33 Weeks 4 Days–Ultrasound and Midwife Appointment

Today I was excited to have my (last) ultrasound appointment and a midwife appointment on a day when Chip was off and able to come with me!  My hardworking husband hasn’t been able to join me on these appointments and had not yet met our midwife so this was a special day.

Early in the morning we headed to our ultrasound. Elijah was such a good boy and sat quietly in his stroller while we all looked at the images of our Patrick and Rory. We were THRILLED to find out that both babies are still head down and the ultrasound tech said that at this point with twins (and minimal room) she believes that our Patrick (who has often been found in breech position) will probably stay put in this position. We are so happy about this! We also found that, as expected, the twins growth has slowed and they are both now in approximately the 50th percentile for height and weight! I know the female body is amazing and capable of birthing big babies. In fact I have a friend who gave birth to an almost 11 pound baby at home and she is of much smaller stature than me. But as I think about giving both to these two sweet boys, the 50th percentile sounds pretty good to me. Everyone looked healthy and with strong heartbeats and lots of movement! Both babies kept kicking the ultrasound tech as she put the wand on my tummy. 

After our ultrasound we were supposed to go see my midwife at her office but she was called to a birth so after a fun family lunch, we headed home where she would later meet us. It is such a different experience working with a midwife. I love the lack of waiting in a waiting room. That was always so hard with Elijah in tow. And I love the personal attention. Dr. Espana was amazing and gave lots of personal attention, but let’s face it, an OB is not going to come to your home if they have a birth during your appointment. Darlene (our fabulous and highly acclaimed midwife) was very pleased with our progress report from the ultrasound. She will have the actual report from the tech in a couple of days but she was pleased with what we told her. We walked around our home and discussed the logistics of our home birth and the location of the birth tub. We are determining if my original vision of having the birth tub in our bedroom will be  practical.  Our next appointment will be our “official” home visit where all (or most of the 8) of our birth team will come to our home and discuss our home birth.

Everything is moving forward perfectly. We have a little over three weeks before we are “in the clear” the go into labor for our home birth and a little over six weeks until our due date. I am sure these babies will make there appearance at some point between those two milestones.  In the meantime, I feel super confident that I am in excellent hands with Darlene, Shannon and the others on the birth team. Feeling confident and very excited!

Crockpot Chicken Tacos

 

I have ben working on my postpartum meals and this one was a super easy and quite yummy one! It was a big hit for dinner in our house and so I threw together a double batch to freeze!

 

Ingredients

• 1½ lbs. chicken breasts
• 1 (16 oz.) jar salsa
• 1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained
• ½ lb. (8 oz.) frozen corn
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• ½ Tbsp cumin
• ½ Tbsp minced garlic
• ½ tsp dried oregano 
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper 
• ¼ tsp salt
• to taste cracked pepper
• 2 cups dry rice
• 8 oz. shredded cheddar
• ½ bunch cilantro (optional)

Instructions

1. Add everything except the rice, cheese, and cilantro to the slow cooker along with ¼ cup of water (for good measure). Give everything a good stir and make sure the chicken is covered in the mixture.
2. Secure the lid on your slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hrs.
3. Near the end of the cooking time, cook the two cups of rice according to the package directions (Bring the rice and 3 cups of water to a boil in a medium pot with a lid in place, as soon as it reaches a boil, reduced the heat to low and let simmer for 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving).
4. After 8 hours of cooking, carefully remove the lid of the slow cooker. Stir with a fork to shred the chicken (it should be super tender and will shred easily). Build the taco bowls by placing rice on the bottom, then the taco chicken mix, shredded cheese and fresh cilantro.

Our Family Christmas Day

Christmas Day began with me up first, as usual and then Chip waking up around 6am! Elijah woke up shortly after that but we “honkered down” in our room because we wanted to wait for Grandmother and Granddad to get there before Elijah went downstairs and Christmas started for our family. So we enjoyed some family time and “breakfast in bed”. Elijah got to eat his yogurt in our bed which was a treat.

Mmmmm….yogurt with Mama!

This little boy loves his dog. We so missed our Bonnie on this morning. She would have been hanging out next to the bed waiting to go downstairs.

Getting in a good tooth brushing before we go down to see what Santa left!

Once Grandmother and Granddad arrived, we headed downstairs and started out morning…….

The first thing Elijah saw was his new chair! He was so excited to have his own chair and hopped right in! Since then, it has been a favorite spot for him to relax.

He was really into opening the presents this year….at least for about two thirds of opening. The first one, he just got excited tearing at the paper.

His very own baby! This will help Mama teach Elijah about being a big brother and what it means to have babies in the house! My hope is that he will take care of his baby when he sees Mama taking care of his brothers.

Elijah has loved his stocking (made by Aunt Merrily) and enjoyed looking at it from afar but this is the first time he was permitted to inspect it up close. And it was full of loot! (Some of which he picked out)

One of Elijah’s stocking stuffers was a toothbrush.  I’ve said it before but this kiddo loves to brush his teeth! We seriously had to hide the toothbrush from him to get him to open more presents! Look at that happy grin!

Hard at work opening his throwback Tickle Me Elmo! It was a hit!

And oh yes, we had an Elmo sandwich holder for the nursery during church and Time Out For Moms.

Chip got a kick out of his underwear that Elijah picked out for him. You see, they had several different designs and I let Elijah choose (knowing full well he would choose the bananas since that is his favorite food. It was a hit and gave us all a giggle.

A few weeks earlier, Papa John had sent me an Ipad Mini but I had been scared to use it much until I got a case. Well Santa brought one! Woohoo!

My boy loved giving his new baby snuggles. He will be such a good big brother!

At this point, Elijah was an expert present opener and helped Granddad with his.

As you will see, the drum/percussion set was a big hit!

Rory and Patrick were not forgotten this Christmas. My face is hard to read but I was very excited about new swaddle blankets for my boys!

The twins also received soft (and organic!) little outfits for their first day earth side.

My little drummer boy (future role in the Christmas pageant???) enjoyed his new drum while trying on his Bulls jersey…..

And Daddy had a matching one!

Santa did not forget Wrigley! He LOVED his bone!

Just love this sweet doggie.

Elijah caught a glimpse of what Santa left in the yard for him so we all put on our coats and headed out!

Elijah LOVED it!

He walked right in and shut the door behind him! He is really good about closing doors.

One of the features Elijah loved the most was the phone! Unfortunately it is cordless so we are taking bets on how long it takes for him to leave it out and it to become a Wrigley toy. I am going to try my best to prevent this from happening.

My little animal lover enjoyed his Noah’s ark!

He wanted to show Granddad his new elephant

Elijah loves to play the guitar. In fact, Chip and I often have to take ours out and let him strum. And now….he has his very own Elijah size guitar!!!

Another guitar lesson with Daddy!

My sweet little musician.

Elijah and Daddy had quite the jam session. Unfortunately Mama was a bit of a bonehead and forgot to turn on the flash! Still, these were too cute not to include!

We totally could be the Partridge Family.

He was actually pretty amazing at keeping a beat! I thought he was going to be a guitar player, but he seems quite naturally talented at the drums. Perhaps he will be a true musician and play it all!

Asking Daddy to play some more.

Checking out Elmo coloring books while Grandmother and Granddad relax.

After present time and a bit of relaxing it was time for lunch! Grandmother had a shrimp creole stuffed turkey breast that she brought over. Um…YUM!!!!!!!

I threw together some favorite sides of mashed potatoes, broccoli and my special whipped carrots! YUM!

After lunch, Elijah practiced his babywearing skilled in his Ergo…just like Mama and Daddy’s! He is going to be a great Daddy one day!

Love the Ergo…another great tool for Mama and Daddy to teach Elijah about taking care of babies.

It was really a great Christmas. We definitely did not get the reason for the season in our house. All day we talked about Jesus and his birthday and I had actually planned on baking a birthday cake with Elijah but we did not get around to that this year. (Which I am still pretty bummed about). But that tradition can start next year. This year we just enjoyed each other, our family and a day of relaxation in celebration of Christ’s birth. It was a great Christmas and we have so much to be grateful for. Not the least of which is our salvation and an amazing little boy that has lit up our life in ways we could never imagine. No Christmas can compare to the two we have had with our Elijah.

Christmas Eve For The Parishes

Our Christmas Eve started bright and early for me! I wanted to get some baking done for our trip to Baton Rouge so starting at about 6:30 am I got to work! I made some yummy gluten and refined sugar free apple cake, gluten and sugar free pumpkin bread (ok the chocolate chips I added were not sugar free but the rest was sweetened with honey!) and some banana oat cookies! I still plan to make some gluten free low sugar chocolate chip cookies to take if time allows on Christmas day

Chip awoke to the smell of yummy apples cooking on the stove for the apple cake!

After Elijah woke up from his nap and I was finished baking, it was time to get ready for a visit to Grandmother and Granddad’s and to go to church! My goal had been to make it (big and pregnant) singing in choir until Christmas eve and tonight was the night! (I am going to try to continue until the babies come but I really wanted to make it to participate in the Worship Ministry for this wonderful night). Chip has wanted to join choir as well but has stepped back to take care of Elijah on rehearsal nights so that I could do it because although they provide child care, the night is too late for our boy to be out.  We decided that once the babies arrive, I would take a “sabbatical”  from choir and he would join and we decided that Christmas Eve would be a fun night for him to participate as well! So off we went to Grandmother and Granddad’s so Elijah could go to church with them while we went to prepare with the choir for the evening service. When we arrived, Elijah was surprised with an early Christmas present. (One that I had really wanted him to have! Thanks Grandmother and Granddad!)

What could it be?

It’s his very own nativity! What great fun and a great tool for Mama to use to help teach Elijah all about Jesus!

Elijah showed Mama baby Jesus

Grandmother and Granddad also had a cool new inch worm riding toy for Elijah to use at their house and share with his cousins!

What a neat toy!

….though he is still partial to riding the lawn mower……

While Elijah continued to enjoy time with Grandmother and Granddad, Chip and I headed to church for preparation for the evening service and to sing. It was so much fun having my husband join me in the choir loft.  A passionate music lover/musician himself, it is a love that we both share I loved knowing that he was singing praise just a few rows over. During the service, it was cool for Elijah to see BOTH his parents singing for God. Elijah was so much fun to watch during the service. He was such a good boy, sitting on his grandparents laps the whole time, swaying to the music and signing “more” when it stopped. He loved the lights and the candles during Silent Night.  One of my favorite things about singing in choir is watching my son during the service just taking it all in and for the past several months, since he is older and more fidgety he has been going (and enjoying going) to the nursery so this was an extra special treat for me as well.  The music in the service was beautiful. We sang traditional Christmas songs which I LOVE!

Mama, Daddy, Rory and Patrick got a quick Christmas Eve picture right before the service began.

My precious boy looked so cute in his Sunday best! He was clearly the best dressed at church that night!

I could not wait to get my hands on my little guy after the service!

This year, choir did something a little different and sang carols as the congregation departed to their cars. Since that required a lot of standing, I had slipped out for that portion after we made our exit. It was fun to enjoy this aspect of the service and to watch my hubby in action. Elijah loved hearing them sing as well. He is such a little music lover and I can’t wait to see how this love develops.  It is my dream that one day he will be a leader in the music Ministry of our church!

Showering his Grandparents with a little love….my sweet, affectionate boy!

After the service, we headed back to the Senior Parishes home for a Christmas Eve dinner of yummy tamales and the BEST GUACAMOLE I HAVE EVER TASTED! Chip’s dad apparently has a talent for making guacamole that I never knew about. This pregnant Mama had several helpings and will be requesting on special occasions from now on! Seriously best I ever had!!!!! After dinner, it was nearing bedtime for Elijah….and time for Santa to come to our house so we headed home, followed by Granddad who spent a little more of the evening with us.

Wrigley enjoyed getting in on some of the loving action.

While we were visiting, we heard a strange noise outside and you will never guess who it was……..

SANTA HAD COME! And he was building a present for Elijah right in our backyard!

He must have come while we were out because he was using Chip’s drill.  We didn’t mind. We were excited to catch a glimpse of the jolly guy!

I got another quick shot of him as he was going inside to put presents under the tree but then he made us all go to bed so he could finish his work.

It was a fabulous Christmas Eve for our family, shared with those we love, celebrating the birth of our Savior and enjoying great company, beautiful music and some yummy food.  AND catching a peak of jolly old St. Nick! I can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us!