34 weeks

How far along? 34 weeks 6 days

Baby is the size of a: Cantaloupe

Gender: girl

Best moment this week: Celebrating my 4 year wedding anniversary with my hubby! These years have seriously flown by! To celebrate we went out to the movies, exciting, I know. But for us it is exciting haha we went gold class which means you get to sit in these huge recliner chairs and you order dinner and drinks before hand which they bring to you through out the movie. It was amazing. We saw the new Jersey Boys movie, which was great. We love the Jersey Boys show and the movie was just as good! My only complaint is seeing a movie 34 weeks pregnant have having to go to the bathroom every 30 mins! Next time no drink.....Big thank you to Greg and Tracey (my in-laws) for baby sitting :)

Miss Anything: Energy. I have a lot to do in the next few weeks...including a ton of head band making and finishing the nursery, which isn't even close to being done.

Movement: lots of hiccups!

Wedding Rings On/Off: On and loose! No "swelling" so far...at least in my hands...my face is looking rather plump these days...not sure if thats swelling or just fat..

Belly Button in/out: In and flat.....didn't pop with Kynley and I don't think it will with this one either. The hole from by belly button ring has gone completely to the side though. Like almost to the side of my belly button....weird.

Cravings: Fruit, donuts, and cereal! I have been eating a ridiculous amount of cereal lately.....

Sleep: Good this week...

Aches and pains: Slipped on some water last night after my shower and almost killed my back....but other than that good. Although my body definitely lets me know when I have been doing too much with some seriously horrible ripping pains in my belly.

Labor Signs:  It's hard with the irritable uterus thing to actually know if I'm having anything serious or just "irritable ute" pains as my husband likes to call it. My hormones have also been on overdrive this week. I think having so much going on and no ending in sight is taking it's toll. I guess the only ending is the little ones arrival...which isn't really an ending haha Did I mention it is exhausting chasing around an 18 month old while 34 weeks pregnant....because it is....

Happy or Moody most of the time:Happy but emotional...like I said my poor husband has been dealing with my hormones the last few weeks. He is amazing and I am so grateful to him for being so patient with me. I think he is just focusing on the fact that there is an ending to this and he will eventually get his normal wife back! He has lovingly nick named my hormones "my nodes". (pitch perfect anyone?) haha I think he just likes quoting the movie saying "It's your nodes babe, its your nodes". It always makes me laugh and lightens the mood either way. Lets just say I'm ready to be over these "nodes"

Looking forward to: My baby sprinkle this Sunday! My friends Jodie and Maree are just hosting a lunch for my close friends and some family to celebrate baby #2's arrival :) I am excited for a low key lunch with the girls, and Kynley gets to stay home with dad and hang out :) 

33 weeks

How far along? 33 weeks 6 days

Baby is the size of a: Pineapple

Gender: Female

Best moment this week: RELAXING!!!! Yes, finally work has slowed down enough so I can just relax! I still have to mailing and ordering to do, but for the most part my editing is finished. So other than headband making, and chasing around my toddler tornado, it has been a chill week :)

Miss Anything: Being able to bend over and pick things up! It is becoming way too difficult and I know it only gets worse from here. It's hard having this be the second time I have done this, because the first time you sort of can't imagine how uncomfortable you will get, this time I am completely aware of how horrible it will be in 3 or 4 more weeks. I just hope I never have to know what it feels like to be 40 weeks pregnant. Kynley came when I was 38 weeks, so fingers crossed this little one makes an early debut as well!

Movement: Oh yes, lots of rolling around and always gets the hiccups in the middle of the night.

Cravings: Well not a lot has changed...fresh fruit and donuts....maybe it is because the just opened a Krispy Kreme here in Adelaide. It is over an hour drive from our house and let me tell you the will power it has taken not to just drive down there one day with Kynley! Also the line is still super long and I don't have patience!

Sleep: I dread bed time! (for me, not Kynley) I just can't get comfortable and my hips kill! And not to mention the amount of times I have to wake up to pee...so annoying!!

Aches and pains: I had some seriously bad contractions this week. To the point that my husband and I actually thought I was going into preterm labor. They were INTENSE! I finally took a sleeping pill and decided if I could fall asleep then I was fine. Luckily it was all good and I woke up in the morning pain free.

Labor Signs: I suppose it is time to add this category since it is coming down to the last few weeks! Nothing other than those awesome contractions. Im guessing I will make it to the 20th of August before anything real starts to happen. I at least have to make it to the 12th so I can go to the Hanson concert.....yes I am serious.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and emotional. Two emotional outbursts on my husband this week for pretty much no reason. He is a a saint for dealing with me right now. 

Looking forward to: My friend Maree's baby shower! She is due a week after me and helped throw my aussie baby shower, so now it is my turn to throw hers! I have spent the last few days crafting and getting some delicious desserts together for the day. It has been amazing having one of my best friends be preggo with me and be almost due at the same time. I can tell you our texts involve a lot of bitching and we have dinner dates that involve us on the couch, eating pizza, and watching teen mom. I mean what give you better confidence in your mothering skills than watching a 16 year old do it? If they can do it, we can do it haha

Here is my "selfie" for the week. I guess it is the benefits of being a photog, when I get an idea in my head I can test it on myself haha I am pretty happy with how this image turned out, I wish I would have done it through out the whole pregnancy. I am thinking I will try to do one every few weeks until the little one arrives just for fun :)

Just for fun check out my 33 week blog post from when I was preggo with Kynley! Love being able to look back...click HERE!

32 weeks

My shirt is starting to get too short!!!!

How far along? 32 weeks 6 days

Baby is the size of a: Pineapple

Gender: Girl

Best moment this week: My sister and I have a headband company called Pretty Little Monster Boutique... we applied to a local children's market called The Lollipop Markets to sell our headbands, and we got accepted! I am excited but nervous at the same time. When we originally applied it looked like my sister was going to be able to be here for them...now its looking like she won't....Did I mention the markets are on the 17th of August...and I am due the 30th???? Yea...about that. Luckily my friend Elise is making a few things for our line (cutest nappy/diaper clutches ever) so she is helping me. But I have like a billion headbands to make between now and then and I am pretty sure I won't see any sign of maternity leave!

Miss Anything: Same as last time, a good nights sleep....I just want to sleep through the night!

Movement: She is head down and making me SOOOO uncomfortable....She is constantly putting her foot in my rib...and lots of hiccups!

Sleep: Broken sleep...I am too afraid to take naps during the day because I don't think I will be able to fully wake up....

Aches and pains: Feeling good! Surprising, I know. I had my last photo shoot last weekend, and I think the whole not working thing is doing my body good...just a few more shoots to edit and I will be on full maternity leave...Now if only I wasn't chasing a crazy toddler around I think I could make it to full term....we will see!

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy...excited...stressed....realizing that as slow as things feel like they are going, they are actually going quickly....and this little one will be here before we know it!

Looking forward to: Finishing my editing and not stressing about work anymore. I am almost there. Looking forward to putting up my vacation response on my email....

Funny Kynley story......

So...my child is crazy, and is constantly doing retarded things as any child does, but I swear the situations she gets herself into are crazier than most...

Yesterday we had a bath together, like always, and when we were done we went to my room for me to get dressed, while she runs around having nudie time. While I was dressing she found a cookie she had been eating earlier in the day along with her dummy and was running around with one in each hand. She loves shutting her self in rooms at the moment, so she ran into our bathroom and she the door and proceeded to yell "stuck" until I came to let her out. She must have peed on the floor and when I opened the door I startled her, she slipped on her pee, and then face planted in it (dummy in one hand, cookie in the other, she didn't put her hands out to break her fall) and got a really bad bloody nose! I freaked out at first thinking she had knocked a tooth out. And she was literally covered in urine. Head to toe...all over her dummy and cookie....gross! Needless to say we went straight back to the bath and cleaned her up and she was fine. My poor little love 

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Be still my fat pregnant heart.....this soup is what dreams are made of....anything that includes bacon and cheese is already automatically a favourite of mine, but then add in potatoes and onions YUM! It is basically like drinking a baked potato stuffed with your favourite toppings....maybe not drinking because that sounds gross, but you get what I mean.

We are having some crazy stormy weather in Adelaide tonight, so I figured it was the perfect time to make this comfort dish to keep us warm! After reading the ingredients you may be thinking fatty, fatty, fat, fat your fat...but let me tell you it's worth it...so worth it. And since I'm only preggo for about another 8 weeks I am going to indulge in as much fatty food as I can within reason. Did I mention I discovered a large pretzel shaped donut today????!!! Hang on I am getting side tracked...that donut needs a post of it's own...

Back to the soup....Here is the recipe, I have changed a few things after totally and completely ruining it the first time by scorching the bottom of my pot with potato...I think I have almost made it idiot proof...or Reyna proof...so good luck!

3 Large Potatoes (Like big the size of your fist or hand, picture below) peeled and cubed
4 or 5 slices of bacon diced OR a package of pre diced bacon
5 tbs butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 1/2 cups milk or more as needed
1 large white or red onion OR 2 green onions
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (depending on how cheesy you like it, we like it EXTRA cheesy!)
1/2 cup of sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring water to a boil in a large pot, peel and cube potatoes, add to water and boil until potatoes are soft and will easily mash (15-20mins?), drain set aside (use same pot for soup)

While the potatoes are boiling, take the bacon and cook in skillet. I like to cook it until it is as crispy as possible, but I am american and love crispy bacon, so it's up to you. Once cooked to your liking, transfer to a paper towel lined plate and set aside.


This part is up to you...for the onion all I had today was red onion, the recipe normally calls for green onion....chop and sauté in same skillet as you cooked the bacon. You can add a little bit of olive oil if needed, but the flavour of the bacon will cook into the onion and be amazing....yes it is fatty, but I warned you this is a fatty recipe. You can use a different skillet with just olive oil or butter...it is up to you. Cook until translucent. Set aside

Melt butter in your large pot over medium heat. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 min. Gradually whisk in milk, and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, 1-2mins. Stir in potatoes and onions.

Cook over a medium heat, continuously stirring so the potato doesn't stick top the bottom and burn. Cook about 5-10 mins. Once soup is thick and potato has broken down (if potato hasn't fully broken down use a masher and mash it. It will help thinker soup as well) add in bacon, cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper to taste.

 Tex making sure he doesn't waste any of the soup on the potato masher....

 Kynley LOVED the soup...she kept licking her bowl...success!

Enjoy!!!

4th of July

One of my favorite holidays, other than Christmas, is the 4th of July! I have to admit, I really really struggle living in Australia and not being able to fully celebrate my American Holidays. I do my best to celebrate them either way :) the 4th of July is also special because it is the day my husband proposed! Here is a pic from the night we got engaged...

We look like babies!

Anyways...

I never know when to exactly celebrate our holidays, as we are a day ahead of America, it's almost more fun to do it a day late so I am doing the same things as my family and friends back at home :) On the actual 4th of July here I had a friend come over and we made bacon mac n' cheese and had s'mores for dessert. I had to substitute Hershey's chocolate for Cadbury (not a bad trade) and ordered all of the marshmallows and graham crackers from a website that sells USA foods in Australia....needless to say my pregnant ass has been eating s'mores everyday since haha

On the 5th of July here, 4th of July in America, I decided it was our day to somewhat celebrate. I made Kynley a very festive looking breakfast, and sang her as many patriotic song as I could think of. Luckily she finds me amusing most of the time so it was a success ;) 

I took her 4th of July photo to share on Instagram and FB with family and friends. Luckily it was a Saturday so my husband was home to assist, let's be honest, the photographers daughter hates the camera right now...so Dad entertained her until I got some good pics to add to her holiday photo's I have been doing. 

Pretty happy with how these turned out haha nothing makes me happier than getting funny photos of this little bug!

My husband and I spent the day car shopping and then went out to an American style restraunt with some American friends. The chef is from Alabama and they had the most amazing BBQ. It was our first time there but we will definitely be going back for more...

Ideally I would have like to spend the day eating hot dogs and drinking coors light, and watching my step dad blow shit up, but hey, there is always next year right?

Golden Crib

*crib is a cot in Australia, cot is a crib in America, I jump back and forth between the two haha sorry for making it confusing*

So for baby #2 I decided I wanted to go with a pink and gold theme! And like any normal person these days, I started scowering Pinterest for nursery ideas. In doing so, fell in love with the idea of painting a crib/cot gold. Now, I am not a DIY person. People who DIY are usually patient and meticulous, which I am neither, but I decided to give it a shot and see how it went. 

In the US they have all of these gorgeous vintage cribs you can get for next to nothing on Craig's list, so I went on to Australia's closest thing, Gumtree, to have a look at what cots I could find. 

Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything the remotely looked like these beautiful cots I saw from the US, so I decided to just but a new cheap one and figure it out on my own. I decided on an ikea cot because A. It was cheap, and B. I didn't have to sand it. Pure laziness. It is called the sniglar and it just plain wood with no varnish or anything. And for $99 it was the right price incase my gold idea didn't pan out and I had to try again haha

I did a ton if research online for how to paint a crib gold. It turns out the best way is with spray paint. So off I went to the hardware store to get the right paint and the rest of the supplies I needed.

We had a few sunny days in winter so I decided to do it then so the crib would have time to dry properly...here was my process...please don't mind my super attractive attire...

Safety first!

The hands got painted too...

This was about a month ago, so my belly was a lot smaller than it is now :) 

It took us a while to finally start to get her nursery underway so we could set up the cot, but I am happy to say it is done!! I can't show you the finished product yet as I don't think it looks right without her whole room being finished, but I am pretty happy with it. I am going to make a crib skirt and put some bite guards on it before I can see my vision coming together...but at least it is set up in her room! Woo hoo!

Here is her big sister testing it out making sure it is safe :) 

I can't wait to share the finished product once the whole nursery is finished. Now I just have to decide if I buy new white furniture for the rest of the room, or get some second hand stuff to put gold accents on....seriously I am the most indecisive pregnant lady ever. 

31 weeks

How far along? 31 weeks 5 days

Baby is the size of a: 3.19 lbs! She got "weighed" today at an ultrasound!

Gender: Girl

Best moment this week: I got TWO ultrasounds this week! One 3d and then another to check on some measurements that had been taken at her 20 weeks scan. It was great to get to see her, and I am happy to report she is looking a lot like her older sister!!! One negative...They told me today her head was measuring 34 weeks.... so big....she said its not overly big and she may "grow into it" but it makes me want to cross my legs tight just thinking about it!!! 

Miss Anything: Sleeping through the night... No not because of my toddler tornado, my body is waking me up around 4am every mooring and then I seriously struggle to go back to sleep! It is driving me insane I just want to sleep through the night with no interruptions! Also shaving my legs....it is getting way too hard.... seriously 

Movement: She finally got the hiccups! She got them for the first time last Sunday, and has had them almost everyday since. I love the feeling of them except for at 4 am when i I'm trying my best to sleep....

Sleep: Like I said...up every day at 4am....maybe ill get up and start being productive at that time....ill work on that!

Aches and pains: I have actually had a good week as far as aches and pains. My back contractions have been around, but for the most part I have been feeling good....huge...but good. I saw my reflection the other day and I don't think I realised how huge I am haha These weekly picture do not to my size justice.....

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and trying to imagine myself on Maternity leave in a few short weeks....almost there!!!

Anything making you queasy or sick?: EVERY morning when I wake up I have been nauseous. It only lasts for about 15 mins but i hate it. It is driving me crazy.

Looking forward to: Having a quiet week next week where I can hopefully finish most of my editing and relax!!!! Wishful thinking....

My friend Elise tagged me in this on FB...it is so accurate it's scary haha