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07.03.17

Surprise, We’re Pregnant!

Surprise, we’re pregnant! Baby GIRL is due in December and we could not be more excited! I feel like I’ve been keeping the biggest secret from you and it’s been hurting my soul, lol. I’m bad at keeping secrets in general and this one was tough. With that being said, you may have sensed something was up when I was a bit MIA in May (I was so sick, more on that below), all my talk of dog training, and videos of food all over my Instagram Stories. When you share your life on social media, it’s so hard to keep such a big secret like this to yourself.

Crystalin Marie baby announcement

Our Story

We had been seriously talking about starting a family for at least a good 6 months. Once the new year hit, we slowly starting reading more about the process of getting pregnant and just finding out more information. I hadn’t been on birth control for years, so I knew my body was ready and I didn’t need that extra time to give my body a break. It’s funny, we talked about not wanting a December baby because of all the chaos already surrounding the holidays. We thought we had waited enough time to start trying, but sure enough we got pregnant at the end of March and we’re due in late December. I think we counted the months wrong, which is really funny because our friends did the same thing (btw, I feel like there’s so many babies due in December – in the blog world and IRL). This is TMI, so skip the to the next paragraph if you’re not into that sort of thing. We had fairly low expectations of getting pregnant because I thought I had our ovulation days wrong (I have irregular periods too, which made everything hard). We didn’t use an ovulation kit or anything. I’ve always been really in-tune with my body, so I just listened to it and went with it. Knowing I was going off my gut, we knew we could be off a bit. But apparently not, we we’re spot on. I guess having some health issues early in 20’s and getting to know my body really well, paid off.

How We Found Out – I had been extremely tired, but since we had guest in town, I didn’t think anything of it. I was also late on my period, but my period had been irregular ever since getting off birth control (5 or so years ago), so again, I didn’t think anything of it.  After feeling a little off and probably freaking myself out mentally, we decided to pick up 2 pregnancy tests to give myself some sense of peace (no harm, right?). I came home and took the first pregnancy test and it was positive. I started crying and freaking out a bit. Not wanting it to be a false positive, I took the second test and that one was positive. We were both in disbelief considering we thought we got our ovulation dates wrong. We were both like, how? We sat around the rest of the day not sure what to do with ourselves. We were super excited, happy, scared – every emotion you can think of.

Crystalin Marie pregnancy test

Our Thoughts on Having Kids

Mike and I grew up never really thinking about kids. When we got into a relationship, neither of us we’re dying to start a family. We were never those people. We both come from families of divorce, so I think without knowing it at the same, we were hesitant. As our relationship progressed and we were both at a good place in our lives, as individuals and as a couple, we definitely started talking about family and what that meant to us. I would see Mike with other kids and babies and could see him being the best father (he’s legitimately, the best with kids and they all love him). This sounds so cheesy, but the more we fell in love and the stronger our relationship got, the more I was ready to start a family with him.

We also always said, we would only start a family if we could both raise our kids at home. Both of us grew up having parents that worked outside of the house and we know the impact that had on us. As adults, we saw my aunt and uncle create a situation in Oregon where both parents stayed home and raised their kids (my uncle had a successful online business where he worked from home). We always said we wanted to do the same. I know it may sound bogus to have both parents home, but if you’ve never seen it done, you don’t know it can exist. We also know that it’s not for everyone and that it’s not the only way. This was just something that was really important to us. Thankfully, I had created a foundation for this when I started blogging in 2009. After years of hard work and putting a million hours into the blog, I was able to take it on as my full time job. In 2016, Mike and I took a leap of faith and sacrificed moving away from our friends and family to begin the process of starting a family in Oregon. Raising a family in the Bay Area was never an option for us because we both would have to work outside of the home. Oregon allows us the flexibility and the slower paced lifestyle to raise a family the way we’ve always dreamed about. Mike and I have been running Crystalin Marie full time for the last year and half and while there’s ups and downs, it’s been an absolute blessing.

While both Mike and I started off not knowing if kids were in our future, we’re thankful for growth, the life journey, and where we are today. We’re absolutely thrilled to start a family and we’re super grateful for this little miracle.

Janessa Leone white hat
Madewell Tank dress

Madewell dress (s), J.Crew denim jacket (xs), Janessa Leone Ainsley hat, Clare Vivier Alice tote, K. Jacques sandals (also love these)

The First Trimester

After maybe the first week of finding out we were pregnant, morning sickness or should I call it all day sickness started. I would never wish the way I felt on anyone. Being nauseous all day is the absolute worst feeling ever (because it never ends). I didn’t have an appetite for anything and I was completely miserable. I tried all the remedies – crackers, ginger, lemons, protein – nothing worked. I did force myself to eat every meal and noticed it made me feel better every time. Basically, any time I wasn’t eating, I was sick. Staying busy also helped, which was super weird. If went to the mall, I was okay. I even forced myself to workout and go for runs. All natural gum helped on the days I really needed to get to work done on the computer. So yeah, the first trimester was pretty awful. I’m reading Alicia Silverstone’s book, The Kind Mama, and she mentioned some pretty powerful sentiments about morning sickness. They went something like, the stronger the nausea, the stronger the pregnancy or it’s like your body is telling you that everything is working exactly as it should. While these sentiments were refreshing to hear, having to deal with nausea 24 hours a day for 3 months was awful.

Thankfully, once I passed week 12 things started to get better. Right now I feel fine during the day, get tired in the afternoon, and get a little sick at night. Naps have never felt so good, although it really doesn’t help productivity. I’m giving myself grace through it all, but as I’ve mentioned before, I’m a workaholic. We’ve also restructured my schedule to really get the majority of work done in the mornings. I wake up with the biggest appetite. I have to eat 2-3 times before lunch or it feels like my stomach is eating itself, haha. Another TMI moment, my boobs are ginormous. In my first trimester, it really felt like I was only gaining weight in my booobs. I can’t even imagine them getting larger (which I’m assuming they will). Can a 5ft petite girl have boobs bigger than double D’s?

I only recently got a bit of a tummy. Considering I wear loose fitting clothes, I’ve been able to hide any signs of pregnancy, which has been super convenient. Most of all my clothes still fit, although skinny jeans have definitely been put away for now. I bought this tank dress from Madewell (wearing a size small), which accentuates the belly, and makes Mike super happy. I figured it would be nice to show a little something something on the day we share our news. I will share more on my pregnancy style in another post, so stay tuned.

Janessa Leone Ainsley hat
Clare Vivier Alice tote

How Pregnancy and Becoming a Mom Will Impact The Blog

Becoming a mom will without a doubt change my life completely. With that being said, the essence of this blog will remain the same. You’ll still see all the fashion, shopping, sales, and outfit posts. I’ve always tried to make this space about fashion and my life, whether that’s through more personal posts, my weekend recaps, or my dogs all over my Instagram Stories. Now, there will just be some baby/kid/motherhood posts sprinkled in. I’ll have a tab dedicated to motherhood and baby and on the days I post those, you can either read along or skip to the next post. Honestly, I think sharing my motherhood journey will only help you get to know me better. Motherhood puts things into perspective and keeps you honest. You’ll see how I handle the ups and downs and more than likely there will always be some sort of life lesson through it all. It definitely won’t become a “Mommy Blog”, but I hope sharing my journey will be a source of inspiration for moms and non-moms alike.

Maternity dresses
Maternity tank dress

Let’s Wrap This Up

Phew, that was long! If you’ve made it to the end of this post, thank you! And Thank you for your love and support through the years. We can’t wait to share this new and crazy journey with you. If you have any mama advice or recommendations, I’d love to hear from you. Or if you know of any other mamas who would enjoy this blog or are looking to connect with other moms, send them my way. This is all very new us, so we’re all ears. We can’t wait to meet baby D!

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