Before & After

Here are my most updated before & after pics! I am really proud of myself. I didn't realize I had gained so much weight but now I can really see! I'm still not finished with getting fit though. I am focusing more on my muscles now. I do mostly strengthening these days and not so much cardio. I've even added in a protein shake to my work out days in hopes of it helping build my muscles. I will not start TTC until I get the body I want. Most people would think why do you want to get skinny/fit before you get pregnant? I want to have a cute pregnant belly, it's part of the whole experience for me, so that is why. :)

House Hunting

In order for us to have a baby we need a place of our own! We currently live with T's parents who's house is a two-family house. We have our own space including kitchen, bathroom, living room and a bedroom but we want to move out and live on our own completely.

We've been really focusing on finding a place but it hasn't happened yet. We're hoping to officially move this fall, so we have some time left. There are so many things to consider when buying a house or condo!

We're most likely going to go the condo route, it fits our lives best at the moment. Here in Sweden it is very typical to live in a one bedroom apartment with a child, having the crib in the parents room. I however not being Swedish am having a hard time considering it as an option. It feels like it'd be very cramped and I'd miss out on decorating a nursery!  But it is an option.

Most places offer a floor plan like these:

1 bedroom

OR

2 bedroom

As stated above I prefer the two bedroom but there is a shortage of places to live here in Sweden. It's big news and a big political debate these days about building more rental apartments and condos. So we're going to have to settle with the best thing we can find. 

Names

I've been obsessing over what I will name my children ever since I was little. Names are very important to me and I tend to like names that are not popular or trendy. I plan to honor someone meaningful to me with every child I have, whether it be through middle name or first name.

When I have a child the name will be kept secret until birth (Who doesn't like teasing everyone else? ;) ) but I will share some of my favorite names. These names aren't necessarily names I will use just names that I like.

Amy, Anouk, Astrid, Bodil, Cecilie, Clementine, Edith, Elvira, Emilie, Emmy, Esmée, Esther, Fredrika, Georgetta, Harriet, Heidi, Idun, Ines, Irene, Josefine, June, Juniper, Lavender, Lovisa, Magnolia, Mathilde, Moa, Märta, Nellie, Saga, Satu, Suvi, Sylvie, Synnöve, Tomine, Vera, Viola, Wednesday


Albin, Alexander (not Alex or Xander!), Alfred, Anders, August, Casper, Charles, Dexter, Ebbe, Emil, Felix, Fredrik, Gustav, Hannes, Hugo, Isaac/Isak, Jack, Jesper, Johan, Johannes, Linus, Luka, Magnus, Melker, Milo, Oskar, Otto, Pelle, Rasmus, Robin, Simon, Theodor, Viktor, Wilhelm


What are your favorite names? Do you already have names figured out for your future child?

Gender Preference

Does anyone have a gender preference for their child?

When I was younger I said I always wanted a boy first. I even knew what I wanted to name him "Benjamin Chase" (which is no longer a favorite) but then from about age 16 and on I wanted a girl first. Nowadays I don't think I have a gender preference. I would love to have a girl to dress up in really cute clothes but at the same time I really want a boy! Wouldn't boy/girl twins be the best solution! If only... haha.

I'll be happy with whatever it turns out to be boy or girl. I will however have to wait awhile since I'm not pregnant yet and I don't plan to find out the gender when I do get pregnant. I want to keep it a surprise and find out at birth. I imagine it will be a very special moment. Anyone else who didn't find out the gender?

Update On My Health

I've been really focusing this past month on slimming down and toning up! I want a healthy body before I get pregnant and would love to have a cute pregnant belly when I'm actually pregnant.

Here is an updated Before & After picture. I've been doing a mixture of cardio and strength training. I'm not done yet I am striving for even better results.

More Folic Acid!

I've started taking more folic acid! I have been orginially taking a daily multi-vitamin that contained 400mcg of folic acid but since folic acid is so important I'm taking another supplement on top of that of 500mcg, daily. So that brings it up to 900mcg of folic acid a day. I think I'm satisfied.

Vitamins

Today I officially started taking a daily multi-vitamin.

A tough thing about living in Sweden is lack of variety. I had 3 options when choosing a daily women's multi-vitamin... where I am sure that if I was still living in the United States I would have had 10+ different brands of multi-vitamins to choose from.

I ended up choosing the pharmacy's brand. Here in Sweden there is also only one pharmacy and it's called Apoteket... which literally means the pharmacy. It doesn't have everything I need so I think I will need to buy a few extra vitamins/minerals.

Here is what is in my vitamin:

Vitamins:                             Minerals:
Vitamin B1 2.1mg                               Magnesium 37.5mg
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) 1.6mg                Iron 14mg
Niacin 18mg                                      Zinc 7.5mg
Panthothenic acid (B5) 6mg                  Iodine 150mcg
Vitamin B6 4mg                                 Manganese 1mg
Vitamin B12 3mcg                              Molybdenum 45mcg
Vitamin C 60mg                                 Copper 900mcg
Vitamin D 5mcg                                 Chromium 50mcg
Vitamin E 30mg                                 Selenium 50mcg
Folic Acid 400mcg
Biotin 150mg

In addition to this I am going to be taking calcium (500mg) and iron (9mg) daily as well.

So if we count everything together I will be taking a multi-vitamin, calcium (500mg), iron (9mg) and fish oil (1000mg) daily. I am debating on adding in more folic acid but I'm not sure yet.