General chatter while we wait (and commentary on the "pull out method")

[shaescott]

Well, full flow hasn’t started yet so that reassures me about the LP. 9 is definitely far worse than 11, but I’d heard 12+ is ideal.

Dobs ah I see new found glory on there, I follow the wife (Lisa) of one of the band members (Chad) on IG. She’s a singer as well, and quite an impressive one. Chad has been dealing with crazy medical issues, he nearly died from a pheochromocytoma (brain tumor), and they’ve got a 3 year old daughter. Wild stuff.

Flueks oh geez, I’m sorry you guys were affected by the hurricane. Thank God you’re all safe.

 

[gigglebox]

Flueks!! Omg how scary!! I’m so glad y’all are OK and were relatively unscathed. I hope the water is back on soon! Did y’all lose power? We were very fortunate and just got a lot of rain in the area, and some localized flooding but nothing major.

Shae I hope you can come in clutch with another chance this cycle.

Dobs I’ll have to look into spotify, might be good in the car. We usually just listen to music on YouTube.

Afm…ultrasound is friday. I am so nervous! But more than nerves for the ultrasound, I’m SOOO nervous for genetic testing. I don’t think I will be able to breathe easier until that comes back ok…and then I’ll just be a nervous nelly about preeclampsia. But I feel like I can handle that better than the rest of these nerves. I’ll be happy to finally have pregnancy confirmed though because my brain is still not completely believing this is happening.

 

[autumnal]

Hi ladies, I used to post here a lot, now my youngest is about to be three and a half and we're talking about trying for a baby sometime this year or into the spring so NTNP. But I'm so excited (it's really my husband who wants to take it casually and I'm humouring him) Do you mind if I join you?

 

[gigglebox]

HI @autumnal ! Of course, always room for more on this thread Congrats on trying for #2

 

[autumnal]

Thank you! I'm actually trying for number four lol! I might be crazy?

 

[DobbyForever]

Welcome to the group! We need some fresh blood

Gigs I cannot believe it's almost ultrasound time! How exciting! Hoping all goes well. Def update us and share pics . Yeah I didn't mind the ads but then I started using playlists at work so I went ahead and invested in the ad free version. Oh and when you pay you can skip songs more easily whereas before it operated more like Pandora.

Shae I think the only concern is that you mentioned you worry about being a late implanter/ your mom not getting her positives until later. I think 11 is solid though.

AFM got my first home chef box and I'm already so unimpressed. The packaging is outrageous, It was delivered so late in the day that I couldn't be bothered to cook anything on Sunday to avoid cooking tonight/ Sunday night. My idea of oven ready/ express cooking and their idea of oven ready are very different lol. I'm also really not impressed with the calorie count for the satiety on my first meal. Now it could be because I've not been drinking my protein and I've had all of like 200 calories before I came home for dinner... but I'm struggling not to start eating snacks haha.

 

[gigglebox]

haha well @autumnal you're in good company, this is #4 for me (not that I was trying) and we have another here who did actively ttc and have a fourth not to long ago, if she comes back to check in!! psst @PrettyInInk42 where you at girl?

Seems like a lot but after three it's like.....eh what's one more (for the record I panic daily, I am not this chill about it haha) -- that said when I was considering a fourth a couple years back I did read over and over from experienced moms that 4 was in many ways easier than 3. I don't remember the logic, except some said it made pairing kids off easier (I don't know, maybe like for carnival rides or something?) -- I can't remember the logic but that's what a lot said.

Dobs what is home chef box? Is that one of those kits that gives you all you need for a meal, then you cook it? I would assume oven ready meant you tear off foil and put it in the oven. That is tempting as someone who doesn't particularly like to cook (well, actually I don't mind cooking, it's the cleaning I despise), but if it doesn't even fill you up...what's the point? Also if your calories for the day aren't that much, girl just eat the snacks!

 

[DobbyForever]

For what it's worth, I had a coworker once who was like pregnant with twins with like 3 under 5. She used to say that going from 1 to 2 was rough but everyone after that was cake haha. I like even numbers! 6 family total. When you fly, it's three and three. Amusement parks, 3x2. Everybody's got a buddy.

Yeah it's like a mix where you can order lunches, meal kits, express meals, and oven ready meals. I decided to go for it because Forbes said it was on their list for weight loss meal kits. I also got my first box 50% off and they do a 10% recurring discount for teachers. I don't love the price but I spend so much on protein these days that it's not that odd. I just stick to meals that are $9/serving. I also don't love that they don't tell you the express stuff/oven ready stuff only last 3-4 days and the meal kit stuff is like 6. For something I hope to make it through the week, I'm glad I read a review and organized my cooking plan by cooking dates. So my hope was to get some quick and easy dinner meals (ie 3 meals a week since they come in servings of two) and then just keep to my protein, overnight oats, and coco water/dark chocolate for breakfast and lunch and snack. I just get zero joy from my protein powder lol and I'm headless chicken at work rn. The snack issue is the snack is wine and cheetos

But like my oven ready thing tonight was shrimp tostadas (I just made tacos nobody has time to crisp tortillas). I could live with: take the shrimp and poblanos and seasoning and mix them in the oven container. They lost me at pulling cilantro leaves to make a slaw. And lost me again at mix this butter into the oven tray when it's done, spread this cream on your tortilla, and add this that the other. I wanna pop your a* in the oven and then pull you out and eat out of the tray. Like Fresh & Easy back in the day.

 

[autumnal]

Oh congrats gigs on number four that's so exciting! How old are your other three?

Such a great point about the airplane seating haha. That twin story frightens me, I'll take a singleton I think. love the easy meals too. I can't bother with buying regular shrimp where you have to devein them yourself, it's such a pain and makes such a big mess, I only ever buy the pre-prepared ones! I guess I'm lazy but who wants to fiddle with that anymore?! I really like making fresh pasta though but other than that I can't be bothered with making stuff from scratch anymore.

 

[DobbyForever]

Haha yeah I grew up in a home being one of four. My older bro is 3 years older than me and then my younger brothers are twins and 9 years younger. Was always nice on airplanes, we'd split up into two rows: one parent, one older child, and one baby. Switching as needed/if needed. Twins seem scary, but (finances aside) if you get in a good groove it's not bad. I feel like it's one of those scenarios that seems hard until you're in it and then you just make it work and end up loving it.

Exactly! Easy. I think that's my issue is I like the oven ready/express cooking and prep stuff so since a lot of it is preprepped (ie my cabbage was pre chopped and the shrimp already had the veins and tails off and wasn't frozen) that's where most of my recipes are only good 3-4 days. But since I'm not cooking for two, I'm eating it across two days it is going to make this week tough. Only because I ordered extra meals for the 50% off box hahaha.

But yeah I keep forgetting my protein at work so I'm waking up at 6:30am, having a black coffee at 7:30am, and a bowl of overnight oats at 12:00pm. Then I come home and eat the dinner (usually 500 calories) and have a coconut water (110 calories) but I'm a whole meal down and starving if I skip the protein at work. It just doens't bring me joy to drink it and I need joy

 

[gigglebox]

@autumnal 5, 7, and 12. There will be a 6 year gap between 3 and 4 but it is what it is! Should be easier for the baby days though, I can even nap and trust that the kids aren't going to get into too much trouble unsupervised, especially with the oldest keeping watch.

I hear y'all on the shrimp. I buy mine de-veined and frozen so I can just defrost and eat. Wait Autumn when yous say "fresh pasta", do you mean from scratch? What kind of noodles do you make, if this is the case?

Dobs kudos for you trying it. I know Annie's made some decent oven-cook-em-up meals (yeah I made that name up) which are organic meals and they're pretty decent. You can microwave them too but that essentially destroys the goodies in food so I like to use the oven when I can. Beside the food consistency is sooooooooo much better in the oven. Also I gave the overnight oats a try and....................................pass. They're not emergency storage food I just can't do the consistency of oats. The choco-peanut butter ones were a decent flavor but I can't even with the texture. I ended up dumping a bunch of chia seeds in to make it a little more crunchy and that helped, but I still ate it over two days rather than in one meal because it was hard to stomach. And that was before being pregnant. Forgettaboutit now.

Speaking of which food is a freaking struggle y'all. I had to give up a beef filet tonight. FILET. I took a couple bites and that was about all I could stomach. Now it's pushing 10pm and I'm so hungry but everything sounds blah. I only want cereal and we're out of stock

 

[autumnal]

Ooh my goodness Dobs I don't know how you are surviving on so few calories! I would be hangry eating like that! Kudos to you!

Gigs I love that for you, sounds like this time around will be very chill with the older ones being old enough to go to school and such presumably! Mine are 3, 5 and 8 so not too far off. And my littlest guy is very chill. Yes with the pasta, you just mix together flour and eggs with some salt and I have a kitchen aid attachment for it. It makes lasagna or fettuccini so much better but for things like spaghetti or rotini the box pasta is just as good

 

[DobbyForever]

Gigs noooo so sorry. Did you save it to try again later or did someone pounce on it? The oats are delicious because I put strawberries and blueberries in them, but the consistency def is interesting lol. But it’s better than figuring out real food also so agree the gap seems much but there’s a lot of perks to having those helping hands/more independent hands

Haha I’m definitely tired and Hangry. I’m operating on physical and emotional fumes. But I’m teaching a combo class so I’m constantly running around with no time to feel hungry

 

[gigglebox]

Autumn we homeschool sooooo no reprieve there but even if we didn’t, I’m due right as school goes into summer break anyway. But yes they can definitely help out! I’m slowly working on them now, trying to get them to be a little more independent on things like clearing their own dishes as an example.
I’ll have to get a pasta attachment and give that a go. I love making things from scratch so that sounds up my alley.

Dobs hubby ate the filet which is fine by me. My appetite is so unpredictable. The other day all I wanted was seafood (and roasted veggies)…I had crab, which was good at the time, but now I want nothing to do with it. The only thing I’ve consistently been able to have is my morning protein coffee drink.

Also as an aside, above I meant to say the oats are *now* storage food.

Have you always done combo classes?? Or is this new? Also do you have just one class or am & pm students?

 

[HalfricanMa]

Hi all! This is a fun thread, hope you dont mind me jumpin in. @gigglebox I cannot believe the filet was a no for you! That’s my favorite cut and it’s so rare (no pun intended) that I get to have it. But i understand the aversions hitting you.
@autumnal it’s neat to hear someone else making their pastas. I started with dumpling and homemade noodles in chicken noodle soup then made from scratch Lo Mein and it’s so yummy but i dont have an attachment. I should just get a pasta cutter because cutting it by hand is horrible. I have kid knives for my son and he’s just 3 so the noodles ended up oddly shaped and large. Still fun to do with the kids though. (My kids are 3 and 10 months.)
Dobs, I have no clue how you do it! But I love oats. I need to eat oats a lot at night time actually because my blood sugar tends to crash. Oatmeal helps keep blood sugar stead and so i tend to crave it at night. Depending on the flavor of your protein..I add cinnamon to my vanilla protein shake and that simple little thing really improves it for me. But then again cinnamon is my joy! Haha

 

[autumnal]

Ooh wow homeschooling is so cool and so very impressive! Good for you! Totally worth all of the effort! We considered it for my eldest as he acts up a lot at school but thank God this year he has calmed down, has a more experienced teacher and is doing well.

HalfricanMa your meal sounds amazing lucky kids there! A hearty chicken noodle soup sounds pretty good this time of year

 

[gigglebox]

The more the merrier @HalfricanMa ! Ugh that steak was cooked to perfection too (well, for a pregnant person -- for non-pregnant me, I definitely prefer it medium rare). We went halvsies on a cow with our inlaws earlier this year and our freezer is busting with beef. Then a couple weeks ago, one of our freezers broke and a bunch of the meat defrosted! We did re-freeze some, but we were eating beef for days in a row. This was was re-frozen then thawed again I think; I didn't realize with was a filet when I thawed it, but I opened the meat and was like oh lala! So sad I couldn't enjoy it :/

I just looked up an egg noodle recipe and am definitely going to give it a try! Lord knows we have enough eggs around here.

Haha yeah homeschooling is definitely an adventure. I love it sometimes and loathe it other times, mostly when I don't feel like teaching and they don't feel like learning but we have to do it anyway. But it does give us freedom to make up some our own curriculum which the kids love. We especially apply this to science; this year we made a frog pond in the backyard and they absolutely love observing it. We learned about the life cycle of frogs, metamorphosis, a bit on the food chain, etc...We also made an observation exercise where we observed them daily, counted them, then put our observations into a chart. They made predictions about what kind of animals they would see most. Today we had a new visitor at the pond we've never seen -- a garter snake! And the kids have been out there observing it for the past hour. I grabbed my phone and quickly looked up info on it, so we learned about garter snakes today

omg I want soup so bad right now. omg I want pho. *drool*

 

[HalfricanMa]

I love your homeschooling @gigglebox. That’s our plan with our kiddos once they are old enough.
Omg Pho is so delicious! It was one of the few things I went crazy for last pregnancy!

 

[gigglebox]

I satisfied the craving and had grub hub deliver to hubby at work, and he brought it home to me! Pho, calamarie salad, fried quail eggs, and mango & sticky rice I may have gone a little over board. I ate all the eggs (6), and probably less than half of everything else and now feel horrible ill serves me right. It was so good though, I hope i can eat the rest tomorrow and it doesn't sound gross by then. I just never know anymore.

 

[HalfricanMa]

*salivating* MANGO STICKY RICE!?! You have superb taste @gigglebox !