16 Weeks

How far along: 16 Weeks.

How big is baby: The size of an Avacado

Total weight gain: Same as last week

Sleep:  This week it’s actually been pretty decent. Once I finally got over being sick I was able to get some rest. I still wake up every time I have to roll over, that’s annoying, but comes with the territory.

Best moment of the week: Finding out the sex of Baby Lundberg and getting to see it suck its thumb. I will say that Baby L was very sleepy and basically cuddled my placenta the whole time haha. I can’t believe how incredibly beautiful my child already is. February can’t come soon enough.

Food Cravings:  Honestly food has just become a chore. If I’m not forcing myself to just eat something cause I’m hungry I’m trying my hardest to resist the random box of cookies that magically made their way into my office EH. Temptation is hard when you’re pregnant. I am determined though to have a healthy weight gain this pregnancy.

Food Aversions: Still salads and veggies….. this makes it really hard when all you really eat are vegetables and fruit. It’s causing me to make some bad choices definitely.

Symptoms: Forgetfulness has already kicked in haha. Oh I guess I should call it pregnancy brain?  

Mood: This week I was emotional, what’s new?

Movement: More and more little movements. It’s weird how fast remembering these things comes back to you. Baby L went crazy a couple nights ago while I was sitting on the couch.

What I’m looking forward to:  Tonight!! We are having our gender reveal BBQ where we are telling the kids, my parents, and lots of family/friends. Bella has been chanting around the house it’s a girrrrrrllll it’s a girrrrllll. Meanwhile, Ezra screams NOOO it’s a BOYYYY. Everyone has their bets, I can’t wait to reveal tonight. Y’all will know next Friday haha. I have made some delicious vanilla cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream filling of either pink or blue…… Recipe to follow next week.

Baby L's beautiful face

15 weeks

How far along: 15 Weeks.

How big is baby: The size of an Apple

Total weight gain: A little less than 10 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Oh yes. Literally everything I own was so uncomfortable to wear. Even with the hair tie hack, I had to throw in the towel and buy some maternity pants, tanks, and a decent amount of leggings. I never thought I’d say this, but THANK GOD FOR LEGGINGS.

Sleep:  What is this again? Especially this week being sick AND pregnant has not been great. I’m waking up every hour to roll over. Tonight, after getting the ok from my obgyn, I will be taking some Benadryl and praying for rest.

Best moment of the week: Hearing baby’s heartbeat, a lovely 150 (everyone has officially guess it’s a girl except for Ryan….he won’t break). Also, tonight we will be attending a Blake Shelton concert courtesy of Ms. Allyson J. We are excited about that.

Food Cravings:  Nothing really. Being sick everything tastes pretty bland. I’ve been on an orange IV the last week.

Food Aversions: Sadly salads and veggie dishes. Hopefully I start just craving veggies in the next couple weeks, which would make life so much easier.

Symptoms: Honestly not a lot. My growing tummy would be the most obvious.

Mood: Happy, annoyed, excited, sad, loving, scared……can I say everything? Haha. My mood is completely dependent on what I’m watching and who I’m around.

Movement: Barely there kicks that are more like thumps. Usually when I’m sitting at my desk or on my couch.

What I’m looking forward to:  Monday!!! We get to find out if our baby is a lady or a mister!!!! We are having a little gender reveal BBQ as well for family and friends. Can’t wait to share it with you all!!

I'm still alive, I promise!!!!

First off, I am terribly sorry for the hiatus. This summer was packed full to the brim. It was started by the departure of a family that is so dear to me. My best friend Allyson and her beautiful family moved away to Georgia. As a child with a retired father that basically grew up on the Air Force base, this is nothing new to me. It was always the case I’d make a new best friend only to have their family get orders by the end of the year, and I would heart-breakingly cry my eyes out all summer, only to have the process repeat itself the next year. This scar had somewhat healed itself in the last 18 years and this move definitely disturbed it. Even though she’s hundreds of miles apart I know that we will leave off with our SNL inside humor and love for books the minute we are together again. I managed to successfully pull off a surprise going away party for them (barely….John, her husband, tried his best to ruin the surprise) and we had an amazing time.

Right after this we got some amazing news that was so exciting and scary to hear. We found out that we were expecting a baby. The reason I say this is so exciting and scary have to do with the last year that we have experienced. You see Ryan, my husband, and I have been trying to conceive a baby since June of 2013. We were actually successful twice, but sadly lost both babies. No one likes to talk about miscarriage and I never knew how hard of a subject it was until it happened to me. Last June was when we found out we were expecting our first little bundle and, after having two successful pregnancies resulting in my beautiful children, I was so in love and excited. About the second week in July is when I lost the baby and I never knew how hard that would be until it happened. I didn’t know having a miscarriage could throw you into a state of depression and anxiety. I’m so thankful that I had my family and loving husband to take care of me through that time, they were the only things that were able to sort of snap me out of that.

We started trying again a couple months later and again were blessed with a pregnancy in November. I felt so good about this one and just knew that everything was going to be ok, that we were finally going to get our miracle child!! January 10^th we lost our 2^nd baby. I took this one a lot better than I did the first time, although emotionally it never gets any easier for yourself or your spouse.

Ryan and I decided we were going to wait to try again until the summer and just enjoy our little family. Unfortunately I was still suffering with the aftereffects of the miscarriages and my anxiety. In about March I had decided that I wanted to do something about it and I was going to see a counselor.  It was about this time that my boss had started to lose a ton of weight and shared with me about this superfood that his wife and him have found success with gaining back their health. Me, being ever the sceptic, told him I wanted to look into this. I was already eating a “vegan”like lifestyle. I didn’t consume dairy, meat or processed foods. I tried to eat raw vegetables and fruits at all times, and I hardly ever consumed sugar. I also worked out on a regular basis. Once I looked at the results that 100’s of real people all around the world and many local to Spokane, I couldn’t believe the healing qualities of this superfood and cleanse. I made the choice to try it in the hopes that it would help me to conceive and maybe drop a couple lbs. I was amazed at week two with not only the weight I had dropped, but my mind had so much clarity it was like I was 100% me, not the 70% I had been running on. I had little to no anxiety and energy for days! I never knew that I was missing out on that. I was ecstatic. I remember going shooting with Ryan one day and he looked at me and said, “Natalie you just seem really calm and happy lately”. If you knew what I was suffering through before you’d know this was a huge compliment. I had canceled my counseling appointment and was looking forward to life. We decided in May to go ahead and try again.

Me at my smallest right before I got pregnant

On June 26^th we finally got those 2 pink lines that I wanted to see so badly. Since then we have dealt with so much uncertainty with not wanting to get our hopes up. We are now successfully 15 weeks pregnant, and so in love with our life and what it has to bring. I truly believe proper nutrition and cellular cleansing helped me get my baby. I’ve praised Jesus for bringing the people into my life (Jerrod and Sarah) who introduced this to me and led me to Isagenix.

 Me currently @ 15 weeks pregnant

Now, onto more current items, Bella has started 2^nd grade and Ezra Kindergarten. They absolutely love being back in school (I have the only child that counted down the days till Summer ended and school started). I’m so thankful I have kids that enjoy learning, Bella has even complained that her teacher is babying her and needs to give them harder reading material. How is she my child again?!?! Haha, I definitely was not as eager a student when I was her age.

This blog might be changing a little bit, I’m hoping to post more for one. I will also be adding some more personal life events to it as well. Lots of pregnancy talk (sorry in advance), as I realized that since this may be my last pregnancy I should probably document it, and what better way than through my blog? I will still be adding random recipes, especially as pumpkin seasons is upon us. This weeks will be the Vanilla bean Plum Bars I made from my father’s plum tree.

I hope you all have an amazing week, you’ll be hearing from me a lot more in the near future. To anyone that reads this and has gone through or is going through a miscarriage and thinks they have no one to talk to, please please please message me! You really don’t have to go through this alone! You are not bothering me I promise. 

Been a min or two...

I'm an awful blogger!!! I'm so sorry for the lack of posts :(. Spring took over my life with children's sports, gun shows, and well....life. There is, however, a light at the end of the tunnel. Sports and school are ending this week!! Soon I'll be working 4 tens each week and using my Friday, Saturday, and Sunday's to go camping!!!

Before I post about some amazing pancakes I made for my family this last weekend, I would like to share about some amazing changes in my life. I recently made the choice to focus on my health this summer. I started a 30 day system (that may just turn into a a life system) about 12 days ago. This system focuses on removing the toxins and replacing with all the nutrients your body needs and craves. I have been a faithful coffee drinker for at least 10 years and I'm proud to say I haven't had a coffee in 12 days and I have more energy than ever! I also battle with some bad anxiety issues, and I have been feeling so calm now. I've lost 10 lbs (again still only after 10 days) and I couldn't be happier. I have also been feeling  more confident (bought this lovely little bikini) with my body. My husband is starting this Monday and I can't wait for him to receive all the benefits of this amazing system. If any of you want more information about it send me an email or a message!! I'd be more than happy to share!

Now, onto some very important things:

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

For the pancake:

1 Cup Flour

2 Tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Salt

1 Cup Milk (I used some leftover buttermilk, to make these vegan you could use almond/soy/coconut milk)

1 Tbsp Oil (it called for Canola, but I used Coconut)

1 Large Egg (sub 1/2 cup of applesauce for vegan recipe)

For the swirl/filling:

1/2 Cup Butter (or Good Earth vegan spread) melted

3/4 Cup packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp Ground cinnamon

For the glaze:

*Now I veered with this one and created something with ingredients I had on hand. The recipe wanted a cream cheese glaze*

1/2 Cup to 3/4 Cup of Powdered sugar

Milk 

Maple Syrup (organic pure if you can)

1. Prepare the cinnamon filling: In a medium bowl, mix the butter, cinnamon, and sugar together. Put into a big zip-lock bag and set aside.

2. Make the batter: In a medium bowl whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt). Mix in the wet ingredients (milk, oil, and egg) until it is just combined. 

3. Mix all the ingredients for the glaze in a small bowl. Start with the powdered sugar and slowly add the milk. You want a consistency that's not too thick and not liquid. Once you get that consistency add a little bit of the maple syrup. If you absolutely love the taste of maple syrup add a decent amount, if you only want a hint of it, add less.

4. Pour the batter onto a skillet or your favorite pancake pan. After you have all that will fit in one sitting, cut a corner of the zip-lock bag and start your swirling on the pancakes. Flip them once one side is done and vice versa. Top with the glaze and whatever add ons you'd like. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the sun!!!


Based on a recipe from: http://www.life-in-the-lofthouse.com

Spring Break??? More like Spring 'can I catcha' Break...

Sorry for the long absence, life seems to get crazy in the spring. We just got done with the kids spring break, it seemed a lot longer to me than the kids somehow, haha. The weather has been a little moody, sunshine and almost 70 one day and then 50's and rain the next. I shouldn't complain about that too much, I just heard that the other side of the country got dumped with more snow?!?!? With the start of spring that means the start of kids sports and projects. My husband and I have recently opened up a Military Surplus/Reloading components online store (www.BadgerBrass.com). Every minute of free time lately has been getting this little business setup. I will admit, I have been enjoying doing this with my husband (as I do love doing projects together), it's given us more time doing stuff together than we would normally have. With all this going on, I haven't really had a whole lot of time to bake anything :( , UNTIL last weekend when I looked in the freezer and saw we had an entire shelf full of frozen over ripe bananas. What's a girl to do, but make banana bread. I took it a step further.... I not only made cinnamon swirl banana bread, but I then made cinnamon swirl banana bread french toast. It was a complete success, I'm so happy I thought of doing that. I felt bad depriving my poor family of any baked goods for the last month. The only thing I think I want to do differently next time (and I would have if I had, had more time last Saturday morning) is make some bananas foster to top it off with.

**NOTE these are not the healthiest thing in the world and it would also be very easy to make these vegan, if you would like to know the substitutions feel free to post a comment with your email or send me a message on my Facebook page**

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

For the Bread:

3 Over-rip bananas smashed

1/3 Cup melted butter

3/4 Cup sugar

1 Egg beaten

1 Tsp Vanilla

1 Tsp Baking soda

Dash of salt

1 1/2 Cups flour

For the swirl:

1/3 Cup Brown sugar

1 Tbs Cinnamon

1/2 Tsp Salt (optional, I feel that anytime you make a cinnamon/sugar combo, salt should always be added to enhance those flavors)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease up a loaf pan and sprinkle flour on top of that to help it not stick. 

2. Take mashed bananas, butter, sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla and combine with an electric mixer (if you don't have one you can always do this by hand and call it your arms workout for the day ;) ). Once it looks just mixed add the baking soda and salt. Mix on low till just incorporated, and start slowly adding the flower. Try not to over-mix.

3. In a small bowl mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.

4. Add half the batter to the loaf pan, then you want to sprinkle 1/2 of the cinnamon mix evenly over it. Add the rest of the batter and top it off with the rest of the cinnamon mixture. 

5. Bake for 50-60 minutes (always keep a watchful eye on it towards the end don't want it to burn or pull it out too soon).

Now for the fun part, making the french toast part. Make sure that the bread has cooled down a little bit, try to achieve room temperature if you can. Now I do most of this just by sight so I'm going to try my hardest to give it a measurement.

French Toast

1 to 1 1/2 Cups Milk (depends on the amount of french toast you are making)

1 Egg

1 Tbs Cinnamon (more if you reallllly enjoy cinnamon)

1/4 Cup Brown sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla

1. In a small bowl start with the milk followed by the egg. Beat the eggs and milk for a minute. Add the cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla and beat some more for about another minute. 

2. Heat up a skillet on med to med high (depending on how hot it gets...you know it best). Take a little bit of butter and put it on the spots where you plan to lay your french toast, move it around a little with your spatula. 

3. Take a piece of your banana bread and dip it in the batter on one side and then the the other, and then set it down on the skillet. Do this for the remaining bread and flip once they start to get a little golden (sometimes especially with banana bread it's hard to see the color change so you can also feel the bread with fast touches so you don't burn yourself. When it feels dry and not gooey or damp anymore, then it's good to flip). 

Now plate your cinnamon swirl banana bread french toast and enjoy the melted cinnamon goodness on top. Due to the nature of banana bread being so sweet, I topped my families with a little butter to salt it up some. 

I hope ya'll enjoy this!!!! Have a very blessed Easter Sunday!!!!

Bread recipe based on http://lovintheoven.com/2010/03/cinnamon-swirl-banana-bread.html

A long time ago, in a kitchen far away....

Finally the post I have built up (hopefully not too much haha) accidentally, Star Wars Pancakes. Knowing my love for all things Star Wars, my dear husband bought me these awesome Star Wars pancake molds (from William Sonoma) for Christmas. I can't believe it took me this long to finally use them, but I did and the results weren't too shabby.

The pancake recipe that I am going to give you is my go to recipe that I modified to be vegan. It has relatively low sugar and really you can use whatever flour you'd like in it. When I normally make these pancakes (pre-star wars molds) I add chunks of strawberries and bananas or blueberries and lemon zest. I haven't tried adding the fruit with the molds yet, as it would ruin the look, instead you can always make a compote out of the fruit and use it that way. The great thing about this pancake mix, is that you'll have 2 more servings to set aside and use on a rainy day (allowing you not to have to purchase pre-made mixes from the store, something I always strive to do).

Pancake Mix Recipe

1 1/2 Cups All purpose flour (or gluten free flour of your choice)

1 1/2 Cups Whole wheat pastry flour

6 Tbsp Yellow cornmeal

6 Tbsp Sugar (or your favorite natural sugar replacement coconut sugar, raw sugar, beet sugar, stevia...ect)

1 Tbsp Baking powder

1 tsp Baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1. Combine all of the ingredients together measure out 1 1/3 Cup and store the rest in a cool dry place to use on another day.

Vegan Pancakes

1 1/3 Pancake mix (you just made)

1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon

1 Cup You choice milk** (I use almond, you can use soy, rice, hemp...ect)

1/4 Cup Water (now be careful here I usually use half the amount of water asked for and add more if I find the batter to be too thick....otherwise you'll end up with watery thing pancakes)

1/2 Cup applesauce** (I use my kids apple sauce cups as they usually end up measuring 1/2 cup)

1 Tbsp Oil (you can use whatever oil you'd like, I use coconut oil and would advise using a healthier oil that doesn't have too strong a flavor)

1 tsp Vanilla extract

** These are the only two substitutions that make this meal vegan. I use the almond milk to replace normal milk. You can also use a cap full of apple cider vinegar in the almond milk to get a buttermilk flavor effect. I use the applesauce as an egg replacement. You can use just about any pureed fruit as an egg replacement.**

1. Combine the pancake mix and cinnamon in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl combine the milk, water, applesauce, oil, and vanilla. Pour the liquid into the pancake mix and mix until there are no chunks left.
NOTE- This is the time you'll decide if you need to use the rest of your water or not, if it looks way too thick then slowly add some more and mix.. repeat if necessary.

If you decide to add fruit and make non molded pancakes do that now by folding them in gently

2. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray or wipe with some of the oil you used earlier. Measure out 1/4 scoop fulls of batter and pour on skillet. These generally don't take too long to cook, so just keep an eye on them. Get them to the browned color of your choice and flip. With the molds you want to ensure you grease it thoroughly before pouring in the batter. They will want to stick, so when you think it's time for them to turn use the hilt end of a butter knife to push them out.

Time to eat!! We usually use a dark agave syrup on these to help keep the sugar intake down, but if you can always top with honey, fruit, or real maple syrup.

I hope you all enjoy!!! Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

May the force be with you...

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