Things I Love//Things I Hate

I have by no means had an easy pregnancy so far. I spent the first two months in bed 24 hours a day (literally in bed all day/all night) feeling pretty miserable and unable to do anything. I could only eat a few bites of food at a time, and I ended up losing ten pounds right off the bat. At 11 weeks, my doctor ordered an IV for hydration and a Reglan (anti-nausea meds) pump for me to have at home. Fortunately, the insurance company took so long to approve this (like 2.5 weeks) that I didn't need it anymore by the time they gave us the go-ahead (this didn't stop them from sending all the supplies to my house... hydration drip, anyone??). We also found out that I have hyper-thyroidism at 11 weeks (I've been pretty sure I was hyper-thyroid for a few years now... just never had the health insurance to do anything about it until now).

Of course, it could have been/could be much much worse, but it certainly hasn't been smooth sailing so far. Honestly, I'm kind of terrified of ever doing this again, and I've asked Levi to please be okay with having only one child just in case I never get my nerve up again. Anyway, now that I'm starting to feel a bit better (still waiting for this so-called second trimester energy peak everyone's always talking about...), I wanted to make a list of things I have loved and things I have hated about being pregnant. I'll try to keep my hate list brief. ;)

Things I Hate:

1. No Boar's Head cracked pepper turkey sandwiches or bleu cheese.

2. Constipation (sorry, but it's true).

3. Eating. Most food completely grosses me out now, and I rarely want to eat.

4. Gross smells.

5. I'm sure I could come up with lots of other stuff, but let's get to the positive side now.

Things I Love:

1. Crying at everything all the time. You know how sometimes it just feel SO GOOD to cry? That's how pregnancy crying feels to me. Every day.

2. Getting to see our baby via ultrasound. I've never thought an ultrasound of a baby was so cute until now.

3. Good smells! Even though a hyper-heightened sense of smell makes lots of things stink, good-smelling things smell sooooo good now - my mint chocolate deep conditioning treatment, for example.

4. My boobs!!! They're HUGE!

5. Knowing that even when I'm doing absolutely nothing, I'm still growing a human being. So even if it doesn't look like I'm being productive, I really really am!

6. Having health insurance!

7. Shopping for baby things.

I'm sure I'll have lots more to add to my love list in the coming weeks, but that's what I've got for now!

What do you/did you love about being pregnant? If you've never been pregnant, what do you look forward to the most? (Besides the baby...)

Finding Out

Hello! Thank you so much for all the sweet and wonderful congratulations on our big announcement yesterday! Levi and I were blown away by all the love we received on my blog and all over the rest of the Internet! It felt SO GOOD to finally share this big news that we've been keeping secret for the last few months.

I am now 14 weeks pregnant! Our due date is 6 November... although, I'm hoping for a Halloween baby. Good luck on that one, right??! First babies aren't exactly known for coming early, especially in my family. But a girl can hope!

We were completely shocked by this pregnancy. After my miscarriage, I had decided that I wanted to wait awhile to try again. Well, God had something else in mind because I got pregnant immediately after the miscarriage. I never even had a period after!

Finding out we were pregnant again was quite an experience. I had feared that I wouldn't feel happy or joyful the next time... and I was right. In fact, I honestly felt upset when I saw the second line forming on the pregnancy test. It wasn't that I didn't want a baby; I was just really scared. I didn't feel like I could handle losing another baby, and I was angry that what should have been a joyful experience was tainted by the knowledge of what could happen.

We had brunch plans with Chris and Stacey the morning we found out. I was three days late and hadn't really thought much of it (I figured I would be irregular after the miscarriage), but I decided to take a test just in case. About fifteen shocked minutes later, I was texting Stacey to let her know we'd be late for brunch. We drove down to Laguna Beach to meet them, and I remember listening to this song in the car and quietly weeping. It was then that I decided I wouldn't be afraid of the horrible possibilities. I decided I would put my faith in God and trust Him with whatever happened, regardless of whether or not I ever got to meet this new little life forming inside of me. I felt peace, and I held onto that peace and faith throughout those first uncertain weeks.

Chris and Stacey were the first people we told. There was absolutely no way we could have made it through brunch without sharing our news. They would have thought we were on drugs if we hadn't told them; that's how shocked we were. They were both really excited for us and had nothing but positive things to say. It was perfect actually. It helped us start to feel some excitement about the future. And really, I would have told Stacey that same day anyway... I texted Camilla later that afternoon to let her know too.

We had already had plans to go to Disneyland the next day (one of Levi's clients signed us in - woo!), and I was not about to let a brand new pregnancy stop me from going. I looked at it as my last chance to go on any roller coasters for the next 9+ months. We went on EVERYTHING, and it was so much fun. It rained a lot that day, so the park was pretty empty. We tried to stick it out so we could see World of Color, but pregnancy fatigue was already setting in, and we only made it 'til about 5:00 in the afternoon.

That whole weekend was exactly what we needed. Everything had been planned at the perfect time, and everything helped ease us into this new phase of life. And now, we're completely thrilled that I'm pregnant (especially since the wretched first trimester is ending). We can't wait to find out if baby is a boy or a girl, and we love talking about what kind of parents we want to be and the things we hope to teach our child. I'll probably blog a lot about being pregnant... hopefully, that doesn't get annoying. It's just on my mind a lot, you know?! I'm so happy and relieved to finally get to talk about it here on my blog. I was really running out of things to say before (I don't enjoy keeping secrets at all), but now I have all sorts of things to go on and on about! :)

A brand new little outfit for...

...a brand new little baby!

Baby is expected to make his or her appearance some time in early November, and we can't wait!!

(P.S. Thank you, Wolfie, for loaning us your cute little baby Toms, and thank you, Pinterest, for this sweet little shoe idea.)

Ohhhh! I'm in love!

This Clara Tales video is the sweetest thing.

All the acting and narration are done by children. They hope to make more videos, and I certainly hope they do! It sounds like a really great and meaningful project. You can check out what they're trying to do by watching their kickstarter video here, and you can donate here if you want to support their project!

For the Love of Seersucker

I've always had a soft spot for anything seersucker (I'm a sucker for seersucker... no? You're right - too cheesy). I remember my very first independent seersucker purchase - a pink and white bikini from J. Crew when I was a teenager.

Here are a few things I'm loving right now:

This bikini from Anthropologie is so sweet!

I love this pencil skirt from J. Crew, especially with that pretty silk top.

These were my first pair of Soludos espadrilles. I got them back in September and wear them constantly. Soludos makes the bessssst espadrilles. I highly recommend them!

All this seersucker kinda gets you in the mood for summer, doesn't it? :)