23 weeks pregnant today, only possibly 17 weeks left!

I am 23 weeks pregnant today and it's a great day! Sunny, the birds are chirping and it's actually warm enough outside not to have to wear a jacket (or zip hoodie in my case). Eric and I went on a drive this morning out to Silverton then we went to Salem's farmer's market. We have some Peruvian tamals and they were great! Gives me ideas for future tamales. Today I am kinda sleepy and actually took a little nap a minute ago, I know...exciting times.

I'll work on the newsletter soon for our missions stuff, but as I sit here feeling the baby kick the realization hits... we're indeed having baby! I am not scared, no no... I am excited. I can't believe this is really happening, it still feels like a dream. Well the good dreams you have when you get actual sleep, not the weird dreams you have when you have to wake up every couple of hours to pee during pregnancy. :)

Shower details are getting figured out by great friends and family. Both showers will be in June, which is like um...next month! I am looking forward to seeing some people I haven't seen in quite a while and taking lots of fun pictures to share the memories with our little Jenna. Yes... I still call her Jenna (short for Jennavieve) even though the doc says not to go all out and count on it being a girl. I figure, for now... I can hope. Not that I wouldn't want a boy, it's just the evidence clearly points to a strong possibility of a girl. Eric calls her Jenna already, so that name is pretty much set unless in September we get a surprise...then we'll have one confused little boy who will be looking for someone named Jenna. :)

Eric's getting airplane stuff figured out and I am resting on the couch. You know...doing the hard work. :) Well it is exhausting to make a baby, way more exhausting than I realized! I am making a quilt for the baby with my friend Becca's help. I think once I figure out how I want things arranged it'll look super cute. I am excited for it as well. My first quilt going to my first BORN baby. :)

Well I should get going, I'll update more probably in two weeks once we have the other ultrasound. Hopefully then the baby will be in a good position to get good heart photos and also a good position to check the gender again. :) Maybe God knows how much I like seeing my little one and knowing she's still alive. Maybe that's why He's orchestrated these extra ultrasounds, I don't know! I look forward to May 18th though! :)

22 week doctor's appointment

We had the doctor's appointment today and Eric actually went with me this time. Which was good because he got to meet the doctor. The doc came in and told us the ultrasound results and it seems that everything is going great, fabulous even with the baby's growth in all areas. She said that I only gained a lb since last time and my weight is right on track for me to actually lose weight when the baby is born, which is a goal. I am not starving myself, so no worries! I am just not pigging out just because I am pregnant!

The other ultrasound results weren't in yet so the doc had her nurse call the radiology place to get a faxed report. Turns out the baby still wasn't positioned right to be able to get good heart photos, and they want us to go back in two weeks to see if the baby will move then. The doc says she doesn't think anything is wrong, it's just that the baby is not positioned good enough for them to get good heart shots. She thinks since everything else is doing so well, she doesn't see a problem. She said if they found a problem they would have called her right away as well. So it's just that our baby is a little camera shy. The doc also said that we shouldn't count on the baby being a girl right now, and to continue to get gender neutral stuff. So keep your receipts friends or give us a gift receipt! :)

The doc checked the heartbeat and it was in the upper 140's to mid 150's. I can't remember the exact thing. It could have been 154, I am uncertain. :) The back was kicking hard and moving around so the doc says we might have quite the active little one on our hands. Which is fine with me!

So in two weeks on May 18th we go back to get better pictures of the heart. Maybe I can persuade the tech to look down below to check the gender another time. :) We'll see! Until then we just have a cute little baby who's active not sure if it's really a girl or boy.

Another Ultrasound Appointment today

Today has been an interesting day so far. I will tell you this story from my perspective...

I was working on my quilt, biding my time until my ultrasound appointment and forgot to look at the time! I realized it was 9:35am, and I was supposed to have drank 20 oz of water by now for the ultrasound appointment at 10am. So I grabbed my water bottle and started chugging water, and chugging more water. Unfortunately when I do this, I feel nauseas and start to gag. So I eat a cracker and grab my other water bottle for the road to drink extra water.

I get in the truck and race to get to the radiology place on time. In my haste, I turned left on a turn that I was supposed to yield to oncoming traffic, thankfully..the other traffic stopped. I make it to the clinic heart racing and shove a graham cracker in my mouth to stop me from getting sick. I talk with the receptionist and sit down and wait. Will Eric get here in time? I look around and don't see him, but sure enough he smiles as he arrives and sits next to me. We discuss the upcoming ultrasound and worries about why they need better heart pictures.

A nurse calls my name, so we get up and I go with her. Only...we are going into a room I've never been before. It looks really nice and has padded chairs and on the table there's a tray with colored liquid. She asks me if I filled out my extra papers, and I am like....um... I've been here before and they gave me this sheet to give to the nurse. She looks frustrated and tells me to sit down by the colored liquids. I realize this is NOT where I am supposed to be, and they've got the wrong patient! So I tell her...um... I think I am in the wrong place. She looks at my paperwork and says, "AH! No you don't want to be here!" and Eric and I go back into the waiting room.

We laugh about it and another lady whose name is Kristine, I only suppose with a CH, goes where I just left from. I wonder what she's going through and has to do today. We wait a little longer and the same nurse comes out and asks for a Kristin and a man gets up! What a day for KR names! Finally my ob tech comes to get us and we go in.

I lay down on the table and she puts the goo on me and says she needs to take pictures of the heart and asks if she told us the gender. I tell her that she said she thought it was a girl, but wasn't sure. So she proceeds to scan and finds the baby. She finds the baby's heart but it looks hard to get the type of pictures she wants to get. Sometimes I wonder if we had gotten a 3D ultrasound or a 4D ultrasound if this would have been an issue. She looks all around and tries to see the baby's gender. She says she still thinks it's a girl, but doesn't say anything definitive or show us anything definitive on the ultrasound. She takes some more pictures of the heart and steps out for a bit to review her stuff. Eric and I are left in the room and I am left wondering if something is up with the baby's heart.

She comes back and tells us that we are done and the results will sent to the doctor's office. Then leaves. I am left wondering what just happened here. Is the baby's heart okay? Do we have a girl or is that still up in the air? Eric says he probably didn't even need to come, and doesn't notice that my pregnant self is on the verge of tears. We part ways, he goes to work, I go home. And here I sit...blogging about the experience trying to think positive things and process what happened.

I did see the baby's heart beating, and I did see it kick and move on screen. I've felt the baby kicking and moving, so I know that at least. It's hard to wait until Monday morning to find out about the baby, but I've just gotta pray for peace and continue to trust God with my baby's life. We cherish every moment we have with this little one that we have, it's still a blessing from God. :)

Okay... I need to chill but I needed to get my thoughts out! :) This should answer any questions about how the ultrasound went. :)

Love,

KRistine

So I've decided....

That there are quite a few things out there that seem easy to make and would be cheaper to make rather than buying them. I am going to start a list on the right side of this blog of links to things I'd like to either 1) figure out how to make before September or 2) pay someone to make for me before September.

Here are a few of my ideas (click on the name for an example):

Hospital Maternity Gown so I can go to the hospital and be comfortable walking around in labor and after we have the baby there. :)

Baby Crocheted Brimmed Hat so the baby can both be warm and stylish.

Diaper Bag complete with changing pad in some cool pattern like this

Burp Cloths made out of flannel with fun patterns

Tag Blanket

I am sure there are other things I could figure out how to make, those are the main things for now. :)

New Ultrasound!

Today we had the close to 20 week ultrasound! I have to admit I was pretty nervous about this ultrasound, well maybe more anxious is like it. But everything went well!

We got there and I got on the table and the tech did her thing. We got to see a lot of images of the baby including the spine, legs, arms, head, brain, and a little of the heart. We couldn't get a really good image of the baby's gender, but the tech really thinks it's a girl. Her words were, "I'd bet money it's a girl..." So she seems pretty confident. :) We think it's a girl too. But because the baby was moving around so much she couldn't get good images of the heart. So the Tech wants us to come back in 2 weeks (April 30th) so she can get more pictures of the heart and so we can confirm the gender.

I don't like posting pictures of child parts online, so I decided to take the gender photo down. Gotta keep something for the parents eyes. :)

ULTIMATE BLOG PARTY!

Woohoo! It's an Ultimate Blog Party from 5 minutes for mom http://www.5minutesformom.com !

As part of the festivities Mom's (and just people that love children) everywhere and celebrating on their blogs! So I decided to join in! It goes until the 16th and there are fun prizes to win! If you have a blog you should go check out http://www.5minutesformom.com! As part of this experience, I need to introduce myself and my family to new blog followers!

My name is Kristine and I am married to a wonderful man named Eric! We've been married since July 2006 (Almost 4 years) and are expecting our first born child in September! Here's an older photo of our little one. (This was taken at 8 weeks, I am now 19 weeks!!!)

This Friday we'll post a new photo of our little one and announce the gender (and perhaps even a name!) So keep checking back to our blog for all the new exciting things! We are super excited to find out too! Now here's for more info on us and keep reading because there will be fun recipes that I use shared on here just for you on this party occasion!

My husband and I are Christian and our desire is to serve God through a missionary organization called Mission Aviation Fellowship. MAF is an organization that provides critical support to missionaries on the field. They fly people and supplies and establish communications in places where there either are 1) no roads, 2) the roads are very bad and usually time is of the essence. MAF also helps with relief efforts as a part of their normal ministry and partners with other organizations. For example, they were already in Haiti when the earthquake hit so they were in a great position to set up satellite phone communications and when approved, began flying relief workers and supplies out to some remote locations. They also flew people who were stranded out of those locations. My husband is a pilot and I have my teaching degree so we hope to go overseas to use those skills to help others to the glory of God. :) If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

Right now we're a part of an organization called Servant Wings. Servant Wings exists to help missionary candidates get the required flight hours and experience they need to be able to get to the field. We're really thankful that we've been able to be a part of them! If you want more info on them...ask!

This blog is mainly going to be about our family and the fun things going on with our life! If you are interested in reading more about our road to missions, check out Taking off with the Reeds for more info!

Okay on to the FUN STUFF!!!! What would a party be without food? Seriously... so here's the "menu" for this party! This menu will have a couple of the recipes you've all asked me about over the years starting with.... (drum roll please).... stuffed pasilla peppers!

STUFFED PASILLA PEPPERS (Takes a lot of prep! So only do if you have time)

Ingredients

4 Pasilla Peppers

2-3 Potatoes cut up into chunks

1-2 cups of chedder cheese

2-3 eggs

oil

Cup of flour

1 package of cream cheese (or less)

pinch of salt

Large plastic bag (could be ziplock)

Cookie sheet

Potato Masher (or Large Fork)

Plastic Gloves (if you need them for cutting peppers)

Paper towels

DIRECTIONS

Peppers

1. Turn on the oven to the broiler setting, and turn the temp up pretty high. Make sure the rack is in the upper half of the oven.

2. Slice the peppers down the side being careful not to cut all the way through the pepper. With your hands or a spoon scrape out all the seeds from the inside of the pepper. You may need to use a knife to cut the clump of seeds out. Rinse the pepper out when you are done.

3. Place the peppers on the cookie sheet and let them blacken. Turn them once to make sure both sides bubble up and get dark.

4. Carefully take the cookie sheet out and put the peppers in the plastic bag. Seal the bag and leave them in it to in essence...steam.

Potatoes

5. Place the potatoes in a pot and fill with just enough water to cover the potatoes. Put a tiny bit of salt in there.

6. Heat the potatoes for 10-15 minutes. Kinda until they can be mashed easily with a fork.

7. Drain the Potatoes and put back into the pot.

8. Place the both the cheeses into the potatoes with a little more salt and mash the potatoes. You may also add cilantro here if you would like.

9. Let the cheesy mashed potatoes sit and go back to the peppers.

More with the Peppers

10. Take the peppers out of the bag and pull the blackened outer skin off of them. If you don't have them blackened, make sure most of the waxy part is pulled off. If you happen to leave some on, it's not the end of the world! :)

11. Fill the peppers with the mashed potatoes and place in a dish or container to go into the fridge and let sit for 15 minutes or more depending on your time. The idea is for them to be able to set.

12. While your peppers are cooling, take the eggs out of the fridge. Separate the egg whites and egg yolks. Beat the egg whites in a bowl until they have stiff peaks. I recommend using a blender for this! When they have the peaks fold in the egg yolks.

Cooking!

13. Put some flour on a dish or in a pie pan. Take the peppers out of the fridge.

14. Heat some oil in a frying pan, it could be 2 TBS oil or more if you think necessary.

15. Place the peppers in flour and then in the egg mixture.

16. Put the peppers in the oil and cook until browned on all sides.

17. After you've done this, put the peppers on paper towels on a plate.

18. Then...EAT and enjoy!

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HERE ARE SOME RECIPE STAPLES IN MY HOUSE (Click on the name to link you to the original page!)

BEST HAMBURGERS EVER (From Allrecipes)

THAI PEANUT SAUCE (Also from Allrecipes)

This sauce is great over noodles, and you can cook chicken or beef to add to it too!

FRIED CHICKEN (Allrecipes...you guessed it)

FISH TACOS (Yep)

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What's a party without music?

Here's where I go to get some great music for little or no cost (legally!!).

https://www.noisetrade.com

Check it out, there's awesome new artists on here! Great music! Low or no cost! Yay PAR-TAY!

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ENTERTAINMENT

Some of you say I want entertainment! Give me a movie or tv show! Well if you don't already know..check out a website called HULU. This website is awesome and has many older movies and television shows. Check it!

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Give Aways!

For all your moms out there that love free samples. Here's where I go to check out the newest samples: http://tripletsmommy.com/

You can also join in the party fun by going to 5 Minutes for Mom to win great prizes. Here are some of the ones I hope to win:

USC 17 – With the upcoming release of their iphone app in the next few weeks, CmomGo is offering up a $200 Apple Gift certificate. For moms that do not currently have an AT&T contract and have wanted that Iphone this will cover the cost of a 16Gig 3GS iphone with the signup of a 2 year contract with AT&T. For our moms that already have an AT&T contract with a different phone this can be used towards the purchase of a new iphone or it can be used for anything else at the Apple store! Our friends from CmomGo sure hope you use it for an iphone though!
Provided by: CmomGo

US39 -Be My Guest certificate ($250 value) for one lucky winner, (2 night stay for a family of four) at any Hilton Garden Inn.
Provided by: Hilton Garden Inn
Follow here: bloggin2noggin

US3 – Win a $150 shopping spree at A Rocking Horse To Love.
Provided by: A Rocking Horse To Love
Follow here: 5 Minutes for Mom or Visit Our Fan Page: A Rocking Horse To Love

US11 – A $100 gift eCertificate to Restaurant.com, immediately redeemable online at over 13,000 restaurants nationwide.
Provided by: Amy LeForge of Earnest Parenting
Follow here: EarnestOne or Visit Our Fan Page: Earnest Parenting

US40- One winner will receive a 3 day 2 night stay from Holiday Inn Main GateEast in Kissimmee, FL (less than 2 miles from Disney World) a value of $250.
Provided by: Holiday Inn Main Gate
Follow here: bloggin2noggin

US51 – Two winners will receive a lillebaby EveryWear carrier – the carrier you can wear every way, every where. Choose from Style, Sport or Organic.
Provided by: Scandinavian Child
Follow here: ScanChild or Visit Our Fan Page: Scandinavian Child

US69 – The Itty-Bitty Bookworm is a literature-based preschool curriculum. One winner will receive a year of our Bo Curriculum for 3-5 year olds. One winner will receive a year of our Bailey Curriculum for 18-36 month olds.
Provided by: The Itty-Bitty Bookworm
Follow here: BittyBookworm

US31 – A $20 Amazon gift certificate.

Provided by: Jennifer Sikora (For Such a Time as This)
Follow here: jen_sikora or Visit Our Fan Page: Jennifer Sikora

USC 60 – For one winner a $200 gift certificate for any Wall Slicks vinyl wall decal of your choice. DIY decorating made easy with Wall Slicks wall stickers.
Provided by: Modern Wall Graphics, the makers of Wall Slicks
Follow here: WallSlicks or Visit Our Fan Page: Wall Slicks

USC 33 – A $50 gift card to Lindt Chocolate.
Provided by: Michelle
Follow here: blessedquiver

USC 21 – $25 Gift Card to Cinemark Theaters
Provided by: Anne @ Upstate Ramblings
Follow here: Anne Gustke

Now go check out 5 Minutes for Mom to see all the other prizes available and start your own Party Post!

Life Lately

Well tomorrow our little one will be 18 weeks! Yay! We registered at Target and Baby Depot just to get the in-store thing over with. We plan on registering at Baby's R Us whenever we are in Portland next.

Today we got a dryer to replace the one that we had that broke. We found this dryer on Craigslist for $25 and jumped at the chance to get it. Yes it's old, but it works! As we were moving it changed just jumped out of it like we were at Vegas, close to $4 in change to be exact including a $1 coin! So we really got it for $21! What a deal! I love getting deals off of Craigslist. It's really worked out for us lately. Praise God for leading us to these deals and for allowing us to have clean dry clothes again. :)

I've had a few interviews for different assistant positions. I should find out in a couple of weeks what will come of that. I also started taking a night class at WOU for my ESOL endorsement. So far so good on that too.

So progress, progress, progress thanks to the Lord! We are even getting out taxes done and it looks like we'll get a refund this year! PRAISE GOD!

This is indeed a Good Friday. :)