Being pregnant is something to celebrate. If you are looking for a way to document your pregnancy, consider baby bump photos. If it’s your first pregnancy, it’s an especially exciting time of firsts for you.
If you have other children, get them involved and include them in your baby bump photos. It’s a fun way to remember your bump, while sharing the moment with your partner (and your other children). It can also be hard on other children when there is so much focus on the pregnancy and new baby. This is a great way to help them bond before baby even arrives. Include them and let them get excited! 🙂
Below are some tips to have a successful baby bump photo session:
- Research photographers in your area who have experience doing baby bump photo sessions
- Book your session for month 7 or 8 to ensure you have a nice big baby bump
- Gather your favorite sample photos of other peoples baby bumps to give your photographer direction
- Order props for your photo session (lace, flowing fabric, girl or boy signs, baby toys, etc.)
- Put together outfits for you and anyone else you plan to take photos with (husband, partner, children)
- Talk to your photographer and decide where your session will take place (inside a studio, at the beach, etc.)
- Have fun! You don’t need to keep or print them all. Try out different shots and decide what you like when you review the proofs 🙂
I’ve included some of my own baby bump photos (from both pregnancies) to give you some ideas.
Getting ready for childbirth can be tough. You want everything to go according to plan…but it’s hard to have a plan when you don’t know what to expect.
My advice, look for things you DO have control over! These 6 things are what I did before I had my kiddos. Take my 6 or make your own 🙂
- Get your nails done. Pick a clear polish, a light pink/neutral color, or get them buffed. This is crucial because it’ll be a while before you get them done again…and they will grow out. If they are clear or buffed – they’ll look nicer longer.
- Get your hair done. Cut it and if you color it – pick something closer to your roots. Again, it’ll be a while before you’ll have the time and energy to venture out to get your hair done.
- Purchase your favorite cosmetics. It’s always good to have an extra of your favorite foundation, eyeliner, and other staples. You’ll be focused on this new and amazing little person for the first couple months – while getting little to no sleep. It’s nice to have your favorite lip gloss or other cosmetic on hand to make you feel a little pampered!
- Pick out something comfy! Have your favorite t-shirt, PJs robe and sweats handy. You’ll want these in the hospital and when you get home with baby. You’ll most likely live in these for the first 8 weeks. It’s ok – comfort is key when you aren’t getting much sleep 😉
- Keep your favorite maternity clothes out. It takes time for your body to de-puff and slim down again. Don’t stress. Select your favorite maternity jeans and a couple other items and keep them on hand until you can fit into some of your pre-prego clothes.
- Get a prenatal massage. Pamper your aching body as you get closer to having your new baby. Call around and find a spa that has massage therapists who specialize in prenatal massage. Give them a heads up on how far along you are in your pregnancy, and anything else they should know in advance. It’ll help them prepare and make the whole experience better. It is so worth it and a wonderful way to pamper yourself before giving birth!
Be good to yourself and enjoy these last moments of quiet before baby arrives. If this is not your first baby, you should still take a little time to do these things for yourself – you deserve it! When I was pregnant with my daughter, I was chasing a toddler around the house! It was great exercise but also exhausting! lol! It was wonderful to get my nails done – especially when the pedicure came with a foot rub! Talk about a treat for aching preggo feet! 😉
Soon to come is a post listing the things to pack in your hospital bag! Keep an eye out for this post and many more soon!
xoxo
If you plan on finding out the gender of your baby, prior to birth, a reveal party is a fun way to share the news with friends and family. You can also do the reveal privately and share with a video or photos. There are many ways to reveal the big news, from cakes to balloons!
For my first pregnancy, we decided to do a reveal cake. It was amazing and so much fun!
When Daniel (hubby) and I were at the doctors office, they asked if we wanted to know the gender. We asked them not to tell us, but to put the gender in an envelope. We gave that envelope to a cake maker and asked them to make us a cake with pink or blue frosting inside, based on the results in the envelope. We had a party with friends and family and asked everyone to go to the left if they thought we were having a girl, and to the right if they thought we were having a boy. We cut the cake and taped the whole thing! As you can see from the photo, we had a baby boy 🙂
You don’t have to go to a baker to accomplish this. For a more cost effective way – you can also give the envelope to a sibling or friend to bake the cake for you. You can have them do a sheet cake, round cake, or even cupcakes! The main objective is to have pink or blue frosting inside – so it “reveals” the gender when you cut (or bite) into it.
Another fun way to do a gender reveal is using balloons. For my second pregnancy we decided to do balloons. I wanted each kiddo to have a unique memory captured on video to share with them someday. This is another great and very cost effective way to share the news.
For this, you need a big box with a lid to hold the balloons. I had a large moving box in the garage – so that is what we used 🙂
Give the envelope to someone at a party store (or in my case – Walgreens) and ask them to fill several pink or blue balloons – based on what is in the envelope. Have them tape the balloon strings to the inside bottom of the box and close the lid. Make sure they know NOT to tell you what is inside. You can pay for the balloons and helium based on the number they used – you do not need to know the color.
Next, wrap the box in baby paper and decorate as you like. The image above is the exact box that we used. 🙂
When you open the box with your friends and family, the balloons will pop out in pink or blue for all to see! As you can see from this image – we had a girl the second time around.
Another fun idea is to get a piñata in the shape of a pacifier, question mark, rubber duck, baby buggy, etc. and then fill it with all pink or all blue (or both if you are having twins and happen to have both genders)! Some are even pull string to keep it easy. Surprise everyone when the color(s) pour out!
Whatever you do for your reveal – have fun and do it in your own special way! 🙂 Enjoy!
xoxo
Healthy dinner is closer than you think! Portobello mushroom cap pizzas are a favorite in our house. They are easy to make, fun, delicious, and healthy!
Ingredients:
- 4 Portobello mushroom caps – largest you can find (adjust amount if you need more or less for your family)
- Shredded mozzarella cheese
- A variety of veggies for the toppings (bell peppers, garlic, tomato, etc.)
- Cooking spray
- 1 jar of pizza sauce
To get things rolling, preheat the over to 375.
Wash the portobello mushrooms well, and pull out the stems so you have a nice empty cap ready to fill.
Line a cooking sheet with foil and lightly coat with olive oil spray.
Put mushroom caps on baking sheet and bake for about 5 min or so while you prepare the toppings.
My favorite part about this recipe is that you can use whatever veggies you have in the house and need to use up! In this case, I used red bell pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, fresh basil, garlic, cherry tomatoes, and jalapeño (on the ones for me and hubby). Chop your veggies into little pieces. Remember, this is not a full size pizza so they do need to be chopped small to fit onto the mushroom caps. Set the veggies/toppings aside.
Using oven mitts, pull the pan out of the oven and get ready to top your mushroom caps!
I use a jar of low sodium, no sugar added, organic pizza sauce from the grocery store and it works great! Put your pizza sauce of choice into each cap. Top the sauce with shredded mozzarella. Lastly, top with your chopped veggies and pop back into the over for about 15 min.
Pull out and serve with fresh salad, fruit, or whatever you want as a side dish. They are great with a little red pepper flake on top as well (for those who like a little extra spice).
Thats it! Talk about easy! Hope you try it out and please let me know what you think!
Enjoy! 🙂 xoxo
Ok folks – I’ve been pretty excited to share this recipe. It’s healthy, easy and family friendly! Flourless pancakes – woohoo!
I’ve broken it down into easy to follow steps below 🙂
Step 1: Gather ingredients – 1 ripe banana, 2 eggs, and pumpkin pie spice. I use a couple shakes of pumpkin pie spice but you can also use cinnamon and nutmeg if you have those on hand. A touch of vanilla extract is a fun and yummy way to change these up as well! You can get creative with flavors.
Step 2: Put everything in the blender and mix until smooth (30 seconds or so).
Step 3: Heat pan on medium and spray with coconut oil (or preferred oil spray).
Step 4: Pour pancake mix and let cook for about 2 min on the first side. Flip and let cook for about 1 min on the other side. They cook fast so keep an eye on them.
Step 5: ENJOY!
We eat them without anything on top most of the time – but we have used agave instead of syrup and it’s delicious!
I hope you try these out soon! It’s a great way to use up ripe bananas – and a deliciously easy breakfast for any day of the week!
xoxo