Weeks 15 & 16 in Review

How far along: I'm technically 17 weeks now, but I'm reviewing weeks 15 & 16

Total weight gain: 2 pounds...heading back to the doctor next thursday so I'll have a more legit number then. I feel like I've gained at least 10. I think little Pistachio must be growing pretty quickly now. I'm feeling weird growing pains (not really pains...it's not painful...more just weird) like I did the first couple of weeks.

Maternity clothes: I have officially broken out the belly band a couple of times. I have one pair of jeans that fit comfortably now with out it, I hate dress pants, and I'm seeing a lot of dresses in my future. At this point though, I'm trying to get by. I figure I'll be growing a lot pretty soon so no reason to waste money on clothes that might not last me.

Sleep: I'm getting plenty of sleep. I still have to get up at least once to pee in the night. Sometimes I lie awake a little bit. I think I just have too many thoughts on my mind right now. I have been trying to practice not sleeping on my back.....let's just say I need more practice.

Cravings: Anything acidic sounds great right now. I'm loving orange juice, anything lemon flavored, sour candies, and vinegar (which really isn't all that weird...I've always liked vinegar). I think all that points towards GIRL!!! I totally believe I'm having a girl.

Best moment for these weeks: I totally peed myself this week...actually twice. Isn't that suppose to happen later??? Maybe I'm just weird. I have some pretty vicious sneezes and thanks to all this pollen in the air...I've been sneezing a lot and apparently sometimes when I sneeze...I pee now. SO NOT COOL!!!

Movement: I think I have felt little Pistachio move but I can't be quite sure. There are lots of weird little feelings going on inside of me right now, but I can't really tell you what it is. Maybe movement? I need more to be sure!

Labor Signs: Of course not!

Belly button in or out: Less flat now...a little wider.

What I miss: Oh I would kill for a strawberry margarita, a cold beer, and my summer favorite - Miami Vice! I also miss feeling good in my clothes...there's more of that to come I'm sure.

Weekly wisdom: It's taken me some time, but I've finally realized I'm pregnant. I'm slowly starting to get excited about things. I have realized I'm just one of those people who has to grow to like something and that's okay.

Milestones: Possibly feeling the baby move?!?

Favorite moments: Finally discussing names...it was only once, but now that we've talked about it I feel a little less stressed about it.

Photo Updates:

And just to compare.....here I was 2 months ago!!!

Don't forget to vote boy or girl at the top left!!!

My Square Foot Garden

We've been busy this weekend fulfilling one of my whirlwind wishes. Last week I decided I had to have a vegetable and herb garden. I actually got the idea of a raised garden from my Uncle who had done one a year ago. I did a bunch of research, gathered the materials, and got to work!


First of all if you want to do this, you need to get the book that made this all possible. I borrowed mine from my Uncle, but I plan on purchasing my own immediately. It's the All New Square Foot Gardening book by Mel Bartholomew. It will tell you absolutely everything you need to know to successfully start this type of garden.

The main benefits of square foot gardening is it has awesome soil, little to no weeds, can ease bending over if built high enough, can be built anywhere even if you don't have a yard, and contains an adequate amount of veggies to feed a family of 4 in such little space!

Now for a brief overview of how to do it. First you need to make a plan. Decide how big you want it, where you want it, and what all you want to put in it. They recommend you put it on the north side of the yard for optimal sun and to prevent plants from shading each other. Also remember you can make it as long as you want, but make it no more than 4 feet wide so you can easily reach all sides. We made ours 4ft wide by 4ft high by 12in tall. Finally you can put pretty much anything you want in it. There are guides in the book and online as to when to plant what and how many seeds or plants you can put in each square.

Now, go gather your materials.

- Untreated lumber - cedar is best because it lasts longer, but I just got the cheapest (you can get it cut for you at Lowes for free)
- Linseed oil to protect the lumber (or you can paint it, but whatever you do just do the outside so nothing gets in your soil.)
- 3" deck screws to put it together
- Weed blocker - The book suggests digging up the first layer of grass and then putting the weed blocker down. We didn't, I'll let you know how it goes.
- Wood Lath (which you find in the trim section) and Nuts and Bolts - or some other material to create the grid (make sure it's more visible than just string!)
- Mel's Mix - 1/3 Vermiculite, 1/3 Peat Moss, and 1/3 Compost (pictured below)

You might have to call around for the 4cubic foot bag of vermiculite. I called my local Co-Op and they had it in stock. You also need to buy the compressed version of Peat Moss. It only took 1 4cuft bag of vermiculite and 1 3cuft bag of compressed peat moss to be enough for one of my 4x4x1 boxes.

The book suggests you also buy 5 different types of compost/manure. I used the 5 that were available to me at Lowes and Co-Op. Mine was a mixture of cow manure, chicken manure, mushroom compost, humus, and evergreen compost.......yeah....smelly!

- Get a Large Tarp to mix everything together.

- Lastly, buy your plants and seeds. For now I bought a few herb plants, tomato plants, and bean plants as well as seed versions of each. It will be cheaper to plant seeds but it will require more patience so I thought a mix of both would work best for me. I plan on adding more variety later.

Now for the building! Screw your boards together and be sure to rotate the corners so you end up with a truly square box!

Next insert the weed blocker by stapling it to the sides of the box and build your grid. This was probably the biggest pain of the day. It's hard getting those little sticks to stay where you want them and be able to drill holes without the rest of them all moving around. We started with 4ft long wood lath...it might have been easier if it was longer then cut to size afterwards.

Now for the fun part - mixing everything together! Pour everything out on the tarp and start mixing! We did one box at a time which worked out well.

Yay! Now it's time for planting. The awesome thing about this is that you never have to do it again!!! When you dig up roots of old plants and plant new ones, you can just add a little compost.

Make sure you have a plan on what you want to plant and where you need to plant it. You need tall plants in the back and short ones in the front so no shading occurs.

The book and some websites on the internet tell you just how many plants or seeds you can put in each little square.

Hopefully sometime this week we will be building our trellises for the beans and tomatoes I planted. I'm sure I will be providing updates!

He Could Have Been Her Prince Charming

Yesterday morning I came outside because Lola was barking her head off and I thought the neighbors might appreciate it if I attempted to do something about it.

"Look at what I found mom!"

I came out to find Mr. Froggy who was, for some crazy reason, desperately trying to get under our fence and into our backyard.

I couldn't decide if Lola was trying to send him away or cheer him on through the fence. I've never really seen her interact with such an animal.

To kiss or to eat?

Mr. Froggy did make it through the fence later that afternoon. I found him on our back porch around lunch time, but decided to keep Lola inside.

It was for your own safety Mr. Froggy.

I will always wonder if they would have been friend or foe...Sometimes it's best just to keep wondering.

What's to Eat? Wednesday: Mom's Sour Cream Coffee Cake

The pregnancy hormones are obviously in full swing over here since I just cried for a good 5 minutes over my Internet going slow. I'd say I was crazy, but I think I have some excuse for the time being. One thing that I know will always make me feel better is a slice of my mom's Sour Cream Coffee Cake. Yum. It's so sweet and absolutely delicious.

This was the first time I have made anything in a bundt pan and I obviously don't know all the tricks yet because mine did stick to the pan a bit. It's so hard to grease all those little creases! It didn't matter though...it was made just for us and gone in about 2 days so no one even noticed.

Mom's Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons sugar

Directions

Cream butter, sugar, and eggs till fluffy.

In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

Combine flour mixture and sour cream with butter mixture on low alternating between the two. Add extracts.

In a small bowl mix sugar, cinnamon, and pecans.

Grease and flour a bundt pan. Sprinkle 1/3 nut mixture into top of pan, pour in half of batter, sprinkle 1/3 nut mixture, and then pour in remaining batter and top with the rest of the nut mixture. Bake at 325 for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Enjoy!!!

Weeks 13 & 14 in Review

I've seen a couple of different people use these questions for their weekly updates and it seems like a good idea so I'm going to give it a try. Also please take your best guess as to if we are having a girl or a boy on the poll to the right! We find out sometime during the first 2 weeks of May so you have till then!

How far along: I am actually 15 weeks now, but this will be a review of 13 & 14.

Total weight gain: As of my last appointment on April 1st, I have gained 1 pound. I asked him about how much I should gain in the 2nd trimester and he said about 10 pounds to stay on track so we will see how that goes.

Maternity clothes: Not for these weeks, but it's coming....at least for somethings. I have had to go shopping a little bit to get some longer and more flowy tops and those seem to work well for me now. My jeans are thankfully low enough to where it doesn't bother me and since I'm not working I mostly stay in yoga pants all day since they are stretchy and comfy. I should probably invest in another pair of those lol.

Sleep: No problems here really. I do have to get up and pee once a night and have been since I became pregnant. What's annoying is that I don't even have to pee that much. It's just uncomfortable. Other than that I'm getting plenty of beauty rest.

Cravings: Ummm....sugar? Don't kill me!!! I know that is bad, but I gave it up for Lent and it now seems that my body wants back the 40 day supply that I denied it. I'm sure this will bring on the pounds if I don't get this craving over with. Can someone come and destroy all the Easter candy we have left please? Thanks.

Best moment for these weeks: Hearing the heartbeat again and knowing that it won't be too much longer before we find out what we are having.

Movement: Nada - that should be coming soon although I doubt I will even be able to recognize it.

Labor Signs: NO!

Belly button in or out: I've always referred to my belly button as an inny-outty. It's in but you can still see it when I'm not pregnant. It's not one of those deep inny's. This is really weird describing my belly button in detail!!! Ok so for now...it's more flat. There.

What I miss: 75% of my closet. I have since packed all the crap I can't wear and it is so sad now. My husband might actually have more clothes than me now and I'm still finding things I can't wear! Agh! It's just going to get worse.

Weekly wisdom: Funny story (wisdom at the end): The doctor's office was really busy my last appointment and when they called me back they ended up putting me in the procedure room. It had a nicer version of the stirrup chair if there is one of those and one of those metal equipment trays beside it. Also it had several pieces of very scary equipment.

Wisdom:

- Your husband will make up stories about what each piece of scary equipment does.

- Although the stories are absurd, your heart rate will go up.

- You will find yourself not being able to remember if you asked last time what you'll be doing on this appointment.

- They will move you to another room if you look freaked out enough.

Milestones: Making it into the second trimester!!!

Favorite moments: Finally naming our baby: Pistachio!!! Ok, so we haven't come up with a real name yet but it's better than "It" or "That thing growing inside me". Pistachio seems much more enduring. Michael's dad refers to it as "Bubba" and "Bubbarina" and one of our friends calls it "Ike". It's well named for now.

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