Gourmet Grilled Cheese

So I made a grilled cheese sandwich today for lunch that was soooo good, and way healthier than the regular white-bread-american-cheese version I am used to dipping in tomato soup. In fact, I need to share it with you it was that good! To give kudos where kudos are due, it is a variation of a sandwich I saw in a Family Circle magazine (not sure what edition).

Ingredients (For one sandwich):

2 slices whole wheat bread
2 TBSP honey mustard
2 thin slices cheddar cheese
1/4 granny smith apple, sliced thin (save the rest to munch with your sandwich!)

1. Spread the inside of each slice of bread with honey mustard
2. Layer the filling - cheese, apple, and then cheese again
3. Spray a frying pan with cooking spray and cook sandwich on each side until toasted brown and cheese is melted.
4. Enjoy!

Seriously, try it! Even my husband, who loathes grilled cheese, wanted seconds with this one!

18 Week Pregnancy Pictures

So I'm finally getting around to posting my 18 weeks pregnancy pictures from this pregnancy. However, to compare, here is the same picture from when I was expecting Emily in 2008:





What I looked like 3 weeks ago at 18 weeks with Baby #2:


No, I really haven't started showing much! Some of that is because I haven't gained any weight with the pregnancy (I lost at the beginning, and am just now back up to my pre-pregnancy weight).

Next set of pictures in 2 weeks! :-)

Finally - A Good (And Normal) Visit!

It was such a joy to finally have an OB visit that went off without a single hitch. Yeah!

So after full and partial bedrest from 15 weeks to 20 weeks (it has been a long month), I am offically back on my feet again.

No more bedrest? Check.

Can start exercising again? Check.

Get back to my normal life? Double check!

But it is not all fun and games - I do have a few limitations. Like no hard exercise: just walking, yoga, etc. No heavy lifting. Drink lots and lots of water. And rest when I am tired - that is a big one. We are praying that this past month will have been
our glitch for this pregnancy.

I only had one piece of upcoming anxiety - my sugar levels were high, again (they were at my last visit, too), but he is very pleased with my weight gain - I'm finally back up to my pre-pregnancy weight. So in two weeks I'll do a glucose fasting to check for gestational diabetes. It's 4-6 weeks early than this is usually tested, but he is seeing some early indicators. So bummer on that, but I'll let you know how it goes.

Well, I'm off to go make jello for tonight's dessert (sugar-free, of course!). Have a good day!

Potty Training Week - Day 1

It's potty-training time at the Rogers' house!

It's been awhile in coming; Emily, now 2, has been ready for this for quite awhile. However, Mommy has not! Bedrest put a kink in my potty plans for her, but I decided that this week, it needed to be done.

So last night we prepped: we talked about it a lot, ready potty books before bed, and even picked out which dress and undies she wanted to wear the following day. Needless to say, we were ready to go!

Of course, the little one had to get up at six o'clock. I don't think I hardly noticed her curled up next to me until seven, but when I got up and pulled her into the bathroom, she went! And she continued to go throughout the day, sometimes with undies on and a lot of time going commando. What is it about toddlers liking nakedness?

But how many accidents, you ask? Only 3, but one of those was a near miss - we didn't quite make it and she wet on the rug in front of the potty. I even took the risk of not putting her back in a diaper for her nap (yes, I did put a liner on her bed!), and she stayed dry for her full three hour nap. If I can keep her down to just a diaper at bedtime, I will be thrilled, and so will our checkbook. :-)

Bedrest is Boring

Well, I spoke too soon in my last post. A lot too soon!

What happened, do you ask?

Well, about ten minutes after I posted that last post, I started having some pregnancy-related bleeding. Since my OB's office was closed, my doctor sent me to the emergency room as I started having bad cramping with the bleeding. Our local hospital did an excellent job with me, but besides telling me that the baby was fine and they could find nothing obviously wrong with me via fetal monitoring and an ultrasound, I was sent home on bedrest for the weekend. However, Monday at my doctor's office proved a bit different. An internal ultrasound revealed that a section of the placenta had detached, which was causing the pain and bleeding. So on bedrest I stayed.

And have continued to stay, for the most part.

Can we say boring?

At least I've moved from complete bedrest to partial bedrest in the past week, and am slowly getting back on my feet again. If I do too much, it lands me back into bed with cramping, so I'm trying to take it easy. If you know me, I don't take to not doing much very well, especially when the house needs picked up or laundry needs done. But Jonathan has been an incredible husband! He has cleaned, cooked, done dishes, watched Emily, and so much more. I've been very blessed to have him home during this time! I am one lucky woman! :-)

One good that that has come out of all the monitoring at the doctor's is that we now know that we are having a little boy! Yeah! But the name is a secret until he is born! :-)