30 Weeks Pregnant

 Thirty weeks.  Wow!  I can't believe we are getting closer.  I have heard SO many people lately going into labor two months early, so of course I'm slightly freaked out.  A co-worker's daughter due 2 weeks before me has already had her baby and a neighbor told me yesterday (as I was admiring her BOB jogging stroller) that her baby was due in November and had her in September of last year.

I know these situations are normal, but still it's alarming to hear.  In ways I'm like...ehh let that happen and see what goes on with work because I'm SO OVER IT!  I'm at the point in my pregnancy where I'm tired a lot again and my fuse is short.  I have to train some co-workers on my tasks before maternity leave (I had a co worker trained but she got a better job with another company so I'm starting fresh), and it's just stressing me out a bit. Or at least it was at the beginning of week 30.  As I'm getting closer and closer to vacation and I have all of my training files saved to a network drive and they are all perfectly updated in my opinion, I'm kinda like ehh just let me go on vacation, come home and then have this baby.  As far as work goes, they'll figure it out.  I tried time and time again to get people trained weeks ago, and with the adjustments on the team, that didn't happen...not my fault...so if I'm like these other women and deliver early, they will just have to figure it out without me there to train since it's been postponed so much.

Alright, that was my negative Nancy bit for a while.  Seriously though, week 30 is coming to an end, I'm about to start week 31 and I'll be in the mountains on vacation with my hubby and his parents...life is good :)  I am blessed!

How far along: 30

Gender: Girl!

Weight gained: 20.2 lbs

Inches gained: About 8.5 (same weight and inches as last week)

Working Out:  Walking is still an almost daily thing, but I’ve slacked off with the weights and will pick that back up after vacation!

Clothing Choices:  I had some breakdowns this week and just wore Neal’s shorts and his tops because I feel like all my stuff is too tight.  I put on my own clothes when I go out of the house though!

Belly button: Outty!  It’s actually more like a “smothy” and it just is in line w/ my stomach.

Sleep: It’s not too bad, but I am getting up 2 times a night now.

Best moment this week: Working on some stuff for the nursery.  I spray painted a few things gold and worked on her dresser to make it a little more girly.  I can’t wait to post the “Nursery Inspiration” blog and then of course show you pictures of her actual nursery!!!!

Hardest moment this week: Stress. Hormones. Work.  I can’t identify what is what at this point.  Am I mostly stressed out because my job, or are these pregnancy hormones causing the majority of the stress?  I probably could have cried all day Friday if I hadn’t have needed to go to a doctor’s appointment and to a store to pick up a phone for work.

What I’m missing: My old clothes…

Movement: She moves all the time.  I feel her all day and night now.

Cravings:  I’d like a beer…really that sign should say “2.5 months until I have a beer” lol

Queasy or sick: Feeling good.

Looking forward to: Vacation starts in 2 days!!!  I’ll have a much desired break from work!!!

Strange Dreams:  They are vivid when I have them, but I don’t remember them for long.

Week 30

• Wednesday – 1.5 mile doggy walk in the AM and then the “Get Fit Like Fido” workout from Dog Vaycay
• Saturday – ½ mile walk with the pups and then off to Evansville Power Yoga in the Park followed by about 3 mile walk along the riverfront in downtown Newburgh with Audrey!
• Monday – Walked the dogs 1.5 miles
• Tuesday – Walked the dogs 1.75 miles

Get Fit Like Fido! A Pup Inspired Workout

Last week, I was contacted by Priscilla, the Community Coordinator from Dog Vaycay about trying their pup inspired workout.  It's exciting to be contacted about trying new things and putting my thoughts out there on them!  I jumped at the opportunity!

Currently, I'm 30 weeks pregnant, so I wasn't 100% I'd be able to complete the workout they'd sent.  It had mountain climbers, jump squats and running...things I haven't really been doing much of lately.  However, after gaining a little more weight between week 29 and 30 than what I needed to keep on the right track due to slowing down my fitness because of sciatica pain, I was ready for a change in my routine!

This workout was the perfect pick-me-up!  I really enjoyed feeling my heart rate go up again!  Julia Chan created a great workout in my opinion!

I really enjoyed the feeling of the "Fire Hydrants" as they helped lift my butt and even give my sciatica a good stretch!  I'm not going to lie, I took a mini break between the mountain climbers and jump squats when I was stopped at the gym by one of the employees who asked how my pregnancy was going.  If I had more time, I think the Fire Hydrants through Jump Squats should be completed 3 times through before moving into Ladders, the cardio portion.

So you are probably wondering, should a pregnant woman be doing some of this, and a running interval especially!?!  Wouldn't that get your heart rate up too much?  Yes, for me, it would.  My doctor wants me to keep my heart rate much lower for the baby than the intensity I used to workout at, but that didn't mean I had to stop working out!  So here's how you can modify these moves if you want and are pregnant, or may not be up to doing the full on routine.

• Fire Hydrants & Squats - keep these as is! I totally recommend trying these if your doctor permits you to working out.  While doing squats, practice your kegals as well!
• Mountain Climbers - Option 1, simply slow your pace.  Option 2 - Do Bird Dog Planks instead, click here to see why you may want to consider this during pregnancy as well as a picture of the pose.
• Jump Squats - there's some women that can jump just fine during pregnancy, and others that with one jump, you may not even have time to make it to the restroom!  If you aren't up to doing jumps, consider getting on your tippee toes as you come back up from the squat.  Or as another option, add a kettle bell or weight to this and just stay grounded as your do your squats, only adding resistance by swinging the kettle bell or weight as you go.
• Ladders - As I said, my doctor doesn't want my heart rate getting too high. I need to keep it at 140 and below.  Any time I run, I'm normally around 175-180.  So running is a non-option for me during pregnancy.  Instead, I did incline intervals.  
• Pace of 4 on the treadmill the whole time.  Try not to hold onto the machine at all
• Minutes 1-5 increase incline by 1 each minute until you are at 5
• Minutes 5-7, 10 on the incline
• Minute 8, 2 on the incline
• Minutes 8-10, 11 on the incline
• Minute 11, 2 on the incline
• Minute 12, 12 on the incline
• Minute 13, 2 on the incline
• Minute 14, 13 on the incline
• Minute 15, 2 on the incline
• Mminute 16, 14 on the incline
• Minute 17, 2 on the incline
• Minute 18, 15 on the incline (yes, you'll want to hold on, but resist! you and do this!)
• Minutes 19-20 2 on the incline, and you can decrease your pace from 4 to 3 as you cool down.
• My heart rate likely went above 140 during this routine, but becuase these are intervals, I was able to get my breath back and cool off in between increases in inclines.

@LivelyHappening on Instagram!

Overall, I think this was a great workout!  I will be trying it again during pregnancy.  As stated, I do recommend doing Fire Hydrants - Jump Squats 3 times through and then doing your ladders after to get an even better workout.

To cool down, I always do some downward dog as shown above.  I also add in pigeon pose for some sciatica release and stretching followed by sitting and putting my right foot out to grab, then my left, then both feet and finishing with butterfly pose.  This is my normal post run routine.

I completed this workout yesterday and feel GREAT today.  My sciatica nerve pain is even less today than it has been in 2 weeks!!!

So what do you think?  Do you love this workout and the cute pup to human comparisons Julia brings?!

29 Weeks Pregnant!

Seriously, I never thought pregnancy would be so hard.  I mean don't get me wrong, I'm not hating it.  I am sure there are women WAY worse off than myself, but I HAVE to see a chiropractor.  My sciatica pain is simply over bearing every thing I do and causing me to be almost completely un-energetic. 

Oh, and baby girl really isn't quite the size of a baby (seedless) watermelon, but frankly, I wanted watermelon this week!  Technically she's the size of butternut squash in weight, possibly about 2.5 lbs and around 15 inches in length!  I just thought hmm if I was 15 inches, I bet I could ball myself up and I'd be about the size of this baby watermelon...maybe not quite, probably smaller, but oh well!

How far along: 29

Gender: Girl!

Weight gained: 20.2 lbs

Inches gained: About 8.5

Working Out:  Not as great this week due to sciatica pain, but I still stayed semi-active.  In the 3^rd trimester, it’s recommended to gain .5-1 lb per week, more towards the .5 lbs, and I didn’t gain too much by any means at 1.2 lbs, but I do feel if I had worked out like normal I may be closer to have only gained .5 lbs.

Clothing Choices:  I’m loving maxi dresses!

Belly button: Outty for sure! No room for this thing to go back in.

Sleep: It’s not too bad, but I am getting up 2 times a night now.

Best moment this week: Little girl had 2 showers over the weekend.  One was with family and the other friends.  Both were really wonderful and we are blessed to have family and friends supporting our little girl already.  I really loved reading the notes friends left in Braelyn’s “Oh the Places You Will Go” book!

Hardest moment this week: Sciatica.  My butt pain is really killing me.  I can’t workout like I was and I’m getting restless, but then when I move around, I just want to cry sometimes.  I’m going to see a chiropractor.

What I’m missing: Working out.

Movement: She moves so much!  I really love it!

Cravings:  Cereal or sweets.  My stress cravings J

Queasy or sick: Feeling good.

Looking forward to: A weekend at home!  We are starting to slow down for the summer, and I couldn’t be happier!

Strange Dreams:  I think I’ve been so consumed with work; my dreams almost always revolve around something work related.  That’s no fun!

 Week 29

• Wednesday and Thursday – I took these two days completely off so I could try to rest my butt pains.  I thought it would help, but it really didn’t.
• Friday – Tone It UP Bikini Series Arms – I REALLY love this workout!
• Saturday – ½ mile walk with the pups was all we had time for between Braelyn’s shower and my friend’s Wedding!  I danced when I could!
• Monday – Tone it Up Bikini Arms, a little standing abs and 2.25 miles of walking

28 Weeks Pregnant! Hello 3rd Trimester!

I'm starting to really laugh at some of the fruit size comparisions week-by-week.  I don't know about you, but I've never seen a 13-14 inch eggplant... So when I was in the grocery store, I thought, what would I actually want to eat that's about 13 inches...ahh CORN! mm!  I came home, Neal measured, and sure enough the corn I had picked was about 13.5 inches, the approximate length of baby girl from tip of the head to the bottom of the toes.

How far along: 28

Gender: Girl!

Weight gained: 19 lbs

Inches gained: About 8

Working Out:  Yep, see below!

Clothing Choices:  I tend to wear dresses or skirts outside of the house and workout clothes while home.

Belly button: Outty for sure! No room for this thing to go back in.

Sleep: I think I’m starting to get more tired again.  I want to crawl in bed about 8:30 pm every night!

Best moment this week: Putting baby girl’s crib together!  We had to take the door down & put it back up into her room (an I told you so moment for me) after we put it together in the living room.

Hardest moment this week: Sciatica.  Pretty sure I’m getting it in my butt/hip. It’s been extremely painful at times.  It feels like a shooting pain or pinched nerve, sometimes causing me to walk funny.  It made me not do any workouts on Friday and not walk any extra over the weekend.

What I’m missing: Just being able to wear what I want out of my wardrobe. I feel like I wear the same things over and over because I’m trying not to purchase more.

Movement: She seems to be stretching and pushing out in certain spots a lot more.  I could even feel either a little foot, hand or elbow a few times solidly pushing against me.

Cravings:  Sweets. Ever since I took that glucose test, I’ve wanted more and more sweets. It’s like that sugary drink got me hooked!

Queasy or sick: Feeling good.

Looking forward to: Seeing some friends this weekend at my friend Candice’s wedding (we were roomies for about 2 years in college) and then hanging out with more friends at a shower/crafting party for my friend Brittany who is getting married in October!

Strange Dreams:  I had one very umm ‘romantic’ dream.  Let’s just say I was loving my hubby in my dream and woke up thinking OH MY GOSH! WOAH!

Week 28

• Wednesday – Knocked Up Fitness DVD the Prenatal Fit Camp and Total Body Pilates in the AM and then in the PM I did the 40 Minute Turbo Jam Cardio Party DVD
• Thursday – A 2 mile walk with the dogs
• Saturday – Yoga Pulse DVD, the source yoga routine and a 1.5 mile walk
• Sunday – Prenatal Yoga from here and a 1.5 mile walk
• Monday – Tone it Up Bikini Arms (LOVE this one) a 2 mile walk (1 mile for each dog) and the 20 minute Prenatal Cardio from Denise Austin 
• Tuesday – Tone it Up triple threat in the AM – Bikini Thighs, Love Your Body with Kettelbells and a new Yoga Routine from their website found here. Then I walked the dogs for a total of 1.5 miles  - and my butt/hip started hurting again…over did it, I don’t think I’ll get my 100miles by summer done b/c of the pain

 Oh and for giggles, you should check out this parody on "I'm So Fancy"

Brewing a Baby Shower!

Last weekend, I was thrown a beautiful and fun baby shower from my friends, Natalie and Hope!

First, Hope and Natalie brainstormed to make the CUTEST invites for us!  We wanted it to seem more like a casual lake day than a baby shower since it was a couples shower.  Hope is an artist and used her mad skills to make these bad boys!  I LOVE how they turned out!  Natalie suggested the book instead of a card, and I loved it!  Baby Bratton has some great books already!  I cannot wait to read to her!

DECOR:

Hope and Natalie were going with the woodland theme, which is what will be Braelyn's nursery/our guest room.  Hope gathered lots of lush evergreens and pinecones to put in large mason jars. Natalie got cute little woodland animals and they put them alongside this lush moss.  

She was originally going to paint them gold, but then we all liked the natural colors of the animals.

Natalie also made the cute sign that was behind us as we opened all Braelyn's presents.  Making the cutest backdrop for our shower photos!

FOOD:

To keep it casual, we had some amazing food Hope and Natalie prepped ahead of time all laid out for the guests on the patio table.  The day of, we just had to mix the fruit, salad, warm up the mac n cheese, warm up the bread, and have Dane (Hope's hubby) grill the chicken she had seasoned up.

• Massive Fruit bowl - approx 1 cantaloupe, 1 big bin of strawberries cut, 1 big bin of blueberries, and honeydew.
• Bread loaves from the bakers simply warmed and served along side honey butter.  The honey butter was made by Hope and she mixed up regular butter (like the stick kind) and creamed honey to taste
• Chips to keep it easy
• Homemade mac-n-cheese prepped ahead of time
• Salad made of greens mixed, cherry tomatoes, caramelized onions, feta, and homemade dressing (my favorite dressing is a thick balsamic with a little olive oil and some seasonings - I sometimes even just use salt and pepper for that seasoning!)
• Chicken on the bone, simply seasoned with a mix of spices and then grilled to perfection
• Dessert was the BOMB!  Hope and Natalie cut and sugared strawberries in advance as well as made little sweet biscuits.  Hope then made homemade cream and day off she layered these together in cute 8oz mason jars!

DRINKS:
For our drinks, we had organic lemonade, un-sweet tea, and sweet tea which Natalie properly labeled "Sweet as Braelyn" in recognition of the little guest of honor!  Oh and there was a bucket of beer, which I of course stayed away from even though I oh so badly crave beer during pregnancy...why is that!?

ACTIVITIES:
I wanted the shower to really feel more casual, like a lake day.  So rather than playing a bunch of shower games, we had croquet to play in the yard.  I meant to bring the redneck golf to play as well, but my pregnant memory failed me..wah wah! We also were going to bring cornhole, so that's another great suggestion for doing a casual shower like ours!

I mean come on...you really don't need much else when you have this:

If you want some suggestions on other more shower themed games, here's some of my favorites:

• My Water Broke - freeze tiny babies in ice cubes, first one to thaw out has to scream "My Water Broke"
• Chug the Bottle - we played this at the Baseball Themed shower I helped host for my friend Emily, and instead of baby bottles, I used juice boxes
• The smelly diaper - so this one grosses me out, but is still sorta fun!  It's when you melt candies down inside something that resembles a diaper, or I guess you could use real diapers, but that's a waste of $ in my opinion.  So then the guests have to guess the candy by smell or even taste if they want!

The house where we had this shower is my father's.  Sadly he and his girlfriend were out of town when we planned this shower.  With our busy schedule and this being 6+ hours away from where Neal and I live, we had limited times we could do the shower.  However, him and Kim were so sweet and had set up a banner and provided some cute little candy packages for the guests party favors!

That's a wrap up of the shower details.  We really were so lucky to have some amazing friends host and wonderful family and friends to attend!  Neal and I couldn't be more excited about our little girl, Braelyn Abigail Bratton!

Now here's some of my favorite pictures from the pressie opening and of our friends/family who came to support us!

Bath Toys!

This card from my brother and his wife was great!  It had a ton of # as they like to tease me about my social media hastags ie:  #LakeDay #BabyShower etc :)  Thanks guys!  Love you!

Em is so cute!

 The host and her husband to be!! I HEART you two!         This is my big brother :) Love you!

my cousin's little girl is ADORABLE!

One of my oldest besties, KB!

Daddy to be rocking w/ his little girl's itty bitty socks!

iPeed onesie from KB! TOO PERFECT!

My hubby!

My good family friend, Penny and my Aunty Jo!

Some of the Chix of '06!!! Natalie, Kelly, me, Martha, Emily!

The hostess and her mom!

Another one with Kellie and the beautiful lake backdrop!

That's a wrap!!!

Father's Day Gifts - Collar Stays and Guitar Picks

With Father's Day right around the corner, have you gotten your dad something special?

This year at Lively Happenings, I introduced collar stays and guitar picks.  The feedback has been PHENOMENAL!  I'm almost completely sold out of guitar picks at this point!  I'm getting a new shipment today or tomorrow, and the current orders should be filled and shipped by Friday, June 6th!

I ordered 30 more picks and another set of 10 collar stays, which should be in today (fingers crossed!).  Of those 30 picks, 22 are already spoken for!  I've only made 3 more of the aluminum ones available so I have 5 extras in case I mess up.  If I don't mess up, I'll list more. :)

Again, thank you all for the great responses on these new items!  I'll be sure to keep including gifts for men in the shop.  Lively Happenings is also going to take on more custom stamping in the future, so stay tuned for new designs!

All orders for Father's Day need to be in by this Sunday, June 8th.  Shipping is 3-5 business days and once my supplies are back in stock, I plan to have every order stamped and shipped within 2 days of purchase.

Go to Lively Happenings to get your gifts today!  www.livelyhappenings.etsy.com

27 Weeks Pregnant

I can hardly believe that tomorrow starts the 3rd trimester!  I'm so excited to be getting closer and closer to meeting our little girl!  

This past week, and this current week are busy ones!  Both weeks, I have taken Monday off of work, and have thus needed to do 10 hour days Tuesday-Friday with my full-time IT Job.  Let me tell you, they are kicking my booty along with all the AMAZING Father's Day orders I've gotten on Lively Happenings!  If you haven't seen the guitar picks and collar stays, you should check them out!  Order by Saturday, June 8th and I'll get it in the mail by Tuesday - USPS shipping is 3-5 days!

I'm hoping to slow down a bit this week. In Lamaze class we talk a lot about deep breathing and relaxation techniques.  I've really tried to remind myself to do that when I've started to feel overwhelmed! 

How far along: 27

Gender: Girl!

Weight gained: 18.4 lbs

Inches gained: About 7.5

Working Out:  Yes, but not quite as much with my long work days, Etsy orders and busy travel schedule :-/

Clothing Choices:  I’m really just wearing yoga type clothes at home during the work day (thank goodness for working from home in this situation!) and then when I've gone out, I've typically worn a dress or skirt.

Belly button: Outty for sure

Sleep: I did not get enough this weekend while we traveled! It doesn't matter when I go to sleep, I’m always at least up by about 6:30am.

Best moment this week: Baby girl’s shower was really enjoyable!  I have to also say, spending some quality time with Neal in Chattanooga and then again on the lake in Loudon makes all the lack of sleep for traveling and having to work another 4 day, 10 hour days at work this week totally worth it!  We took Monday off work to leisurely travel back home from East TN, and we decided to spend most of our day on the lake and didn't even get home until almost 10pm!

Hardest moment this week: Car rides…oh those car rides. It’s amazing to me that my back and abdomen both can hurt from just sitting.

What I’m missing: A full night’s sleep without having to go to the bathroom!  But, I don’t even remember a time before I was pregnant that I've been able to do that! Ha!

Movement: She moves a lot and I love it!  So far she’s not knocked my breath out, but they are getting stronger.

Cravings:  Cereal. I always want cereal. But that’s the food I eat when I’m stressed, so I’m thinking that’s why I crave it!

Queasy or sick: Feeling good.  A little indigestion, but again, that’s nothing new even prior to pregnancy.

Looking forward to: Having a weekend where we DON’T have to travel!!! We get to stay in town this weekend and we are going to the Parade of homes and I simply can’t wait!  Oh and of course I’m TOTALLY THRILLED to be in the 3^rd trimester tomorrow!

Strange Dreams:  I think I’m still just so exhausted that I can’t even remember any dreams I’ve had from this week…or they just weren't strange enough.

Workouts Week 27

• Wednesday – Jessica Smith TV Prenatal Workout in the AM and a 1.5 mile puppy walk
• Thursday  – Tone it Up Pink Flamingo Workout x 2 and a 2 mile dog walk
• Saturday – 2 miles or more walking around downtown Chattanooga…I totally fell in love and would move here!
• Monday – Swimming in the lake was my only ‘exercise’ today…oh and vacuuming out the truck lol so really just an active rest day!  Neal and I took off work to enjoy ourselves and East TN some more!
• Tuesday -