A Darling Dream: .OH Baby, Sharing All Things First Trimester.

First of all, thank you for all the love and support you girls have been sending our way since we shared our big surprise! Keeping this from you girls, for what felt like an eternity, was SO hard! There were plenty of times I wanted to jump on and share little things or even explain why I wasn't on. I loved all the questions you ladies sent in and wanted to answer them in one place.

When I was pregnant with Kennedy, I used to do "bump-updates". They were huge back then! Is this something you girls would be interested in? It wouldn't be a weekly thing, probably a monthly round up of things that are happening, what I am loving product wise, and just all the fun (and not so fun) things that come along with pregnancy :) Let me know!

How & when did you find out:

I found out basically as early as humanly possible at home! Since we were technically "trying" that means you are tracking everything. I was very aware of when I was in my cycle. It was a Friday night and we were headed to a friend's 30th birthday and I had a urge to take a test. I thought to myself, I was crazy for even testing this early, but sure enough a very, very, very faint line (I'm talking you'd have to squint) showed up right away. I honestly could NOT believe it. I didn't say anything to Tyler because I knew if I showed him the test, he wouldn't be able to see it & would think I was crazy, lol.

The day I decided to take a digital, which again was pretty nuts because I was so early, but sure enough the word "pregnant" popped up a couple minutes later!! The next day was Easter, so I decided to wait to tell Tyler. I'm not good at keeping secrets, so this was torture for me.

I wrapped up the test in a really cute Easter bag and had it sitting on the table for him and while Kennedy was opening her basket, I gave it to him to open. It was the perfect Easter present, since the holiday before (Christmas) was not so great!

How did we tell Kennedy:

We waited to tell her until after our first doctors appointment. I just wanted to make sure everything was moving along perfectly before we told her anything. I did make the decision this time to tell our immediate families pretty early on just in case something happened. But I knew her 4 year old mind wouldn't be able to process what was happening if we told her early and god forbid it didn't work out.

We told her when we were at Disneyland for my birthday! She has been asking for a baby sister or brother (mostly sister, lol) for months! I thought she was going to freak when we told her, but to our surprise she just asked to go on another ride haha. It took a minute for it to sink in and ever since she has been OVER THE MOON! She asks every single day when the baby is going to come out.

Will we find out the gender and share it with you guys:

This was the number one question!

Yes, we are going to find out. In fact, we already know :) We were tossing around the idea of waiting till the baby was born to find out, but neither of us has that will power! Also, I just wanted to be prepared. I'm a shopper (duh!) and couldn't wait that long to shop for cute clothes & accessories! Especially if it's a boy because then we would be starting from scratch.

We found out pretty early with the blood test. It wasn't covered by our insurance, so we went with the clinical sneak peek done at the 4D ultrasound place. We do have an ultrasound coming up so I want to wait to confirm what they told us & then we will announce here and Instagram.

What has been different this time:

I showed way faster than I did with Kennedy! I knew this was a possibility because they say you show earlier with your second. With Kennedy I didn't start showing until around week 15/16 and this time it was right around week 10!

What are you most excited about for baby number #2:

Without a doubt, watching Kennedy become a big sister! Also, just enjoying the process of having a newborn more. As a first time mom you are a nervous wreck, at least I was! I thought Kennedy was going to die if I did anything wrong. I'm looking forward to taking it all in and enjoying the little moments.

How have I been feeling:

To sum this up...not good! But you probably picked up on this from my lack of insta-stories. Right when I hit 5 weeks the dreaded morning sickness hit. Except it wasn't in the morning, it was alllll day! I felt like I had the worst hangover of my life/motion sickness and extreme exhaustion. It was a brutal combo! It let up a little around 11 weeks and I thought I was in the clear, but it's been coming back lately. Mostly in the afternoons. I have never really been a napper, but I have been sneaking them in when Kennedy takes one because I just can't hang! Overall, I am feeling more like myself and hope this sticks because work wise July is a crazy, crazy month!

Cravings/Aversions:

The aversions really takes the center stage on this question! For about a solid month I lived off saltine crackers, toast, soup, and bagels. Basically all the carbs! It was the only thing making me feel a little better.

Everything I once loved is really everything I can't stomach. I mean, the thought of Chick Fil a makes me want to get sick....how sad, right?!

The worst one was/is: coffee! This happened with Kennedy too and I was hoping I could avoid it. The morning I woke up and coffee sounded gross I wanted to cry! I mean, you're already exhausted & now I don't want coffee....cue the tears! I really didn't have coffee for about a solid month, the whole month of May and part of June. Then I figured out I could stomach iced coffee so all is well again ;) I stay within my caffeine limits for pregnancy, but I realized I have to have it to function and be a mom & wife! #forreal

When is your due date/how far along are you:

I'm 14 weeks & due December 31st!

The month before we found out, I remember crying to Tyler that we wouldn't have a baby in 2019 and then when I found out our due date I started laughing. We

made it by ONE day! Although most babies are born on their due dates. I keep having this feeling that the baby is going to be born on Christmas. Which would be the best gift of all considering what happened on last Christmas!

Did we use fertility treatments or what apps did we use:

Fortunately we did not have to go the route of fertility treatments! When we had the miscarriage back in December the Dr. told us that it was probably an isolated incident and to just keep trying for the next year and then if nothing happened, we could look at our options. It took us 4 cycles, but I really think my body needed the time to get back on track.

I did use a couple apps to track my cycle: Ovia & Glow. I found them very helpful and they had lots of info.

Any must have pregnancy products so far:

I really haven't switched anything up in my routine so far! I do use this lotion daily to keep my skin moisturized, but I swear by this lotion no matter what. I am on the hunt for a pregnancy pillow because it's about that time for my back. I had my eye on this one that I came across on prime! I'll let you know which one I end up ordering though. If you have one you LOVE, please share!

Clothing wise, these shorts (that I always rave about) are perfect for the first/second trimester. You know when you're starting to show & don't want anything tight! There's a reason I kept sharing them last month ;) Regardless of being pregnant, I love them every summer. I just really, really love them this year!

Are you going to keep doing try ons:

YES! Now that the secret is out and I'm (hopefully) feeling better I can get back to try ons. I missed them more than I thought I would! I also got the question if I was going to show a lot of maternity options. I am going to try to stick to non-maternity brands and size up and continue to shop places I love. Because I know the majority of you are not pregnant, I still want to be a great resource for all of you! But I am sure there will be some exceptions as I get very pregnant, ha! I am excited that I finally get to tell you from my own experience how the magic jeans work while pregnant!!

Again, thank you for all the love during this special time! I am excited to share our experience this time around and all that comes along with it!

Xo, Kayla

Here's a couple pictures that are special to us that I didn't get to share......

We used this picture to tell our moms/families on Mother's Day. Kennedy had NO idea what the sign said! We told her to smile as if she was getting a baby brother or sister :)

If you're announcing soon, this letter board is so cute and comes in a ton of colors. I had pink because it's in my office. It's super affordable, great quality & on prime (here).