Homemade Yogurt

I made a batch of homemade yogurt a week or two ago, and it was a total flop. So I tried again, and it turned out great! I think the difference was that this time I used a thermometer so I know the temps were right. If you are interested, here's what I did. I made an entire gallon because we eat a LOT of yogurt, but if you only wanted to make a half gallon you would just halve everything.

In a large pan, heat a gallon of milk to between 160 and 180 degrees.

Allow it to cool to 110. While it is cooling, whisk together 1 cup of yogurt and 1 cup of powdered milk. When the milk has cooled add some to the bowl and whisk, then add back to the pot of milk and whisk again. Pour into pre-warmed crockpot, cover and wrap in towels, and put in slightly warmed oven for 8-12 hours. Then refrigerate to set.

Ta-da! Yummy yogurt! For mine, I used 2% milk and plain yogurt. Make sure that your yogurt has active cultures in it or it won't work!

After I made the yogurt I thought I'd make some go-gurt treats for my little man and some frozen yogurt for me. I got the go-gurt idea off a blog somewhere a long time ago, but I can't remember where!

Some of the yogurt I mixed with chocolate pudding mix.

For the rest, I pureed strawberries.

The two blue lidded containers are my strawberry and chocolate frozen yogurt. The orange lidded container is 1 cup of plain yogurt for starter in the next batch. Plain yogurt is also a healthy substitute for sour cream in recipes!

Finally, a pan of chocolate and strawberry gogurts! Just measure about a half cup into little snack ziplocks, fold over, tape, and freeze. Shane really likes them but they start to hurt his teeth after a minute, so I might wait to do these again until he is older. Or until the summer!

Finally a big container of strawberry yogurt for us to eat for breakfast pretty much every day!

And here is the little dude who "helped" with a lot of it.

20 Weeks {Belated}

This past week was a week that we had been looking forward to for a long time--the week we got to have our ultrasound! We had it at 9AM on Thursday morning and the office was an hour from our house so we were up bright and early.  We got there a little bit early so Shane ran laps around the outer hallways.

The machine they used looked pretty old so while they were able to get the measurements they needed to tell us that Baby was healthy and a GIRL, it's pretty hard to see anything but blurs in the pictures they gave me. That's ok though, we saw that she is developed and healthy. She was also being stubborn and didn't want to give us a profile shot.

This is the only ultrasound I will be having, Lord willing. As much as the curious, technology loving part of me would love to go for an elective 3D/4D sono (Have you seen those things? They are creepy/cool.), the conservative, natural side of me won't allow it. Much as I'd love to see her pretty face again I don't care to subject her to another ultrasound.

After our ultrasound we stopped at Kid 2 Kid, which is a local kid stuff resale store where I had some store credit from selling a few things of Shane's. I used my store credit to buy a cute little outfit (right) and a stool for Shane's table.  The outfit on the left I bought months ago on a whim. It was only 2 bucks and both grandpas predicted girl so I got it just in case.

And, we decided on her name! Azaria Natalie V----! Azaria means "helped by God". Natalie is both my middle name and my mom's name. Originally I had wanted Jeanette for a middle name, after a beloved Great great Aunt, but Natalie won out.

How Far Along: This is my 20 week post, but I am actually 21 weeks today.
Total Weight Gain: 7 lbs
Maternity Clothes: Yup. 
Stretch Marks: A bazillion. But no new ones.
Sleep: Pretty good this week!
Best Moment of the Week: Seeing our baby and finding out that she is a GIRL!
Worst Moment of the Week: Almost leaving my wallet at Walmart--oops! And only getting three hours of sleep on New Years Eve. That was not fun.
Movement: She's really strong now, and I can feel her from the outside all the time! Nathan even got to feel her when we went on our date a few weeks ago.
Food Cravings: None
Gender: Girl!
Labor Signs: I started having Braxton Hicks around 14 weeks. They are getting a lot more frequent now, and stronger.
Belly Button: No change really.
Wedding Rings on or Off: On.
What I miss: A good night's sleep. But I've been missing that for a long time now, and I expect to continue to miss it for as long as I have little kids or am pregnant! It's a privilege of motherhood, right? If you'd like to wake up early to feed my eternally starving son so I can sleep in, let me know. I'll take you up on it.
What am I looking forward to: Finding out when we move--c'mon Navy, I need some answers!
Weekly Wisdom:I got a chance to talk to Emily about the trouble I've been having standing without passing out and she said it's because of low blood pressure. Huh.
Milestones: Seeing Baby and finding out her gender.
Weekly Verse: Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future.

Merry Christmas!

This Christmas was very low key for us. Nathan and I were feeling a little Scrooge-ish I think with the upcoming move and basically all we did was put up the Christmas tree! We also spent an evening making our own Christmas ornaments, which is a separate post. We rationalized that Shane isn't old enough to really know what's going on.

I had a tough time this Christmas, struggling with the materialism of a holiday I used to love. Nathan's family goes all out at Christmas time and even though I know, I KNOW that Christmas is not about the gifts I still always feel guilty that was don't spend/give as much. We can't. I don't believe in it even if we could. And this Christmas? This Christmas we didn't have anything to spend. So I did home made gifts, because I already had the supplies and what I didn't have I got for under $10. I was really nervous about how the homemade gifts would be received but they actually seemed to be well-liked! And I was pretty happy with them too.

Anyway we had a nice Christmas and I hope that all of you did as well.  On Christmas Eve we let Shane open his gift from us, which was actually his birthday present that I didn't give him because he got SO many toys.

Christmas morning I made chocolate chip pancakes as a special treat. I even got out some real Maple Syrup that I found at Walmart of all places! This northern girl can't stand that fake grodiness.

Then we got dressed up and went to church. Shane rocked the tux he wore to his uncle's wedding. I should've let the arms and legs back down, I didn't realize he's grown so much in just a few months! Everyone thought he was adorable in his tux. He was having a really rough morning and cried for ten minutes after I left him in the nursery, so I spent the service playing with him. I was sad to miss communion but happy to spend some sweet time with my boy.

From church we went to my in-laws house where I helped with lunch. Once more of Nathan's family got there we ate lunch, then opened up gifts.

 This was the first thing Shane opened.  He was so excited, he just wanted to play with his toys as he opened them but he has such a large stack that we had to move him along a little.

 Once Shane finished opening his presents, he helped me open mine.  He certainly got into the unwrapping part of Christmas this year!

 As a kid growing up my parents took a picture of us with our presents each year so I thought I would do that with Shane. I like to look back even to this day and remember my favorite gifts! I couldn't get Shane to stand with his presents without playing with them, but here are the gifts he got from Nathan's family. See the tall tower car ramp thingy? We are leaving that in the box until we move, so that he has something to keep him occupied while we unpack.

 These are the gifts from us. The car ramp was his birthday present. The book is really sweet, it's called "I Love it When You Smile" and I found it at the dollar store along with the coloring book. The truck were Daddy's pick.

 This is one of my favorite of the gifts Shane got. It's a little outfit with Navy emblems on the shirt, T-shirt, and jeans.

Boy or Girl?

Since we only have a little over a week until we have our ultrasound and (hopefully) get to find out the gender of baby #2, I thought I'd post a poll so you all can vote on what you think the baby will be. The poll is up on the right side of the blog.

At first I was hoping we'd have another boy so that Shane would have a little brother to pal around with, but now I'd love to have either. Obviously all we want is a healthy baby, and even if it isn't we'll love it just as much, but I would be equally happy with a boy or a girl.

Here are your clues to help you guess the baby's gender:

My Intuition: I think it's a boy, but not strongly. This pregnancy has been basically identically to my first pregnancy which obviously was a boy.That's why I think this one is a boy. The only thing is that with Shane I knew it was a boy, and with this baby my gender intuition is broken. I have also has baby girls on the brain a lot with this pregnancy (thanks a lot, Pinterest). So I would say Boy/Inconclusive.

Intelligender: Yes, I did it for fun. Hey, it's got a 50% chance of being right! It said boy.

Shettles: Boy

Old Wives Tales:
Heartrate: Boy
Wrinkles on the back of the legs: Boy. (If the wrinkles on the back of your first babies legs align, the next child will be the same gender. If they do not align, it will be the opposite gender)
Chinese Gender Chart: Boy
Strange Math Equation: Boy. (You add the age you were at conception-25-with the number of the month of conception-8-and if the number is odd it is a boy. If it's even it's a girl. So for me it is 33, ie boy)
Carrying High or Low: Inconclusive.
Acne/Look Stealing: None. Boy.
Cravings: None. Inconclusive.

Um, not one thing points to us having a girl. We'll see if we beat the odds! Of course we all know 10 reasons why every superstition is incorrect but like I said before, there's a 50% chance of being right! And isn't it fun to guess?

18 Weeks {5 Days}

18 Weeks. I hate how my face looks in this picture, so just look at the belly. Looking pregnant, right?!

This week I had an appointment with my midwife, Emily, and we spent some nice time chatting together. I am so sad to be leaving her as we have a lot in common! We are going to try to do some things together before I leave though. We are going to the children's science museum on Monday--she has a membership so she can get me in free!

This week I have notice that my SPD is back with a vengeance. It started later in this pregnancy and I think that is because I had gotten everything into alignment with a few chiropractic visits over the summer. My hips are also completely out of place. It's very painful!  I am going to try to make an appointment with the chiropractor next week. It's at the point that I can barely move, and laying in bed or sitting on the floor to play with Shane are just excruciating. I figure that a lot of pelvic pain is my trade off for not being sick the entire pregnancy. I don't really mind it though, because the trade off is so wonderful! The sweet little kicks make up for having to hobble.

The other strange thing I have noticed lately, and I forgot to talk to Emily about it, is that I am faint any time I have to stand much. If you will remember I fainted at Walmart when I was pregnant with Shane and I experienced more light headedness after that incident but it was most often just in church when we stand for about an hour. But this time it is much more extreme--I can hardly stand long enough to change Shane's diaper and I usually have to sit down for a minute when I'm doing the dishes. I don't lock my knees or anything, and I'm totally fine if I'm walking or moving around the house. It's very odd. I've even taken my sugar a few times when this happened and it was fine.

One of the coolest things that I did this week was schedule my 20 week ultrasound! Squee! I'm so excited to see the baby and find out what we're having. It is at 9am on Dec 29th and we will be taking Shane as well. He always sits on the table and "helps" measure my bump and listen to the baby's heart--I want him to be as included as possible. Only ten days away!

This morning I had a severe pregnancy brain moment. I put Shane in the car to go to church, and left his door open. Then I was putting the stroller in the trunk and I needed both hands so I put the keys in the rain gutter on the side of the trunk. Then, oops, I closed the trunk and bye-bye keys.  I pounded on the bedroom window until Nathan woke up and let me in the house and then I looked for the spare car keys so I could open the trunk. Couldn't find them. Then I spent about 45 minutes trying to find a locksmith or someone who knew how to jimmy a trunk lock. About an hour after I locked the keys in the trunk, I remembered: There is a trunk latch release in the car. HELLO! Sigh. Thanks, PB.

Tonight Nathan and I went on a date. I think this is the second one since Shane was born? We needed it! We went to see a movie and went to dinner.  While we were sitting in the movie Nathan got to feel the baby move!

I think that's all the good stuff for this week!

School's OUT!

I have written a post about going back to school several times in my head, but I've never actually written it out and posted it! It was a lot longer and more detailed in my head, but here's a shorter version.

I wrote about going back to school here when I signed up for spring semester.  I only took two classes last spring but I took four this fall (Yeah, what was I thinking.). I took Psychology, Concepts of Physical Activity, Anatomy and Physiology, and Bowling. The A&P class actually had a lab so technically I attended five classes, but the grade all rolled into one. And bowling, I know, I just needed one credit hour and I thought it would be fun. I actually had to take quizzes and tests though! Overall it was nine semester hours.

I'm not going to lie, it was a tough semester between my very active and attention loving Shaney and first trimester morning sickness and fatigue. I can't say that I did much studying, especially not compared to what I should have. Thankfully, all the classes were relatively easy except for A&P and I'll say that was a tough class! Interesting, fascinating, but very difficult! Plus I got a prof. reputed to be one of the most difficult teachers of the class. I enjoyed it, but I am SO glad that it's over.

Wednesday afternoon was my last final and I got my final grades today. I am very happy to say that I got all A's!  That means that as an adult returning student with first a job and infant, and this semester with a toddler and a pregnancy, I have gotten straight A's. I'm proud of myself! But I can't really take the credit. It is totally a God-thing that I got good grades, especially in A&P!

I won't be taking classes next semester because we'll be moving and I'll be having the baby, and to be honest I don't know when or if I'll go back for a lot of reasons. But I do feel like I've proven to myself that even though I'm "old" I'm still smart enough to go to school, and I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to add a few classes to my transcript.

17 Weeks {6 Days}

I think I've now gone from "she ate too many Doritos" (which, let's be real, I have), to "I'm pretty sure she's pregnant but you never ask that question so what do I do?" I think this because at our church ladies Christmas party on Friday several ladies came up and cautiously asked if I was pregnant. I am! Bet you didn't know that:!

The other new thing this week is that I felt Baby kick from the outside today, as I was putting Shane down for a nap. It was very faint, but I could feel it on the palm of my hand! And of course I'm feeling Baby move a lot more, several times a day usually.

This afternoon I took my first nap in several months. Usually while Shane naps I do schoolwork or chores, but today I just fell asleep for about 45 minutes. It felt so good! Once school is done I will probably spend Shane's naptimes packing or organizing or even crafting but once we move and I don't have to pack up a house anymore I will most definitely be working in some more frequent naps!

At 17 weeks Baby is about the size of a baked potato--it weighs about 5oz and is about 5 1/2 inches long. Over the next six weeks its weight will increase approximately six times. Finger and toe nails are also beginning to grow, which is why they already need cut by the time they are born! When Shane was born we cut his nails when we brought him home, even though the hospital will tell to file them instead. Actually, my mom cut his nails and showed me a neat way to kind of slide the clippers and clip as you go, and I've never cut Shane's finger. I used to only cut his nails while he slept but now he sits in my lap and we sing the ABC's while we clip. Sometimes it takes two sittings, but he's pretty good about having it done.

Navy Update

When Nathan originally went to MEPS, he was scheduled to leave for basic training on August 6th, 2012.  We were a little bit disappointed because we were hoping it would be a little sooner than that, but we got used to the idea and I was glad I'd be able to stick with my midwife and birth center and have the baby before we moved. When Nathan asked, he was told that there was no way he could leave earlier.

Last Thursday, after Nathan's DEP meeting, he called me and said the recruiter wanted to meet with both of us on Tuesday morning. He wanted Nathan to leave earlier, because if he didn't go to basic before I had the baby he could only join the Reserves. Nathan said the recruiter was talking after Christmas. My mind flew into a whirl, list after list after list forming in my head. I only got a couple hours sleep that night. And the next night.  Finally I tried writing things down as I thought of them, but that didn't really help. Still no sleep. I wondered why the recruiter had to make the meeting so far off! I was totally fine with him leaving earlier, I just wanted a more definitive timeline and more information. I despise feeling like I don't have all of the information. It leaves me feeling helpless and unable to plan.

Finally Tuesday morning rolled around and so did the meeting with the recruiter.  I went to the meeting armed with a notebook page full of questions! Nathan said, "what a surprise". See, I just like to KNOW things. Makes life incredibly easier. Anyways, the long and short of the conversation was that since Nathan already has two dependents (Shane and I) they want him to go to basic now because if I have the baby that gives him three dependents, in which case he has to get a waiver which the Navy has to approve and, well, they may choose not to approve it. Confused? It's ok. So the recruiter is putting in the paperwork to get Nathan sent early and he will for certain be home until January 3rd. The recruiter thinks he will probably go in January or February. Now I know that doesn't give me a whole lot more definitive timeline but since I do know that he will at least be here until 3 Jan, I can take a little breath. I got all of my questions answered, which makes it easier to plan some other things as well. Knowledge is Power, people.

Our plan is to pack up as much as possible, all of the things we don't use on a daily basis. As soon as we find out what we're having I'll be able to decide what I can pack of Shane's things as well. When Nathan goes to basic we will be getting a storage unit for all of our things (the Navy will pay to move them when Nathan gets stationed) and I will be moving to Ohio while Nathan is in basic and A-School. (About 5 months). We are letting our house go since we are on a month to month lease and I'll get a little apartment as close as possible to my parents house. Toddlers can be overwhelmingly energetic and because my parents and my grandparents live together, we thought it might be best if Shane and I had our own space and we can spend evenings and weekends together. But this way I'll be close enough that they can help if I need it especially in the later stages of pregnancy and when the baby is born.

I am actually really glad that the leave date is being moved up. I am totally ready to get started with this new stage in our life. To be honest, the only thing I'm really grieving is the loss of the birth I had planned to have. I love my midwife, the birth center, the birth tub, the personalized care. I have actually been excited to labor and deliver because of Midwife Emily and the relationship we've been developing, as well as the waterbirth I'd planned to have. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little sad to be missing that. But mom and I did some looking around online last weekend and found a few birth centers in their area that look like they do waterbirths, so we are going to check them out when I get up there. That alleviates the sting a little bit. And of course I'm excited to be close to my family.

There are SO many things that we have to do before Nathan leaves and unfortunately most of them plus the packing will fall to me, since Nathan is working nights.  So if you can pray that I'll have some extra energy and strength. I always seem to be packing and moving while I'm pregnant! And that makes it a little more challenging. Also, if anyone wants to come play with Shane for a few hours so I can pack, let me know. I have my finals next week so I am going to focus on that, and then after that it's preparing to leave. I'd rather be ready too early than to have Nathan leave and have to try to do everything alone. I'd also like to try to see each of our friends at least once before we leave. I'm a lot more mentally calm about things since our meeting, after all it's not like I've never done this before!  Or, you know, like twenty times. Ish.

16 Weeks {6 Days}

The baby doubled in size this week, and I think I can see the difference in my belly. I meant to take a picture today but I forgot.

How Far Along: 16 Weeks, 6 Days
Total Weight Gain: 4 lbs, as of two days ago
Maternity Clothes: Yup. I need a new pair of jeans. My ones from last pregnancy have holes in the thighs. Big holes. The cold air whistles through.
Stretch Marks: A bazillion. But no new ones.
Sleep: Terrible, but I can't really blame it on the baby. It has more to do with my mind racing and turning and thinking about some things going on. I just can't seem to turn it off to sleep.
Best Moment of the Week: Feeling the baby move multiple times a day. Watching Shane be a ham.
Worst Moment of the Week: Some news that we are dealing with--I'll post about it after we know more tomorrow. It's not bad news, just stressful news.
Movement: At 13 weeks I thought I felt movement. At 14 I was pretty sure. At 15 I knew it. And at 16 weeks I'm feeling movement not only daily but multiple times a day. It's not very strong yet, but I know it's there and I love it!
Food Cravings: None
Gender: We don't know yet. I can't wait to find out!
Labor Signs: I started having Braxton Hicks around 14 weeks. They are getting a lot more frequent now.
Belly Button: No change really.
Wedding Rings on or Off: On.
What I miss: A good night's sleep. But I've been missing that for a long time now, and I expect to continue to miss it for as long as I have little kids or am pregnant! It's a privilege of motherhood, right? If you'd like to wake up early to feed my eternally starving son so I can sleep in, let me know. I'll take you up on it.
What am I looking forward to: More/stronger movement, gender ultrasound, getting answers tomorrow, finishing out the semester, getting my house organized.
Weekly Wisdom: The night your husband asks you to stay up with him, your baby will wake up early as well, ensuring you will get five or less hours of sleep.
Milestones: Baby doubled in size this week! I can tell too, my belly got bigger!
Weekly Verse: Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future."

I Spoke Too Soon...

The icky, horrible, painful, bleeding, nasty rash is back suddenly. Ugh. Here we go again. I thought we had this stupid thing beaten!