Thursday, August 28, 2014

Product Review: Snoggle Body Pillow


One of the things I have struggled with during my pregnancy has been insomnia and comfortable positioning while sleeping. During the first trimester, sleep was a breeze because that’s all I could stand to do as this little person began to form. As I moved into my second trimester and my belly began to expand, it was apparent that my days of being a stomach-sleeper were coming to end.

Night after fitful night, I would rotate from side to side unable to get comfortable. Even while propped up on 8 pillows while my poor husband suffered with only 2
, I still could not rest comfortably. With several more months to go, a resolution did not seem near. However, my husband being the awesome person that he is, surprised me with a Snoggle body pillow.
photo by me



I’ve seen this pillow every time I’ve visited Babies R Us and vowed to get one but I just couldn’t bring myself to spend the money on it. Well, I guess my husband got tired of my restless nights and purchased one for me that changed my life. Not only do I now  sleep through the night but my body feels great. Goodbye sore hips and stiff arms!

It is essentially a body pillow with a curve. You can curl around it or it can curl around you. Need a pillow between your knees to keep everything aligned? No problem. The Snoggle fits easily between the knees without becoming detached at night. I also love the inner lining cover provides you with multiple positions and ways to use your Snoggle. How cool is that? 

I've pretty much tried each position and my favorites are the back-to-back, the swirl around and belly basics. I've each used the swirl while lounging in bed reading and it's fantastic. Let me run you down a list of a few other things I like about this pillow:

Likes:

  • Machine-washable and easy to remove covering
  • Breathable material; I didn't feel hot sleeping on it
  • Stiff and flexible like a regular pillow
  • Great support
  • No weird plastic smell
  • Organic
Dislikes
  • It takes up a lot of space in the bed but the sleep is worth it
  • It only comes in white and brown
  • Pricey; retails for about 59.99 or higher depending on the store
Ladies, trust me when I say this pillow is totally worth the investment pre and post pregnancy. I have friends who swear by and it continue it use it to this day despite not being pregnant. I still have 3 more months to go and I've told my husband to make sure he brings this pillow to the hospital on delivery day. 

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

23 weeks pregnant

How I'm feeling:
A little more tired and heavy these days.

What I'm craving:
No real cravings this week except salads. I love salads. I could eat them all day.

How I'm sleeping:
My husband is the best husband in the world! He surprised me with a Snoggle pillow that has literally changed my life. I slept through the night for the first time in weeks. I'm planning to do a product review on this item. Ladies, make sure you get one of these during you pregnancy.

Thoughts:
23 weeks. Is it me or is this pregnancy flying by? Seems like just yesterday I was stressing about not being able to get pregnant and now I'm 16 weeks away from meeting this little person. Geez. My anatomy scan and quad screening results came back. Everything is normal and checks out. The next major test will be my glucose test, which they will probably schedule at my monthly check up on Thursday. I think I've gained another pound which brings my total weight gain to 2-3 pounds to date. Not bad. Especially considering I have about 3 more months to go.

Hubby and I have started taking evening walks which seem to really help me sleep at night. I've also been forcing myself to go to bed at 9:30 each night. Boy what a difference that makes. I'm starting to experience some slight swelling in my feet but I try to keep them elevated as much as possible and stretch as often as I can.

Overall I'm feeling good. Plans for my baby shower/baby celebration are underway and my team is on it! Invitation designs have been selected and the date has been confirmed. I'm still on the fence about my location since it seems the guest list is going to be 40-50 people so my current locale may not work. I need to talk it over with my mom again.

I plan to schedule my maternity photo shoot for October sometime so I need to start thinking about outfits for the family to wear. Hubby is almost done clearing his stuff out of the nursery so once he's finished with that, we will move forward with the painting and decorating. I'm having a baby!

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Thoughts about a large family


via Google Images


When my husband and I were still friends, we both expressed our desires for a large family. When we had our son, we knew we would want to expand beyond one because who really wants just one kid in life? Lately though, I've been feeling some kind of way about the judgment people have when we tell them we want to have two more kids.

"If you knew better, you would get your tubes after this second one."

"Four?! Are you guys crazy?!"

"You're crazy to want more than two. Two is a great balance."

I've heard these statements not only from strangers but from family members as well. WE want more than one child. WE want to have as many kids as the good Lord will let us. So why all the judgment folks? Why all the pushing to get my tubes tied? I would think decisions about MY reproductive system are MY decision but seems I missed the memo on that.

It's a little frustrating to keep hearing this from people, especially from some people who have 3+ kids. Just because your situation is your situation doesn't mean it will be the same for me. I am married to a man who wants to have a whole basketball team of kids and says he's willing to live on farm if need be to raise them all.

I don't think it gets any better than that.

Monday, August 18, 2014

22 weeks pregnant


How I'm feeling:
Like my ol' self again!

What I'm craving:
Not real cravings but my appetite has definitely increased. All that concern about wanting nothing but fruit is out of the window. I'm pretty eating anything these days but making sure I opt for healthy choices with the occasional indulgence.

How I'm sleeping:
I've finally found the perfect ratio of pillows and positioning in bed to get a solid night's sleep. Bless my poor husband's heart for doing whatever it takes.

Thoughts:
22 weeks. Almost 6 months. Things are progressing great.  The results from the full anatomy scan are back and everything is normal. Whew! Not that I was worried but you know, there is always an inkling that something may be wrong. This morning I stopped by the lab to do my quad screening, which is a maternal blood test that looks for different markers with the hormones your body is producing. It's not a required test since I'm not considered advanced maternal age (35 and above) but it is nice to do just because. I should have my results by the time of my next appointment next week at 23 weeks.

Other than that, things are fine. There is a definite uptick my appetite these days. I could eat all day but I remind myself to at least try to make healthier choices with the occasional indulgence. As I'm typing this, I'm stuffed from a lunch of two small spring rolls, chicken larb (basically minced chicken with raw cabbage leaves that you roll it up in) and some basil chicken. The basil chicken was my late snack since I didn't eat breakfast this morning. Honestly, I just want to go home and sleep for about two hours.

The baby is doing lots of kicking and moving these days and they are certainly stronger. I believe he/she is positioned with the head at the top and the feet below towards my uterus because I feel tons of movement there. In the last ultrasound he/she was facing my back. I finally decided on a date for my baby shower and it will be on November 8 at 3pm. It's going to be busy day because my son's last soccer game and closing ceremony is that day. Good thing for me I don't have to do anything but show up for this shower :)

Monday, August 11, 2014

21 weeks pregnant/Gender Confirmation

Hey guys! I have been way too busy to even pause and do an update. We've hit the 21 week mark and boy what a difference it makes!

First off, here is a picture of me in my 20 weeks glory. By the way, I hate bathroom photos but I had t make this work:


The Bump has definitely made an appearance and I'm looking mighty pregnant these days. I'm also starting to feel like myself again. I suppose this is the "second trimester glow" when everything is honky dory before the "third trimester landslide". Either way, I'm feeling good and looking good. I've only gained a pound so far this pregnancy and that is just fine with me and my doctor. She don't anticipate me gaining much more since I was already a little "fluffy" to begin with.

I went back for my second anatomy scan and we were finally able to confirm the gender of this baby. I'm not going to reveal what we're having for a few weeks because hubby and I want to relish in this moment privately.

Since I'm in a good space right now, we are going to start moving full steam ahead on the nursery. There is much to do but since the room is completely empty, we have a blank slate to work with. My mom couldn't be more excited and loves projects so I am totally turning this over to her and just funding it LOL

Baby is kicking so I'm going to go take a walk and get to work. Have a great day!

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Weekend in Review


It’s been a whirlwind of a week but in a great way. Let’s start from the beginning


Friday

I went into work for a few hours only to leave shortly after arriving to have a pizza party for my little guy’s birthday to kick off.  It went really well. Spiderman showed (and freaked out several of the kids) but it was good. We left there and headed out to run some last minute errands for his party that was taking place the next day. My in-laws also arrived early that afternoon and spent the day at their hotel resting. I managed to get the last of the things for the party before getting busy with everything else. Luckily we were able to do what we needed to do.

Saturday

The party was a success! We had about 16 kids show up in total and tons of family. I was glad they were all there. The food was good and so was the company. I highly recommend Dave and Busters if you need a place to have a birthday party. It’s going to cost a pretty penny (I cringe thinking about how much money we spent) but it was worth the convenience and the perks. We hung around there for a few hours before we left to meet up with family back at my house and the celebration continued until 11pm.


Sunday

The family (my parents and his) came back over and we had a morning celebration. The kids played the adults hung out. It was just good all around. Our parents are the best of the friends and let me tell you, it makes things GREAT! Shortly after my in-laws hit the road, my dad and husband went to the movies while my mom and  I took my son to Toys R Us/Babies R Us so he could get another gift with his birthday money and I could finish my baby registry. Later that afternoon, we all met back up for lunch and then went out to look at a couple of model homes (more on this later). Finally, we ended our day at my cousin’s city tennis championship (which he won!) and made it home late that night.

Monday

Monday was Baby Boy’s actual birthday and he had an entire list of things to do. First up was a birthday breakfast of pizza and bacon (don’t judge me; he asked for it) then we headed out to the movies. After the movies he wanted to go to Party City and the bookstore so we took him there. Finally, we picked up some lunch and went home to rest (really I needed a nap) before heading back out to Monkey Joe’s where the family met us to continue the celebration. My mom wanted to cook him a birthday dinner we had a cookout at my parent’s house and rolled into the bed about 11:30 that night.
 
All in all, it was a perfect weekend. My baby told me it was the best birthday ever and he couldn’t wait for his Transformers birthday party the next day ::pause:: Now that we’ve made it through this his birthday, its time to start getting things ready for Baby #2’s arrival in a few months.