Lookin' Good...Summer Clothing and Accessories Edition

Normally I'm really excited for summer and the warmer months to get here.  Don't get me wrong; I still am looking forward to it.  However, with a baby due in May, I'm not exactly going to be swimsuit ready right away.  Not like I'm planning on parading around in a bikini all summer but 90% of my pregnancy weight always goes to my butt and legs.  Seriously can't do anything about it but I still hate it.  I'm honestly just hoping to be shorts ready come July.  Bring on the self tanner!  With that little rant out of the way, I do love some of the super cute summery clothes and accessories that are out there.  A little roundup of it shall we?

I have this suuuuper cute pom pom coverup myself.  It is more of a poncho style coverup with no sleeves but if you're even remotely crafty, you can add a couple stitches under the 'arm' area to keep it from slipping around like I did.  It's $11...definitely no room to complain about it moving around.  This is another similar cute one as well.

Another super cute one as well.

And if you're just not quite up for spending $60+ on a swim coverup (which I totally think could also double as a dress if you're daring), there is this option:

Yes, it is coming from China (although we all know how I feel about buying stuff from China...I'm okay with it) but you can't really beat the price for a swim coverup.  Especially when no one in Colorado has a pool in their backyard and it's seriously lacking in outdoor pool options.  

Last summer, I'd been on the hunt for the perfect pair of distressed jean shorts for well over a year.  I take that back.  I'd found a pair that I loved.  And they were $200.  I'm sorry but I am not spending $200 on a pair of jean shorts.  I'm of the 'just because you can afford it doesn't mean you should' mentality.  So on a trip in to my local H&M store one day last summer, I found THE shorts.  Heavy on the distressing without being trashy, lower rise (I'm sorry but I can't get on the high-rise denim anything bandwagon) and the perfect inseam.  Not much I hate more than having to constantly dig my shorts out of my ahem, 'area' because they're too short and are riding up with every step.  Nice mental image for ya there ;)  I bought these shorts 2 sizes too big because I wanted a baggier fit to them but in hindsight, probably should've just gone 1 size bigger.  

These are another cute pair I found at Target.  Not sure how they'd look on as they're considered a high rise and I certainly can't squeeze myself into them right now.  But still, pretty dang cute with that crochet piece on the edges.

So it wouldn't be cute summer attire without some sandals, amiright???  As much as I love the look of lace-up sandals, I also know I don't have the ankles to pull them off.  These sandals (and all the others I'll list below) would look super cute at the beach.  Can you say 'Mexican beach vacay'?

These sandals come in 3 different colors and they're all equally cute.

These and these are both wins from Target, in my book!

Now, if all these will just stay on shelves until I can have this baby and lose the weight so I can fit into some of these in non-maternity sizes! ;)

What I'm Loving Now

Do you ever come across something during your days that has you all, 'this is awesome!'?  I definitely do not lead a glamorous life and I get excited over things like new socks and contact lenses.  Watch out now.

So I'm sure I'm not the only mom out there that loathes the dreaded fall-asleep-five-minutes-from-home car nap.  You know the one that basically ensures that your kid will not be taking that glorious afternoon nap and instead you'll be listening to your toddler revolt in their crib with faux energy.  You know what I'm talking about.  Harrison is not the best napper so I try to offer up major distractions if we're close to home and I can tell he's getting sleepy: my wallet, my water bottle, etcetera.  And when those are no longer viable options, I whip out a lollipop.  Yes, I give my kid a sucker so he won't fall asleep.  Winner over here but I figured if I was going to be giving him sweets, the least I could do was try to make it as 'healthy' as possible.  I came across these YumEarth Organic Lollipops by reading a fellow bloggers (The Honeybee) post (can't remember the one now) about these and I had to give them a try.  

They don't contain any corn syrup, artificial colors, and are allergen free.  You can find them online here but being that I was a tad impatient to give these a bad boys a try, I ran into my local Sprouts and picked up a couple bags and keep them in my purse.  The flavors are really yummy and at just about 23 calories per sucker, they're a good fix for the sweet cravings I have in the afternoon.

I'm not sure if this is the case at all Old Navy locations but the one I usually frequent has the most amazing/ridiculous/overwhelming selection of last minute purchases in the register line.  Makeup and makeup brushes, face wash, snacks, coloring books...you get the picture.  Last fall I was there and saw these awesome little lunch boxes made by Sistema.

One side is divided in two and is perfect for fruit and snacks but the best part is the sandwich compartment has a lid to keep it from touching the other side and potentially ruining your sandwich.  Because there's nothing I hate worse than soggy sandwich bread.  I've used ours a ton for recent trips when I knew we wouldn't be home for lunch today.  These compartments are small in size but hold a lot.  In case your Old Navy doesn't carry these, they can be found here.

Being pregnant and going to the store right before a mealtime is a seriously bad combination.  Like, watch out I'm buying a hundred dollars worth of off the wall random snacks.  But a recent trip actually had me walking away with some decent finds that have become a staple in the kiddo snack department.  When you have human garbage disposals who have bottomless pits for stomachs, having an arsenal of snacks wherever you go is a must.  Try reasoning with a 4 year old that you don't have any snacks on you and they just had breakfast an hour ago.  Cue whining and 'i'mgoingtodieofstarvation' reactions.  So not only did I find these awesome nuggets of awesomeness for me and for me alone (sorry kids...not sharing these),

I found these mini Lara Bars in a variety pack.  They also have a peanut butter chocolate chip and peanut butter cookie variety but I decided 'no' on those because chocolate chip equals chocolate mess in my car.  Not happening. They're the perfect size and reasonably mess-free.  I say 'reasonably' because Harry can make a mess out of anything.

Another snack staple for us are the awesome GoGo Squeeze Yogurt Pouches.  They're great for those days when we have to be out the door early in the morning and I don't want to give the kids McNasty's.  (Judge away...we got breakfast sandwiches there earlier this week but it had been a couple months since going there).  And they don't take up a ton of room in a bag and don't have to be refrigerated so that's a plus.  Selah particularly likes the banana flavor but the strawberry and berry flavors are a hit too.  Harry doesn't care as long as it's food.  He's a guy...he's easy ;)

Yes, these are all things that are pretty much for the kids but when the kids are happy, mama's happy...am I right???

3 Brown KIDS and Counting!!!

Let's just ignore the fact that this poor blog has had radio silence for several months.  I have a semi decent excust

We always knew we wanted more than 2 kids when we started down that road and toward the end of the summer, started talking about adding numero tres to the mix.  Being the overthinking analytical Type A person that I am, I had planned out starting the 'let's pull the goalie' process for October/November-ish because it worked well with the timeline I had.  We've been renting our house until we figure out where we want to move and with our lease being up at the end of April, I didn't want to move A)with a newborn or B) hugely pregnant.  My October/November goal fit both those requirements but my sweet, loving husband seemed to have forgotten that little conversation we had and oops...wouldn't you know it?  I got all sorts of knocked up last August.  Which gave me a due date of early May.  What's that saying?  If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.  Yeah...pretty much.

Once I find out I'm pregnant (at least with both Selah and Harrison), I (usually) get a couple of weeks of not feeling any different.  You know, enough to make one think they're not going to feel bad.  Then it all kinda goes downhill.  And boy did it go downhill this time.  Wow.  I was soooo much sicker this time; and for far longer than with either of the kids.  Whereas I was pretty much done and feeling better by 10 weeks with both kids, this time I was still feeling like death up until about 15 weeks.  And 'morning' sickness is a total crock.  It's all day sickness folks.  With Selah and Harrison, I was just really tired for the first few weeks and had that constant carsick feeling.  Nothing too horrible.  This time, it was the world's worst hangover ALL DAY LONG.  For 3 months.  I cried a lot.  And looked downright awful 95% of the time.  And let's not forget flying with the kids to Florida to see the in-laws right at the start of all the craptastic feeling period.  Picture Harrison strapped to me in the Ergo, me pushing the stroller with his car seat in it and hoofing it through the terminal with Selah running behind as I'm dry heaving and gagging, trying to find the bathroom.  Luckily, I didn't barf all over the poor kid's head.

So here we are, mid February and I have a little under 3 months left to go.  Seriously no idea where the time went on this one.  I've been so insanely busy the last few months between homeschooling Selah, photography sessions, working for the hubby's business and trying to keep up with 2 small people who have an endless supply of energy.  Before we know it, this little lady (yes, it's a girl...the only time I accurately guessed our kids' gender) will be here and hopefully I'll still have some sanity left to go with it!

Our family photos for this year.  The kids were originally supposed to be holding a 1 and 2 balloon, respectively, but the 2 exploded in the car on the way up the mountain so just the 3 it was!  Which probably worked out for the best because by the time we took this pic, it was 45 degrees out, a few meltdowns had already happened and no one was going to cooperate and hold the other 2 balloons.

Who doesn't like dragging their kids to the middle of a corn field when it's 20 degrees out to take a gender reveal photo?  Totally worth it for just that 1 photo.  Every mom knows exactly what I'm talking about ;)

Welcome to the family Baby Girl Brown!