In July the hubby, Sophi and I went to Ocean City for a beach weekend with our friends and their little man {check out his Little Man/Mustache baby shower I threw here}.  Sophi is not really accustomed to sharing the spotlight or being around babies in general.  Overall I think she did great that weekend!  On the last day of the trip the two “babies” got up close and personal while playing on the floor.  Sophi mainly smelled him, while the little man tried to hug her.  This picture makes my heart melt … hopefully it is an indication Sophi will like Jellybean … a girl can hope, right?!!  How ADORABLE is this?

SophiandEthan

Happy Friday and have a fabulous weekend!!

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Nine times out of ten (it seems) the follow up question to “when is the baby due” tends to be “are you going to find out the gender?”.  As I mentioned in my first trimester tidbits post we quickly decided knowing the baby’s gender was a MUST.  I’m a planner by profession (what, what PMP certification LOL) and, well, it naturally carries over to my personal life.  The husband always jokes I’m his walking/talking calendar and to do list.

Anyways, here were the gender predictions:

  • Team Boy – Me, my sister and my dad
  • Team Girl – The hubby, my mom and 3 of my girlfriends
  • Team Who Knows – Everyone else.

I’ve heard stories of people who are at the doctors for over an hour trying to get their little one to turn/move into a position where they would be able to determine gender.  In fact, one of our cousins had to wait until her bundle of joy made HIS debut to find out her baby was a boy.  Jellybean on the other hand was chilling in the perfect position and it took the ultrasound technician just seconds to say …

ItsAGirl

I was absolutely shocked, because I was 100% convinced the baby was a boy.  Clearly, I am not a gender whisper-er  hahaha.  Either way I am THRILLED to being having a girl.  The hubby is very excited as well.  Some of his hilarious comments after finding out Jellybean was a girl included …

  • “I need to learn to play barbies.”
  • “What do girls like to play with?”
  • “She’s not dating until she’s 30!”  said completely straight faced and he was 90% serious.
  • And my personal favorite … “I guess this means we are paying for a wedding.”  If you know my husband, you know he’s extremely sarcastic and this was said (mostly) because he thought he was being funny.

I have vivid memories of being a little girl sitting at the dinner table, in the car or even walking down the street with my mother and sister chanting “girl power, girl power girl power” while pumping our fists into the air!!  My poor father was seriously outnumbered and soon enough the husband will be too.  With two daughters, a wife and a dog (who was also a girl) my dad was the only male in the house.  While he might like to pretend he’s a “man’s man”, luckily for us girls he is really a big teddy bear!  In honor of my “Girl Power” childhood memories I purchased the perfect onesie for Jellybean.

girlpower_onsie
Source

Now that we know we are having a GIRL it is time to get started on prepping the nursery, registering and all the other good pre-baby planning stuff.

Did you find out the gender of your baby?

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There are SOOO many beauty products out there.  Now don’t get me wrong I love all the options, but sometimes it makes it hard to know what to choose when the market is so abundant.  It has taken me quite a few years to figure out what product work best for me.  I have a pretty big collection of makeup/beauty products in the house.  It often surprises me the husband hasn’t asked me why I have so much … he probably assumes it’s a girl thing!  When traveling I try to be selective and only bring the essentials with me.  Below are the products I wouldn’t want to go a weekend without…

makeup_essentials

{1}  Too Faced Shadow Insurance
The makeup artist for my wedding actually turned me onto this eye shadow base. It brings out the pigments in the eye shadows and helps ensure the shadow color stays strong all day!

{2}  Almay Oil-free Eye Makeup Remover Pads
Great little pads to remove eye makeup. Ever put on some shadow that just doesn’t look right? These little puppies get it off without having to re-wash your entire face!

{3}  Boi-ing Concealer
I am one of those people who has dark circles under her eyes ALL the time. It doesn’t matter how much sleep I’ve gotten or what I eat the circles never go away. I’m always trying new dark circle corrector creams in an effort to lessen the dark circles as I’m confident they will never be totally gone.  A friend recommended I try Boi-ing under eye concealer.  It is amazing!  It’s the only product I have found so far that actually covers those horrible circles and stays on all day.

{4}  Even Skin® Portable Foundation
Great basic foundation that doesn’t dry out my skin or look “cakey”.

{5}  100 Eye Shadow Platte
I bought this eye shadow platte on complete impulse one afternoon while shopping. It was so cheap I justified the purchase without much effort.

{6}  Mascara – Lash Curling and Lash Thickening
During the day I just apply the lash curling mascara. If we are headed out at night to an event, party, dinner, etc I will first apply the lash curling and THEN add the lash thickening on top. It adds just the right about to make me feel “more dressed up” than just my daytime mascara.

{7}  Neutrogena Make-Up Remover Cleansing Towelettes
These towelettes are fabulous. The makeup/mascara comes off so quick and leaves my skin feeling clean and not dried out!

I’m always on the lookout for something new.  What are your go to makeup and beauty products?

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In case you missed the big announcement last week … I’m pregnant!  I thought it would be fun to catch you up on all the first trimester tidbits.

pregnancyannouncement

Random Tidbits

December 23, 2013 – Baby’s Due Date

Sophi (our dog) – The first “person” I told I was pregnant.  Yes she “knew” before the husband that we were expecting.  I stupidly took the test while he was at work.  Then I had to patiently wait for him to get home.  He was SHOCKED I was able to hold in the BIG news long enough for him to change into comfy clothes and tell me about his day (which I barely listened – sorry hubby!).  I had him sit on the couch before showing him the positive pregnancy test!!

Jellybean – The baby’s nickname.  We were tired of referring the baby as “baby” or “it” so the husband quickly came up with Jellybean.  Jellybean has morphed into a variety of nicknames including JB, Jelly Belly and Jelly.  So our little one already has a number of nicknames and we haven’t even met him/her yet.

The Girlfriends’ Guide to Pregnancy – My doctor recommended this book at my very first “pregnant” appointment as well as prescribed prenatal vitamins.  This book is hilarious!  It’s written as though you are truly talking to your girlfriend.  I haven’t read it front to back, but I have enjoyed reading/skimming different chapters that apply to me.

What to Expect When you are ExpectingThis book is a classic.  It comes in handy when I have questions like “is this <insert pain/ache/feeling> normal?”.  Unlike Goggling it doesn’t give all these horror stories … ladies if you are newly pregnant DO NOT GOOGLE.  It was advice I was given … didn’t take … and well probably should have because it would have saved me a lot of time spent on stressing/worrying.  This book, my friends, and doctors are MUCH better references {I’m still working on remembering this myself!}.

Gender – The husband and I agreed quickly to find out the gender of the baby at the 18 or 20 week ultrasound.  The husband says I am too much of a planner not to find out the gender before the baby arrived — he’s definitely got me pegged!

Sharing the BIG News

For the most part we tried to tell close friends and family in person.  There were of course cases where we had to tell people over the phone/text/email because of geographical limitations.  We convinced the husband’s parents to sign up for Skype so we could “test it for our trip to Mexico”.  I’m not sure if they completely believed our story, but happily accommodated our request.  This was the only way we could tell them about becoming grandparents without getting on a plane 2 months earlier than planned.  Everyone’s reaction to the pregnancy was a little different, however excitement was a consistent theme.  :)

A few of my favorite reactions …

“Nicole, are you sure? I don’t want to get excited if you aren’t sure!” – My Little Sister

“I knew it, I knew it, I knew it” followed by jumping out of her chair and screaming so loud the dog started barking – My Mother

“Is there something you want to tell me?” – Our friend Evan (Holding up the What to Expect When your Expecting Book … apparently I had forgotten to put the silly book away before he came for dinner!)

We slowly started telling all of our immediate family and very few close friends at about 7 weeks.  The rest of our family, friends as well as co-workers we told after 14 weeks.  A lot of people were surprised we waited so long to tell them.  Some of it was us being superstitious and the other part was wanting to get the thumbs up from the doctors for all those first trimester tests.  Let me just say though it was EXTREMELY hard not to share it with all our loved ones right away.  As the husband will attest I hate keeping “good secrets”.

Symptoms

Morning sickness / nausea – and let’s be honest this really needs to be renamed to ALL DAY sickness.  Or … how about pregnancy hangover?  I never actually got sick, but had that feeling I could get sick at any moment for most of the day.  Carbs quickly became my BFF.  I also started eating small snacks in between meals, which helped, but didn’t completely alleviate the issue.

Fatigue – At first I would attempt to relax {read sleep} on the couch after work.  It didn’t take long before I started getting into my sweats, grabbing the dog, pulling down the blackout blinds and climbing into bed.  The hubby was at times surprised to come home from work and find me in bed, asking “why are you in bed?” … my response, “I’m pregnant and tired and if I’m going to sleep I figured I should be comfortable!”  LOL.  At first I was worried I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night after an early evening nap, but 10pm would come and surprisingly I was more than ready to climb back into bed.

Heartburn –  I have never been one to get heartburn.  In fact the first time it happened I didn’t even know what it was.  While explaining the “feeling” to my husband and he just looked at me and said “Nicole, it’s heartburn”.  I was pretty surprised and after confirming with a couple friends and the doctor (twice) I started taking Tums to combat the heartburn.

What I Miss

I’m not going to lie, at first I really missed having a glass of wine when out to dinner.  Though I quickly got over it.  The thing I missed the most in the first trimester (heck the second too, so far) was not having to worry about what I was eating.  Until I was actually pregnant I didn’t realize how many restaurant dishes have raw egg, soft cheese, “raw” meat or other food on the no-no list for pregnant women.

Maternity Clothes

Around week 13 I gave in and started rocking some maternity clothes.  While I still “fit” into my non-maternity clothes they just weren’t comfortable.  The funniest part was that my shirts would have fit a lot longer if the “twins” had taken on a life of their own.  LOL!  In any case, my friend {love you Rebecca!} was kind enough to let me borrow her maternity clothes.  Although she didn’t have  a ton of warm weather clothes it was just enough to hold me over until I made it to the store.

I think that pretty much sums up the first trimester.  Did I miss anything??

Any tidbits from your 1st trimester you care to share?  I’d love to hear them!

signiture_nicole

 

 

 

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This picture screams home/childhood to me.  While I love DC and do think of it as home there are somethings the nation’s capital just can’t deliver on … and the ocean is one of them.  Growing up in Massachusetts it was rare to go very long without seeing the ocean.  Nowadays I can go weeks, sometimes months, without actually seeing or smelling the ocean.

Last time the husband and I went to visit my parents and sister we spent a lovely day on the boat.  After snapping this photo of the lighthouse I made a mental note to edit it first when I got back to the city!  I’m thrilled with how it came out.  If only I could think of a good place in the condo to hang this picture … maybe the master bath … I’ll have to run that by the husband. =)

As the summer slowly draws to a close I thought this photograph was very fitting!!

MarbleheadLightHouse

Happy Friday and have a fabulous weekend!!

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