July 2012 | Dearest Lou

Clothing problems and rodent nightmares

Something I've been loving the last couple of days is how often I feel Baby Harvard moving. He is especially active at night since I'm a night owl and it looks like were on the same schedule. I'm guessing that he has a hard time falling asleep like mama because he's especially wiggly around bedtime. I know I mention this in every outfit post but I'm really starting to run out of clothes. I considered my pre-pregnancy waist one of my best physical features and bought lots of clothing in the past to emphasized it. Well, since then I've gained 4 inches around the smallest part of my waist, things aren't zipping and buttoning and it really sucks. Heck, I even had to buy new bras and that's coming from a petite chested woman who never had that problem in the past. I need some good references for cute/cheap maternity clothes or big baggy shirts and leggings. Anyone wanna help me out? (;

On another note, have any of you readers seen the movie Ratatouille? It's a Disney children s movie that came out in 2007. Well, I had never seen the movie because I'm deathly afraid of rodents. I think they're disgusting and even the thought of a mouse or rat makes me lose my appetite. Well, Daryl was looking for a movie for us to watch the other night and convinced me to watch it. I told him I was going to have nightmares that night even though it is animated and cartoon rodents seem really clean and not disgusting. I had the craziest nightmare that night where the world was taken over by rats. Not just ordinary rats but ones that were the size of large dogs! I had a sword in my dream and I had to slice these rodents to pieces and it was a really bloody/disgusting/terrifying nightmare! I woke up (thank goodness I have to take at least 2 bathroom breaks every night) with a cold sweat and scared to go back to sleep.. the end. Happy Thursday friends!
Dress: c/o Sugarlips || Shirt: c/o Oasap

Christmas in July Reveal

Hello friends! Today is the Christmas in July Gift Exchange reveal. I'm so excited to see everyone's fun posts and goodies. The adorable blogger I was paired up with was Shane from Whispering Sweet Nothings. If you haven't checked out her blog you definitely should.. like right now! She's so funny and just a genuine person and I'm so glad that I was paired up with her. 

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the package I sent her before it shipped off but she did a vlog about it! This post will mainly be featuring all of the great things she sent me, seriously I've been spoiled (;
She wrote me the best letter ever and gave me this adorable vintage inspired belt.
This adorable little outfit for Baby Harvard she didn't want to leave him out since she knows he is a big part of my life. I was in dire need of shorts for him and that little vest can be either dressed casual or be a great little outfit piece for church (;
She also got me this delicious candy and a dream catcher that I'm going to hang in our bedroom once we get settled in our new place!
[PICTURE OF EVERYTHING] 
Thanks so much Shane, I really love all of the gifts you are amazing!!

If you participated in Christmas in July don't forget to link up below:

Sponsor in August

August is almost here, which means fall is right around the corner. Is it just me or is summer flying by? I haven't visited the pool nearly enough! 

If you're looking for a good place to sponsor during August, give Dearest Lou a try! I'm currently accepting medium, small, and mini sponsorship spots for the month of August. To view sizes, pricing, and stats, click here and shoot me an email at dearestlou@gmail.com if you're interested!

ALSO – Prices will be going up on August 1st so now is a great time to purchase for August and beyond. Look forward to the possibility of working with you!

PS: Don't forget to enter the July Group Giveaway!

Maternity Series >> 22 weeks

Dress: gift from mom || Shirt: c/o Motel Rocks || Shoes: gift from Daryl

July Group Sponsor Giveaway (CLOSED)

Hello Friends it’s time for this month’s group giveaway, yay! This month there are 6 lovely prizes up for grabs and there will be 6 lucky winners. In order to qualify for each of the prizes you MUST follow the entry rules on rafflecopter and then you can do the additional entries if you want a higher chance of winning. You can enter 1 giveaway or all 6 it is completely up to you (; Group giveaway is open to all Dearest Lou readers thru July 27th. Winners will be announced July 28th.

Jenny from Modern Modest Beauty is giving away ad space for the months of August and September!
Giveaway is open internationally!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Gloryvee from Dejavu A’ La Mode is giving away this Nasty Gal braid necklace!
Giveaway is open internationally!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Annelise from Aunie SAUCE is giving away a 200x150 ad space for the month of August!                
Giveaway is open internationally!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Kristen from the Mrs. and the Mama is giving away $20 gift card to Banana Republic/Gap
Giveaway is open internationally!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Sharon from The Tiny Heart is giving away a 200x200 ad space for the month of August!
Giveaway is open internationally!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Michelle from Making Sense of Cents is giving away $15 gift card to Forever 21
Giveaway is open to US only!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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And the winners are:
Medium Ad Space for 2 months from Modern Modest Beauty: Casey Cote
Nasty Gal Braid Necklace from Dejavu A' La Mode: Sharon S.
Medium Ad Space from Aunie Sauce: Sabrina A.
$20 to the Banana Republic/Gap from the MRS. and the MOMMA: Alexis M.
Large Ad Space from The Tiny Heart: Jessica T.
$15 to Forever 21 from Making Sense of Cents: Jamie M.

I will be contacting all of you within the next 12 hours so look out for my email (:

Floral, Pearls, and Turquoise

So I'm pretty positive that these are the last pair of jeans that fit me comfortable without having to do the rubber band trick. I'm guessing I can go another 2 weeks until I need to give in and rubber band it on the regular or buy a couple of sturdy pairs of maternity jeans. I realized that I have what I like to call a "camouflage belly". A camouflage belly is a belly you can choose to either hide and or show off if wearing something really tight. I usually like to wear loose clothing so for the most part I don't think people on the street realize that I'm pregnant. 

I thrifted this floral blazer a few weeks ago and it's so dang comfortable, I can still button it up all the way! I love all of the pretty flowers, colors, and the pearl buttons. I'm pretty sure this blazer and necklaces were meant to be. Tomorrow I will be 22 weeks along, woohoo! Happy Sunday friends (:
Blazer: Thrifted || Jeans: Lucky || Shoes: Forever Young Shoes || Floral necklace&big ring: F21 || Statement necklace: Charlotte Russe || Pearl ring: gift

Utah's Hogle Zoo

I had a lot of fun at the Hogle Zoo last Thursday.. like I mentioned in this post it had been a while since I last went. I was really looking forward to seeing the hippo but they are currently working on their African exhibit and moved him down to New Mexico where he started a family. I guess they will just need to get a different hippo, hopefully more than one! The Hogle Zoo was much smaller than the 2 zoos in Washington that I went to last summer with Daryl and his mom but it was still lots of fun. I also got tired really quick from going up and down all the hills. 

Here are some pictures from our day:
Elephants, rhinos, and lemurs
Daryl's mama, Lillie, and the white snow leopard
Daryl pretending to be a bird, the adorable cockatoo, the giraffes, and I
The new polar bear exhibit was really cool! I like that they added the under ground section so you could see the arctic animals swimming. The polar bear was being such a show off and kept doing all sorts of tricks for everyone. I love the picture of Daryl and Kensie.
The bad-a gorilla and the sleepy orangutan (who hid under the sheet the entire time).
So I have a really funny story about the gorilla. If you look closely at the gorilla's expression you can clearly see that he is not happy. He was tearing apart that cardboard box and eating chunks of it! Well, I went over to go look at all of the other primates when I heard all of these kids saying "ew" and their parents telling them to not watch. I went over to see what all the fuss was about and the gorilla had his big ol' butt hole super close to the glass and was taking a dump. After he was finished he picked up his poop and took a huge bite and started eating it! I couldn't believe my eyes.

July Sponsor Spotlight

It's that wonderful time of the month again where I get to introduce you to a few of the lovely ladies on my sidebar! This month I asked my sponsors what they did for the 4th of July. I hope you enjoy all of their answers and make sure and stop by their blogs and social media sites and say hello!










PS: CLICK HERE to see if you are the winner of the Daydream Frenzy Giveaway!

African Animals and Yellow Overalls

We went to the zoo yesterday with Daryl's family. I hadn't been in years so it was really exciting. They've really changed the place so it felt like a completely different zoo. I will be posting pictures from our day tomorrow (; This is the outfit I wore to the zoo, I wanted to wear something comfortable and I haven't worn these yellow overalls in over a year. I remember them being a bit baggy so I thought that they'd fit perfectly now that I'm pregnant and they do.

In the picture above you can't really see the details of my African animal necklace but it's pretty amazing. My grandparents purchased it when they went on a vacation to Africa a little over a decade ago. The necklace is completely hand made! I love the small details and that it belonged to my grandmother before she passed away.

Since my last post there hasn't been any changes with baby boy except I feel him kicking more frequently and harder each day. I'm also noticing that I'm a lot hungrier now than ever before. I've gained a full pound since Tuesday! I'm a little bit below what I should be at this point but that's because I lost weight at the beginning so I have a little bit of catching up to do. Shouldn't be a problem with my new appetite!
Shirt: F21 || Overalls: Thrifted || Shoes: My mom's || Necklace: Gifted || Bracelet: My sister's

Prim, proper, and pregnant

When Daryl was taking these pictures he kept saying, "Dang, look at that pregnant belly!" I was shocked when I got home and saw these pictures, my belly looks huge! I wore this dress to my friend David's wedding a week and a half ago and it wasn't near this tight. I decided I wanted to wear this dress today because it'll probably be the last time I fit in it until baby is here. Lets just say I couldn't pick anything up off of the floor in fear that my dress would rip.

I haven't done any consistent exercising this whole pregnancy and I'm now determined to get my butt into shape. It's so hard to go walking or to the gym by myself though, I wish I had someone down here to go with me. Once I move back down to the Salt Lake area though I know it will be easy to go to the gym since I can go with my dad 5 times a week. I also want to eat more fruits, veggies, and eat more regularly in general. 

Doctors appointment went good yesterday I've gained a total of 6 lbs and baby's ultrasound results came out normal and healthy which was great to hear. I was reading in one of my pregnancy books and it says that it's normal to gain 1 lb per week after the half way point until the end of my pregnancy so we'll see how big I get ;P
Dress: Thrifted || Earrings: Icing || Heels: c/o Great Grandma || Bracelets: c/o Grandma Carol

PS: CLICK HERE to see if you are the winner of the AW Photography Giveaway!