Baby Baucom: Halfway There

I can't believe it but I am officially halfway through this pregnancy (well, actually 21 weeks at this point, but who's counting)?  This has been the longest and shortest 21 weeks of my life, if that's possible.  The days were looooong, especially those days during weeks 5-16 when I was sick ALL day and genuinely felt like crap.  But, as I look back, I can't believe that 21 weeks has already gone by.  I am so excited that we are now closer to meeting our sweet little girl and that we have less time left than we have already been through. Here is an update at the halfway mark.

Baby Bump at 18 weeks (I have been awful at taking pictures during this pregnancy so this is all I have)

Symptoms: Nausea, still daily unfortunately, now with a side of heartburn.  It has subsided some and mostly only hits me at night but it's still there and going strong. I have a feeling I am just one of those unlucky people that will have nausea throughout the entire pregnancy.  The heartburn is getting worse daily but I'm learning what triggers it and what calms it. Hopefully I can contain it as much as possible. Tired. I haven't gotten that surge of energy that people talk about but I think that probably goes hand in hand with the continued nausea.  Using the bathroom all the time but at least now I know why.  During our 20 week ultrasound, we literally watched baby girl kick my bladder.  She looked like she was having a blast.  Thanks baby girl!

Movement: Baby girl is moving A TON. I started really feeling her about a week and a half ago and she has not stopped.  She moves mostly in the morning but also here and there throughout the day, especially if I sit still for a while.  Ryan hasn't been able to feel her yet but I can't wait until the first time he feels his daughter move - talk about all the feelings.

Sleep: Besides the heartburn and regular bathroom use, I am actually sleeping pretty well! I bought a pregnancy pillow - the Snoogle - which I am really liking.  It helps me from waking up on my back and gives me something to hold onto. Definitely worth the purchase.

Eating: No cravings or repulsions.  Avoiding the things that I'm not supposed to eat and trying to figure out what not to eat in order to prevent heartburn, but other than that, pretty much everything is game.  I do want salty food way more than sweet, don't have much of a sweet tooth at all.

Nursery: We got the crib and dresser delivered this week and I am in love!! The furniture is from Pottery Barn and it is beautiful and is going to be perfect for her.  We got the furniture in soft gray so now we have to pick a paint color and paint the room (I wanted to get it painted but for those of you who know Ryan, he refuses to pay someone to do something that he can do so I wait for him to get home to do the painting).  I also have an amazing piece of art for the wall that is supposed to be delivered today and I am dying to see it!  Other than that, we still have a lot to do but we wanted to get the big pieces and go from there.

Looking Forward To: Our hospital tour and Infant CPR class in December. I can't wait to see where baby girl will make her entrance into this world and learn all that I can (and hopefully never use) to keep her safe.  Also excited to make some progress on the nursery while Ryan has his "off season" and complete our registry! We want to get the registry done before Christmas so that our family can get us stuff off of the registry for Christmas. 

That's my update for now!  Like I said, I'm so happy to be halfway done and I thank God every day for this healthy baby girl growing inside of me.  No matter how I feel and how much I complain, the most important thing is that she is growing and developing and staying healthy!  Thanks to everyone for your love and support!  Will update again soon!

XOXO,

Carly

First Trimester: The Ugly Truth

So here comes the previously mentioned post about my first trimester (well first trimester plus month 4 because there really wasn't any difference in the two).  Warning: it wasn't pretty or fun and I'm not going to hold back on the truth.  I think pregnancy is a wonderful and beautiful thing but I do think that women tend to sugar coat pregnancy and leave out the ugly, difficult, painful parts that you aren't sure you'll ever get through.  The good news is that you will get through them.  The bad news is that it won't be fun.

When we found out that I was pregnant, I was thrilled.  I knew it wouldn't be a walk in the park but I was expecting some morning sickness, sore boobs, aches and pains...you know, things that you hear about but that sound manageable.  What I got was my world rocked instead.

First and foremost - Morning sickness - who came up with this phrase?!?! There is nothing limited to the morning about it, and it is certainly not some slight sickness that is uncomfortable, it is flat out debilitating, exhausting and miserable.  I had nausea all day, every day for about 10 weeks straight.  I was throwing up every day for many of those weeks and, if I'm being completely honest, I still have nausea every day (although it has gotten significantly better).  I had to take days off work, didn't leave my house for days at a time and pretty much stopped living any semblance of a normal life. Luckily, Ryan was here for most of the worst weeks and, when he wasn't, my parents were kind enough to take me in and take care of me.  This has been BY FAR the worst part of pregnancy for me.  I was feeling miserable all the time, which led me to be a miserable human being and downright ugly to those trying to help the most. I lost 5 pounds in my first trimester and had a lot of fears that the baby wasn't getting the nutrients she needed since I couldn't keep much down and what I could keep down was mostly fried foods and crackers, not the healthiest of diets. I tried 3 different medicines that the doctor recommended, none of which worked.  I finally came to the conclusion that this was how my body was reacting to pregnancy and nothing was going to help or change that so I had to just push through it.  My doctors assured me that as long as I was getting my prenatal vitamin down, the baby was going to be just fine. Luckily, I am through the worst of it and the nausea that I experience at night now is much more manageable.

Exhaustion.  This was probably the most common thing I heard from my friends who are already Moms - just how tired they were during the first trimester but the burst of energy they got going into the second trimester.  I was definitely exhausted but I think a lot of that came from being so sick.  I definitely did not get any burst of energy in my second trimester.  Don't get me wrong, I certainly have more energy than I did but nothing close to what I had prior to pregnancy. I'm still optimistic that the "burst" will come!

Sensitive/Sore Boobs. This was one symptom that I am lucky to say was not bad for me.  Was I sore and extra sensitive? For sure! But it was nothing that I would even describe as uncomfortable day to day. This one I can't complain about for one second.

Urgency to use the Restroom.  This one has hit me pretty hard - I swear I pee every hour.  I know they say this gets worse as you get further into pregnancy but I'm not sure how.  I already get up 3-4 times a night and am constantly back and forth to the bathroom.  It's not painful or uncomfortable by any means but it sure is a pain in the you know what, especially when you are exhausted and trying to get a good night's sleep.

I have had some other stuff begin to pop up - back pain (one day last week I almost went to the ER because it was so bad but that has gotten better), heartburn has begun, my eyesight is all off and my gums bleed no matter how much I brush and floss.  All of these things are expected with pregnancy and they aren't too bad, nothing compared to the nausea.  I did get a really fun, bad case of a cold last week that knocked me out for a couple of days but I am on the mend from that too.

As you can tell, pregnancy has not been beautiful or a walk in the park by any means.  The reason I'm sharing this isn't to scare anyone or to get sympathy but to be honest.  While I was feeling so sick, one of the worst parts was that I felt completely alone.  I hadn't talked to anyone who had experienced what I was going through and I started to feel very depressed.  I would never wish that upon anyone and I want everyone to know they aren't alone.  Since I've openly talked about my symptoms, more and more people have opened up to me about the realities of their pregnancy or their friend who felt the same way.  I'm so glad they are sharing that with me now but I do wish I had heard one of those stories before I went through all of this. So, I'm hoping maybe someone will feel less alone because of my honesty.

Oh, and I can't leave out, almost every day I had a terrible, "whoa is me" attitude.  I felt sorry for myself, couldn't understand why I was the only person going through this, etc. etc.  So, if you're feeling that way, it's totally fine, you have every right.

There is no way I would have gotten through the first 4 months without Ryan and my family being there to support me, take care of me, let me scream and yell at them and be a general miserable person.  They listened and waited on me when I needed it most and for that, I am beyond appreciative!

Pregnancy IS wonderful and beautiful and the result is worth every ache, pain, nausea, throw up, etc. but that doesn't make the path easy or fun.  If you don't enjoy the process, that doesn't mean you aren't as grateful for the end result - it just means you're going through what so many other women out there are too!

Thanks for reading and for allowing me to be honest!

Carly

Baby Girl Baucom

Many of you have probably already heard the good news but Ryan and I are elated to announce that we are having a baby!!  A baby girl to be more specific (more on how we found that out so early in a later post).  We really could not be more thrilled!  I'm hoping to post monthly updates on my pregnancy - I'm already 16 weeks so I'm a little late on this, oops, but hopefully I will get better.  I'm going to start with a very honest post about my first trimester (warning: it wasn't pretty) soon.

Thanks to everyone who has already sent us many well wishes, thoughts and prayers!  We can't wait for this new journey in our life and to share it with our family and friends!

Much Love!

The Baucoms

Girls Weekend

I'm back!  I'm hoping for good this time but I keep saying that and then I go a couple of months without posting so I'm not going to make any promises.  I did tell Ryan that I wanted to blog more so hopefully he will keep me in check!

Last weekend, some of my closest college friends and I had a girls weekend in Nashville!  Last year, so many of us got married or had babies that it seemed like we were seeing each other every month for bachelorette parties, weddings, baby showers, etc. This year we didn't have any excuses to get together so we decided to make one by celebrating everyone's 30th birthday this year with a girls weekend in Nashville (where two of the girls live).  Boy oh boy am I glad we decided to do this - it was a blast! In fact it was so much fun that we decided to try and make it an annual tradition - we promised to make it a tradition for the big years when we are celebrating major birthdays but hope to do it every year!

I decided to fly in Thursday morning to get a little extra time with my friend Anna and her sweet little girl Carter.  She picked me up from the airport on Thursday and I worked from her house while we played with Carter in between.  Below are some pictures from our fun day - isn't she just the cutest?

A few of the other girls got into town Thursday night and everyone else got in town on Friday.  Friday night, our hostess with the mostess, Sarah, cooked a fabulous dinner with delicious wine pairings and we just ate, drank and caught up.  It was exactly what we all needed!

We woke up Saturday morning and a few of us decided to go to a workout class.  It was brand new for me and although I'm glad I went, it was really hard and I was sore for days.  After the class, we showered, packed up and went to Arrington Vineyards for a day of wine tasting.  What is more perfect for a girls weekend than sitting outside on a beautiful day at a beautiful vineyard tasting wine?  Absolutely nothing! We had the BEST time!

Anna, Lauren and I doing the tasting

Beautiful view of Nashville from where we were sitting all day

All the girls at the vineyard

After the tasting, we went back to Sarah's, quickly changed and got ready for dinner.  That night we went to one of the best restaurants I have ever been to in my life - Lockeland Table.  Absolutely everything we had was amazingly delicious. I will definitely be going back on my next trip to Nashville and HIGHLY recommend it for anyone visiting.  After that, we decided to go to one honky tonk downtown (since we were in Nashville and all) and then called it a night.  

This girls weekend was amazing and just what I needed!  I feel so lucky and blessed to have great friends from college that I stay in touch with, celebrate major moments in life with but, most importantly, find a reason to celebrate even the smaller things in life with just so that we can be together!

I'm in Memphis for the golf tournament this week - I have plans to post about that soon!

Clean Eating Challenge

"Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." - unknown idiot

I've never liked this quote. I think whoever said it has never tasted chocolate pie (but that's besides the point).  Who decides what skinny looks like? Who says skinny looks good on everyone? Who decided that being skinny was most important, above all else?  I just hate this quote.  It gives me the heebygeebys every time I read it and makes me, quite honestly, want to go eat more chocolate pie.  Then I saw this, updated, version.

"Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels." - uknown

I still think maybe whoever said this hasn't tasted chocolate pie BUT I'm much more on board with this saying.  Especially as I get older and my body feels every bite of chocolate pie, and tends to let me know it.

The truth is, I do feel a lot better when I eat better.  I feel more energetic, happier, less stressed, just all over better.  I firmly believe in the 80/20 rule when it comes to food and I have never been someone who completely eliminates anything.  It works for some people but it just doesn't work for me and I'm okay with that.

I have found that when I travel it is really hard to eat healthy. I have also found that when I get home from traveling, I tend to bring those not so good eating habits with me and I don't eat very well.

So, since I just came off a two week travel and one week post travel bad eating binge, I decided to do a week of clean eating.  Yep, just one week.  Just to kind of reset my system and get me back on the right track. I want my body to feel good and energized again and I want to feel good about my body again.  So, today started my one week!

I have found that planning ahead is key to sticking to this challenge.  I go to the grocery store and try to shop only on the outside aisles and plan all of my meals for the week.  I prepare them ahead of time and it makes my life so much easier that week, and it also prevents me from making the easy, not so healthy choice when I'm super busy.  I also try to drink only water when I'm doing this clean eating.  Nothing is better for you than drinking a lot of water and it's so simple!

So, wish me luck on my week of clean eating.  I'm hoping it leads to healthier weeks ahead and a happier me! Do you struggle with times of not eating well and feeling tired and unhealthy?  Try this challenge sometime - it's manageable and you'll be surprised by the results of something this simple!

Life Lately

So I've already failed on my resolution to post more this year...sorry about that.  Honestly, I haven't posted because I haven't had much to post about. I haven't been traveling as much as I did last year, we haven't been doing any major home projects, weddings/babies have slowed down so life is kind of simple. Simple is nice!

With that being said, although I haven't traveled as much this year yet..Ryan and I made a big decision that I would travel MORE this year.  Here is why:

1. I am lucky enough to have a job that allows me to work from anywhere.
2. Ryan gets to chase the sun and go to warm, sunny, beautiful places.
3. We want to start a family soon so this may be the last year that I can travel full-time without any other worries.
4. We are newlyweds so we need to be together as much as possible, right?

There are many more reasons that we discussed but I think you get the point.  As I am writing this blog post, I am sitting in a hotel room in Palm Beach, looking out at the sunny 80 degree weather and not one bit jealous of my family and friends back in Charlotte who are looking out of their widows to snow.

So, that has been life lately.  Not super exciting, but hopefully it will get more exciting soon!

And I promise (for myself) to write more.  This is fun and I want to carve out time for it!

2014 Year in Review

Wow – what a year!! I honestly don’t even know where to begin because this was such a busy and amazing year.  I decided to go with the 10 most important parts of my year to make it easy, but there is so much more that could be said here.  Most of these are highlights and great things from 2014 but we also had a couple of sad moments.  I don’t think it would be a true year in review if I just showed the good.  So – here is what I consider the most important parts of my 2014! 

1. Weddings, Weddings and More Weddings – 2014 was the year of weddings.  Ryan and I had a combined 12 weddings this year (including our own, more about that later).  We didn’t make it to all of them but here are some highlights from the ones we were able to attend.

(From Left to Right, Top to Bottom: Myself and Jillian at her wedding; Ryan & I being goofy at Katie and Nick's wedding; The beautiful bride, Katie; Reuniting with all of my high school loves at Erin's wedding; Ryan & I with the bride and groom, Preston & Ashley, at their wedding in Chapel Hill; Reuniting with all of my KD's at Courtney's wedding).

2. Travels – I was lucky enough to travel with Ryan quite a bit during his first year on the PGA Tour.  We had so much fun and I feel so blessed to have a job that allows me to do this.  Most of these trips were highlighted earlier on the blog but here are some pictures from some of the places that didn't get individual posts.

(From left to right, top to bottom: Ryan & his buddies at the Wells Fargo tournament in Charlotte; Ryan & I being touristy in DC; Ryan & I at the Darius Rucker concert in St. Simon's Island; Ryan & I listening to Jimmy Buffet at the Greenbrier)

3. Babies – Quite a few of my friends celebrated the birth of babies this year and it was so much fun to watch them become parents.  I hope that Ryan and I will be able to do the same one day soon!

4. Dad’s Knee Replacement – I know this didn’t exactly happen to me but it sure felt like it did.  Dad had a knee replacement in March (I'll spare everyone the pictures of this special event) and I think it was almost as hard on Mom and I as it was on him.  We tried to be the best nurses we could to him during a very difficult recovery.  The first 2 weeks were some of the most difficult I’ve ever faced.  But, after that, Dad started to make a full recovery and we celebrated with a dance on a very special night!

5. My Bachelorette – I had an absolute blast celebrating my last few weeks of being a single lady with some of my best friends.  We traveled to Charlottesville, VA and visited some super fun vineyards and just enjoyed a long weekend away!

(From left to right, top to bottom: Really pretty LOVE sign made out of corks at one of the vineyards; Taste of wine (one of many) with menu at a vineyard; Grapes growing at a vineyard; All of my amazing friends who made the weekend so special)

6. Honeymoon – Ok so I could include these last two in “travels” but what would be the fun in that?  The honeymoon was a blast and much needed.  Ryan and I went to Costa Rica (for the second time) and enjoyed a week of relaxation.  We truly didn’t do much but relax by the pool but it was exactly what we both needed and wanted.  To say it was beautiful would be an understatement.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the week.

(From left to right, top to bottom: Absolutely stunning view of the resort and ocean from our villa; Ryan & I jet skiing; Ryan & I post massage walking back on the beach; My favorite spot under the tiki hut; Ryan & I taking dance lessons; Sunset from the beach)

7. Loss of Loved Ones – In the past two years we have lost Ryan’s grandparents and in 2014, we lost my Grandmother two days before Christmas.  To be quite honest, it still hasn’t completely sunk in and I don’t think I’ve fully grieved the loss.  She was such a special woman and we all loved her so much.  I know that as we get older, we experience more loss but I don’t think that will ever make it easier.  I was lucky to have known her for 29 years and will hold all of those very special memories with me forever.  We also lost a great friend of Ryan’s, Ted Seagroves, this year.  He valiantly fought pancreatic cancer but lost that fight in early December.  By the way, Cancer sucks.  Please say a little prayer for us as we continue to mourn the loss of Teddy and my grandmother.

8. Sports – The year wouldn’t be complete for Ryan and I without attending a few sporting events throughout the year.  We were able to make it to see all of our favorite teams play – The Tar Heels, the Panthers and the Hornets!!

9. New Years Eve – Ryan and I hosted our first NYE party this year and it was a huge success!! About 20 of our friends came to our house and we played games, ate lots of yummy food and sipped champagne all night long to celebrate a wonderful 2014 and ring in 2015.  We had such a blast that I think this will become an annual event for the two of us!

10. WE GOT MARRIED!!!  And of course the biggest highlight of 2014 was that Ryan and I got married!  I can’t even begin to put into words how magical and perfect this day was (although I will try in a later post) but below are some pictures that highlight my favorite moments.  There is nothing better than having all of your family and friends together to celebrate marrying the man of your dreams.  I am thrilled to be Mrs. Baucom and can’t wait to see what marriage has in store for us!

(From left to right, top to bottom: My mom and MOH, Ashley, zipping up my wedding dress; My dad and I sharing the most special moment before walking down the aisle; The wedding party; Both of our families; Ryan & I on the golf course taking portraits; Ryan kissing his bride; Ryan & I celebrating our marriage...this picture sums up the night)

So there you have it.  2014 all wrapped up in a nice list.  There is so much more I could go into but these are the most important things that happened to me this year.  I was so blessed with such an amazing year and can only hope that the next is as good!  Cheers to 2015!

                                                                 
                                           

New Year, New Blog Resolutions

Hello and Happy New Year to everyone!  I know it's been a LONG while since I posted on this blog and I am determined to fix that this year. So, this one will be short and sweet but you can expect more blog posts and more content this year.  I will start with a 2014 year in review to catch everyone up on my life and then start with new posts.  Thanks for sticking with me and cheers to many more blog posts in 2015!!!