How I dressed the bump

I thought it would be fun to show you how I dress this baby bump every once in awhile.

This was last Sunday. Mondo and I went to the first service and then Chipotle afterwards for lunch Yum! We also went to Babies R' Us to check out some double strollers. This is the one I want!

Contours Options

After all that we drove around town to check out some houses, then home for a nap and pizza. Over all it was a great day. I loved spending time with my little family!!

Knowing all our plans for the day and it being another hot one, I wanted to dress comfortably. So, jean shorts, hi-lo top and a cute hat did the trick. I also styled this with some faux toms and a cute owl necklace.  I stayed cool and comfortable.

Talk to you soon!!
Dorinda

Baby Number 2: 16 weeks

First off I want to apologize for the bad photo. No more will I be taking selfies in the mirror. We moved in with my parents a couple of weeks ago, so from now on I plan on having my mom take the pictures. I just really wanted to get this post up and didn't want to wait for her to come home. After seeing the quality of the picture I have decided no more.

Also, this pic is a huge step for me to put up, I feel like I just look fat. No I am not fishing for compliments I am just baring my soul and being real. It bugs me that I look this big and I am only 16 weeks. Ok, rant and self pity over.

I will say the reason I know I feel gross is I still haven't been eating very good. So part of me wonders how big I would be if I did eat correctly. I am slowly getting back into working out (I plan on doing a post on my work outs in the near future), and have been working on getting my eating back on track. With that said here is my 16 week update.

How far along: 16 weeks

Gender: Don't know but we will find out Aug. 25th. Although, we are doing a reveal party so it might be a couple of weeks before I post the result.

Weight gain: 10 lbs. according to my last doctor appointment 3 weeks ago. I am currently at the weight I was when I got prego with Mackenzie.

Maternity clothes: Regular, although I am in my heavier set of clothing. Also, I am wearing nursing bras. They are so much more comfy.

Stretch marks: I had them from Mackenzie so I probably won't notice new ones. 

Belly button in or out: In

Sleep: All the time. I still need a daily nap although I am not as cranky if I miss it.

Best moment this week: Watching Mackenzie take care of her babies. I think she might be grasping the concept as much as a 2 year old can. She points to my belly and says baby. When asked, she says she wants a baby sister.

Miss anything: Breathing! I can definitely feel all my organs have moved up.
The top half of my stomach is hard. I get winded walking with my friend, which I never did before, or singing Mackenzie bed time lulluabies. Ugh!

Movement: None, hopefully soon though. Aren't you supposed to feel it sooner with baby 2? I need it, I keep forgetting I am prego. HAHA!!

Cravings: For awhile it was baked potatoes with bacon and cheese and sour cream. That has mostly subsided. Every now and then I want a super good burger or steak. No super strong cravings though.

Queasy or sick: No, thankfully!!

Looking forward to: Planning the baby reveal party and helping plan the baby sprinkle. I helped my mom and sis-in-law last time. Then I emceed the whole thing. HAHA! I am excited to do a smaller, more intimate one this time since I don't need as much stuff.

Thanks everyone for reading!!

Minnesota: A new Experience for Mackenzie

This last week we went to Minnesota to watch our niece graduate! It was a surprise for her that we came, so I didn't want to blog about it until afterwards. With that said first time flying with a toddler was a little nerve wracking and consuming all my thoughts. Creating a void in my innovative brain and blocking all ideas on what else to blog about. I also didn't want to do just filler posts to fill the empty spaces, I want to make sure each of my blogs are something I actually want to share. So, sorry for the lack of posts lately. Here is review of our trip to Minnesota and how I survived flying with a toddler!

Before we left I had grand ideas of things to buy to pack and take to make flying for Mackenzie as smooth as possible. Then the week before a fellow employee got injured and my hours went from 28 to 44. Leaving me no time to pack, clean or shop until Friday the day before we left. This also added to lack of pictures which I have now had to go back and re set up to take to make it look like I was on top of my game and took these pics. Blogger fail! Another blogger fail while we were there I hardly got in pics  because I was enjoying watching Mackenzie experience it all for the first time,  or I was chasing Mackenzie around and trying to keep my sanity. Overall the trip was great,  too short, but great.

So it all started with Friday, working in the morning, meeting with the house sitter, cleaning and packing. Which I had not done any of that the week leading up. Mackenzie didn't nap great which made dealing with a cranky baby. Finally, she passed out around 5pm on the couch and I was able to move my butt and finish cleaning house. She woke up at 6pm still crabby but wanted to paint, I got her painting and started gathering clothes to pack. 8 o'clock was the time I was hoping to put her to bed but due to earlier nap she was not tired. So, she got a bath and I sat. 9pm I put her to bed then really started packing.

In my personal bag I do this whenever I travel I packed a large bag and then inside the large bag I put a small crossbody purse to double as my wallet. This way when we go shopping I don't have to carry the large bag I can just use the crossbody. Mondo also always brings a back pack. In the large bag I had 3 magazines (I never looked at them and they were heavy. I should have just done one), Mackenzie's change of clothes, 3 board books, a little bag with Minnie, stuffed Minnie, stuffed fox, Coloring book, crayons, headphones for me and her, and 3 binkies. Mondo's backpack contained Ipad, diapers, wipes and all of his other goodies.

Not everything is pictured. Extra's not mentioned are Minnie dress up, extra clothes, scarf, busy wallet for Mackenzie

So our plane was supposed to leave Spokane at 6am, which means we had to be at the airport at 430am, my parent's house, since my dad was driving us, at 4am, leave our house by 330am, up at 3 am. Max joined our bed at 11pm, I think, which is the same time I finally crawled into bed. My alarm scheduled for 245am, was on vibrate and I didn't fell it! Oops! Mondo set his for 3am and him and I both slept through for 10min. Double oops! We finally got out of the house and to my parent's only 10 min late. All good. All the commotion woke Mackenzie up, and she decided to stay awake. Which worked out Ok she slept the whole first flight! Until we touched down in Denver and the pilot slammed on the brakes. She didn't like that but, no crying just frowning. First flight down and all good! Denver we ate breakfast and got doughnuts. Then waited until we boarded. This is where Minnie (Minnie online) came in handy I was afraid of losing pieces and almost didn't bring it but, it worked great for the layover. 2nd plane we watched t.v. I think there was a glitch and we got it for free! Whoo hoo! We colored and played with the Ipad, which we also watched an episode of bubble guppies on. When it came to landing there was quite a bit of tuberlance and she decided to sit with daddy. Again, no crying all good. Minnesota airport had a Chik-fil-a. We needed that for lunch, it was far from baggage claim. So Mondo went for bags and Amy, Max and I for chicken! Mackenzie loved the moving sidewalk but she also loves escalators. Only problem no stroller and after we got food, toddler no longer wanted to walk. So I carried the food, Amy carried Mackenzie and it was was a long awkward walk to baggage claim. We got our rental car and rented a car seat. Surprisingly it was in great condition, although due to a mix up and miss reading of fine print we thought we were getting it for free. Nope, $12 a day. Next time we will gate check ours for free.

passed out first flight!

Finally, Minnesota. Surprise went great, graduation went great. I wore cute outfits. I will blog on this later. Let's keep this post under a 2 hour read. This post is strictly for flying.

Trip home: great news Sister in Minnesota had a spare umbrella stroller she let us have! After calling to make sure I can gate check it for free we headed to the Mall of America. Mackenzie loved the umbrella stroller and would not get out of it! Except when we got to the disney store and Lego store. Minnesota airport chicken for lunch again! How is that place so good? Gosh, it was so nice pushing Mackenzie in the stroller. We were there early so she got to play in the play zone for a while. Then we loaded the plane and gate checked the stroller. I do want to say I read about having one person load early while person 2 stays out and plays with toddler until last minute. This plan did not work for us. It was better to load earlier. Our seats for 3 out of 4 flights were in the back row. Actually all babies were in the back. I found out that this is because they keep the infant life vests in back. Makes sense,  just is an uncomfortable flight. So it was better to load early with families then try to explain to a toddler we can't push people out of our way and why they take a long time to put their carry on in the overhead compartment. So family load in our seats and no lines was the way to go. OK back to the flight. This time she stayed awake. So we colored and read board books over, over, over, over and over. I think I might have fell asleep and she was in daddy's lap. I think he mentioned Ipad and looking out the window too. Landing was smooth no problems.

Mackenzie waving bye

Playing in the MAC train at MSP

Denver at first we thought "we have 1 hr 30 min layover, no prob." Then double check, no only 45 mins. Then get to the gate. 2 hour almost 3 hour delay. Ugh! This was already 7pm Denver time. Flight not supposed to leave until 11pm, which means no Spokane until 12 am, Washington time. Yuck! So we ate, had ice cream. I wasn't feeling good so we sat at a darkened gate a let Mackenzie play. Minnie mouse again and colored some. Then she wanted to run around, which would have been ok, except she was tired and was no longer willing to listen. So we took her closer to our actual gate and let her walk around in a more contained area and look out the window at airplanes. This made her happy. Finally with 30 min left to go she was restless, who could blame her. I also knew she had to be tired since she hardly napped. So mondo and I switched turns pushing her in the stroller around the terminal. Thank you God and Brenda for this stroller!  While pushing the stroller around a bunch of people had flights cancelled and were sleeping at the airport. I was so thankful this wasn't us but, also it broke my heart when I saw a few families and even a few with infants. How yucky would that be! Finally we load. Since we were seated near the front we actually waited to seat with our section. This wasn't too bad. It was late so, I knew we would all sleep. Yucky, thing about this flight I don't think one mommy thought about the ear pressure thing. Her little one cried the whole flight and I noticed baby would cry louder whenever I felt more pressure in my ears. I was glad we choose to let Mackenzie have her binky the whole time we were flying. Of course she fell right to sleep.  We landed again he slammed on the brakes. Seriously! She woke up, dad was there to pick us up got her in the car and she fell back asleep 45 min later. Got home transferred her to her bed she stayed asleep and slept in until 8am.

Overall flying was great! I was so proud of Mackenzie she handled the whole thing like a trooper! I am so excited to fly with her more often. Hopefully next time to Disneyland! I love that place!

So this week Mackenzie turns 2! I plan on posting about her party, including a special surprise!  I also will blog later about the outfits worn in Minnesota. And in July my family moves in with my mom (temporarily), so my mom and I have a few photo sesh planned for so new blog posts. Oh and also coming up weight loss update!

Thank for reading,

Dorinda

Valentine's day fashion

If you are anything like me you have been thinking, dreaming and scouring Pinterest for a Valentine day outfit for a few months now. Okay maybe not that long but at least a week or two. No? Just me? Well, here are two ideas I came up with.

First one is casual and since Valentines is on a Friday, maybe even appropriate for the office. 

This is a heart sweater I got from old navy paired with a chambray shirt underneath. Some skinnies and cute flats. This outfit is so pinterest inspired I wore this the other day while we were shopping for Valentine's day gifts.

To finish the look I pulled my hair in a top knot as seen done in my black Friday hair blog. I also added a gold boyfriend watch and a cute love double ring not pictured. All ready and super comfy.

Look two is not from my own closet. Last week while shopping I found this super cute faux leather skirt on clearance at JcPenny. unfortunately they were out of my size (insert tears here), even online!! I have been dreaming visions of that skirt and outfits since that day. Here is an outfit inspired by that skirt.

This skirt closely resembles it and is on sale!! Here!

I would pair this with a men's v neck plain white tee, and either cute pink flats (let's face it I am a mom heels are not always practical) or red heels. A big statement necklace and my hair in the perfect pony. Here is a link for the best tutorial on the perfect pony. I love how this outfit is a little tough for such a sweet holiday!

I think Valentine's Day calls for pink or red somewhere on your outfit. I will be at work Friday night, so I plan on rocking a red long sleeve shirt and some jeans. Have a great day!!

Dorinda

Heart Ponders

Here are a few things that have been on my mind the past few weeks.

1. Prayer. I have been feeling a calling and drawing to spend more time in prayer. Not just my fleeting one sided conversations that go on through the day but, to sit at His feet and hear Him speak to my heart. The books by E.M. Bounds have been fueling this desire. With it has come a hunger for His Word. I know that He speaks to us through His Word so, I am constantly reading it, I started a one year bible study in my logos app. I no longer listen to the radio but instead sermons and teachings. I desire to be a true prayer warrior, like in the bible the ones Kings called on to get their prayers answered.

2. Thanksgiving. I got the book 1,000 gifts for Christmas. I am only half way through but, it is about one woman's journey seeking Thankfulness. I have started my list of 1,000 things. Every night I write down 3 and reflect on the day. I thank Him for the day He has given me! Did you know before each miracle Jesus gave thanks! Thanks is the answer to our troubles!

3. Worries. My mom has always told me I was great at the what if game. As I grew I got better! Although no one wins at the What if game, God reminded me that my worries are lack of Faith in Him. So, I remind myself not to worry for God is good!

4. Being a woman. This fueled by the women's tea I am speaking at, at end of February. I want to be the Woman God has called me to be! I am woman hear me Roar! I have special giftings and talents only a woman can use. I want to use those to better my family, this world and to spread His love.

These are few of the things my heart has been pondering and I wanted to share them with you. What are your heart's ponders?

Next week Valentine goodies!!

apparently Max likes fritos and pb!

Dorinda

Weight loss: Final Check-in

I am just going to start right out and say it, "I blew it!" Big time ok, not that big but, I did not make my goal. In fact I gained 3 lbs and 1 inch everywhere. It's super upsetting but, time to get back up and try again. I could blame it on the moving and crazy schedule but, that really doesn't do me any good. I messed up, I quit tracking my eating and I wasn't working out. If I made it to the gym I didn't push myself. None of that matters it's how I go on from here. Like Raffiki says "It doesn't matter, it's in the past." So, here is how I am responding.

I have decided to become a runner! I'm really not sure why, I just thought it sounded like a good challenge. So, I found a running app on my phone and I have been using on my phone. I also figured out that I really didn't enjoy p90x and due to the smaller space in the house I quit doing it. I downloaded a workout trainer on my phone instead, you can get yours here iphone or android, and I use that. I like the variety I can pick what I want to do that day and do it! That has been great so far! Next is my eating, I really need to figure that out. My biggest problem is tracking it because, I know I go over my calories so I don't want to track it. I also know that if I would track my calories I would stop eating so much. So, I need to get over that head game. I also need to add more protein especially on my run days, when I run that whole day I am super, SUPER hungry. I also have tried adding smoothies to my diet once a week. Hopefully these healthy habits will start to stick. I go back to part time at work next week, I am sure that will help a lot.

Here is my next goal; Feb. 19 lose 6 lbs. That is a little more than a pound a week. I can do it! I know I can. Big goal is 15lbs by May 18.

Yesterday I ran and did elliptical. I only did elliptical while I waited for a treadmill but, I did burn 400 calories. Too bad I fed that with M&M ice cream! Oh well, it's a new day!

So check in on Feb 20thish.

Oh and yesterday I pulled Mackenzie around the yard, I am sure that burned extra calories!!

More on her new sled next time. Trust me winter clothes just make me look big, I really didn't gain that much weight back. I don't have a new picture but, here is a selfie of me and Mackenzie!

Hopefully I have a better report next time,

Dorinda

Our Christmas!

Hey, Everyone our Christmas was a whirlwind of busyness, and I was determined to enjoy every last minute of it!!

Here was how our house was decorated this year. Minus Mackenzie and our room. Mackenzie's room I put up her pink tree from last year and hung some snowflakes above her bed!

Mackenzie's tree

washi tape decor

It all started with Mackenzie's bestie coming over on Monday. I had her all day and it was a blast!! The only bad thing was with 2 toddlers by yourself you can't take pictures! boo!!!

playing with washi tape

The girls' had a busy day. We wrapped presents, after I wrapped them in craft paper they stuck stickers on them. We baked chocolate chip cookies for Santa, also made homemade play dough. After the nap they tested the cookies with some "hot cocoa" chocolate milk with marshmallows in it. They also played with washi tape. Seriously though this is the best way to entertain a toddler, I also have used painter's tape. Just stick a bunch of strips on a table and let them peel and stick on.

Tuesday (Christmas Eve) we always spend with his sister, my BFF! Usually we cook a nice meal but, since me and hubby had to work, panda it was! After dinner we put on pj's and opened presents! Then off to look at lights! When we came home I still hadn't wrapped any presents, so time to wrap.

christmas pj's

opening gifts with aunty

cats loved the boxes!

Christmas morning we opened stockings in bed! Favorite tradition! Then came up and opened Mackenzie's presents before family came over. I made apple crisp oatmeal for breakfast with bacon (what is a holiday with out bacon?), we also had "special juice"; which is juice with more that one flavor. My family came over for breakfast and after breakfast we opened more presents. Although Max saw one of her presents before breakfast and loved it!! Her little happy dance is so cute, I must get it on video!! That was her new wagon my parents got her! Mondo and I can't wait to use it!! It also has like ski things to put on to use in the snow. I am going to see if I can track down a canopy for it for summer use!  I will post another blog on what our favorite presents were, I don't want to take up to much of your reading time! 

stockings

new headband!

opening gifts with mommy and daddy

Add caption

her with her new wagon!

playing with gramma and granty before breakfast

she moves too fast for pictures

Of course after breakfast and family leaving we napped, then went to my mom's house for a super yummy dinner! And we also skyped with his family in Minnesota!

attempt to get a family pic

her outfit

another shot

Day after Christmas we all went over to my cousin's house for our day after celebrations. This is probably one of my favorite things! We eat leftovers and play games with extended family! LOVE IT!!

How was your holiday? I have a lot of posts to catch up on, so stay tuned!!

Dorinda

OOTD: Birthday dinner

So, I turned thirty on Monday. Yup, you read that right the 3-0h! Unlike most people I am unashamed of my age. To me it truly is a number. Although a few things have really began to sink in such as I really am not college age anymore and I shouldn't try to pass off as if I am. Also, when you ask kids what is old, yes, I am the age that most of them answer. I also feel like I have hit the age where I can say "when I was younger we didn't have internet" (totally true!!). So, to celebrate I invited family out for dinner at a local buffet. Saturday I am having an adult scavenger hunt with some friends. What I wore to dinner I felt was totally blogworthy. Oh, and same with Max's outfit. Here is my Outfit of the Day (OOTD). 

My theme for both birthday parties was; "Sparkle and Shine". So my outfit needed some glitter!! I chose to wear it on my arm and around my waist.

Here is a tip: if you like the look of stacked bracelets but don't have a lot of bangles. Add a watch to give some weight to the look.

This outfit was great with out the belt but at last minute I decided to add it. I think it really dressed up a simple outfit!!

Mackenzie's outfit was too cute!!! I love her "LBD"!!

I will blog more about my big 3 - oh party later!!

Yup, I am that old,

Dorinda