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Intentional Pregnancy Project Episode 4

Buying Baby Stuff & Sharing Stories

Ever since I was a little girl, I have felt a strange pull towards baby items. My sister and I used to spend hours at garage sales going through baby clothes, blankets and toys and spent our hard earned quarters on these treasures for our doll collection. In fact, I still possess a few of those blankets and outfits!

Needless to say, I've always had a thing for dolls, which makes it easy to justify spending a little money on adorable outfits, shoes and accessories. A few years ago I discovered the world of Reborn Dolls and that's when my baby stuff buying truly went wild. I became a regular patron of thrift stores and purchased piles of clothes, blankets, shoes, diaper bags, bottles, pacis, and even a car seat (used for less than $5). I know own two reborn dolls--one that a reborn artist assisted me in making myself, and one that she crafted. The baby I "made" wear newborn and 0-3 month clothing, so the majority of my collection exists in these sizes. And while I say sure, a real baby could wear them, I am also not going to regret owning the clothes just for my doll. We all have our hobbies!

But back on topic. Some women say you shouldn't buy baby items until after you are well into your pregnancy. This is wise if you are saving money and don't want to have things around the house in case of loss or infertility. Other women say that they enjoyed the process of buying a few things wisely before pregnancy, or early on. 

Personally, I decided that it was a wise investment for me to shop around and purchase select items beforehand that are great deals--sales, clearance, used, free, giveaways, etc. That is most of my collection now. I have spent full price on a few things I absolutely love, but they are new and have good resale or gifting value. 

If you want to see some of my collection, watch this week's video!

As a part of researching and writing my book, Intentional Pregnancy, I am inviting women who are hoping to have children or who have already had them, to share their stories via survey. You can share annonymously, or give me permission to use a quote or story in the book. If I choose to quote you, I will not publish your name to protect your identity, and I will also email you a PDF of the finished book as a thank you. The survey can be taken here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LC3TZJC

So what about you? Did you collect baby items before having children? What were your favorite purchases?

New Series: 30 Days of Clean

I'm still new to the land of YouTube, so when I heard about VEDA only a few days ago, I knew this was something I wanted to experience, even at very last minutes' notice. VEDA, or Video Every Day in April, is a challenge to vloggers and a little daunting I'll admit!

So I decided to do something simple, yet fun. Every day in April I will be posting a short tip on an aspect of household and office cleaning and organization. I have been wanting to do an organization series for awhile now, as my professional organizer gene is itching to get out there, and this seemed like a great opportunity.

So here's day one! I hope you will continue to follow the journey on YouTube this month.

Intentional Pregnancy Project Episode 3

Baby Fever & BumGenius 4.0 Cloth Diaper Giveaway

Alright friends...it's the long awaited moment...a giveaway!! From Tuesday March 25 - Tuesday April 8 this giveaway will be live on the Rafflecopter form below. If you are a resident of the US, you can get one "free" entry by entering your email and if you want additional entries, you can like facebook pages, follow twitter accounts and much more fun stuff!

This week on the Vlog I discuss that oh so fabulous topic of Baby Fever! Oh the joy oh the pain of this emotional awwwwwwwww every time you see a baby! But the downside to that attraction to all things squishy and cute is the pain and jealousy that can occur when you see a new mom and her little baby and wish you were in that stage too. I've seen that baby fever can strike during all phases of life--even for those who have young children. It's understandable that women think babies are just so darn cute, I mean, that's how we populate the planet! But the downside is that it can cause a great deal of emotional anguish and frustration when we want something sooo badly and aren't able to achieve it at this time of our life.

I have dealt with a great deal of baby fever and have tried all sorts of methods to cope. Keeping busy, focusing on hobbies, reading, researching, learning, staying active, journaling, meditating, the list goes on. My goal is to remain somewhat content (just not too content!) in order to enjoy the phase of life I'm currently in, while looking forward to the adventure that little ones will bring to my future!

If you didn't see the YouTube episode on Baby Fever, check it out here:

Enter the Giveaway & You could win a BumGenius 4.0 Diaper!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Intentional Pregnancy Project - Episode 2

Episode 2: When to Start a Family

Starting a family is a very personal decision, but one that everyone has an opinion on. Some cultures have norms and expectations, in addition to many religions and even family groups. In society today, it's common for people to push marriage and children into the "later in life" category. Some by choice, some by circumstance and some by necessity. But if I have learned one thing from the experience of being married young-ish (I was 24 and he was 21) and talking about children in our first few years of marriage, I've learned that people are quite open about encouraging you to wait. I used to be very offended when people told me to wait 4-5 years or until I was 30, because I want children way before then! I am not trying to build a career outside the home--I greatly desire to be home and raise a family. However, I quickly discovered that when people told me to wait, they were sharing their story of what they did, or wish they had done. 

I believe that it is valid to put off starting your family until you feel right about it, regardless of whether you work outside or inside the home and where you desire to be once you have a family. Timing is not an issue that anyone can decide for you. Certainly concerned observations can be made, but it requires careful consideration and evaluation on your part. And only you and your partner get to decide when you're ready.

Intentional Pregnancy Project - Episode 1

The project has officially launched and I need your help! I have a basic list of topics to cover in the coming weeks, but I know you have more ideas. Please let me know of any topics of interest that you would like us to talk about! I currently am posting videos on Tuesdays with a topic from the book, but I would like to add an additional video each week, probably on Fridays, addressing your questions, comments and opening more discussions!

Getting any project off the ground is a lot of legwork, so bear with me as we build some momentum. I am so passionate about the subject of motherhood and preparing to be a parent, and, seriously guys, I have so much to share that I'm super duper excited about! (Is that enough enthusiasm, you think??)

You will want to stay tuned as Episode Two opens the oh-so-popular topic of "when to start a family" and the following week, March 25th, we'll be talking about baby fever and I'll be giving away a brand-new BumGenius 4.0 Pocket Cloth Diaper!! So excited! 

So without further ado...here is Episode One!

The Intentional Pregnancy Project

The YouTube Project...What Am I Doing??

Okay, here it goes. Ever since I got married, almost a year ago, I have had baby fever. Like, really really strong baby fever! I have followed bloggers, vloggers and Facebook groups of moms, cloth diapering, infertility/pregnancy loss, families, and other parenting issues. On any average day, I see more media about babies and mommyhood than anything else.

Five days a week, I run around after infants and toddlers for eight hours a day. But my struggle has been that these aren't my kids. And as much fun as it is to care for them and come home to a quiet house with uninterrupted sleep, it's just not what I really want to do with my life. It's not the same because those aren't my kids. I love them, but I want my own little ones.

Many, many people have made comments like "you should wait until you're thirty to have kids" and "enjoy being married for at least four years first" and inside I cringe. For them, it may have been perfect to wait that long before having children, but what they don't understand is that I don't want to work outside the home/build a career/travel the world. I love my husband and enjoy our time together, but my dream is to be a stay/work at home mom and homeschool my children. Certainly I am not against working part-time or doing things outside the home, but I want to be at home first and foremost. It's not a job that's for everyone, but it's what I most desire. 

Intentional Pregnancy Book Trailer

Having said all that, I began a writing project a few months ago entitled Intentional Pregnancy: Practical & Prayerful Preparation for Baby before Pregnancy. I've been freewriting, journaling and brainstorming, and hope to release the finished ebook in May. But as I'm working on this book, I was inspired to reach out and start a community project. 

I don't know a lot of young, married women who are planning and preparing to start families. But I want to! And I am hoping that by starting a YouTube Channel  and uploading weekly videos based on topics from my book, conversations will be started, relationships will be formed, and information and stories will be shared. This is personal, this is important. 

I will be creating surveys and polls that will appear in the book and also offering a few giveways as well. 

Channel Intro Trailer

My first vlog is a fun one...just a get to know me video to express who I really am! =)

All About Me

So this is the invitation. I want to start conversations with women who are planning for a family and those who have already started theirs (both young and older), so we can share our hopes, dreams, struggles and experiences along the journey.

Weekly Vlogs will post on Tuesdays, so please subscribe to my channel to keep updated and be a part of this project. It's about to get really real over there!