Freezer Meals

Most people would sit and relax on their birthday, me... I decided to take on the task of budgeting food costs and meal planning, which included making up freezer meals. I searched online and asked people for which meals they liked the best, then I compiled a list of ingredients I would need to get to make them. I tried to pick easy recipes, but I was also concerned on the taste. Because to have it be too easy and taste bland wouldn't work.

My reasons for trying this

I mentioned this endeavor on Facebook and was greeted with many cheers and warnings. Several people assumed I was creating these meals in preparation for after the baby comes, you know to eat then. I love to cook and this was a task I had not yet tried to take on. I'd heard of friends and other women who had made up a bunch of freezer meals, but it seemed daunting for some reason. My purpose for creating these meals was 1) to see if I could do it and 2) to just spend ONE day cooking to be able to not have to cook for a week or two. It sounded like a good trade-off to me. I also figured this could be a test run for when the baby does come. If it works out, then while I have help around to watch the baby (either relatives or Eric being home) I could make up some meals on that day and then not have to cook the other days that it was baby and me. :)

The results

I went out and bought all the ingredients I needed (and then some) for $65. My goal was to spend as little as possible. When I got home, I decided to make the easy recipes first. The ones that required the least amount of time and the least amount of cooking. These were the lasagna and the chicken enchilada lasagna dish. These dishes were easy because they involve layering ingredients. As long as I had all the ingredients, I just layered, let them cool and then froze them. They went fast.

The next meals I created took a little more effort. I made about six stuffed pasilla peppers and 9 stuffed bell peppers. Both of these recipes required that I cook several different ingredients and then compile the dishes. I also made two shepherd's pies. I had ingredients to make chicken soup and hamburgers, but decided that I should wait until the next day to create those.

All in all... I think I created 14 meals for 4 people for $65. Not bad! They are almost all in the freezer, other than the ones we're using immediately. It feels great to have some food options in the house and all it took was a few hours. I was pleasantly surprised that my brain worked the whole time! I was focused and could easily multi-task. I even talked with my family on the phone when they called to wish me a happy birthday! Amazing! :) I am glad God enabled me to focus!

Projects :)

Lately most all I can think about are projects. Not because I'm "nesting" but because it's not that exciting being home all the time. Last night we moved the desk from the baby room into the guest/office room and the cedar chest into our room from the guest/office room. It was a process that involved sliding it on a quilt across the wood floor into the different rooms because I am not supposed to lift much and Eric had to do most of the lifting. Eric wanted to use marbles or ball bearings, I won out with the practicality of using the quilt we already had. This move of furniture is particularly exciting to me because now I can organize the guest/office room!

Previous to this venture ALL the baby stuff, the office stuff and the guest bedroom stuff was well... STUFFED into that front room. We are still working on painting the baby room closet and doors so it has to be in there before we can move it all back where it belongs. Right now we have the couch, changing table and crib in the baby room (now that we moved the above mentioned desk out). Soon we'll move in the glider and ottoman into the room from the living room.

But... there are a few projects left to be done. Just so I can keep track of them, I will blog some of them.

Eric's jobs:

• Paint the baby room closet
• Spot stain the crib (There are scratches in it, remember we got it from Craigslist)
• Stain the changing table
• Repurpose the tall cheap old book case by cutting it in half and painting it to go in the baby room.
• Finish the hallway hardwood flooring (We are almost done, just need one corner to go!)

If those jobs are done, I'll be a happy woman. :) Now onto my current projects:

• Find/Purchase baskets to put baby toys in the above mentioned book case.
• Organize the office/guest bedroom
• Make a birth plan
• Start packing hospital bags for me, the baby (including take home outfit) and my husband.

Sewing projects:

• Attempt to sew up some baby leg socks: http://www.ehow.com/how_2189814_make-baby-legwarmers.html
• Re-purpose a bag I bought at value village into a diaper bag (If this fails, I may just purchase one. )
• Create some cute baby shoes: http://stardustshoes.blogspot.com/2006/10/cloth-shoe-pattern.html
• MAYBE learn to crochet and make a baby beanie hat like this: http://www.etsy.com/listing/41158670/0-to-3-months-baby-brimmed-beanie-hat

Things left to get for the baby: (This list is to help me keep track)

• Around 24 cotton (non-bleached Indian cotton preferably) prefold cloth diapers. We'll use these in our G-diapers as liners. They are like this:http://www.amazon.com/OsoCozy-Indian-Prefold-Diapers-Unbleached/dp/B000TZVW9E Although I am searching Craigslist for a good deal on them.
• Hygenikit for my breast pump:
• Ergo carrier so both Eric and I can carry around the baby:
• Spin and Dry Rack to help sterilize bottles
• Baby Monitor, so we can hear the baby wherever in the house we're at. :)
• Travel Crib of some sort with a bassinet so we can take the baby on trips
• Baby Car mirror and sun shade
• Thirsties Duo Wrap diapers in Medium and Large
• Cloth Wipes Warmer
• Wet bag for cloth diapers/wipes

As you can see, we've pretty much got what we need already for the baby. With the exception of the baby monitor, wipes warmer, spin and dry rack and potentially baby mirror, we're set for this little one to arrive. Once we get the room painted and organized, we'll really be ready! :) I just gotta get motivated, create more checklists and get things done!

Things left to get and wishlist! :)

We are so close to having our little one with us! Lately we've (more like Eric) been painting the trim and the closet in the baby room. We decided to keep the walls the green color they were and to just add a dark brown trim color. It looks great so far! We just have a few touch ups and then we can start setting up furniture and making it more welcoming for our little one.

After talking with several friends, we've decided to continue on in our path to cloth diapering. So soon we'll be buying some prefolds (cloth diapers) to use in our gdiaper covers. We've also decided to do cloth wipes as well to help save costs over the long haul. We weren't sure about it at first, but after researching it a bit, we've found it's easy, economical and actually cloth wipes work better and use less than the other wipes. Soon we'll be buying cloth wipes and a wipe warmer to help keep them wet and ready to use. Luckily we have some money on a Target gift card left to be able to pay for those things.

This leaves us to our wish list of things left to get. I'll probably be updating this as we go, but here are the items so far:

1. Fisher Price Newborn to Toddler Rocker

2. Ergo baby carrier

3. Travel Crib (either Graco or Chicco) with a bassinet and changer

4. Jumper (something like this)

5. Night and Day Bottle Wamer

6. Thirsties Duo Wrap Diaper covers

There are more things...but those are the "extras" for right now we are working on getting over time. :) I'll update it more as we go!

Blessings,

Kristine

Blurred Vision...

I thought I'd chronicle as best I can different things that happen to me during this pregnancy cause I find it's useful to look at later when talking with the doctor since my memory is not that awesome. (How's that for a long sentence)

Throughout this pregnancy I've had issues with my eyesight. Sometimes my eyes would get dry and cause it to be difficult to wear contacts. I think the whole first trimester was like that. I can deal with wearing glasses. Although sometimes my eyes would get dry even with glasses or super watery and cause it to be difficult to focus or make it scary to drive! (That's happened twice during this pregnancy while I've been driving)

Well at 33 weeks and 4 days pregnant (Today) I found that reading small print is difficult. Like what I am typing right now....it's like my vision correction is slightly off. I can look around the house at things of for the most part it's fine, but when I try to read what I type it's slightly blurry or when I try to read smaller letters at a distance it's difficult too.

I called into the doctor and left a message. I should hear back later on tonight or tomorrow about it. I am hoping I can get some advice on what I can do. Maybe it'll go away tomorrow but I am unsure. It's really annoying to try to read things and have it be slightly off. I think it's more when I have to focus on something it's slightly out of focus. Cause I can look at furniture and it's fine.

So if you could keep this in your prayers that it's just normal pregnancy stuff that would be awesome! I was also EXHAUSTED this morning and basically had to take a nap not soon after I woke up. Even so, I am still not 100 percent.

Bathroom DEALS! :)

So we went looking at bathroom remodeling stuff for fun. Whilst strolling through Lowes we saw some bath vanities on clearance for ridiculous prices that weren't damaged! So we got two bath vanities, both worth close to $350 EACH. We got one for $75 and one for $85! It was something we planned on getting to remodel the bathrooms, so we couldn't pass it up! I am excited as they are both undamaged and great! These don't include the sinks or faucets, but they are still good deals!

Here are some pictures from the box, so they aren't great. Keep in mind we got the bottom parts, NOT the sink and faucet stuff. So look only at the bottom wood parts of these photos:

Sorry I took this photo from an angle. I think this one was $85...

Again...just look at the wood part! This one was $70. :)

Diapering :)

What are you doing for diapering?
One of the most frequent questions I've been getting these days is, "What are you doing for diapering?" Everyone seems to have their own methods, some that work, some that don't. It's been a big deal for Eric and I to figure out honestly. I thought maybe I'd be a person that was all for disposables, but the more I thought about it and the more Eric has been thinking about it, cloth seems to be a great option for us! :)

Bella Stella and Cloth Diaper Deals...

Upon researching for hours upon hours, talking with various people, we decided the first two weeks will probably be hectic and we'll go with disposable diapers most likely for those weeks. Now brings us to what cloth diapers we want to use after that. Originally we were just going to buy some Thirsties diapers and do prefolds inside of them. However, we went to a small store in Portland called Bella Stella. They've always been super friendly with us. This time they have five gdiapers and disposable liners in their used cloth diaper section for $5 each. These diapers are normally either $16-18! Eric seemed to really like them, so we got them (one size small and three medium). They also had two packages of the small liners. One for $8 each and one for $5 each.

Changing Plans...

This, in a sense, dramatically changed our plans on diapering. I wanted something Eric was on board with even though I am the one who'll most likely do most of the changing when he's at work or doing airplane stuff. So I began to look for other g diaper deals and found a great deal on craigslist for six small gdiapers for $45! Like I said before, these diapers are usually $16-18 each. We got them and the guy included the swish stick and a holder for the stick as well as extra liners! It was a fabulous deal. So what are gdiapers?

G Diapers and Liners explained (well as best as I can!)

Gdiapers are the perfect combo of cloth and disposable. You can go online to http://www.gdiapers.com/ to find out more information, but I'll give you a quick summary. These are cloth covers with snap in plastic liners that velcro shut. There are a couple of ways that you can diaper the baby after the basic cover. There are two types of liners you can use.

1. They have another liner that's disposable that goes inside the plastic liner. This liner is actually flushable and compost-able. After the baby uses it, you can rip it open put it in the toilet, swish it around and then flush it! If it's just wet and you have a compost bin, you can put it inside that. Or... you can just throw it away and not feel bad about it because it breaks down tons faster than the disposable diapers. Depending on how much the baby went, you just wipe out the snap in liner, and place a new disposable insert inside. This option is great when you are on the go and want to use a disposable diaper.

2. Instead of the disposable insert, you can put a cloth insert into the diaper. There are many options for this including using a prefold diaper and just folding it in thirds and placing it inside. Then when the baby soils the insert, you put it into your hamper, wipe out the snap in liner and place a new prefold in there for the baby to use. This is the option I will most likely use when I am at home. That way I don't have to deal with soiled diapers on the road.

The gdiapers and snug fitting and fit more easily under clothes than the other diapering options. As you can see below, they look nice when they are all complete. (Keep in mind these are used) you velcro towards the sides/back and the little g is on the back of the diaper. So cute! So because we got a deal, we are going to give these a go. If they don't work out, we'll just sell them! We will use these most when the baby is little, when the baby is bigger....

When the baby is bigger we'll use...

We plan on still using the thirsties duo wraps in a combination with prefolds. This seems like the best option all around for when the baby is a little bigger than 18lbs. This diaper cover has two different sizes so you only need around 7-10 of them total. We'll buy several prefold cotton diapers to use inside of them so we only need to wash once or twice a week. We will wait to see how well the gdiapers work for 7-18lbs before buying the thirsties covers for that size. We maybe just use them for the bigger sizes. :)

What about long trips or well dealing with the poo!?!?!?

When we are on the go for several hours at a time, we'll most likely still use disposables since we've been told they hold up a little better than the gdiapers. We'll see though! It's all trial and error at this point. But Eric is on board with cloth diapering so I am super excited. Some of you may think ewww....what about the poo?!?!!? Well..there's a secret. You just place part of a viva paper towel inside the cloth diaper and it catches the poo when it's more solid! Then you just throw the liner in the trash or toilet (depending on how much paper towel you used) and then you have just a wet diaper to deal with! It's genius. Seriously.

Anemic? Dang... :)

So I met with my doctor today. She's back from her fabulous three week vacation with her family. She was great and answered a lot of my questions. She asked me if I knew I was a little anemic. I said, "No... what does that mean for me?" She says that I need to eat more red meat and potentially go on an iron supplement. I can't remember how big a supplement she mentioned, so I'll call her later to figure that one out.

But this would explain some of my cravings for red meat lately and my feeling of extreme tiredness and weakness! I'll try eating some red meat and see how that helps me.

On the upside, the baby is moving around often enough so that's exciting. I love feeling my baby move inside me. Yes, it's creepy but cool at the same time. At nights I've been sore and in pain, maybe adding more pillows might help but I think this is all just what happens in pregnancy. :( We so look forward to meeting this little one! It's exciting in a way not knowing if it's a boy or girl for sure. At first I was annoyed, but really I am happy. It'll be fun to find out when the baby comes.

Well that's it for now! Blessings!

Kristine