Pregnancy Helpers

This post covers my entire first and second trimesters & a little bit of my third trimester. I need all the help I can get while I'm pregnant. I'm not one of those people who feel awesome pregnant. I can't bust out babies back to back. If you're one of those unicorn women - more power to ya girlfriend, you're amazing!!

My first trimester is rough, probably like most women's first trimester. Fatigue, nausea, vomiting, more fatigue and vomiting. My first trimester feels like a fog. I spend a lot of time on the couch, While that wasn't super easy with a toddler, I still made it work ;) Usually by the end of the day I had given all I could give so Matt would help me clean up dinner & put Kess down for bed. I would try, but would end up throwing up my dinner or something else glamorous. 

A few things I found that really helped me were...

Preggie Pop Drops I like the drops more than the lollies, because I can just pop them in my mouth quick. The flavor that I loved the most was ginger. I know that sounds super gross, but it works! The Meridian Babies R Us sells a big pack of ginger ones and I used them constantly. I was certain that people could smell them across a room, but I didn't even care. The flavor is more spicy, like a ginger snap rather than chinese-y ginger (does that even make sense haha)

NoMo Nausea Bands I contacted NoMo Nausea as soon as we considered trying for a second baby. I was so horribly sick with Kess that I knew I wanted anything and everything in my arsenal. These bands are life saving. I left them in a jacket pocket and couldn't find them for a few weeks. I wanted to cry (actually, I probably did.) I found them, did a little happy dance & wore them until I was far enough along that the all day every day nausea wore off. These are also really great for migraines, motion sickness & traveling. I'm really bummed that I didn't think to use them while I had bad migraines. I have recently had what I'm assuming are Braxton Hicks and have felt some nausea coming back so I slipped these on and they helped big time! They come in kid sizes, adult sizes and even dog sizes. ;)

doTERRA Balance Oil This one was a life saver. This oil is not only for emotion balance (much needed over here) & physical balance... most morning sickness is a form of motion sickness so this really helped me with nausea. Plus it's even better for postpartum emotions. I get flooded with those so I basically bathe in this oil. I use it on my newborns (on their little feet) to help ground them to their new home here on Earth. Sounds a little granola, but the spiritual nature of it brings tears to my eyes. 

LaCroix Sparkling Water My family and husband still think this is so gross. But I couldn't stand the sugar or sweeteners in soda, but needed the carbonation to help keep my nausea at bay, so I would guzzle the coconut flavor and the orange! The Orange is amazing! So good! Once you get used to the lack of "soda goodness" these taste pretty good ;) Now, soda doesn't phase me and it's basically my lifeline, but I did sip on some coconut LaCroix tonight and it was delicious! I'm so healthy. 

Did anyone else have weird first trimester cravings that you couldn't function without? Mine was orange juice. We went through it crazy fast because I drank a few big glasses every morning. Oddly enough, the acidic juice calmed my nausea a ton. I also crave anything vinegar. Salt & Vinegar chips, Blimpie sandwiches with extra oil and vinegar & the real kicker... Cucumbers in vinegar and water. I would literally sip on the vinegar/water mixture throughout the day. Matt couldn't wrap his head around that one ;) into my second trimester I craved pickles (Dill for the win) & Halo oranges. Did not leave the store without them. Matt and I would sit on the couch late at night watching a show chowing down on pickles and oranges - doesn't get more romantic than that. ;) I eventually liked sweets and sugar again, which only added to my weight gain, but whatevs.

I hate to say it, but there is a short window in my pregnancies that I actually love being pregnant. It has come and gone. It's now harder to grab things on the floor for Kess. She loves to read her bedtime books on the ground, picnic style & that makes me feel like I'm breaking my back. I do it anyways, but getting up isn't pretty. Last week I grabbed something off the floor & grunted the whole time. Matt just stared. I said, "It's getting hard to pick things up." "I can see that." Rude... ;)

We are nearing the last weeks of the pregnancy. I'm now 35 weeks & I can't believe how close we are to having him here! Somedays I have a small panic attack thinking about how little time we have left. Somedays I pray he comes early and healthy because I'm kinda over this baby growing thing. ;) 

Pink Blush Maternity

My bump has been harder to dress this pregnancy. I remember feeling pretty cute in most outfits when I was pregnant with Kess. Now I have an closet full of clothes that don't even remotely fit me & I am counting down the days until they do. 

Enter Pink Blush Maternity. I have a few items from their Pink Blush line, but I hadn't purchased anything from their maternity line, yet! Well let me tell you... I can't get enough of this 

pink maxi. 

It's so pretty & super comfortable, too. Basically a winning duo for a pregnant momma. I can get away with a plain tee & maternity jeans throughout the week, so I wanted something that made me feel great on date night or at church. Winner!

The fit is very flattering. Trust me, I could use all the help I can get as I sit here at 34 weeks. What I love most about it is that I can wear it after this little boy arrives. It's nursing friendly! I repeat - nursing friendly!! I didn't pay much attention to things that were "nursing friendly" after I had Kess & soon realized how important that really is, especially in a dress. 

If you're in the market for some cute, high quality maternity clothes - head on over to PinkBlushMaternity.com

For sizing reference - I am 5'5" 34 weeks pregnant & weigh 160lbs. I purchased a size Medium. It fits great & I'm really excited to wear if after my sweet boy arrives, too!

Kaisermans in McCall

Phew!! Friends, we made our transitioning into McCall nicely. We've been here for 2 weeks now! Sorry I'm a little behind on the update. We just barely got internet in our home. Yes, I most definitely had to upgrade my data usage this month. Ugh. I even tried my best to check social media very limitedly. Something I severely need to work on anyways.

The first day we arrived in McCall was tiring. We were up early to meet the moving van & I instantly felt very overwhelmed. We had done our best to separate what we really needed & what could go into storage. We have less space to work with than we did in our Caldwell house, so we are trying to keep unnecessary stuff to a minimum. Harder than it looks, kids. I'm pretty sure I've cleaned out Kess' toy bin a few times with little success. I'm going to recruit Matt's help. He's much less sentimental (about that stuff) than I am. And I probably need help in the bathroom department, too. I tend to hoard beauty products. I'm pretty sure Matt loves me in spite of that. ;)

The second day in McCall... I cried my fair share of tears. Matt went back to work for a half day, then spent the rest of the day helping me settle in. He totally gets me & understands that I am a super slow to adjust to new things, so he took extra time off to help Kess and I adjust. This has made things much easier for me. He even took a long weekend after that to help me unpack and to spend some time with Kess & I since we've been apart for a while. It was exactly what we needed.

Now that we are all moved in I do feel much better. It's starting to feel like home. I am becoming familiar with where my things are in the kitchen, the light switches aren't a total challenge for me & we have slowly started putting the baby's room together.

Kess has adjusted very well to McCall. She loves our "A'Call house" or "A'Call mountains" & our "A'Call lake." We really are liking the slower paced life here. I have enough to keep me busy at home. We like our ward & have even made a few new friends. The library has story time every week which will be so fun to go to every week or so. I'm down to baby doc appointments every 2 weeks & soon every week. We usually see Matt after my appointments which Kess loves (so do I!)

We had our first visitors this last weekend & it was so fun to show off our little corner of the world. My sister & her two boys came to see us for 1 night & then Matt's mom came up for 2 nights. It's been really fun to see them & Kess has loved showing them "our mountain"... she's a little possessive so if she mentions it... West Mountain is ours! ;)

It's beyond beautiful up here. Matt snagged a great rental for us & having all of our own furniture up here with us helps. We lived in a house provided by the hospital last time. It was fully furnished (which was greatly appreciated since we were still living in Nampa part time) but it was hard to make the house feel like home without all of our own stuff.

I'll be sharing a little house tour in the next few weeks. I am slowly working on making this place our very own without breaking the budget. Any tips would be appreciated! Thanks for following along, it helps that I'm not just typing all this up and sending it out into a void. ;)