Coping with pregnancy hormones

Before you get all comfortable with your morning coffee thinking I've got some great tips because I've been pregnant 5 times and should be an old pro at this, guess again. I'm currently in the midst of a rough pregnancy roller coaster ride this week. In fact I thought about making the heading of this post "when mommy flies off the handle".

Writing is therapeutic though (there's one tip for ya) so here I am pouring my thoughts out to you fine people. I've mentioned before that the first trimester was particularly rough because I had terrible nausea for a while. I didn't mention that weeks 7-10 were a little hard with all the emotions. When I first found out I was pregnant with this baby it was only 6 days after making a huge move from Texas to Florida. A 4th baby just wasn't in the plans. I almost didn't want to tell my husband I was expecting--at least not until I was showing. I was nervous to tell him. He's very practical and I knew he would be bring up the cost of raising another child here in Florida where we were still adjusting to a higher cost of living. He surprised me by laughing and mentioning how the timing is crazy but on the other hand he feels blessed. However, as the weeks went by and I grew sicker I felt I wasn't getting the support I needed. Emotionally and physically as in taking care of more things around the house. We had a couple talks and things got much better. 

Since then and when the nausea went away, the pregnancy has been going great. Any nervous feelings I had about bringing a 4th child into the world have long been gone and I cherish every day I'm pregnant with this sweet baby girl. Monday was a particularly wonderful day with the family and I marveled at how lucky I was. Come Tuesday something changed drastically. I've felt more tired this week, irritable, and been having these anger outbursts. I know I work hard at my business and around the house and I don't get enough sleep, but that's nothing new. I'm attributing these anger outbursts to pregnancy hormones. For instance yesterday I was ok, but towards the end of the day I ended up throwing a closed bottle of Pepsi across the room and broke a glass cup by shoving it in the dishwasher angrily. Mommie dearest anyone?

Today is Friday which means H is home for the next two days and that definitely makes things easier. I also scheduled a prenatal massage for the evening so hopefully that helps. We also plan on going to the beach this weekend which is relaxing. I'm no expert at coping with pregnancy hormones and sometimes I do a crappy job at it--as in I don't nearly take some "me" time as much as I should, but I think the first important step is being able to recognize yourself when you're acting out of sorts and making a positive effort to deal with it. 

Have a great weekend!

Melon Crush

 

Nailpolish c/o Ella+Mila

Because sometimes you're just in the matching sort of mood. :)

XO

A very late weeked recap...

This is a recap from the weekend before this one that just passed and I don't always do weekend recaps, but I wanted to talk about our awesome trip to Sanibel Island and Naples. That Saturday we left the condo about 10:30 am and headed to Sanibel Island first. We stopped for snacks along the way and a Publix to fill our cooler with what we were going to have for lunch, and then got to Sanibel Island about 3 hours later from the time we left. 

Sanibel Island has several beaches and we didn't quite know which one to go to, but we settled on Bowman's Beach. There we saw a manatee, a turtle and lot's of other neat wildlife. The island is well known for it's shells everywhere. We were just going to make a day trip out of it but by 5pm we were a little too tired to drive home and it started pouring. We spent the night at a hotel and the next day headed to Naples before going home. I really enjoyed Naples and third street south has a nice plethora of shops and restaurants. I also loved the beach. The water was beautiful and the sand was very fine like sugar. We saw several different species of fish, a starfish and some beach-goers said they saw some dolphins earlier that day.

Have a great Tuesday!

Beach babe

These days I hardly spend on myself. When you have 3 girls and one on the way most of the fun money tends to go towards them and I'm ok with that. Another thing is, I'm really really picky! I can walk into a mall easily and come out with nothing. 

On Monday I ordered this adorable bathing suit from Forever 21 after trying on the bottoms in store Friday night. As with all my other pregnancies my bottom starts growing in the second trimester. I normally wear smalls but I have to size up to mediums now. My bikinis are getting too small and since we are at the beach at least every other weekend, I definitely need something I'm comfortable in. Hopefully the top fits ok because I didn't see it in store. 

{Ruffle Bikini / Forever21}

I have a bikini from Forever21 and I've been pleased with the quality so I don't think there will be an issue. This is the one I currently have but in mint,

 {Cutout Bikini / Forever21}

I also bought this gorgeous white chiffon dress from Sheinside.com. I've never purchased anything from this site before but it reminds me of Forever21. I don't remember who I saw wearing this dress, but I saw it on Instagram a week ago and knew I had to have it. I love maxi dresses! Especially while pregnant. I'm thinking of doing some maternity photos in this dress. 

Have a great Wednesday!

21 weeks pregnant!

I've gotten a little bit behind. I normally do these every 2 weeks but never did my 20 week recap. Everything is going great and I'm halfway there!

Total weight gain: 8 lbs. My bottoms are starting to get tighter and I think it's time for a new bathing suit. Small bottoms just aren't exactly cutting it anymore, and I apologize to any people on the beach yesterday that may have seen a little more on the backside than what they wanted to see when I was trying to take my shorts off haha!

Maternity clothes? Yes but not exclusively. I wear some maternity tops. 

Stretch marks? You know I'm just not sure. I can't tell if some of these around my belly button are older ones that I can see more clearly now because the skin is more stretched, or if some are new ones. 

Sleep: It's actually been pretty good these past two weeks minus the occasional wake up and not being able to fall back to sleep for 2 hours. 

Best moment this week: This past Friday we had the anatomy scan and everything looks great. I felt even more in love with her seeing her little body and her little profile. She's healthy and I'm definitely feeling very blessed!

Movement: I've been feeling her move every day and I just love it. Around 20 weeks I was able to see taps on the outside of my belly. 

Food cravings: I really haven't gotten cravings this pregnancy. Sometimes a random food item will pop in my head and I'll think about how that sounds good right now, but nothing I have to have. I have been enjoying cold m&m's at night with a cold bottle of water. 

Food aversions: Nothing I can think of this week.

Labor Signs: Nope! According to my scan last week cervix is still long and closed as it should be. My braxton hicks have also calmed down. They come on more when I'm overly stressed or the girls are at it and fighting a lot. 

Symptoms: Itchy skin and getting breathless a lot. I found out that baby girl is currently breech so with her head up high that might explain why I'm out of breath a lot. 

So excited about having another sweet baby girl to dress. Baby bibs are from my shop. 

Have a great Monday!

Layla turns 4!

Yesterday my Layla baby turned 4! It's so crazy how fast time goes when you have little children. Layla is the sweetest out of the bunch and 3 has been a great age. I've really enjoyed it and I'm so lucky I get to be her mother. Yesterday we had a low key birthday party--as in it was just us. It was actually nice though because all the focus was 100% on her and there was no need to entertain anyone else. We wish our families could have been here, but we are making a trip to Texas either next month or July, so we are pretty excited about that. 

We are having a.......

baby girl!!

I know almost everyone thought....or hoped that it would be a boy, but it looks like we are just destined to have a house full of girls. We are happy with whatever we are blessed with.

When we went for our ultrasound the little lady didn't want to cooperate and for a few seconds we were thinking boy because we saw something, but we ended up getting a clear picture that it is in fact a girl. We also get to have another more in depth ultrasound next week and hopefully I'll get some pictures this time. 

This past weekend the family and I went to Mounts Botanical Gardens in West Palm Beach and took some pictures to share with our family and friends. The park is a hidden gem and Saturday was just beautiful outside. The beautiful balloon tassel was provided by Love Pretty Details and I absolutely loved it! The tissue garland was already assembled and all I had to do was tie it on the balloon after I had it blown up with helium. So easy and so fun! I made the mistake of not putting enough helium in the balloon since it's supposed to be bigger, but it still came out great. Take a look at their shop for gorgeous handmade party decor.

Excited to add another little girl to this bunch!

Etsy shop: Love Pretty Details

Follow on Instagram: @Loveprettydetails

Have a great Tuesday!

Happy Friday!

What a week! The girls were much better than they were last week, but most of this week's stress was due to the business. On Tuesday a certain well known flash sale site reached out to me on Tuesday. I was so excited to open that email and I was beaming from ear to ear that afternoon. It was definitely a goal I could cross of my list. The only problem is it's taken several emails and a lot of thinking to make sure the numbers are going to be right for my bottom line. As much as I want to work with them, I still have a business to run. I can't give any details out yet as I haven't said yes yet, but when I do, I'll post about it. I am however working with a flash sale site currently and the deal ends Sunday so check it out and snag a gorgeous spring time bib. (Sorry shameless promotion)

{Eleventhavenue.com}

In other news, we found out what baby #4 is! You'll have to check back Tuesday for the big announcement. I'm so excited that I know what I'm having. What do you think it is? Here are a few facts that may sway your decision. My other children are all girls and this baby has had a high heart rate of 160 and up. However, my symptoms are different with this baby, as in new ones and a lot more intense.

Have a great weekend!