Human Growing Is Hard

Remember how just last week I said that I wanted to soak up every minute of this pregnancy and just enjoy the moment??? Well I’m over that. Actually I am SOOOOO over this morning sickness bullcrap.

Every morning around 1am I wake up, room spinning and stomach rolling. I lie in bed as still as I can until the alarm goes off and have to get up to get my big kids up and ready for school while trying not to vomit on them. Most days Levi persuades me to stay in bed and sleep off the rest of the nausea which doesn’t actually start to subside until close to 9 and then I get a couple blessed hours of sleep before the guilt of being in bed at 11am starts to make me nauseous again.

I am pretty much a miserable human being right now. I really miss sleep. Which only reminds me that sleep may just be a thing of the past because, well, I’m about to have a baby…and they don’t typically sleep when you want them to.

I’ve had a few panicked breakdowns already. The evenings come fast and hard and all this baby growing is apparently hard work and quite fatiguing so in the midst of running Jack and Addie from practice to practice I pretty much have been overwhelmed with the absolute impossibility of having a nursing infant in the middle of all of our chaos. So tears flow a lot. I can’t seem to come up with a reasonable plan to make life work after baby. Hormones definitely don’t help although I swear I will rip your face off if you try to blame my emotions on hormones.

I am still working out and doing CrossFit. I haven’t had much energy due to all the human growing happening and lack of sleep so I stick to lighter weights (which is pretty much my norm anyways) and have focused on running a bit more. I always feel so much better once I’ve worked out and have yet to throw up in the middle of class, even after doing inverted burpees…which were so fun!

Here is my confession: This baby loves carbs! The non paleo kind. I’m trying not to overdo it and keep to healthier versions of these evils but it has recently gotten painfully/wonderfully difficult. Every morning I eat a piece of Ezekiel bread toasted just to get something on my tummy. I can’t tell you how long it has been since I’ve used a toaster! Or eaten sandwich bread! Lunch has typically been me resisting the call of carbs and sticking to simply a couple of eggs or some salmon over spinach with cherry tomatoes covered in too much salt. Sometimes I give in and enjoy a giant bowl of quinoa oatmeal. It’s a not-so-guilty pleasure since it is a complete protein and absolutely delicious with some mixed berries and a little honey! Dinner is various paleoish foods that are quickly becoming off limits because once I’m sick after eating something it can never be eaten again.

I have resisted taking Zofran since I am typically able to keep my food down as long as I’m able to stay really still but with our trip to Hawaii just a week and a half away I am going ahead and getting an Rx just in case. The throwing up in an airplane bathroom after someone has pooed in it just horrifies me. I do have hope that I won’t even need the Zofran, though, because I have found my morning sickness cure…Loaded baked potatoes. Like the white kind. With cheese and sour cream... And BBQ sauce.

We went to our dear friends, the Bostwick’s, Grand Opening of B-Tactical’s new store and office/Baby Gender announcement party and I had a loaded baked potato at the BBQ place and slept like a baby with absolutely no nausea that night!!! And then woke up and felt not awful!!!! So clearly it was the baked potato which is what I have eaten for every meal since. I know it’s just terrible…all that dairy and lack of any fiber (I haven't pooed since!) or nutrients whatsoever but I’m just grateful for the calories at the moment and the lack of vomit. I am counting on those prenatal vitamins to fill in the gaps right now and I’m going to focus on catching back up on some much needed sleep and not worry so much about my unfortunate miracle food.

This little carb loving alien inside of me is now the size of a green olive which has been my biggest food craving…although I have not given into it yet. But the comparison confuses me a bit since I now kinda want to eat my baby olive. Totally kidding!! I would never eat my baby! But my mouth does water every time I open that Bump app and that sweet little olive shows up on the screen.

My belly seems so much bigger this week to me but I was told that I've had food babies larger than this real live olive baby which is sadly true...I can pack away some food. But my belly sticks out enough for me to have something to rub and to remind me that I am not suffering in vain. 

Jack and Addie have learned way more about the birds and the bees than I was prepared to be teaching but even that has been a fun adventure. Both kids have the What to Expect app on their iPads and every Friday they watch the cool video that shows our baby’s growth and latest accomplishment.  Jack always wants to skip to the next week, probably in hopes that our sweet little darling will begin to look more adorable and less creepy. I told the kids that I don’t want to skip ahead. That I will never be 9 weeks pregnant ever again. Both kids were quick to say, “that’s what you thought the last time you were pregnant.” So I replied that Mommy and Daddy were taking care of things so that it would be impossible for us to have any more babies. Curiosity led to wanting to know how it would be impossible and I said that Daddy would have a quick little surgery that would make sure that no more babies get made. But here’s the problem: they haven’t ever really considered Daddy’s role in all of the baby making stuff. I’m pretty sure they have thought I’m solely responsible for our little olive. Addie immediately says, “Why would Daddy get a surgery so that YOU don’t get pregnant? That doesn’t make sense!!” I realized all too quickly that I had dug quite the hole. I muttered something about how babies get made by a mommy AND a daddy and then quickly changed the subject to talk of a possible new pet…which is soooooo not going to happen. I know more questions are coming…I just hope Levi is the one that gets the next round. 

While I am not cooking and barely eating I don’t have any new recipes to post BUT I have decided to use this time to release my Paleo Cashew ‘Sour Cream’ Chicken Enchilada recipe.

Ingredients:

For the tortillas:

8 eggs

2 TBSP melted coconut oil

1 cup arrowroot powder or tapioca flour

2 TBSP Coconut flour

1 tsp sea salt

Whisk all ingredients together until well combined. In a large nonstick skillet pour just enough batter to lightly coat the bottom of the skillet to all sides. Cook for about one minute on medium and flip. Cook for one more minute. Set tortilla aside on paper towel covered plate and continue until all tortillas are made.

For the Cashew ‘sour cream’ Sauce:

1 cup raw cashews , soaked in hot water for 2 hours

1 TBSP lemon juice

¼ tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp salt

½ cup water

Add all ingredients to food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

For the Filling:

Shredded cooked chicken for 1 whole chicken (I buy the rotisserie chickens at Brookshires)

5 green onions, chopped

1 small red onion, diced

1 lb spinach

1 4 oz can green chilies

1 TBSP minced garlic

2 TBSP olive oil

Sautee red onion until translucent. Add garlic, ½ of the green onions, green chilies, and spinach. Sautee 3 to 4 more minutes. Add chicken and ½ of the cashew cream sauce and mix well.

To prepare tortillas:

Place ¼ cup of filling in each tortilla, roll up and place into a large casserole dish. Once dish is full pour remaining Cashew Cream Sauce over tortillas and sprinkle with remaining green onions.

Bake in over at 375 for 15-20 minutes.

 

Serve with salsa verde and sweet potato chips.