This week's photo background: Now I had a very meaningful photo location last week, but this week's spot is pretty uneventful. Truly, I just loved the cool grey color of this grey wall and I knew it would be a nice, neutral color for me to show the gender "color" of the baby.
Actual location is a Furniture Deals store here in Kansas City, nothing really too significant there. But it is a funny coincidence because if you look really close under the "F" in the sign you can see my name, "Ashley" obviously referring to Ashley Furniture, guess it was just meant to be!
Actual location is a Furniture Deals store here in Kansas City, nothing really too significant there. But it is a funny coincidence because if you look really close under the "F" in the sign you can see my name, "Ashley" obviously referring to Ashley Furniture, guess it was just meant to be!
1. How big is the baby (with Avery's help)?
Talk about one interesting fruit! Avery has maybe tried pomegranates once or twice, but not lately, so when I handed it to her (after striking her new "smile pose") she thought it was a ball and gladly threw it across the yard!
 |
| Checking out the size in relation to my belly. |
The next day we cut it open and she chowed down on the pomegranate seeds! Not exactly my favorite fruit, but she loved how small and bite-size they were.
 |
| "Yup, I love them!" |
2. What I'm eating...
I saw fresh, organic corn at my local health food store last week and nearly sprinted over to get it! I love corn on the cob, and apparently Baby Mila does too, as I've eaten a ton of it this week! My favorite way to eat it is with Earth Balance vegan butter and garlic salt. What do you put on your corn on the cob? Talk about a summer classic, especially when you're pregnant...just make sure it's organic (nobody wants GMO corn!).
 |
| Just looking at this picture makes me want an ear of it right now! |
3. Anything new this week? I started swapping out some of my workout DVDs for "prenatal workout DVDs" this past week and I remembered just how much I love prenatal workouts! I feel like I lasted longer with my pre-pregnancy DVDs during Avery's pregnancy, but since my belly has grown bigger and faster this time around, it's only fitting that I start my prenatal DVDs a little sooner.
After doing one of them for the first time since I was pregnant with Avery, I fell in love over again. It was kind of funny how it brought back memories of Avery's pregnancy too. To me, finding the perfect prenatal DVD is like a perfect pair of prenatal jeans, it feels so right and you don't have to modify anything....like it was made just for you and you're rapidly growing belly! It got a little annoying to constantly having to be modifying my pre-pregnancy workout DVDs to accommodate for my growing belly, so to bring back the ones that "cater" to the belly and that even help stregthen it were so worth it!
In case you're wondering, I work out for 45 minutes to one hour each day and I rotate three types of workouts:
Day 1: Pilates
Day 2: Yoga
Day 3: 1 hour of walking on the treadmill or outside
Day 4: Repeat....Pilates, Yoga, Walking (or sometimes I switch them up)
You can read more about my "Prenatal Workouts" in this post from Avery's pregnancy, and you may notice I used to workout an hour and a half, but now there's no way I have time for that now since Avery's here. I am pretty content with the 45 minutes to an hour routine that I've got and I feel like it gives me the full workout I need to keep my body and my baby healthy. Here's my two favorite prenatal workout DVDs that are mentioned in that post.
1. 10 Minute Solutions Prenatal Pilates: One challenging and yet still gentle, pilates workout. I love that I still get to do"ab" workouts in this one, with the support of a pillow, of course.
2. The Divine Mother Prenatal Yoga Series with Anna Getty (sorry no video preview, but one awesome Kundulini-style yoga workout).
Do you have a favorite prenatal workout DVD? Share it below!
After doing one of them for the first time since I was pregnant with Avery, I fell in love over again. It was kind of funny how it brought back memories of Avery's pregnancy too. To me, finding the perfect prenatal DVD is like a perfect pair of prenatal jeans, it feels so right and you don't have to modify anything....like it was made just for you and you're rapidly growing belly! It got a little annoying to constantly having to be modifying my pre-pregnancy workout DVDs to accommodate for my growing belly, so to bring back the ones that "cater" to the belly and that even help stregthen it were so worth it!
In case you're wondering, I work out for 45 minutes to one hour each day and I rotate three types of workouts:
Day 1: Pilates
Day 2: Yoga
Day 3: 1 hour of walking on the treadmill or outside
Day 4: Repeat....Pilates, Yoga, Walking (or sometimes I switch them up)
You can read more about my "Prenatal Workouts" in this post from Avery's pregnancy, and you may notice I used to workout an hour and a half, but now there's no way I have time for that now since Avery's here. I am pretty content with the 45 minutes to an hour routine that I've got and I feel like it gives me the full workout I need to keep my body and my baby healthy. Here's my two favorite prenatal workout DVDs that are mentioned in that post.
1. 10 Minute Solutions Prenatal Pilates: One challenging and yet still gentle, pilates workout. I love that I still get to do"ab" workouts in this one, with the support of a pillow, of course.
2. The Divine Mother Prenatal Yoga Series with Anna Getty (sorry no video preview, but one awesome Kundulini-style yoga workout).
Do you have a favorite prenatal workout DVD? Share it below!
4. Best moment of the week: Finding out that we're having a GIRL at our gender reveal party! Finding out your baby's gender is such an exciting moment of any pregnancy, and we were all so thrilled to finally know that Baby #2 was a girl. More power to you mamas that wait till the end...it would drive my "inner-planner" crazy if I had to wait that long!
Now that we know it's a girl, and what we're naming her, it's been great for Avery. She talks to Mila, tells her "hi", says, "I love you Mila", and gives her many, many kisses. She proudly introduces her now and talks about all the ways she will take care of her, or so she say's she will, when she is born. She also plans out all the adventures they will have and runs through a variety of scenarios daily such as this one:
Avery: "Mila needs a highchair."
Me: "Yes, Mila will need a high chair when she's older."
Avery: "Mila say, 'Wah wah', I want out of my high chair!' I say, "No no Mila, you have to eat your dinner!"
What would we do without you Avery? ( :
For me, finding out the gender not only helps me visualize what my life will be like when Baby Mila is born, but also let's me start planning the nursery, a task my mom and I love to do! Since we are both on summer vacation from our teaching jobs, we've had lots of free time to plan paint colors, room arrangements, and other decor ideas. Look a post to come in the next few days with some of my nursery ideas!
Favorite Moment of the Week #2: Midwife Visit! Another fun thing we did this week was have a visit from our awesome midwife, Lisa. Aside from hearing Baby Mila's heartbeat and checking my blood pressure, I spent a good deal of time talking with her about our birth plans (here at home again) and where we would have it (in our bedroom). One of the best parts about prenatal visits this time around is that Avery gets to be involved. Here she is helping Lisa check the heartbeat with an instrument called a Doppler.
Since getting a doctor's kit for her birthday, Avery loves to pretend to take care of me and the baby (and all of her stuffed animals too). She loves to pretend to be the midwife and check the heartbeat and my blood pressure, all of which get the same reply..."Lookin' good!"
Having Avery involved in all of my prenatal visits, which take place at our home, is one of the many reasons why we choose to use a midwife and we plan to have a home birth. You can read more about my other reasons in my post, "The Top 5 Reasons I'm Having a Homebirth with a Midwife". A few other reasons include:
As I state in the post mentioned above, a homebirth with a midwife is right for me, but not for everyone. Some people are more comfortable at a hospital or have more high-risk prengancies, in that case, a hopsital birth is probably just right for you. When it comes to pregnancy, labor, and birth you have to do what's right for you and your baby...whatever that may be, wherever that may. This is just one option that what works for me.
See you in two weeks for the next update!
Recently this post was linked up to "Tuesday Baby Link Up" over at the blog I Thought I Knew Mama, as well as a number of other blogs that are listed in the link above. So hop on over and check out some other fun baby posts! |
| Seeing pink balloons! |
Now that we know it's a girl, and what we're naming her, it's been great for Avery. She talks to Mila, tells her "hi", says, "I love you Mila", and gives her many, many kisses. She proudly introduces her now and talks about all the ways she will take care of her, or so she say's she will, when she is born. She also plans out all the adventures they will have and runs through a variety of scenarios daily such as this one:
Avery: "Mila needs a highchair."
Me: "Yes, Mila will need a high chair when she's older."
Avery: "Mila say, 'Wah wah', I want out of my high chair!' I say, "No no Mila, you have to eat your dinner!"
What would we do without you Avery? ( :
For me, finding out the gender not only helps me visualize what my life will be like when Baby Mila is born, but also let's me start planning the nursery, a task my mom and I love to do! Since we are both on summer vacation from our teaching jobs, we've had lots of free time to plan paint colors, room arrangements, and other decor ideas. Look a post to come in the next few days with some of my nursery ideas!
Favorite Moment of the Week #2: Midwife Visit! Another fun thing we did this week was have a visit from our awesome midwife, Lisa. Aside from hearing Baby Mila's heartbeat and checking my blood pressure, I spent a good deal of time talking with her about our birth plans (here at home again) and where we would have it (in our bedroom). One of the best parts about prenatal visits this time around is that Avery gets to be involved. Here she is helping Lisa check the heartbeat with an instrument called a Doppler.
 |
| Listening to Baby Mila's heartbeat, you can see she was hanging out pretty low in my left side here. |
Since getting a doctor's kit for her birthday, Avery loves to pretend to take care of me and the baby (and all of her stuffed animals too). She loves to pretend to be the midwife and check the heartbeat and my blood pressure, all of which get the same reply..."Lookin' good!"
 |
| You can bet the pretend play that comes from these midwife vists, goes on for several days with Avery! |
Having Avery involved in all of my prenatal visits, which take place at our home, is one of the many reasons why we choose to use a midwife and we plan to have a home birth. You can read more about my other reasons in my post, "The Top 5 Reasons I'm Having a Homebirth with a Midwife". A few other reasons include:
- Less stress (for me, doctors and hospitals freak me out!)
- More choices (what to wear, what to eat, what to listen to, location to birth...all our up to me)
- Having my choices honored (it's one thing to say I want to birth in the water, but knowing my midwife will honor that choice instead of throwing my "birhting plan" out the window)
- Safer (less germs, diseases, toxic cleaners, etc. here in my home)
- Avoiding the "cascade of interventions" that typically take place at a hospital (Pitocin, epidural, c-section).
As I state in the post mentioned above, a homebirth with a midwife is right for me, but not for everyone. Some people are more comfortable at a hospital or have more high-risk prengancies, in that case, a hopsital birth is probably just right for you. When it comes to pregnancy, labor, and birth you have to do what's right for you and your baby...whatever that may be, wherever that may. This is just one option that what works for me.
See you in two weeks for the next update!
