Baby O'Dell is here

I'm sure with my absense from the blog world most of you have figured out that Baby O'Dell has finally arrived...and...

It's a boy!!! 

Clyde James was born on February 16th and couldn't be more perfect. 

Blogging will definitely be taking the backseat to raising our little man, and staring at that sweet little face :)

A little something, something Valentine's Day Giveaway

With Valentine's Day right around the corner Shane decided to rally up some lovely bloggers and offer you all the chance to win a Victoria Secret gift card. 

Treat yo-self or get a little something, something for your love :) 

Whatever you decided to do with it, do it with love!

No matter if you have a significant other or not this Valentine's Day, I believe, we as ladies deserve to be pampered. And what woman wouldn't want to feel super sexy?  24 of my favorite bloggers out there have teamed up to give one lucky lady a $215 gift card to spoil yourself silly!

Alisha / Jan / Becca / Andrea / Bre / Alyssa / Victoria /  Shane / Whitney / Jenn / Elizabeth / Brianna / Ashlee / Megan / Stephanie / Tara / Megan / Cece / Chelsea / Kelly / Megan / Lesley / Emily

Giveaway will run until February 14th. All entries will be verified, so play nicely :)

psttt! Looking for some more pretty faces to spotlight. Go over to Shane's blog and use code: CUPID for $5 off any spot until Valentine's Day! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Links I Love!

Sharing some of the fun links I've found lately. 

Hope everyone is staying warm and prepping for polar vortex numero dos. 

 

I shared that one of my goals this year was to be more active and to exercise "on purpose". Well, Kaitlyn over at Wifessionals shared with us that she has signed up for "The Workout Mama Bootcamp" and I decided to join in too! I'm pretty excited about it actually. It'll be a great way to get moving again after baby is born and to keep myself motivated throughout the month.

 I really enjoyed this article about dating and marriage. Especially with BabyO arrivals coming so soon I know it's important that Kev and I make some time for ourselves!

I cannot wait to try some of these easy breakfast recipes, they look delicious!

I know I've been in this predicament before and it sucks! Wine bottle and no corkscrew, not a problem anymore thanks to this video!

Considering we are about 3 weeks from BabyO's arrival I'm on the look out for all kinds of parenting articles. Some I take with a grain of salt, while others like the 7 Crippling Parenting Behaviors that Keep Children from Growing into Leaders I find to be helpful and relevant to actually apply to my parenting.

Happy Tuesday!

36 weeks!

 How far along 

36 weeks!

Best moment this week?

I've had another amazing baby shower and really with that being complete it really hits home that we only have about 4 weeks left until BabyO arrives! 

 

We had maternity pictures taken this last weekend.

Ashlee from Ashlee Layne Photography took them and gave us (and facebook) a little teaser! 

I cannot wait to see the rest! I seriously think I've been checking my email like every hour to see if she's sent us the link. 

 

We've gotten our pediatrician and daycare on locked down. Finding a ped. was one of those things I honestly didn't think about until someone mentioned it to me. 

 

Having the OB tell us that we'll be talking about labor and what not at our next appointment is really exciting...and slightly scary. I can't say that I'm super nervous about labor but that fact that I have no idea what to expect is a little scary.  

 

Maternity Clothes?

Oh yes! 

Stretch Marks?
Still none! 

Movement?
Lots and lots of movement but you can definitely tell baby is getting a lot more squished.
We are pretty much to the point of just pushing instead of kicking.
BabyO has also found what seems to be a very comfy spot for him/her in my rib cage. It about kills me and my ribs are pretty sore in this one spot but I suppose baby's gotta do what baby's gotta do.

 Food cravings?
Anything sweet really. This ranges from fruit - desserts.

What I miss:
Nothing new really. Knowing I'm almost to the end of pregnancy really has deterred my thoughts from missing things like sushi and beer to the fact our baby will be here anytime now!

Symptoms?
My hands have become swollen. Not crazy, and probably not noticeable to anyone else but I can no longer wear my wedding ring.

I've been eating less and a little more out of breathe lately because baby is growing there is less room for everything else in there.

Workouts:

Shoot just getting up and cleaning somethings around the house has become a work out in the last couple of weeks.

Gender Prediction?
Being so close to the end I'm going to just throw it out there.
This entire time whenever anyone has asked my initial thought has been boy. 
However, I do realize that I really have no idea and none of the "myths" out there about gender prediction has helped sway my thoughts one way or the other.
I have not allowed myself to really think for sure that baby is a boy or girl because I don't know and either way I'm going to be extremely happy once they make their arrival!

Sleep?

Beh, it's hit or miss.
Some nights I can sleep pretty well and it's probably because I'm so tired from the other nights I don't sleep.
Other nights I'm tossing and turning quite a bit.

What I'm looking forward to?

BabyO being here. That's really all I want at this point in time!

Wisdom or other thoughts?

When they say the second trimester is the golden trimester they were not kidding.

I've been blessed to not have experienced many of the "negative" effects of pregnancy but I did not miss the fatigue that I'm back to feeling and although the movement is quite incredible it can also be really uncomfortable at times. There are times when I miss the quick jabs and somersaults compared to the constant pushing on the rib cage...or worse, bladder. Oy!

However, with that said I think I've been the most excited in the third trimester because I know that he/she is almost ready to be here and I CAN'T WAIT (if you didn't catch that already...)

Happy Friday!

Looking Forward in 2014

Happy 2014 everyone. 

I hope you had a wonderful NYE. Kev and I did absolutely nothing but lounge and it was fantastic!

I believe that 2014 will be one of the best years yet.

We have several things to look forward to and although I'm not usually one to make resolutions there are a few goals that I've decided I really want to strive towards this year. 

I look back at 2013 and realize that I should have been better about setting some goals and actually sticking to them then what I did. 

I suppose that fact that I didn't really set goals for myself doesn't help the fact that I didn't really stick to anything.

We have so many fun things to look forward to this year and with BabyO making his/her debut in about a month and a half I know that 2014 is one that I'm going to really want to pay attention to, cherish every moment, and push myself to be the best me I can.

I feel like I'm coming up with four main goals that will really help me do all three of those things.

First and foremost I need to slow down and work on my patience.

This will be, by far, the hardest of my 4 goals.

Patience: It's been said about a million times on here that that I have no patience and I mean it.

I've already started looking on pinterest and online for some articles and ideas on how to help myself calm down a little bit.

Slow down: Kev and I are always on the go, mainly because of me.

I know with BabyO coming we won't have as much time or money to do all the social things we do now but I've already started thinking of all the things I want to do with baby once he/she arrives!

Baby isn't even out of the womb yet and I'm trying to come up with an agenda of things to do.

Whoa there Megan, chill out a little bit please?!

So I've bought myself a bigger, better planner to help manage my time in a more productive way.

Part of me wants to set up some rules for myself about how much I plan during a week but the other part of me feels like that is limited myself and if something fun or new comes up I don't want to turn it down just  because of my rules.

Second, eat better and legitimately exercise.

Eating: Something I love to do and probably do it to often, but food is just so stinkin' good.

I don't eat the worst, but I definitely do not eat the best. 

The challenge here is going to be figuring out how to make the things I love in a more healthy way.

As part of this goal I recently got an app called MealBoard to help me with meal planning and to try out some new recipes. Never been much of a meal planner but with the first goal I'm hoping that Kev and I will have quite a bit more time at home to make home cooked meals.

All you bloggers out there keep posting those delicious meals you make!

Any tips on meal planning? 

For those of you who do meal plan, how to handle last minute plans where you can't make the meal you recently planned for?

Exercising: now I say legitimately because I don't not exercise but I'm not really in a gym or actually exercise "on purpose". In the last year or so many of the times I've exercised was when I was doing things like playing volleyball with my friends, or taking the dogs on a walk with Danielle. Yes, I realize those activities are exercising but the exercise was not the reason for doing them. It was the socializing.

It is still activity and I don't plan to cut it out but I want to take more classes like yoga and zumba, and I want to see myself make it to the gym or running outside with some kind of mileage goals. I want to exercise solely for the purpose of exercising.

I do have a gym membership and again with me trying to not bog down the schedule do often I am working on setting up a routine to get myself there at least 3 times a week.

Also, I will be in 2 weddings this year, the first being in June so I need to shape up kinda quick after BabyO has arrived to fit into the bridesmaids dress! 

Any fun classes or apps you recommend to help me stick to my exercising?

Third, read more.

I used to read all.the.time and now I barely do.

I am in a book club but even then I don't usually make it through the book we are reading before we have our meeting.

I enjoy reading and why I don't set out some more time to do it is beyond me.

I've set a goal for myself to read 30 books this year on GoodReads.

30 doesn't seem like to many, and I suppose it's not but I wanted it to be realistic.

In reality I'm hoping I can read more than that but we'll see how it goes.

Anyone have any good book suggestions for me to add to my list?

 Fourth, spend less and declutter.

Declutter: as we've been preparing for BabyO I realize that Kev and I have way to much stuff!

I'm talking kitchen gadgets, decorations, clothes, everything!

It'd be one thing if we really used it all but we don't, or at least not often.

So this year I'm hoping to tackle some of the excess and purge.

I mean really purge, and not replace.

I'm hoping this spring/summer we can have a yard sale, and I can sell some things online to help bring some of the money spent back in, but I have no issues donating items and plan to have AmVets or Goodwill on speed dial to come pick up some things for us.

Spend Less: Much easier said than done for this girl.

I'm hoping between things like slowing down, meal planning, and decluttering this goal will come a little easier then it has in years passed.

However, I did recently joined Mint.com to help me with budgeting and figuring out where Kev and I really spend our money.

Right now I know we spend on very frivolous things that we don't need, and with baby coming this year that'll have to stop!

Plus who doesn't like to save money in general? Right?!

Do you guys have any quick and easy tips for me?!

I know people tend to pick a word to live by for a year and I think this year my word would be focus.

I really want to focus on these goals, and all of them will require my focus to stick to them.

What are some of your goals for 2014?

Happy Thursday!

Baby Registry: Bath Time

Alrighty, round two of the registry stuff and probably one of my favorite things to have registered for.

Bathtime!

I know kids don't always like getting baths and I'm ready for the screaming of an infant and the tantrums of a toddler, but let's be real most of the time bath time was a blast. At least for me it was. I always got to play with toys, and my mom would give my sister and I crazy soap hairstyles and beards. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, I bet all your parents have pictures of you in the tub with some "Cindy Lou-who" hair going on :) 

I'm really looking forward to creating these memories with baby and of course snapping photos to embarrass the crap out of him/her once they are older.

1. Leachco Flipper 2-way Baby Bather: When it came to deciding on what to do for an infant tub I really wasn't sure what to do. Some people have exclaimed they are an absolute must, while others have said they are a complete waste of money. I won't lie at first I was not all about getting anything for bath time like this because I figured we would just bathe baby in the sink like parents have done for a really long time. However, I decided to do some research on infant tubs and quickly realized that maybe our sinks were not really deep enough to bathe baby in. A lot of the infant tubs that go into the sink wouldn't have fit as our sinks aren't very deep so I'm not sure a baby could really fit into one either. Upon realizing this I knew we'd have to use the tub and I knew we'd definitely need something for in there. The Leachco flipper got some of the best reviews for in-the-tub bathing because it's a good quality product, is easy to use, dry and store, and it can be used for your growing child!  We did receive it as a gift from my sister and I will just say it's pretty adorable.

2. Safety 1st Rubber TempGuard Ducky:  This product was rated at the top temperate readers for bath time, but most of reviews I'd read said there are many other alternatives that are just as good. The important thing is to find one that is good quality to ensure the temperature is accurate each time and it won't poop out on you. One of those things I wasn't really sure about getting since tons of people have gotten by without them in years passed but again once realizing we were going to have to bathe in the tub I knew temperature would be an issue. I tend to like my showers/baths pretty hot and have no idea what is going to be to hot for a kid that can't tell me "Ouch! Hot!" like all the kids I've babysat for have in the past. This is merely one of those items that will put me at peace and reassure me.

3. Aden + Anais Hooded Towel and Washcloth Set: Baby Bargains rated Aden & Anais as one of the best brands out there for things like towels, bibs, etc and they highly suggested registering for some hooded towels over regular towels (this is so you can keep baby extra warm by keeping the heat around their head from escaping). So really this purchase is a double positive! Plus all the different prints are really stinkin' cute!

There are several options when it comes to hooded towels. Most people don't have to many issues with other brands expect for the quality. I'd read many of the cheaper brands started to fall apart and lead to the parents having to buy more. Baby Bargains also suggest Pottery Barn hooded towels because of their quality and how soft they are for baby's skin, but let's be real they just can't help how cute those are either!

4. Munchkin Scoop & Drain Bath Organizer with Munchkin Sea Buddies: So these aren't really things that I researched on or even had on the registry but we received them at one of my showers and I realized I should have put on the registry because 1. the scoop and drain organizer is a good idea and 2. what kid doesn't need some bath toys? Am I right, or am I right? The organizer is very easy to "install" and both things are very easy to clean. There are several organizers out there but after receiving this I noticed that this specific one would have been the one I choose because of the size. Some of those organizers are massive! 

 

5. Johnson & Johnson Shampoo & Body Wash/ Honest Company Shampoo, Body Wash & Lotion: I think it's safe to say that most people know and love the Johnson & Johnson brand when it comes to their babies and kids. It's been a top, trusted brand for years! I also, added some shampoo, body wash, and lotion from the Honest Company. If you haven't heard of this company it's was founded by Jessica Alba and is a company the centers around supplying and creating non-processed, green friendly products for kids and mommies! I honestly don't know anyone personally who has used these products but the reviews I've read have been positive so I wanted to give the brand a shot! A clean kid is a clean kid and with their products being made from natural plants, etc there doesn't seem to be to much risk of rash or other skin reactions.

Have any of you used Honest Company products?  Thoughts?

So there you have some of our bath time registry items. 

Is there anything you would suggest, recommend, or absolutely not buy? 

Happy Monday! 

32 weeks...and counting!

How far along 

32 weeks!

BabyO is the size of a jicama...

... WTH is a jicama?

Best moment this week?

We've had two baby showers this month that were awesome!

I enjoyed seeing friends and family, but I won't lie and totally admit it was fun to start getting things for baby. 

Sure, Kev and I had bought some things here and there but we've been blessed to be gifted with so any other things we need and want.

It makes me more excited, and nervous to think that the time to meet our baby is so close! 

This week was our last monthly appointment. Although, going to the doctor isn't my favorite thing scheduling bi-weekly and weekly appointments makes me so excited to know that baby is almost here!

 

Maternity Clothes?

Please see above... 

Stretch Marks?
None! 

Movement?

Omg yes, unless my mom is around...baby is play games with her already lol.

It's turned into more pushing than quick jabs and we've started to actually see the movement.

It's awesome...and semi-freaky lol.

 Food cravings?
Nothing in particular.
I'm still eating anything and everything that's put in front of me.

What I miss:
Sushi. I just want some sushi dang it!

Symptoms?
My feet, particularly my heels hurt really badly, but my feet aren't swollen so I'm guessing that's just more about the pressure from the weight gain.

Sleeping still isn't up to par but I'm almost used to it at this point.

I suppose this isn't technically a symptom but the waddle has started lol. Sometimes it's worse than others because my feet hurt but I feel like I'm waddling most of the time lol.

Workouts:

Yoga.

This week was the last week but since I have a dvd I'd really like to stick to it until baby is born.

 

Gender Prediction?

No idea, I really have no feeling at to whether it's a boy or a girl at all.
We had a poll at one of our showers to see what people thought and no joke it was 13 to 13!
The fact that it was 2, 13's and the baby is due 2/13 is to much of a coincidence...even for me!

Sleep?

It's been a little bit better but like I said I'm getting pretty use to not sleeping through the night.

What I'm looking forward to?

I'm pretty excited for Christmas! I can't believe it's less than a week away.

We are having another shower in January and having our maternity pictures done so those are two more fun things to do before baby is born.

Now that there is only about 2 months left until we finally get to meet our child my patience is wearing very thin. I just can't wait to finally see our little one and hold them!

Wisdom or other thoughts?

Nothing to stellar to share or advise on that hasn't already been said at some point.

The feeling of having a child is so much more real now then it's ever been, and I am starting to get more nervous.

Mainly nervous about giving birth, but honestly a little nervous about becoming a parent.

It's a whole new responsibility and I do believe Kev and I will be great parents, but not knowing what to expect makes me nervous in general. 

Happy Friday!

There Just so Much to be Thankful for!

There is so much in my life that I am thankful for and I'm blessed to include my health as one of them.

Last week I had a fellow blogger, Heather, reach out to me to ask that I share a little bit of her story and something I am thankful for.

Heather is an 8 year survivor of mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a type of cancer you can get from the exposure to asbestos in the home or workplace. When Heather was diagnosed was only 36 years old, had just given birth to her daughter, and was given about 15 months to live. If you read about mesothelioma that is usually the life expectancy given to those diagnosed. However, with a brand new daughter and an amazing support system between her family and team of doctors Heather knew that giving up and letting this illness beat her was just not an option. She has beaten the odds by leaps and bounds, and continues to spread the knowledge of this disease to others in hopes they will not give up either because 'With Hope, the Odds don't Matter." 

Heather explained that if there is one thing that being diagnosed with cancer has taught her it's to value life and everything in it. This time of year is a difficult reminder for her as she was diagnosed in November those 8 years ago, but it's also that time of year that most of us are being reminded to be thankful for everything we have. Heather made it a goal one year to list something she was thankful for everyday in December, but this year she has taken the idea out to the blogosphere to include other bloggers.  That is where I come in and get to share something I am thankful for.

I have so much to be thankful for but I believe the most important piece are my family and friends. If I had nothing in this life but this amazing support system I would still consider myself to be an extremely blessed person

My family, Kevin, and his family have taught me so much about life and love. Everything from learning how to ride a bike to being part of something so much bigger than yourself. My admiration for so many of my family members continues to grow and I only hope to be half of the person that so many of them are. The beauty of family is that we all bring something a little different to the table, but share the same unconditional love that bonds us forever.

Then of course there are my friends. I've always been blessed to have a very solid group of friends. I had an unwavering group of girl friends in high school that stuck together through thick and thin. I find that to be rare because usually there is some kind of drama that will tear a group apart but that never seemed to happen with us. We were there for each other and I feel very blessed to say that we still have this unbreakable bond today.

Then we have my group of friends from college and have carried through to this day. These friends have become part of my family. We have been there for each other in ways you would believe and expect your family to be there for. They are a group that has pushed me to be a better person overall. Even Kev and I's parents have comment on how blessed we are to have such a good, strong, supportive group of friends. They've helped us create this "home away from home" as we transitioned from high school to college, and then college to what I like to call "real life" and without them I'd be lost. 

It's an amazing feeling knowing that I have all of these people in my life that love and support me. I know that no matter what happens I'll have others to rejoice in my accomplishments and pick me back up when I fail.

What are you most thankful for?

Happy Thursday!

Links I Love

  1) Ebates! Ebates! Ebates! I had signed up for this site awhile but didn't fully start to utilize it until I was pregnant. I wanted to save some money that I was getting on these maternity clothes since I know I had a limited time to wear everything but they were necessary. However, my love for the site quickly surpassed that and it's been my online shopping life line every since. 

Seriously, just with my holiday shopping alone it's been an absolute God send! If you don't really know how it works I'll give ya a quick run down. 

Ebates is a site that will give you cash back from certain stores, but there are many stores they are partnered with. I won't go into all the details but please read the "how to use ebates" FAQ & instructions before you start going because you do have to go through ebates to the store in order to get the cash back, different stores offer different percentages, etc.

 2) Now if this doesn't bring you some holiday cheer I'm not sure what will :) 

The Story of Christmas told by Kids!

   3) I might be a little bit biased on this one but I'm pretttty excited for the Victoria Secret Fashion Show this evening. I work for LBrands (the company the owns VS) but don't do any work directly related to the show but I know people that to and it's a lot of hard work! So, it was nice to see this article about 16 things you didn't know about the VS fashion show to pop up to give a little behind the scenes look at just a few of the things that others have to do in order to get this event up and running!

4) Hi, I'm Megan and I'm a cinnamon roll addict...and these from Ashley over at The Sweet Season look AMAZING!

 

5) We should all say more nice things, more often right?! The Kid President thinks so with this "20 Things We Should Say More Often" video. I think we should all listen to him more than most of the people actually running this country!

Happy Tuesday!

Baby Registry: Equipment/Gear

Registering has been a bit of a challenge for me. I found it to be much more difficult that registering for our wedding and mainly because you can't just buy whatever looks pretty you have to factor in things like safety, wear and tear, etc.

I feel pretty confident in all of the items that are on the list as I've put in quite a few man hours to research and deciding which options are really the best for us. The amount of options for every single thing you should have is endless.  I think many people know that I am not usually one to research a whole bunch, but I found the researching for baby items was key. Not just to figure out what are the safest items, or the best bang for your buck, but what will work for you and your growing family. 

The main resource I used was Baby Bargains the book & blog! 

It was really helpful in at least narrowing things down and then I relied pretty heavily on the user reviews once I actually looked up the item online.

Thanks to Katie I decided to use Lucie's List for our checklist.

There are things that I ended up putting on the registry that aren't on Lucie's List but not much.

We also did our registry on Amazon, for a variety of reasons.

The first  being I just plain ole love Amazon.

The second being you can add things from other website if you can't find an item you want already on Amazon so you only have one list of people to look at instead of sending them around to 2-3 different baby stores (Babies-R-Us, Buy Buy Baby, etc.)

I felt like there were some really good pricing deals on Amazon vs. the other places so why not try to save friends and family a little bit of moolah!?

I plan on doing a couple of posts about our registry and breaking things down in to groups.

Here are some of the equipment/gear items you can find on our registry!

1. Britax B-Agile & B-Safe Car Seat Travel System:  I spent a lot of time looking into strollers and car seats being that these two items need to be as safe as possible. Baby Bargains highly recommends the Britax brand, and this particular model seems to be a hit with several parents. It's light weight, easy to maneuver, and can obviously easily convert from infant use to toddler/older child use.

2. Fisher - Price Deluxe Newborn Rock N' Play Sleeper & Fisher - Price Deluxe Bouncer: There is also the Fisher - Price Deluxe Swing to complete this little set. According to all my mommy friends this set of items are an absolute must! It's also really hard to know if you really need all three or not because you aren't going to know if baby is going to like swinging, rocking, or bouncing until they are here! However, one mommy, Brandy J, said she used the rocker instead of a bassinet for her little one and loved it! My suggestion would be get all three and sell one/two if ya need to. Better safe than sorry when it comes to soothing baby.

3. Samsung Wireless Baby Monitor: I think the baby monitor was one of the most difficult things to decide on because there are so many options! We decided that a video monitor would give a little more sense of security especially because the nursery is on the second floor, and our room is on the main floor. Baby Bargains and the overall features offered on this monitor is what sold me on this specific product.

4. Graco Pack N Play w/Bassinet: Since my parents and Kev's mom don't live in town we knew we'd need a Pack and Play with some sort of bassinet for traveling around a bit the baby. Graco seemed to have pretty good reviews overall and was quoted to be an industry leader year after year in the Pack N Play field! Why not go with the best right? I suppose it's one of those things we won't know if like it until we really try it but the reviews were all pretty positive so why not try it out :)

Look for another post next week with some nursery essentials.

Happy Wednesday!
 

28 week bumpdate

 

How far along

28 weeks!!!
How did 7 months come so quickly?

Best moment this week?

I'm going to go with this month since it's been 4 weeks since the last update:

Baby's movements are so much stronger and you can finally feel most of those movements on the outside. It's pretty fun to let Kev and others feel a good kick or head butt. 

Had my glucose test and everything is all good to go. I wasn't to nervous about it but I guess you never really know.

We got our bumper & bedskirt in the mail yesterday and it's so cute!!!

Maternity Clothes?

Yes, very much so!

Stretch Marks?
No not yet. I hope with all the growing I've done already that they would have showed up by now if I was going to get any.

Movement?

 Yep! Although there really hasn't been much of a schedule established. Baby is moving whenever he/she wanted to and I haven't really seemed to eat, drink, or do anything to initiate movement.

Kev talking to BabyO seems to help at times! Guess baby know daddy already :)

 Food cravings?
Nothing in particular.

What I miss:
I've actually been craving beer last few days.

Mainly because it's been a bit stressful at work and an ice cold beer just sounds so good.

Also, sushi but I think I can manage refrain for another 3 months.

Symptoms?
Lack of sleep for the most part.

Had some random break outs which has been oh so fun to deal with.

Workouts:

 Been going to yoga once a week still and I love it!

Seriously pregnant or not I suggest you try out yoga.

If you are pregnant it helps in so many ways: gets the blood flowing, relaxes you, creates some space as things get a bit more crowded, and helps tones muscles to help prepare you for child birth!

Gender Prediction?

 Honestly, lately I've been feeling like "BabyO" is a boy but I wonder if that is because we've had more people telling us they think it's a boy.  That feeling will probably change though since I've been going back and forh this whole time.

Sleep?

 Has not been great.

Trying to get comfy has been a challenge, but even then there are times I just can't stay asleep.

What I'm looking forward to?

 I'm ready for our vacation we are taking next week! It'll be nice to get away for a little bit and it'll probably be the last vacation for a little bit.

I'm SO excited for our baby showers to happen. We have two in the first couple weeks of December.

As weird as it might sound I am kind of excited for our child birth classes. I think it's mainly because it means we are so close to actually meeting our little bugger.

I'm not sure if we get another ultra sound or not but I hope so! I would love to see BabyO again :)

Wisdom or other thoughts?

 Honestly I don't have much overall. The experience of pregnancy just brings a plethora of thoughts and feelings.

It's been a very exciting process but I realized I've been very blessed to have a very easy pregnancy and I can only wish that others are as blessed/lucky.

However, whether you experience a lot of negative symptoms (nausea, heartburn, etc) or not pregnancy is a lot changes to get use to and experience in what feels like a very short amount of time.

I'm blessed to experience the miracle of bearing a child but there are moments when the changes become overwhelming and I'm ready to physically feel like my old self. I know emotionally I've never go back to how I used to feel about things because I love BabyO more than anything! 

Happy Friday!

Gender Reveal...

Got ya!

Sorry, that was kinda mean wasn't it?!

I am not sure there is a good place to start with this post but it's something that's been on my mind the last month or so and I think it's important to note. Important to note for those who know us and maybe don't quite understand why we aren't finding out the gender and important for anyone else out there that is on the fence of whether they want to be surprised or not. Shoot maybe it's just for my piece of mind but either way hear me out a little bit here mkay?

I am 1000% serious when I say that Kev and I have no idea what we are having. I say this because there have been a few people who thought we were lying and just wanting to keep it a secret from everyone else. Well we aren't, we really have no idea if BabyO is a boy or a girl.

We often get "Really? I could NEVER do that! I'm too much of a planner!", which I get. I really do because 99% of the time I am too. I have a tendency to need to know the plans well in advance or I get anxious. However, the more I've heard this lately about BabyO the more I think to myself "Well I actually am quite the planner and might be planning a little bit more/better than if we knew the gender for several reasons." Again, hear me out...

First, everything that we are doing is not only going to be just fine to use for BabyO numero uno but we'll be able to easily re-use for baby #2 and potentially #3. If we knew the gender and got everything related to BabyO's gender now and baby #2 is opposite gender I'm sure we'd have to get a lot of new stuff. So not only am I prepared for BabyO but I'm also pretty much prepared for baby's little brother or sister that we'll have down the road. If that's not planning I'm not sure what is? Really this also applies to the nursery.  We plan on moving current BabyO to a bigger room once baby #2 comes along and guess who will not necessarily have to re-decorate? Well, at least not have to repaint or get all brand new stuff like sheets or other little decor items.

Second, sure it's hard not knowing at times when I come across some adorable outfit or see a fun toy but I can get all of that stuff once baby arrives. Why do I need it right now? I don't, at all. Baby definitely doesn't considering it's still in the womb and really probably wouldn't be able to wear said outfit or play with said toy for a good couple of months. I don't feel it necessary for BabyO to leave the hospital in a tutu or cute little button down. A gender neutral onesies will be just fine for those first couple weeks of life until I can get myself to a store to get more gender appropriate clothing. Even then I almost wonder if some people have a few items for each gender already set aside for the day BabyO arrives.

Third, as hard as it is sometimes it's actually pretty fun and  makes me feel excited to give birth. I've been asked if I'm nervous yet and I can honestly say no because I'm going to be more worried about whether the baby is healthy and what baby is!!! It's also pretty interesting and funny to hear what people think we are having! It seems like lately a lot of people have thought it was a boy we are probably at the 60/40 split boy vs. girl.

I'm also really excited to see Kev and really everyone else's reaction when we finally get to meet BabyO! I can picture his face as he's told/sees we're having a little boy or girl. My heart even melts a little when I think about him getting to go out in the waiting room and announce we have a whatever baby is!

Now I am not dissing anyone that does or has found out what they are having. I really do get it and there have been a few moments where all I want to do is know. I just think it's important to actually state that you are and can easily plan and do everything you need to even when you don't know the gender. There is a really fun aspect about it all and I do think if you are on the fence about finding out you should try not too! It's not like you couldn't if you decide you do want to know in the end!

With all that being said I'd be interested in hearing what you guys think we are having?! Do you think it's a boy or a girl?

Here is a pic of me last week (27 weeks)! 

Some people are certain they can tell by the way a woman is carrying :) 

What do you think BabyO is?
	Boy
	Girl
pollcode.com free polls

Happy Tuesday :)

Someday

Someday I will...

Travel to Europe with Kev and fall in love with it all over again.

Hell, travel everywhere we have wanted to go in our lives because adventuring is one of our favorite things to do.

Get back to writing on the blog. I swear!

Will start or help start a no-kill animal shelter! 

I want it to be just like the SCARS animal rescue I shared a couple weeks ago!

I will get my to-do list complete. 

Learn how to fix a car. Kev thinks I'm nuts but it's honestly a little bit of a dream of mine to be able to repair things on a car without having to go to a dealership just to shell out hundreds of dollars on labor alone.

Will make a major difference in someone's life.

 I'll finally get my hair to do something other than be stick straight. It's been years and year of trying with no luck but something out there has to work right?

Run a half marathon. If you knew me this would probably be a pretty big feat because I am not much of a runner folks.

Become a better cook, and maybe even actually enjoy it. 

Learn how to accessories. I guess I'm not a less is more kinda gal.

Will adopt a child. Even though Kev and I are blessed to be able to have our own kids there are so many out there that need a good home and family. I'd love to be just that.

Kev and I will build our dream home, and probably own a few farm animals too! 

What will you do someday?

Happy Halloween!!

24 week bump date

How far along?

24 weeks.

BabyO is the size of an ear of corn...

Best moment this week?

Since I don't do this every single week I think there are a lots of moments over the last four that have been really awesome. 

Kev got to feel the baby move a couple weeks ago. I had to push his hand in a bit but he still got to feel it, which was exciting for the both of us!

Feeling the baby move a lot more has been wonderful. The jab, jab, upper cut feeling is making me wonder if we're going to have a little boxer on  our hands.

Kev put together the crib for me yesterday!!! He surprised me and it made me so excited!!

Maternity Clothes?

Absolutely!
There really isn't to much that I can fit to my non-maternity wardrobe, if anything.
I've even moved on to wearing Kev's t-shirts to bed instead of mine.

Stretch Marks?
No.
Thank god for Earth Mama body butter & stretch oil

Movement?
Oh yeah, quite a bit!

Food cravings?
Not really no.

What I miss:
Not to much currently!

Symptoms?
Mainly a lack of sleep.

It's been more difficult to get and stay comfortable.

Workouts:
I've been going to yoga the last couple of weeks and I love it!!

I would highly recommend yoga regardless of if you are pregnant or not, but I will say that prenatal yoga has already helped me feel more comfortable and even a little bit more prepared for the delivery.

On top of the class I've also been doing this yoga DVD at home!

*I'm just warning you now, the instructor on the DVD is a little hokey but it a pretty good workout.

Gender Prediction?
Still don't really have a strong feeling one way or the other.

I have started to call BabyO he and she though randomly instead of just "babyo".

Some people seem to have stronger feelings about it though and I am  hoping to do some of the "guessing tests" this month...ya know like the string over the belly, the myths quiz, etc.

Sleep?
Again, sleeping hasn't been to wonderful.
I'm getting enough to get me through a day but that's about it.

What I'm looking forward to?
I'm looking forward to feeling more movement and Kev, and in all honesty others, getting to feel it too!
We have a whole bunch of stuff happening in November that I am looking forward too: Kev & I's birthday's, my cousins wedding, and a family vacation to South Carolina.
Baby showers! They won't happen until December but we got the invite list and what not around for one and it just makes me excited for them to get started :)
The holidays! I can't believe that November is like right around the corner and I know as soon as the holidays start to hit time is going to fly and we'll be even closer to BabyO's arrival!

  Wisdom or other thoughts?
I honestly wish that I could stay in the second trimester for a little while longer.

Granted I haven't experienced the third to really know what it's like but I feel like right now I am getting to enjoy all the "picturesque" things about pregnancy like having a serious bump, feel movement, and having energy without starting to feel uncomfortable because baby is really starting to get squished in there.

I am really excited for people and even myself to really start to feel the movements on the outside because it's such a cool thing to feel.

Happy Friday!

I'm alive for Link I Love

So it's been a little while and although my intentions of blogging more regularly are good ones it just isn't going to happen anytime soon.  

Kev and I have had so much going on lately that the good ole blog is going to have to take the back burner, and honestly that is fine with me.

However, I missed it over the last week so I figured I'd share some more links that I'm lovin' today as something fun to do and hopefully give you guys something fun to read :)

I am not much of a news reader.
You will rarely find me on CNN or MSNBC, but you will find me at The Gist.
It's exactly what it sounds like, a news site that gives you "the gist" of things that are going on here and around the world.
My favorite is there "5 things you should at least pretend to know today" series!


We've all heard me mention the fact that my hair doesn't really do much.
It's a miracle if I can get it stay curled for longer then 5 seconds.
I found this article on 10 Tricks to Making Fine Hair Look Thicker to be helpful and can't wait to try out some of the tricks.


 Ok I realize this isn't a link necessarily but it's a song that I heard the other day and I really like it!
{The Wire - HAIM}

I love pasta, but I am getting bored of making the same kinds of pasta over and over again.
All of these recipes found here look pretty friggin' tasty, and better yet, easy to make!

 What state should you really live in based on your personality?
A friend posted a quiz from Time Magazine on Facebook about this very thing and I thought it was pretty interesting, and fun!
Apparently I belong in Illinois...
Where should you be living?

What are your favorite links from the last couple of weeks?

Happy Wednesday!

Links I Love

A friend, Maria, started a blog and she does this little series about links she loves. 

I know many other bloggers do the same but ultimately she was the one that inspired me to start doing the same. 

There are so many articles and videos that I come across that I thoroughly enjoy for one reason or another so I figured why not start something similar. 

I love getting to share funny, cute, or helpful things with people and what better people to share with than all of you?

Right? Right!

These Apple Cider Caramels look amazing and process itself sounds heavenly!
Ya better believe I'll be trying out the recipes within the next couple of weeks!

 

Why are people really getting engaged and married? Is it for the right reasons? 

I don't always think so and apparently I'm not the only one. 

I found this article about getting engaged to be pretty insightful, and it got me wondering how often are people getting engaged for all the wrong reasons.

Thanks to many factors like preparing to be a mother, reading Samantha's post on other parents judging parents, and having worked in a restaurant where I watched an obscene amount of children being terrible and getting away with it, has really solidified my belief that my children will be polite and well-mannered if nothing else.

This article really helps you realize that your kids should know there basic manners by the age of five, and I'd be lying if I didn't say I think it should be earlier!

I'm a firm believer in the fact that it's not always about being the most trendy person out there to be fashionable but to wear clothing the right way for your body.

We'll blame watching "What Not to Wear" like it was my job back in the day for this.

Granted I don't always wear the right thing for this bod, but I try.

This article from Babble on putting together the right outfit proportions based on pant style is super helpful.

Also, made me realize some of the mistakes I am making when it comes to styling pieces together.

Dog lovers prepare yourselves!
Creating a place like SCARS animal rescue would be my ultimate dream job and probably what my Heaven will look like when I get there one day.
Maureen and her husband are doing such a wonderful thing, and could you imagine how much fun it would be to have all of those dogs!!!

Omg I died laughing at this one! 

Hearing things from a kids prospective is always pretty funny I think! 

Their insights on "How do you Decide who to Marry" is now my favorite!

"Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a truck." - Ricky age 10 (this kid is on the right track!)

Happy Wednesday!