July Date Nights

We had some good and some not so good date nights this month. Haha! You win some and you lose some. :)

July 6th: I planned this date night. I read about something similar online and really liked the idea, so I have been waiting for the weather to cooperate. We had a drive-in movie night at home. I rented the movie Collateral Beauty and we loaded up the back of Trevor's truck with pillows and blankets. I made sure my computer was charged and we had a great night.

July 13th: Trevor planned this one. He planned this one with our old neighbors and friends Randy, Cassie, Jason and Morghan. Trevor and I went to dinner at Main Street Tavern and then we met up with our friends at Roof Top for Trivia Night. I probably said 5 times this night "don't let me forget to get a picture" but of course, here we are with no picture! :( That's okay though, we had a great time with great friends. We definitely were not great at Trivia, but we had a good time trying. I do believe Randy and Cassie were the smartest of us all! Thanks for keeping our team afloat!

July 20th: I was feeling a little stressed about finding the right couch for our house, so Trevor threw out the idea to go couch shopping on our date night. We weren't able to find a sitter for Brooks, so we decided to take him with us. We first went to Tropical Smoothie Cafe and got dinner and then we headed to a few stores. Well, Brooks was pretty terrible the whole time. Ha! He usually enjoys being in his stroller, but he wasn't having it. He wanted to be independent and walk/crawl around by himself. He was just learning to walk so he was anxious to be out of the stroller and trying his new moves, which I totally understand. But, it made couch shopping rather challenging. The good news is, we found a couch. It was the very last store we were planning to go to and the last couch that we decided to take time to look at.

So, overall it was a good date because we found a couch. Trevor and I both probably hit a small breaking point with Brooks throughout the date, but it was a good date. Haha!

July 27th: We didn't have a date night. :( We were leaving the next day to go to Michigan and we both had several things that we needed to accomplish before we left, so we made a deal to have two dates in Michigan, which we did. I will share them in our August Date Nights since they both occurred in August. Again, you win some and you lose some. The point is, make date night a priority!

Happy Dating!

#DrinktoHinck

This past weekend I was off to Chicago to celebrate one of my dear friends, Nichole! The future Mrs. Hinck! Here are some highlights from our trip!..

I left Friday morning and arrived in Chicago around 11. I met up with the girls that already arrived and we went on an architecture tour by boat. It was a really neat tour but it was HOT! 

After the architecture tour we walked to Millennium Park to check out the bean...a staple item in Chicago you have to see!

Next up...Blow By Blow Blow Dry Bar! It was fun to get pampered and have our hair done. 

After, we came back to the hotel and got ready for the evening. 

We ate dinner at RPM Italian. It was delicious!




But first, a stop at the Firehouse. ;)






















Late that night we had a little shower for Nichole.

Saturday morning we got up and ready and headed to brunch at the Willow Room. 

We did a little shopping and walking around and then headed to the beach. 

We had a few things planned Saturday night so we got ready back at the hotel and then headed to dinner at Lou Malnati's. 

Such delicious pizza!!

My beautiful roommates for the weekend. 

Then we headed to the Second City comedy show. Not my favorite, but we had a good time.

We ended the night and weekend on the top floor of the John Hancock building. 

So neat!!

It was such a fantastic weekend with a fun group of girls. Being 28 weeks pregnant at a Bachelorette party doesn't seem too ideal, but I had an absolute blast! Chicago was beautiful and there is so much more I want to see now. I'll be back for sure. Congrats Nichole!!! I hope you had a fabulous time. Next time I see you, you will be walking down the aisle to the man of your dreams!

Second Trimester - Baby #2

Here is a fun filled overview of second trimester with baby number 2.

You can read all about the first trimester here!

April 12 - July 18th

Baby Size: Again, I'm just stealing this from when I was pregnant, and on top of things, with Brooks. I rarely know any of this info this time around. Ha! By week, here we go: 14-Lemon, 15-Naval Orange, 16-Avocado, 17-Onion, 18-Sweet Potato, 19-Mango, 20-Banana, 21-Pomegranate, 22-Papaya, 23-Grapefruit, 24-Canteloupe, 25-Cauliflower, 26-Head of Lettuce, 27-Rutabaga. He went from being 3.4 inches to 14.8 inches....now, that is a LOT of growing!!

My Symptoms: I didn't really keep track weekly like I did with Brooks, so I feel a little out of touch with how things were at the beginning of the second trimester. I can tell you that my energy came back right at the beginning of the second trimester, which is pretty normal. Also, most of my scary side affects disappeared when the second trimester started which means I could go back to only visiting the doctor every 4 weeks instead of every week. Thank goodness! I started getting really bad headaches around week 20. I get them about every day. I usually drink a little caffeine when it gets unbearable and it goes away for a couple hours. The worst part has been my pelvic bone. If I sit for any number of minutes, when I get up my pelvic bone hurts so bad. I did not have this issue with Brooks, so this is a new one. I also have to pee ALL.THE.TIME!

Weight: I have not really kept track of my weight. To be honest, I feel huge! From the beginning I have felt so much bigger than I did with Brooks, but the scale says something different. I was honestly shocked every time I went to the doctor and the number was significantly lower than I thought it would be. I didn't really pay attention until Week 21. I stepped on the scale and I was the exact same weight that I was with Brooks at Week 20. However, I started this pregnancy about 5 pounds heavier than with Brooks, so at Week 20, I had only gained 5 pounds. My next appointment was when I was 26 weeks pregnant and I was only up another 3 pounds, so in total I have gained 8 pounds. Just this week, I feel like baby has grown a ton and I am looking really pregnant, so I'm anxious to see what it will be the next time I go in.

Gender: We knew we wanted to wait and be surprised with Brooks, but this pregnancy was enough surprise in itself, so I knew I wanted to know the gender as soon as possible. No more surprises!! We are having a sweet baby BOY!!!!! Rhett Michael Morris

Maternity Clothes: I had several pair of normal jeans that fit for a long time, especially if I did the hair tie trick. However, I don't have many shorts that fit. Last year I basically wore maternity shorts through the summer since I had Brooks in July or I wore athletic shorts. So my normal shorts haven't been worn in 2 years. So, when it came to shorts, I just wore things that I wore last year. To be honest, I need to start all over in the shorts department, so next summer that is what I'll be shopping for. As far as tops and dresses, I don't really have any maternity tops, I just bought a few Large tank tops from Target and I had some from last year and those seem to suite me just fine. I wasn't as stubborn to the idea of switching to maternity clothes this go around. Honestly, they are so much more comfortable than trying to squeeze into clothes that are just a little too tight. Especially being so hot outside, I just want to be comfortable.

Movement: Let me just say, this kid is ACTIVE. Holy cow! He never stops moving. Around week 18 I felt him moving all the time. Week 21 was the first time Trevor was able to feel him move and Week 24 I could see my stomach moving a lot from when he would kick or move. I feel like every time I look down at my stomach, he is moving and I constantly feel him all day and all night! I'm not sure if he sleeps.ever. I absolutely love that feeling when they are wiggling around, but my goodness, I think we have an active fella on our hands.

Sleep: Honestly, sleep has been normal. I make sure to go pee RIGHT before I lay down for bed and I am usually asleep and good until around 5 in the morning. At that time I can't think about anything other than having to go pee. I usually fall back asleep though for awhile before getting up for the day. Just this past week I noticed that I have been getting up around midnight or 1 to pee, but I usually go back to sleep really quickly after I get back in bed. This has eliminated me getting up at 5, so really, I have no complaints in the sleep department. I usually get sleepy during the day because of the headaches, but it has been hard to squeeze in a nap.

Cravings: I haven't really had any cravings, but I do find it acceptable to have some type of dessert every.night which is NOT a great habit. I also don't really care for Mexican food, which is usually a food I LOVE!

Work Outs: The first trimester was touch and go there for awhile and I was advised to not work out, so, now that all of those complications subsided and I am feeling better, I have been more active. I don't necessarily "work-out" but Brooks and I go for a walk around the neighborhood across the street every day. (This has slowed down this week because it is SO hot!) At the very least, I get 10,000 steps every day. This is actually a goal of mine until baby #2 arrives.

Best Pregnancy Moment: Finding out the gender----BOY!!! And getting to feel his sweet kicks all day long! We are also working on Brooks saying "baby." He will say it when he feels like it. Haha!

Goals for Next Trimester: Enjoy these last 12 weeks. I honestly don't plan on having any more babies, so I'm going to try to soak it up and enjoy as much one-on-one time with Brooks as possible and enjoy being pregnant for the last time.

Thoughts: Wow, I am nervous for 2 (under 2...haha). I have no idea what our lives will look like come October, but there are definitely bittersweet feelings. I love our life with Brooks, so I know 2 babies will be twice the blessings, but there is also this feeling of ending a chapter in our lives of only having one kid and wanting to spend as much quality time with Brooks as possible. It's also amazing to me how I feel like I have been pregnant forever, so, to me the pregnancy is going slow. But, I feel like weeks are flying by in Brooks's life. It's bizarre.

Here are some pictures from this trimester:

It's a BOY!!!

You can read about our Gender Reveal here!

Mother's Day!! Mr. Brooks and future Rhett make me a mama and I could not love these babies anymore!!!!

20 Weeks! Half way there pic! 

20 week profile pic.

27 weeks going on the third trimester!