• Beauty

    Nighttime Skincare for Pregnancy

    nighttime skincare for pregnancy

    Today I’ll be dishing the details on my current evening skincare routine. Honestly this routine is great for anyone, but all of these products are also pregnancy safe. This routine is great for keeping skin clear and hydrated. I love waking up with clear, glowing skin!

    STEP 1: EYE MAKEUP REMOVER

    Because I have lash extensions I need to use something oil free to remove any eye makeup I wore during the day. I like these Clean and Clear Oil Free cloths to remove eye makeup while being careful around my extensions.

    STEP 2: OIL OR BALM CLEANSER

    This is the first step of my double cleanse. The purpose of this step is to remove makeup and sunscreen before cleansing my face. Currently I’ve been using the Beautycounter cleansing balm. I love that their products are completely clean and it smells like cucumbers!

    STEP 3: GENTLE, LOW PH CLEANSER

    A cleanser with a PH over 6 can strip your moisture barrier and invite breakouts so I always go for a gentle, low PH cleanser. My holy grail cleanser is Glossier Milky Jelly Cleanser. It feels so soft and gentle on my face and leaves my skin feeling supple!

    STEP 4: ACID TONER

    After rinsing I use an acid toner applied with a cotton round. This helps to prep my face for acids and PH dependent products. Currently using Pixi Glow Tonic – it’s a glycolic acid toner which makes it an AHA. Safe for pregnancy!

    STEP 5: ALPHA HYDROXY ACID

    I use an AHA serum nightly, which performs best at a PH under 3.5 so this is when I apply it. This smooths away the top layer of dead skin cells to reveal even, glowing skin. I’ve been using Mizon 8% AHA peeling serum for years and it’s also pregnancy safe. Wait 20 minutes after apply so it doesn’t interfere with other products.

    STEP 6: EYE CREAM

    At night I like to use this Beautycounter Countermatch Eye Cream to keep my eye area hydrated. It really helps to soften any lines!

    STEP 7: MOISTURIZING CREAM

    I seal it all in with a moisturizing cream. I’ve been using the Drunk Elephant Protini Peptide Cream lately. I love that their products are clean and this moisturizer helps with firmness, hydration, and dullness and uneven texture.

    STEP 8: LIP CARE

    I recently discovered the Sara Happ lip products and I’m in love! She really is the lip care expert and her products are formulated with clean ingredients. I like to exfoliate with the Lip Scrub and then seal in moisture with the Dream Slip.No dry, peeling lips here!

    And now it’s time for bed! Let me know if you have any questions or try any of these products. I’d love to hear!

  • Mom Life

    Gender Reveal and Pregnancy Q&A!

    gender reveal

    Well, if it isn’t obvious…Surprise! We’re having another girl! Honestly, I was shocked to learn that baby number two would be a girl. I grew up with two older brothers so I guess I never really imagined having more than one girl in my family. I always wanted a sister and I am so excited for Margot that she will get to experience that. All of you with sisters or daughters will have to teach me everything you know!

    I have to say thank you to all of you for your kind and loving words on our pregnancy announcement. This pregnancy is flying by so quickly, I feel like I haven’t really been able to come to grips with being a mom of two yet. I wanted to do a Q&A to update everyone on my pregnancy so far and I thought this would be the easiest way. Without further ado!

    gender reveal pregnancy q&a

    Pregnancy Q&A

    When are you due? October! Margot’s birthday is October 3rd so these girls will be exactly three years apart. I just hope this little one isn’t born on Margot’s actual birthday. I have mixed feelings about their birthdays so close together but I guess my oldest brother’s birthday is only 2.5 weeks before mine and it was never an issue. I think three years apart is a good gap!

    How have you been feeling? What symptoms have you had? I was pretty nauseous the first trimester with Margot and this time around was even worse. I never threw up but had a general feeling of car sickness every day all day. I started taking B6 at night and that helped tremendously. I was also super tired with both pregnancies – like ready for bed at 7:30pm every night. I also had no appetite and most food grossed me out or just didn’t sound good so I actually lost a little weight in the first trimester. Then, just when I should’ve started to feel slightly normal, I got hit with bronchitis. I ended up having to take antibiotics but it knocked it out and now, at almost 22 weeks, I’m finally feeling pretty good!

     

    gender reveal pregnancy q&a

    Were you trying? I would say we were not trying / not preventing for a few months. We knew we wanted another child and wanted Margot to have a sibling, but we also are in a pretty good groove right now so it was hard to decide when the right time would be. I always thought I wanted at least three years in between kiddos so I was fine with passively trying. Luckily we have not had a hard time getting pregnant, it was all about timing. We were pretty busy over the holidays and once things finally settled down after the New Year it happened!

    How did you find out you were pregnant? Around the time I should start my period I was feeling a little crampy. I decided to take a test for the heck of it and saw maybe the start of a line. I was pretty much in denial since I had no other symptoms so I waited a few days and then took a digital test on a Saturday morning. When the word “pregnant” popped up I showed it to Matt and he said, “Who did that?!” Which is such a Matt response, haha!

    Do you have names picked out? We actually decided on a name over Memorial Day weekend up north! I think we’ll keep it a secret until the baby is born, though.

    gender reveal pregnancy q&a

    When did you find out the sex? We did genetic testing at 12 weeks, which we also did with Margot. This time around they offered us a test that looks at the chromosomes from your blood test and can also tell you the sex, which is how we found out. So we’ve known since around 12 weeks which I loved because I was so curious! I remember waiting until the 20 week ultrasound with Margot and feeling like I was going to burst if I didn’t find out soon. We also had our anatomy scan at 20 weeks with this little one which confirmed she is a girl.

    Skincare while pregnant tips?? I am planning an entire post on this soon! Stay tuned!

    Will you breastfeed/ did you breastfeed Margot? Yes and yes! I nursed with Margot and pumped at work for a year and she continued to nurse from time to time for another year after I stopped pumping. We were very blessed to have a good, long nursing relationship. I am planning to nurse this little one and I will definitely get help when needed. Hopefully it will be a bit easier this time around since I somewhat know what I’m doing but every baby is different so we will see. I am planning to write a post about all of my nursing tips and must haves!

    gender reveal pregnancy q&a

    Baby must-haves, strollers, etc.? Also planning a post for this! The nice thing about having two girls both born in the fall is that I don’t need a lot of new stuff but there are a few things I will need replacements of or new things that have come out that I want to try!

    Do you have a birth plan or a type of birth in mind? We did the Bradley Method of childbirth with Margot which is also called “Husband Coached Childbirth.” I knew I wanted an unmedicated birth and our Bradley classes prepared Matt and I for that super well. Going into Margot’s birth we felt as prepared as we possibly could be as new parents. We will follow that method again and hopefully things will go as smoothly as they did for Margot’s birth. I am planning to share her birth story on the blog soon!

    gender reveal pregnancy q&a

    I hope I answered all your questions in this pregnancy Q&A! If you have any others, feel free to leave them below and I’ll respond to them in the comment section.

    Thank you all so much for your support and love during my pregnancy! I’m so appreciative!