Gift ideas for mom to be

It seems like I was just pregnant with Nolan, walking through the pregnancy aisle at Babies R Us, thinking why would I need a gigantic body pillow? And why are there so many different belly wraps?.. After what seemed like 5 years of pregnancy, I think I figured it out. I put together some of my favorite pregnancy items that would be the perfect gifts for a new mom to be.

 If you get invited to a gender reveal party (or just want to give a congratulatory gift) I would suggest buying for the momma, and saving the baby gifts for the baby shower. Odds are, she doesn't even feel like there's a baby in there yet. 

Belly Butter // Gift Card // Belly Wrap // Book // Belly Stickers // Tums // Fetal Doppler // 

Body Pillow // Belly Buds // Bump Box

I tried a few different belly butters before deciding that Burt's Bees was my favorite. It left my belly super soft, wasn't too greasy, and smelled nice. And I only got a couple stretch marks on my side. Just one side, weird huh?

Who doesn't love gift cards? It wasn't long before I was headed to the maternity store to get some of those adorable necessary stretchy jeans. This store was my favorite. And it must be known, A Pea in the Pod brand is the bomb.

I used this wrap. It's made from a bamboo material that is really stinkin soft. It's meant to be a barrier between your skin and clothes so you can layer on all that belly butter and not ruin your shirt. It has adjustments so it can grow with your belly, and a band that goes around the button on your jeans, like the "rubber band trick".

The night I found out that I was pregnant Stevie took me to the store and we picked out this book. I had a few other ones too, but liked this one the most. It's organized by weeks, has a lot of information, and pictures. I liked peeking ahead to the next week to see what the baby was going to look like next.

I did not have these stickers, but I so wish I would of found them when I was expecting. They are the cutest things ever, and I would of loved to photograph my growing bump with them. The website also sells super cute baby milestone stickers as well. 

TUMS. What would I of done without tums? Enough said. 

I bought this fetal doppler for peace of mind, and just because it is so sweet to lay there and listen to your unborn baby's heartbeat every once in a while. There is also an app that will record it for you. 

That huge body pillow I mentioned, loved it! Sleeping while pregnant sucks. It helped a lot with my back pain. And best part, you can take the pieces of it apart and move them how you need them.

I HAD to have belly buds when I seen them. They are little speakers that adhere to your belly and play music or a voice message (from a long distance loved one perhaps) for the baby. Nolan would kick like crazy when I used them. 

I did not get the bump boxes, but I would of been so excited to. I get a few non pregnancy related subscription boxes now, and love them. There is something so thrilling about getting packages in the mail! You can gift a 3, 6, or 12 month subscription and they cover pregnancy and baby items. 

I hope I was helpful in picking out the perfect new momma to be gift!

Flashback Friday: The Gender Reveal

January 2015

One of the most exciting things about being pregnant is finding out if you're having a baby boy or a baby girl. Whoever came up with the gender reveal party idea is a genius. I was so excited about the idea of finding out what we were having along with all of our family and friends. I started planning the party in my mind almost immediately after finding out that I was expecting. My baby was the first grand baby on my side, so it really was a super exciting time for everyone. 

Just Stevie and I went to the ultrasound appointment. He kept trying to talk me into finding out there and just having our family be surprised at the party. I had the tech tell us when to close our eyes so we didn't see the gender, and basically just had to continue to hit Stevie everytime he tried to peak. I gave her a piece of paper to write the results on and an envelope to put it in along with the ultrasound pictures.

We had the party at my dad and stepmom's house. It was originally just going to be our close family and best friends, but it turned into about 60 people. The theme was bow ties or tiaras. I bought a heart shaped piñata and recovered it with pink and blue tissue paper. I gave the results envelope to a family friend so she could stuff the piñata with the corresponding color. She was the only one that knew the gender. 

Pay no mind to my little sister's zebra carpet..

 

Although you can't see it well in the pictures, it did say boy under the or. 

We had the party catered since the guest list grew so much. And we got some adorable bow tie and tiara cookies and cupcakes made. 

Also, there were some peanut and regular m&m's. :)

We asked everyone to wear either pink or blue, depending on what they thought the baby was. We made bow ties for the team boy people to wear and bought tiaras for team girl people to wear. Stevie and I wore white along with our guess related accessories. 

We made photo booth props and my stepmom made sure to get a picture of everyone at the party with them! We also had someone make these hilarious baby onesies.

 

I had people write their name on a pink or blue "balloon" for the baby's scrap book. It was the first time I ever wrote the word "mom" when referring to myself. I picked a pink balloon.

When everyone had arrived we finally pulled the piñata strings.

Stevie had to rip the piñata more so all the confetti would fall.

 

Surprise! Baby Brooks is a 

We bought these baby converse for a cute way to spread the reveal on social media.

It was such an amazing night full of so much excitement and love. I can't wait to have another one for our next pregnancy!

Half birthday dinner + 6 month photos

This weekend we had Nolan's half birthday dinner. It was so fun to decorate and make the desserts for the silly occasion. My family thought I was crazy, but I think everyone agreed that it's a cute idea. 

I bought a birthday banner and a pin the tail on the donkey game and cut them both in half. We had half a cake, half cupcakes, and half cookies. I got mini balloons and tried to have them only fly half way. I almost bought a piñata and cut that in half too, but instead I found the cutest mini one at Target. He's so cute that I couldn't let him get hit with a stick, I think I'm gonna keep him forever.

 We had a few crock pot meals for dinner since its winter, but if it was summer you better believe I would of had half hamburgers and hot dogs!

 

Nolan of course couldn't have any cake, but I did put his dinner in a cupcake liner. 

It was a great night with family, and Nolan loved all of the attention.

We also got back his 6 month pictures this weekend! I was super excited to see them all because he did so good at the shoot. He was happy the entire time, smiling and laughing like he knew he was supposed to. I swear he should be a baby model, but I'm sure every mom says that.

My mom gave me a bunch of old toy trucks for Nolan to play with when he is bigger. One is the cutest vintage looking one that I couldn't wait to get him in for his newborn pictures. I loved it so much that I decided to get a picture of him with it for his 3,6,9, and 12 month pictures as well. He can no longer fit in it because he's a chunk, but he held onto it for every picture and oh my gosh are they cute! 

I also got a few with an adorable fedora and glasses. Suspenders and skinny jeans are from H&M.

Half birthday props from here.

Ugh, my heart melts every time I look at them. It was hard to pick which ones to post! I'm already planning his 9 month pics. I'm thinking he will be standing up by then. Oh boy, can my little man just stay this little please?

Photography by A&H Photography

Flashback Friday: The Announcement

November 2014

I think most women take a pregnancy test when they realize they haven't started their period on time. Or maybe because they are having morning sickness. Not me. Nope, I took mine because I started to hate my boyfriend. I mean really hate him. He hadn't done anything wrong but, out of nowhere everything about him started to annoy me. He kept telling me that I needed to take a pregnancy test because "something has to be wrong with you". Reluctantly, I bought one. I would have bet money that I was NOT pregnant. But that plus sign appeared almost immediately. 

I was in complete shock. Don't get me wrong, I have always wanted a baby. Actually, I've always been quite obsessed with babies. But the timing was just off. Of course, I wanted to be married before kids. I guess God just had a better plan. 

Our first ultrasound:

Can I add that this has always just looked like a penis to me?

Oh, and here's my pre-baby body. I'm pretty certain that I will never be this tiny again:

Stevie (the boyfriend) could not stop telling people the news. And of course I wanted to tell everyone in a cute way. So before he could blab to the whole world, I quickly made an appointment to get our pictures done. I really wanted our dog Darla to be in them, because she was my baby before I had my baby. So I made these adorable signs from some little chalkboards, cardboard letters, paint, twine, and a glue gun. You can buy a similar one here.

They still are some of my most favorite pictures. I think it was the cutest way to tell the news.

I also wanted to just get a few "family photos"...

And so began my picture obsession. 

Photography by Kristi Jakubowski Photography