the giraffe life

Time for a goals update! Financial   •  Save $300 per pay  - Yes! Easiest goal ever because this was automatically deducted from my paychecks! Personal   •  Attend more than 67 yoga classes  - Nope! I stopped attending yoga classes in June because I was modifying so many of the poses to accommodate my growing belly that it seemed silly to pay to take a class that I wasn't fully participating in. I couldn't find any local prenatal classes so I switched to DVDs from the library until the very end when just cooking dinner felt like a work out. How do pregnant women who already have children do it?? •  Read 52 books  - Yep, a total of 70 . It was a banner year for reading actually, considering almost all those books were read before September. Now baby girl and I listen to audiobooks (electronically downloaded from the library to my cell phone) during some daytime nursing sessions when I want to read something. Plus I read a kids book to...

Our family expanded earlier this week! Ahh still in shock that I have a baby! She is happy and healthy though and I'm recovering fine :) I chose to have her at a birth center and it was perfect. A relatively short labor and then I delivered her in a giant bathtub. I would definitely have a water birth again! Pushing was the hardest part and crowning was painful for me (though I'd already forgotten how bad it hurt when they put her on my chest) but I'm glad I did it drug free because I could feel everything and giving birth is an incredible feeling. Plus I was super proud of myself afterwards, haha! We love her so much. Just soaking in every minute.   I'm not sure I want to post her name and have it searchable on the blog, so check out  this list - her name is number 8 .  And to think, last November we thought we couldn't have children. Feeling sooo grateful! :) Oh and please excuse my absence around the web these past few weeks . . honestly, I probabl...

Just a quick update (prompts stolen from Olives n Wine ) . . feel free to ask me questions in the comments! Due Date: November 1st How far along? I hit 36 weeks yesterday! Full term at the end of this week :) Maternity clothes:  Yes, I've had to wear them for quite a while now. Looking forward to wearing regular things soon though! Stretch marks:  None yet. Sleep: I sleep soundly from 8pm to my first bathroom break (around midnight or 1am), then I toss and turn til about 5 when it's time to get up. My hips get sore so I have to switch sides every hour or so. Best moment this week: Going to the doctor's and hearing the baby's heartbeat. Always amazing! Miss anything? Sleeping on my stomach and bending over. I have to squat when I drop things on the floor, haha.  Movement: Lots of movement! This baby loves to dance around after I eat and when I'm laying in bed at night. Sometimes it will just push on the sides of my belly and stay there, like a...

Sunrise on Sunday Mr. G and I decided to go on one last little trip before the baby arrives (called a babymoon around here) so we drove to the beach on Saturday morning, stayed the night, and then came home Sunday evening. It was the perfect short break from work and getting things ready around the house. We spent a lot of time walking and talking, and of course ate way too much like we always do on vacation, haha!  The weather was perfect, sunny and in the 70s (about 22-24° C). The ocean was chilly but it felt good to my hot pregnant body (I've never been a warm person until this pregnancy) and I was happy to get another wear out of my maternity swim suit!  A little less than 6 weeks til my due date! Crazy to think that on our next beach trip we'll have a baby in tow! Are babymoons common where you live?

When I used to buy books, I felt obligated to read them even if they were dreadful to get my money's worth. But checking out books from the library has removed that feeling, as has getting older and receiving encouragement from others to just let go of books that I'm not enjoying. That's not to say I stop reading books willy-nilly but it's nice to have that guilt-free option in the back of my mind if I'm struggling to finish something.  This month in particular has been rough for actually finishing books (or maybe I've just been too picky) so I thought I'd share the books I didn't complete rather than the ones I did. (Though if you're interested in what I did read, you can always check out my goodreads page.) Links take you to the book's page on goodreads A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness - Pretty hard to read a romance novel when you hate the supposed love interest (in this case, a super bossy vampire named Matthew). The final...

Usually my meal planning is fairly laid back. I look over the sale ads, pick out 2-3 meals I feel like making this week, and try to do as much of the cooking as possible on Sunday so we can ride out the work week on leftovers. But this does sometimes lead to dinner ruts or accidentally making two very similar meals super close to each other (tacos and enchiladas a few days apart).  I figured keeping track of what we're eating for longer periods would alleviate the dinner ruts and help us remember some of those recipes we just haven't made for a while.  I saw this idea on pinterest and liked it immediately, but it's taken me seemingly forever to just DO IT. I gave up on making it pretty like the original and that made all the difference.  Completely fictional menu plan to give an idea of how it will look - I don't cook nearly this much, considering there are only two of us to consume all the food. And don't mind Monkey's tail, the turkey sketch, or that I f...

Most of my maternity wardrobe One thing I've really struggled with this pregnancy is getting dressed! Sounds silly, right? It's tough to find blog posts about how much maternity clothing you'll actually need because it's so personal. What one person considers appropriate work attire or "enough" doesn't always match your situation. So I figured I'd throw my experience out there :)  Here's what I've bought and my thoughts!  Oh, and I linked to something similar when I could. Links are not  affiliate - these companies don't even know I exist!   Work Appropriate - 19 items for $298 1 pre-maternity cardigan 2  tank tops - $20 (worn with pre-maternity cardigan) 6 short sleeve  blouses - $70 (1 from a yard sale, 1 from a thrift shop, the others buy 3, get 1 free) 4 long sleeve shirts - $25 (1 from a yard sale, 1 from a thrift shop, 2 from Pink Blush end of season clearance) 1 formal dress  - $88 (worn with  pre-maternity  ...