Thankful November

A lot of people have been doing a daily update on Facebook of what they're thankful for, I decided that I would write down what I am thankful for on here instead.

01. My wonderful husband Waymon. I'm blessed that I found the love of my life at a young age and married him. <3 I don't know what I would do without my best friend by my side forever. He's my biggest supporter in everything I chose to do in my life whether it's getting fit, going to school or changing my line of work. He takes care of me even when I'm too stubborn to ask for help. He makes me laugh the way no one else can and makes me smile bigger than anyone else can. Most importantly, he's given me the best gift I could've ever asked for this year. I've never met someone so kind and loving.

02. My mommy:) She is the woman who I see myself becoming more and more of everyday. I only aspire to become half the woman she is when I grow up.  She is the strongest person I know. She's overcome so many obstacles in her life and she is still strong and positive. She really does know best. I'm thankful that my mom is one of my best friends.

03.My brothers: Chris & Jon. Growing up with two brothers isn't easy, but it's taught me that I can't be a sissy like every other girl. I've gotten my butt whooped on my birthdays, ridiculed for my wardrobe/ makeup/ hair choices and everything else in my life, however I'm thankful to say that these two are the people that keep me down to Earth everyday. We've had our share of bad times, but we only remember the good times. I swear if we get anymore alike we'd be triplets. I wouldn't be the woman I am today without these to numbskulls :P

04. My best friend: Brigid. I've been best friends with Brigid since 4th grade. She's always been my rock even though she lives so far away. I haven't seen her since I was 10 years old, but when we talk it seems like I just saw her yesterday.

05.My best friend: Stacy. She's the sister I never got. She is one of the kindest people I've ever met. She has the biggest heart. She's my personal cheerleader as I am with her. I go to her for everything. She is going to be thee best Auntie to H-bomb come April. I love her family and they have made me apart of it. I'm so thankful I met Stacy through work and have been able to  call her my best friend.

Bonnie Cat<3

Sassafras

06.My babies: Bonnie & Sassafras<3 My babies mean the world to me. They keep me on my toes everyday. Most of my furniture is torn to shreds, my bed/clothes have been peed/pooped on, litter is always EVERYWHERE as well as their toys, but I couldn't picture my life any other way. I love the chaos that these girls bring my life. I love their individual personalities. Bonnie is sweet and loyal like her daddy while Sassafras is naiive and rambunctious like me ;) I don't get why they don't get along, but I know that when Waymon and I are away they love each other.

07.My job . I've gotten an amazing opportunity to become Inventory Control at my current job. I never thought in my life that I would like dealing with numbers and product all day, but I've got to say that I do love what I do for a living.

08.Having a roof over my head. The typhoons in the Philippines make me ever so grateful for the roof over my head. When I think that my apartment is too cramped, I think about how I'd rather have a cramped space than nothing at all.

09.The food I've gotten to eat. Many of you know that I'm a food lover (especially with me being pregnant). I'm glad that everyday I get to eat something filling to nourish me and my baby.

10.My health. I've taken a lot of tests through my OB and I'm glad that I am healthy-healthy enough to carry growing baby H .

11. My nieces and nephews. I love my boys K&J. These boys are growing up sooo fast that I can't even imagine them being grown men soon. :( Auntie loves her boys. My girls KK, A & A are all beautiful little ladies. They are the light of our family. They are all spunky and keep the entire family in "AWE" with how unbelievably cute they are.

12.The clothes on my back. I have A LOT of clothes ( and I know that, that is a huge understatement). I'm grateful that I have clothes to keep me warm and comfortable for every season. Never will I take advantage of the latter, since I've seen many of my own family members go without clothes on their backs.

13. The Wells Family. I'm blessed to have married into a family that love me. The entire family accepted me  with open arms and without hesitation. I can't imagine to be apart of any one else's family. A lot of people don't get to speak to their in laws often nor do they care to, but that isn't the case when it comes to my family.

14. My coworkers. I spend more than 40 hours with all of them weekly and they are the people that keep me sane everyday. We are one huge family and I am always to happy to see each and everyone of them.

15. Being able to enjoy life for one more day. Everyday I am thankful that I get to experience one more day on this Earth. I try to keep positive everyday and not let one dumb thing get in the way of allowing me to be happy. The bad in this world cannot triumph the good that I have been blessed with in my life. I'm counting my blessings.

16. My baby girl<3 I cannot wait to see her in the flesh. I've never loved someone so much without even being able to physically hold or see them in my life. I love her more than anything in this world. I am still in disbelief that I will be a mom come April 2014. I've never thought of myself to be the "mother" type, but when I see her sonograms, feel her move or see her move I know that this is what I was put on this Earth for. I am meant to love her unconditionally and protect her forever.

Apple Crazy!!

Thanks to my trip to Apple Hill a couple weeks ago, I'm trying to create everything apple.... and I mean EVERYTHING.

So far I've made apple turnovers, pancakes, muffins and of course an apple pie. I'm  trying to get my money's worth from the 13 lbs of apples that I bought. ( I know that sounds a lot of apples.. haha when I told Waymon his eyes got as big as Sass' from disbelief) In my defense, I've eaten an apple everyday since I've bought my box of apples:) I'm trying to recreate a simple packaged food and transform it into my own. I would love to say that I have PLENTY of time these days, but I don't so I'm making things a little easier on myself with semi-homemade recipes.

Apple Turnovers 
I ate about 3 of these before I brought them to work:) All of them were gone by the time I left at 2:45 pm. I was EXTREMELY happy with the results of these. They are easy and yummy. What could be better?

Ingredients:
-1 package of crescent rolls

-1 apple- diced
-Agave *healthy alternative to honey*
-Cinnamon sugar made up of - Stevia & Cinnamon:) *healthy alternative to sugar*

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-Unravel all rolls from package and lay out on clean surface
-Place apples on bigger end of crescent roll
-Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture and drizzle with agave
-Roll up crescent roll as directions state on package
-Place all rolls on an ungreased baking sheet
-Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown

Apple turnovers

Apple Pancakes/Muffins
I made an alternative type of pancake trying to not use flour. I will probably use this recipe for the baby when she gets to eat solid food (minus the almonds) so that it is lighter and easy to digest for her. :)

Ingredients:
-3 packets of plain oatmeal (mixed this up in my bullet and it makes oat flour! )
-2 apples peeled, cored  and chopped/shredded * I would use shredded for the baby*
-handful of pumpkin spiced almonds - in my case a couple handfuls (mix this up in your bullet and it will be come almond flour)
-1 tablespoon sugar in the raw *in place of sugar* 
-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon *use as much or as little as you'd like*
-1 egg
-1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1/4 cup melted butter
-1 cup milk
-coconut oil spray for pan/muffin tins (you could also use canola oil)

Directions
-Preheat pan for pancakes or preheat oven to 350 degrees for muffins
-In large bowl, combine butter, egg, milk, apple and mix together- don't over mix.
-Fold in all dry ingredients with the wet ingredients
-Spray pan with coconut oil and pour batter in (as much or as little as you want) for pancakes.
-Flip pancakes as soon as the first side of pancake is browned - this happens quickly
-Spray muffin pan for muffins with coconut oil and pour in batter 3/4 of the way. Bake for 20-30 min                 until you perform the toothpick test and it comes out clean. :)

Apple pancakes

Apple muffins

Apple Pie
This is my first time making apple pie and it turned out great! My house smells like heaven now! :) I used the skills I got from Rachel Ray !!

Ingredients:
- 1 box of premade pie crust (Mine was from target)
-1/3 cup sugar in the raw
-1/3 cup brown sugar
-4 tablespoons butter (half melted and half cubed)
-3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
-5 apples (peeled, cored and cut)
-pinch of salt


Directions:
-Preheat oven to 425 degrees
-Unravel 1 pie crust and press pie crust into round baking pan
-Use pinch motion to get crust to be a little fancy. Use left thumb and index finger to create a "pinching" motion, while using the right index finger to make an indent in the crust. (You don't have to do this) 
-Mix sugars, salt, cinnamon and apples in large bowl
-Drop 1/4 of the cubed butter onto crust before putting apples onto crust
-After putting all apples onto crust put the next 1/4 cubed butter on top
-Unravel 2nd pie crust and fold into fourths. Cut any shape you'd like into the crust. Slowly unravel and top pie (You don't have to do this. You could simply unravel and place on top of pie)
-Place pie into oven for 20 minutes
-After 20 minutes place foil around pie edges to prevent burnt edges and place back in the oven
-After 10 minutes brush melted butter on top of pie and place pie back into the oven
-When timer goes off brush remaining butter on top of pie
-You have to wait 2-3 hours to dig in (Honestly, the hardest part D: )

Pinching motion

Cutting pie crust into snowflake pattern:)

Finished product! 

Banana Dark Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Today's breakfast was delicious! It was fast and easy. Semi-homemade recipes are beginning to be so much fun :) I made these to surprise Waymon for breakfast. He didn't leave anything on his plate, so I think I did an okay job ;)

Ingredients :
-1 banana
-1 cup of ready made pancake mix (mine is from Target)
-2/3 cup of water
- cinnamon (use as much or as little as you'd like)
-dark chocolate chips (use as many of as little as you want)
-canola oil spray

Directions:
-Preheat pan under medium-high heat
-Mash banana with a fork in a medium bowl
-Sprinkle in a dash of cinnamon
-Add in ready made pancake mix and water
-Fold in mixture together
-Add in chocolate chips. Do not over mix.
-Spray pan with canola oil and pour in batter
-Flip pancake over when pancake starts to bubble around the edges

Small Cantaloupe Week-Gender Reveal!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!! 

How far along? 20 weeks :) WE'RE HALF WAY THERE!! AHH! 

Total weight gain/loss: I'm at 126.8 lbs this week. A +1 lb gain from last week and an overall gain of +8.3 lbs .

Maternity clothes? Still trying to find my belly belt :( (Still no luck and I'm not really that deep into the search for it haha!) I'm still wearing my regular jeans to work with my hair tie and my belly band from Target to keep my pants up. I'm trying to find new ways to get out of horrid jeans. 

Stretch marks? None so far. I'm applying lotion to the belly as much as possible ESPECIALLY when I'm itchy. Don't worry I won't scratch. My mom told me that even on your period if you scratch you'll get stretch marks so I'm pretty good in not scratching ANYTHING- she's told me that at 10 !  

Sleep: I'm done with the naps this week since I've been extremely busy with the holiday shopping/ baby shopping :) I'm sleeping through the night: which I am SOO thankful for. I toss and turn to get comfortable and I still never remember I'm pregnant every morning. I know it's so weird. 

Best moment this week: Of course, spending thanksgiving with my loved ones! However, it would have to be my ultrasound on Monday. We found out what our little peanut is. 

Miss anything? Eh nothing this week. 

Movement: No strong kicks, but I get the flutters all the time. You can see the belly move too when I'm laying down:) 

Food cravings: I think now, I'm just set on what I like to eat and what I don't like to eat. It's completely different from when I wasn't pregnant, but I'm not complaining. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Sitting in the car in the driver's passenger seat. I hate it! I get so car sick. 

Gender: Drum roll please......... I T ' S  A  G I R L!!

     :) We thought that we were having a girl and we were RIGHT! I can't believe I waited this long to officially to find out. It was definitely hard to not take the tests out there to find out early. You better believe I've taken every gender prediction quiz online as well. 

Waymon gets to be spoiled with all  his girls'. He also gets to spoil his princess. <3 The look on my husband's face when my OB told us was priceless. He's in love already. Watching him buy clothes for her is probably the cutest thing ever. If you know my husband at all, you would know that he's as boy as you can get. Him picking out something pink for his girl and smile over it melts my heart. (He doesn't see me stare at him while he picks out clothes :P hehe!) 

     I, on the other hand, cried in the car after my appointment realizing that I am a mommy carrying my healthy girl. All the emotions came to me at once- this pregnancy is one of the best things that's ever happened to me. I'm very blessed to carry a beautiful, healthy baby.  While daddy gets his princess, I get my very best friend. I've got a full house of girls now with Bonnie, Sass and now H. As most of you know I'm very attached to Sass so I cannot imagine what I will be like with H. I can't wait either:) 

Labor signs: No No No.

Symptoms: A little heartburn after weird foods, nausea in the car, backaches/headaches from time to time. 

Belly button in or out? In!

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy Happy Happy! No bad days for this mama. 

Looking forward to: Moving into our new home, Christmas, more baby shopping, planning the nursery and seeing H on my birthday:) Next doctor visit is on December 30th! <3

mirror selfie with mommy:)

Mango Week

How far along:19 weeks! 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: This week I'm at 125.8 ! That's a gain +2 lbs from last week and an overall gain of +7.3 lbs. Not too shabby for 5 months!

Maternity clothes: Still rockin my hair tie with my belly band since I've given up hope on finding my belly belt.

Stretch marks: Still none... YAY!! 

Sleep: No more naps D: but I'm still sleeping through the night!

Best moment this week: Seeing that I gained weight finally! I haven't gained a lot of weight and I've been worried a bit. It snowed today which is would be the first snow fall of this year. I complete agree that good things are coming my way due to the snow:)  Also, Waymon finally felt the baby move. AHH! I wish I could've recorded the look on his face. 

Movement: Baby moves all the time I love it! 

Food cravings: Nothing this week, which is weird. 

Gender: We still believe Baby Wells is a princess  :D 

Labor signs: Nope! 

Belly button - in or out? In for now. 

What I miss: Laying on my back and not having headaches all the time:( 

What I am looking forward to: Finding out Baby H's sex on November 25th! It's so close!!!! 

Milestones: Showing more :) 

This Week in Pictures : Apple Hill Edition

Apple Hill is something to now check off of my bucket list. I still cannot believe how truly amazing this place is. I went with Stacy ( of course) and her mom  (my second mom) :) It was a nice little girl's getaway for a day. When we went up to Apple Hill the weather was perfect. I was comfortable in my long sleeve shirt, leggings, long socks, boots, light cardigan, scarf and beret. The breeze was nicely complimented by the warm sun. Of course, we traveled two hours for the apples ( I still can't get enough of them) , but we also wanted to see the crafts sold there. In fact, I bought the baby their very first owl knitted beanie! The lady I purchased this from had a real knack for knitting. She was extremely passionate about what she did. She made bows and beanies in all kinds of sizes.  The amount of excitement over apples was not overwhelming as some may think. I would love to take baby H there one day to enjoy the little corn maze, horses and hay rides with Waymon.  It made my heart happy knowing that I would be able to take my bundle of joy to the place I enjoyed this time next year. I grinned as I wrote that previous sentence. :)

Our first stop was to scope out the apples. My goal of the day was to buy a box of apples. This stop you could choose to hand pick your apples from huge bins or boxes that have been pre-picked for you! The apples in the bins looked delicious, but I didn't want to buy apples right off the bat. I bought a Dutch Apple Pie for my mommy as well as ate Apple Donuts. YUM!!!  This is the stop where I bought the owl beanie.. I couldn't resist! Oh! And I also couldn't resist buying an 'Apple Cider Shake'. You can tell the obvious joy in my face while I hold the precious thing. ha! 

Next stop, was to Boa Vista! This stop has thee most beautiful selection of fruit I've ever seen. I couldn't stop 'oohing and ahhing' over the selection. This stop I could not stop sampling the fresh fruit. (Yes, for you pregnancy nazis I made sure that the fruit was washed and cleaned before consuming) I'm a sucker for Fuji/Gala apples but at after trying the Pink Lady apples I'm a believer. This stop is where we spent the most time as we went through every isle to see what each isle had to offer- which was A LOT. :) I bought my 13 lbs of apples here. I was EXTREMELY happy afterwards. 

Our trip ended with Abel's. I didn't get to snap any photos for this stop, due to me admiring all of the little families around. :D Don't worry though, next year I'll have pictures up with my little family enjoying all the festivities Abel's has to offer as well as the rest of Apple Hill. 

Sweet Potato Week

How far along:18 weeks! 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: This week I'm at 123.8 ! That's a gain +1.6 lbs from last week and an overall gain of +5.1 lbs. It seems soooo much right now, but I know that it's ALL belly. 

Maternity clothes: Still can't find the belly belt :( So I've been using a hair tie on my pants with my belly band to keep my pants up ! The belly band is from Target and it's seriously AMAZING!

Stretch marks: None ... so far (fingers crossed). Still fighting them with body butter/coco butter/ lubriderm/ baby lotion/baby oil. I'm so weird.

Sleep: No naps this week. I've been on the go all week. I've been sleeping through the night which is great!

Best moment this week: Feeling the baby move right when I wake up:) It melts my heart every time. 

Movement: Baby moves all the time. You can see movement when I lay down :) 

Food cravings: Apples! I can't wait to go to Apple Hill this weekend!! I'm also digging yogurt. Gahh

Gender: We still believe Baby H is a princess  :D 

Labor signs: Nope! 

Belly button - in or out? In for now. 

What I miss: Laying on my back and being without back aches. :( 

What I am looking forward to: Finding out Baby H's sex on November 25th! I can't wait! 

Milestones: Showing more :) It's getting harder and harder to hide my baby belly!