My go-to on-the-go companions

I feel like Senna and I are on-to-go more often than not, and I love anything that helps make mom-life a little easier. So, in this post I’m sharing a few of my favorite travel items!!!

But first, a story…

One of my worst qualities, according to my husband (and mother), is that I treat my car like a giant trash can. From food wrappers to empty makeup containers, to baby diapers… yes, DIRTY DIAPERS. I know, it’s not something to be proud of, and yes I also know that dirty diapers don’t make your car smell great. Coulter, my husband, has found about 23 diapers too many in our trunk. Holding them up and shaking his head just saying “why?”. So, I decided to be a good wife and figure out a way to stop the stink and trunk trash, while still being able to be lazy. LOL. I found a travel diaper pail that I can just toss when full. It’s truly made my husband so much happier ;) You know, it’s the little things you do for each other in a marriage, right?

1. Toss™ Disposable Diaper Pail

2. Miracle® WildLove Cups

3. Deluxe Snack Catcher

4. Baby Food Feeder + Pacifier Clip

The Toss Diaper Pail

Toss™ Disposable Diaper Pail

• Fill up pail then toss when full

• Durable pail

• Fits up to 30 newborn diapers

• Great for home or travel

Personally, I leave Toss™ Disposable Diaper Pail in my trunk! But it could be great to keep in your diaper bag as well! Or even in your bedroom or family room … if you’re also like me and change your baby all over your house constantly ;) hahah

Changing tables are just merely a suggested changing station, right?

PS

Check out the video I made using the Toss Diaper Pail IRL on my Instagram. Senna is the cutest little diaper changee pre-hike!

Miracle® WildLove Cups

Miracle® WildLove Cups

• 360 no spill edge

• Great travel cup

• Showcases well-loved and at-risk animals

• Munchkin partnered with International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and The Whale Sanctuary Project on this cup

Senna uses these at our house as well as out and about. I love that I won’t come back and find a puddle of water on my new rug or all over the floor. I mean, the least amount of cleaning up we have to do (or make our husband/SO do, the better. Right!?

Deluxe Snack Catcher

• 1 sealed snack bowl with a Click Lock™ lid and Munchkin's spill-proof guarantee

• Ideal for dry snacks AKA puffs, cereal, crackers, etc…

• Handle is a teether as well, so smart

• BPA Free

Baby Food Feeder + Pacifier Clip

The Baby Food Feeder was a lifesaver!!! I put bananas in it while I was on a long road trip with Senna. I attached the handle of it to a Pacifier Clip and clipped it onto her car seat. It was the PERFECT distraction towards the end of our ride when she was hungry and had just about had enough! I also use them a lot at home when I don’t feel like cleaning up a post-meal mess and just want her to have an easy snack that isn’t puffs ;)

With Love,

Chantelle

Thank you so much for sponsoring this post, Munchkin!

As you know, this week has been a week of giveaways on Instagram, and I have truly enjoyed sharing the love with all of you. Well, the week is almost over so I wanted to tell you more about— THE GRAND PRIZE! I will be choosing two winners for a chance to receive a the grand prize full of Mama Goodies! These are all brands that I use and love, and I took the time to personally reach out to each brand to see if they wanted to participate in sharing my obsession with their product with all my mommy friends ;)

SUBSCRIBE to my blog for the chance to win!!! Choosing 2 winners :)

Click here to subscribe.

THE GIVEAWAY PRIZES!!!!

1. The Owlet sock

Image courtesy of www.owletcare.com

2. Gldn “Mama” Necklace

 The code is: CHANTELLEXGLDN for free standard US shipping until May 4th on gldn.com

Image courtesy of www.gldn.com

3. Slumberkins $100 Gift Card

Image courtesy of www.slumberkins.com

4. 1 Pair of Birdies shoes

Image courtesy of www.birdiesslippers.com

5. A 3-pack of bottles, 50 breastmilk bags, and pacifiers from Nanobebe

6. $50 credit to Cozys

7. A Medela Sonata pump

MSRP - $399.99

Image courtesy of www.medelabreastfeeding.com

8. $50 Giftcard to L’ovedbaby

Image courtesy of www.lovedbaby.com

9. $50 Giftcard to Byta

Image courtesy of www.mybyta.com

10. $100 Giftcard to Jamie Kay

Image courtesy of www.jamiekay.com

11. Soothe shirt by Lalabu

12. $100 Giftcard to Kalin Marie 

Image courtesy of www.kalinmarie.com

13. $100 Giftcard to Stevie Js

These are some of my favorite mom brands and products and I hope you love them as much as I do! If you want to purchase any of these for yourself head over to my Amazon shop here!

• there might be a surprise item or two added to these list ;) SUBSCRIBE to my blog to enter for a chance to win all of these items!! Again, choosing two winners!!! GOOD LUCK!!!

Happy Easter!!!

It's Senna's first Easter!!!! YAY! I bought all the candy I personally wanted to eat and put it in an Easter basket for her. I’d call that a #momhack…

Head over to my Instagram to see how I put together her basket! 

Here's a list of all the cute things I included:

1. CUDDLE + KIND lamby (in photo) 

2. Sleep Sheep from Pottery Barn Kids (Senna loves this and it makes for a cute noise machine!)

3. Minna Parikka bunny shoes, and mommy got matching ones! YAY

4.  The most lifelike knit bunny! I’m OBSESSED

5.  Slumberkins baby chickens

6. ...and all the candy I wanted ;) AKA a lot of Reese's eggs.
   

Happy Easter everyone!

With Love,

Chantelle

P.S.

Senna's bunny hat is from Ginger PIckles Knits

Senna's top is from Ponponia

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Shopping Guide:

Mommy Monday Week 7

Let the (poop) games begin!

Let the (poop) games begin!

There I was: fresh out of the shower sitting on my bed, staring down at Senna’s sweet little face as she ate (for the second time in 3 hours!). Then, I felt something warm trickling down onto me. Yup, the poop strikes again! Did I mention I hadn't gotten fully dressed yet and was just in my bra and underwear?

My poor sheets…

Luckily this happened yesterday, on a Sunday, so my husband was home. I yelped and he came running in to take care of her diaper situation. I had tried a new diaper that a company sent me (the same diaper that had leaked pee all over me previously), and let’s just say I’m going back to Honest diapers from now on! Coulter took care of the explosion that had leaked everywhere, and I hopped back into the shower and then sprayed Oxiclean ALL over my poor sheets. A friend had told me about Oxiclean and it’s magical ways of getting rid of the yellow-y stains (sorry for the lovely picture I just painted!), but it really, really works (not an ad, just love this product!).

Link to some of my favorite mommy products on Amazon, HERE!

Smiling While Eating :)

On the upside, she is smiling SO much more and she’s very alert! I just took a mid-blog breastfeeding break and she locked eyes and smiled at me while in the middle of eating. I sat there with the biggest grin on my face for a solid 5 minutes. Similarly, my husband got his first direct smile the other day. He walked in the room to grab her from me and she looked at him and lit up with the biggest grin, he literally got teary eyed. It was precious!!!!

Going Through a Leap

All the smiles and alertness came during a leap, of course! For those of you wondering about leaps and when they happen, this app was recommended by a few friends to me and I am OBSESSED: The Wonder Weeks. With this leap came a lot of snuggling time because she didn’t want to be set down! Also, a new thing happened where instead of subtly letting me know she’s hungry and warming up to a cry, she now just burst into a full blown, panic cry. This happens the second she realizes she’s hungry and decides that she needs to eat RIGHT NOW! This is incredibly fun while in public ;)

This Swing is My Everything!!!

The only thing that has kept her occupied for longer than 20mins is this swing. Savannah, my little sister, told me about it and it’s seriously been saving our life. We just bought a second one for Coulter’s den so we didn’t have to move it around the house (Savannah got these exact two swings as well). Needless to say, we are in love with these swings, and hopefully your baby will love them too!!!

The other thing that she is in love with is the arch that goes over the Dockatot. She sat smiling and cooing at it forever the other night. It was the sweetest thing, I just sat there and watched her stare at it in awe as my heart completely melted!!! :D

Next week I’m going to try and tell my Labor and Delivery story!!! Stay tuned!

With love,

Chantelle

Want to Shop This Look? More details here.

With love, 

Chantelle Paige-Mulligan

Mommy Monday Week 6

Is on a Wednesday… because #MomLife

How have 6 weeks flown by!?

This post will be short and sweet, but fun :) Week 6!! I cannot believe baby girl is already six weeks old now! TIME. STOP. PLEASE! I’m already missing the tiny newborn… mainly cause this hungry hippo is already bigger than her cousin, Posie, who is 2 months old!!! 22inches long, 11lbs… basically in the 85th percentile range and fully out of the newborn clothes [Pause as I wipe a tear].

Cousin hangs

We had our first road trip! We took off from SF to OC on Friday, nervous as could be, but her sleepy nature stuck and we stopped twice to wake her up and feed her. Feeling lucky!

Made it to OC and met my sister, Savannah Labrant, for a bday dinner!

Saturday we had a wedding in Palm Springs and left baby girl with my sister in the morning (she’s a saint for helping watch Senna on her own bday), and then my mom took over a.k.a. Gigi. We went from the wedding over to my sisters birthday party!

I WAS GONE ALL DAY FROM MY BABY!!!!

…but I have to say, I was far more at ease than I expected to be. I think it’s incredibly helpful that she was with my mom, who raised me and my siblings, and my sister, who has two little ones… so I know they probably know more than I do about babies! Although I did miss her SO much!

Sunday was dedicated to doing nothing! Baby snuggles x 2!

Onto how cute two babies are together!

I am obsessed with my nieces! So having my little one + my two nieces together was joy overload. I walked in on Everleigh, my six year old niece, bent over Senna cooing at her and giving her kisses. My heart exploded.

As for Posie…

For the most part they were just two babies simultaneously doing things next to each other… BUT THEN…. We put Posie and Senna face to face sitting on our laps and Posie started “talking” to Senna. Cooing away! Senna just stared at me the entire time, hah! But still, so cute!

Let’s just say I’m now seeing the appeal of multiple babies more than ever!

More in depth updates next week!!!

With love,

Chantelle

Want to Shop This Look? More details here.

With love, 

Chantelle Paige-Mulligan

Getting Out With Ease - Mommy Monday!

…Well As much ease as you can have with a newborn.

5 weeks

I'm not going to act like I have it all figured out by any means! BUT, this is what has been working for me:

Getting Out With Ease (kinda)

I think a HUGE reason that I felt so comfortable getting out of the house so fast was due to Senna's jaundice. When your little one has it, you have to go to the hospital labs daily to get their foot pricked. It's heartbreaking. She did that bottom-lip-quivering-cry that squashes my heart and makes me tear up. We had to do it her first 6 days home in a row :(

Sidenote: everyone is sick in the hospital labs and I've never clutched her so close as when I was in that waiting room. 

BUT, because we had to go there every morning it made it so we were already out of the house and we would go for a walk to coffee or go get breakfast after. So I got used to being out and about with a newborn. Would I have gotten out quickly after anyways? Who knows! Will I make sure to get out right away with my next baby? YUP!

I genuinely think it helped keep us sane those first few days. Everything is so new and hectic that getting outside and walking to your normal coffee/breakfast/lunch spot just seems to put you at ease and make you feel like you're still... well... you! 

Here are some of the things that made life easy for getting out!!!! 

CLICK HERE! or widget below to browse…

The Things That Saved Me!

THE MIMA STROLLER WITH BASSINET - We live in the city so I just keep this ready to go in the garage, so I can walk out of my house and put her in it and take off! 

THE NUNA STROLLER WITH CAR SEAT - This is the lightest stroller/car seat I've come across and I am obsessed. It makes traveling in the car and getting out and about a cinch! 

- CAR SEAT BASE- I have the car seat base (life saver and makes getting in and out of the car so easy!) 

- CAR SEAT ATTACHMENTS- These go onto the stroller and make it so you can just clip the car seat onto the stroller and go. Helpful if the baby is sleeping, of course, as well!

-DEMI GROW STROLLER is the one I have.

-PIPA CAR SEAT is the one I have.

LITTLE GIRAFFE + BAREFOOT DREAMS BLANKETS- A warm blanket is a must!!! These were suggested to me by other moms and have truly been magnificent. She LOVES them and because they keep her so warm and snuggly she stays asleep while out in the world ;) 

MOBY and SOLLY BABY WRAPS!

I am OBSESSED with these wraps. They are truly amazing! I sometimes skip stroller walks and just take her out on walks in these. Additionally, you can nurse with them!!! I literally can hands-free nurse now guys, AMAZING! 

The wrapping process scared me a little, I was afraid I would do it wrong and have it be disastrous! However, Moby has a specialist on-hand that you can facetime with as they walk you through how to do it! She was so sweet and helpful and made me feel confident in my wrapping skills... If only I could be more confident in my other rapping skills ;) haha... but really, she was phenomenal! She's the one that also gave me the insight into nursing in the wrap and it has saved my life! Rather than having to duck into somewhere, or do the awkward blanket over the shoulder trick, you can keep on walking around and nurse your baby and no one knows!!! Unless, of course, they ask to see her, which has happened multiple times and I have to nicely say I'm mid-feeding hahah! 

All this to say...

I have LOVED having these items to get out and about easily! Also, love having a hubby who helps get me out of the house as much as possible. I truly think it's what has kept me so sane during this transition and made it so I haven't had any major mom meltdowns (for now at least!). 

With love,

Chantelle

Mommy's a Milk Machine!

1 month tomorrow!

So, this week I learned what cluster feeding meant. Basically, Senna finishes eating then decides “hmmmmmm, yeah, never mind. Still hungry”! about 15-30 minutes later… and roots (or cries) till a boob (or bottle) is provided. To be fair we’ve only fed her one bottle in her 4 weeks of life…I figure why pump then label then refrigerate then put in a bottle then warm up then feed…. if you can just feed her on command. Which, thankfully, I have the ability to do. BUT, either way, I would still feel like a human milk machine ( I feel you dairy cows).

Milk MACHINE

I’m currently typing this post with only my right hand cause my left is propping her up while feeding…. Yup. I admire all you multitasking mamas who have mastered the Boppy, slings, or any other hacks that allow you to have two free arms during feeds. Please share your tips, tricks, and wisdom with me!!!!! Send help ;)

PS… here’s my weekly go to, MUST HAVE, mama items!

CLICK HERE!

Explanation for why is at the bottom of this post.

Anyways….

Hello, World!

Senna has been so much more alert this week. It’s SO DANG FUN!!! She still is a sleepy little nugget, but there have been more eye open hours for sure! I’m in love. We have been jamming out to the POP CHILLOUT playlist on Spotify (it’s my fav and I listened to it all the time when she was in my belly), and of course Stevie Nicks my absolute fav! We dance around the house as I sing to her and she stares at me making all the funny faces newborns make. Heart. Melts.

Is this normal?

Ok, so I thought I’d mastered showers. To be fair, I’d only done the 10min rinse offs while home alone and saved hair washing for when Coulter was home to watch her.

*** Confession, I only wash my hair about every 5 days (sometimes just once a week). Don’t judge me :p

Anyways, I attempted to wash my hair on my own. It might sound like a small feat, but I have naturally wavy thick hair, plus a row of extensions so it takes a long time to wash my hair… BUT it’s also the reason I can go for so long without washing it ;) …Thanks, @Hairby_Chrissy!

So, I hopped in the shower after feeding her…thinking I at least had 20mins to do this! As I’m rinsing the shampoo I hear her start to cry a little. As I quickly throw in conditioner she starts doing this super sad cry she does when she’s really wanting to be held, it crushes my soul when I hear it. So I decided to hop out of the shower and grab her, then take her back into my walk in shower and sit on the seat with her while my conditioner sat in my hair. HAHA, yep.

IT WORKED! I successfully snuggled her back to sleep, put her back in her Dockatot outside the shower, then washed my hair and got out. Anyone else have strange stories like this, please tell me I’m not the only one?

Highlight of the week...

She smiled!!!! I got my first wide awake, I meant to do it, SMILE!!!! Not going to lie, I got VERY teary eyed.

I picked her up from her nap to feed her and she smiled at me! I thought, “No way! That wasn’t on purpose!”. So, I sat there smiling back at her and giving her kisses and…. she did it three more times. Let the waterworks begin.

She’s yet to do it again since, but I’m anxiously awaiting the next time it happens!

Want to Shop This Look? More details here.

These are a few items that are my daily must haves! I live in these Blanqi nursing pants! SERIOUSLY OBSESSED!!!

There’s a few of my favorite nursing bras…. Also, the Third Love bra I like to sleep in just cause it’s nice to wear a non-nursing bra sometimes! I have multiple colors and loveeee this bra.

Lastly, the only three makeup products I use when I’m being lazy!

1. Erborian CC creme. MUST GET! I am beyond obsessed. It’s light and I use this instead of foundation, ALWAYS.

2. Bronzer. Plus, the brush stays in the bronzer box, making it even easier for mamas! One less thing to find in your makeup bag!

3. Brows. If you have a good brow, you’re good to go!

With love, 

Chantelle Paige-Mulligan 

Mommy Monday Week 3

Beds + Diapers = Disasters

So, diapers and I dont seem to be the best of friends. Not sure if you knew this, but apparently, you can be snuggling your little one and if they pee, and you’re tilting them just right, it can come sliding down their back & out the backside of their diaper. All over the bed. And you. Oh, did I mention there was just a little bit of that yellowish poop mixed in? Yep. 

Beds + Diapers + Me = Disaster

In other news....

Baby girl is now 3 weeks old and we have her sleeping in her nursery in the Snoo! She really is the sleepiest sleeper! We’ve been going to bed around 11, she sleeps till about 3 or 4am, then again ‘til 9-ish! We’re new parents who are sleeping!?!? We’re just enjoying this while it lasts ;) 

As for me...

I feel like I’m finally starting to feel my ab muscles (or what’s left of them) again. Hello old friends, it’s been about 6-8 months without you & you were missed. Thanks for finally allowing me to sit up without having to grab onto something for leverage.

Highlight of the week...

Prosciutto (our pet mini pig) constantly comes up to Senna and sniffs her, then honks off. We’re pretty sure he realizes he is never going to beat his new lap competition & has decided to make his annoyance abundantly clear. To be fair, he’s been incredibly sweet with her and we couldn’t be more relieved. Smooch (our cavalier), on the other hand, I’m pretty sure doesn’t even realize she exists. I’m still the center of his universe & he lovingly follows me everywhere while completely ignoring her... even when I’m trying to force them to love each other. 

Senna’s highlight... 

She started laughing this week. Nothing makes me smile bigger. She does it when she’s dead asleep.... it starts with a little smile then she giggles out loud wholeheartedly. It’s amazing and I cannot wait for her to actually laugh at something we do or she does!!!! My heart might just explode when that happens. 

Aside from feeling like a walking milk machine still, I’d venture to say that I am absolutely loving motherhood. 10 out of 10. Would do it again. Highly recommended!

Off to snuggle the sweetie before I turn back into a cow.

Want to Shop This Look? More details here.

With love, 

Chantelle Paige-Mulligan 

Mommy Monday Weeks 1-2

The Love Bubble

So sorry for promising these posts and taking so long to get them started! …The love bubble is a real thing, and I’m so not ready to pop it yet . I’ve been enjoying every snuggle, smile, sad little cry, spit ups, all the funny faces, and so much more. Taking it all in, and I’m so glad I did because 2 weeks have already flown by. 

I’ll get into details of the birthing process and how it all went in another post, today’s post is all about my first 2 weeks with this little nugget! 

Our First Night

Our first night with her, in the hospital, I looked over to my left at my incredible hubby sleeping contently, then to my right to see this unfamiliar little face. She looked so much like me, while looking SO unlike me! I remember thinking, she’s mine? She’s so tan, with such dark hair!!! I must have sat there staring wondering if I was allowed to pick her up yet (or do I wait for her to start crying first?). She felt so foreign to me and I was completely unsure what to do. Couple that with being so sore, sleepy and in a haze from the day before….but also so happy I could (and did) cry.

I gave birth at 5:24pm. She was 9lbs 7.5oz and 19 3/4inches long! Our hospital does skin-on-skin for 45 minutes as soon as she arrives (before weighing or anything else). The reason they do this is they say it helps the baby connect and latch. It sure did… within 20 minutes this hungry little hippo was looking for the boob! She fed for 30mins as I stared at her… I CAN’T BELIEVE I MADE A HUMAN!!!! She then went over to dad for some skin-on-skin time. Looking over at Coulter whispering to her will forever be one of my favorite memories! Another notable memory was the nurse who turned Senna around before she passed her off to Coulter saying, “just in case you wanted to see how cute her little butt was.” I did!!! It was dang cute!!! 

At exactly 24hrs we took baby’s final test and headed home! We were missing our own bed, had Sav, Cole, Everleigh, Posie, and my mom waiting at our house, and we were ready to get home. The first few days back were a blur…between all the visitors, and the feedings every 2 hours. Senna was on the verge of jaundice and I had to feed every 1.5-2hrs until she passed her test (she finally did on day 6!) i still can’t believe the overwhelming feeling of being fully responsible for this tiny, sleepy human. 

Our First Weeks

I did all the things I swore I wouldn’t! I was adamant I would NEVER co-sleep. Well, when you’re feeding every 1.5-2hrs, your baby book knowledge goes out the door and you move the Dockatot between you and your hubby and co-sleep.

The Dock-a-tot

Co-sleeper

She refused to sleep in the Snoo, and hated being anywhere that wasn’t directly next to a human…. So, she won that round! (We’re now slowly transitioning her to the Snoo, and she seems to be taking it to it more now… fingers crossed!). 

The Snoo

Smart Sleeper

We also decided that the 10 steps out of our room to her nursery changing table were too much at 3am, and that changing her on a pad in our bed was clearly the better option. That back fired… literally. One morning, post feeding, we jointly decided to change her diaper. We prepared for her to start peeing the second we took off her diaper, yes… that is something she surprised us with quite a bit and we now thought we had her figured out. As I sat there holding the diaper flap waiting to close back up once the peeing started….. she decided to up her game. SURPRISE! A shot of liquid poop came flying out onto my hands, my stomach, and our bed. I sat there in my nursing bra and undies in shock, turned to look at Coulter, and we both couldn’t help but start dying laughing. He finished up diaper duty, while I put the sheets in the wash and myself in the shower. Needless to say, we now walk to the changing table.

There are so many other adorable stories, funny moments, and sleepy mom times I’d love to share… but it’s my b-day and we are about to drop off the little one to Grandma’s house and head out on a date. So more to come next Monday!!! 

In the mean time, here are a quick bullet points to sum up week 1-2!

• She opens one eye (usually the left) to see what’s happening before deciding if she wants to open both and fully wake up.

• Yes, she is genuinely that sleepy! 

• When I burp her she sticks both arms out and lifts both eyebrows up (it’s one of my favorite faces she makes and it cracks me up)

• She’s got these long dark eyelashes (they make me and my blonde lashes super jealous ;p) 

• During tummy time she kicks both legs & we’ve nicknamed her creepy crawler during this time!

• For part of my b-day present Coulter put a pen in her hand and helped her “write me” a card. It was the cutest. 
  
  
  

Week 1 Shopping Guide:

**Every week I’ll add links to what products I’m currently loving and what is saving my mom life right now. Look to the bottom of each Mommy Monday post for a weekly shopping guide.

1. Dockatot co-sleepers

2. Little Giraffe blankets

3. The SNOO crib

4. Hatch nightlight

Love you all lots and more to come soon! 

With love, 

Chantelle

We had our gender reveal party this weekend and we are so excited to announce that we are having a....

Oh, please. You didn't think I'd make it that easy for you.... 

Before we share the big news, here are some photos from our wonderful gender reveal party with family and friends. And if you are totally impatient, scroll to the bottom for the big reveal!

Now for a little football... and our big reveal!

IT'S A GIRL!

And now for our reactions...

We couldn't be more excited to welcome this beauty baby girl into the world next year! Thank you to all of you for coming along on our little journey!

With love,

Chantelle Paige-Mulligan

We are having a baby!

We are officially becoming parents. We did it, and wasted no time. I figured I'd share our baby announcement, baby announcement video, and let you know that the blog now officially has a Mommy and Me section. Yay! I don't want to overwhelm IG with baby facts, but for anyone curious I wanted to journal about pregnancy and share the ups (and downs) along the way. This will be where that all happens, and I am so insanely excited about it! 

First of all I will address the timeline, I get lots of questions since I'm 9 weeks pregnant but got married only 7 weeks ago. Here's how it works and something that can be a little confusing. At the doctors, they calculate your due date based on the first day of your last period, which was 2 weeks before my wedding day. Thankfully my period tracker apps tracked correctly. I chose my wedding day hoping to not be on girl time. Thank goodness that worked out. All that to say, we probably got pregnant a few days after our wedding day, as that's when the tracker said I was ovulating.

Okay, now for the day I found out. May 27th, 2018.

To be completely honest, after the excitement of the EPT letting me know I had a mini human growing inside of me, I had a moment of sheer panic. YES, I'll admit it. I panicked! I'm sure not all moms have this moment, but I'm positive I'm not alone. After the baby buzz news fades, you sit down and realize that you have only 9 months of selfishness left. It's a mind-boggling thought, at least for me. I will never again be thinking of only my wants and needs. Yes, married life is very similar but at the end of the day Coulter, my hubby, can fully take care of himself (well he can 80% take care of himself). A baby though, that is forever changing. So, if you're like me and had the moment of panic, I just wanted you to know... you are not alone!

The optimist in me however always finds the positive. I have four sets of grandparents who will adore this baby and help, an amazing husband who gets to work from home a lot, babysitters are always available for hire, and at the end of the day, I can and will continue to follow my passions. I don't have to stop working if I don't want to. I can keep being selfish, sometimes when I really really need to. And at the end of the day, I realized that not much would change, I would just have a little buddy to do everything with (although the amount of time it takes to do things will be exponentially longer!). 

I am SO excited to have a mini-me/Coulter. I am SO excited that my life IS indeed going to change. I am SO excited to become a mommy. It's such an amazing and fun time.

Now for more realness.

I didn't realize just how tired you are during your first trimester. OH. M. GEE. I've been lucky with having light bouts of morning sickness, my sister was sick daily. I do feel nauseous often but realized eating little bits and keeping my stomach "coated" helps. Due to this, I've already gained 5+ lbs because of this new found need to constantly eat. Oh well! Plus did I mention the insane bloating? BYE JEANS! Next up is the sleepiness, you basically find out there's nothing you can do but embrace it and sleep and relax more. I'm still trying with that one.

At the end of the day, my body is doing something extraordinary. I am growing a human! Of course I'm sleepy, nauseous, lethargic, hungry, and all the other amazing 1st trimester symptoms. I'm taking the ole' "if you can't beat em, join em" mentality and embracing it.

Coulter is ECSTATIC, he talked me into having a baby FAR sooner than my original timeline. I suppose it's not the norm for the guy to be convincing the girl to hurry up and have kids, but we live in a very feminist age so I loved it. He plays cool in this video, but he is GENUINELY far more excited than I am, with zero hesitations. It's adorable and inspiring and keeps me in amazing spirits... even when I'm throwing up or waking up at 1am, 3am, and 5am to pee.

We cannot wait to meet our little girl/boy! ... and I am so excited to share this journey with any of you who want to come along for the ride. Be sure to keep checking back on the blog for more updates throughout my pregnancy and more behind the scenes into my journey to motherhood.

With love,

Chantelle Paige-Mulligan