Bennett Journey’s Nursery

September 20, 2014December 10, 20141 Comment

Grandma found some AWESOME airplane prints and I was able to spray paint the frames to match!

The giraffe I had made for him

To fit into the travel theme

The orange frame is a good will frame that I spray painted

The B, Aunt Jenn made for his shower

The Cessna 150 skin, Patrick cut and made and fitted to another spray painted good will frame

The propeller “guest book” from my baby shower compliments of Aunt Jenn

My glider was a $100 craigslist find! They had originally spent over $500 on it!!!

My $5 boppy purchased off of WF BST

Ikea picture ledges for the books

The “You are my sunshine” was a Walmart find

I made the giraffe i ❤ you image from card stock. 🙂

Super cute airplane light that was gifted from my moms co-worker. We absolutely LOVE it!!

Ikea dresser

Handpainted water color painting done by me 🙂

Found a brand new changing pad at the sewing store for $3!!! They typically cost between $15- $20. Love a good find!

Patrick made the metal plane and suspended it with fishing line.

Ikea bookcase

Orange bins from Target

Brown bins I have had for years

Wire bin is from Walmart

Burp cloth holder

The figurine was found during Patrick’s trip to NY to help with hurricane Sandy recovery.

Patrick found the metal plane at Ross for $6 🙂

Mason jar was made by Aunt Jenn for my baby shower

Clock was purchased at Ross

Diapers are in the orange bins

With the curtains closed. Love the relaxing feeling it gives.

I absolutely love Bennett’s nursery. It could possibly be my favorite room in the house simply because of all the love Patrick and I have put into it. I can’t wait to see him grow into a little man in this room. All the memories that will be created!!! With 7 days before I hit my due date, I can finally say the nursery is done. 🙂

Fixing an ungrateful heart…

September 8, 2014September 8, 2014Leave a comment

Today I woke up and I couldn’t help but be thankful… after I had to fix my ungrateful heart. Towards the end of pregnancy, it is easy to focus on what is uncomfortable and agitating. The feeling of “I am always going to be pregnant”, I’m swollen and heavier than I’ve ever been…. oh let me stop. You see, I could focus on the fact that I woke up 6 times to pee last night OR I could have a heart of praise that I had a toilet to sit on, clean water to refill my empty bladder and an AC unit that keeps me cool enough to comfortably sleep without sweating. As I was making Patrick breakfast as he is running out the door to school, all I could think was, I’m awake…. and exhausted and drained. I poured a huge glass of water and chugged it down and it hit me. How amazing is it that I just grabbed a clean glass, poured clean water into it and chugged it down to my hearts desire. No matter how “uncomfortable” I am, I have SO many modern conveniences that make this pregnancy a walk in the park to compared to most people around the world.

So today I choose to have a heart of praise instead of focusing on things that really aren’t as bad as they seem. Find things to be thankful for today and have a happy Monday! 🙂

Philippians 4:8 The Message (MSG)

^8-9Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

My first trimester must haves

August 25, 2014December 10, 2014Leave a comment

I can’t believe it’s been 9 months since I found out I was pregnant. 9 months ago I was still rocking my pre pregnancy jeans, I didn’t waddle and no one knew about the growing baby in my belly unless I told them.

With reflecting over the past 9 months, I just wanted to share some things that I wish I would have known, tips and tricks that helped me and little tidbits of advice.

1. If you are dealing with morning sickness, don’t be afraid to ask for help.

I remember in week 4 the nausea spells started. Granted not everyone’s morning sickness will progressively get worse OR stick around until 30 weeks. I tried every natural remedy in hopes of not having to take medicine and even when those didn’t work, I STILL didn’t want to reach out to my doctor. When I finally DID reach out the first medicine I tried was Zofran. When Zofran brought my digestive system to a halt, it wasn’t until a friend reached out with her experience with Zofran that made me connect the digestive issues with being on Zofran. SO, I decided throwing up was better than being on Zofran. A few weeks later of extreme (all day every day) nausea and vomiting, I finally reached out again and was put on Diclegis. Most likely your morning sickness will leave after the first trimester, but in my case it stuck around until the 3rd trimester! I’m glad I didn’t decide to “tough it out” because that would have been A LOT of vomiting and nausea!

What I learned: reach out for help if you need it! If it doesn’t work, keep trying!

2. Don’t expand your wardrobe in your first trimester.

Stay in your pre pregnancy clothes as long as possible. I was so excited to be pregnant and see my body change but SO naive with just how much my belly would grow and how my body would change. I remember being 10 weeks pregnant and buying 6 non maternity tank tops from target with the thoughts of being able to wear them throughout the summer. I even bought a few other loose fitting tops and maxi dresses to hide the first trimester bloating with the thoughts that I could wear them later on. After my belly started to pop out, NONE of the clothes I bought lasted long. Now… everyone’s body is different and there are some women who get to rock their pre-preg clothes for 8 months BUT I wasn’t and this was just my experience with buying clothes. My advice would be to hold out as long as possible with what you have and then when your body can no longer be contained in your current wardrobe, then invest in some maternity essentials. Don’t buy stuff that you “think” you’ll be able to wear in the future because you NEVER know how large your belly, boobs and thighs will get!

3. Drink a TON of water.

One of my number one 1st, 2nd and 3rd trimester must haves has been a camel back water bottle. Drinking water pre-pregnancy is important…. but once you’re growing a little one, it’s even MORE important. Drinking water keeps you pooping (hormones slow down that lovely process), it helps with the 1st trimester breakouts and keeps your energy levels up which most likely have plummeted from the “growing a baby” process. I take my camel back EVERYWHERE. It’s either in my purse, in my hand or waiting for me in my car if I’m out and about.

4. What to expect when you’re expecting.

I would read that book religiously when I first got pregnant. Every little pain or symptom, I would either google it or look it up in the book to see how “normal” it was. It’s a great book and I highly recommend it. 🙂

5. Buying stuff for baby

Even though I was tempted, I didn’t buy anything for Bennett before we knew his gender. Before we got pregnant, Patrick and I said that once we got a positive pregnancy test, we would go out and buy a blanket or something for the baby to celebrate. Well, that didn’t happen. Yes, we could have bought something gender neutral BUT we really wanted to buy something specific for him/her. I’m glad we waited. 🙂 We actually didn’t start buying ANYTHING for Bennett until almost 19 weeks when we found out Bennett’s gender. Just my two cents. 🙂

For me, other than trying to figure out how not to barf and regulating my digestive system from the medicines, my life didn’t change drastically during the first trimester. By the time you find out your pregnant, miss your period, start planning how to announce it, actually announce it, get over the bloating and nausea, you’re already entering into your second trimester. Every first time mom has a different experience with their pregnancy and this is just stuff I learned during mine. I’m thankful that now I know that Diclegis is my saving grace if pregnancy #2 decides to include nausea and vomiting. It’s all a learning process of what works and doesn’t work for you, your body and your life. So find out what works for you and hopefully some of my experiences will help. The next post will be about my 2nd trimester must haves!

The foundation of our household

August 16, 2014August 16, 2014Leave a comment

When Patrick and I decided to try and start a family, reading from the “Prayer that avail much” scripture book was nothing out of the ordinary. We are firm believers that you have what you say and that there is power in reading and speaking scripture. Call us “name and claim it” folk, but I just call us Christians. I’m not here to argue the politics of Christianity, just wanted to share what is the foundation of the Tobler household. 🙂

Patrick and I from day one have read from this book and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone and everyone. It takes scriptures and writes it out in a way that makes it easy to read aloud in paragraph form. It literally has every topic out there and the scriptures that can be read over that specific topic. From money to marriage, to trying to having a baby to praying for our government, it’s all there.

I have the actual book and then I also have the women’s version downloaded to my tablet. I love the women’s version of this book as well because it gives me scriptures to topics specifically regarding a woman’s life. Even if you don’t believe you have what you say, there is absolutely no harm in speaking scripture over your life. 🙂

Speaking the Word of God is one of the things that makes up the foundation of our household and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love speaking scripture over Bennett, Patrick, our marriage, and our businesses (the list could go on and on!). I am excited for to teach this to Bennett as he grows and matures and I pray that he comes to know the love of God that I have come to know.

An example from “Godly order in pregnancy and Childbirth” from Prayers that avail much:

Father, in Jesus’ name, I confess your powerful Word this day over my pregnancy and the birth of my child. I put on the whole armor of God so that I may be able to stand against all the tricks and traps of the devil. I stand in faith during this pregnancy and birth, not giving any room to fear. I thank you and praise You for giving me a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind….

Happy Saturday yall! I hope your day if full of laughter and relaxation. 🙂

Cloth Diapering… say what?

August 14, 2014Leave a comment

So, let me start off by saying this isn’t meant to put anyone down who does something different for their family. Whatever works for you, GREAT! If cloth diapering didn’t work for you, please – only encouragement is welcomed. If you rock disposables, awesome. If you let your kid run around stark naked – perfectly fine with me. This is just what I have decided to do for my family and I just wanted to share for those of you who might not know anything about cloth diapering.

Let me begin by telling you that I was so against cloth diapering, like…. you will never catch me ever cloth diapering my kid. I remember when I first got married, I told Patrick that I would NEVER cloth diaper. Can you say gross? I will GLADLY pay for disposables and that is saying a lot if you know how frugal I am. Fast forward to getting pregnant and starting to research anything and everything that regarded having/raising a kid and trying to save money. All I knew about cloth diapering were pre-folds and covers. It’s where cloth diapering started BUT what I didn’t know is how much it’s changed since then and how many options there are now. I have done hours and hours and hours and hours and youtube videos and store visits worth of research on cloth diapering and I just wanted to show you what I’ve decided to use for Mr. B.

These are the different styles of cloth diapers I have decided on. First of all, don’t they look pretty much like disposables? Yep. They do.

First off: My BUMGENIUS Pocket Diaper. This diaper has snaps on the front and sides so that as Bennett grows, the diaper can change sizes as well.

Seeeeeee, the inside is nice and soft against his bum and his …. I haven’t decided on what I’m calling it so yea.

It’s called a pocket diaper because you “stuff” it with pads of fabric that absorb the pee.

See ^ That is an example of me stuffing it. Easy peasy.

This is my Kawaii pocket diaper. Same concept except it’s made for smaller babies and he will actually outgrow this after 25ish lbs.

Another example of it being stuffed. It’s cool because you can add extra inserts (the white thing sticking out) in case your baby is a heavy wetter.

These I actually discovered from a fellow photographer who just had her baby. Meet my Grovia’s All in Two’s.

So the insert snaps into the cover and once the insert is soiled, you just unsnap it and snap in a new/clean one. You can use the cover 3-4 times unless it becomes wet/soiled. All of the diapers I use are waterproof on the outside so nothing will seep through.

The All in Two is nice because you only need a few covers a day and just a stash of inserts 🙂

Introducing my BUMGENIUS all in one. Want to know why it’s called an all in one? Because everything is sewn in. No stuffing, no snapping, no nothing. Just put it on like you would a disposable and go.

^See, all in one.

Our Diaper pail. It has a waterproof liner on the inside so I put the soiled diapers/inserts in and then dump the contents of the bag into my washing machine when it’s time to wash.

Reasons why I decided to cloth diaper:

1. It saves money. I have found amazing deals on all of my diapers and we plan on using them for Tobler baby #2 (whenever THAT happens). SO, after the initial investment, it’s nice to know I will only have to buy disposables for “special occasions”.

2. I will be a stay at home mom and if doing an extra load of laundry helps us go on a nice date instead of buying a box of diapers, I am ALL for that. OR better yet, a cruise 🙂

3. I started thinking about how pads and diapers are virtually the same thing and I didn’t want Bennett to wear chemicals against his skin for 2 years straight. That would be like me wearing a pad for 2 years.

4. The thought of having to buy a box of diapers that costs $30-$50 dollars every couple of weeks makes my stomach turn. Let’s get real, I still haven’t bought his box of newborn diapers (he won’t fit into the cloth for the first couple of weeks), for this very reason. Don’t get me wrong, we can afford them… I just rather spend my money elsewhere.

5. The whole poop in the washing machine freaked me out until I realized that if he had a blowout or vomited on himself… I would wash those in my washing machine, wouldn’t I? Plus, breastfed poop dissolves in water so no big deal there and by the time his poop is more solid (sorry, if that grosses you out), there are several options we will be doing (Not just throwing poop filled diapers in our washer!!). Don’t worry, if you go to hug me, you aren’t hugging poop saturated clothing 😛

Will he ever wear a disposable? Yes.

When? If he has a babysitter. I don’t expect anyone else to cloth diaper my kid. If they want to, great. If they don’t. Disposables for a day are a-ok with me. Same with dropping him off in the nursery at church.

If we go on a family vacation and don’t have access to a washing machine. Disposables it is.

Disposables won’t kill him. I’m not going to shun you if I see you using a disposable. I just am glad I have the option to not have him in one all the time. 🙂

The hubby might throw a disposable on him if he takes him out and about.

SO, that is a really quick and brief show and tell of what we will be doing when Bennett comes. The first month he will be in disposables while he cycles through merconium, his cord stump and everything else. Plus it will give me a few weeks to adjust before having to start a washing routine. 🙂 I’m thankful that even Patrick is on board with this family decision. It took a lot of explaining and showing him how it all works but he isn’t totally freaked out anymore.

^Patrick asked me to show him how to put one on. This is the closet thing we had to Bennett’s size haha!

Any questions or encouraging comments?

Bye bye office, hello nursery!

May 13, 2014May 13, 2014Leave a comment

Is it possible to get any bigger???? Only half way done and I’m getting a little nervous….

First sample of paint…

So, my office has been my girly pride and joy and today it was tainted by Benjamin Moore’s “Quietude”. Luckily I’m obsessed with this color!!!!! It looks SO good! 🙂 It’s this subtle blue, green, gray color and paired with the brownish/gray furniture we will be purchasing, my heart jumps for joy at how stinking cute Bennett’s nursery will be!

IMAG6888

We also are halfway between fully combining offices. Look at my pretty desk looking all abandoned and surrounded by Patrick’s stuff 😦

IMG_20140512_143940

My dad’s stamp collection from around the world. It brought me to tears thinking about how Bennett won’t get to meet him. I hope to frame these in his nursery for Bennett to admire for years to come ❤

Going to try and do this: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/59109813834066192/

A trip to goodwill, selling stuff online, several trash bags and lots of sorting and we are slowly but surely creating little man’s nursery. I’ll keep y’all updated!

Snowmagedon

February 14, 2014February 24, 20151 Comment

So, NC just experienced one of the worst storms we have had in years. We didn’t get that much snow, but the ice was enough to bring everyone to an absolute halt. This storm tested me to my core. As you have read in previous posts, I am dealing with being extremely nauseous. Like, all day, never goes away, i’ve tried everything, someone help me, nauseous. So, Tuesday comes around and I just keep thinking, make it to Thursday and you can talk with the OBGYN about Zofran or SOMETHING to help me. I saw the finish line within reach and with everything in me, just needed to hold on. Well, once the storm had started I noticed I had a headache. I drank some water, took a snooze on the couch and really expected it to disappear. Here’s the thing. You see, I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t have Tylenol, I only had IB Profun which isn’t approved if you’re pregnant. So here I am, stuck in my house with a pounding headache and Snowpocolypse happening outside. Then my nausea decided to REALLY rear it’s ugly head. Around 7 pm I’m dry heaving into the toilet, Patrick’s holding my hair and tears are streaming down my face. It was horrible. Even if we wanted, stores were closed and the ice on the roads were preventing us from getting any tylenol to help with my headache. I’m laying in my dark bedroom with Patrick using our towel warmer to heat up washcloths to drape on my forehead and neck while I cradle a mini trashcan in-between my legs. I felt hopeless. My OBGYN and sonogram on Thursday was canceled. I didn’t know when the pounding headache would go away. I was shaking from not eating or drinking much all day. My eyes hurt from my gag reflex constantly going off. I just wanted to feel better. Again, shout out to my husband who has been my prince charming who has come to my rescue so many times in the past couple of weeks. The feeling of helplessness is a scary feeling and something that I haven’t felt in a LONG time. It’s that feeling of not knowing how or when it will get better. That feeling of being disconnected from anyone who can help. Without my faith in God, I’m not sure how I would get through these weeks. I really thought that pregnancy would be A LOT easier than this because this is right up there with some of the hardest things I’ve ever dealt with in my life. For those who really know me, you KNOW I’ve had some hard seasons. I’m thankful that I got through the night and the headache was gone by morning. I began researching over the counter medications that were safe for pregnancy since I wasn’t going to make my OBGYN appointment. I tossed the idea around of wearing the seasick patches from my cruise which I quickly saw wasn’t the best idea and then Patrick actually saw reviews on seasick bands which seemed to work. Seasick bands are braclet type things that press on your tendons in your wrists which supposedly help with motion sickness, morning sickness and nausea. I was desperate. We ventured out to Walmart in search of the bands and after 30 minutes of looking, finally decided to try walgreens. We bought them, I slipped them on and within the hour, I was eating a cheese tortilla. It’s now valentines day and my first full day of wearing them and OH MY GOODNESS. They definitely help. My nausea went from life altering and almost unbearable at times to it’s only in the back of my mind. I’ve been able to eat a few small meals and I’m feeling MUCH better! I’ll have to do a more in depth review of them in a few weeks, once I’ve worn them for a while. So far so good though and I couldn’t be more thankful.

On our adventure to find sea bands

My beloved seasick band. I wear one on each wrist.

Tough decisions and ginger

February 8, 2014February 14, 2014Leave a comment

Hello 7 weeks! Hello Nausea! Hello other unwelcomed symptoms! So, I have been struggling with some severe nausea. It makes eating anything extremely unpleasant which is resulting in some weight loss. This is the first time in…. well, forever, that I haven’t been excited about losing weight! This past week ended up with my first round of ginger products to see if any of them help. Ginger tea, ginger ale, ginger coated in sugar (to help with taste) and finally straight ginger. Ginger Ginger Ginger!!! I’m not fond of any of these products but at this point…. I’m willing to try anything.

Now, let’s get onto my tough decision. When you’re pregnant, you are constantly making decisions from the first minute you find out. Which OBGYN? Where to deliver? When to tell family? When to tell friends? Should I throw up in the shower or try and get out quick enough to get to the toilet? Wait…. what? Yep. Totally happened yesterday. Decisions like THAT….. are tough and are something that I NEVER thought I would have to be making. For those who are wondering, I made it to the toilet! 😉

Here are the ginger products I bought this week. Do you have any favorites that help with nausea?

It came to me in a dream!

January 31, 2014February 8, 2014Leave a comment

So, at this point, only our family and a select few know about baby Relbot 🙂 We are keeping it under wraps to the public until we have our first sonogram and I’m just a little bit further along. Well get this. My friend Alex, who is really considered family, shot me a text a few days ago asking me to call her because she had a dream about me. So, without hesitating, I called her up but was completely shocked at what the dream was.

Alex, “So, I had a REALLY weird dream about you last night. You’re going to think it’s crazy but I just had to tell you. Well, we were in a crowd of people and we ran into each other and you told me that you had something important to tell me. I (Alex) was afraid you were going to tell me that you were quitting photography or something but then you told me you were PREGNANT! How crazy is that!!!”

Me, on the other end of the phone was in dumbfound mode. I quickly stuttered and was like, ” Well…. guess what? I AM pregnant….”

Insert loud screams of excitement! hahah

How crazy is that! And then I found out that Patricks Grandma had asked his mom if I was pregnant! When you’re pregnant, do you emit some sort of fume that alerts the crowds?? Maybe keeping this a secret will be harder than expected!

Taken at 6 weeks preggo. It’s kind of fun keeping this a secret 😉

Telling our families!

January 28, 2014February 15, 2014Leave a comment

So, even before we were actually pregnant, we began to scheme different ideas on how to surprise our families. We knew that no one was suspecting we were in the baby making stage of life so whatever we planned, had to be good and memorable. We talked for days, watched videos, google searched, scoured Pinterest and to be completely honest, didn’t even fully decide on one of them until the night before.

For my mom, we had it pretty easy, after we got the positive pregnancy test, we starting putting things into motion. My moms birthday was in a few weeks and would be the PERFECT cover up for telling the news. After a few scheduling changes and a couple of white lies to get everyone at my house to celebrate for the party, plans were set. Then was the waiting game. Every time I talked to my mom, I swore she knew. I was terrified of accidentally giving up the secret by saying something that would make her guess. Somehow, for two weeks, I managed to keep it a secret and everyone remained clueless to what was about to happen. After seeing several youtube videos of people recording them telling their loved ones, I decided that however we tell them, we would be recording it.

Telling my family:

So, the house was cleaned, the veggie chili was simmering in the crockpot, the cream cheese cupcakes with buttercream icing were gracing the kitchen table with their presence and Patrick and I were both nervous wrecks. We had decided to buy a double sided frame and on one side, have a picture of us and on the other side have “Coming soon, Tobler baby, September 2014”. The frame could close so it would be the perfect gift to wrap and have my mom open. Patrick had asked me, “Are we going to eat first and then do gifts or what?” HA! As if I could keep myself together for that long. Everyone arrived on time and after some hugs and basic conversations (I have no idea what I said I was so nervous), everyone managed to make their ways to the living room. Miraculously, the surprisee’s all ended up on the couch and the surprisers on the love seat. I didn’t want to wait too long so after everyone settled in, it was game time. I was late on giving my brother and sis-in-law their Christmas gift due to a million delays and complications, so I started with them. THEN. IT WAS TIME. Patrick secretly started recording and I nervously stood up and gave my mom her gift. She joked that it felt like a picture frame and I joked back that I “never give pictures as gifts”. If you know me, you KNOW that you have a pretty good chance at getting something that is framed as a gift. So, she opened the wrapping and then the frame and then…………. Well, just watch the video. Link below at bottom of page.

Needless to say, everyone was excited and the rest of the night was spent me talking non stop about everything that had been on my mind that I couldn’t say before. The nursery this. I feel like that. What was it like for you? Then we decided that Chad (my brother) and Kelci ( My sister in law) will be called Aunt kiki and Uncle Chichi. Totally kidding, but it did create a great deal of laughter. I’m so thankful that my family lives close enough that we could tell everyone in person. SO thankful. 🙂

The next day we planned on telling Patricks family. Since we didn’t have a birthday planned, we had to be a little bit more sneaky. I decided to cook lunch for everyone in hopes that it would keep everyone around long enough for us to launch the plan. The night before, Patrick made a number one Dad tshirt. It was GLORIOUS! Perfectly crafted out of an old white hanes tshirt and a black sharpie. HA. The text I received during service the next day almost gave away our secret plan! “Babe…. all I can smell is permanent marker through my shirt!!” I couldn’t help but giggle even though my mother in law and sister in law were sitting on either side of me.

My niece helped me with lunch and before we knew it, it was time! With everyone sitting down, Patrick quickly said something like, ” Hey! Let me take a picture” and excused himself so he could take his outer shirt off and to grab the video camera. He walked back in and…… que the second video!Check out the link below!

And that was that. Our immediate families knew and their reactions couldn’t have been any better. We are so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people during this time in our lives!!! I hope you enjoyed the videos and here is to many more weeks of pregnancy!

YOUTUBE LINK:

Relbot Adventures

3 "Your adornment must not be merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; (4) but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God."

Category: Pregnancy in General