Archive for May 2014

Getting Ready for Baby: Freezer Cooking

May 28, 2014

In the first installment of this series (Getting Organized) I told you that one thing that quickly overwhelmed me was all the paperwork coming in with our baby's new things. Well, let me tell you about something else that quickly overwhelmed me: the thought of never sleeping and never eating.

More specifically, never eating because I'm not getting any sleep and don't have the energy to cook. Unfortunately, I'm not here to help you get your baby to sleep. My baby isn't even here yet so I'm definitely not an expert in that category.

What I am here to help you do is stock your freezer. My fear of not having energy to cook has sprung me into action filling my freezer with meals I can later thaw and reheat when I am in "new mommy zombie" mode.

One of the first things my husband and I did was to buy a small chest freezer for our garage. It was the smallest one Home Depot had, I think about 5 cu. feet, and less than $200. It has plenty of space inside for all the meals I'm frantically making as I realize I've probably only got three weeks or less until baby is here.

As soon as it was delivered, I started cooking my little heart out. I tried to make one or two meals a day so as not to overwhelm myself, and then over the three day Memorial Day weekend I finished up with a marathon cooking spree.

To stay organized I made a list of all the meals I wanted to make, and then another list of all the ingredients I would need. I made that shopping trip all at once so I would have everything on hand. I had to stop to use the bathroom no less than three times during that shopping trip, but it got done.

Once I had cooked my recipes (there's a list coming I promise) I did what I could to make things easier later. For example, things that needed to be frozen together (but not mixed together) got frozen and then rubber banded together. French Dip sandwich meat in one bag, rolls and cheese in another. Both rubber banded together.



In our pantry I set aside a shelf for non-freezable items we would later need for the frozen meals. Things like taco shells, marinara sauce, spaghetti noodles, etc. all went on this shelf. I'm a little Type-A so everything got labelled with instructions to not use it for anything other than the freezer meal it goes with.

On the top of our freezer I put a sticky page protector with a list of all the meals and when they were cooked. As things get eaten I'll cross them off. This way we'll always know what is in there (things get stacked and hard to see) and when they were made.

Now I know what you really want to know, and that's what did I make? Here's the full list (including links) of what I stocked my freezer with before baby. (It should be fairly obvious, but these are NOT my pictures)

1. Taco Meat - I simply followed the instructions on the Taco Seasoning packet. I also froze a bag of taco cheese. In our pantry I stocked taco shells.

2. Chili - Basic recipe from the back of the chili seasoning. I also froze a bag of cheese, and in the pantry stocked tortilla chips, and pasta. 

3. Meaty Spaghetti Sauce - with spaghetti noodles in the pantry. 

4. Lasagna Roll Ups - I also froze garlic bread. I made these in mini pans with two roll ups in each pan. That way if one person is eating I can pull out one, or if we have company I can pull out multiple pans. 


6. Tuna Noodle Casserole - I made these in mini pans since my husband doesn't like tuna. I can pull them out to eat for lunches when he's gone back to work. 

7. Baked Ziti - I also froze garlic bread

8. French Dip Sandwiches - I froze the rolls and cheese in a separate bag then rubber banded them to the meat. 
9. Hamburger Soup - this made enough for me to fill four bags full! 

10. Baby Back Ribs - It's the second recipe on this page. 

11. Quiche - I cook this completely, then freeze so it can be reheated either in the oven or microwave later after thawing. I like this recipe from the Pioneer Woman with bacon, swiss, onion, mushroom, and artichoke; but any quiche will work! 

12. Sloppy Joe Filling - I also froze hamburger buns



15. Ham & Roast Beef Sandwiches - I made combos of roast beef/Swiss and Ham/Cheddar

Yes, this was a huge undertaking. I hope it doesn't overwhelm you. When I get overwhelmed or nervous about something I have to be put into action. I can't just sit there and worry about it - hence all these meals. Even if you make just one or two meals ahead of time, that's less you have to do once baby is here!

Do you have any good freezer recipes?

For all the posts in my getting ready for baby series, click here:
http://therosenblits.blogspot.com/search/label/Getting%20ready%20for%20baby

36 Weeks

May 26, 2014


How far along: 36 Weeks
Gender: Boy
Maternity clothes: Yes, some are getting tight! 
Stretch marks: Yes :(
Belly button in or out: In, but quickly disappearing
Sleep: Pretty awful. My hips are killing me when I lay down.
Best moment this week: My last 5 day work week, getting our chest freezer
Worst moment this week: another very late night after our hospital class. Who schedules a class for pregnant women late at night? The next morning was rough! 
Miss anything: deli meat, strawberitas, wine
Movement: moving, rolling, and kicking like crazy
Cravings: summer food - hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, watermelon, smores :)
Queasy or sick: Getting out of breath a lot, aches and pains, lots of pelvic pressure now that he is lower
Looking forward to: Meeting little man

One Month (maybe) left! We are getting so close!

I did a lot of freezer cooking this week (more on that to come)

and we finished up the nursery! (I promise to share the finished nursery in another post)

We attended a breastfeeding class at the hospital which was very informative and I ordered a breast pump through insurance. While we were at the hospital we also met with the anesthesiologist about my spine, which was very reassuring.

At my weekly Dr. visit my OB expressed concern that we may have a large baby on our hands, so I'll go for another ultrasound in two weeks. We shall see! 

We also got to see a sneak peak of our maternity pictures this week! I'll share more of those later! 

Getting Ready for Baby: Staying Organized

May 24, 2014

One of the things that quickly started to overwhelm me as a new mommy (I'm sure there will be many more) was keeping track of all the manuals and paperwork that was arriving with our baby "stuff." You know the stuff I'm talking about.... swings, cribs, monitors, etc. It all had instruction manuals and warranty information, etc. Paperwork that should NOT get lost.

When I first moved out on my own one of the first things my mom taught me was to SAVE all the important information about my new cable service, furniture, etc. in one centralized location. I quickly realized I would need to do the same with all of this baby stuff paperwork.

I had my husband grab a 3 ring binder and some page protectors at the local drug store and I got to work. Each "thing" gets it's own page protector in the binder for easy locating.


I finished it off with a cute cover which you can get in boy or girl form by clicking here:

We keep ours on what we now call "the baby shelf" in our living room. It's a centralized location for anything we may need baby related downstairs. (Since the nursery is upstairs)

How do you stay organized?

For all the posts in my getting ready for baby series, click here:
http://therosenblits.blogspot.com/search/label/Getting%20ready%20for%20baby

35 Weeks

May 17, 2014

How far along: 35 Weeks
Gender: Boy
Maternity clothes: Yes, some are getting tight! 
Stretch marks: Yes :(
Belly button in or out: In, but quickly disappearing
Sleep: Getting worse. I wake up every few hours with cramping in my shoulder/arm on the side I'm lying on and then I have to roll over, which is not an easy task. 
Best moment this week: My baby shower at work
Worst moment this week: a very late night after our hospital class. Who schedules a class for pregnant women late at night? The next morning was rough! 
Miss anything: deli meat, strawberitas, wine
Movement: moving, rolling, and kicking like crazy
Cravings: s'mores, breakfast food, cake
Queasy or sick: Getting out of breath a lot, aches and pains
Looking forward to: Meeting little man

We made it to 35 weeks! I was born at 35 weeks so I've been very eager to have everything ready by this week, and we're just about ready!

I had a shower at work this week thrown by my team mates!




The freezer cooking has begun! Our chest freezer should be delivered next week! I'm hoping to have lots of meals prepared for when baby comes.

My friend Jessica helped me with a shopping trip to stock up on the rest of the stuff we needed to get before baby arrives. It's always nice to have someone who knows what they are doing with you!

And we got the rest of the baby gear set up!


We learned to change diapers, swaddle, and all about baby care at our hospital class.

34 Weeks: Happy Mother's Day

May 11, 2014

How far along: 34 Weeks
Gender: Boy
Maternity clothes: Yes, some are getting tight! 
Stretch marks: No
Belly button in or out:In
Sleep: Getting worse. I wake up every few hours with cramping in my shoulder/arm on the side I'm lying on and then I have to roll over, which is not an easy task. 
Best moment this week: Celebrating my first (kind of) Mother's Day
Worst moment this week: Watching all the mimosas go by at brunch
Miss anything: deli meat, strawberitas, wine
Movement: moving, rolling, and kicking like crazy
Cravings: smores, breakfast food
Queasy or sick: Getting out of breath a lot, aches and pains
Looking forward to: Meeting little man

We got a few more things finished in the nursery this week, including this shelf, and installing our monitor. The room is mostly done now, just need little guy to arrive!

We finally found nitrate-free hotdogs! Yay for satisfying cravings without listeria risks!

Smores are still a big craving.

Teacher appreciation week and Mother's Day brought me some very nice gifts from both students and family :)





I spend Sunday having Brunch by the beach and taking a nice long nap - the perfect day.