It's a ...

We're thrilled that there will be lots of BOWS in our future! 

The Second Trimester: weeks 13-20

Once I get caught up on these posts, I'm going to start doing weekly pregnancy posts. Maybe a Maternity Monday every week until baby's due date. I love documenting this pregnancy for us and for Baby P. Hope you enjoy reading it! 

Second trimester highlights so far...

Week 13: Lots of indigestion working night shifts and eating lots of crackers to try and avoid it. Despite indigestion, I'm craving Mexican (this was true pre-pregnancy, but I could eat it any/every night), especially at our favorite Gonza's. 

The best part of this week was announcing our pregnancy to extended family, friends, and co-workers! 

Week 14: Chowing down on tums and guzzling ginger ale due to continued indigestion. I've started planning a gender reveal party; it's something I've always thought would be an exciting way to find out. We went registry shopping and ordered baby's crib from Pottery Barn.

Over the weekend we loved seeing family and friends in DC for a wedding.

Week 15: More tums, ginger ale, crackers, and salty snacks. Exhausted from flipping back and forth working day and night shifts. This weekend, we started vacation and had dates at The Pit, Poole's Diner, and Gonza's. 

This is the first week I've noticed a tiny bump! 

Week 16: We had a great week at the beach with family, laying out, reading, and spending time together despite not sleeping well and more indigestion. Tops are still fitting but pants and shorts are starting to get a little snug.

Week 17: So hungry! Loving date night at Cowfish and time together. Less indigestion this week, having headaches which is odd and not sleeping well. 

Week 18: The best parts of this week - seeing our baby and finding out everything is healthy and strong. I also felt flutters on Sunday for the first time!

We picked a boy name; we'd had a girl's for a while. So when we find out the gender, we can start calling him/her by name. But we're keeping the name a secret until baby arrives.

Now, we have an envelope sitting at our house with our baby's gender. I'm taking it to a bakery this week to place the order!

Week 19: Extremely tired and emotional from working a bunch of night shifts in a row without sleeping well. In between shifts, I've been crafting for our Bows or Bow Ties party. We cannot wait to cut into our cake!

A day before week 20.

And a day before our gender reveal party!

I say it a lot, but it's the truth, I'm very thankful for a healthy baby and pregnancy. After seeing really sick kids at work, I'm so thankful for a healthy baby.

The First Trimester: weeks 4-12

This pregnancy has been flying by! I'm so glad that once we found out I ordered a May book to keep track of everything. Here are the highlights from the first trimester...

Week 4: So excited and surprised! We're going to be parents!?  

Week 5: Lots of terrible cramping throughout the days and waking me up at night, but I called our doctor and everything was fine. It was very early, but we told our families this week because we were back in DC for 4th of July seeing both of our families. For J's family we gave his parents the onesie above. For my family, we got our niece a shirt that said "Big Cousin" and dressed her in it after a nap. 

Week 6: Continued cramping, heightened sense of smell and more emotional. J started doing a lot of baby research. The best part of this week was calling my two best friends from college and sharing our news! 

Week 7: We loved spending a weekend at my parents' house relaxing and catching up on much needed sleep. My parents' also gave us my great-grandfather's dresser that we're going to refinish for the nursery. 

Week 8: Exhausted. Slight nausea in the early morning (leaving for work between 5:45-6am is not ideal). We went to my first OB appointment this week! We saw our baby for the first time, and hearing his/her heartbeat was incredible. I'm so thankful for this little life. 

Week 9: Hungry. Love eating fresh foods, especially from the farmers' market but not wanting apples or salads, which I usually eat every day. Overall, feeling great and still working out at Pure Barre and taking Aida on lake walks. This weekend, my brother came into town to work on house projects that we needed to finish before starting baby projects. 

Week 10: Still so hungry, so I loved feasting at the Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo. J is so great; constantly doing things around the house and telling me to rest. 

We officially started taking baby bump photos this week. Baby P isn't showing yet other than maybe a little bloating, so I didn't start taking them before now. 

Week 11: Eating lots of chips, bread, and ginger ale to try and avoid the nausea. We had a fun weekend in DC and Baltimore with family and friends.

Week 12: Eating lots: sweets, carbs, but still trying to make healthy choices. I went to my second OB appointment and got to see Baby P jumping around.

I'm very thankful for a great pregnancy and healthy baby! J has been so supportive and great throughout this whole process, especially when I don't feel the best or am emotional. I'm also thankful for our families and friends who have been extremely excited, helpful, and kind celebrating Baby P with us. 

Our Sweet Gift

Excited to share our sweet news that we're expecting Baby P in February! 

We are in love with our baby already and cannot wait to see our family grow in the new year. I finished my first trimester and have been incredibly blessed with a great pregnancy. Over the past couple of weeks, it's been a joy to share our news with family and friends and celebrate this tiny life.

More baby posts coming soon!

Summer Days

These summer days have flown by. While I'm looking forward to fall, I cannot believe it's already September. 

July and August were jam packed with family, friends, food, and fun for us. Every minute we weren't at work or doing house projects (which I still need to post about), we were finding fun in Raleigh and DC. 

After my sister finished her summer job, she came and stayed with us for a week. We devoured tasty food truck food, celebrated her birthday, and road tripped to Baltimore for a cousins' weekend. 

 In August, we spent a weekend in Baltimore seeing Justin & Laura, the newlyweds, and enjoying a cousins' weekend. It was so great to be back at some of our favorite spots with some of our favorite people.

Laura and Justin are so sweet, kind, and thoughtful. Weeks before seeing them, Laura posted about making macaroons, and I made a comment about having them during the Baltimore weekend. I never expected she would actually make them, but she did! Just for me. They were incredibly delicious.

One of our absolute favorite Baltimore spots is Woodberry Kitchen. Somehow the Chef got us brunch reservations, so we got to see and taste the best Baltimore brunch.

Another one of our Baltimore favorites is Mama's on the Half Shell. All of the cousins' and Justin and Laura went out for dinner. I stuffed myself with crab soup, crab dip, and crab cakes. Nothing is better than Maryland crabs.

...And Elisabeth tasted her first oyster!

One of the best summer afternoon activities this year, has been visiting local coffee shops for a coffee and treat. Plus, I heart latte designs.

Dinner and dessert with nurses always does my heart good. And Bittersweet in downtown Raleigh has the tastiest bites: like this salty carmel corn ice cream sandwich.

To round out the summer, we enjoyed a Labor Day weekend in DC enjoying some of our DC favorites, seeing friends, family, and attending wedding of one of the Chef's high school friends. It was a gorgeous outside ceremony and reception in their backyard despite the thunderstorm that made 150 guests run from the tent to their house. It was a beautiful night filled with laughter, and the Chef seeing old friends.

And there you have it.

Summer days might be fading, but I'll be ready for some cooler weather, pumpkin everything, and decorating our house for a new season.

Lights, Beers, & Sushi

I feel old saying it, but we had another fun, productive weekend, but this time it was with family!

My brother came into town, and we had the best time with him. With their house purchases, he's learned how to fix and replace just about everything. So for our house, he replaced five light fixtures and new locks!

We're quickly replacing everything in our house piece by piece. I took a bunch of photos before the projects, so I'll do a house post soon on our progress.

After all of the hard work on Saturday, we headed to Durham for flights of beer, sandwiches, and arcade games at Fullsteam.

Saturday night for supper, we indulged in my brother's Raleigh favorite: The Cowfish. I love going with him because he likes to order a random assortment and share it all together. It was also the first time my mom has gone, and I think she enjoyed it too.

Sunday morning, the guys replaced a hideous gold light fixture with a fan and worked on the locks. It feels great checking things off my house list. My brother is the best, and I'm so thankful he's willing to come and spend his weekend working on our house for us. I love my family!

Hope you have a happy Monday and a great start to the week!

the little things

Some weeks it's just the little things that make life sweet.

Monday started off great because I was put on-call and didn't end up having to go into work at all. Happy Monday to me!

Instead of working, I enjoyed an early morning lake walk with Aida and the Chef before he headed to work. I have always been a night owl, but lately, I've really been learning to love how great it feels to get up early and enjoy the entire day. Especially, when it starts with a brisk morning walk.

I have a favorite coffee spot, Sola and love getting to spend a little or long time there either by myself or with friends. I went by myself this week, and it took a while for my drink to come, so when it did they gave me a dozen hot mini-donuts. I'll take free mini-donuts any day! 

At work this week, I was talking with a co-worker about where he buys his produce, and he reminded me about the Raleigh farmers' market. I decided to go again (I haven't been in forever) and absolutely loved it. I definitely want to start shopping local more. Plus, I got all these fresh foods for less than $20! Local, fresh, and reasonable...win, win.

And as you know, I'm usually not the biggest cook in our house. I usually do really simple meals but this week, I was a little bold and tried these Chicken n' Biscuits, and while it took a while it was delicious and so worth it. 

I have been trying to live life to the fullest, trying not to worry, and enjoying the little things.

I hope you have a great weekend. I'm excited to have this weekend off and enjoy some family time!