Hi Balanced Beauty’s! I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy. I have so much to share with y’all. Ever since my last Q&A on Instagram, there were a bunch of questions that I didn’t have the chance to answer, so I saved those and will be addressing them in this blog post. In addition to the rest of the Q&A’s, I wanted to write an updated post about my current life, as I embark on my 22nd week of pregnancy. So this blog post is a little bit of everything <3
First, answering the rest of my Q+A’s below:
What pregnancy workouts do you do and what did you do to lose weight post-birth?
Pregnancy workouts:
- Barre3
- Walk
- Weight training
Post-Pregnancy workouts:
- Running (Sprint Training)
- Weight Training
- Barre3
How are you nursing and pregnant?
It is HARD and exhausting to be honest! However, I didn’t want the fact that I got pregnant so soon to interrupt, or take away from Brooklyn being a baby. She still needs me and it is something that I wanted to do no matter how life changed for me. I am so happy we made it to a full year. Also, feeding Brooklyn and feeding baby girl in my belly has been incredibly eye opening to what my body is capable of. It is truly amazing. Moms and women are truly incredible.
Do you have help with Brooklyn?
No, I don’t. I am currently a stay at home mom and care for her. I feel so lucky to be home with her, but I do commend both SAHM moms (or dads) and working moms (or dads). Both have their pros and cons and both are not easy decisions to make.
This is one of the reasons why I am not on instagram or posting content 24/7. I can’t imagine watching a baby properly while being glued to my phone/trying to post and create content. I am the type of person that needs to put 100 percent into anything and everything that I do, so I want to be sure that I am giving you the real stuff and the good stuff. I am sure as the babies get older and become more independent, it’ll get easier to do both!
Can you share more style boards?
Yes! I actually love doing these/creating these. All of the stuff I put together, I have ordered myself or would purchase myself. Thank you for shopping with me!
What other baby girl names do you like?
Here are some names that I’ve always loved: Madison, Addison, Anderson (Andi), Emma, Harper
If Brooklyn was a boy, what names did you like?
We change our mind all the time about boy names but in the moment, our top boy names were Brady, Brooklyn (boy or girl), Hudson, Beckham and Porter.
How did you think of your second child’s name?
There is a story and meaning behind baby Reed’s name and I am so excited to share it with you in 18 weeks!
What is your pregnancy diet?
I try to eat as healthy as possible but I also acknowledge the cravings when they hit. I pretty much eat the same foods now as I did pre-pregnancy. Well, besides the food aversions that I am totally, all of a sudden, grossed out by (fish).
Example of my day to day meals:
Breakfast: Eggs and avocado (with or without a grain toast) OR yogurt with peanut butter and a healthier granola.
Lunch: Salad with chicken or ground turkey and a side of veggies/brown rice
Snack: Fruits, homemade oat bites
Dinner: Chicken or turkey meatballs with a sweet potato or rice
Dessert: A cup of frozen coconut cool whip with dark chocolate chips or with strawberries/blueberries
Does Christian work from home since COVID?
He sure does, for almost a year now. I LOVE having him WFH but he is just as busy (if not more) than in the office. I hardly see him during the day, but I will knock on his door from time to time to say Hi…as if he doesn’t see me enough 🙂
Will you go back to work after baby number two?
The plan with Brooklyn was to consider going back at least part time once she turned one. However, after COVID hit, we decided as a family it was best for me to stay home and care for Brooklyn. We made the decision to continue growing our family while I have been able to be home. Eventually I would like to, at the very least, continue teaching yoga. That would allow me to create my own schedule. As far as going back to teaching and working in early intervention, time will tell! After baby #2 we will decide what is best for our family.
Will you get vaccinated pregnant?
I didn’t want to answer this one just because I like to stay away from any sort of personal beliefs or politics on social media. I respect how others feel and would never push or try to persuade anyone to believe in what I believe in. It is your life, your beliefs. However, I didn’t want to totally ignore your question.
Without going into too much detail on this, I have personally decided not to get vaccinated while pregnant. I’ve discussed this with my doctor and feel it is best for my personal journey. I know plenty of friends and family (some who are pregnant) who did receive the vaccine though. I support either decision! However, I am totally open to getting vaccinated after birth assuming the doctor gives me the ok.
With that being said, my family and I have been doing our very best to stay safe and quarantine (especially after I found out I was pregnant and the winter came).
We are going to continue to strive to do our best to stay safe while I am pregnant!
How do you handle COVID with a baby?
Hard, very hard! I went into straight mama bear mode and truly have been social distancing.
I think regarding this question, everyone is in a different situation. There are people who have had COVID already or those who have to put their kids in school/daycare and can’t work from home. You have to do what is best for you and your family given the time we are living in and your personal situation at home.
For my family, once I found out I was pregnant around the time that COVID was spiking again, we decided to quarantine for the winter due to my pregnancy and how young Brooklyn is.
We do what we feel is right and best for us, and we don’t feel bad about it. We also respect others decisions to do what is best for their crew.
Praying for everyone who is trying to find some sort of balance during this difficult year. This too shall pass<3
Did your belly pop faster with baby number two?
Sure DID!!!! It’s a real thing. I had a lot of pain at the beginning of my second trimester because my stomach knew exactly where to go and the stretching was working double time. I kept asking my doctor if the pain/discomfort I was feeling was normal, and in fact it was a common complaint for the second time around. Everything bounced right to where it was with Brooklyn, real quick!
Is the second pregnancy harder?
It is for me. Especially with a one year old to take care of. However, with that being said, it is going by much faster than the first pregnancy for me.
Do you get paid on Liketoknow.it and can you explain the process?
Yes- I get paid! However, I do not post nearly enough content to sustain a living off of it. Something I’ve wanted to say to my followers and shoppers is that I am so grateful that you all follow me will buy things off of my links.
Full disclosure: before being accepted to liketoknow.it, I LOVED shopping from influencers and bloggers but very rarely did I click their links to shop. I would save the stuff for later or buy it on my own time, screenshot etc. This was only because I wasn’t aware of how they were paid. However, now that I understand how much they put into finding and linking the items they post, and know that they will make commission if I buy from their links, I make sure to purchase the stuff I find through them. Although I only do this on my free time, it does take a lot of time and truly could be a full time job if you are linking and posting things all day. I have a whole new appreciation for bloggers and influencers. I wish I had time to post more because I absolutely LOVE sharing my inspirations and linking things for you all.
Also, in rare instances, there are websites or boutiques that are not associated with liketoknow.it. When this happens, I will usually link an item that looks similar to what I purchased. For example, I get asked about where I purchased Brooklyn’s crib often. Although I purchased it at RH Child & Baby, I can’t link it on liketoknow.it. With that being said, I linked cribs that look similar from Pottery Barn Kids. If you ever need a link that I can’t directly post on my liketoknow.it, feel free to DM me for the direct link!
How do you deal with negativity and mean people?
I feel like I’ve been thinking about how to answer this since someone raised this question. I wanted to come up with an authentic answer that was true to my experiences because I used to handle this poorly when I was a teenager. I found that I was overly sensitive and put my energy into people who didn’t love me the way I loved them. I’ve also grown a lot to be more confident with age, gained some wisdom from trial and error, and have learned to stand for what I believe in. To sum it up, here are a few things i’ve learned in life through personal experience on how to handle negativity, mean people and relationships:
- Love people who love you. I have always loved hard, which at times, can lead to more hurt. It is part of my personality to put my heart and soul into relationships whether it be friends, love life, family etc. Where are my fellow libras at?! I’ve learned to accept that certain relationships may not last and to let things go when they don’t work, or if it becomes way too much work. I realized not everyone is going to love the way I love, and just like anything else, I realized that I won’t always be everyone’s cup of tea and I am totally ok with that at this point in my life.
- I learned to manage expectations. If I want to do good for people, I do it out of the good in my heart and not with the expectation that it will be reciprocated. Understanding expectations in life has been a crucial part of my growth and learning to deal with relationships and negativity.
- Not everyone is going to love me and there will be people who try and bring me down throughout life. I’ve learned that I will not please everyone, and people will have good and bad things to say. However, I used to take these things personally. After a lot of learning and life, I have learned to have compassion. 90 percent of the time, it is likely not what I am doing, or not doing. I have compassion for people who are mean and say negative things. Most likely, those are the people that need love the most and those are the people that are hurting or are going through something in their own life. I get it, it can be exhausting and I have been there, but before letting it get the best of you, take a deep breath and realize that that everyone is going through something.
Pregnancy Update
We are more than halfway through this pregnancy! It is so crazy for me to think that in less than 18 weeks we will have TWO kids?! What is even crazier is that more than half of our family and friends on both sides have yet to meet Brooklyn due to COVID. The next time we most likely will be seeing people, they will be meeting not only one, but two little nuggets.
I am in the middle of week 22 in my pregnancy. My nausea stopped around week 19 (AMEN), and although it will hit here or there in the morning, it is so much better. I think overall, nursing and running after a one year old also aided to my struggles with this pregnancy.
Speaking of nursing, yesterday was the first day we started weaning. So bittersweet. I was breastfeeding Brooklyn 3x a day (morning, day & night), plus multiple meals of solid foods. This week, I took out the day feeding and substituted with a cup of whole milk (not going to introduce a bottle since Brooklyn rarely had bottles in her later months of life). I am going to continue two feedings this week. Next week, I will take out the morning feeding and only keep the feeding before bed. I am not sure if this is a slow or fast wean, but I was told to ease into it instead of cutting it cold turkey for her sake, and my body’s sake. I am so sad to end this chapter with her, but I want her to be completely weaned by the time I am doing this for another year with baby number two.
Overall, the second pregnancy has been a bit of a rollercoaster. The first trimester was harder than I expected it to be, again with extreme nausea and fatigue, but on the plus side, it flew by. Now in the second trimester, things are feeling good again and we are getting so, so excited to meet this sweet baby girl. After Brooklyn’s first birthday, I have finally had some time to focus on baby Reed #2.
My next blog post will be about weaning from breastfeeding once our journey comes to a complete end. I will include the whole experience and go into detail on how it was for both Brooklyn and I.
Stay healthy and balanced <3
With love,
Sammie Reed
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