Holiday Gift Guide Review & Giveaway: GooseWaddle

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed some extra special time with your loved ones. Now that Thanksgiving is over, the Christmas shopping rush has begun. I would love to share with you some of my favorite things that are excellent gifts to give this holiday season. 

It's getting chilly here in Chicago and I love nothing more than some sweet cuddle time with my daughter and a really special blanket on a wintry, chilly day. My sweet baby has just now started to discover "Blankies". When she says the word "Blankie", my heart melts and when she grabs one and snuggles up with, I just want to snuggle her to pieces. 

GooseWaddle is an amazing company that specializes in what they call ultra-high-quality blankets, a statement that I definitely agree with. Their super snugly blankets are available in classic colors white, pink and blue. If you ask me, their is nothing sweeter than a sweet baby wrapped up and cuddly in a white, fluffy blanket. I am just wild about white blankets and babies. There is just something so pure and sweet in the combination. GooseWaddles business statement is "It's fun to feel loved", how sweet is that! I only wish they made an adult size blanket.

GooseWaddle first won my heart when I read about their buy 1 give 1 campaign. With every single blanket that is purchased, a blanket is donated to a child in need. They are making a positive change in the world and by purchasing a blanket, you can help make a difference worldwide also. How wonderful is it to know that in this season of giving, a blanket that you purchase as a gift for a special child in your life will also be giving another special child in the world the warmth and love of an extra special GooseWaddle blanket of their own. 

GooseWaddle has such generous hearts that they want to give one of my readers a very special GooseWaddle blanket of their own this holiday season. Just enter the giveaway below and that lucky person just may be you! Good Luck!

May your holidays be filled with love, laughter and warm snugly blankets! 

 GooseWaddle

http://www.goosewaddle.com

https://www.facebook.com/goosewaddle

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's soup season. A vegetarian & non-vegitarian recipe.

Most of the cooking in our house is done by my husband. Why, because he has skills that I just do not have. There are many things that I can do in the kitchen, and a few things that I can make very well, but there are also things in the kitchen that I won't even consider, like cooking meat. Patrick loves to cook, but he would also like me to do a little more of the cooking. He grocery shops and cleans also. The cleaning is due to his compulsion. He will not sit down to eat until the kitchen is totally clean or at least very organized. I just don't work like that. I would do it, and I do help out, but he usually has everything all clean before I finish eating. A lot of the time we grocery shop as a family. It is just one of those things that we like to do together but we will also both run out individually to grab something that we need for dinner that night. 

I am in charge of all of the meal planning. There are many things that I do not eat. I am a pesco pollo vegetarian. I do not eat any red meat but I do eat chicken, turkey and fish on occasion. At the age of 11 I became a lacto vegetarian. I did not eat red meat, chicken or fish for about 15 years. I constantly have to deal with people trying to get me to eat red meat and it drives me crazy. It's never going to happen so leave me alone. So many people just don't understand vegetarianism. I am also currently living gluten free. I have been on and off gluten for the past few years and I just feel so much better when there isn't any gluten in my diet. It has been 1 month now and I'm going to do my best to continue to resist all foods with gluten. My husband has a loaf of banana bread from whole foods sitting on the counter. I wish he would eat it already so it stops staring at me. 

There are so many options out there and wonderful recipes that are both gluten free and vegetarian. It's soup season and soup is one thing that I do and I do well. This is a combination that we love that can be made vegetarian/gluten free & non-vegetarian but still gluten free for you meat eaters. 

Vegetarian/Gluten Free Version

Butternut & Vegetable Soup

Ingredients: 1.Vegetable Broth 2.Butternut Squash 3.Green Beans 4.Carrots 5.Celery 6.Spinach 7.White Beans 8. Onion, herbs & spices to your taste

Turkey Butternut Soup

Ingredients: 1.Chicken broth 2.Ground White Turkey 3.Butternut 4.Carrots 5.Celery 6.Spinach 7.Green Beans 8. Onion, herbs & spices to your taste


That's it, so simple. That isn't so much of a recipe as it is a list of ingredients. I don't measure any of this so I can't give you exact measurements but it is a great combo. My daughter (22m) loves it, both ways. We strain hers so there is very limited broth so she doesn't make a huge mess. My husband also strains his sometimes and throws it over rice which is a great way to make it a new meal with leftovers. Enjoy! Stay warm. 

Deep thoughts on Gratitude & Sadness

The hard drive in my iMac fried. I knew the day would come as it had reached what apple calls vintage status (5 years old) and it had been acting up for some time now. Blogging from my iPad or iPhone just isn't the same. I need to be in my office, at my desk during my sacred alone time with pandora radio on. There is a short window in each day when I get that sacred alone time. It's called nap time and bed time. This doesn't mean that I do not love every minute of my time with Delilah. Everyone needs some alone time each day. Its good for the soul. 

Thankfully my new iMac has arrived! I am back in my office, at my desk with pandora radio on enjoying some me time. My mind is full of thoughts as the last two weeks have been pretty eventful. During my little downtime from the blog, I received some very sweet emails, check-ins and well wishes regarding our infertility struggles. These sweet, thoughtful messages mean so much to me. I have really started to learn who I can and can not talk to about this. 

The reason why I share my story is because my situation might just help one other women not feel alone in this. I am very much aware that their are other women/couples whose infertility struggles are far more challenging then mine. I have many people in my life who are facing infertility and unsure of what the future will hold for them. I am so grateful for the women in my life who share their stories with me. Thanks to one of them, we now have a new fertility Doctor. 

I know how very blessed that we are to have Delilah in our life. If you know me personally, you know that she means the world to me. Nothing could take that away from me. Everyday I am eternally grateful that she is mine. If she is the only child that we ever have I will always feel eternally blessed. 

I could never sit here and say that I do not feel sadness over the fact that we have not been able to have another child up to this point. In some ways, trying for our 2nd and not being able to get pregnant brings on more emotion than the first time around. This time we do have one very amazing child. One very amazing child who we so desperately want to give a sibling. This baby is for all of us. I am human and I experience human emotions. I fully believe that it is ok to feel extremely blessed, eternally grateful and full of joy and still feel sadness at the same time.

A sweet message from my sweet friend Jessica

Trunk Treating

 Our neighbor Erin, who I went to grade school with, throws an annual Halloween party. This year the party was a trunk treating party at our neighborhood park and it was amazing. All of the kids came dressed in their fantastic costumes and had the ultimate park play date. The gazebo was decorated with Halloween flare and the picnic tables were lined with Halloween tins filled with the most delicious Halloween popcorn made by Erin's mom who is the best! There were fun games for the kids to play like witch hat ring toss, a pumpkin bean bag game and Halloween buckets and of course all of the kids were winners with gift bags filled with fun prizes. 

Our neighborhood park is really beautiful, especially this time of year. It was a beautiful day with the perfect amount of chill in the air to add to the festive spirit. Delilah and I visit the park often but this was definitely our most exciting day at the park. I'm certain now she will be expecting a party every time we visit. After some good park play and a picnic lunch, we headed up the hill to the parking lot where all of our cars were parked and ready for some really spectacular trunk treating. All of our trunks were opened, decorated and filled with treats. Watching all of the kids run from car to car for a special treat was the best! 

This was such a cute idea and a super fun way to celebrate with friends. Thanks Erin for another great party! 

Baby update: Here we go again

My Dr. called today. As soon as I heard his voice on the line and not the voice of a nurse I knew what he was calling to tell me. Last Friday I had my blood drawn, the 8th tube of blood that I had drawn last week. This blood draw was to check my progesterone levels. He called to tell me that the results were not good. My levels were low, very, very low. Too low to produce an egg. The decision has now been made that we will move forward with fertility treatments. 

I was a little teary eyed when I got off the phone with my Dr. I think my spirit was a little broken. I tried every natural treatment out there for infertility and I was determined to get pregnant naturally. I also think hearing that I am not producing eggs made me feel inadequate as a women. I'm sure that there is also some fear involved. Fear of the illness that came last time I was on these meds. Fears of how I will care for my daughter while going through this process and fears that I will not become pregnant with the meds. But... there is also hope. Hope that this is it. Hope that in the next few months, I will be pregnant. 

After finding out this news, I called my general practitioner to find out if the results were in on my physical which involved 7 additional tubes of blood drawn. I figured if there was bad news there I might as well take it all in today. What I found out is that my b12 levels are sky high. I do not eat red meat so I take a b12 supplement pretty consistently. There is also b12 in my prenatal vitamin which I have been taking for 3 years. I was told to immediately stop taking the b12 supplement. I also found out that I have a vitamin D deficiency. It is so low that I was given a vitamin D prescription. I was so happy to hear that other that some vitamin issues, I am totally healthy. 

Here's to hoping that this next journey is a short, smooth, successful one with the greatest gift at the end of the road. 

County Line Orchard

The sun is shining, the air is crispy and the leaves are showing beautiful colors. Fall has arrived and I'm loving it! I just cant get enough of the fantastic fall festivals, pumpkin patches and apple orchards. I recently have been hearing so much good stuff about County Line Orchard in Hobart, IN. All week I was really craving some festive, fall fun and on Friday we were on a mission to find some. County Line Orchard was our destination and it did not disappoint. 

The drive from the south side of Chicago burbs was a breeze. Just before we could see the orchard from the road, we could smell it and oh my goodness was the smell in the air delicious. The orchard was overflowing with so many varieties of beautiful and delicious apples. The smell in the air was fresh, sweet happiness. Upon exiting our car in the parking lot we instantly got hit with the overwhelming, intensely amazing smell of their famous donuts. I am not a big fan of donuts, I know, there is something wrong with me but, anything Pumpkin Spice or Apple Spice I have to try. As if we were under a spell, we went straight for the donut line. We ordered one Pumpkin Spice and one Apple Spice for the three of us to share and sample. I read on their website that during this time of year, they make 10,000 donuts a day. I have also heard stories of people waiting in line for 1hr to purchase their donuts. I will say that the donut indulgence is definitely a must. They were fantastic and lucky for us on a Friday at 4pm we didn't have to wait in any lines. The Apple Spice was my favorite of the two. 

After admiring the beauty of their 29,000 sq foot timber frame barn filled with so much goodness we headed over to the check-in barn to purchase our tickets. Patrick & I purchased the Lil' farmer pass which includes the kids farm, tractor rides, u-pick orchard, and picnic area access. Children under 2 are free. We also purchased a $2 moo-choo train ticket for Delilah and I to go on a ride and a $3 bag of feed for the animals which was worth every penny. 

The Kids farm was the best kids farm that I have ever been to. All of the animals were adorably sweet. Our 21m old daughter Delilah called them all "Puppies". The goats were her absolute favorite. Feeding the animals gave her so much joy. She would grab a handful of feed, open up her hand to them to gently feed them and then laugh hysterically as they licked her hand. It was sweet, funny and such a great experience. The kids farm is so clean and maintained wonderfully. The kids farm also includes a toddler play area with mini tractors to ride and wagons to fill with hay. There is a mini kids maze, real big tractors to sit on to take pictures, some animal statues to sit on and fun cutouts to put your face in. I wish that we had more time before they closed for the night because we could have spent 3hrs in the kids farm. 

The moo-choo train was Delilah's first ever ride. She loves a good thrill and tractors and trains so I figured it would be a big hit. We jumped aboard and the ride was fantastic. It's about a five minute ride through the apple orchard. Delilah jumped up and down on my lap yelling "Go", "Go", "GO"! She loved it, I loved it and we are definitely going to go back for another ride. 

Next, we jumped on a tractor for a ride out to the orchard. They dropped us off and we explored all of the beautiful apple trees. Each row of apple trees has a great sign with the apple type. It is really a neat experience and just as the sun was setting, it was so beautiful to walk through the orchard. 

Before leaving we were back in the big, beautiful barn making our purchases which included our picked apples, 1/2 dozen donuts, caramels, a dutch apple pie and apple cider. 

I highly recommend taking a trip to County Line Orchard. We can't wait to go back before this season is over. This is definitely a place that will be on our fun, fall festivities list every year. 

Link:

County Line Orchard: http://www.countylineorchard.com

I survived today

I did not get much sleep last night. My mind was racing, my stomach was in knots and my nerves got the best of me. I was up this morning with my husbands alarm at 4:15am and there was no hope for me falling back asleep. My procedure was today at 1pm. I spent this gloomy, rainy, emotion filled morning snuggling my daughter. The fear of what could be found and what that could mean for us being able to or not able to have another baby had me sick to my stomach with tears in my eyes. The build up to the procedure was the hardest part.

 Once in the car and on our way, I started to calm a little. The sun came out and my mom left me a voicemail that it was a beautiful day and to imagine that I was on the beach during the procedure and that all of the news would be good. Patrick and Delilah sat right outside the procedure room and greeted my Dr. just before he entered the room. I was in the room with my favorite ultrasound tech. who always makes me feel so comfortable. I told her how much more I enjoyed my time with her when she was showing me my baby. She agreed that babies make everything much more fun but she also gave me the play by play for the procedure and made it sound like it wouldn't be so bad. 

Once my Dr. entered the room, everything seemed to happen so fast. I didn't have time to imagine that I was on the beach and honestly, I didn't need it. The catheter was put into place with slight discomfort and a pinch. Saline was then infused into my body which brought on a moment of uncomfortable cramping. Then my Dr. whose excitement and choice of words always gives me a good laugh instantly blurted out "that is a beautiful lining isn't it!" My ultrasound tech said, "yes it is" and I then asked with slight confusion "mine?" He laughed and said, "yes" and then directed my eyes to the screen where he went into further detail for me. So, from the words of my Dr., my insides are beautiful! That is music to my ears. The images were sent off to radiology, and I still have to wait for official results, but my Dr. and tech did not see a tumor, a fibroid or anything that looked to be of any concern. 

I experienced about 2 hrs of discomfort afterwards and as of now, I'm not feeling too bad. Emotionally, I wasn't sure how I would feel after today. I said before that if they did not find anything, I may still be frustrated due to the fact that my infertility is still considered unexplained infertility. I was wrong. I feel really wonderful. Next step blood work, a whole lot of blood work. 

Thank you to everyone who has been so loving and supportive. I love all of your sweet messages, comments and stories that you have shared with me. I strongly believe in the power of positivity and good vibes. For those of you who are on your own path of infertility, you are always on my mind and in my heart.