memorial day

E&Y gained a few points with me when I found out David gets two whole days off for Memorial Day.  Instead of just the Monday after the weekend, he gets the Friday before off as well!  Thanks Uncle Ernie, we sure enjoyed our vacation time this weekend.  Four whole days to ourselves?  What should we do??  Well, the answer was obvious to us: go down to Orange County and hang out with the family!  We had plays to go to, shopping to be done, swimming to be enjoyed, it was delightful.

Brooke played Madame De La Grande Bouchet - aka the wardrobe - in her high school's spring musical, Beauty & the Beast.  She was faaaaaabulous and the play was thoroughly entertaining, even by high school standards.  I was charmed by their cute little cast and found myself smiling the whole time.  Thanks for giving us a reason to sing and clap Brookie!

^^ Can you see a little, itty, bitty bump there??  It's coming! ^^

We spent the rest of the weekend studiously taking...barely any other pictures.  I definitely should have snapped a few of me wearing the huge fake bump they provide for you in the maternity store to get a feel for your new shapely figure to come.  It was a ton of fun to actually look pregnant.  The ladies in the store were surprised when I told them I was already 4 months along - they predicted I'll have a nice petite little baby bump.  Fingers crossed!

I then, most inconveniently, got horribly, terribly sick.  Not because of baby Nemrow, but because of some evil little germ or other.  I swear, it should be against the rules for a pregnant lady to get sick.  It's like hitting a gal when she's down: no meds = so very miserable.  Ah well, it was a short lived little illness, but it was the worst.

We also announced our happy news to all our cyber friends on Insta and Facebook, which was so crazy fun.  I love sharing our excitement with everyone now that the cat is outta the bag. 

All in all, despite the best efforts of my cold/flu combo, it was a great weekend, and I'm pro having a 4 day weekend every weekend if you're game Ernie?? 

highlights #94

Well, now that baby Nemrow is common knowledge, you can fully and totally expect these highlights posts to be full of things for the little one.  I've already been caught Pinteresting wayyyy too many maternity/baby/nursery paraphernalia, and got called on it before we even started telling people we were expecting.  I had more than a few conversations that went like so:

Them: (without preamble) Are you pregnant?
Me: Um.....maybe.  Well, yes.  Wait, how do you know?  Who told you?  We haven't told anyone yet...
Them: Pinterest. 

And here I thought I was being really sneaky, only doing a few pins here and there, trying to fly under the radar. 

Fail.

Anywho, while I go Pinterest maternity clothes to my heart's content, here are some fun finds from the web:

the cutest card for a pregnant mama

love this gal's beauty uniform

lets be honest, I would live in this maternity shirt

love these bundles of gladiolas

rethink measuring tape - maybe great for keeping track of kiddo's heights at different ages?

if this calendar is real, I want it

we all had an awkward period

next time I get my hair cut, I'm going for an even more long angled bob...I think...

this is weirdly accurate

and in case you need to smile, leave it Bert & Zach

xo

table for three please!

 

Lets be honest, my mom knew we were baking a bun in the oven since I was 5 weeks along, but I've been so, so excited to spread the news and, this weekend, we finally did!!  Surprise world!  We're having a little one and we are all sorts of thrilled about it.  We're upgrading to a little townhouse with two bedrooms, reading up on newborns, and feeling completely and utterly unprepared.  Good thing we've got 6-ish more months to become experts before baby makes his/her appearance around here ;)

As of tomorrow, I'll be 15 weeks along and going strong!  We've been to the doctor three times so far - with an ultrasound each time! - and I gotta tell you, there is nothing more fun than watching that little tiny squirm up on the screen.  Each time I get more and more excited.  It's hard to believe we'll get to hold and cuddle that sweet bundle before the year is out!

I'm due November 14th, just in time to make me thoroughly frazzled with a newborn for the holidays, but who cares.  Baby comes when baby comes, right?  Just don't expect me to be cooking up the Thanksgiving turkey.  But right now, all I can think about is our next doctor appointment in June when we should find out the big question: boy or girl???  I've flip flopped between what I think we're going to have, and I'm still on the fence - we'll just have to wait and see!

Expect lots more baby updates to come and, well, some from before as well.  For those interested parties (ahem, my mother), I've been keeping a weekly little baby journal from day one when we found out we were expecting.  We'll see if I can keep up the weekly bump pictures (maybe...), but for the updates you can find them all here - and the story of the day we found out right here.

xo

baby journal: week 14

Journal from Monday, May 26th ● Posted 5.27.14

Alright, if I'm being totally honest, my number one pregnancy symptom for the past four months has been - not morning sickness, not cravings, not swelling - but crazy, bumpy, red, angry, pizza face, teenager, acne-ridden skin.  There.  Now you know.  It's been the pits.  And that's coming from someone who didn't have good skin to begin with.  But, you guys, my chin!  It's been a war zone.  Not.  Even.  Exaggerating.  I've been drinking (tons and tons of) water, wearing barely any makeup, using only the best skincare products, but no dice.  It's just a hormonal mess and stubborn to the max.  BUT, I think I've finally found something that starting to help.

Last week I bought a jar of coconut oil to start (hopefully?) combating stretch marks before they start (and if it isn't really working, I don't want to know - plus it smells great).  While reading online about other uses for coconut oil I kept coming back to articles about the benefits of using it as a facial moisturizer.  At first I just laughed - more oil?  Thanks, I've got that in spades already guys.  But after loving what it did for my skin elsewhere I decided to opt out of my normal lotions and give it a try.

The results?  So far, so, so, so good.  My skin is getting crazy hydrated, my makeup lays better/ stays on longer, and my spots?  They're starting to recede.  Ever so slowly, but hey, progress is progress, right??  And it make me smell like coconut cookies, so I'm just not complaining.  Now, I did just hit my second trimester, and that is when the hormones are supposed to start to back off, so, really, that might be the true cause of my healing, but who knows.  I'm going to stick with the oil for a good long time if the results I'm seeing stick around.  Fingers crossed!

On a more ironic note, I officially broke the barrier of second trimester on May 21st.  (Woohoo! Let's celebrate!)  I had been feeling so, so good for the past few weeks and only expected to get a huge boost as we passed through to the next round, but...no.  Honest to goodness, those first two days of my second trimester were some of my worst through this pregnancy!  Tummy problems, aches and pains, and nausea! What the heck??  It was too funny (not at the time), and it passed, but that timing?  Too much.  And lets talk about how everything in there has started to s-t-r-e-t-c-h.  Round ligament pain is no joke people.   

But that wasn't the end!  Somehow, by some mean, vindictive, unkind force of nature I got a really, really bad cold on Memorial Day weekend - we're talking fever, chills, headaches, sore throat, aches and pains - the works.  Now, first off, I think it should be against the rules for pregnant women to get sick.  And secondly, it was pretty miserable to be sick on a holiday weekend - just adding insult to injury over here.  Hellooooo second trimester.  You can only go up from here!

Aside from my physical woos, this little lemon is:

• Huge!  Ok, not really, but 3 inches sure seems big to me.
• Barely showing...despite the fact that I feel like I'm bursting out of my pantaloons.  I went maternity clothes shopping this weekend and the store clerks couldn't believe I was 4 months.
• Making mama soooo excited to find out if it's a boy or a girl!  Ugh, is it June 11th already??  My next appointment can't come fast enough.

highlights #93

So, lets talk about how Dave and I are moving in just three short weeks...and we just bought a huge new dresser and two heavy nightstands for our bedroom.  And, yes, being the housewife I am, of course I wanted to bring them up three flights of stairs to our bedroom on the third floor so we could move into them.  No big deal right?  Good thing we have the missionaries in our ward on speed-dial, and they brought three of their other buddies with them.  I didn't have to lift a finger.  Now can y'all just come back in three weeks and help us move it all back down?  Thanks.

While I go stress out about packing up our hoard (and making a big Good Will pile), here are some fun finds from the web:

I love the cake toppers at this little ice cream partay

binge watching, don't pretend you don't do it

my preferred method of travel

fashion through the decades

some fabulous IKEA hacks

this is what I say to little babies when they cry too - also isn't she the cutest?

the 50 most beautiful wedding dresses of all time

atta go Old Navy

also I want this and this from ASOS

and a book on my too read list

xo

found: the best cookie recipe

Alright, so lets be honest, I am always on the hunt the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe.  My sister-in-law is a master baker and even she says she never has luck with this cookie staple.  Disheartening?  A tad.  I mean, if she can't do it, I probably have next to no chance of besting her.  But upon our trip eastward a few weeks ago we walked into her kitchen and low and behold, what what on her kitchen counter?  Beautiful, crazy delicious, perfectly soft chocolate chip cookies.  She finally found a winner in this recipe and, of course, I couldn't wait to go home and try it out.

Now, I'm a bit of a chocolate chip cookie snob.  My ideal cookie has a high chip to dough ratio, is nice and plump, and is soft, not cakey.  A common cookie issue. 

So last week, I pulled out all the goods and got baking.  And you know what?  This recipe is crazy easy and pretty much idiot proof.  The only kicker is that you have to refrigerate the dough for an hour or two before you bake it, but besides that they come together super quick.  And chilling the dough helps the cookies stay nice and plump - no more flat, sad cookies around here - so it's totally worth the extra prep time in my book.  And, unlike lots of cookie recipes, these stayed SOFT instead of cakey - my cookie texture of choice, for sure.

We've found a winner!!

And my newest happy discovery?  You can freeze these little cookie dough balls and pop them in the oven for a few more minutes and voila!  Fresh, soft, warm chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  I'm going to have to limit that practice in our house or, well, my waistline might be sad about it...

And a few of my humble cookie making notes:

• The recipe doesn't call for salt, but I added just a little more than a 1/2 tsp - I made it more of a heaping half teaspoon really.

• I melted the butter in the microwave for 45 seconds and then put it straight into my Kitchen Aid bowl and went ahead with the recipe without waiting for it to cool too much. 

• And, also, if using frozen dough, bake for about 13 minutes instead 10.

baby journal: week 13

Journal from Monday, May 19 ● Posted 5.27.14

 

So, we thought we'd celebrate this week of pregnancy by...babysitting a whole bunch of kids.  Just to give us a flavor for what we're really getting ourselves into, ya know? Five kids Monday through Tuesday, ages 4 to 16, and six kids Thursday to Sunday, ages 3 to 15. Talk about exhausting, but fun, but exhausting. It also makes me think that maybe four kids is the magic number for me ;) 

I've done these marathon babysit-athons before I was pregnant and could handle it fine energy wise. This time around?  I need a nap as much as the three-year-old. It was an adventure in parenting and what it will be like to be pregnant with a second or third child. Read: exhausting. But worth it.  Like on Sunday?  Forget third hour of church - I went and took a nap in the car with the air blasting.  Don't even feel bad about it.

This was also one of the funnest weeks of pregnancy so far because I got to go to the doctors and see our little bean wave at me for the first time! It was amazing to see what really looked like a baby on the ultrasound screen instead of more of a white bean the doctor assured me was my child. I got to watch her move and kick and stretch her little arms while turning around and around. It was all sorts of amazing and I CAN'T WAIT to go back for our next appointment in a month. The doctor even thought he might be able to tell us the gender by then, that is if our little squirmer will hold still. So, no promises. 

Another 13-week update: I'm really starting to somewhat, kind of show (and the shirt pictured above does it no justice)! Before I was just bloated and poppin' outta my pants, but now it's starting to look like a bona fide baby bump! Kinda.  Ok, mostly when I eat a big dinner and wear a tight shirt, but still.  I was wearing a tight-ish maxi dress the other day and all of a sudden David turns to me and was like Oh my gosh! Carly that's really a bump!   It must have started to make this whole experience start to feel real for him, because I almost can't walk by him anymore without his reaching out and touching my belly.  It's the beginning of the end!

We've also started to let the cat out of the bag to our friends locally and it's been so fun to share our excitement!  Finally!  Thirteen (ok, nine) weeks is a long time to wait, okay?

In other news, this little peach-sized person (wow, that seems huge) is:

• Giving up the nausea card all together, at least for now. Life is grand. Not that it was ever that bad for me. Counting my blessings.
• Still tuckering me out, but I'll never complain about more naps. 
• The cutest little thing I ever did see. That little silhouette??? I can't get enough. 

baby journal: week 12

Journal from Saturday, May 10th ● Posted 5.27.14

So, I swear, a funny thing has happened in just the past few weeks: I am ALWAYS hungry.  And not just the slight tummy rumble, oh yeah I should probably eat something soon kind of hungry.  It's more like an urgent message sent from stomach to Carly: eat something RIGHT NOW.  The jokes on me, however, because I'll get up and prepare this huge helping of goodness and...eat half of it.  Every.  Stinkin'. Time.  It's too funny.  Now, in an effort to combat the madness, I've started eating about 6 mini meals throughout the day instead of the standard big 3, and you know what?  It's working pretty good so far.  I used to be a little concerned earlier on in my pregnancy because I wasn't always starving, like I read so many women are from the get go.  Guess it caught up to me!  This babes got an appetite after all.

highlights #92

Life lately has been spent apartment hunting, hunting, hunting!  Goodness gracious, if you, or your neighbor, or your grandma, or your second cousin once removed knows of a decently priced apartment in Pasadena/South Pasadena, give me a holler!  I'm in the thick of it.  Trulia, Rent.com, PadMapper, Craigslist, you name it, I'm all over it.

So while I head back to check out listings, here are some fun finds from the web:

these letters will boost your self esteem

an easy pop of color

love this art round up

a cute upcycle

for mom

love this flower arranging tutorial

I love everything about this video

a DIY on my list

something we all need

my newest chocolate chip cookie test run

how to open a new book

a cute print

and holy smokes.  This is pure madness.  I keep watching it wondering how I'd drive there...and I just decided, I wouldn't...

xo

baby journal: week 11

  Journal from Saturday, May 3rd ● Posted 5.27.14

Alright, call me a silly overly prepared pregnant lady, but since finding out that we're expecting, one of the first things I thought of was: Oh no!  I'm going to be pregnant over the summer!  Not a crazy big deal until I added up all the beach time we're going to be doing between both of our family's summer vacations - over two weeks worth!  I'm definitely going to need a few somethings I feel cute in.  Cue the mad rush maternity swimsuit shopping spree.  And now, a few weeks later, I'm pretty happy with my thrifty finds: 1 // 2 // 3.  That last one was a very thoughtful (and brave!) birthday gift from my mother-in-law.  She knows me too well - black & white?  Polka dots?  Sold.

Little babe is about the size of a lime right about now and for some reason that makes me feel like we're finally gaining steam - it's a little harder to get excited when my app tells me my little house guest is the size of an olive...or worse yet, an apple seed.  Just dying for this baby to get growing!!

We've also started to eek out our news slowly to close friends, mostly those who live further away, but this weekend we announced our baby news to some friends here in the valley.  It was so fun to share our excitement, to which they congratulated us, laughed, and then exclaimed: us too!  The wife was too cute and was all like, "I'm not very far along, just 16 weeks so..."  We had a good laugh after I told her I'm only 11 weeks and I'd be soooo happy to bump myself up to her 16-week mark.

We're also in the midst of trying to find a suitable place to live for the next couple of years and holy moly, I'm already sick of the whole process.  All I want is a 2 bedroom 1.5 bath for a reasonable-ish price, in a decent neighborhood, with a regular-sized oven, oh and a fridge, some closet space to speak of, a washer/dryer in unit, and a tub.  You know, the little things, but I digress.  It's actually been pretty fun to start looking at places and imagining what it will be like to bring baby home to this or that apartment.  Will this work for the nursery?  Can I childproof this kitchen?  Etc, etc.

As of 11 weeks, our little lime has been:

• Getting his mama up nightly to use the bathroom. Guess I better get used to this disjointed sleep schedule now, right?
• Making me never want to wear pants again.  Waistbands?  No way.  
• Weirdly enough, looking at pictures make me feel more nauseous than a lot of things.  And not just pictures of food (no pictures of In-n-out burgers please), but also pictures I took when I didn't feel good - I remember and then don't feel well all over again...ok, that's just odd, right??
• And making me count down the days till 2nd trimester - just two more weeks!  Soooo close!

O-H-I-O

Ok, let's not talk about how I fell off the face of the earth there for a while.  First things we're pretty slow and boring and then things got fun and busy: neither of which are conducive to blogging.  So here I am, really and fully back to real life after a lovely week long stint in Ohio taking care of the newest and sweetest of nieces: Miss Hazel Michelle.  Take me back already!  Can you say baby fever?  Cus I've got it.

We started off the week by getting up ridiculously early to beat LA traffic down to LAX - no fun, but, sadly, necessary.  And while a 4-hour flight felt like for-ev-er, we were mugging on that cute baby's face by dinner time.  Air travel is really kind of amazing.

And holy crazy cuteness.  I don't think we gave that little lady up to her parents more than was humanly possible.  She was the sweetest, happiest, cutest (I guess I'm biased), easiest little baby you ever did see.  And now I'm pretty sure I've got crazy high expectations for my own future children because all babies are this easy, right?  Praying that trait is hidden somewhere in the Tobler genes, and my mom said I was an easy baby so...hey, I can dream, can't I?

We were pretty rotten and almost never put that baby down when she slept - which WE loved, but, you know, she probably shouldn't get used to.  And, if I'm being honest, I wasn't the best at taking pictures of anything except that cute baby.  The rest of us who were there?  Didn't quite make the cut.

We also celebrated my birthday Ohio style with some seriously good eats, baby girl snuggling, and a cronut!  Not sure if it was legit because it was basically a glazed croissant, but I'm not complaining.  It's also the only picture we got of me on the first day of year 24, which was an epic fail, but oh well.  There were babies to be mugged on.  Priorities people.

We also bundled up baby girl that night and took her on a twilight stroll.  It was ridiculously fun to watch her little eyes take in the world and just cuddle her.  Pretty much the sweetest thing ever.

I mean, look at that little Buddha baby belly - I could just eat her up!  And her little ruffle bum leggings??  And little headbands?  And sweet little coos?  Babies are the best.

And I could just lay on the couch like this all day, every day with a sleeping babe on my belly, thank you very much.

I wish that picture was better quality, but between studying for finals (one of the real reasons we were there to help), this is the spot you could find Brendan.  Just staring at baby girl in her swing.  She's a daddy's girl already.

And then there were the saddest of goodbyes.  Makes me choke up just thinking about kissing that little lady's head and knowing I won't see her forever!!  Ok, really it's just two months, but that's forever in baby time.  She's going to be so big by then.  These are the perils of living much to far away from family.  Add that to the list of things I would change in a perfect world.

So glad we could come and stay with you Brendan and Megan!  Give Baby Hazel an extra cuddle from Aunt Carly!