30-Week Bumpdate

You guys! We are 63 days AWAY from meeting Baby Boy! Ahhh! It's unbelievable how fast this pregnancy has flown by, but we've still got a ways to go. Also, I haven't done a bumpdate in 5 weeks? Oops. Well...here's my 30-week preggo bump in all its glory.

Maternity/Nursing robe is from ShopPinkBlush.com.

You can find this exact robe here.

How far along?: 30 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: +14 lbs

Sleep: Surprisingly, pretty good! Been sleeping soundly this week.
Best moment this week: Owen sleeping in his new bed for the first time. 
Movement: All the time.
Symptoms: The typical back pain that comes with pregnancy, but I've been having sharp lower back pain when I change positions - usually from a sitting to standing position - but only sometimes. I'm also having GERD (yuck), and I'm getting nocturia again. 
Symptoms I DON'T have: I don't know...I feel like I have them all, hahaha.
Food cravings: It varies from day to day, but they're never SERIOUS cravings where I'd have to leave my house to go get it at that exact moment. But if I'm being totally honest right now, I could eat a whole plate of Hawaiian macaroni salad. Or a classic roast beef and cheddar sandwich from Arby's. Ugh.

Food aversions: Nothing at the moment.

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: None.
Belly Button in or out?: Flat.
What I miss: Being comfortable. Heh.
What I am looking forward to: Going to IKEA (yes, AGAIN) this weekend to get more stuff for the boys' room!


And in honor of Throwback Thursday, here was my 30-week bump picture when I was pregnant with Owen!

Eeek! I was a whopping 21 pounds heavier in this photo!!! I definitely learned a thing or two from my first pregnancy.

Until next time!

**Disclaimer: The clothing showcased above was gifted to me by PinkBlush in exchange for a review/social media post.**

Owen's Big Boy Bed

Yesterday morning, we ventured to the 3rd Happiest Place on Earth - IKEA (Disneyland and Target are 1st and 2nd, respectively) - to buy Owen's toddler bed. They were having a "Back to College" sales event...which didn't really affect our purchase selections, heh...BUT they did have a $25 off coupon when you spend $150 pre-tax. Score!

Owen was pretty excited. He knows IKEA very well and goes nuts whenever we're there. He'll do his very best to sit on every couch and jump on every bed. Sorry, IKEA workers...

We got him the Sniglar toddler bed, which will be matching his little brother's crib (we'll be buying the Sniglar crib later, since we don't have room for it right now).

IKEA Sniglar Toddler Bed.

IKEA Sniglar crib.

You're probably wondering why we're not keeping Owen's crib for Rerun. To tell you the truth, I wanted to remove all the darker furniture out of Owen's room because they honestly made his room look crowded. We have moved his book case and dresser elsewhere, and his room already looks fifty times bigger. And anyway, it's the one thing that Rerun can have that's not a hand-me-down. ;)

After we got home and Owen took his nap (in his crib), Ralph began building the bed.

We did not plan on Owen sleeping in his big boy bed yet; but when bedtime came, and we asked where he wanted to sleep, he immediately went to his new bed. Ralph and I figured that if he was that interested, we'd follow his lead. So, we set up our new video baby monitor, tucked him in, and left the room.

Now, please keep in mind that we never had a VIDEO baby monitor before this, so this was all very fun for me and Ralph. We were waiting for Owen to get up, turn on the light, and start playing with his toys (or, heck, just simply leave the room), but he didn't do a thing...except scratch his butt.

Owen right after we left his room.

Now, Owen has always slept on his belly (like most babies); so whenever we'd check on him before we'd go to bed ourselves, we would always find him on his belly (on top of his blanket) with his head on the opposite side of his pillow. So after half an hour of watching him tossing and turning, he finally plopped on his belly...and we knew that he was getting ready to pass out.

After another half hour of tossing and turning (and falling off for the first time...don't worry, there was a poof and his beanbag chair to catch his fall), he finally fell asleep...right at the edge of the bed.

Can you make out where he is?

Of course, I did not get a good night's sleep at all. I kept waking up every 2 hours to check on him, and I was half asleep the whole time. At around 5am, I woke up to him yelling, "Oh, fall down!" I quickly grabbed my glasses, put them on, and looked at the monitor in time to see him climbing back on his bed and falling asleep again. That was the only other time I knew of him falling off the bed. I guess 2 isn't too bad.

Owen at 6am.

A little after 6am, he began waking up. Again, I watched and waited for him to do something, ANYTHING. All he did for the next HOUR was lounge in his bed and play with his stuffed toys. I guess that's a good thing...means I can trust him not to tear his room apart.

He did it!

His first night in his toddler bed went really well...a little TOO well...which kind of scares me. Hopefully he can keep this up!

Today, for his nap, he wanted to go to sleep in his new bed again...

Before I left his room.

...and he fell asleep right away. :)

Until next time!

Maternity Session with Christina Cho Photography + PinkBlush

On Monday, we met up with Christina from Christina Cho Photography for our maternity photo shoot at Huntington Beach Central Park. This is the same place where Ralph and I had our engagement photos taken by - yes, the one and only! - Christina Cho!

Because I'm in my 3rd trimester and Southern California is going through a heat wave, I wanted to make sure that I was dressed comfortably and stylishly...and without showing my swollen pregnancy legs and farmer's tan on my arms...and without suffering from a heat stroke at the same time. Heh.

Fortunately, I found the perfect dress at PinkBlush, which is an online boutique shop that carries a variety of beautiful and trendy clothes for the modern day mama. While a lot of their clothes are designed for maternity, they also have an impressive collection of women's wear as well as accessories (including shoes, bags, scarves, and hats!).

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I dress pretty simply, sticking to the usual navy blues, blacks, and grays. But to tell you the truth, I was STUMPED at which dress/outfit I should get from PinkBlush. I must've spent an hour (or two...or three...) just looking at all their maxi dresses, but I decided on this beauty.

Dress can be found here (ivory).
BONUS: I can wear it post-pregnancy because it's nursing-friendly. Woo!!!

At first, I was worried about my outfit selection - "What if it's too hot that day? What if the material makes me sweat more, and all the make-up melts off my face? What if it's too tight?!" Well, let me tell you...ALL of my doubts and worries vanished as soon as I put that dress on. I cannot begin to tell you how light and breathable (and stretchy!) the material is. I honestly sweated more during our fall family session in the middle of November!

Huge thanks to PinkBlush for providing me with such a beautiful dress - I felt like a million bucks.

And, of course, many thanks to our friend Christina for these beautiful photos...not to mention you had them ready in less than 48 hours! You've outdone yourself once again, and I will say that THIS one is now my new favorite session SO FAR. ;)

Until next time!

**Disclaimer: The clothing showcased above was gifted to me by PinkBlush in exchange for a review. All opinions in this post are my own.**

Welcoming the 3rd Trimester

Summer is here, and last Thursday marked the start of the third trimester! *Throws confetti!* And BECAUSE it's Summer and BECAUSE I'm approximately the size of a baby whale, I've had no desire to leave the cool and comfort of my own home.

Here's what's been happening since I last blogged...

At the end of June, I had my 26-week check-up, and so far, so good! I passed my Glucose test (Woo!), and my doctor and I talked about delivery options. After going back and forth, Ralph and I decided that it would be best to do a repeat C-section. We already scheduled it for Thursday, September 21st, and we are SO excited!

For 4th of July, we - you guessed it - stayed home, haha; however, I tried my best to make the most of it.

For breakfast, I made star-shaped Nutella-filled French toast topped with blueberry sauce with strawberries and whipped cream on the side *WHEW*.

For lunch, we just had leftovers; and for dinner, we had carne asada tacos and cheese quesadillas (Ralph's request).

And after that, I put together this super easy S'mores recipe that I saw on Instagram just a day or two prior.

S'mores Dip Recipe:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Layer the bottom of an oven-safe dish with Hershey's chocolate bars.
3. Dip some marshmallows in water and cover them in blue sprinkles.
4. Repeat step 3 but with red sprinkles.
5. Cut the dipped and non-dipped marshmallows in half, and arrange them sticky side down on the chocolate to look like the American flag.
6. Cut a non-dipped marshmallow into tiny pieces and scatter them on the blue marshmallows (these will be the "stars").
7. Bake for 8 minutes.
8. Serve with graham crackers!

Needless to say, Owen enjoyed dessert immensely.

While we were having our dessert outside, we let Owen throw Pop-Its on the ground. He was pretty terrible at it at first (throwing them too softly, or throwing them at our feet/legs), but he got the hang of it later on. These were our "fireworks" this year, since Owen has never really had a huge liking for fireworks (not yet anyway). Perhaps next year.

And during all of this, I've been nesting...like, reeeeeeeaaaaaally bad. I think finding out the baby's delivery date has put things in motion. Obviously, since we live in a 2-bedroom townhome apartment, the boys will have a shared room/nursery, and that means we'll need ALL the room we can get. And, naturally, I want to redo Owen's room entirely (much to Ralph's chagrin, HAHA, just kidding...sort of) instead of just tossing a toddler bed in there and calling it a day.

In the beginning, I had all these plans of selling old furniture and buying new ones; but throughout the process, I decided to just move certain things around, which, in the end, will save us a couple hundred dollars and a LOT of work. So far, we've done the following:

• Cleaned out Owen's closet, which consisted mostly of Owen's toys and Ralph's collectibles (most went into storage).
• Moved Owen's dresser/changing table into our bedroom, which is now OUR dresser/current TV stand.
• Moved our old TV stand to the right side of Owen's closet, which will house Rerun's clothes and serve as the new changing table.
• Moved Owen's bookcase to the left side of his closet, which will house Owen's clothes and miscellaneous things (diapers, wipes, etc.). 
• Moved our small shoe cabinet (which we found out was only holding 2 pairs of shoes we didn't know we still had, LOL!) from the downstairs closet to Owen's room. We'll be turning it into a toy storage unit of some sort (I just love IKEA products...so versatile).
• Moved Owen's crib to where his changing table/dresser used to be.
• Organized the crap out of our own closets to simply make more room.
• Went to our storage unit to bring back Owen's old baby things (clothes, rocker, swaddles, etc.).

It's hard to picture all of that right now, but I'll definitely post before and after photos in the future. This weekend, we'll be buying Owen's big boy bed (AHHHH!!) and getting started on THAT transition - his bed will be where his bookcase and crib used to be.

So that's what we've been up to! Just cleaning and re-organizing. Later today, we'll be meeting up with the amazing Christina Cho for our maternity photo shoot. :)

Until next time!