Its NOVEMBER! Officially the month that we think of all we are thankful for. I'm a day late on the bandwagon but I thought I would also dedicate this month to all the things I'm thankful for. 

Today as superficial as it sounds, I am extremely thankful for my coffee maker! 

I could not have done it this morning with out it. This pregnancy is making me more than just a little tired. I'm down-right-exhausted! When my daughter came in this morning ready to wake up at the ungodly hour of 5:45am I literally started crying. I informed her my alarm had not gone off, she was not allowed in my bed, and she needed to either go upstairs or back to her room until my alarm went off. 

Well my alarm sounded, instead of pushing snooze I pushed OFF! An hour later I frantically ran upstairs and there was my little girl eating an apple surronded by thousands of candy wrappers. How did she get this candy? I have no clue. The candy was 'hidden' on top of the fridge. 

Needless to say with just a push of a button my coffee was being brewed and I was back to human form and ready to take on the day. Even though it can mostly make me decaf right now, I still love it!

xoxo

Trick of Treat

Sophia had a GREAT time Trick or Treating last night! We've been going through a bit of a rough patch behavior wise lately (trust me 3 is worse than 2) so it was nice to have a drama free night with no tantrums.

We decided to go to the big old houses in the beautiful Historic Cleveland Park neighborhood of DC. The homes are absolutely gorgeous and I got to take sneak peaks of the inside since we walked all the way to the door. We even walked by President Cleveland's old 'summer home.' Unfortunately they were not home to pass out candy. But lots of other houses were! I think we hit about 25 houses in all and walked what felt like miles. Halloween only comes once a year so I let her go as long as she wanted. Thankfully my husbands aunt came along to help me.

First house of the night!

My baby bumble bee

Awesome Wings!

Decided she needed makeup

Surviving Sandy

Unless you live under a rock you know that most of the East Coast was hit by hurricane Sandy earlier this week. Well DC was no exception, however we are extremely lucky to have had no flooding, downed trees on our condo or new cars, and our lights only briefly flickered. My heart goes out to those in my old West Village hood and everyone else how are suffering the devastating loss of businesses, home, and way of life.

Thankfully we are all still in tact. At least physically. Emotionally I finally hit my breaking point last night.

Silly me thought it would be a great idea to volunteer as a parent chaperon for my daughter preschool field trip to Butlers Farm. Bad bad idea. I was just beyond exhausted for the rest of the weekend. The weekend that ended up lasting till last night!

On Sunday we got locked in the city due to the Marine Corps Marathon and couldn't make church. I'm one of those people who needs church. I need motivation to get through the next week, be surrounded by a community who embraces my beliefs and loves God the way I do, and did I mention they take your kid for Children's Church?

Got out side for a couple minutes before the rain

She wanted to do work stations like she does at school.
 This was "Take my  picture" workstation....

Due to the rain we ended up spending much of Sunday and all of Monday completely cooped up. After the winds died down and rain simmered we finally got to get out for a couple hours Tuesday and head to the Playseum in Bethesda.

Making a necklace

Painting a bird house

Pretending to be a cashier at Safeway

"Mom, even gurls can be Supa heroes" 

Painting a pumpkin, Pink of course

By last night Sophia and I were exhausted and torrential melt down (which was bound to happen) happened.

What I learned from Sandy: 

1.  When hazardous weather is approaching make sure to go to a craft store and stock up on new crafts, the old ones just won't work. 
2.  Kids love cleaning. When you want your child to be quiet give them a rag and put them to work. 
3.  Be consistent and quit making empty threats. This is why your child throws fits. 
4. My child no longer takes naps, this means when I want to take a nap its just not happening. Making the day even longer. 
5. Have a massive amount of wine available. Unfortunately for me this was not an option. I'm pregnant. But I did ask the hubby to bring me an ice cold Coca Cola. Is it good for me? Nope. Was it good and did it hit the spot? Absolutely. ;)

Hope everyone has a great and safe Halloween! Can't wait to post pics of our awesome Halloween we have planned!

XOXO

Is my bump bigger than her bump?

I am not someone who enjoys being pregnant. I like my glass (or two, okay more like three) of red wine and I don't take lightly to someone taking it away from me for a long period of time. I also take pride in taking care of my body and going to the gym. Recently neither of these things have appealed to me. I actually canceled my beloved gym membership a month ago realizing it just wasn't going to happen for me.

When pregnant with my daughter I gained a disgusting amount of weight and vowed I would NOT do that this time around. Problems with that....My cravings don't care about my weight gain, and I'm naturally a pretty small person. If I eat a cucumber it goes right to my thighs. So of course I'm getting bigger - 17 pounds bigger actually. 17 pounds that I have to shake after this baby comes out and I'm not even close to being done with this pregnancy.

I try not to get too depressed about weight gain. After all I AM pregnant. But instead I find myself comparing myself to any and every single pregnant person out there. I want to know is "my bump bigger than your bump?" Pathetic right? If the timing is right and we spark conversation naturally we ask when the other is due and each time I hope mine is before so it's obvious why I'm so big. And, whats up with these celebrities that gain like 15 pounds and then push out a 9 lbs. baby (probably naturally)? What do they eat during pregnancy?  Air? Is it their food choices or good genes? My diet is actually really great too! Since becoming pregnant even I have switched my daughter and myself over to about a 85% clean eating diet and feel amazing, but I'm still gaining the weight!

Much like last time, I have to keep reminding myself the adorable little creature that is inside me right now and how a cupcake or cookie once a week isn't going to hurt anything.

Running after two kids will surely help with getting all that weight off, and don't forget about breastfeeding!

The guy at the gym said I could always call and renew at anytime.

Am I alone in this? Or are there others out there who feel competitive about the size of their bump? 

Until next time, I'm off to snack on some fruit (insert smirk)
xoxo

Lies, Fibs, and Over Exaggeration

I think as parents there are certain situations where we over exaggerate. I am certainly guilty of it and any one who says they are 100% honest with their children about EVERYTHING, I swear is lying. 

One mom-friend who has two little girls that go to school with Sophia. Usually they are in a uniform but this particular day was free dress day. Her daughter Isabel came up to Sophia asking why she was wearing pajamas to school. Pajamas? She wasn't! Sophia was wearing a hideous pink t-shirt dress with a tutu and cupcake on it that we HAD to come home with after a recent Costco trip. The $10 it cost was well worth the wear it has had and the dress had  actually started to grow on me. However, my friend who had also purchased this dress did not feel the same way and in an effort to not have the dress worn out in public had told her daughter it was a "pajama dress." Thankfully our kids being so young this was not a big ordeal to my daughter. My friend felt bad, I felt like she was a genius. How had I not thought about this? 

Another friend, (for privacy we will call her E) over heard a conversation between her 5 year old son and 3 year old daughter that made her second guess what she told/threatened her kids....

Daughter: "My baby doll is dead." 

Son: "Why did it jump off the couch and hit its head on the fireplace?"

Daughter: "No it climbed on the counter to get a snack and then lost its balance, fell off and hit her head, and then she fell on the scissors." 

I laughed hysterically when she told me this story and the look of pure exhaustion had spread on her face. She explained that she told them these things to make sure they wouldn't ever do them! Not knowing it would ever have this kind of impact on them. 

I noticed my own fault a couple weeks ago when my mom was in the back seat with my daughter. I heard her explaining, "Grandma, if we throw a fit and move our arms out of the car seat (which she has been known to do on SEVERAL occasions) then we have to go to the police station." Oh was the only response from Grandma she got and I found myself having to explain to my own mother my parenting techniques. One afternoon in a screaming fit my daughter tried to get out of her car seat while I was driving. No where to pull over and trying to keep an eye on the road, I turned around at a stop sign and told her, "Get back in that car seat or I will drive you to the police station and they can put you back in."

Maybe you think this is mean, but this is not a blog where we judge. At all. I was desperate and it worked and now was at least traumatic enough that it hasn't happened again even though we have had multiple fits in the car. 

 As parents or maybe just mothers, I can't really speak for men, we think of the absolute worst thing that could happen to our children and we terrify them with it. I have even found myself saying, "If you run in the street, you will die." What!? Yes we shouldn't run in the street, and yes you could get hit by a car and die, but is this really how we should explain this concept to them? By threatening death? Ha. Don't run with sticks, you'll fall and stab yourself...or remember the "You'll Shoot your eye out mom?" 

xoxo

Weekend in Pictures

After a night of up all night hysterics and bad dreams (yes again) I am much to exhausted to post something lengthy and entertaining. So instead I will just post some pics of our fun filled weekend. 

We went to Cox farms if you have never been, its a must!

I will post more and better ones later again, I'm exhausted and my brain is FRIED.

xoxo

When Kids Say Embarrassing Things

I like to make Sunday's our special craft days.

Last Sunday, I was beyond exhausted and opted for family nap time (which rarely happens) rather than head to Michael's for craft supplies needed to finish our ghosts we started last week. Sophia woke up from nap and of course asked what craft we were doing. Panicking I packed us both up in the cold rain and headed off to a local pottery shop that allows you to paint there. This one was called All Fired Up in Cleveland Park neighborhood.

This is by far not a "review" on the establishment. I will probably go back because of its location, not because of the semi-rude college students (told my daughter they were booked even though there were plenty of chairs open - too close to closing time I'm guessing?) manning the place or the over priced pottery ($42 for two little things!) simply because it is close and my daughter loved it. (Okay - now my rant is over)

We walked in and got lucky and found a table to ourselves in the middle of the store. Sophia picked out a fairy figurine and I picked out a coffee cup. Trying to come up with something practical that could be used again for the $21 I was spending. As we painted, Sophia would stop every couple minutes to examine her work and tell me a some sort of story or simply say she loved me. It was great conversation and we had a great time.

Then it happened....

A heavier set woman (you know a woman that carries all her weight in her bum?) walked past us twice and I hear Sophia begin to giggle really loudly.

"Mom! (giggle giggle) That woman had a REALLY big butt!(giggle, giggle)"

Of course the store was silent. Of course everyone heard her say it. And of course it humiliated me beyond belief.

What I'm hoping is that the store heard how I handled the situation. I did not yell at her and tell her what she said was wrong. It wasn't! The woman had a big bum. She was simply making the observation. I took this as an opportunity to explain that we never comment how different people look. That looks aren't important, and what matters is how kind and happy our hearts are. I explained that God makes everyone different and he loves all of us and we should love each other for those differences too. Sometimes commenting on how someone looks could hurt their feelings.

Feeling bad, Sophia told me she was sorry. I know my daughter would never intentionally say anything to make someone sad. She is honestly one of the sweetest human beings I know. But I still wanted her to understand what someone looked like should never even be something that we noticed. Soon a time will come where everyone has to have a certain name brand jeans and knowing teenage girls, they will talk about who doesn't have the right clothes or hair, and I hope that my daughter stands up for those who don't have the right clothes and doesn't notice the physical difference in those around her.

Oh Wait I'm a Mom

I love those moments when people say, "I'm soooo glad today is Friday." Or "Yeah! Tomorrow's Friday!"

Ummm what's Friday again? For mothers/fathers who work all week (whether at home or out of the house) and your kids are either at school, with the Nanny, or at daycare all week,  its the eve of the day where you have to come up with something exciting for your kids to do all day long. 

"Sleeping in" doesn't exist.  At least not in our house. Usually by 8:30 am my daughter is dressed and asking me where are we going today? I have barely had a sip of coffee at this point and pray for the mornings when she can pour her own cereal and is more interested in watching Saturday morning cartoons than waking me up to go to the park at 6:30 am.

Friday a day when Happy Hour was a must has now become play dates or dinner at the local Mexican restaurant because you are tooo exhausted to cook from the weeks activities. You are doing everything in your power to not fall asleep in your enchilada. 

Saturday consists of a day you used to relax, maybe get some stuff done around the house, but now involves mingeling with mom's your not really fond of at the park and running kids to all sorts of activities. Or its birthday parties, which by the end of the year will eventually bankrupt you. When bedtime FINALLY rolls around on Saturday, you were more exhausted than you have been all week and pass out face down on the couch by 9 pm. Exciting right? 

I have to admit although there are moments when I wish I could go out to dinner with the girls without having to call the babysitter, I would not for a moment change my life. I know love like no other. And those moments when my daughter tells me stories in the car between activities, those are precious. The fact that this amazing little creature chose me as the person she wants to be with on a Saturday at 6:30 am makes me feel privileged. Soon she won't want to be seen with me in public let alone that early on a weekend morning. 

So for now I complain with a smirk and a smile about my weekends. I will take in every waking moment, every extra cuddle, and exhausting memory and hopefully not go crazy enough to forget them. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend! 

xoxo

Things You Should Never Do While Pregnant: Get Hair Cut

You know how they say when you are pregnant with girls they steal your beauty? I did not feel that way while pregnant with my daughter Sophia. Even though my clothes were ugly, my skin was amazing, and my hair was thick and grew super long with a little wave. It was like one of those hair commercials where you think no one really has hair like that. I did though. And she she was born, all the 'extra' hair I had some how accumulated fell out and I was back to the same regular hair except it was August so I had extra frizz. 

Because my hair was so great last pregnancy I was more than eager to get my pregnancy hair back this time around. Here I am more than half way through and frustrated that it has yet to show up to the party. Instead this dull, dry, stringy, dingy brown mess has appeared  making me feel not so hot and look even fatter. 

In an effort to make myself feel better and my face look less fat, I decided to make a hair appointment. A little "Preggo Makeover." My usual stylish (who is AMAZING) couldn't get me in for even a little cut for 3 MONTHS. What?! I couldn't wait that long! I couldn't continue to feel like a massive beached whale with bad hair and chipmunk cheeks for the rest of my pregnancy. I just couldn't. 

So I did the unthinkable and cheated on my stylist. 

(Sigh) Worst Idea EVER. I will not mention the salon or the stylist but I am pretty sure he has never cut a woman's hair before. 

This was the pic I gave the stylist.....Of course Nicole Richie, because I am obsessed with her. 

 

And this is what he gave me...Ugh. I can't believe I'm even putting this up. I'm so embarrassed. 

 I have learned my lesson. A make-over or a change of look is not good half way through the pregnancy. 

I will go graveling back the my old stylist and hopes she takes me back sooner rather than later.

Words of my Daughter

Sometimes your children say really cute and sweet things....other times they don't.

(Me cracking my knuckles)

Sophia: Mom why do you do that? 

Me: I don't know its a bad habit, it feels good, and I'm getting old, I guess. 

Sophia: Your getting old? Where can I take you to trade you in for another mom whose not old? 

Me: I don't know, let's Google it.

 

Weekend in Pictures

Last week was very busy with work and after school activities, so I was really looking forward to the weekend, which surprisingly went way to fast. 

Started the weekend off right with Frozen yogurt from our favorite
yogurt place in Cleveland Park after school Friday

 Friday night my Mom invited me to the Tyson's Galleria ALL ACCESS Fashion Show benefiting the Make a Wish Foundation. It was an amazing event for an AMAZING cause. There were even four pregnant women there! Pics on that event to come later this week hopefully. Back to the rest of the weekend....

Sophia and I decided to make Cinnamon Rolls.
Don't get excited, they are NOT homemade

A Trip to Target Sophia decided to use her "allowance" to buy
her baby brother his first outfit.
Such a sweet girl. 

Not a good pic...but we decided to to do Sunday craft DAY!
We started by painting our feet to make ghosts, that
will later be our Halloween cards.

This girl loooves a good craft. 

Letting them dry but see the ghosts forming?

My mom took Sophia on night so I could get some organizing done.
This is all I got done but if you saw it before, this is a huge huge improvement!

Great ending to the weekend. Curling up with my favorite pup (she's
scared of the rain) and watching the crazy ladies of the RHONJ
as they hash it out over last season. 

All in all a great weekend. Now back to the grind of the work week. 

Etsy Store

Hey all,

I am desperately needing to clear our some items in my Etsy store and make new for new things. If you are interested please visit:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/StyleSoigne

Hopefully coming later this month I'll have some more items on here to sell as I'm trying to get rid of some things and make way for baby number 2!

Silent but Deadly

I rarely take public transportation. Not that I'm against it I think it's great. However, every time I'm on it I see something vulgar. In this case I smelled something....

I get off at Metro Center (those of you from the DC area know during rush hour this is a busy stop) and this girl is so eager to get in front of me. Like its a race or something. Usually being inappropriate as I am, I would challenge this girl to see who could get to the elevator faster, but I'm pregnant, slower than normal, and quite frankly exhausted and just relieved it's Friday, so I let her get in front of me.

BIG mistake.

She passed silent but deadly farts all the way up the escalator.

Listen lady, you don't want to start that war with me. I'm PREGNANT and this could get ugly!

Happy weekend ALL!

xoxo
R

Macaroni, Put It In They Will Eat It...

My daughter has grown into quite the little food snob. I mean its unavoidable with a Daddy who owns two amazing restaurants in the city.

Unlike most kids mine won't eat chicken nuggets or grilled cheese. I once watched her shovel steamed mussels in her mouth like it was her last meal. Her favorite food? Calamari. I didn't eat Calamari till I was 18.

Needless to say I am not, repeat NOT a good cook, but Sophia has recently decided her new favorite thing to do it help me fix dinner. Trying to come up with something she can help me with results in lots of salad which later result in me still starving and binging on ice cream at 10 pm.

Exhausted of salads and exhausted in general at a last resort I threw together a modge podge of things to make soup.

Yes, I know it doesn't look to appealing but its AH-MAZING!

And Simple TOO! 

I threw in a pot: frozen corn, frozen green beans, diced tomatoes, vegetable broth, lean ground beef, macaroni, and because I'm obsessed right now with anything Spicy - Texas Pete hot sauce.

Cook until pasta is al dente. 

Miss Food Snob Sophia had two helpings.

Might now be five star dining or anything good enough for Pinterest but this was good, easy, and hit the spot!

Bad Dreams & Bad Outfits

Somewhere deep inside I knew the days of putting my daughter in whatever I wanted her wear would end. Sadly it ended around 18 months so for the last year and half every morning (and sometimes more because we need multiple wardrobe changes) has been a serious struggle. About a year ago I gave up and let her wear whatever she wanted. The fighting, crying, and arguing just were no longer worth it. For three months straight everyday, my daughter wore blue Christmas pajamas.

She actually wore this dress out in public.
On the National Mall

So when school started this year needless to say I was over-the-moon about her wearing a uniform everyday. She actually seemed okay too. Until we started having meltdowns over what pair of princess panties we were going to wear that day, or should we wear our Sparkly Tom's or Sparkly Puma's to school, a yellow or pink hair bow, one pig-tail or two?

I finally lost it two nights ago when I woke up at 5:30 am to my daughter screaming in hysterics. I ran to her room half out of it thinking and intruder was ripping her limbs off one by one...

Not the case. Sophia had simply had a bad dream, and in her dream she hated the outfit she was wearing.

That's right, she had a bad dream about a bad outfit. I can't make this stuff up. At that moment I knew why God will be blessing us with a boy, he knows good and well I can't handle anymore girls in my life.

Ride or Die. Perfect scooter attire.

IT'S A.....

Last Wednesday we had our 20 week ultrasound. Thankfully we have found out we had a very healthy little baby in there and everything looked super healthy. 

We decided to have our doctor write down on a card the gender of the baby and we would open it that night at my husbands birthday party. 

After a grueling loooong day of waiting we finally opened the card to read the words: 

BOY

We are beyond happy to announce little Jay Hayden Tapper will be entering the world early 2013

Sweet Words

My daughter came home from school in such a good mood today. While reading books at bedtime we had the best conversation....

Sophia: "Mom you make the Best Popcorn in the whole amazing world!"

Me: "Wow, thank you honey."

Sophia: "You're the best mommy."

See today would have been my brother Jayson's 25th birthday but we aren't out celebrating tonight. September 10th is always a tough day for me and my family and ugh, today was no different. I would take a bad day everyday to hear that I'm the best Mommy and I make the best popcorn. 

Thank you to my sweet girl Sophia for putting life into perspective after a hard day. 

Mommy loves you. 

Last Days of Freedom

This week has been crazy busy. We are gearing up for a huge event that both our restaurants will be participating in next week on Capital Hill. I love the stress level every one gets when doing big events like this.

I'm also easing into my my new job next week and thought I would take advantage of some of my last "free" days.

Monday - Shopping with the fam for last minute sales.
She's becoming quite the Daddy's girl

She refused to take a picture with Mom! Stinker.

Tuesday: $25 Mani/Pedi
Color: OPI Berlin There Done That
Obviously I'm ready for fall

Thursday: I did some damage at the mall by myself :)
I was rushed shopping which I hate. But somethings
better than nothing!

Lord Give Me Strength

Some days just are not meant to be good days. I remember before my daughter reached two years old everyone asked us if she had entered the "Terrible Two's". I sweetly smiled and said, "Everyone has those kind of days," but in reality we were full force in terrible two's at 20 months.

So when the third year started coming around the corner I began to sigh slightly, looking at the light at the end of the tunnel. Relief at last....

Yeah right. What the heck?! When did that sweet little girl start developing opinions and attitude? Are we 3 going on 13? Why doesn't any one tell you about the Horrific Three's!

I realized at 6:30 this morning, today was going to be difficult. While walking out the door Sophia looked at me with her cute little pigtails and a trembling lip and wailed, "But I didn't want to WEAR THIS TODAY!" With in seconds, both pigtails - gone, socks - gone, shoes - gone, adorable Ralph Lauren skirt - gone. After several minutes of calming words I finally got shoes on her and we were late for school.

Sigh....I love my daughter, but am amazed how someone so small can manage to turn my day upside down. Tomorrow is another day but today I hope the Lord Gives me strength to deal with my daughter.

Boho Maternity

So as I promised I'm going to do my best to put up some outfit posts as I wear them. My husband took me shopping for my birthday last week so now I feel like I actually have clothing that makes me feel somewhat attractive. I didn't even spend my whole budget so I'm going back for more later in the week to get ready for my first week at the new job starting next week!

This was from last Friday. A girlfriend of mine took me to Founding Farmers for a little be-lated birthday lunch. Although the place doesn't get great reviews from Tom Sietsma, I L-O-V-E this place. Love it. 

Tribal Shirt (Pea in a Pod - on sale), GAP Maternity Jeans (via The Wiggle Room in Bethesda $12.00),
Target strappy sandals

This outfit was super comfy and went perfectly from lunch with a friend to late afternoon play date. 

First Day of School Recap

Well last Wednesday was the day. I dropped my precious baby girl off at her first day of preschool.

cutie-pie in her uniform

The morning started off great. Filled with excitement on her part, apprehension and fear on my part. I made sure to pack my over sized sunglasses to hide the sure to be on their way tears. I made it to the playground then basically burst into tears trying to hide my shaking shoulders and speared makeup. 

Sophia cried about 30 seconds while walking into school. I sobbed like a baby. 

Before the tear, my tears. 

Almost a week later, this morning I had to remind her to give me a hug and kiss before she was off running with her friends and teachers, missing them from the long weekend. 

(Sigh) Well, she's officially off and ready to be on the road to becoming a 'Big' girl. Although she will always be my baby girl I'm excited to join her on the journey she is starting!

(Want to see more pics of first day of school? Follow me on Instagram @ MrsTapper)

No, Thank you. I'll Pass on the Mumu's

Ugh, So it finally happened. That moment during pregnancy when you wake up, look down and see the evidence that you are indeed pregnant. The full on belly pop.

Its the moment when even the stretchy fat jeans that did still fit you - stop fitting. And mixed with hormones, this day is horrible. No comforting words can help and even the normal retail therapy doesn't work because NOTHING IN THE STORES FIT. I try and remind myself that I'm going a small person in there but also vainly wonder if my widening hips will ever go back and fit into a size 25 jean?

With my last pregnancy my husband and I were just starting out and too broke to even be having a kid let alone spending $100's of dollars on maternity clothes. I bought enough to get me through the pregnancy but I never felt good about myself and constantly felt frumpy.

Me about 8 months pregnant with my daughter
Sophia a little over 3 years ago.

This pregnancy, being a lot more prepared and stable (both mentally & financially), I informed my husband I was going to look cute and actually spend some money on maternity clothes that made me feel good about myself. I was NOT willing to let my love for fashion be swept under the rug this time.

Still refusing to spend $100's on clothes that lets be honest I will never (EVER - did you hear that hun?) wear again, I started looking in my favorite thrift and consignment shops, and then moved on to my favorite websites where I found ASOS.com and TOPSHOP also sell maternity clothes! Excited I put in my order and found some great finds at some local stores and started my beginnings of my maternity wardrobe.

14 weeks: Leopard Leggins - ASOS
White & Black Tanks: H&M

This is an older picture from 14 weeks, but I adore these awesome leggings from ASOS.com and wear them a lot! I'm going to do my best to document some of my favorite outfits on blog about once a week.  Let me know what you think and where you get your awesome maternity finds!

Please Meet....My Bump is the New Black

Some of you might have followed or occasionally read my last blog DC Styled Chic. I have actually nearly neglected the blog because of the million and one life changes, which is why I decided to start a new blog. Please meet : My Bump is the New Black

My idea to start this blog came with the extra free time I will soon be acquiring. See in a week and half my baby girl is going to pre-school. Pre-school! Gah, where did the time go? I remember her squishy little baby face, her first steps, and the first time she said Mama. I know this is the order of life, and its not like she's going to college, its just pre-school, but still it feels like a little piece of my heart doesn't need me anymore.

My sweet girl

Another truth is I'm also turning 28 next week. No that's not old, but this is never where I thought my life would be at 28. If you would have asked me ten years ago where I thought I would be, THIS, this right here is not where.

So who am I? I'm 27 (ALMOST 28) year old mom of a very energetic and free spirited 3 year-old little girl and expecting my second at the beginning of February 2013. I stay home with my daughter part-time and help my husband out with his businesses the rest.  My husband owns two restaurants in Washington, DC and I help with the private events, social media, and marketing/communications.

I'm creating this blog as a creative outlet for myself.  I'm struggling with where I fit in and where I want my life to go.  To show what I love, and in the process find my way in this crazy life.

I hope you enjoy my crazy stories, my struggles in life and simply to stay somewhat fashionable during pregnancy, and my road to finding myself and where I belong.