Ultrasound and Party Decorations

I had an ultrasound today called Early Screen which is something new they are doing to check for down syndrome and other trisomy disorders. Everything looked completely normal which is always great news to hear. It was so fun seeing the baby move around on the screen! He/she looks so much more like a person from the last time we took a peek. You could see all the facial features and the arms and legs. We got a few great profile pictures to share with our family this weekend. The technician still couldn't find that other baby in there making my belly get big so fast! I actually haven't gained but a pound or two but this belly is showing for sure. People ask me everywhere when I am due and I am only 12 1/2 weeks. Ha! I do love being pregnant though and look forward to the next few months with this belly (especially when the baby starts moving!). :)

I have been getting ready for Eli's party over the past week or two. I cleaned all last weekend only to find that after our new windows were installed this week I would need to re-clean everything because of all the dust. :) I plan on getting the food together on Friday along with the rest of the decorations. We are doing a monkey theme party with teal, yellow, and brown for the colors. My mom found these cute plates in a magazine and I had his invitaiton designed based on them. She also had a cake made at a local bakery in Arkansas that is going to match everything else!

It is going to be great fun having both of our families in town to celebrate with us along with some of our friends. Marc's family is coming from Illinois and Texas and mine are coming up from Arkansas. Eli is one very loved little boy. :) I will put up some pictures after the party. Have a great weekend!

Spring Clothes

I can't believe that I am already pulling out my maternity pants. I had heard that second time around your belly gets bigger faster but this is crazy! I was really convinced when I had to start undoing the top button on my pants at 6 weeks that I was having twins. I have had two ultrasounds telling me that I am not having twins so I am almost convinced. :) I am much more comfortable today than I have been all week and it is because I am in my MATERNITY JEANS. Ha! Marc says the rapidly growing belly thing is all in my head and that I complained about the same thing last time around, but I have obviously forgotten this because in MY head I was wearing my regular pants with a Bella Band until 20 weeks. Well, I am excited about getting some summer maternity clothes this time instead of winter. Maternity sweaters and coats just aren't that flattering, and I am glad I won't be pulling my old ones out. :) I had some leftover gift cards from Christmas and some good coupons so I recently bought some clothes from Old Navy and Gap for our trip in a few months to Jamaica! I found a black one piece pregnancy swimsuit at Old Navy that I really like because it fits so well and a few other tops and shorts.

I love this shirt with a tank underneath it.

This is a swimsuit cover-up that is really cute.

I'll give you the short version of this white Gap top. My mom bought it for me a few weeks ago and when I got home I noticed there was a coupon in the bag for 40% off a full price item. So, of course I had to return the top and buy it again at nearly half-price. The sales lady wasn't very happy with me but I sure felt good about my "bargain"! It is not a pregnancy shirt but flows enough that I should be able to wear it for quite a while.

Eli also got lots of clothes on our shopping trip. In fact, Marc says Eli has more fashionable clothes than he does. :) Baby Gap has some really cute spring things and their stuff is always so comfortable for a baby on the move. We also found these precious shoes at Stride Rite. Marc asked me if Stride Rite makes "big people" shoes because he wants a pair for himself. Ha! These are Eli's first hard sole shoes and he is doing great walking in them.

I think he looks like such a big boy in his new clothes with these shoes! Where did the past year go???

We are getting excited to celebrate Eli's birthday with family and friends next weekend. Marc and I cleaned up the house a little this weekend and I plan on spending next Friday finishing up with decorating and getting together the food. We are hoping for great weather so we can enjoy most of our time outside while we grill burgers and dogs. It should be lots of fun!

Wednesday Dinner

I haven't put up any recipes lately so I decided to share what we had tonight for dinner! I sometimes find myself rotating through the same recipes so I hope to try some new ones in the next few months to add to the list, and I will be sure to share the good ones. :) I really, really, really love cooking and had HUGE expectations during my maternity leave with Eli of cooking a fancy meal every day and making some fresh baked goodies on the side. Ha! I learned very quickly that newborn babies do not allow for mommies to spend hours in the kitchen which is the reason people bring you food and your mother comes to stay with you to cook. Boy, was I ever thankful for those meals! I have had to adjust things a little since having Eli to get homemade meals on the table before 8 o'clock! Here is a complete meal that I can put together in 45 min-1 hr. as long as I boil and chop the chicken the night before (I try to do some "night before" prep with most of our meals. I find it a lot easier to get dinner on the table by 6:30 that way!)

Chicken Croissants (or chicken puffs, chicken crescent puffs or whatever else you have seen these called)
4 cups chopped chicken (I use my food processor for smaller pieces)
8 oz. cream cheese
2 Tbs. butter
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. milk
2 Tbs. choppped green onions
2 cans crescent roll dough

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk

(I usually half this recipe since it makes 8 and this time I used the onion and chive flavored cream cheese and left out the green onions and it turned out great as well)

Mix all ingredients together in a skillet until warm. Separate the dough into squares (2 triangles) and put several tablespoons of the mixutre into the center of each. Bring the corners to the middle and seal the seams. Bake at 350 for 25 min. or until golden brown. Heat soup and milk and drizzle over the top of each chicken pastry before serving.

Dill Carrots
1 bag of fresh baby carrots
1/2 cup water
2 Tbs. butter
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. chopped dill weed

Put all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer for 30 min. or until tender.

Cashew Green Beans
1 lb. bag of frozen whole green beans
1/2 cup of salted cashews chopped
3 Tbs. butter
2 Tbs. honey

Cook the beans according to the package (I always try to slightly undercook these and then run them under cool water to stop the cooking process to keep them from getting mushy. You can warm them back up in the skillet before serving) Brown the cashews in butter and then add the honey in at the end. Mix together and pour over the beans.

How good does this look??? I love how it looks plated with all the colors. :)

And while we are on the subject of food, here is some video of Eli enjoying his spaghetti dinner last week.

Spaghetti Dinner from Stephanie Carrigan on Vimeo.

Easter Weekend

We enjoyed our Easter weekend with lots of family time and time outdoors! Eli is cutting three teeth all at once so he has been much fussier than normal but we were still able to do a lot with him (as long as we brought the Tylenol and Motrin with us!). Friday we had planned on going to the Good Friday service but Marc was post call and still pretty tired so we just went out to eat at Chili's. We went to the zoo on Saturday which was so fun! Eli loved every minute of it. Marc and I really enjoy zoos so we were glad Eli had a good time with us. He kept saying "oooh" every time we showed him a new animal. His favorite animal was the giraffe.

They came inside to eat their food and we were able to be really close.

Then, we followed them back outside. They are beautiful!

Sometimes Eli was more interested in all the other kids than the animals. :)

I love this shirt my mom and I found Eli at Baby Gap.

Marc was unfortunately on call on Easter Sunday. This was his one holiday call for the year. Next year he won't have any holiday call! So, Eli and I headed to church by ourselves. I took some pictures of him in his Easter clothes before we left. He loved playing with his plastic eggs. :)

Marc wanted us to come by the hospital after church to eat lunch with him. I thought the hospital might have some sort of Easter lunch, you know like ham or turkey or something. Unfortunately they didn't, so Marc picked McDonald's for lunch. Ha! What a delicious Easter lunch. Eli and Marc enjoyed their chicken nuggets and I at least enjoyed time with my favorite boys (while I was secretly dreaming about my Memaw's Easter lunch). :) While this year wasn't a very traditional Easter for us, the reason we celebrate is still the same. Christ is risen! I hope everyone had a blessed weekend.

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way? Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

John 14:6