Pregnancy Update - Week 34

Kicked off the beginning of week 34 with a fun Easter day at my parents' church and then to their house for lunch. We had all the kiddos with us which was so nice. They all seemed to have a good time and it's always good to be with family. I was really bummed that it was too wet to do the Easter Egg Hunt that Mom had worked so hard on. It was hard to imagine keeping the little ones from being totally covered in wet & mud though. This rain can seriously let up any time now...(just jinxed us for a summer drought, didn't I?)

Then on Monday my awesome co-workers had a shower for the baby! I did a great job in remembering to bring the camera to work. I did not do such a great job in remembering to bring the camera to the room the shower was in! :( So...I took pictures of all the goodies once I got them home. While those are wonderful, I sure wish I had pictures of the awesome people behind all those goodies though.



All of the presents prior to removing them from the gift bags. I wouldn't let myself until I had the thank you notes done! :)




All the goodies out of the gift bags (except that all the diapers and wipes are consolidated into a couple gift bags). I love all the colors of blankets, outfits, etc. that people chose. My co-workers have such great taste!!




And she begins to take over this closet...

 Side note on the closet: It had to be cleaned out and while all of this baby prep is going on, there's also been some tax refund...uh, fun. Yeah...we'll call it "fun". I short I had to find receipts related to the adoption (from 2008!!). I thought I couldn't find a handful of the most important ones but in the final sweep of cleaning out this closet, there they were! I didn't realize how much that was weighing on my mind until the weight was lifted! Whew!

Then also on Monday, Sonnie's travel system arrived! (Thank you Memaw & Papap!) The stroller isn't together yet but I took a picture of the car seat. It's sooooooooo pretty!! I can't believe that this little person that once never was will soon be riding around in our car with us in this very seat.



It's soooo pretty!! Sonnie will be very classy. :)


We'll also be getting our rocker-recliner this week for the nursery/office. (Thank you Grandma & Grandpa!) We picked it out last week and are able to pick it up this week. We were thinking a glider rocker but after some thought, decided we wanted something that you could fall asleep in if you wanted to, so a La-Z-Boy it is!



This chair is summoning my aching back as I type...


Tomorrow I head in for my 34 week check up which is the last appointment that I'll schedule 2 weeks out when I leave. After that, I'll see the dr. every week. And at the 36 week appt I'll get another ultrasound to make sure she's not too big due to having gestational diabetes. My numbers have been pretty decent so I feel confident it'll be okay.

And Saturday I'll kick off the start of week 35 by heading to see Mary Poppins with my cousins Amy & Christy!! I can't wait!

All I Have The Energy To Update On...

I'm. So. Sick. Of. Coughing.

Went to the dr. yesterday to find out the somewhat dreaded words: "it's viral". Which means it's not something super serious like pnuemonia (good news) however it also means that, as anticipated, I just have to keep suffering through until it decides to leave my body (bad news).

I at least got a good night of sleep last night for the first time in over a week. I've been hacking like crazy since I woke up though. Eh, you win some, you lose some.

Off to work...

Pregnancy Update - Week 32

Feels crazy to say I'm in Week 32. The numbers seem to be ticking away faster and faster. It's a good thing because I'm starting to get impatient - I want to meet Sonnie face-to-face!! I don't typically like to wish time away but since the hospital tour and the 3D ultrasound, my excitement has gone into overdrive. :) I've always been a very visual person so it's not surprising that by adding such a clear image of her face to my mind makes every kick and twist and turn that's going on in my belly so much more real. Maybe that sounds weird but it's true. I can better picture where she is (especially since I know she's head down already too) and what it feels like she may be doing in there. I had an especially strong visual the night she started using my ribs as a kick board. ;)

Physically, I'm feeling very 8 months pregnant. In some ways it's kinda fun...I'm sure there are people who think I'm crazy for saying that but when you previously began to sadly accept that you'd never do the pregnant waddle, there really is joy in catching yourself doing it. And I love the nurturing part of rubbing my belly...I do it all the time without even realizing that I am. I feel very blessed to share this connection with her and in spite of the discomfort, there's a lot to this that I really enjoy. Not to be unreal about what's happening though, this is all heavily accompianied by plenty of discomfort: there's leg pain, back pain, difficulty getting up, difficulty getting comfortable, etc. but the insomnia is about on my last nerve...it's been heightened this week by a wretched cough that's keeping me up more than anything. If this cold follows it's typical historical pattern, I've still got a few days to go before the cough will subside. I've ended up on the couch the last few nights to better prop myself up but mostly just to give poor Eric a reprieve from my incessant coughing, but I hate sleeping separate from him.

Which highlights my emotional state: increasingly impatient/moody.

I've always been one to have very heightened cycles. I get major mood swings and it's not just during that week but in the weeks leading up to it as well (sorry if this is TMI to any boys reading - fact of life though!). I assumed b/c of that, I'd be an emotional wreck all through this pregnancy. Much to my surprise, I've actually been fairly even keel. At least not beyond just normal moodiness that is simply part of being a human, anyway. Oh but these last few weeks, I feel my patience slipping from me. I'm more easily irritated. I'm also just more emotional overall, crying more easily and yes, even over not getting to sleep next to my husband b/c I'm coughing too hard for him to sleep at all. The first night I finally gave in to sleeping on the couch, I started out TICKED off by the coughing (like that crazy "oh, she's got that look in her eye; better get back" ticked off). Then I started crying b/c I was lonely for Eric, and then finished crying b/c I was so happy to be so lonely for my husband who was only a floor away. Yeah, I think it's clear that I'm kind of a hot mess right now. You might consider praying for those who have to deal with me regularly. :)

Something I posted about a few weeks ago was our need for a new vehicle. Well, Eric took the reigns on that and we are now the proud owners of a 97 Honda Odyssey MiniVan!! Don't let it's age fool you. It's a great vehicle - only 80,000 miles and it's been my experience that Honda vs. other car years are the same as people to dog years. Any other car you think 80,000 is getting up there but this van's just getting started! :) Got a 250,000 mile Civic to prove it. Okay, Honda commercial over... I'm just so impressed with Eric's find on this. And it was so nice that he just took care of it. I've never felt comfortable with the car buying process so for him to just handle it without my involvement was an act of true love in my eyes. ;) One night he's doing a quick look for things online and by the next afternoon, we were heading in to pick it up. Here's a picture of our newbie...

For Eric's sake, I'll have to take a new one with the hubcaps that are now all one color but for the time being, this will do.  We keep calling it a CarVan b/c it's just not all that big on the outside. Especially not for how roomy it feels on the inside. It's so nice to have a vehicle we can all ride comfortably in.

Well, I think that covers the Week 32 update. On this weekend's agenda is to get the office/where-a-lot-of-baby's-stuff-is-going-but-it-won't-be-a-full-fledged-nursery cleaned up so we can actually fit her stuff in it. And if there's time, maybe check out recliners. After that, it's just a matter of having baby showers and setting things up. Work is throwing me a shower on the 25th and the family one is a month from today on May 14th. I'm so excited about both. My dear friend/office mate, Elizabeth, asked me about preferences for the work one and my reply sums up where I am: "I don't really have preferences about the food & presents. I'm just excited to have a party to celebrate that I'm actually having a baby!" I think I'm most excited to just have the time to gush about all of her kicks and moves and how I'm feeling and how she's doing. I know I'm gonna risk sounding cheesy here but I don't care b/c it's how I feel: I'll be so grateful for the work that goes into the food prep and the presents of course but really, it's about celebrating this amazing miracle that's growing inside of me. God's blessed us with an amazing gift - what could be better than that?!? :)

3D Ultrasound Pics!!

So we had our 3D ultrasound today and it was SO much fun!! I was already looking forward to it but enjoyed it even more than I anticipated. I just had to hop on here to post pics.

All curled up in a ball :) This didn't surprise me at all because that's about how it feels that she's laying most of the time. I'm hoping it means she'll be a little cuddle bug.



The chubby cheeks picture - so cute!!



With her little hand up by her face. There was a LOT of effort that went into all of these pictures to get any without her hands completely in front of her face!



This one is my favorite - I love that little pointer finger. And I love this one b/c it seems like you can really tell what she looks like. Such a clear picture. Mommy thinks she is just the most beautiful baby she's ever seen. ♥

Between the baby stuff that's starting to come in, the hospital tour we had on Sunday and these pictures, I'm suddenly very impatient for June to get here!! ♥ I'm smitten...absolutely smitten. ♥ 

Apparently it's in week 31...

My last post title asked when nesting takes precedence over a nap. My title this time answers that. As of last weekend, we had one dress purchased, a travel system chosen but not purchased and a few things thought out in our minds of how to rearrange furniture to accommodate one more person and all the stuff that comes with one that size. No birthing classes taken. Not really anything beyond the pre-natal care was taking place. Since last weekend, here's what we've accomplished:

• Rearranged the living room (not a small feat since it involved mounting the TV to the wall, running some different wiring, etc.)
• Cleaned the basement (had to find a place for all the stuff that no longer needed to go in the living room to be without it just going into a messy pile; a project that had been on my mind every time I'd head down to do laundry)
• Bought & assembled new dining furniture - fits MUCH better with the space we have!! We could actually all 5 sit down for lunch yesterday and not feel like we were on top of each other.
• Picked up Sonnie's crib - a hand-me-down from a friend along with a mattress, sheets, a never-opened bumper pad, and a boppy pillow. This is the same friend that handed off a bunch of maternity clothes to me - she's spoiled me rotten!!
• Ordered our travel system - it's the 2011 version of the one I posted about a few posts ago. It's so freaking pretty. Eric said I better hope this baby really is a girl b/c it's MUCH more girly than I'm giving it credit for. Guess we'll get further confirmation when we head to our 3D/4D ultrasound on Tuesday!! :)
• Registered at Babies R Us - that took a lot more time than I gave it credit for. We didn't even have anywhere near as much to register for b/c a lot of the big items we already have, were getting used from someone or knew we wanted it from another store. My son, Roma, tagged along for this and did all the scanning which I think he really enjoyed.
• Went to do our hospital tour - we had a great nurse doing our tour. She was very reassuring and I felt comfortable there. I actually got quite emotional during two times that she started discussing ways the mother & baby bond through skin-to-skin contact or "kangaroo care". I don't know why but I teared up both times (in a good way). I'm so looking forward to her arrival. :)

So where napping was taking precedence before, nesting is starting to take over. Oh, that and insomnia. Now that I'm in my last week of my 7th month, I'm reeeeeeaaaalllllyyyyy feeling like I'm in my THIRD trimester. It's hard to get up and down. My back hurts a lot more. My legs hurt. And sleeping might as well be an afterthought. The effort it takes to turn over coupled with the foot in my rib (at least I think that's what she's doing in there...whatever it is, it impedes sleeping!) or the fact that on my right side I can't breathe as well but on my left side my hip goes numb, I've just given up. I'll start sleeping better in 2014.

There's still a lot to do. Mainly in our office where a lot of her stuff will go. Our closets need some MAJOR attention - they're the spots that have potential to put stuff but we are definitely not using those spaces wisely. You know when you move and you've got that stack of stuff that you know you should really go through but just don't have the energy to so it all gets shoved somewhere? That's the essence of nearly all of our closet space. Oh, and there's the whole idea of purchasing a different vehicle that we can all fit into. The 4-door civic isn't quite going to cut it with 2 car seats, a booster, and 3 more people! Not that the need is there all the time but when it is, I don't want to deal with driving separately everywhere we go. So that's on the not-too-distant to-do list.

But for now, it's time to start another week at work. Roma starts a new quarter this week at school and he's really excited to get his report card from the last one. Grades went up AGAIN!! Wahoo! And he starts track meets this week. (I'm really hoping the weather starts improving for these meets. I don't think my immune system can handle sitting out in cold rain!!) Talk about two different worlds. Registering for baby gear one week; heading to track meets the next. Wouldn't have it any other way. :)