Convenience

I think it's safe to safe to say that I'm all about convenience. I think I learned that from an early age of seeing my two full time hard working parents managing a busy schedule with three kids. It was fast food for dinner while we were on the go to basketball practice, school music programs, etc. I'm in no way blaming them for my eating habits now that I'm an adult, but still to this day, I'm about convenience eating.

I've been eating bad. And I mean, bad. Not just because I'm pregnant either..because when I'm out an about running errands, I'm hitting up the Taco Bell. I feel like I've lost that drive to order the most healthy thing off the fast food menus or to keep things in moderation. All of those thoughts have flown out the window until I'm guilt ridden afterwards. People tell me to quit being so hard on myself, I'm 6 months pregnant. I agree with not depriving myself, but there's really no excuse for eating out every meal of the weekend and drinking regular pop. It's just not healthy.

So, that's where I'm at. I need to break the "convenience" mold. I do pack my lunch 95% of the time so I will give myself some credit there. I need to get back to meal planning and having healthier snacks around. Healthier choices..starting today!!

What do you do to keep a healthy convenience on a busy schedule??

What I'm lovin' Wednesday

I'm lovin' so much lately, don't even know where to begin! I feel like life is in a really good spot lately. So thankful! There are going to be many, many changes for the Marshall's coming in the next few months, but I know everything will be just fine.

I'm lovin'...

Hubby :) and our date nights.

Circus Themed Baby Showers...shower is scheduled for September 30th :)

These earrings..from Kohl's. Cannot remember the brand, sorry!

This print from Etsy..perfect for the nursery.

I needed shampoo stat..I picked this brand up and have been really pleased.

Flirt! Brand lipstick..owned by Estee Lauder. VERY comparable to MAC. I got #26 Dainty

Spending time with my baby sister..going to miss her so much when she heads back to college next week :'(

Some other things I'm lovin':

• water aerobics
• maxi dresses
• vacation next week!

I will be back later this week to talk about a very serious topic..maternity pictures :)



Dairy Intolerance

A week or so into my 2nd trimester, I developed a very unappealing dairy intolerance. Seriously, disgusting! Sonic has 1/2 priced shakes after 8pm..I got a small strawberry pineapple shake one night and oh my goodness, terrible mistake! I was sick for hours. Then last weekend, I had chicken enchiladas with queso and same thing happened. It's to the point where I can't even have a slice of cheese on a sandwich. Anyway, I get home last night and look what I find in the freezer:

Courtesy of my lovely husband.

Ruuuude!

 I had to remind him of my issue with dairy and he instantly remembered. It was a nice gesture though. He has been really sweet about little treats here and there during my pregnancy. I have to keep reminding him of my weight gain goals in my pregnancy. 1st trimester: 5lbs (met) 2nd trimester: 10lbs 3rd trimester: 10lbs.

Did anyone else get a dairy intolerance during pregnancy? I researched it and apparently it's very common. Weird.

Picking a Name

I forgot to mention that our baby boy has a name! He's actually had a name for a month or so now. Let's back up..he's actually had a name for over a year, but we didn't know he was a HE yet :)
When I found out I was pregnant in March I automatically had my boy and girl name picked out. Jordan and I have agreed on the boy name for over a year, but he was still on the fence about my girl name. For the record, I LOVE my girl name and it WILL be used if I'm lucky enough to have a little girl :)
I only had 2 qualifications in picking a name:

• We {I} wanted the first name (boy or girl) to start with the letter B. Both our grandma's names start with B. Jordan's grandma was called Grandma B and mine has always gone by 'B'. Just a little something to incorporate our grandmothers.
• I didn't want any name from the top 10 popular list or anything like that. No offense to those names, but I didn't want my kid to be in Kindergarten with 5 other kids with the same name.

Spring 2011, we had gone to see the movie Limitless. I was pregnant with my 3rd pregnancy (that ended in miscarriage) at the time and loved the movie and the way Bradley Cooper's eyes were soooo blue :) On the car ride home I said, "What about the name Bradley?" Of course J teased me about my Bradley Cooper crush. But he liked it too. Since then it has stuck.
We went back and forth about a middle name. I've always liked Alexander, but Jordan's favorite boy name has always been Xavier. He wanted to use Xavier for the first name..but it wasn't my fave. We've finally agreed that his full name will be:

Bradley Xavier Marshall

Exciting! Let the monogramming begin :)

Picking a Crib

Ok, I think it's about time to get this nursery underway! In my first trimester, I made it a point to really stay off websites to online shop for baby stuff just in case..didn't want to get my hopes up only to be devastated if something bad were to happen. Once we found out we're having a little BOY and all was going well, I hit the ground running!
In about a week's time I had most of my ideas on how I wanted the nursery to look {more on that later..} but I was stumped on what kind of crib to get. These were my qualifications:

• REAL solid wood
• Espresso finish
• Budget friendly

I did a lot of researching online. The Lil House That Could wrote a great post on real solid wood cribs. That's when I realized that was my #1 qualification. So I've done my research and looked at many, many cribs both online and in stores. J and I finally decided on this crib:

DaVinci Kalani 4 in 1 Espresso

Definetly budget friendly (way under what I had projected to spend), espresso, and solid hardwood. We were really pleased reading all the reviews so now we're just waiting on its shipment!

I still can't believe we've bought a baby crib. I feel like I need to pinch myself everyday.

Feedback

Hi, everyone :) I hope July has been great for you all so far. So, I've been lacking in the blogging department, obviously. I guess you could say I'm having problems with my "blogging identity."
I started my blog in August 2010, in the midst of my weight loss journey. Blogging helped me lose 50 lbs on Weight Watchers! I fell off, got back on, fell back off..back and forth. In March 2012 I finally became pregnant! Now I've been really focused on having a healthy pregnancy for both myself and my baby boy due in November.
So, I'm asking you..anyone who reads, what are you looking for out of my blog? I'm confused if I should keep it healthiness related (workouts, recipes, meal plans, etc) or some bring more aspects of my personal life into the blog (home diy projects, baby related stuff, etc). I promise there really is more to me than counting every calorie I put into my mouth :)
I know I probably shouldn't be too concerned with what others think. I should write about whatever I want, right? I just thought I'd get some feedback.
As soon as I have the baby, I WILL be losing the weight. I can't wait to get back into the gym (rather than water aerobics only) and watching the scale lower to my goal weight. But right now I'm just enjoying my pretty perfect pregnancy and growing a healthy little boy.
Leave any feedback you may have, thanks :) Have a great weekend. I'll leave you with a picture from last weekend, 20 weeks pregnant! Can I get a hooray for halfway?!?! Hooray!!!