31 Weeks!

Excuse the absence of the chalkboard wall/decent camera. It's at my brother's house and he is the one with a good camera and the knowledge to use it, and he has been out of town. 

How far along? 31 Weeks, 5 days

How big is baby? Size of a head of lettuce! 19 inches and almost 4 lbs! p.s. this app on my phone that tells me the size comparisons is crazy. Let me know the next time you find a 19 inch long head of lettuce.

Maternity clothes? At this point, I'm just wearing lots of dresses with leggings and breaking out all my biggest shirts (or wearing shirts that I won't be mad if they get stretched out). None of the flowy shirts are super flattering because they flaire out at the bottom, so I'm doing a lot of hairtie- cinching of the bottom of my shirts. If it's comfortable, it's a win! 

Stretch marks? I've dodged that bullet so far, but I'm getting bigger by the second these days. Hang in there, belly!

Sleep? This one is getting a little touch and go. I sleep in about 3-hour increments (which I guess will be good practice for when I'm waking up that often to feed him) and then usually wake up because he wants to have boxing practice on my internal organs. There are very few days I make it past 5 in the evening without succumbing to a passed out, dead-to-the-world nap. Taking advantage of this luxury while I still can!

Symptoms? I've been feeling MUCH better (now I'm usually only sick at night. Yay! I can live with that easily!). Also, headaches and back pain and heartburn, but nothing unbearable. Otherwise, just sleeeepy like you would not believe! Or maybe you would. It takes a lot of work to make a human!

Best moment last week? Lots of dreams about him coming. I am SO EXCITED and my due date is less than 2 months away!!!

Movement? You can just call my belly "the wave". He's always rolling around and being crazy. As long as he's having fun in there, right?

Food cravings? Teddy grahams and pretzels. Hi, I eat like a first grader.

Food aversions? My appetite has actually taken another turn for the "craving nothing" feeling of the first trimester. It's hard to think of what sounds good, and I get full really fast (apparently it's getting a little crowded in there!). 

Gender? BOY! And I couldn't be more excited about that! 

Labor signs? Lots of Braxton Hicks contractions, and they are getting stronger and longer at this point. Sometimes I have to sit down for a while so they'll stop! Strangely, I haven't been getting them so much when I run, usually it's more when I'm walking around shopping or something. I swear the other day I thought I was going to have to have Trevor carry me out of the mall before I gave birth in the middle of Sears (ok not really, it just felt that way. I know for sure that it's not true labor).

Belly button in/out? Pretty far out these days. The term belly button has taken on a whole new meaning :)

What I am looking forward to: Another appointment on Thursday! And mostly just cuddling my little boy and being a MOM! The other night I couldn't sleep (common these days, what can ya do) and I went into his room and looked at all his baby clothes that people have given us, and his little swing and animals, and just kept getting more and more excited to love him and hold him all day, every day!

We're also starting to really plan our move- I can't believe it's really happening so soon! We have the short month of February, then March a.k.a. baby month!!! a.k.a. best month ever, then April of probably being new mom zombie mixed with packing, and then we're moving! Lots of apartment hunting and moving plans and furniture selling is what we're up to these days. And the sooner we move, the sooner I get to decorate baby Milo's room for real- WOOHOO!

I'm thinking it's about time to hit up Kid to Kid for some essentials (hoping to get by with the minimums before the move so that we don't have to haul quite as much to Texas with us). Also- we want to pack a hospital bag, but have no idea what we'll REALLY actually need. I don't want to bring a bunch of random stuff that the hospital provides, but I don't want to be caught without something we really wish we had thought of, either. Thoughts?

Crunch

Among the top 5 worst feelings in the world has to be that horrible instant when you hear metal on metal. Oops.

It's true. The day after we got our other car back from the shop (it's alive again!), yours truly had a bit of a kerfuffle on the way home from work. As usual, totally avoidable, so that just added to how magnificent I felt about the whole situation.

Luckily, the other car was a total junker and the guy just wanted to pop the dent out himself. Meanwhile, we had an extra hubcap to replace the shattered one I attempted to go back for, and Trevor found a mirror for $15 at the junk yard the next day to replace the no-longer-in-existence one.

Here's to husbands who are nice about situations like this. I waited a few hours to build up the courage to tell him, (and he knew exactly what happened as soon as I opened with, "you love me, right? And you know how much I love you, right?" He's psychic) the first words out of his mouth were, "where are you?" (I was already at home). Next up: "That car is tricky; it has big blind spots". And then he came home early to comfort me and so we could decide what we should do. I still feel dumb about it, but thank goodness he didn't feel the need to make sure of it! Love that guy. Men, take notes!

And I mean... it could DEFINITELY have been worse!

Fresh

Right now, I have that clean house,

just worked out,

fresh out of the shower,

warm in my sweats,

sitting in bed that has clean sheets,

husband on the way home,

laundry going,

cozy feeling.

Ahh.

That's all I have to say about that.

:)

And for the love of swooning...

So pretty.

XO

29 Weeks

So my last post was at the very beginning of 28 weeks, and now I'm 2 days shy of 30. My how things have changed! (Butternut squash sized, my friends!)

--Best part of the last couple weeks was going to the doctor and having him tell me
1. Baby is measuring perfectly! It's always such a relief to hear from someone who knows that everything looks great.

2. I'm not diabetic! Yipee! Also, that orange soda was so not as bad as I thought it would be!

3. I am anemic. Boo. I can't say I'm that surprised, because I want to chew ice all day every day. But this still means I have to start taking iron supplements, which aren't so easy on the stomach.

--Probably the biggest development is that I'm finally, finally feeling a bit better! As in, puking 0-1 times a day instead of multiple! I'LL TAKE IT. Any relief is welcome at this point!

--Energy-wise, I vary. Luckily I can take naps any day I need/want to (which is basically daily, let's be honest), which is a life saver. Especially because my sleep schedule is a little weird (I keep waking up at 4 in the morning and staying up for like 45 minutes before I can fall back asleep). Some days I feel like I could go forever, others I feel like I could sleep all day. For now, I enjoy every spontaneous nap and sleep in day; these will be things of the past in a couple of months!

--Still jogging! We'll see how long this lasts! I pretty much just take it a day at a time. Sometimes it's really seamless and I can jog the whole time and feel great. Others, I just feel worn out or get stomach cramps and have to walk more. This week, I had a few really good 5 milers that felt great. I also had a terrible 4 miler yesterday and walked half of it before just calling it quits. I feel good about any day I do something, though! And I'm really thankful I've been able to stick with it for this long!

--Water retention. It's sexy. That's all. If you need me, you can find me in the bathtub with my feet up trying to help my legs stop swelling!

--Baby boy is still always moving. He rolls across my belly all the time and it's WAY funny to watch.

--To the guys who hollered at me while I was walking home today: way to make a girl feel good about herself at 7 months pregnant.

--Now we're starting to gear up for the fact that we will have a real live baby sooner than it seems! WE ARE SO EXCITED TO BE PARENTS! Slash getting a little nervous to give birth. EEEEEK!!!

All Our Stuff is Breaking.

Sometimes when it's 0 degrees outside, nothing wants to work any more.

Such as the washing machine, which I filled with clothes and liquid soap only to find that it wouldn't start because it was too frozen. Then, I finally got it to fill with water and stop again (and make our shed smell slightly smokey... so comforting). I love it when I have soapy, sopping clothes just waiting to freeze in my washer! Luckily after a couple hours and a lot of praying, it finally started again. Hallelujah- SO was not wanting to wash the laundry in the bathtub!

This is our super ghetto laundry setup. The washer is out in the back shed and it drains into a bucket that Trevor then dumps outside. Hey- it cleans the laundry. Priorities!

Saturday night on the way to Target, Trevor and I heard a sudden unsettling noise and quickly realized that the windshield had a brand new 2-foot crack across the middle. Extreme cold + the defroster is apparently a recipe for disaster.

Today, our poor car won't start. I'm crossing every finger and toe I have hoping that it's just too cold. Time will tell... for now I'm just waiting for the sun to move enough to hit it and warm it up!

I have, however, been making some killer snow slushies all week. Yes, I'm the weird girl waddling out into the night scooping snow into my mug. Apparently I'm iron deficient, I learned this week, which explains my constant ice craving. But I LOVE me a good snow slushy (1 mug of snow + a little squirt of that Gatorade Mio liquid stuff- except we use the Kroger off brand which is awesome- and you're in snow slushy heaven!)! Just make sure you eat it in your bed. Under your heated blanket. Or you will die.

In the meantime, I'm getting some work done from home (can't you tell by the fact that I'm blogging right now?) while I sit on my back massaging heating pad that Trevor got me for our anniversary. Pregnant lady heaven!

28 Weeks and 3rd Trimester!

How far along? 28 Weeks

How big is baby? Size of a cabbage! Almost fully grown length wise... now he has some time to get nice and squishy, just how I like them.

Maternity clothes? Still not (lots of leggings, and I've been stocking up on flowy shirts for a while now!). But I'm thinking a belly band soon for jogging purposes... has anyone ever used one of those? Suggestions?

Stretch marks? I thought I had one, but it was a false alarm. But I wouldn't be surprised if they come soon... I'm definitely feeling like I'm stretching out every second of every day!

Sleep? Great. Still on my front/side. Wake up CRAZY thirsty all night and sometimes I'll wake up at 4 in the morning and have a hard time falling back asleep because baby decides it's party time. But I like his crazy wiggling, so all is well.

Symptoms? Still sick. Surprised? Also, lower back pain is starting to accompany this slight waddle and wonky posture I've developed (it's super attractive!), but Trevor is a saint and works out my knots every day. Let's chalk it up to good practice for his physical therapy career!

Best moment last week? Realizing that he is big enough that we can both feel him kicking with our whole hands at one time. I LOVE how much he's growing!

Movement? He can kick all the way out to my sides and all the way up to my ribs (and reach my ribs and bladder at the same time!). And holy moly, he is STRONG! My internal organs get sore from playing punching bag all day. He also gets the hiccups now! It pretty much feels like little stomach spasms to me, but it's pretty darn cute thinking of him hiccuping in there.

Food cravings? Cholula hot sauce? Don't ask. I couldn't explain if I tried. Also, still protein. 

Food aversions? Asian food... maybe indefinitely. I also have way less of a sweet tooth now than usual (which tends to manifest itself in a desire for all things salty).

Gender? BOY! And pssst... I think we're going to name him Milo!!! 

Labor signs? I get Braxton Hicks contractions a lot, and I have for about a month now. They don't hurt at all, my belly just gets crazy tight for about 20 seconds and then relaxes. 

Belly button in/out? Out on top. Flat on bottom. Any day now it's going to POP!

What I miss: This answer will be exactly the same every time I do this survey: I miss zero things about not being pregnant. Any day of headaches and puking and exhaustion is better than a day of feeling great and not being able to get this baby on the way!

What I am looking forward to: ... glucose test on Thursday? Kidding. That juice has been sitting in my fridge looking nasty for a month! But I do like those monthly checkups where I get to hear his heartbeat and check up on him. We're starting to do a lot more to prepare for this little guy, too! We have all his stuff in his room (my parents got us a pack and play, bouncy seat, exersaucer, and baby swing right when I found out I was pregnant- we love it)! We also have a bunch of great clothes/shoes/baby toys that we got for Christmas gifts. I love looking at all the tiny pajamas and knowing that pretty soon I get to cuddle a little tiny baby in them! And he will be mine! And I will be his!

My Question to You: Stroller suggestions? Carseat suggestions? Diaper bag recommendations? Baby gear you can't live without? All you experienced mommas, HELP!