NUSERY REVEAL

The highly anticipated nursery reveal is here! Baby Acevedo surrounded by baby animals and a hint of what his name is is somewhere in the room. A little old and little new and lots of love makes up this beautiful room. Fresh white painted walls and a fun zebra print accent wall feels fresh and bright as soon as you walk in. Its a room you want to spend all day in and hopefully he will love it too.

I fell in love with a crib from Buy Buy Baby and watched it sit in a box for over a month. We had to first change out the fan. We wanted to turn the light on separate from the fan and found a perfectly chic one on Amazon. We waited for my helpful parents to come out to install the fan and put together the crib, but didn’t know they would also be bringing in my new favorite furniture piece. While in the Navy, my dad picked up a stunning rattan rocking chair that was used in my nursery as a baby and many moons later I will be rocking my baby in it. We had a few Ikea pieces for storage and thanks to the wonderful community of offer up, we got a changing table for next to nothing.

Next came accessories. I found this amazing site with the cutest baby animal wall decor and a rug for a great price. It is called TYC Home; check it out here. It does ship from China - so be prepared to wait weeks to months for your order. Speaking of waiting weeks for orders, a few things came from Wish like our prints. I joined this amazing facebook community, started by Lauren Garcia, called What Baby Likes. It is not just for locals but nationwide mamas. Ask to join here if you are a mom in need of assistance from advice to accessories. A few deals from Goodwill completed the decor, like this amazing palm tree I scored for 5 bucks and a vintage trunk were utilizing as a toy chest.

Now it is time to fill it with all the baby necessities: diapers, wipes, health and beauty and of course sheets for the crib. We finalized our baby registry with only the essentials and looking forward to see what else our baby lion gets blessed with. You can view it here. He is loved so much and isn’t even out in the world; I cant wait to show him his space and spend sleepless nights in there reading to him, rocking him, and staring at his handsome face.

Any moms have any advice on what we are missing, please be sure to let us know. Everyday is a learning experience and as much as we are reading the baby books and observing from others we definitely appreciate all the outside suggestions on what is essential. With 8 weeks to go we are in the final count down!

XoXo Britt

ITS A BOY!

I recieve the best birthday present last week- knowing that we are having a baby boy come January 2021. Once people find out you’re pregnant, they immediately ask girl or boy and what I am hoping it is. Honestly, I would respond, and still wish for just a healthy baby. With my first, and now second trimester being so rough- dealing with so much nausea uncomfortableness and I can pray for is my baby is healthy and growing strong. After several ultra sounds we were being reassured that, but last Wednesday, for my (31st) Birthday we had another anatomy scan and were given the news about the gender, it’s a boy!

We scheduled an anatomy ultra sound for the first thing in the morning. After about 45 minutes of measuring heart, brain, lungs, kidneys, and more, we got down to the legs. And the tech goes “this is the right leg, this is the left leg, and this is a boy.” Jose was ecstatic! We quickly had another appointment with the midwife right after and we were happy to share the news with her too. Also the 20 photos the tech printed for us, she was amazing.

After the appointments we rushed home, safely, to finish icing the gender reveal cupcakes for my office meeting. The night before i baked 48 funfetti cupcakes. Once cooled, I scooped out a small section from the center, food colored vanilla icing in pink and blue and filled 24 each. I covered the tops with swirled white vanilla icing and packed the blue ones in Tupperware to share with my work team.

Calling the parents was probably one of my favorite things about the experience. We called the Acevedo’s separately as they were at work. Then we faced timed my parents who were costing my uncles at the time. My mom said “I knew it.” And assured my dad we have another little cubs fan joining the team soon.

An episode of our VLOG was dedicated to this announcement and you can check it out here. make sure to subscribe to catch all of them.

Every day after I have felt little flutters/ bubbles where our little boy is at knowing that he is just as excited as we are to meet us. Few more months of cooking to go and now it’s time to focus on the nursery. Excited to share more as we begin this next project.

XoXo

Britt

PREGNANCY SNACKS

Snack time! It seems to be the only thing helping me in between the nausea. Having a little something every 3 hours instead of big meals you would think would be easy to remember, but working 10 hour days, I sometimes forget or can’t pack enough to eat. These are some the yummies I have been loving, and I think they would be great for your back to school kiddos too, whether in the house or on the campus it is worth the share!

Perfect Bar Bites! Peanut butter is the only flavor I love. Even though I do not like peanut better, these bites are heavenly. In stead of a full bar- which I could only eat half of, you get a container full of bites. Have a few, close the lid, and save for later. They last well beyond the best by date (whoops) and can stay out of the fridge, but can go right back in.

Apple Sauce Squeeze Pouches! These are not just for toddlers, but as an adult don’t you love apple sauce too? Stick it in the fridge or freezer and by the time you are ready for it, it is still cold. Its a little sweet and a little sour and one sometimes isn’t enough, but it is the perfect snack to satisfy all your cravings. We picked up the Costco size pack and even though it is just the two/three of us, we will be going through it!

Fruit Leather! There is such thing as a healthy fruit roll up. Fruit leather is packed with five plus fruits and all 100% fruit ingredients into one delicious strip. You get help getting your daily does and a little sweet treat at the same time. The apple cinnamon ones taste like an apple pie and the tropical ones taste like a vacation.

Cheese its! We can’t keep these long enough in our house. Whenever I start to feel sick I reach for something bubbly- Ginger ale and Cheese its! I am all saltined out and I love cheese so this satisfies both my cracker and cheese craving. Pair it with some green olives and pumpkin seeds and I have my own charcuterie board in 2 seconds.

Pumpkin Seeds! It doesn’t have to be Halloween to enjoy these salty yummies. No shell and a pinch of salt; you can get hem by the sack full at Costco, or fill your own bag at a health-food store. Not to mention they are packed with vitamins you cant get in other salty snacks.

Finishing this post means it is time for a snack, you too! You deserve it. Also with these cravings what do you think it means? Boy or girl? We will soon find out.

XoXo

Britt

EXPECTING AMY (AND BRITT)

Amy Schumer and her husband share a raw mini-series on HBO on the ups and downs of her pregnancy journey and their adventure to parenthood. I was not a fan of hers in the past- you either love that she always talks bout her vagina or you don’t. But, now that I am relating and finding more of an interest in everything about pregnancy this was a must watch.

Broken up into three parts, part one called “Conception” is all about her first 15 weeks of pregnancy and this episode in not for the weak stomaches. As someone suffering from all day sickness I had to leave the room a few times and visit the toilet bowl myself during this episode. Although it was rough to watch, I loved the way she outlines the unglamorous phase of pregnancy. All my life I have seen from movies and the highlights of social media ladies puke once, find out they’re pregnant then live their best, glowing nine months. But Amy shares the opposite- and I can relate. Feeling sick all the time, no energy, losing weight, throwing up multiple times a day, that is my first trimester and the start of my second.

Part two is called, “Gestation” and this part focused more on her and her husband, Chris’ personal life as he is diagnosed late in life with Aspergers. Not only are they experiencing her first pregnancy, but she is also touring and prepping to film her Netflix special. The entire series is directed by Alexander Hammer- who also brought us Beyonce’s Homecoming documentary. And between the hand-cam cinematography and the professionalism once we were halfway into episode two, we were committed to finishing the third. Amy is unfortunately diagnosed with hyperemesis: excessive vomiting through out your entire pregnancy. She finds little relief in suppositories and I can relate.

The final episode, “Birth” everything comes to a close. The special gets filmed, the diagnosis are more manageable and little baby, Gene, makes his way into this world. Although, the complicated C section scene left me- and Amy scarred, it was beautiful to see all the pain and suffering was worth a beautiful health baby boy. That is all I keep telling myself- when everyone else says- it will go away, you will feel great soon, I am tired of hearing it and just look forward to the day I can hold my little one and say, it was all worth it.

RED, WHITE & DUE

Coming in with the big news! Eleven weeks and three days pregnant: it’s official! Well we can talk about it now because it’s been official on social media and we are overjoyed with all the love we are receiving. This is been one of the hardest secrets to keep and I can’t wait to tell you the story and continue to share throughout the journey of becoming a mother.

How did I find out?

I knew because I had a feeling when I was getting sick in the afternoon consistently and I missed my period- I know I knew it was time to take an official test. When I saw the + it didn’t seem real almost like a dream but I knew I had to share the news in an exciting way to Jose. I was overjoyed with the news that our life was about to change- we are about to be parents.

How did Jose find out?

Four days after I received the news, jose and I both had the same day off and I booked us an appointment to confirm the news. That morning I woke up early and went and got donuts, threw up on my way to the donut place, came back home told Jose what a great cat dad he is what an amazing dog that he is and that he’s going to even make an even better human. He was in shock, of course, like most first time dad’s reactions. From there we went to the doctors to confirm the news

Working in healthcare I am mediately had to tell my boss, my director of nursing and my HR director, but they couldn’t have been more supportive. The hardest thing, though, has been or was keeping it from our families.

How did the family find out?

I’m an only child so I knew that I had to tell my parents in person and during this quarantine I didn’t make things any easier. We tried to get them to come out but Fourth of July ended up being the big weekend. Keeping it from the local parents, Jose’s parents, was even harder especially when you want to go over for Sunday dinner or celebrate Father’s Day. Finally we had everyone over on the Fourth- and shared- were Red, White and Due, January 2021.

So how is my first trimester?

The morning sickness turned in the afternoon sickness turned in the evening sickness. I remember getting my blood drawn and the phlebotomist said the only time she wasn’t sick was when she was sleeping and I feel that girl. The cravings were more like things I enjoyed over things I didn’t enjoy like citrus sour salty things. I really had to change up how I was eating meals and making sure I was snacking throughout the day to not only keep up my nutritional intake, but make sure that I was eating enough. But, even as I write this I’m trying to figure out if I want to go throw up or not. So, first trimester we are a week away from being over and I’m hoping that’s true with the nausea as well. Now that the cats out of the bag I can start asking for tips tricks and any advice that will help me along the way to the second and third trimester. 

Boy or Girl?

That’s the million dollar question. As long as the baby is healthy I am happy and to make sure the baby stays healthy I need to make sure I’m taken care of myself. This is hard for me because I want to do everything obviously cleaning the cat box and heavy lifting is out, but I definitely need to be more vocal in expressing my needs and allowing those around me to lend their hands. Being pregnant during the Corona Virus is not any easier, not that I have anything to compare to, but imagine being sick and having to wear a mask all day- feeling nauseous and the smell makes you sicker and you have to continue to either smell your mask or smell whats is in your mask. I also work in healthcare so I see the pandemic every- new cases or asymptomatic patients and I know that I need to put myself first, my health and my baby.

 I can’t wait to share everything about this journey. It’s a long road ahead, but baby when you read this when you’re older, know that I love you so much already and I don’t even know you. Cheers to 2021! I know we’re all looking forward to it for so many reasons and here’s another one! Thank you for the love and support and we can’t wait to debut our new Finding Arizona Podcast Co-host in January 2021.

XoXo

Britt