2000's are coming back and I have lots of thoughts!
I never knew what to wear while pregnant, what to buy ahead of time, what would change postpartum, and I feel like everyone said something different so I really couldn’t decide what to shop for and ended up just feeling really BLAH the whole time I was pregnant, but then felt pretty good postpartum once I did some shopping. So I do not have the answers for others since it’s true that everyone is different, but I thought it might be helpful to share what worked for me in case anyone else is trying to figure this out for themselves either with pregnancy or postpartum! Or if you are just curious for the distant future or as a friend.
A few of my favorite maternity and nursing friendly pieces:
https://shopmy.us/collections/226601
Figuring out dinner is the worst! Here is what is helping me.
https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/
Leftover Stickers: https://shopstyle.it/l/cfaN0
Thermometer: https://shopstyle.it/l/cfaO3
Planning App: https://www.notion.so/
Instacart ($10 off for both of us): https://inst.cr/t/63a3f03a5
Feeding your baby is such a personal and complicated process to navigate! So many surprises and things outside of your control, so much pressure to do it a certain way from others, so time consuming at the beginning, and feels like such an important thing to get “right.”
I truly believe what is best is different for each parent and baby but I know it can help to hear other people’s experiences, so that’s what I’m sharing today!
I hope you enjoy this episode whether you are simply curious or if you are gathering info for a future child!
Here is my blog post with details on the breast pumps I have:
https://reallyprettygood.com/blog/breast-pump-round-up
Baby products I’d register for again:
https://reallyprettygood.com/blog/baby-gear
Follow me on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/reallyprettygood
Welcome back to really pretty good podcast! I am so happy to finally be starting Season 3 after such a long time off, I think about 6 months off. I’ve been missing it and eager to come back but as most of you know I had a baby at the beginning of this year and so I’ve been adjusting to the huge life change and until now have felt pretty much in survival mode or like I just really needed to focus on learning how to be a mom.
But I think I’m finally feeling a little bit more settled into the new life and a little bit more able to think about creative things again so I’m happy to be back to share more! And on that note I thought the perfect way to come back would be to update you on the last 6 months and share some of my postpartum experience. We left off on quite a lot of motherhood topics while I was pregnant so we are picking that back up for now but throughout this season I do plan to share a mix of both personal, motherhood journey and also some creative thoughts and commentaries on creative things happening in culture like fashion shows and trends and our usual stuff.
So before I get too chatty let’s dive right into postpartum. I am planning to make this a 2 part series because as I was planning I realized I have so much to say about our breastfeeding journey that it’ll be better to make that it’s own episode for those who are interested. So in this episode I’ll focus mainly on the physical recovery, emotional and identity part of postpartum, and touch on our experience with sleep and sleep training!
So without further ado, I give thee, The first six months of my postpartum experience.
Special episode after some time off to share the story of my son’s birth!
This is going to be the last episode of season 2 before I take a break to welcome little baby into the world. I did plan to go a few more weeks before wrapping up the season but I have realized it is getting harder and harder to have the mental capacity for everything I’m committed to at the moment so we are going to wrap up just a couple weeks early so that I can focus on the rest of our prep!
So with it being holiday season with lots of fun hosting and parties and things happening I thought a fun topic to end on would be some ideas for hosting a low cost, low stress, but memorable and fun gathering. I think hosting is one of the most fun things ever but when we see all the high end Pinterest parties on social media it becomes kind of easy to mix up priorities I think.
You know I am all about aesthetics and I do think aesthetics are important and make a big difference, but what I mean by mixing up priorities I think is just that sometimes it feels like we need the really amazing expensive decor pieces in order to create an ambiance but there are actually so many great ways to make the aesthetic vibe that you want to create a really great party feel without having the Pinterest parties that act so casual about spending thousands of dollars on a small friend gathering.
So I wanted to share some of my ideas that I’ve gathered over the years of hosting for what in my opinion makes a party truly memorable when you’re working with a tighter budget.
Today we are chatting all things nesting before baby arrives:
Links:
Sweet or Savory Podcast -- Nesting Rage
I’m going to share all about my second trimester experience and my baby shower which was this past weekend! I’m in the last week of the second trimester so we are entering the home stretch. And the second trimester was pretty different from the first so I hope you enjoy this little update for some easy listening today!
Do Birth Classes Help? Blog Post
My First Pregnancy and Miscarriage
60. Gender Reveal and Testing Old Wives Tales
56. Finding Out We Are Pregnant and First Trimester Experience
Last Year's predictions: Episode 23
Ugly Dress TikTok: @carol.ine3
This week’s episode is a quick and cozy list of some ways you can decorate for fall if you haven’t already. I struggle to decorate for fall and have it end up feeling really impactful, so I thought others might be in the same boat and maybe could benefit from a little brainstorm list of decor ideas in case it gives you any inspiration for your own house. I’ll focus on indoor because for outdoor I’m just going to assume we are all doing the pumpkins and mums thing, and if you live in a warm climate maybe you’re going with fake plants or you’re willing to replace them throughout the season.
I think the three keys to decorating for fall are dried plants, earth tones, and hygge. So here are some specific ideas for how to implement those three things and make your house feel ultra autumny.
String Lights Non-Fall Colors Inspo @thekwendyhome
Sharing my thoughts on the underwhelming fashion month that was Spring/Summer 2024!
So to explain this episode about fashion let me start off by saying that it’s the start of the football season and last year around this time I made an episode called How To Care About Sports because I always feel like I’m missing out on the conversation this season of the year and even though I don’t naturally care about sports I realized there’s a part of me that kind of wants to because you know, if you can’t beat em, join em.
So my friend who is an editor at FOX Sports came on and joined me to give her perspective on why sports are interesting to watch and kind of gave me the 411 on how to find interesting relationships among the players and character stories to care about so that it’s a little bit more like reality tv for me haha. And I admittedly have enjoyed it more since then and have followed some players or players’ wives on instagram and I might even try to watch some games this year on my own to see if I can become genuinely interested by the time of the SuperBowl.
So, all that to say, it is ALSO the biggest fashion season of the year right now, so I think all the sports fans out there deserve an episode about how to care about fashion and fashion month. I’m sure there is some cross over of people who care about both already, and if you follow my content I probably don’t have to convince you to care about fashion haha, but I actually thought it could be a fun chat even if you do like fashion already to share some of the ways I like to make it even more interesting to follow fashion month besides just “oo pretty dresses.”
So whether you love fashion already or are just waiting to send this episode to the sports lover in your life and say “hey I listened to your episode now you listen to mine,” I hope this episode leaves you inspired to find extra entertainment and enjoyment in the fashion world!
I would personally think of three subtopics of fashion that I find interesting: high end fashion events, influencers and celebrity style, and trend cycles. I think the easiest place to start is with those high end events, so let’s go through the fashion schedule which is the order and location of fashion shows and fashion month that is usually about the same year after year, and then we can talk about celebrity style and then trend cycles.
We are on a 2 part mini relationships series because last week was our anniversary and we haven’t done a ton of relationship content on the podcast but I feel like I always have thoughts about it so I thought this was a good excuse to bring it to the pod. So last week I shared the 5 best pieces of marriage advice we’ve gotten so far in our marriage that have helped us the most, and this week I wanted to go back further in time and share dating advice I would give my former self.
I feel like I would do things so differently if I could go back in time and I’ve been thinking about this topic a little bit knowing I will be raising a son, and just thinking about what I will tell him when the time comes for him to be dating, so here are 5 things I would tell my past dating self or my future dating son.
Today is a cute special episode because yesterday was my husband’s and my wedding anniversary. We’ve been married 7 years now which feels kind of crazy mostly because I feel like we’re not old enough to have been married that long, even though we are in our 30s now. I thought it would be kind of fun to do a little relationships episode in honor of our anniversary and share 5 of the best marriage advice I feel like we’ve received over the years or that has helped our relationship the most. And then I’m planning to do another episode next week on a similar topic but it’ll be things that I would tell my younger self before I was married, when I was dating.
Even though 7 years does feel like a long time in some ways, I know we still have a baby marriage compared to so many older wiser couples that have been together for decades, but I thought it could be nice to share some of the advice that we have gotten from some of those older wiser people and I think pretty much all of these apply to any type of committed relationship even if it’s a friendship even though I’ll be talking in the context of marriage.
So if you love love or are curious to hear some of the things that have helped us over the years, this episode is for you, hope you enjoy!
oday is kind of a random episode but I just thought it would be a fun one because I found this list in my notes from a couple years ago and thought it was hilarious and would make a good podcast episode. And that topic is: home decor styles for each enneagram.
So I think most of you are familiar with enneagram but if you’re not it’s like a personality test that people go really deep into and actually get certified in and everything and it’s probably overhyped in some ways but it’s actually one of my favorite personality tests because I think it’s actually been helpful to me in my life and relationships.
So there are 9 numbers and I’m not going to get into the details of enneagram here because that’s a huge topic, but if you aren’t familiar with them I’ll give a brief overview of each one as we talk about them but this episode will be funnier to you if you’re already familiar with enneagram and are thinking of people you know that fall into each number.
Even though this episode is mostly just for entertainment I hope it inspires the creative side of you a little bit and gives you some ideas for home decor as well. So let’s jump in.
Follow me on instagram: @reallyprettygood
Show notes for each episode: reallyprettygood.com
As you can see from the title I am officially revealing the gender of our baby, but this is going to be a 2 part episode because I thought it would be fun to go through some old wives tales around gender before finding out the gender for ourselves.
So for the first half of this podcast, you’ll hear me from a while ago when I was 15 weeks pregnant, going through the tales and adding up the points for either boy or girl, and at the time I didn’t know which one it was.
Then for the second half, I’ll reveal what the gender is, since we just found out, and I will share a little bit more about our gender reveal party and some of the fun details we included for that.
So I hope you enjoy this pregnancy update and have fun seeing if the old wives tales are correct!
Today I thought it would be fun to chat about a new fashion trend I have been seeing everywhere for the last several months, specifically ever since Sofia Richie’s engagement and wedding, and the trend is being called “old money” style.
I think this could also be described as Upper East Side Style or basically it’s like east coast wealthy preppy style.
I feel like there’s a conversation you could have about whether or not this is problematic to strive for, but, deeper cultural issues aside, I’m in the camp that on the surface level at least it is a very pretty style and I aspire to wear more of it. ” meets “I’m still fashionable and feminine.”
And just in general, whenever it becomes trendy to be more preppy, I am a fan, because my personality is preppy, so all the ultra relaxed, didn’t try too hard, casual styles are not as natural for me to get into.
So let’s jump into a 3-part chat about old money aesthetic: First, diving more into what the trend is and why I am enjoying it, second, what items I would shop to put together a capsule wardrobe that is the old money aesthetic, and third, how I think the look can be achieved without the actual old money budget.
Curvy Old Money Inspo: @stylebyrhiannon
Cutest Satin Amazon Dress inspired by @theegreatgabs
Shop My Old Money Selects
Aromatherapist: @scienceofessentialoils
Toxicologist: @dryvonneburkart
More Holistic Health: @ParsleyHealth
Traditional Doctor: Ask your own doctor
Certifications / Orgs:
EWG
OEKO-TEX
Greenguard Certified
Clean at Sephora
Target Clean
Beauty Products:
First Aid Beauty Hyaluronic Acid Serum & Eye Cream
Summer Fridays Vitamin C CC Me Serum
Youth To The People
ILIA Beauty Super Serum Skin Tint
ILIA Beauty Fullest Volume Mascara
rmsBeauty
MERIT
LAWLESS The Little One Palette
Odele Sensitive Shampoo, Conditioner and Body Wash
ZOYA Nail Polish (10-Free)
Olive + June Nail Polish (7-Free)
CND Vinylux Long Lasting Top Coat (7-Free)
Home Products:
Tuft + Needle Mint Mattress
Dyson Formaldehyde Air Purifier
Any OEKO-TEX certified bedding from Target
Nuna
Uppa Baby
Pottery Barn Low Tox Line
Didn't mention in this but I like for EO: Revive Essential Oils or Eden's Garden Essential Oils
Cleaning Products:
Seventh Generation
Branch Basics
I’m not really going to dive into any controversy, I’m just going to share what my approach is after a few years of debating how to approach it all and hopefully offer some ideas for you if you have a similar view to mine. The topic is low tox living, and how to find good products that are as close to non toxic as possible, like clean beauty, non toxic cleaning products, and dealing with off gassing from things like paint and furniture and mattresses.
So first I’m going to share how I’ve kind of settled into the view that I have on all of this, and then I’m going to share some things I look for to help me make decisions when I’m shopping with this in mind, and some of my favorite products in those three categories: beauty, cleaning products, and home products.
And again, this is an area that you can go so much deeper and it’s interesting because people tend to feel very passionate about anything that has to do with health, so you may disagree with me and I also might change my mind in the future, but I just think that because there is soooo much conflicting and sometimes overwhelming information out there that it might be helpful to hear where I’ve landed which in my mind is kind of a middle ground, or hopefully is a bit more realistic for someone who wants to have a generally low toxin lifestyle but isn’t willing to spend all of their mental energy and time on it either.
If you’re interested in a deep dive instead of this surfacey podcast, I would recommend talking to three people: a holistic doctor, a traditional medicine doctor, a certified aromatherapist, and a toxicologist. I can link some resources for people I have followed at various times for some of those things. But I think it’s good to hear from lots of different perspectives and then you can decide what you think based on what they all share. I am none of those things and this podcast is primarily for entertainment, so this is obviously not medical advice but glad you are here for a chat!