Everette's Easter basket

Happy Good Friday friends! 

Let me be the first to wish you and your family a Happy Easter. He is alive! We are so excited to celebrate Everette's first Easter at church and lunch with family. Here is a little look into her basket this year! 

I selected the basket and liner from Pottery Barn and I really love what a great quality it is. I like how big it is and that she can use it for years to come, and it will be easy to add a sibling basket when the time comes. When it came to filling her basket my approach was very simple, things we needed, things we already had, and a couple sentimental items. My theory for items like Easter baskets and Christmas stockings is to fill them with everyday items that you need to purchase for your child anyway, and then add a few fun items. I am already figuring out how easy it is to go overboard when it comes to children and holidays but I truly don't believe its necessary. 

For the items that we needed I included a swimsuit, beach towel, infant sunscreen, and wipes. Next I went through her closet where I have kept gifts from friends and family since she was born and included sweet bunny loveys, a bunny teether and rattle, and a beach ball. Finally, a couple sentimental items to remember her first Easter. I ordered the sweet book God Gave Us Easter, Pat The Bunny, and included The Beginners Children's Bible. This basket was especially simple to put together since she is still so young, but we cant wait to open it with her on Sunday morning. 

Pregnancy Reflections

Without a doubt the most pivotal event in my life over the past year was my first pregnancy. It was right around this time last year that we began sharing our big secret and that has me feeling all sorts of nostalgia. Since we are all new here I thought I would share about that exciting journey today!


1st Trimester

We found out we were expecting our very own little miracle on Christmas day 2017, and I remember how incredibly surreal that felt. We were so excited but also just in disbelief, which is basically how it stayed for the first trimester. I forgot I was pregnant all the time, then I would remember and feel surprised again. Ha! Throughout the first trimester I really did not feel any differently, minus a few food aversions and not wanting to drink coffee, which is certainly odd for me. I didn't feel anymore tired and occasionally would feel a little nauseated. We waited until I was actually 12 weeks and had been to a few appointments and heard the heartbeat, before we told our families and close friends and then we announced when I was 14 weeks and out of the first trimester. Josh and I both came down with a horrible stomach bug the week before and it was truly worse than any pregnancy related symptom. 

2nd Trimester 

So many people call the second trimester the honeymoon phase of pregnancy and even though I really didn't feel bad during the first trimester, I felt great during the second. I would occasionally still have a few food aversions, or think of something that sounded super yummy, cook it and then think "nope, that's not at all what I want." We were so excited to announce our pregnancy and that made it feel so much more real getting to share the news with so many people we love and let them join in on our excitement! I kept waiting to gain weight and see a little bump but nothing for weeks! We traveled quite a bit throughout the second trimester, Charleston at 13 weeks, Hawaii at 18-19 weeks, and Oklahoma City at 24 weeks. I will never forget the first time I felt the baby move in my tummy. Josh and I had been a little anxious about traveling so far during my pregnancy and during the flight to Hawaii I was sure to get up and walk every hour and drink lots of water. The day after we arrived we were sitting by the pool at the resort and I felt that first flutter. Most people will tell you that they didn't realize that was the baby moving originally, but I knew it the moment it happened. I told Josh who was equally thrilled even though of course he couldn't feel it yet. Throughout the week the flutters continued around the same time of day and I began looking forward to them every afternoon and evening. 

 In general I feel like pregnancy just tends to extend any kind of normal sickness you feel. At about 18 weeks I started to experience some round ligament pain, but it would come and go and was totally manageable. When we returned from Hawaii the jet lag really set in for longer than expected, but a few days after we returned we found out the gender of the baby and had a fun little cake reveal with our families announcing it was a girl, and her name was going to be Everette Elizabeth! I just knew that I would have a bump by the time we returned from Hawaii but it still looked like bloat to me and I had yet to gain a pound. However by the 6 month mark our little one finally began to show herself with a little bump! 

3rd Trimester

When we first announced our pregnancy and that we were due in September everyone shared with me how miserable and hot I was going to be, but truthfully I loved being pregnant all summer. I was able to wear all of my own clothes until about 34 weeks and I enjoyed lots of maxi dresses, sundresses and sandals. Swimsuits were a little tricky but I loved being able to swim and be in the water all summer. Josh and I took a baby moon at 28 weeks right as I entered the third trimester, which is still one of my favorite memories. As a preschool teacher my third trimester lined up perfectly with school letting out so I spent those weeks finishing up the nursery, enjoying lots of prenatal yoga classes, walking in our neighborhood and swimming. Josh and I walked almost every night after dinner if he was home in time and looking back I cherish that time so much. We were showered with so much love in those last couple months and the closer the time came the more excited we got. I loved laying down at night and feeling the baby dancing around and Josh being able to feel and see her movements too. She had the hiccups multiple times a day, which of course I always remember now when I see her hiccup. She was extremely active and towards the end of my pregnancy I could often feel her kicking and stretching her legs out in what felt like my throat. We loved our doctor's appointments when we got to see her, hear her little heartbeat, and always looked forward to our date nights to our birthing class at the hospital. 

Towards the end I remember starting to feel like a walking science experiment with strangers staring and wondering if you were about to pop right in front of them, but the truth is I absolutely loved being pregnant and I realized that more after it was over. This is probably much attributed to what a wonderful experience it was for me, and I know how fortunate I was. I kind of kept waiting for all the things people warned me about, the getting up multiple time in the night to use the restroom, the swelling, being so hot, the sickness that returns at the end, but it just kinda never showed up. Almost 90 % of first babies arrive late, so much to our surprise we met our little love 2 weeks early at exactly 38 weeks to the day! Looking back I feel so blessed by my pregnancy journey and honestly can't wait to do it again, just not yet! 

Heart & Home

Welcome! I am so glad you are here. I am envisioning that I am actually opening my front door and you are coming into our home. We would plop down on my white slip covered sofa, there is most likely a candle or two burning, the coffee is on, and we would chat about our day and the upcoming weekend and how many more minutes we have until nap time is up. 

It is my sincere hope that this little spot will encourage you in whatever season you are in, give you an idea for what to cook for dinner next week, allow you to realize that you are doing a much better job as a wife and mommy than you thought, perhaps get you more excited about that home project you've had on your to do list for months, plan a date night with your husband, or figure out what in the world to put in your child's Easter basket or Christmas stocking.

In full disclosure, if you are looking for the blogger that tags every home item, sweater, child product and lipstick, you are most likely going to be disappointed.There will rarely be an outfit of the day post where you can "swipe up" to purchase simply because you probably would have zero interest in the nursing tank and running shorts I have on, or more than likely what I am wearing is 5 years old. 

I'm here to share all of the joyous and mundane moments of this thing we call life. A little look into what is on my heart and in my home. I've found that with most things, it comes easier if we do it together. One of the very best things that I have discovered about motherhood, are all of the other Mamas, so thanks in advance for allowing me to be apart of your tribe. I hope you will sit and stay awhile.