Five on Friday

Oh yeah, you know what that post title means...TGIF!

{one}
This was a great week, I made it back into the gym after a short holiday season hiatus. I really wish I had never left, but I am going to do my best to make the remainder of my pregnancy as fit as possible! I've already noticed a boost in energy and less aches and pains {other than the kind you should have after a good workout}. This is the workout schedule I plan to stick to for the rest of this pregnancy {originally posted on my fitness blog, The Gym Bunny}:

 And here I am working the leg press the other day {see that belly?}:

{two}
I'm loving wearing my leopard flats with like, everything right now. I got these in NYC last month at ALDO Shoes.

{three}

Tried out a shade of Pantone's Color of the Year on my nails this week. This is a little less pink-toned though, but still pretty:

Wet 'n Wild - On A Trip/En Voyage

{four}

I think I'm going to start some paintings for the nursery this weekend. Since I am using the same color scheme as our living room, I am thinking I want to do something similar to the paintings I did for that room:

{five}

I've been on the hunt for some good book recommendations to download on the Kindle. I plan on keeping it at my nursing table so I can do some reading while feeding {lol}. I think it will help pass the time, and when else am I going to find the time to read as a mother of three? So far, I've heard great things about these two and plan on downloading ASAP. Do you have any recommendations?

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Acceptance

I'm at a point in my pregnancy where I look at myself and can't fathom how I could possibly get any bigger. Yet, I know that it's going to happen...it's just not possible to expect not to grow over these final 18 weeks. But I'm also at a point where I've decided to just make peace with it and accept it. I have to have faith in myself that I will have enough discipline to reclaim my former size, or hopefully even better than that. I have to stop being hard on myself and shaming what I see in the mirror. I've done it before, twice now...I'll do it again. That's what I need to tell myself from now on. I need to learn acceptance of this body as it is now...making and carrying my daughter...who will be more precious to me than making any goal weight on the scale.

I remember what I looked like a few weeks before I had my first son...here is me at 34 weeks {Warning: Blast from the Past below!}:

And I grew even larger that next 6 weeks. It was hard to imagine getting back down to size after that...but somehow, with hard work and dedication, at 6 months postpartum, this is what I looked like:

With all my hard work, I actually weighed a good bit LESS than I did pre-prego.

Now, with pregnancy #2, I got big again...this is me at 4 days before Breckin was born:

I know, DAMN, right? Haha. I will admit that I remember feeling like I had to work a bit harder to see results after having Breckin - and maybe that was because I was caring for two kids instead of one - but somehow I made it back down again. Here is me shortly before getting pregnant a 3rd time:

I wouldn't say I was the best I could be, but hey, I know I got that far, I can do it again. For me, it's all about making the time for fitness, which I make sure I do. That's half the battle. I find that eventually, the rest falls into place.

I need to accept my body for the amazing things it's accomplished - the biggest of those accomplishments being bringing these beautiful babies into the world. I need to stop being so hard on myself and fat-shaming myself while pregnant. So for now, I'm going to let go of the worry about "getting my body back" and put faith into myself. I am going to enjoy the time I have making this beautiful daughter of mine and feeling her kicks. The last thing I ever want to do is teach her to be hard on herself physically...I want her to know body acceptance and the importance of taking care of yourself...I don't want her to see me be harsh and judgmental of my own "flaws" and instill that memory in her mind. She should always know she's good enough...and I need to know that I'm good enough.

So though it may be a while after I have her, I hope to come here and provide an "after" that proves that I had nothing to worry about and that I just needed to be accepting of the changes my body was going through at the time.

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Home & Organization Goals for 2014

With every new year, I like to set some goals for myself around the house. A lot of these ideas have been looming for a while, some have unexpectedly come up {hello, nursery!} I'd like to take 2014 to focus a bit on my personal home and organization to-do list. Of course, a big part of these first few months will be dedicated to nursery projects, but once I have this baby girl in May, I'll be a SAHM and I'll be able to dedicate more time to home projects.

I like to make a list because I get a lot of ideas from day to day, but tend to overwhelm myself and often forget about things after a while. I think it's great to have a list to come back to, so I always have it in mind when I'm out and about shopping {so I can pick up necessary items for the projects}, or for days I have a little extra time to dedicate to getting something done around the house.

I also look forward to sharing all of the finished projects on here with you!

Without further adieu, here's my Home and Organization Goals for 2014:

Do you have any household/organization goals for this year? How do you plan to tackle them?

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Monday Musings

This weekend was so busy...but we accomplished a lot. We got the nursery painted, the new strollers put together and the crib set up. I can't wait to reveal the nursery on here soon...I've put together the guest bedding {the bed I will sleep on in the nursery the first couple months} and crib bedding, but there are some paintings, DIY stuff and organizing to do in there before the final reveal.

I also did as promised and made it to the gym Saturday to rejoin. Check out my post on The Gym Bunny today to see my weekly workout plan. I plan to stick to it for the rest of the pregnancy {God willing}. It is also great for non-pregos! The plan is to go in the AM before work as I was in the first couple months of pregnancy. I'll have to get up a tad earlier, but I'm OK with that. I think it will make me feel better overall. Some things that help me stay on track are having my workout outfit set out and my gym bag packed and ready to go with my work clothes - all done the night before. The less I have to scramble around in the morning, the better.

Additionally, not that it's been terrible, but it has been slack, I plan to clean up the ol' diet. I'm not trying to lose weight {obviously}, but I do need to start saying "no" to some of the bad-for-me cravings I've been getting. Lord knows this baby loves a cheeseburger. BUT, I've definitely had my fill, and now that the holidays are over, it's time to get back to healthy meal plan. I'll be making berry protein smoothies for breakfast, packing my go-to healthy snacks for work, spinach salads for lunch, and keeping to a menu plan for dinners. The key for me is to stick to foods that are beneficial to baby and give calories from the right sources. I made a trip to the grocery store yesterday to make sure I had everything I needed this week and here is a look at the menu plan:

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

So any of you out there with New Year's resolutions - how are you planning to stay on track? Any tips?

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Friday Five

It's been a while since I've done one of these posts. I blame traveling and the holidays. Forgive me? Mmmmmkayy...

{one}
Ordered some fitness DVDs - one being Focus T25 by none other than Insanity's Shaun T. I want to be ready to blast these post-prego lbs ASAP and I plan on starting this the month after I have the baby. We already have Insanity, so I will be doing that after T25. My husband will actually be going at it first, so I may see if there is anything my prego self can jump in and join him on.

Additionally, I bought a Living Social deal for some barre DVDs. Since leaving my gym membership recently, I've really missed the classes and the workout is great for pregnancy, so this is the program I ordered. I can't wait for it to arrive so I can get started. The holidays had me a bit lazy in the exercise category. I can't kick off the new year by losing weight {that will have to wait until May}, but I can certainly head in the right direction for post-pregnancy.

Barre3

{two}
We are clearing out and painting the nursery this weekend. And by "we", I mean my husband. I, of course, need to keep away from the paint fumes and someone needs to watch the boys. But it's just one room, so Hubby can manage. I will move what I can...there's not too much to do in that area. I am going with a light gray, hopefully the same, or very close to what we painted the living room and kitchen. I've lost that paint card, so I don't know exactly. I hope to find it because we still need to do the stairwell to match {eeks!} After this room is painted, I will finally be able to get in there and do what I do best - decorate and organize!

{three}
I hit 21 weeks yesterday and I am starting to feel this baby girl "tickle" me here and there. It's an amazing feeling - I forgot how wonderful it was. I also drive myself crazy getting nervous on days I don't feel her as much. But apparently I've got an anterior placenta this time around, so that's why I can't feel her a ton yet. It will get better over the next few weeks. Here's a nice picture of me currently...getting riper and riper by the day. You may see why I feel the need to start more barre workouts and a little T25...hehehe.

{four}
I got some good baby stuff this past week...ordered a double jogger, a new travel system and our crib also arrived {waiting for the painted nursery before setting that up!} It's getting girly 'round here...

Gisele by Baby Trend

{five}
I'm rejoining my gym tomorrow. I left it in November and planned on rejoining shortly after the baby arrived, but I have been unable to keep up with working out without it unfortunately, and well, the holidays really screwed up my waistline more than the pregnancy was already going to...so it's time to get back on a regular schedule or I fear I will have to lose 50+ lbs after this pregnancy and for me, that's just unfathomable. I will also be in a better place mentally to get back on schedule with my fitness blog, The Gym Bunny. I have sort of left that in the dust this pregnancy and I want to get back to a regular posting schedule.

So this 5 on Friday was a whole lotta pregnancy and exercise stuff, wasn't it? I guess I'm just feeling the need to really be good in this last half of my pregnancy. Motivation is key!

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New Year's Resolutions: 2014 Edition

So I'll just go ahead and say it - I'm a list-maker. I love to organize my thoughts and goals on paper. Whether that just be grocery list, daily to-do's, blogging plans or life goals...so when the time comes to write New Year's resolutions, as much as I hate to admit it, I'm one of those corny people that jumps on that bandwagon. I try to keep my resolutions realistic and attainable. It really just helps me focus on a timeline for things I'd like to accomplish...and even if I don't 100% complete the goal by year's end, I've at least made a dent where it's needed. So all of that being said, here are my 2014 New Year's resolutions:

Do you have any resolutions or goals for this year? Happy New Year!

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Enjoy 2014

Wishing a happy and healthy New Year to you and yours!

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Best of 2013: My Projects

What a year it's been! Here's a quick look back at some of my best projects of 2013:

KITCHEN MAKEOVER

DIY MONOGRAM ART

ENTRYWAY RESTYLE

GOODWILL TRAY REVAMP

BATHROOM VANITY STORAGE

LIVING ROOM REDO

KID'S ORGANIZED ART AREA

FRONT PORCH MAKEOVER

BIG BOY ROOM

PANTRY MAKEOVER

SHARED BOYS' ROOM

BAR AREA / COMMAND CENTER

GENDER REVEAL PARTY

*Click on the titles to see the full posts!

Hope you had a great and productive 2013...looking forward to even more in 2014!

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My Gender Reveal Party

I hope y'all had a wonderful weekend. We had a great weekend announcing our baby's gender to "the world" at our gender reveal party! Here are some pictures of what I put together for it:

Hands down, my favorite part of the setup was the candy buffet. It was so fun to put together. I lucked out and found the cookies and cupcakes at Target of all places - pink and blue at Christimastime? The rest was ordered from Party City online, or found at my local party planning store and the dollar store.

I also set up a hot chocolate station and used the Crockpot to keep it warm. This was actually a bust because, believe it or not, it was 80 degrees in Charleston on Sunday. Not that I'm complaining!

I held a little raffle too for a Target giftcard. It was fun for everyone to make their guesses.

I gave them some clues by writing my results of some popular wives' tales on a black piece of poster board with a paint pen.

The water bottles I just wrapped with pink and blue duct tape I found at Target.

We snapped a quick family pic with the reveal box.

And now, for the big reveal, for those of you not on my personal Facebook or Instagram...

Drumroll, please...

IT'S A GIRL!!!

I am sooooo very excited as it's no big secret to anyone that knows me how badly I've wanted a girl...I am so anxious to meet her this May and get her started in dance classes ASAP! :-)

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