keep anything down, NOTHING! I stayed in bed most of the day, which was not fun. What was especially upsetting was, my mom had given us tickets to see Chris Tomlin and I wasn't able to go. Mike went and occasionally sent me videos of different songs, which made me cry of course. My mom asked me that day, "Are you sure you're not pregnant?" I of course lied and said "No MOM!"

From that day on for the next 3 weeks, I was sick all day…multiple times a day! The only thing I could keep down was McDonald's. So for 3 awful weeks, that's all I ate and still lost 7 pounds!

So from week 8 until week 14 I was still nauseous and still getting sick, but only once or twice a day instead of 5 or 6 times a day. At the end of week 13, my doctor finally gave me Zofran, and it has become my friend! Except for the massive headaches it gives me each afternoon like clockwork!

Our 8 and 12 week appointments have gone well baby-wise! Me, not so much! I've had really high blood pressure and heart rate readings at each appointment, which led to me seeing my primary care doctor, buying a BP cuff, and monitoring my vitals on my own for 2 weeks straight, twice daily. I of course, got perfectly normal reads. At my 12 week appointment, they did a lot of blood work to make sure there was nothing internally causing my BP to spike. That all came back normal. It still bothered my doctor and last Friday she sent me to the high risk doctor. I really liked her a lot and she reassured me that I was fine! My vitals were a bit high when I got there, but they took it again at the end, and I was fine. I think I get anxious when it comes to checking on the baby and hearing it's heartbeat…which has been strong and steady each time! The high risk doctor was going to send over some recommendations for my doctor, which could lead to more ultrasounds…..but I have no problem getting to see out little one more often!

Mike and I feel so blessed to be going through this wonderful, amazing journey of bringing a child into the world. We know some times will be scary, but we are so excited! Below are some pictures from the past few months!

 the balloons I got to tell Mike!

We told my family on Good Friday, which was also KU's Sweet 16 game

We told Mike's family on Easter Sunday. It's hard to see my shirt, but it had a chick in the shape of an egg and said Hatching in November.

The adorable Jayhawk basketball jersery my sister-in-law gave us yesterday...timing couldn't have been more perfect!

pups & kisses,

  Tiffany

Fettuccini Amatriciana

Yesterday was Mike's birthday! He had to work all day, but once he got home, he opened presents and then we went to dinner. He really liked his gifts, which I was thankful about! He was really hard to buy for this year…..how many pieces of running clothes can one have???

On Monday night I made one of my absolute favorite pasta dishes. I had been craving it ever since the week before when Fabio Viviani was one multiple morning talk shows promoting his new cookbook….which someone should buy me for my birthday! This recipe may have a few ingredients, but it's easy and SO YUMMY!!!!

FETTUCCINI AMATRICIANA

INGREDIENTS

8 oz. fresh fettuccine

1/2 stick butter

1/4 lb. pancetta, diced

1 small red onion, diced

1 tsp. red chili flakes

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup dry white wine

2 cups tomato sauce

Salt & pepper

1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese (or Romano cheese), grated

DIRECTIONS

Prepare a large pot of boiling, salted water for pasta and cook according to instructions.

Melt butter in a large heavy-bottomed skillet. Add pancetta, onion, chili flake to melted butter. Saute until pancetta is crisp on medium-high heat, about 6 to 10 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for 2 minutes.

Add wine and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bits. Add tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. 

Stir in chopped parsley and cooked pasta. Toss with cheese, and serve!

pups & kisses,

  Tiffany

Roses Galore

Everywhere I seemed to go this past weekend, there were roses. Unfortunately, the 2 rose bushes in our front yard are not blooming like everyone else's. I guess I need to put some rose food on them.

Friday night Mike came home a bit early, which I was thrilled about! He desperately needed to go to the driving range since he was playing in a tournament Saturday and hadn't picked up his clubs in almost a year! I went with him and sat on a bench reading my Kindle while he hit. I guess the breeze coming through there was strong because I got extremely cold and had to go sit in the car until he finished. From there, we went to Russo's New York Pizzeria for dinner and crashed early when we got home.

Saturday morning came early! Mike got ready to go to his golf tournament and I got ready to head over to my parent's. Since Mike was gone on Saturday and my mom had a bridal shower to attend, my dad and I decided to go out to Lake Conroe to visit my grandparents. We picked up some BBQ on the way and had a great visit with them! They're back yard was full of beautiful roses.  My grandfather went through and picked some for me to bring home…unfortunately, the ride home wasn't friendly to them! Especially since the ride home was longer than usual. We were about half way home when the weather turned terrible and started hailing! We got under a gas station awning quickly and waited for it to let up. Once it did we left…only it started hailing again! We rushed under the drive through portion of a bank and waited there a bit longer. Once we got back to my parent's house, I helped my mom make an appetizer to take to a neighborhood party, and then I came home to relax until Mike got home. By the way…..Mike hadn't played in almost a year and got an EAGLE on a par 5! That's incredible!

Sunday Mike did some yard work while I cleaned the inside of the house. We went to Brio for lunch…where there was a long, full, lush row of more gorgeous roses. We watched some DVR when we got home and then got ready for mass. We had a guest priest, who was the Director of Vocations for the Arch-Diocese of Galveston-Houston. He was great! His homily may have been long, but he had us laughing so hard tears welled up in our eyes! If more priests were like him, people wouldn't leave the Catholic church. He came to the US from Vietnam at 12 years old because as a first grader, he received his calling to enter the priesthood. He introduced himself as Father Who DAT….Dat being his last name, and then said he doesn't go to Rocket's games when our pastor invites him because he doesn't want people to confuse him with Yao Ming……Father Dat was short!  It was just a great mass! After church, my parents took us to Flemings to celebrate Mike's birthday. We sat on the patio, which we had to ourselves, and enjoyed a great meal!

I'm looking forward to this week because it's my love's birthday tomorrow!!!!!!!! I can't wait to celebrate!

Have a great week and be on the look out for one of my FAVORITE pasta recipes this week!

pups & kisses,

  Tiffany

Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

So this week has been a little busy and to be honest, I haven't cooked much. Mike's been working a little later and by the time he gets home, we're tired and ready for bed…..so who wants to cook late, NOT ME! Anyways, I only cooked Monday and Wednesday and while Monday was boring chicken and veggies, I added garlic cheddar biscuits…..which I could have eaten as a meal by themselves! They're pretty much just like the Cheddar Bay Biscuits at Red Lobster, which I have not eaten at since I was in middle school. While I have the recipe for those exact Red Lobster biscuits, it called for cubed butter, crumbling it with a pastry cutter, and then mixing with your hands, which I was not in the mood for. So instead, I grabbed my handy Paula Dean recipe for Garlic Cheddar Biscuits, because it doesn't get easier than that recipe! 

GARLIC CHEDDAR BISCUITS

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 cups biscuit mix 

1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar

1/2 cup water

Garlic Butter

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the biscuit mix and cheese in a small bowl. Add water and stir until just combined. The dough will be slightly moist. 

Drop the dough onto a baking sheet by the tablespoons. I used an ice cream scoop to get biscuits of the same size.

Bake for about 10 minutes, until the biscuits are firm and beginning to brown.

While the biscuits are baking, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the garlic powder, salt, and parsley flakes. Stir to combine and take off heat.

As soon as you take the biscuits out of the oven, brush them with the garlic butter using a pastry brush.

Have a wonderful weekend!

pups & kisses,

  Tiffany