If you follow me on Instagram then you’re well aware of this happening BUT, if not, we had a baby on Wednesday evening!!
meet Bowen Gwyn, 6lbs 9oz and 20.5 inches long! He was 5 weeks early but is perfect and healthy and we are so blessed!!!
Introducing….
April 12, 2013 By 2 Comments
AWESOME discount
April 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment
As you know, or at least I HOPE you know, I design stuff…and, by “stuff”, I mean these things, blogs – and websites, marketing pieces, etc.
And, as I’m preparing to go out on maternity leave I’m working on a re-brand for my business AND filling up a few more spots before I head out to leave and I am offering YOU guys an amazing discount!
Um…awesome, right!?!? Email me for details on how you can secure one of these spots!
Oh and this offer only lasts through Sunday, April 7th!!!
Coconut Oil & your hair
April 1, 2013 By Leave a Comment
So…who thinks it’s crazy that I’m posting just a few days after the last time I posted? Yeah…me too…I must be feeling frisky!
Anyway, I just wanted to tell y’all about how wonderful I think Coconut Oil has been for my hair!
You might remember when I cut all of my hair off and donated it back in the summer, right before getting pregnant, right? Well, I have learned my lesson (for now) and I just don’t like myself with short hair. It’s convenient and all that jazz but I’d much rather keep my hair long, so I’ve been growing it since that cut and we’re getting there.
Ever since I started growing it back out I wanted to take better care of it, I am HORRIBLE at getting my hair trimmed and usually just shampoo it and throw it in a pony tail on days we’re not going anywhere so I needed something that was easy and cheap to keep up with it. So, it was off to Pinterest…
What did I find?
Coconut oil is GREAT for your hair (among LOTS of other things)…seriously? I already keep coconut oil around because we cook with it instead of other oils because of the nutritional benefits and all that jazz so I thought I’d try it.
**Coconut Oil is the shiz-niz!**
Everything I found on the subject said to use it as an overnight mask or leave it on for an hour so I experimented with both and found that I am too much of a mover and shaker in my sleep to use it that way so, about once a week (or every two weeks) I put it on my hair about an hour before I have to take a shower, let it sit (sometimes I put a walmart bag on my head, lol, and sometimes I just tie it in a pony tail – either way is fine) and then wash it out in the shower…and then…my hair is SUPER SUPER soft and light and lovely!
I know a few questions I’ve been asked in the past about this so I thought I’d answer those below too.
How much do you need to use? Well, I have SUPER thick hair and at the point it’s at right now (hits my collar bone), I use about 3 tablespoons to work through my hair BUT, most of the blogs I found and such said it only took them one tablespoon or so, so I think it really depends on your hair texture and length.
Apply Dry or Wet? Dry! You just work it through your hair until it’s completely saturated and really oily looking. The first bit you put on feels weird and like it’ll take forever but just keep working it through. If you’re not sure what I mean or you’ve never “worked with” coconut oil before, it is a solid when you buy it and turns into a liquid above a certain temperature. Just the heat from my hands melts it, so I just rub it between my hands with my head hung over the bathtub and then go to work.
Do I just wash my hair like normal? Yes AND no. Wash it like normal but wash it like 4,000 times, haha. I usually have to wash my hair a total of 4 times during my shower to get all of the oil out completely. What I do is really thoroughly scrub my hair with my normal shampoo the first time, then REALLY go at it a second time, washing much more vigorously than I would normally; I then do everything else I need to do (wash, shave, exfoliate, etc) and then wash it normally two more times at the end of my shower and that’s usually sufficient. The first time I did this, I washed it twice but I didn’t REALLY scrub it like it obviously needed and when I got out it felt like I might not have gotten all of the oil out but I ignored it, within about 30 minutes my hair was stiff – it was sexy. LOL.
Well, I guess that’s it – it’s really very very easy and I think has been a key to my hair growth and health this time (that and keeping up with my trims) and you won’t believe how SOFT your hair feels after this. I normally do this treatment, like I said, once a week or so, maybe once every two weeks but you can do it as often as you’d like but I would imagine if you have oil-prone hair that you’d want to do it less often…just experiment and have fun! Oh and rub some on your belly if you’re pregnant, it’s amazing (although if you’re already prone to stretch marks, it won’t help you much there – stupid genetics).
My hair right before I found out I was pregnant, just a few days after I cut it (on the left) and then now, about 8 months later – not a great picture but I can’t find any of just my hair :/ (on right).
“Hello? Is it me you’re looking for…”
March 28, 2013 By 1 Comment
So…’member me? Yeah, me, Jessica, that writes here…well, I’m alive, don’t worry!
This pregnancy is kicking my blogging butt, really, I WANT to blog, I have ideas of blogging, I have business ideas, I have new ideas, etc but I just can’t execute because I am exhausted and taking care of a 2.5 year old.
So anyway, just thought I’d provide a little update on the life as of late…
- We have a scheduled c-section at 39 weeks (on May 8th), however, I honestly don’t think I will make it to that date – I don’t know why…yes, I do, I only made it to 36 weeks with Casen, I can’t see past that point.
- I am DONE packing my hospital bag – oh yes, I am.
- We’re installing the carseat into the car tomorrow:: another repercussion of having a baby at 36 weeks before, I had put my hospital bag and carseat in the car at 34 weeks with Casen and Mom made fun of me…I got put in the hospital a week later and didn’t see the light of day (or my house) again until after I had Casen at 36 weeks – so yeah, definitely not early to me.
- I am in nesting mode yo, like really. I cleaned until I was in pain yesterday, got up this morning (after only sleeping probably 3 solid hours) and cleaned again (how does my house get in the shape it does in just a few hours…oh yeah, I have a toddler) – the Boys’ room is done with the exception of Casen’s bed, which doesn’t matter since he won’t sleep in there anyway :/
- I am huge. I had an ultrasound a few weeks ago to make sure that the baby wasn’t measuring too big because I’m measuring somewhere between 5-9 weeks ahead every.single.appointment – he’s not huge, a little ahead but nothing major and I’m just big.
- I’m still SUPER DUPER nervous about my c-section and having to leave Casen (my hospital is an hour away and he’s NEVER stayed the night elsewhere before), both things equally which is crazy – I am praying about this a lot and I can feel God working in me and my nerves, I think I’m getting to the point where it’s like “I’m miserable, thank goodness for this c-section” and I KNOW everything will be perfectly fine (me, baby, Casen, etc), God has promised me that – so that’s definitely a help but I’m still very-much-so nervous and I am still very-much-so tying my tubes – no mo’ babies fo’ me!
- I am done. Seriously, I am counting down the days to 37 weeks (36 weeks really but I don’t necessarily want another preemie, even though I know Casen was born perfect at that point) – April 21 I’m 37 weeks – full-term, let’s pray and hope and all that jazz that I have a baby shortly there after. I mean, it’s not like I WON’T carry him to May 8th and it’s not like I don’t know that it’d be best for him to go that long but I also know I’m miserable and I know that he’d be just perfectly OK if born at “full-term” at 37 weeks.
- I can’t wait to hold him and smell him and nurse him and see his interaction with his brother (rather the other way around).
- In big brother news :: He completely “gets” in his own way, I’m sure, that there’s a baby in there – answers “Baby Bowen” every time you ask who’s in my belly, says he’ll help take care of him and change his diapers, etc but he will NOT share his toys, nope, can’t talk him into that one.
- Case is growing leaps and bounds in his understanding and verbal skills – I mean, he’s always been good in the verbal area but it’s complete sentences all the time and even people that aren’t around him much can understand him fairly well now (ya know, that toddler language where people ALWAYS look at the Mommy to see what the kid just said…and the Mommy ALWAYS knows), if he’ll speak up.
- Yeah, I guess that’s it – I have a lot of work stuff getting finalized in the next few weeks and I actually have 2 spots left for the next few weeks for custom web/blog designs (if you want one, ya know) and I’m offering 20% for these “last” two before I head into leave.
Now, who wants to see a photo of this belly? Yeah, here ya go! Oh – follow me on Instagram, I am ALWAYS active there even when I’m not here.
Looking Forward
February 19, 2013 By 1 Comment
To say there are a lot of things I’m looking forward to right now, would be an understatement! I thought I’d share some of the things I’m looking forward to, because, well, you know you care, lol.
- Warmer weather! We had a fairly ‘mild’ winter up until January and then it’s been cold and snowy all the time, it’s driving me crazy, I am CRAVING springtime and warmer weather!
- My baby shower. We’re having a small diaper shower on March 2nd (also my 27th birthday) for baby Bowen, I’m excited, that means we’re just that much closer to meeting him.
- Meeting this baby!!! This is #1 but I’m trying to go in order here. I can’t wait to meet little Bowen and see what he’s like, if he looks like Casen or completely different, how Casen reacts, getting on a schedule as a family of 4, etc.
- Not being pregnant anymore…ever! So, I’ve made no secret that this is the last pregnancy for our family and I can’t wait to be done, lol. I can’t wait to not be pregnant anymore so that these other things come quicker.
- Getting back into shape and losing weight. I revealed “the plan” a few weeks ago and I can’t wait to get started, I want to be done being pregnant so that I can start feeling like my old self (body wise, I feel generally very good, thank goodness) and start getting back on the workout train.
- My sister-in-law, niece and nephew coming home this summer and meeting baby Bowen.
- A trip to the beach late summer/fall (hopefully).
- Watching my babies grow, enjoying every minute I have at home with them since I can already tell that this doesn’t last forever! (When Bowen is Casen’s age, Case will be in Kindergarten…that’s crazy to me)
- A trip to Hawaii next summer!
What are you looking forward to?
Pregnancy Thought Dump
February 18, 2013 By Leave a Comment
I have been having a bit of a hard time lately envisioning how life is going to be in just a few short months with TWO boys around my house! I mean, I all I know is Casen, I know all of his mannerisms, his habits, his schedule and, while I am having another boy, he is going to be his own little person, I don’t know two kids at once, that’s a little scary.
That being said, this entire pregnancy I’ve been way more worried about my surgery (c-section) than how I’m going to manage 2 kids. See, I don’t worry that I can’t do it, I just can’t envision it, I can’t imagine it because I’ve never done it before…make sense? I’m excited about having two boys, I’m ready (I think) but it’s hard for me to even think about or dream about because I don’t know what that life will look like…this is just crazy to me.
I worry a small bit about Casen, he’s been the only one for over 2.5 years, he’s had my undivided attention for that amount of time, he’s always been the only one getting attention at his grandparents’ houses, I think it’s going to be a hard adjustment for him BUT, at the same time, this kid amazes me in every new situation so I don’t know, he may surprise me.
Wanna know the main anxiety I’m having? This stupid surgery…repeat c-sections are WAY harder than first-time ones in a mental way because, well, you know what to expect. Some people would say that makes it easier, but it doesn’t, I know exactly what to expect in the OR, what to expect afterwards, etc and it makes me very anxious. When I first got pregnant this was a MAJOR source of anxiety for me, I worried over it constantly but now, at 28 weeks, I have come to terms with it…it still sucks but I know it has to be done, I want it to be done because I’m so sore and ready to be done, etc. But, even though I am more prepared for it mentally now than I was 20 weeks ago, I am still very scared and nervous and I don’t know how I’m not going to have a panic attack. But, ya know what, God’s in charge, not me, He’s got this, He’s assured me that I will be okay and so will the baby – so I really shouldn’t worry.
Since my blood pressure has been high at the doctor’s office but not at home, I still think they’ll take little Bowen early (37-38 weeks) and, if that’s the case, we only have 9-10 weeks left…that’s like 2 months yo. Geez.
Well, I guess that’s it…I’ll leave you with a belly photo from a few days ago – I am constantly asked if I’m sure there aren’t two in there, LOL. I’m so huge, I was looking at my maternity pics from Casen taken at 34 weeks and I wasn’t this big then at all, so basically I’m bigger now than I was when I had Casen (because he was born just 2 weeks after those photos), that’s crazy sauce!
The plan & a pregnancy update
February 6, 2013 By 1 Comment
So, first, I’m 26.5 weeks pregnant at this point, so ready to be done but loving feeling the rolls and kicks and punches in my belly.
At this point with Casen I was swelling in my ankles/feet on a daily basis and, knock on wood, I’ve had ZERO swelling – wonderful! I am feeling SUPER DUPER achy and stretchy and sore these days and I’m HUGE and, honestly, I don’t remember this being the case with Case (haha); I don’t remember being this achy and sore and such, maybe because I had a desk job where I hardly moved and now I’m chasing after a toddler all day everyday? Who knows.
Sleep sucks, well, that’s not COMPLETELY true, once I get to sleep I’m generally okay but getting to sleep is like a 2 hour process of rolling and tucking and removing of clothes and propping of pillows, etc. That being said, this entire pregnancy I’ve had a horribly dry mouth at night, I’m also fairly stopped up in my sinuses so I assume that’s the reason, I’m breathing through my mouth at night instead of my nose; anyway, that’s annoying because I wake up gagging almost every morning needing to hydrate my mouth. Yuck.
Overall my anxiety over this pregnancy has gotten better, for the most part. I have to have a c-section and I have come to terms with that, finally, and I’m actually very calm about it right now through lots of prayer and knowing that’s what God wants me to do (I have an option to switch hospitals and doctors and try for a vbac but the hospital doesn’t have the best reputation, etc so I did A LOT of praying and felt that the c-section at the hospital I like was where I needed to be). My blood pressure is completely normal, I’m monitoring it at home and the doctors finally realized that I am a TRUE case of White Coat Syndrome BUT at my last appointment a few weeks ago my BP was completely normal and I was so excited that I went and got a chocolate chip cookie and sweet tea from McDonalds! haha. I go back tomorrow morning, I’m praying it’s normal again tomorrow and that I pass my sugar test AND that the shot I have to get doesn’t hurt to badly.
I guess that’s all…this was me last week sometime…
Now, onto “The Plan”
You guys know that I was working out and focusing on healthy eating A LOT in the months before getting pregnant and was fairly successful, as I lost about 15 pounds in about 3 months. I wanted to lose at least 15 more before getting pregnant, who knew we’d get pregnant the first month we tried especially since it took 18 months to get pregnant with Casen…so, yeah, that didn’t happen.
Well, I cannot wait to get back at it, honestly, it’s one of the things I look forward to most about not being pregnant anymore (second to meeting my new baby boy, of course). I worked out fairly well until I was probably 16 weeks and then it just sort of dropped off, between the flu and not wanting to take Casen to the childcare, then my family being here from Hawaii and then the weather and now being HUGE and aching just from climbing steps…it’s just not happening anymore. I still try to walk on the treadmill when I think of it but that hasn’t happened in a few weeks either.
Anyway, I have to have a c-section (as I’ve mentioned before) so I won’t be cleared to start working out until 6-8 weeks, probably 8 but maybe 6 (I was cleared at 6 with Casen). So that means for that first few months after the baby is born, I need to rely solely on breastfeeding and my diet to shed some pounds. Now, that being said with Casen when I nursed (and when I was pregnant for that matter), I ate horribly, HORRIBLY – cookies and milk like 2-3 times/day, sugar cereal for breakfast, lots of Sierra Mist, too much food for lunch and supper, sodium & calorie-filled Chef Boyarde “meals”, etc and I still lost all of my baby weight (which was over 50 lbs because of LOTS of fluid from Preeclampsia) within 2-3 months. So, surely, if I’m watching my intake of calories (don’t worry, I know I need extra when nursing) and I’m nursing and I don’t gain as much this time I can lose all of the baby weight in the same time frame, hopefully (I know this may not be the case but it’s what I’m hoping for, don’t kill a girl’s dreams).
Then, after the 8 weeks is over I’ll hopefully be at my pre-pregnancy weight (which is about 30 lbs (or more) from my goal weight/size) and can jump start more weight loss by easing back into exercise. I plan to take things fairly easily those first few weeks I’m back at the gym and then try and jump into a routine of working out 6 days per week and watching calories (although the way I figure it, I’ll need X amount of calories to healthily lose weight PLUS 400-500 calories for nursing PLUS the extra calories I burn at the gym…so, geez, that shouldn’t be a problem, it may be a problem getting that many into my diet in a healthy way!).
Now, I plan to run the Color Run in November and I plan to be VERY close to my goal weight at that point (6 months after giving birth). Once I hit my goal weight (or size, I haven’t been a healthy weight/size in a while so I’m not sure where that’s at anymore and I have a huge amount of muscle so I tend to weight more than others my same “size” so I may hit my goal weight earlier or later than I think, I’ll definitely use my body size as a judge, not the number on the scale), I plan to just keep up my workout routine as I have been and add a few more calories back into my diet (which may not be necessary since the baby will likely be eating baby food and nursing less at this point – however, Casen NEVER nursed less even when he started baby food, so I won’t know that until it’s here) so that I don’t lose more than I want to.
Then, after Christmas I plan to EITHER start working out with a trainer 1-2 days/week OR start CrossFit. The decision here lies with the drive, I have to drive about an hour to Crossfit and I’ll have an 8 month old and 3.5 year old at that point so we’ll just have to see what’s easiest for me in scheduling but I’d like to focus on major toning and such at this point BECAUSE in the summer of 2014 we’re going to HAWAII!!! My sister-in-law and her family moved over there in November (from Japan) and we were going to go this summer but, well, yeah, don’t think that’s happening so we’re planning a trip for next summer. And I am NOT going to Hawaii looking all postpartum-yucky…I’m just not!
After that point I just plan to keep working out as normal and eat the way my body tells me to and to never have to worry with pregnancy weight gain/loss again! lol.
Did you get all that? I really needed to write it down because I think about it, I think about what I’m going to do and how I’m going to get to the point I want to be at before we go to Hawaii and I was afraid if I didn’t write it down, in a public forum that I wouldn’t do it. However, I’m very dedicated to healthy living these days and I can’t wait to jump back into it all.
Just a side note, if I were to have this baby at the same time as I had Casen, I have less than 10 weeks left (Case was born at 36 weeks)! I HOPE, I can at least make it another week to get to ‘full-term’ but that makes it not sound very far off at all…seriously…woah.
Oh, one more thing :: One of my best friends announced she was 19 weeks pregnant on Facebook the other day (I hadn’t seen her since I”ve been pregnant or I’m sure I would have known before now, but I found out on Facebook too, lol)!!! Then, she wrote a blog post about what she’s having…we’re going to have best friends and BOY, I thought I was going to have MY hands full! LOL.
Girl Behind the Blog #vlog
January 25, 2013 By 5 Comments
Well, hello! Today I’m linking up with 5ohWifey and Rags to Stitches for their vlog series’…so, we’ll just get to it…
Ignore the black & white, ignore the unshowered look and ignore a random phrase where I use the word “forums” in the wrong place, I am still half asleep, my little one woke up WAY too early this morning.
Latest WordPress Design
January 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment
I can’t help but show off my designs on my personal blog every once in a while…so here’s that post!
I have been working more locally lately and it’s been great, I love having a local presence as a website designer! This first design is for a local sheep and donkey farm called Oakwood Farms, check them out!
This next blog design is for a VERY creative blog called Creative Kid Snacks! Is that not just adorable? Not my design (although, I am partial and I do think it’s adorable) but the snacks…man, I wish I could do that!
Be Proactive…and pray!
January 18, 2013 By 2 Comments
Let me start by saying that we were without power from about 7:30 last night to 3:30 this morning! We have about a foot of snow outside and Casen can’t wait to go out and play in it later…woop whoop!
So, I have mentioned that I was “having trouble with my blood pressure” this pregnancy in a few posts in the past. Basically what’s been going on is that I get myself REALLY worked up at the doctor’s office and it’s either been on the high end of normal or just plain high.
At my last appointment about 2 weeks ago, I saw a different doctor and my BP was high. I explained that if she’d look at my pulse (um, I don’t think my normal pulse is 130bpm, duh) that she could see just how worked up I’m getting and see that it’s an anxiety issue and that I didn’t think I had high blood pressure. Well, she didn’t care, she immediately told me she was putting me on BP meds, no questions asked.
Well, I knew better, I knew in heart that it’s a stupid anxiety problem NOT an actual BP problem. See, I had preeclampsia with Casen and I guess all of the craziness from that has caused me to have White Coat Syndrome but, for whatever reason, my doctors wouldn’t listen to me at all! I stopped off and bought a (very expensive) blood pressure cuff at the pharmacy on my way home from that appointment because I was NOT taking medicine that I didn’t need, particularly while pregnant but if I NEEDED it, then I needed it and I wouldn’t take it.
Guess what? My blood pressure is PERFECT at home. I mean, I hardly ever am getting a reading above maybe 119/68, so yeah, definitely NOT high.
I made a call to my doctor’s office, gave them my numbers for the past few days and they agreed to let me monitor it at home 3 times per day for a week and then come in and bring those records in.
So I did. I had a nurses appointment on Wednesday and I prayed the whole way there that my BP would be normal, that it wouldn’t be high, that I could calm myself down, etc. I was nervous but in a different way, it was weird. My heart didn’t race like it normally does when they called my name, I had the absolute SWEETEST nurse EVER who talked to me, calmed me down, talked to Casen and then finally took my BP…guess what, it was 130/something-not-high…woohoo! A small victory…even though I KNOW that’s not my normal at least it was in the “normal” range. So, I explained that if she’d leave the cuff on, wait a few minutes and take it again it’d be completely back down. A few minutes later…122/68…oh yeah baby! I was so excited, I know it would have been even lower if she would have taken it again but she didn’t but at that point I calmed down, I celebrated, I went and got myself a sweet tea from McDonalds, haha!
Here’s the thing, I knew in my heart that it wasn’t high, I eat really well, I don’t EVER eat fast food (um, I had a cheeseburger yesterday, but I swear it was a rare occurrence, lol), I exercise (well, I TRY, it’s been hard being pregnant in the winter/flu season to get to the gym), I just know it isn’t high.
So I was proactive. I didn’t take the “you need blood pressure meds” from the doctor as the final answer. I knew better. And now, I think I’ll be calm enough at the doctor to show them that, at least if they’ll take it twice anyway.
The point? Be proactive about your health, don’t ignore what doctor’s say by any means (I would have taken the meds had it REALLY been high), but know your body and don’t be afraid to ask for some extra time or extra measures to prove yourself. The doctor didn’t want me to monitor at home because SHE didn’t want to spend the extra time actually pinning me with White Coat Syndrome, etc, but, oh well, I just knew it!
