Low Calorie Curried Chicken Salad

I love all of the cold salads: potato salad, macaroni salad, and especially chicken salad. This recipe is really simple and all I had to go buy was the celery and butter lettuce, chances are you also have the ingredients you need already in your pantry and fridge.

Mommy Mondays Week 38

Another exhausting week! Hubby and I have been staying busy. Walking about 2 miles a day, eating whatever the heck we feel like, and seeing all of our friends. I'm really excited to say that next week will be the last Mommy Mondays post during my pregnancy! My doctor is going to go ahead and induce me at 39 weeks. I am miserable, my cervix is paper thin and I'm almost 4 cm dilated but my body isn't going into active labor. If you've been there, you know how uncomfortable it is! I'm happy to at least have a date at this point, but the doctor still thinks it might happen before then. Apparently my labor could progress pretty quickly so the OB said if my contractions are strong and 7 minutes apart, just go into labor and delivery. So exciting! I can't wait to meet my little girl.

Breakfast for Dinner: Polenta and Asparagus

Lately I haven't been cooking. Between waiting on the baby to come "any day now" and going out to see friends, cooking has been pushed to the back burner. Last night I made a quick and easy dinner that was vegetarian and filling. If you're unfamiliar with polenta, it's essentially corn porridge. You can make it yourself with corn meal, water, cheese, and butter plus whatever else you'd like to add. I like to buy the rolls of polenta. It's already cooked and packaged, all you have to do is slice it and cook it up!

Mommy Mondays Week 37

Wow what a week! It surely started off with a bang. Last Sunday I was having Braxton Hicks contractions about 10 minutes apart for a few hours before bed. I didn't think much of it since I was dehydrated from throwing up earlier in the day. Monday morning was my last day of work, and in the car the contractions were about six minutes apart and my back was starting to ache. I called the doctor and they said to go to labor and delivery just to be sure. My husband came and picked me up, since the contractions were a little uncomfortable at that point and pretty close together. We got to triage and I instantly felt like a crazy first time mom. I just kept telling my husband I'm probably not even having contractions and I'm just being paranoid. The nurse hooked me up to the fetal monitor, and the baby was doing just fine. Turns out I was actually having contractions about three minutes apart at that point, although they weren't too uncomfortable. She checked my cervix and to my surprise I was already 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced. 

I was shocked, I really thought I was being crazy. They told me I'll probably just have the baby early but since I wasn't in pain I could go home. I had an appointment with my OB on Tuesday morning, and he said I was 80% effaced and 3 cm dilated. At this point the contractions were uncomfortable. I could feel menstrual-like cramps and back pain with each contraction, but I still felt fine. We went to L&D again at the request of my OB just to make sure I wasn't progressing too quickly. After an hour on the monitor contractions were about seven minutes apart but I was still at 3 cm, so they said I could go ahead and labor at home. Then Tuesday night it basically stopped. The contractions slowed to maybe one an hour and I felt fine. Since then I've been having contractions here and there, but nothing worth timing. It's tough because Monday we thought we'd have the baby within a few days. We packed our hospital bags, put the car seat in the car, and were ready to go! Now a week later we're still waiting on baby girl to make her grand entrance. I know she'll come "when she's ready" as everyone keeps telling me, because what else do you say? It's frustrating, I'm ready to hold my baby. I hope she comes soon! For now, hubby and I are going about business as usual! Trying to stay busy.

Mommy Mondays Week 36

Oddly enough week 36 wasn't too crazy or eventful in terms of my pregnancy. Overall it was a rough week. After a long battle with cancer my uncle passed away on Friday January 10th, he was 49 years old. He was my favorite uncle and seeing him struggle has been difficult over the past year and a half. Today was the service to honor his life, and it was absolutely beautiful. I didn't know if I would be able to make it today, due to a little labor scare. 

I can write more about it in next weeks pregnancy update, since it just started on Monday. Basically I made it an hour and half at work on my last day before I had to go to L&D. My contractions were 4 minutes apart, they weren't particularly painful but I wasn't feeling too great. Turns out I was 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced. Since then we've been back to L&D once more per my doctors request, but things have slowed way down. For now baby is still cooking away but now we're anxiously awaiting her arrival.

Mommy Mondays Week 35

This past week marked the start of my modified work hours! I still worked two regular days, but as of the 2nd I am down to just 5 hours at a time. It's a huge relief, because after working my 5 hours I went to the doctor, then CVS to get a prescription, and I was completely exhausted by the time I got home. This baby girl is getting big, and man can I feel it. Every day it's new aches and pains. Frequent Braxton Hicks, and the sensation that she is just going to fall right out. Getting up is actually painful at this point. 

I was looking forward to NYE with my family, and I ended up laying on the couch all night (after a 2 hour nap) because I was just so unbelievably uncomfortable. I can't believe she will be here in just about a month, we really need to finish up the nursery! I know once she's here I'm just going to want to relax and sleep whenever I can and not fuss over the apartment.

Thick and Savory Beef Stew

This recipe was completely inspired by my mom. I went over to my parents for dinner and my mom used left over pot roast and gravy she had made to make a beef stew. It was the best stew I'd ever had, I was pretty sure it was because of the gravy. And I was right, the gravy makes a world of difference. I don't know why I never thought to try it that way, but it works so well. It's thick and very beefy, but overall about the same nutrition as using plain beef or chicken broth. You can fancy this up with additional spices and fresh herbs, but this is a great basic stew recipe.

Small disclaimer, hideous picture quality! This was probably day 3 of the stew, I had been getting home from work after day. So instead of having time to take a good photo when it was hot and fresh, I just snapped a quick picture at work with my phone so I could post this recipe!