Baby #2- Bumpdate 2

A couple of weeks late, but here is a pregnancy update at 20 weeks! I share my excitement of having a boy and my nervousness about making the decision on whether or not to circumcise. Fun stuff.... 

Happies -15-

Although I've got an annoying cold this week, I'd like to focus on the good that's been happening. First off- Thank you! I feel bad for not giving a big internet thank you to everyone that has congratulated us on my pregnancy and the gender reveal. So again, thanks so much!! And thanks to everyone who viewed my gender reveal video. It has gotten over 200 views on YouTube! This may seem like such a small number for some bloggers/video makers, but it's progress for me, and it's nice to know that some people enjoyed this thing I've made.

-Gwen has been saying sentences like, "I like trees." "I like cars." "I like food." "I love cupcakes." It's so cool that she's forming sentences now.

-Feeling the baby move. I feel like maybe I said this in the last happy list? I can't remember, but it's still making me happy!

-My sister-in-law had her baby last weekend! We FaceTimed a few days ago and she told me the birth story. I love hearing other moms' positive birth stories! It's fun to relate in that way. And it's so cool to see her as a mother. I am over the moon happy for them.

-Planning our trip to Minneapolis to see the new baby!

-We hosted our friend from New Mexico for a night while she drove to California and it was so fun to catch up! She'll be working at Disneyland and said she can get us in both parks for free! We'll be there next month and you can bet that we've changed some plans to go to Disney.

-Buying a new umbrella stroller. That is such a "mom" thing to be excited about.... But I'm so excited to use it on our upcoming trips! And it's tall enough for Ryan to use, compared to our old one.

-Reading The Help. It's for book club and I'm proud to say that I'm in the middle of the book. I am usually so bad at reading the whole book before our monthly meetings, but I'll definitely finish this one!

Baby #2: Gender Reveal

We are so excited for this baby to come!

This video isn't exactly what I had envisioned, but I came close enough! I ended up giving Gwen a few mini cupcakes in the process of icing cupcakes and shooting this video so that she'd stay in her high chair and be occupied. We've had too much sugar today.... Does anyone want to take all this cake off our hands? 

Happies -14-

A photo posted by Beverly Houpt (@bevhoupt) on Aug 3, 2016 at 11:54pm PDT

-Being spontaneous and going to Weezer's concert, on a weeknight. Imagine that!

-In the line to the concert there were these really obnoxious girls in front of us. I couldn't believe how annoying they were! (I thought they must have been 16-18 but then one of them mentioned that she just turned 22?? Maybe they were kinda buzzed or high?) For some reason they left the line and as soon as they were out of earshot everyone around us said how relieved they were that those girls left the line! haha. Ryan was like, "I thought only teenagers in movies or TV acted like that. I didn't think people like that were real."

-Whenever we put in a DVD for Gwen she likes to press the little "play" symbol that pops up in the lower left corner of the TV screen. She probably thinks it's a touch screen and that you need to press it to play the movie. That's the conclusion Ryan and I came up with. The next time we put in a movie for her and she was pushing the symbol Ryan said, "It's really nice of Gwen to push Play for us so that we don't have to walk up to the screen every time."

-Another funny thing that Ryan spontaneously said in the car one day, "Is there anything less cool than beat boxing?"

-Baking a cake from scratch for the first time.

-The new Gilmore Girls teaser. Can't wait for November! Just in time for my birthday :)

-When Gwen gets excited and kinda tenses up her body and shakes a little.

-Beginning to feel the baby move! They're just little nudges right now, but that is hands down the best part about being pregnant.

-Finding out what the sex of this baby is! I'll probably announce it on Friday, so please don't ask me before then! 

Baby #2- First "Bumpdate" Video

I've wanted to document this pregnancy in a different way than my last pregnancy- with video updates! I personally feel like it's more fun to watch someone talk about their pregnancy than to read about it. I apologize for the length of this video! It's the first one in my little series and I share how I found out about this pregnancy, plus Gwen kept distracting me. But if you like really chatty videos, like I do, then you'll probably enjoy watching this. I promise I'll be more structured in the next videos and actually answer all the official bumpdate questions. The next video will probably be a gender reveal!

Please feel free to ask me any questions you'd like for me to answer about my pregnancy. It's always more fun to answer questions from my friends than it is to follow the meme. 

Cloudcroft in Photos

I took fewer photos than I thought during this trip because I was more focused on taking videos. I'm glad I made video my top priority because it's so fun for me to compile all the clips and make something fun to watch. It definitely gets my creative/artistic juices flowing, these days! Photography will always be important to me, but video editing helps me tell a story in a different way, and that's exciting. Enough about my love for video- here are the photos! 

CONFESSION- I did not take the rest of the photos in this post. Everyone went on a hike the last full day we were there... except for me! I stayed behind to take a much needed nap- I had a headache and I slept terribly the night before. I totally played the pregnancy card, but I have no shame. I asked my father-in-law to take my camera and snap some photos for me while I stayed behind. So the rest of these photos were taken by my father-in-law or Ryan. I edited them, though! 

I'm really glad they took these photos for me! Looking at them now, I feel like I was there. Like I didn't miss out on too much. I'm so happy we were able to play with most of our New Mexico family. And I'm doubly happy that Gwen was able to play outside in decent weather! 

Mommy Style Monday: Girls Day Out

I'm participating in Mommy Style Monday, again! This time we're sharing an outfit we'd wear when going out, whether it be with girlfriends, sisters, or our own daughters. As you can see, I chose the latter. You guys, this dress is everything when I'm pregnant. It's a maternity dress from Target that I got a couple of years ago while pregnant with Gwen. It's not sheer, it's the perfect length, and it's very stretchy! It makes my baby bump look very prominent, which is fun because I finally feel like I'm showing and I want the world to know! Before I was ever pregnant, I thought that I would hate random people asking me about my pregnancy, but from my experience it has been the opposite. Moms love talking about their babies, y'know. And it only became more fun for me to answer strangers' questions once the baby was outside of me. 

Okay, on to the post. When Gwen and I go out during the summer, it's usually to the pool or an indoor place with AC. (We really have no choice when it's 100+ degrees outside, you know?) My plan for these photos was a bust- I thought to take these photos at the library. We get to the library on Saturday and after only 5 minutes of being inside, they announce that the library is closing?? Since when did the library close so early? I was under the impression that the library closed at 9pm, not 5pm. Apparently it only stays open that late Monday-Wednesday. Lesson learned. So we took these photos outside of the library, which ended up being alright because it was 10 degrees cooler than the day before. We had a monsoon come in the night before that cooled things down just a little. 

This is what our days out look like- me grabbing Gwen before she runs straight into the street or other foreseeable danger. Speaking of running, lets talk about these sandals. These are the first expensive pair of sandals that I've ever bought. I usually buy a new pair of cheap sandals each summer but they'd offer zero support and were never very comfortable. These sandals are a dream to walk in. The brand is Easy Spirit and I got them from Nordstrom Rack. Can we also talk about the shoes at Nordstrom Rack? Basically I love it because they have a good variety of shoes for my small, size 5 feet! 

^ I ran into the sprinkler to cool off a little and Gwen fell in a puddle. Everyday life. 

There you have it. One thing I love about this stage with Gwen is not really having to carry a big diaper bag around with us everywhere. I just pack her water bottle and a diaper, then we're off.

Check out these ladies' blogs to see some more Mommy Style:

Kiana at Glitter & Donuts

Madeline at CaseyLand
Bekah at These Are The Days
Monica at It's All About
Amy at Harris Inc. 
Melissa at The Frolics of Mama Llama
Rose at Babies & Bluejeans 
Juli at Journey of J^3
Susan at Sue's News
Anndee at Anndee Between the Lines

If you're interested in participating in the next Mommy Style Mondays visit Kiana's or Madeline's blogs.