Fish Oil and Stretch Marks

My husband and I received a meat grinder as a wedding gift and we finally got all of the materials together to try our hands at making sausage! It was really fun and surprisingly easy. We bought pork casing from the butcher at Whole Foods (which cost us maybe $2), some extra pounds of pork from our CSA farm and some unfamiliar peppers to come together to make Chorizo! haHA! Now I have a stash of chorizo that I'm getting a little tiny bit tired of eating. Nonetheless, here it is in all of it's glory.

And my husband makes his first appearance. Hope he doesn't mind. I have so many other pictures of meals that I have really been enjoying over the last couple of months. I will add that I haven't had any issues with food since my mentions of it during the beginning of my pregnancy. Anything goes! That is, anything primal/paleo containing no dairy, grains, legumes, caffeine, chemicals, or otherwise and very little starch and almost no sugar. All of this being said, I apologize if you aren't into looking at my food because this next little bit may annoy you.

From top down: 1 & 2) pear-berry tart, 3) broccoli slaw and lamb chili with liver in it, 4) sautéed cabbage, broccoli and roasted salmon, 5) chicken thighs with mushroom/white wine gravy, 6) shrimp salad stuffed avocado

Below: 7) quick cereal - nuts, raisins, shredded coconut in coconut milk, 8) cauliflower rice and roasted halibut, 9) fish burrito and side salad, 10) giant meatloaf (before entering the oven), 11) ground beef tacos and side salad, 12) seafood gumbolaya (I'm not really sure what gumbo or jambalaya are, but this is my version) with side salad, 13) meatballs on zucchini pancake with roasted acorn squash and spinach

 Almost 100% of the ingredients in the above meals are either organic, grass-fed, wild, pastured, or antibiotic/hormone free right down to the very seasoning. This is how we do it.
On to the real meat of this post...

Fish Oil and Stretch Marks
I can't quite remember what brought me to this line of thinking, whether it was a spa offer on Groupon, some beauty product add, or possibly a post from another blog I follow. However, it all started with collagen. For some reason I've been hearing the phrase collagen and elastin in my head every once in a while. I began to think about special skin care products that people use for anti-aging properties, special expensive serums and creams.
In the beginning I wanted to try a couple of different products to help me fight off stretch marks. In this post I listed them. The only one I didn't actually purchase was the bio-oil. What I ended up using most of the time was just a standard bottle of tourist coconut oil that I bought in Hawaii for $8. I just rub some on my belly, breasts, thighs, side to lower back and arms almost every time I get out of the shower or every-other time. I couldn't tell you if this is what is doing the trick or not. The reason why I didn't really use the Mother's blend oil is because I didn't care for the smell. The main ingredient was coconut oil, so why bother. I had the coconut oil itself.
Back to collagen, the component that is "vital for skin elasticity." I decided to look into what foods the highest amounts of collagen. The answer I found that interested me the most listed Omega-3 fatty acid as being an essential building block of skin rebuilding and renewal. Aha! Fish oil! I take a ton of the stuff. I have at the very least 4000 mg each day and some days I remember to take an extra dose which gives me another 2000 mg.
Well, you be the judge... does it look like it's working?

At 33 weeks pregnant I have not yet discovered one stretch mark. Some people might say that it could be genetics, that if my mother didn't have them I wouldn't either, etc...  During my high-school years my breasts developed quite rapidly and I got my fair share of stretch marks "up top" to prove it. So, I know that I was "pre-determined" to get them during pregnancy. To my joy, this hasn't happened. Yet.

This became so obvious to me when I finally thought about it. You really have to take care of your skin from the inside for it to stay youthful and healthy. I am almost certain that my skin looks the way it does because of the amount of fish oil I take.

Collagen plays another important role during pregnancy or more importantly, labor. 

"Collagen is also present in all the smooth muscle tissues, blood vessels digestive tract, heart, gallbladder, kidneys and bladder holding the cells and tissues together. Collagen is even the major component of the hair and nails." "Collagen is the main component of connective tissue, and is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up about 25% to 35% of the whole-body protein content."

Something that I learned over the weekend in my "Out of Hospital Childbirth Preparation" class was that the cervix, the opening of the uterus, is made up mostly of collagen. This page has really in depth information about this fact, but here's a quote from the site: "The human cervix consists mainly of extracellular connective tissue. The predominant molecules of this extracellular matrix are type 1 and type 3 collagen, with a small amount of type 4 collagen at the basement membrane."

Wouldn't it make sense that dilation of the cervix during the first stage of labor would be more efficient within a person who regularly supports their body's collagen renewal? This is my thinking. If the fish oil I take is truly helping the elasticity of my skin, then it should help with the elasticity of my cervix during dilation in labor.

I'm so proud of my possible discovery and will have more to report once I've gone through labor.

**FISH OIL UPDATE**
After I got pregnant my eyesight went to shit. Now that 4-5 months have passed since the birth I am excited to report that not only did my eyesight return to normal but it also improved! My prescription went down from (- .75) to (- .5). My optometrist asked me if I take fish oil. Of course I bragged about the copious amounts I ingest. He said it is very good for the eyes. Obviously! After mentioning this to fellow CrossFit gym members, two of them reported the same results. One girl's prescription improved by 100 points! I definitely credit this change to my fish oil intake and overall change of diet. I believe it will continue to improve too. It's amazing what we can do for our bodies when we give them the right nutrients!

Preparing for Baby, Nesting

What do I need to prepare for the baby?
As I come closer to my due date (just about 2 months) I am not only having a great time playing around in the "baby room" but thinking about the birth and what things I will need that day and during the immediate days to follow. I have been reading a book that a friend passed on to me at a rapid pace and am already about a quarter of the way through it.
What to Expect the First Year

Many of the things covered in this book helped me cover some of those items I didn't think of.
Get a nursing bra?- My question was whether or not to get one so I can leave the house to get more? Or at least be somewhat covered in case I need to run somewhere...
What I decided to do was get a couple of wireless cami-type bras that are super comfortable as well as easy to whip a boob out of if need be. They are comfortable and I'm wearing them already. My reasoning is that I will never know exactly how big I'm gonna need the bra to be until the "milk comes in." Sounds like a milkman will be showing up. Cute image, but no. Also, from what I've been reading about the frequency of feedings and napping (both by me and the baby), it doesn't sound like I will really be getting dressed all that often. So, on that note...
Sleepwear- I bought myself a pair of pj's that are a button up top and pants. The buttons make for easy access for nursing. Now I can at least look somewhat presentable when I've been in and out of bed all day. The bras I got will give a little support underneath as well. I also made sure that the sleepwear is season-appropriate. It will still be winter when the baby comes, so I bought flannel. I may also get myself something a little lighter when the time comes.
Diapers- This is an obvious one of course, but there are specifics to discuss. We have decided that we would like to try using cloth diapers. I also decided that in the beginning, disposable would be more practical for the learning process, especially with those first few diapers being filled with meconium. I have a friend who gave me a 40 pack of the best diapers you can get as far as bio-degradable/planet-friendly is concerned. I have learned that I will need to take care of as many as 7-10 dirty and wet diapers in the first few days. That being said, I can maybe get through the first week on this pack. So, I am ordering 2 more packs to cover myself for hopefully the first 3 weeks. The ones we're looking at are made by Seventh Generation.

After we get through the majority of those, we will see how big the baby is and re-evaluate. That will be a good time to start getting our cloth diapers and covers together. I must remember to consult my group of knowledgeable mothers on their recommended brands!
Baby Wipes- I am buying a couple of packs of biodegradable wipes from the same company as well as I wanted to make some of my own. I figured that if I am going to be washing cloth diapers, it shouldn't be too much of a big deal to add the wipes to the load. I took some hand me down receiving blankets and cut them to size (to fit in a wipes-warmer I also inherited). Just a few blankets made 4 dozen wipes... which apparently will last only a few days.

For the liquid on the wipes I decided to go with some advice on a website I came across and get a soap foaming pump. I plan to use Dr. Bronner's tea-tree scented soap concentrate. This soap is made with all organic oils and ingredients and the first ingredient is coconut oil, which sounds great to me since I've been using it on myself. It doesn't take much of this stuff added to water to get a nice foam going. I will most likely squirt each wipe as I use it with the foam instead of leaving them all sitting in liquid. We will see when the time comes, if this is a practical method or not.
Must have items registry items- This is just a list of stuff I did not even think to add to my registry until I spoke with a mother of 3 (2 of which only having just arrived in August):
*Nail clippers/scissors
*Shampoo
*Sunscreen (won't need for a little while, but it's good to look into brands)
*Nasal aspirator
*Baby thermometers
*Pacifiers (we don't want to use them regularly but will have an emergency pair)
*Teethers (can be needed within a couple of months)

*Size range clothing - Newborn stuff is very small, so I went back and registered for mostly 0-3 months      and 6-9 months and have a very few hand-me-down newborn items. I was a big baby and therefore expect a big one myself...

*Coconut oil - instead of diaper rash cream, lotion, anything... has anti-bacterial properties

Hello nipples!- Nipple care seems to be a huge deal, which is cool because I've had them all this time and now they are gonna get some use. I've been reading about bleeding, cracking, mastitis, plugged ducts and infections and all kinds of good stuff. I decided to stock up on necessary nipple needs. I am ordering Lasinoh gel pads and lanolin cream. I have a bag full of nursing pads that were leftovers from a mommy friend. So, those are taken care of. The gel pads look really cool because they can be warmed up or put in the fridge for cooling relief. Apparently you're also supposed to let your nipples air-out. "Don't mind me guys.... I'm just letting my nipples air-out." That'll go over well when company's here. Haha.

Nesting
We have a second room in our apartment which would be the baby's room, but we also need it for guests. So, I haven't really got all of my baby things set up. I do have most of the gifts laying out so I can look at them or pet the especially soft blankets he got. It won't be a full-on nursery until he starts sleeping in his own room. We decided that we will have the baby sleep with us and are ordering a co-sleeper to pull up right next to the bed. Why are we co-sleeping? Well, firstly because I will be breastfeeding and nothing could be more convenient than having the little guy at an arm's length for those late night feedings.
The second reason he is sleeping with us makes me think of when we got our first puppy, Olive. We tried to "crate-train" her at night and lost hours of sleep during that month or so. She would cry and cry and even got her mouth stuck in the metal grid door trying to get out. We brought her into our room, which made it a little bit better. The first night we decided to let her sleep in our bed with us, she slept with no problems and we all woke up late the next morning and it's been that way ever since. The poor little girl just wanted to be near a warm body. She didn't know any different from being with her mom and litter-mates. My point being that this little guy has been with me for 7+ months. Why would I stick him in the other room just because he came out? Imagine how terrifying that must be for a newborn to go from a warm tiny space with a heartbeat to a cold and dark expansive room.
So our guest/baby room will be for play and hanging out on the daybed when we have no one staying with us.

I put some black contact paper with retro-looking yellow flowers on the inside of the hutch for an extra touch. I wasn't worried that it might not look masculine enough. We also have the "Bumbo" seat with removable tray. There was a recall of these because people were putting them on counters and table tops with their baby in it and then walking away. Go figure, some of the babys fell and hurt themselves. I think I will manage to be smarter than that.
The blue thing on the hutch is a baby bath with a robe and sock set on top of it. We've already got a small collection of books for whenever bedtime stories start. Looks like we're on our way to being prepared? Not nearly.
Our bedroom needs a complete overhall. I got a changing station, painted it and papered the shelves with a thick wrapping paper that has a faux birch bark look. This will go in our room. Yes, I am partial to turquoise right now. I was gonna go for black except this will match the color on the armoire I painted (staying out in the hall).

We also have a crib for unattended napping in our room. The co-sleeper is still missing and if I can wedge the glider in there, we are golden. This excludes my mission to find a way to hang a mobile when the ceiling is impenetrable concrete, and the shelving I'd like to put up with other assorted baby eye-candy.
I guess the nesting instinct is me going into the room with the baby clothes and petting the blankets and working on little projects in there. I am enjoying looking at all the stuff we have for him and imagining a little baby laying on the shaggy rug and rolling around. Yes, it is currently my favorite room in the house. My next order of business is making the actual room we will be spending the first month or two in fully equipped with diaper changing, breastfeeding and sleeping necessities. If we could just install a kitchen upstairs, we'd be set.
Note to self: I also need a diaper pail!

My mother-in-law is making me and Ellis a needlepoint masterpiece to hang on his door. I'm so excited to see how it will turn out. This is the inspiration collage I made up for her.

I know some of this decor stuff can be boring, but I'm all over it. So, I tried to limit it all to this post. We will see how our bedroom pans out and possibly go over it's functions and maybe some of the cute little things I wanna do in there. It's blog related, I swear.... Nesting is a "primal" instinct...

On the food side of things, I made this amazingly easy meat sauce which we ate over yam starch noodles called No Oodles. Still primal and going strong! (And seriously looking forward to my first reunion with coffee - decaf while breastfeeding, of course)

To make this: I bought 2lbs. grass-fed beef from Trader Joe's and their package of fresh organic basil. Browned the meat in a giant sauce pan with big splashes of red wine, coffee (one of my cooking secrets), and about 1/2 tbs. sea salt. Then added one can of kirkland brand organic tomato sauce and one can of their organic diced tomatoes (which I put in the bullet with some fresh thyme, garlic powder, onion powder). I poured half of that in with the meat and kept enough liquid in the bullet to mix with the whole bunch of basil minus the big stems. Oh yes, and a little bit of oregano. You can also use straight up italian seasoning. I always taste as I go and add this and that accordingly. 

Notes to the Little One

Hello Little One!

"Yes Mommy? I'm listening."

Notes to the Little One
I had the great joy of seeing you again on Tuesday. I saw your feet and hands. I saw your fingers and a "thumbs up." I saw more of your backside than the sonographer wanted and we tried and tried to get you to roll over to show us your profile. I got to see your heart with all four chambers pumping away. Your Daddy was there too. We saw the placenta that looked like a pillow. You were cold I think, and am guessing that is why you wouldn't turn around. Maybe it's because it was past lunch time by the time they got us into the room for the exam. By that time I was already pretty annoyed with the lady at the front desk and the weirdos we had to sit in the waiting room with. Sorry about that. I'm sure it didn't help your mood either.
Nonetheless, there you were. I am truly not alone. Your head was on my right side and your feet on my left. I feel like that is the way you stay most of the time because the majority of your movement comes from where I assume your feet are. I feel little movements by your hands and head. Seeing you move on the screen and feeling it at the same time made me realize all those little feelings were really you tapping away. Now that I know that you are there, I am hyper-aware of everything you do. It's you and me now, hanging out in the apartment when everyone else is gone.
Let's make breakfast!

We are having 2 pieces of TJ's bacon, 2 pastured eggs, red onion, spicy peppers and spinach topped with a half of an avocado. I hope you like it. You must like a little bit of spice because I didn't start adding that to my breakfast until you came along. First it was an addiction to Cholula, which now I couldn't care less about, and now with the spicy peppers that your Dad pickled. We also take our vitamins every morning.

I'm pretty sure I felt you hiccuping the other night. It was a repeating movement that felt like a strong heartbeat coming from where I think your head and chest are. It says in my Sprout app that you are doing this from time to time to learn how to breathe and swallow. In another week and a half you will start to develop tastebuds but you wont really taste the food for some months after that. You can expect us to be eating plenty of veggies and weird things that I will want you to like when you are a growing child. I read it in my book: Do Chocolate Lovers Have Sweeter Babies?: The Surprising Science of Pregnancy by Jena Pincott. The foods I eat when you are in the womb and tasting them, will be foods you eat without protest when you come out. You will be a primal baby from the beginning!

By the way, there is supposed to be a hurricane coming tomorrow and Tuesday. We were supposed to go to the doctor and talk about your development but they called and cancelled all appointments due to the storm. I have never been in a hurricane before, and it's going to be an interesting Halloween this year (Wed. night) if it continues until then. Some people are worried but I am a little excited to see what happens and don't mind the prospect of sitting in candle-light watching the wind strip the trees of their red and yellow leaves. We have to pull the remainders of our vegetable garden inside since it could all blow away. Your dad says that we might not be able to go outside to even let Olive and Dexter go to the bathroom. I won't understand until I see the storm in action. Poor doggies. Olive is an anxious girl and Dexter was always afraid of thunder, so they will probably be a mess through the whole thing. I can't wait for you to meet them. They will be your biggest fans, I am sure.

Now I am off to the gym. We gotta keep this body in shape!

Working Out
Today's WOD:

100 double-unders  (I scaled to 25-30 and at most linked 7)

5 snatches 95 lbs.  (I did 65)

***5 rounds for time***  my time - 20:54

*work-out side-note: Too much jumping makes me pee or feel like I'm peeing or just have a little extra wetness in the baby-exit area. It sometimes, like today, is necessary to make a quick bathroom break to pee or just wipe-down. Yes, too much info. but info. nonetheless.

The last time I worked out was last Sunday. I know these wods are getting few and far-between but I will continue to fight the urge to be lazy. I did row sprints. That's row your ass off for 250 meters, record your time, rest for 2 minutes and try to row faster the next time, for 8 rounds. It felt good. I didn't really warm-up so my first round was the worst.
The rounds looked something like this:
1:03
0:56
0:57
0:58
0:59
0:58
0:58
0:58

Not too shabby. I did end up sucking down some huge gasps of air afterward... but since I have learned that my baby gets it's oxygen from the placenta and not from what I am breathing in, I wasn't worried for the little one. I feel that we're both strong enough to take a little extra physical exertion. After all, many a cavewoman probably had to make quick escapes from more dangerous predators than a gym while pregnant, right? And man has survived obviously.
I don't think the little one minded the workout then or today. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of racket going on in there until we got super hungry for lunch.

For lunch we had nooodles. No, that is no typo. It is actually No Oodles. I used leftover meat sauce from the other night and had spaghetti bolognese. It wasn't as fancy as it sounds but I LOVE NOOODLES! Followed this up with some apple-pear pie I made and was in heaven.

Notes to the Little One (cont'd)
I started to buy things for you, little baby. It makes me super happy already. I brought it all home and made your dad come and look at each and every thing. I don't think he got the same fulfillment that I did out of it, but he was happy that I was. I can't wait for you to see all the little wonders that I am going to put together in your room. I bought knobs for the armoire that I rescued from the street. I'm going to start painting it if we get stuck in the house tomorrow because of the wind. I bought little things to hang from a mobile for you and little friends to say hello to when you look in the mirror. I bet you are excited too and that's why you are kicking around now. You are going to be my favorite project! I am off to start hanging your new curtains and play with the other things I bought you. Daddy is napping on the couch and the doggies are in their beds waiting to see what this storm will bring. I love you little one!
-Your Mommy

Photo Documenting

My breakfasts now consist of a smoothie with cocoa and greens every morning followed a couple hours later by the eggs, bacon and sometimes spinach. Since I put a full banana in every smoothie, I would not be surprised if the pounds started to come back on. This morning I made breakfast for my husband after letting him sleep in a little. It looked something like 2 eggs with red onion and fresh basil leaves topped with some heirloom tomatoes, bacon, wilted spinach with mushrooms, an orange juice spritzer with frozen peach slices, a fresh fig from a friend's tree and a couple of primal doughnut holes sprinkled with cinnamon. Voila!

We've been eating some really great meals lately. I have been having amazing burger salads with pickles, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, tomatoes and onion drizzled with balsamic and olive oil. I would definitely eat this every day if I could keep the burgers stocked. We made our own heirloom tomato sauce to which I added some ground beef and we poured it on spaghetti squash next to a side salad. I made lamb meat balls and we ate them in cabbage wrap form with homemade baba ghanouj, tahini, tomatoes and pickle relish. We had giant steaks that lasted two days and a sweet potato kugel that was to die for! These are some of my favorites and we finished them off with some homemade coconut milk/chocolate ice cream drizzled with almond butter and topped with sliced banana. All of this was no dairy, no grains, no legumes, no sugar (except for the fruit) and organic produce and pastured or grass-fed meat. So, with all these amazing meals.... what will the scale say? Well, I've been eating this way the whole time and losing pounds. I will have to wait for the next exam to see.

Photo Documenting

The past couple of days I have been really crampy and my belly looks huge to me. Again, I can't tell if it's from the food or my laziness about flexing my ab muscles or sucking it in. I definitely feel full all the time. Yesterday I was so crampy that I was sure I would wake up with a larger belly today because all that discomfort is probably my insides growing at an incredible rate. My pants are definitely beginning to feel tight.
Long before I became pregnant, I decided I was going to photo-document my growth. This is not at all uncommon but I wanted to have a cool background. I decided that I would stand infront of a large mural that I have been working on and hopefully over the months it will get finished and thus change from weeks to weeks in the photos. Here are the first two photos. Sometime this week I will be taking my "14 weeks" photo (if the sun will ever come back out).

Before the Bump

I am really happy to be having greens in my smoothies again. I feel like it really helps my system move the food around more efficiently. The greens added to the hydrating power of coconut milk seems to be a great combination. I had a little smoothie this morning with my breakfast and didn't actually eat any greens with the meal. I am also definitely slowing down on my use of Cholula. For some reason it just doesn't taste as amazing as it used to, whether it's because my tastes have changed or because I've overdone it. I still love my eggs though.

Before the Bump
As I am just about to enter the second trimester, I am anticipating and watching for the bump to appear. One of the things about ignoring the rule of waiting till 36 weeks to tell people I am pregnant is that people keep looking at me and saying I look great (not that I'm opposed to that). Its their slightly surprised look when they glance down to my non-existent belly that makes me feel a little like Sigourney Weaver's character in Baby Momma (she is supposedly pregnant but Tina Fey is confused because she has no belly and she's seems to old then says she feels a kick). I feel a little like people think I'm playing a joke.
Now is the time! Now there will be a bump happening and with that excitement comes my thoughts about maternity clothes and stretch mark inhibiting products.
Stretch marks
I have been looking into a couple of products:

Bio-Oil

The reviews on this stuff are great! One I read came from a woman who started using this product at the beginning of the second trimester and never had stretch marks despite them being a problem for her during teenage weight-gain. It seems to be made from natural ingredients and the price is worth the try. I am definitely getting a bottle. They sell it on amazon for a reasonable price.

Mountain Ocean
Skin Trip

I have used this lotion before for sunburns and it was extremely effective in reversing the burn after one application. They also make a soap bar I would be interested in. I received this as a gift a while ago but didn't use it often since I'm not really a lotion toting person. However, I knew that coconut oil has a naturally soothing effect on burns and grabbed this because it is the second ingredient. Unfortunately I tried to take the bottle with me to Las Vegas and they took it away from me, with it half-full. Bummer. I think this will probably be a big help with a growing belly and it smells like the beach. My best friend actually bought it for me because I used to wear coconut fragrant oil as a perfume in high-school. That was my "thing."

Also made by Mountain Ocean
Mother's Special Blend

These products seemed worth giving a shot because they are from a company I like and are geared specifically toward pregnant women. They have an oil and soap bar. I will probably get both when I get the cash. The cost is reasonable and they contain cocoa butter which is the usual "go-to" remedy for stretching skin. I have heard that it doesn't work as well as people think but it certainly could be helpful in a mixture of several effective ingredients.

I never thought I would be so excited to rub lotion or oil on myself, but I am looking forward to an easier way to accomodate the oncoming stretching and want to have a picture perfect, smooth, firm belly.... but who doesn't?

Clothing
It is always exciting thinking about a new wardrobe. I remember my best-friend and I walking past the maternity sections of stores and talking about how we couldn't wait to be pregnant and have a reason to dress in these really cute clothes. Thinking back on it, it seems a little strange that we thought the maternity clothes were so cute but that may be because biologically and historically we were already at prime pregnancy age. Luckily, we both were smarter than the girls on "Teen-mom."
Looking through my closet and my wallet, I realize that I could probably stretch the wardrobe I have to accomodate my changing body for quite some time, as I have never really worn tight clothing. I think it was the picture below that got me all revved up to start thinking about how I will dress as a pregnant woman. I will really be dressing for fall and winter pregnancy, which is a little bit of a bummer because I like the idea of sundresses so much. I will just have to find a way to use them in layers.

What I really love most about this look from the Hatch Collection is the belt below the belly. I feel like many women wear things that have an empire waist and fall over the belly and straight down from there, resembling a sort of tent. Now, I really don't know how this will look on me because I don't have this woman's body to begin with, so I may not even be able to pull it off. However, I certainly don't want to look like I am wearing a tent. It seems as though the trick is to put a hand on your belly to show that you are carrying something other than some extra weight. It looks a little funny to me in photos, so why not just get an accessory to do it for you?
Here are some fall/winter maternity looks:

 I am really drawn to the dress with leggings and layers looks. I love the cropped leather jacket, mens-style shirt and very tailored wool coat and predict a great amount of chunky sweaters/sweater dresses with leggings for myself. My reality is probably a bit more like the last two looks that have a bit of Colorado mountain style mixed with California (another place I live and where I am from). These would be the casual and fancy versions of my usual pants and t-shirt look. This is why I am also excited about the fact that H&M also has maternity clothes since that is right up my alley for budget and convenience. All I need is an influx of money and I am off for new clothes and bras/underwear (those are a whole different story I don't even want to get into).

Diaper Bags
This purchase is so far in the future, but I still wanted to post a couple of looks that I really like. Mind you, these are regular purses that are just oversized and perhaps I am naive to think that this will work just the same as an overpriced diaper bag. These are all right around $50 or less.

The first one is a medical type bag with a structured bottom that would make it easier to see inside the bag when I need to dig for something, however it doesn't have many pockets. The second one has more  compartments and can be carried by a longer strap like a messenger bag, which may be easier when a baby is being carried in the front. The last one is the hobo-style bag that I am always drawn to and seems like something that will stay closed and be comfortable on the side to back part of my body. I am not sure which is the most practical, but the third one is probably the least. Once I get a better idea of what kind of daily maintenance products I will need, I will be able to make a better decision. 

For lunch today I had a tuna wedge salad with homemade ranch dressing. For dinner I made fish tacos and shrimp tacos. The pepper and onion mix I made to act as a filling was really spicy and I may have used too much lime because it started to make me a little nauseous. Other than that, I would definitely make it again with a different filling.