Twenty-Four Week Bumpdate

How far along: 24 weeks

Size of baby: Between 10 and 12 inches long, the size of a cantaloupe!

Weight gain: 10 pounds!

Food cravings: No new cravings really, but I have noticed an increase in appetite for sure. 

Food aversions: Nothing specific.

Stretch marks: None yet.

Symptoms: At about 23 weeks, my skin completely freaked out. The bottom half of my face is basically covered in zits, it's the worst my skin has ever looked in my life. I'm thinking there must be a lot of hormonal changes going on this month because I also started feeling really weepy and emotional. One night I even found myself completely crying on Joe's shoulder and couldn't think of a single reason why. He's been so sweet and understanding about it :) I also noticed the start of that vertical line under my belly button. It's still very faint, but it's there!

Looking forward to: Starting to put a nursery together. Our former guest room is now empty besides a glider and a ton of baby clothes, thanks to hand-me-downs from my older sisters. I keep going back there and trying to imagine how things will look, where the crib should go, and things like that. It's really fun to picture how it will be. 

Random: I feel like this is the month I started to look, and feel, undoubtably pregnant. Even at 20 weeks, I still didn't always look pregnant in certain things, and when I first woke up in the morning my stomach didn't look too pregnant until I ate something. But now, I'm sporting that big baby bump 24/7. Other people are noticing too. I've started to see women in stores look down at my belly then smile at me, which is sweet. Luckily no belly grabbers... yet. Violet's kicks and movements are also starting to feel stronger. I can even see some of them from the outside! I really love the feeling of her moving but am getting nervous for when she's much bigger and kicks with all her might. Also, Joe and I drove down to Phoenix last weekend to register. I felt so prepared going with a list of what we needed and suggestions from my sisters, but man that was overwhelming! We were probably in Buy Buy Baby for three hours, just going back and forth and deleting things and re-adding things and googling things and comparing things and wondering if we really needed something. Baby stuff is confusing! I think hopefully we know which things we really need and what we don't. If you know of any baby must-haves I'd love to hear them!

Nordstrom Anniversary Sale Favorites

What are some of your favorites from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale?

My Preggy Picks

1. Palmer's Cocoa Butter Massage Cream for Stretch Marks
I haven't gotten any stretch marks yet *knock on wood* so I've been using this stuff nightly as a preventative. My older sister recommended it to me since she said she used it throughout her pregnancy and didn't get one stretch mark, so I thought I'd try it out too. I'm finishing up my first tube of it and have been really enjoying it. It's so soothing and keeps my belly feeling soft and moisturized. Plus it smells like chocolate, which Joe hates but I love!

2. Nature Made Prenatal Vitamins with DHA
The day I found out I was pregnant, I went to the store to buy prenatals. I spent a while looking over all the options and reading reviews online, and these seemed like a good option. All natural, only one pill a day, and everything doctors recommend for a prenatal vitamin. It's been working well for me so I'm now onto my second bottle and haven't felt the need to try anything different. The only downside is that the pills are pretty big, so that took some getting used to.

3. Snoogle Total Body Pillow
I always kind of thought these were unnecessary, but when my lower back starting to really bother me when lying down, I decided to give one a try, and I'm now a believer. This thing is so comfortable! It supports you in all the right places and really relieves that tension in my lower back. I love to snuggle up to it even if it makes Joe jealous ;) he calls it my caterpillar.

4. Earth Mama Natural Nipple Butter
I think this stuff is meant for when you're actually breastfeeding to keep things from getting dry and chapped, but I figure it can't hurt to get a head start on that. This stuff has a funky smell but I've heard really great things about it so I'm going to use it in hopes it prevents any dryness.

5. Preggie Pops
I bought these when I was in the first trimester and desperate for something to help with my crazy nausea. Even though I was being medicated for it, I was on such a small dose that I was still nauseous all day every day, and I wanted to find something natural that would help. These definitely helped take the edge off. The sickness has gone away 90% since entering the second trimester, but I still carry a few of these in my purse in case a wave of nausea hits.

6. Belli Anti-Blemish Facial Wash
One of the unfortunate side effects of pregnancy I've been experiencing is acne. And since it isn't safe for me to use my normal acne wash, it got way worse. I did some research and discovered this pregnancy-safe acne wash and decided to give it a try. I still am more broken out than usual, and obviously it doesn't treat pimples as well as medicated wash does, but I really think it's been keeping things under control and I've definitely noticed an improvement since using it. It also doubles as a mask, so that's been nice to use once in a while.

7. Mama Super Skinny Jeans
I mentioned these jeans here, but I just love them! I bought them in dark blue and black, and wear them practically every day. I'm so glad I was able to find cute maternity jeans that are so comfortable. I'm tempted to look at H&M for more cute maternity clothes even though I swore I wasn't going to buy any.

Do you have any pregnancy must haves?

Playing Dress Up

Ever since finding out we were having a girl, I've been so obsessed with shopping for irresistible, cute-as-can-be, little girl clothes. And it's been so fun! I did the first bit of shopping with my sisters at the Nordstrom Anniversary sale, and since then I've been looking online trying to discover which stores I'd want to shop at for Violet. It's so much fun and so cool seeing these adorable little outfits and picturing our baby in them. I'm trying to be realistic and remember that babies are most comfortable in simple onesies and pajamas, and I'm sure that's what she'll be in most days, but there's no way I can resist a few of the things I've found. I'm going to have so much fun playing dress up with my baby girl.

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8

♥

One Second of Everyday of My First Year of Marriage

Every day, between June, 13 2014 and June 13, 2015, I used the 1 Second Everyday app to take a one second clip of something that happened during that day. Some days were very uneventful, and some days I'd forget until 11:58pm (which explain the shots of the random TV shows), but I never missed a day. And although so many times I couldn't wait to be done with this little project and having to remember to take a video every single day, I'm really glad I stuck with it for the whole year and now have this souvenir video of my first year of marriage. 
This is probably incredibly boring for anyone to watch besides Joe and I, but if you do decide to watch the whole thing, enjoy! ♥