{Prego with Jack} 28 weeks and some change

January 13, 2014 / jesyisms / 9 Comments

This post was intended to go out before I started my 29th week of pregnancy, guess what? Right, that didn’t happen and now I’m on my 29th week. Either way, most of the update is still valid and fun to read nonetheless.

If you couldn’t tell, I’m 28 weeks with Abbey on the left and 28 weeks and a few days pregnant with Jack on the right. As much as I feel HUMONGO with Jack right now I still feel pretty great.

{How far along?} 28 Weeks and 5 days (or so)

{Total weight gain} I have actually gained quite a bit of weight with this pregnancy, I think I have gained over 20 pounds and I’m inching close to 30. Damn, it is seriously in my belly and thighs!

{How big is baby?} Jack should be about 2.5 lbs and around 16 inches in length. Here are some 3D images of our little photogenic baby boy from our Becoming Mom Spa ultrasound (love that hubby and Abbey for getting this for me).

{Maternity clothes?} YES! I have been in a buying frenzy with new maternity clothes this time around. For some reason, everything looks cute and I love the whole black tights with loose fitting shirt and boots look. Totally rocking the bump!

{Sleep?} I’m doing okay, I have a few nights where sleep is more tossing and turning than others. I think I’m due for a pre-delivery massage at BecomingMom Spa. Yep, I’m doing it!

{Best moment this week?} With Abbey around, this pregnancy is so enjoyable from her point of view. We talked about sharing mommy and daddy and Ab didn’t want to have any part in sharing her daddy with Jack. “That’s my daddy!” Okay then, we’ll have to work on that a bit. I also love that Ab will look in my belly button and say that she can see him. She also has one of the 3D ultrasound pictures framed in her bedroom and she talks to him. Adorable!

{Movement?} I love these posts and doing comparisons with my pregnancy with Abbey is so much fun. This is what I had for 28 weeks with Ab: “LOTS! She is still a night owl and likes to move around during the 9-10:30 time. She does move some during the day and normally mid-morning she is pretty active. I’m wondering how many naps this little girl is taking everyday and sort of wishing I could take them with her.”

This is pretty true with Jack too! He is so active at night, it ping-pongs around but mostly stays in my lower right part of my belly and is VERY low so he just about makes me pee myself at least one time a day.

{Food cravings?} I love BREAKFAST!!! No super duper cravings right now but I do love to eat so I need to watch that!

{Labor signs?} Well… I think I was having a braxton hick over the weekend. George said he is going to rat me out to Dr. Caligaris, I think it was nothing.

{Belly button in or out?} In….barely!

{What I miss} What the hell is wrong with me, I miss B E E R!!!!

{What I’m looking forward to} I just had a freak out moment where I remembered a few things that we need to get for Jack so I’m looking forward to some SHOPPING!

{Milestone} I’m still working out, staying active and enjoying every second of this blessing.

A couple final thoughts:

1. I put together a Pinterest board “Baby/Toddler Products We Love” for a few 1st-time mommy friends. Thought I would share in case anyone wants to send it off as reference.

2. Take a minute to pray for baby Conner who gained his wings late Friday night while snuggling in the arms of his mommy and daddy. Conner was just 15 months old and had survived so much as a baby born with CHARGE syndrome. Babies are a blessing and when they are 100% healthy it is an absolute miracle. Prayers and love to Nikki and Josh as they mourn their baby boy.

Meals at Home

January 30, 2013February 4, 2013 / jesyisms / 3 Comments

Not sure if you would call this a resolution, quest for eating healthier or not wanting to spend major bucks on eating out all the time but we have been eating more meals at home lately. OH wait! There is one more reason, PINTEREST!!! Ha, I love that beast of a social media channel. Check out some easy recipes below that are mostly healthy or at least can be altered to add more healthy ingredients (George is on the picky side).

There have been some great Pinterest recipes we have recently tried that I’d love to share with all of you:

{Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings} Woah was this recipe DELISH! I took out the celery and other “green” items but this recipe could easily have vegetables added for extra flavor. I was a bit worried just dumping canned biscuits into the crockpot but that was my favorite part of the consistency and flavor. The house smelled good too.

{Meatball Sub Casserole} I tried this recipe out on my parents when George was not feeling so great and he didn’t get to try it. Both mom and dad were salivating over it and I thought it was pretty great too. I tried it again last Monday on my brother, Matt, George, and my uncle, Scrooge, and they all loved it as well. Matt actually asked me to email him the recipe. I’d highly suggest this one!

{Baked Ravioli} This recipe was tried on just myself and George and I loved this one. I ended up using the “meat” stuffed frozen ravioli instead of the cheese stuffed and George wasn’t too fond. I’ll have to try the cheese version next and see if he likes that one better. This was a source for left over lunches for me and I actually liked it reheated.

{Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken} So what if I have an obsession with easy recipes that include chicken and a crockpot. Just try this one too! Love the mix of bbq sauce and pineapple.

{Crockpot Italian Chicken} ~~A bit of honesty here, we haven’t tried this one YET but it is on the radar for trying and I think we have it in the menu for this Thursday. Stay tuned!~~ I can now say that we HAVE tried this one and it is my new favorite. Served over rotini noodles and topped with a little mozzarella cheese, woah it was good!

Other staple recipes in the Herron household that some of you might already know about but it is worth the second share:

{Taco Pie} Just a little hint with this recipe, DO NOT save your extra tortilla chips for like a year to use in this recipe especially if they are rancid. Yea, we had to order pizza few weeks ago because the pie did not taste that great. Otherwise, this is an easy one to serve dinner style (pie dish) or as suggested by my cousin, Beth, you can also serve in a larger pan and cut into squares to serve a larger group.

{Baked Ziti} This recipe started out as just noodles and sauce and has quickly been morphed to always having the addition of Bob Evans Maple Syrup Sausage, Y-U-M! My brother, Matt, actually bought that sausage once to add and it has stuck. This recipe was also a great way for my company, US Digital Partners, to support and serve lunch for the Ronald McDonald House of Charities, Cincinnati location. We made 10 pans worth of baked ziti for the amazing families who were staying at the house this past December.

If you have any recipes to share, please leave the links or recipe in the comments section so we can ALL take advantage. Don’t forget to follow our Pinterest board; The Herron Nest Loves to keep up with all the Pinterest greats that we have tried and love.

The Great Pinterest Pumpkin Project is Complete

October 29, 2012 / jesyisms / 2 Comments

I have this crazy relationship with Pinterest that goes something like this:

From my phone I start pinning all these great crafts, recipes and styles because it makes me think (out loud): “Oh I love that idea” “That would look amazing on my living room wall” “So cute and so easy to do” “Yum, I could make that tonight” “This would be perfect for (fill in the blank)” BUT THEN I DO NOTHING!

I keep thinking all these great crafts and foods I see on Pinterest will come in handy at one point in my life so I pin and pin and pin. This weekend was different, call it the crazy hair up my “@$$” or just me being sick of seeing great ideas go to waste, but I actually finished a Pinterest project (applause).

{I will call this my “The Great Pinterest Pumpkin Project”}

The sole reason I love to carve pumpkins is because I love homemade roasted pumpkin seeds and this year I thought I would get crafty with the design. What do you think? It was pretty fun to make, you can follow my step by step instructions below or you can check on the pin I used to create The Great Pinterest Pumpkin from my “Want to do Crafts” board.

Step 1 – carve the bottom of your pumpkin so you can get your hands up in the guts.

Step 2 – dig out the guts! You will want to scrape pretty good for a later step, trust me on this!

Step 3 – if you want to eat the Pumpkin seeds (recipe below) you will want to separate seeds in a colander for easy rinsing of the pumpkin guts.

Step 4 – I went ahead and worked on getting the seeds roasted at this point so that I could enjoy them when I was done with my project. I just rinsed them, dried them a bit, added spray olive oil to a pan and spread them out evenly. Then added seasoned salt and put in the oven for 20 minutes at 300 degrees. Turned them over and baked for another 20 minutes. YUM!

Step 5 – Back to the Great Pinterest Pumpkin Project! You will want to tape off your pumpkin for even drilling OR you can wing it but I wasn’t brave enough to try that.

Step 6 – Once you have taped, you will want to start drilling holes. Keep in mind that you will be adding string lights so you’ll want to use a small drill bit and size them up with your lights.

Step 7 – Go ahead and put your hand back up the pumpkin and push a string of lights (one light per hole) in each hole. I had to use 100 to fill all the holes in my pumpkin. Be sure to count!