I don't think you're ready for this belly...

Ok, sorry for the super lame, cheesy blog title - but it was the first thing that came to my mind after we took this month's belly pictures. Whoa BELLY! I'm 24 weeks (which, ps, is 6 MONTHS PREGNANT! That baffles my mind!) and I give new definition to the term "all belly". I think I look about 8 months pregnant at this point, which sort of scares me. Little man must be going through a growth spurt in there. He's also moving up, so I'm definitely not carrying super low anymore. Without further adieu....here it is...
Umm yeah, I know - ridiculous right? I actually screamed when I looked at the camera after J took these photos. And also, that shirt probably won't make it to too many more monthly belly shots.

The funniest part is that this month, I only gained 1 pound. I know, you can't really tell by looking at that picture, but it's true. I'm still feeling really good at this point, so I'm making it to the gym 3-4 times a week and doing my yoga and pilates DVDs pretty much every day. I'm hoping this energy level continues because I'm loving it.

So the countdown is on and there's just about 3.5 months until baby boy makes his debut! We started clearing out the nursery this past weekend, which felt amazing. I love purging! I've started buying a few nursery items now that we can store them in the room so I'm sure I'll be posting about those soon!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

PS - I got my hair chopped! (as you can tell in the pic). She cut 8 inches off and it feels AMAZING! It's in a angled bob and I love it!

Confession...

I've gotten the salad bar from Whole Foods 3 times this week - and I'm running there tonight after I hit up Target for my 4th delicious salad of the week. I guess I can chalk this up to a baby craving? At least it's healthy, but it's hitting my wallet a little hard! A $14 salad really adds up! But I can't resist...

Sunday Pregnancy Musings...

1. Yesterday at the gym, I realized I need to invest in some maternity work out pants. My regular pants are no longer cutting it and giving me a weird bump because they are tight in the waist, which is not cute when you are sweating on the elliptical and already a bit self-conscious about having this new body. I'm thinking about checking out Target and Old Navy - any other recommendations?

2. I used the baby as an "excuse" to convince J to get Dunkin Donuts for breakfast this morning. And then I may have eaten 2.5 chocolate glazed donuts, plus a large caramel flavored decaf coffee. But I plan on putting on my too-tight workout pants and hitting up the gym later today, so that makes it ok, right?

3. I think baby boy is growing at a rapid rate, because this week, my back and sciatic nerve have been in serious pain. Doing yoga has helped, but I'm definitely uncomfortable and still not sleeping very good. Little man is hanging out low, low, low because I'm only feeling kicks on my bladder and underneath my belly button. I know he'll move up in the next few weeks, but I think I'd rather have him on my bladder than in my ribs, so I'm happy where he is for now.

4. I'm anxious to start the nursery and I'm in major nesting mode. I literally woke up one morning and was overwhelmed with everything we need to do. We have to relocate my office, sell our guest room furniture and clean out the closets in the nursery before we can start the fun decorating. My nursery Pinterest board has like 100 pins but I'm starting to narrow down my ideas for the room. We are keeping the walls the green that we painted when we moved in, but I want to do a fun bold accent wall where the crib will go. I want to do navy as the main color, with a few pops of fun yellow.

5. My favorite black Patagonia fleece no longer zips up over my bump. This sort of depresses me and sort of makes me laugh. This past week, I've noticed the comments from strangers have increased, as well as 2 unsolicited bump touches (ahhhhh so weird and creepy!!). As much as I like to rock the bump, I'm sort of happy that it's winter and I can still cover it with my winter coat to limit the comments and touches.

6. I love how now that I'm pregnant, J.Crew has been doing crazy ridiculous sales. All their Factory stuff is 60% off this week and I was sort of bummed to look at everything that I don't currently fit into. Then I realized I can still shop for accessories, shoes and CARDIGANS!! So I may or may not have placed an order this morning for a couple of pregnancy friendly items.

Summer in January

So I realize that it's January and it's about 30 degrees outside, but I saw this at the grocery store earlier this week and had to get it:
Dole's Endless Summer Salad Kit. I'll be honest, I'm not really sure what makes this a "summery" salad. It has a "Summer" Vinaigrette, shredded Swiss and Gruyere Cheeses, Roasted Sunflower Seeds, Croutons and Pepper and Herb Seasoning. But it was AMAZING! I'm sort of a salad snob and I thought that the lettuces that came with the salad were sort of gross (I hate iceburg), so I actually bought a second bag of salad with romaine and other greens and used that instead of the lettuce that came with it.

But all the add-in's were delicious! I think my favorite was the Pepper and Herb Seasoning - it really gave the salad a lot of flavor. I'm allergic to nuts, so I was happy to have the sunflower seeds to give it crunch. I seriously could have eaten the entire bag myself (but I did share with J!)

If you see it at your grocery store, definitely try it! It may be my new favorite salad!

Golden Globes - Best and Worst Dressed!

I love awards season! And the Golden Globes may be my favorite awards show, I love how laid back and fun it is! Most of the stars did not disappoint last night, so I thought I would share some of my favorites. And then get to some who I thought missed the mark.

Favorites:Jessica Alba - I thought she was seriously glowing! Her skin looked amazing and I loved this lavender dress. I can't believe she had a baby 5 months ago. I may tape this picture to my fridge as motivation after I have the baby in May!Charlize Theron - Loved this, even though I do think it's very similar to other dresses she's worn before. I LOVED her headband, probably my favorite part of her entire look!
Claire Danes - Loved the black and white! The back was to die for as well. Simple and elegant!
Dianna Agron - I thought this was very different, but I still loved it. The cutouts up top were really pretty and I loved all the layers/ruffles at the bottom. Her hair was also one of my favorites. Emma Stone - I liked the two-tone and I thought the belt was actually pretty cool. Loved the beaded cap sleeves. She definitely could pull off a look like this. The only thing I don't like is that her shoes look sort of chunky for such a delicate dress.Paula Patton - Yellow!! This color looked amazing on her with her dark hair and it was so bright and cheerful. It's a color that not everyone could pull off, but I thought it looked amazing on her!Reese Witherspoon - I loved how relaxed and happy she looked! It was different from her normal very polished looks and I liked it! Her hair is great and the red looked so good on her!

Now, my LEAST favorites:
Jessica Biel - YUCK. It was a sloppy mess...her dress AND hair looked blah. You'd think for someone who just got engaged to Justin Timberlake, she'd want to look really good. It reminds me of an old lady's nightgown.
Natalie Portman - I love Natalie, but I did not love this dress. It was too frumpy and didn't show off how cute and tiny she is. I hated the folded down part at the top - it reminded me of a 90's prom dress!Lea Michele - I was not a fan of this and I think it looks too old for her. The top reminds me of a ice skaters outfit.

Who did you think was best and worst dressed?

One of those days....

Not sure if the fact that it's Friday the 13th has anything to do with it, but today is a crazy day! While I was out on appointments this morning for work, I decided I need to treat myself and the little man to some deliciousness in a cup...
Chick-Fil-A Ice Tea and Lemonade mixed - heaven in a cup!! Oh and while I was there, I couldn't turn down a #1 with extra pickles and CFA sauce. Obviously.

Pregnancy Essentials - The first half!

I celebrated the halfway point of this pregnancy on Sunday! I can't believe I made it halfway - sometimes it seems like the time is dragging on and other times it feels like it's flying by.

I put together a short list of the things that helped me get through the last 20 weeks and what I couldn't live without!

1. My Sigg Water bottleI will admit - I was HORRIBLE about drinking water before I got pregnant. Like, I would go all day without drinking anything. As soon as that 2nd line popped up, I was craving ice cold water like it was my job. I have a 24 oz. Sigg and I try to drink 4-5 bottles of water a day from it. I carry it with me everywhere and I'm seriously obsessed with tracking how much water I've had in a day.

2. These 2 prenatal workout DVD's...
Suzanne Bowen's Long and Lean Workout - this is a serious workout, even if you aren't pregnant! She does a million squats and leg lefts - it's a great whole body workout and I am typically super sweaty by the end. I LOVE the stretching sequence at the end, it really helps with hip and back pain. I do this every other day and alternate it with this:Shiva Rea's prenatal yoga. This is amazing and calming, but still a great full body workout. I feel like I've gotten the best stretch ever after I finish it. She has different modifications for each trimester. I also like how she teaches you some deep breathing techniques, which I hope will be useful for labor!

Both of these DVD's have really helped because I've had pretty bad back and hip pain since around 11 weeks. If I skip a few days of them, I definitely start to feel more sore.

4. Cardigans. Sort of random, but I've found that dressing while pregnant is all about the layers. My current go-to outfit during this pregnancy is maternity jeans, a short or long sleeve t-shirt, a cardigan and then some fun jewelry. The nice thing about cardigans is that they will work after I have the baby as well, so I don't feel guilty about buying a lot them since I will get more than 9 months of wear out of them. I bought this ruffle cardigan from Target in every color...
Edit - The cardigan from Target can be found here. They also had a lot in my local store, on clearance for $17.99!