My Name is JoelaJune 2015 ⋆ My Name is Joela

My Baby Shower

This past Sunday was my Super Mario Bros. themed baby shower and it sure was a huge success! Most people like their shower to be a surprise and have nothing to do with the planning but not I! Of course me being the control freak that I am, I had to be involved. I couldn’t do much myself since I am not the craftiest of people, but I have great ideas and can help execute them. I also have many talented friends who are awesome at doing all types of things from graphic design, baking, making things, and they are just really crafty. Needless to say, thank God for Pinterest, which helped us all gather ideas and make it happen. I’m still mad about not having Pinterest for my wedding 5 years ago, ugh I could have really used it to organize my ideas. Bummer! Well, at least I have it now, and I’ll be able to use it for all the fun events I’ll be planning moving forward.

Anyways, on to the shower. I picked Super Mario because my husband is huge Nintendo fan, and he loves all the classics. I figured since we are having a boy, why not represent something that my husband loves? Ok, fine, I love it too!! hehe!

I hope you enjoy my pictures, but before you do I’d like to give credit where credit is due to all the wonderful people who helped put everything together. There is no special order but of course I’d like to thank my parents especially my mom, my sister Suzelle Marques, and my amazing friends Magen English, Diana Bartz, Linda Nguyen, and last but not least my husband for just dealing with all the craziness and keeping me sane (well, as sane as possible).

Everything in these pictures were made by us. We did not buy anything made or pay anyone to do anything except the cake. My cake was made by JLow Cakes and you can follow her on Facebook. She did an amazing job and it tasted amazing as well!

Enjoy!

29 Weeks Pregnancy Update

Ok, so i’m almost there–this is the home stretch! I. CAN. DO. IT.

This is where they say it gets more difficult, in the 3rd trimester, and it ain’t no joke. All of a sudden from night to day my energy is low, I have more acid reflux, I can’t sleep as well, I wake up to go pee in the middle of the night, I am uncomfortable, my legs hurt, my veins are popping out on my legs, and talk about being super clumsy! I feel like everything I touch, I drop on the floor, and I can’t even bend over to pick it up. -___- I’m like, forget it, I didn’t need that anyway.

Besides all this, the only thing keeping me going is that I have a beautiful baby boy coming and I am so excited to meet him! I just wish we could fast forward time a little because I’m kinda over it. I’m getting bigger by the minute and the center of gravity is shifting.

I haven’t been updating as much because I’ve had some rough weeks. My hormones have been acting up again, so I have been a little moody lately, and feeling really tired so not that much has been going on. On top of all of this though, I have been helping plan my baby shower which is THIS weekend! Whoo hoo! Finally! I know I know, people think I’m crazy for being involved in my shower planning, but I am a control freak and I want what I want 🙂 I can’t help it. I can’t wait to show you how everything turns out! We’re doing the big name reveal too!! Lots of exciting things going on! I am so grateful to have an amazing family and friends to help me with everything. We have such an array of talent mixed within all of us and we put it to good use all together! I love you, you know who you are.

I think that’s all for now, but I hope you’re excited as I am to see how my baby shower turns out! I will put up a ton of pictures, and I’ll give you all the play by play next week! Stay tuned! Love ya!

Joela

Nicaragua Family Trip – June 2015

Today, I would like to share some of our favorite pictures from our trip to Nicaragua last week. If you don’t already know, my husband is Nicaraguan, born and raised, so most of his family is there including his parents and sisters. Needless to say, we visit often. This time around though my parents joined us for the first time, and we had a ton of family fun. (Except for the part where I was dying of heat exhaustion and felt sick.) Other than that, the trip was great!

Below I will share some of the places we visited and what we did along with our favorite shots from those days. Enjoy!

The following pictures are at a beach resort called Gran Pacifica. It’s about an hour away from Managua and its quite an adventurous drive–dirt roads and all! It was very bumpy for my bump! Lol! It was totally worth it though when you see the beauty this place holds. It has dark volcanic sand and large volcanic rocks and stones as you will see in the pictures. It’s very relaxing there, especially during the week because no one is around. So, we were rolling VIP style with the whole place to ourselves! The service from the restaurant was great and they served us in our little cabana (pictured below). Of course the infinity pool is an extra perk! I highly recommend visiting there– its a must see!

Granada, Nicaragua is a highly talked about city. It’s about 45 minutes from the city of Managua and is filled with rich history. Many tourists visit here. A major must see when you go here though are ” Las Isletas de Granada” (translation: The little islands of Granada). You take a boat out onto this huge lake, and there are these small islands where people own vacations homes ( or people actually live there or some are not even developed yet.) There is a ton of wildlife you can see on your boat ride, including some wild monkeys that live on their own little island! It’s pretty cool! Check out our pics below.

I feel like all the places we went to are a must see if you go to Nicaragua, so if you go you really need to see these places. The following location is called San Juan del Sur which is known for it’s surfing and nightlife. Unfortunately, I couldn’t surf or party lol….being 26 weeks pregnant, probably not a good idea. 🙂 But we did enjoy some good food and some beach time. It’s about 2 hours away from the capital city of Managua. I recommend staying there a few days if you’re visiting so you can get the most out of it. Enjoy our pics!

As you can see, we did so much in such little amount of time. We really only had 5 days to visit these places and spend time with family. You can really do a lot if you plan out properly. I feel like every time we go we do so much and I’m always so tired when we get home. It’s one of those vacations where you need a vacation from your vacation. It’s just that there’s always so much fun stuff to do and you want to do it all! Maybe next time we go we can actually spend some nights at the beach and just relax. Let’s see what happens! Since we’re having the baby in September and my husband’s family is coming to visit us to see the baby, we might not go back until 2017. Let’s see though, you never know!

I hope that one day you can visit Nicaragua. I know most visit their neighbor Costa Rica, but it’s just as beautiful. The tourism isn’t as developed in Nicaragua, but it’s getting there slowly and the best part is, you can get some great deals! If you ever need any tips or recommendations, don’t hesitate to ask! Leave a comment or ask me on my IG or Facebook!

Thanks for checking this out!

Joela

Top 5 Pregnancy Tips While Traveling

Last week I traveled to Nicaragua to visit my husband’s family and at the end of April I traveled to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for work. The week I traveled to Florida, I was 21 weeks pregnant and last week I was 26 weeks pregnant. Having said that, I don’t like it. 🙁 First of all, both of those places are sweltering hot. Luckily, when I went to Florida it rained all week and thunderstormed, so the heat wasn’t too bad, just the humidity. Plus, I was inside most of the time.

In Nicaragua, I almost died. Ok fine I’m exaggerating a bit, but I was very uncomfortable and not a happy camper most days. It was 100 degrees and humid granted I have been there several times before and knew what to expect, but being pregnant is a whole other story.

#1 Tip – STAY HYDRATED! – I can’t express how important this is! It was so hard to drink enough water especially when you’re on the road and sight seeing all day or going for long drives and then you have to pee every half hour. But, you have to drink and drink and DRINK!! The car rides there are pretty bumpy because there are a lot of dirt roads, so it made it a little worse for me since it felt like my bladder was going to burst every time we hit a bump. There were 1 or 2 days where I definitely didn’t drink enough water, and I started to feel nauseas like I was going to pass out. SO DRINK!

(I was drinking fresh papaya juice here, something cold and refreshing! While sweating my tushy off!)

#2 Tip – WEAR LOOSE CLOTHING! – This is something we don’t usually think about. If you’re going to a hot place you would probably wear shorts or a dress so you’re comfortable and those are good options. Even a maxi dress is fine as long as it’s loose. The one day I wore jeans, I didn’t think anything of it– jeans and tank top. That was the day I almost passed out. I felt like I was suffocating. It was extremely uncomfortable. Culturally in Nicaragua it’s very common for people to wear jeans on the daily to work or to go out. I guess they are used it because I couldn’t. I was kicking myself all day because I couldn’t even change. In general, loose fitting clothing is more comfortable for anyone, but especially when it’s hot.

(This is me dying of heat in my jeans! But of course I smiled for the picture!)

#3 Tip – DON’T TRY NEW FOODS! – OK, this may seem weird, BUT if you’re pregnant and traveling, I wouldn’t recommend trying new foods. Sometimes it may be tempting but remember, if you’re in a different country, it might not be a good idea. If you were to get sick, I don’t think going to a local hospital there would be very comforting since you would be unfamiliar with their ways. Also, you can get an upset stomach or even diarrhea. Neither of those are fun when you’re traveling so try to be careful and make sure everything is clean. While I was in Nicaragua I had unpasteurized cheese ( I know! Big no no! ). I actually didn’t realize it was unpasteurized until the 3rd day, and I had been eating it every day. This wasn’t something new for me since I have been there several times so I didn’t think about it– I just ate it. When I realized it was unpasteurized, I started freaking out. The good news was I was eating it fried, yes fried cheese, yummy! So all the bacteria would have been dead, except for one night I had it raw. BUT it’s a very hard cheese, not soft. The no no is usually for unpasteurized soft cheeses. Luckily, everything turned out ok, but it does happen. Especially, with pregnancy brain and all. 🙂

(Tostones con queso and carne – My fave! This was the fried cheese I was talking about! Its so delicious!)

#4 Tip – DON’T OVER PACK! – This is important because overpacking can cause you to strain yourself at the airport. There’s a lot of walking in the airport and if you’re traveling solo like I did when I went to Florida for work, it can be really hard to carry your things. I packed one large suitcase for the week and I didn’t pack a carry on bag because I didn’t want to carry extra things, but I felt like my luggage bag was just too heavy for me to carry on my own. I should have opted for a smaller suitcase. You live and you learn. When I went to Nicaragua, we brought a large suitcase each, but my husband was there to help me so it was much better. If you’re flying solo, the smaller the bag the better. OH! And ,backpacks are my best friend while traveling instead of a purse. It can carry whatever you need on the plane; laptops, tablets, cameras, makeup, magazines….etc. You’d be surprised how many things I fit in mine! And then for while you’re out and about, it’s perfect too! No purse necessary!

(Me with my backpack walking through the city of Granada.)

#5 Tip – OVERLOAD ON VITAMINS C & D! – OK, last but not least, take your vitamins! Everyone is more susceptible to getting sick while traveling especially on the plane being next to someone who is sick or coughing or breathing on you, yughhh! Keeping germs to yourself isn’t easy. So the week before you go, load up your vitamins C & D! Take double and then triple 2 days before and the day of. While you are out there, keep taking your vitamins too. You need to rev up your immune system so it can combat any germs you may encounter while you’re traveling. It’s extremely important for you and the baby not to get sick because medication is a big no no! I recommend this for anyone, but especially if you’re preggers. I had my husband do the same thing this time around because he ALWAYS gets sick and guess what? He’s a healthy man! 🙂

I hope that sharing my experiences has helped you and you enjoyed reading this. If you have any other tips you’d like to share with me, I’d love to hear them! Post a comment! Thanks and talk to you soon!

Joela

Disclaimer:

This is a personal blog. All opinions expressed here are my own and not those of anyone else. I am responsible for all content – not anyone else.