Monday, January 25, 2016

Green Smoothie


Happy Monday! This weekend we celebrated my birthday, and ate a ton of sugary treats, they were super delicious but this morning both Layton and I were feeling a bit sluggish. One of my goals this week is to drink more green smoothies and eat less cookies.
We absolutely love our morning green smoothies! My mom started making green smoothies about 4 years ago. I made them occasionally through college, and after Layton and I got married we bought a Vitamix and I've been making them fairly consistently since then.


I've learned that no two smoothies are alike, even if i use the same ingredients they always turn out a little different each time.




My recipe is roughly as follows:

3-5 leaves of kale
1-3 leaves of chard
1 apple (sliced)
2-4 bananas
2-4 cups pineapple juice
1or 2 big handfuls of spinach
any other fruit I have on hand, or 1/2 a lemon.

You can use any kind of juice you prefer I just happen to really like pineapple. It's a really rough approximation I'm not big on measuring anything out, I mostly toss it all in the blender and go for it.



We make about 1 weeks worth at a time, then I pour the smoothie into individual glasses, cover them and keep them in the fridge for easy access.



Even Big E likes her green smoothies!







Tuesday, January 19, 2016

30 weeks

Its so strange to be at 30 weeks already! Skipping the first 27 did help the time go by faster. This weekend I started to notice that my shirts are getting shorter and my pants tighter, tying my shoes is becoming more difficult, and I'm more tired. On the plus side Emma loves to use my tummy as a little seat that she perches on when I carry her around.


These are the only photos I have of me being pregnant with Emma I believe these were taken around week 22 or 23? I don't remember. Here are some of me from this week!




A big thank you to Layton for snapping a picture of me real quick!

Monday, January 11, 2016

Q&A

Thank you all so much for your kind words and support. It means a lot to us.

Here's a little Q&A with some of the most common things we've been asked lately:


Q: How are you feeling about all of this?

A: We are all a little overwhelmed still, but at least we have two months to get prepared. It's not going to be easy by any means but we have a lot of support, love and prayers from family and friends and even though this was not our plan we are so excited to be welcoming another little girl into our family.





Q: What do you need?

A: We have been so blessed all along the way, and received many necessities for free. We have everything we need for now, just keep us in your prayers :)




Q: How did you not know?

A: Excellent question! I don't know. Looking back there were so many signs but I think that it would have been so overwhelming and stressful for us to know this whole time. It's been a blessing to just be able to be together as a family of three, without the worry and stress of another one on the way. Because we didn't know we just kept living life normally.






Q: Isn't March 1st before the 40 week mark?

A: Yes. March 1st will be around 36 1/2 weeks for me. Due to the type of c-section they did last time, and because I was only 25 weeks along, there is a much much higher rate of uterine ruptures. The doctor told us that our new little one may still spend some time in the NICU, perhaps a week or two but nothing like we had with Emma.




Q: How does Emma feel about being a big sister?

A: She is so excited :) ha ha honestly we're working on starting her on solid foods, helping her sit up on her own, and giving her all the love and snuggles she can handle! Having two infants in the house will be a handful, but we couldn't be more excited.


Saturday, January 9, 2016

Happy New Year!

2016 started off with a bang in the Bird household. Homemade skillet pizza and sparkling cider and a nine o'clock bed time :)


In reality all the excitement came much earlier in the day. Originally we had planned to stay in WA through the New Year, but I had been experiencing a lot of difficulties with my c-section scar. Before we left for WA I visited a women's health specialist physical therapist to see if she could help. She helped me with my lower back pain, and recommended doing scar massage as well as visiting with the surgeon who preformed with c-section. Her guess was that I had developed adhesions, and possibly uterine tumors (non-cancerous). So we set up an appointment with the Dr. for new years eve and left on our trip to WA.



So on New Years Eve morning we headed out to the doctor's office, where he took a look at the scar and said I had a Keloid, which almost always is accompanied by adhesions. After examining my abdomen he said that he was going to schedule an ultrasound because it definitely didn't feel right. We were able to schedule an ultrasound for that afternoon at 2, and before we left the office we got a blood and urine test. After doing the lab work the tech came out and said "well, your test is very positive!" 
Layton responded "Positive?" 
"Yes, very positive, you are pregnant!"
*stunned silence*



And the surprises don't end there...

The Dr. told us he thought we were about 16 weeks along based on my size etc. When we arrived for our ultrasound at two the tech asked us how far along we were, we told her his guess, she took some measurements, and then started to laugh. "You're more like 27 weeks, would you like to know the gender?" We said yes and she told us that we are expecting another little girl :) I think this might forever be our most memorable new years eve ever!


Since then we've had another appointment for the glucose test, and we are once again scheduled for a c-section, this time in March 1.  This last week has been a whirlwind of preparations, projects, and prayers. We are so grateful that Layton has had the week off school to help set up the nursery, clean, organize and de-junk the house.

Wishing you a Happy new year, full of surprises and miracles!





Friday, January 8, 2016

At home in Idaho/ Emma Update/ Christmas


We are settling into our home here in Idaho very well. It's so nice to know that we will get to stay here for 3 years. After having Emma we moved around quite a bit, and it's nice to have a sense of permanence.

We spent Christmas in WA with Layton's family and it was so wonderful, festive and magical. It was relaxing to be with family, see friends, and spend so much time with Layton. It's been fantastic having such a long break for the holidays. Both Emma and I will miss him so much this next week when he has to go back.





Now for a quick Emma update!

 

Emma is doing well, for being born at 25 weeks she is growing and developing so fast! Her Favorite things to do lately are stand up with the help of mom and dad, suck and chew on everything she can grab, and be held and walked around. Her least favorites are tummy time, being alone, and taking naps. She does great at sleeping through the night, but naps are difficult and the fact that she's just getting over a stomach bug hasn't helped.