Continuing a recap of our Babymoon trip to Maui, catch up on Days 1 & 2 here.
On our third day for breakfast we headed to a food truck on the hotel property. We got the acai bowls, banana bread and some iced coffee. Honestly was not impressed with the acai bowls here especially being in Hawaii but they were still good and it was a really nice start to the morning. Then headed out with my sister and one of her roommates who is actually also a friend from college to explore the west side of the island.
We took off in the car and headed towards the west side of the island. Starting first with a drive up the coast to XX bay. We were actually looking for a trail here that we never found but got out of the car a couple times to walk around and see some beautiful sights. Also the wind was out of control this day we felt like we might actually blow away.
Soon we were getting hungry and figured it was time to find some lunch. We went to Sea House in Napali Bay, which had absolutely gorgeous views and was right on the beach. Then we took a short drive over to Cliffhouse. Which is a rock cliff area on the water where a lot of locals go to hang out, swim ad cliff jump.
I obviously did not do any jumping but they had steps into the water and I just got in the water and floated in a floaty and watched everyone else. This place was a very cool hidden gem that we really loved. By the time we finished up here I was exhausted and ready to head back to the hotel.
I was so tired after this day that we headed out to the pool to watch the sunset and then ordered room service and I crashed so hard and really early.
I woke up early the next morning since I think I fell asleep before 9:00 the night before. I woke up snuck out on to the balcony to relax and watch some Youtube videos while I waited for Evan to wake up. Then we headed out for breakfast. We went back to the hotel restaurant and I got the best avocado toast ever.
After the packed day before I decided I was too worn out and just wanted to spend the whole day relaxing, hanging at the pool and reading. Which I feel is an important part of any vacation anyway.
That night we met back up with my sister and couple of her roommates for dinner at Maui Brew Co, which just opened a restaurant. The place is awesome with a great atmosphere. We also got there right in time to see the sunset from the patio and it was killer.
Stay tuned for the next post where I recap our day adventuring the Road to Hana!!
Yesterday we got back, after a very long day of traveling from our "baby moon" trip to Maui, Hawaii. We had a fantastic vacation and I am so excited to share some of the details with you. First a little background on how we decided to go, where and when.
What many of you may not know is that my sister actually moved from Dallas to Maui late last summer. Soon after she officially moved my dad and step mom started talking about planning a family trip with everyone to go out there. By fall they had picked a time and rented a house for the first week of June. As soon as we found out I was pregnant, I counted out the weeks and had a feeling that would be too late for me to be traveling that far, sure enough our doctor confirmed at my first appointment. We were super bummed about not being able to go with my family on the trip, however we decided just to go early on our own. I quickly checked my Marriott account and realized we could cover the whole hotel stay with what was left of my points (I used to travel tons for my old job and rack up the points and status with Marriott) so with that covered it was a no brainer.
We always planned on and wanted to go on a babymoon anyway so we were so thrilled when we could make it work, get to see my sister, visit Hawaii and with a paid for hotel. All that was left was to decide when we could go, that would also be a good time in the pregnancy. We figured between 20-26 weeks would be an ideal time and found a time during that window where the hotel and flights were available.
So lets jump into the trip. We left bright and early on Thursday morning and made it to Maui before lunch time. My sister picked us up, we went to lunch then we went to the hotel to check in and explore. We stayed at the Wailea Beach Marriott and it was more beautiful then I even imagined, I would definitely recommend to any one planning a trip, it is right next door to the Grand Wailea.
We walked the property, checked out the beach and pools. Then we rested a bit, headed out to dinner and called it an early bedtime since it was 4 hours later at home and we got up at 3:45am that morning. Also when we got back to our room from dinner we had the sweetest little gift from the hotel welcoming us for our babymoon.
Since we got to bed early the night before we got woke up early but fully refreshed the next morning. We headed off first thing to the hotel restaurant for breakfast with a view.
After breakfast my sister picked us up and we headed out for our first mini adventure to Le Perouse Bay and the Mermaid pools.
It was a pretty easy hike around the bay with beautiful views, although some was on the lava rock. Then once we got close to the pools it was a little bit more difficult but still doable. Down a little hill we reached a secret little cove and the mermaid pools. We hung out there for a bit then headed back. The hike didn't feel to tough and this pregnant girl did fine but when I checked my steps after we finished it said we went over 5 miles which I was surprised to see.
After the hike we picked up some salads for lunch and headed back to the hotel to spend the rest of the day hanging at the pool and relaxing.
Once dinner came around Evan and I headed out for a solo dinner at the nearby shops at Wailea and it was one of best meals we had the whole trip.
Important Events: Lots of important things happened during this chunk of time. We had our doctors appointment with the anatomy scan, found out the gender, our genetics testing and started the nursery.
Symptoms:
Overall my symptoms during this time were minimal and I am so thankful.
Lower back/tailbone pain: this started during this time and honestly got worse as time went on. However it really changed from lower back pain to more tailbone pain in the later weeks. The trouble with this symptom is there isn't much you can do. Its really just caused by your babies positioning as well as your muscles expanding. I find it so awkward trying to deal with it, my office chair honestly aggravates it the most so I try and get up and move around as often as I can.
Again overall I felt good during this time period it was wonderful
Cravings:
Fruit, especially juicier fruit like strawberries, pineapple and watermelon
A little bit more into sweets during this time
Aversions: My aversions are calming down, still sometimes smells but thats really it.
Miss Anything: Didn't miss much during this time, once thought it would be nice to have some sangria while sitting on the patio in some nice weather but that is it.
Weight Gain: Gauging this around week 21 I think I gained about another 5 pounds, making it about 10-11 total gained since the beginning. I am happy with that I am right on track for the correct amount of weight gain so far.
Workouts: I have been able to be a lot more regular and consistent with workouts and I am really loving it, it feels great and I am not having any issues with pain while doing this.
Favorites: (I am going to keep adding here)
Snoogle Pillow- Serioulsy every pregnant woman needs this pillow or a similar it is a game changer and I really have been sleeping well
Get here: https://amzn.to/2JvHNXa
Palmers Skin Therapy Oil & Cocoa Butter- I put the oil on immediately before I get out of the shower then pat dry. It has roeshemp oil and others in it perfect for stretch marks as well as my very dry and itchy skin. Then later, usually before bed I will also apply their cocoa butter on my belly.
Get here: https://amzn.to/2JxzFWb
Epsom Salt Baths- with all the tailbone pain I have been taking so many epsom salt baths, they help sooth all my muscles and it also feels nice to just float when my tailbone is bothering me. I use both the Dr. Teals salts and the salt soak, often in the same tub.
Bump Pics
Here are my pump pic updates for weeks 18, 19 & 21 (only forgot to take one week 20, oops)
So almost two weeks ago we found out that Baby B will be having a baby boy. Prior to that I had already mapped out some nursery designs in my head, I had one plan for a girls nursery and one for a boys nursery. Therefore we are obviously moving forward with the boys nursery plan. We are so excited to tackle this project, it will definitely be a favorite in our household.
We kicked off this project by making our first purchase for the room... the crib. We really want to buy one thing at a time to spread out the costs, also this way we only have to worry about putting together one thing at a time. My husband already put together the crib and we absolutely love it. I also stopped by Sherwin Williams to pick up some paint samples.
I wanted to share with you all my nursery design board/ plan that I put together so you can see the vision I have for the room and what I am trying to accomplish. As you can see I want to create an accent wall where the crib will be in a shade of navy. Then I want to keep the rest of the room very neutral, using shades of white, cream and light grey, accenting with "fluffy" items and stuffed animals.
A couple key items from the design. Like I mentioned we already purchased this crib below. We are also planning to get the matching changing dresser for another wall. Above the changing table is where I would love to hang some animal prints.
Then I would love to find a rocker/glider in a cream or light grey. Comfort and affordability will be my two requirements here. There are so many options out there it seems overwhelming to choose, also many of them are a small fortune which I want to avoid. I would like to pair the chair with a statement ottoman of some kind for comfort. Behind the rocker I would like to have some book ledges or shelves to hold and display all the baby books.
Other than those main items I would like to anchor the room with a fluffy white rug of some kind, as well as lots of fluffy stuffed animals.
Overall I am very excited about these plans and think it will come together nicely. I will keep you all posted along the way. Below is a video where I go over my design board in more detail and show you the room that will be the nursery. Giving an overview of where everything will go and what the room looks like.
Today I am back with another pregnancy update for weeks 14-17, as well as video which will be below. Catch up on my past pregnancy updates here and here.
Watch Video Here
Recap
Weeks of Pregnancy: 14-17
Important Events: No real events during this time, we had one doctors appointment at the end but nothing exciting. Next update will include our anatomy scan with gender.
Symptoms:
Overall so many of the symptoms I suffered from in my last update got better during this time. Many refer to the second trimester as the honeymoon trimester and I now understand why. After week 14 I started to feel so much better and much more like myself.
Fatigue: The fatigue continued to get better bit by bit and eventually went away to just a normal tired.
Nausea: After week 14, so a little later but not bad my nausea finally went away and boy was I grateful, once that had passed it felt like smooth sailing.
Breakouts cleared: During this time which was also wonderful
Dry & Itchy skin: This has become a big one and while yes my belly often itches because it is stretching this is all over my skin is so dry and itchy all the time, I am loading up on body oil and cocoa butter but still struggle sometimes.
Lower back pain: this was a very mild symptom but it did begin during this period, I know this is super common as your uterus and baby grow
Again overall I felt good during this time period it was wonderful
Cravings: Still not many if any. I don't find myself feeling like I "NEED" anything lol. However I have noticed I think the baby likes asian food and does not like Mexican food. I have been loving all the dishes with rice. I also do grab for some salty snacks more often.
Aversions: My aversions during this time were pretty much only to smells, but they got much better after week 14 as well. I am having a bit of an issue with some cooked veggies though.
Miss Anything: Didn't miss much during this time, not really missing alcohol or anything like that.
Weight Gain: At my Dr's appointment during the tail end of the 17th week I had gained a total of 5 pounds which I was really happy with, however its shocking with how much I feel like I've grown. I think this may also be due to loosing some muscle.
Favorites:
Snoogle Pillow- Serioulsy every pregnant woman needs this pillow or a similar it is a game changer and I really have been sleeping well
Get here: https://amzn.to/2JvHNXa
Palmers Skin Therapy Oil & Cocoa Butter- I put the oil on immediately before I get out of the shower then pat dry. It has roeshemp oil and others in it perfect for stretch marks as well as my very dry and itchy skin. Then later, usually before bed I will also apply their cocoa butter on my belly.
Get here: https://amzn.to/2JxzFWb
Bump Pics
Here are my pump pic updates for weeks 16 & 17 when I began taking them, I will include them in the updates from now on.
This morning it is tough to get back to work and routine after a 3-day weekend filled with lots of fun, love, food & family. This past Saturday we invited over friends and family over for a BBQ at our house for a Gender reveal party. Last week I completed all the Old Wives Tales & Gender Prediction tests to see which way they pointed, you can see that post here. The tests overwhelmingly pointed to boy as the gender which was also my guess.
I wanted to go ahead and share the details of our party and how I set everything up as well as the reveal itself. Here is the main table, where I focused most of the decor and the pink & blue treats.
For the decor I started with the banner, reading Pink or Blue we Love you. Which I purchased off amazon handmade. Then I made two small balloon bunches to put on each side, your can see how I did that in this post. I also lined the table with a ribbon garland I made, to be honest this didn't come out as great as I hoped but it worked.
Then we moved into the pink and blue treats that helped bring in the theme. I once again ordered mini rebels from a local donut shop called Rebel Donuts, and they were a huge hit they were the first item to be cleared out.
Then I also made my own Oreo pops in light pink and blue. I placed some in these buckets to create a look with layers then some without sticks on a plate below.
I also wanted to create a pink and blue punch station. My dad happened to have to these drink dispensers which were beyond perfect that I borrowed. For the pink punch I did equal parts raspberry lemonade and 7-up and for the blue punch I did equal parts blue Hawaiian Punch and 7-up, people seemed to really like both. Although the pink lemonade disappeared faster.
On a separate table near the door when everyone entered they were greeted by a sign asking them to wear their guess and bowls of blue and pink clothes pins. Although some of our guests surprised us and were proactive and wore the color of their guess everyone pinned them on until the reveal.
For the rest of the food, which I realized I never took any pictures of because it wasn't ready yet when I took them we grilled burgers and hot dogs. Then for sides I made baked Mac n cheese from this recipe I found on Pinterest. I made a double batch and put Green Chile in one which was amazing, everyone loved the Mac and cheese and the Green Chile batch was all devoured. We also had pasta salad, chips, dip & guacamole. In addition to the pink and blue punch we also served water, soda, beer and champagne.
To Actual Reveal:
For the actual gender reveal we used confetti cannons, I ordered these from Etsy and was very pleased. They arrived quickly and were exactly what we wanted. We had our appointment with the doctor on Friday, one day before the party so I ordered both pink and blue cannons. Then we had the ultrasound tech write the gender down in an envelope and seal it. The day of the BBQ right before it was time for the reveal I had my step-dad go upstairs open the envelope and bring down the correct cannons. This was super easy because then no one needed to keep a secret and we could do it on a shorter timeline.
To see the reveal in action you can watch the video below, there is some pretty funny footage.
