8 MONTH ULTRASOUND

Yesterday morning we had our second ultrasound. Normally you don't get a second ultrasound, but we were lucky! The technician thought he looked like a boy too, so now we are pretty convinced! Although you never know! Here's a little video we took:

And here are some pictures! We are so excited to meet this little man!

 Baby foot! I count 5 little toes!

 Side view of his head and his little hand.

 Side view of his head, and a good shot of his spine.

Another side view of his head.

FRIDAY FUN - POLL: VOTE FOR YOUR FAVOURITE BABY NAME

We still haven't picked a baby name yet for our little boy, and we would love to hear your opinion! 

There is now a poll set up on the blog which you can find on the LEFT HAND SIDEBAR. Feel free to cast your vote for your favourite name out of our top picks! We will keep the poll up and running until baby is born. You can check the results any time, and then when baby is born, we will reveal our final choice!

HOMEMADE BODY BUTTER

In YESTERDAY'S BLOG POST, I shared a bit about my love for homemade things. After writing about it, I got the itch! As I mentioned yesterday, I came across this awesome recipe for HOMEMADE BODY BUTTER. Well, I just had to try it out! I made a half batch as a tester, and I must say I am pretty impressed. 

I'll be 8 months pregnant on Monday, and even though I was so optimistic about not getting any stretch marks, they have finally made their appearance. I have a pretty short torso and so I am CARRYING QUITE FAR OUT.  Plus, I'm carrying a Westman baby, and if you know my husband and his family, it's possible that I might be giving birth to a two-year-old sized baby. Needless to say, I am very interested to see what the technician has to say at our ultrasound on Monday! Anyway, all this to say, coconut oil is supposed to be great for stretchmarks (according to like every second pin on pinterest, it's supposed to be great for everything). I have been using store-bought stretch mark cream ever since I found out I was pregnant (obviously didn't help avoid them completely), but as you can imagine, I was pretty excited to make  a homemade version!

I used grapefruit zest in my mixture, and it smells heavenly. You can use whatever kind of zest you would like, or substitute with essential oils of your choice. I even tasted it (totally safe), and oh man... I kind of wanted to eat it all. I didn't. However, the zest is the best part, and the most annoying part. After applying, it leaves tiny little pieces of zest all over you that you need to wipe off. A price I'm willing to pay for the smell. It did give me an idea, however, to make a body scrub for the shower... putting that on my to-try list.

I have been having a really hard time sleeping lately due to insomnia and other various annoying pregnancy symptoms, and I really found that the smell was so relaxing last night, and helped me fall asleep. After showering last night I pretty much covered my body in the stuff and I still smell awesome this morning. My legs are especially smooth as I applied the body butter right after shaving them (well... hubby shaved them. I can't reach anymore. He did a great job).

Anyway, I suggest you try making some. It took all of 10 minutes to whip together, and it's definitely worth it. If you missed the link, you can find the recipe HERE.

Enjoy and have a happy weekend!

THURSDAY THINGS

1. Spring has sprung. Well, for today. On Tuesday night we had a crazy flash snow storm. Like, a white out blizzard for about half an hour, followed by clear skies and sunshine. Really strange. Although most of the snow is gone, I still think we will have some snow well into May. Which of course, is ridiculous. Until then, our rubber boots are making many appearances lately!

2. I love homemade things. Whether it be a food you would normally just buy at the grocery store, decorations for your home, or birthday cards, I love them. I think what I love about homemade things is partially the fact that it brings purpose to my days (especially while being a stay-at-home mom-to-be!), as well as the fact that most homemade things help you save money and stay healthy. For example, I recently came across this ridiculously easy to make BODY BUTTER with only 3 ingredients! This recipe has just earned a spot near the top of my must-try list. And now that I am in my third trimester... well the stretch marks could use some extra lovin'!

3. Speaking of homemade things, I don't think I will ever get enough of these NO BAKE ENERGY BITES. Again, a healthy alternative to store-bought granola bars. Although, I still love Fibre 1 bars. A lot. For more of our favourite recipes, check out our RECIPE INDEX.

4. Sometimes I think I am living in a musical. Mostly because Mark doesn't ever stop singing. Ever. Yesterday I'm pretty sure it was literally impossible for him to "say" anything. He instead had to "sing" everything. I'm pretty sure we're going to somehow spontaneously break out into a completely cheesy dance routine that we actually never rehearsed. I'll let you know when that happens.

5. I made a truly amazing discovery last week. I kept getting these annoying emails from Scotiabank, even though I haven't banked with them in years. I usually just filter out those kinds of emails, but for some reason I never did. And now I am SO thankful. I finally read one, and it turns out I still have like 17 free movies worth of banked Scene points. 17 MOVIES! Like, in the theater!! We are headed to Saskatoon for the weekend and can't wait to see 42. I have a feeling I will need to bring a box of tissues. And then next month, The Great Gatsby comes out! We will be going to Saskatoon twice May, so we'll definitely find time to see it while we're there.

VISIT OUR FREE PRINTABLES PAGE TO DOWNLOAD THIS PRINT!

6. This weekend we'll do a bit of baby shopping. I'll hit the 8 month mark next Monday, so the clock is ticking! We're just going to try and stock up with the absolute necessities and then once baby is here we'll worry about the rest. Thankfully, the car seat is here and we hope to get it properly installed in the van very soon! We also just found out that our PHIL&TED stroller arrived at my parent's house in Ottawa! I'm really really excited about it. Another reason to add to the many that are getting us SO excited to go to Ottawa in the summer. Can't wait!

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR US ON NEWBORN NECESSITIES?

To answer, leave us a comment at the end of this post, or via our CONTACT US page! We'd really appreciate it!

RECIPE: CURRIED SWEET POTATO SOUP

I finally bought curry powder and I can't get enough!

Our lovely next door neighbour (who has some real talent in the kitchen!) put me onto the idea of making a sweet potato soup. She has made some pretty delicious soups herself, and I always look forward to the nights they invite us over for dinner. I have her to thank for recommending I buy and coconut milk (and coconut oil too!) which are two ingredients I now also can't get enough of! I have been meaning to make a pureed soup for ages, so after browsing through a few recipes that I found online, as always I combined my favourite aspects of multiple soups to create this curious curried concoction.

Soups are such a lovely and healthy way to be creative in the kitchen! Throw in whatever you think might taste good, and it probably will. Just remember to start with a little teeny bit. You can always add more, but you can't take out what you've put in! I've learned the hard way. Multiple times. Luckily, this soup turned out great the first time.

And for the record, Mark LOVED it too!

This all said and done, I almost ran into some problems. At first I thought I had way too many potatoes. Then I thought I added too much liquid. In the end, it turned out to be the perfect consistency, thick, but not too thick. So when you make it, don't worry. Just keep going! 

And the final product? Well you'll just have to try it out yourself to believe me! Delicious! It felt like all the best things about Autumn were in my mouth. I don't know if it's just the pregnancy cravings kicking in, but looking at these photos and trying to describe it's deliciousness is making me really want to make this again. And soon. Like really soon.

Here is the recipe! Also, be sure to check out our RECIPE INDEX page for a list of all of our recipes!

CURRIED SWEET POTATO SOUP

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 INGREDIENTS

3 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled, diced 4 C vegetable broth (or broth of your choice) 1 (15oz) can coconut milk 1 sm apple, peeled, diced 1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp pepper 1/2 tsp sea salt 1 Tbsp curry powder

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DIRECTIONS Place all ingredients in a large soup pot & bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook at medium boil until apple & sweet potatoes are soft. Carefully pour all contents into a blender a bit at a time. Blend.

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  EAT & ENJOY!

WELCOME!

Welcome to The Westman Family blog!

Here we will share stories and snapshots of our life as our family grows from 2 to more. You can also find our favourite family recipes, and even download some freebies!

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Explore & enjoy :)

31 WEEKS

Well, I didn't do the chalkboard thing this week, but at least I finally have more pictures! I can hardly believe the transformation. I can sure feel it though! :)  9 weeks to go!

THURSDAY THINGS

1. We bought a minivan. Heck yes. It's a 2006 Honda Odyssey and runs like a gem. It really feels great to be getting the most important things together before baby arrives! We'll always have fond memories of our little Cav, however. The miles and memories that relentless little car gave us will always be remembered!

2. Speaking of getting important things done... we got the car seat! We opted to go for the #1 rated car seat, the Chicco KeyFit. We're so thankful we did! Our baby will have tons of hand-me-down clothes, but the car seat is something we wanted to make sure was top of the line for safety. And a shout out to Nana & Papa Westman for surprising us with this purchase! We love you!

3. Have you ever seen the show Parenthood? It's probably one of my favourite shows ever. And not just because I'm about to become a parent. It's hilarious, and makes me cry like every second episode. A perfect combination in my books. I just finished watching all 4 seasons... good times.

4. Two weeks ago I had a Dr.'s appointment in Saskatoon with a new doctor, and it was awesome. She's going to be our delivery doc! We debated between choosing an OBGYN or a family doctor, but decided to go with a family doctor mostly because there's a 95% chance she will deliver our baby, whereas there's like a 5% chance the OBGYN that you meet with will actually deliver the baby (I'll still be delivering in the hospital where there are lots of OBGYN's around if need be!). We just felt we would be a lot more comfortable with someone we are seeing on a regular basis. We'll drive down to Saskatoon for appointments once at the end of April, twice in May, and every week in June. I'll probably move in with Mark's Aunt & Uncle in Saskatoon by my 38 week mark, and Mark will take off the last week of school to move with me. Plans are slowly starting to come together now, although only God knows how things will unravel!

5. Some friends of ours just dropped off 2 huge Rubbermaid containers of boy clothes yesterday afternoon. We sorted through them all last night, and wow. We are going to have one well-dressed little boy! We literally have enough clothes to make it to 24 months. It's crazy. We are so thankful!!!!

6. And now for some fun stuff. You should probably get this new desktop and/or phone background for April. It's lovely as always.

7. This is maybe a little over done, but it makes me laugh every single time. I just watched it like 3 times in a row. Still laughing. Goats Screaming Like People Take Over the Internet.

8. This video is pretty awesome. It sheds some light onto why we should think about the the food we put in our bodies. And it's funny.

9. I came across this list of 6 Totally Inappropriate Songs We Sang As Children, and wow I was a little appalled. I definitely used to sing all of these songs. Gross.

10. This lovely little article is so beautiful. I hope you enjoy.

11. PS - I'm going to be 30 weeks on Monday! Whaaat!!! That means like 10 weeks to go until my due date. However, baby is considered full term at 37 weeks... so you never know what can happen! Majority of first-time moms go late though. Who knows. I just can't get over how fast the weeks are flying by. I'm also getting huge. Photo on Monday, I promise!

12. God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that He should make Jesus, through His suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation. (Hebrews 2:10)

TUESDAY TUNES

Oh hello! I'm back. Sorry for my prolonged disappearance from the blog... we had this last week off and I didn't want to spend my time blogging. However, we are back into the swing of things now so I'm back in business. 

This little video is a gem. A dream come true for a lucky and incredibly talented student. I'm pretty sure he knocked the socks off of Billy. Definitely worth a watch or two!