36 weeks - less than a month to go!

I can't believe how little time we have left before we meet our little girl!  Just thinking about it makes me realize how much stuff I still want to get done before she arrives.  I ordered her carseat and base over the weekend, and it's supposed to arrive later on this week.  I think I will install it the day it comes in the mail.  I am sick of having that on my to do list.  It was in the "must do" column because otherwise we wouldn't be able to bring her home from the hospital!  I am relieved that it is finally on its way.

I had my second baby shower over the weekend.  This one was thrown by my husband's dad's side of the family.  Everything was so amazing, and I am so grateful to be a part of his family!  They served these wonderful quiches, kale salad, sandwiches, and fruit salad.  Everything was delicious and so much fun!  Working on unloading everything, washing baby clothes, and trying to find a place for all of her stuff has been a challenge.  I should have had a garage sale about 2 months ago to get rid of some of our junk!

These next few weeks are going to be a whirlwind of activity.  We just finished our final childbirth class on Tuesday.  I now have weekly doctor's visits.  This weekend I have my third and final baby shower with Andy's mom's side of the family.  I will then be in full on nesting mode to get ready for her arrival.  I am going to try to have her nursery completely finished by July 13th.  July 12 will be my last day of work.  Then the rest of the time will be spent buying last minute things, cleaning the house spotless, stocking up on groceries and freezer meals, and trying not to freak out.

In other news, our little girl is getting ready for her big debut.  She was once a poppyseed, but now she is a honeydew!  Our little nugget just keeps growing and growing.  Baby is working on her lung development as well as putting on some extra poundage.  I had my 36 week doctors appointment on Monday.  I was measuring right at 35 cm, and baby girl's heart rate was 132.  I also had my GBS test done, and my first "equipment" check today.  Turns out I am already 1.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced! Must be from all that running slow as a turtle jogging ;)

Here is my 36 week bump:

Symptoms:  Sleep issues due to hypersensitive hearing.  Sometimes I get a nap in though later on in the day.  Slow, slow, slow running pace.  I bet I will be doing the pregnancy waddle in another week.

Weight Gain:  21 1/2 lbs! My doctor wanted me to gain 27-30 lbs, so I think I am still doing pretty well with that goal.

Cravings:  Fruit, Fritz's frozen custard, Chinese food.  I gave into my Chinese food cravings on Monday and made homemade General Tso's chicken, vegetable steamed rice, and homemade crab rangoons.  Holy delicious! Messy cleanup, but so worth it.  I think Andy thought he died and went to heaven.

Belly Button:  Still a flatty.  Wondering if it is going to pop or not?

Stretch marks:  None yet... praying these last few weeks leave me unscathed, but we'll see!

Labor Signs:  A few Braxton Hicks here and there, but mostly I don't even notice them.  Obviously they are doing something though!

Exciting happenings:  Graduated from our childbirth classes, my last baby shower this weekend, and my car seat in the mail!

35 / 35

Hooray!  I hit a new landmark :)  I am 35 weeks today, and that means I officially have 35 days left until my due date! I am so excited that we are that much closer to meeting our precious little girl.  To celebrate our 35 week landmark, Andy and I went to see the new Superman movie.  Then, we picked up lunch from our favorite Chinese restaurant.  Later on tonight, we will attend our 2nd to last birthing class!  Things are starting to get real around here!

At 35 weeks, our booger is the size of a coconut (weird, because I think a squash is bigger than a coconut, but whatever).  She is around 17 inches long, weighing around 4 1/2 - 5 lbs.  She just keeps putting on weight!  I can't wait to hold our little chunker.

We had a wonderful Father's Day this past Sunday.  Although, we were lacking a bit of sleep due to our fire alarm battery dying at 4:45 am, thus beeping every 60 seconds to warn us.  We went to lunch with Andy's parents, then headed on over to my parents' for our weekly family dinner.  For Father's Day, my mom made homemade fried chicken!  I think we've had fried chicken 3 times in 10 years, so it was a real treat.  Also, it was fun to get to mini-celebrate Andy's first "unofficial" Father's Day with waffles for breakfast.  He's going to be such a great daddy :)

Here's my 35 week bump picture:

Symptoms:  Increased fatigue and a big ole belly! Lots of movement.  Waking up several times each night to go to the bathroom.  Now sleeping with 3 pillows.

Weight Gain: 20 1/2 lbs.  No change from last week

Cravings:  Fruit, vanilla pudding, and pizza

Stretch Marks: Surprisingly no

Belly Button:  Full fledged flatty!

Labor Signs:  The occasional Braxton Hick, but nothing consistent 

Exciting happenings:  35/35, nursery progress, my 2nd baby shower this weekend! Baby I's upcoming name reveal!

34 Weeks!

Holy moly, 34 weeks already!  Had an appointment Wednesday, and Dr said everything was looking great!  Baby girl is still head down, and growth seems right on track.  My Dr didn't even flinch when Andy tattled on me and let him know I was still running 4+ miles on a consistent basis.  He said to keep on doing what I've been doing!  Blood pressure was good still as well - 107 / 66 , and her heart rate was around 144 still.  This was the first appointment that Andy has been off work to be able to come and hear the heart beat, so it was really special.  We treated ourselves by going to Starbucks afterwards.  I got a blueberry muffin and strawberry cream frappuccino (caffeine free, but not guilt free!).  Our little girl LOVED it!  She danced around like a little monkey all afternoon afterwards.  

Made a lot of progress on the nursery this past week.  I made and hung the banners for above her crib and hung a few of the tissue poms as well.  I feel like I still need more, so I will have to go buy some more tissue paper soon.  Also, my parents brought over the armoire my mom and I painted, and it is now ready for business!  Just need to wash all of the baby clothes and start filling it!  I will post pictures soon.

Nursery To Do List Update:

Paint walls

Buy crib

Buy changing table

Buy glider / rocking chair

Buy / make curtains

Hang new blinds/shades

Buy storage bins for under changing table

Hang curtains

Make crib skirt

Buy crib mattress

Make crib bumpers (for later)

Paint armoire

Move armoire from parents' house to nursery

Wash and hang up clothes

Hang her name above crib

Hang shelves 

Buy nightlights

Make banner

Hang banner

Buy and hang artwork

At 34 weeks, our little girl is the size of a butternut squash!  She is around 4 1/2 pounds, and 17 inches long.  She can recognize me and Andy's voices and her kidneys and bladder are producing about a pint a day.  I don't feel like she's dropped yet because I can still feel her in my ribs, but she will be making her way lower in the next few weeks!  I can't believe how close we are getting to meeting our precious cargo.  

Here is my 34 week bump pic:

Symptoms:  Sleeeeeep.... I feel like I need 10+ hours every night to feel fully rested.  Otherwise, I feel great! Maybe an increased appetite as well :)  Also, I definitely have more freckles!

Weight Gain:  20 1/2 pounds

Cravings:  pizza and fruit 

Stretch Marks:  None yet

Belly Button:  Still a flatty

Labor Signs:  None

Exciting Happenings:  Less than 6 weeks until we meet our baby! 

10 Things

While I love being pregnant, there are a few things I miss:

10.  My skinny jeans
9.  Dark chocolate
8.  Saving money for fun things instead of baby things
7.  Coffee on the weekends with my hubby
6.  Feeling smexy in a bikini
5.  Running up hills without huffing and puffing and feeling like my legs are going to burn off
4.  Cold cut sandwiches
3.  Not having to go to the doctor every other week
2.  Shopping in the "skinny" section as opposed to the maternity section
1. Being able to seriously train for a race (for a PR)

9 months is such a short time to have to give up such things. I gladly do it for our little girl.  She is sooooo worth it! I can't wait to meet our little nugget!

Attempt #2

I enjoyed making the last ruffle bottom onesie so much, I decided to make another! The onesie was free from one of my diaper cakes I received at my shower, and I bought 2 fat quarters from Walmart for a little over $2.  Plus, I still have most of the fabric left, since I only used 2 inches from each!

I made a few changes this time, only using 2 inch strips instead of 2 1/2 inch strips.  Also, I rolled the hems twice to prevent fraying instead of just once.

My mom made a little yo-yo wheel and sewed it on the front with a button :)

I can't wait to see her chubby little thighs sticking out from underneath those ruffles! Gah!!! Too adorable!

Ruffle Bottom Onesie

After several minor mistakes that required a few ripped seams, I successfully made my very own ruffle bottomed onesie (with my mom's help)! Using the yellow and white polka-dot scraps from my crib skirt, I revamped the usually boring all white onesie into something quite adorable using the second tutorial from this blog:

http://www.crapivemade.com/2009/05/ruffle-butt-onesie.html

I can't wait to make more of these! More simple than I ever imagined. Can't wait to put a baby in it :)

33 Weeks!

Our labor support bag is packed!  Our birthing instructor assigned it as homework last week, and I'm so glad she did.  Several July moms in "The Bump" group I am in have already had their babies!  It is such a relief to be able to cross that off my to do list.  I also started putting together baby's bag and my hospital stay bag.  Sure, it may be a little early, but the more prepared I get the less stress I will feel towards the end!  I have enough things to remember, and my pregnancy brain is not helping.

In other news this week, our air conditioner began to slowly die.  We now have a brand new one!  On the plus side, it happened now, and not when the weather got to be 95 degrees and humid.  Also, it happened before baby got here.  On the down side, there goes 4+ grand of our savings.

At 33 weeks, our little nugget is not so little anymore.  Baby is now the size of a smelly durian fruit!  She is roughly around 4 pounds and 17 inches long.  Her brain continues to develop, and her bones are continuing to harden.  No wonder her kicks and jabs have started to become uncomfortably strong.  One of my favorite things is when Apollo (my dog) barks suddenly, and she jumps inside me.  It's kind of sad that he scares her, but it's also quite endearing at the same time.

I am really going to miss that part of being pregnant.  It's so amazing to get to feel my baby kick and stretch and hiccup inside me.  Heck, there is a lot I am going to miss about being pregnant.  Truth is, I actually LOVE being pregnant.  I have had a relatively easy pregnancy and am very grateful for it.  Besides the weight gain and the ever growing belly, I feel just like my old self.  I consider myself extremely lucky.  People say the nicest things to me and have been so considerate.  It's almost as if they think being pregnant is a handicap.  Whatever, I'll take the special treatment :)  Plus, the feeling of knowing you are growing another human being inside of you is incredible.  It's indescribable.  It's such a special feeling to know that I will finally have someone that I am blood related to (I was adopted in case you didn't know).  This little girl will be my first blood relative!  I am so excited.  I have dreamed about this day my entire life, and it's almost here!

And now, my 33 week bump!

Symptoms:  middle of the night bathroom trips, extra tired this week, and a big ole belly :)

Weight Gain:  20 big ones... FML

Cravings:  Pizza, fruit, and waffles

Stretch Marks:  None

Belly Button: a solid flatty

Labor Signs:  None.  Baby girl is staying put!

Exciting Happenings:  Can't wait to see our maternity photos and reveal baby girl's name! Also, the stroller I've been wanting is no longer on backorder.  The armoire should be able to be moved in by this weekend so I can start putting her clothes away.  Tissue poms are half way done as well.  Annnnnnd I made a super adorable ruffle bottom onesie! I will post pics in my next post!

32 Weeks

This has been a great week! Still feeling good during my workouts, and still feeling good over all!  My mom and I sewed together the pennant banners that are going to hang on the wall with the crib.  I am so happy with the way they turned out!  I also bought the frame and letters of her name to go above her crib this week.  I just need to make the tissue poms, and I will be ready to start hanging :)

At 32 weeks, our precious cargo is the size of a squash! A very large squash, I might add.  She is around 3 pounds and 16 inches long.  I have noticed a lot more kicks lately.  I think she is running out of room!  My 32 week Dr's appointment went really well.  I got to ask him a bunch of questions I had that arose during our birthing classes this week.  Also, he gave me good news that she is currently head down!  Yippee!!! Sure, she still has plenty of time to flip, but this whole pregnancy I was convinced she was lying transverse.  It is such a relief to know she isn't!  Prayers that she stays this way :)

I'm so excited to see / share the maternity photos we got taken this weekend!  I was still trying to decide what to wear up until the point I walked out the door, but I eventually made a decision.  FYI, trying to decide what to wear while pregnant is even more difficult than normal.  Everything makes you feel huge!  The nasty tornado weather we've been having decided to go away and let us take some lovely pictures.  I can't wait to share them with you.  Baby name reveal incoming!  Stay tuned in the next couple weeks for the debut.

32 Week bumpdate:

Symptoms:  Soooo tired lately.  I slept in until 9am 10am the other day! I've been having long continuous crazy dreams at night, and I attribute the dreams to my lack of restful sleep.  

Weight Gain:  19 1/2 lbs

Cravings:  Fruit and pizza

Stretch Marks:  No, but running out of extra skin.  

Belly Button:  Pretty much a flatty! Andy likes to make fun of it

Labor Signs:  Maybe a braxton hick here and there, but nothing noticeable.

Exciting Happenings:  Baby is head down! Nursery progress! Maternity Photos!