Conquer the Awkward

Yesterday, Corey and I attempted to conquer our awkwardness and take some maternity pictures together.  Before work I spent nearly an hour curling my lashes and working on winging my eyeliner.  I picked a shirt for Corey to wear and I ran out the door for work a few minutes later than planned. 

Later, I came home after a busy day at work and pulled my hair into some curls with my flat iron.  This is a science I have yet to really master, if I'm being honest. I touched up my make up and anxiously jumped in the car with Corey a few minutes too early. 

We went to a studio called Camera Shy to get our photos done.  Knowing that it's July and I'm a million months pregnant, I decided something indoors with lots of back drop options would be the best idea. Ultimately, I think it was a great decision.  It was a good experience and definitely in our price range. 

We're not perfect.  Corey's shirt has some fold line (remind me to buy an ironing board), my hair got all blowout funny by air conditioner, and I'm still getting used to showing off my smile, but I think we might even be able to share these pictures with the general public. I hope you enjoy a peak into our awkward life.

And I think that we wouldn't be us if there hadn't been one like this.  We were having a little bit of trouble acting natural so we started making faces at each other.  I didn't even realize the photographer captured that moment.  I can only hope that our daughter appreciates the moments (and photos) like these.

It's Not so Bad

Here I am in my 9th month of Pregnancy and I'm only just now starting to feel super pregnant.  I'm uncomfortable and tired... 
There have certainly been some downsides to being pregnant.  My feet hurt.  My back hurts. I take forever to fall asleep.  I'm tired all the time.  And I basically always feel like I could out-eat a sumo wrestler with none of the stomach capacity to do so...But to be honest, the positives have certainly out-weighed the negative. I wouldn't say I love being pregnant, but I can think of worse things. 

 

1// Expectant Mother Parking.  I will go out of my way to go to Harmon's even though it's more expensive and not my usual stop because I can park right up front every time.  I guess integrity is real because these spots are never filled.  Well except for when I'm there. 

2// Nesting. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not the neatest person in the world. In fact, I'm kind of messy.  Not only that, but I generally dislike cleaning.  Over the past few weeks I've done my dishes every night after dinner, vacuumed, Lysoled, dusted, organized the closet and dresser...and I just keep doing it. I'm hoping it's creating some habits and I'll do it even after the "nesting instincts" wear off.  Do they wear off?

3// Feeling her move inside my belly.  Seriously, this kid is going crazy probably 90% of the day.  I love to feel her wiggling and rolling around.  It's an amazing feeling , and I will definitely miss it when she's born. 

4// Flawless skin.  I've had blotchy, bumpy, irritated skin basically since I was 13.  Since I got pregnant I have hardly touched my face. It's amazing how I feel when I look in the mirror and I'm just...happy about what I see.  Maybe that's what they mean by "glow".

All in all, I think I could do this again some day.  

Getting My Life Together

When you have a baby on the way, you get very reflective.  Okay, maybe I should speak for myself. 

I've recently gotten very reflective of how I live my life and a few of the things that make it more difficult to lead.  After thinking about it for several hours, I came up with a few idea of how I can get my life together and make things easier for me and for those around me. 

1//  I unsubscribed to 20+ email lists. 

      Every time I looked at my personal email, I was feeling overwhelmed.  There were 500+ emails and they just kept pouring in.  Just looking at the little red notification on my phone was killing me. 

Over the past few weeks I had been non-noncommittally unsubscribing when I ran into offer emails I didn't care to see all the time, but it really wasn't making a dent. Eventually I set up Unroll Me.

 

What I like about Unroll Me:

A//  You can mass unsubscribe to all those emails you don't care for. 

B//   You can add select emails that you still want to receive to your "Roll Up".  Your roll up will    show all the selected emails in one pretty email that is far less overwhelming that 500+ notifications on your email.

2//  Corey and I started a weekly routine

 

      Friday nights, I make a meal plan for the week. 

      Sunday during the day, Corey and I go grocery shopping. 

      Each weeknight (usually with the exception of Fridays) I make dinner.

      I also do the dishes and clean up dinner...This is  my least favorite part of my evenings. 

      Every Wednesday Corey goes out and plays kick ball.  

...and then we start all over again.

What I like about our routine:

A// I don't get overwhelmed with the "what are we going eat tonight" dilemma over and over again.  It does happen on occasion, but it's a lot less frequently. 

B// My kitchen is usually clean when I go to cook the next night, thus keeping me from feeling stressed out around meal time every night. 

C// We save a lot of money!

3//  I made a plan to pay off my debts faster. 

No one likes knowing that they owe money to someone or an organization.  I am no different.  Over the last few weeks I've been looking at what I owe (it's not a ton, but enough to make me want (read "need") a plan) and I've been formulating a plan to get ride of it.  

What I like about planning to demolish my debts:

A// My current stress level has significantly diminished because I'm not constantly thinking about the daunting number.  I have a plan and I'm ready to deal with it. 

B// Corey and I will only be in this lease until next spring.  Knowing that my debts will be getting smaller and smaller every month makes our goals to purchase a  home or a new car or whatever else we need seem much more attainable. 

Preparing for a baby is a lot of work, but it's really helped put a lot of things in perspective for me.  I think I know what matters now, but I expect things to change a lot once my baby comes.  I guess my best bet is to try my best to be prepared.