I'll be the first to admit- this is not my original idea. This comes from a mama who is absolutely my best mama friend (in my head). She posted this to her IG feed one day and I just knew it was something that I wanted to do. I've had so much success with it I asked her permission to pass it along to you.
Anytime you host a party/celebration or encounter any major event you are likely to
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Birthday Week: Gifts from Everybody!
I don't know about you but I think Birthdays are quite special. I mean not every one gets to have one every year. And who doesn't appreciate special shout out for their birthday?
Although we do not do huge birthday parties every year - I still want my little guy to be able to celebrate in a special way.
I think the person of honor would like to receive some extra's as well. So I thought I would share with you his birthday extras:
Although we do not do huge birthday parties every year - I still want my little guy to be able to celebrate in a special way.
I think the person of honor would like to receive some extra's as well. So I thought I would share with you his birthday extras:
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Hello September
I swear I didn't mean to take a 2 month hiatus yet again. But things have been crazy round here!
I can't say that I'll be around for a while but I'll give it the good old college try. Per usual- due to my unintentional hiatus I have a lot to catch up on.
I really love the month of September. Mainly because it's my birthday month. Add to that my son's birthday and I'd say September is pretty much perfect! Our birthday's are 5 days apart so over the past 3 years I've dubbed that week 'birthday week'. And in honor of our birthdays I do have a few fun posts in the works... Ok just 2 cause I likely won't have the time to write the rest.
Lastly, we welcomed our baby girl last month!! We are so smitten with her and adjusting to life with a newborn. If you follow me on the 'gram you've already met her. I hope to be back soon with more pictures.
I can't even believe we are a family of 4!!!
Friday, July 17, 2015
3rd trimester prep
My third trimester began mid May... goodness where did the time go?! As we get closer to D-day, I'd like to get as much as I can situated for baby. Even though we've been through this once before- a lot can change in 3 years. Seriously, this time around I am giving birth in a new state, new health care laws are in affect, and each and every mama, pregnancy, and birth are different. So, today I'm sharing 5 ways to prepare for baby's delivery in your third trimester.
1. Thanks to the affordable Care Act, most private insurance companies are required to cover the cost of a breast pump. This is huge because when my son was born in 2011- my insurance company did not cover a breast pump. I plan to primarily breast feed initially but would like to keep my baby on breast milk after I can no longer nurse her on demand. Which will require a stored milk supply once she enters daycare. So, I contacted my insurance company and found out the steps I need to take to obtain a breast pump. It was actually quite easy as they use a supplier ( I have 3 to choose from actually) so they are no reimbursement forms, no shopping excursions, essentially a lot of hassle has been taken away. When using a supplier my options are limited but still numerous (if that makes sense) but I kind of like not having the need to stand in front of an array of pumps at the store going eenie-meenie-minie-moe. Ok, I didn't do that last time but I did spend hours on the computer comparing and contrasting pumps.
2. Birth plan
The hospital where I am delivering requires a birth plan to be submitted for certain patients. I am opting to labor in water so I am included in the 'need a birth plan' population. So, I'm getting that started. I'll be using a fill in the blank form. There are a ton of templates you can find online to use. I seriously need to get cracking on mine and then run it by hubby so that we are all on the same page.
3. Hospital Classes
We aren't signing up for some of the traditional classes like childbirth, newborn care, or fit & healthy pregnancy because we've done this before, right?!
This time around we did the Sibling class for Buggy which I think will be cute. He's all excited about his new baby sister that's coming and this will further add to it. They are going to go over things like being gentle with baby and even have an arts and crafts project planned to give to baby when they are born! I honestly don't think he will have a problem with the new transition but anything we can do to prepare him, we're going to do!
4. Prenatal yoga
I've been wanting to try my hand at yoga for quite some time. So, I figured now would be a good of time as any! Most yoga studios required you to be in your second trimester to begin. I was three weeks shy of third tri when I start and I really wish I would've done it sooner! It's never too late to start- so if yoga is (or could be) your thing I'd suggest you just go for it!
Since I've begun I noticed that my back pain has completely disappeared. I sit in a chair (probably improperly) all day at work and I know the ill effects that can have on you even when you aren't pregnant. We also do poses that is designed to prepare your body for childbirth. I'm not really sue how any of us manage to get into those poses with basketballs for bellies but we do it! Only time will tell if it actually eases the birthing process.
5. Baby names
Boy oh boy (or should I say girl oh girl!) has this been a struggle. I kinda of knew it would be though. I've always known that no matter who my husband was if we were to have a boy there was a 99% chance that he would be named after his father. The only exception would be if I married a guy named Shitthead (pronounced sha-theed) or the likes there of. Someone actually named their child that. But imagine the first day of kindergarten with that name. Or heck- a job resume'! No way. Luckily I loved my husband's first and middle name so that was a no-brainer for me but it took some convincing to get him on board. My brother is named after our father, who is named after our grandfather, and there's a rumor that he is actually named after his father but was never a Jr. The validity of that will never be known because all pertinent parties in that matter is resting in heaven and took that bit of info with them. So, needless to say I felt it would only be right to name our son after his father. It did take a few months to convince him though. I too am named after my mo's sister and I love the fact that both my brother and I have family names. It's just so much more meaningful to me!
Since we never knew the gender of our baby until he was born we did have a girl name lined up. Problem is- we can't use that this time around. The name has become super duper popular and I'm just not that interested in her being a Jennifer S. (any 80's babies out there who had 4 Jennifer's in their class?? no... just me. ok then. FWIW we also had 2 Ashley's and 2 Crystal's too.) I was so in love with that name because it was my grandfather's name who was name after his mother. This sucks.
In this post (which seems eons ago and clearly needs updating) I did share my favorite names for both boys and girls- none of those made the cut. For one, most of them have been taken by someone else (and Disney princess are just too cliche') and the others just don't seems to fit. I think our daughter might leave the hospital unnamed.
Here they are again- just for pretty pictures and reference.
The hospital where I am delivering requires a birth plan to be submitted for certain patients. I am opting to labor in water so I am included in the 'need a birth plan' population. So, I'm getting that started. I'll be using a fill in the blank form. There are a ton of templates you can find online to use. I seriously need to get cracking on mine and then run it by hubby so that we are all on the same page.
We aren't signing up for some of the traditional classes like childbirth, newborn care, or fit & healthy pregnancy because we've done this before, right?!
This time around we did the Sibling class for Buggy which I think will be cute. He's all excited about his new baby sister that's coming and this will further add to it. They are going to go over things like being gentle with baby and even have an arts and crafts project planned to give to baby when they are born! I honestly don't think he will have a problem with the new transition but anything we can do to prepare him, we're going to do!
I've been wanting to try my hand at yoga for quite some time. So, I figured now would be a good of time as any! Most yoga studios required you to be in your second trimester to begin. I was three weeks shy of third tri when I start and I really wish I would've done it sooner! It's never too late to start- so if yoga is (or could be) your thing I'd suggest you just go for it!
Since I've begun I noticed that my back pain has completely disappeared. I sit in a chair (probably improperly) all day at work and I know the ill effects that can have on you even when you aren't pregnant. We also do poses that is designed to prepare your body for childbirth. I'm not really sue how any of us manage to get into those poses with basketballs for bellies but we do it! Only time will tell if it actually eases the birthing process.
Boy oh boy (or should I say girl oh girl!) has this been a struggle. I kinda of knew it would be though. I've always known that no matter who my husband was if we were to have a boy there was a 99% chance that he would be named after his father. The only exception would be if I married a guy named Shitthead (pronounced sha-theed) or the likes there of. Someone actually named their child that. But imagine the first day of kindergarten with that name. Or heck- a job resume'! No way. Luckily I loved my husband's first and middle name so that was a no-brainer for me but it took some convincing to get him on board. My brother is named after our father, who is named after our grandfather, and there's a rumor that he is actually named after his father but was never a Jr. The validity of that will never be known because all pertinent parties in that matter is resting in heaven and took that bit of info with them. So, needless to say I felt it would only be right to name our son after his father. It did take a few months to convince him though. I too am named after my mo's sister and I love the fact that both my brother and I have family names. It's just so much more meaningful to me!
Since we never knew the gender of our baby until he was born we did have a girl name lined up. Problem is- we can't use that this time around. The name has become super duper popular and I'm just not that interested in her being a Jennifer S. (any 80's babies out there who had 4 Jennifer's in their class?? no... just me. ok then. FWIW we also had 2 Ashley's and 2 Crystal's too.) I was so in love with that name because it was my grandfather's name who was name after his mother. This sucks.
In this post (which seems eons ago and clearly needs updating) I did share my favorite names for both boys and girls- none of those made the cut. For one, most of them have been taken by someone else (and Disney princess are just too cliche') and the others just don't seems to fit. I think our daughter might leave the hospital unnamed.
Here they are again- just for pretty pictures and reference.
Friday, July 10, 2015
5 on Friday: maternity pictures inspiration
This is about the third or fourth time that I've done a post with link backs to Pinterest. It's because I can't find the original source of the photos. So instead of just stealing them, I am linking it somewhere with hope that the owner still gets credits. So if you know the source- please let me know!
I don't play around when it comes to capturing life events on "film". Most of the time I have my big girl camera with me and if I don't it's because I've reasoned that I wouldn't be able to keep up with it, protect it, or keep it safe. So I will never likely have it with me on a beach or a boat. Do you know how much damage sand does to a camera?! For the moments where I can't be the photographer (or at least an up to par photographer) I'll enlist a professional. Sometimes that professional happens to be my brother, other time it's a paid for hire person.
Going into most sessions, I have an idea of the shots I'd like to capture. But, I've also learned from past sessions that in order to accurate describe what I want to capture, words are not sufficient. At least my words aren't. I'm a horrible description. So, this time around I just bought actual example pictures. I've posted one of my inspiration boards to Instagram and here are the top 5 shots I wanted to capture.
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