Jordan plays on our church’s softball team on Monday nights. The games have been mostly later in the evening this season, so Hudson & I haven’t been able to make it out. But TONIGHT it was at 6:30 so we got to go cheer Daddy on! Yay!
They won 10-6.
I’m sure our presence had everything to do with the victory. 😉
It was fun to hang out with all the other families – people come out in droves for the early game!
Momma beat the heat with a cold Diet Coke from here:
Size: He is about 4.5 inches from the crown of his head to his bottom. (They don’t measure from head to toe for a while) He weighs about 3.5 ounces
Baby changes:  His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his hair isn’t recognizable yet. He’s even started growing toenails. His heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase.
Best Moment this week: Had a fun date with the hubby at our favorite pizza joint this week.
Gender:Â Sweet baby BOY – Owen Paul
Movement: Still sporadic for now, but I feel some kicks every now & then. Mostly at night in bed.
Food Craving:Â Cheese. Extra sharp cheddar to be exact. It is my favorite snack right now.
What I miss: Hmm. I miss snuggling with Jordan at night. I am really hot, especially at night when I sleep.
Sleep: Sleeping pretty well. I take the usual 3 trips to the potty and I have been having ca-ray-zay dreams lately!!
What I am looking forward to:Â Same as last week…looking forward to feeling more movement & sharing those moments with Jordan.
Symptoms: Crazy dreams and a shrunken bladder 🙂
Grabbed this before heading to work…Sorry it is blurry…I didn’t want to take another one.
My belly is definitely popping out now.
In fact, one of my kids this morning in church (I teach 2 year olds) said, “Is that a baby in your tummy?!!”. So I am pretty sure that qualifies as “definitely showing” 😉
I think it is so fun….searching for new recipes. Pouring over gorgeous pictures of meals. Prepping the ingredients. Cooking the meal. Enjoy good food with my people.
I don’t make fancy food. Or at least not very often 😉 because let’s be honest…there is no time for that around here!
This recipe sounds a little fancy…but it is SO simple. It is delish. I think it would be great for feeding company – in fact, if you come over for dinner sometime soon – you will probably be eating this dish!
Oh, and did I mention that it also comes together in mere minutes?! That’s what I am talking about!
* * *
{Chicken Carbonara}
adapted, though barely, from Tyler Florence’s Spaghetti al la Carbonara
* * *
Ingredients:
1Â rotisserie chicken
1 lb dry spaghetti
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
4 ounces turkey bacon, diced
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 large eggs
1 C shredded parmasean (NOT the powdered kind. Uh uh. Don’t do it.)
coarse black pepper to taste
1 handful fresh parsley, chopped (I probably used 1/3 – 1/2 C)
1 small handful fresh basil, chopped (Probably used about 1/4 C)
* * *
1. Pull the skin off the chicken. Discard. Pull the meat off and shred or chop. Set aside.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta to al dente (tender, but still firm to the bite).
3. While the water is coming to a boil/pasta is cooking: Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add the diced bacon. Saute about 5 minutes then add the minced garlic and black pepper. Add the parsley & basil (FYI – the fresh herbs totally make this dish). Add 1 C. of the chopped chicken (you can add more if you want. I saved the rest and got another meal out of it and there was plenty in the dish).
4. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in the parmasean.
5. Reserve 1/2 of the starchy cooking water from the pasta, then drain the pasta. Add the noodles to the skillet with the chicken, bacon & herbs. Mix it all up.
6. Now – remove the skillet from the heat so as to not scramble the eggs – add the egg & cheese mixture to the noodle mixture. Mix it up quickly with the hot noodles, it will thicken as it cooks. I mixed it with a pair of tongs. It will cook fast, maybe 2 minutes. Add some of the reserved pasta water if you need to thin the sauce out a little.
TA-DA!!
* * *
I served this with a caesar salad and some garlic bread. Easy peasy and everyone loved it. Me. Jordan. Hudson. In fact, I don’t think I have ever seen Hudson consume a meal with such enthusiasm…with the exception of a bowl of Blue Bell (the kid has his priorities straight).
Half way through dinner I decided to take a pic because it was SO good…the pic isn’t all that good…because I was anxious to finish my yummy dinner 😉 but it gives you an idea of the thing.
And the funniest thing was that Hudson started slurping & sucking his noodles up into his mouth when we gave him a bite.
He is a funny kid.
See the fun for yourself:
P.S. I think this would be just as delicious without the chicken and even easier. My man likes the extra meat…so I add it…but…something to consider!
Jayme+Saber, Liz+Willa, and Hudson+I try to get together every other week or so for a little play time. Today we went to the pool in Jayme’s neighborhood. It just opened up recently and their neighborhood is still new-ish & small, we were the only ones at this pool this afternoon! It was so nice!!!
Here are the babies 🙂 Willa shared Hudson’s raft. Look at Saber’s cute grin! Hudson didn’t want to part with the paci…whatever. That was the closest thing I could get to everyone looking at the camera
The love boat. Ha. 🙂
Hudson & Saber…they are totally besties!
Sweet girl conked out after all that swimming,
Saber…he is the happiest baby ev-a!!
My boy found some sticks…and was super content to play with them for a long time 🙂 I love having boys.
We are so thankful for our friends & fun days in this hot summer sun!
This Wednesday is not quiet wordless because it needs a little explaining. You may not know, but our house is about a mile from a small airport in McKinney.
Its all small private planes that fly in & out, so it isn’t crazy loud or annoying, we can hear & see them from our backyard. Hudson has really been interested in the planes lately.
We were playing in the backyard this morning – gotta get outside early, before it is hot as blazes! – well it must be a good day to fly because we saw a bunch of planes! Hud love love loved it.
Every time he heard one take off he would look & jabber & point up at the sky until he could see it over the trees. Then we would watch it and wave bye-bye when it went out of sight.
Obviously, taking gorgeous pictures of food is not my gig. But I am always more likely to make something if I see a photo…so…here is my humble attempt. Notice how my crust is way too done…we’ll talk about that. Read on.
* * *
My hubby loves a good lemon bar & I’ve been searching for the perfect recipe for quite some time and I do believe I have gotten pretty darn close!
I made these for Jordan’s father’s day treat.
I should probably first say, we like our lemon bars thick & a little tart.Â
So if you like ’em thin and extra sweet…don’t make these…or at least adjust the recipe to suit your taste buds.
* * *
{Lemon Bars}
adjusted from “Bake Sale Lemon Bars” on allrecipes.com
Crust Ingredients
1.5 C flour
2/3 C powdered sugar
3/4 C butter, softened
Filling Ingredients
6 eggs
1.75 C granulated sugar
6 T flour
1 C lemon juice
more powdered sugar for dusting on the top
* * *
For the crust: Combine flour, pwd sugar, and softened butter. Mix well. This will be a sugar cookie kind of consistency when mixed.
Press in the bottom of a greased 9×13 (or if you like ’em real thick…a greased 9×9)
Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.
* * *
For the filling: Whisk eggs, sugar, flour, and lemon juice together until frothy. I let this go in my kitchen aid with the whisk attachment for a 3-4 minutes.
Pour over hot crust. Place back in the over and bake about 20 more minutes.
Let cool. Dust liberally with powdered sugar. Top with cool whip or whipped cream. I like them with fresh berries on top too 🙂
Enjoy!
* * *
Note: watch this time. My oven cooks pretty hot and the bottom of my crust turned out way more crunchy than I hoped for it to. Oh well, now I know for next time. There are still yummy!
And…For the purpose of documenting this pregnancy better than I did last time. Here is what I am looking like at 15 weeks.
The belly is on its way. Sheesh, things happen faster the second time around!
Today is a big day! It is father’s day! A day to celebrate the men in our lives – though they deserve so much more than just a day.
Happy father’s day to our most wonderful husband & daddy!
I hit the jackpot when I married this guy, tell you what!
He is kind. Hard-working. Loves Jesus like crazy.
He loves us so well.
I am so thankful to be his wife & to raise our children together.
Jordan is blessing beyond measure.
Today is also the 19th…Hudson is 10 months old today!
Sweet boy…you are such a JOY to be around. Being your Momma gets sweeter every day. You keep us laughing with your antics, expressions, silly faces, and jabbering. It amazes us how quickly you learn things! Just yesterday you took your first real steps! Daddy says it was his early father’s day gift 🙂 and a pretty good one if you ask me!  You can walk about 5 steps in a row. You still seem to know that crawling is faster and you choose crawling over trying to walk most of the time. Your success yesterday though has definitely given you a boost of confidence. You are so bold!
Pushing your toys around the house (or any other object you can find) is one of your favorite past-times right now. You love to open Momma’s bathroom cabinet and pull everything out and then put it back in again. You cruise around the furniture at breakneck speed. In fact, most things you do are at top speed! You love to sit and look at your books with touch & feel pages, you especially like to turn the pages & have gotten quite good at it. You’ve really enjoy spending these hot summer days in the pool. You still seem drawn to animals of all shapes & sizes – especially puppy dogs. You will eat just about anything, especially if Momma is eating it too! You still only sign “milk” but you do so to mean lots of things. I can tell that your language comprehension is exploding right now – so fun to watch! You are an excellent eater, willing to try just about anything & you like most things. Especially if Momma is eating the same thing! You seem to have a tender heart and respond quickly to correction & discipline. I am praying this holds true for all of your life – that the Lord would protect you that this NOT result in a fear of pleasing man – but that it results in a fear of the Lord leading to your salvation soon & very soon.
We love you more every day & are so thankful to be your Momma & Daddy!
Just snuck in to check on my boy before heading to bed & look at the cuteness that I found!Â
I saw this on another blog and thought it was a really fun idea! I’ll try and do it every week…I haven’t taken a belly pic yet this week so maybe I’ll add it later. I get the baby details off of my BabyCenter emails…if you were curious.
Pregnancy Highlights for the Week:
How Far Along:Â 15 weeks today.
Fruit/Veggie:Â He is about the size of an apple.
Size: He is about 4 inches from the crown of his head to his bottom. (They don’t measure from head to toe for a while) He weighs about 2.5 ounces
Baby changes: He is busy moving amniotic fluid through his nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in his lungs begin to develop. His legs are growing longer than his arms now, and he can move all of his joints and limbs. Although his eyelids are still fused shut, he can sense light. His taste buds are forming.
Best Moment this week:Â Finally going public with this pregnancy and Hudson took his first steps today!!
Gender:Â Sweet baby BOY – Owen Paul
Movement:Â I actually started feeling flutters between 11 & 12 weeks!! So early! I think because I knew what to be expecting form Hudson. The flutters are really sporadic for now.
Food Craving:Â Right now…fried pickles sound super good. Also loving: watermelon & lemonade (I craved both of those with Hudson too. Funny.)Â
What I miss:Â Not having to pee 2-3 times in the middle of the night.
Sleep: Sleeping well. Just have to get up to go potty, usually several times a night already. Jordan has commented that I don’t seem as tired this time around as I was with Hudson…but I think in truth I just don’t have time to think about being tired while I chase Hud around 🙂 Hud has slept in the past couple of days which has been heaven!
What I am looking forward to: Feeling O move more & more. Planning the boys room. When Jordan can feel Owen in my belly – that is one of my favorite things in the whole world 🙂
Symptoms:Â I have weird drainage, like I constantly need to clear my throat, it makes me gag…I have had several friend who’ve said they had similar experiences. Its gross & annoying. Hoping it goes away soon. I can tell all my muscles & ligaments are loosening up way faster than they did the first go around…I’m sure because they were all still partially the way there from Hudson & my body just knows what it is supposed to be doing this time around.
Ok. Let it be said, I am NOT one of those super cool & trendy music gurus. I do not stay up-to-date with the latest & greatest. I do not rock the most recent fashion trends with style & grace. Nope. Not I. Not cool. Nor trendy. Nor excessively fashionable. But…I will still share with you some tunes I am loving!
It really helps me hide the Word in my heart and I like playing it for Hudson because I know that he will be singing the songs so very soon! And what a great way to begin planting the Word in his little heart.
That’s probably why they call it “Seeds”. I’m a smart one you know 🙂
I love this girl. Miss (she could be a Mrs. now for all I know) Brooke Fraser.
I think if I could pick any singing voice to steal … it might be hers.
And these people …
The Civil Wars.
Love ’em.
Just tonight the hubby introduced me to this guy.
I have only listened to the first 3 songs … but I really liked ’em … especially #3.
So I am going to put it on this list!
The rest of the album could stink … but I don’t think it will 🙂
You can download his stuff for F-R-E-E from NoiseTrade
P.S – Do you ever listen to people and imagine what they look like? No? I’m a werido. Oh, well. FYI – This guy. He is a shocker. He looked NOTHING like I pictured!
You can listen to the rest of these on GrooveShark.
Which is AMAZING. If you haven’t ever checked it out you should. You won’t regret it!
Oh thank heaven indeed!
{the stone chronicles} 