This was our first year sending out Christmas cards. It was somehow not important before we had a kid on the way. Now that Alexis is in the picture, we both suddenly felt the need to reach out to friends and family on Christmas. Getting around to taking Christmas photos wasn’t as easy as deciding that we needed to send cards. Finally, when we couldn’t wait any longer, we quickly got dressed, put make up on for the first time in weeks (me) and as the sun was setting and we were loosing most of our light took off to the one place we were almost sure would be decorated at this point.

Both crabby, without any desire to pose, with business calls coming in constantly, we somehow pulled it off.

Note: All the shots were taken and edited by me, using a tripod, a remote, 50mm and Lightroom (even though I tend to be pretty good at hiding the remote, you might be able to spot it in my hand in some of these)

At this point everyone, even my oversees friends, has already received the cards, so I feel I’m not spoiling the surprise for anyone by posting these. {Patti, yes, you know who you are, I have sent you TWO cards and each time they keep coming back with “wrong address” stamp on it. I now give up! But please know that we did send it and we think of you and Bernie often}

Red dress is from Isabella Oliver Maternity Collection

and what is a shoot without some outtakes.

As I continue musing on my 2nd trimester, I find it amazing how many more discoveries I’ve had since I got pregnant. Having been very prepared for pregnancy, there were still things I was finding out and figuring out in the first trimester, and just when I thought there was nothing new to find or learn, I’d stumble upon something else that is better or something I haven’t thought about, things that I wish I had known about in the 1st trimester.

So I thought it’d be fun to write a little bit about the 4 new items that I found very useful or helpful or better than anything else on the market during the 2nd trimester. And, our generous sponsors will actually give you an opportunity to win 3 out of 4 items I’ll be talking about, so don’t forget to enter when you’re done reading, if it’s something you like.

Mama Mio Skin Care

If you’ve been reading for a while, you might remember that I thoroughly researched pregnancy safe skin products and was going into pregnancy using only what I considered safe and having eliminated anything harmful. At that moment I was using Belli Skin Care line, which is a good and effective line of pregnancy products that is 100% teratogenically tested (teratogen= substance that causes birth defects) . Some time in my 1st trimester as I continued reading and researching chemicals in food and beauty products, I started realizing that what I was using previously, while teratogen free, is not exactly 100% safe and natural. The fact that something doesn’t cause birth defects doesn’t mean it won’t make other less obvious changes in your baby. Sodium Laurel Sulfate (SLS) for example, isn’t considered a teratogen, however it mimics a hormone, called oestrogen, and may be responsible for health problems, such as menopause, PMS, breast cancers, low male fertility, aside from the fact that it can be contaminated with dioxane, a known carcinogen. And nothing that mimics hormones is a good idea to use during pregnancy since the whole pregnancy is lead and governed by the correct expression of hormones. Well, SLS is literally everywhere. If it’s some sort of cleaning or foaming product, like a face wash, you’ll see Sodium Laurel Sulfate as one of the top ingredients.

I don’t know how about you, but while pregnant, I really didn’t want to risk it. So I’d spend hours trying to find products that didn’t have these lesser known or not so obviously harmful chemicals.I did find a good product in each necessary category and you can see the line up here. However, the issue was while they were 100% safe and good for you, I wasn’t crazy about how well they worked or smelled. But I figured I’d survive with limp hair and stinky oily stomach until my baby is born! ( I couldn’t help but post this picture on the left. We took it for ourselves because we thought it was funny, but I think it really shows how big my belly has gotten, much more than you can see in a static picture. It amazes me sometimes: I have a big firm belly with our daughter inside!)

So that was until I bumped into Mama Mio products. By now you can tell, I am very serious about safety when it comes to pregnancy- any new product I buy, I dissect all the ingredients to make sure they’re acceptable to me. Their products clearly state that they are ALL paraben free, petroleum free, phthalates free, sodium laureth and sodium lauryl sulphate free, colourant free, synthetic fragrance free and xenoestrogen free. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? However, I was still concerned about the fragrance. See, the word “fragrance” is where most skin care companies can hide all the nasty stuff, since fragrances are protected by copyright law ( or whatever it’s called when it comes to beauty products). You’re not required to disclose the content of the fragrance(perfum). So whenever you see that on your bottle of cream, you could be slathering yourself with parabens, petroleum, carcinogens, etc, unless the package says otherwise. So after looking more into what Mama Mio’s fragrance was all about, I found the best answer I could expect. Gravida is Mama Mio’s “amazing essential oil fragrance; a blend of 10 pregnancy-safe, pregnancy-specific natural oils which smells gorgeous to even the most sensitive of noses”. Sounds great! I also didn’t stop there. Once I got the products, I went over the ingredient list to makes sure there was nothing else I didn’t like the sound of and everything was perfect.

So I’ve been using them for almost 2 months now and I gotta tell you, there’s No Natural Skin Care Line I’ve used that compares to their products! I am a customer for life!

I’ve been using the BBB Kit (Boobs, Bellies, Bottoms), that includes Tummy Rub Oil, Boob Tube and O-Mega Wonder-Full Balm.

Tummy Oil is by far my favorite! First of all the smell is HEAVENLY! Throw away your Mother’s Blend Oil, because it doesn’t stand a chance. I remember hating the smell of Mother’s Blend in the first trimester and putting up with it in the 2nd. With Tummy Rub Oil, I look forward to my nightly routine. Even my husband keeps commenting on how good I smell after I apply it and he’s not really a smell guy. I still don’t have a single stretchmark and my belly has been growing much faster this past month, going from almost nothing to a big baby belly. I’m almost out of the oil, but I know I’ll be ordering another bottle very soon. Sometimes, when I lie down to relax after a tiring day, I put a little bit of the oil on my wrists and pillow just to have the smell around me, it’s so calming!

Boob Tube smells just as good ( a slightly different fragrance) and I am not sure if I’m hallucinating but I could swear my boobs are firmer and have more tone. Even if it’s all my imagination, I know the skin around them has never looked better. I should probably start applying it around my upper chest and neck too, since it’s a Bust and Neck firmer (something I just realized lol)

Omega Wonder-Full Balm is a one stop rescue balm. I use it on my lips, my elbows, my knees, dry spots on my tummy, my belly button when it feels stretchy. It smells amazing (again), hydrates and heals the skin instantly. And the bottle lasts FOREVER.

Some other items worth trying are cooling Lucky Legs for tired legs relief ( don’t have problems with legs since I’m home most of the time, so I haven’t tried that yet), existing stretchmarks and scars remedies (will definitely buy those if it ever becomes an issue), cellulite cream ( A must for me after pregnancy, along with Toning Serum). You know how when you find the right company and the right products that work for you, you no longer care about the price, it just makes sense to continue using them- Mama Mio is that line for me. Luckily, their prices are reasonable.

I’ve been kind of neglecting the rest of my body, leaving it dry and unexfoliated, because I couldn’t find anything safe enough, but with my next order, I’ll be buying the Body Oil or Cream and the Exfoliator to take care my horribly dry skin in all places other than boobs and tummy. Will report later on how these worked out for me.

If you’d like to try some of these products, Mama Mio is giving away a full sized set of Mighty Moisture Day & Night Moisturizer, Goodbye Stretch Marks and a Boob Tube to 1 lucky reader ( enter at the end of this post)

MyBrestFriend Body Pillow

A few months ago as I was starting to have to sleep on my side and was feeling very uncomfortable, I started looking for a body pillow. I asked people on the blog, I read a few review on Amazon, I balked at the $100 price tag of some of the body pillows. So I slept with 5 different pillows for as long as I could until I got an actual pregnancy body pillow. One thing I was looking forward to in a body pillow is the little ledge for your belly. I felt like it was sagging down and pulling on my back, like it needed support. It made a HUGE difference to have the little wedge between the bed and my belly. It felt more supported and comfortable and the light dull backache disappeared almost overnight. Aside from that, I didn’t really know what to expect in a body pillow. It took me a few days to get used to it and find the perfect position for my body.

See, I like things between my legs (hahaha- that’s what got me into this pickle). No, seriously, when I sleep on my side I almost always need something between my knees and ankles. It started when I was modeling and was so thin, it was simply uncomfortable to have no padding (read: fat) between my bones when they lay atop of each other. At this point, I am not sure if I’m just used to hugging things with my legs or bones are still an issue, but I know I’ve always needed a pillow between my legs. I find that this pillow doesn’t give me enough surface area for my long legs when sleeping in a bent position, so I still have to have an additional standard pillow between my knees. However, if you’re the kind of sleeper who doesn’t like bulky things around you, this pillow will be utter perfection. What I do like is how it’s long enough to reach my ankles and support them and thin and light enough not to make me sweaty at night. It took me a few days to find a good position for my head and now I LOVE it. The little rounded pillow at the end is supposed to support your head and I find it so cuddly and comfortable.

So my current set up is as follows: big shapeless body pillow behind me to prevent me from turning over to sleep on my back at night. MyBrestFriend pillow up front with the rounded corner under my head, belly wedge under my tummy and the bottom end of the pillow supporting my ankles, plus an additional pillow between my knees. This is THE best set up I have found and the best sleep I’ve had. I rarely wake up with back pain and if I do, it’s mostly because I turned to the other side in my sleep and somehow didn’t bring the body pillow with me.

You can win a body pillow from MyBrestFriend by entering the giveaway below.

Belly Armor

I really really wish I knew about this particular item BEFORE I got pregnant, so that I had it with me from day 1.

You know how most of our lives are spent at our computers? You’re obviously sitting at one reading this. Or you might be reading the post on your cell phone. I’m sure more than half of you work at a computer. Either way, we’re constantly exposed to low levels of radiation from all the daily items we use. The information is now coming out that cell phones used without a headset cause tumors. I haven’t heard much about laptops and desktops but I know it’s not good to have one on your lap. This has bothered me for quite a while since all of my work and most of my hobbies involve a computer. Like I said before, I am ok with taking a small risk when it comes to my own health out of laziness or whatnot, but the second we knew we were pregnant, it changed completely, because everything that I am exposed to, even in low doses could harm that little human being inside me during sensitive periods of development.

Oh how I wish I knew about the company called Belly Armor in my first trimester. They make products that protect your belly from all the radiation that we’re exposed to daily. According to their website “the past 25 years of research has evidenced several potential health hazards during pregnancy from radiation, including birth defects and genetic disruptions, miscarriages, autism, childhood leukemia, and cancer. Because scientists have shown that cell growth and DNA replication are disrupted by radiation, pregnancy and early childhood represent the highest risk for exposure.” The funding for studies like this is limited, because the effects take years to show up, so it’s almost impossible to measure, just like most research in prenatal programming and exposure, but to me as a pregnant woman, bent on protecting my child while it’s in the womb, it is a definitely step to take. Belly Armor has three products: the Belly Blanket, the Belly Tee and the Belly Band. They are made out of cotton and a RadiaShield lining that protects you against 99.9% of radiation. I even tested that. I wrapped my cell phone in the blanket and it instantly lost signal. I have both the blanket and the band.

I find the blanket perfect to have around the house. Whenever I sit down with my laptop (which I always have on a special lap pillow), I put the blanket over my belly. EVERY TIME! It just feels so good to know that Alexis is protected from radiation, something that has always been in the back of my mind up until now. The blanket comes in cute colors and has a convenient pocket for a cell phone. Before I had the blanket, I also found myself “accidentally” putting my iphone on the top of my belly (using it as a shelf) when I needed my hands free for something and then instantly realizing that and putting it aside. Now with the blanket, I can actually rest it there for a couple of seconds while I’m reaching for a glass of water or clicking a link without freaking myself out. So almost every evening, after a long day, you can see me in this position, with my laptop and my Belly Blanket

The band on the other hand is ideal if you work at a computer and can’t or don’t want to bring your blanket with you. It’s much more comfortable to have a band on when you’re sitting at the desk. It also does the double duty of supporting your belly. Sometimes, when I know I’ll be on the go all day, I just put the band on and I don’t have to worry about bringing my blanket with me. The band fits perfectly under any maternity clothes and is very inconspicuous. So I figured, if you’re gonna buy a belly band, you might as well get one with protection. I got it in a slightly bigger size knowing that in the last two months my belly will have to catch up and grow quite a bit.

I am really happy I get to use these, even though I only have a few weeks left, but I know that with the next pregnancy, I will be using both from day one. My friend whose sister is pregnant instantly ordered one as soon as she saw mine. It’d make a great gift for a pregnant woman.

To win a BellyBand or Belly Blanket, enter the giveaway below.

Organized Pregnancy

The final item that I found very useful is this book: One Year to an Organized Life with a Baby. Again, in this case I wish I had found it sooner, but better late than never. It’s a book that takes you through a whole year week by week, starting from 9 weeks pregnant to postpartum, helping you prepare everything for the arrival of the baby and the changes that will take place.

The author goes over things that need to be bought, things that could wait, places, rooms and closets that need to be organized, space that needs to be made, preparations for maternity leave and returning back to work, financial preparations- basically everything that would ideally need to be taken care of before a baby comes, without cramming it all into the last few weeks of pregnancy like we all tend to do. Each week she gives a “project”, along with valuable tips and tricks of organization. I read through to 32 weeks and have been following her advice on many levels. The book is also an AMAZING motivational tool that will get your nesting butt off the couch and itching to properly prepare for a baby! Definitely a must read, especially if you lack organization or love organizing ( both apply to me :))

BELOW ARE THE GIVEAWAY RULES
and Mandatory Entries: {read carefully}

There are two mandatory entries, after which you will have additional entries available,
and 1 daily entry for which you can come back to enter daily.
The winning entries will be verified and the winner disqualified if the action is not found or if the mandatory items are not fullfilled.
Make sure to notate how you’re following the blog in the extra info field (entry #1). The entry won’t count if that information is missing.
Please make sure to visit Mama Mio and/or MyBrestFriend and/or Belly Armor (or all three)and comment on what items you’d like to win is to be eligible to win (entry #2). The comment is to be posted to this blog post.
The giveaway is open to US residents only. See the rafflecopter widget for additional terms and conditions.
All comments will be moderated and will appear once approved.

If you have a blog, there’re 2 entries each worth 10 points ( post our button on your blog’s sidebar and blog about the giveaway)

{If you’re not sure how to use to enter, feel free to watch this video tutorial or email me at contact {at} prebabyblog {dot} com
Otherwise, make sure to read everything carefully. Click the DO IT link first, then I’VE DONE IT once the action is completed}

Disclosure: Some of the items above were sent to me for free in exchange for my honest opinion.

Week 6 of Pregnant With Style

{see previous weeks here and come back each Sunday for more}

Discovering and introducing new and interesting maternity brands…

This week it’s Everly Grey Maternity.

USE CODE EVG20 to get a 20% discount off your Everly Grey purchase for the month of November as a special promotion for my readers.

Everly Grey is your total everyday affordable maternity wear, from dresses, to soft tops, to blouses to comfy pants and shorts.

I got to try out an Emmy top and Owen twill cargo pants and I have one word for you: COMFORT! I remember when I first received my package and put the Emmy top on, I spent the rest of the day lounging in it.

The top feels more like a tunic – long, lean and comfortable, perfect for fall weather. The navy inspired stripes add a touch of elegance to any casual outfit, so you can still look classy if you pair it up with skinny jeans and a pair of stilettos. The 4″ side slits will accommodate your ever-growing front and rear without accentuating it. All together I thought the Emmy Top was a perfect item to have in your wardrobe, both during pregnancy and after.

So when I first tried it on, I walked around in my undies and this top for a few hours until my husband looked at me strangely and asked “Why don’t you have pants on?”

That’s when I remembered I forgot to try out the pants lol

I’d say the biggest complaint I’ve heard from pregnant women about maternity clothes are pants/jeans that just don’t fit/don’t fit right. And I have to agree: the band pressing on your stomach is just too tight and too uncomfortable after a certain point in pregnancy.

Say hello to the Owen Pants! I love twill pants in general. I had a ton of skinny twill pants before pregnancy and hope to buy many more after. I love how they hug your body but don’t look exactly like good old jeans. The band of these pants is below the belly, just like you’d wear normal pants, except for it’s a slightly thicker and sort of like a soft scrunchy. It doesn’t press on your tummy but doesn’t stick out from under your shirt. In other words, the pants band fits perfectly under your belly without causing any discomfort or bunching up. I love the zipper on the ankle that gives it a more rough look, as well as big pockets on the back and the sides that take the pants from leggings category to cargo pants field.

Below are a few other things I own and/or like from Everly Grey Maternity:

{blue top no longer carried} {Blue Beth Dress}

{Rowan Tuxedo Top} {Robyn Top} {Poppy Dress} {Beth Dress}

All the Everly Grey items I have are extremely soft and comfortable, but most importantly affordable. And now you get an opportunity to win your own Emmy Top or Owen Cargo Pants in your size! All you have to do is ENTER the giveaway below. Please read the rules carefully, but otherwise it’s super easy with Rafflecopter (no more multiple comments for entries- one click each and you’re done (almost)).

You can also USE CODE EVG20 to get a 20% discount off your Everly Grey purchase for the month of November as a special promotion for my readers. They are having a really good sale right now, so don’t miss out.

BELOW ARE THE GIVEAWAY RULES
and Mandatory Entries: {read carefully}

 

STATS:

Baby size: Corn. She’s rapidly gaining weight, lung tissue and brain cells.

How far along: 24 weeks. VIABILITY! YAY!

Both hubby and I are happy to be finally hitting the viability milestone. It seems like the weeks have slowed down again, dragging along. But it’s great to think that if something unfortunate were to happen, Alexis would have a chance of survival. I don’t even want to think about it, but I do, because I know things happen. I’ve seen them happen.

On a happier note….

Total weight gain: 1 pound (152lb) this week. After gaining 2 pounds a week for the last two weeks and then seeing a strange 1.5 lbs come out of nowhere, I decided to see where my food intake was at ( I had stopped inputting all my food for a bit). And instantly I saw the problem. I was going off of my 1st trimester mentality, where regardless of how much I ate, I still needed to eat more to meet my calorie goal. So now that I am in my 2nd trimester, and food isn’t so gross to me,I get the necessary amount of calories by eating normally. However in my mind, I still think that I hadn’t had enough and want make sure I get in one last nutritious meal before bed like I did in the first trimester ( does that make sense?). And that’s exactly where that extra pound a week was coming from. I don’t want to continue gaining double each week , thank you very much, I am very happy with my 1 pound that is necessary and recommended- it’s not good for Alexis and it’s not going to be good for me.  So now that I know what’s happening, I am back in the “1 lb a week” game

Sleep: Strangely, it’s been good. I’m loving my pillows. I still get up 3-4 times a night, but I learned to keep my mind blank while I go to the bathroom, otherwise a flurry of thoughts wake me up. Alexis has been kicking a lot during the night, which isn’t normal for her. I attribute it to the fact that I am more active during the day than I was before and the night is now the only time when she gets to be awake.

Maternity Clothes: Yoga pants, maternity jeans, maternity tops. I have found a few maternity companies I really like and I am loving their clothes.

Food cravings : Anything fresh- fruit, vegetables, salads

Food aversions: None

Symptoms:

Heartburn – It’s been much better. I am still not taking anything for it, but I’ve found tomatoes give me heartburn so I’ve been more careful with them.
Rash – It’s less itchy, more manageable. I really think it’s because of the detergent.
Fatigue – I swear there are days/weeks when Alexis must be growing a lot, because I’d be EXHAUSTED for no real reason and she’s pretty quiet. And then a few days later I am fine and she’s all active and kicking.

Exercise: I have been doing pregnancy ab exercises to strengthen my core, kegels and certain hip stretchers daily. We also go walking every day. So I’ve been feeling really good about it.

Movement:

She has one very active day, one quieter day. She totally kicks “on command” now. All I have to do is put my hands on my belly and start talking to her, or have Andrew talk to her. She loves when daddy talks :)
This afternoon I was laying on my side and she literally LIFTED UP my belly off the couch by pushing off of it with her body. That was the freakiest feeling EVER!
Oh and her favorite pastime is, obviously, bouncing on my bladder. How fun!

Belly Button: Still  an innie but it’s totally itching to come out. If I sit in a certain position, I can almost say it becomes an outie.

Gender: GIRL!

What I’m looking forward to:
My glucose test ( is that weird?)

What I miss:
Having good hair :( I HATE my hair right now. It’s  weak and stringy and just yuck. And I can’t even highlight it until I give birth. Back before pregnancy, it would get bleached in the sun when I’d be going to the beach constantly. But that’s not happening now, so I am stuck with grubby hair.

 And hey, you guys, would you do me a favor?

The stats are TOP BABY BLOGS seemed to have been reset, so would every single one of you, pretty please, click on the button below to vote? ( it takes 1 click + 1 to confirm)

I can’t believe I am now half way to having Alexis, and at the same time I cannot believe I have  that much more to go! 4 months seems like so little but at the same time it’s too long to wait to meet our precious daughter.
I keep reading about women who lost their babies at 36 weeks or later and it just breaks my heart so much and scares me at the same time. How do you recover from that? From carrying the baby for 9 months, dreaming and waiting for it and then “bam!” in one second, it’s gone. All the possibilities and potential of a new life- just gone!

Really makes me want those 4 months to go by fast and have Alexis safe in my arms, where I can protect her. That’s on my mind 24/7. Literally.

I did a little collage of the body changes I went through since getting pregnant.

A few weeks are missing:
week 3 when I found out we were pregnant ( a week after conception), because no changes were apparent yet;
week 7 because that was the worst week of my morning sickness.
You can see the photo large if you click on it.

The first half of the pregnancy was hard, mostly due to nausea and tiredness and general food aversion. It’s difficult to eat perfectly for the health of your baby when even looking at food is the last thing you want to do. I am very proud I got through it with perfect nutrition. I can’t say it didn’t leave any scars, though. Those weeks of forcing certain nutritious foods down my throat, rather than chewing on bland and empty crackers, left me gagging at the thought of them. I am over it now, I think, but it took longer than normal, because of the “emotional trauma” of it all.
No regrets though – I’d do the exact same thing all over again. Only the best for my baby even if I have to “torture” myself.
But I think we underestimate how easy our life is because we are made so that we “like” food and how difficult it is to eat well when you don’t. I wonder if there’s a disorder where all food makes you queasy… A person with that disorder must have a miserable existence. It makes sense that nature and evolution made it so that we enjoyed eating, because otherwise…well it’s just sad and difficult.

 

Below is the front belly shot. I stopped taking them after the ninth week for some reason. Probably because there wasn’t much change from the front. Now that my belly is really growing though, I’ll resume the front belly shot.

One thing I can say though: “Whew! I’m glad I’m in the 2nd trimster!”

It’s glorious! Well, as glorious as pregnancy can be…. with fatigue and weird hunger spells and aches and pains, but still glorious compared to the horribleness that the first trimester represents. Certain days I almost feel normal, I go about doing “normal” things, only to be reminded an hour later that there’s a baby inside that requires “mommy” to take it easy. And I do. Because I have the most caring and understanding and involved husband in the world who will do all these things for me ( well, almost all and with a lot of nagging) that I am unable to do, so that I wouldn’t “strain” myself too much.

I’m still wondering when the uncomfortable part of the second half starts… Do I have a month or so of feeling good? Is it supposed to start now? Luckily, I have no ligament pains, no back pains (unless I overdo it), sleep is somewhat comfortable.

I am happy I’ve been able to take conceptual photos throughout the pregnancy. I want to do a pregnancy book. Not your typical book with belly shots, but a true depiction of our journey through pregnancy via conceptual images – things we did, events that happened, places we went to, along with a message to our little one, who’ll hopefully be able to read it on day.

These are some of the shots I have for now.

1,2. The day we found out Alexis was there
3. The day we got proof she was real
5. The 3 months I spent miserably nauseous
6. The day we heard her heartbeat on our home doppler
7. The day I hoped she was a girl
8. The months we spent walking every morning
9. The time you could finally see my belly
10. The day I started planning the nursery
11,12,13,14. The day we found out she was healthy and a “SHE”
15,16. The time our first baby gifts started arriving.

There are still many more concepts swirling in my head:
Reading pregnancy books shot
Being ravenously hungry shot
Painting her nursery shot
Assembling the crib shot
The visible kick shot

 

It seems like forever ago that we tested “for fun” and saw that faint line on the pregnancy test mere 6 days after conception.
We couldn’t be happier though! She’s what we planned, she’s all we wanted!