15 Weeks

How far along: 15 weeks (June 2-8)

Gender: It's a Baby!

Weight gain: Probably 6 lbs.

Maternity clothes: Purchased a few things to wear in the future. There was a good sale at GAP and Old Navy.

Sleep: Still going good.

Best moment this week: Our friends wedding.. It was a great night that included some hilarious dance moves and some late night mac and cheese. 

Worst moment this week: In the begining of the week Wayne threw out his back at the gym. I had to help the poor guy from his work van into the house and all about. After a trip to the doctors, some rest, and some pain meds he was on the mend.

Miss anything: A turkey sandwich!

Movement: Nothing yet.

Cravings: I do not like gravy. Normally. The only way I really do like it is hot roast beef sandwiches swimming in gravy on a hard roll. Like for Thanksgiving I don't use gravy on anything. Gross. Anyways, I had some mashed potatoes and gravy at our friends wedding and it was literally mouth watering! I did think about it a few days after... and now I want mashed potatoes!

Looking forward to: Possibly registering next weekend.

14 Weeks

How far along: 14 weeks

Gender: It's a Baby!

Weight gain: About 5 lbs.

Maternity clothes: Just a few maternity bras. Using the old hair tie trick on my jeans. Everything still fits, just starting to feel super thick through my midsection.

Sleep: Pretty good so far. Not really waking up to pee in the middle of the night. I have a few times, but I usually can make it to 5:30 am or so. Not looking forward to the times when I'll be up every few hours.

Best moment this week: We took our "social media announcement" photo with some cute little converse sneakers and Mack! Was pretty hilarious. We tried to keep the shoes in Mack's mouth and get him sitting, but he couldn't get over the laces and would push his tongue out everytime we tried to put them in his mouth. He then proceeded to shake the sneakers and toss them. We ended up with two sopping went shoes, and a picture of him on the ground with the shoes in front of him. Poor Wayne was convinced that we could get him to hold them him his mouth.. we all know who won that bet.

Worst moment this week: Overall was a good week!

Miss anything: Now that the weather is getting warmer, a nice full glass of Pinot Grigio would be amazing.

Movement: Not yet.

Cravings: Pizza. We made some grilled pizza over the weekend and it turned out pretty good.

Symptoms: Experiencing a bit of hip pain, but other than that.. pretty good.

Looking forward to: Our friends wedding next weekend.

First Trimester Recap

Here is the first bump photo taken at 8 weeks!

 

All in all, I have really been lucky to have experienced no morning sickness. I did have a few times where I felt a spec unsettled, so I'd much on crackers and then I'd quickly feel better. I was a little tired, but nothing super noticable to me. First trimester brought a total weight gain of about 5 lbs. All my normal clothes, aside from bras still fit. I did have to purchase a few maternity bras. I found my first trimester to be quick and simple, which I'm grateful for!

I purchased a smaller maternity pillow that just supported the semi non-existant bump. I normally flip and turn all over for sleeping, so learning to sleep on my left side is going to be very difficult! 

I'll be back with some more updates from the recent weeks. 

Baby Hobson

Well, as I'm sure everyone has seen on facebook or instagram, but, we're expecting! Baby Hobson is due November 24, 2015. I figured I'd try my best to document my pregnancy here, so I can gather all of my thoughts and memories in one place and be able to reflect back in the future.

So, where shall we begin...

Let's go back to March 14, 2015. I woke up and had thought that the day before good ol' Aunt Flo should have arrived. We were planning on going out for dinner and drinks for our friend Justin's birthday that night, and something compelled me to take a test. So I took a test, and placed it on the counter. I wasn't sure how long I had to wait, so I literally watched the control line appear and basically at the same time, the positive line appeared too. I was completely shocked! We hadn't been trying, and we hadn't been preventing.. and well, ready or not, baby Hobson is on his or her way!

(the bottom one was taken first. The top one was at some point later that afternoon to confirm I was indeed knocked up!) 

Telling Wayne was fun. I didn't have anything special planned but did a quick pinterest search and came up with the following little sign:

I had some pain in my lower right groin about a week after finding out. My initial appointment was scheduled for April 9th. This pain was isolated and consistent for more than 12 hours, so I figured I should call and make an appointment just to be checked out. At the appointment my doctor didn't think it was really much to be worried about, but scheduled me for an ultrasound to be sure that baby was in the right spot and to rule out a cyst.

A week later the pain had stopped and I finally had my first ultrasound appointment.We kept it just to be sure that all was right at that time.

Here is the first picture of our little munchkin!

The first appointment went fine. Was a ton of medical questions and history. Reviewed a ton of info with the midwife I met with, and then was sent on my way with our first ultrasound two weeks later on Wayne's birthday.

It was so hard to keep this a secret! At first we were set on waiting the recommended 12-13 weeks before telling anyone, but it was getting hard as we were so excited.

Our first ultrasound was great! We went on the day I turned 9 weeks. It was so insane to see this little gummy bear moving! Baby measured 1 inch and looked right on target for our due date of 11/24/15. We got to hear the heartbeat too, a strong 171 bpm! It was such a surreal experience.

(Yes, our child is upside down here! Haha)

Since then, we've had one more ultrasound appointment, our first trimester screening, at 13 weeks. Back up, we decided not to find out the sex of the baby. I had the Verifi blood test done at 10 weeks to check for chromosomal abnormalities, the tests came back with all good results. At our NT scan, the tech had our blood test results in front of her and thankfully, she asked "Do you guys want to know the sex of the baby?" to which we both quickly responded "NO!". It was insane to know that on a piece of paper 5 feet from me, would be the gender of our little gummy bear! But regardless, it doesn't matter and we were so excited to see how different baby looked.

In 4 weeks baby grew 2 inches! He or she had his hands either by or in his or her mouth most of the time. Baby was rolling around in there too! Even flipped onto its tummy for a while. But all in all, the appointment went great, and baby looked great. The heartbeat was 156.

(Look at that sweet hand in his or her mouth!)

Telling our families was the most exciting part. We told them on Wayne's birthday cake. It was hysterical as most people don't pay attention to what the cake says. Both our families didn't realize at first, and once they did, were over the moon with excitement! 

So that's where we will end for now! I've been taking the weekly chalkboard pictures, so I'll start updating with that and all the (or lack there of) symptoms and details. I'm currently 16 weeks so there's quite a bit of catching up to do. 

Stay tuned for more on Baby Hobson!

Bathroom Inspiration

Also included in our basement finishing, will be a half bath! We have a small ranch, with only 1 full bath right now, so adding this small half bath is so exciting! Not only will it increase the value of our home, it will get its use when we have people over. No more waiting for the only bathroom! 

I love grey. In fact, I'm currently obsessed with it! Almost all of the rooms in my house right now are some shade of grey. We are using a tan color as the main paint for the basement, so, we can definitely do a grey bathroom down there. This makes me so happy!

I wanted a simple grey and white theme. Crisp, plain, elegant. Flipping through the Pottery Barn catalogue I fell in love with so many of their chrome bathroom pieces - faucets, mirrors, lights, etc. I'm not looking to spend that on our little half bath down stairs, maybe the master bath in the future! So I did some bargain hunting, trying to achieve the look for less. 

 

1. // 2. // 3. // 4. // 5. // 6. // 7. // 8. 

We (read I) chose, Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal as the bathroom color. It's such a rich deep grey.  I really wanted something drastic. Our grey paint upstairs is lighter, softer greys. I wanted something bolder. It will look so great against the white sink/toilet.

I am really loving the wooden plank looking tile.  In going with the grey theme we found one at home depot for about $2.50/sq ft. I'm not sure of the exact brand. The picture above isn't it, I had just searched grey floor tile on pinterest and came up with that photo. The actual tile we went with is a bit more grey, and a shade or two lighter. We didn't want to darken the room with the flooring.

Pottery barn has a gorgeous chrome framed pivot mirror (here), but at $300.00, it was out of my price range. I searched for a chrome pivot mirror and found this beauty at Lowe's for just under $100.00. Boom. 

As soon as I started looking at sinks/tubs, I knew I wanted this Kohler set. My parents have the pedestal sink in a bathroom at their house and I loved the shape of it. I needed to have it! These two were the first things that I picked out when dreaming up our half bath. 

I have a few hand towels with the H monogram in our upstairs bath, but need a few to dry hands in the basement. I'm really excited to get both of our names into the monogram. Definitely buying these from Pottery Barn! When did hand towels make me so giddy?! Sadly, I think it's a sign of growing up.

These chrome sconce's are just what I was looking for! I wanted something to go on either side of the mirror to make sure that the bathroom is really bright. If it's going to be painted such a dark color, the lighting to me is huge to help make it not feel like a dungeon. We're purchasing some sort of bright wall sconce's to really light the place up. Really considering these. The price point is great.

Once we chose the sink in the white finish, and had the idea of all the chrome accents, we knew we wanted a European style faucet. I love the handles on this! Gives it a vintage, fun, yet clean appearance. I think this is the one we will be purchasing as well.

Here is where we stand right now with my little half bath.

Stay tuned for a finished photo in the future. Tile is going down shortly, and things will start to take shape soon!

Thank goodness for a handy husband! Making my dream home reality. How'd I get so lucky?!

Basement Stairway Inspiration

We're currently in the process of finishing our basement. I'm really excited about not walking amongst the cobwebs and spiders to do the laundry anymore! We're getting a bar space, a couch/tv space, a pool table, half bath, laundry room, and an office/shooting space for me! 

I've been taking my time in figuring out the decor. I really want to plan it out and find useful pieces instead of just something to fill the space. 

So for inspiration, we'll start with the stairway, because that entry will set the tone for the basement. We're planning on doing paneling all through out the main room, and a light tan wall. I wanted something very versatile and would match anything. Obviously I want to utilize the space as well, so displaying photos is a must! Here's some photos that get my decorating side turning.

 1. Ballard Designs / 2. Return to Home Interiors / 3. Pinterest / 4. Pinterest

I've been eyeing this star pendent light for what feels like years! So excited to finally have a space to put it. I'm also really loving gallery walls lately. Not sure if I'm going to strictly do photos, or add in some letters or other fun items. 

Here's a photo of the stair case as of tonight. This will be fun to compare some before/afters.

Next up will be some half bath inspiration! Stay tuned!

2015

2015. 

Wow, I really cannot believe how quickly time flies. I can remember being little and the summers seemed to last an eternity, and now, before I even have time to enjoy it, it's over! Please time, slow down. 

In an effort to preserve time, I've decided that I need to make some changes. I'm the worst with change, but sometimes, things just need to be done. So, 2015, are you ready?

#1. Minimize. 

In all sorts of ways - the amount of t-shirts I own, the boxes of old bills and papers, my waist, and just clutter everywhere. I really hope to simplify and minimize so many aspects of life this year. I need to start with a major clean out. Like, filling the bed of my husbands truck with junk - type of clean out. We have a small modest house, and are currently finishing our basement, and here I am thinking, oh more room for stuff! NO! I'm putting my foot down. I don't want to just fill more space. I want to clean out what we have and move things around.

I love the look of a simple, tidy house. Everything has is place, is easy to find, and organized. I have boxes upon boxes, and bins upon bins. Why am I just putting something in a bin and in the attic or a closet for later? If it's not for a holiday, or clothing for the opposite season, why do I have it? Sure, there are things I will not get rid of - old pictures, notes, momentos, but, I know I have a box of old bills from 2011. I know there's the whole 7 year thing, but let's face it, I'll take my chances and throw it on the burn pile. I can't continue on with all of this stuff!

#2. Organize.

This goes along with minimize, but it's also its own category. I need to take that which has made the "keep" pile and organize it! To a T! I've gotten way to lax with my organization and have let mess consume me for the past few years. I used to be the type of person that couldn't go to bed if there was a sock on the floor. Now, there's about 10, and some clothes, and a purse... eeeek. I need to bring back this crazy clean girl! What happened?!

I also want to get our wedding album done, as well as organize all of my pictures on my computer dating back to like 2006. I want to make up little photo books so I can just flip through them whenever I'd like! Set them out on my coffee table, or on a shelf and be able to flip back through when friends come over.

#3. Push. 

I want to push myself for more. Do more, be more, accomplish more, feel more. Just MORE. Businesswise, I need to get more sections up on my photography website, take my packaging and marketing to a new level. I also want to add more products to my etsy shop, some goodies for the home. I'd like to get myself into a great routine as far as work, exercise, home life. And blog more. I love looking back at old posts, I really want to blog atleast once a week - it's just a little collection of whats going on in life, or things on my mind. A great way to reflect upon the past.

And I want to push myself to not be lazy. I tend to take the easy way out, I need to stop being lax, and become a go getter. No one ever scored a touchdown by sitting in the sidelines, right? Time to get charged up!

#4. Plan. 

I'm a planner. I love planning. I love looking at a calendar and planning out the month. I especially want to meal plan. Minimize (see what I did there?!) my trips to the grocery store, minimize the places that I am running around to, just all in all plan ahead. Make a plan and stick to it! I really want to spend less time running around doing all sorts of things, and way more time at home, enjoying life, and cuddling with my pup!

Those are my resolutions. Sure I could also add the usual, save money, eat better, etc. etc. But, I'd like to try general concepts this year, opposed to one specific idea. 

What are your resolutions? 

Wish me luck! I'll let you know how I do next January!