Memorial Day weekend catchup

friday- I had my 36 week appointment with my actual doctor and it was my first time meeting with her this entire pregnancy.  she's the doctor that was on call when Brady was born and I saw her a couple of times during my pregnancy with Elizabeth.  honey stayed home from work to watch the kids while I went (at 11:10, it really wasn't a convenient time for any of us) and I know it was rough... he's so great for always attempting to work from home with our kids even though it just never ends well for him.  when I got back, I took the kids to the playground and we did quiet time, so hopefully they forgot a bit about their rough morning...

Saturday- I got a slow morning at home with Elizabeth while honey took Abigail and Brady to the BYU 5k that happens every year.  I've been once.  ha.  he pushed them in the double stroller and Brady did the little kids run after.  mostly I think they just loved that they got watermelon and cotton candy.

we actually took the kids to the pool that afternoon!  even though it was only in the high 50's and there was no pool party (I guess our HOA decided to just drop it because of the weather and not even open the pool) and the pool was closed and we actually had to semi break in.  but, honey got a few pizzas and we hung out at the pool with the Cottles while Abigail and the Cottle kids all swam.

when we got home, honey and the kids cleaned up our disaster of a house while I went to the church to print the sacrament program and make copies.  that's my new calling since I was pregnant enough that they released me from nursery.  I'm glad to have a calling that I will be able to fulfill with a newborn/husband in the bishopric.  my honey has been so amazing lately at cleaning up around the house and especially helping out in the kitchen loading and unloading the dishwasher.  so stupid but it makes such a huuuuuge difference to me.  I love it so much.

sunday- we celebrated Elizabeth's birthday!  my baby is two years old!  the morning was like any other.  sacrament meeting went really well.  and it was my first Sunday not going to nursery with Elizabeth so I just dropped her off and headed to Sunday school.  I was surprised how weird I felt in Sunday school and relief society considering I was only in nursery January through may.  Chris picked up Elizabeth and the nursery leaders said she was adorable.  when we got home, I took a few pictures of her on our front porch and she was hamming it up for the camera.

she really was in a fabulous mood for her birthday.  too bad we didn't even do anything to celebrate for it until after she woke up from nap!  we grilled hotdogs and hamburgers, opened presents (she got a small bouncy ball, all dogs go to heaven 2, sidewalk chalk, and then a little shirt and shorts outfit from the Kelsey grandparents), went on a walk around the block as a family (that's one of her favorites... just walking), and then had cake at home.  Chris made mini bundt cakes (thanks for the pan, mom!) and filled them extra big... when we flipped them upside down, they were like oversized cupcakes and the kids were all thrilled to each get their own even though Brady was the only one to finish his.

so, the day was a major success and I'm blown away that it's already been two years since we met our little baby Elizabeth.... I can't believe we're already about to have another one in a couple weeks!  while Christopher took the kids upstairs for bed while I dressed Elizabeth in her blessing dress and took her to the backyard to take a few birthday photos of her.  she wasn't in the most cooperative mood (mostly a little upset that I wouldn't let her wear shoes and she was walking around in our prickly backyard grass), but I sang Moana to her for the second half of it and I think I got a number of pretty good pictures... I'm excited to see them on a bigger screen.  maybe I'll get around to posting some on here!

monday- honey went golfing with friends in the morning and by noon we were all on our way to the rockies game.  honey is quite the baseball fan this season since the rockies are the second best team in the mlb right now!  ha, he's never been a baseball fan and I won't lie, it's been a lot of fun having him turn on the game after work in the evenings and just have it on in the background or having all of us sit down and watch it together as a family.  so, we got there before the game even started and stayed till it was over.

sadly, the rockies couldn't pull out the win and we lost by just a run.  it was great weather though.  sunny, then overcast, then raining for a bit, then sunny again, and then a bit overcast again.  perfection.  we played outside after we got home and then everyone got baths and showers and headed to bed.  I wondered/worried how we would celebrate without getting together with a bunch of family (I feel like I care about this stuff a bit more now that my kids are older and want to celebrate every holiday), but this was perfect.

Tuesday- I gloriously didn't roll out of bed till 9am.  ms. Stacy came over this morning and Abigail was soooo excited to finally meet her since she's been at school every other time.  the kids played outside a bit while I fed Elizabeth and we got to the library by 11:30 and stayed for almost two hours, as usual.  I have no idea how we stay so long every time and I'm still always dragging my kids away.  someday, I'm gonna have to just see how long my kids are content to stay if I never tell them we have to go.  we stopped by Best Buy on the way home to pick up my new laptop (I've hated my other one for the past two years, ever since I got it and honey has been begging me to just get a new one) and then I got the kids fed and down for quiet time (but not till 3 because there was a hiccup with the Best Buy pickup and it took longer than anticipated... my kids fortunately loved sitting in the comfy chairs and watching the 20 huge tvs with all sorts of fun stuff on them) and I got some downtime.  I require a lot of downtime these days... I blame pregnancy.  honey got home at 4:45 when Brady woke up so I declared quiet time over.  we all ate a bit and played outside until honey had to go to the church for a bishopric meeting.  so 7:00 started our little movie night of Alice in wonderland and whenever this is over, I'm gonna march these kids up to bed and declare this our first successful summer day!  maybe I will be able to survive a few months of Abigail out of school.  ; )

drastic changes

oh my heavens I can't believe it's been an entire month without posting anything on here! I guess that's what happens when I hate my laptop and I don't have a blogger app on my phone to post anything.  hopefully this will be remedied asap. we'll see how much I can catch up.

35 weeks

How far along:  35 weeks  (5.17.17)

Total weight gain/loss: +24 lbs 

Maternity clothes:  just some maternity shirts and a couple maternity dresses. Everything else is just my normal stuff that I make work. My jeans with the fringe on the ankles still fit perfectly except that when the denim gets loose they slide down, but as far as my waist goes, they're just right. My skinniest skinnies are most comfortable with a hair and through them but I can button them when necessary. 

Sleep:  it's still the same as before.  super crazy and exhausting dreams.  never feeling like my sleep is restful at all.  typically waking up feeling tired still. I still don't wake up during the night.  or at least when i wake up, i'm able to just turn over and go back to sleep.  i don't chug a glass of milk and go to the bathroom during the night like I used to. so technically, i'm sleeping through the night, but of course i'm still tired, no matter how many hours i get. I aim to get ten hours each night but that never happens (especially with all the traveling lately and having Lisa here visiting. Also, I need nap time. 

Best moment this week:  that's gotta be just all of the moments that I've gotten to spend with Lisa while she was visiting. Except not Saturday because we were all sick that day. 

Movement:  still lots of kicks and rolls and every sort of other movement you could possible imagine. The movement is constant and it is out of control. So forceful and pronounced. I loved having Lisa here to gasp and point and make faces at all the action she saw going on with my giant belly. Also loved having her rest both hands on my belly while we sat in bed watching poldark for hours on end. For real this is probably my most active in the womb child yet. It is so insane. Like literally words can do this no justice. 

Food cravings:  i have had a number of times the last few weeks where food has been so so good and just really hit the spot, but for the most part, I still don't really care for it much. I liked the rice Krispy treats that Lisa made me for Mother's Day and some fancy fresh chocolate covered strawberries on the meritain trip, but I definitely don't sit in bed and daydream about what I want to eat next. I spend most of my time being moderately to severely hungry and mentally whining about how I have to eat again. 

Symptoms:  mild depression that's almost totally under control with zoloft, very increased fatigue (emotionally, physically, mentally, and any other way i can feel fatigue.... i have it all), still sometimes feeling like i'm going to faint/pass out when i stand up, super crazy weird dreams, sometimes waking during the night for no reason at all or because I'm so hungry, growing stomach.  also, sometimes headaches and nausea again lately, mostly in the evenings and at night but sometimes earlier in the day too.  i'm still having that back pain (unrelated to pregnancy) but it is barely there. Like the flair up went away but my back isn't really back to normal. Part of it though I think is just me being used to it by now. Like it's been so long since I could lean over the crib rail like a normal person when I'm putting Elizabeth to bed.

Gender:  i am now totally set on this being a boy and will have a huge struggle if there had been a mistake on the gender at the ultrasound. I'm too far gone to go back to thinking about a baby girl. Also, here's what I wrote in the last post about names... it came true.  "still undecided on a first name although i have my pick and that's what keeps coming to my head when i'm thinking of or referring to this little kid. is it terrible that i just keep assuming that we won't talk about it and then chris will just go with my name? that just seems like what he'll do."  I mentioned it to Chris and he was all "we decided that already" and said the name I preferred. And I was like "I thought you liked this other name better." So he replied "yeah, that's a great name... do you want to name him that?" And when I said no, he was all "okay, then I guess we'll name him _____" saying the name that I preferred. So I guess we're decided. I mean, that would be a really good thing because my mind is pretty set on it. My husband seriously just goes along with whatever I want and never makes a big (or little) deal about it. I'm probably getting too used to this, as evidenced by what I said in my last post... called it. 

What I miss:  so I remember in at least one previous pregnancy that I missed being skinny. Not this time. I'm still enjoying my belly, but also, I'm getting less and less vain with age and don't care so much about how wide my belly appears. The thing that I really do miss is fitting better in smaller spaces. I swear I need a helmet or a ninja turtle shell for my belly because I knock it into things multiple times a day and it really hurts. It's normally the door of the washer/dryer, the side view mirrors of cars, and chairs when my trying to squeeze through a spot sideways out of habit (because I mistakenly think that I'm smaller in that direction. I'm not. I think I'm a perfect square) but also, I hit my stomach on counters or shower doors or my kids' heads or the vacuum and a million other things. Painful. And it's getting old real fast. Also, I'm so tired and physically that's a huge pain. I love going on walks, but honestly, just standing up makes me light headed and hot and out of breath so regular life is just a pain. Like when making a sandwich seems beyond your physical endurance. I have to sit constantly. Writing it out makes it sound like I'm exaggerating but I swear I'm not. I think much of it must come from the altitude though because I really didn't feel like that when I was in San Diego. But in Colorado, I'm dying.  Also, what I wrote from the previous post still applies... "same as before... sometimes i'm just sad that i don't want to hang out with my kids more or that i don't feel as much love and affection for them as i should. also, it's kind of a time suck that i need so much sleep. i feel like i don't get much alone time because i need so much sleep and there's not time for both. i also miss having any energy.  i'm just so tired all day.  i have to use quiet time each day for myself.  like i have to definitely be in my bed and enjoy the quiet or take a nap (so so tired all the time)... i'm definitely not going to be doing anything productive."

Milestones:  i'm at 35 weeks and have 35 days to go. And I'm still getting comments from people that ask me if i'm just done being pregnant or if i'm reading for my baby to just be here and all those comments make me panic hardcore because (see above), i can't handle anything. i need more time. and more energy. 

Theme: the week of having Lisa as my sister wife. It was so amazingly helpful having her around to help with the kids and keep me company and my spirits up. She was constantly all "what can I do for you? You need to rest. Let me do your dishes. I just cleaned your kitchen and am going to bed, but do you need me to get you anything before I head up?" It's so hard for me to pull into the garage and I always sit there for a minute or two before I can get myself to muster enough physical and mental energy to walk inside. Lisa would always read my mind and as we would pull into the garage she would just say something like "what would you like me to do right now?" and then she'd grab my purse and go inside to do whatever I'd asked of her. I love that she's like family and I can truly be straight with her. I always gave her a job. Normally taking Brady up for quiet time while I took Elizabeth up for her nap. Or having her get started on lunch or dinner while I took care of a few other things. As I text Chris this morning, "my life is a lot more difficult without Lisa here."  My honey struggles with having house guests (not because of the people, just because he's an introvert and there are people in his house) and Lisa's visit was truly such a wonderful gift. From both Lisa and my honey. 
What's different this time around:  most like Abigail's I think. I'm so sleepy and physically exhausted. Also, this kid moves like crazy and I don't feel a crazy urge to nest. 

Extra: I'm too lazy to answer this. 

5.18.17 at 35 weeks, 1 day

5.21.17 at 35 weeks, 4 days