Our Big, Fat Oklahoma Wedding Review

Well, Mark and I have been living in wedded bliss for over three months now. Not much has changed, since we lived in sin for almost a year prior to our wedding (see: Baby Maska). Hehe. 

But I can honestly say it's been great. I love being married. I love having my own little family. But, ya'll, I miss wedding planning and being engaged. I NEVER thought I would say that, ever.  I had a very stressful, draining job during my engagement which made the wedding planning process not enjoyable for me. My amazing mom was my saving grace during the whole wedding planning process. She was my wedding planner, and she did a kick ass job, if I do say so myself. I had a vision. My momma took it and ran with it. I'm lucky I have a hip and trendy momma who totally gets bling and sparkles.

Here were my must-haves: Pink shoes, ostrich feather centerpieces, ombre cake, uplighting, a photo booth, and good food. Oh..and my groom.

Venue: Picking a venue was the most difficult part for us me. I loved the idea of a golf course wedding...but the golf clubs around here were either A. Slathered in floral wallpaper where the reception would be held. B. Had an outrageous price tag attached to it. or C. Smelled like old people and cigars. After touring several, I realized that this was NOT for us. It wasn't my "vision". We HAD to have a place where we could have the ceremony and reception in the same place since most of our wedding guests were so graciously attending from out of town. After extinguishing many ball rooms, conference centers, etc, I was feeling so frustrated. My mom called one more place...the Will Rogers Theatre. I looked at pictures on their website and was not impressed, but we decided to tour it anyways. Guys. We fell in looooooooooooooooooooooove. Plus, it was right down the street from my old favorite drinking establishment beautiful scenery and nightlife!

How cool is that marquee in the background that says "congrats Mark and Jordan"?

They had my uplighting (fo' free). They had space for a ceremony (down those stairs) They had my chair covers and sashes for a minimal rental cost, and they had fan.freaking.tastic food! HOLLA.  Sold.

Dress: I hated dress shopping. God blessed me with a big ass rib cage similar to Michael Phelps'. This has always made any sort of dress shopping difficult and frustrating. Which in turn, causes tantrums and tears and "why am I so f*cking fat" questions. I dreaded "saying yes" to the dress. I put off dress shopping until my mom said "yo...you know some dresses take 6 months to come in, right?" So off we went on Labor Day weekend to find me a dress. I had ideas of dresses I liked saved onto my phone, mostly Maggie Sotteros. I knew I wanted a fit and flare. Not a poofy ballgown. Aaaand a sweetheart neckline. I made three bridal appointments in town for that Saturday. I was going to find the dress and I wasn't going to stop until I found it. 

The first shop I went to...we'll call it "B"...SUCKED. Made me feel like total shizz. I'm just going to be honest here...at my thinnest and hottest, when I worked out 6 days a week and starved myself. I was still a size 7/8 due to my body frame and how broad I am. At the time of dress shopping, I was a 9/10 or could potentially squeeze into an 8 at Express. Everyone online said that dresses usually run small, and I definitely found that out at "B". They were stuffing my big ass into 6's. Obviously, the dresses looked terrible on me, made me feel terrible, and just really emotionally wore me out. WHY...WHY? Why squeeze a 10 into a 6 and leave a big gaping space in the back to where the bride can't even get a good look at herself without wanting to burst into tears. I don't know if they had larger sample sizes or not, but I bounced....and went and got a Cheeseburger with my mom before the next appointment. :)

The next shop, we will call "P". I got a good vibe when I walked into the store. My consultant greeted me and was so super sweet. I told her my vision and I also picked a few that I had seen on the rack (IN MY SIZE!). This is where I realized that I was not in the type of shape I wanted to be in to wear a fit and flare dress. So, I did what I said I wouldn't do...I said "can I try this one on?" A fluffy, poofy ballgown.

....And that was it.

 This is when I was getting dressed on my wedding day and I was like "oh shiiiiiiiiit I hope this fits." I was 17 weeks pregnant for the wedding and was just starting to have a little bump. I don't think I breathed the whole time she laced me up.

 See how poofy? Totally not what I wanted, but it's what balanced out my top half. And it had blang blang, girl.

Cake: Mmmmm cake. We went with Rosebeary's Designs in Baking and couldn't have been happier. She created the most beautiful ombre buttercream cake...and the most perfect Denver Broncos cake for Marky.

 My mom DIY'd this bling cake stand for me. I loved it! 

The only disappointing thing about our cakes? We got ONE bite. WTF. I could have easily put away three pieces...but...we got too busy mingling and dancing, and then Mark went up my dress to get my garter, and then the night was pretty much over. Bummer.

Centerpieces:  I fell in love with ostrich feathers the moment I saw them. Then, my mom told me that they offered illuminated vases. Sign me up. So, we got my feathers!

Flowers: I wanted simple, but blingy and pink. Our florist,  Madelines Flower Shop, did an excellent job!

 Shoes:  I got my girls' shoes from Nine West. My mom handled all that, but the delivery was super fast! And they looked great in pictures.

Lighting:  We used IES (Innovative Event Solutions) for our LED trees for the stage. The stage was zzzzzz boring. So I wanted to add a "pop" of something. So at a bridal show, I saw these trees and fell in love.

I've probably bored you enough, but I hope I can help some other OKC bride if she ever needs assistance with vendors...

Other vendors:
DJ- BTP Productions (not recommended)
Photography: Jessica Pearl Photography
Cookie Favors: Uptown Grocery
Linens: The French Tulip
Photobooth: 4 Takes Photobooth

Now for some pictures:

 Bridesmaid's shoes.

Signing my freedom away :).

 Bridal party dancing.

 Off-the-market- license

 Our photo matte.

 First dance.

 FEATHERS.

 Cookie favors.

 Beautiful bridal party.

 Photobooth. A Groupon deal! High five!

Thanks for reading!

Large and In Charge.

I dread my OB appointments.

I shouldn't! I mean, I get to hear my wittle bebe's heartbeat go bump bump, bump bump, but in order to hear that, I have to face my worst enemy...the scale. It was okay when it was once a month, but now I'm towards the end of my every other week appointments, heading into weekly appointments and it's like arghhhhhhhhh f*ck, f*ck, f*ck.

Gaining weight has been THE hardest part of pregnancy for me. I vowed that I was not going to gain over 20 lbs. Well, I surpassed that somewhere between 22-26 weeks. I'm now up almost 26 lbs and I want to bawl. I've always been SO conscious of that number on the scale, and now it's even worse. I remember when I heard her change the big 100 number on bottom, to the 150. That haunts me. And that was awhile ago. I'm not eating bad. If anything, I'm eating less. I've even been using MyFitnessPal to track my calories. I WISH I could enjoy this pregnancy and just eat what ever the F I wanted.   Everyone says "you'll lose it when you have the baby and start breastfeeding!" But...what if I don't?

I jokingly asked my OB (Dr. E) if I was on track to have a 10-12 lb baby. She said no. So hopefully I don't pass anything larger than a watermelon out of me.

I was watching that Newlyweds show on Bravo  and I remember the pregnant one, Kathryn's husband saying "you used to look so hot. I've never messed around or been with a 'bigger' girl before." I can't help but wonder if my husband wonders if I'll get my body back as well. But I can assure you, that I WILL get back into shape. B is coming at a perfect time (late August) so by the time I am cleared to work out like normal again, it will be fall, the temperatures will start cooling off, and I can start running at night and smell that awesome Oklahoma fall air.

I can't wait.

LOLOL I thought I was fat here.

I WILL get back to this. 

Thanks for listening to me vent/rant/etc.

Nursery Talk.

I think I've been dreaming of creating and decorating a nursery since I was like...ummm...four. A long ass time.

Then, in 2011, or maybe 2012, who knows? I was introduced to Pinterest. My best and worst friend. It's the only site I know that can make you feel like total crap for your jiggly thighs and tummy and then make you SO happy when you look at wedding stuff and FOOD. Mmm, food. In 2012, I created a baby board, thinking that we would eventually have a kid. I spent HOURS fantasizing over my kid's nursery. Here were my ideas:

SO FREAKING ADORABLE, RIGHT?! Yes. But do you notice a theme?

Shiiiiiiiiiiiit. I'm having a boy. I had ZERO ideas for a boy nursery. I had visions of hot pink and zebra. I begged and pleaded and cried asked Mark if we could please do zebra with another color with the zebra, like green or orange. No go. Absolutely not happening. 

Here's another thing. I really, really despise jungle animal rooms, circus animals, character rooms such as Bob the Builder, etc. Mark said "how about a construction room with tonka trucks and stuff" I said no. One thing was for sure though..we wanted black furniture.

So...we were back to the drawing board on baby boy's nursery.

We decided on colors...

So then I went crazy cakes on Etsy and ordered his bedding...

(The colors are a little off due to lighting and the filter I used on IG), 

Then, we ordered his crib...

And a blanket...

So, Beckett's room is the "study" even though it has a closet, so it's a bedroom to me. His crib will go on that north wall which will be BLUE. His dresser (which we are slapping a changing pad on top and calling it a changing table) will go on the west wall, which will be ORANGE. The east wall will also be ORANGE and will have an aqua colored shelving unit with those pull-out baskets for toys and stuff. The wall with his closet will be BLUE. So basically, opposite walls will be the same color.

I originally really, really wanted to do a Chevron wall where his crib was. But I figured the Chevron wall would compete with the Chevron bedding and could potentially make our kid cross-eyed or something. And let's face it, by the time we actually get in this house, we will have less than 6 weeks before he's born. Time is not on our side, and with my math skills, and everything else we have to get done, I don't think a chevron wall is in our time frame or patience frame. So instead, my mom and I are going to make wall hangings above his crib like this:

But the chevron will be Orange and the letter will be either blue or black. That way there's a LITTLE pop on the wall. :)

Hopefully...HOPEFULLY this all turns out and looks okay. 

I'm stressin' over this, yall.


Later!!

The Final Countdown.

Holy freaking MOLY. 

We are just past the 30 week mark. Less than 10 weeks, ya'll. Hopefully at least 6, but less than 9? I know, I know, I can't pick and choose. I feel like the 20's flew by. Maybe because we've been traveling every. single. weekend. since April 27th. Seriously. I was in Wichita the last weekend in April for my cousin's bridal shower, May 3-5 we were in Chicago for our good friends, Brent and Amanda's beautiful, beautiful wedding. May 10th was Chase's graduation, May 11 was Mom's birthday, May 12th was Mother's day. May 17-18 we were back in Wichita for my cousin Amanda's fun wedding, May 23-27 we were in Fort Collins visiting Mark's family and celebrating his 30th birthday, and June 9th was my baby shower in Wichita, then June 15th we were in Denton for my childhood friend, Kristen's wedding to her new husband Patrick. We've been busy, busy beavers and it's nice to be back home and "grounded". Now we can focus on packing and moving to our new house....if they ever finish. Don't they know we got a bebe on the way...soon!

Here's a little preg survey. I totally slacked this pregnancy on doing stuff like this.

how far along?  30.5 weeks!

baby is the size of: A cucumber? Wtf. I haven't seen a cucumber that big! About 16 inches and 3lbs!

total weight gain: 29 week check up on 6/13/13- Up 22 lb.

maternity clothes: Yes and no. YES to pants/shorts/bottoms. 1/2 yes to tops. can still fit into some of my "long" shirts from when I was "skinny" and not pregnant.

stretch marks? Sore subject. Yes. And it feels like I'm already stretched to the max. I have no clue where another 2-3 inches and 3-5 lb is going to go!

sleep? I sleep. But it takes me a good hour to fall asleep at night. I wake up to pee once or twice, and I'm able to go back to bed, but then when Mark wakes up for work at 6:30 it's real hard to fall back to sleep.

best moment this week: The hospital tour we got at our baby class. It's so exciting and surreal to think that in less than 2 months, I'll be pushing him out of my vag in one of those rooms!

miss anything? Moscato. I used to have a tradition of having a cold cold glass of Moscato while watching The Bachelor/Bachelorette. Maybe next season.

movement? Yes! Much better this week. I can actually see my belly bounce despite having that obnoxious anterior placenta.

food cravings? Not really. BBQ sauce and lemonade. That's about it.

gender? Bebe boy.

symptoms: I'm starting to swell. It's not cute.

labor signs? None. I'd like to keep it that way for awhile, too!

anything make you sick? Nope! I haven't had any nausea since our honeymoon, thankfully. It's been 2 1/2 months nausea free! 

rings? on/off: Off mostly. It makes me so so sad. But after 3 pm, I start to swell.

belly button? in/out: It's in!

mood: I don't think I'm too moody. If anything, I'm stressed about moving. But not really any mood swings.

looking forward to: Being able to put together our nursery! Hurry up, DR Horton! You were supposed to have our house done weeks ago.

That is all... I think next, we will talk nursery!

An Open Letter to my 21 year old self.

I know, I know, this was supposed to be done this past Thursday or something. But as I read others' posts, I started thinking about my 21 year old self. 21 was such a big year. And by a big year, I mean that I did a lot of growing up. More than any other year.  Looking back, I don't regret anything. But I wish I could go back in time and shake myself! Haha.

Here we go:

1. You will soon find out that going out to the bars and clubs is just NOT that fun. You start running into the SAME people weekend after weekend. Those people are still creeping in the same bars 3 years later, and there's a reason. You will soon start to realize that you will not meet your future husband in a bar and that those extra calories in those Sex on Bakers Street drinks and buttery nipples are no good for you. 

2. You need to live it up in that body you have now. Keep showing those legs off, girl. And you know how you think you're "so fat?" You're not. Just wait a few years to when you get pregnant and cry ad wince in envy at Forever 21 and Express while heading up the escalator to Motherhood Maternity. I'm so proud of you for working out 6 days a week. 

3. That guy you're super hung up on? STOP TALKING to him. Seriously, stop. He's bad. He's already made you cry so many times. Guess what girl? He's got a secret life he's hiding from you. He's lying to you. And to his now fiancée. Yes, that's right, YOU are the "other woman" and you have no clue for several more months. Those red flags that have been popping in your head for months? Trust your instinct. Bad news. Plus, he's not even cute Jo. Get with it. 

4. That guy that hollers at you at the gas station in July? You're going to talk to him off and on but you aren't sure if you want to let your guard down because he's not in town for more than another year due to his job. Let your guard down, girl. He's an amazing man. You'll see that from October on, once you finally do let him in to your heart. And guess what? You're actually going to Marry this man!!! Eek!! 

5. After your intensive police officer training, and making it to the oral boards of OKC PD, you're going to withdrawl from the process when you just will have turned 22. You realize that is not your dream after meeting a man who seriously loves you, cares about your safety and wants a future with you. (See #4). You will start to realize that someday you want a family with this man and you will research extensively on police families and divorce rates. You decide you seriously see a future with #4 and that you don't want to just "see him in passing" between shifts since he works 6a to 6p and you would work nights. You will decide that you want children and don't want to kiss your babies goodnight and wonder if you'll make it alive after your shifts. I'm so proud of you for making it so far and then realizing what you TRULY want in life.

6. Those girls you're going to go to Vegas with for spring break? Only one of the five are going to be your true friend years down the line. Stop trying to please the girl you're rooming with and have a good time! Don't worry what they think, because 2 months later you and the girl you're rooming with will have an ugly disagreement and will no longer be friends. And you're okay with that. 

7. Save your money. Quit blowing it on shopping sprees and Long Island Ice Teas. Nobody will know if you wear the same outfit more than once. You have a great paying job and the opportunity to bank so much money. Do that instead. 

So, 21 year old self. Believe me. Believe my advice. You're going to find Mr. Right. And your life in a few years is going to be totally different than you think it is right now. 

Love,

Jordan 

new beginnings deserve a new blog.

HI!

I had another blog. But you know, times have changed. I've changed. Everything in my life has changed. I decided it was time for a fresh start.

Let's get you up to speed, shall we?

In November, Mark and I put in an offer on a new home, and after countering back and forth with the builder, they accepted!

In December we got an even bigger surprise!

Baby's estimated arrival: 8/31/2013.

On March 15th, 2013...

We found out our little peanut's gender...

On March 22nd, 2013 at our wedding rehearsal dinner, we announced Baby M's gender in front of all of our friends and family...

IT"S A BOY!!!

I had convinced myself we were having an itty bitty baby girl. All of those old wive's tales? So wrong. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. We had our girl name, and THOUGHT we had decided on Easton for a boy..but then when we actually found out we were having a boy, we decided we needed to be sure. We went on and on for hours and a few days about what we would name our kid. That's like, a huge deal. He's going to have to sign his name this name the rest of his life. He's going to have to put his name on resumes his whole life. We needed a strong, yet somewhat uncommon name that went with our last name. 

Our faves? Beckett, Carter, Easton, and Dallas. Ultimately, Beckett won. So sometime in August (hopefully August!) Little Beck will be joining our family. We could not be any more excited. So obviously these last few months have been filled with getting our selves ready to be parents!

So...after 8 months of planning, on March 23, 2013...

I married my best friend in the whole world.

It was the BEST day of my life. I know every bride says that, but really. I wish I could do it over and over and OVER again. I am so in love with my husband, and I can't wait to see how great of a father he will be.

And since our wedding, we went on our honeymoon to the Bahamas/St. Thomas and St. Marteen. I don't have many pictures of that because well, after the wedding, Beck decided he wanted to pop. So I felt similar to a beached whale and refused to be in many pictures.

I quit my job as a social worker and currently work at my family's business. Emotionally, I couldn't handle it. I came home in tears every day. This new job change is really going to work better for us as a family. I can bring B to work with me, I'm able to take off for OB appointments and for B's appointments when he comes. It's so much more laid back...and I get to see my mama and she can help me get adjusted to being a new mommy.

So..I leave you with this..my huge pregnant self at 29 weeks. Looking so tired. SO, so tired. Wednesday I woke up with cramps and serious back pain, and I noticed I hadn't felt little man move much. So I freaked. I couldn't sleep. When I got to work, my mom urged me to call my OB, so I did, and they sent me to Labor and Delivery to get monitored. Everything looks great, he's just a lazy, lazy little guy. Hopefully he's as sleepy on the outside as he is on the inside!

11 more weeks.... 11 more weeks...

Thanks for letting me catch you up!