Favorite Maternity/Baby Related Items so far (halfway!)

The world of baby and maternity is a whole new world for me!  I wanted to share some items that I have found to be helpful (halfway through!) my pregnancy journey.  

A recent favorite, the Baby Bargains book, has so many great tips for new parents on every product under the sun for baby.  They have several different price point categories so you can really find something that works well for your budget.  This book has gone with me everywhere and I rely on it often.  I ordered mine from Target but I've seen them on Amazon as well.

Obviously, I'm a sucker for anything memory-related.  I saw this adorable pregnancy journal at Hallmark and had to have.  I didn't find it until 16 weeks or else I would have bought the signs for each week milestone too!

 

This maternity shirt from Gap is one of the first things I ordered.  I LOVE how comfortable it is and also has such a classic style.  I also get compliments when I wear it.  I actually ordered it in another color combo during all the sales this week too.

We picked up this adorable whale stuffed animal when I went for my gender ultrasound.  The technician recorded Baby Boy's heartbeat and put the recorder in the whale so when you squeeze it, you hear the heartbeat.  LOVE it. 

 

Next up is the Cosabella "Never Say Never Mommie" nursing bra.  I got mine from Nordstorm but lots of stores carry this line.  It was a bit pricey but I was in so much pain from the other bras I've bought at Motherhood Maternity that I was willing to splurge on this one if it worked.  It's actually on sale right now and I'm working to get a price adjustment!!

 

My last favorite item I stumbled upon by using up a sample I had in my stash.  I had been using the Burt's Mama Bees Body Butter but I really don't care for the smell of it.  I had a sample for Soap & Glory The Righteous Butter and LOVED it immediately.  I found that Ulta carries it.  I'm hoping it's got all the same(ish) ingredients as the Burt's Bees body butter and combats potential stretch marks.  So far, so good!

 

Baby Gray is a ....

BOY!  

Here comes a world of blues for me.  We found out last week at an ultrasound people that you can go outside of your regular doctor to find out the gender early.  So, of course, I had to know!  It's more reliable once you're at 16 weeks so I made my appointment for 16 weeks and 1 day.  

The belly has popped!

 Plus, we had the first appointment of the day so I didn't have to drag it out any longer!  The girl that did the ultrasound was great and spent so much time with us.  We literally saw within seconds that Baby Gray is a boy.  He's very proud.  He kept waving his arm around and was showing off for the camera.  We got some cute pictures.  As soon as we left, we facetimed my parents and then Adam's.  I also called my Grandma and Ashleigh, Adam's sister.  We also called one of his brothers and then sent a group text to the rest of the siblings/spouses.  We had settled on a boy name even before we were trying to get pregnant so the name part was super easy - but only if it was a boy - we never reached agreement on a girl name. 

We got one of the stuffed animals that you can put a recording of the heartbeat in.  The little whale was too cute to pass up.  How about Adam wore blue to the appointment??

My sweet boss had me a gorgeous floral arrangement delivered to my office.  Everyone was so excited to find out what we are having.

 For some added fun, I picked up cupcakes that had the "mystery" icing in the middle

It was a race to see who could bite into the middle first!  Can I just say these cupcakes were SOOOO yummy

 Making fun memories with my work family

This past weekend,  I went to Mobile to visit one of my best friends.  We of course had to go shopping for the new little man!

Also, when I got to work Monday, another co-worker had a huge surprise for me - a giant gift bag full of goodies!  My co-workers spoil me. :)

Canvas Mistletoes

Since I'm known as the "crafty' Auntie I had to be prepared for a Christmas craft this year with the munchkins.  I went to Pinterest for inspiration and fell in love with this cute idea using little feet!  

So, with the assistance of Adam and a few other adults, I painted and stamped 3 sets of munchkin feet over the last 2 weeks!

Baby Boy Scrapbook Gifts

 

Just wanted to share one of my favorite scrapbook creations yet!  My best friend, Lauren, (and also my Matron of Honor) and future sister-in-law, Ashleigh, (also a bridesmaid!) were both expecting little blue bundles of joy the first part of the year.  I wanted to make them "custom" baby books to capture their boys first years.  I made both an 8x8 scrapbook and you can see the pictures below.  My own kids probably won't even have books these cute!! 

On a related note, Lauren's little man decided he didn't want to wait for his due date, February 6th, and made a surprise debut 5 weeks early this past Friday!  Momma's doing good but babies still working out the whole breathing on his own thing, so send them lots of good baby vibes please :)

  

Random Cards

Just a quick post to share some cards I made for some special gifts this season!  Our friends had their 3rd child a few days ago and didn't find out the gender in advance.  I wanted to go ahead and have the card made to go with the gift so I went with a neutral color scheme and square size. 

Adam's sister and her girls moved into a new house and we wanted to get them a little housewarming gift.  I made the cupcake card using the Cricut Craft Room software and "welded" 2 cupcakes together.  I think I'll make all my gift tags like this next year; it added the perfect touch to their already very girlie gift wrap!  I actually used the free cartridge that came loaded on my Expression 2 to cut the cupcake - I believe it's called Cricut Cartridge American Alphabet