Friday, July 25, 2014

Exciting Announcement

Hello friends!  This post is a little overdue, but I have big news - my husband Marty and I are excited to announce that we are expecting a little bundle of joy at the end of January!  I'm nervous, scared, and joyous all at the same time.  Max and Rudy are excited about becoming big brothers! :)


How cute is this shirt?


The timing is a little funny.  I was finally able to play flag football again (since recovering from my ACL surgery) and now I have to give it up again for at least a year.  I'm a little sad about that, but it will be worth it.  At least I got a full season in and we won the league championship!  (For those of you that don't know me that well, I LOVE playing sports, especially flag football.)

Anyways, dressing myself lately has been tricky.  My clothes still fit, but the fit is a little off in some of my tops since I'm a little thicker in the tummy area, so it made me a little self conscious.  I know most people didn't notice, but it's hard when it's yourself.  I joked that I was in that awkward "is she pregnant or getting fatter" phase, haha.  But now that we are out of the first trimester and able to tell everyone our news, I think I will be less self conscious about it.  I'm really excited for my tummy to start looking like a legit bump and not like I ate too much at lunch, hehe.

My plan for the blog is to have a weekly post showing off the current size of my baby bump and any interesting tidbits from the week that I have noticed.  Of course I will also be starting to wear looser clothing and transition over into maternity wear.  Since I am short, I don't think it will take too long before many of my current clothes in my closet will be too small to fit over my tummy.

Since I am at 14 weeks, I will post a couple weeks worth of photos in this post and then do one per week going forward.  I pretty much looked the same for the first 11 weeks, so we'll start there.



So, from my first 12 weeks of pregnancy, these are some of the things that I have happened:
I experienced no morning sickness or nauseous at all!  I know I was super lucky in that regard.  I did this fitness challenge last year that encouraged you to eat small meals every 3 hours, I've been doing that for the most part ever since.  I heard that helps with morning sickness, so I think that definitely helped me in that department.  Knock on wood that continues through the rest of the pregnancy.

I experienced bloating, unfortunately, mainly in the evenings.  I would look like I was already showing even though I knew it was way too early in the pregnancy for that.  I would go to bed looking pregnant and wake up normal again, haha.  It hasn't been as much of a problem the last 2 weeks, thank goodness.

I recently started using cocoa butter in addition to my regular lotion to help prevent stretch marks.  Now I smell like chocolate all the time, yum.

My skin was terrible the first 11-12 weeks.  The crazy hormones made my cheeks and chin break out, but it finally appears that it is calming down and going back to normal!





At 14 weeks I'm still able to wear my normal clothes, but I think I may have to switch over to maternity wear soon!  The shirt in my 14 week photo is a little tighter than most of my wardrobe so I might be able to squeeze another couple of weeks in.  By the way, I will probably refer to the baby as a him (we're kinda hoping for a boy) but I don't know yet what the gender is.  I should find out by the end of August!  I can't wait!


Ok, so I might be exaggerating the bump a little in this last pic, but I thought it turned out cute anyways. ;-)


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8 comments:

  1. Again...this is so exciting!!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats :) Can't wait to see your updates! Do you follow Audrey from Putting Me Together (http://www.puttingmetogether.com/)? She's pregnant right now too and has lots of outfit ideas. And lastly, I know it's cliche, but you really are glowing :)

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    1. Thanks Justine! :) I check out Audrey's blog every once in awhile. She has the cutest pregnancy style so I'll definitely be looking to her for inspiration when I start to get larger!

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  2. Congratulations Erika! I am so excited for you and I wish you alllllllll the best!!! Your "preggers" shirt is so cute and I totally agree with Justine - you are glowing!! :)

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  3. A massive congrats again lil' mama...and the first of what I'm sure will be many groovy tips:

    in my opinion shea butter is the absolute best for stretch mark avoidance - I come from a family predisposed to those marks of annoyance and had my lilttle bundle rather late in life at 37 when skin isn't as resilient as it once was however with daily application of shea butter on my belly, bottom, boobies (just about everywhere actually =O) I am pleased to say I have ZERO stretch marks and as I've continued to use this miracle cream after my preggy as well it seems to have made my c-section scar nearly vanish & even improved the appearance of the few stretch marks I had from puberty growth spurts! Yay! ;O) Shea Butter baby...go get some!

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    1. Thanks so much for the advice! I'll have to add shea butter to my lotion regimen!

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  4. Congrats Erika! You look so radiant :)

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