CURRENTLY.

Doing: Cleaning. Call it early nesting or just an a lack of keeping up on household chores but I feel like I spend most of my time purging and cleaning our house. We have a tiny house and with two kids I feel like we just keep accumulating more things without letting go of things. I recently went through boxes of kids clothes and shoes that I had been holding on to simple out of laziness. Finally I set up a consignment appointment and was able to get rid of a bunch of things and the remainder is being donated along with a massive amount of my old clothes that are either too worn or I just know I won’t be wearing in the near future when considering pregnancy and postpartum time. 

I must be doing other things than cleaning though right? I have a really great and FREE Essential Oils for Pregnancy, Postpartum and Babies that starts next week (pssst there is still time to join us) and I am working on a Spring Detox starting the first week of April – I’ll share more when I create the group. 

In other ‘doing’ news we went to Seattle for Neil’s birthday at the start of January and then we went to Vermont to visit family at the end of January. As for February the month just flew by and was mostly spent catching up on life after the holidays and all the snow that literally shut down Portland. 

Thinking about: I am constantly thinking about all the things I want to get done before this baby arrives. I’m also thinking about what we need for when this baby arrives because after Alder was born we had decided on having no more children so we sold everything and now all we have is a carseat and a few swaddle blankets. I know babies don’t need a lot but for us we would like to get a nice reclining rocking chair, a bassinet, a new stock of cloth diapers and eventually we will need to figure out clothes for this baby. I (of course) want a new wrap and ring sling – what can I say it’s the babywearing educator in me and knowing that I will be wearing this baby most of the time. Comment below if you have suggestions for newborn products. 

Watching:  Moana. We took the kids to see Moana as their first theater movie when we were in Vermont and since then we have been watching it at home at least every twice per week and when we aren’t we are listening to the soundtrack. I have to say I would watch this movie and listen to the soundtrack even if we didn’t have littles – it is just so good. I also re-watched/finished Haven on Netflix and Neil and I have been watching Top Chef and This is Us on the weekends. What have you been watching? Any suggestions? 

Looking forward to: I am looking forward to this weekend. We have no major plans except Edith’s ballet class and doing a big declutter dump, recycle and donation drop off. Otherwise we are just enjoying the weekend and I’m hoping I can get a bit more organizing done and some work. I am also looking forward to having a mama’s night out to see Matilda at Keller Auditorium. Apparently it is “The best musical since The Lion King” according to TIME Magazine. I have seen broadway production of The Lion King and it was pretty amazing so I am hoping that this lives up to TIME Magazines claim. For those of you who are in Portland the show is running 2/28-03/05 if you want to check it out for yourself. 

Reading: I have been reading Essential Oils for Pregnancy, Birth & Babies by Stephanie Fritz aka The Essential Midwife. This book has been one of the resources for my upcoming class series and I have been reading it for my own pregnancy since this is my first really using essential oils. Otherwise my reading has been limited to kids books but I am taking suggestions if you have any.

Loving: Hu Chocolate that I buy off Thrive Market because it is the best deal and the best chocolate I have ever had.I could probably do an entire post on my favorite food items right now – would that be of interest to you? Not food related I have been loving my snoogle and eye mask because without them I don’t think I could sleep. Urban Oreganics Baby Balm that Neil got be for Christmas. This baby balm is wonderful for babies but also expecting mamas and really anyone who could use a really wonderful moisturizing balm. I use mine on my stomach post-shower to help with stretch marks and to soothe my itchy belly.  

What are you currently doing, thinking about, watching, looking forward to, reading and/or loving?

As always this post is inspired by Sometimes Sweet.

{Pregnancy Update} 18 Weeks

How far along are you: 18 weeks 1 day

How big is the baby: About the size of Sweet Potato

Suspicion of Baby’s Gender (no we are not finding out): I’m still leaning towards a boy and so is Neil.

Baby’s Name: We have 5 girl and 5 boy names picked out with potential middle names as well.  We had a bit sit down last weekend and narrowed a combined list of 20 boys names and 12 girls names down to our favorites based on the meaning of the name, the origin or the name and potential nicknames.  A few names we like got cut quickly because of nicknames that we hated like for Adeline it would be Addie which I just couldn’t approve of so we now have a small list and will narrow it down a little more the month before and then make a final decision when we meet the little one.

Weight Gained: Depends on the day and the time of day but between 8-10lbs which at 18 weeks I’m pretty happy with since my midwives say I should gain around 15-25 lbs.

Clothes:  My clothes are all getting a little snug around the waist and the chest so I am wearing more and more of the maternity clothes I have purchased (love the sales on Gap Maternity at Baby Gap- seriously tons of items for $2-10).  I also had to finally buy myself a pair of maternity jeans because the jeggings from Old Navy that were wonderful for the first 17 weeks are now getting uncomfortable due to where the elastic hits me even though they still fit.  I am also now on the prowl for some good deals on Spring clothes for our upcoming trip to South Carolina.

How are you feeling: I am feeling pretty good. Tired in the afternoons especially after having a few awful nights of restless sleep; I really don’t think I’ll ever like sleeping on my left side.

What do you miss: sleeping on my back, my stomach, my right side…basically any position that isn’t my let side.

Symptoms: Trouble sleeping. Thirsty all the time. I feel baby kicks, just little ones but they are getting more noticeable every week!

Cravings: The Beach. Gardien chik’n fingers. Chocolate Cake.

Workouts this week: one 35-minute walk, one 20-minute leg and arm workout and one 90-minute pre-natal yoga class

Babymoon update: So Neil and I finally figured out a way to take a (sort of) babymoon.  We had planned to just go to Boston for a short weekend getaway where we will be eating some tasty foods and getting massages (pre-natal for me and sports for him) and then we were going to head home and have a week off from work just to get things done around the house.  Well fast forward to this week. Earlier this week my parents informed us that they were renting a condo in Myrtle Beach for the month of March and inquired if we would like to join them.  Well unbeknownst to me Neil spent Tuesday evening researching flights and chatting with my mom while planning a way for us to meet up with them.  Well to our luck since we were already going to be in Boston we could fly out of Logan and because my loving father  agreed to drive three hours to Raleigh to pick us up because we were able to get amazingly cheap flights. So now we are spending five nights in Myrtle Beach and one night in Raleigh.  Although it isn’t the babymoon of our dreams it is just the vacation that the both of us need.