During the birth of our daughter, my husband and I spent two nights and two and half days in the hospital. I read all sorts of packing lists for what to take in your hospital bag. I created a list of everything I could think of, and we packed it all. I am the type of person who would rather be more prepared than needed. If it helped me feel less stressed, then fill the car to the brim! And that's what we did. Now, looking back, I can share with you which things I brought that weren't needed in my hospital bag, as well as which things I'm most thankful we had with us. What I Didn't Use Continue Reading
Raylee’s Birth Story
My due date came and went with no baby. I was scheduled to be induced four days after my due date if she didn't come on her own. Of course, she didn't! This is the birth story of our precious little Raylee Lynn. Being Induced On Wednesday, March 22, we went to the labor and delivery unit of the hospital on the Army base. I liked knowing when I was going in because I was able to shower, shave, and make sure everything was packed. It was really exciting knowing that our baby girl would probably be in our arms by the end of the day. At 9 a.m., after finding out I was almost 3 Continue Reading
Introducing Raylee Lynn
On Wednesday, March 22, at 9:33 p.m., we became a family of three. Travis and I introduced Raylee Lynn into the world. Raylee weighed 8 pounds and measured 20.5 inches long. She is perfectly healthy. Raylee is now three weeks old. She is gaining weight and already seems so much bigger than when she was born. Travis and I are absolutely in love. Motherhood is overwhelming. I had no idea how hard those first couple weeks would be. Trying to recover physically, trying to figure out breastfeeding, and trying to take care of a brand new person who completely relies on you -- it's a lot to Continue Reading
Purple and Grey Nursery
When we found out we were having a girl at our baseball-themed gender reveal party, I knew exactly how I wanted to decorate the nursery. I've never been a pink kind of girl. Purple has always been my favorite color, so I wanted to do a purple and grey nursery. I wanted to use all different shades of purple with lots of different patterns. Simple. Cute. Girly. We started by taking out all the furniture in my home office and painting the walls grey. It turns out grey is a hard color to find. The first coat looked blue and Travis repainted the whole thing until it finally looked grey. Then we Continue Reading
Launch Day: New Miscarriage eBook
I'm so excited to announce today is launch day for my miscarriage eBook! I can't believe my book is finally ready to be released to you! Beginning today, you can order my eBook Miscarriage & Mourning: Encouragement after Pregnancy Loss. To celebrate, we also have a giveaway at the end of this post and a special coupon code just for my readers! All About the Miscarriage eBook Women all over the world are suffering from pregnancy loss, many of which do so silently. Because miscarriage is not a popular topic and is almost taboo, most women experiencing such a loss don’t know of others who Continue Reading
Coming Soon: Pre-Order Your Book Today
Have you seen the news? I wrote an eBook! I cannot believe it's real actually. But my name is actually on Amazon as an author! How crazy is that? I am so excited that God gave me the stamina to keep going with this eBook idea and now it is coming to fruition. So let me tell you about this book! I have compiled all of my blog posts about miscarriage into an eBook called Miscarriage & Mourning: Encouragement after Pregnancy Loss. Women all over the world are suffering from pregnancy loss, many of which do so silently. Because miscarriage is not a popular topic and is almost taboo, Continue Reading
Prenatal Massage: The Benefits and Tips for First-Timers
At 16 weeks of pregnancy, Travis and I went to a place called Love My Baby Bump to get a gender-reveal ultrasound. We didn't want to wait until 22 weeks, which was when the hospital planned to do our anatomy scan of the baby. While we were at the ultrasound place, we found out they also do prenatal massage sessions for mamas. I don't know about you, but I love me a good massage! I was having a lot of back pain in my first months of pregnancy, so I tried out the prenatal massage. It was amazing! After that first experience and seeing how much it helped my lower back pain, we bought a package Continue Reading
Calming Birthing Playlist
Holy moly, it's March. That means our baby is due! Next week in fact! (Insert stunned emoji faces) I can't believe she could really come any day now! And I can't believe that soon I will be experiencing labor for the first time. I have to admit, that sounds pretty scary! That's why I really wanted to create a calming birthing playlist full of music that would remind me that God is taking care of me. Of course, when the time comes, who knows what it will be like. Perhaps it will go so fast that I won't have time to play any music. Or perhaps it will take so long, I'll get tired of hearing Continue Reading
3rd Trimester Essentials
It's finally the month my baby is due! Although, I really can't complain, the 3rd trimester has definitely been uncomfortable. I feel big. It's hard to move around or put my shoes on. I have to pee all the time. Every time the baby moves, which is a lot, it feels uncomfortable. Oh, and sleep is harder to come by. I can totally see why 3rd trimester mamas are ready for the baby to just get here already! Although there's not a lot you can do to fix these 3rd trimester woes, you can use some of these things to ease them a little. Today, I'm sharing my 3rd trimester essentials -- the things that Continue Reading
Weekly Bump Photos
One of the things I was really excited about when becoming pregnant was that I would be able to take weekly bump photos to see how my belly, and baby, were growing. I love seeing other people take these photos, and I couldn't wait to take my own. We got started right away, taking them at week 4. I've been taking them once a week ever since. Today, I'm sharing my bump's progress. Bump Photos Those first three photos are sized differently than the rest. We were just starting out, and I wasn't for sure how I wanted each photo to look. But by week 7, I had it down. I love seeing the different Continue Reading
Maternity Photo Shoot Tips
I had just hit 32 weeks in my pregnancy. It was time to document this big, beautiful belly of mine! Travis and I recently had a maternity photo shoot with our favorite photographer, Aubree. Before the big day, I asked Aubree if she'd be willing to share some tips for, not only me, but for all of my readers. I don't know about you but paying a photographer to come take pictures of you can be nerve-racking. What if you spend all this money and you hate the photos? What if you feel ugly? What should you wear? How should you stand? And what in the world do you do with your hands? We've all seen Continue Reading
Purple Elephant Baby Shower Ideas
Over the past weekend, my mom, sister-in-law, and aunt threw me a baby shower -- a purple and grey, elephant baby shower! They chose this theme because it's what we are using to decorate our daughter's nursery. The great part about having the same theme for the shower and the nursery is we can use some of the same items for decorations! During the shower, we had a craft activity, games, food, and the opening of gifts. We had around 30 guests come to the shower, and I had a fantastic time. Elephant Baby Shower Details Decorations Let's start with decorations! I loved all the little Continue Reading