Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Valerie 3.5 months

I really miss updating the blog every month so I thought I would record Valerie's progress through her life on here. I always thought I would be the be great at a journal but I have found that instagram is the closest thing I get to a journal haha. Val turns 4 months on the 27th of this month and I have time this morning to update on how she has grown. 


What has Val learned this month?
She has been rolling from her back to her front a ton the past 3 days. I was in the bath and had to get out 3 times because she rolled over to her front and could not figure out how to get back over. I have also watched her go from her front to her back a couple times but her arms keep getting in the way when she tries to do it on purpose haha. 
Val also has learned to start gripping things! 

Val's favorite Toy?
She loves her new rainbow colored ball because it is easy to hold on to and I think she loves all the colors. She also really loves her new butterfly teething toy. But when she gets tired of those, her feet are her most favorite. 

New words?
Well I feel like her first word is definitely "hi" even though she has no idea she is saying it. I think she might end up saying mama first because she is learning how to make her M sounds just recently. 

What does she love to do?
Val loves car rides ( no longer than an hour though ) and she loves them on the highway. If we are on normal streets she will start to get fussy at every stop light. She also loves playing airplane and joining momma on her squats. I think she likes the feeling of falling. Shes going to be an adrenaline junkie for sure. Val also loves to talk. She might not be saying real words but she sure does speak and with plenty of volume as well. 

Notice anything she does not like?
Yes, she hates not getting eye contact! 

What else is new?
Ok maybe I am crazy but I think she might be starting to teeth. She is drooling like crazy, won't suck a binky anymore (she just chews on it) and chews on anything she can, and her schedule is all off. It is different everyday now and she stopped sleeping through the night. 





Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Minimalist Baby Mobile

I was asked to make a DIY of how I made my little girl's mobile. I am not the greatest at instructing on how to do things but I did my best. I hope this helps you make your mobile or at least gives you some ideas on how to make one entirely different. If you have any questions I will do my best to answer them in the comments section. 


What you will need:
Wood Rings (Here) 
Wood Beads (Here)
Rope
Thread & Needle
Fabric
Stuffing 
Metal ring



Draw your design on card stock paper and cut it so you can trace them onto the fabric. Make sure to trace both sides so you have mirror images. 


I like to hand stitch mine together but using a sewing machine also works great. Sew them together leaving just a little so you can turn it inside out. Then stuff the clouds with the filling and then you can sew the remaining once it is filled. 


Cut the rope the length of both of your arms stretched (like a meter-ish or more) and repeat until you have 3 strings. Fold them in half and loop it into a knot. Then cut one more string to the length that these are and tie it to the rest of them (this one will be the rope going down the middle)


Separate the strings and tie them to the sides of the metal ring. You should adjust them once you have hung it up. 


Hang it and adjust



Add beads to every other rope (as well as the middle rope).



Add the wood rings to the same rope you put the beads on. This is how I like to tie them on. 


Add beads to the remaining string. I liked mine staggered so I put these ones a little higher.



Attach your clouds by sewing them to the remaining ropes (including to middle rope).


After adjusting everything to how you like it, cut off the excess rope. 


You can rearrange everything to your liking. This one is a little different with the gold ring. Totally up to you how you decide to arrange your mobile! 




Thursday, March 22, 2018

4 THINGS I WISH I HAD DONE EARLIER IN PREGNANCY



1.PREGNANCY CAPSULE WARDROBE

If you have never heard of a capsule wardrobe then I would watch Hailey Divine's video here.
She explains it much better than I can. I actually learned about them first when I read the book "Lagom" by Niki Brantmark. The Swedes do it to decrease overall stress. If you know about capsule wardrobes then move to the next paragraph. Instead of having a closet full of every item of clothing that you own, capsule wardrobes only have the clothes that can be worn in a season. All the other seasons are packed away and you bring them out when those seasons come. It is a minimalistic way of living. It decreases stress because you are able to look into your closet and pick something out right away without having to search through a mass amount of clothes to find something that works. I have found it super nice because my closet doesn't feel so cramped. It has also given me the courage to get rid of the clothes that I haven't worn in years. 

Something that I wish I would have done was start a pregnancy capsule wardrobe where all the clothes in my closet would be clothes that would fit my big belly. I found myself super depressed a couple weeks ago because nothing I would put on fit me. It wasn't until I put all the those clothes in a box and only kept the ones that fit a large belly that I felt happier. I started pregnancy with the attitude of just trying to make what I already owed work but I look back and wish I would have invested in a good pair of maternity leggings and a couple more longer shirts. When I start a capsule wardrobe I pull out all the clothes the the upcoming season. I see what I have, what I need, and what I need to get rid of till I have the prefect set of clothes for that coming season. I wish at about 6 months pregnant I would have done this. Instead, I didn't think of it till 8 months pregnant and was super sad that nothing fit. It felt too late to start a wardrobe that would only last me a couple weeks. This is something I am going to make sure to start at 6 months in my next pregnancy. 

I am a super minimalistic person and find a lot of stress relief when I have the essentials but I have less. I hate the whole mentality of "more is better". Too much stuff gives me anxiety. If you are a person who thinks more is better then this tip probably won't be good for you. 

2. LISTEN TO CRAVINGS

Ok this title can be a little deceiving. If you have a craving to eat an entire cake everyday, don't listen to it! Also, if your doctor has recommended that you stay away from certain things or that you have to watch your weight then listen to them. I am not a professional when it comes to this.

The first trimester I was trying to get used to all the changes and a big one was how I felt about food. I often felt like cravings were silly and that I should ignore them but I'll tell you why I am a huge believer in listening to my cravings now. Over thanksgiving I was so mad because I didn't feel like eating anything other than fruit. I barely ate any thanksgiving dinner! We stayed at my in-laws and I was constantly given stake or chicken or a big meal but I wouldn't eat it. I was told that I need to feed the baby some good protein but I just couldn't do it. I felt soooo guilty that I wasn't giving my baby what she needed. But I was eating probably 5-6 oranges, a whole box of strawberries, and a ton of other fruit in a day. The entire family got sick with the flu including my husband. I was one of the only ones that didn't get sick. After that I truly started to listen to my cravings. There was one week that all I wanted was red meat and dark greens, that weekend I had my blood tested and found out that my iron levels were low. I turned to Joseph and said, "See! That's why all I wanted was Texas Roadhouse!" haha. This week I have been wanting pineapple so bad. I have had 3 whole pineapples all by myself this week. I was looking into some stuff on line of how to induce labor and found out that pineapple is one of them. I don't ignore even the silly cravings like cinnamon rolls, ice-cream, and brownies, because I figure maybe my sugar level is low or whatever else. Maybe my body doesn't NEED a cinnamon roll, but I sure feel better afterward! I don't think cravings are anything to be ashamed of anymore, even if they aren't the healthiest thing. 

3. HUBBY HUNGER SCALE

Hopefully everyone won't think I am a crazy pregnant lady after this post but Joseph and I had to make a hunger scale so I wouldn't have any more breakdowns. It has worked amazing! I have noticed that I use a ton of words to explain how I am feeling but it wouldn't translate to my husband's brain. I could say, babe I need food NOW and he felt like he still could get ready for 30 minutes before we left the house, but by the time we would leave I was throwing up and crying because I was so past my hunger level. It became too much so we made this hunger scale for him to know how much time till I had a break down. Here is my hunger scale to get an idea of what I mean:

1-4 These are pretty self explanatory. We didn't ever use them because I wasn't very hungry at this point
5 - I'm good! I could eat a snack but I am not starving
6 - We should start making something because I am about an hour or two away from needing something immediately
7 - We have about 30 minutes till I break down
8 - We have 5-8 minutes before I break down. I am usually super sensitive by this point.
9 - It's too late. I am probably crying right now or about to throw up. I usually don't feel like eating anymore. 
10 - This is when I threw up and cried for over an hour and I couldn't get anything down at this point. 

If I am at a six then we can make dinner together because that gave us enough time. If I was at a seven then we had time to go out to eat but rarely was there enough time to make something at home especially if we hadn't defrosted any meat yet. Eight, we usually run straight to a drive through. I rarely got to a nine after we made our hunger scale but we kept granola bars in the car for this exact reason. A lot of times I would forget I was hungry and all of a sudden I was at an eight. This hunger scale helped me to be able to communicate quickly with my husband about how I was feeling. To him, he thought that I should be at about a six every time I said I needed food NOW. But in reality it was my fault because I was ignoring my hunger until the last minute, not allowing time to communicate or time to make food. We mostly used this in my first trimester but I have used it a couple times in my third. 

4. FIND ROLE MODELS BUT AVOID COMPARISON

Role models have been a HUGE encouragement for me. I have a blogger role model, a sister role model, and my mom. I have each of them as my role model for different reasons. I felt like my blogger role model has helped me to find joy in being pregnant. It is so easy get sad that my body is changing or to just want to sit around all day and do nothing, but because bloggers have to have a good feed, they still go out and do fun things when they are pregnant and it helped me think "well if she can do it then so can I". I also found it helpful to have someone close in age answer my questions. Things are different now then they used to be, especially labor and delivery. My sister has helped me with so many of my questions. My mom is super mom and worked up until the day she gave labor with all of us. She has helped me to, for lack of a better term, suck it up when it came to me wanting to give up. She worked through the sickness and the hip dislocations and the Braxton hick contractions.

Now with all that said, sometimes I found it easy to compare myself as well. If I ever started to feel like I wasn't as good as someone. Or if I started to feel like I wasn't as pretty as someone else who was pregnant or that I was gaining weight quicker. I told myself to stop it and look for something I admire without putting myself down. Every pregnancy and person are so different. Comparison brings you down while admiration can actually bring you up. I don't know how I did it, but when I was able to separate the two I found myself happier and making the most of this pregnancy. 

Monday, March 12, 2018

Bump date - 37 weeks



HOW FAR ALONG? 
37 weeks 

WEIGHT GAIN
30-32 pounds. 35cm belly as of friday

SLEEP?
It really just depends on the night now.. sometimes it takes me hours to get comfortable so I don't fall asleep till super late but those nights I sleep longer. If I fall asleep right away then I wake up every 2 hours. It is super weird.

BEST MOMENT THIS WEEK?
This one is hard because I have literally just sat at home all week. I wasn't feeling very good so I took the week off thinking it would help but now I just feel more sick and I am starting to get contractions which are not my fav. I guess my favorite moment though would have to be painting ceramics with my husband for date night. We get to pick them up on Thursday and I am really excited to see how they turn out!

MOVEMENT:
She moves a ton and hiccups all the time.. especially at night. 

FOOD CRAVINGS:
Sweets, fruit, and spicy. I will get a craving for one thing and it literally will never go away. For example, I really wanted a cinnamon roll on Monday but I resisted and got till Thursday where at this point all I could think about was a cinnamon roll. So I stopped by a bakery on my way home from work. After that I didn't crave cinnamon rolls anymore haha. So once I give into the craving then I am ok, but if I don't give in then I obsess. This week I started craving a DQ ice cream birthday cake which is super unfortunate because they are way too expensive. I have resisted for like a week now but I literally have dreams about it haha. I am hoping I will just crave something else and actually get over this one!

ANYTHING MAKING YOU QUEASY? 
Nothing in particular but I have started to get morning sickness again which is super annoying! It is also really hard to breath in the mornings too if I sit upright. I am thinking that throughout the day her body moves pretty low but when I sleep she stretches out again and is up into my stomach/lung area.. that is just my speculation though.

WHAT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO:
I have a feeling that she might come early but that has made me super anxious at night because I am terrified of labor. It is a weird dilemma. I want to have her out of my tummy but I am terrified of delivery. So in a way I am looking forward to not being pregnant anymore but I don't know how much I am truly looking forward to that because of the process that has to take place first. 

As of Friday I was dilated one centimeter and 80 percent effaced. I guess she is suuuper low too which is a good thing but I know none of this lets me know if she is coming early or not. It's just fun to know I guess. 


Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Bump Date - 34 weeks


HOW FAR ALONG? 
34 weeks 

WEIGHT GAIN
28-30 pounds.. pretty much all in the belly for sure

SLEEP?
I wake up probably every 4 hours to pee haha. It's not too bad though, I feel like I can go right back to bed without any problems. It is just a little annoying to get up so much in the middle of the night. If you know me well, you know I am actually terrified of the dark. Our bathroom is not connected to our room, so the hallway walk is terrifying! I often run to and from the bathroom. Ive gotten up the courage a couple times to pee without having to turn the light on every time. Haha maybe that is too much info but oh well!

BEST MOMENT THIS WEEK?
I have been working a lot lately so my favorite part of the week would probably just be talking to my patients about babies. They can see I am obviously pregnant so most of my conversations have to do with babies or labor. I love hearing their funny stories and experiences. I was talking to one of my patients about how I have this weird fear that I am not going to know that I am in labor or that I will just be too stubborn to go right away that Ill have my baby in the car or something. She said that for her first baby she was just like that and just felt like she had to go to the bathroom the whole time but in reality they were contractions. Anyways she barely got to the hospital in time, she had the baby 15 minutes after being admitted into the hospital! haha if only all labor was like her story.

MOVEMENT:
She loves to stretch! I will often have little feet pushing out my left side. She also keeps getting the hiccups which are pretty funny but I feel so bad for her that she gets them so much! I hate getting the hiccups! poor girl 

FOOD CRAVINGS:
Sweets, fruit, and spicy.. still lol

ANYTHING MAKING YOU QUEASY? 
Nope!

WHAT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO: 
Ok this might sound a little silly but after having our baby shower I feel like I am most excited for dressing her up right now! We got so many super cute clothes that I just cannot wait to dress her. I guess we never do grow up do we? I loved dressing up my barbies and baby bolls when I was little and now look at me.. I am excited to dress my own tiny human!


30 weeks










So I’m writing this one a little late but that’s alright! We went down to vegas for the weekend for the baby shower my Momma put on for me. I’ll post about that one too next! These are just a couple photos my sister in law Amie took of us for a little baby shower gift. The best part was probably during this last photo Joseph literally sat in bird poop. It was green and smelt so strong we spent like 10 minutes just trying to get it out with baby wipes but it just seemed to go on forever! It was pretty funny. The dry cleaners got it out by the way, all is well! Haha 


Friday, January 12, 2018

Bump Date - 28 weeks



I am finally graduated! I also worked my first day as a dental hygienist yesterday! I'll be temping here in Utah till our little girl comes. After that we will probably stay here for a couple months till Joseph finds a job flying. We have been asked by a ton people where we think we will be moving and, to be honest, we give a different answer every time. We really have no clue! So if we give you an answer, it is probably because that was the state or country we were dreaming of that week. I would not take us too seriously haha. There is no way of knowing until he finishes his schooling, hours, and tests. I am excited for the unknown adventures ahead!

HOW FAR ALONG? 
28 weeks.. 3rd Trimester!!

WEIGHT GAIN
I don't know if I want to answer this one... but I will anyways. I have gained around 25 to 30 pounds haha it changes a little throughout the day.

SLEEP?
Ok I don't know if it is just third trimester or if I am doing something wrong but I try to sleep on our memory foam or with my big pregancy pillow and just cannot seam to feel comfortable! Plus I wake up to pee probably 3-6 times in the night. I try so hard not to have water before bed or drink it through the night, but if I go without water I feel like I've been in the Las Vegas desert without water for 72 hours slowly dying! So needless to say I always give in. 

BEST MOMENT THIS WEEK?
During my first day of work my little girl was attacking my patient! Ok maybe she wasn't attacking him, but she was definitely kicking and rolling around enough that my patient could feel her against his shoulder as I cleaned his teeth haha.

MOVEMENT:
This little girl is crazy! She moves so much that she wakes up Joseph in the middle of the night if I sleep close to him, my patient could feel her, and she moves so much that my belly is rarely a circle when sitting or lying down. My entire belly is usually shifting left, right, up, and down. We are starting to be able to tell what is her foot or hand or head and so on. 

FOOD CRAVINGS:
Sweets, fruit, and spicy anything

ANYTHING MAKING YOU QUEASY? 
I wouldn't say anything makes me queasy but I feel like I have gotten more and more picky again. I also have pretty bad acid reflex so I can't eat fast or too much at once.

WHAT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO: 
Seeing her for the first time. Lately we have been thinking about what color eyes and hair she will have. Joseph was a blonde when he was young and then it went super dark. I am thinking she will come out dirty blonde and then it will go darker but probably not as dark as his hair. He thinks maybe bright blonde or dirty blonde.