Organic Zucchini Carrot Mini-Muffins

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Recently I have been trying to make sure that my daughter has a balanced and healthy diet. This entails me having to get creative to fit in nutritious items that are taste test approved by a toddler! I found this fun recipe for Carrot Zucchini Mini-Muffins and decided to give it a try with a few minor tweaks. I was able to cram this baking session in after my littles bedtime and am enthused to say that it is mom approved! I will let you all know how this dessert tasting item passes during my toddler’s lunchtime tomorrow!

Organic Zucchini Carrot Mini-Muffins (Makes Approximately 24 Mini Muffins)

*You can use organic or non-organic items as preferred

Contains:

1 cup organic whole wheat unrefined flour

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 tablespoons butter softened

½ cup of pure maple syrup

1 large organic beaten egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup finely grated organic zucchini

½ cup finely grated organic carrot

½ cup of Craisins (Dried Cranberries)

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Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F and coat mini muffin pan with coconut oil

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  1. Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl: flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda

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  1. In a large separate bowl combine wet ingredients: butter, maple syrup, egg and vanilla extract

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  1. Add the dry mixture into the large bowl with the wet ingredients and stir

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  1. Add zucchini, carrot and Craisins into the mixture.

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  1. Fill each cup in pan with ¾ cup fill (I used a tablespoon measuring spoon to fill each slot).

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  1. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and place on cooling rack .

Fun Facts:

Zucchini promotes eye health and is filled with tons of goodies including vitamin C, carbohydrates, protein, fiber, and potassium.

Carrots support long-term health by improving vision and memory.

Cinnamon has antiviral properties that can assist in treating the something as simple as the seasonal cough to something as sever as bronchitis.

Maple syrup is a much less harmful sweetener that contains numerous antioxidants.

Craisins add some sweetness and are a good source of fiber.

Expect the Unexpected

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If you have read my three recent blogs “IT’S A GIRL!”, “BROKEN HEART” and “GROWING PAINS” then you know where I left off. If not, let me fill you in real quick! My boyfriend and I are expecting a baby girl who we will be naming Karlie Kate. When I was twenty-weeks pregnant, we found out that Karlie has a heart defect that we have been monitoring closely throughout the pregnancy. My OBGYN just informed me I could go into labor any day now and my boyfriend is still out of town working for two more weeks.

Today I am forty-weeks pregnant and I was supposed to wake up early to go have breakfast with my boyfriend’s family. Remembering this, I pried my swollen eyes open to get a glimpse of my fuzzy alarm clock. As the numbers began to come into focus, I realized it read 8:30am and I was running a little behind. I pulled my sheets off and rolled out of bed. Standing in front of my closet, I grabbed the closest dress I could find and threw it on. After adjusting my dress over my pregnant belly I made my way to the bathroom as I put my hair up in a messy topknot. When I had all my hair collected into my thin ponytail holder, I looked in the bathroom mirror to see my pale face staring right back at me. I reached for my newly acquired foundation from Urban Decay and blotted it on with my Good Karma Optical Blurring Brush. They had just came out with the Naked Skin – Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup which never failed to leave my face feeling flawless without the added weight most foundations left. Another glance at the mirror, I realized my eyelashes needed a few strokes of my favorite mascara from Benefit Cosmetics – they’re Real! One last scan in the mirror, I nodded at my reflection in approval and headed straight for my front door.

As soon as I was opening the door, a gust of mist hit my face and I immediately turned around to grab a sweater realizing how bad the weather was. I got in my car and drove down the street while fidgeting in the driver’s seat trying to get comfortable. Reluctant to pull into the Mexican restaurant’s parking lot, I got out of my car and headed straight to the entrance of the restaurant. Immediately I spotted the table of 8 with an empty chair on the end waiting for me. As I sat down my usual taco (potato, eggs, beans and cheese) was already waiting for me. As the aroma of my food wafted towards my nose, I instantly felt full. Not wanting to be rude or draw attention to my lack of appetite, I took two bites before I decided that I just couldn’t fit any more food in my stomach. The waitress had already cleared the table when I couldn’t bare the pressure of sitting for a second longer. I said my goodbyes and headed to Target, then the mall, then Walmart to distract myself from this weird twinge of pain that was constantly coursing through my lower back.

As I was wandering through each shop, I was texting my mom about how weird I felt today and she had spent most of the morning trying to convince me that I was going into labor. I eventually panicked when she gave me different scenarios of my water breaking in the middle of the store. I stuffed my giant belly behind the steering wheel of my orange car and headed home. Unloading my car with all the goodies I just purchased, I was trying to multi-task and text my boyfriend at the same time. My lack of multi-tasking skills left my hair damp with the misty overcast weather. He didn’t take me too seriously when I told him I was going into labor, but I packed a hospital bag anyways.

I know this is something you are supposed to always have prepared when you near the end of your pregnancy, but of course I was slacking. As I franticly try to toss things into my bag that I ‘think’ I might need as I munch on a Nature Valley Peanut Sweet & Salty Bar in case I don’t get another chance to eat before going into labor.

Packed and ready to go, I was bound and determined to drive myself to the hospital without warning anyone just in case it was a false alarm. As I was walking into the doors that read ‘Emergency Room’ they immediately put me in a wheelchair when I told the receptionist behind the glass, “I think I’m in labor”. They didn’t waste any time and took me back to a room immediately. The lady pushing me gave me a little run down as she handed me a hospital gown to change into and told me that she was just going to see how dilated I was. Freshly changed in my hospital gown, I struggled getting onto the bed where the nurse was standing, already putting gloves on. She pulled up my gown and said “WOAH! You are already 4cm dilated and in active labor!” It just all hit me at once, I was alone in the delivery room and I was in labor. This was all becoming so real but at the same time I felt like I was in a really vivid dream as I watched them get the room ready for Karlie’s arrival. Phone in hand, I started sending ‘selfies’ to my mom to prove just how fast this was happening and to distract me from having a panic attack. It wasn’t even ten minutes that had passed when I started reaching 7cm dilation. I started freaking out and called for an epidural because the pain was getting so bad so fast.

Waiting for them to bring in the epidural seemed like an eternity when contraction after contraction hit. I felt like I was in the movies as I clutched the side of my hospital bed, chewed on some ice chips and tried not to vomit all over myself. Finally! They enter my room with the magic cart. I am instructed to sit up in the bed with my feet hanging off and not to move an inch. It was then that I was reminded of my fear of needles, making me shake vigorously. My sweet nurse stands in front of my dangling legs and offers her assistance. As I lay my head on the nurse’s chest, she wraps her arms around me and the guy behind me sticks a 7-inch needle in my spine to pump me up with drugs. And let me tell you, those drugs work almost instantly! My mouth went completely numb, I could barley talk and I couldn’t feel a thing!

Shortly after all of the epidural, I just see my boyfriend’s aunt’s head pop in my room dressed extremely nice. She informed me she came straight from her friends Christmas Party. She was standing next to me like ‘Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City’ in her black dress and high-heels ready to help me deliver my baby.

We ended up being the hospital staffs’ entertainment that evening. It turns out my boyfriends aunt actually took her friends car to the emergency room, leaving her friend at the party. Sure enough, her friend strolls in about 30 minutes later with her black dress, high heels and full-blown makeup! Everyone joked that they were my escorts and supplied them with hospital socks.

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With these two girls by my side, I felt invincible, probably because I was drugged up, but nonetheless, I was about to be a mom! My boyfriend’s aunt stood by my vital machine telling me when I was having contractions making me laugh because I still couldn’t feel a thing. As her best-friend was at my head filming, my boyfriend’s aunt held my leg the entire delivery until my precious baby girl sat on my chest.

Here is a video of Karlie Kate entering the world:

Coming next – “Meet Karlie Kate” at www.karliekateandme.com

Growing Pains

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If you read my previous blogs “IT’S A GIRL!” and “BROKEN HEART” then you know exactly what’s going on. If not, no worries, here’s a little summary to get you caught up! I am living in Texas with my boyfriend and we just found out that we are having a baby girl. Unfortunately, we also found out that she has a birth defect. It was recently confirmed to be a large hole in the lower muscular part of her heart that we now have to monitor throughout the pregnancy.

Other than checking in with the specialists every couple of weeks to check on our baby girl’s heart, my pregnancy is going pretty normal. Sadly, Karlie’s dad had to go work out of town in Chicago, Illinois. It’s only been two weeks and the nineteen-hour drive between us seems to grow further and further everyday. I’m not sure how I am going to make it the whole two months he is supposed to be gone. I’ve just recently made the solo move to our new two-bedroom townhome. I don’t know if any of you have tried to move while pregnant, but let’s just say I definitely wasn’t breaking any speed records being 7 months pregnant.

My body had officially become achy and I had mastered the pregnant lady waddle. It had gotten to the point where the only way to relieve the pressure off of my spine was by soaking in the bath. Taking at least three baths a day, LUSH became my best friend. It was an $8 a day investment to treat myself to an in-home spa. Every night, I would look forward to a unique bath bomb that would fizz all around my swollen belly. I would savor the time getting lost in the aroma of the essential oils until the water got cold.

If I wasn’t taking a bath, I was binge watching Grey’s Anatomy on NETFLIX. Meredith and Cristina had become part of my life as my pregnancy hormones grew with the cast during each and every drama filled episode. We cried, laughed and had complete meltdowns together as my tummy grew and grew. I began to have less and less of an appetite as my stomach stressed for spare room to fit food. I could pretty much only eat chicken noodle soup and bean and cheese tacos (burritos for those not accustom to Texas Mexican Food) without getting sick.

Karlie’s dad and I had narrowed down the baby names to Karlie and Blake. He hated the idea of naming a baby girl Blake, so after much debate we went with Karlie. Because I chose her first name, he insisted on making her middle name Kate. Other than picking our baby girl’s name together, I felt like I was going through the pregnancy alone. It was getting harder and harder to reach Karlie’s dad because he was either working or out with his co-workers. Having to make a million and one decisions AND being a first time mom Google was a must! I spent hours researching anything and everything making sure I was prepared for our precious baby girl to enter the world.

I felt like my pregnancy was scooting along. It was already December and only two days before my forty-week mark. I was at my second to last prenatal appointment when my OBGYN said “this little girl is NOT going to wait for her due-date”. Unfortunately it hadn’t quite been two months since Karlie’s dad left so he was still out of town for another two weeks.

Here is a little slideshow of my growing baby bump. Stay tuned and follow us at www.karliekateandme.com to see if Karlie’s dad makes it back in time for the birth!

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Broken Heart

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If you have already read my previous blog “IT’S A GIRL!” then you know exactly what’s going on. But for those of you who are just plugging in, I’ll give you a little recap. At twenty weeks pregnant, Karlie’s dad and I were left with good and bad news. Good news – We are having a baby girl! Bad news – She possibly has a congenital heart defect and a cleft lip or palate.

That being said, here I am at the Maternal Fetal Medicine in the Bay Area Clinic waiting for my Fetal Echocardiography – a fancy word meaning a detailed and higher resolution ultrasound to view the different chambers of our baby girl’s heart. It’s 9:00am and I’m sitting on the hard green vinyl chairs in the cold and empty waiting room filling out the registration papers. I can’t help but look at my phone every other second just to see that there are no missed notifications. Karlie’s dad is supposed to meet me here and I am starting to get nervous because he hadn’t showed up yet. Just when I was worried that he wasn’t going to show up, my eyes shot to the back of the clinic as the door opened and a nurse called my name. I got up, stack of papers in hand and headed back there alone and scared.

It wasn’t until about an hour later that the sonographer finally got some good pictures of our little jumping bean. She started wiping the jelly off of the camera while she leaned down and whispered, “It looks like you’ve seen a ghost. I’m going to give you a little present if you promise not to tell anybody”. I eagerly agreed, because she was right and I had never felt so limp. Mind you, it might have been because I had to fast for this appointment and I was starving! I glanced over at the technician as she quickly grabbed a different transducer probe. While squirting jelly on the probe she said, “I’m going to try and leave this on a good note and send you home with some pictures”. After she wipes the jelly off the wand once again, she hands me a portrait of the beautiful baby girl that is growing in my tummy. In the corner of my eye I can see that she quietly slides out the door to call Dr. Eggleston, the Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor on call for the today.

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I waited in the room alone for about five minutes studying the picture the technician just handed me while Dr. Eggleston took a look at all the data gathered during the ultrasound. The hair on the back of my neck hastily stood up as soon as I heard a gentle knock on the door. My palms started to sweat as I waited for someone to walk through the door. Just as I had convinced myself I had imagined the knock on the door, the doctor glided in startling me. He made his way to the opposite side of the room, plopping down on the stool to the right of my still-naked belly. I took a deep look into his sorrow filled eyes as he grabbed my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Before he let go of my hand, he confirmed that our baby girl did in fact have a congenital heart defect. He let go of my hand to pull up some images on the overhead screen and went into further detail explaining that she had a large VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect). Normal person talk – she had a large hole in the lower muscular part of her heart making the oxygen and blood swish around. He lowered his glasses as he told me that there was a chance that this hole could close on its own without the need for surgery but he wouldn’t bet on it because the hole was already so immense.

“I do have some good news”, he sighed, taking his glasses off completely. “There doesn’t appear to be any sign of a cleft lip or palate, but we won’t really know until she is born”.

He stood up to grab a wad of paper towels and patiently waited for me to wipe the remaining jelly off of my stomach. When I was done, he grabbed the dirty napkins, tossed them in the trash and helped me off of the chair. When my feet reached the floor the whole room started spinning and I was suddenly stabilized when he bent down to embrace me in a hug. I was pretty relieved that I now had two doctors that were so compassionate. I felt like they were really going through all of this with me. He asked if I had time for a little story before I left. He went on to tell me about his two daughters and their heart problems. He said that their hearts were much more severe than our baby’s heart. “They went straight into surgery after delivery. We didn’t even get a chance to hold or see them,” he said as he went on to tell me just how his family got through it. When he was done, I gave him a hug goodbye and headed to the checkout counter with tears in my eyes. As instructed, I made three appointments in advance. The clinic was now going to regularly check our baby girl’s heart throughout my pregnancy term.

As I walk to my car feeling weak I look at my phone to see a text message from Karlie’s dad that read – ‘Sorry can’t make it, got stuck at work. Call me when you get out and let me know how it went’. We had decided not to tell anybody about the possible birth defect yet because we didn’t want to make our family worry if it turned out to be nothing. At that moment, I knew exactly whom I needed to call to resist having a complete breakdown before I even got to my car. I immediately called my mom because I knew she would know exactly what to say to calm me down.

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Here is a picture of my mom and I. We are best friends and I know I can always go to her with anything. Make sure to stay tuned and follow us at www.karliekateandme.com to see how the rest of my pregnancy went!

It’s a Girl!

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Version 2

Yes, it is possible to get pregnant on birth control. This is the picture I texted to my boyfriend of one year. I had just relocated from Texas to New Mexico and had a doctor’s appointment where they told me I was eighteen weeks pregnant. I didn’t even have time to unpack my car before I decided I needed to turn around and move back to Texas to be with my boyfriend. We were about to have our own little family.

The pregnancy was moving along as expected and anticipation grew as my twenty-week ultrasound approached – will it be a boy or a girl?

This was the very first appointment that Karlie’s dad was able to attend, so I was already nervous contemplating how he would react to seeing our baby for the first time on the screen. There I was, anxious and fidgety, lying back on the paper covered chair with my shirt pulled all the way up while the sonographer spread warm jelly all over my belly with the transducer probe. I noticed that the technician spent an exceptional amount of time taking pictures of our baby’s heart. I knew right away that something was wrong and I felt like I was suddenly the only person in the room. Everyone seemed to disappear as I got lost in my own anxiety and thoughts of what could be happening in there with our unborn child. Karlie was of course stubborn even in utero and didn’t want to show us her lady parts at first so we left that room with the technician saying we should rely on the blood test but our baby is probably a girl.

The ultrasound took so long that it was already time for Karlie’s dad to go back to work. He gave me a long hug and I headed upstairs to my OBGYN appointment alone. I didn’t even bother mentioning to him that I thought something was wrong with our baby because I didn’t want him to think I was crazy and overacting. The ten minutes I spent in the exam room waiting on Dr. Nowitzki, my OBGYN at Corpus Christi Medical Center – Bay Area, felt like an eternity. I had so many negative things racing through my head that I was convinced our baby was probably going to be a stillborn or had some form of a birth defect that would affect her life forever.

Bad news – she did have a birth defect. Not only did I find out that she was our little baby girl that day, but Dr. Nowitzki informed me that our innocent unborn baby girl had a congenital heart defect and possibly a cleft lip or palate. After all the bad news, she gave me a hug and told me everything was going to be okay. Yet, I wasn’t too convinced when I saw she checked the little box that read high-risk pregnancy and referred me to a specialist to have a Fetal Echocardiography. I kept my cool until I got to my car where I proceeded to cry my eyes out while I called Karlie’s dad to share the news.

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Enjoy this little slideshow of our birth announcement. Stay tuned and follow us at www.karliekateandme.com to see what the specialists told us!

Pilot

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Titled “Pilot” because I am not an artist, programmer, coder, graphic designer or a badass like Claire. Rather, I am just an enthusiast working on this thing called “optimism and positivity”. So hello fellow bloggers… HERE I AM! Why thank you, yes I am ecstatic to be here and introducing my mini and myself to the WORLD! My head is always on the verge of exploding. I constantly have so many ideas, thoughts, concerns, and emotions…. I just need to spill it out into what I hope will captivate you into this tornado of a rainbow I call my life. So where does one start? Web page, blog site, text, pictures – can’t be that hard right…WRONG!

Oh my goodness

Step 1: Google ‘starting a blog’ – 313,000,000 results, no big deal!

Step 2: I found the next big step was trying to decide if you should blog for free or buy. I choose to buy because I am hoping this turns into more than just a hobby but also because I hate the idea of someone owning my words. So that’s decided, now I am buying one?

Step 3: I had officially narrowed it down to Blogger and WordPress. Pretty easy, until you realize there was also Wix, Weebly and Squarespace to choose from. Yada yada yada, did some research on all of them and decided that WordPress would be the best fit for me. Good news– it is not as costly as you would think to start a blog. I’m pretty sure it’s a sign that people really want to read about my crazy life!

Step 4: Ok purchased and ready to blog! Just kidding… you have to build your blog first! Just so you know, that is by far the hardest thing I have ever done. If you have only ever looked on websites and never designed them, picking a blog name AND themes AND colors AND pictures AND fonts… YIKES talk about a headache! Side note – expect more tweaks because trust me it’s far from perfect, but just functional enough….

Now that all my steps are mostly done, I think… I feel like I can officially call myself a blogger. I hope you all are just as excited as me for this journey in the blogging world. NOW enjoy this cute little video of Karlie Kate & me!