#Mommylife Mondays // A Look Back: Emails to my baby

When I was preggers, I thought it would be fun to email my future child some journaling on what was going on at different times of the pregnancy. I usually would start off the email by saying "Dear ____" whatever fruit or veggie size the baby was currently in. I wanted to share one of the emails I wrote to my baby while I was pregnant. This picture is from when I took maternity photos around 31 weeks (7 months).

Dear Baby Grape,

According to your first ultrasound on Friday, you are 9 weeks and 1 day today! Mommy saw you for the first time and felt relieved. Dr. Kent says you're already moving a lot and your heartbeat was 160 bpm! When Daddy saw the picture of you, he said he couldn't stop looking at you. He calls you a baby shrimp. LOL. We think you're a girl, but we still have quite awhile till we find out (we are waiting till you're born!). Mommy doesn't feel as nauseous as she was a couple weeks ago, so hopefully you decided I needed more energy to stay active and healthy and to get things ready for your arrival! Everyone that knows about you, is so excited, and loves you very much. You are going to be so spoiled! Once we have our next appointment and a couple more tests to make sure you're all good and healthy, we are planning on announcing your expected arrival to the rest of the world. I've been seeing things lately that I have to share with your Auntie Stina and Auntie Lara of things I would buy you, if you were a boy, or a girl. Mommy can't wait to go shopping for you! Daddy says you won't get named brand stuff (from us) because you'll grow out of your clothes so fast, but good thing Mommy likes Target. Anyways, can't wait to see you again in a couple weeks! Love you so much!

Love,
Mommy

p.s. Please don't ask your Aunties and Uncles to get you a puppy when we tell you no. Because they will get you a puppy (or two) in secret. lol.

Did you do anything special to document your pregnancy? This was pre-project life, so I think if I knew about project life then, I might have done things differently. But this was simple way to remember different parts of my pregnancy and I still love having these to read and look back on.

Preggers have needs too..

Pregnancy is a continuous learning experience, especially when it's your first one. We can Google as much as we want, but we seriously don't know until we go through it ourselves. There is so much information on the internet, from articles, to pregnancy birth clubs, to blogs, it can get overwhelming at times. I had to keep reminding myself to just listen to my body and to take all advice with a grain of salt and to just make sure I took care of myself.

Here are some things I loved having during my pregnancy! These would make a great gift for someone who just found out about their pregnancy.

1) Belly Band $28 (but I found one at Target for $17) : My only regret is that I didn't buy this sooner. It made it so much easier to wear pants I already owned instead of having to buy maternity pants.

2) Water Bottle $13-$17 : I have to confess, pre-pregnancy I was the worst water drinker. But seriously, staying hydrated while pregnant is crazy important. Having my trusty Camelbak water bottle was so helpful. You can see how much water you consumed (mine has 8oz, 16 oz, and 24 oz marked on the outside of the bottle) and its more environmentally friendly than store bought water bottles, AND it's BPA free. Once I started using my CamelBak, I noticed I started drinking a lot more consistently, and I now drink about 9 cups of water a day. I really think staying hydrated also helped me pass my glucose tests (which I thought I would totally fail because I love carbs and sugar, lol..)

3) Belly Cream $12-$35 : I personally used Mama Mio every night before I went to sleep. It is on the pricier side, $35 per tube, but  I started using it around week 21 of my pregnancy, and so far like it's consistency and that it's not greasy. It absorbs well and also has a nice scent to it, that's not overpowering. So far I have no stretchmarks (Hallelujah), but we will see as I get closer to my due date. I know some women who start using belly cream very early in their pregnancy, so no matter what the brand, it's always nice to have something to keep your belly moisturized.

4) Maternity Leggings $25-$30 : SO COMFORTABLE. And that's all you really need to know.

5) Lamb Hot Water Bottle $29 : Around the end of my first trimester, I started getting lower back pains. I bought some ThermaCare heat packs that seemed to do the trick, but I didn't want to keep buying heat packs all the time just to throw them away. I ended up ordering this Lamb Heat Pack from Amazon, which was not only super cute, the perfect size for my back, but it also worked just as well as those disposable heat packs.

6) Bringing up Bebe $16 : I actually received this as a Christmas gift from my great aunt. It is based on an American mom who moves to Paris and then raises her children there. I thought that there were parts of the book that were really interesting, especially when they compared some American parenting vs. French parenting. It is a nice break from reading all these articles you might Google about what you need to do and not do while pregnant.

Sometimes everyone gets so excited about the baby coming, that they forget about this vessel that carries and nurtures the baby for 40 weeks. Don't get me wrong, I am super excited for the baby to arrive and I'm sure it will be spoiled with all these goodies (this is the first grandchild for both families), but seriously being preggers ain't easy. If I could be that magical pregnancy unicorn that can wear heels and look amazing everyday and not ever be uncomfortable or have to pee a million times a day, that would be amazing, but that is not the case most of the time, lol. So next time you hear about a new pregnancy, instead of jumping at your first chance of buying the baby a toy or a onesie, maybe think about the mommy to be and buy her a little something instead.

P.S. Also, gift cards for shopping, manicures, pedicures, haircuts, and massages are always welcomed. As my cousin says, "Because a preggers needs to feel beautiful." True datttttt.

Note: I do not get paid or endorsed to use these products. I'm just posting up what I have used and loved!

Baby Bump, Bump, Bump it up

First, I just want to say, I am not one to really take pictures of myself. Don't get me wrong, if you take #selfies, more power to you, but I would prefer taking pictures with others or of my food or of other things. Since I found out I was pregnant though, I felt like maybe I should record this amazing process of my growing belly on Instagram, because I did love seeing belly bump pics of friends who were also pregnant.

With all the apps out there, I had fun playing around with some and seeing what I can do with it to spruce up my pics a litt

In the photo above, I used FuzelPro and Phonto, then uploaded them onto IG (short-version of Instagram). FuzelPro is one of those apps I use a lot. It makes it easy to collage multiple photos together and also comes with its own set of filters. You can even create your own custom templates for layouts or edit the existing templates they have for you, and you are not confined to a square layout. Fuzel also comes in a free version, but I personally don't know what is offered in the free app since I've had the pro version from the get go. Phonto is a free app that is also available in an ad-free version for a cost. Phonto lets you easily add text to your photos. It is easy to use, you can have multiple set of texts in one edit with different colors, fonts, and sizing. The UI isn't really a wow-factor, but it does what it needs to do, which is enough for

For this photo I added a filter (I forget which app I used for that, but there are so many out there to choose from) and used SketchBook Pro (iPad version) and was able to write/draw on the photo with a stylus. Sketchbook Pro is a great tool for designers. Not only does it let you upload photos from your Camera Roll, you have the freedom to draw so many things with the amount of tools they have. Sketchbook Pro has layers you can control and also allows pinch to zoom which can be pretty useful. Yes, its $4.99, but if you think about it, that is the same cost as a foot long at Subway, and this app will last way longer than that Turkey Avocado Sandwich in your hands.

This most recent one of me (I am currently 25 weeks as of yesterday), I used VSCO cam for the filtering and cropping, Whitagram for the whitespace, and this new app called Over. I just recently bought VSCO cam (0.99 cents) and I am in love with it. It is a simple filter app with a beautiful UI that just makes my photos look awesome with little work. Whitagram helps if you don't like being limited to the infamous square template of IG. The one thing about this app though, is that I haven't yet figured out if I can preposition my photos, because as of now, when I upload them into Whitagram, it automatically centers my photo between the whitespace. What if I want my photo to the left more? If there is another app out there that can help me with this, I'd love to know. Over is similar to Phonto, in which it lets you add text to your photos. The some things I enjoy about Over is their clean UI and the beautiful standard fonts it comes with, but for $1.99 I expected a bit more flexibility. As of right now, Over only lets you add one set of text at a time. In order to add a different style of text, you have to save your photos and reload it, which then you might end up with 5 progress photos in your camera roll that you don't need. You can't edit multiple texts at the same time, which I think is Over's downfall. Also, you have to pay for other fonts you might want to use, although I personally think the standard fonts it comes with gives you just enough variety that you don't really need to pay for the other fonts. Over is fairly new, so I am sure they will continue to work on it, which I hope, because I do love its UI.

As you can see, our creativity is limitless with the amount of apps out there! My friend has also done her belly bump pics with her own DIY chalkboard where she wrote the stats of the baby during the week she took the picture and she continued to use that same chalkboard to write about her beautiful baby girl during their monthly photos of her growing. I love those awesome handmade things, but between working full time and studying for this huge certification exam I have coming up in April, I decided to get a little help from the app store.