And Then There Were Three...

March 10, 2015 Arielle

It's amazing how you don't think that life could get any better, or that you could share your heart any more, but as soon as we welcomed our 3rd sweet baby girl everything changed. I feel so incredibly blessed! Life with 3 girls...where do I begin?

I read this quote some time ago and I think it states perfectly how I feel...

"The Happiest State of Human Existence Is to Love Someone More Than You Love Yourself."

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Trust me friends...That is truly where Happiness lies.

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Thank you all So much for your kind words, comments, tweets, emails, instagram hellos, etc.! I feel the LOVE so much! I've been busy snuggling my little angel and I appreciate the patience. I've also been working on The Diva Dish E-book Breakfast Cookbook! I just need to tackle a few more recipes.

I do need a creative Hashtag to go with the book, so if anyone can think of one I am willing to send someone a 'prize' :).

Love your family & Love your friends! Happy Tuesday!

Pregnancy #3-Update/All About

August 25, 2014 Arielle

Oh my Heavens!! Where do I begin?!

(12 weeks Pregnant. I've grown since then!)

First of all, THANK YOU for all of the love, support, congrats, and sweet wishes from all of you! Our little family and this baby bump of mine feel so loved! I feel so blessed in so many ways!

When my second little girl was born, I vowed right there on the hospital table that I wasn't going to do it ever again. Not because I didn't love babies, but because that pregnancy/labor was so hard I swore to myself and everyone around me that we were done.

I gave away ALL...yes all...of my baby stuff. (Minus a few memorable items.) I was content with my decision and moved on with life as a mom of two little divas.

But then...

I saw a baby.

Seriously, that was all it took. Our neighbor had a baby and all of the sudden I had baby fever. I felt that there was another little angel in our life that needed to be with our family. I told my husband about it and he looked at me shocked and confused each time. Yes, there were multiple times we talked about babies. Finally, at one moment, we both felt it was right and well...I don't need to explain more do I?

So far, this pregnancy has been INCREDIBLY DIFFERENT and similar all the same. (Which is why we were convinced it was a boy....)

With each of my pregnancies, I always know immediately. It's a weird thing to explain, but I just always know. This one started out incredibly easy, to the point where I started to disbelieve what the FOUR pregnancy test were telling me. I had NO symptoms...Not one. Usually I'll have a few right off the bat, but this time I had nothing.

Don't worry...they showed up.

Around week 8 it hit me.

Nauseousness. Throwing up Every.Dang.Day. (Still pretty much am.). Headaches, fatigue, and did I mention my hate towards food?! This has been pretty similar with both my pregnancies, but food does not sound good. The look, texture, feel, smell, anything will turn me off. EVEN CHOCOLATE!!!! Some days I can stomach a certain food, and some days I can't. It has made things difficult because I feel like I'm not getting all the nutrients I need. I wish I was being dramatic, because let's be honest, I usually am...

But I swear the other day I bit into a carrot that didn't taste so good, I went to spit it out, and the act of well...doing that...made me loose my lunch. I also heated up soup in the microwave, and that did it for me too...I'm hoping the further along I get, the better I can eat. I really do miss food...

As for my exercise, the beginning of my pregnancy when I felt amazing, I was kicking butt. As soon as the vomiting started, my exercise pretty much stopped. It was hard feeling like I was in a car 24/7, loosing the food I did eat, and taking care of two very active girls. It's gotten a bit easier since then, so I've been taking it slow with my stationary bike and walks. If there is one thing I've learned in pregnancy, it's that exercise makes pregnancy and labor definitely easier, but pushing your self is never a smart thing. Just do the best you can, even if it's slow. Any movement is good.

I also nap pretty much every day, especially when I felt car sick. My laundry is rarely done, the dishes are pilled high, and my kids lived off TV and macaroni and cheese for a while as a laid down for the majority of my day. My poor husband came home to quite the scene every day from work. Luckily he loves me OH SO MUCH, so it was all good ;)!

I have to add that I know pregnancy in general can be a sensitive subject to others, especially those who have struggled with loss and infertility. It's hard to say this but a majority of my friends are suffering from these problems, and it's a horrible struggle to go through. I am so grateful for each one of these people in my life, they have been such amazing women to my daughters by loving, teaching, playing, and caring for them. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to do the things I am able to do, but please know that with those that struggle my heart is always with you! We are all mothers in our own way, whether we bare children or not, I truly believe that.

Thank you again friends for your love & support! I plan to do a series of post of the foods I HAVE been craving, and what I've done to make them more healthier! (For example, a ranch salad...Sounds so good right now!)

Love you all!!

We've been keeping a secret...

August 24, 2014 Arielle

We've been keeping a rather large secret for a very long time...

We are expecting another BABY GIRL in February, 2015!

A post will follow soon with all the details :)!

Sweet Pea

August 16, 2012 Arielle

Never in my life would I imagine feeling the overwhelming love that I feel now.

I've been blessed in such a tremendous way to be the mother to now TWO precious Daughters of God.

After waiting for what seemed like forever, 40 weeks and 5 days to be exact, the day finally arrived where Sweet Pea came into this world.

After thinking the day would never come, we decided to take a weekend trip up to my parents house and relax. And of coarse when one finally let's go and realizes it's probably not going to happen when wanted....It happens.

So at 6:50 A.M. when my water broke we knew that our plans were going out the window and we were going to have this baby...Even if it wasn't in the place we had originally planned.

It was a fairly difficult labor, but luckily it only lasted 10 hours with about 15 minutes of pushing. (Boo was 20 hours of labor and 1 1/2 hours pushing...)

After a few hours of my labor not progressing, they decided to put my on pitocin to see if that would get things moving along. After a few doses of pitocin, we soon realized my body, and Sweet Pea, wanted nothing to do with the medicine. My blood pressure was dropping all the time, and my heart rate was fluctuating uncontrollably. Nothing about me was stabilizing. Then Sweet Pea's heart rate started to drop, so we decided it was best to turn off the medicine to see what happened.

Within minutes my body kicked in, everything stabilized, and I began to progress perfectly.

Only thing was now the epidural wasn't working.

I applaud any mom willing to do the birth the natural way. As for me, I would prefer no pain whatsoever.

But my body had a different plan for me, and rejected practically every form of medicine. So with each contraction becoming closer together, I would try and breath my way through it...Only instead I would cry through each one. I'll never forget that pain...

And if I do remind me before I think of having more kids...

Then the time came to push, which went rather quick. When she came out the umbilical cord was wrapped around her and her neck several times and she was blue. They took her away quickly, and for a few minutes I was freaking out. But soon enough she was in my arms, nice and pink! :)

I'll never forget seeing Boo 's face when she came into see Sweet Pea. Having our little family together felt so complete and wonderful. I truly am the luckiest wife and mama out there!

Over the past few days our little family's life has changed dramatically. We all have lost sleep and are going stir crazy, but never before in my life have I felt this happy. The spirit in our home is so strong and happy I truly feel blessed.

Boo is adjusting as expected. She loves her baby sister so much, but I can tell it's difficult for her. We've been told to leave her alone and go away, followed by a door slam, for the past couple of days. I know it will get better, and I look forward to the day when I can hear them laughing together.

For now I am perfectly fine watching Boo give Sweet Pea multiples love hugs and kisses!

Dear Sweet Pea,

I am so glad to finally be holding you in my arms! You are precious in every way, and I can tell you will have a very sweet and loving personality. Thanks for making our family complete and bringing lots of love into our little family.

I Love You! xoxo-

Mommy

Thank You for all your sweet comments, tweets, etc. on Sweet Pea! I have the greatest and most supporting readers!

( Also a special thanks to certain readers out there who helped me pick the name Sweet Pea for our little gals blog name!)

Be back soon with some food!! :-)

Is it a Boy? Girl?

February 20, 2012 Arielle

From the second I laid eyes on my dear Baby Boo, I imagined the fun times that us girls would do.

At just an early age she was covered with bows...

Poofy tutu's and hair flowers that reached to her nose.

Lots of pictures, playing dress up, and even tea parties.

Tons of laughter, hugs, and kisses and singing songs-What a smarty!

Although it's quite fancy that her life is surrounded in pink,

She still finds the time to make our hearts sink.

With cuddles an snuggles up to daddy each night,

He's wrapped around her little finger oh so very tight.

And now, almost two years later we are adding one more.

A sibling for Boo, and more snuggles galore.

We couldn't be happier, whether it's a boy or a girl...

Just as long as it's healthy and falls asleep in a whirl.

Now the day has arrived where we reveal the little one's gender,

And we wanted to announce in a way with much splendor!

I made cupcakes, of coarse, with a secret message inside...

The color in the middle will release joyful cries!

IT'S A GIRL!! IT'S A GIRL!!

Do you know what this means?

More pink bows, more dresses, matching outfits, and ballet...

(Or as the hubby sees it...)

Two weddings, two proms, meeting boyfriends..He better start to pray.

Either way that you see it, it's the greatest blessing non the less.

Are we happy, are we grateful, are we healthy...And the answer is YES!!

Thank you everybody for your sweet e-mails, comments, notes, support, etc!! We appreciate each and everyone of you, and are so glad to share this monumental time in our lives with you!

We can't wait for you to meet Baby Loo!! :-)

Homemade Diva {Ding} Dongs

January 17, 2012 Arielle

So I've got this thing called a butt.

I mean, everyone has them, unless your like my husband, than you have to look real hard for his.

But mine, my butt, is very easy to find. In high school I had nicknames like J-Lo, the white Beyonce, and booty-booty. It's true.

I had this art class, and every time I would walk in front of a boy, all he would say was, "booty-booty-booty-booty." And you can bet your bottom dollar that when, "I Like Big Butts" came on at school dances, my friends would all look at me and say, "Giiiirl, this is your sooooonng!"

And trust me, I hate pant shopping. With every clothing geared toward the skinny jean look, you can bet that I run far far away to the sweats section. Because big baggy sweats are SO much sexier than tight skinny jeans on my big booty...

Ok, so maybe I need a personal stylist...and some help...

You see, with pregnancy, things on your body get bigger...and wider, because a baby needs room to grow. Some days I feel like I need to strap a "wide load" sign on my back side, and other days I feel like eating ding dongs. Either way I see it, watch out...

"Beeeeep...Beeeep...Beeeep."

Let's be honest, whether you eat healthy or not, at some point in mostly everyone's life, they have had a ding dong. I'm brought back to school lunches, where unwrapping a piece of tin foil was never so exciting just knowing there was circle of chocolate covered cream filled cake inside...

Yummm..

But now I'm a little for cautious and know that besides a delicious cake I also get nasty preservatives, unhealthy amounts of fat and sugar, additives, and yucky yucky stuff. This is a problem my friends...because I have been craving ding dongs like my butt depended on it.

Well, it was a problem, but not any more...

Homemade Diva (Ding) Dongs

*Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Delicious*

Ingredients: (For the Cake) (Cake recipe adapted from here!)

1 c. Bob's gluten free flour (or whole wheat pastry for non GF)

1/4 c. cocoa powder

3/4 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

dash of salt

1 1/2 TB. cornstarch

1/4 c. melted coconut oil

1/4 c. applesauce (room temperature)

1/2 c. non dairy milk(room temperature)

1/4 c. maple syrup(room temperature)

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. dates + 1/4 c. water pureed together to form a paste. (you can do this with a blender or food processor)

Ingredients: (For the Filling)

One can full fat coconut milk, top open and covered with plastic wrap, that has been sitting in the fridge over night

sweetener of choice-maple syrup, stevia, honey, agave, powdered sugar

Ingredients: (For the Coating) (Double amount for thicker coating)

1 -85% cocoa chocolate bar (you can do sweeter if you prefer, but I love dark chocolate) (3.5 ounces) (about 1/2 c. chocolate)

1/8 c. coconut oil

1 TB. sweetener of choice (I used agave) (optional)

Directions: (for the cake)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients together in one bowl, and wet ingredients together in another. Fold wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until incorporated. Don't overmix.

2. Spray a cake pan/square pan(8x8) etc. with non stick spray and pour batter into cake pan. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes, or until center comes out clean. *Note: These aren't going to rise super high, so for a higher cake, you can use a smaller pan or use a cupcake muffin pan.)

3. Once cake is done and cooled and released from pan and placed on cookie sheet, use a glass/circle cookie cuter and cut out circles.

What you do with the leftover cake is up to you...Whether you eat it, or...eat it...or eat...It's up to you...

I promise...I won't judge. That would be hypocrytical.

4. Set aside and make filling.

Directions: For the Filling

1. After can of coconut has been sitting in the fridge overnight, remove it. With a spoon, scoop out the full fat cream that thickened overnight and put it in a bowl. Add a few TB. of your sweetener of choice and whisk together. Put back in the fridge while you make the chocolate coating.

Directions: For the Coating:

1. Add your chocolate, oil, and sweetener in a bowl that is sitting over a pot of simmering water. (double broiler.) Continue to stir until melted. Set aside. (You can also melt the chocolate in a microwave.)

Directions: For the assembly:

1. Take your cream filling and put it in a pastry bag fitted with any tip that has a smaller hole. I use this long skinny one that has gotten in a few fights with the garbage disposal.

You can also cut out a center of the ding dong if you would like, if you don't have a tip.

2. With your pastry bag, poke a hole in the cake a squeeze a bunch of cream into the cupcake. Squeeze hard...

I like a lot of cream in the center of my Diva Dong.

You can also poke more than one hole in the cake so filling get's through out the middle.

Be Patient...We are almost done...

Once all the cupcakes are filled, it's time to coat them.

Make sure your chocolate is sitting in a deep bowl so it will be easy to dip them. Simply hold the bottom of the cake with two fingers and dip into the chocolate. Set down and let the chocolate drip down to coat the sides.

It's really messy, and not very pretty. You may have to lick your fingers a few times...darn.

If you feel it isn't coated enough around the bottom, take a spoon or cooking brush and brush some more chocolate coating around the cake.

Set in the fridge for about 10 minutes to let the chocolate set, and then they are ready to eat.

The chocolate will stay hardened after and you won't have to leave it in the refrigerator.

Look at all that creamy yummy goodness....

If I were making these for friends, I might have done a prettier job...But these were for me, my butt, and I...So I didn't care how they looked, just how they tasted...