Announcing Pregnancies

Pregnancy announcements have been on my mind a lot lately. Several of my friends are pregnant and yes my husband and I are excepting number 2. So no wonder I have a lot of thoughts on the subject right now.

To be socially acceptable one waits until the end of the 1st trimester to announce a pregnancy to friends and family while having told maybe a few close people before that. One main reason that people wait to announce is because miscarriages are most likely in that 1st trimester. I waited to announce my 1st pregnancy because someone close to me had a miscarriage days after I found out I was excepting and I was terrified that it might happen to me. I was very surprised when I saw an announcements on Facebook much earlier then I would have ever thought to make mine public. Since then I have thought about this a lot and now it is all fresh in my mind again. So I thought I'd write down my thoughts.

Two well known people have recently made early pregnancy announcements, Princess Kate and the recently married daughter form the TLC show, 19 Kids and Counting. I heard Princess Kate's reason was that the morning sickness would have lent to so many rumors that they just decided to beat the rumor mill. The latter made a point I hadn't thought about. Taking a pro life/anti abortion stance saying that by announcing pregnancy early you are acknowledging that a fetus is a baby sooner. Theses are both great reasons.

I mentioned that with my 1st pregnancy I waited because I was terrified of miscarriage. Thinking back it doesn't seem like a good reason anymore. I have not experienced miscarriage first hand but have seen it happen to friends. I can only imagine how hard it must be and I think that it would help to have the support of family and friends to help me threw if ever it does happen to me. Bringing life into the world is very happy news so why not share the news early on and if things go wrong then at least you got to share the good news and now hopefully you have help and support through the hard times ahead.

My husband and I were very excited to find out we have another one on the way, so why did we wait to announce this second pregnancy till the end of the 1st trimester. Its simple and maybe a little silly and has nothing to do with worrying about miscarriage this time. To anyone who has been pregnant or lived with a pregnant women it should come as no surprise that I don't like being pregnant. Its hard, a baby is slowly taking over your body. No matter how "easy" a pregnancy is most of the time it is just plain not fun. With that said being pregnant has amazing moments, its a blessing and a gift that I couldn't begin to express in words so I wont. The point being that I spent that first three months throwing up and being sick with little to show for it (yes anyone who saw me on a regular bases would have figured it out but I'm no princess Kate and as stay at home mom who moved across town right as it all started it just wasn't really an issue). What helped me threw it all was looking forward to a cute Pinterest worthy announcement. By waiting we got to do it in October with Halloween. It was so worth it for me. Pregnancy is worth it! But when your just a few weeks in, 9 months seems like forever, finding things to look forward to, that are not so far away helps to keep a good attitude. Plus by waiting to tell people you avoid some of the questions and advice that can get really old after awhile.

...that's right Our Little Princess is going to be a Big Sister!

When or how you announce your pregnant is up to you. I just hope however you do so you are able to enjoy it. Whether it's number one or number seven its always important to take advantage of all the good parts of being pregnant, hopefully telling people is one of them.  

What to do in Provo, UT with Toddlers

Not mention in this post but the
Freedom Festival
on and around the 4th of July is Awesome

I meant to get this post up before I moved but things got crazy. Now that I have to start all over in a new place I can't help but think how nice it would be to have a resource like this one for my new town, so better late then never.

As a stay at home mom I have discovered so many fun and cheap or free things to do with my little girl that kept us both entertained and more importantly sane this past year and more. I'm leaving this beautiful city that I have completely fallen in love with very soon, and as part of saying good bye I want to pass my hard earned knowledge to anyone who is in need of adventures with small children in or near Provo, UT.

Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum (aka Bean Museum)

Located on BYU campus. Completely Free. Wonderful eye catching exhibits for all ages (baby to grandparent). So what is it? Stuffed animals. Real, at one time living animals. I promise that is not at all creepy. It has bugs and butterfly's, lions and giraffes, and lots, lots more. Its the next best thing to a zoo and did I mention completely free.


Museum of Paleontology
Also on BYU campus and free. Not nearly as visitor friendly or cool as the Bean Museum but still worth a look if your in the area.

Story Time at the Provo Library

Awesome. Amazing. They have a baby story time once a week with great songs and ideas of how to teach/play with such a little one. Then there is also story times every week day for toddlers (its the same thing all week but you can go any day). And I believe a preschool story time as well. Check out there website for the details. This was been a life saver and a great way to introduce my girl to books. At 2 years old she loves books and is learning the alphabet, I give the credit to this wonderful library and possibly the PBS kids show Super Why.


Duck Pond at BYU

this was after a big rain storm
there aren't usually huge puddles for your kids to get so messy in
but it did make for some fun memories

On the south side of Campus there is a beautiful landscape with an enclosed pond that you can go and feed the ducks at. Its a wonderful morning or afternoon outing and even if your child doesn't understand throwing old bread into the pond they can chase the ducks around or just run around on the grass for an hour. Not really a winter thing to do but its great during the summer with lots of trees and shade, fall and spring are beautiful as well.

Provo Rec Center

Not free, but I believe its only $5 or you can get an annual pass. Children under 3 are free. A great indoor and outdoor splash pad for kids. Also if you want to go work out or play racquetball with a spouse or friend there is very inexpensive child care available during certain hours. For details you'll need to go to the website

Pioneer Park splash pad

located at 500 W and Center Street. During the summer there is a great free outdoor splash pad. Its simple and yet a blast. It took going a few times before my little girl warmed up to it, but then she was laughing and splashing and playing little games with me. There is also a playground/juggle gym as well however we found it was more suited to older kids not really a toddler friendly play place. Pioneer park hosts a decent farms market on Saturdays during the fall.

Jakers Pumpkin Patch

Yes this pumpkin patch is really only an October thing but it is so cool that it needs to be on this list. They have a fun little hay maze for the kids, slides, petting zoo, hay rides, and a big pit of corn kernels so like a sand box but without the sand so so so cool. Also its free, expect of course if you actually buy a pumpkin those do cost money.


These last few things on my list are not in Provo, nor are they free, but they are all fun day trips that are worth the money and the drive. I have them linked to there corresponding websites so you can check it out for yourself. Lucky me I had a friend with a little boy the same age as my girl so we carpooled and went on some of these adventures together which was a lot of fun.







Curiosity Museum at Thanksgiving Point

Aquarium in Draper

Hogle Zoo and Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City