Things I’m Loving Friday
- A Precious Baby on the Way
I have been itching to share this news with you guys for months! My sister and her husband are expecting a baby at the end of September!!! (Their due date is September 25.) I know many of you have been reading this blog for years and followed Leslie and Ross’ relationship from their dating days and their engagement to their wedding and I am so thrilled to be able to share their excitement with all of you today. (For the new readers, Ross is Ryan’s best friend from college and a little spark began between Leslie and Ross at our wedding!) I cannot tell you how unbelievably happy our family and Ross’ family are about this little bundle of joy. To say this baby is already so loved and so deeply cherished is a huge understatement.
Leslie and Ross are going to be surprised by the sex of their baby which is incredibly exciting and I cannot wait to snuggle my new niece or nephew in a few short months! The family baby sprinkle I alluded to in Wednesday’s blog post is happening at my Aunt Laurie’s house in Raleigh this weekend but it’s really more of a baby shower for Leslie with a little sprinkling for our baby mixed in as well. I am so excited to celebrate Leslie and Ross’ little one and see my sister’s little baby bump again in person!
- Birthday Fun + My First SNS Manicure
Today is my birthday! Chase and I joined my mom and Aunt Laurie in Raleigh yesterday and my sister arrives in town late this morning so I’m thrilled to be able to celebrate my 33rd birthday with some of my favorite women and Chase! As an early birthday gift, my mom sent me off for a pre-baby shower manicure earlier this week which was such a treat. My friend Laura recently raved about her first SNS nail experience at a local salon and I was instantly intrigued.
SNS is a powder-based manicure that gives nails a similar look to gel and is supposed to last a full two weeks without any chipping or peeling. I haven’t done a ton of research into SNS but like the fact that no UV light was needed to set the nails. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, I LOVE the result of my manicure and have high hopes it will last me for a while!
While we’re on the topic of birthday fun, I must also give a shout out to my wonderful girlfriends who surprised me with a homemade cake and the sweetest gifts during a play date with our little ones on Wednesday afternoon. They’re the absolute best and I’m so grateful for such a great group of kind, supportive and thoughtful friends in my life.
- 32-Week Ultrasound
A huge highlight from this week took place when I had my final ultrasound at a maternal and fetal medicine specialist yesterday morning. (I was referred to a specialist during this pregnancy due to our previous losses and some placental issues I had during my pregnancy with Chase.) It was absolutely amazing to see our little one on the screen and see such detailed facial features, tiny toes and arms.
I’m still measuring ahead and our baby is estimated to be 4 pounds and 12 ounces already which blows my mind. That’s less than a pound away from what Chase weighed when he was born! No wonder I feel bigger this time around! It’s crazy for me to think we’ll very likely be meeting our little one in 50ish days. Yay!
- The Good Liar by Catherine McKenzie
I finished reading a rather interesting book this week and figured it deserved a shout out on the blog this morning mainly because it was a page-turner without being too suspenseful or freaky… and by that I mean I’d recommend it for someone looking for an intriguing book without the undercurrent of danger/suspense/murder that often keeps me up way too late at night!
The Good Liar takes place one year after a horrific explosion occurs in Chicago, forever altering the lives of three women. While the three women managed to survive, as the one-year anniversary of the explosion approaches, secrets are unveiled that connect the women together and could, once again, turn their lives upside down.
This soap was an impulse buy at Whole Foods a while ago and it’s quickly become a personal favorite. Good Soap smells fantastic and moisturizes my skin in a way that leaves it feeling soft and smooth. The soap is ethically made with unrefined shea butter and virgin coconut oil and enhanced with aromatic plant extracts and I’ve tried three varieties – lavender, coconut and almond milk – and loved all three. The best part? 100 percent of proceeds support communities and families around the world. (You may read more about their impact here.) Good Soap is often on sale at Whole Foods (3 bars for $6) so I’ve been scooping up a few bars here and there and loving them!
- Friday Flashbacks
Healthy Meals to Make For Others (Crowd-pleasing recipes to make when you want to show someone you care.)
Cardio Killer HIIT Workout (A bodyweight only workout you can do anywhere that will seriously spike your heart rate!)
Question of the Day
What is one thing you are loving this week?
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So exciting about your sister and Ross’s news! I have three nephews and its just the best….I actually am headed to see two of them this weekend and can’t wait for some snuggles.
I am so, so, so excited to be be an aunt!! Seeing my sister and Ross with Chase and the way he absolutely ADORES them (and their dog – haha!) makes me so happy and all the more thrilled to hopefully have a similar relationship with my future niece or nephew. I really hope you enjoy your time with your nephews this weekend! I’m sure they can’t wait to see you! <3
All so exciting!!!
Happy happy birthday! So excited for your sister and it sounds like you have the perfect weekend of spoiling and being spoiled ahead! You deserve it!
Thank you so much! <3 <3
Happy birthday and congrats to your sister! Hope you have a fun weekend of celebrations!
Congratulations to your sister! How exciting that you get to be pregnant together. 🙂
And happy birthday to you! Sounds like you have a great weekend ahead of you – enjoy it!
Have a great birthday Julie! How awesome to share a special weekend with your family and how fun to share such a special pregnancy (for both of you) with your sister!
Ahhhh that is so exciting for Leslie, Ross, and your family! Congratulations Auntie 😉
Happy Birthday – have a fabulous weekend!!
Happy birthday and congrats to your sister! I just had my first SNS manicure too and I’m obsessed.
Thank you! What was the process like when your nails grew out? That’s one of my concerns with the SNS manicure right now because it seems SO chip-proof. I love the look of it!
I have been doing the SNS manicure for almost a year and a half now. The grow-out is not terrible. It looks just life acrylics look when it’s time for a fill. I can go three weeks before it starts to bother me and I go get them done again.
Happy happy birthday Julie! Have the best day! I have been using Good Soap for years and LOVE it!
I’ve been reading your blog since I was in early high school (now in college!) and I’ve loved seeing little snippets of Leslie’s life that you’ve shared throughout the years. Tell her and Ross that everyone on the blog sends a big congrats! And happy birthday to you! I’m so glad you get to spend it with your mother and Leslie! My birthday is next Wednesday and my mother is flying in to spend the day with me 🙂 Enjoy!
I absolutely will! Thank you so much for reading my blog for so long, Riley! I appreciate it so much!
happy, happy birthday Julie!!! I am so excited for your family! How special to have two new babies this year!! I love the ultrasound pictures of your precious little one and can’t wait to see pictures of you and your sister with your baby bumps! Thank you for sharing everything with us and letting us follow along 🙂
Happy birthday!!!!! And congrats to Leslie!!!
Happy Birthday! Congrats to your sister! That is so exciting! I am going to have to try Good Soap, it sounds wonderful!
Have a wonderful weekend with your family!
Happy Birthday Julie!! Enjoy your special day and congratulations to your sister as well!! <3 🙂
Such wonderful news for Leslie & Ross! My nephew and my son are only 1 month apart and it is awesome to see the cousin bond already!! Plus, being an Aunt is so wonderful! I have 3 nieces and 2 nephews and the love I have for them is unreal!
And a happy birthday to you! Enjoy all the family time this weekend!
Happy birthday and congrats to Leslie and Ross! Such wonderful news!
That’s so exciting about your sister! My cousin and I were born two days apart and our mom’s are sisters and it’s just the best. What a dream that you and Leslie are pregnant at the same time. I’m so happy for you Julie. Have a wonderful birthday and congrats to your entire family!!
That’s such exciting news about Leslie and Ross! How fun that y’all get to have babies so close together. That’s going to be the best! And a very Happy Birthday to you, Julie!! Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
aw, congrats to your sister and happy bday to you!
not to be nosy, but what kind of placental issues did you have with chase? did they know there were issues when you were pregnant or not until after? i know you measured behind the whole time and even had a scare when you had to be monitored for movement (i think? why do i remember this stuff 😐 ), so i guess if i were you i’d be a little ticked that you weren’t monitored more closely last time. again, not to be nosy! pregnancy complication type stuff can get me riled up cause it’s scary to think of all the losses that could have been prevented, you know? this is obviously my mindset now that i’ve had a late loss myself…which i know couldn’t have been prevented but i always think “what if”
I totally get what you’re saying and believe me this has crossed my mind a bunch! We had no idea there was anything odd with my placenta until after Chase was born so I wasn’t closely monitored. As my doctor explained it postpartum, my “placenta issues weren’t issues unless they were” which seems to be a way of saying since Chase was born healthy, they weren’t too concerned about it after the fact but they were still concerned enough to more closely monitor future pregnancies. Everything was okay, but the umbilical cord grew out of my placenta’s membrane rather than the placenta itself and my placenta also had two lobes rather than one, so there were two kind of different things that, had they seen them when I was pregnant with Chase, they would’ve monitored more closely. They also think this was a big reason Chase was born as small as he was.
oh wow. i’d feel so conflicted about the whole situation! on one hand, you were healthy and young and the pregnancy was uneventful…but on the other hand, how could they have missed that? i guess there’s no use now thinking about it because it all worked out in the end but…damn.
i can’t believe your baby is now just one pound less than chance was at birth! that’s just crazy. and you can probably really picture a real live human in there now instead of like…an abstract version (it’s so hard to picture!! even in 4d)
That’s interesting that they didn’t catch that during your pregnancy with Chase. I had marginal cord insertion with my son and was monitored monthly at an MFM. That situation plus having pre-eclampsia is definitely the reason my son was so small at birth.
Happy Birthday!! Being an aunt is awesome!!
What an exciting blog post to read this morning!! Happy, happy birthday to you and a big congrats to Ross and Leslie!!! So fun that your two babies will be so close in age!
Happy, Happy Birthday! Congrats to your sis as well! I just turned 33 on April 15th and today is my sister’s 35th birthday! April is a great month for a birthday! 😉
Oh my gosh! So many exciting things!! First, happy birthday, Julie! And a huge congratulations to Leslie and Ross! That’s so amazing!!! Can’t wait to hear more about her shower! 🙂
Happy birthday! Sounds like a great way to celebrate your birthday.
And congrats to your sister and Ross! That’s so exciting.
Ahhhhhh yay!!! Congrats to Leslie and Ross!! That’s SO exciting! Wonderful news! If your sister doesn’t mind having her baby a little early, I highly recommend September 18 as a day to be born – that’s my birthday, and I haven’t been disappointed with the date yet 😛
Happy birthday to you! Hope it’s a great one 🙂
Haha! I will pass that along! 🙂
Happy birthday!!! And Congratulations to Leslie and Ross!!!!!
Congratulations to your family! Nieces/nephews are so special. <3 I just clicked over to Leslie & Ross' wedding post and got all emotional. I'm 34 weeks pregnant with my second daughter and I had flashes of their weddings playing through my mind. And I live near St. Augustine, so I could really picture it. Pregnancy hormones, sheesh! Does your baby have his/her cord in his/her mouth in that US picture? I have a picture of my first baby doing that (not in 4D) and it's so neat! I had an ultrasound earlier in the week too, and they flipped it to 4D to snap a picture since she was positioned perfectly for it. It made it SO much more real since the baby looks like an actual baby now!
I am not sure but I think that may have been a hand! The doctor didn’t mention the cord other than to check the insertion point in the placenta but that’s so neat that you have a pic of something that might be so similar! And we just LOVE St. Augustine. Such a gorgeous place!
Congratulations on becoming an aunt! It is so fun! I was pregnant with my first at the same time my sister was pregnant with her third and it was so fun and our daughters are the best of friends (most of the time, haha!). You seem to have such a bond with her and I hope you are very cautious not to steal too much spotlight from Leslie during this time. I honestly would have been sad to share my first baby shower, even with my sister (and we get along great!). I’m glad you two figured out a nice way to do it. 🙂
Oh definitely!!! I actually said I didn’t want a thing done for me. My family was just very sweet and insistent on acknowledging our baby, too, which I thought was very kind. It’s definitely a shower for her baby and a small sprinkle (diapers!) for me. 🙂 Also, my mom and I are planning a full shower just for Leslie and her baby and her Florida friends back in her hometown in a few months!
Happy Birthday! Congratulations to your sister. I hope you have an amazing weekend celebrating!
SO happy for your sister! You will be an amazing aunt and Chase will be an awesome cousin!
a little warning about SNS…if your nail tech does not pour the powder into a separate container to do your manicure, you are dipping your fingers into the same container as everyone else. therefore, if someone else has a cut or something on your finger, you are exposed to it! i have a friend who got a bad infection following an SNS manicure, and just heard another story about a colleague going through the same thing after one! my nail tech pours new powder into a separate little bowl for each of her clients so everything is sterile. i don’t mean to scare you, but i felt like i should let you know! my SNS manicure did not chip until after the 3 week mark, and even then they still looked great. they do, however, tend to peel back from the cuticle a little earlier than a regular shellac/gel manicure (SNS is thicker) and my hair would always get caught in my nails when i was washing it/styling it. because of that, i prefer regular gel manicures. 🙂 have a great weekend!!
Eek! I didn’t even think about that!! Thank you for the tip — The salon just had me dip right into the container!
*Happy Birthday Julie!!
*Congrats to Leslie & Ross!
*I have been doing the dip powder for over a year now and love it! 🙂
In the workout do you go all the way down for 90 sec, and then go all the way down for 60 seconds? Or complete all rounds with 1 block at a time?
Happy birthday and congrats to your family on your new niece/nephew!!
Hey Julie!
I have followed your blog for years! It’s one of my favorites! So happy for your growing family! I live in Raleigh! Which nail salon did you go to? I am looking to try a new one.
Thanks and have a wonderful weekend! It’s looking beautiful so far in Raleigh!
I just finished A Mother’s Reckoning (A MUST read) and I’m not reading the ‘Good Liar’. It’s interesting! I also LOVED ‘I let You Go’ by Clare Mackintosh and anything from Kristen Hannah especially ‘Firefly Lane’, ‘Magic Hour’, ‘Nightingale’ and ‘Winter Garden’. I also HIGHLY recommend ‘The German Girl’ by Armando Louis Correa.
Can’t wait to hear which nail salon it is and thanks for your blog!
Raleigh is so beautiful right now! The rain last night made everything so green! And I actually had my nails done back in Charlotte before I left so unfortunately I cannot recommend a Raleigh-based salon but I’d definitely check Yelp reviews!
Happy Birthday, and congrats to Leslie and Ross! How exciting!!
Happy Birthday & Congratulations to Leslie & Ross! What a fabulous Friday! 🙂 Enjoy the weekend!
Aaaahhhh Aunt life is best life! You’re going to have so much fun spoiling your new niece or nephew in ways you just can’t as a mom! Congratulations to everyone!
Great news!
Happy Birthday, Julie!!
Eeeek sweet baby! So how long did you stare at that sweet face trying to figure out if it looks like a boy or girl? 😉 CONGRATS to your sister!!! These cousins are all going to love each other so much!
So happy for Leslie and Ross!! And Happy Birthday!!
Happy Birthday!! And congrats to Leslie & Ross and the rest of your family!
Congratulations to your sister!!! That is such amazing news!!! And happy happy birthday to you, Julie!! I hope you have a good weekend! Xoxo
Those ultrasound pics are too sweet! I was always measuring behind with my first kiddo, and now this pregnancy I’ve been right on track. It’s so strange how each pregnancy is different, and I’m definitely feeling SO much bigger this time around too!
Happy birthday to you and a big congratulations to Leslie and Ross! I bet it will be so fun to watch the cousins play together 🙂
If you don’t mind my asking, is the SNS manicure similar in price to a gel? The UV light used in the gel mani turns me off – trying to avoid those old-lady hands!
Also that US is SO COOL – I had no idea you could see such detail in the face! I’m 12 weeks pregnant and am itching for our appt. on Monday.
Have a great time with your family this weekend! I’m sure your parents are over-the-moon excited for all the good things to come.
It was definitely a splurge manicure but more similar in price to gel than a regular manicure– I think it was $8 more though! And huge congrats to you on your little one! Prayers for a wonderful ultrasound on Monday! <3
Happy birthday Julie!!!! What a blessing and an incredible gift to Leslie, Ross, and your entire family!! I am over the moon for you both. I hope today is perfect and this year brings you so much joy, love, laughter, and success xoxo
there are so many incredible and exciting things happening for your family right now and i am SO excited for you!!! congratulations and have a very happy birthday!!
Julie~Happy Birthday! Have a wonderful weekend with your family. Congratulations to Leslie and Ross! What a truly exciting post! I love your blog. It’s been so lovely to see you get married and have your sweet boy. Thank you allowing your readers to be a part of your journey!
I’m not sure what it is about the way you worded this comment, but I just wanted to say thank you for your words. I could just feel your genuine happiness for me and my family through this comment and I really, really appreciate it!! <3
Happy birthday, Julie!! And congrats to your sister and BIL! My sister and I had our boys 9 months apart and although we live in different states, it was still so special to have our boys so close in age. At 2.5 and almost 2, they are so fun to watch play together!