Surprise!

We should talk about this:

Yes, y'all, I am pregnant, and I just found out yesterday. Normally, I wouldn't publicly announce an impending birth so soon into a pregnancy, but as always, there's an element of surprise with this.

Most used products: one month after baby

A sweet reader named Rachael had a brilliant idea. She dug my maternity favorites post and asked if I could list some of my favorite finds for "healing, style, beauty, and baby " post delivery. I'm still using 1, 2, and 3 from this post, and delightfully, my Timi & Leslie diaper bag (seen here) is still going strong, but other than those, there's only a few things I use all the time. I did a quick survey of my bedroom (which is where Caroline will be crashing for the next couple of months), and here are the 12 products that I've used the most since she arrived (plus one more, #12, that I just ordered today that I expect I'll be using a lot):

1. SwaddleMe Organic Swaddles // 2. Moby Wrap // 3. Boppy Pillow // 4. TLCare Organic Nursing Pads // 5. Aden + Anais Cotton Swaddles // 6. Gilligan & O'Malley Nursing Sleep Bra // 7. Gilligan & O'Malley Lace Nursing Bra // 8. Gilligan & O'Malley Wirefree Nursing Bra // 9. Belly Bandit Bamboo // 10. Shrinkx Hips // 11. Hulu Plus (on my iPad) // 12. Samsung EX2F // 13. Baby Connect

[Updated!] The very long and very true story of Caroline's very short birth

It only took us three days, but Chris and I finally settled on a name. Meet Caroline Maple Adams.

Maple was chosen because my grandpa planted a silver maple for each of his grandchildren, and they're my favorite tree. Lucy was a very close second choice for a first name, but in the end I decided that Caroline gives me the freedom to name subsequent children names outside the Beatles catalog. Not that I'm planning on having subsequent children already. My crazy birth experience would probably give anyone pause when considering birthing again.

There are two reasons why I initially considered not writing down and/ or publishing Caroline's birth story. First, Chris cautioned me that any account of a mother having a ten pound baby... at home... without pain meds... in twenty minutes... could make the delivering mother come off as a braggart. Secondly, there was a major embarrassing mishaps that happened that my family would probably feel most comfortable if I did not share. It is this second piece of information, though, that assures that I will not come off as a braggart, so as embarrassing as it is, it is an essential part of the story.

It took me nearly two years to share Jude's birth story here, although most of our friends know all the nitty gritty details. I think Chris is still embarrassed that I shared so much private information with strangers, but in the spirit of sharing between women (and because you have already seen a rendering of me nearly nude), I have decided to go ahead and share the very long but true story of Caroline's very short birth. Again, do not read on if you're squeamish about birth details.

She is here!

This morning I had a post queued up that basically said, "Some of you may be wondering 'have you had that baby, yet?' with this outgoing link. But around 6:00 this morning, I deleted it.
Baby Girl Adams (who is still unnamed) was born at home at 6:10 this morning after a surprisingly quick, 20 minute labor. She came before the midwives could arrive, and Chris had only just returned from the gym... just in time for my last contraction and two pushes. Our girl weighs ten pounds, two ounces and is 22.5 inches long. I am still in shock, but I am doing well.

I have a non-baby related post queued up for tomorrow (it is a funny post about my mom) so we're going to spend tomorrow relaxing and recovering. Nursing is going well. Baby is doing well. Jude slept through her delivery, but upon meeting her, he whispered "I love you", his little voice full of wonder. I am not super sentimental, but that quiet moment was perfection for me.

Full birth story to come. For now we rest.

Old Navy Fall Haul

Shop online or in stores and find your perfect-fitting pair of The Rockstar skinny jeans at Old Navy.
I had been trying to convince Jude to be a monkey for halloween so his sister could be a little banana, but he has this unshakeable obsession for sharks lately. I had a feeling that I wouldn't have time to make his Halloween costume like last year, so I knew I was going to get him the shark costume from Old Navy. That's when I saw this:
Sales can be dangerous, so I quickly thought of the stuff I needed: Jude's halloween costume, a birthday present for Jude, a few long sleeved bodysuits and pants for Ladybird, and a couple of nursing garments for myself.
1. Jude's shark halloween costume // 2. Shark hoodie for Jude's birthday (Dinosaur here. Shark sold out) // 3. striped bodysuits for Ladybird (yellow, pink) // 4. nursing dress for the fall // 5. slouchy nursing top // 6. ruffled back pants for Ladybird (white, blue).
But then it happened. I decided to deviate from the list by taking a peek at the women's section. And that's when I was blindsided by this:
And that's how the cutest polka dotted jeans, ever ended up in my shopping cart. Then, of course, I started filling my cart with other pieces to complete the perfect fall outfit, too:
7. Rockstar Printed Dot Jeans // 8. roll cuff blouse // 9. felt cloche // 10. suede belt // 11. fringed penny loafers // 12. leopard print cross body purse.
Bah! Aren't they all adorable? I cannot wait for my new jeans to arrive! You should know that in a rare moment of self-control I ended up taking numbers 8- 12 out of my cart to make sure my Rockstar Jeans fit well first. I'm nearly certain they'll fit like a dream, though. I mean, have you seen this awesome video from fashion week? Old Navy (and the Backstreet Boys!) gave out hundreds of pairs of their rockstar jeans to women of all different shapes and sizes and had them strut down the runway. Think you can't wear skinny jeans? Think again! Girl, I used to think the same thing:

Old Navy Presents: The Fit For Fall Fashion Show for All 

My new purchases are set to arrive this Tuesday. If the jeans fit well, I may have to go back and grab 8-12 above. Oh, and 13- 15 below:

13. Beachy Pink Rockstar Cords // 14.Teal Rockstar Cords // 15. Plum Rockstar Jeans
"Universally flattering fit"? Jeans and cords on sale for under $20? Clearly there's a good reason why I'm lacking self-control.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the lovely folks at Old Navy. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

A Mother's Day Surprise

When I was pregnant with Jude I decided to wait until he was born to find out if he was a boy or a girl. I had this old fashioned idea that Chris would be the one to see first, hold up the baby, and announce (with pride), "It's a [boy]!". This time around I wanted the other experience of knowing beforehand, partly because I wanted to have both experiences but mainly because I wanted to see if we needed to buy a few girly things or if we were all set with Jude's boy stuff for Baby Two.

On Tuesday, I had my anatomy scan. I'm about twenty weeks along, and this was my last planned sonogram. The telling bits are formed down there, so on Tuesday, we were able to see if I'm carrying a Little Lady or a Tiny Cowboy. However, I felt that having the sonogram tech tell me as we were looking at a screen (which, frankly, I can hardly make heads or tails out of anything), seemed a bit anti-climatic. Therefore, I devised a little surprise to be revealed on Mother's Day.

We had two different photos of Jude printed up, Chris and I recorded our guesses, and we had the sonogram technician circle Baby Two's gender and seal it up in an envelope with the sonogram photo of proof to be opened at our Mother's Day celebratory brunch:

This explains a lot!

Well... I had been feeling under the weather for a while, so much that my city group had been praying for my health. I thought for sure I was just having a food allergy and a thyroid issue. Turns out, that's not the case at all.
Ah ha! I suppose it's time to start blogging pregnancy adventures part two at Indiana Elsewhere. Chris and I are shocked and overjoyed. More at the other blog after all my SXSW madness dies down.

Giveaway [closed]: Boon Flair Highchair

I don't write about a ton of mom stuff here because I've worked so hard to establish this blog as a fashion and decor site, but exceptions can be made (especially when one's mom blog is in transition, right?). Back in September Jude and I were given the opportunity to review a Flair highchair by Boon.

We love Boon products. We have their grass drying rack and the frog shaped bath storage thingy. They're among the most used products in our house.

The highchair review opportunity could not have come at a better time. Jude was using a little chair that hung on the table, but the table had a lip on it, so we had to attach it to the extension leaf. Every time he'd bounce in his chair, I thought for sure the table leaf was going to fall off (the kid bounces hard!). Then when we started giving him a spoon, he nicked our gorgeous Craigslist find all up. We were on the hunt for a real deal high chair. Two of my friends who recently had kids had registered for this crazy $400 high chair. I needed something nice that would go with my somewhat modern decor, would last through all of my future children, but would not break the bank. Enter: Boon's Flair chair. Check out the video we made:

We absolutely love our Flair chair. Jude uses it every single day, at least three times a day. We got it in September and it's still in really great condition. That's saying a lot because my kid loves to eat and we got a white pad on the chair (the pad is a little scratched but is otherwise spotless since it cleans so easily). I could not be happier so that's why I'm incredibly excited that one of you can win one of these for yourself. They retail for $279.99, so this is a super great giveaway!Jude's excited, too. Can you tell?

Edit: form removed. Giveaway period ended.

If you dig this amazing giveaway, please make sure to check out Boon all over the web: Website | Facebook | Twitter.

Hasn't this been fun? It's kind of like Christmas over here already with so many giveaways. I really appreciate all the new connections I've made on Google, Bloglovin', Twitter, and Facebook. Make sure to bookmark my new blog Indiana Elsewhere. It's not ready, yet (give me one more day!), but all new followers there will have an extra opportunity to win this Flair Highchair. Go >>>