Watching the scale go up, up, and up!?

Not every woman enjoys the sight of an increasing waist line, however, when it comes to pregnancy one must learn to embrace it. I’ll be the first to admit that I hate the sight of that scale increasing in weight, but I remind myself that “I’m not fat, I’m growing a baby!” This little chant or “pick me up” really helps when I’m feeling a little down about my nonexistent ab muscles and the increasing number on the scale!

 

I recently looked at pictures from my 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th, month of pregnancy and noticed a big difference from month 4 to month 6. It’s kind of a love/dislike (can’t say hate because we’re talking about my baby here!) relationship whenever I look at these pictures because I LOVE the thought of my baby growing inside of my and knowing that I’m keeping him alive, however, I’m not loving the newer and more full version of my waistline. I had a feeling that I wasn’t the only one feeling this way, so I spoke to several women about this topic and I found that everyone has a different experience and different opinion about weight gain and pregnancy. Some women wholeheartedly enjoyed the thought, look, and every little detail about pregnancy, while other women have a totally different experience. I’m glad to know that I have company when it comes to feeling a little insecure about my body changing. In order to try to maintain my sanity I have tried to stay true to these 5 tips on gaining weight while pregnant.

Tip # 1. You have a super power, didn’t you know that!? Well no, you’re not a superhero per say, but you do have “superhero like” powers because you’re making a LIFE! Yes, you have the power to add another human being to this world! I think that’s a pretty darn powerful thing, don’t you?!

 

Tip # 2. Walk. I like to take the love of my life, my dog, for a walk after dinner to help get his energy out and to feel a little better about myself after the increased portion of food I just inhaled!

 Tip # 3. Drink up. I am trying to drink at least 96 ounces of water each day. Believe it or not, this helps suppress those cravings that you may be having. Water is a great way to feel full and avoid snacking while watching T.V., Instagraming, or Facebooking. Increasing the amount of water consumed per day is definitely going to help those pounds increase at a slower rate. I get a little bonus from this tip because whenever I drink my little guy goes crazy, and my husband and I get to feel him moving around.

 Tip # 4. Repeat the chant. It’s very simple ladies! Repeat after me, “I’m not fat, I’m growing a baby!”

 Tip # 5. Bottom line. Your baby loves you now and will love you no matter what that pesky scale says.

 

 

 

 

Baby registry, friend or foe?

 

It’s that time during every pregnancy that makes mommy-to-be demonstrate her true strength and endurance; shopping time! It’s almost as if we have this ability to store bits and pieces of energy each day in order to basically “shop ‘til we drop!” In my mind, I was sure that this was going to be an enjoyable and stress free task, I mean it’s shopping and that’s something that comes naturally to me! Well let me just say that was I wrong! First of all, there are a million different registry checklists to choose from, a billion different bottles types, and don’t even get me started on the different types of blankets! Who knew there were so many ways to keep a human warm! I had no idea what the difference was between crib blankets, swaddle blankets, receiving blankets, and wearable blankets. What in the world is a “wearable blanket?” I must say that my self-esteem plummeted after I realized I had no clue what some of these things were. I’m about to have a baby and I can’t even tell the difference between blankets, uh-oh!

So needlesstosay, I called my sister-in-law and basically went through my list item by item and had her explain everything! Thank goodness for family right?! I got the reassurance that every mom-to-be, without knowing, dreads the registry and how unintelligent it makes her feel.

After I got through the stress of understanding the differences between all of the blankets, it was time to move on to bigger and better things; the crib bedding set! How cute is everything these days? It was quite a challenge to decide on a set that was adorable enough for my little guy and wouldn’t break the bank. Luckily, I had my husband, God love him for his patience, who was by my side picking and choosing different sheets, comforters, bumpers, sheet savers etc. It took us 3 days to complete our registry and we feel great about it! It wasn’t an easy task, but no one was injured, no tears were shed (well maybe 1 or 2), and nothing was broken out of stress. My advice to new moms starting their registry is to pick 1 list and go with it and then take that list to someone who already has children and have her explain everything!

For Two Fitness Giveaway!

It’s a pretty amazing feeling to win a prize of any value. It doesn’t matter to me if its a $1.00 lotto ticket or a free car; I’m jumping for joy just to be a winner! If you’re like me, then you’re going to love what I have to say next. I’m excited to announce For Two Fitness is offering amazing prizes during their anniversary week. And all you have to do is go to their website at http://www.fortwofitness.com, click on their blog, and enter! It’s that simple. The Grand Prize is valued over $600, and two lucky ladies will also receive runner-up gift bundles.  They have everything, from apparel to accessories to nutrition and body care – all facets of your healthy mom lifestyle are in this prize pack! There will be three winners: one grand prize winner will win everything you see listed here, and two other lucky ladies will win generous prizes from us and many of the sponsoring brand partners.

Grand Prize Giveaway items:

• 2  Sara Haley Fit DVDs Expecting More and Sweat Unlimited — prenatal and postpartum workout DVDs for fit mamas and mamas-to-be.
• Kind Bars — 25 bar gift box of healthy snacks to fuel your day, with healthy ingredients you can see and pronounce.
• Maclaren Beginnings care products — generous gift bundle of oils, lotions, shampoos, and nursery/powder room products for both mama and baby.
• GNC – a three month supply of prenatal vitamins.
• Happy Family Brands — baby and toddler foods for your little ones.
• For Two Fitness racerback tank and pair of pants or capris
• Baby K’tan — stylish carrier to aid in hands-free baby-wearing.
• Zensah — 2 sets of must-have compression leg sleeves. Relieve leg fatigue, increase circulation, reduce varicose veins, and get fresh legs
• 

 

 

 

Boy or girl? That is the question.

Having to wait 5 months to find out if it’s a “he” or a “she” that’s kicking your insides seems like forever! I wish I was one of those women who could wait it out for the whole 40 weeks, but that’s just not me. So, hopefully my time has come and my baby will cooperate during the next ultrasound. I feel like I’ve been waiting for this day since the second I found out I was pregnant and the word “excited” doesn’t even begin to describe what I’m feeling! The excitement has definitely spilled over because I’ve even got some of my friends and family members involved for a little game and tallied up the scores. “Boy” seems to be the top dog coming in at 17 votes and “girl” fell shortly behind at 10 votes.

 

 

Either way, my husband and I will be thrilled, but is it a crime to want a daughter slightly more than a son so I can have a little “mini-me” running around?! Now having said that, a miniature version of my husband running around doesn’t seem all that bad either. Wish us luck on the baby names, whether it’s a boy or a girl- that’s a topic for a different day!

 

 

For Two Fitness Giveaway!!

Free giveaway! For Two Fitness over $600 worth in prizes! Enter

Twitch or Gas? Baby bump update: Week 20

Lately, everyone has asked if I’ve felt the baby moving yet and to be honest, I wasn’t really sure if I had or not. So of course I go to the most experienced person I know, my mom, and told her what was going on and she assured me that it was the baby moving! For me, I was a torn between the idea of it being gas or a twitch and was confused when it kept happening. Those little “bubbles” were my baby letting me know it’s enjoying developing and being able to jab its ever-loving mom! It is a surreal feeling when you feel the baby move for the first time. I must say, feeling this little munchkin move is one of the coolest things and makes this pregnancy that more real. I also have to say that based on the ultrasounds and his/her constant flipping and flopping in there; I’m in for a rude awakening when this little one really starts to pack a punch!

Bump Progress: Definitely noticing a change in my belly this month compared to last month. My pants are now being held together by a hair-tie, which is awesome/embarrassing, but at least I can still wear them! Whatever it takes to make myself feel like I “don’t look pregnant”, right?

Gender: We will find out this week if we are having a boy or a girl! I cant wait to find out what I’m having and feel like I’ve waited forever to know! People say that when you are pregnant you have some pretty crazy dreams, well according to my dream the other night this baby is going to be a boy!

Exercise: I’ve limited ab exercises to about once a week and whenever something starts to feel uncomfortable I stop and try something else.

Overall, I feel great and am enjoying this wonderful/surreal mommy-to-be journey!

Like what you’re reading? Leave a comment and follow me on Instagram at jmarierr for more motivation and updates.

 

 

 

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Who doesn’t love a deal?!?

Getting looks because your belly isn’t quite a, “pregnant  belly” yet? Have no fear because For Two Fitness has the tanks for you! I am 18 weeks pregnant and don’t have that round and adorable belly that some women do, I’m not complaining, but when I wear my tight workout shirts I feel as though people are thinking to themselves, “wow this girl might want to start doing some crunches!” Thank goodness for For Two Fitness apparel that explains it all! I’m so honored to share that For Two Fitness has given me a special deal to share with all of you! Use code BeFITfor2 to save 20% on your entire purchase, even sale items; how great is that?! A friend of mine introduced these tanks to me and I personally love them for several reasons and would recommend every pregnant woman give them a try! If I haven’t sold you yet, let me just tell you how adorable and comfortable they are, plus they won’t slide up on that growing belly! So go and check out what For Two Fitness has to offer! Better hurry the code will expire in 30 days (may not be used to purchase gift cards). 

Here are a couple of my favorites: Sweating for Two & Cycling for Two.

 

20 Minutes is all it takes!

20 minutes is all it takes!

          Recently, I’ve been in 4 different cities within 3 days and have had a hard time finding the time to get to the gym. Obviously the words, “ I can’t workout” are not in my vocabulary, so I improvised with this little ditty.  You can adjust for your own personal stamina and strength by reducing the time, number of reps you choose to do, or increase whatever you’d like.  I truly had 20 minutes to myself and found that doing this circuit twice was plenty.  It doesn’t take any equipment except for a jump rope. If you don’t have a jump rope on hand, like me, I did crunches in its place.  Enjoy!