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! ♥

Twenty Week Bumpdate

How far along: 20 weeks and 3 days

Size of baby: 6.5 inches long, the size of a banana!

Weight gain: 5 pounds

Food cravings: Mostly fruit and sweets still.

Food aversions: Haven't been very into meat lately. If I'm cooking dinner and smell raw meat it makes me feel like throwing up.

Stretch marks: Still none. Been using my cocoa butter after every shower, we'll see if I'm able to avoid them!

Symptoms: My lower back has been very achey, and it's frustrating feeling like it just needs to crack but I can't twist enough to pop it. I've been seeing a chiropractor once a week which helps, but most days it's pretty uncomfortable. I've also been so broken out and can't seem to get rid of these zits. I bought this pregnancy safe acne wash since I can't use regular acne wash, it hasn't really helped too much yet, but on the bright side it smells amazing. 

Looking forward to: SO much! Now that we've seen our baby on ultrasound, know that she is a girl, and she even has a name, it feels so much more real. It's making both Joe and I so excited to prepare for her arrival and dream of what we think she'll be like. We've been looking at nursery inspiration on Pinterest, trying to decide how we want her room to look. We even cleared out the former guest room and sold everything on Craigslist to get it ready. It's crazy and so cool to walk in that currently empty room and imagine how it will look with a crib, tons of baby clothes, and of course a little baby! Joe has even been looking online for some spacey art prints for in there, so cute!

Random: I can feel her move every day now, pretty much all day long! Joe even felt her a couple days ago. We were watching TV and I had my hand on my belly and felt a soft little kick, so I grabbed his hand and he felt one too. His reaction was so cute! He goes, "I felt it I felt it! Move some more, baby!" It's such an amazing feeling when she wiggles around it there, I love it so much. Something else we're doing is putting together a playlist for her. A friend of ours told us that when she was pregnant, she made her baby a playlist that she'd listen to whenever she was in the car, and once the baby was born, she would put that mix on and it would calm the baby down and even put her to sleep. So cool! So we're working on putting together a little mix of songs we think Violet would like (I'll share it here once it's done!) Also, I bought my first maternity clothes! I only bought a couple pairs of jeans, since my regular jeans were getting uncomfortable, and wow, what a difference! I practically sighed in relief when I tried these on (they're called "Mama Super Skinny Jeans" from H&M), so comfortable! I was so excited to find some that look similar to my normal jeans once that super high waistband is covered. I love them and hope I can wear them throughout this pregnancy! 

Father's Day in San Diego

Every year, my dad likes to get the whole family together to celebrate Father's Day with him. It's a really fun reason to spend a few days with the whole family, something that rarely happens anymore. This year, we all went and stayed at his house in San Diego (that's nine adults and four kids in one house, haha!) Southern California is one of my favorite places in the world. It's always so beautiful, and brings back so many childhood memories. We spent our time there swimming, visiting Sea World and the beach, eating tons of delicious food, and enjoying the amazing California weather. I was worried I would be stressed about even that small travel while pregnant, but it was actually very relaxing and nice. Made me think about how our next family trip Violet will probably be with us to enjoy it too. I can't wait!

♥