Top Five Pregnancy Needs

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*Something I am learning about being a mom and a writer is I find lots of unfinished material hidden away in my computer. This for example is one of them. I wrote this post about one week before Lampley was born. I think I had plans to finally talk about her pregnancy and all that came with it. This post was supposed to be a follow up to that one. But guess what. Neither got published. Here is the beauty about this particular topic. There are women everywhere getting pregnant (praise God) and might want to know some things they need for their journey to the next stage of motherhood. So these are my top 5 things I used while being pregnant with Lampley.

Pregnancy your second time around is very interesting. A part of you expects it to be exactly the same. You’ve done this once, so this time should be no different. But let me tell you that has not been the case. First, this pregnancy was much scarier in the beginning. But also, my body is different! My day to day is different. And being pregnant with a toddler, well, you can forget all about just needing to take a moment to sit and rest your feet. So I’ve rounded up 5 things that have gotten me through my second pregnancy.

1. Zella Leggings

For me, a pair of leggings might as well be considered another body part to my everyday makeup. I am in leggings as often as I possibly can be. When it is time for me to put on “regular clothes” I almost always wish I could just be underdressed and wear my leggings instead. This pair has been awesome. They are easy to clean and have grown with me throughout the whole pregnancy. I also think investing in a pair of decent maternity leggings is important because you will still want to wear them for several weeks after baby. **Note: I did wear these a lot while I was recovering.

2. Piko Shirts

Bless this sweet brand for the creation of these flowly shirts. Not only have I lived in them pregnant, but ALL THE TIME. They are the perfect shirt to throw on with jeans, leggings, anything. I had several before I got pregnant and had no problem buying some more because I knew they would still get lots of wear time regardless of the size of my belly. You can now buy them on amazon so I’ve linked up a couple of my favorite styles below.

3. Body Butter

For whatever reason I have had much drier skin this time around. To the point where I was applying lotion over and over again all throughout the day and night. So it was time to get some of the good stuff and I went with this particular body butter. One reason is because I am clearly a huge fan of this brand. The other main reason is because I knew it was safe for me and for my growing baby. I didn’t have to worry or research the chemicals I might be putting on my body and how it would affect the baby. I was just able to buy it, use it, and finally feel relief from my seriously dry skin. *This worked great after delivery too. My skin took a while to get back to normal.

4. Pregnancy Pillow

This guy became apart of my sleep routine a whole lot quicker this time around. I can’t say enough about needing a pregnancy pillow to help with sleeping. I also love the way this particular brand curves around my back and I still have a space to roll out (literally) when a trip to relieve this extra small bladder is needed. A lot of people recommend this style also but I have not personally tried it.

5. My Bible

Probably not the first thing you would think of when being pregnant as something you need, but for me, pregnant or not, its a must. This pregnancy came on the heels of two miscarriages and, it wasn’t the easiest start. So turning in the word every night was important and needed in order to keep me grounded in the truth. I am a huge fan of She Reads Truth so of course I love this bible. But I also love the way it is set up, the reading plans it provides, and the fact that there are studies on the app to go with it. My husband also has the He Reads Truth version.

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Currently Cooking - September 2020 Edition

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While there have been several positives about being home more in 2020 one in particular is I have learned how much I enjoy cooking. I have also learned that recipes are not as scary as they look, new ingredients don’t have to feel overwhelming, and that cooking is actually fun. As long as you have a kitchen with children who are happily playing independently while you make a meal. Spoiler Alert: that rarely ever happens.

I went through a phase where I only wanted to create meals from actual cookbooks. I got overwhelmed with pinterest and finding recipes on instagram. Most weeks our meals came from either Skinytaste: One and Done or the Magnolia Table Cookbook.

Then one day I stumbled upon The Defined Dish. Then a couple weeks later I found Half Baked Harvest. So I thought I would share a couple of my favorites that we have been making lately from these two websites.

Both The Defined Dish and Half Baked Harvest have cookbooks. I was gifted Half Baked Harvest for my birthday last week and dove into like a fish out of water. For no particular reason I have yet to pull the trigger on buying The Defined Dish. But I have plans for to do so. It is the website I cook from the most.

So without further ado, here are some of my favorites for this months Currently Cooking!

Number One - Crockpot Chicken Taco Bowls

By far the most popular meal of the summer. It is a hit with all family members and we love it. Because I am serving it to the girls, I leave out the Cayenne.

Number Two - One-Pot Cajun Chicken Pasta

This is the meal pictured above. It is all sorts of yum, all in ONE POT, which is something I am ALL FOR! Anytime I only have to clean up one dish I am happy. Again, on this meal I leave out the cayenne.

Number Three - Instant Pot Chicken and Spinach Ramen

Back in the day when I used to venture out for meals one of our favorite places to go was Two Ten Jack. It is hands down my favorite place to get ramen. I’ve always wanted to try to cook it at home but every time I open up a recipe it is filled with ingredients I can’t understand or find. However, I stumbled upon this recipe and for the first time ramen felt do able. Now, she will suggest you use a healthier version of ramen. I can’t say I disagree with her. But I will tell you that I used the good old fashion nineteen cent pack of noddles and it was just fine.

Number Four - Chorizo Con Papas Breakfast Tacos

One morning I called my sister and saw she was making breakfast tacos. And goodness did they look good. I made these for Adam for Father’s Day and after that we were hooked. These are particularly amazing. I also LOVE the Siete Grain Free Tortillas and this was the first recipe I got to use them. If you want the real deal breakfast tacos - these are the way to go. But I’ll admit that some scramble eggs, spinach, avocado, cheddar cheese and a tortilla are equally satisfying.

Number Five - Salmon with Citrus Avocado Sala & Potatoes

Along with trying new things I am trying to add a lot more salmon to our weekly meals. This whole meal was cooked on one-sheet and you are already aware of how much I love only having to clean up ONE pan. I was able to prep a lot of this meal ahead of time so it was easy to throw it all together when dinner rolled around. Whole family liked this meal. Even my 9 month old. Even my picky toddler. Again, (sensing a trend here) I left off the red paper flakes.

So there you have it. What we are currently cooking in our household. Make sure you check out The Defined Dish & Half Baked Harvest for yourself.


PS: I've teamed up with some girls for a giveaway below!


I have teamed up with an amazing group of bloggers to give YOU a chance to win: a $1,00 Amazon Gift Card to kick off Fall season!

Simply enter below by completing the rafflecopter. You’ll receive one entry per completion. This giveaway is open to the U.S. and Canada only and runs until 9/23. Winner will be announced here. Good Luck!

Void where prohibited. By entering the giveaway you acknowledge that you are agreeing to complete each task, which involves following, liking and subscribing to newsletter's.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

3rd Birthday Golf Party: It's a Par-Three

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Our girl turned three last week and I still can’t believe it! I really feel like the older she gets the quicker the year goes. I got lost in a folder of old videos from when she had just turned two and it was amazing to see how much her voice has changed! I don’t think I even realized it was happening. I just can’t get over how big she is and I am so proud of her.

After she dressed up as a golfer for Halloween I knew I wanted her 3rd birthday party to be a golf theme. My mother-in-law threw a golf theme wedding shower for Adam’s cousin and it was so much fun. So we found a way to recreate it in a 3rd birthday party setting…while also social distancing.


To keep everyone as safe as possible, we figured the best way to celebrate Jane Taylor was to have her party outside. We kept it small and social distanced by having “tee-times” set for each family to come play some putt-putt.

I found a golf themed invitation on Etsy that I was able to edit right after purchasing. It was less than $10 and I love that I could text out a cute little invite to her friends. I sent the invite graphic along with a Signup Genius - it was so easy to use and free to create! There was even a golf theme templet which made it all the more fun. Families could sign up for different tee times throughout the party. I kept it to around 3 or 4 families for each tee time. I did this so that everyone wouldn’t show up at once to play the same 9-holes and to keep everyone at a safe distance.

We used Games to Go for the putt-putt course and they were awesome to work with! Tony came about an hour before the party and dropped the course off and set it all up. It was so fun to have a putt-putt course right in our backyard!

My mother-in-law is the party decorating gurio (last year she turned the entire food table into a bus to go with Jane Taylor’s bus themed birthday party), so she created all the displays such as the golf bag centerpiece and the banner. She also came up with the idea of a leader board and it was a huge hit with the adults and kids! I particularly enjoyed having my name up there with the lowest score (this never happens when I play putt-putt so I have to document this somehow)!!

I put together little bags that had scorecards and these adorable golf pencils for each family to grab when they arrived. My sister-in-law made up the scorecards using a templet she found on Etsy. We also had a large supply of Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer so that golf clubs and golf balls could be wiped down before & after each use.

To make it an official party, by kids standards, we handed out popsicles. Because of the “big bad sickness” I didn’t feel comfortable serving food of any sort like we normally would at a party. It all turned out great and the kids (plus some adults) were happy!

Overall it was a sweet little party! We loved getting the chance to celebrate our girl with the group of neighborhood friends we are blessed to do life with.