Family – Page 2 – quirky & caffeinated

Joshua’s Minimalistic Nursery

I cannot believe that I finally got the chance to decorate an entire nursery! I have always loved decorating, and I am guilty of starting a nursery Pinterest board years ago! For Sophie, we did not really plan out and create an entire nursery since we had so much going on in 2017. We did what we were able to, but now with creating Joshua’s nursery, we were also able to plan out and decorate a fun room for Sophie as well! (Coming in a post soon!)

When it came to Joshua’s Nursery, I wanted to keep it as minimal as possible. After having Sophie, I realized that you do not need as much as you think you do! Especially for newbies.

All I really wanted to concentrate on was good furniture we could continue to use for him as he got older, as well as simple, meaningful décor.

The watercolor polka dots were a perfect way to create an accent wall, as well as allowing us to have something in common with Sophie’s room as well! (She has the same polka dots in pink!) The world map on his wall was the guest book we used at his baby shower! I love that we were able to hang up such sweet messages on his wall to keep for him to read for years to come.

I love having a sansevieria plant in his room because it is 1. An air purifier and 2. EXTREMELY easy to take care of! The Hatch nursery light is an excellent alternative for a lamp, and is easily customizable through the app it connects to! It changes color as well as playing white noise and lullabies.

I hope you all love Joshua’s nursery as much as we do, and all links will be listed below!

Preparing For Baby

Hey everyone!

As if having a baby is not a huge change in itself, something else that was very important to me was making sure that I was fully prepared for this baby. Around 28 weeks, I started making a list and thinking about how I wanted to prepare for baby boy and how to make sure my family was in the best spot possible so we could enjoy our time in the newborn bubble without having to worry about much else.

The first thing I wanted to tackle was making sure that we had everything we needed for Joshua, including having the nursery finished. We were very blessed to receive a lot of awesome items from family and friends as well as at my baby shower. When it came to getting major furniture pieces for the nursery, we decided to go pretty minimal. We got everything ordered and set up within the last 2 months of my pregnancy. I wanted to make sure that we didn’t have an overflow of stuff for him, because after having Sophie, Josh and I came to the realization that babies don’t require half of the stuff that other people convince you that you need. Getting the nursery sorted out, I made up a checklist of the necessities that we needed for our family!

Next, I wanted to make sure that the house was in a great spot when Joshua made his arrival. I tried to make sure that I was keeping up with laundry and dishes constantly (and not letting them pile up like we all do sometimes). I also had a list of what I wanted to get done around the house since nesting SUPER hit me this time around. I remember having it with Sophie, but not to the extent I got it this time!

After all of the nesting, next on my list of to-dos was making sure I was fully prepared with our meals! I think it is super important to plan out either a meal train or meal prep when you are expecting. Meal trains are awesome since you get help from your support system, and meal prep is great because you get to prepare healthy meals where you know exactly what is going into them, as well as being able to make whatever dietary specific decisions you need to. A great way to set up a meal train is by going to mealtrain.com. Here you can enter in all of your information, add what days would be helpful to receive meals, as well as allergies, dietary restrictions, and the best times to drop off meals. You can add or invite people through social media or email. This is a really awesome way to get that help that is essential in the very beginning after having a baby.

What I opted for was meal prep, because 1. I love to cook and 2. I found it super quick and easy to be able to open up my freezer and choose whatever I wanted to eat that day. I made breakfast, lunch and dinner options. I wanted to make a ton of different meals so we had healthy options so I wasn’t reaching for junk food after giving birth. Personally, I always feel terrible after eating a lot of junk food, so I knew that I wanted to be eating as healthy as possible, not only for Joshua (since I am breastfeeding) but also because I wanted to have as much energy as possible knowing that I was not only going to be taking care of a newborn full time, but a toddler as well. Minimal sleep and energy, mixed with junk food and feeling sluggish didn’t really sound appealing to me. (I will be posting a more in-depth post about my food prepping along with recipes!)

Lastly, I began planning out a thank you gift for all of the nurses and staff at the hospital who helped us during the delivery and recovery. The reason I like to do this is because all of these people have made it their life work to make sure that my baby and I are taken care of. That we are both healthy and that everything runs as smoothly as possible, and I find that beyond admirable. What I usually like to do is make cookies for everyone, and get a gift card for a coffee shop that is enough for everyone to get a little something. I have also seen other ideas where individual gift cards are given, and also chap sticks, tumblers, or facemasks. With something like this it all comes down to personal preference!

I hope this helped with getting ideas of some awesome ways to prepare for baby that definitely help out in the long run!

Click below to download my checklists of Preparing for Baby!

Preparing For Baby Checklist

Packing My Hospital Bag

When it comes to packing a hospital bag for birth, I know that the task can seem a bit daunting, especially to new parents.

For me, I kept trying to keep a mental list going, trying to remember everything I would need, and trying to make sure that I wasn’t forgetting anything as well. I also wanted to make sure that the diaper bag was packed with everything I would need for baby, so I wouldn’t be worried about my stuff being mixed with baby stuff, I would be lost without the organization!

When it came to actually getting everything out on a physical list, I love to use an app on my phone that I find super helpful for reminders, grocery lists, to-do lists, and in this case, a packing list. If you have a google account, I love to use the Keep Notes App. Everything is connected to your account, and I find that it is a super convenient way to keep everything in one place and organized.

When packing my hospital bag, I looked at about a thousand different lists, trying to figure out what was an absolute necessity and what was something I could live without. I was also looking back at what I had brought to the hospital when I was giving birth to Sophie, what I didn’t use, and what I wish I had brought. Something I wish I had thought of when I was having Sophie was to remember my own comfort. This time around I wanted to make sure that I brought some things that would help me comfortable for an overnight stay, and if need be, longer. Having a baby is something that you can’t be too prepared for, and you honestly never know how things are going to go.

I made a mental note to bring things from home that would make me feel more at home. This included my own pillow, and my own towel (hospital ones can be scratchy). A few other things I wanted to bring consisted of coconut oil, maternity leggings, postpartum underwear, perineal spray, comfy pajamas, and a postpartum girdle. I know that this item can be quite controversial, but honestly, I loved it after I had Sophie! It helped my mid-section feel stronger and more supported throughout the day, as well as helping my squishy skin feel firmer. This of course is just my own experience, but I really do recommend trying it! Coconut oil is an awesome alternative for nipple butter, and is also a great moisturizer in general! I chose to take maternity leggings for my going home outfit because after giving birth, you do not immediately go back to have a slimmer belly. The rule of thumb that I learned was pack something as if you are 5-6 months pregnant. That is normally the size your belly will be. Something I also made sure to bring was a comfy bra to wear during labor. When I was in labor with Sophie, I felt pretty uncomfortable wearing the hospital gown, so this time around I wanted to make sure I was as free as possible. The bra I decided to wear was the most comfortable and supportive bra I have ever owned! Click the link here to check it out!

When it came to baby boy, one thing that I found so helpful with Sophie that I wanted to bring again were baby nail clippers. Newborns nails can be surprisingly long, and you don’t want them scratching their sweet little faces. I really didn’t feel the need to bring too much for our little man because our hospital provides a lot, such as wipes, diapers, blankets, etc. A few things I decided to pack was a gownie, a going home outfit, a muslin blanket, socks, and a couple props to take photos with. Packing for Joshua was pretty simple.

Click down below in order to download a more in depth hospital bag checklist as well as links to a few other awesome items!

Hospital Bag Checklist

Milk Snob Nursing Cover

I hope you all enjoyed this post and Happy Packing!!

My Pregnancy Workout Routine

Hello Everyone!

Today I wanted to talk about my Pregnancy workout routine, broken up by trimester.

Since Baby Boy is already here, I obviously cannot work out until I am cleared to do so from my doctor at my 6 week appointment, but I am looking forward to jumping back in!

I love working out at home, because 1. It is MUCH easier with a toddler, and 2. Honestly, I sometimes don’t feel super comfortable working out in front of other people. I enjoy working out in my own space, at my own speed, and being able to start and stop is a great part of working out at home while pregnant with a toddler.

My favorite thing to do in order to work out is with a guided workout on YouTube. Usually during nap time is when I get my workout in, I put a guided video on our living room TV and bust out as much as I possibly can.

My favorite first trimester workout to do is the Bump’n Body Prenatal Workout by Tone It Up. I would do this workout 6 times a week and have a day to rest (usually one of Josh’s days off so we can spend time together).

I tried to keep up with it as much as possible, and I did notice that the more I kept up with it, the more energy and less fatigue I had.

In my second trimester, I wanted to change it up a little bit, so in order to do that (and with my new-found energy) I would continue to do the Bump’n Body Prenatal Workout, but also added in the Prenatal Booty Workout and the Quick Upper Body Pregnancy Workout, both by Tone It Up. Even though I had more energy during my second Trimester, I lowered my workouts to 5 times a week, switching off between the original workout and the booty and upper body workouts. Since one was a full body workout, and the other two were targeting specific areas, I would alternate between a day of doing the full body workout and a day of combining the two targeted workouts for my 5 days of workouts that week.

In my last trimester, in the beginning, I would continue to work out 5 times a week, this time switching off between the Upper Body and Booty workouts 4 times a week, and breaking it up with a prenatal yoga routine. My favorite to follow is the 20 Minute Prenatal Bedtime Yoga Routine by SarahBethYoga. I stopped working out 5 times a week around 35 weeks, because I was having a lot of exercise induced Braxton hick’s contractions (definitely not comfortable!). After talking with my doctor, she suggested that from that point on I take it a little easier.

Since 35 weeks I followed along to SarahBethYoga’s prenatal yoga routines 3-4 times a week. I love the bedtime routine, because I find that it is a nice way to end the day with stretching and relaxing my body. Another added benefit is that it helps with my Restless Leg Syndrome (which is an ABSOLUTE life saver!).

I hope you all enjoyed this post and these workouts as much as I do! I will talk to you all in my next post!

(Remember to always talk to your doctor and/or health care provider in order to understand how these exercise routines may affect you, your health and your baby. Always make sure to get everything okayed before engaging in any kind of workout during pregnancy.)

My Second Trimester Recap

Happy March Everyone!

Today I wanted to talk about my Second Trimester Recap (now that I am WELL into my third trimester of my second pregnancy). I wanted to talk about my symptoms and how I handled them, routines and products that I have been using and started using in the second trimester!

To start off, I am happy to say that my nausea dramatically decreased! It was definitely still an issue at some points where I would need to go lie down or avoid a certain kind of food, but nothing like my first trimester. Along with that, my fatigue seemed to go away almost entirely, making it easier for me to get back into my day to day routine.

I definitely felt so much better being able to keep up with Sophie, the house and all of the errands again, and while I had that energy back, I tried to make a point to keep up with all of the chores that had seemed to pile up over the first few months of this pregnancy. This helped me feel more relaxed and at ease as well as giving my mind the clarity I was needing.

Something that, surprisingly, made me feel so much more energetic, was getting into a weekly workout routine, and actually sticking with it. Not only did it help me with staying fit, but like I said before, it gave me the amount of energy I felt as though I was lacking.

I will be posting in an upcoming post my pregnancy workout routine, where to find all of those workouts, as well as a nutritional plan!

My second trimester has definitely been the easiest, and brought back sweet memories of when I was pregnant with Sophie! I have had an amazing time during my second trimester, and felt as though I was able to really enjoy every moment! (Plus, it definitely helped that it was over the holidays! I could actually enjoy all of the fun and deliciousness!) Baby boy started moving around week 18 (I could actually tell since I have felt those movements before), and he has gotten more and more active over time!

Something that I noticed was that, for some reason, I felt much more dehydrated than I did in the beginning of my pregnancy. Not only from the inside, but my skin also felt ridiculously dry, and incredibly itchy! I had been itchy with Sophie, but this time around I felt dramatically itchier.

Something that helped me keep up with hydrating myself was buying a GIANT reusable water bottle as well as lots of creams and lotions to moisturize my skin!

The reusable water cup I bought was from Starbucks, which I love because it has a straw, which is easy to keep sipping on throughout the day, as well as making it easy for me to share with Sophie!

My favorite moisturizing cream that I have been using is The Spoiled Mama Tummy Butter! I used this also while I was pregnant with Sophie, and one of the things that encouraged me repurchase was the fact that it is such a thick, moisturizing cream, but it actually SOAKS INTO THE SKIN! I have zero residue left on my skin and it leaves my skin feeling soft and hydrated! It is a little pricey, but definitely worth the investment.

Another thing I love about this product is that it is vegan, toxic-free, and organic! As well as being a smaller company, which I love supporting!

Other lotions I have loved using when I am running low on my tummy butter is the Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula, as well as plain old coconut oil!

With the coconut oil, I use it all over my body, and after baby is here, it is an EXCELLENT alternative for nipple creams. I love using coconut oil because it is hydrating and natural!

When it comes to hydrating my skin, I like to moisturize at least 3 times a day, and if my skin is feeling a little drier that day, I will set aside a couple more times to make sure and moisturize. I try to refill my water 8 times a day, which has not been kind to my bladder, but awesome to my body overall!

Another thing I loved having during my Second Trimester (as well as during my first trimester) is The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy & Childbirth. Even though I have already gone through one pregnancy and childbirth experience before, I love learning more about taking care of my own body and baby boy in natural and healthy ways!

My amazing sister-in-law who is also expecting recommended this to me and I am SO thankful that she did! I have loved keeping up with everything week-by-week, as well as trying the awesome recipes and going through the encouraging affirmations. Since I had more energy during my second trimester, I feel as though I was able to try much more from the book than I was able to during the first trimester.

The last necessity I needed during my second trimester was, obviously, maternity jeans! I have grown so much faster and bigger this time around than my last pregnancy, so I decided to invest in some jeans that would last as well as being comfy and cute! When it comes to maternity clothes, I am not big into spending a ton of money on shirts, dresses, skirts, etc. Because in all honesty oversized sweaters or tight t-shirts work just fine, look cute, and cost NOTHING! But there is no way to get around needing maternity jeans. My favorite places to shop for maternity jeans is Target and Pink Blush Maternity online! They have all of their sizing information easily available, awesome return policy, and always have discounts and sales going on!

Well, there it is! My Second Trimester in a tiny little nutshell! If any of you are expecting, I hope you all are having and continue to have healthy pregnancies! I hope you all have enjoyed this recap! Have a blessed week and I will talk to you all in my next post!