OCD much?

This has been my day today, sitting with Kale while he's on ribbit.

And in case you were wondering, operation potty training hasn't improved much, but I'm not losing faith! 

No more diapers! 

Till March...

This was our attempt at taking a picture of us three the other night, obviously we were not successful.

So everyone here's the dealio. 

Something is wrong with me, I think I am slowly going crazy.

For some reason, I have become a clean house nazi.

I don't know what has come over me, but I cannot STAND to have a dirty house what so ever.

A fork in the sink drives me mad.

Pants on the floor make me want to scream.

And toys on the floor don't last there very long.

Maybe it's the whole nesting thing, I don't know, but for some reason I have officially become a clean freak.

So, this post is dedicated to my husband, who has been so patient with my ocd-ness and for when I'm acting like a crazy lady for telling me to go lay down and try to relax.

And also for just knowing not to sit on the couch without re-fluffing the pillows.

He's a smart man. 

Don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of things I am a slacker on.

Laundry being the biggest one, I loathe laundry.

I always tell myself that I'm going to get the laundry done in one day, does that ever happen?

No.

Has that ever happened?

Mmmmm, No.

It's currently day two and still piles of it are sitting in my laundry room.

Yep, go me.

I hate you laundry.

What's your least favorite chore?

Another one for me is cleaning the shower.

I always make Jon do it.

Do any of you have weird ocd-ish things you do?

This is what was for dinner last night at our house.

Look icky?

It was divine.

It's the same pasta recipe I always use that I somehow have forgotten to post, except for I used whole wheat pasta, and added spinach, which made it delicious surprisingly.

I will be putting more recipes up soon, I swear.

This pasta being one, homemade healthy ham fried rice, yummy rice side dish, turkey loaf, and chili.

Yep... Sometime I'll get to them.

Happy Tuesday everyone.

Till next time. 

Operation: Potty Training

Well it's official now, operation potty training has begun.

Is it mean if I say "shoot me now?"

The reason behind why today of all days I decided to start potty training, is this.

First, as I said before, every time Kale pees he just screams and shakes and it hurts him sooo bad.

Secondly, yesterday evening Kale hadn't pooped since his surgery so we decided to give him a little Miralax to help things along.

Then this morning, thanks to the Miralax, Kale had a blowout, and this was no normal blowout, this was the blowout of all blowouts.

For some reason, the poop made his "owie" bleed where his stitches are, and it was bleeding pretty bad.

So from there on I decided that diapers were no more, so that his peep and poop can't hurt his "owie" anymore.

It's been a very long, and frustrating day.

He has had four accidents, one during nap time, thankfully though, no poop accidents.

Everyone I've talked to about potty training said that basically it freaking sucks, especially if it's the first child, and even more so if it's a boy.

Man were they right!

I know it's only the first day and that (hopefully) it will get better, but for now, it's not very fun.

Wish my little man luck, that he will catch on quickly and get this thing down!

Till next time!

Kale's Surgery Day

 Yesterday was Kale's big day, and holy cow am I glad it's over. 

Check in wasn't until noon and I was stressed over the fact that Kale couldn't eat anything all morning, but he didn't even notice until we were leaving to go to the hospital.(Hallelujah)

 Once there, we got all checked in and had to wait (in a very stinky room I might add) for the nurses to come and get us.

Kale sat and played a Monster's Inc. game the entire time we were waiting.

Here he is in the exam room, getting his sweet hospital jammies, socks, and bracelet on. 

He thought the orange socks were the coolest things he had ever seen.

They checked Kale to make sure that he was nice and healthy to have the surgery.

We then went to the pre-op waiting room to talk to the doctor and anesthesiologist.

We waited in there for quite a while, luckily Primary Children's is awesome and has toys in pretty much every single room for all the kiddo's.

We talked with the doctor and nurses, then the anesthesiologist came out to talk to us a little and then take Kale back.

We got to walk Kale almost all the way to the operating room, then he had to go all by himself the rest of the way.

This was by far the hardest part of the day.

Watching our little man, walk down a big hall into the o.r. not knowing what the heck is going on, and then watching him disappear, and us, knowing what he is going into, was just horrible.

I honestly don't know how to explain it, everything about it just felt wrong.

Every parent must feel this way if their child is going through something like this, I looked over at Jon and he had the same expression I had, and I knew he felt the exact same way.   

I don't think you can understand the feeling until you have experienced something similar, everything inside of you just wants to run down that hall, hold his hand, kiss his cheek, and tell him that everything is going to be ok.

Once Kale was gone, we headed to the waiting room, my awesome mom brought us lunch.

About 50 minutes later the doctor came in and told us that the surgery went perfectly and that Kale did great.

One of us could go back in about ten minutes to see Kale while he was waking up

Me and Jon fought over who it was that got to go, and we couldn't agree of course, so we decided to rock paper scissors it.

I won :)

As soon as I got back to Kale they were moving him into a different spot. 

He was still conked out and when they moved him they told me Jon could come in so I guess my victory was all for nothing... :) totally kidding, I'm really glad that Jon could be there with me for when Kale woke up.

 He slept for a good half hour before waking up, when he did he didn't really know where he was or what was going on.

He didn't seem like he was in too much pain, the only thing that was bugging him was he wanted the light that they put on his toe to measure his oxygen levels off, he did NOT like that thing one bit, I just laughed and thought, out of all that could be bugging you right now it's this tiny thing?

The nurse showed us his... surgical sight, and me and Jon both gasped a little, it was a lot worse looking then I had expected.

 Here he is on the way home... Totally out of it.

We left pretty quickly after Kale woke up, which was nice, he hated being there and just wanted to go home anyways. It was about 4:45 so we weren't even at the hospital for five hours.

Once home, Kale just wanted apple juice, gold fish and to watch Finding Nemo. 

I was thinking that this was going to be pretty easy recovery, and then the numbness wore off.

Kale was absolutely miserable, I've never seen him like that.

He had to pee a lot because of all the fluids they pumped into him during surgery and then once he was awake all he wanted to do was drink, but the problem is, every time he peed, it would sting and burn.

I felt so helpless, I lost it a couple of times, watching my son screaming in pain, and shaking is not something I ever want to do again.

He had a prescription for oxycodone and sweet mother I am grateful for that stuff.

It seemed like it took forever to kick in but once it did, we had a completely different kid on our hands.

Thank heavens for drugs.

We went to bed around 9:45 and I set my alarm for midnight to give Kale more meds.

Midnight came and Kale was passed out and I knew that there was no way I was going to get him to eat anything with the oxycodone so I opted for Ibuprofen and prayed it would be enough.

To my amazement he slept till nine in the morning, only crying when he would pee.

Today has been so different then last night. 

I haven't even given him any oxycodone, only Ibuprofen and he is doing awesome.

He's been watching t.v. for most of the day but at lunch time he got up and was playing with toys and acting completely normal, he even ate a nice big Jimmy John's sandwich that Jon's awesome mom brought us.

The only time he cries is of course when he pees :( it's so sad.

But I think the worst is definitely over and that he will be completely back to himself before we know it. 

I just can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am that yesterday is over.

Especially last night, it was awful.

Thanks to all our family and friends, you guys are such a strong support and we love you all so much!

I'm so grateful that everything went well, I know it was only a minor surgery but he's still my baby boy and I couldn't help being a wreck.

Jon has helped so much with Kale, keeping me calm and everything in between, he really is the best.

Today has consisted pretty much of snuggling which I am more than ok with.

Thanks for reading, sorry it's a mile long post, there was a lot that happened yesterday.

Till next time.

Yummo Smoothie

 So here's the deal, I know that after I work out I should be drinking some sort of recovery drink, but I don't exactly care for them. 

 I was reading one of my new favorite blogs bodyofamother.com (thank you to those of you who turned me on to her site) and saw that she makes her recovery drinks into smoothies with fruit.

Hello!

I couldn't wait to try this out.

I am no where near as fancy as she is with ingredients but what I put in mine was half a scoop of Jon's protein, a large handful of spinach, a handful of strawberries, and a banana.

The protein is cookies and cream flavor and I was worried how all these different flavors would come together, but it was freaking amazing.

It looks a bit nasty I know, but I devoured that thing.

Yes! I am so happy I now have a way to love recovery drinks.

 On another note I put up our (cough) two Valentines Day decorations that I made last year. 

I wanted to be able to see the LOVE one when you walk into our house but the thing I hung it on last year is now down the hall by our bathroom.

So I decided to use my extra curtain rod I had lying around and I like the way it turned out.

Just don't look too closely at the ghetto wall hangers I used.

I wasn't about to put holes into the wall for a few weeks of use though.

I got Kale man all registered for his surgery today. 

Ah! I think I might have a nervous breakdown, Jon keeps telling me to calm down but I can't help it I am terrified, and I'm sure the pregnancy hormones are definitely NOT helping. 

I guess I'll just be a nervous wreck till it's over.

Happy national peanut butter day, go make some peanut butter cookies and enjoy them for me :)

Till next time.

this week....

Really quick I want share what I had for lunch yesterday because it was sooo yummo.

We got home from church and I could have eaten a horse I was so hungry, so I wanted something quick, and an omelet sounded perfect. 

I am usually really boring and only do ham and cheese omelets, but I wanted it jazz it up a bit and make it a little healthier so here's what I did and it was delicious.

 I used three eggs ( I usually use two but that just wouldn't have cut it)

I threw in some salt, pepper, parsley, and a little onion.

Once my eggs were cooked I added a little cheese, ham and spinach.

Yum.

This week is the infamous 32 week mark.

I don't know what I would do if this little man came right now, I still feel so unprepared.

But, I had a Dr. appointment on Friday and everything looks perfect.

I have to start going in for a weekly nst (no stress test)

Ugh.

I love the fact that my doctors office asks it's patients not to bring their kids with them to help not spread germs to all the pregger ladies, but when you have to go in weekly for the next seven weeks it kind of bites to have to find a babysitter.

Good thing we have amazing family that are always so willing to help out in any way. 

This week is also the big week for Kale man.

I forgot to put on my blog why he didn't have the surgery December 16th like we had planned.

The doctors office called me and asked if we could move his surgery to the 23rd because the Dr. couldn't do it on the 16th anymore.

I just laughed at her and said "you want me to have my son have surgery two days before Christmas?"

Ya, I don't think so.

So, the next day we set up is for the 26th.... like in two days.

I'm kind of freaking out.

I just want it over with and to be able to put it behind us.

Wish him luck.

It will be a good day when this week is over.

And thank you to all of you for helping me out, and sharing your yummy recipes, they all sound delicious and I can't wait to try them!

Till next time.

think healthy

 This post goes out to all you fellow bloggers, friends, and family, I need your help.

I am in search of healthy recipes for dinner or lunch.

Being borderline with gestational diabetes I have completely changed my diet, and I am in need of some new things to cook up.

To be perfectly honest this is the best I have been eating in my entire life and I feel absolutely great, but I am in dire need of some new recipes.

I have gone online a lot, but many of the recipes have ridiculous amounts of ingredients which can get pretty pricey pretty quick.

So, I am asking you for your favorite, go to, healthy meals.

I would be so very grateful, it would help me out more than you know! 

If you want to email me a recipe instead of leaving a comment my email is

eprows21@live.com

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you! 

It will be very much appreciated!

What's for Lunch?

 This always seems to be the daily question at our house.

We are really lucky that Jon works so close to home and that he can come home every day for lunch, but sometimes we get stuck eating the same things over and over and I am always looking for quick and easy lunches that are healthy because we all know how easy it is to pop a burrito into the microwave.

I love this salad because it's so easy, super good for you, and the clementines add a nice sweetness to it.

Start by making your salad dressing:

1 cup water

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

6 packets Truvia sweetener or substitute sugar about 1 Tablespoon

couple shakes of celery salt

couple shakes of onion salt

couples shakes of pepper

-Mix all together, if you can put it in a shaker of some sort that works best.

Next get some chicken breasts, one for each person and spice them up however you like, for this salad I just throw some Nature's Seasoning on them and then throw them on George.

I like Romain lettuce and I always use one head for each of us.

Once your chicken is done slice and put over salad, add clementines and dressing and your done.

Enjoy!

experimenting

 I have been hearing lots of things about ground turkey breast, how yummy it is, and how much more healthy it is compared to hamburger meat.

I've been wanting to try it out to see how similar it is to hamburger meat, to see if we like it, and to see how it holds up in all my hamburger recipes.

I was at the store yesterday and decided that it was about time to try it and see what the outcome was.

(or maybe because I was watching The Biggest Loser two nights ago and they made a ground turkey breakfast burrito that looked amazing and I just had to try something with it)

So I grabbed me some Jenny-O ground turkey and headed home. 

The package I bought was 93% meat with 7% fat which is pretty dang good considering that most hamburger meats are 70 to 30%.

There is also a 99 to 1% that Jenny-O sells, but the 93% was on sale... 

Don't judge me.

I decided that meatloaf was a good choice for the first round of experimenting.

Me and Jon have never been fans of meatloaf but we both love this recipe, and Kale devours it which is always a plus. 
I think I like it because I grill it rather than cooking in the oven and I love the crunchy outside it has.

It also is pretty healthy for you, we ate it a lot while doing HCG.

Anyways, back to the turkey.

So I mixed everything all up, slapped it on George and waited very impatiently.

If you are wondering who George is, it's about time I introduced him.

George is my lean mean fat grilling machine.

And I love my George.

We got him for our wedding and I am so grateful because I never would have bought him otherwise, and I love him... A lot.

Are you getting that I love my George?
He's sort of great, and if you don't have one, you might need to go and get your very own George.

 So, we sat down to dinner and all three of us were very impressed.

It was delicious and really there was hardly a difference between the turkey meatloaf and hamburger meatloaf.

I definitely think that I am going to be making the switch to ground turkey from now on.

I'm really excited to try out some more recipes with it and see how it goes, but I am more than pleased with this one. 

I would love some yummy ground turkey recipes, so if any of you have some, don't hold out on me and please share!

Till next time!

rollercoaster

 30 weeks and counting!

Awfully strange to think that if this little man showed up when Kale did he would be here in less than two weeks.

Last week at my doctor appointment they did my glucose test and long story short I failed it.

And also my calcium and iron levels were low.

Great right?

So two days later I went in for the three hour blood draw to see if I have gestational diabetes.

Needless to say that the entire weekend I was waiting for results I was a complete and utter train wreck.

I got the results back Monday afternoon and they told me I am borderline, meaning I was high on the first hour blood draw but within limits for hours two and three.

I spent a lot of time crying, moping around the house, and feeling sorry for myself.

Feeling like maybe my body just wasn't meant for pregnancy.

Then it just hit me.

Things could be a lot worse, and I need to get over it.

I am so blessed that I have had a healthy pregnancy up to this point and I had to realize, that this is just a minor set back.

Gestational diabetes can be very well controlled and you can have a healthy pregnancy.

I think back to when Kale was in the NICU in rooms with babies half his size that were hooked up to countless machines, and I realize how blessed I am, if this is the only thing that goes wrong with this pregnancy I should be one happy momma.

Why is it always so easy to get so caught up in your own self pity?

I remember reading an article on how your mind set controls the outcome of physical things.

Meaning if I am down, depressed and feeling sorry for myself all the time of course my body is going to respond to that in a negative way and only get worse.

So, I decided that I am going to have a positive outlook on this whole thing, do my absolute best to manage it, and hope for the best. 

 I know that the Lord has a hand in everything and that things are the way they are for a reason. 

I know that things may get hard, but I also know without a doubt that I am never alone.

I am so incredibly blessed to have another sweet baby boy on the way, I truly cannot wait to have another addition to our family, and as long as he is healthy that is all that matters.

Thanks for reading.

Till next time.

Holiday Bliss

 Friday (the 23rd) me and Kale man started out the day by heading up to my moms house to make sugar cookies.

Kale and Londyn had a blast doing this, they were pro's at putting about an inch of sprinkles on a single cookie.

That night Jon, Kale and I got all dressed up for a fun night out.

We went to Iggy's for dinner and then headed over to the new Megaplex to see Arthur Christmas.

It was the perfect movie to see, it was really cute, and it got us in the holiday spirit.

 Christmas Eve day we had to go pick up some last minute gifts (slackers I know) then we went up to my parents for my families big Christmas eve dinner. 

My grandma Mazee has a tradition for all the younger kids, she gives them brown paper packages tied up with strings filled with an assortment of their favorite things. Everything from fun little toys to food and goodies.

Yes, as in brown paper packages tied up with strings from The Sound of Music, and yes my Mazee is the best.

This year was the first that Kale got a brown paper package and he loved it.

We didn't get back home till around 12:30 and this was the first year that Kale understood Santa so we stayed up nice and late wrapping a few last minute things and setting everything under the tree for the morning.

 Christmas morning we actually had to wake Kale up to open presents.

He was a little cranky at first to be honest.

He takes after his momma and does not like to be woken up.

After we finished tearing through all our gifts we went up to my parents to have Christmas morning with them as well.

Christmas Day is with out a doubt my most favorite day for food out of the entire year.

We have a feast all day long from the minute we wake up till we go to bed.

Christmas night all my mom's family came over to their house for dinner (the most amazing dinner ever I might add)
We truly had a spectacular Christmas, we are so blessed to have such amazing family that we got to spend the holiday's with. 
Till next time.

It's about time

  I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that we finally got some snow!

Saturday morning we woke up, cleaned the whole house then we went outside to play and we had so much fun.

We made our first ever snowman, which Kale loved.

He also thought throwing snowballs and tackling daddy in the snow was just about the greatest thing ever.

Our weekend was spent with good friends and family, thanks again Brady and Brooke for having us over for dinner, but mostly the weekend was just filled with me and my boys and I wouldn't change a single thing about it.

One of my goals this week is to catch up on blogging so better prepare for an onslaught of posts. :)