Wordless Wednesday

Much Better

26 weeks

Chicken Soup

When I was growing up, chicken soup was always food for the sick ones.

As I grew older, I started to appreciate a good homemade Chicken Soup.

Even tough, we are already having summer weather half of the time, the other half we are having fall weather.

Last week, we had a really rainy day, so I decided to do some Chicken Soup.

It is a simple, easy and DELICIOUS recipe.

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 cup of carrots (chopped really small)
1 cup of potatoes (chopped really small)
1 cup of green beans (chopped really small)
1 cup of uncooked rice

Put the chicken in a large pot, cover with water, season with salt, pepper and a bay leave.
Cook it until it is ready.
Take the chicken out, let it cool and shred it.
Pass the broth through a strainer, so you will have a clear broth.
Put all the veggies and rice, bring it up to a boil and let it cook for 20 to 30 minutes. When it is all cooked, put the chicken back and heat it until all the flavors are combined.

Serve immediately.

I hope you enjoy as much as we do!!

Happy ThanksGiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American Friends!

I wish y’all a day full of blessings with your family.

Wordless Wednesday

House renovation! SIGH!!!

Random Monday

The painters started last Thursday and of course the house is a mess. I feel I have dust on me all the time.

They are doing a great job.

My dishwasher is finally installed.

I shouldn’t be so excited about it, but I am.

Hubby is back at work this week, and he will be gone three days.

Well, he won’t be coming home for three days.

They have some training at a fancy hotel in town.

I’m so excited I am getting organized enough to blog again.

I will have a crazy time at work until the 1^st week in January.

I won’t take any time off during the Holiday season.

I need to save all the vacation days I can, so when Heloisa is born I can be with her for almost 06 months.

I hope you have a wonderful week.

25 weeks and 03 days

Today I am 25 Weeks and 03 days pregnant! Heloisa is getting really active, especially when I am resting and relaxing. During the day, I only feel her if I am a little stressed out (Sorry, baby).

Everything seems to be going by quickly and I feel I am running out of time.

Heloisa measures about 13 1/2 inches, her weight is a pound and a half. She is about the size of an eggplant.

PS1: I decided to do story boards from my pregnancy, so it will be easier to print when I do my photo book.

PS2: I will write a post about Brazilian Baby Shower tradition soon.

PS3: Just click on the image to enlarge it.

PS4: Thanks Melissa from Stafford Stories for the storyboard idea.

White walls

Ever since we moved to this house, we are not happy with the paint the company, which built it, did.

As always, Hubby and I let work took over our lives and we never really paid attention to this. It was like we've been wearing blinds.

Now that Heloisa's arrival is just around the corner, we decide to hire professional painters to do the job for us.

When it was time to choose the colors, we hit a wall. Even though I love colorful walls at other people's house; I can make up my mind about colors to our home.

Hubby is all about one color. He wanted something like beige and I wanted all white.

After a lot of debates, we ended up with white walls all over the house but two. We will have a rich brown color on the stairs wall and the same color for our powder room!
They promised to get the job done in two weeks. Let's pray they keep their promisse. : - S

When life gives you lemons....‏

... You should make lemonade, right?

I'm not there yet, but I hope I will be soon.

Let me explain what is going on.
Two weeks ago, we (Hubby) were caught by surprise with the news he must to Paris for work for SIX MONTHS. And his assignment will start in January/2012.
Yes you read it write! He will be gone for the 1st semester of 2012.
Hubby's boss wants me to go to Paris and have Heloisa there. This was never option, due to my high risk status.
He can come twice during this time or Heloisa and I can go visit him as well. He will be home for Heloisa's birth, assuming she will be born after Feb 20th. And he will probably come home, begin May. I will have my parents here and I'll probably be going to my parents' house for some time.
We are taking a big chance here, but there is nothing else we can do.
The opportunity is just amazing, but the timing is really bad.

I'm really trying to make peace with this idea, but it still is hard on me.

Happy Birthday to me!!!

Happy Birthday to me!!!

Today I reach the 3.7 mark. When I say I am close to my 40s than to my 30s, people look at me with a puzzled face. I always answer: "God skin care and great genes are doing the trick." ; )

Paulo and I will go out for lunch on a great Italian restaurant and have a great day together.

Since my birthday is in the middle of a 04 day weekend, I will enjoy my last birthday with Paulo, just the two of us. Since, we will have big changes in our lives when Heloisa arrives, but there is one more HUGE change before her arrival, that will make a lot of jaws to drop. (More on that later).

As for now, I will enjoy my day.

Pregnancy Story Board so far

I thought it would be fun to make a Pregnancy Story Board for the future. I hope you like it.

PS: Click on the picture to enlarge it.

24 weeks

I cannot believe I’m already 24 weeks pregnant. I am almost reaching viability week. I feel really blessed this time around.

Look at that belly!

We hired a Rental Husband

No, this is not what you are thinking.

Rental Husband is the literal translation from Portuguese and it means Handy Man.

There are a few companies, named Rental Husband, which we can hire to do those minor jobs at home, when you have no time available and /or no skills to do it. Paulo has no time and I have no skills. As I always say, I am a righty but I have two left hands when it comes to crafts and little fixes ; )

Since we have a few things to get done before Heloisa arrival in early March, we just hired them.

On Thursday, Nov 17^th, the company will send a plumber (the service we hired) to do minor jobs like fix faucets, install a new faucet, fix some minor clogging and most important he will install my new dish washer. I am so looking forward to it, because I am tired to do dishes : - S

23 weeks

I am late again with my weekly post, but I've been feeling so tired when I get home and Paulo gets home usually really late on Thursdays, that I might change my weekly post to the weekend.

Today I am 23 Weeks and 3 days. Heloisa body length is between 7.5-8.0 inches and weighs between 1-1.25 pounds. Baby Heloisa is the size of a loaf of bread.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 23 weeks and 3 days

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 5 pounds – My doctor was so thrilled last week (sarcasm), with all the weight gain in one month, but there is nothing I can do, except write down what I eat.

Maternity Clothes: It still is a mix and match of maternity and non-maternity clothes.

Best Moment this week: We chose Heloisa’s furniture, we chose the color scheme for her nursery and we chose her bedding.

Gender: It's A Girl - Heloisa

Movement: I am starting to feel her more and more. Paulo has yet to feel her.

Food Craving: I am having some emotional eating these past few days. There are a few things going on, that I cannot share yet. It is a good thing, but the timing couldn’t be worse.

What I miss: Running and coffee.

Sleep: I have good days and bad days, but I slept way better on these past 10 days than the weeks before.

What I am looking forward to: Make the final decision on her stroller. .

Symptoms: I’m getting tired easily.