Favorite Things/Review: Baby Breeza Formula Pro

When I started to primarily formula feed Ben I was faced with a baby that screamed even more while he waited for me to measure, mix, and heat up a bottle.  Trying to do this while holding a flailing baby was no fun.  I also had to prep up bottles for the middle of the night feeds.  Most of this wasn't really THAT big of a deal.  Mothers (and fathers) have been doing it for ages.  However, I saw this baby and thought, "Damn, a Keurig for baby formula?  That's so awesome!"

We decided that since I was home on maternity leave for a good two months still and my mom would be watching Ben at our house once I went back to work that it would be worth the cost for the convenience.

In a nutshell, the Formula Pro dispenses 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 ounce bottles at the optimal temperature.  We use a few different style bottles of various heights and it works for all of them.  In the middle of the night I get up, pop a bottle under it, press a button and presto!  The water reservoir needs to be filled about once per day and the formula bowl needs to be filled every five days or so (obviously, this is all dependent on how often/how much your baby eats).  Check out this video for a more detailed look.

One thing I have noticed is that the dispenser area starts to get a little clogged over time possibly resulting in less powder being dispensed into the bottle (we learned this the hard way when Ben seemed to be eating a TON!)  We now do a little preventive maintenance each time we fill the powder and clean this area out.

Besides that fault, I love this thing!  It's nice not to have to measure out scoops six or seven times a day.  There's no messy powder on the counter (except the once a week that it gets filled).  Bottles are always warm.  One thing I do wish this fancy thing would do is make a one ounce bottle.  Ben is currently drinking around five ounces at times.  To combat this we make a two ounce bottle and add an ounce to the bottle.  We then refrigerate the extra ounce and add it to the next bottle (sure, it cools it down a little, but not much).

So, though this is splurge, I recommend it if you are a formula feeder and are a stay at home mom or are planning to take a significant amount of time off of work after the birth of your baby.

Recipe: Crispy Buffalo Chicken Roll-ups

Here's another recipe from the Taste of Home magazine!  I'm not a huge fan of buffalo sauce, but I know Mike is and I sometimes try and cook with it.  I'm also not a fan of recipes that involve the messy task of dipping raw meat into various bowls to coat it.  Nonetheless, I decided to try it.  Despite the fact that I chose to buy thin sliced chicken to save on pounding chicken and they were probably much smaller than they should have been, I think the final product was pretty good.


Crispy Buffalo Chicken Roll-ups

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1/4 cup hot pepper sauce
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 cup crushed cornflakes

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400°. Flatten chicken breasts to 1/4-in. thickness. Season with salt and pepper; sprinkle with blue cheese. Roll up each from a short side and secure with toothpicks.
• In a shallow bowl, combine pepper sauce and mayonnaise. Place cornflakes in a separate shallow bowl. Dip chicken in pepper sauce mixture, then coat with cornflakes. Place seam side down in a greased 11x7-in. baking dish.
• Bake, uncovered, 30-35 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Discard toothpicks. Yield: 4 servings.

Something I thought of when shopping for the ingredients:  Don't you wish they sold really small boxes of corn flakes?  I only use them for 'breading' and hate that the box takes up so much room in my pantry.  And by the time I use them again they are stale.  Just a thought for anyone reading this who may work for Kellog's.

New Addition

One month late, but here is the newest addition to our family!

Baby Ben

 

 

 

 

 

 



Past Due

Here I sit, two days past my due date and still pregnant.  I had hoped to make it until my due date mainly so that I had all the preparation time possible.  But now?  It's just a waiting game and I don't like it! I'm sure there will be things I will miss about pregnancy, but now I'm beginning to think of the things I am looking forward to when not pregnant.  All that labor and birth and sleepless nights stuff?  I'm trying to just ignore that!

Things I will miss about pregnancy:

Stretchy pants
Not having to 'suck it in'
Never having 'fat days' (every day is a fat day and it's perfectly acceptable!)
Eating and snacking (though I tried to keep it healthy, I had my share of custard with hot fudge and peanut butter sauce)
Not working out because I have to work out
Excuse to get a pedicure
Quite a few of my maternity shirts and pants (and not just because of the stretchy waistband!)


Things I am looking forward to post pregnancy:

Not having to pee so much
No more achy finger joints, or fingers that get stuck in the bent position
Wearing my wedding ring again
Sleeping on my back/more comfortably
Bending at the waist and just generally being able to move around easier
Putting shoes on easily
Not forgetting that I can't fit through certain small openings or opening doors into my stomach because I forget how far it sticks out.
Not fearing falling down the steps
My knees not cracking when getting up off of the floor
Going for a run
Saved money from doing my own pedicures
Not laughing at my chubby feet at the end of the day
Not having the heartburn that I occasionally experience in the middle of the night
Beer, wine, bloody Mary's, and as many caffeinated drinks as I want
Not wondering,  "is this a contraction?" for three weeks straight

Favorite Things: Biscoff Cookies

If you've ever flown on Delta Airlines you've probably enjoyed the Biscoff cookies they hand out in flight.  If not, they are crispy cinnamon cookies that seem to melt in your mouth.  They are perfect anytime of day.

After a flight I was discussing them with a friend who informed me that you can actually purchase these cookies online; she had done so for a friend in the past.  So, I went to trusty 'ole Amazon and put a large package on my Wishlist.  It was around Christmastime and my mom had noticed them on my list.  She informed me that you can buy those darn things at Walgreens!  And here I thought I needed to buy an airline ticket!  I've never actually purchased them myself as my mom always sneaks them in with other gifts for me, so I don't even know how much they cost.  I do know they come in individual little packages that are perfect for snacking or packing in your lunch bag.



Favorite Things: Maternity Support Belt and a Recliner

At some point in the beginning of my third trimester I tweaked something in my back (while turning over in bed, nonetheless!).  I've hurt my back before but this was really bad.  I think my front heavy proportions were causing greater strain and I was beginning to think I might not heal until I gave birth!  I had looked into maternity support belts for running but gave up on the idea when I decided to stop running.  Luckily, I was aware of them and knew that one could help with back pain so I went out within a day or two of the 'injury' and purchased one.  It really did help out during the day.  I felt like it helped to support the weight of my baby bump and take some of the pressure off of my back muscles.  It also kept me from walking/waddling like some sort of strange pregnant hunchback!  My only complaint about it was that it's sort of itchy and most comfortable to wear over the belly panel of maternity pants.  This made going to the bathroom a chore.  I'm sure those in other stalls wondered what all the Velcro peeling going on next to them was!  I still occasionally wear the belt if I'm going to work out and my belly feels extra heavy.  I think it helps lessen the feeling of having to pee every 20 minutes too!


Motherhood Maternity Ultimate Maternity Support Belt

 



Though the support band helped out during the day, lying in bed didn't help me at all.  I tried wearing the band at night, but it just doesn't help when you are attempting to move positions.  I think sleeping would re-aggravate things.  Just before this happened we bought a small recliner for the nursery.  Mike put it together and I slept in it hoping that being more upright and not flipping from one side to the other might help.  After the first night I felt amazing!  I wasn't walking around like a total gimp for the first two hours of my day anymore!  After the second night my back pain improved tremendously and I felt healed, thanks to that recliner.  However, the sciatic nerve pain I often deal with when I'm not pregnant presented itself immediately after so I resorted to sleeping in the recliner again!  Luckily the sciatic pain only lasted a few days and hasn't returned since.  I owe my healing to that recliner!  It currently resides in the living room and I sit on it all the time.  I think my butt prints are already imprinted on it and the baby isn't even here yet!

Best Chairs Ingall Recliner - this looks a lot like the one we purchased

Thoughts on Pregnancy

My sister recently asked me what my favorite part of being pregnant was.  Even though I’ve had a very uneventful pregnancy and don’t have much to complain about regarding it, I really couldn’t think of any benefits!  With the help of others I was reminded that I like the comfy pants!  And the lack of a period.  I have also come to realize that I haven't had a single pimple since the first trimester!  I can’t complain that while at work, others are more likely to help me out with things.  I have to deal with cooler boxes of ice bricks and samples and boxes of supplies for the lab; many of them are not light.  The guys in shipping and my own coworkers are usually right there to lift boxes for me or ask me exactly where I want them.  Sometimes it’s a bit annoying because they won’t let me lift even the lighter boxes and I feel helpless, but I guess I should enjoy the help while I can.  I’m sure I’ll miss it when I come back from maternity leave!

Though I’ve had a good pregnancy I cannot say that I enjoy being pregnant.  The tiredness that came with the first trimester was not fun.  I think I felt most not like myself during that period (and my messy house showed it!).  The second trimester wasn’t so bad, but by that point my workout routine was cut back a lot.  The nice spring weather teased me since I was no longer comfortable or very capable of going running anymore.  I never thought I would actually say that I missed working out, but I do!  At the same time, I’m happy to use my pregnancy as an excuse to not work out even if it’s just walking on the treadmill!  The third trimester has brought some challenges; a pulled back muscle that was tough to mend and some nagging hip pain in a muscle I didn’t even know existed!  I’m a lot less flexible and moving around doing everyday tasks is more of a challenge.  I find that to be frustrating.  (Recently a guy I work with commented that I’m still getting around really well; I guess that’s a compliment!)  Considering that I was in good shape before I know that there are women who probably struggle with this stuff even more than I do and I can’t even imagine their struggles!

Because I’m ‘big pregnant’ during the hottest months of the year (my trimesters matched up almost exactly with the change of seasons…third trimester started at the start of summer) people always ask how I’m doing in the heat.  Honestly, I have AC at home and at work so it’s a non-issue.  I haven’t spent much time outside gardening though but I don’t think that has anything to do with the temperature…I just don’t want to bend over and weed!  Luckily, it's been a cool-ish summer too.

My doctor and nurses do seemed surprised at my lack of foot and ankle swelling; especially considering it’s summer (my nurse said, “Wow, you’re ankles are distinguishable!”  I guess that’s a compliment?!).  It wasn’t until the last few weeks or so that my wedding ring and shoes became tight.  But, it’s nothing extreme by any means and worse at the end of the day and end of the work week.  I just hope it doesn’t get any worse because I already have chubby looking feet and ankles to begin with!

Sleeping has become increasingly challenging.  I'm not really friends with my bed these days.  Now I know why my friend Becky often played her turn of Words with Friends in the middle of the night while she was pregnant with twins!  I was once someone who could sleep until at least 10am.  Now I wake up at 7am and just want to get out of bed because I'm so uncomfortable.  I'm beginning to think I won't get a good nights sleep for months now!

Some people have to worry about their blood pressure at the end of pregnancy.  I still have a blood pressure most ‘normal’ people would die to have!  My weight is in the normal range even though I feel like I eat all the time and don’t work out much (I’ll miss that!!).  I haven’t had to worry at all about gaining/not gaining weight; though I’m still conscious of it (I don't treat pregnancy as an excuse to pig out!).  At my last doctor’s appointment I moved up to the next ‘decade’ on the scale; a ‘decade’ I have never seen before.  Heck, I only spent a short amount of time in the previous ‘decade’ about 10 years ago so this is all uncharted, sort of scary, territory for me.  At the same appointment my doctor referred to me as skinny and just recently some stranger stopped me in the mall and said I looked terrific.  I guess I can’t complain!  Maybe those compliments are my favorite things about pregnancy!