maternity belt

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I’m officially 31 weeks pregnant now and had a great check up with my midwife this week. She said baby is head down (yay!) and showed me she could feel baby’s head using her hands on my belly. She said the baby’s back is up by my belly button, I was wondering what prominent body part that was I could feel.

I let her know I’m wearing full leg compression sleeves to support especially my right leg and I’m feeling pressure and seeing veins bulge in my groin area. She said a maternity belt would help with that and support the weight of my belly. I went ahead and ordered one on Amazon and it is definitely helping me feel more  comfortable!

This pregnancy is definitely more challenging with varicose veins bulging but otherwise I feel pretty good, just tired. I ended up with sciatica towards the end of my first pregnancy so I’m hoping that doesn’t appear again because it was so painful and hard to even walk around so that would be inconvenient and make taking care of my 3-year old more challenging.

Book review on becoming a big sister!

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We received this adorable book as a gift from my hubby’s Aunt. It arrived at the perfect time! I was entering my 7 month of pregnancy 🤰 and my almost 3 year old who’s now officially 3(!!) was still patting my belly saying, “baby puppy”. Which is totally adorable but I didn’t want her to freak out when she meets her sibling and it’s not a puppy 🐶.

This book, “Hello in There”, illustrates very clearly a baby in mommy’s belly and baby gets big on each page while big sister is on the outside waiting for baby to be born and thinking about all the fun they’ll have when they can finally play together.

My daughter really seems to understand there’s a baby in my belly 😊 and she seems pretty excited about it and says baby wahhh. She thinks all babies do is cry 😂

Page with baby in mommy’s belly and baby gets bigger on each subsequent page.

Big sister waiting for baby and subsequent pages show big sister doing activities like playing dress up and saying she can’t wait to play with baby.

This is a great book for a big sister to be. I haven’t checked to see if there’s a big brother version of the book. I highly recommend this book 📖 it explains very clearly what’s going on, my daughter really grasped what’s going on!

Honor’s birthday cake!

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Our daughter, Honor, turned 3 on December 30th! She’s changed so much in her lifetime and notably in the past 6 months she gone from a toddler to a little girl. It’s been amazing to see her grow and change.

This year we made her birthday cake together! This is my go-to birthday cake recipe, it makes a 9” round cake. You can also make delicious cupcakes!

Honor’s birthday cake 🎂

Dry Ingredients:

1 ½ cups Garbanzo Gluten free flour

½ tsp sea salt

1 tsp baking powder

¼ cup cacao powder

 

Wet Ingredients:

¾ cup sugar (organic turbinado or demerara)

2 T. ground flax + 3 T. water (stir together and set aside)

1 tsp vanilla

4 T. unsweet applesauce

¼ cup coconut oil

1 cup water

1 T. apple cider vinegar

 

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Combine dry ingredients.
  3. Mix together wet ingredients and pour into dry ingredients bowl and stir to combine.
  4. Pour into round 9” baking pan greased with coconut oil spray.
  5. Bake 30 minutes.

Homemade frosting:

1 cup full fat coconut milk

¼ cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

Whisk together frosting ingredients, frost cooled cake then place cake in fridge to set frosting.

Pregnancy with baby 2 vs baby 1

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Today I took Honor to the park for a picnic and although I thought it would be relaxing I ended up being on my feet the whole time and watching her play. It was fun but wow exhausting!

Being pregnant with baby 2, I often think how different this pregnancy is compared to round 1! Being pregnant when I didn’t already have a child to care for was challenging on its own. I was super exhausted, especially in the first trimester and still pretty tired most of my pregnancy. I had morning sickness which lasted all day and was intense the first trimester and when it did let up around week 16 or 17 I would still have nausea sometimes, although far more mild than morning sickness. I could take naps after work which was nice, I worked more days at the office so that part was harder.

Pregnancy with baby2, having an active toddler this time around, I have spent a lot of time on the couch watching her play and feeling super guilty that I wasn’t able to have fun with her too. I took her out for short play dates at the library or shopping, the park was too exhausting which we tried a few times but with the FL heat and being pregnant it would take me the rest of the day to recover. I have called my husband most work afternoons to see when he’s getting home from work because especially in the first trimester I was so exhausted by that hour I needed him to be home to take care of our daughter and help with dinner and getting her in bed. I dreaded the nights he had to work later than usual or had plans to play soccer or go to a networking event.

So yes it’s been challenging and my pregnancy is having an effect on my whole family, they are seeing mommy more tired and in need of help. It’s a short season in life. I feel like I never hear people talk about this type of thing only what life is like when baby 2 arrives. I am super grateful to have this baby in my belly, there is no doubt about that! I’m excited to have her complete our family! We can’t wait to meet her in March 2019!

 

No-Bake Chocolate Protein Snacks: Toddler Approved/Lactation Cookies

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So these protein balls I started making as my go-to no-bake lactation cookie! Add a little brewers yeast and boom-lactation support!! My daughter is now expanding her palette so I cut these into tiny bites and she devours them! I make them for her without the brewers yeast now.

Check out our video making this tasty treat :)!

Ingredients:

1 cup pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup unsweet shredded coconut

2 .T cacao (cocoa) powder

2. chocolate chips (I use dairy free Pashca 85% or enjoy life brand)

2 T. dried fruit (we love cherries or cranberries)

1/4 cup maple syrup (agave or honey work well too)

1 T. brewers yeast (for lactation support if needed)

1 T. coconut oil

1 T. water (if needed)

Method:

1. Pulse pumpkin seeds and coconut flakes then add in remaining ingredients.

2. Process until there are no detectable big pieces – especially if you will be sharing with your kiddos!

3. Scoop out by the Tablespoon, the mini ice cream scoopers work great.

4. Roll into balls or pop into mini paper muffin cups.

5. Store in fridge 4 days or freeze.

 

Yield: 12 balls

Note: If serving to your toddler, cut into small dime size pieces and flatten (to make sure no big chunks. Brush their teeth after snack since this has sticky sweetness!

 

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