Monday, September 26, 2016

Dressing Bump 2, Week 28

I love getting dressed when I'm pregnant, especially this pregnancy since I get to dress a lot more casually now that I'm not working in an office. This transition time from summer to fall is a lot of fun too. I love a chance to layer!

My "uniform" this past week has been pendant necklace, skinny jeans (black, jean or maroon), maternity t-shirt, button up (plaid or chambray), vest (military or jean) and sneakers (black nikes or chucks). Easy to slip on shoes (a preggo must) and a lighter layer for fall - plus I always feel pulled together with layers. I love that this same recipe for an outfit can look very casual, but can also could be really pulled together, depending on the pieces.

This outfit came out of this pin - I couldn't decide what to wear and when I opened Pinterest this outfit sprung up at me and I enjoyed it all day. 


Photo by Paul, so I take what I can get. 

Easy morning layers - chambray and military vest with stripes

A great weekend outfit - skinnies, chucks, plaid button up for warmth, a plain black T and my ever present military vest. 


We were away on the island on the weekend and I wanted to pack light, but also feel good in everything. So I tried pulling together my first "capsule" style packing wardrobe. It was perfect! I still overpacked a bit but it was way less than I normally would and everything was so easy to wear together. I felt very victorious.




Shorts work as easily as skinnies when the heat sneaks back in!




Thursday, September 22, 2016

Settling In

The house is coming along. We moved in for June 1st and now it's mid September. In my dreams, our house would be ready by now. In my plans, our house was going to be ready by now. But it's not finished. It's definitely not finished. That being said, it's still very usable and ready enough for now. My mom has spent my life telling me that hospitality has nothing to do with perfection - that hosting and loving people is about how they feel, not about how perfect the house is. So I keep trucking along, hosting and unpacking, as I can.
Our coffee station was originally something I thought I wouldn't be able to fit into this space and I'm so so so glad it does. I love it. We use it all the time. We had been given a Keurig Machine and bought a Soda Stream, and are so glad we can fit them all together here. My sister gave us the new wood piece on the right. My mugs all fit (regular mugs in the back, starbucks mugs in the front, white mugs on the top).
I created some tags to label all the areas. In the last house I realized that people had no idea where stuff went, and then it seemed even worse when I added four more baskets. So labels seemed helpful. I found these tags in the Target dollar aisle - they were wood with gold sparkle. I added the stripe and chalkboard label and voila!
I am so pleased with how well it works now that it's labelled.
Our room was one of the first rooms that was completed - our room had recently been madeover before we moved, so it was simply a case of moving it all over and figuring out the arrangements in a new space, with a few more pieces added. I finally got to add some chairs and a pouf to the space, so I have my long awaited seating space. We found this great grey and white patterned rug at Home Sense - I love it. We also got a great bench for the foot of the bed. I love seeing the room come together so quickly.
The space above my desk had annoying intercoms and alarm panels which don't work but took up lots of space. So we grabbed this piece from Ikea to cover them up and I love it! I put it together with my Mother in law (it was a real bonding experience, the instructions are not so clear) and it JUST fit. Thankfully. JUST. And every time someone comes in they comment on it. I also bought this chair, added a light grey fuzzy throw, and I love it. Comfortable and looks good. My desk has evolved a lot since these shots but it's not complete yet, so here is it is in the beginning stages.
And the living room - I love how big and open it feels. Ironically, when we came into the empty space for the viewing it felt smaller and darker, but with our furniture it feels open and bright. I love how easily I can move the furniture if needed...making the dining space or living room space larger or smaller.
We put my family piece into the entry way, which I like. It feels like it matches the grandiose feel of the entryway. But I wanted to add a fun carpet to make it feel more like me. I'm not that formal.
We also added a bench from Wayfair, with some baskets from Micheals and a row of hooks from HomeSense. It's very convenient. The space still feels like it has a long way to go but I like that at least for now, it's all very practical and useful.
There's lots more to do in our home but in the meantime we love living in it - we love the flow of the spaces and the longer we do life here, the more I can see what I want to build it in to, and what I want to tweak, and what should stay exactly as is. It's fun process - when I chose not to be overwhelmed by it!

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Bump 2

As with my last pregnancy, I keep forgetting to post pictures along the way until 26/27 weeks. So here I am, at 27 weeks, finally starting to post about pregnancy. This pregnancy is very similar to the last in most major ways. My only real symptoms are some swelling of the hands and feet (and brain, I swear), minor heartburn (starting much sooner this time) and entering fully into the pregnancy stereotype. My cravings are different - I am not craving ice cream nearly so much and can eat veggies again but I'm craving carbs this time. Since I'm not really eating carbs in life, it's a tricky tension to eat enough to satisfy what my body is asking for, but not indulge in something that makes me feel not awesome. Generally I'm much more tired, but that also has to do with Avie's fun habit of waking up each night since we moved, me working part time, and us still unpacking in our new place. Overall I love being pregnant again, I love the miracle inside of me and find it just as neat as I did last time. Thankful for that! 
At 18 weeks! (and my new closet!)


A trip to the sunshine coast as a family!

Friday, September 9, 2016

The feels when

Yesterday I wrote about the struggle I was having emotionally with my Mom's illness. Yet again the outpouring of love and support from friends and family was amazing. And I'd like to follow up that blog post with a new blog post about today. Because today has been awesome and very normal.

Paul didn't need to be downtown until 9:30 so we got to wake up together and have weekend-like cuddles with Avie in bed. It was sunny. Which was unexpected because originally it was supposed to rain, which had been a big part of my stress to do with my Mom. It was sunny and my husband was home to help me get out the door. We ate breakfast with our two students (Xiao and Water) and all 5 of us headed downtown. After we dropped Paul off, me and the girls hung out grabbing coffee and then met up with my Mom at 10am. It stayed sunny the whole time we were with her! We went for the normal walk, and Xiao and Water took turns pushing her wheelchair. My fears were pushed aside. It wasn't overwhelming at all. We even stopped at the park for Avie to get her wiggles out!


Thursday, September 8, 2016

The feels

Permission to babble?

I'm all of emotions. I'm pregnant, so this isn't a big surprise, and yet I'm not usually overly tearful. I cry, maybe 2-3 times a year, if you don't count the times I cry from laughing too hard (which happens even more when I'm pregnant!). Tonight I have felt like crying. lots. I'm struggling. I've written about my mom's illness before - and the writing, it always helps. But still, the struggle continues. She's been sick for so long, and dying for years now. I've written more about my mom and this journey hereherehereherehere and here. I've been writing about this sickness and its effect on our family and in my life since January 2013. 2 years ago, almost to the day, I wrote about death and the tension as she heads there, but isn't there, quite yet. And yet, 2 years later not much has changed. I mean, I have changed. I'm a mom now. I'm in a new job, in a new house. I'm pregnant with a second child. But the situation remains eerily similar. It feels like this illness is like a rock in the stream - but in a terrible way. Everything rushes around it, it slowly erodes from the power of the water, but the erosion is slower than anyone expects; than anyone wants. There are some in my family that find the rock's continued existence comforting. They would rather my Mom be alive, even in shell form. And that opinion, that feeling, isn't wrong. There are those of us that want her to be free from this shell; which sounds lovely, but that means death. And that is not wrong to wish either. After all, neither feeling is dictating her life span. We can feel all we want, but that doesn't change the reality. 




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