Waiting

It's been a while since my last post...but I really don't have much of an update today.  Since my beef freezer cooking post, not a lot has happened around here.  Just a lot of waiting. =)

I did try to make muffins yesterday for the freezer, but they turned out terrible.  It was a new recipe that I've never tried before for banana-blueberry-bran muffins.  Sounded great, looked fairly easy, got some decent reviews from other folks....just didn't turn out for me.  I think the dough was just too wet, because even after baking them for an extra 10 minutes they still weren't baked all the way through.  And the outsides of the muffins were almost burned.  I was pretty disappointed...they smelled amazing in the oven and I really wanted to eat one!  I ended up throwing them all away...serves me right for trying a new recipe when I already have a perfectly awesome recipe for blueberry muffins. =(

I have a few things left on my freezer cooking list that I haven't accomplished yet, like banana bread and pancakes.  I made cookie dough a couple of days ago (using this recipe for Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies--which are my absolute favorite!) so I've got about 40-50 cookies in the freezer.  Definitely not the most healthy food...but I know I will be grateful for them when I really want something sweet later!  I need to make more Breakfast Burritos for Billy (and I have all of the ingredients) but I just haven't been all that motivated...I also want to make some lunch burritos for myself but just haven't gotten around to it. You would think I could get these things done since all I'm doing is sitting around waiting for Piper to come...but at 39 weeks, my energy and motivation are quickly dwindling.

In other news, poor Ellie has seasonal allergies.  I guess I passed that on to her, since Billy has been blessed by not having to suffer in that department.  I've had them since my pre-teen years, so I'm really surprised that Ellie is showing symptoms at such a young age.  But I called the pediatrician yesterday just to see if it was possible, and they said that it definitely sounds like allergies.  And what's weird is that mine aren't bad at all right now...I've had just a teeny bit of stuffiness in the past couple of weeks and a sore throat on occasion but that's it.  Poor Ellie has the whole deal...coughing, sneezing, watery eyes, and TONS of snot.  Thankfully the nurse at the pediatrician's office gave me a dosage for children's Benadryl based on Ellie's weight, so I feel okay giving it to her.  We're definitely not big on medications in this house, but she obviously feels pretty bad and the Benadryl is helping her sleep a lot better.  We've also got the humidifier going in her room during naps and at night and I think it's helping, too.  I'm praying that she won't have to suffer long and that soon she'll be back to her normal self.

It's hard to believe that two weeks from tomorrow I have a scheduled C-section.  We're still praying and hoping that I'll go into spontaneous labor on my own and have a successful VBAC, but I've kind of reserved myself to the fact that it might not happen.  I'm having contractions sporadically every day, but nothing to indicate labor.  I still have another week until my due date, and then another week after that until the C-section, so maybe Piper will come on her own before then.  I've been trying some "at home" methods of labor induction (haha) but nothing has happened yet.  I've been drinking red raspberry leaf tea, tried lots and lots of walking, and even eaten spicy food...the only results so far have been soreness from the walking and horrible heartburn from the food =)  Oh well, I'll have lots of stories to tell Piper about how anxious I was for her to arrive!

Which reminds me...I've been meaning to go to Michael's this week to buy a photo storage box (like the pink one pictured below).  I bought one shortly after Ellie was born to hold all of her little newborn "treasures," like her first bottle from the NICU, her foot imprint from when she was 2 months old, her hat from the NICU, and the only preemie outfit we had that actually fit her perfectly.  I'm a big memorabilia hoarder...but I really try to only keep things that are really significant.  Anyway, I want to get a similar box for Piper so that I'll have a place to store those little things that I want to show her someday.

Isn't she a cutie?!  I think she had just turned 1 when this picture was taken.

And that's about it for me...stay tuned, Piper Josephine will be here in two weeks (or less)!