Maternity Photos + 34 Week BumpDate

Angela Young was sweet enough to take some maternity photos for me before it got too snowy up in the mountains.  We froze our butts off but it was definitely worth it!  Below are some of my favorites...

^^ Braedon's personal favorite ^^ 

^^ I like to cuddle rocks ^^

Angela was a doll the whole time and her prices are so reasonable!! She was so good at posing me and telling me what to do so it looked good.  I may "model" but it's seriously so helpful when the photographer can just direct you!  Makes me feel way more comfortable.  I can't wait to use Angela for newborn photos and family pictures this year.  Go check her out!

angelayoungphotography.com

How Far Along: 34 weeks

Weight Gain: I'm at about 23 lbs so far (yikes)

Maternity Clothes:  Yes and no.  I've tried to be practical and wear stuff that will work post pregnancy as well because buying maternity clothes is sort of annoying.  I want to think that what I buy will be in style during my second or third pregnancies but who knows right??  Pretty much I'm just excited when I try something on in my closet and it fits/ covers my belly.  Fashion has gone out the window!  

Sleep: I have nights that I sleep like a rock, and nights that the pregnancy insomnia really hits me hard.  I've entered into full blown nester mode and lay awake at night making to-do lists in my head.   

Best moment this week: Waking up this morning and watching my belly roll and roll.  He was a wild wiggle worm!  Glad he still has some room to move- I'm not excited for the final stage when he's all cramped in there.    

Weird pregnancy moment: I forgot my wallet grocery shopping again.  Did I mention that this has happened to me three times now?  Each time I don't realize it until AFTER I've checked out.  So embarrassing.  

Movement: All the time!  I'm trying to be better about counting.  I've gotten a little paranoid as we get closer.  My job is a blessing and a curse- I see all the women that come in far along in their pregnancies with fetal demises, or decreased fetal movement and I start to panic.        

 Food Cravings: I LOVE to chew ice.  Especially the pebble ice.  We have the good kind at the hospital and its my go to when I get the munchies!  

Anything making you queasy: Nope! 

Gender: BOY

What I'm looking forward to: MEETING THIS BABY.  (too soon for that? yes)

BUMPDATE // 28 weeks

Sorry for the ghetto bathroom selfie.  I promised myself I would never do one of these.  And here I am.  Yikes.  

How Far Along: 28 weeks

Weight Gain: about 15 lbs.  I wasn't exactly at my "skinniest" when I got pregnant so it feels like 30 lbs but think of all the muscle I'm building by carrying around that extra weight right?? ;) (hope you know I'm actually joking)

Maternity Clothes:  Definitely pants, unless I'm wearing leggings or using my belly band.  It's hilarious but it holds my pants up so I won't complain!  

Sleep: they say third trimester your fatigue can come back with a vengeance.  Unfortunately, I'm afraid I've been cursed w/ a case of the tired's again.  I thought it was over after the first trimester!  AT first I thought maybe I was just anemic because I've been craving ice, super pale, and always tired. However, I've been trying to get more iron in my diet and still no big changes have been noted :(

Best moment this week: Friday night Braedon and I had a date night at home because he was finishing a paper for school (life of a pre-med wife I tell ya).   Once he finished he was playing the ukelele and we were just laying on the couch.  I lifted up my shirt so we could see my belly and boy was he wiggling in there!!  He reached all the way up to my ribs and it literally took my breath away.  

Weird pregnancy moment: Charlie horses- every night.  If I stretch out and flex my calf too hard while I'm sleeping I can feel one coming on.  However, after a night shift I almost ALWAYS get one the next day while I'm sleeping.  So bad that I wake up yelling.  It's embarrassing.  I didn't know Braedon was home one of these days (I am THAT dead to the world after a night shift), and woke up screaming with a charlie horse.  He came running in the room in a panic because he thought I had gone into labor!!  Sort of hilarious.  Once he realized it was just a charlie horse he was quite relieved!  I have a good husband guys.  He sat and massaged my legs after that for a solid half hour.   

Movement: This baby loves to shift around and curl up into my right side- it's actually made my belly button off center haha.  I can feel him ALL over my belly so it's hard to tell what's a hand or a foot.      

 Food Cravings: Honestly nothing really stands out to me as a "craving".  I think I just like my usuals which includes cereal and Chobani coconut yogurt.    

Anything making you queasy: No!  Thank goodness.  

Gender: BOY

What I'm looking forward to: Finishing a quilt I started on a whim- what was I thinking?? I can't sew a straight line to save my life and a big part of me is kind of dreading working on it again.  Small sewing projects are much more my style.  

Real Talk + 27 weeks

I struggled coming up with the first sentence for this post, and rewrote it about a million times, so I'm just gonna get it out.  Gaining weight during pregnancy is HARD.  Not hard like it's hard to put on the pounds, hard like you don't feel like yourself when you've put on all those extra pounds.  There I said it.  Now go tell all your friends how I'm gonna be a bad mom cause I'm a little sad when I see another pound racking up on the scale, or wonder, "Who is that woman?" when I catch a glimpse of my own ever-changing body at a "bad angle".   

But you know what? I'm making a baby.  What an incredible privilege.  Am I worthy of it? No.  Am I amazed by it? Yes.  Am I infinitely changed forever because of it?  Definitely.   

We were blessed to be able to create life, and a tiny baby boy is snuggling deep inside of me, close to my heart, relying on ME, and our Heavenly Father to keep growing, to keep developing, and to keep being loved.  Oh, he is SO loved, oh how he has my whole heart.    

I recently attended a fireside where Elaine S. Dalton addressed the Relief Society and Young Women.  You wanna know what she talked about?  Our bodies.  What is the one thing that makes us all unique?  The one thing that Heavenly Father created individually, every detail, even perfectly?  Our bodies.  What is the main attack on women in the world today?  You guessed it, it's on the woman and her body.  Sister Dalton cautioned, "Stop looking at Instagram and saying to yourself, I don't measure up, STOP!"

There are times when I come home from a long 12 hr shift at work feeling tired, feeling at my largest because of my "full" tummy, and after beating myself up for this flaw or that flaw, I lay down in bed and close my eyes eager to begin a fresh day, and promise myself that I'll "try again tomorrow".  And then my baby does a little dance in my belly. And a smile breaks out on my face.  And then I want to kick myself.  How could I be so selfish??  How can I be sad that my thighs are a little thicker when there's a healthy, happy, baby growing INSIDE of me??  

I swear, he knows when his mamma is sad.  Cause when I'm feeling down, he stretches as far as he can, letting me feel his body rub up against mine, and he reminds me that I've been given the greatest privilege of all time.  I'm carrying a baby, and I'm gonna be a mamma.  

So now, with every pound, with every new dimple in my legs, with every new curve I've never seen on my body before, I'm gonna smile.  I'm gonna say to it, "Thanks for keeping my baby happy and healthy, you don't have to stay forever, but thanks for reminding me that what is happening inside of my body is incredible".   

“Motherhood, is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels.”