Sierra the Doula

At about 10pm last night night I still hadn't felt the baby kick for the day and I was getting a little nervous. Its been on a pretty consistent schedule and I can usually predict when it will kick by how I'm laying or how relaxed I am. I guess I hadn't relaxed all day so I lay down on the couch and finally a few min later I felt it kick. Blake came over to feel and then of course Sierra had to get in on the action. Blake and I both managed to take photos of her cute little paw on my stomach. I even felt some kicks this morning which were a first.

My belly looks squishy....

tattooo

I'm obsessing over a new tattoo but that's a big no no being pregnant. BUT I think I will treat myself to one after I have the baby. I have a big space on the top part of my arm/shoulder area that I've been wanting done for a long time. I want Daniel Albrigo to do it since he has already started my arm. I love his style so much! BUT since I'm leaving NY that is going to be a problem. Guess I have to hope he will be in LA as a guest in the next year or so. Anyways here is the inspiration I found that I am loving.



I found the photo here.

They were shot by Aline Smithson. Pretty nice stuff...

I like blogs

I follow a lot of blogs, mostly nerdy photo stuff, music, local stuff, etc. I started trying to find some mommy blogs but there is not much out there. I mean there is but they don't really interest me. I want to know about people that are like me that are having kids. I realize my life is going to change incredibly when I have this baby but I still want to be me and not turn into a soccer mom who drives a mini van. Ok that is slightly exaggerated but you know what I mean. Anyways I've been following this blog for awhile now.
http://www.thehipstermom.com/

I knew of Samantha back when she was at Missbehave Magazine. Unfortunately I never got the chance to shoot for them but I was always a fan of the magazine and everything they were doing. She is now a full time mom which is amazing. I love her honesty about being a mom and having a family. I find it refreshing.

paraben and other crap you've never heard of

I may have mentioned this before but about a month ago I was washing my face with my super crazy benzoyl peroxide face wash and it just hit me this could potentially be really bad for the baby. It hadn't even crossed my mind. So I did a huge search on the internet and came up with nothing except most people are fucking nuts out there. There were a few "dr" sites that said I didn't need to worry about anything then other sites that said avoid anything that isn't natural. I know there is no right answer but I want to do the right thing, especially if its something I can avoid. So I emailed my good friend and new mama Malina. She is an esthetician and super knowledge about so many things. She is actually the one that inspired me to watch "The business of being born" and having a natural birth (more on that later)
Anyways this is what she told me "the ingredients that you have to watch out for in products are the preservatives also known as parabens. when you see words like methyl-paraben, ethylparaben, butylparaben etc you should avoid them. also avoid sodium lauryl sulfate. as long as salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide are not combined with those ingredients they should be safe in my opinion. even the most natural brands put salicylic acid in their products because it's the best way to clear and clean the skin."
So I checked my face wash, moisturizers, etc and they included a lot of those ingredients. I immediately went to Sephora and looked around. They have a great natural section and its not too overwhelming. Blake may disagree as I made him suffer through that one. Anyways I settled on Boscia
It was pricey but I liked what I read and it didn't seem complected. After using it for a few days I really noticed a difference. My face felt really good. The next day Malina suggested another great product called Mario Badescu
Since my face is prone to acne I started there. There were so many choices and everything is natural. Plus its been around a really long time. I ended up with a lot of stuff but after over a month of using it I'm a huge fan. I'm combining the Boscia and Mario Badescu stuff and I'm pleased.
Oh and just the other day I noticed my body lotion had a few forms of parabens in it. Luckily I was on my last pump and just replaced it with Aveeno. They have a new line of lotion that smells yummy.
There are so many things out there they say to avoid during pregnancy. The big one a few weeks ago was don't get a pedicure. My midwife laughed at that and I found it pretty silly too. I get pedicures so rarely that I can't imagine it being a problem. Then there is hair dye which I think is the same deal. I avoided dying my hair till after the first trimester but after that I bought an ammonia free dye but I wasn't going to stop that all together. I think its just about moderation and using common sense.

soccer player

I was told the critter would start kicking at 16 weeks. So around that time I felt super tiny little taps but it was like 2 taps then nothing for days so I never really got too excited cause it was so light. About a week ago I was on the train going to dinner to meet my cousins. I was feeling good, even had on some heels, and listening to some really embarrassing pop punk and then all of a sudden kick kick. It was crazy cause it was pretty intense. I had my headphones on but I'm pretty sure I said "holy shit" out loud. I was hoping it would happen again but it didn't till a few days later and still it was only 2 taps then done. The best way to describe it was kinda like popcorn mixed with butterflies (like when you get nervous)
So anyways last night Blake and I are on the couch watching this Nazi Zombie movie and all of a sudden I feel a bunch of kicking, like really intense. It was the first time I got really excited and felt like it was actually kicking. Blake was able to put his hands on my stomach and feel it too. It kicked for a good few hours off and on and then started again this morning. Its pretty wild. So I guess my critter likes zombie movies (or it was the crepe with Nutella for breakfast.)

emo post

Today was one of those days where it really hit me that we were moving. I guess with the weather getting nicer and my energy back up to normal I feel sad to be leaving. My day started off with a photo shoot with a friend I don't see that often and it was just one of those things were I felt sad to be leaving, like I wanted to hang out with her more.

Then I met up with two other girlfriends for lunch at this awesome new meatball shop in the lower east side. I was sitting there in the window talking with my friends and just thinking how much I am going to miss this and them. I've been lucky to meet some amazing people here and I guess I'm having a harder time than I thought thinking about leaving. During the winter the last thing I wanted to do was stay but now that I can actually go out I don't want to leave. I do have some great friends in California and I am so lucky for that but its hard to think of that when I'm here. NY is a different life and one that I've really come to enjoy. I just need to think of the winter when its snowing and I have a newborn screaming and I'm trapped in a shoe box of an apartment.

Our friend Jacques can't wait to buy this for our kid. Pretty damn funny.....

ass kicked

So I went back to kickboxing today after being a lazy bum for over 2 weeks. I will be paying for this tomorrow when I can't walk but I'm happy I went. So the girl on the bag next to me looked like she was going to have the baby right there, she was huge. I'm pretty sure she is due any day. I wanted to ask but I didn't want to be rude. So I kinda watched her to see what she did just to kinda see where I will be in a few months. The girl was tough! She was punching and kicking that bag like she meant it and did all the crazy lunges, push ups, planks, laps etc too. It totally inspired me. So I guess I can't wuss out although doing sit ups don't really happen anymore. I can do the ones that work the upper abs but not the lower, too painful. Also anything that requires me to raise my knees kinda sucks too. BUT it did feel good to get the heart up and sweat a bit. On the other hand I just had a brownie so I guess I canceled it out. Oops......

Turducken

I've never had Turducken and I don't think I ever will but I think its the best way to describe how I feel. I guess that makes me the Turkey? I dunno I feel full.

i hate the subway

today was one of those days where i wish i was a massive cause i got on the train during rush hour and i think everyone decided it would be fun to touch me. i felt like i was going to vomit all over them. all i wanted was a seat. i was a total irritable pregnant bitch today. but then i got myself a vanilla drink from starbucks and it made me happy.

Week 16

I'm at the point now where my belly is growing everyday. Its kinda creepy cause I can actually see the changes. Here is the beast.




We went shopping at the Brooklyn Flea this weekend to try and find some prints for the babies room. We were able to find two that we loved. I'm hoping to go back in the next few weekends and maybe get one more. The ones I really loved were a little bit scary and I can just picture my kid in therapy 15 years down the road talking about the evil bird on his/her wall that caused him all these problems. So we went with sorta cute. I think these can go boy or girl, its hard to tell. If its a girl I'm hoping this will avoid pink taking over the room since they aren't super feminine.

babies room

Since we will be moving back to California the baby will actually be getting a room instead of a corner to our Brooklyn shoebox we live in now. I'm ansy to know the sex so I can start buying stuff but I know I want the theme to be animals, not like cheesy cartoon animals but awesome scientific animals stuff kinda like these. Don't worry I won't use gross animals but this was all I could find online. The Brooklyn Flea Market has a great collection of these prints and I believe they are originals because they are like $80 for an 11x14 but I'm hoping to slowly collect one a weekend so we have a good collection. I think it would be cute for boy or a girl.

the bump

I've been hiding the bump under big shirts for the last 2 weeks. It more of a puff, like if you saw me you would never know I was pregnant just think I drink a lot of beer and don't work out. I took this the other day. Some days it feels bigger than others, this was an especially puffy day.



I bought a few larger sizes at old navy, H&M, and American Apparel but I'm kinda anti maternity clothing. Have you seen that shit? Its like someone was blindfolded and decided to design the most homely and ugliest clothing ever. I don't get it. I looked at all the above places and I was just in awe of the gross. Who wants to look frumpy and gross when they already have an extra 30 pounds hanging off them? Going to hit up Top Shop this weekend and see if they have some cute stuff. Luckily fashion is sorta still into larger non fitted stuff so I should be set with normal clothing. Just so glad leggings are still in style!