Welcome Anne Elizabeth!

This morning, January 31st, at 6:19am, Annie arrived weighing 7 lbs 12 oz. and measuring 20 inches. Baby and I are both doing well and we look forward to bringing her home soon!!

(yes, my 39 week, 4 day post was scheduled when I suspected I might be having the baby soon ;)

Details to come soon!

39 weeks (and 4 days)

Well, we're getting down to the wire here :) Yesterday was my last day of work in the office, it was a little bittersweet! Mostly because it was the last day that Ben and I will both be working downtown - his company is moving to the east coast so he will be "released" from that job in early April. Now this might sound pretty bad, but luckily he has a few other opportunities that will likely work out pretty nicely! I will definitely miss carpooling and meeting for lunch - it has been really fun to both work downtown. The past week, we took walks in the skyway every day over lunch in an attempt to move things along - not sure if it worked, but at least I got some sort of exercise :)

I had a midwife appointment on Wednesday - at first, the nurse said something like "So, you are due February 18th, right?" and I momentarily panicked - but luckily she had just read something wrong, and my due date IS still February 3rd - phew!! The appointment went really well - I had actually lost a little weight (not even a pound, but still it made me happy), so I'm still sitting right about at +30 lbs from pre-pregnancy. My blood pressure is still low. The midwife felt measured my belly, and it had gone down a few cm from last week, which she said is normal as the baby drops - yay! When she felt around, she said she couldn't feel the head floating anymore, so that is another indication that the baby has engaged and dropped. She also asked if I had gotten any sort of size estimation yet, I said no - so she felt the baby for awhile and guessed that she's "maybe 7 lbs" and said she was rounding up because Ben and I are both tall. We'll see how close she is! I hope she is right - 7 lbs sounds a whole lot easier to push out than 10 :) Baby's heartbeat was just fine too. All in all, a great appointment - things are at least moving in the right direction! Next week I go in on my due date, and will have to have an internal exam, so then I'll really find out if I've made any "progress"...

As this week went by, I alternate between feeling really frustrated at the waiting game and totally fine with trusting my body and probably going late. Little things definitely piss me off - such as the way people look at me and some well meaning comments... It's funny, I know exactly how people feel - when I've been around people who are about to have a baby, it is really all you can think about, and everyone wants to know how you're feeling and if anything's "happening" - I KNOW people just care and are excited, but it still annoys me. But yet, for some reason it also annoys me when people say nothing too - so I really can't win I guess :)

I'm still feeling good too - which makes me think even more that I'll be late - I think I probably SHOULD feel more uncomfortable than this. I do get really sore and tired, but some women say they can barely walk or breathe, so I'm definitely lucky!

38 weeks (and 4 days)

I went back and forth between last week's photo and this one - I think they look identical except my belly button is sticking out more in this one due to nothing holding it in (my jeans have a full panel). I'm not really sure if I've "dropped" yet or not - I'll have to ask the midwife at my next appointment. I had an appointment on Wednesday - it was pretty much the shortest appointment ever - blood pressure still low, found out I'm Group B Strep negative (yay!), weight up 1.5 lbs (so I'm up ~31 lbs now), belly was measuring exactly 38cm (right on track). The midwife said baby is still head down with her back on my left side, so she's facing the right. She was moving a lot, so the midwife had to kind of hold her in place while she used the doppler :) I'm thinking I haven't dropped yet, because from what I heard, your belly measurement goes down a few cm when that happens. Whatever. It's one of those things that might happen, might not until I'm actually in labor, and doesn't really mean anything.

I am officially sick of being pregnant now - she can come out ANY TIME :) Mostly I just don't particularly enjoy walking around feeling like a ticking time bomb. Each day I get up and feel a little sad that I didn't go into labor the night before. So far, I have had literally no signs of labor - no contractions (I still don't feel Braxton Hicks contractions either - sometimes I notice that my belly is hard, but I can never tell unless I happen to touch my belly), and none of the other TMI stuff that I won't go into. So, right now it does kind of seem like I'll be pregnant forever! Oh, and before anyone suggests any labor induction techniques - just don't. I don't believe anything works unless your body is actually ready for labor anyway, and no anecdotal stories will convince me otherwise. I have been walking a LOT more though - that is the one that actually makes sense - gravity and all that. Working downtown helps - since outdoor walking is pretty much out right now, I can take long walks through the skyways.

Today I was even going to bite the bullet and wash the floors on my hands and knees, something that neither Ben nor I have ever done in this house (what can I say - using a swiffer wet thing is plenty good enough for me!). Ben had already tried to convince me several times that it was a dumb idea - just not necessary, and I'd hurt myself somehow, my knees would be really sore, etc. So when I finally actually was gathering the materials to start, he broke down and told me he actually arranged to have someone come clean our whole house while we're in the hospital :) What an awesome husband I have! Therefore, we have to keep the floors dirty to get our money's worth ;)

The past week has been pretty much the same in terms of how I'm feeling - I get uncomfortable and exhausted after a day of work, but otherwise am feeling really good physically. I definitely can't complain at all - I haven't had really any of the normal late-pregnancy symptoms - no sciatic nerve pain, no heartburn, no acid reflux, nothing. Stiff hands, lack of good sleep and general achy-ness are my biggest "problems", if you could even call them that, so I'm doing just fine.

Oh, in terms of the to-do list, we're doing pretty well! Ben DID get the carseat inspected at the fire department (all looked good) - thanks for the recommendations of places to call on the last post! The 2nd window was installed in the nursery on Friday, and yesterday and today Ben did the paint touch ups. Ben's coworkers got us a TON of stuff - they cleared off our Babies R Us registry and then some! So now we really do have everything we want and need. Just today I put all the stuff I don't need daily in a duffel bag for the hospital, and packed up the few things we'll need for the baby in the diaper bag. As you probably saw, we did get the freezer stocked - I made one more batch of muffins (Banana Nut) that I added to the blog post today! So yup, we're ready whenever you are baby :) Although I have to say, if the Vikings do win today, I still think it would be the best birth story ever to have the baby on Superbowl Sunday - preferably at the end when they win. I'm pretty much the biggest cynic ever when it comes to Minnesota sports, so I hold no delusions that this is a likely outcome, BUT it would still be an awesome story :)

Freezer Meals

**Update - Click here for a review of the meals we made**

This post is extremely long, but hopefully it will be helpful to someone planning on freezing meals! I plan on posting updates after we actually eat this food too, to give an update on how it fares after the defrosting process.

I have always thought that making meals to freeze would be a great idea, but we have never found the motivation to do a big day of cooking before now - I guess the idea of having a newborn to take care of is the kick in the pants we needed to try this out! I have made a few things for some of the new parents in my life before, so that was a good small test run. After doing this, I really wish we had done it sooner - it didn't take THAT long at all, and would be great for nights where you don't feel like cooking - it helps if you have thought ahead enough to take something out of the freezer to defrost, but it's not essential (usually you can just bake for longer). This was definitely a team effort though - so that made it a lot easier and more fun :)

When planning what to make, I probably went a bit overboard, but Ben helped to keep my plans realistic, and more in line with the amount of freezer space we have :) We have 2 normal size freezers - one upstairs and one in the basement. There is obviously still more we could make, but we have a great stash for now! We might add some in coming weekends, and if so, I'll edit this post with the additions to the freezer to keep everything in one place. We tried to always put things in either single or double serving size packages (depending on what we were freezing) so that we wouldn't have to make a full pan of enchiladas at once, for example - we could just make 2 at a time.

For all of the meals with chicken, except the chili, we used 2 rotisserie chickens that Ben then shredded - this saved a TON of time and effort. Probably not the healthiest way to go in terms of sodium content, but oh well.

If anyone has any tasty freezer meals or tips to share, please leave a comment!

Chicken and Black Bean Chili
Ben made a double batch of his chili one Sunday, we ate 2 servings and then froze the rest. We froze this in 2 large ziploc freezer bags - they were intended to be frozen flat, but apparently I did not convey that message very effectively to Ben because he just put them in the freezer upright so now they are frozen in a non-space saving way - I GUESS I'll let it slide :)

Recipe - a Ben original

4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

2 28 oz can of tomato sauce

2 15 oz can of black beans (drained and rinsed)

2 15 oz can of corn (drained)

2 diced onions

2 heads of diced garlic (Ben has a little obsession with garlic)

4 stalks of diced celery

2 packet of chili seasoning

red pepper flakes (as much as you want to make it spicier)

3 serrano peppers, diced (keep the seeds if you want it to be hotter, otherwise toss the seeds out)

Chicken Spaghetti
We have made this before, a few times. I brought it to my coworker Leigh's house right after she had her baby last year, and we also made it for Nate and Molly when Mia was born. This is delicious, and I can tell you from experience that it still tastes delicious after being frozen. As with most casseroles, you freeze this prior to the baking step.

Link to Recipe from Pioneer Woman (makes about 8 servings - we put this in 2 8x8 pans)

For this, we tried a method for freezing that I read about somewhere - put foil inside of a baking dish, fill with the casserole, cover, and then put in the freezer for about 30 minutes to solidify a bit. At that point, you can take the foil-wrapped casserole out of the pan and put it in a ziploc, so you aren't leaving a pan in the freezer. I have heard the double wrapping also helps prevent freezer burn. Then, to bake, you can just put the whole foil wrapped package inside the pan.

Chicken Enchiladas
These were easy - we obviously took some shortcuts here by using a can of enchilada sauce, rotisserie chicken, and canned black beans, but you can make them as difficult as you want - there are tons of great enchilada recipes out there!

As I mentioned, we froze these in packages of 2 enchiladas wrapped in foil, and then put a few packages in a ziploc. These were frozen prior to the baking step as well.

Recipe (if you could even call it that - these amounts are definitely approximate)
12 large tortillas
1.5 pounds of chicken, cooked and shredded
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 large onion, diced
large can enchilada sauce
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Mix chicken, black beans, onion and about 1/4 the can of enchilada sauce together. Place 1-2 tablespoons of the mixture in the center of one tortilla, add shredded cheese, roll up. Top with a spoonful of enchilada sauce and more cheese.

Wrap however many enchiladas you want in foil, place in ziploc bag. To serve, defrost in fridge or on the counter for a few hours, unwrap from foil and place on baking sheet. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until heated through.

Chicken Rice Wraps
I made these for Becky and Rett previously, and have heard of many other people making them as well so they seemed like a safe bet. I think these will be great for lunches!

Recipe (adapted from this document that I found on a cooking message board)

2 cups dry rice, cooked as directed on package
1 lb. chicken, cooked and shredded
2 cups medium salsa
1 pkg. Taco seasoning mix
8 large flour tortillas

In a large bowl, combine chicken, salsa and seasonings and cooked rice.
Spoon mixture into center of tortillas and wrap.

To FREEZE: Simply wrap each folded tortilla in tin foil and place in 1 gallon freezer bag. To reheat, unwrap and microwave for about 2 minutes, flipping once.

Spaghetti Sauce
I found this recipe just by googling freezer spaghetti sauce - it's very basic (and filled with weird spelling errors... but oh well) which is exactly what I wanted. We did double the amount of meat - using a full pound of ground pork and a pound of ground beef from Blue Gentian Farm. I'm glad we did, because this makes a LOT of sauce, and the amount of meat seems just right now. I tasted this a few times during the cooking, and it tastes delicious. We froze this in quart size bags with enough for 2 servings, and it made 5 bags (10 servings).

Link to Recipe from Mom's Budget

Baked Ziti
I have actually never made baked ziti before, but I figured now was the time to start, as it is a frequently found dish on "freezer friendly" lists. From what I hear, lasagna is a common dish to bring to new parents, so I figure we'll probably get some of that from family or friends... baked ziti is pretty similar, but will provide something a little different!

We used the same freezing method as the chicken spaghetti and this made 2 full 8x8 pans as well. Again, this was frozen before the baking step. This looked soooooo good, I really am quite excited to eat it :)

Link to Recipe from Annie's Eats

Pulled Pork
We have made pulled pork a few times in the past couple months, since Ben bought a few pork shoulder roasts from Blue Gentian Farm at the Minneapolis Farmer's Market. They were always delicious so it seemed like a good pick for the freezer. He went last Saturday and got one pork shoulder and one huge ham roast.

Typically we have this with barbeque sauce as sandwiches, but we froze it as approximately 1 1/4 cups of the unadorned pork in quart size bags so we can use it either for sandwiches or tacos or whatever.

Link to Recipe from The Way The Cookie Crumbles

Please note that Ben used packing tape to secure the pork in plastic wrap when seasoning overnight :)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins
I knew I also wanted to have some breakfast foods on hand - muffins seemed like a great idea as they can be eaten with one hand, and I know they freeze and reheat well since I've done it before. I have made these specific muffins before, to give to Nate and Molly - I had one to test out and it was delicious :)

I baked and cooled them, and then put the whole cooling rack in the freezer for a bit to flash freeze the muffins so they wouldn't stick to each other inside the ziploc bag - it seemed to work well! When we want to eat these, we can either microwave directly from the freezer, or try to remember to take a few out the day before.

Link to Recipe from Annie's Eats

Pineapple Muffins
These were simple, except we couldn't find pineapple yogurt so I settled for orange passion fruit. Close enough. I did not do the glaze since that wouldn't freeze well. As you can see, they burned on the bottoms/sides, but they still tasted great. I baked them for 15 minutes but clearly should have checked a little earlier!

Link to Recipe from Annie's Eats

Blueberry Muffins
I have made and froze these before - very simple recipe and SO good. The recipe made 2 more than I could fit in a freezer bag, so I devoured them in about a minute.

Link to Recipe from Simply Recipes

Breakfast Burritos
Ben saw this post on The Simple Dollar while ago, and has been wanting to make these to freeze ever since. He makes them quite frequently (and not just for breakfast) so we know we like them.

We used large tortillas, and I think medium ones are used in the recipe - so we only ended up with 16 burritos (instead of 36 - so yeah, ours will definitely be keeping us full for longer I guess!). Other alterations were using dried and then cooked black beans, adding a bit of milk to the eggs, and adding a diced large green pepper to the mixture. We wrapped each one in foil and put 4 to a ziploc bag.

Link to Recipe from The Simple Dollar

Banana Nut Muffins
I have made these a few times before, and they are DELICIOUS - very easy to prepare too!

Link to Recipe from Simply Recipes