Peppermint Cookies

Christmas is only two days away! Our home is looking and feeling like Christmas, and we’re all getting excited! And yes, this includes Tadpole as well. She’s been extra active since yesterday; dancing around to Christmas music, playing “push back” with me, and just being a little bundle of growing joy.

Today I did a bit of baking for the holidays and I used a cookie recipe I created myself. I thought I would share it with you all in case you’d like to make Peppermint Cookies too. They’re even milk free! Well you can use a butter or margarine that does have milk products in it, but since I can’t have milk, I use Nucoa margarine. It’s the only butter product I have been able to find in your everyday grocery story that is milk product free – no whey or lactose even!

Anyway! Here’s the Peppermint Cookie recipe. A little Christmas gift from me (and Tadpole) to all of you. Enjoy!

2 ¼ cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup of butter/margarine softened (2 sticks of butter – Nucoa)

¾ cup gradual sugar

¾ cups and 1 Tbs of packed brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

5-7 crushed peppermint candy canes

Preheat oven to 350°

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt together. In a large bowl mix the softened butter/margarine, gradual sugar, packed brown sugar, vanilla extract and eggs together. Then add the dry ingredients from the medium bowl into the large bowl. Mix until blended well.

Unwrap the 5 to 7 peppermint candy canes (depending on how peppermint-y you want your cookies to be). Put the candy canes into a plastic zip-lock bag and crush them into small bite size pieces. Add them to the cookie dough and mix well.

Drop teaspoon amount of cookie dough, 1 ½ to 2 inches apart from each other on a non-stick cookie sheet. Place on center rack in heated oven. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes, or until golden brown

Let them sit on the tray for a minute before you remove them to a cookie cooling rack. Use a baking spatula with a really nice edge. The cookies can be tricky to remove otherwise. Let cool and then enjoy!

 

Kicks and Rolls

I’m getting over the 2^nd cold I have had since I became pregnant. Not a happy thing to be dealing with, but I am very thankful I have not had a fever, and that my cold is going away. Though the going away process seems to be slow, but it is going away. I feel sorry for poor little Tadpole who has been jostled around when I’ve had “coughing attacks.” Some of my coughing episodes have been so rough that it totally felt like I was going to pull a muscle, or cough up my lung. I am glad I have moved on to less coughing. I really wish I could take some Sudafed though…

Sadly, when I caught my cold is right when my sister got over hers (not that I'm sad she got over hers. Quite the opposite actually). So we haven’t been able to make it to Babies R Us yet to make a registry for Tadpole there. I’m hoping to get well asap so we can go, but we might have to wait until after Christmas to do so.

A super cool thing that happened this week though, despite being sick, is I SAW Tadpole kick! It was one of the weirdest things I have ever seen in my life, but so darn cool. Though it did make me think of the movie Alien, which is funny cause I haven’t actually seen the whole movie. But the scene where the alien comes out of the one character is over shown, so thus I know about it.

I tried to get Andrew to come see her kick too, but by the time he made it to the room I was in, she decided she was done kicking. I tried to poke her to get her to move around or do something, but she was being stubborn. A quality she gets from both her parents…  But there will be plenty more opportunities in the future for him to see her kick, both in side of me and out.

I swear she did a head over heels somersault the other day. I wonder if she is going to tie a knot in her umbilical cord (that doesn’t harm her), like I did when I was in the womb. I guess I made a knot that impressed both my dad and the doctor.

Tadpole really got to kicking and rolling around during the Christmas service at church this last Sunday. She sure seems to enjoy her Christmas music! Every time the band started playing and singing, she started dancing around. And when they were done with a worship set, she stopped. I guess you could say our little Tadpole is in the Christmas spirit. ^_^

Good News

A lot has gone on in the last week! This last Sunday was the children’s musical at church, and their performance was spectacular. They really have been working hard on it since October and really putting their hearts into it, and you could tell. I’m so proud of all of them! And in 6 years, our little one will be in the Christmas musical. So crazy to think that!

This weekend Andrew also surprised me with the tree I’d been eying at Target. He bought it while I was at the musical rehearsal on Saturday. I was so excited that he bought a tree, that even though I was exhausted from the rehearsal (and not sleeping well the night before), and we only had about a two hour break before his company party started, I really wanted to put it up and decorate it. So we did! And I love it!

Andrew and I are really looking forward to Christmas, and getting into the Christmas spirit. Our home looks very Christmas-y now and I’ve been baking a lot of cookies. This last Sunday we had our first Christmas gathering with friends. We invited people over for dinner (spaghetti) and a movie (Muppet Family Christmas), and had fun with a filled home. 

And there is more good news from this past week. I had an appointment with Doc. T yesterday. If you remember we’ve been keeping an eye on my weight gain and my thyroid. Good news! I gained 9lbs since my last appointment with Doc T! He told me I needed to gain about 10lbs, so this is really good. I am now where an average woman is for weight gain for this point in pregnancy. AND my thyroid is now acting in the normal range! It’s not over acting anymore, so no more random blood draws to keep an eye on it. Now if any blood is drawn it will be for the standard pregnancy tests.

Last week Andrew and I were able to meet with Doc S. One of the OBGYNs we have been considering for delivering Tadpole. We both really liked him. We went in to the appointment with a lot of questions, but decided to let him do his normal routine first before we asked anything. He covered basically every question we had thought of. The only one we really had to ask at the end was what his April schedule looked like around the 27^th since that is Tadpole’s due date. His schedule is open, so that’s a really good thing! Funny thing is that if Tadpole comes on her due date, it’s also Doc S’ birthday.We'll have to get a happy birthday balloon for him too. Hehehhehe

All that to say, we’ve chosen Doc S as our OBGYN. Doc S and Doc T will act as a team for now until about week 36 where Doc S will primarily take over (Doc T will be Tadpole doc after she’s born, so this team thing is great! Plus they’ve worked together before). Doc S delivers at Northwest Hospital, which is great since Andrew and I had decided we really wanted to go to Northwest as opposed to Swedish Ballard.

Everything is coming together for delivery and Tadpole’s arrival into the world. I’ve already started an Amazon baby registry list and my sister and I are planning to take a trip to Babies R Us soon to create a registry there too (get well soon Heidi! <3 ). The Babies R Us one will most likely contain more of the necessary items unless Amazon has a better deal.

** The Amazon baby registry is in the beginning stages and probably won't be finished until after the Babies R Us one is done. I'll let you know when BOTH registry list are complete and up!!!

20

Today marks the halfway point of my pregnancy! Whoohoo! It’s so exciting to think that in another 20 weeks, Tadpole will be here! That’s 140 day from today! That is if she doesn’t come early or late, like most babies do. But yay! She’ll be here in just about 20 weeks!

Hospital Tours

Yesterday was a fun, yet exhausting day for me. I started off in the 4 and 5 year old classroom, and then went straight to the children's musical practice. We had an extra long practice that went after church so we could practice on stage (they perform next Sunday!). Then after that Andrew and I headed straight to the Swedish Medical Center in Ballard to take a tour of their childbirth center to decide if this is the place we want our little girl to be born. We actually had a tour of the Northwest Hospital back in October, so now it’s time to compare.

The Ballard campus was pretty nice. The rooms are pretty darn big so family and friends can fit comfortable when they come to visit Tadpole when she’s born. And the rooms come with a lot of amenities to help make labor and delivery as comfortable and stress free as possibly. They seemed to have everything you might need while in labor and delivery. However, the overall feel of the Ballard campus was rather low for both Andrew and me. Sure it’s sterile, and Tadpole would most likely be in good hands entering the world, but the overall environment doesn’t seem to be quiet what I am personally looking for.

Northwest Hospital had all the same amenities as Ballard, but the labor and delivery rooms where a bit smaller (still totally a nice comfy size). Unlike Ballard, Northwest had a homey feel to the childbirth center, and the nurse on staff seemed really open and welcoming even when you just walked through the room with a “I’m on a mission” look.  Plus, if complications were to arise or Tadpole decided to come before the end of week 35, I wouldn’t be transferred to a different hospital campus that is further away (Ballard does this, except for C-sections). And there’s the whole, NW Hospital is only 5 minutes away when walking. Though Ballard is reasonably close too (about 20 to 30 minutes driving).

I’m sure after reading that you’d think our minds are made up with where Tadpole is going to be born. Well, they’re pretty darn close to being made up, but we want to spend some time in prayer and thought before we make a decision. Plus we’re looking into our list of OBGYN a bit closer too, and of course if there is one I really want to see that only can delivery at a certain hospital, than we’d go to that hospital.

After all that was said and done, we headed to my sister’s house to celebrate my niece’s 16^th birthday! It was fun to hear about Sara and Heidi’s trip to Disneyland, and share a yummy dinner with family while celebrating Sara’s sweet 16! Happy Birthday, Sara!!!

We're Having A...

My goodness the poll results have been neck and neck! Well, I assume you all have been waiting patiently to tell you whether or not our little Tadpole is a boy or girl.

First, look at our lovely little baby! This picture doesn’t show off any “important” parts, and the picture that clearly states Tadpole’s gender shall remain offline, but look how cute our little Tadpole is!!! ^_^ I am so in love already. <3

But I am sure you all really really want to know. Well here’s your hint, to continue off of Andrew’s status on Facebook:

… QRS, TUV, WXX, Z

WE’RE HAVING A GIRL!!!! ^_^ We are so excited for our precious little girl to come enter the world next year. She was so cooperative during the ultrasound. She made it very easy for the tech, Heidi, to get all her measurements and take a few pictures for us to take home. And she made it very clear she was a she! All her measurements fell in the average range, and her little heart rate was 148bpm. She looks strong a healthy. ^_^

And to add a cherry on top of this exciting news, Andrew was able to feel her kick yesterday! Little “Tadpollet” was being squirmy, so I had Andrew put his hand on my belly and push down a little bit. We sat in silence for a while waiting for her to move again, and she did! And she moved enough that he could feel it. We have one strong little kicker. Most dads aren’t able to feel the baby kick until later on because the movement is so sporadic and not very strong yet (babies are only about 6 inches long at 19 weeks). I have been praying that Andrew would be able to feel her kick soon though, and ta-da! God answered my prayers and blessed us with a miraculous moment. ^_^

Oh! And Andrew came home to this on this desk yesterday:

I went Christmas shopping yesterday and the Disney Store was having a buy one plushy, get a 2^nd one of equal or lesser value for free sale. So I bought our little girl her first stuffed animals; Classic Mini Mouse, and Chip. Then when I was at Macy’s, my eye caught sight of this little frog outfit, and I figure our little Tadpole needs one frog outfit, so I bought her first outfit. Isn’t the hat adorable?