Weekly Pregnancy Updates : 19 Weeks

| Tank | Cardigan (similar) | Skirt (similar) |
So if you couldn't tell from the picture (or can't read), we found out this week (last week really) that the bun in the oven is a little boy!  To say that we were surprised is a bit of an understatement because I'm pretty sure we'd resigned ourselves to the fact that this one was going to be another girl.  However, the ultrasound and a few very obvious photos proved otherwise.  I had a couple days where I was a little daunted by the thought of having a boy because as I put it, "I don't know what to do with a boy!"  But I'm sure I'll figure it out soon enough ;)

How Far Along: 19 Weeks (These are a week behind so I'm really 20 weeks this week.)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Still on the high end of normal but whatever.  I'm sure I have a few weight gain induced melt downs in my future.
Maternity Clothes: I'd say they make up 20% of my wardrobe; still wearing regular clothes.
Stretch Marks: No, fingers crossed.
Symptoms: No more morning sickness!  Double fist pump.
Sleep: That dang pregnancy nasal congestion is still here.  As is the insomnia.  Thank goodness for naps.
Best/Worst Moment This Week: Finding out baby is a boy!
Have You Told Friends & Family: Yes.
Miss Anything: Decent sleep.
Movement: Oh yes...this baby is a mover.
Food Cravings: Still waiting on that Panera Mac 'n Cheese.
Anything Make You Queasy or Sick: Cleaning out the crock pot from last night's ribs was almost too much for me.  So gross.
Have You Started to Show Yet: Definitely not a food baby anymore.
Baby Is A: Boy!
Wedding Rings On or Off: Still on.
Belly Button In or Out: Still in...barely.
Happy or Moody: Pretty happy but ya know, little hormonal 'moments' (that's the nicest way to put them) happen here and there.
Looking Forward To: Fall.  It's cooled down here a bit but I'm still praying for an early fall.  I'm ready for boots and sweaters. And pumpkin patches.

Weekly Pregnancy Updates : 18 Weeks



| Shirt | Pants (similar), (similar) |

So I bought these awesome palazzo pants last year and unfortunately bought them in a size too big and they were all out of the smaller size so they just sat in my closet until now.  They're super comfortable and while I wore 4 inch sandals with them, I was still stepping on about 2" of them.  Apparently you can trim the hem yourself which I find kinda weird because you're chopping part of the design off.  Have yet to decide what to do about that.  First world problems I know.

We moved the crib into the baby's room when we made the big girl bed switch and Selah wanted to check it out for this week's photo.

How Far Along: 18 Weeks (These are a week behind so I'm really 19 weeks this week.)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: I'll just leave it at...I'm within the normal range to gain between 25-35 pounds.
Maternity Clothes: Some.  The shirts are still huge and baggy on me and that's just not a good look.
Stretch Marks: No, fingers crossed.
Symptoms: No more morning sickness!  Double fist pump.
Sleep: I've been getting more insomnia which drives me nuts and leaves me exhausted all at the same time.
Best/Worst Moment This Week: Finding out the HOA will allow us to keep our window AC in for the rest of the summer if I get a note from our midwife!
Have You Told Friends & Family: Yes.
Miss Anything: Decent sleep.
Movement: Oh yes...this baby is a mover.
Food Cravings: Still waiting on that Panera but we just discovered a new Panera opened up nearby that may be closer than the other one.
Anything Make You Queasy or Sick: Nothing this week...fingers crossed.
Have You Started to Show Yet: Yes but not real big changes, at least to my eye anyway.
Baby Is A: Not sure yet...next week!
Wedding Rings On or Off: Still on.
Belly Button In or Out: Still in...barely.
Happy or Moody: We started potty training this week for Miss Selah.  She's doing well but man, is that tiring!
Looking Forward To: Finding out what baby is at the end of next week!

A Realistic Look at Pain

As many pregnant women know, you have to drink a lot of water during those blessed 9 months (actually 10 months but that's a whole 'nother post) to make sure Junior has enough water to back paddle around in.  I found that I was not getting enough water when I was just drinking out of glasses during the day so I decided to pull out my trusty plastic jug that I got from the hospital when I had Selah because it A) is huge and shows the number of ounces in it and B) telling myself I only needed to drink 3 of said jugs of water instead of 8+ glasses was easier for me to wrap my mind around.  No, it's not aesthetically pleasing at all and Selah is way more interested in drinking out of the long straw than out of her own cup a mere inch away but, I've always found the pain scale on the side of it to be mildly humorous.


It's also a little, unrealistic, shall we say.  If I'm at a 10, you can bet I'm going to have more than a couple measly tears and a frowny face.  And yes, an 8 does in fact, Hurts Whole Lot.  I'm guessing these illustrations weren't critiqued for grammar.  Nor do I need to know the foreign words for pain.  Although it may come in handy next time I hit up my local nail salon and they get a little crazy with the cuticle nippers.  Hmmm.  Anyway, I laugh at this jug pretty much every time I use it reminded me of this awesome, more realistic pain scale someone sent my way right after I'd had Selah.  Behold the best pain scale ever known to man!
Slap this puppy on the side of hospital jugs and you'd be selling these in the gift shop.  I'd say #10 was more accurate for my car ride to the hospital just a few minutes before Selah popped out.  Yes, there was most definitely a bear mauling me in the truck during those 30 minutes.  Okay so maybe it wasn't that bad but way better than some Hurts Whole Lot and a face who looks like he maybe just has bad heartburn.

Weekly Pregnancy Updates : 17 Weeks

 | Shirt | Shorts (similar) | Necklace (#7) |

Please try and control your adoration of how awesome I look in this photo.  In my defense, I was getting ready to paint Selah's bed and didn't want to get paint on something nicer and it was super humid (for Colorado...which is like 40%) and my just-out-of-the-shower hair was not going to air dry nicely.  So this is the awesomeness you get with this week's photo!

How Far Along: 17 Weeks (These are a week behind so I'm really 18 weeks this week.)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: So as of now, I'm on track to gain the same amount of weight I did with Selah.  And that's not brag worthy.  What the crap.
Maternity Clothes: The clothes in this photo are maternity.  I'm liking maternity shorts because of how low I tend to carry bebes, elastic waistbands are my friend now.  Maternity tops...they're still way too big on me so I'm still rocking normal shirts.  Except for the one in this photo...I like pink, what can I say.
Stretch Marks: No, fingers crossed.
Symptoms: Pregnancy bladder.  I need to drink a ton of water each day which makes running errands real fun.  I'm no longer concerned with what's on my grocery list...it's 'where is the bathroom?'
Sleep: Can we discuss the insanity that are pregnancy dreams?!?  Seriously, do not try to analyze those dreams!  Wack-o!
Best Worst Moment This Week: Remember that awesome window AC unit I told you about last week?  Exactly one week later, we got that HOA complaint letter.  Let's say, no one is thrilled about it.
Have You Told Friends & Family: Yes.
Miss Anything: Not being a walking furnace.
Movement: Oh yes...this baby is a mover.
Food Cravings: The bulk bucket of peanut butter filled pretzels from Target.  They're the bomb.  Could also be related to that super fun weight gain I mentioned earlier.
Anything Make You Queasy or Sick:  Cleaning out spoiled food from the fridge, especially a former favorite Beef 'n Broccoli.
Have You Started to Show Yet: Yes but not real big changes, at least to my eye anyway.
Baby Is A: Not sure yet!
Wedding Rings On or Off: Still on.
Belly Button In or Out: Still in...barely.
Happy or Moody: Minus the HOA letter...pretty good.
Looking Forward To: Finding out what baby is at the end of the month! 

Big Girl Room Inspiration

To say that I'm kind of obsessive about planning for things loooong off into the future would be an understatement.  I started getting ideas together for Selah's 1st birthday party like 4 months before.  Dan thought I was crazy but hey, all my ideas came together and it looked great, if you'd like to know.  So for a few months now, I've been thinking of how I'd like to change Selah's room over to her big girl room.  We knew that any future kids would have the crib she's in and she would take the awesome 4-poster/canopy bed I had from about age 2 through high school.  That being said, we didn't want to move her into that gargantuan bed too early and decided that instead of transforming her bed into the toddler version and then again moving her into the big full size bed, we'd just go crib to big bed for less of a traumatizing experience.  I say 'less traumatizing' now because we have yet to actually move her into said big bed but that's a task for this weekend actually.  Wish us luck.  *Update: we moved Selah into her new bed Saturday night and that was a rough night to say the least.  She totally flipped out when we walked out of her room and after 3-4 episodes of her running out screaming and dad putting her back to bed, falling out of the bed in the middle of the night and waking up 2 hours earlier than normal, she had a successful and uneventful nap time and bed time last night so I'd say we're golden!

So my grand vision for Selah's room will be light pinks and gold; something she can have for awhile that doesn't scream 'teeny bopper' yet isn't so themed that it would turn away potential home buyers.  Don't worry...we're not moving anywhere right now but we also don't want to paint walls so wacko color that could in turn affect our house selling somewhere down the road.  Trust me...we walked away from potential houses due to the amount of money we'd spend on painting over bright oranges and greens all over the house.  Don't do it people!  But I digress.  Right now I'm deciding between 2 different Benjamin Moore paint colors: Orchid Pink and Touch of Pink.  We've gone down the rabbit hole that is Behr paint through Home Depot and it's always been nothing short of a letdown.  Never the right color, literally 5 different colors when we tried to get them to match a color swatch, etcetera etcetera.  We've never had one issue with our local Benjamin Moore store and the paint is within a $2 price difference and great quality and coverage.
 This Orchid Pink is showing up way darker on this post than the search engine but it's a super cute color.

As is the Touch of Pink.  I'm definitely getting swatches of these two to see which I like better but I'm leaning more toward Touch of Pink as of now.

A friend bought these suuuuper cute gold dot sheets for her infant months ago and that's kinda what kicked off my pink and gold idea.

However, my husband would probably straight up murder me if I spent $100+ on one sheet set for our 2 year old so unless someone sees fit to gift me these, we'll be going with some not-as-awesome-but-still-cute, and more affordable, light pink sheets instead.

So now that we've got the wall color picked up (sort of), what to put on them?!  I've got that all figured out.  The one wall behind where her bed is going to be will be covered in these super cute gold vinyl dots.

Um, yes please!  Now let's just keep our fingers cross that these won't be a total waste of time and money thanks to the lovely orange peel texture on the walls.  Seriously, builders...why?  The 80's have long passed...give up the texture that no one likes and make all sorts of painting tasks a complete nightmare.  No texture, no texture!

I saw one of these tissue tassel garlands on Pinterest months ago and knew Selah had to have one...and more than likely, kiddo #2 will have one too when I do its room in a few months.
I plan on making one of these bad boys myself as I'm pretty crafty (if I do say so myself).  And also this awesome little dot garland!
Why do I spend so much time (and money, let's be honest) decorating a toddler's room?  Probably because my husband does not want tissue tassels and gold sparkly dot garlands adorning the walls behind his pillow.  Just a thought.  They don't really scream 'manly'.

And now for the last bit of decor that I have planned.  Who knows if I'll add more at some point...maybe maybe not.  Who am I kidding...I can always find something to add to Selah's room!  I found a chandelier for sale in our neighborhood and while right now it is a cheap, black came-with-the-home ugly builder special, I can picture it with the potential that it has.  Not sure if I'll spray paint it a light pink or go with a gold.  Stay tuned!

Weekly Pregnancy Updates : 16 Weeks


So I take these weekly photos in what will be the baby's nursery and it is still that gawd-awful hospital waiting room tan color that was all over the ENTIRE house when we moved in.  It does not photograph well.  Like, at all.  This was the best I could get it looking after some editing and color correcting.  And it also made me look jaundiced.  Go tan.  Probably the first thing I'll do after finding out if it's a boy or girl is paint it.  Well, second thing after going and buying some insanely tiny and, albeit, cute outfit that the baby will wear for a day before they grow out of it.

How Far Along: 16 Weeks (These are a week behind so I'm actually 17 weeks today). 
Total Weight Gain/Loss: I'm totally thinking of deleting this line altogether because it will totally make me depressed even though I started this pregnancy in better shape and at a lower weight.
Maternity Clothes: Not yet, other than the destroyed denim shorts I can't get enough of.
Stretch Marks: Nope...fingers crossed.
Symptoms: Tired.  Some days I can push past the tired but others, it just hits me like a ton of bricks.
Sleep: I got all cocky when I found out I was due in December because it would be cold when I'd be big and pregnant and the heat of the summer wouldn't bother me.  Ha. Ha.  Turns out I'm a furnace pretty much the instant that plus sign pops up on the test stick.
Best Moment This Week: Husband bought an in-window air conditioning unit to help his lovely on-fire wife sleep better at night.  It's totally trashy looking and I'm sure we'll get an HOA complaint letter but having an AC unit blast 65 degree air on you from 3 feet away all night long is divine and in the event we get said letter, he'll probably tell the HOA they can take it up with me.  Good luck making me get rid of it until October rolls around.
Have You Told Friends & Family: Yup.
Miss Anything: That darn pregnancy rhinitis (aka stuffy nose) is a killer and I miss breathing through my nose.
Movement: Seems to be moving more than big sister when it does.
Food Cravings: I still haven't fulfilled my Panera mac 'n cheese craving yet.  I'm not so obsessed that I'll drive 25 minutes away for the stuff.
Anything Make You Queasy or Sick:  Cleaning up the dog run.  That's a fun one.  And the stupid summer heat never quite cools off enough to make it semi-tolerable.
Have You Started to Show Yet: Yes.  Although some days it could still be a serious food baby.
Baby Is A: Not sure yet!
Wedding Rings On or Off: Still on.
Belly Button In or Out: Getting ever closer to becoming flush with the ol' belly.
Happy or Moody: Pretty good with some 'moments' here and there.
Looking Forward To: Finding out what this little one is at the end of the month!  And fall.  Still looking forward to fall.

And because the 'photographer' was telling me to work the camera...
 ...this is as good as it gets folks.

Mama Fashion : Jewelry Picks

Since becoming a mom, my fashion sense (if you want to call it 'sense') has changed a little.  No, you will never catch me in a pair of sweatpants outside of the house.  Will. Not. Happen.  Yoga pants...yes.  Sweatpants...never.  I stopped wearing necklaces and earrings for months while a certain small person was loving ripping them off my neck or out of my ears.  Now that she's out of that stage, I decided it was time to vamp up my jewelry 'wardrobe', if you will, but I wasn't about to spend a ton of money doing it.  Is it possible to get nice-looking jewelry without breaking the bank?  Heck yeah it is!  Here are some of my favorite items I've gotten in lately, most of which are from my trusty sidekick, eBay as usual.

Again, all the ones I got from eBay came from China and if you're ok with waiting a few extra days, I think the price is well worth it :)

This beauty is under $5.50 and was surprisingly well made.  It's item #56.

Didn't even notice this one had rhinestones on it until it came and it's such a pretty shade of corals...and under $5!  Item #17.


A little bit o' pearls...some gold...can't go wrong.  And this one is under $4!  Item #7.

A blog that I follow, Willow Way, showed these awesome druzy earrings from a super cute Etsy shop, Mia Earrings, and I just knew I had to pick up some for myself.  How cute are these earrings?
They're like black, sparkly rocks.  Just perfect enough to dress ya up a little :)

So there ya go...being a mom doesn't mean looking like a jewelry-less schlub or spending a fortune!