the style hatch

I don’t ever talk about body image issues on my blog, but the truth is– I have them. Pregnancy is the one time where I feel the most beautiful and the most unsure about my body. I mean, you are rapidly gaining weight, paranoid about things such as stretch marks and varicose veins– yet you feel so gorgeous knowing that you are growing a tiny human inside of you. Such a gift! Body wise I’d like to say with Liam I felt okay. My bump grew out straight and cute and I very quickly went down to pre baby weight again. This time my bump is growing differently, wider if you will. But I hear that’s typical for carrying a baby girl. I have felt more pains and aches this time and have even been presently gifted the compression tights for the remainder of my pregnancy (so not glamourous…especially in the heat of the summer). I feel insecure and most of the time I try on several outfits before I feel ‘comfortable’.

I was so excited to receive the BUMPED by BLANQI simply because it will work great for breastfeeding and it’s seamless– I’m not a fan of those maternity sides. What I didn’t expect was the support it would give my bump. And it holds every which way that I need it to. I just love it and I’m excited to order a couple more since the BUMPED by BLANQI is avaliable online at Target, now! Since I know there are quite a few pregnant readers out there, BLANQI was kind enough to let me do a giveaway for my readers which includes your choice of BUMPED by BLANQI cami and a $25 gift card to Target to spend as you wish!!!

So watch the video below (I really show/explain how it works and why I like it) and then enter the giveaway…. You get to see a lovely bump shot in the video!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I think it’s finally summer here! The weather has been crazy one day its snowing and the next day it’s smoldering hot.Today was beautiful and we spent most of the day outside. L is so much happier being outside, and I don’t mind getting a little tan while chasing him around.

I want post my 5 random things, and thought it would be fun to do a 5 things that have made me happy so far this month- post. So here goes…

//A fun little photo shoot that I did with this handsome boy. It was kinda a birthday/gender reveal shoot. If you missed the cute gif I made, it can be found here.

// Celebrating my sweet little boys 2nd birthday. It was yesterday, but we did a few little things through out the week for him (instead of throwing a party). He loves singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and blowing out candles.

// Shopping for cute girl clothes. It’s always exciting to do a little shopping after you find out what you’re having. I’m really enjoying pinning cute styles, as well as posting little styles.

// Celebrating the fact that Luke is done with school– now we just have to submit that application (in the next week) and pray for some good news into a PA program!!

// Nesting. This is a crazy one because most of the time I’m depressed that all of our stuff is in storage and that I can’t decorate how I would my own house. But I bought a gallon of paint and we started painting L’s room, which his sister will eventually join him. And even when Luke is in grad school, I have a feeling we will be traveling back here a lot so it will be ‘our room’ when we do come back.

What are some things that have made you happy this month?

I decided to attempt a little birthday/reveal photo shoot yesterday! Enjoy!

This is my favorite post to date (this post is close behind)

We went last Friday for my midpoint ultrasound. Luke and I were more concerned about a couple health risks for the baby that the doctor had previously mentioned to me. We were happy to hear that the baby is healthy! At that moment I knew I had to know the gender of this baby (not in our original plan). And I made the sonographer triple check her work. We are so thrilled to be adding this sweet joy into our family in a few short months. Let the shopping begin.

It seems like as soon as we were expecting that my sweet little boy turned into a wild child. I have had months of sickness mixed with cold weather which creates a stir crazy boy for this mama. Now don’t get me wrong, he is such a sweet boy.. most of the time. I guess some might call it the terrible twos. From what I hear not only was my husband like this as a toddler, but so was my brother (hence why they are both the youngest children). It’s been tough, especially with a husband that is not only a full time student, but also attempting a full time work schedule. And as much as I’ve cried and worried if I can do this with two, something changed in my son. A sweet change that makes your mama heart melt.

At church last week he laid down in the pew, on my lap, and read his book. We don’t have a nursery at our church so I normally don’t get much out of the service. No tantrums were thrown, not asking to leave, but just a sweet little almost two year old allowing his parents to soak up the sermon.

As we lay him down to bed we always sing Jesus Loves Me. Recently he has been trying to sing along with us. “Jessus wuves me… bible tell so” That just does it for me, no matter how hard my day was or how overwhelmed I might be, I instantly forget about it. I just squeezed on to him and soaked that moment up. This boy sure knows how to wrap me around his tiny finger.

These are those moments, the ones that you want to bottle up. The ones that can wash away the memories of any hard days as a mama. The ones that I want to never forget.

Of course every time I have my camera, it’s during those wild moments. But I kinda love those too.

Since moving from the city, I have a really hard time shopping. I mean let’s face it, all I have as my option in this town in Walmart. In all honestly, I try to avoid Walmart at all cost, I’m much more of a Target gal I suppose. I do plan one trip a month to the city to stock up on what we might need, and with a toddler in tow, it’s not the most pleasant experience to take him to pick out clothes. I was at my wits end, and sadly feeling like I would never be able to shop again… cue the hormonal mommy tears. When I was introduced to Stitch Fix back in October of last year, I really wanted to give it a try. Sending five items to my doorstep to try on and see if I like sounded like such a treat to me. I was really apprehensive about the cost but I decided I would give it a shot and see what I thought. I was instantly hooked and I can tell you each box has gotten better and better for me since then. My stylist at Stitch Fix has worked so well with me during my pregnancy and everything they have been sending me has been my favorite so far (it’s a bonus I can embrace my bump with items).

It’s no secret that I have shouted my love for them on this blog and social media. I’ve recently had several questions and comments about Stitch Fix and thought I would take a shot at answering some of them!

1. How does it work? This is a great question. I emailed the ladies over at Stitch Fix and they were kind enough to send me this detailed graphic to explain.

2. How much does it cost? Above does say items are on average $75. I can say I have had several $38ish tops (subtract the $20 styling fee and I pay $18 for those tops). Stitch Fix sells items that you would find in a higher end boutique. It’s not Target quality, which really only lasts a season… at least for me. The materials are amazing quality, the maxi dresses are longer (which for a tall gal like myself is heavenly), and well the styles are something that I have fun trying on with clothes in the comfort of my own home! So for me, the extra cost is very much worth it.

3. Does Stitch Fix bill you monthly? No, not unless you schedule to receive a fix every month. So if you sign up you will not be billed until your fix is shipped. I schedule fixes as I need them.

4. Can you request a specific item you see someone else has received? Yes, I do this all the time. Normally I will email them the link to what I saw that I liked. They can’t guarantee that you will get the item in your box, but I know they sure do try!

5. Can you blog about items you receive? Absolutely! The best thing is that if you take pictures and post them the day you get your fix, you have three days to get feedback from your readers on what to keep!

6. How about maternity? Currently Stitch Fix does not carry maternity. My hopes are to work with them as long as possible, and since my bump is still tiny (and will triple in the next few months) I know I won’t always be able to wear non maternity clothes. But I’m embracing this sweet bump and enjoying my fixes until that time comes- so I guess do so at your own risk. **Tip** the flowy shirts will work great in not only maternity but while nursing and since that’s the trend these days, I have had several flowy shirts in my last couple of fixes.

7. How do they know what style of clothing you like? My favorite thing is the detailed style profile. I’m always going into it and adding/changing it. I took a few screen shots so you can see some of the style profile.

8. Can you changes your sizes? I’m currently pregnant and I will need smaller sizes later. In the screen shot above you can see that there are drop down menu options. But I like the handy comment form on the bottom of the style profile form. This is currently what mine looks like.

I hope that all of this helps you decide. If you haven’t signed up, click here to do so. This experience has been such a fun one for me. Like I said, I’m a mom. It’s not ideal to drag my child on a two hour drive (skipping routine, most likely nap time, and not to mention my sanity) to possibly find clothing I will like. And by the time we get there, I’m normally not in the mood to shop. I’m sure for other’s their reasons for loving Stitch Fix are different, this is just my personal opinion and experience. I have an agreement with my husband that unless we both absolutely love everything in a box, that I only keep one item. This helps me not impulse shop and I love that he is willing to help me choose… because let’s face it, dragging him to the mall and walking around until I find clothing I like is not gonna happen. I have two boxes that I haven’t blogged about yet- and as soon as mother nature treats us in the midwest well with some warm shiny weather- you better believe I will be showing you how well the stylists at Stitch Fix have done to accommodate my growing bump! I hope you all love it as much as I do and be sure to let me know if you post any outfits from Stitch Fix!

The weather has been insanely unsure about itself for the past couple of months. Today and tomorrow are 80 degrees, and we will be hitting a drastic temperature drop come mid week. My sinuses are not happy about all of that. Neither is my sweet, yet very active toddler. We spent the entire day outside today in the pool and just catching some good vitamin D. I’m excited to announce that my legs went from a white to a cream due to a few hours of rays. I just wanted to do a 5 things on where we are as a family right now. But really I could do about 10.

1. Luke has been so busy with work and school. This is the first week in over a month that he has been home before bedtime. And while he is home now, it’s final time at school and he is…. well more stressed than I have ever seen him. We went last Friday to an open house and the closest PA school to us, last time we were there I was pregnant with L. Oddly enough, this time I’m pregnant again (if that shows you how long this journey has been). Luke scheduled an informal meeting with the director of admissions for the programs and she sounded very excited about the two years of classes he has taken, this means that all of his classes are officially up to date with their requirements! The application process begins next week and she asked him to submit it ASAP and email her so she knows to look out for it. Apparently they pull the early application submissions and you are more likely to get an interview if you submit it early. I actually walked out of the room and sighed… just the thought that we are getting closer, just the faint light I can see ahead- it makes me so happy!

2. Baby is kicking and dancing away in there. It’s just going by so fast this time it seems. I keep going back and forth if I want to find out or not. Luke would like to find out so we’re not quite sure what we will decide. As wild as L has been lately, I wouldn’t mind having a girl to even out the muddy, worm digging boy I have…. I’m sure any sibling on L’s will be like that… but at least at the end of the day I have someone to put cute dresses on.

3. I always say this but L is really talking so much. You can have a legit grown up conversation with him- like 10 word sentences! He also climbs out of his crib. Claims to be ‘scared’ of everything- but I’m not sure if he even knows what that word means. Loves being outside. Wants to take about 5 showers a day. Obsessed with trucks. And isn’t really sure about the thought of mama having a baby in her belly.

4. I just want to say Thank You for all the comments on the blog, twitter, and instagram about my post last week. It was a very hard post to sit down and even think about sharing, but instantly I could see the Lord working through me, by publishing that post. While that is something that affects my everyday life in so many ways, I’m trying so hard to not let it define who I am.

5. I’m having a really REALLY hard time with the ‘nesting’ thing. I’d say about 90% of OUR stuff has been packed away in storage since we moved, 2 years ago. It’s so hard because this isn’t my house, and will never feel like it. I just want to paint walls, rearrange furniture, and by gosh just hang something on a wall. Literally I sit on Pinterest and just dream of what I would do if I could nest. Please refer to #1 (please pray).

We have some fun things planned for Friday and Saturday so I’m just ready for this week to be over all ready!

Happy Monday! Being a mom and living in a tiny town, I don’t get to go shopping very often. I’m so thankful that some genius in the world thought that subscription boxes sounded like a good idea. There’s nothing better than knowing you will be getting a shipment of awesomeness monthly at your doorstep. I don’t know about you but I get so giddy when I am expecting a package. While I still do most of my shopping online I have found a few boxes that I can’t get enough of. So, I thought I’d do a fun little post of some of my three favorite subscriptions that I am crushing on lately!

STICH FIX If you have not signed up for this yet, you are way behind friends. SIGN UP HERE NOW! I have been getting a ton of questions on Instagram about Stitch Fix recently, I have a post for this week to explain a little more about it. While I do have my Fixes scheduled monthly, you don’t have to set it up that way. We were tighter on money when I first started getting Stitch Fix, so when I first signed up I would only schedule when I knew I could buy something, which wasn’t often. Now, literally I can’t get it soon enough. My stylist is rocking it with sending me things that have worked great in my maternity but that will still be stylish enough to wear post baby. Seriously, what are you waiting for click here to sign up 

The Tethered Crate offers its members monthly shipments of goods from respected contributors within the handmade community.  For only $20/month each crate will include 3-5 items and every month will be different. I love not only that this supports the handmade community, but that a portion of proceeds go to a good cause! It’s a win-win-win! Subscriptions ARE open now (there has been a long wait list) so jump on over there and sign up before it’s full again!

I am not big into make up, I wish I was but I fail at the application of it. BirchBox is one of those cheap fun little monthly things that I love. I hardly buy make up anymore because I just use the sample sizes they send me (some of those sample sizes are quite big). Plus, it’s quality makeup that I wouldn’t ever spend the money on so it’s a sweet treat every month. Sign up here