Let's Review: Arla Dofino Cheese

My family usually sticks to the basics when it comes to cheese.  We keep mozzarella and cheddar on hand at all times.  And the little canister of Parmesan to sprinkle on pasta.  That's it.

But I got a coupon to try a free 8 oz package of Arla Dofino cheese from BzzAgent, so I was pretty excited to try something new and different.  I chose the Havarti cheese and made this recipe of mac and cheese, but without the dill weed.  I've made homemade mac and cheese before (but with cheddar) so this wasn't overly difficult.  And it turned out great.

It's much creamier than cheddar mac and cheese, and reminds me a little bit of an alfredo sauce.  It would be really good with added chicken, bacon, spinach, and/or broccoli too.

I loved it, Aaron liked it, and Andrew is happier with the mac and cheese from a box (but he ate this too).  I don't know if we'll be buying it regularly since it's more expensive than our usual cheeses, but it sure was good this time.  (Locals, I have some coupons if you want to try it!)



*I got the product for free with a coupon from BzzAgent, but all opinions are mine!*

It's a...

Baby!

So we had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday. Since we had Andrew with us, they wouldn't let Aaron come into the room until the last few minutes of the scan. The tech tried to tell me the gender before she even called him in, but I was patient and asked them to wait. And...

It's a boy! Andrew is going to have a little brother! We are so excited to add another little boy to our family.  (Poll results: 56% of you guessed correctly!)

We had a bit of a scare when the doctor called yesterday to tell us that the ultrasound had shown low levels of amniotic fluid and they wanted us to go to a specialist for another scan. Low fluid levels can mean a lot of scary things so we spent the evening worrying and googling. Fortunately the specialist was able to get us in today. And also fortunately, there is plenty of fluid around the baby. Copious amounts, actually. So all the worrying was for nothing- presumably the first sonographer just did a bad job. 

So anyway, our second little boy is looking healthy and we couldn't be happier!

Pregnancy Update and Gender Predictions

Well, here we are- more than 19 weeks along in this pregnancy!  In a way it seems like this pregnancy is moving along a lot faster than the last one, maybe because I'm busy with Andrew this time.

This baby is active.  I felt him/her move for the first time on Labor Day (when I was almost 14 weeks along) and Aaron was able to feel the movement a few weeks ago too.  This is WAY earlier than we felt Andrew.  I guess that's normal though for second-time (and more) moms.  At our last two appointments, the doctor even commented on how much the baby was moving around- they had to keep moving the doppler to follow the heartbeat.

Like last time, I thought it would be fun to look at some old wives tales about gender.  They were definitely wrong last time; let's see if they can do better this time around:

• Chinese Gender Predictor:  Based on my age and conception month.  BOY.
• Carrying: If you carry low, it's a boy; high, it's a girl. NOT SURE?  Isn't it too early to know if I'm carrying low or high?  Or maybe I just carry in the middle...
• Heart Rate:  Girl is over 140bpm, boy is under 140bpm.  GIRL. They haven't told us bpm since the dating ultrasound though, so not sure how "accurate" this is.
• Feet Temperature: Boys cause cold feet, girls don't change mom's feet temp. BOY.
• Morning Sickness:   Have it?  Girl.  Not so much?  Boy.  GIRL.
• Cravings:  Craving sweets = girl. Craving salty/sour = boy.  BOY.  I haven't been craving salty/sour foods so much, but I've been pretty anti-sweets since I got pregnant, like last time.  My sweet tooth is starting to come back though.
• Boobs:  Which one is bigger?  Left = girl. Right = boy.  GIRL.
• Sleeping Position:  Preference for the left side means a boy, preference for the right means a girl. BOY.  Though I often switch part of the way through the night, after my potty break.
• Headaches:  Boys cause headaches, girls don't.  GIRL.
• Sympathy Weight:  If the husband gains weight, it's a girl.  If not, a boy.  BOY.
• Opinion of the Mom-to-be:  In a study that asked women with no previous knowledge about their baby's sex, the moms-to-be correctly guessed the gender of their baby 71% of the time. NOT SURE?  Really, no idea.  Sometimes I'm convinced it's a girl, and other times I say "he" when talking about the baby.  (Aaron was convinced Andrew would be a boy, and was right, but this time he won't even make a prediction because he doesn't know.)

So the old wives aren't coming to a consensus this time.  (What do you think?  Vote in the poll above!)

We have our ultrasound early next week, so hopefully baby cooperates and lets us see if he's a boy or she's a girl!