Announcing the name.....

Ever since we decided to get pregnant the hubby and I have had a boys name picked out. It was the easiest decision to make in our lives. When the tech pointed to our little one's gender and announced that we were having a girl we both had drawn a blank on a girls name. It's such a hard thing to name another human being. We went through two books and numerous online sites jotting down any and all girl names that we did not despise. We were hoping for a unique-ish name that went well with our last name that didn't have any strange initials that could be turned into something else. We both had uncommon names growing up and didn't have to suffer through the millions of Jennifer's or Chris'. Life was easy, at least in that aspect, and we wanted the same for our little girl.

Once we came up with a list that had well over 50 names on it we decided that we just needed to say enough and decide on one. I fell in love with the name Cadence, but coming up with a middle name that didn't sound pretentious proved difficult. We are both relatively simple people and wanted our daughter to sound like she fit with us. We tossed around Cadence for a couple of weeks and tried to come up with middle names. That's where Emma came in. It sounded great, but something was just wrong. My hubby just fell head over heels in love with that name and would call her that when he was talking to me about her, or to my tummy. After three weeks I knew there was no unplugging this name from him and even though it's one of the top baby girl names of the last couple of years, I fell in love too. It just felt right. So then there was a middle name. I wanted to continue on with the simplicity in her middle name and Jean just stood out. It has significant meaning to me, my mom's middle name is Jean and so is my great aunt's middle name. It just all worked well together. My mom also informed me that my Great Great Grandmother's name was Emma as well. The stars just seemed to be aligning.

The final piece of this puzzle came from my mom. I was raised a Catholic and my mom was asking me if I was going to name our baby girl with a Saint's name. I said that it wasn't important to me because I don't really practice and my hubby was raised as a Lutheran. She decided to look at catholic.com and find out what names that we had tossed around were on the list. She discovered that Emma was a saint. She gave liberally to the poor, founded several religious houses and a double monastery at Gurk,Austria and her feast day is June 27th.....right within the time frame that our little one is slated to arrive. If this name we had selected wasn't more perfect I don't know what other name would be.

I do believe that things come to us for a reason and everything surrounding our little one's name has just made me smile and I truly believe we have made the right choice in picking Emma Jean. I hope you all like it too!

Emma Jean!

Bumpdate - Week 26

What's baby up to this week? She is the size of a head of lettuce, measuring 14" long and weighs one and two thirds of a pound. She continues to put on fat, which we saw in her 3D ultrasound, and she is inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid. These movements are essential for the development of the lungs and are also good practice for when she is born and takes that first gulp of air.

What's been going on with mom? I have been super anxious to see the 3D/4D ultrasound. The guessing game on who she will look like was keeping us entertained. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I was super nervous about the appointment, but I'll share more on that subject later! Baby girl DEFINITELY has popped out to say hello. I look down and can see the belly officially without any problems. Sleep has been better, but as always it comes and goes. I had my first official cry over nothing moment too. I'll explain that later.

Symptoms: Still heartburn. I never know what causes it either....I had grapes and got heartburn! WTH? The charlie horses in the middle of the night are new and happen pretty frequently now.

Yummy/Icky: Cravings are pretty few and far between but anything sweet sounds good at all times. Give me fruit still, it sounds oh so yummo!

Clothing: Bought some stuff from Old Navy because they were having a maternity sale and an extra 30% off. I got a maxi dress to wear to my B.I.L's Sheriff graduation this weekend, a comfy maxi skirt, a new tank, and a casual henley top. My mom also got me a cute maxi dress from Target, seen in the photo above!! The girls just keep growing! It's really hard to see them THAT large!

Movement: It seems like the movement is happening more frequently. The day we had our 3D U/S she was wiggling like mad most of the day. It was awesome to see her move on the screen and feel her at the same time.

Belly Button In/Out: In, seriously shallow when I lie down however. The belly no longer lies flat. Lol

Wedding Rings On/Off: On

Best Moment this Week: Definitely the ultrasound. It was so cool!

Looking forward to: Finishing our registries! It's a beast doing that!

Here's our 26 week chalkboard.

Bumpdate - 25 Weeks

 
What's baby up to this week? She is the size of an ear of rutabaga, measuring 13.5" long and weighs one and a half pound. She is beginning to gain some baby fat, as this happens her wrinkled skin will smooth out and start to look more like a newborn. Her hair now has a discernible color and texture.

What's been going on with mom? Getting acoustumed to a new surrounding. We had to get used to a new bed and a whole new set of sleeping patterns. Were still working out the kinks, but we have been able to get some sleep. We have started walking our pup around the block, so that's upping my caloric burn for each day and I did a LOT of measuring for work this past week which means a lot of walking. We settled on a name for sure. We are waiting until after our 4D ultrasound this weekend to announce it though. Stay tuned!

Symptoms: The heartburn is getting annoying! I never know whats going to bring it on! It's really starting to annoy! Baby girl better have a full head of hair for all this suffering! The hip cramps have gone away, but I've stopped using the body pillow because it just won't fit in our bed. I keep getting tingling sensations in my hands and feet at random times. That's a new thing that's come about! Yay.

Yummy/Icky: The cheese craving came back full force. I had a grilled cheese that made me very sick to my stomach. I might need to stay away from the heavy/greasy foods.....even though it sounds amazing!!! I've been wanting fruit more which is good and have been trying to stay away from the sweets, which is hard cause its girl scout cookie season!

Clothing: Sill all maternity on the bottom. My v-necks are getting tight and I'm still working out how to work my existing wardrobe. The girls have grown some more, and they are huge! Which means new bras are probably in my future. I have officially grown larger than I have been EVER in this department.

Movement: Pretty much the same. Lots at certain times of the day. 6:30AM every morning we get a wiggle party. Right after lunch and finally when I settle in for the evening in my comfies and bed. Some days she's really rough and others its just light taps and rolling around.

Belly Button In/Out: In, seriously shallow when I lie down however. The belly no longer lies flat. Lol

Wedding Rings On/Off: On and spinning, but somedays I retain water and they get tight. I just drink a lot more water.

Best Moment this Week: We finally started our registries! It's so exciting, but exhausting all at the same time. Making the big time selections were very challenging, but we surpassed. Now it's time to get to all the small details.

Looking forward to: Our 4D ultrasound this weekend!!! So excited to see what she looks like!

Here's our chalkboard this week. If you'd like please follow me on Insta (dianekimball07) to get updates early!

What a difference 3 months makes

In writing this weeks bump date I realized that I have been taking bump photos for 3 months now. Yes I am in my sixth month of pregnancy, but up until recently I really didn't look pregnant.....just bloated. I wore regular pants until 19 weeks before I broke and bought maternity pants. I mean into 20 weeks and you just look like you ate a big meal instead of pregnant.

I was always the girl who thought that I wasn't skinny, regardless of how many people told me otherwise, in my head I wasn't. I was looking through the last couple of months of bump photos and I really can see a difference. I was skinny before! Regardless of what I thought! I also realize that I might have a slight addiction with v-neck tees. I just recently repeated one! I need to get a yellow one to complete my collection, besides some are too tight to wear currently. If any of you come across the Old Navy v-neck tee's on sale, give me a shout out! I need to get some spring and summer shirts to get me through the months to come!

So I thought that I would re-live the last 13 weeks of bump photos, so we can all see where I have come from. It's also really just fun to compare!

//Week 12//Week 13//Week 14//Week 15//

//Week 16//Week 17//Week 18//Week 19//

//Week 20//Week 21//Week 22//Week 23//

//Week 24//

If your ever curious to see past posts you can always click the BumpIt tab above for all the fun pregnancy related posts!

Bumpdate - 24 Weeks

What's baby up to this week? She is the size of an ear of corn, measuring over 12" long and weighs one and a third pound. Her brain is growing quickly and taste buds are continuing to develop. Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory tree as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help air sacs in the lungs inflate once she hits the outside world.

What's been going on with mom? Super emotional and exhausted due to packing and moving. We all know this post is late due to that fact, and as you read here. I cry at almost anything. Thinking of tossing something that may have sentimental value puts me over the edge. I got upset when my mom said she was going to throw away an old dog bed, because it was a hand-me-down bed to Shelby from my childhood dog. I couldn't bear the thought of getting rid of it. I also had a pretty bad cold most of the week. Such a bummer. Coughing, asthma, sinus congestion and just an overall feeling of miserableness. I stayed home on Tuesday and slept most of the day away, but when I was awake baby girl let me know she was there, wiggling around.

Symptoms: Heartburn has been at a minimum this week which is nice. I had some shortness of breath, which I attributed to the chest cold. Moving caused a couple of side cramps, but they were short lived and I sat down to take a little break.

Yummy/Icky: Still trying to make better choices. Cookies, and carbs are still screaming "Eat Me!" but I have tried to eat salads, and sandwiches and eat nuts and fruit for my snacks instead of the piles of chocolate that in my office. I'm trying! It's hard.

Clothing: All maternity on the bottom. Still working with what limited wardrobe I have. Spring/summer is coming fast so I need to get some staples that will work, and I need another bra. These are slowly filling in!

Movement: Lots and lots. Some days they are strong and hard. Most are her standard kicks, jabs and adjustments. That's a strange feeling. When she flip flops and rotates positions I can feel a butt or head against my tummy. I was lying in bed after work talking to D and I looked down and saw the kick from the outside. I called him over and he saw them to! It was so cool!

Belly Button In/Out: In

Wedding Rings On/Off: On

Best Moment this Week: Seeing her kicks on the outside of my belly and we finally scheduled our 4d ultrasound. On the 29th we will see the babe! Cannot wait!

Looking forward to: Starting our registries.....its happening this weekend!

And a closeup of our St. Patties Day chalkboard!

DIY Pinata - Gender Reveal Party

I was in hardcore "save money" mode in planning our gender reveal party. I knew I wanted to incorporate my craft side and make lots of cute and fun things for the party. I came across the idea to reveal the gender using a pinata. Basically you can fill it with colored confetti and when its broken open the specific color is showered down, but I wanted to make it like a traditional pinata and fill that bad boy with candy. We decided that we were going to write the pertinent information on the candy and once it was broken open then the guests would have to rummage through to find the piece. It was a fun and new way to reveal to our family and I loved it. The next decision was what would the pinata look like. I scoured the internet until I decided that I didn't like anything in my price range and that "it didn't look that hard to do." So I enlisted the help of my hubby and we made our own Question Mark pinata.

What You'll Need:
Cardboard (Big pieces)
Pencil
Xacto Knife
Masking Tape
Crepe Paper (I used streamers from The Dollar Tree)
White Glue
Scissors

Directions:
1. Draw out your shape onto the cardboard. Since mine was a big question mark and I wanted it to look proportional, so I had to re-draw it a couple of times to get the shape right. To make the question mark you will need (2) sets of the main shape, (2) 6"x 6" squares, (4) 4"x 6" squares and several long 4" wide strips for the sides.

2. After you cut out your shapes, its time to assemble. Take your masking tape, one main body and the 4"W long strips and start to shape and tape them to the main body. Tape the sides all the way around and repeat with the back. Use the same technique for the dot of the question mark. I made sure to glue a string attaching the dot to the main body. Don't forget to cut a fill hole at the top and add in your hangar before you decorate. It will be easier to do it now.

3. Take your streamers and cut 3/4 of the way up the sides ever 1/2" down. Take your glue and apply a strip of glue to your base and attach the streamer. This is the time consuming part. Sit in front of the tv and listen to your favorite show and just keep applying streamers in sections all the way around until its completely covered.

4. Take a gander at your completed pinata, and let your hubby pretend to take a whack at it with some wrapping paper.

This is a super simple project, but time consuming. I would say to start working on it at least two weeks before your event to ensure you have enough time! At least now I know how to do it, so if baby girl ever asks me to make one for her birthday parties, I know I can!

Have you hosted a gender reveal party? How did you announce your little ones gender?

Onward - A new place to live

There isn't a bumpdate today because we spent the entire weekend packing and moving out of our little one bedroom apartment. It was an emotional weekend (preggo hormones mixed with exhaustion) but we made it. The bumpdate will be postponed until I can get to doing the chalkboard. Hopefully it will be up on Wednesday. Why are we moving? Rent.....it's outrageous in L.A. With the economy increasing, so are the rent prices and honestly we cannot afford to keep living with the extravagant prices, especially with a baby on the way. So we packed up our apartment into a 10x15 storage unit and moved in with my in-laws to start sacking away some money for a house. It's a sacrifice that we decided would be worth it in the long run for our growing family. Is it an ideal situation? Of course not. Will we make the best out of the situation. Definitely. I say that this move was emotional on many levels. We have grown so much as a couple living in this apartment, and I have grown leaps and bounds as a person as well. This apartment has seen a lot of sadness, from the loss of my father; to our ectopic pregnancy. We had the thunderstorm incident here as well. It also witnessed our greatest joy, finally becoming pregnant with our first child. We have grown closer and have fallen even more in love here. It has by far been my most favorite place we have lived. Not because of the location, or the actual complex itself. It was the layout, our neighbors and just the feeling that we had there.

I figured I would give you a little peak into our world. People say to me all the time, "Your a designer? You probably have a beautiful home!" Well as we all know, creating a beautiful home costs money. And being a designer causes me to have expensive taste. So while I think our home is comfy and cozy, its really full of hand-me-downs mixed in with a couple of pieces that we have purchased ourselves. A lot of these photo's are from when we first moved in, so the don't include our new to us recliners or our new comforter that I made (post to come) but you can see how we spent the majority of our three years living in this apartment.

Here's our main living space. We no longer have those wing chairs or that gigantic projection tv, we added curtains to the windows after our first heat blasting summer as well. We love our storage chests and I love our hand-me-down sofa as well (regardless of how ugly it is underneath that slipcover!)

Our dining room is something that was new to our old apartment. I love our countertop table with chairs cause Miss Shelby cannot get her head on it! We had a little mini bar set up and a wine rack also. That photo of the tree with the sunset was taken by my great hubby and I blew it up and framed it for him. You can see it larger here.

Our apartment kitchen....complete with a martini theme.....although most of the time it was just a mess! It's a kitchen!

Our bedroom that doubled as an office. This is where the blog posts were composed....it was also the dumping ground for when people came over. The bookcase got moved into our closet last year and we bought another dresser from Ikea. You can really see my love for teal and grey in our bedding. Baby girl is probably going to have a teal, pink and grey nursery.....that's how much I love it!

Here's our balcony. It was perfect to eat dinner or have a cocktail after work on hot summer days and it overlooked the pool and a wonderful piece of grass. The hubby always bbq'd out here as well.

There you have it....a look into our home for the last three years. Bittersweet, but in the end it will be worth it! Happy St. Patties Day!!

Bumpdate - 23 Weeks

What's baby up to this week? She is the size of a mango, measuring 11" long and weighs almost one pound. Her sense of movement is well developed and soon we will start to see her kicks and punches instead of just feeling. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing and her hearing is becoming more keen. We had our 22 week check-up on Wednesday and baby girls heartbeat was a strong 165. Everything else seemed to check out. No U/S though. *Tear*

What's been going on with mom? I have been on a real rollercoaster this week. We have been packing up our apartment to move and all the memories, challenges and difficulties that we have faced in this apartment. We really have grown and grown together fully which coupled with pregnancy hormones is really doing a number on my tearducts. On top of all that I got another head and chest cold. What a sham! I rarely get sick, but it seems like my body just loves to find the germs during pregnancy. Lack of sleep, coughing, and shortness of breath along with congestion are ruling the roost right now. Yay.

Symptoms: Emotional!!!! I cried over the thought of throwing away a door mat. Seriously. Exhausted, which is a mix of moving stress and sickness. Also shortness of breath, which right now I am attributing to the cold.

Yummy/Icky: I have been trying to make better choices since by appointment. Trying to stave off the carbs and sugar to avoid any unnecessary weight gain, but that's WHAT I WANT! I love carbs! YUM. But juicy fruits sound really yummy....oranges, watermelon and bananas sound just ideal.

Clothing: All maternity on the bottom, but still rocking the longer pre-pregnancy shirts, but those pre-preggo shirts are starting to get tight! Working with what limited wardrobe I have.

Movement: Lots of movement around mealtimes. The kicks are getting stronger and higher in my belly too! Can't wait to watch my belly dance.

Belly Button In/Out: In, but semi-shallow

Wedding Rings On/Off: On! Still spinning around like they always do.

Best Moment this Week: Hearing her strong heartbeat

Looking forward to: Scheduling our 4d ultrasound

As always, here's a closeup of our chalkboard. Sorry for the short post.....my brain is off today! Hope to be better next week! Thanks for reading along!

Ties or Tutus? A Gender Reveal Party!!

This post is WAY long overdue. I am so sorry. Things just went crazy after we announced that we are having a baby girl. However that is no reason for my tardiness! We have been packing to move, trying to figure out what to register for, which is a whole other post, and frankly I have just been so exhausted! #preggoproblems! Anyways, here's the recap of our gender reveal party, or as we called it Ties or Tutu's.

I scoured Pinterest, of course, for many ideas for decor, food, and creative ways to announce our baby's gender. I saw many many of the same announcement ideas and I really wanted to step out of the box a little. I saw the Ties or Tutu's theme and just fell in love. I was a dancer as a child and in my formative years, and my hubby works in a bank and wears a tie everyday so I thought it was super appropriate. Although in hindsight.....in looking at our chalkboard....many people commented on Facebook and Instagram that they thought it read Tits or Tutu's and didn't know the gender difference. I guess it was a good thing that she ended up being female! Haha

I decided to go with a dessert table covered half in pink and half in blue. We had two different types of popcorn in custom boxes, caramel corn and kettle corn. (per daddies request) We made pink and blue chocolate covered strawberries, funfetti cupcakes with custom cake toppers, to fit the theme, and had candy, left over from our reveal. I made pinwheels and hung streamers in pink blue and white to complete the backdrop. I also made "Tie" and "Tutu" signs that were meant for a game that we didn't end up playing, so they just doubled as decor. We used them in our announcement photo and I will put the best ones in her baby book!

Custom Popcorn Boxes

The Dessert Table

"Tie" Game Signs

Cupcakes with custom toppers "Ties and Tutu's" of course

Pink and Blue chocolate covered strawberries!

Once everyone arrived we mingled a bit, got very few photos, and ate some SUPER yummy food made by my cousin, who generously opened her home to us, and my mom. They made pineapple Swedish meatballs, chicken wing bites, strawberry and walnut salad, and potato skins. I forgot to take photos, and need to get these recipes because they were Ah.Mah.Zing!

My outfit. We each wore pink and blue as to not give a hint!

Family mingling and my mom and cousin cooking away

Here are some shots of some more decor items, I made two pennant banners. One that is seen on the chalkboard above and this big one that is seen below along with more pinwheels. I also took our ultrasound photos and the bump shots to date and hung those for everyone to see.

After food we played a couple of games. I wanted them to be light and fun, since this wasn't a baby shower. We did the old wives tales, where I read aloud the old wives tales and we filled in the answers. When I did it for the blog it was boy all the way, but it ended up being a tie at the party. Haha. Then I passed out notecards and asked everyone to write down their best baby names and their worst baby names. We read them aloud and all had a chuckle. There were some doozies!

I figured after those two games we better just announce to everyone what we were having. I spent about 20+ hours making a pinata for our reveal. I wanted it to be cute and special but to be honest I will NEVER make another one. What a time suck! Lol. We filled the pinata with candy and the plan was to have the Great Grandparent's hit first, then the Grandparents and so on. We go four people in and my grandfather took a huge whack and it when flying. So I went and picked it up and told everyone that the answer was written on a piece of candy and they would have to look for it, when in actuality it was written on several boxes of pink Nerds. I dumped the candy on the ground and my brother and sister in law went scouring. In less than 30 seconds my B.I.L. had found one and shouted "ITS A GIRL!" Everyone started crying and hugging, and saying "I knew it." 90% of the people said we were having a girl. 

It was such a fun and exhausting day. I am so glad we announced in a fun and special way. I want to thank my cousin for hosting and helping with the food, my mom for helping cook and keep me sane during the planning process, and my hubby for helping with decisions and being overly excited to have a party. I wouldn't have been able to do it without all there help! Thanks to everyone who came out and celebrated the announcement of our little Baby Girl Kimball! We love you all!

Bumpdate - 22 Weeks

What's baby up to this week? She is the size of a spaghetti squash, measuring 11" long and weighs almost one pound. She is starting to look like a miniature newborn! Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct and tiny tooth buds are developing. Her eyes have formed, but the irises still lack pigment.

What's been going on with mom? We have been super busy packing to move. Our lease is up and we are not renewing so we are packing up our apartment and it causes me such anxiety! I hate dealing with packing boxes and seeing the amount of crap we actually have. I sat on the ground packing boxes and my closet. Its really sad to see the actual amount of clothes that I cannot wear! About one third of my wardrobe fits right now and that is slowly dropping by the week!

Symptoms: Heartburn, I cannot predict what will cause it! I had peanut butter crackers and I got heartburn. At least I keep Tums in my purse and have them at all times. Sleep is ok. I started sleeping with the body pillow again and although my hips are falling asleep or cramping I'm not comfy with that stupid pillow. Ugh. The stress of moving is making me breakout and and highly emotional!

Yummy/Icky: I think my sweet tooth has officially returned and I am desperately trying to NOT indulge. Its so hard when I have reps bring in pastries and cannoli's!

Clothing: All maternity on the bottom, but still rocking the longer pre-pregnancy shirts, but those pre-preggo shirts are starting to get tight!

Movement: She still reminds me of mealtimes and kicks when they get close. They are pretty consistent after eating or when I lie down. I have been just trying to figure out her schedule. D gets so excited with he feels her kick and asks me how she is all the time.

Belly Button In/Out: In, but semi-shallow

Wedding Rings On/Off: On! Still spinning around like they always do.

Best Moment this Week: Feeling movement. I also went to do some research for registering and I narrowed down the choices for car seat and stroller. Also, I think we settled on a name, but are going to hold it in for a while until we know for sure!

Looking forward to: Scheduling our 4d ultrasound

As always, here's a closeup of our chalkboard.