I just looked over my list of pregnancy tools/resources that were my favorite during my pregnancy with Elizabeth (view that post HERE). While I am using ALL of those things in this pregnancy as well, I have a few new “favorites” this time around. I only know what I’ve personally learned to be helpful so I wanted to pass that on & share with you all! I wanted to document them so that I can remember them for the future (because let’s face it, that mommy brain IS REAL) & be able to share with other expecting momma’s. Sharing is caring I say!

This list is QUITE longer then the last list, but almost all of the resources I’m listing are FREE!

PRAYER JOURNAL My top favorite resource to use while being pregnant still remains the same as last time- the Pregnancy Prayer Journal by Val Marie Paper. I plan to have one of these journals for each pregnancy. I know I shared in my blog post while carrying Elizabeth why I love it so much & those reasons have not changed! But since that post, I’ve decided that I’ll be gifting each Pregnancy Prayer Journal to each child when they are older. I can’t wait to show them how I prayed for them while they were still in my womb & how the Lord has guided their lives from the very beginning! I also use this journal’s blank pages to keep track of fun things like my cravings, weight & even name ideas. I can’t wait for the day that I’ll hand these journals to our grown up children!

MYPLATE Not many people know this but with Elizabeth, I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia & had to be induced. With this pregnancy, I’ve been doing several things to try to stay ahead of the game & hopefully not get pre-eclampsia. One way I’ve done that is to eat protein like it’s my job. I did eat a lot of protein with Elizabeth, but not near as much as I have with this pregnancy. I’ve been using the free smart phone app MyPlate to keep track of my daily food intake. It’s actually an app used for those wanting to gain or loose weight BUT it has a protein counter in the daily summary & I’ve been using that to keep track instead of a paper chart I had on the fridge when I was pregnant with Elizabeth. I started with the paper chart this time too but soon realized that wasn’t going to keep me motivated OR help me remember to eat protein so I found this app & I’ve liked using it! And just keeping it real, I don’t use it every day BUT it’s been really helpful the days I have 😉

PRENATAL YOGA I would need a whole other blog post to share why I’ve fallen in love with yoga! My favorite youtube yoga instructor has 3 prenatal yoga videos that I rotate between & have been doing through-out this pregnancy. There’s a short one & then two longer ones. HERE they are. I LOVE THEM!!! Carolyn also has a post-natal yoga flow that I look forward to doing in just a few months from now 😉

PODCAST Another thing that would take an entire blog post of it’s own is how much I love listening to podcasts & which are my current top fav’s to listen to. One of my favorites is The Risen Motherhood & just a few months ago I went back into their older episodes & listened to their two on preparing your heart for your birth & when your birth doesn’t go as planned. I’ve linked those episodes right HERE & you can also just search them through whatever app you use to listen to podcasts & just search The Risen Motherhood for Episode 25 & 26.

MAMA NATURAL My last but certainly not least pregnancy resource that I’ve been using this pregnancy are my favorite weekly “bump” emails that I receive from Mama Natural aka Genevieve! I probably will buy her book for my next pregnancy as I’ve enjoyed her weekly emails SO much & how she hits each week of the 3 trimesters by looking at it from a Spiritual, Physical & Emotional perspective. I look forward to this email every week that comes with a personal video of Genevieve herself as she went through her second pregnancy. Click HERE to signup for her weekly enewsletter & HERE to check out her very informative site.

And for a bonus “resource”, if you’re into reading birth stories, especially from a Christian perspective, these stories from Surrender Birth have been very interesting to read!

How about you? What resources/items can you not live without during your pregnancy or highly recommend? I’d love to hear what they are! And here’s the info regarding my Maternity Leave & when I’ll be back to taking sessions if you haven’t read it yet!

34 weeks here! Currently 35 when posting this blog post 🙂

Something I did last year that turned into a precious thing was to take a photo of Elizabeth on her “monthly birthday” each month. When I looked back at her monthly photos from being a newborn & on to 12 months, what I LOVED was seeing her facial features change. I could look from month to month & see her look more like her dada in some months, more like me or just more of her own little person & personality.

Knowing how precious those photos from 0-12 months became to us as a family, inspired me to do something along the same lines, but simpler for her months leading up to 2 years. I knew again that what I wanted to focus on was her changing face. My goal was to get one good photo of her smiling face every month on or right by the 19th of each month. I didn’t always have good lighting & I didn’t always get to take RIGHT on the 19th (for most months I did though!) But I loved the challenge & simplicity of this project. Capturing my girl at that time of her life each month was truly fun.

I did plan on taking just one photo of Elizabeth each month starting at 13 months, buttttttt I kind of ended up taking way more each time 😉 For this blogpost though, I wanted to keep it simple & just post the big smile photo I had intended to get. Next time you come to my house though, you can see the Shutterfly book I put together of them all 😉

My best tip for anyone else wanting to do a photo project similar to this is to set a reminder on your phone a few days before you need to take the picture/s. This will help prepare you mentally for it & remind you to have your camera charged & ready to go! I also would remind myself to make sure I dressed her in a certain outfit for that day if there was a particular favorite that fit her at the time.

Honestly, looking back, in some ways these photos are even MORE precious to me then the first year! I see her personality REALLY coming out in these photos. Whenever I look at them, they make me want to do something for 25 months & on! But I know that with a newborn coming sometime in May, it probably wouldn’t be the best idea to commit to “two” photoshoots every month 😉 I do plan on taking photos of her at the half year mark. And hey, may this year I’ll do like every 3 months with her or something. We’ll see 🙂

Here’s our Elizabeth’s second year!

13 Months

14 Months – She was JUST starting to walk here! 15 Months – Look at those tooties in her mouth!!! 16 Months 17 Months – This photo was taken right on May 19 when she spent her first night overnight at Grandma & Grandpa Close’s! 18 Months – I actually blogged more of Elizabeth’s 18 Month session over HERE with a few tips on how to take photos of her your own kids 🙂 19 Months – We had just moved into our new house so this photo has that extra specialness to me because of that! 20 Months – I took this photo outside of her Great Grandma’s house in Minnesota! 21 Months 22 Months – I wish I could blog all the pictures from this month because I LOVE them all! 23 Months24 Months – And we’re at the 2 year mark!!! Look at my precious big girl! (There’s more of her 2 year photos HERE if you’d like to see more!)

Friends, thanks for coming along for this quick ride down memory lane! I love this girl & I love these photos!

Photos MEAN SO MUCH! I’d love to capture your kiddos & your entire family! Email me at naomi@nomi-photography.com & we’ll get you on my calendar for a photography session in 2018!!!