Well hello week 23!  *At which point do I switch over to saying how many months pregnant I am?  Are there the same eye rolls going on like when someone calls their 2.5 year old a 30 month old? Someone needs to tell me lol!  Keep reading for an update & what nesting means for our little family…

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Week 23 Update

Baby Registry: For those of you asking, you can shop or browse our registry at BABYLIST.  You can also check out my favorites on Amazon on my Amazon Storefront – anything from my favorite picks for Amelia’s room, to my favorite finds for GIFTS for the holidays! Follow me on Amazon so you don’t miss a new pick!

Fitness: I’m STILL cycling! Still teaching, and still trying to get my butt motivated to take 1 class a week.  It’s a challenge, and I have to really listen to my body and monitor my heart rate, but I’m doing it! As Amelia grows (read: the belly grows), I’m noticing my thighs hitting my belly more – so standing out of the saddle is most enjoyable for the both of us currently.  Yes she kicks, rolls, punches during class.  Sometimes it startles me, and sometimes it’s with the music.  I HOPE this means she enjoys the music I choose for classes!

Cravings: No real cravings this week other french fries & ICE COLD sweet tea (shout out to COOKOUT!)– still going strong! lol

Sleep: It is getting harder to find a comfy position to sleep in as well as get out of bed. Naps are becoming more and more my friend lately, which I’m ok with. This may sound odd, but Sully (our pup) has been sleeping in the bed with us – smack between John and I – and he lets me prop my leg up on him or sometimes he’ll snuggle up close to the belly and that helps me displace the extra weight needing supported, so I have a real live, warm, pregnancy pillow if you will.  Bonus for the pup: the belly is his FAVORITE pillow in the entire house.  He’ll position himself JUST so that he can rest his cute little face up on top. He’s just the best pup ever and I can’t wait to see how he is with Amelia.

If a real live pregnancy pillow just isn’t for you, check out this one that came highly recommended to me: 

Other: Heartburn (or indigestion … not too sure which it is as I’ve never had either before) have set in.  Still trying to put a finger on what exactly sets it off but for SURE red pepper flakes trigger it pretty severely… and now tomatoes.  So that ketchup that I have been devouring with my french fries lately doesn’t feel so great after the fact.

I’ve added back coffee in the form of lattes the past few weeks. Some of you remember that I cut coffee cold turkey immediately upon finding out I was pregnant, but that was merely because it didn’t sound good AT ALL.  I chose lattes because they are predominately milk, and milk has been helping the heartburn lately PLUS, I have more control over the amount of caffeine.  Yes, they have espresso in them, but I have been asking for 1 shot decaf 1 shot regular. That way I can drink the whole cup!  Hello coffee! I missed you.

BELLY: MY BELLY BUTTON IS DISAPPEARING! hahahahaha yes please laugh with me, I don’t know what else to do. It’s getting ready to invert itself and it’s the WIERDEST thing I have ever seen! I continue to put Vitamin E from the softgels on the belly nightly as to avoid stretch marks, and Mama Bee belly butter during the day.  I do it this way since the Vitamin E is sticky, and the Mama Bee is not. Also, fun fact, I take powder collagen every day which is said to help prevent stretch marks too!

 

Nesting, like a boss

Well, I guess this is nesting…

And I KNOW John is excited that this trait has finally kicked in for me — you may or may not know that I’m EXTREMELY organized when it comes to things for business and work… like Chief Efficiency Officer… but at home, not even slightly. Until now.

There’s just something about getting Amelia’s room ready, now that we have moved Bella out of that room, deep cleaning it and putting her cute little things away that has a calming feeling.  Can you hear me squealing over all the pink?  I’m sure this will pass when there’s a cute baby to hold and stare at, exhaustion sets in and things aren’t so pretty and clean anymore, but I’ll ride this wave as long as it lasts.

(stay tuned for a post all about Bella’s Princess Palace, coming soon)

CLOSET

Ok, so first thing’s first – I’m preparing for a hoard of clothing, and thinking long term.  When thinking about infant clothing you know they grow, FAST.

So thinking three main categories for storing clothes, shoes, accessories that will change as she grows:

• storage for clothes we don’t need yet but are readily accessible,
• storage for clothes we are currently using,
• storage for clothing she grows out of.

There are a TON of ways you can store your baby stuff, so as you read this, see if you like my ideas!  We live in a 2 bedroom apartment and Amelia has a pseudo walk in closet – one of those that could be turned into a desk nook type thing – so we definitely have some space to work with, which is exciting.

 

Storage: Clothes we don’t need yet

For my storage categories, I broke down the infant sizing of clothing into 6 categories: newborn, 0-3M, 3-6M, 9-12M, 12-24M, 24M-2T.  Standard infant sizing used by most (if not all) clothing brands.

We will be using a few different modes of organizing for the clothes Amelia can’t wear just yet, including:

• Hanging space (for onesies and hangable items)
  • Hangers
  • Dividers
• Storage Drawers in Closet (for items that need to be folded)
  • Sterilite 3 Drawer Storage – standard run of the mill plastic drawer.
• Dresser Drawers (for these ‘too big’ items as time gets closer to using them)

 

Storage: Clothes we are Currently Using

This will be a constant storage swap between the:

• laundry basket (ha!),
• dresser drawers, and
• hanging space in her closet.

Here’s the laundry basket I picked out for Amelia’s room – small enough (comes up just below the door of a standard front loading washing machine) since I KNOW I’ll be doing laundry every day, and with a lid to keep nosy puppies out of the laundry… We all know how cute baby socks can be!

I saw a nifty tip on Pinterest about making your own DIY dresser drawer dividers to maximize what you can put in each drawer! You better believe I’ll be making these once we pick out her dresser! Stay tuned for which one I choose to follow for this DIY project – I’ll share it on Facebook.

 

Storage: Clothes she’s grown out of

This is where the fun starts.  I’m a big lover of the vacuum seal space saver bags for storing clothes, linens, etc, and these will come in handy for this situation as well!  If you’ve never used these nifty bags before, head to Target and get yourself some soon!  They are life changing and I swear by them for big moves!

Vacuum Space Saving Bags by Ziploc

I prefer the vacuum seal bags that require a vacuum (obviously, lol) to suck the air out of – I feel that these stay more flat than the ones you can roll the air out of.

BONUS to using this method of storing the clothes your kids grow out of? I’m so glad you asked! You will need LESS plastic storage bins, therefor LESS space to store these old clothes! Plus, the obvious bonus that the bags make the clothes resistant to water and aging.

Depending on the size of the bags you choose will correlate to what type of container you store all your outgrown clothing bags in, so head over to Target.com and snag a RedCard if you don’t have one already – you save 5% on everything, plus extra cartwheel deals!!

 

 

Miscellaneous

Swaddles… let’s talk about how we are storing those! OVER THE DOOR SHOE DIVIDERS! Yup… you heard that right! fold them, roll them, pop them in the storage thingy, and voila!  I found one on Target that looks nice! Check it out here.

Hanging Closet Organizer is a must have for maximizing space, especially since what we will be organizing is so tiny! I found one at Target that matches the over the door shoe hanger perfectly.  Check it out here.

Hanging Closet Bar Extender again, when you’re working with organizing such TINY things in a vertical space, maximizing that space is the best!  These are CLUTCH when it comes to adding more hanging space to your kiddo’s closet – and you could even create your own size organization per row of hanging closet bar! The options are endless!

More Organizational bins, totes, etc: I’m 100% planning for the fact that I’m going to need some totes, organizational bins, and more, and luckily my friend Michelle has the hook up for everything cute and organizational! Check out her Thirty-one site for all the things you could need, and give me your best suggestions or how you used items in your own nursery!

 

That’s all the organizational tips I have for this blog post… stay tuned for more plus maybe even some DIY projects we tackle as we continue to put her room together.

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