Top 5 Game Changers during Pregnancy

So far I’ve had a pretty easy going pregnancy. I was able to escape the first trimester completely untouched by morning sickness, which apparently means I’m having a boy according to many old wives’ tales. However, my cousin Natalie, who recently had a boy, did have morning sickness for four months, and another co-worker told me she never had any morning sickness with either of her two girls. So honestly, I’ve learned to disregard these common beliefs and just go with the flow. I think that’s part of the beauty of not knowing our baby’s gender though sometimes it’s very tempting to give in to those notions.

Anyways, now that I’m 3 to 4 weeks away from being in the third trimester, I thought I’d share my Top 5 Pregnancy Game Changers … so far (believe me I know I’m still in for quite a few more surprises).

In no particular order, here they are:

     1.       Movies or long programs – I can no longer sit entirely through a movie without having to get up and go to the restroom at least once. I used to be the queen of “holding it,” but alas pregnancy has defeated me, and when I’ve got to go…well, I’ve got to go. It’s kind of annoying, but I’ve learned to know where the bathrooms are before I get settled in so at least I can make it in and out as quickly as possible.

2.       Working Out – Wow, I did not expect this one, but working out is so much tougher than it used to be. I didn’t used to work out every day, but still I considered myself in pretty good shape pre-pregnancy. Now, however when I exercise 1.) I’m winded much quicker 2.) It takes more effort to do less work…ugh. Luckily, it doesn’t stop me. I try to do prenatal yoga once or twice a week, go on longer walks and do a few other pregnancy-type work outs.

3.       Eating – This one is a long one. First, when I get up in the morning, I find myself immediately hungry. I can no longer skip breakfast (yes, I know it’s the most important meal of the day) or I feel really weak and just not good. Second, I haven’t had strong food cravings but I have had strong feelings of what I don’t want at that time, weird. Third, I eat more frequently and am therefore more conscious of what types of food I’m putting in my body…though I can’t help but to occasionally give into sweets ( I had quite the pre-pregnancy sweet tooth anyways). Finally, I can’t help but want the things I can no longer have like deli meat…sometimes I just want to go to Jersey Mikes and get a club sub for lunch…but I can’t, or sometimes I just want to have dinner consist of wine and soft cheese (blue, brie, etc) or a blue cheese wedge…c’mon is it too much to ask?!

4.       Using public restrooms – As if anyone is a fan of using public restrooms, pregnancy makes it that much worse. 1.) They are too small. 2.) Put a freaking purse hook or clip on the door or somewhere so I don’t have to try and pee trying to balance myself, a baby and a purse on my body. 3.) Yuck, please keep your restrooms clean…I don’t want to have to walk through every single stall and inspect for a clean enough restroom to hover over.

5.       Sleeping – Luckily, I haven’t had much trouble sleeping … yet. I’m not so big that it’s become uncomfortable, but one thing I will say about missing out on the morning sickness is I made up for it in sheer exhaustion! I was so tired all of the time, I’ve just now gotten to the point where I can survive the day without an afternoon nap (the second wind, they call it)…but I’ve heard it won’t be long until that returns…with a vengeance. We shall see.

Those are my “Top 5,” I’ll keep you posted as I experience more. Meanwhile, check out my Instagram Widget to see some progress on the nursery…that’ll be my next post. Talk to you soon!

We're having a BABY!

Our lives will be turned upside down come November 27th because … we’re expecting our first child. We couldn't be more excited about our new venture into parenting. We've been busy little bees trying to make sure we have our house in order as well as ourselves. You can expect a lot more blogging from me.

I’m a little over 22 weeks along and we already have a pretty active baby. I’ve been feeling it move since week 14 – it’s such an amazing experience! We’re going to keep the gender a surprise until the baby is born, but as you know I’m not one for neutral! We've already pretty much got our nursery together it’s a mixture of grey, turquoise, orange and whites. I will make sure to post pictures of the transformation soon!

We just had a doctor’s appointment last week where we were able to see the baby, and we actually caught a picture of it smiling -- pretty amazing RIGHT?!

The doctor says the baby is already measuring big, judging by the size of its bones and weight … I’m kind of hoping for an early baby, maybe a week ahead or so. The 27^th is the day before Thanksgiving and if it’s born on Thanksgiving my husband says it’ll have to be before 3 p.m. so he can still watch the Cowboys play ... but we’ll see. I honestly just want this baby to come before December because we already have a TON of birthdays in December in my family :), but none in November. Anyways, you guys can expect to be hearing from me more often...feel free to check out the new blog, dedicated from our growing family to yours! Also, leave me your best/favorite mommy advice ...I'll need all the help I can get!

Pinspiration to Fruition

I'm now ready to share some of the pins that inspired my Master Bedroom Design. Of course,  I have to make it all budget friendly and add my own spin to it. The first pin to catch my eye was the stripped dining room wall in the 3rd photo down. I loved the dramatic look of it and the mirrored art really set it off. The second pin to catch my eye was this photo was in picture number two. I love the color contrast of the gray and turquoise and the photo groupings! Finally, I found the third pin in the first photo which has these amazing yellow nightstands and I could tell they would really pop against my stripped wall.

Pinspiration -1

Pinspiration - 2

Pinspiration -3

Ok, here are the fruits of my labor :). This is my stripped wall with mirrored art from Marshalls. At first they were not going to sell it to me because the mirror was broken and they said it was a liability. When I expressed how much I HAD to have it, they priced it at $15 with a red ticket and I ran! haha. I also found the fun print blanket at Marshalls :)

Fruition

Fruition

Ok, now check out the yellow nightstands! I just repainted our current nightstands with and pint of yellow paint from Home Depot and while I was there I checked out what kind of vintage looking hardware they had. I found some perfect pulls for $1 on clearance and for $14 (paint included) I was able to transform these boring nightstands into something beautiful.

Fruition

Here is the photo wall I created from frames I found at garage sales and from my late meme. I think this is such a special wall to me for that reason. In the nook, you'll see a $30 craigslist leather chair that I was able to dye from blue to black and it's comfy and cute!

Fruition

This is our doggy corner. I was able to find this sign on clearance at Steinmart and you can't tell but the letters are glittery and super cute. We have two precious pups and so I painted "or 2" on the wall in a similar fashion. They have a bed, rug, toy bin, but usually they end up sleeping on our bed :)

Fruition

See my cute little pups and hubs in the picture above...they love the transformation. Our walls were a plain pinkish color before and now it's our own little retreat.

Fruition

So, what do you think of our Master Bedroom, and turning some pinspiration into fruition? Let's share ideas on Pinterest...follow me here.

Flight of the Kelloggs

Nervous, as I climbed the stairs

Anxious, as we sat and waited

Curious, as we saw young flyers

Nervous, as we were taught and trained

Anxious, as we suited up

Curious, as I approached the tunnel

I felt mixed emotions as we prepared to fly for the first time but it sort of went away when I saw 4 and 5-year-olds hopping in the tunnel unafraid. Then it came back as our time to fly grew closer and we were taught form and suiting up. Then, once we entered what I called “The vortex” there was no turning back. Josh went first and watching him eased my mind and made me laugh.

When it was my turn, I wanted to close my eyes and fall in but I kept my hands up, chin neutral and fell into the wind, eyes open!

Here is our second flight:

Here is our flight instructor's flight (show off, ha):

As you can see it was so much fun. I even ended up pulling off a stunt of my own, maybe I'll upload that video soon...I flipped (by accident)! If you haven't, you should definitely give this a try..We are now eager to give skydiving a try. I'll keep you posted on that :)

Upgraded blogging

Today, I'm writing my very first post from my new iPad mini. My husband gave this to me for our anniversary and I've been so afraid of using it until 1. I got a screen protector and 2. I got a case. Just in case you can't tell by my overly precautionary nature, I'm kind of a klutz and I didn't want something to go wrong before I had a chance to arm myself.

Here is a picture of me and the new equipment:

Anyways, our first anniversary was a big success...(the rescheduled one). First, we went flying and then we came home and opened our gifts. He had no idea I had been working on a scrapbook from our honeymoon and was pretty much brought to tears as he turned each page. You see our honeymoon was epic. I knew I wouldn't be able to top it so I thought I could try to preserve it.

Here is a picture of my "scrapbook surprise" which is actually made from cinnamon and coconut wood:

We popped our champagne and read letters to each other that we had written on our wedding day and letters our parents had written to us. We loved it and toasted to many more wonderful years ahead.

Check out some pictures from that night:

Keep an eye out later this week when I figure out how to post our flight videos and talk about what a blast we had and why YOU should try it too!

P.S. Feel free to share any helpful iPad apps I should download to keep the blogging process smooth :) Thanks!

In sickness and in health

It was exactly one year ago yesterday that we became an "official" family, and on our one year anniversary we were supposed to go indoor skydiving, have lunch & grill a nice dinner together. We were also supposed to open our box and letters to each other, but Josh got sick.

It couldn't have been more fitting to spend our one year anniversary together in sickness and me trying to nurse my husband back to health. Last night he told me he was reminded of why he married me, and even though it wasn't glitz glam or anything we planned, it was just perfect for us.

Guaranteed to make you feel better...tomato soup, grilled cheese and yummy tots!

So Happy One Year anniversary to my Love and my Everything . . . here’s to a lifetime of health and happiness!

We’re still planning to celebrate our anniversary later, when he is feeling 100%. Our indoor skydiving flight has been rescheduled to Sunday and it’s going to be a blast. We’ll get a video from the experience and I’ll be sure to share it here with y’all!

It's our love in a box

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, February is often a time when we reflect on love. For some it's hard to get through, and true it is over-commercialized. By the time you're pressured into $100 flowers/ chocolates and a big fancy dinner at a restaurant which books months-out just for this day...it's a little overkill.

For me, February is a love month for another reason: my husband and I are coming up on our one-year anniversary! We've decided to not buy into the hype of Valentine's Day and instead invest that time and effort into our anniversary.

It's so hard to believe we've almost been married one year, but we have and I couldn't be more excited about the times we have coming up. We have alot of things going on for our anniversary and I won't reveal it all in one post so stay tuned.... BUT ... What I'm most excited about is officially starting our first family tradition.

As part of the unity ceremony during our wedding we decided to do something a little different. We found this really great box with a holder for champagne/wine and glasses. This box was placed up at the altar opened, and during the unity ceremony we had our parents pre-write letters to us for us to open on our first anniversary. During the ceremony while our aunt Traci sung "Feels Like Home to Me" our mothers came up and dropped off their letters in our box and our preacher explained to our guests what was going on and about our new tradition. The tradition is going to be writing letters to each other to read for the next year (& saving them eventually for our children). We placed our letters in the box during the ceremony and locked it up until Feb. 25, 2013...which is just a few short weeks away, and I CANNOT wait.

I'm super excited to read our letters while sipping champagne, celebrating each other and our love. Then writing new letters to each other to lock away for 2014. Just for you guys, I unlocked the box to snap a few pictures and show you what i'm talking about so you can be as excited as I am. Enjoy the pictures below and let me know what you think of our tradition. Also, feel free to share your traditions with me. I'm always looking for special and meaningful ideas.

Our special box!

Letter to read on Feb 25th

One more look

P.S. We are keeping Valentine's low key by doing our own wine, cheese and bruschetta night and catching a scary movie on cable or pay per view

Car Week … blah

My car received a failing grade!

There comes a time in every car’s life when their inspection runs out and it’s time to get a new one. Well guess what, I took my car in for an inspection and it FAILED! I couldn’t believe it…my less than 10-year-old car was revoked.

Old tires were the culprit, but it ended up taking us the first half of the week to get everything straight. Since car shops aren’t open very late, I would drive to the shop during my lunch hour and my husband would pick me up.  Then, we’d have to go pick my car up after work. It was a grueling and expensive week (needless to say)…

Monday: Inspection and oil change, inspection failed

Tuesday: New Tires ($$)

Wednesday: Re inspect, pass

Check out my shiny new tires, she now rides like a charm

Then, it was my husband’s turn. He is leasing a car and it’s almost time to renew or make another decision. Well, on Thursday after work, we went to the dealership and it took us all night just to get to the answer, we  couldn’t afford the car he wanted…so we decided to stick with his current car, which also needed inspecting.

Thursday: Car Dealership

Friday: Inspection Failed!

That’s right, his less than 5-year-old car’s inspection also failed…Now, he needs a new battery and two new tires, and before he can re-inspect it has to be driven 60 miles with the new battery. GGRREEAATT…

That was our week last week, boo! Hope you have a better story to share…please cheer me up below!

It's time to play Family Feud!

If you know me then you know I LOVE games. We love hosting game nights, and when we have the family over it usually results in a game or two.

One day last month my husband and I were watching Family Feud…and we see this billboard flash on our screen that says tryouts will be held in Austin. I immediately turned to him and exclaimed, what do you think?!

I grabbed my phone typed in the address and low and behold you actually have to sign up in advance to reserve your space for the tryouts. So, I signed us up and WE MADE IT!



Zac, Traci, Me and Josh at the tryouts.

I was super excited, but I never expected what we saw when we walked in to the tryouts area – a million people!

My heart sank for a brief moment when I saw that 500-600 people were also able to reserve our timeslot. The tryouts were twice per day for two days…if as many people were signed up for the other timeslots then we were competing against 2,000 to 2,400 families! YIKES!

Anyways, I got over it. Then, we took a clipboard signed in and filled out a little bit of information about our lovely family. After all the paperwork was done we were told the tryout would be held in our very room, in front of all the other families trying out! Yikes, again!

After some of the first families got through the mock playing we critiqued and methodically planned how we were going to do better.

Traci and Me trying to get the most out of our Tips and Pointers sheet.

On the “Tips and Pointers” sheet we received it clearly stated: WE DON’T CARE IF YOU WIN THE GAME – we are looking at how fun you will be on TV. And THAT was our plan, but we also wanted to win so we started answering the questions in our own group to see what it’d be like.  

Time flew by and pretty soon our butterflies were gone. We had what you’d call the “dream team” there: Traci (our aunt), Alex (our cousin), Zac (our brother), Josh and me. After a little coaxing, Traci agreed to be our fearless leader, and she was terrific.

By the time it was our turn, the room was about halfway cleared out. We went up to the table in sort of a dancing fashion and bounced around even hummed the Family Feud song a bit.

Alex, Zac and Josh in the back of the tryouts room.

Then, IT WAS GAMETIME! During the gameplay it was hard to focus on what good answers would be….but we tried. We had some Great Answers and a great first question:

Name something do in the nude at their house.

The funniest was when Traci said “make love” and Alex responded…"that’s my mom!” In reality that was going to be his answer so he exclaimed that to try and think of another and the whole room burst into laughter…a move that earned him a star!

All in all, the most important things we did was be supportive by saying “good answer” gave high fives and celebrated everything! We had a GREAT huddle also.

I know all of this because when our turn was up, we were given back our application and a business card back and told, “Give this to the front desk and they’ll tell you what to do.”

Zac, Alex, Me and Josh waiting to see the EP!

So, of course we did. The person at the front mumbled to me, “Pretend you forgot to fill out something on this application, we just have to wait for a few families to clear out.”

Done! I was SO EXCITED I knew it meant we were moving on…everyone else looked at me like what did you forget to fill out??…then I told them she said PRETEND! And the joy was multiplied. We were moved upstairs where we got to meet the EXECUTIVE PRODUCER and TOP CAMERAMAN.

This is when we really turned up the charm. It was our shining moment. Traci sang to the camera….”family feud we are coming to play youuu.” Alex was hysterical. Zac was great. I told them how much we loved our family and how we love game nights…I also mentioned Josh and I were newlyweds, and during his turn he told them he had his private pilot’s license. I think we offered enough energy and diversity to be picked!

BUT… we won’t know for another 2 weeks! They filmed the tryouts and the interview…they take it back to California and decide from there if we are going on the real show!

Team Kellogg!

If we are selected, they fly us roundtrip from Austin to Atlanta and they pay for our hotel…oh yeah, and the best part: WE GET TO PLAY FAMILY FEUD! We could win $100,000 and a new car! For now, we’ll keep praying we got picked and I’ll keep you posted until then~

And yes I know…I’m not even going to acknowledge how long it’s been since I’ve written…let’s just move on J.

Three Good Things

It's been an incredibly long time since I've updated my blog. True, I may have lost your loyalty but rest assured I'll try and earn you back, one post at a time.

Life so far has been a bit of Tale of Two Cities ... "It was the best of times, It was the worst of times"..and on and on.

Anyways, We are having the best time being married, and even have a contract in on a house!! We are on the cusp of pure bliss, but it will not be attained without struggles, and who doesn't have those.

So, instead of harping on them, I will tell you three GREAT things happening right now.

1.) We almost have a house!

And boy is it great :) We still have one last hurdle get through but the we are "Home Free" so to speak. I'll let you know more about the house as we get closer to getting it. We're still about a month out. In the meantime, chime in on my decorating ideas on Pinterest.

2.) I'm Pressing in and pressing on.

It's become quite evident that the only person holding me back from fulfilling my greatest dreams is myself, and I won't have it. I just happened to have the channel turned to this Joyce Meyer ministry, and she was talking about feelings of depression and discouragement, which I have been struggling with. Her message was such a blessing in a down time, and now, I'm trying to change the way I see myself and I know it's already leading to betterment for myself and my relationships. I'm just excited to see where God is taking me.

3.) We are taking on projects.

We recently found a great chair on craigslist for $30 and the only thing about it is it's navy leather. I found this great blog to help us change it to black and I was thinking of covering the buttons with a nice fabric...to give it some texture. Anyways, this new house thing has us converting and finding all kind of things to convert...so much so that my husband has decided we should open a shop on Etsy and build chandeliers and lighting in our new garage. I think it's brilliant and I couldn't be more excited. Pictures of these projects will be posted soon I promise.

Thanks for reading. Tata for now!

Our wedding is coming!

Play the video above while you read....don't worry, it's ok to dance!

As I sit here and update our wedding checklist on the right, I realize how much we've done and how ready we are for this momentous occasion.

My fiancé had his Bachelor Party this weekend. I have my Bachelorette Party next weekend, but I'm taking Bridal Portraits today with our photographer... I'm definitely not posting a photo of me and "The dress," but maybe I'll offer y'all a cell phone pic of the whole experience later :).

It's so fun getting hair and makeup done and putting on the dress, veil and taking pictures. I can't wait to see how they all turn out...couldn't have done it all without the help of Deanna and my mom. :) Love you guys! We were really worried about the rain, but it let up for just enough time to take some really fun pictures.

Also, Cassie posted some of our engagement pictures. We're waiting to get the rest in the mail. They're so cute!  Here's one...this is where our proposal happened - Mt. Bonnell:

Cyndie, Tina and Evette threw me a terrific work shower on Saturday. Cyndie's newly remodeled house is looking fabulous, and it was so much fun gathering with coworkers in a non-work environment...partying and celebrating my engagement!

My fiancé's coworkers are putting on a shower at his work on Friday. I'm sure it's going to be so great. By the way, we have already been receiving wedding gifts in the mail! It's so exciting. I can't wait to get started on "Thank Yous."

As you can tell, I'm trying to write more as we get closer to the day. I'd love your love, support and encouragement via comments! Love you all and thanks for reading.