Pregnancy Q&A

I get asked plenty of questions in regards to my pregnancy journey and everything else in between related to motherhood. I don't expect everyone to read my blog, but I figure if you somehow stumble your way on here then here are a few questions I've pulled from direct messages, comments and conversations I've had! Mind you, these are my own personal experiences/opinions - every woman & pregnancy is different so I am not answering for the rest of the women/mothers out there, just myself.

Is this pregnancy different from your first? Oh, it's completely different. My pregnancy with Rylan from what I can remember was easy breezy. I have felt just about every symptom a pregnant lady could have throughout my pregnancy.

How are you feeling? Exhausted. My entire body aches almost all the time & carrying around this baby girl inside of me has definitely taken it's toll on me. Pregnancy insomnia has kicked in really hard the past couple of weeks, so sleep has been scarce for me. But I love taking naps during the day, with me being on the go so much - it's been very much needed especially because I'm limited to how many cups of coffee I can have lol.

Is Matt excited? He better be! just kidding, slightly. Of course he's excited. The day we found out we were pregnant, he even teared up. He's definitely embracing this pregnancy & the coming of our baby girl.

How does Rylan feel about being a big brother? Is he excited? I'm not exactly sure to what extent he has really grasped the idea of what it's going to mean for him to be a big brother but he's definitely shown his excitement. For a few years now he's been asking me when he's gonna get a little brother or sister so he's definitely ready. He talks to my belly, hugs it & kisses it all the time.

Are you scared? I'm not sure if I'd say I'm scared, but I definitely feel anxious about what the experience of child birth will be like this time. Because the pregnancy has been so rough, I do worry that labor and delivery will be just as hard. My pregnancy with Rylan, spoiled me because he really was just so easy.

How do you think you'll handle having both a newborn and a 7 year old? Do you think the age gap will be a problem? Since finding out I was pregnancy, I was really adamant about doing our best to always keep Rylan involved during the pregnancy, and setting up things he could do around our home to help out mom & dad. He was there with us during my ultrasound when we found out the sex of the baby and anyway he can be of help to mommy whenever baby is getting a little too rambunctious inside I ask for his assistance. He's been so helpful and has really started to take on the role of big brother in certain areas. I can foresee that there will be a point where they will be in different stages in life, but I think he will do amazing at being a big brother. Just like with any siblings, I'm sure they will have their moments of disagreements, but I'm not too worried.

Have you bought a lot of maternity clothes during your pregnancy? I've bought the essentials, but really most of the items I wear are non-maternity. I had to buy maternity jeans, because let's be real trying to squeeze into non-maternity jeans can be a pain and the over the belly support that my maternity jeans provide is amazing. Luckily, prior to being pregnant I wore pretty loose fit and over-sized clothing so I didn't really have to buy a lot of new clothes. Definitely had to invest in new bras and undies though that's for sure.

How have you and your husband incorporated your faith in raising Rylan and preparing for your new child? In every opportunity we can. When I became a Christian, before my husband and I got married, I made it very clear that I wanted to raise Rylan and my future kids incorporating my Christian beliefs and life style. I also know that there's more to it than just feeding them with knowledge but also living out what we are trying to teach to them (which that in itself can be very difficult). Children are like sponges, they pay attention to what we do as parents more than we realize. Rylan knows that we will all make mistakes, that we do things sometimes that hurt others and even ourselves. We've also explained to him that relying on ourselves often leads us back to where we started and that we really need to seek His guidance and help. We pray with him constantly and definitely allow him to lead prayer when he feels comfortable. As a parent, you hope whatever you try to instill in your children sticks. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. One thing that shows me he's paying attention & really taking into heart what we're trying to teach him, is the fact that he is usually one of the first people to rebuke me in my sin nature and give me the same talk we give him. Praise Jesus for His good works, because He is definitely doing amazing things in my little guy's heart.

How did you think of the name Adela? When my last living grandma passed away 5 years ago, I was devastated. Her name was Adela and I told myself that if I were to ever have a daughter I wanted her to be named after my grandma. It was a really popular name in the early 1900's and means noble. Thankfully, Matt liked the name as much as me :)

Do you guys want to have more children? Absolutely. I was raise into a big family. As a little girl, I have always wanted to have 3-4 children. Obviously, it's not something we have control over so whatever God has planned for us in regards to children we leave to Him.

This was fun! If anybody has other questions that I didn't answer, feel free to comment, send me a message, text, email - whichever and if I get enough maybe I'll do these more often! 

Is this real life?

I joined the Instagram community about 4-5 years ago, probably because at the time it was the newest and coolest social networking site/app available. I enjoy capturing moments in my every day life, so I thought why not. When I started, the only people who I followed & followed me back were people that I had some sort of relationship or acquaintance with. Instagram since then has become such a huge outlet for so many businesses, creative mom's, and more. 

In just the past year I have developed new relationships (mostly with mothers) throughout the world, sharing life's experiences. It has also opened amazing opportunities for Rylan and I myself to support and represent some awesome small shops that we love. Of course, with any social networking outlets there are always downfalls, but I chose to focus on the good that has come out of having an Instagram account. With the sudden rush of new followers in the last couple of months I have also been trying very hard in making sure I connect in some way with all of you or those who leave me comments as much as I can, because for me that's been an essential part of showing others that I am no different than the next person. 

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About a month ago, a family writer/head of mobile & video section of a french magazine called Magicmaman.com reached out to me asking if they could feature a look of mine on their website. 

Below is a snapshot of the article. It's in French, so I can't read most of it but I feel absolutely grateful for being chosen to be featured. They were interested in capturing my looks during pregnancy & want to feature me again in their September issue after I have given birth. 

If you're interested in seeing the full article, you can go here: Insta Mam (warning, the whole thing is in French) 

#MOMGOALS

The other day, I watched a trailer for a movie coming out in July called Bad Moms. I'm sure there are a handful of you who have also seen it floating around social media websites.

There probably isn't one mom out there who couldn't relate to the movie in some sort of way. 

Whether you're single, engaged, married, divorced, a single parent, SAHM or whatever category you find yourself in - there seems to be this predisposition and unwritten expectation or stereotype you are labeled with from others. 

It's difficult not to be affected by the judgement. I personally am not as concerned with what strangers think of me but more so those closest to me or know me. Family for example, always have their best intentions when giving advise (at least we hope so lol), whether in regards to how to parent your child or what/what not to do during your pregnancy. And although I value their opinions, they are not always the best at communicating it in a way that doesn't come off so critical. I often find myself walking away from those conversations feeling inadequate and hurt. 

While I do strongly believe that we as parents play a huge role in shaping our children into the adults we'd like them to be, I also know that every child is different so there isn't a one size fits all when it comes to parenting styles or strategies. 

"Just like that! Good! Great job dad!" - Rylan (Rylan teaching Matt how to play Avengers on the WII)

Becoming a mother almost 8 years ago, I knew life was going to change for me. I have learned to take each day in stride. A lot of the time I feel like I have failed & then there are those precious moments that you're child does something that you can't help but be so proud & know that you have contributed to that. 

In a culture where parents can get looked down upon for getting their children vaccinated, or get shamed on because God forbid a parent fed their child junk food or something non-organic, or the emphasis on putting them through all the extracurricular activities, among so many other things, it's really difficult sometimes to feel like you're doing a good job at being a parent let alone sometimes just as a human being. 

Both my husband and I work full time jobs, I scramble after work to get our 7 year old to all his extra curricular activities, while being almost 8 months pregnant and still trying to find time to get home and cook a decent meal for my family. Sometimes it's doable, but lately it's been really really hard. By the time we get home, it's nearing Rylan's bed time and I am often just too lazy to cook a more substantial meal - so sometimes that means buying him fast food, or whatever I can find laying around the house (which isn't always the healthiest). Sometimes, we'll go an entire week eating horribly. 

Matt and I are trying to get our finances together so that we can eventually get ourselves into a house, so expenses are often tight - which mean as much as we'd love to, grocery shopping for whatever we can afford means picking unhealthy & non-organic items. That also means, sometimes telling each other no to things we want. Our home is hardly ever perfectly organized or clean, in fact most of the time there is piles of dirty dishes left in the sink, laundry still in the basket needing to be put away, and just crap everywhere. For someone who is a clean/neat freak & OCD it drives me nuts but I also just don't have the energy to be on top of my game in regards to keeping our home clean.  

So, to revert back to the title of this post. What exactly does #momgoals mean? For me it means a mother who is relentless in loving her children/family with all she heart and soul & does the best she can every day. Because at the end of the day, other people's judgement and opinions should be the least of our worries. And if today was a day of failures, we have tomorrow to start over new. 

PS. Just 9 more weeks left! 

Embracing the Journey at 30 Weeks

Today marks 30 weeks & 4 days into my second pregnancy. Meaning, if this girl goes full term, I still have a little under 10 weeks remaining. (I am of course hoping for only 8 weeks lol).

For those that have followed me through my pregnancy journey thus far, know I've been riding this overwhelming roller-coaster of emotions. Just like the weather here in the PNW, my moods can be very night or day. Some days are really good & some days I can barely get through without more than a handful of melt downs. 

Growing a little human is an absolute blessing, there is not a day that goes by that I look down at my growing belly and just feel so happy. But, pregnancy has not at all been a sweet sailing journey. I struggled through every bit of pregnancy symptoms during my first trimester, then came the scare from my OB about our precious girl possibly having down syndrome based on a single spot seen during our first ultrasound (I discuss this in a previous post) - which caused extreme anxiety & worry for me. Now being well into my third trimester, where obvious physical changes are becoming more evident - so many uncontrollable emotions have came full on rushing in. 

Last week, I shared about how I've been struggling with feeling very alone & lonely sometimes and the difficulties I have when it comes to reaching out to others. They haven't disappeared but I'm proud to say that I am better at not always allowing those feelings to eat me up. I've been spending so much alone time with God, and have really allowed Him to take the lead. 

Side story: Lately, Rylan has been really into rubbing, touching, hugging and kissing my belly. Sometimes he will sit next to me (especially when he can tell I'm having a bad day) and he will ask if he can feel her move. This week, he really took to finally talking to her and telling her about his days. Wednesday night, I was just feeling physically crummy and after we got home from his baseball game, the entire family (Matt, Rylan and I) just spent 30 minutes staring at my belly to see if we could see Adela wiggling around, Matt played music for her and literally we just enjoyed each other's company while we entertained this little girl inside of me. I might have felt horrible, but my heart just overflowed with so much love and joy. 

It was that night that I really began to embrace everything about this pregnancy - all the way down to my negative feelings. Everything I was feeling became minuscule. How can I possibly continue feeling bad when even my 7 year old boy can willingly embrace me and my pregnant belly. I see now that God has been using Rylan during this season to be my backbone. He has lifted me up whenever I doubt myself and loves me unconditionally. God has been so good! <3

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I also want to share just how talented Rylan has become. I swear that boy is growing up too quickly for me, I can hardly catch my breath sometimes. I get asked a lot who takes my solo pictures. Well sometimes I just use self-timer on my camera, but most of the time it's been Rylan or my husband. And I wanted to share these pictures Rylan beautifully captured of me this week. I mean, perhaps I'm being bias because he's my child - but so be it. 

Foodie Group & Doughnuts

Did I ever talk about this amazing group that we're a part of? It's gotta be one of the coolest groups you could ever be a part of. Every once in awhile (when our schedules permit), we get together with a few of our good friends and our families and just eat. I mean if you love food & like to eat, who wouldn't want to be a part of our group. Hah. We normally like to try out new places, but we're always open to anything (so throw out your suggestions if you have any).

On a quick slight serious note, it really is awesome to get together with our group. They have been such a big part of our spiritual walk individually, as a couple & a family so they hold very high significance. We just adore them & are so blessed to have them in our lives.

Anyways, today we decided to try Peruvian food & by suggestion from a friend we went to San Fernando Roasted Chicken, which was absolutely delicious & authentic. After stuffing our faces there we decided to walk a few stores over and get dessert at Doughnut Factory, which was also amazing. We recommend it, so if you're ever in the Pacific Northwest Region & wanna check out Peruvian food & some delicious doughnuts, try these two places up!

I had to share food pictures. So salivate and enjoy!

And I have to share the sweetest photo I captured of Rylan & Evelyn holding hands walking over to the Doughnut Factory. I love them.