Friago + One

Nursery Feature

2011-06-30T06:50:00.003-04:00

This is long overdue, but I would like to extend a HUGE thank you to:

Nicole Abbott!

Nicole Abbott is the founder and editor of Cheap & Chic Nursery! Back in April, she featured Sofia's old nursery. You can check it out here. Enjoy!

Splurges

2011-06-29T14:06:00.007-04:00

What I want to splurge on right now ($650):

What I'm actually splurging on right now (about $2.99 and very fattening!):

Plans, Expectations and Reality

2011-06-29T12:25:00.025-04:00

Of course, when things are going smoothly you tend to get bored. Life as a mommy has been great for me. I had an easy newborn. She slept through the night, never cried much, was content to play alone and not be held too much and ate like a champ. She was fun, happy and healthy! What more could you ask for? Apparently, the answer to that question is: ANOTHER BABY!

Hubby and I went back and forth for a long time trying to decide when the 'right time' would be to start trying for baby #2. We were so enamored with Sofia that we couldn't wait to do everything all over again. I had a dream pregnancy with Sofia (except for a few snafu's at the end) but nothing so crazy as to scare me away from another 9 months of the bliss of being pregnant. So why not?

The original plan was to wait until Sofia was 14-16 months old. We figured it would take a while to get pregnant so we started trying when Sofia was 11 months. I got pregnant with Lucas when Sofia was......wait for it......11 months! So much for 'taking a while.' :) Sofia is now 16 months and I am 23 weeks along (about 6 days away from starting my 7th month - phew!).

I went into this pregnancy with a really positive attitude, thinking - hoping, that it would be like my first. I was wrong. I had about 6 weeks of pretty intense morning sickness. To be perfectly honest, it was more like morning, noon & night sickness. It is horrific to feel nauseated (carsick explains it perfectly) all day. With Sofia I had about a week and a half of mild car sickness, which I breezed through with some trusty crackers by my side. From weeks 13 to about NOW it's been great, but it's slowly starting to get harder and harder.

You can never anticipate what it's going to be like to be pregnant and have a toddler running around. IT'S HARD! I have gained 10 pounds total (not much, but quickly, all in the last 2 months) and it might as well be 30, because I feel it everywhere. Thanks to how quickly I gained those 10 pounds I found my first small, yet horrifying pregnancy stretch mark (I was completely stretch mark free with Sofia)! My joints hurt a lot this time, especially my ankles, knees & hips. My back is hurting a lot also, all of it, not just my lower back. With my first pregnancy I wasn't working. I had all the time in the world to nap, relax, go to yoga, & shop. Plus, tons of extra energy to do anything else.....For this pregnancy, once you throw in my toddlers daily needs, I have a couple of hours left of free time. Wait, what? A couple of hours sounds like plenty of time? 2 hours IS a long time, but not when you have a new house to take care of (just moved in 3 months ago), a husband who comes home hungry, laundry that needs to be done, an hour yoga class that I would love to go to once in a while, a nursery to finish, and some alone time would be nice, maybe a longer-than-2-minute-shower (please?!). Plus, everyone knows that being pregnant & hormonal is exhausting. It hurts to bend over too much, there is no comfortable position and by the end of the day I am sick tired. Literally, feeling sick.

So, whats a fairly young (31), pregnant, already mommy of 1 energetic toddler, to do?....GIVE UP!....

I give up.....I went into this wholeheartedly ready for a rough time, but geez, really? lol I cannot and decidedly won't, try to be superwoman. Somethings gotta give and it can't be my sanity. I love my Sofia to pieces and she needs to be my main priority along with Lucas who cannot be well if I'm not well.

I know it all sounds like complaining, but I should be allowed to complain. Anyone who has been in my position can relate, right? I am completely grateful for my new home, my family, my health and this new baby in my tummy, but I can't deny that things are sometimes too much for me to handle. I am bracing myself for some rougher times ahead with my last three months of pregnancy coming up and the first 3-4 months with a newborn. I just have to take a deep breath and repeat the new mommy mantra I hear so many people say all the time:

IT'LL GET BETTER SOON! :)

Back On

2011-06-28T12:31:00.007-04:00

To say that I neglect this blog is truely an understatement! You never know exactly how life will change when you become a mommy. I am busier than ever with Sofia, who is now 16 months old.....TODAY! She is a vivacious, beautiful little munchkin. Well, not so little anymore. She is a whopping 33.5" tall and weighs in at 24 pounds. She is gorgeous, no seriously...I know every mommy says that, but I swear it's true! ;) She loves TV, specifically, Yo Gabba Gabba. Loves dancing & eating all kinds of different foods. She runs around like crazy all day and babbles more than ANY other baby....in the world, I think!

I'm still a stay at home mommy, which can be challenging at times (more on that later!) and the biggest news of all is that I'm expecting, again! I am 22 weeks along with Lucas - our little baby BOY! Here is Sofia:

And here is Lucas at 22 weeks <3:

Mothers Day

2010-05-13T10:26:00.008-04:00

It's my first mothers day!! We actually turned it into a mothers day weekend. My mom, dad and grandmother were in town. Saturday we had lunch at a local Brazilian restaurant that we all love and Sofia's grandparents decided to let us have a mothers day date on Saturday night. Hubby and I enjoyed a nice romantic sushi dinner. We had a nice low-key day on Sunday. The day started with presents and cards in the morning, breakfast at the brazilian bakery and then a big group lunch with the in-laws. Sofia wore the cutest yellow dress. She looked like a little angel. :)

SleepFULL Nights

2010-05-02T15:45:00.001-04:00

Sofia is a dream baby...She pretty much has slept through the night since she was born! Trust me, I know how lucky we are ;)

We are currently trying to work out a good sleeping schedule and it goes like this:

1. A bath every other day around 8:15, which is working out great! It took her about a month and a half to actually start liking the bath, though. In the beginning, she would turn purple from crying hysterically and it was stressful for all three of us - mommy, daddy and baby!

2. After a 15 minute bath or so, she nurses while she listens to her playlist on my I-Pod (usually Jewels lullabies, Enya or the rock-a-bye baby CD's) She usually nurses for about 30-40 minutes, then the lights go out for a small bottle of formula.

3. 9:00ish - We put her in her crib pretty drowsy by this time, but awake and the music changes to ocean sounds. She lays there for 30-40 minutes and falls fast asleep on her own with no crying or fussing!!!

4. 9:45ish - Mommy and daddy time and she usually sleeps til 5-5:30am (sometimes 6!) She rocks!

We've been on this schedule for a week now. Tonight we're hoping for an 8:30 bedtime. :)

Hiatus is over!...Hopefully.

2010-05-02T14:10:00.000-04:00

Took a brief little break from blogging to enjoy my baby girls first two months out of my tummy. It has been a whirlwind!! We have been getting to know eachother pretty well and things are running pretty smoothly in the de Souza household. We are loving our time with Sofia & watching how she grows and changes. She was born at 6lbs 5oz. and 21.5" long. Now, at 9 weeks, she's over 11lbs and 23" or so. I'm guessing because we haven't been to our 2 month appointment yet for an official weigh-in and measurements yet. It's really astonishing how fast my munchkin is growing!

Now that I feel more comfortable with her, I'll have more time for Friago PlusOne ;)

D-DAY

2010-03-12T14:22:00.003-05:00

My baby girl is here! Sofia Evoli de Souza was born on February 28th, 2010 at 6:48pm after two loooooong failed inductions. She came in at 6lbs. 5oz and 20.5" long. Waaay smaller than I thought she would be. Last minute I got diagnosed with Pre-eclampsia (not fun) so I ended up having a c-section.

She was absolutely gorgeous from the moment she came out. Screaming like crazy of course!

Meet SOFIA:

I'll be posting details of the delivery and more pictures of Sofia soon!

Rainy Day Stuff

2010-02-24T16:44:00.008-05:00

I love dark & gloomy, rainy days. They make you just wanna open the window, listen to the rain as you lay in bed and watch a movie. If you're lucky, while snuggling up to hubby next to you! I'm not that lucky, hubby is working like a mad man to free up his schedule for Sofia's arrival. Soooo, since I'm all alone all day, I decided to blog about some random fun things.

My mom bought hubby a great new book! He loved it...Until he opened it up and some key words caught his eye & freaked him out! LOL...Words like drugs, alcohol and sex :) I can't wait for him to read it & to hear all about the

10 secrets!

While I was out shopping with my mom, I picked a book for me:

Except I got the third newly revised edition (the one with the pink cover). I am really looking forward to reading up on all the crazy, fun or scary things Sofia will do or experience. I still want to purchase a book called 'The Happiest Baby on the Block.' I've heard only good things about how it helps to calm and soothe babies.

Hubster and I just made a super exciting purchase! We took out our camcorder to get it ready for Sofia and it was broken! :( So, it was out to the store to buy another. We decided on the Sony Handycam and we looove it. Here it is:

I know I would've loved to see video of my mom pregnant with me. I can't wait to show Sofia everything! Although she might be 20 years old before she even cares! ;)

Bump Wear

2010-02-23T23:48:00.012-05:00

Pretty much for my entire pregnancy I've been able to wear 'normal' clothes. Normal meaning non-maternity clothes! :) I was so happy to be able to shop at regular stores like Macy's & Express. Now that I'm about to pop there are absolutely essentials that I couldn't live without:

Jeans:

Around 5-1/2 months I got sick of having to carry around rubberbands to close my jeans and visited Motherhood Maternity for the first time. NOT FUN. There isn't much to chose from, but I figured jeans shouldn't be too hard to find. I'm 5'-10"....I found 1 pair of jeans that come in size TALL. 1!! Come on people, give the tall girls something to chose from! Thank god they had at least 1 pair because all the other jeans made me look like I was waiting for a flood! LOL... Here they are, not bad:

Stretchy pants & Tanks:

Marshalls carries Green Apple yoga/workout pants that I wore pre-pregnancy. They have now transitioned for me as maternity wear! Same size and everything :) I know, LUCKY! They are amazingly comfortable and cute....Nice enough to wear pretty much anywhere - daytime, of course, and they are relatively inexpensive ($14.99-$24.99)

Cotton Tanks are also great! I got mine at Motherhood Maternity sometimes, but Target was usually more convenient for me. Get them in EVERY color so you can mix it up ($9.99).

Shoes:

Throughout my entire pregnancy I wore Havaianas! I love them. They are cute, comfortable and most importantly.....THEY FIT! Now that I'm 9 months pregnant its prettty much the only thing I can wear. :)

Maternity Session

2010-02-23T15:07:00.020-05:00

We got our maternity session photographs and I couldn't be happier with them! They look absolutely beautiful. The location was amazing, I was super happy with the outfits we picked out and the photographer (Karen Lisa) captured some really precious moments. There are 60+ photos so I'll just show you some of my faves. Karen will also be shooting Sofia after she's born at about 7 days old. I cannot wait for that day!! The excitement is literally overwhelming.

We've already had a lot of people asking about our photographer. I 100% recommend her! She made us feel really comfortable and the laid back feel of the photos is exactly what we wanted. Check out her site!
Karen Lisa Artistic Photography

37 weeks

2010-02-23T15:01:00.007-05:00

Feeling like a blimp!! lol...Good days and kinda crappy days now, but finally passed 'THE' 37th week. Sofia can finally come out safely from now on. Whether or not she will is a different story! The most horrible part of these last three weeks is the swelling. The swelling of my feet, my hands and, especially horrible, of my face! Hanging in there & waiting for my baby girl!

Uncle Nick

2010-02-13T09:04:00.013-05:00

My little brother is going to be an uncle for the first time & I'm so excited for him! He teaches people how to fly helicopters for a living (how cool is that?!) Here he is, looking all top gun! lol

I was shopping at Target and discovered their Dwell Studio line - Helicopter themed! It's supposed to be for boys, but I picked out an outfit that was pretty neutral. Besides, all we need are some earrings and a little bow in her hair and we're all girlied out! Can't wait to have her rep for her uncle. Hopefully, soon, we'll have a photo of her in this outift with her uncle by a helicopter!

Haiti Relief

2010-02-10T22:00:00.008-05:00

The amazing neighborhood that we live in decided to do a drive with the Salvation Army for Haiti. Everytime I watch the coverage of the Haiti Earthquake what impacts me the most is all of the kids walking around aimlessly, scared & without family. One of the requests for things needed were kids items. I ran out to big lots right away determined to buy all kinds of fun distract-me-from-the-chaos stuff! Our neighborhood consists of 412 units & the pick-up was from 3-6pm. I showed up around 4pm so the pictures I got were only a fraction of what was collected! I love it when people can get together for a good cause. Makes ya all warm inside!! :)

New Threads for Sofia

2010-02-10T11:53:00.005-05:00

Daddy loves anything that says that his little girl loves him!

& mommy is hoping that this is true! (daddy is probably not...lol)

36 Weeks

2010-02-09T21:36:00.004-05:00

Sloowly, but surely I'm getting better from the Bells Palsy! The only major downside of Bells Palsy (other than loooking extremely strange at the beginning) is the medicine to treat it! Even though nothing really hurts, you usually get prescribed an anti-inflammatory med called Prednisone for that inflamed nerve on the right side of my face. The side effects of this medicine are HORRIBLE and annoying. You retain tons of fluid with this medicine especially in the face and neck. This is my second 5 day cycle and for the last cycle I gained and then lost again 5 pounds of water weight all in a span of 4-6 days. NOT FUN....Now with the second cycle, I am retaining water weight again. I feel like miss piggy! lol & i miss my neck and jawline. Can't wait til tomorrow when the cycle is finally over.

Here is a belly shot from my 36th week:

Representing my daughters other half - her brazilian side! :)

Little shoes

2010-02-06T09:30:00.012-05:00

How could someone not fall in love with shoes that are so tiny that they fit in the palm of your hand?! Newborn shoes are a little unnecessary, but still we all drool and oooh & ahhh when we see them. The companies that are overcharging like crazy for them have the right idea! I'm a sucker and here are some of the shoes my little girl already has:

Converse

Polo Ralph Lauren

Pedi Ped

35 Week Surprise

2010-02-01T16:14:00.018-05:00

At 35 weeks

I AM:

Hungry 24/7, feeling huge, being forced to rest (booooring!)

feeling like my belly button is going to do something weird - like POP!...

hands are sore, tossing & turning all night - getting little sleep, but napping from time to time. I'm not really smiling in this picture, this is why:

Now here's some crappy news - I woke up last Tuesday morning with a numb tongue. Ok, I thought it was strange, but continued on with my day normally. By the end of the day my food tasted funny, my teeth felt numb, and when I brushed my teeth my lips were so numb I couldn't pucker my mouth to spit! Now I'm feeling a little scared. My neck is also hurting right behind my ear - there is a throbbing pain. I'm medically savvy enough to know that this is something with my nervous system. It seems to only be affecting the right side of my face. It was already 11pm so I went to bed. I woke up Wednesday morning and my right eye was tearing and I couldn't raise my eyebrow.

I OFFICALLY FREAKED OUT!

It was 8:20am and the OB's office didn't open til 9am. Hubby stuck around till then to hear what she had to say. He was concerned. I could see it in his face, but he was trying to not freak me out more than I already was. They finally call me back to tell me to go to the Emergency Room. Great...Those were probably the last words in the world that I wanted to hear...
After visiting the ER, going to see my OB, picking up some meds, & visiting a neurologist. I officially have Bells Palsy...

BELLS PALSY:

a disfunction of cranial nerve VII (the facial nerve) that results in inability to control facial muscles on the affected side.

I am completely thankful that this is something that Sofia knows nothing about! She has no idea whats going on and it doesn't affect her at all. It does however affect me. :( I can't smile...Well, I can, but only on one side so it looks pretty funny. It makes you a little self conscious when it's something that is in such an obvious place. Right on your face!

Now 6 days later, I have regained some mobility in my mouth. Before I couldn't move the right side of my mouth at all. Now I can move it a little. It was a big enough deal to get a high five from hubby when I showed him!

Bells Palsy is more common than I knew, according to the neurologist and it is 3 times more likely to happen to pregnant women. Like we don't suffer enough! lol...I feel much better knowing that this is temporary. I feel fine, it's just horribly uncomfortable to look so weird.

I'll absolutely be posting a picture of me smiling really big when I get better! Stay tuned... :) :)

Butterlfy Mobile

2010-02-01T13:17:00.017-05:00

So, the frustration with finding Sofia a mobile is officially over! I never actually found one though. lol...Like I always say:

If you can't find it, make it yourself! So I made one.

Hubby and I had this gorgeous display at the entrance to our wedding reception:

We have the white branches displayed in our house now. The one thing I knew was that I wanted to keep the design of the mobile with the organic, simple, nature theme of the rest of the room (elephants, flowers, birds....etc.)

Well, a few months ago, we babymooned in St. Augustine, Forida & I spotted these beautiful butterflies on a string in a little boutique. I bought them thinking I would find a place for them eventually.

I had hubby cut the branches for me (I'm a tad bit accident prone). I took apart the strung butterflies, added some clear glass beads & fishing wire & now we have a mobile!

Here is the finished product in the room. From Sofia's view:

It always amazes me how intensely satisfying it is to create exactly what you want, love it and be proud of it! I couldn't be happier with the final result and how it looks in the room. Even better, is that it incorporates a project I made myself for our wedding day. Much nicer than shelling out $50 for a pre-made factory mobile....

Silly Great Stuff

2010-01-30T16:16:00.004-05:00

Good friends make you smile by doing silly little things! My friend Angela was obviously thinking of my little girl on her shopping trip to Ikea! Got this from her & it made me smile. :)

Sofia's Nursery

2010-01-29T18:12:00.029-05:00

After about 2-3 months of shopping, waiting for sales, changing my mind a millon times, lots of sweat and tears....my nursery, well...

Sofia's nursery is almost done!
We decided to not go the traditional route and shop only at baby stores. Overly pink or cutesy furniture drives me insane. Not to mention the fact that as soon as you call it 'baby' furniture the price goes way UP! I wanted to make sure that we got ONLY what we wanted. Right away I knew I wanted clean and simple lines in the room. The bigger pieces are simple, monochromatic and the little touches have a bit more detail.

We really didn't want an overwhelmingly cluttered room.

We chose a great paint brand called: The FreshAire Choice in Organic Garden. No nasty fumes for baby! Hubby was great and painted about 99% of the room, but it was great to be able to help paint too and not have to inhale fumes :)

I looked for weeks for a bedding set I liked, NO LUCK...Nothing seemed to be quite right or it was +$400 for a 'designer' set. I decided to look on Etsy for something custom made. We ended up choosing the bedding from a fellow Etsian who has a shop called BabyDarling. Check out her super cute stuff. WE LOVE IT! The paint color matches the grey in the Amy Butler fabric she used. (did you think that was a coincidence? Nothing is coincidence. There's always a plan LOL ;)

(Crib has since moved, haven't taken a pic in the new spot yet)

The glass bubble lamps were re-used from our master bedroom (orginally from JcPenneys). The mirror at the changing table was...ready for this?.....$50!! It's from Bombay Company with a regular price tag of $350! We went to the Las Olas Art Fair, as we do every year, and noticed that there was a baby store going out of business. That street is a tourist trap so we were only browsing. Then I saw the mirror on the wall with a sign that read: EVERYTHING IN THE STORE MUST GO! $50 ONLY!.....I grabbed it and said: I NEED THIS! The owner of the store sold it to me in a second. Lucky for me, she was eager to get rid of it. Dresser is Ikea ($279). We replaced the ugly black pulls with pretty clear pulls from walmart.

We found a fixture for the ceiling at World Market for the insane price of $55 - on sale of course (reg. price was $69). All the other Capiz Chandeliers I've seen range from $100-$300.

Good buy and asolutely worth the wait!

I couldn't wrap my head around buying an 80's looking poofy, chunky, ugly glider (upwards of $300 at baby stores...crazy) or wobbly rocking chair so I opted for Ikea's Poang Chair ($149 chair, $70 footstool). I'm one of those people who gets motion sickness on the moving walkways at the airport so this chair has just enough bounce to not make me nauseated. :) It's design is gorgeous, clean & simple, the fabric pattern looks great with the rest of the color palette in the room, and most importantly, it's comfortable!

We purchased the matching footstool later also (not pictured here).
Curtains are Ikea, rug is Ikea ($50), and the little metal mirror top table I found at marshalls for only 24.99 and on accident, might I add!

Super important in a room, especially a baby room is storage! The expedit storage unit ($159) is awesome & with a few durable, simple baskets from Target I added a splash of Fuschia.

We are 99% done! The only thing left to do is the mobile over her crib.

Working on that now, pictures to come soon!!

Long Key Nature Center

2010-01-14T17:23:00.028-05:00

Just visited the gorgeous Long Key Nature Center to see if maybe we can do our maternity shoot there. This is one of the options. I wanted something lush and really vegetated. This place is beautiful. I can't believe I've never been there! It's a little far from my house - about 30 minutes - Davie. The drive is really no big deal though.

There are horse trails that look amazing!

Once my baby girl is here, hubby and I can hit the trails. Can't wait!

Here are a few pics:

Photos

2010-01-14T09:18:00.004-05:00

We booked a photographer for our maternity/newborn session! I went on a pretty exhausting search online. There are so many cheeseball photographers out there and hubby and I are not the cheesy 'sit in a studio' kind of couple....I went on to Flickr and searched for South Florida Maternity. I quickly weeded out all the creepy naked ones, chiffon covered bellies, anyone holding a rose LOL!! (come on, seriously?!) & clicked on the ones that caught my eye; mostly bright crisp images, urban maternity shots, beach and park shots at sunset...etc.

THEN, (the extremely annoying part) of checking out prices. I want pictures of my belly and my baby, but I dont wanna blow $2k either! Having a baby should involve saving some money too. I hear those suckers are expensive. :) Weeded out the money hungry...

We chose the lovely Karen Lisa Berlin Ziemkowski. Check out her work...Can't wait!

Now comes the equally exhausting choice of location for the shoot. Beach? Park? Downtown? I can't....WE can't decide........I'm off to check out one more park!

32 Week Update!

2010-01-13T13:04:00.004-05:00

Awwwww yea! At 32 weeks I finally look and feel pregnant!! I've gained 22 pounds and have about 8 weeks to go.

Sadly and annoyingly, I have developed pregnancy carpal tunnel & it does NOT feel good! I wake up with tingling & numbness in my hands which would be the least of it, but they also hurt to grip and pick up things or open jars. I still can't complain too much because my pregnancy has been pretty easy until now. Can't wait for it to go away after my pregnancy is over.

Sofia is super, super active. It's amazing, but also uncomfortable at times ;) It's the perfect way for hubby to feel connected to her in some way. She responds to his voice probably 95% of the time and she makes sure he knows shes in there (& makes sure mommy doesn't forget it either!).

We are totally in love with her already....

Mobile Madness

2010-01-13T09:40:00.003-05:00

Who knew it would be so stressfull to find a mobile for Sofia's room?! Nothing seems to exactly fit the look I'm going for. She's got a subtle nature theme going on with the elephants, butterflies and flowers. I might as well already decide to make my own, that way I get EXACTLY what I want. Seems like that always ends up being the solution! Here are some inspiration mobiles, that are almost perfect but not quite there:

3D Ultrasound of Sofia

2010-01-13T09:32:00.003-05:00

I'm loving this baby in my belly!! Can't wait to finally meet her and see what she looks like when NOT submerged in 'stuff' lol....7 weeks and counting :)

In the second video she actually moves her arm out of the way and you can see her entire face. My cutiepie!

Slow & Steady Belly

2010-01-04T09:35:00.009-05:00

It's been FOREVER since I updated anything on this blog! I know....bad. With the holidays being over though, I figured I should get a move on.

My belly growth has been slow and steady, which has been great! At 31 weeks I am still somewhat comfortable and able to do pretty much everything with ease. Of course, I get tired MUUUUCH faster, but yoga, stretching, and moving around is still relatively easy even with a weight gain of 19 pounds!! Not bad for 31 weeks though. I'm quite proud of myself. ;)

Up until now, hubby and I have been pretty lax about our belly pictures - taking them every other week or so. Now that we've hit the 30 week mark we are stepping it up to every week! Sooo exciting :) Here is a photo of the progression of the belly (13-30 weeks):

18 Weeks!

2009-10-08T16:23:00.004-04:00

I'm starting to see a little belly! I've gained, in 18 weeks, a whole 2.5 pounds. I am excited to have a big belly, but at the same time really glad that my weight gain has been steady and slow so far (better for when it's time to get back in shape!).

First Purchase

2009-09-01T16:15:00.004-04:00

I wasn't really looking for a theme for the nursery, but one developed on it's own! This is offically my first nursery purchase for babies room. It's so exciting. :)

1st elephant: I fell in love with the elephant hamper (in a previous post) 2nd elephant: The crib blanket had an applique of an animal. Since I already knew I would be purchasing the hamper I asked if they had an elephant. She said no problem and the elephant 'thing' was becoming a theme! (Not a jungle theme, by the way.)

The ones pictured here, I bought at HomeGoods and they have tons of beautiful ones from India and China. I was excited to find these because it's not easy to find elephants with cute faces. Most of them are strong and mean looking, not really what I was looking to put in babies room.

Significance of the elephant:

They are connected to fertility. The elephant symbolizes wisdom, longevity, power, and strength. Having an elephant statue can bring peace and harmony to your home.

13 Week Belly

2009-08-31T15:38:00.004-04:00

It's still pretty much non-existent and no one can really tell, but I'm shocked at how it looks here! It looks huge to me in this picture... :) :) I still haven't gained any weight, I'm actually at -4 lbs. I'm supposed to be gaining weight this month and I can't lie, I'm a little nervous about it!

My pants, especially jeans, are feeling REALLY snug at this point, but I can still wear them! Hoping I don't have to wear maternity clothes anytime soon. ;)

The great part is that I'm feeling really good. Lifting some light weights on a medicine ball and walking and swimming. I officially start prenatal yoga this week. Can't wait!

13 Week Ultrasound

2009-08-28T10:48:00.004-04:00

Just got back from my very early doctors appointment. Totally worth it to do it this early though since I've heard nightmare stories about having to wait hours to see the doc. It took a little over an hour today. Not bad at all!

Hubby and I got to see our little baby having a dance party in my belly. He/she was so energetic and bouncing around like crazy & all before breakfast! I don't hink I'll ever get over how amazing it is too see your developing baby like that. Just three weeks ago it was so tiny and not moving at all. Today, gummi bear was making the ultrasound tech work for her pictures. :) She tried to see if we could tell the sex but wasn't able to see much...I'm convinced it's a boy, just a gut feeling, but I could be wrong. Today rocks...couldn't be happier to have seen my baby!

The Nursery Obsession

2009-08-26T16:41:00.000-04:00

I'm going into my 13th week and already I pretty much have everything planned out for the nursery. Well, all the big stuff that is. This has got to be the funnest part so far of being pregnant. Online browsing, figuring out colors, themes & eventually, the best part.....shopping! I have done zero shopping so far for the baby. I'm a little anxious & nervous to start. Not having a belly yet still makes it a little surreal to me. I think I might wait til my September doctors appointment to actually bring anything into the house (2 more weeks!)

For now here are some definite ideas/pieces for the nursery. Enjoy!

All of the crib bedding I saw I hated so I went on a mission to find something that screamed 'Baby de Souza'.....This one screamed loud and clear to me! :) It is handmade by Brooke from the BabyDarling Etsy shop. Can't wait to order it. I loved the whole look of this so I decided to also purchase the Gulliver crib from Ikea (pictured here). At $139, it's a steal! Cribs are ridiculously expensive these days it seems. I always stay true to clean and simple designs and this fits the bill perfectly.

The Poang Chair from Ikea. This is my version of a rocking chair. It's more of a bouncy chair though. :) I get motion sickness very easily so this gives me just enough bounce to be comfortable. It comes with a matching footstool too!

2 Knappa Pendants from Ikea, again, are also on my wishlist, but I'm still somewhat undecided about these. They are gorgeous, but I'm not sure about the hassle of having to do re-wiring to hang them.

The 8-drawer Hemnes Dresser from Ikea was ideal for a changing station that can later just be used as a dresser. It fits in perfectly with my clean simple look.

My favorite piece so far and absolutely one that I will be purchasing soon is the Rattan Elephant Hamper from Home Decorators Collection. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. It makes me smile everytime I look at it. :)

There are tons of things that I want to make myself, like a bamboo mobile, pillows, some wall art, & some white and yellow window panels. Can't wait to get started on all my projects! I'll be posting pictures as I make them.

Our little gummi bears first picture!

2009-08-26T15:33:00.001-04:00

We went to the doctor at what we thought was our 9th week of being pregnant, only to find out that we were really at 10...As many weeks as I can take off the 9 months sounds good to me!

That doctors appointment was one of the most emotional & happy times of my life. It was unreal to see my babies tiny heart beating on the screen. I was just laying there staring - probably with my mouth open. :) I wasn't planning on getting emotional, but I knew the hormones were raging at full scale these days so it was quite possible that I wouldn't be able to hold it in. When it was time to actually hear the heart beat, it took a while. She searched for a good minute before finding it and I lost it! I was surprised at how emotional it made me. It was beyond amazing how something so little could beat with such force.

It was a great first appointment of many, I'm sure. Just one piece of crappy news. No more volleyball or spin for me.... :( Two of my favorite things to do in the world! But no worries here, I'll have to find new ways to keep in shape!