How far along: 17 weeks General feeling: Pretty good, just feeling bloated and short of breath a lot.
Weight gain: Right around five pounds Maternity clothes: A few maternity shirts right now, but around half and half. Movement: Not too much yet, but I felt a definite bladder poke a few days ago.
Cravings: Salsa. Everyday, salsa.
Sleep: Alright, it's been hard to stay asleep lately since it's getting so warm at night this week. And according to Trevor, I've suddenly become a bed hog. Whoops.
Best moment of this week: A great week at work and having a few lunch dates this past week.
Looking forward to: I don't work Thursdays, so I have a four day weekend this week and am over the moon about it.
This week is absolutely crazy -- work is super busy for me right now with all the summer programs we're running. I feel like I'm packing for a week long trip with all the bags I have to bring with me into the office. Because of all that extra packing, my mornings feel rushed.
On Sunday, I decided to try out some overnight oats so I could have a grab and go breakfast in the morning. I expected this to be a quick and convenient meal, but I was surprised at how amazingly tasty this is too. All you need is four ingredients and a few mason jars.
You'll need: milk, yogurt (any kind will do, but I like plain vanilla), old fashioned oatmeal (I heard that quick oats can give your overnight oats a weird texture) and chia seeds. I prepared three mason jars since I knew the first three days of my week would be the most hectic. In each jar, put 1/4 cup of oats, 2 tablespoons of chia seeds, 1/4 cup of yogurt, and 1/3 cup of milk. Once all those ingredients are in the jars, simply seal the jars and shake well to mix. Put them in the refrigerator and let sit overnight. Your overnight oats will keep for up to four days.
I love the super thick texture!
I love to sprinkle some cinnamon and blueberries overtop of the oats before I eat it. The consistency is so thick and hearty, one jar fills me up for hours.
How far along: 16 weeks General feeling: Ache-y. My back and sides have been so sore the past couple of days. I try to get up and walk around or change positions whenever this happens, but lately nothing seems to help.
Weight gain: up 4 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight Maternity clothes: Unbuttoned pants for the win. Movement: Nada.
Cravings: Mexican food. It's always mexican food. And spicy humus.
Sleep: Meh. It could be a lot better, but then I know I shouldn't complain because it's not going to get any better or easier.
Best moment of this week: Hearing the heartbeat at the OB appointment and getting an ultrasound scheduled!
Looking forward to: Getting a good night's sleep sometime. And finding out if it's a boy or girl in a few weeks.
This week is full of celebrations for our family - Father's day and Trevor and I's anniversary. It's also a week of heartbreak.
This past October, I found out I was pregnant. Trevor and I were surprised but so excited. We decided to keep the news to ourselves until we were in the second trimester. Nevertheless, we started planning and dreaming.
When I was eight weeks pregnant, I started to bleed. I tried to stay calm, but after it continued for another day, I went into my doctor. He confirmed that it looked like I was having a miscarriage.
We were devastated. It's like a car accident - you know people who it's happened to, but you never imagine it would happen to you. The baby's due date was June 18, 2014. Today.
We named this angel baby and we want to plant a rose bush in our backyard in memory. Because of what we believe, we trust that we'll see our little baby in heaven one day, and we know that our grandparents are giving them lots of hugs and kisses until we get there ourselves.
Three years ago today, I married my best friend. Trevor and I were high school sweethearts, each other's first date and first kiss. We were best friends before we started dating our senior year. On our first date, I almost threw up a milkshake and Trevor accidentally threw a kid off a playground merry-go-round... and we've been crazy about each other ever since.
One of my favorite memories of our wedding day was the ceremony. It was held in Trevor's family's back yard and paper lanterns and tissue paper flowers were hung in the trees. We were blessed to be surrounded by friends and family as we laughed and cried through the ceremony. Trevor's dad was the officiant and we wrote our own vows so everything felt personal.
I ended my vows to Trevor with a quote from Winnie the Pooh, "If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you." Every year that rings more and more true.
How far along: 15 weeks General feeling: Tired. I am so ready for that rumored second trimester energy to kick in. I took a two hour nap this afternoon, and could have kept sleeping.
Weight gain: up 3 or 4 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight Maternity clothes: I've been rocking unbuttoned pants for the past week. I'm thanking my lucky stars I ordered a BellaBand. I got a few maternity tops, but I'm still swimming in those right now. Movement: Nothing definite yet, but I've felt some weird flutters and soft thumps. I might be going crazy since it might be crazy pregnancy digestion.
Cravings: anything with tomatoes in.
Sleep: Not that great. This past week, I've been tossing and turning through most nights.
Best moment of this week: Celebrating an early Father's Day with Trevor yesterday. I made him homemade pizza and we hung out on the couch snuggling and watching movies.
Looking forward to: An ultrasound sometime in the future!
1. chai tea syrup recipe - I love using this recipe to make my own chai tea syrup. It's so much cheaper than buying it in stores and following this adorable recipe diagram just brightens my day. My favorite way to drink the chai is to fill a cup about 1/3 of the way full with the syrup, add a shot of espresso and fill the cup up with milk. I just add milk until I reach a coffee - milk color ratio I like. Ha, so precise.
2. rockaRoo swing - I just started working on a registry, and this was a must have for me. I have heard nothing but good reviews for this swing, and I love that you can plug in your own music. And this print is absolutely darling and reminds me of confetti.
3. knotted headbands - These baby headbands keep showing up on my instagram feed and I love the graphic print they're available in. If my little bean's a boy, these would still fit Momma, right?
4. fisher price music box clock - Again with the registry. When my mom and I were wandering around Target looking at baby items, we stumbled across Fisher Price's Classics toy line. I love so many of these (especially the clock!) because I remember playing with them when I would visit my grandparents when I was tiny.
How far along: 14 weeks General feeling: Good! I've been having a little bit more energy, so that makes me so happy and excited. Finally being able to talk with family and friends about the baby is a relief and just adds to our excitement.
Weight gain: no scale = no idea
Cravings: chips and salsa! We went grocery shopping today, and stocked up on produce and healthy snacks, so hopefully I'll be cravings healthy things instead of things like an ice cream sundae.
Sleep: Good, still peeing every single darn tootin night. I started sleeping with a body pillow this past week since my go-to belly sleeping was uncomfortable.
Best moment of this week: Telling family, friends and our workplaces this past week. It's so wonderful to be able to talk about baby and pregnancy things and not have to hide what has become a pronounced bump.
Looking forward to: My OB appointment in a week and a half. It's just a routine check up, but I'm excited to hear the heartbeat again.
For the nursery, we (I, really) wanted to do some kind of statement wall that was bright and fun and that would be something our kid could grow up with. I found this wall on pinterest months ago and saved it for inspiration. I liked that it was fun and I loved that it was imperfect. The herringbone lines don't match up, so I wouldn't have to measure and panic if things didn't look perfect.
our inspiration
Honestly, I didn't look for any tutorials or diy walk through's because I figured it couldn't be that hard and I just barreled on ahead. Looking at other tutorials now, they have some pretty great pointers that would have been helpful. Whoops. I'll fill you in on what I missed though.
First off, we painted the whole wall white since that's the color we wanted for the stripes. We had to paint two layers since the original pink paint in the room was stubborn. Then, we measured the room to figure out how wide each herringbone section would be. The wall is 190 inches long, so we simply divided that and chose to do ten 19 inch sections. We measured each section and made a small mark at the top and bottom of the wall.
To make the vertical lines, Trevor stood on a stepladder and lined up painting tape with the line we drew. He held the tape tight to the wall as I let out more tape and lined it up with the mark at the bottom of the wall. It worked well and made pretty straight lines. We used tape that was about an inch wide so that that stripes wouldn't be large and overpowering.
I was picky about how deep/shallow I wanted the herringbone lines. I decided to make a guide out of cardboard so all the lines would be sloping at the same angle. I took an old cereal box and eyeballed an angle as a drew it against a ruler. I cut out along the line and had two angle guides.
I would line up the long vertical end of the cereal box guide with the vertical tape lines Trev and I put down. We would then tape a slope following the guide. These guides were a life saver since I'm such a perfectionist.
After all the slopes were taped, we began to paint. We knew we wanted to have a few random yellow blocks, so we painted those first. We didn't need a lot of yellow, so we just grabbed a sample jar at Lowe's.
For the green, we used Pantone's Emerald Green paint. We already had a gallon jug of it because we used it in our entry way. It only took two coats for the green to look even and vibrant. After waiting a day and a half, we peeled the painting tape off the wall to reveal the herringbone pattern.
(whoops, please excuse that weird roll of toilet paper in the frame... my allergies have been rough this spring!)
The painting tape didn't give us too much trouble and there were only a few spots where the green or yellow paint bled through and we had to retouch with white paint. The walls in our house are uneven in some spots through, so it may have been our walls that were the problem instead of the tape. There were a lot of tutorials that suggested using Frog Painters tape for the stripes, but we didn't have a problem with good ol' 3M painter's tape. Some tutorials also suggested putting a coat of white on top of the tape as well as underneath the tape, but I don't really understand what that would do. I'm happy I didn't do that because it just sounds like double the work.
Even though this wall was so much extra work and effort, it was absolutely worth it. I love how unique it is and how it brightens up the whole room. We can't wait to fill up the nursery more!
This is our pregnancy announcement that we posted to facebook, instagram, twitter, etc. I loved editing the picture and we were so excited to finally share it!
How far along: 13 weeks General feeling: Happy! We're officially in the second trimester (so many different things argue between twelve and thirteen weeks) and 1/3 of the way before we meet our little baby. We also told our families today which was the best thing in the entire world. We're waiting a few days before shouting it from the rooftops since we want to tell our work places before then.
Weight gain: a lot, after the pound and a half of cheesecake and taco salad I ate today.
Cravings: I needed a burrito earlier this week and Trevor was an absolute sweetheart.
Sleep: Meh. I had my first labor and delivery dream last night, but other than that, I'm out at 8:30 every night.
Best moment of this week: Telling family today and painting the herringbone wall in the nursery. The wall turned out incredible and I could seriously just sit and stare at it for hours, I am so in love with it.
