One Creep and a Sunshine

Creep to now KNOWING that I am officially over ripe in the eyes of others (at least men).

Today a male co-worker (who lacks all tact) said that I must be ready to go any day because it sure looks like I am. And said I need to go for some drives on bumpy roads.

It was hard not tell him what he could do on a bumpy road if he kept saying things like that to me.

For the record, I have no idea what I would actually tell him to do on a bumpy road that would be a good come back, so suggestions are welcome :)

Sunshine - Last night we went to meet our friend Nate and Jenny's baby girl Mya. She is adorable and all things newborn, snuggly, warm and loves to eat.

It was fun to hear all about her baby's delivery and it made it all the more real that we're coming home with our own baby in less than a month! I am getting so very excited!

Oh Baby - Week 36

Total Weight Gain: 
I'll get the official number today at our appointment again! Update - Up 18 (and a bit) lbs. I hate watching the scale go up and up and up and there isn't much you can do about it. Especially when you're surrounded by treats all the time!

Maternity clothes:
Even the maternity clothes aren't always covering this crazy huge belly of mine anymore. Things are starting to take a downward spiral here people!

Stretch Marks:
I don't think so.

Best moments:
My first baby shower! I am so very blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to share this special time with. They, of course, spoiled baby J with lots of really wonderful things. 

I can also tell you my worst moment. I had one major pregnancy meltdown. I will post about that soon too but Monday was no picnic. I was having major back pains and have been very exhausted and feeling VERY behind with getting the house and dogs ready to have a baby. Things were bleak on Monday. I cried in my office at work practically the whole afternoon and then had the mopes/weepies all evening. I finally got my butt to the gym and worked out some back pain and that really helped a lot. I am hoping that I can get back into my regular routine for working out for the last couple weeks because that seems to be the only thing keeping me sane! We have had a couple bad weeks with Ross's work schedule or me needing to do things over my lunch which have prevented me from getting to the gym like I want to. I also may be starting to realize JUST HOW hard things are going to be with our two dogs and a baby on maternity leave. I have always seen this coming but I know it is going to be really tough being home alone with a babe and two VERY spoiled pooches.

Movement:
Baby J is not only getting bigger but stronger too. His little jabs are no longer just little pokes, they really are full on jabs or punches/kicks! Sometimes I feel like I am growing the next Renesme in there, he sucks me dry and is trying to break some ribs :) But they'll heal and I wouldn't give it back for anything!

Food Cravings:
Nope.

Food Aversions:
I am sweeted out! I have had so many in the last couple weeks (more than the rest of my pregnancy combined I think) and it is starting to make me feel very gross!

What I miss:
Not having a baby live on my ribs. I cherish every moment of growing my little man but it's getting a little painful buddy. I just want him to stay head down so if that means living on those ribs, I guess we'll get through three more weeks! We can do it!

Nausea/Vomiting:
Nope. 

Symptoms:
Back pain reared its head this week. I am hoping to nip this in the bud by getting back to the gym but I know things will continue to keep coming up and the more and more I have to do the less it seems like a viable option. Plus I am really starting to get the sleepies. Everyone tells me to get sleep now, and I know that they mean it for when the baby comes because he won't sleep long but I think I need it more to get through labor. I know it will take a lot out of me and I hope to be as well rested as I can to keep up my energy for the long haul! Wish me luck!

Labor signs:
Nope, at our last appointment we were still closed up tight and no braxton hicks. The doctor said that we may need to do the membrane stripping for me because of a LEEP procedure I had done a couple years ago which may have left a little scar tissue on my cervix (sorry I know thats TMI) but we won't decide that until closer to the DD. 

Gender:
Baby Boy J - This week he was named on Facebook Baby Fox Johnson, maybe it'll stick ;) At this week's appointment his heart rate fluxed in the 120 and 130s. 

Belly Button:
Definitely an outie. On a belly note. I cannot believe how numb your belly gets when there's a giant baby in there! This week I was leaning over something and scraped my belly pretty good. I didn't feel it as it happened but felt the stinging afterward. I also constantly am bumping things with this "bump" of mine and snagging my shirts!

Wedding Rings:
Fitting pretty tight these days. I may consider taking it off sometime.

Sleep:
I have started to figure out the positioning now but now I find that I can't drink water close to bedtime. Monday night I was up every two hours to go to the bathroom. I also am having a harder time getting back to sleep because I have so much on my mind, no matter how tired I am! 

Wisdom: 
Don't wait for your nesting instincts to kick in before you try to get everything done. Because although you may find bursts of energy here or there, you're still HUGE and pregnant and don't have as much energy as you used to! So get to those things earlier!

What's left on the TO DO list?

• Wash baby's bedding and NB-3 month clothing. I have a bunch sorted and ready to go but I have yet to get it down to the wash.
• Go through the registry to make sure we got all the necessary pre-baby essentials. A few I know we still need are the monitor, mattress pad, and extra crib sheet, thermometer and baby grooming kit. A new must have that I thought of is a mesh laundry bag. I have been meaning to get a smaller one for baby J's little socks and mittens, etc. that you don't want to lose in the wash. I would like to have one just to leave in his room, I have one now but I use it for delicates and it is a pretty large bag.
• Get my Thank yous out from the shower!

Sunshines and Creeps - Tuesday Style

• Sunshine to getting back to the gym. It has helped my back immensely. 
• Creep to being so huge that I get the sympathy eyes from all strangers I come across when I tell them I still have three weeks to go. I am getting huge. 
• Creep to swelling starting to set in as well. My feet are flattening out and my legs/ankles are starting to get very puffy.
• SUNSHINE to the snowstorm avoiding us here in GF. I can't believe we got so lucky. It stayed nice here one more day and we were able to take Cooper dog to doggie daycare to get some exercise and his nails trimmed up.
• Creep to the cold returning tomorrow. Oh well, soon it will be spring, which is my favorite time of year!
• Sunshine to my wonderful shower this weekend. I wish I would've taken more pictures with everyone but I was having such a good time I didn't even think of it until almost everyone left! Short (practically pictureless) post to come.
• Sunshine to Kristen taking some informal maternity pictures for Ross and I. I just wanted some photos to remember this time by. The poor girl got a real taste of what it was like taking our wedding photos. We aren't the most photogenic couple. :) I can't believe it is the last three weeks of just my hubby and I and I am cherishing it! 
• Sunshine to getting the nursery almost all set up. Should have it ready to go this week, fingers crossed!

Sunshines and Creeps

Sunshine to my parents and friends coming up this weekend!

Sunshine to my baby shower this weekend! I cannot wait to see my friends and family and celebrate Baby J's upcoming debut!

Creep to the ridiculous weather we have been having. Seriously the weather in the 20s this next week will feel like spring! I cannot wait. I guess I can't complain too much because I can take it, I have a built in furnace in my belly right now but I must insist that it all be over with by the time Baby J arrives!

Creep to having no motivation to cook lately. We haven't had a real meal for so long. I feel pretty bad for Ross actually.

Oh Baby - Week 35

Total Weight Gain: I'll get the official number today at our appointment! Update - I appear to be up about 17 lbs. total. Not a great feeling looking at that scale at the Dr. office. At least now when the scale goes up I know some of that is definitely going right on baby!

Maternity clothes:
I just got my friend Jenny's maternity clothes since she had her baby on Monday. It's a nice change of pace to be able to have some new clothes!

Stretch Marks:
Who cares anymore...

Best moments:
Getting most of the nursery items picked out with my friend Jess. She was super helpful and helped me make some real decisions! I ordered the letters for the wall and all the wall art. I am hoping the art will be here before my shower so I can show it off a little while I have friends here!

Another great moment was when she gave me a bunch of her old baby stuff! She is already spoiling baby J and offered to babysit for us too! We're lucky to have some really great friends!

I am also pretty excited for the arrival of baby Mya! She is my friend Jenny's baby. We have been pregnant together almost the whole time and it has been so fun sharing the good and bad moments of pregnancy so it has been really fun to have her become a mommy now! Mya surprised M&D by showing up 9 days before her due date and three days before her scheduled C-Section! Guess she couldn't wait to meet her parents anymore than they wanted to wait to meet her!

I think Ross's best moment this week was when I was baby talking to a cute little outfit we bought for baby. He got this funny smirk on his face so I made him fess up to what was so funny and he said he never thought he would see me like this (so mom-like  and excited for a baby, I'm guessing). It sure has been a change for me!

Update - At our appointment today we got to have another bonus ultrasound at our Dr.'s office. She likes to do them toward the end to make sure baby is head down! And like a good boy he was! It was pretty obvious. His giant head was right where it was supposed to be. You can't really see much on the sonograms now but it was still fun to see! His heart looks good and she also assured us that we aren't "looking at a 9 pounder" PHEW! Baby J I cannot wait to meet you. I think the last month of pregnancy is designed to push you out of your pregnancy coma. I have been so happy with my pregnancy. I have been lucky that nothing has really been going wrong or any terrible symptoms so I haven't wanted it to end. This last couple days though have been pretty rough. Baby is getting huge and lives right on my ribs so it makes sleeping very difficult. So it is starting to make me very excited for the last stage of this process :)

Movement:
Baby J is HUGE. He is getting so big and strong which is definitely making it hard to miss his moving now. He has also been getting the hiccups a lot lately which was cute the first couple times. Every once and awhile he just goes nuts in there and my belly looks like it's just going to take off! It's a feeling like none other. I will definitely miss him in there. Speaking of hiccups, baby just had a good bout of them. They feel so funny :) I'll seriously miss all those fun moments that only you and baby know about!

Food Cravings:
Nope.

Food Aversions:
None.

What I miss:
I am still just missing the ease of which I was able to do any task before. Everything has to be thought through now before I do it. I tried to move a tote the other day and I soon learned it was too heavy for me to move, or I tried to bend over to do something on the floor and that is exhausting. When you try to bend at the waist it feels like something is cutting apart your insides. 

Nausea/Vomiting:
Nope. I'll get a little heartburn but that's about it.

Symptoms:
Most of them have cleared up now. I am still pretty stuffed up but that is to be expected this time of year. I wouldn't say it's much worse than any other winter. I am always plagued by sinus infections.

Labor signs:
None yet! I think Braxton Hicks could come anytime but so far they haven't! We start our weekly appointments today to check if I'm dilated. So who knows!

Gender:
Baby Boy J - He has a name and everything :) This week his heart rate was fluxing in the 130s.

Belly Button:
Definitely an outie.

Wedding Rings:
Fitting ok.

Sleep:
I sleep hard early in the night then after about 1am I am hard pressed for sleep. I am down to one position, on my left side, to sleep on because you can't sleep on your belly (for obvious reasons) can't sleep on your back because it places too much pressure on some veins I guess and it cuts off blood flow to you and baby (it really does, I notice right away if I am too flat on my back for very long and have to switch positions. Now I can't sleep on my right side because that is where baby lives. He settles in nicely for bedtime way up high and if I try to sleep on that side my insides get squished like you wouldn't believe. Plus then he wakes up and starts going wild in there, which also keeps me up. Then I am up thinking about all the other things I need to do. 

So as you can tell I am starting to really get the 3rd trimester sleepies, something I have avoided my whole pregnancy and now when I want it the most I can't seem to get a good night's sleep. But everyone tells me to get used to it. So I guess I just will! I only wish you could start a sleep bank to store extra sleep you got in your life for when you need it! I would love to have some extra savings for a month from now!

Wisdom: I had wisdom  all planned out in my head and in true preggo form I forgot what it was...I guess I'll go with my standard. Do what feels right. Try to start your nesting before the end of your third trimester because you'll be tired and all you really want to do is be fat and lazy and NOT clean your house and decorate a nursery, but it'll kill you if you don't have everything all ready for the arrival of your new baby. Update - I remembered! Keep a great pregnancy journal. I wish I would've wrote down a little more about things. These posts have been pretty descriptive but they don't mention everything. No one wants to hear about your acne (all over your body, I get a ton on my legs from all the lotion I have to use) etc. But when I talked to my mom she really only remembers the big things and I imagine that when it comes time for our next baby J I will have already forgotten a lot of these things. Probably on purpose too! But someday your baby will grow up and may want to know (especially if baby is a girl!) I did take a picture of my horrible belly button ring scar that now looks like a GIANT X on my belly to show baby J(s) to prove to them that they just may regret certain choices later on down the road. Thank GOODNESS I didn't have a tattoo. I would hate to see what that would look like right now! 

What's left on the TO DO list?

• Wash baby's bedding and NB-3 month clothing. It is all so small that I have been waiting until after my shower to do so. We have the jumbo washer/dryer so it seems like a waste to wash tiny loads. Also I expect to get more clothing at my shower on Saturday (YAY!) and want to get it all washed at one time.  Plus the bedding will just get full of dust and dog hair if I wash it too early.
• Go through the registry to make sure we got all the necessary pre-baby essentials. A few I know we still need are the monitor, mattress pad, and extra crib sheet. Otherwise I have been terrible and purchasing most of the things on my own. I know I need to wait for my shower (especially now that one is this weekend and the other is about two weeks away) but it is hard to do when you're nesting and you just want everything ready for Baby's arrival!

Oh Baby - Week 34

Total Weight Gain: Up about 14-15 lbs. It is hard to know exactly, the gym scale says one thing the Dr's says another.

Maternity clothes:
Trying to wear as many as I can! Get the last 40 days of use out of them!

Stretch Marks:
Sadly I think I saw a few this morning.

Best moments:
We had another Dr's appointment this week, this marks the beginning of the end! We are down to appointments every other week now. It is so much fun hearing baby J's heartbeat and knowing that it's happening just inside your belly!

We also finished painting the nursery furniture this week! Yay!!!! Things are coming together. 

Left to do for the nursery:

• Order the name letters, I worked with a lady I found on the internet and picked out my font now I just need to pull the trigger.
• Order the art prints - from etsy of course :)
• Order the crib and crib mattress (right now he seriously has no where to sleep the poor guy)
• Get the changing pad cover and crib skirt from my friend Sharee
• Then just wait and see what else we think we need from there!

Movement:
Last night baby woke me up at 3 with all his shenanigans in there! He is getting so big and strong! 

Food Cravings:
Nope.

Food Aversions:
None.

What I miss:
Sleeping.

Nausea/Vomiting:
Nope, not enough room in my tummy for that business.

Symptoms:
My skin is still VERY very dry. I tried Eucerin this week (which I have resisted until now because I remembered it being very oily) but man it worked like a charm! It has spread to my face now though so I need to step up my moisturizing routine there as well. 

Labor signs:
None. Hoping those stay away for awhile still! 

Gender:
Baby Boy J

Belly Button:
Bluck.

Wedding Rings:
Fitting ok.

Sleep:
I sleep pretty great until about 3. Then I'm up pretty steadily for the rest of the night. I am starting to get a taste of what exhaustion is really like.

Wisdom: Try not to get too worked up about things you can't control. I have been worried about how big baby is...At our ultrasound during week 33 we were told that he is already 4lb 11 oz! Keep in mind that my weekly update from whattoexpect.com said that baby should be just breaking the 4lb mark that week. This had me stressed last week. BUT what can I do? Put baby on a diet? Hope he stops growing like a good little healthy boy? No way! Just go with it. 

Also on a fun note at the ultrasound our tech pointed out that he already has hair :) 

Sunshines and Creeps

• Sunshine to this week flying by. We had a lot going on this week and I have been super busy at work so it is seriously making my last 40 days before baby go very fast
• Sunshine to (ALMOST) being done with all the painting in baby's room. All we have left is to go back and fix my mistakes. I am done with the furniture except I need to get a couple coats of poly on top of the paint. Creep to having to park our cars outside during freezing rain because I wasn't done with it yet. I'll have to finish up the last two coats in baby's room. Hopefully it'll have lots of time to air out in there!
• Creep to a little someone waking me up at 3 kicking my insides so hard it woke me up!
• Creep to wanting some really good ribs after watching pitmasters all morning!
• Creep to blizzard Gandolf going on right now.
• Sunshine the weekend :) DOUBLE SUNSHINE to Ross having it off!

Oh Baby - Week 33

Total Weight Gain: Up about 15 lbs. I am trying to make a few better healthy eating choices this week so Baby get all the nutrients he needs to keep growing.

Maternity clothes:
I am realizing I bought way too many. I have about three dresses I never even wore!

Stretch Marks:
Hopefully no! I don't think I have any but at this point I can't see a lot of myself anyway! 

Best moments:
We had another ultrasound last week. Seeing baby actually looking like a baby was amazing. He is filling out and has an actual face now! He doesn't look like skeletor. That was amazing. He had fun with our ultrasound tech too, he would start kicking her whenever she stopped moving the wand around. He may be a prankster just like his dad! She was able to tell us that he already has hair, weighs 4 lb 11 oz and according to the size (which can be up to 3 oz off at this stage) moved up our due date to February 15. Which would make Ross's dad very happy, his birthday is the 16th! 

Another best moment was starting to really crack down on the nursery! We have the whole room cut in and the first coat painted. We are on our way to having a place for him to come home to. Unfortunately for me this is the first room I have ever decorated all at one time and I am having a really hard time making decisions now. I am starting to second guess myself on everything! I also keep seeing things online that I like SO much more than what I have...Ross keeps telling me to stop looking at the internet, but the internet just finds me!

Movement:
Last night I felt baby's whole arm or leg roll across my belly. That was super fun! I can't believe how big he is getting on the inside so it is going to be even harder to deal with when baby keeps getting bigger on the outside!

Food Cravings:
Nope.

Food Aversions:
None.

What I miss:
Being able to move with ease. I can deal without the booze now, I have found other delicious substitutes, but I would love to be able to just bend over without pain.

Nausea/Vomiting:
I have found that I can't really fit in much food anymore. The food will seriously start coming back up from where it came if I'm not careful to stop early.

Symptoms:
Definitely starting the nesting stage. I'm anxious to get everything ready for baby so I can enjoy the remaining days of no-baby time with Ross. I am also getting severe dry skin. I am trying to drink as much water as possible but my hands, legs, arms and belly are all showing the effects of the baby sucking me dry.

Labor signs:
None. Phew

Gender:
Baby Boy J

Belly Button:
Definitely an outie.

Wedding Rings:
Fitting ok.

Sleep:
I wake up often because baby makes me pretty sore if I stay on one side or the other too long but I can usually fall right back to sleep. Baby J loves to snuggle waaaay up high when we sleep. I have to coax him back down when I wake up, because it is super uncomfortable for this mom! Lately, I have been waking up pretty early (around 5 or so) and not being able to fall asleep again. It is pretty rough come night time.

Wisdom: I'm not a huge planner, but I have been definitely trying harder now that I know I need to be more organized. I have my hospital bag almost all packed and ready to go (minus baby's things and Ross's) but it is a small step forward for me. I would tell future preggos to just go where your pregnancy takes you. I have tried to be pretty active and not just be a bump on a log for this pregnancy, but who knows maybe I'll regret that when the time comes and I get no sleep. I just keep telling myself that there are no wrong choices with pregnancy. Look how many perfectly fine people there are in our world whose mom's smoked, drank, ate raw fish, ate lunch meat, slept on their back, etc. And let's be honest, if  16 year olds can have babies I can do this too. 

Oh Baby - A Craft Project

I haven't gotten to as much crafting for baby as I would like but I finally got to one of my projects long on my to do list.

I keep seeing super cute clothing dividers on Etsy, and on daily deal sites. They aren't particularly expensive but I figure why spend too much money on something that you'll really only use for a year?!

via Etsy

So I brainstormed how to make my own. Keep in mind that mine aren't as cute or nearly as durable as the ones you can purchase but they work for what I need them to. If I was smart I would've looked at Etsy and found these to print off but I didn't...(NEXT TIME!!!)

First I cut out a couple different shapes and sizes and kept modifying them until I found a size and shape that worked with my closet rod. I wanted something that would stay right side up so I could always see the numbers (obviously you need to cut a hole in it to get it over the rod, unless your closet rod comes off the wall, which mine does not). So I went with a circle with the top cut off.

Then I found some heavy-ish cardboard and traced my circle-like designs on them. Then I just bought some scrapbook paper that I thought was cute and boyish and traced that from my circle cut outs. Unfortunately, since we moved 6 mos. ago I don't know where my exacto knife went so I had to use a scissor, and everyone who went through the 3rd grade remembers how terrible cutting out the center of a circle is, so I didn't get the clean lines I would've liked but, oh well, not really a big deal.

Lastly I just threw some stickers on the front!

Ta-da!  Closet dividers for about $2.

You can find lots of ideas for these on pinterest but there wasn't anything I was really loving for a boy (mostly because everything had ribbon on it) and I wanted them actually handing from the closet bar but definitely check out pinterest for more inspiration!

Oh Baby - Week 32

Total Weight Gain: Up about 14 lbs. Which I can live with, but it sure is hard seeing that scale creep up. But I am starting to have a lot to do with that increase, I have eaten almost an entire DQ cake by myself in the last 5 days.

Maternity clothes:
I am actually wearing a non-maternity sweater dress today. Looks a little different than before but hey that's ok!

Stretch Marks:
Not right now...I'm sure they're coming any day now...

Best moments:
Starting to paint the nursery and celebrating my 30th birthday just me and the little guy while the big man slept off his flu.

Movement:
Baby J is getting huge. I definitely know when he is waking up from his many naps. It is also getting funny because he likes to snuggle way up high when I sleep and I have to wiggle him down when I first get up in the morning. 

Food Cravings:
Nope.

Food Aversions:
Also, none.

What I miss:
Reaching for things on the ground, bending over without pain, not being winded from the stairs, being able to put on shoes/boots with ease...but I'm not complaining! I am seriously going to be sad when this is over.

Nausea/Vomiting:
Nope!

Symptoms:
Starting to get anxious about not having much time left. I can't believe how fast everything is going. 
Labor signs:
None. I keep reading that I will get braxton hicks soon but haven't had any yet!

Gender:
Baby Boy J

Belly Button:
Still sticking out.

Wedding Rings:
Fitting ok but getting very dry skin all over my hands and arms so there is a bit of a rash there too.

Sleep:
I officially moved to our guest room while Ross got the flu. I probably won't be going back...I keep hearing how bad this flu season is so I just want to keep as rested and hydrated as I can to try to keep the flu far from me!

Wisdom: I'm down to my bi-monthly appointments now. Things are getting real. We tour the hospital Monday and I have two baby classes and a Dr. appointment next week. Things are no joke anymore. I'm installing the car seat at one of the classes and it'll be in there for good! Yikes! If I can give wisdom it's that don't leave everything to the last minute or you'll want to cry like I do!

Sunshines and Creeps

• Sunshine to Ross finally waking up out of his flu coma!
• Sunshine to the dogs being pretty good while Ross was in his fly coma
• Sunshine to watching our friends' 18 mo tonight! Can't wait.
• Creep to the cold weather!

Pretty short this week but I don't have time for a longer post right now :)

Happy weekend!