beautiful pics of moi,3rd trimester hormones & a beautiful quote

"A mark for every breath you took, every blink, every sleepy yawn. One for every time you sucked your thumb, waved hello, closed your eyes and slept in the most perfect darkness. One for every time you had the hiccups. One for every dream you dreamed within me.

It isn't very pretty anymore. Some may even think it's ugly. That's OK. It was your home. It's where I first grew to love you, where I lay my hand as I dreamed about who you were and who you would be. It held you until my arms could, and for that, I will always find something beautiful in it."

-Author unknown

I have been wanting to take some nice maternity pictures of myself, my husband and I are taking some ourselves this weekend, but I knew I wanted to try some more "artsy" ones as well. I wanted to feel beautiful. I have really been struggling with that (more than I thought I would). I just don't feel beautiful and I don't feel that anyone sees me as beautiful and pregnant. 

I really am happy with how these two pictures turned out, however it was not easy going. There was lots of tears and I may have told my husband I hated him... during this picture taking process .. in which he said "I think these are 3rd trimester hormones coming out again" I love my husband. He is so true and honest, and I love the way he comforts me. 

PS- the obsessive labeling of the TGB photography is mainly because this is my body, without my face, and I don't want people to steal these pictures of my body, because I am still insecure, just trying to work on loving who I am.. 

2nd trimester picture collage

I love seeing my growing belly! It is just crazy to me to watch! SO much fun! I look back thinking I was "big" and compared to now... I totally wasn't! haha!

The second trimester was different than I had expected. I was no longer sick, which was great, but I did struggle with sleeping, and I was so anxious to feel the baby kick and waiting to find out if the baby was a boy or girl! I felt like most of my 2nd trimester was waiting. It was still really enjoyable and no aches and pains, just "waiting". I felt my first 2 kicks at 16 weeks, but then not again until 19 weeks and then it was still really inconsistent, and each week would become more consistent!

34 weeks

How far along: 34 weeks 
Total weight gain: 30 lbs roughly
Maternity clothes: I have been wearing the belly band since I was about 10 weeks. I am definitely in maternity pants, and have a couple maternity tops, but other than that i have found a few shirts that are long enough! :)  
Best moment of the week: my prenatal appointment and knowing I am getting so close to meeting this little girl! 
Food cravings: sweets
Food aversions: nothing.. go figure.. :) 
Symptoms: 
boobs sore- still there, way less prevelant though- however my nips are super sensitive, its annoying! LOL
cramps- here and there
tiredness-I get tired easily, but thats about it.
irritability- back to normal. :)
acne- none!
bloat- no
burning muscle pain in upper abdomen- gone
boob leaking- I had this happen again! 
*warning of TMI- my lady bits have been feeling bruised!! I don't understand why.. but it is slightly annoying! But fun to know I am getting so close to birth and that is probably part of the reason! 

 Movement:  She seemed to lower again this week, which I feel less movement from her when she does that
Gender: Girl! 
What I’m looking forward to: becoming full term...yea.. yea... I got several more weeks to go :) 
What I miss: bending over with ease. :) being thinner! No stretchmarks
Next appt: Dec 12th

How big is baby:your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

(taken from babycenter.com)

ugh.,. holiday sickness

I am sick- and I am bitter about it! Every day that I wake up (so far Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) I am so angry that I am sick! I am less than 7 weeks from my due date and I cannot afford to take the time off of work, but I am absolutely miserable! Plus, it is the holidays! I don't want to be sick on Thanksgiving!! I want to enjoy all that tasty food! Tonight we are going to my mother in laws for dinner, which I am super excited about! But I feel like crap, so I know I am just going to sit there feeling sorry for myself.  NOT FUN AT ALL. I need to have a better attitude about my illness and I just need to accept that I am sick, take care of it, and not throw myself a pity party. But its hard when my eyeballs hurt, and my nose is stuffed, and my throat hurts and my body feels like it is going to fall over from exhaustion!!
Today I have my tylenol, airborne, prenatal, vitamin D and cough drops lined up to take at the appropriate times, so hopefully that will help! I unfortunately forgot to grab an allergy pill, so I will suffer for that, but I will take that later tonight when I can grab it.

I will conquer today... and have a good attitude.

Hebrews 13:15

 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.

33 weeks- Nov 17th

How far along: 33 weeks 
Total weight gain: 30 lbs roughly
Maternity clothes: I have been wearing the belly band since I was about 10 weeks. I am definitely in maternity pants, and have a couple maternity tops, but other than that i have found a few shirts that are long enough! :)  
Best moment of the week: feeling her heal and move around, and her watching my belly move around LIKE CRAZY! It will totally distort sometimes! 
Food cravings: nothing really
Food aversions: nothing.. go figure.. :) 
Symptoms: 
boobs sore- still there, way less prevelant though- however my nips are super sensitive, its annoying! LOL
cramps- here and there
tiredness-I get tired easily, but thats about it.
irritability- back to normal. :)
acne- none!
bloat- no
burning muscle pain in upper abdomen- started up again, by my ribs. 
boob leaking- I had this happen again once this week! 
*warning of TMI- my lady bits have been feeling bruised!! I don't understand why.. but it is slightly annoying! But fun to know I am getting so close to birth and that is probably part of the reason! 

 Movement:  Lots of movement this week too! 
Gender: Girl! 
What I’m looking forward to: becoming full term...yea.. yea... I got several more weeks to go :) 
What I miss: bending over with ease. :) being thinner! No stretchmarks
Next appt: Nov 19th
How big is baby: This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

(taken from babycenter.com) 

pregnancy weight gain so far..

I am going to start from the beginning... ish.

December 2008 I got engaged to the love of my life! I knew I wanted to marry him immediately. He was my dream guy. For realz. I was at my heaviest, and extremely insecure when he proposed. My clothes didn't fit, my fiance was thin and I was getting married! eeks!

December 2008- Aug 2009 I joined a gym, watched what I ate and lost 25 lbs, I was looking good, still had about 10 lbs to lose, but I was happy with my looks for my wedding day butI  had dreams of losing 30 more lbs to be where I was when I was 15 years old ( I have since came to my senses)

After the wedding about 10-15 lbs came back on after several months (oops) and I started getting mad at myself and then started working on losing more weight again.

2010 we bought a house, and a couple months later, we decided we would start trying to have kids. I got off birth control and all of a sudden the weight was piling on, while I was trying to lose weight. I couldn't figure out what was going on, and the next month I didn't get my period, I had hopes I was pregnant... but the tests were negative, 3 months later with more weight piling on and still no period, I was starting to think something was wrong. 4 months with no period and significant weight gain I went to the doctor with a small (dreaded) suspicion I had PCOS (my sister was diagnosed with it a while back) and after a couple doctor visits I was diagnosed with PCOS too.

I started running, eating healthier, but still had hard time maintaining my weight, I was always gaining, I slowed it down quite a bit, but I swear if I let myself have a "free" day, I would gain 3 lbs and it would always stay and not go away!

2012
still off and on about trying to actively lose weight, and reaching my heaviest. I started P90X. I was loving it. 3 days later, I found out I was pregnant (one of the happiest days of my life) and that is the day I stopped P90X as well. 

I was super worried about being overweight and pregnant, it caused me a lot of anxiety. I did so good for awhile,  and then I just started gaining weight. I had a couple weeks where I gained 4 lbs! My midwife says not to worry about it as long as I am not over indulging, my body is going to do what it is going to do and the baby probably had big growth spurts those weeks.

I have struggled with the weight gain, but now I am finding peace with it. I am drinking my water daily, I am not too swollen, I have a little swelling in my feet and hands, but not very much. I have stretchmarks, regardless of how often I lotion.

 But I want my baby to be healthy, and I don't want to malnurish my baby because I don't want to gain another ounce during this pregnancy. I am beautiful for who I am, and my body is beautiful and knows what it is doing. I have a beautiful baby bump. I have salads for lunch most days and eat healthy dinners. I try to always eat my protein.

I am AWFUL at walking, or doing any sort of exercise!! but I can't expect perfection, and I am just telling the truth. I suck at the exercise part. Which I do kick myself for...

it was really hard to reach my fattest and feel beautiful, but I know I am eating healthy,ahem- mostly, don't get me wrong, I still indulge once in a while, and maybe more than I should, but I am finding a balance between my struggle with my unhappiness with my weight and enjoying my pregnant body/self.

At 32 weeks I have accepted I have gained more than I want, I don't have anxiety about it anymore, and I know that I will keep making healthy eating choices, eat lots of protein, drink lots of water, and I know once that baby comes out I will not be this weight.

pregnancy weight gain was harder on me than I expected. I knew I would gain weight while I was pregnant, I mean DUH, but I took it hard. It was hard for me to watch, it was hard to accept, and it weighed on me. I never would have guessed in a million years that seeing the number on the scale go up while being pregnant would have been so hard to accept!

But I have done it! I have accepted it, and I know that I will change this number on the scale as soon as this baby comes out! :)



Oh and of course EVERYTHING we women go through during pregnancy is worth it times a million!!

32 weeks Nov 10th

How far along: 32 weeks 
Total weight gain: 
Maternity clothes: I have been wearing the belly band since I was about 10 weeks. I am definitely in maternity pants, and have a couple maternity tops, but other than that i have found a few shirts that are long enough! :)  
Best moment of the week: taking some pregnancy pictures of me! :) 
Food cravings: nothing really
Food aversions: nothing.. go figure.. :) 
Symptoms: 
boobs sore- still there, way less prevelant though- however my nips are super sensitive, its annoying! LOL
cramps- here and there
tiredness-I get tired easily, but thats about it.
irritability- back to normal. :)
acne- none!
bloat- no
burning muscle pain in upper abdomen- started up again, by my ribs. 
boob leaking- I woke up last week and had some leakage of my boob- I think my milk may be coming in!! How exciting!!

 Movement:  Lots of movement this week too! 
Gender: Girl! 
What I’m looking forward to: becoming full term...yea.. yea... I got several more weeks to go :) 
What I miss: bending over with ease. :) being thinner! No stretchmarks
Next appt: Nov 19th
How big is baby:By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth. (www.babycenter.com) 

first trimester picture collage

I am finally organizing my pregnancy photos! yay for more time! I have my weekly pictures (week 7- 31) being printed as we speak to be put into my belly book! I love looking back and remember thinking I was "so big" and so proud of my belly, and now I realize it wasn't that big! LOL. Well at least compared to now! I look back at 1 these first trimester pictures and I am getting excited to have my body looking that way again (and even better!)

 Of course I am more excited to welcome this little miracle of ours into the world. But looking forward to losing the bump in the front (which I already know I will miss feeling her move around, but I will definitely appreciate fitting into my clothes better!)


So here is the 1st trimester picture collage

Look at week 7.. No stretch marks.. so much smaller than i am now! haha! I love it!

I am thoroughly enjoying this pregnancy! It has flown by and I can't believe on Saturday I will be 32 weeks! WOW!!

31 weeks- Nov 3rd

How far along: 31 weeks 
Total weight gain: 28.6  
Maternity clothes: I have been wearing the belly band since I was about 10 weeks. I am definitely in maternity pants, and have a couple maternity tops, but other than that i have found a few shirts that are long enough! :)  
Best moment of the week: I had my baby shower! SO MUCH FUN! Also my work through me a baby shower this week too! LOVE IT! 
Food cravings: cereal
Food aversions: nothing.. go figure.. :) 
Symptoms: 
boobs sore- still there, way less prevelant though- however my nips are super sensitive, its annoying! LOL
cramps- here and there
tiredness-I get tired easily, but thats about it.
irritability- back to normal. :)
acne- none!
bloat- no
burning muscle pain in upper abdomen- started up again, by my ribs. 
boob leaking- I woke up this week and had some leakage of my boob- I think my milk may be coming in!! How exciting!! Movement:  Lots of movement this week too! 
Gender: Girl! 
What I’m looking forward to: becoming full term...yea.. yea... I got several more weeks to go :) 
What I miss: bending over with ease. :) being thinner! No stretchmarks
Next appt: Nov 19th
How big is baby:
This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

(taken from babycenter.com) 

lately

A few pictures of what I have been up to lately...  

I started a professional blog (is that what you would call it??) or official blog for TGB photography. I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE YOU FOLLOW ME!!  www.tgbphotography.blogspot.com