My Top Pregnancy Q & A

August 12, 2015

My Top Pregnancy Q & A

I explained to you in my previous post, that pregnancy brings on a never ending interrogation. People ask you a ton of questions. Some of these questions can be quite annoying while others are fun. These are the most common questions I get asked, along with my personal answers.

1) How are you feeling?

Knock on wood – I don’t want to jinks myself. But as of now, I am feeling good, hopefully, everything will stay that way. The only time I felt really uncomfortable, was the last 3 weeks of work. The uncomfortable feeling began around 35 weeks. It was like I flipped a switch. My feet began to swell. My belly button popped out. I couldn’t get out of bed, I had to roll over. None of the clothes I owned seemed to fit. I was on my feet all week at work, and feeling really heavy. Not very sexy at all. I’m really glad I have had the last two weeks to relax at home before the baby comes. It has made a huge difference in my swelling feet. I feel pretty rested and energized. However, I am still resting up for delivery day. It is going to be a pretty intense workout.

2) Are you having a boy or a girl?

Although, everyone guesses boy, because my baby bump goes straight out. I am not having a boy. Instead, I am having a sweet beautiful baby girl.

3) Have you come up with a name? What name have you chosen?

Names are hard to decide on, but I have had a long list for a while. There are tons of beautiful names out there, but finally my husband and I have narrowed it down to two names. We are going to decide when we meet our baby.

3) Is the baby nursery ready? What is the color scheme or nursery theme?

Yes, please ready my Nursery post, for ideas and inspiration.

4) What foods have you been craving?

I never had weird food cravings. Really the only thing I have craved this whole pregnancy has been FRUIT. At the moment, I eat watermelon, every day. I also make fresh watermelon juice.

5) Did you experience morning sickness? What pregnancy symptoms have you had?

I did not experience morning sickness. In some occasions, when I didn’t have a chance to eat, I would feel a little queasy, but never threw up. However, I did experience other symptoms, such as pregnancy brain, fatigue, nesting, swelling feet.

6) Did you have a maternity photo session?

Yes I did, and it was lovely. Check out the photos. If you are planning to do a maternity photo shoot check out these tips.

7) Have you been running? In what ways have you been staying active?

No, I have not been running. I never though I would say this… but I don’t enjoy running pregnant at all. I will write a future post in more detail about why I have chosen not to run while pregnant.

However, I have stayed pretty active, and still have fitness goals. I have been doing some light weight, and body weight exercises, walking, and a little swimming. (Swimming is awesome when you have swelling feet.) But out of everything I fell in love with prenatal yoga. I started at Journey Yoga Studio, but have been alternating every week between Refresh Yoga Studio, and Mind the Mat Yoga Studio.

8) How much weight have your gained?

I have gained 33 pounds. At first I was really worried about the weight gain, but my doctors are not. As long as your doctors don’t see a problem, and you are staying active and eating healthy, don’t worry about it. Weight gain is out of your control. It will be interesting to see how much I loose on delivery day, and once I start working out intensely again.

9) Where are you registered?

I am registered at Buy Buy Baby and Amazon. I got pretty overwhelmed with creating a baby registry. If you feel the same read my, How to Create a Baby Registry, blog post for tips.

10) Did you have a baby shower?

Yes, we had a bumble bee themed baby shower, in celebration of mom and pop to be(e) and Baby Leonard to be(e.)

11) Did you have a baby moon?

Yes, we did have a baby moon. At the end, of April, we escaped the cold and went down to Del Ray Beach, Florida and South Beach Miami. It was amazing. We also took another beach trip in late June, to Martha’s Vineyard.

12) When is the due date?

My due date is August 15th, 2015. 3 more days to go. Hopefully, she will not come too late.

13) Have you taken a birthing class?

Nope! I’m just going to wing it. I trust my body, and my doctors. Plus, prenatal yoga has helped me with deep hip openers, strengthening the pelvic floor, breathing techniques, and birthing positions. I am also going to use some of my marathon mental strategies, such as having a Mantra, and listening to music to help me push through.

14) What is your birthing plan? Are you going to be natural? Are you going to have an epidural?

As long as my baby and I are safe, I am going to stay natural/drug free as long as possible. But again, I don’t know how I will feel because this is my first time. I’m not opposed to an epidural. I also wrote a short birthing plan, which focuses on key points that are important to me, for after delivery.

15) Are you having a home birth or hospital birth?

Hospital birth.

16) Are you using a midwife/doula or an OB?

Nurses and OB at the hospital.

17) Are you going to breastfeed?

Breast is best for baby, so if these boobs work, then yes I plan on it. But because this is my first time, I’m just going to see what happens. Plus, every baby and mom are different – it may be easy for some and harder for others.

18) What are you doing for child care?

Still figuring it out. But, again I’m going to try an idea I have and see if it is a good fit.

19) How much time are you taking off for maternity leave?

About 10 weeks. I am hoping baby isn’t too late, so I have as much time with her as I can get.

20) When do you return back to work?

I plan to go back to work October 18th.

So there you have it my top pregnancy Q & A – the most common questions I have gotten while pregnant. I hope you enjoyed the answers.

To all the moms out there – What pregnancy question have you been asked?

Nursery: To do, or NOT to do.

August 11, 2015

When you are pregnant, you get asked the same questions over and over. One of the repetitive questions asked is – “Do you have the baby’s nursery ready?” Everyone wants to know what color scheme and cute baby theme the nursery will be. And although, coming up with ideas, and putting the nursery together is one of the most fun things to do to prepare for your baby, it isn’t a top priority.

At first the questions about the baby’s room really annoyed me. I always have a long list of more important things to accomplish. For example, finding a pediatrician, and researching delayed cord clamping, although these things are not as fun as interior design, they are much more important.

Plus, your baby doesn’t really know what they are looking at. With that being said, all of the cute nursery accessories are not really for baby, but rather to please mom.

I didn’t worry too much about the baby’s room. And, when it comes to baby stuff, I have tried to stay as minimalist as possible. At this point, I have the essentials, and feel successful with keeping things minimal. But even the essentials need to be put away somewhere.

However, as time went on… suddenly, my mind changed… I had a total change of heart.

Maybe it was the urge to nest. Maybe it was the pile of baby stuff, in the corner of my living room. Whatever it was… at 8 months pregnant, I found myself eager to start putting the baby’s room together.

In late June, when we got home from Martha’s Vineyard, I had a total freak out. I literally started to cry, sobbing, “There is shit everywhere, and the baby’s room isn’t done.”

My husband came to the rescue! I will never forget his response. He calmly said, “Babe, I got this shit.” Then he ran upstairs and painted the baby’s room and set up the crib.

Now, I’m not the type of person to half ass a job. If I’m going to do something, I give it my all. So now that I have decided to prepare a nursery, I’m going all out. After that, I was able to organize things. We got a bookcase from Pottery Barn baby. We ordered a rug. Blinds went up. Things were looking good. My baby more than anyone, deserves a beautiful space in our home, to call her own.

I will reveal our baby’s nursery in a later post. But for now, I would like to share with you some baby rooms that inspired me. I used these rooms as a guide to help me create my own.

Our color scheme for our baby’s nursery is Gray walls, White furniture, and accents of Pink. Our theme is elephants. Elephants are special to my husband and I because we visited an elephant sanctuary when we were in Thailand. We have a special love for elephants. And we plan to frame photos of us riding the elephants we played with in Chang Mai.

1) The picture below goes with our color scheme. I love the pink window treatments, shelves, chandelier, crib, mirror, and dresser with changing pad on top.

2) Again photo below has our color scheme. I like the mirror, the chandelier, the photo gallery, and the dresser with changing pad idea.

3) Photo below has our color scheme. I love the pink window treatments, with a decorative rug. I also love the chandelier. We are planning on keeping our window treatments simple because we have a pattern on our rug.

4) In the photo below, I like the chandelier, the mobile, and the pink elephant toy.

5) The photo below has our color scheme. I like the chandelier, and the elephant stuffed animal. I also like the window treatments. This is another option for us, if we can’t find pink black out curtains that we like.

6) The room below is my FAVORITE!! I absolutely love this room. The crib in this picture is the exact same one we have for our baby. I love the mirror, the crib skirt, the shelves, and the gold dot decals. I also love the vintage dresser, with changing pad on top.

7) I LOVE this sitting area – that can be used for nursing or reading. At the moment we do not have a space for a chair because we still have a full size bed and adult dresser in the room. But I absolutely love this. I did get a basket. Baskets can be used in many different ways. I also have a fuzzy pillow in gray. I hope to have a space similar to this in the near future.

8) I love all the elephants in this room. If you love elephants and need to create a gender neutral room, this room would be great inspiration for you. 9) I love this big elephant toy. I also love the shag rug and the black crib, similar style to the one we got for our baby, but in black instead of white.

10) Below is the exact crib we have, but in black instead of white. I also love the small chandelier in this photo. I love the framed art – we are doing white frames and pink frames instead of black. The rug in the picture is similar to the one we have, but in blue instead of pink.

11) In this last picture I am going to share with you, I love all the elephants, the shelves, and the dresser with the changing pad on top. The rug is very similar to the one we have in our baby’s room, but blue instead of pink. 12) If you are really into books. This reading corner is a very fun idea. The way to collect a ton of children’s books is to have people bring your books instead of cards for your baby shower.

Anyway, these were all of the photos that most inspired me on setting up the perfect nursery for my baby. I hope they help inspire you as much as they did for me. I promise to share with you in the near future some photos of my baby’s room.

but in the mean time…

I would love to hear from you… please comment below…

Do you think it is a necessity to have a baby’s nursery?

What is your favorite color scheme and theme for a baby nursery?

Nesting: My favorite Pregnancy Symptom!

August 6, 2015

“One of the many beautiful things that happens during pregnancy is the urge to nest, or create a snug, peaceful cocoon for your new family member.” – Alicia Silverstone, The Kindmama

This couldn’t be more true.

I purge on a regular basis, constantly cleaning out, replacing the old with the new. But during this pregnancy, it was on a much deeper level. I let go of things that I had been holding on to for a while. Then my husband and I finally completed the mandatory home projects that we kept making excuses about and putting off.

“When we accumulate a lot of stuff, energy stagnates. Each possession carries weight, as do the dust and dirt that can settle in little nooks and crannies” -Alicia Silverstone, The Kindmama

Again true statement.

I have written about our 1945 duplex before, and if you can recall, I have revealed in the past that this 1945 duplex, although charming, is a small place. Because of the size, I have always tried to live as minimalist as possible. However, living minimalist is quite the challenge – over the years things got cluttered. Getting rid of old stuff was crucial to make room for the baby’s essentials. As I got rid of old stuff, and washed away dirt and dust, a weight was lifted. When I replaced the old with the new, the once stale energy shifted to a fresh, light, positive vibe. Even little changes can make a huge difference.

The idea to- “Hold off on large-scale changes to your home,” is suggested in the book The Kindmama.

But what exactly defines a large scale project. You may consider some of the projects I completed, on the large scale size, but I stayed stress free. And completing these projects brought my husband and I both happiness and comfort. So in conclusion, I recommend that you determine the stress level of the project and ask your pregnant self… once this project is completed will I feel more content.

Your home is your sanctuary. It needs to be a place that expresses your identity. It needs to be a space you can enjoy, and feel completely comfortable and relaxed in, especially when bringing a newborn home. Because of this idea, we decided to just do it all.

REPLACED THE WINDOWS

In late March, my husband and I researched different types of windows. Once we determined what would be best for our house, we scheduled for them to be replaced. This wasn’t a cheap project, but it is worth it in the long run, and will cut costs on our bills. Because of how old our house is, it was also checked for lead – thank goodness it is lead free. We don’t want a toxic chemicals like that around our new baby.

The window replacement only took one day to complete. However, our whole house was covered with white dust particles. It needed a major scrub down. And we had to open all the windows to air out the house. Note: “Air rugs and bedding outside in the sun, the original antibacterial purifier.” – The Kindmama

BLINDS

We had cheap, old, dusty blinds, that were there when we bought the house. My min pin loved to stick his nose in between the blinds and bark at neighbors while they walked by. Replacing the blinds was a must. I couldn’t have a barking dog, and crying baby. We now have beautiful white wooden blinds on the first floor, and shades in the bedrooms. The Min Pin can’t look out and bark anymore, and the windows look complete. Window treatments can make or break a room. It is a very little change, that has made a huge difference.

NEW FENCE

We replaced the old fence with a new one. This project was definitely a necessity. Our old fence was a very run down chain linked fence that actually never completely closed, (again there before we bought the house.) We have two small dogs, and because the fence never closed, we always have to supervise the dogs while they are in the yard. Now that the new fence is up, we are able to let the dogs enjoy the yard by themselves, which will help when the baby comes. Plus, the fence looks awesome! In the future we may paint it white, but for the time being we’ll see how the wood ages.

PAINTED BOTH BEDROOMS

When we moved in, we loved the kitchen/dining room wall color. But the rest of the colors in the house had to go. I painted the living room, but never got to the bedrooms. Both bedrooms were a very ugly mauve color. They were definitely in need of a fresh new coat of paint.

We painted our bedroom a Benjamin Moore color called African Violet, it is a gray lavender. This color couldn’t be more perfect. It goes great with our dark framed bed, and the amethyst knobs we have on our white dresser.

Then we painted our guest room, now baby’s room. The color is also a Benjamin Moore color, called Baltic Gray. Gray walls, white furniture, and accents of pink, makes this baby nursery elegant but sweet. Perfect for a baby girl!

BABY’S NURSERY

I’m going to give you a sneak peek of the nursery, and write a detailed post a little later.

ORGANIZED BABY ESSENTIALS

After our baby shower, I went through everything, and figured out what else we needed. Then I organized everything and found a proper home for each item.

REPLACED OLD LIVING ROOM RUG

I replaced the old living room rug with a fresh new one. Besides the baby’s room, I am probably most proud of this.

Because I have dogs, I don’t invest in really expensive rugs. Plus, I like fun patterned rugs, that in time, I may get sick of. These are the reasons that I don’t feel bad about throwing out my old rug, when I get bored of it.

Although, finding the new rug was a major hunt. My old rug was three years old, but very run down. There is no way I could put my beautiful baby on it for tummy time. It had to go! Note: Below is a photo of the old rug. Take a look at how the rug influences the color in the sectional and wall color.

It took several months to find the right rug, but I finally did… WOW… it transformed the whole room! The room looks bigger! The wall color looks totally different. And it not only goes great with all of the rustic details that are through out my house, but it is clean and soft enough for the baby to enjoy tummy time on.

ART WORK

My husband is picky about art work. He wants to support local artists or some how have the art connected to us personally in some way. Well my mom had a photo from our wedding printed on a huge canvas. The canvas is amazing! It again brings out the wall color, looks great with the rug, and has a rustic vibe.

NESTING

Nesting has become my favorite pregnancy symptom because things that needed to get done, finally did. It is crazy how even the smallest changes make a huge difference. It feels so good to purge the old and replace with new. Because it is human nature to grow and evolve, so should your living space. Everything is clean and fresh, and we are ready for our baby’s arrival. Can’t wait to meet her!

This post is dedicated to my husband.

Although, I was the pregnant one in need of nesting, I want to thank my husband for all the hard work he did! He is amazing, and worked hard to make our home exactly what we desired.

Erik, Thank you, I love you to the moon and back!

Did you have the urge to nest when you were pregnant? What home projects have you accomplished lately?

© 2015 sweat1xdaily

Our Bumble Bee themed Baby Shower

August 3, 2015

I love the month of June.

And this year June was busy.

Literally, every weekend was booked.

My two favorite weekends this June were… the weekend we had our baby shower, and the weekend my husband and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary.

(Because I already wrote a short anniversary post.) Lets talk about the baby shower.

This shower was super special to me, because I never had a bridal shower, so this was my very first shower ever. The shower was planned by my mom and older sister. My younger sister and cousin came down to help with preparations. These ladies went above and beyond. I couldn’t have asked for a more fabulous shower.

It is finally summer and I am having a summer baby.

I also love everything seasonal… so my sister and I came up with a bumble bee theme. This theme was totally appropriate because it celebrates both our baby to be(e) and my husband and I… as mama and papa to be(e).

Everything was yellow.

Yellow flowers…

more flowers…

yellow bumble bees…

lemons and lemonade screaming summer, summer baby.

We had the most delicious food ever. I’ve been pretty obsessed with watermelon so of course I had to have some.

more food…

food was everywhere…

moss and bee detail was a nice touch.

My bff Mariana had the most amazing cake made for the shower! Bee hive cake with a baby on top…

This cake tasted amazing too!

As I said earlier, my mom, sisters, and cousin went above and beyond.

There were cute decorations all over the place. These small details were so perfect.

There were two shrines.

A grandma one…

and a shrine in honor of my husband and I and our growing family.

One of my favorite things about this shower was that we had both men and woman guests. All girl showers are fun, but not my style. It was important to me to include my husband. So this shower, definitely had more of a summer party vibe. It was great getting everyone together.

My husband and I and the baby to be!

Some of the boys…
BFFs Rachel and I…

BFF Mariana and I with her baby Jasper…

Me and baby Jasper. One of the cutest baby boys I know. He even wore shorts with bumble bees on them for the occasion.

Lindsay and I, at the time, both pregnant with baby girls. Her baby Piper was born last month.

All of us Dorsey girls…

Another thing that I loved about this shower was that we made it an open house. It started at 4:00, but because it was an open house our guests could come and go as they pleased. This also meant that I didn’t rush through opening baby gifts. Instead I opened them either when the individual was leaving or later on my own time, when I could really take my time enjoying each present as I opened. (Note: If you have the time to hang out at your shower, I highly recommend an open house. That way you can spend the time, but your guest can come and go as the please.)

Everyone showered us with the best gifts. We are so lucky!

These are just a few I got pictures of…

My sisters, the aunts to be, got us this…

The Small’s got Erik a present that he can use with the baby.

We got some amazing handmade stuff…

including a quilt from Erik’s grandma, and a blanket from my Aunt... (blanket is in the photo.)

A beautiful knitted pair of socks and hat, made by Erik’s mom, grandma to be.

We didn’t want the shower to end, so we let it go on pretty late. It was really fun to hang out, later that night on my mom’s back deck. I am so lucky I was able to have such a beautiful shower. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who helped plan and prep this shower – especially, my mom, Sue Small, my sisters, my cousin Colleen, and my BFF Mariana. I also want to thank everyone who came to celebrate with us – you showered us with the most precious baby gifts and it was fun seeing everyone. And to those who couldn’t make it, I am also very thankful, you went out of your way to send baby Leonard beautiful, thoughtful baby gifts – Thank you so much.

(Thank you cards made by Sue Small.)

It is hard to believe that our bumble bee themed baby shower was almost two months ago. Now that it is August, it is baby Leonard’s birthday month. Erik and I are beyond excited to meet our baby girl in 2 weeks. As we wait for her arrival, I am spending the rest of this time reading baby books, relaxing and enjoying the bump.

What is your favorite baby shower theme? What is your favorite baby gift to give?