Our Confetti Filled Gender Reveal!

Gender reveal parties. Remember, the good ol' days when you more than likely didn't know the sex of the baby until the moment of birth or what about the days when the sonogram tech simply said, "Congrats, you are having a BOY!" Those days are the thing of the past and now you must have another party celebrating that little life inside of you, a gender reveal party. 

In all seriousness, I think they are super cute which is why 4 years ago I introduced our local bakery to the idea of a gender reveal cake. And even though it was just Ryan and me with our wedding cake knife and a super cute cake, we still threw a miniature party to find out that our little Luke was indeed a boy. 

Fast forward to this baby and I knew I wanted to do something to get Luke excited. My friend Briana, told me about the balloon filled with pink or blue confetti and I knew that was the one for us. Though I love cake, Luke loves balloons and I knew I would not be patient enough to wait for a cake to be made, I wanted to know immediately. If I am being honest, the main reason I wanted to know so quick was so I could go through all of Luke's clothes before our local Just Between Friends sale happened! But, I also am a massive planner, so knowing the sex is important to me. 

Our appointment was early in the morning, so we had the tech write down the sex on a card and place it in an envelope. Somehow Ryan trusted me to take the envelope to Party City and have balloons made, I promise I did not look! The excitement was all too much for Luke, as you can see the early morning mixed with the balloon retrieval were enough to send him into a deep car nap! 

We decided to do a make your own pizza night with our very best friends, Jay and Lisa, and Ryan went ahead and picked me up red velvet cupcakes to celebrate the news (he knows me so well)! We made our bets known publicly, set up the FaceTime, set the camera to record and went about popping!

We are happy to report that Baby Nye #2 is a GIRL! 

To see the edited video, make sure to head over to my Instagram account!

I was completely surprised and Ryan guessed correctly. That makes him 2 for 2 and me 0 for 2, whatever happened to a female's intuition?! It is so funny because with Luke, I was hoping for a girl. I was raised in a family with 3 girls, what do I know about having a baby boy? But, here I am 3 years later and I LOVE being a boy mom. Now, I am so excited to welcome a baby girl into our family. I can't wait to see Ryan with a little girl, I can't wait to be a mom to a little girl and I can't wait to see Luke with his little sister. 

A few things about doing a balloon reveal; 

• In the video you can't see what the confetti is, so I would recommend using A LOT of confetti or using those paper crinkly confetti type things so that you can see what color it is. 
• Confetti weighs the balloon down, so your balloons that are filled will only last 4-5 hours, even if you get the extended life added to them. 
• Luke is a bit sensitive to loud noises, but we made sure to talk to him about the process for a few days before the big event. This prepared him for the noise and for the confetti flying everywhere. It also helped for him to try to understand that pink meant girl and blue meant boy. 
• Always have a few media types recording! We had some recording errors, but luckily had two backups! 

Now if you will excuse me, we have lots of clothes sorting and selling to do! 

Bump Update •19 Weeks•

Have you missed me? I have desperately missed you all, but things have been crazy over here so I needed a small break. We decided to go ahead and list our beautiful house out here in Tucson, so if you know anyone looking for the perfect house in the southwest, send them our way. I will have more on the process and why we decided to go ahead and list in a few weeks, but for now look how clean and pretty! I just love having an uncluttered house!



 I also just realized that my little man starts school in less than a month! WHAT?!? I am trying to get in as much cuddle, play, and crazy time with him before he is away from me for three mornings a week! 

In other news, I am now 19 weeks pregnant (technically almost 20 weeks since this is a late post)!! Considering my last update was at 15 weeks, I thought it was time to fill you in on this second pregnancy of mine. 

How big is baby? 

A large mango! Which, is very fitting because I am still loving anything mango related. Hello, Mango Eegee's (you have to be from Tucson to understand the power of an eegee)!

Total weight gain: 

15 pounds ! I am convinced most of the weight is in my top section, if you know what I mean, but I am still eating relatively healthy with the exception of a few treats. I am also still working out 3-4 times a week but not running hardly at all except for some short 1 minute spurts on the treadmill or on the trail throughout my walks.

Maternity clothes? 

Luckily, my older sister sent some maternity clothes for me. So, yes I am officially wearing loose dresses or maternity pants! I also love the trick of using a hair tie to keep my normal pants closed! And I am still rocking my bikini for the summer. I had to increase my top size, substantially, but other than that it is what I am comfortable in so why not? 

Sleep: 

Going OK! Have ya'll heard of Banana Tea? Well, while perusing Facebook late one night I found the recipe and I have been loving this nightly routine. I swear it does help me sleep at night. Recipe from Dr. Oz.com! If you are having problems sleeping, pregnant or not, you must try this! Another benefit is that all that potassium helps with those annoying leg cramps that come around during pregnancy.

Banana Tea

1 t cinnamon

Banana with the top and bottom cut off and cut in half, leave the peel on.

Steep cinnamon and banana for 10 minutes in hot water.

Pour water through colander and into a mug.  

Enjoy 1 hour before bed. 

Best moment this week: 

So far, I would have to say going to the Dixie Chicks concert last night! I have loved their music since the beginning and it was so special to go with my little sister. We had originally planned a sister's weekend around the concert, but then my older sis found out she was pregnant and it would be right around her 36 week mark, meaning no travels! We missed her so much, but are looking forward to doing something next year.

Miss Anything? 

Champagne and sushi, both sound decadent. Though my recent find of Spindrift Seltzer water has curbed some of the champagne cravings. 

Movement: 

The babe does not like when I crunch him up, so lots of movement then. And of course after I have a good meal! 

Food Cravings: 

S'mores are a recent fave (check here for my recipe on how to make them indoors) and I am still eating my weight in (heated up) lunch meat! 

Gender: 

Finding out tomorrow, I can hardly wait to get organized! 

Symptoms: 

I am so tired, but life has also been busy so that could be because of that. I also have weird pains and feelings, which I attribute to having to mother an active pre-schooler throughout this pregnancy. 

Belly Button in or out? 

In, and it will probably be in the whole pregnancy. 

Happy or Moody most of the time: 

Still moody a lot, but hey I am working on it! 

Looking forward to: 

I'm in the process of finding a good prenatal yoga class, so I am definitely looking forward to that! And of course, finding out the sex. 

So, there you have it! This pregnancy has been interesting for me and will only continue to get more hectic and busy as I go along. So, I am trying my hardest to not stress about things out of my control. But that is hard for the Libra in me, so send me positive thoughts. 

Love to you all! And I promise I will be back in a few weeks with all the blogging happiness I usually have! 

The Very Berry Greek Popsicle!

Why is it the day after you throw out all ice cream in your fridge, you desperately want ice cream? I am not an ice cream person, my husband is, so we typically have some in our freezer. Occasionally, I go through sugar purging mode, and get rid of all the mostly eaten culprits. Ice cream is not my go to sweet, but when I CAN'T have it, I want it. I suppose that theory could be applied to many things in life, but a week ago it was applied to me needing ice cream and having none on hand. 

Insert our newest Popsicle creation, The Very Berry Greek Popsicle! 

Super simple ingredients and very easy to whip up! 

Ingredients:

1 cup greek yogurt (we use Greek God's Honey Greek Yogurt)

1 cup blueberries

BIG handful of spinach

1 tbsp of Agave in the Raw (if you don't use a flavored greek yogurt, I would go with 2-3 tbsp)

Directions:

Throw in the yogurt, blueberries and agave in the raw, blend!

Throw in your handful of spinach, blend until well incorporated.

Pour into your Popsicle forms and let freeze for at least 2 hours. 

As always, I made a little smoothie for an afternoon snack for Luke and poured the rest into the forms. We enjoyed these out on the patio for dessert and Luke was a BIG fan. 

This is his, "mom, I just want to eat my popsicle" face! 

I think that I have successfully made this into the summer of the Popsicle. We are having so much fun coming up with these variations. What else would you want to see put into Popsicle form?

Happy blending,

Who are you supporting?

All the recent posts, blog and major media outlets alike, about mom shamers and hateful comments on social media have got me thinking about something. Maybe if we stopped writing open letters to the hateful people, stopped trying to figure them out, and stopped giving them their five minutes of fame after they make horrible remarks, maybe just maybe people would stop doing it. 

Have you ever met that person at a party that would say and do anything in order to get in an argument or a discussion about a topic that nobody wants to talk about? Those are the exact same people that are doing this on social media, they have resorted to their couch because nobody wants to hang out with them and nobody wants to argue with them in person anymore. Now they are simply trolls that are looking for a good time on the Internet. Too harsh? OK, maybe it's a mom that's had a really bad day and that has a really strong feeling on something. Maybe she regretted it after typing it. Or maybe she didn't. But who cares! It also happens to be easier to say hateful things through a keyboard than a mouth. 

Ignore them. Stop giving them what they want. Stop writing a comment back to them. And dammit, stop writing blog posts about it. There will always be hateful people in this world no matter what we do or what we say. The better thing to do is step on your high horse and let the people who are being shamed know that we have their back, and no matter what we know that they are good people. Write a comment that lifts them up and ignore the haters. Write a blog posts that praises their decisions. Send them an email letting them know that you are on their side.

Kiss your kids on the lips, don't feed them organic food, use regular suntan lotion, embrace your kid's awkward toddler tummy and if you are feeling really daring, post about it all over social media! Because guess what? They are your kids and it is your life and at the end of the day we know you are an awesome parent. 

Remember, support each other and practice what your momma taught you, "If you don't have anything nice to say than say nothing at all!"

 I am leaving you with one of my favorite "empowerment" lyrics.  

Watermelon Delight - a super sweet #fbf

Luke is a pretty good eater, he loves to clear his plate and one of his favorite foods to eat is broccoli. I still try to make veggies fun, and I try my hardest to hide them in nearly everything I make. We tried to keep him away from sugar until recently, for many reasons, but mainly I didn't want to lose my "good eater". And let me tell you, when he discovered sweet sugar, his life was changed. If we mention the word cookie, his face lights up like it's Christmas! His latest love is ice cream, and while we limit it as much as we can, there is nothing better than ice cream in the summer! 

The other morning, I was making Luke one of his favorite smoothies and had an epiphany, why not turn this into a Popsicle? It has loads of spinach in it, and we had so much fruit that was ready to eat. I dug through my pantry and found the set of Popsicle forms that I had bought a few years ago and got to work. 

Luke's morning smoothie! 

Watermelon Delight!

Ingredients:  

2 cups of watermelon 

1 cup mixed berries (I used blackberries and blueberries) 

1/4 cup water 

1 tbsp Agave in the Raw 

2 large handfuls of spinach 

Directions: 

Throw all ingredients (minus the spinach)  into the blender, blend well. 

Add in handfuls of spinach and blend together. 

Pour into the Popsicle forms and freeze for at least 2 hours. 

Run the Popsicle sticks under water for a few seconds to help the Popsicle come out of form. 

These are so simple and so yummy. They proved to be the best summer treat for not only Luke, but us too!  We enjoyed them outside (they were a bit messy) as an after nap snack, while waiting for Dad to get home. I can say that these will be a staple in our house, and I look forward to making some new variations to share with you all!

Happy blending, 

It's a Popsicle Month!

Happy July! With July comes lots of cookouts, fireworks and backyard parties so I thought what better way to celebrate the month than with popsicles!! 

Our monthly #freezerlovefriday theme will be Popsicles and while I love the store bought version, I also love to create Popsicles with Luke. This one was actually created by him and uses his two favorite fruits, strawberries and blueberries! Throughout the month I will add in some ingredients you wouldn't think would translate into a Popsicle, but trust me, you will LOVE them! 

The Strawberry/Blueberry Popsicle Mashup!
Yields: About 6 Popsicles

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut water

1 cup strawberries

1 cup blueberries

2-3 mint leaves

Popsicle Molds 

Directions:

In your blender, combine the strawberries, half of your coconut water and your mint leaves. Blend until well mixed. Set aside

Next, blend your blueberries with the rest of the coconut water. If your ingredients are frozen you may need some more water, that's OK you just want a smooth texture. Set aside. 

 Pour in your blueberry mixture and place in freezer for 10 minutes. This helps form the Popsicle so the ingredients won't mix. 

Pour your strawberry mixture in the Popsicle molds and place in freezer for 10 minutes.

Lastly top with remaining blueberry mixture and let freeze overnight. Any extra you have, make into a smoothie.

Enjoy!

Happy freezing,