It's A...

GIRL!!!

We are beyond excited!  I honestly thought we were having a boy since my symptoms have been completely different than with Vivian. 

I was wrong!

Definitely going to save us on some $$$ since she's due in May and Vivian was born in June.  All of Vivian's clothes will be in season with baby girl.  The clothes will be slightly stained...oh well. Sorry kiddo.

Here's to an EXCITING New Year!!

Banana Oat Greek Yogurt Muffins

Vivian loves muffins, as do I!  I was going to make some blueberry muffins, but remembered pinning a flourless and no sugar recipe.  I wanted to go a little healthy since we've been eating lots of sweets lately.

This recipe was super easy to make!

Banana Oat Greek Yogurt Muffins
(Makes 12 muffins)

Ingredients
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 ripe bananas
2 eggs
2 cups rolled oats (old fashioned or quick)
¼ cup brown sugar
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ cup chocolate chips, mini or regular

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F and prepare a muffin pan by spraying cavities with cooking spray or lining them with paper liners**. Set aside.

Add all ingredients except for chocolate chips to a blender or food processor and process on high until oats are broken down and batter is smooth and creamy. I used my Beaba Babycook to blend everything together.  I first blended the oats first, then add each ingredient one-by-one blending.  Stir in chocolate chips by hand.

Pour batter into prepared muffin pan, filling each cavity until it is about ¾ full. Optional: sprinkle a few chocolate chips over the top of each muffin.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the tops of your muffins are set and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool in pan for ~10 minutes before removing. Store in an air-tight container for up to a week.

Notes

** If using paper liners, you'll want to spray them with cooking spray as well, since the lack of oil in these muffins could make them stick to the liners after baking.

Christmas 2014 pt 2 (Christmas Day)

I slept horrible Christmas Eve.  I don't know if was excitement for the next day or what, but I probably got a total of 4 hours of sleep.  

I got up at 6 am to start making this breakfast casserole for B.  It took a little time to prepare since I'm slow at prepping and another 30 minutes or so to bake.  I'm such a good wife, ha!

Just before 7 am I heard Vivian doing her morning jibber jabber on the monitor.  I got B up so we could get her out of the crib together.

She loves handing be all her babies before getting out of her crib.  So stinking cute!!

We wished her a Merry Christmas and told her that Santa came that night and left her lots of gifts.  

B and I got into the living room before Vivian to capture her face with the camcorder and camera.  She knew something was up!  Her little face lite up!

 Two books were left unwrapped next to her stocking.  She went straight for the books.  Obviously.  

Then she went for the stocking and pulled out each item one at a time and placed each one on her table.  This process took a little time since Santa had that stocking stuffed.

^^bath bubbles^^

^^piggy paint ^^

After getting everything out of her stocking, she moved it from the table to her highchair.  Strange little booger.

^^ car seat ^^

Then she wanted to read us her book.

Vivian reading 

Then it was time to open some presents.

^^Chica and Star plush dolls^^

^^Minnie Mouse bangle bracelets ^^

^^ Her favorite out of the bunch, Elmo who actually hugs ^^  She was a happy camper when she saw him.  Loved hugging him and kissing him.  

^^ Alex Jr Tots Finger Paint^^

^^Smocks and finger paint paper and tray^^

^^Washable markers, crayons and floor pad^^

^^t-shirt^^

^^ Elmo Boo Boo Sticker Book and Doc McStuffins sticker book ^^

Even Santa came to see Mr. Brody.

After opening Vivian's gifts, I made my Mom's little bread.  Pure sugar, but so incredibly good.  Still love it to this day and so did Vivian.  She kept going "mmmm" after each bite :) This will be part of our Christmas morning tradition.

Little Bread recipe

For your EGG MIXTURE (whisk 4 eggs...1 tbs of cinnamon...1 tsp milk in a shallow bowl...stir before each bread dip).  Make sure to use WHITE BREAD, not whole wheat bread.

For your POWDERED SUGAR MIXTURE ( 1 cup powdered sugar...2 tbs cinnamon...mix well)

FRYING BREAD (turn oven eye on low-medium heat...add 1 and 1/2 tbs of butter to each 2 slices of bread...make sure the bread is wet enough so the sugar mixture will stick...may have to rub more butter on them)

After your bread is done frying, coat bread with the powdered sugar mixture until well coated.  Cut the bread into four squares, hence why they are called little bread.  I usually add a little more powdered sugar mixture after cutting when on my plate for a little extra sugar. 

This recipe makes about 6 slices of bread.

After breakfast, B and I opened our gifts.  I got B a 

Kindle Fire HDX 7 which was upgraded to the 64 GB, a cover case and a couple of boxer shorts.  

He also got a gift card and shirt from his parents.

He got me lots of goodies.  A Keurig, a carousel holder, muffin and brownie pan from Anthropologie and a candle from Anthropologie.

My Mom got us a year membership to the aquarium and a couple of pair of leggings from J.Crew.  B's Mom got me the most comfortable pair of maternity pj's from A Pea In A Pod.

We had a FANTASTIC Christmas!!

^^18.5 weeks pregnant^^

After opening our gifts, Vivian was back to playing with her toys and trying on a couple of things.

And painted our piggies :)

 Next Christmas will be even more special having Vivian and our little boy or girl.  The Good Lord has truly blessed my little family!!!

 

 

19 Weeks

How Far along are you: 19 weeks 1 day (19 weeks with Vivian)

Weight Gain:  9 lbs.  Started at 114.6, weighed 123.4 this am after eating breakfast.

Maternity Clothes: I'm wearing a few maternity tops and wearing my J.Crew leggings almost everyday

Food Cravings: Still major sweet tooth, but wanting to eat more salads. Hummus and dill dip.

Food Aversion:  Nope.

How Are You Feeling:  Great! 

How Are You Sleeping:  Much better now that I'm using my body pillow. 

Miss Anything:  Nope.

Any Discomforts:  Not too much.  

Any Movement:  I feel little scratches here and there still.  No big movements.

Symptoms:  Nose bleeding in the am are back.  I've had a few Braxton Hicks.

Labor Signs:  No

Gender:  Not yet.

Mood:  Happy 

Excited For Anything:  We find what we are having on Wednesday!  Happy New Year to us!!! 

Christmas 2014 pt 1 (Christmas Eve)

What a low key Christmas we had this year, thankfully.  We did make our way to B's parents on Monday afternoon to spend the night to see everyone.  We left during Vivian's nap in hopes she would sleep the entire way.  She only made it an hour.  For some reason she always wakes up an hour after napping and I have to usually rock her back to sleep.  In this case it wasn't possible since she was in her car seat.  We watched lots of videos on my phone. That seems to keep her entertained until we reach our destination.

Vivian played at her Nana and Papaw's and loved looking at their tree...and presents.

 

 B's sister and kids came over for dinner and Vivian got to play with her cousins.  Her cousin ML loves Vivian!!  She was being dragged around the house by an excited 4 year old.  Needless to say Vivian slept great that night and didn't wake until almost 7:30 the next morning.

We headed home around 9 am because B had to go into work for a bit.  Vivian took herself a nice long nap when we returned home. Before she woke up, I went to Fresh Market to pick up a few pre-made twiced baked potatoes and dressing.  Seriously the way to go!  I also swung by Brixx Pizza to pick-up dinner.  After Vivian went to bed I made my desserts.  A chocolate delight for B and I made my Mom's cherry breeze.  One of me all time favorite desserts and super easy to make.

Cherry Breeze

1 premade graham cracker pie crust (Kebler or Honey Maid)

1 egg YOLK

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1 small bottle of lemon juice (1/2 cup)

1 can of cherry pie filling

Preheat oven 350 degrees.  In a small bowl add your egg YOLK and  sweetened condensed milk.  Mix well.  Slowly add your lemon juice (little by little)until it thickens a little.  Pour mixture to pie crust.  Bake for 7-8 minutes until the pie crust is slight brown.  Let pie cool.  After cooling, add your cherry pie filling on top.  Pop in the refrigerator.  It's best to make the pie the night before you serve.  

    

Christmas Eve Vivian stayed in her jammies and ate sugar cookies the majority of the day.  We had a torrential downpour.  Vivian and I did have to make our way to Honey Baked Ham and Cafe to pick up our ham for Christmas Eve dinner.  Growing up, our big nice dinner was always on Christmas Eve and I wanted to continue the tradition for Vivian and Brian.  That morning I made a corn casserole, green bean casserole and
pistachio pudding fluff.

All I had to do was pop the casseroles in oven before eating.  Worked out well.  We also had yeast rolls :)

We let Vivian open a few presents from the grandparents and aunt and uncle.  We first open a gift from my brother and his wife.  She got an electric train set.  She couldn't quite figure out how it worked.  She wanted to take apart the tracks.  Little godzilla!!

Memom and Papa got her her very own pot set.

B's Mom (Nana) got her very own table and chair set from Wayfair.

She has the same set at her house and Vivian loves sitting in it!  Perfect for little miss.

 

The Polar Express caught her attention for a bit.

Then it was time to eat dinner.

After dinner we let Vivian open the rest of her gifts from her relatives.  

From Memom and Papa, she got a Corolle Stroller.

 From Nana she got a Corolle highchair.

From Great Nannie she got a Corolle doll.

Papaw got her a pink radio flyer tricycle.

Overall we had a wonderful Christmas Eve.  Definitely more fun with Vivian this year.  Can only imagine how next year will be when she's 2.5 years old and sharing Christmas with her brother or sister.  

After little miss went to bed dreaming of sugar plums, Santa Clause arrived with lots more gifts. We had one happy girl the next morning.