34 weeks

How far along:   34 weeks  (11.15.12) -  compared to 34 weeks with abigail

Total weight gain/loss: + 24 lbs  

Maternity clothes:  this would be easier if the weather would stay at a pleasant 65* or something.  not terrible, i just wish they made longer shirts.  whoever designed this stuff must have forgotten that tall people get pregnant too...
Sleep:  somehow i accidentally deleted this last week.  and apparently my life is sad because i got to the end of this post and thought to myself "why didn't anyone ask how i was sleeping lately?"  so here we go... i added it back in.  i've started practicing my relaxation this week and i keep falling asleep... so short naps are back.  after the first two times, i started setting my alarm.  sleep at night has been pretty good except for sunday morning when i woke up at 5 30 when honey got out of bed and then i couldn't ever fall back asleep until it was time for me to get up at 6 30.  that was annoying.

Best moment this week:  probably friday night.  honey was on his way back from phoenix so abigail and i went with honey's family to see willy wonka the play at the parker arts center and out to eat at texas roadhouse.  i love love love willy wonka, baby girl was mesmerized by the play, my steak was delicious (although i'll be glad when i can order a medium steak again), and honey was home by 11 that night!  what more could you ask for?!

Movement:  there hasn't been a lot of downtime movement wise.  i feel like i can always feel him doing something in there.  i think he's been head down for a while now (hopefully i'll remember to get that confirmed with my doctor on monday) and i can always feel his little hands tickling the bottom of my belly and it makes me think of a little hampster.  i'm sure he's got just the cutest tiny little tickle hands.  also, i was just thinking the other week about how weird it was that i haven't felt any hiccups yet.  well, this week i've felt hiccups a number of times.  sorry for jinxing you little fetus.  also, i think i've started feeling contractions.  my whole stomach gets equally hard... not just half.  and they're mostly when i've bent over to get something or heaved myself out of bed.

Food cravings:  eating has been better this week thank goodness.  although maybe that's because i've gotten a break several times being able to eat good food that i haven't had to prepare.  friday night was texas roadhouse, sunday night was hamburgers at honey's stanford friend's house, and monday night i made taco soup (really it's just a bunch of cans of beans and tomatoes and corn) that hit the spot.  

Gender:  BOY!  i've been thinking about it more and getting more excited this week.  since my mind isn't so consumed with politics, i've been able to focus more on my pregnancy and this little boy's rapidly approaching birth and addition to our family.  it's a lot of fun.

What I miss:  eh, i can't really think of one thing in particular that stands out above the rest.  i think i'm doing just fine.
Milestones:   it's the six week countdown!  is it me or does six weeks feel only slighter longer than five minutes?!

Theme: the week of i think i'm getting used to being pregnant.  anything that comes up, i just kinda accept as normal... not something that's there or happening because i'm pregnant.  
Extra:  i still feel really good physically.  especially when i think of how many times i've heard pregnant women say how unbearably uncomfortable they are.  with abigail i never got to an "i'm uncomfortable" point... even going almost a week past my due date.  i don't expect to be so lucky this time but i am counting my blessings that i haven't reached that point already although i know i still have a long ways to go.  this week, the worst thing physically has been that i had a terrible headache that lasted until sunday night/monday morning and that right after the headache was gone, i developed a bad ache in my lower back that still hasn't gone away.  it's like my love handles have just gotten so heavy that they're constantly putting pressure and strain on my lower back and hips.  i'll be sad if this is here to stay but really, it's not the end of the world.  i'm much much happier to have a backache than a headache!  although at this exact moment i have both...  ha.
i'm still getting over the election.  i've been blessed that it feels like it's been more than a week even though it was so recent.  the best part about getting past the election is that now i can finally focus on my pregnancy and my baby!  i've had a hypnobirthing book for several weeks but i just couldn't really get into the relaxation and stuff because my mind was literally consumed with anger and politics.  now, the meditation and relaxation is working to my advantage... giving my mind something positive in place of a void that could easily be filled with negativity.  i skipped some parts of it but i'm almost done reading the book and i've been practicing the relaxation for all of three days or something.  i'm liking it.  i don't expect to have a painless birth or even one that is just "intense pressure" but hopefully i can get prepared enough that whatever comes my way will be at least manageable.  last time i made no preparations on breathing techniques or anything and found myself kinda lost on what to do when my epidural didn't fully kick in til i was at a 10.  so i'm not anti-epidural... but i'm not going to rely on it whole-heartedly like i did last time.  turns out that was a dangerous thing to do.  it's also making me so excited for this birth.  abigail's labor and delivery was so fun and exciting it was easily one of the best nights of my life (if not the best ever) which has made me simultaneously excited for this birth and nervous that it won't be able to live up to my expectations.  although that goes for the newborn stage too.  that's the problem with everything going so perfectly with your first is that now you have unrealistic expectations and are in a dangerous spot for being severely disappointed the second time around.  that's easily my biggest worry in all of this.

taken 11.17.12 at 34 weeks, 2 days

taken 11.17.12 at 34 weeks, 2 days

whoops, should have done this side to side... look how much bigger i am when i slouch a little!

honey's home!

after being out of town more often than not for the past couple of weeks... my honey is back in town!

this morning was good.  baby slept late and i had to wake her up at 10 so she wouldn't miss baby school/sassy girls club this morning.  she had an awesome time and made a little indian thankful hat.  then we went to the playground with jodi and elle.  the weather could not have been more pleasant.  it was heavenly and we stayed until 1:30.  headed home for lunch and nap.  baby girl woke up in a good mood and things were going well until they weren't.

so thank goodness for honey coming home and saving the day.  he made me feel better about our avocado disappointment, the clean kitchen efforts that kept getting thwarted by a cry baby, my achey back and blistered hands, and fifty times over, that cry baby that went through probably half a roll of "tissue" (toilet paper).

luckily my christopher was fine eating cottage cheese and a microwave quesadilla and chips and salsa and rootbeer and goodness knows what else.  and luckily he was happy to put baby girl to bed while i took a hot shower.

i feel better about life now.

today

i'm a huge fan of our public library.  not only does it have the benefits of a normal library (free books!), but it also has story time THREE times a day, FIVE days a week!  sooo we go to the library at least once a week and normally get between five and ten books.  i keep track of all of our books online and renew them online too.  you get books for three weeks before you have to renew them and you can renew them up to EIGHT times so sometime back in april or may i decided it wasn't necessary to ever return books.  well, after 5.5 months, you WILL hit that 8 times renewed limit and need to return some books.  just in case you were wondering.  i had a few books i needed to return because we'd renewed them too many times/someone had placed the book on hold and i decided it was time for a library book cleanse.  we had almost 90 (yes, that's a nine and a zero) items checked out and they were kinda taking over and no longer fitting in the two locations i'd allocated for them.  i picked out the books that needed to be returned and then also picked out books that we hadn't read in a while/i thought were super boring/baby probably wouldn't miss.  and i came up with this...

 

i was really proud of myself until i got home and checked my library account online.  umm, i still have over 60 items checked out.  it's okay though, so long as they fit next to baby's glider and under the side table in the great room.  

and because i know you only care about pictures of baby girl...

 

 

she found this bow/headband yesterday morning when i was organizing and has decided that she prefers it above her other bows.  so when we got home from young womens tonight (honey is out of town... again) she immediately put it on.  look through that above series of pictures again.  notice anything somewhat unusual?

how about that she placed the bow she was wearing on top of her sippy cup so that she could put on her headband?

i know i've said it a million times but she just has this dainty nature about her.  and she's clean and organized and places things with purpose.  like she never just throws her sippy down when she's done with it.  she puts it away or places it next to her if she's still using it.  and the bow?  it would have been easy to just toss it aside but what does she do?  she places it neatly on top of her water.  i didn't notice til after i'd taken all those pictures and stopped to look around for her pink bow.  it cracked me up. 

so here's a video for no reason other than that this is the first time i've taken pictures or video of this precious child in five days or so.  that's gotta be a recent record for me.  and last week baby girl learned what pandora is and developed strong opinions about it that vary depending on her mood.  so that's why part of the video is an interview about pandora.

ps- my favorite part is at 1:06 where she said "i just don't like pandora!"  ha.  i love her voice intonation and that she puts the emphasis on the wrong syllable every time she says "pandora."  and i think the reason she doesn't like pandora is because there's no video to go with the music.  apparently she prefers a visual to go with her audio.

consequences

one reason not to procrastinate?

you may find yourself out at 10 pm on a saturday night, sliding all over the highway on the slick icy roads as you take back library movies and fill your car up with gas in 22* weather.

i seriously had to laugh at that one.

thomas and toby

 

 

pictures from today

here's just a few pictures from this morning.

baby girl was eating a slice of french bread when she stopped and excitedly told me, "it's a rocking horse!" as she stood it on it's crust.  it was convincing.

and then she ate a few more bites and told me that this was a "baby dog" or a "baby's dog" or something like that. i'm still confused what she meant.

she was in such a happy mood.

this is my view from my kitchen table.  every single morning it's so gorgeous and i absolutely love it.

honey took baby girl to get a thomas train and a toby train wednesday night.  48 hours later and she hasn't parted with them yet.

 

she cracked me up this morning insisting that her bib was actually a purse.

at first i thought she was using thomas a phone,

until i realized that she was just driving him on her head.

this is her new favorite thing to do while i get ready.  she gets exactly like this (stroller and location and all) and says, "i wanna play hide and seek!!!"

 i was recording the most adorable video of us playing hide and seek like this and then suddenly my camera screen went black and the video didn't save.  i don't know if the battery compartment came lose (it's held together with rubber bands) or what but i'm still so sad i don't have a video of hide and seek.  i'll have to try again next time we're playing.

not a couch potato

my kid has a very calm and mellow personality.  she's very laid back and agreeable.  don't be confused though, this does not translate to her physical demeanor in the least.

oh to have so much energy that you can't help but run laps while you watch tv.

33 weeks

How far along:   33 weeks  (11.8.12) -  compared to 33 weeks with abigail

Total weight gain/loss: + 22.5 - 23.5 lbs  how does it vary so much from day to day?!

Maternity clothes:  i'm less than two months away from having a baby so i've made it a goal not to purchase anything else... unless i can wear it just fine afterwards too.  it will be fun to see how this plays out though because my wardrobe is very limited... and it all looks the same.

Best moment this week:  well it definitely wasn't tuesday night.  ummm, i'm actually really happy that abigail and i did so well this weekend while my christopher was gone.  we spent sunday and monday evening with my mother in law and that was tons of fun hanging out over there.  i love her to death.  and she didn't even care that we invited ourselves over.

Movement:  when he moves, he's really really moving!  i experience a lot of calm but when he gets going it's pretty crazy.  it feels like he's head down with all of the tickles i get in the front below my belly button and the bigger kicks or what feels like his back/bottom up high above my belly button.  i don't think i've gotten any contractions yet but many times when i bend over, i can feel my stomach get hard and square.  but it doesn't seem like a contraction because it's not equally hard all over.  who knows though.  time will tell.

Food cravings:  i'm still just enduring it.  it's really not terrible when i'm actually eating but finding the motivation to eat or cook (that's even harder) is difficult.  this week i've started to notice that i'm getting full more easily but also hungry more quickly.  i was having trouble remembering when this would happen.  yesterday was the first day i didn't eat my usual cheese eggs for breakfast.  truthfully i was so depressed and sick to my stomach that i stayed in bed til 10 am attempting to drown my sorrows in chocolate cake, m&m cookies, and egg nog.  fyi- it didn't work.  but i will note that i ate cheese eggs for dinner later in the day.  i swear i'd eat it for every meal but i'm afraid i'd get burned out.  and right now it's the only thing i for sure always look forward to.  if i get burned out on this meal, i'm afraid i'd starve myself until this baby comes.

Gender:  BOY!  i really haven't thought about that much this week.  i need to go through boy hand me downs that we have and start pulling stuff out and taking inventory.

What I miss:  motivation.  i want my house to be clean and picked up and organized and have delicious meals waiting for my husband when he gets home from work... but i want to enjoy doing it all like i used to.  not sit in bed and feel guilty about it like i currently do.
Milestones:   i'm due next month!

Theme: the week of being a single parent.  my christopher was gone for most of this week and i'm celebrating that abigail and i were able to stay busy with fun activities and that i did so well physically and emotionally and everything.  sometimes being pregnant can be difficult but this week it was easier than usual.
Extra:  i feel really good physically.  it's not like my body has no pains ever but i think it's pretty comparable to the usual back aches etc that i feel even not pregnant.  mostly the struggles are just emotional although they're still bearable.  the hardest thing is that i just constantly feel like i suck.  i suck at my calling, i suck at serving others, i suck at keeping my house clean and organized, i suck at regularly making meals and actually eating things before i have to throw it out, and i suck at using my time wisely because i have no motivation.  energy?  yes.  motivation? no.  i am the epitome of lazy and it makes me feel so crappy about myself.  i just feel guilty all the time for stuff that i know i should be doing.  but instead of getting to work and making things better, i just waste my time online in attempt to forget about all the stuff i don't care about enough to actually get done.  it makes me thing about the girl from confessions of a shopaholic that would just throw away her credit card bills without even opening them because she was trying to run away from it all.  that's what i do.  
i'm really over this hyper sensitivity to smells.  last night christopher got a bowl of cereal and brought it to the bedroom to eat it so he could hang out with me (i was laying in bed... see above "no motivation") and before he was even three feet away, i could smell that it was captain crunch cereal.  seriously?!  since when is it normal to smell someone's cereal from three feet away?!  and then when he finished i was like "what else are you eating?  why does it smell fruity over there?" thinking he'd also brought some halloween candy or something.  but he kept telling me he only had the cereal and nothing else.  then five minutes later i realized that i had an open yogurt container sitting next to me that was left over from baby's lunch.  and i hate being able to smell myself even if it's just lotion or deodorant or something it just grosses me out.  and the smell of baby's hair is still gross to me too.  and her feet.  yesterday we were driving home from the playground and all the sudden i was hit with a nasty smell that smelled just like baby girl's sweaty feet (it was hot yesterday) and sure enough when i went to get her out of her carseat she'd taken off her shoes and was just kicking her bare feet around.  we didn't have the windows down, she's still rear facing, and the air wasn't on in the car and somehow i still smelled it.  i'm glad this isn't something i dealt with last pregnancy.
last time around we didn't do anything to prepare for abigail until two weeks before my due date.  we went to walmart one night and bought a crib and changing table and a glider and bedding and diapers and called it good. i didn't pack my hospital bag until i was in labor, which was a full five days after my due date.  we didn't do any of that "decorate the nursery" stuff either.  then or ever.  or ever here either.  this time i keep feeling like i should prepare since we're in a house (last time we were in one apartment and about to move to another) but it's just not happening.  both my kids will need bedrooms and i haven't done a thing to prepare for either!  also, this time around, i want to learn some sort of relaxation techniques to help me during labor since last time it went way faster than i'd anticipated.  and i've read like 50 pages of one book... that's it.  i'm running out of time to learn and practice.  

taken 11.9.12 at 33 weeks, 1 day

taken 11.9.12 at 33 weeks, 1 day

free zoo day

do these pictures work?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

it's a hat!

monday afternoon when baby girl finished her lunch, things got a little silly.

 

 

 

also, when i was talking to my sister on the phone she said something and i said "poor emmy!  want me to eat some candy corn and egg nog to help you feel better?!"  and she said yes.

 

i'm such a good sister.

ps- that was the last of the candy corn/mellowcreme pumpkins.  i'm officially free from that bondage.