Recapping our 2nd trimester photos with you all with our week by week progress photos! We shared our 1st trimester photos with you all here a couple of weeks ago. We shared our first trimester feelings and a little of the rough patches this mama had to deal with in regards to morning sickness! I have to be honest, while there was a significant change during the 2nd trimester, this mama still had a rough time with the “morning sickness“…ALL day sickness.. even during our second trimester up until about 23 weeks! Then things seemed to start clearing up, which was the best feeling EVER guys! Seriously! Even the slightest relief was much appreciated by this mama!
Its been so fun for us to see my belly growing and knowing that its growing because our little guy is growing healthy and strong, it’s all sorts of good feelings. I think some of our favorite things during this semester were two special moments. One of those moments was when I realized I was actually feeling my little babe move around in my belly.. that was a sweet moment that I will cherish forever. The second, was definitely when my husband got to feel our little guy as well from the outside. I think seeing his face and his reaction warmed my heart like crazy. I also think it starts putting things into perspective, that soon enough our family will be growing and that more love will be poured out. I seriously couldn’t feel more blessed. The excitement of entering our third trimester is also overwhelming in good ways and of course with a little bit of nerves. But I know that things will come and it will be a learning process. Thank goodness for family who has your back!
This semester is definitely when you start getting really noticed guys! I’m so serious! This is when all the strangers ask all the infamous questions.. “are you pregnant?!OMG I didn’t know” “when are you do?!” “do you know what you’re having?!” oh… and my ultimate favorite…. “are you sure there’s only one in there?!” -_- Seriously? This is when I have to count to 10 and calm my raging hormones…lol seriously. Sometimes, this is also when I just smile and walk away and say…”Its one healthy baby, but have a nice day!” Lord knows I try to stay humble about it all.
I think most of these questions started coming up for us mostly around the 20 week period. Which God knows I don’t mind, but sometimes I wish people would be a little more mindful of how they ask certain questions… Do they not realize you’re a basket full of hormones!? Also, I think its easy as women to compare and judge a little bit… But I’ll take this time to say, “I FORGIVE YOU, for saying it how you did, haha” We should all just be conscious of the fact that were all different. We are all different shapes and sizes and we all show our pregnancies differently. I think as a woman, we need to embrace that fact and just be super proud of what our amazing bodies are capable of and our doing. So if you’re a mama to be like me, and in the midst of these wonderful body changes, I say… you go girl! Wear it proud! God works within us and this is just another of his ways to show how present he is within us and what his capabilities are for us as mama to be’s and for our nurturing bodies!
P.S pregnancy always doesn’t always make you look your best, we get tired, we feel sick, we want sweat pants, etc! Some days we are feeling more beautiful than others… Reason why I chose to be as raw with you all as possible. Some of these photos aren’t always when this mama has felt her best… But in each one of them, I felt truly blessed and confident!
14weeks in the Bahamas for a weekend getaway!
19 weeks in Brooklyn NYC for this mama and daddy’s 1 year wedding anniversary!
For our one year wedding anniversary we knew we wanted to make it special… it really does only come around once! So, we did… We knew we wanted to travel somewhere for that date and had been talking about it for a while before we actually decided where we would go. At first, we thought we would go to a place we hadn’t visited yet and thought of Colorado. But.. shortly after we were thinking of our plans, we got pregnant! haha.. Our plans had to change, especially since we had been planning to do hikes up mountains, possible snow activities were also in the talk, and we surely did know that with a pregnant belly, none of those would be a good idea. So plans got placed on hold, we were now on a budget with baby on the way.. but last minute we found a great deal on flights to our favorite city! New York City! It only made sense, we have wonderful memories in this city and it holds a special place in our hearts. Not only do we love getting a taste of the hustle and bustle of the city, but this was the place we got engaged and one of the most memorable places in our love story. We couldn’t wait to re-live and re-visit some of those places and make more memories while documenting along the way. Hence this awesome photoshoot that I absolutely love and was so excited to share with you all! 
I always had this idea in my head that for our one year anniversary we would have a photoshoot and remember our day and what it meant to us, something small, and just personal. Luckily for us, I ran into the sweetest, nicest photographer! I also must mention, very talented and professional. If you’re looking for some great photos in the city at a great price, she’s your girl! She was so awesome and we were so happy with the end result!
We haven’t done much blogging lately, mostly due to our busy schedules, holidays and this mama dealing with “all day sickness” or plain out being tired! But I figured its time to catch you all up a little and re-cap the beginning of our pregnancy journey with our 1st trimester photos. The truth is… 1st trimester was a little rough around the edges… and maybe that’s me putting it in light terms in comparison to how I actually felt. Truth being, I felt too incredibly blessed and too incredibly guilty to complain for such a huge blessing we were given! The blessing of a child, the opportunity to experience pregnancy and the honor of being called parents. While I tried to remind myself of all this, I will be honest…I was incredibly frustrated many days. I wasn’t keeping any food down, the nausea was ALL day and I was loosing weight. All I know is that as a first time mom-to-be, you worry… you worry when you feel you are not doing everything you can possibly do to keep your growing baby healthy and strong and frustration I must admit won over often. Thats when Im grateful for a wonderful supporting husband, family and friends who kept me grounded and focused on the big picture, and reminded me of the greatest gift God had placed in our lives. I just had to fight through it, focus on the Joy this little babe was bringing us and how full my heart truly was. I will admit the back rubs I got from hubby during the rushes to the bathroom, were and still are cherished and appreciated! He’s like the cheerleader rooting me on! haha. But all nausea and sickness aside, 1st trimester was also full of joy and happiness. Memories like announcing our pregnancy to our close family and friends are memories we will forever remember and cherish. They’re all so full of love and happiness that they’d be hard to forget. We would be lying if worry and anxiety never popped into our heads for the changes to come, but the truth is… this babe was soooo wanted and we prayed so hard for this little babe that the joy and reality of it really happening overcomes any of those anxieties. Plus, we know we always have the big man above us to lean on with our worries, and trusting in the Lord during this time is and will continue to be the best thing we can do.
This past weekend, we had the honor or sharing with our close friends and family one very exciting moment for Xavier and I.. the gender of our sweet babe! We knew from the get go that we wanted to be surprised along with everyone and that we would try to do it in a creative manner, or at least in an exciting way! Along the way, some of my close girlfriends and mom decided they wanted in on the plan and wanted to help us out with the reveal! Which by the way, I appreciated with all my heart being that this mama has had some difficult days with all the nausea and yes…trips to the bathroom..sigh. But with that on the side, brain storming took off and we ended up with the sweetest gender reveal night! Our simple sweet theme was bow ties or bows and while its one we’ve seen before, it was ours and it was perfect! Some great DIY’s also came into play by yours truly, since we all know that I’m up for a good arts and craft! The time and effort that my mom and friends took out of their schedules was just a huge meaning of love and a reminder of how much this sweet baby is already loved and cared for! After a couple of snacks and a couple guesses from our guests, it was reveal time. We found a way to make the reveal explosive and made it POP! We found the cutest reveal balloon on etsy, over at 
Now to talk about this sweet dessert table! IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! I was so in love with the whole set up! My friend brought all these yummy treats and cake to us from a baker friend, 
The time to finally reveal whether we would be having a boy or girl with this awesome balloon! 
gracefulfillinglife.com 