24 Week Update

I'm 24 weeks today and everything is going well. Had my 24 week appointment on Friday and Cason's heartbeat sounded great. As most of our appointments have been, this was just a check the heartbeat and make sure I'm not having any weird symptoms. All is good. I was sent home with my glucose drink for the gestational diabetes test at the next appointment (4 weeks). Everyone says its not as bad as people say it is and since I'm a big fan of sweet Kool-Aid, I might even like it!

Cason has been very active today. This morning, I looked down and my belly was jumping when he kicked. This was the first time I'd been able to SEE him move. Ryan was able to see it too which was fun for us both.

I did 4 daycare visits on Friday. Of course my top 2 daycares are either the most expensive or the most inconveniently located. Typical. I am visiting a lady that keeps kids in her home this coming Friday. I hope I love her because that's the route we'd like to go to start out with!

The rest of our nursery furniture came in this week. Ryan and I picked it up Saturday afternoon and Eric and Whitney came over to help us get it upstairs. Thanks for the help!!
It looks really good and we are excited to have it so early. We got the Crib, Dresser and Nightstand. (view from closet door)
Once we get a chair, we'll probably play with the arrangement. We have a full empty wall to play with so I'm sure we'll find something that works. (view from bedroom door)

Finger Football

My parents always find something sort of silly to get Ryan for Christmas. One year was one of those little remote control helicopters they were selling in the malls. This year it was Finger Football. Kevin and Steph came over last weekend and Ryan convinced Kevin to play with him


It looked pretty fun, but more complicated than we imagined.


And requiring a little more skill. But they had fun and there was lots of giggling (manly giggling) invovled as they played.

New Camera

My parents got us THIS for Christmas this year. (THANKS!!!!!) I was so excited and surprised as I had only half mentioned I wanted one to my mom many months ago. She'd been plotting this for months and getting information from all our family members that have them. My dad used to have his own dark room and I've always wanted to learn more about photography. Now, I have no excuse because I have the perfect camera to start out on. I've got lots to learn and need to do it before Cason arrives!

Yesterday, I met Suz, Luke and Hudson for lunch and took a few pictures. It's amazing what this camera can do on its own (I sure had nothing to do with it)... and of course cute subjects like these two make it even more fun!

Red Bird Problem

We've had a problem with this stupid red bird (cardinal I guess) liking to peck/fly into the window of the utility room and guest room window. Ryan had this problem at one of his spec homes and we did some research. Everything says that during mating season certain birds (including cardinals) are very territorial and they will see their own reflection and think its another male bird so they attack. I guess hitting the glass doesn't teach them anything and they just keep doing it. Sometimes its so bad they start to bleed! Most solutions were to keep the blinds shut, put the screens on the windows, and other methods to make the windows not have a reflection. None are "pretty" solutions..

Since the problem at our house was not affecting anyone's sleep we never did anything about it. Then, the bird (or his friend) took a perch on our outdoor cooler one day and saw himself in the glass door to our bedroom. For the past couple of weeks, he's been attacking himself in the window every morning around 7:00. I did more research and still found no fool proof solution other than to try to make the window not reflective.

I came home last night to Ryan's version of this solution.... (click for full effect)


And Ryan re-enacting this photo...

It worked this morning... Ryan said he even saw the bird perched on the cooler so we'll see how long it lasts. If we follow the advice of the websites I've read, Ryan's threatening picture will have to stay for a couple of weeks for the bird to forget that he has an enemy in this spot.

23 Weeks -- Belly

There is no doubt I'm pregnant now. I'm getting lots of "you're finally showing" comments from my coworkers and it's nice to know I don't just look like I have a gut.

I'm still wearing a lot of my non-maternity pants with the Belly Band but am having to stick to maternity tops these days. One of my co-workers had 3 plastic bins of maternity clothes she's letting me borrow and I'm so grateful (and Ryan is too!)

I'm just over 5 months pregnant... over half way there. 24 Week appointment is tomorrow then I'm going to try to check out a couple of daycares to get that process started. I'm feeling pretty good but am staying fairly tired. I'm not sleeping great trying to get used to this side sleeping thing. Ryan bought me the Boppy Pregnancy Pillow today so we'll see if that helps.

Cason is moving around a lot. He really liked the Raising Cane's I had for lunch yesterday (or maybe he didn't like it?) because he really started to move. It cracked me up because he's normally not that active around lunch time. It normally starts late afternoon and then again when I get in bed. Ryan has felt a few kicks but as soon as he puts his hand on my belly, Cason stops moving and as soon as he takes it away, he'll start kicking around again. Little stinker.

We got a call today that the rest of our furniture is here (way earlier than promised) so we have to figure out if we should pay for delivery which is probably the best idea since the big dresser has to get upstairs. Hopefully we'll figure that out to get it here this weekend. Now I just want to get the message that the bedding has shipped too!

Baked Cinnamon Apples

I've never been a huge fan of baked apples, apple pie, etc. I guess as I've gotten older, I'm starting to like more things. Recently I've been craving cinnamon baked apples... so much so that I ordered them instead of fries or mashed potatoes at Chili's recently!

I had never made them before and wanted something really easy. Ryan's mom sent me two of her apple recipes. One I didn't have the ingredients for and the other was for the crockpot and I was in more of a "be done when dinner is done" mood. I found a recipe on Recipe Zaar that called for 45 minutes of baking time and had pretty much the same ingredients as the crock pot recipe I already had so I gave it a try. They turned out fantastic... but the results of 10 apples disappeared waaaaaayyyy too fast in our house!

Hot Baked Cinnamon Apples
By: Recipe Zaar submitter "Elmolvsu"

10 apples, cored, peeled and sliced thin
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice (optional)
1 dash salt
1 dash nutmeg
fresh whipped cream (optional) or ice cream (optional)

Place cut and peeled apples in a mixing bowl and gently mix all the ingredients together.
Put apples in a non-stick pan, and cook covered for 45 minutes at 375°F.
Stir at least once every 15 minutes.
Once they are soft, cook for another few minutes to thicken the cinnamon sauce.
Tip: Put everything in the baking dish and then mix it since there is less to clean up.

Several of the reviews said this can be made in the crock pot as well and one even said she made it at her desk at work. I could totally torture my cube mates letting this cook all day and making them smell it but not get to eat it! Ha!