Baby #2 - 28-Week Bumpdate + Hey 3rd Trimester!

How Far Along: 28 weeks. 7 months and entering the third trimester :)

Gender: Another boy. Oh my grocery bills.

Name: Yep! We've got a name!

Sleeping? So. Sort of. If I don't take a bath at night to unwind, then I can't sleep. There is something magical about the bath tub right now, so I'm not going to dare jinx it by not taking one every night. My sisters got me some really amazing bubble bath for my birthday this past weekend, and I am loving it so much. So I am really grateful for the tub these days :)

Eating: I'm actually trying to scale back the sugar in this final trimester. Apparently this is a big baby already (pray for me guys), so I don't want to add to the chunkiness by packing on the sugar pounds. If you have great healthy recipes for me, I am all ears. And perhaps some treats that feel indulgent but contain no sugar. It's going to be really hard to experience the holiday season without having a cookie here or there, but I really want to avoid giving birth to a 10-lb. baby if I can help it. So if I bake treats, I will immediately be giving them away this fall. You probably want to be my friend right about now, as I am currently littering my dining room table with fall recipes.

Emotional Check: Honestly, I'm officially a psycho. I don't really know another way to put it. I shared last week that I'm having to scale everything back for the remainder of this pregnancy, and I'm feeling frustrated about it. Sometimes I'm really positive and optimistic, but I definitely get hit with some feelings like "I just want to go run 5 miles right now!!!" and obviously I can't. I'm having to keep my feet up a lot and let other people do all my projects for me, which is just really grating. And then when I feel upset I get even more upset at myself for not remembering to be grateful for this baby and all the kindness and support I have around me and the short season that this is. Soon I know I will be cradling this little sweetheart in my arms and we will be back to figuring out how to exercise and meal plan and all that good stuff. So for now, I know I just need to chill. I'm just having some trouble with it. I can be honest with you, right? This pregnancy has really thrown me for a loop.

I do want to thank you guys for being so encouraging and supportive after last week's post. So many of you reached out on Facebook, Instagram, and the post and shared your experiences and it seriously brought so much hope to my heart. I loved all the suggestions of what to do from a resting position over the next few weeks - you guys are the best! I seriously cherish every comment, so thank you for taking the time to reach out. :)

Movement: Yes. I feel like I'm housing Thor up in here. He feels huge, he moves all the time, and if he keeps jabbing me in the you-know-what I'm going to have to discipline him in the first hours of his life.

I'm serious you guys. The movements aren't feeling like the sweet flutters of Heaven. They are a cross between feeling like contractions and a knife wound.

Looking Forward to: I was going to say ,"ending this pregnancy full-term!", but I want to be a little more positive than that. Obviously, everyone is excited for the changing of the season, and fall is such a dreamy time of year, so I am very much looking forward to cooler temperatures. We worked a lot in the back yard this weekend (by "we" I mean that I saw in my chair and told my husband where to plant everything), so now I have a special place to sip my coffee in the mornings and have prayer time, surrounded by herbs and vegetables and autumn flowers. I'm having to do a lot of self-encouraging these days, which is okay, it's good - it's just been a very unexpected month. That's just life sometimes though, right friends?

Here's to cooler temperatures and a full-term baby! What are you looking forward to for the fall season?

*The photo above is a bit of a lie. It was taken a few weeks ago so it's not an accurate portrayal of today's bump. I'll instagram one later today :)

Multitasking Motherhood.

Moms wear a lot of hats. And that's not just because we are trying to hide the dirty hair (just an added bonus).

We are busy, we are constantly innovating, continuously problem-solving, multitasking, thinking through the next meal plan and activity and whew - trying to get some laundry done while we're at it. Don't even get me started on full-time career moms because I don't know how they do it. I can only hope they outsource a lot.

All this multitasking can sometimes lead me to forgetting to take care of myself. Being so focused on the family and their well-being is the nurturing gift of being a mom, but I often have to ask myself, "Did I take good care of me today, too?" This past month my family spent our time in New York while the husband tackled a work project. We wanted to keep our family together and enjoy a mini adventure instead of missing dad for an extended period of time. I loved that we got this time together, but wow, it definitely threw off my normal routine, and Everett's, too! We settled into a nice schedule after a week or so, figuring out where to grocery shop and which parks were better (the ones with big water fountains, duh mom). But one thing I had to figure out was how to squeeze in some exercise while not having any free time to myself - no babysitters, no grandmothers to lean on, no school to occupy him for a few hours. Just me and Everett, all day, everyday.

I got creative with our park dates and amped up my "play" self. Made sure to dress properly for the occasion and hightailed it in the stroller to our favorite local destinations for some good old fashioned park time. It might not have been as focused as an hour at the gym or my new barre class obsession, but it was surprisingly athletic! I really believe that if you get intentional with a goal, you can make something happen! We did all the normal park activities, but I leaned in a little more than normal and engaged with him in a really active way. And you know what? It works! How silly is it that just fully committing to the moment could actually give me the exercise I would have never expected to get. I promise, this motherhood gig is full of surprises.

This Isabella Oliver top epitomizes the needs of a multitasking mom, and is something you could wear to the gym, the park or out to dinner, and it would equally serve all purposes beautifully. I wore this on a play date with Everett and Stevie one evening (we had to show Dad the newest of our park finds), and afterward I quickly threw on a different pair of pants and shoes for dinner downtown. We went from the playing on the swings to ordering crepes in about ten minutes flat, and that included freshening my lipstick and throwing on some earrings :)

The pieces in this collection make me realize there are other moms out there who "get it" - the need to take care of your family, take care of yourself, stay active and be flexible with the moments we are given. And feel stylish while doing so (I should have put that higher on the list just now, because who am I kidding - IT MATTERS). The Isabella Oliver brand is attractive because it's created by a mom who recognizes the need for beautiful, transitional clothing for the ebb and flow seasons of motherhood. The amazing part about the fall collection is that almost every piece works beautifully for before and after the baby comes. I think there is something magic in the ruching (and I don't normally care for the look of ruching), but the way it folds can easily accentuate a baby bump or look really slimming when there is no baby bump to display :)

A few other pieces I am loving from the fall collection are this dress (perfect for holiday parties!), this tunic (another multitasking piece), and this top (because seriously, SO cute). If you're into catalogs (I am), you can request one here - and it's a fun read, kind of like a book.


Look 2:
Isabella Oliver Helston Maternity TopSebago Claremont Boots, Gap Maternity 1969 Full Panel Skinny Jeans, Kate Spade Stevie Diaper Bag (mine is sold out, similar color here)

Many thanks to Isabella Oliver for sponsoring this post and providing free product. All opinions expressed are my own.