Spinach Ravioli!

Next to Sweet-Tarts, lemonade, and Better-Made BBQ chips, one of my biggest cravings is spinach ravioli! It is so delicious and so easy to make!

Here is my "recipe"
1. Get some frozen cheese ravioli or tortellini and prepare according to the directions (usually pour the ravioli into boiling water and let cook for 2-3 minutes)
2. Put a splash of olive oil and a pinch of minced garlic into a sauce pan and brown the garlic on medium-ish heat.
3. Add a bag of spinach. It is going to shrink A LOT. So do it little by little, like 4 additions.
4. Once the spinach is all shrank sprinkle a little red pepper. Stir and cook on medium-low heat for about 5 min.
5. Throw your cooked and drained ravioli into the spinach pan. Let cook on low for like 3 minutes.

And you're done! Its so delicious, but the ravioli leaves a chalky feeling on your teeth sometimes, or maybe the spinach, I don't know. One of these days I am going to add some grilled chicken into the mix!!

Cloth Diapering!

Pretty much since those two (beautiful) pink lines showed up I have been begging Jacob to agree to cloth diaper. From the get-go he was against it. Then out of nowhere he turns to me and says, "Honey, maybe we should cloth diaper!" This was probably the best "news" I've gotten since peeing on that stick. Just to get it out in the open, here's the pros and cons (for us anyway):

Pros
1. Cost affective! Disposable diapers are about 30 cents per diaper. For about 3 months, baby goes through about 10 a day (sometimes more) and through potty training about 7. So that's about $270 for the newborn phase, and if the baby potty trains at the average age of 3 years old that's about $2110. Altogether that is about $2380, and that's a conservative number. A good "stash" of cloth diapers, even the more expensive ones, can cost about $500, on the high end. Personally, Jacob and I have decided to spend around $300 on them, if all goes according to plan.
2. The environment. This one is iffy, some people argue that the cost of production and maintenance (ie washing and drying) is comparable to the amount of plastic diapers we put in the land fills. Personally, I feel that "wasting" water is not as bad as filling the earth with poop. Apparently it can take 500 years to decompose 1 disposable diaper- eek.
3. Potty training! Look back to #1 when I quote the prices and say that the baby potty trains at 3 years old. Well, guess what? Cloth diapered babies generally potty train much sooner. Cloth diapered babies potty train around 18 months-24 months, disposable diapered babies around 3-4 (on average).
4. Less diaper rash. I don't remember the exact statistic, but something like only 7% of babies had diaper rashes before the disposables. Nowadays, when majority of babies are using disposables something like 78% have diaper rashes.
5. Less chemicals. Disposables have a chemical in it called, "sodium polyacralate" and if it gets on baby's skin its not good! Polyacralate is super absorbent and that is why it is used in disposables, but interesting fact: it has been banned from being used in feminine products, but not in disposable diapers. How messed up is that? Also, some people believe that the chemicals in the disposables can cause or worsen asthma and maybe even cause toxic shock syndrome.
6. Cute! Okay, Jacob likes to speculate that this is my #1 reason for choosing to cloth diaper, but I promise it isn't! But how cute are those cloth diaper covers that can come in so many fun colors and patterns? I feel like that is a lot more fun than pastel Winnie the Pooh, but that's just me.

Cons (and my rebuttal)
1. Sooo much laundry! Yeah I will have to do laundry every 1-2 days, but guess what? I can totally do it. I am notorious for letting my laundry pile up, but we always have clean towels and undies and whatever we need. The baby will need diapers so they will get washed. It may be irritating, but I feel like I'd get in a groove, every other day gotta do a load, and it will just be 2nd nature. Who knows maybe it will help with my other laundry habits.
2. So gross! You have to scrape poop!? Yeah, you have to scrape the poop, and this was Jacob's main issue. But did you know you are supposed to do that even with your run of the mill Pampers, Huggies, and Luvs? Yeah for real!Its a violation of World Health Organization, APHA, and CDC guidelines to just "throw" your poopy diapers away. Think of gross poop is and all the "crap" it contains. When it goes into our landfills it can leach into our water supply, not just the obviously gross stuff, but viruses too- like Polio. They have diaper sprayers that aren't that costly, and yeah its pretty nasty, but I heard breast fed babies' poo doesn't smell quite as bad as formula fed babies, so I am thinking I can deal. Plus I worked at a vet clinic.
3. Leaks and blow-outs. I only read about this in a couple of places, but cloth diapers are just as (if not more) effective at containing those messes as disposables. The most common cause of leaks with cloth diapers are either low quality/absorbency or the brand/style just doesn't just fit your baby. Just like disposables you need to explore other options- if Luvs doesn't work you try Huggies, same theory applies to cloth diapers.
4. Uhm, what do you do with your dirties before they are washed? Diaper pails or bags are really effective and there are a lot of options to be used. I haven't really read about a mother who could not find a solution to the stinkies because there are just so many out there. Also, it isn't like there is a pail of dirty diapers hanging around your house for a week(+). You wash your diapers every other day, at least, along with the liner or bag.
5. Diaper creams. No, you can't use Desitin or the raved about Butt Paste because it messes with the absorbency of your cloth diapers, but there are plenty of options out there for baby. And actually, breast milk is good for soothing rashes, weird, huh?
6. Energy cost. Okay, I can't really get around this one, except by saying the increase in our electric bill is going to suck (it won't be comparable to the cost of disposables, though I am sure) and we don't pay for our water!
7. A lot of day cares don't allow them! If our baby ends up in day care we will try to find a cloth diaper friendly provider, or just suck up the fact that baby will be on disposables. Not really something that can be avoided.

Okay so that's my schpeel on cloth diapers. I am really excited about this little venture. I honestly haven't come across one family member who is completely supportive of it and that kind of sucks, but I have some friends helping me out and that is great! The choice to cloth diaper was a hard one for Jacob and I, or at least a long time coming. For Jacob it took a ton of deliberation and it could have just as easily gone the other way. In fact, we have two packages of disposables under our bathroom counter. So that being said, I don't "judge" anyone who chooses to use disposables, it is a personal parenting choice that everybody  has the right to make themselves!

Night everyone! Love, the Christians- Jacob, Jess, Cricket, Courage, and the melon kicking my bladder

Heart beats, Ultra sounds, and Color Schemes!

We had an appointment yesterday morning and everything is looking good! I am measuring right where I should be- a huge relief to the twin scare/ slightly enlarged uterus! The baby was moving a lot (she said) when using the doppler and it's heart rate was at 154.

I just scheduled our big ultra-sound/ anatomy scan for May 4th at 9:30 am and I couldn't be more excited! Now, how do I get through these next 12 days without bursting? No clue.

In the meantime, I've been fantasizing about the nursery. I plan on doing a lot of DIY projects- an appliqued quilt being the main element. I've also found some cute ideas for decorating lamps and wall art. Our "theme" will be for girl- dinosaur and if its a boy- Beatles themed. I am so excited to get going on this quilt! In the meantime, we've come up with a little rough color scheme (boy on left, girl on right):

 

It's funny, the girl color scheme is pretty much our wedding colors. I am not too keen on pink nursery, and plus if we use light green elements we can use them for future children (if there are future children).We'll see! I am so excited!

3 Weeks

3 weeks from now we'll have a peace of mind about our baby. We'll know that everything looks normal (hopefully). We'll know what the sex is. We'll know what to call it. I can't wait. I am so excited.

Possibly a Bump, a New Job, and Plans

Updating has not been my strong suit! Maybe when we start getting baby things together I will be posting more. Today I am 19 weeks and 4 days along. If you ask me, I am already halfway through because I am hoping this little one comes out a wee bit early. That is so unbelievable in a paradoxical way. I feel like I've been pregnant forever, but the weeks drag on so slow. Here is a picture of my possible "bump"

It isn't very much, and to me, I still just look fatter, but Jacob says I look pregnant and I guess I'll just go with that! I really want to buy another pair of maternity pants... In fact, I have to! I got a job at Wal-Mart, which isn't exactly my dream job, but I am excited to contribute and even more excited to be able to save some money for our little baby. I am not sure when I start, but hopefully soon!

Jacob and I have been talking a lot about plans for when Sweet-Tart gets here. Sure, its pretty soon to be worrying about this, but as always, our ginormo families play a big factor in that. My mom is coming down for the birth and will be staying for only a few days. I am really excited to have my momma here during that time, sometimes I still cry for my momma when I am sick and especially when I toss my cookies. It will be nice to have her in the delivery room, I think. Don't get me wrong, Jacob is my number one support system and best friend, but there is something about a mom that is comforting. After that we don't know what to do. We think it'd be nice to have a week or so to ourselves with the baby, getting in the groove, laying some semblance of a schedule, let myself heal a bit, all that stuff. Its a sticky situation to us, we want family to visit, we want everyone to meet our baby, but I just can't help but wonder how overwhelming that will feel right off the bat.

I can't worry too much about that stuff now. I have finals coming up and even though I only have two, I am pretty stressed out about that! Still hoping our doctor lets us do that ultrasound a few days early so I don't have to wonder about it through finals. We'll see!

Love, the Christians- Jacob, Jess, Cricket, Courage, and the Mango growing in my uterus!

Nutrition

I have GOT to get my nutrition in order. I take my pre-natals, but I need more Calcium. Also, a dehydrated little (okay, ginormo) tablet just can't take the place of fruits, veggies, and quality protein. THANK GOODNESS I can still eat chicken, but just about every other meat makes me gag thinking about. I would love to eat cheese, but our fridge is so gosh darned stinky I don't want to open the fridge to indulge! Fruits- I bought a lot of stuff for smoothies, but always forget about them and veggies... ew. Just about the only veggie I can think of stomaching is carrots. Green beans, lima beans, and peas don't sound too bad, but by the time I cook them the smell gets to me. I am hoping these food aversions go away soon. In the meantime I am going to try and force myself to eat some healthy foods.


In news having nothing to do with foods: baby kicks/ flutters all the time! I joke that my baby is hyperactive, but maybe its true! I get tickled a lot and even little pop-pop-pops sometimes. Its a wonderful feeling. Nineteen days until we schedule the appointment for the "big ultrasound". I am hoping like crazy they will schedule it for the week before finals, which I will actually be 21 weeks, and they want to do it at 22 weeks. BUT the Friday before I will be 21 weeks and 5 days... Close enough, right? How am I supposed to concentrate on my finals when the little baby is kicking and I have no idea if its a girlie or guy? Here's hoping!

Love, the Christians- Cricket, Courage, Jess and the onion growing inside of my uterus (we can't wait for Jacob to get home from work!)