WHAT?? Win A Flat Screen TV?!?!

No, I am not the one giving it away. I don't have that kind of clout online yet! But if you head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom, you can enter to win a 37" Flat Panel HD TV! All you have to do is leave a comment, I was #646, and then post about it with a link or two! EASY! Oh, and did I mention its being sponsored by BEST BUY!?!

STILL Pregnant!! So Heres a MPM

I am sure, you are all curious as to whether we have had our new little one. Well, NOT YET!! I am still waiting, and not all that patiently either I might add. Hubby has been home most of the time, which has been such a blessing. He is still working on the base, but his ship is gone. MIL is here as well. The boys are loving all the attention they are getting. Although all the new toys and books might have something to do with that....
We thought it might happen yesterday at some time. Simply because it was a full moon last night. Which apparently has some effect on pregnant women close to their due dates. The funny thing is that when my MIL brought it up, I went and looked it up BOTH my boys were due on a full moon! But, NOOOOO, apparently this baby is quite happy right where he/she is! So, tomorrow I am going in at 6am to be induced. There will be plenty of news and pics probably later this week!
I decided to put together a VERY loose, child friendly, and easy for MIL to make.



Monday: Chicken Tacos with tomato and avocado slices
Tuesday: Pizza Bake
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Quesadillas
Friday: Mac and Cheese and apple sauce
Saturday: order a pizza

After the baby is born, I will have to stay in the hospital for 3 days. I am thinking I will probably be back home either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. I will keep ya'll (MIL is from Texas, I think its rubbing off) posted!

I will say the boys are excited for the new baby to be born, Train Junkie keeps asking if he can tell the baby to come out! I have been baking like crazy too. I found the Tiramisu recipe at The Pioneer Woman Cooks, and made that on Saturday. YUMMY!! Oh my word, super easy, and so good! I left out the Marsala for pregnant reasons, I wasn't sure the alcohol would cook out. And while I have read plenty of articles about having a glass of wine here at the end to relax me and maybe spark labor, I am just not THAT liberal!

In order to keep you all occupied (since you are just hanging by a thread to hear what we have and all!) I have 2 questions for you!!
1. If you have children, were any of them born during a full moon? (you can google moon phases and if you have a child born in 2000 - now, you can look it up)

And my second question is a little odd, I have found the BEST toothpaste in the world! Where did that come from you ask? Just my own random ramblings, really. Anyway when I was in L.A. my friend had a tube of Aquafresh Extreme Clean. I tried it, and will NEVER use anything else again! Talk about fresh and minty deliciousness!
2. What type of toothpaste do you use?? Do you have a preference or is it whatever is on sale?

New Update

Nope, not in labor, but hubby just called and his leave was APPROVED!! Of course it took literally all day to find this out. At least now I can rest easy knowing he will be here for when I go into labor. I have been a nervous wreck all day. Praying, or maybe a better word would be beseeching God for His holy intervention. I have asked everyone I know to pray for this. And so now I want to THANK all of you who prayed! God is amazing, and I know prayer works. This may be a minor issue on some levels, but it was a big deal to us. And God heard us! So thanks again everyone!

3 Cm And An Update

Yesterday was my Drs appt. We were hoping for a little more action, but 3 cm is better than nothing I suppose. And my Dr does not think I will come even close to my due date. Hopefully today we will know whether hubby has his leave approved or not. We have been praying seriously about this. So please pray we hear a positive answer today.
The rest of last night was FANTASTIC!! We went to The Melting Pot. For those of you who don't know, this is a fondue restaurant. And they are amazing. The ambience is warm and cozy and we were shown to the little secluded corner booth. Our waitress was friendly and informative and walked us through every course. There were FOUR of them!
We started off with Swiss Cheese Fondue, with veggies, apple chunks, and three types of bread pieces for dipping. WONDERFUL!! It definitely satisfied my craving for cheese fondue. This was followed by a salad. All their dressings are homemade and my choice of Mushroom Salad with Parmesan Italian Dressing was super tasty. Then came the Entree. Which can be incredibly overwhelming in the choices. I forget the name of the one we went with,(of course!) but it had a good variety of meats, Ahi Tuna, Shrimp, Chicken, Filet Mignon, and a Teriyaki Beef. Pot Stickers and veggies rounded out the Entree. Our waitress gave us a choice of 4 different means of cooking. Oil or 3 broths. We chose the Mojo, which was infused with garlic, cilantro, orange and lime juice. The sauces that come with it are yummy, although my favorites were the Teriyaki, the Green Goddess, and the Gorgonzola cheese ones.
Then came the BEST course possible! The dessert course. There are several Chocolate Fondue combos to choose from. SMores, Oreo, and a Turtle one. These are all flambeed. Then there are some pure chocolate choices. We got the Yin and Yang, which was dark and white chocolate. I LOVED IT!! There were yummy dippers to choose from, strawberries, pineapple, poundcake, marshmallows, cheesecake, and brownies.
Oh it was heaven in a pot!
Afterwards we walked, and walked, and walked some more. Hoping to help things along in the progress department. Don't know if it helped at all.
I have been doing some "research" on ways to jumpstart labor. I know, I know, most of them are considered to be Old Wives Tales, but its kind of fun to try some of them. Walking, of course, is one of the main ones, and then there is the spicy food route, or eating fresh Pineapple, Mango, Kiwi, or Papaya Juice. Which has an enzyme in it that is supposed to help tone and start contractions. Last time, with my little guy, my wonderful hubby went out and bought me a whole pineapple. Which I promptly cut up and ate. And the next day I went into labor! So could have been the pineapple, could have been I was just ready! I won't do the Castor Oil for obvious reasons. And I may try some of the herbs. I also want to get some Evening Primrose Oil. This is supposed to help dilate my cerv*x.
My Dr has only scheduled one more appt for me, and if I can get to a 5 by next week, unless I go into labor, which would be better, they will admit me and will go from there!
As it stands, I just talked to hubby, he is going to hear whether he got the leave approved probably about right now. Otherwise he has to leave tomorrow at noon until the 1st. So please just pray they show him favor and understanding about our situation and that there won't be a problem at all.
So there you have it! Time to make lunch for the hooligans!

Still Pregnant, So On With MPM!

Not that I thought I would have had our new little one just yet, but all the signs are there saying we will be meeting him/her soon! But I thought I should have a menu plan for this week. Just for the fun of it! Of course, what gets made when all depends on how I am feeling. We got quite a bit accomplished last week. Besides the onesies and things I picked up, hubby and I got some newborn diapers, wipes, the little thing that goes in your carseat to keep their little heads from rolling around, (thanks for bringing me the carseat Dawn!) as well as ADORABLE boy and girl bring the baby home in outfits. Since we like to wait to find out what we are having, I always pick one of each and then return whichever we don't use.
We got the carseat installed in our car. Which turned into quite a task because it required moving the other two around. Train Junkie is ECSTATIC about being all the way in the back now. Our Durango has 3 rows of seats. Yesterday we went out on a trial ride and he was grinning the whole time! Too cute!
And then of course washing all the new onesies and I am washing all our baby blankies too. Not that we will need them. Its so hot here right now.
Anyway, here is our menu plan for the week, tentatively of course!

Sunday: Barbecue Pork on Rolls with Fruit
Monday: Hot Dogs since its just me and the boys, I will
probably eat something light
Tuesday: Hubby taking me to Melting Pot for my B-day after Dr appt!
Wednesday: Saucy Crockpot Meatballs and noodles, Salad
Thursday: Leftovers, on rolls to make Meatball Sandwiches
Friday: Swedish Meatballs with Rice
Saturday: haven't decided yet
Sunday: Birthday, and MIL flight comes in this morning, so who
knows!

What are you making this week??

Getting Close!

Actually, I guess I am getting started. I had my 36 week appt today and I am already dilated to 2cm. And my Dr could just feel the baby's head! I am so excited about that. Its the little things really, that make me happy! I know I won't make it to 40 weeks. Hopefully hubby will be around when it happens. It seems more likely now, than had I not dilated any. Of course, after my appt, I realized I am NOT at all prepared for this new little one. Sure, we have a crib and a pack and play. But I don't have any clothes or anything. My boys were born in the winter. So everything I have is geared towards bundling up a little one. So I picked up some onesies, neutral of course! And some little mits for little hands, a binkers, and a couple other items. I did save some for hubby to pick out with me. He enjoys doing it. Anyway, all prayers for continued progress so hubby gets to stay instead of going out with his ship for a week and a half would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!! I have to say it terrifies me, not that I would be alone, my MIL would be there, but somehow I think that might be even more scary!

I will end this with probably the funniest thing I have heard in quite a while!

I went to pick the boys up from the sitter, and when we got there, discovered that she had really hurt her foot trying to show her son how to kick a soccer ball. Its probably broken. And NO that is not the funny part! You are all terrible! I stayed with her until the last kid besides my two were picked up so she could put it up.
She decided to go into the ER. I was explaining this to Train Junkie, who is always very concerned when there is an injury. He was talking about Miss Jen going to the Dr and did she have a boo boo.

So I asked him: What will the Dr do when Miss Jen sees him?

Now his usual response would be: The Dr will feel her better!

Not today!
Instead he said: The Dr will FEEL Miss Jen up!

I think we laughed for 10 minutes straight. Which was probably a good thing since it took her mind off the fact that her foot was starting to swell and turn purple with a big bump that really shouldn't be there!

The Lord Works In Minty Ways

So I had my own personal miracle last night around 10:30pm. Probably not a big one by most standards, but to a 36 weeks pregnant woman, this was MONUMENTOUS!!! Ok, so maybe not that huge, but I have no control of my hormones at this point and it takes very little to make me really happy these days. Or cry for that matter, but thats a whole 'nother story!
One of the little things that has sustained me these past 36 weeks, has been mints. I don't want them during the day though. Just at night. When I am asleep. When I was pregnant with my boys, I discovered that mints at night helped to keep nausea at bay. You know, for the "Morning" sickness... This time however, if I don't have fresh minty breath/taste in my mouth throughout the entire night, it makes me ill. Also, due to the fact I need the air set at about 70 while I sleep, it makes my mouth seem really dry. And then I am miserable and can't sleep. Which leads to that crying I mentioned earlier.
Before I left for L.A. I bought one of those multi-packs of Tic Tacs, the BOLD ones. Dear hubby likes to steal them so I always keep a pack in my purse. But I had a ton of them and thought I was doing fine in the stockpile of mints department. As it turned out, Wednesday night was my last night with mints. I had 3 measly little Tic Tacs to keep me through the night, and hubby had Watch that night so I KNEW I couldn't send him to the store to get me more. I made them last. So last night, I figured, I don't really need them, I will just spend a little extra time brushing and flossing my teeth and have loads of water handy. Hubby and his ship left yesterday so I had no one to run to the store for me. And I was CERTAINLY not going to load the boys into the car, haul them into the store just for a thing of Tic Tacs.
I went to bed and then I just LAID there. And laid there. My mouth was dry, I kept drinking water which in turn made me need to use the bathroom. Still laying there. Ok, I HAVE to go hunt for mints. I KNOW there aren't any, but I was desperate enough to hope for a few stray ones in the bottom of my purse. How sad is that?!? Now I know you all want to run to the store buy up packs of mints and send them to me so I am never without again... (you can go ahead and email me for my address now...) I went out to the kitchen, after searching the tops of dressers and our Entertainment center as I put stuff up there to keep out of the reach of my boys. Nope, NOTHING. I am now frantically pulling stuff out of my purse, theres not even a STRAY one in the bottom. I am praying now, Please God, help me find some mints!! I have about 3 pockets in my purse, on one side there is the big zippered one. I keep my business cards and cards from vendors I collect in there. Nope, not in there. Now the other two pockets are on the other side and I usually put spare change, keys, or other little things I don't want to spend a lot of time trying to locate in the vastness that is the bottom of my purse. Wednesday night, when we had dinner with Damon, I had gotten the boys a Butterfinger to split. It was was a little stale, so I wrapped it up and stuck it in one of the side pockets. It was still there last night. I knew there was nothing else in there, but wait, what IS that? TIC TACS?!?! There WAS not Tic Tacs in that pocket the other night when I stuffed the candy bar in there. Its a full pack too, and should keep me til Tuesday when I have my next Drs appt and can run to the store while the boys are at the sitters. GOD gave me Tic Tacs! He said, "Its really pitiful to watch this poor pregnant woman run around the house, while her hubby is out playing war games on his ship, stuck with two sleeping "angels" so she can't get to the grocery store. I am going to make her really happy and give her some Tic Tacs!"
I slept quite peacefully and minty last night!

MPM here we go again

I had such a hard time putting together a menu yesterday. Nothing sounded good, even making out my grocery list was tough. But I know its because I have reached that point where I am not able to eat a whole lot. And even the littlest bit can leave me feeling just icky. However, its not just me eating, I have a HUNGRY hubby and two kids with hollow legs to feed. So I powered through and came up with this.


Sunday: Italian Stuffed Shells This was SO GOOD! It took a little bit of prep, and I substituted in pepperoni for the sausage. And Prego instead of homemade sauce.
Monday: Leftovers hey I said it was GOOD!
Tuesday: Hawaiian Chicken Bake
Wednesday: Taking Dinner to Damon on ship, he has duty
Thursday: Pizza Bake
Friday: Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Saturday: Breakfast for Dinner

I also tried to grocery shop and menu plan through July 13th since hubby will be gone the end of the this week through then. We will see how much I stick to what I tentatively put together for next week!