DIY Maternity Photos

Step 1: Beg a friend to take your picture

Step 2: Show off your belly

Step 3: Make sure you catch the magical time where you definitely look pregnant  but the rest of your body hasn't swelled up (22-30 weeks or so)

Step 4: Make sure and look both ecstatic about your bundle of joy and thoughtful about the future

Surving the Second Trimester

1. Prenatal Yoga: This is what I WISH I would have done...the first trimester I was too sick and the third trimester I was too everything. The second trimester is perfect for exercise...my only excuse is laziness.

2. Paint: If you plan to help paint the nursery (using safety precautions) this is the ideal time to do it.

3. Fitted T-shirts: This is the trimester you are at your cutest...you are past the whole looking like you ate an entire pizza stage and you should show off your belly.

4. Kashi Bars: Once my morning sickness (all day sickness) was gone I was starving! These are a healthy snack.

5. Beach Bag: Babymoon! This is the best time for it and it is so important to have some downtime together before baby makes 3.

6. Body Pillow: Don't wait until you are miserable...you can get one for $10 at Target and it is life changing! I carried mine around from the couch to the bed and still use it.

7. Bio Oil: I slathered this on and still got stretch marks but I think this helped prevent them for as long as possible.

Pinterst Favorites 1.0

So there is this website...you might have heard of it...it is called Pinterest. I spend WAY too much time on it and I usually consult it on all aspects of life.  Here are some of my favorites from the past week:

OBSESSED with these concrete counters.  We have plans to replace ours eventually but for under $50, I think these will be a great update until then.

This made me laugh way too hard.

I am 90% sure I would not be able to pull these off...challenge accepted.

I ask myself this on a daily basis...

This ceiling officially has me excited to start on Hudson's playroom. So far I envision grey walls, silver stars on the ceiling, a chalkboard wall, and lots of bright colors.

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

For the first 15 weeks I was pregnant I was convinced I was pregnant with a girl.

It wasn't that I didn't WANT a boy...but everyone on my Mom's side of the family had a girl first.  I had the name picked out, I had the nursery planned, and I imagined a life filled with Barbie dolls and hair bows.

One week before my gender ultrasound I had the clearest dream of my life, I was laying on the exam table and the ultrasound technician declared "It's A Boy"!  When I woke up I just KNEW my subconscious was telling me something and I am ashamed to admit I felt a little sad.  I wasn't going to have my little girl who loved Disney Princesses (at least not yet) and all of a sudden I had NO idea what I would do with a boy.

The day of our ultrasound might have been the most nerve wrecking day of my life...I spent the whole day worrying about our baby...all of a sudden I could care less about the gender...I just wanted he or she to be healthy.

When they finally called us back I remember praying please let there be a heart beat, please let there be a heart beat. The ultrasound technician asked us what we thought it would be and I said I think it is a boy but everyone else thinks it's a girl. As soon as the image popped up on the screen I immediately looked for the tiny flash that indicated my baby's heart. At the exact same moment that I spotted it (and let out the breath I had been holding) I heard  the ultrasound technician say "look's like Mama knows best" and I heard Jared laugh.

We had plans after the appointment to go to Target (because duh it's Target) and I spent the car ride there really letting everything sink in. My baby was healthy! It was not the little girl I originally planned.  What would I do with a boy? Jared parked the car and I started crying...I do that when I am overcome with happiness or sadness and in that second I was feeling both.  BUT, the second I opened the car door I was in love with my baby boy. Jared and I each picked something out (he picked out rocker socks and I picked out dinosaur hats) and then we went and ate Mexican (because that is how we celebrate everything...with queso!).

That weekend was Easter weekend so we filled Easter eggs with blue robin's eggs candy and had our family open them. Everyone was super excited and I think that once they knew it started to feel real.

I spent the rest of my pregnancy worried about being a "boy mom".  I was worried I wouldn't know what to do.  I love football and baseball and being outside but I don't know much about cars or super heroes.

The instant I met my son, NONE of that mattered.

I am crazy about a little boy named Hudson Jude and I have no idea what I would do with a girl now.  I CANNOT wait to build forts and play legos.  I LOVE buying boy clothes and tiny basketball goals.  I look FORWARD to playing in the dirt and going to baseball games.  He is quite the Mama's boy right now and love it all!

I don't know why I ever doubt what God has planned for me.  The second I got pregnant, he knew a little boy would change my life.

Winter Favorites

1. Karen Moning's Fever Series: This is my favorite book series of all time...kind of a grown up Hunger Games meets Twilight only not really... I read it every Winter!

2. Fresh Sugar Rose Lip Balm: I got this a few years ago as my free birthday gift from Sephora and I was skeptical of the price but it is the only thing that helps when my lips are super chapped.

3. Floral Scarf: When I start to have a sore throat I put on a scarf and I swear it helps! Target recently had their scarves 50% off and I picked up a pretty teal floral one, I wasn't able to find it but I am awfully tempted to add this one to my collection. It also helps hide the baby belly.

4. Suede Boots: I scored these boots at Target on Black Friday for $25 and I am loving them! They are really more of a cognac color and kind of look like the real deal...plus the inside is super soft.

5. Magic Blanket: I got this blanket on sale last year and accidentally got a twin size instead of the throw size...it is massive but I LOVE it and have referred to it as "magic blanket" ever since.

6. Philosophy Homemade Honey Buns Shower Gel and Bubble Bath: Something about the cold always makes me want to smell like baked goods.