Five Month Update!

Emmy Lou Who is 5 months old and 1 day, and this Momma actually got the blog post up on time! Winning all around. :)

This month we've been working on sitting a lot as we start solid foods. She's not quite  there, but she's getting close! She'll sit on her own while she's on my lap or in the corner of the couch. She just kind of topples over if you try to sit her on the floor with nothing around though. Headfirst, right into the tootsies! Since she's not sitting that well yet, we don't give her solids at home. I let them deal with that at daycare. So far she's only eating a small amount of rice cereal every day. Once she masters the art of sitting up and keeping food in her mouth, look out sweet potatoes!

Speaking of tootsies, she found her feet this month. Can I tell you how adorable a chunky little monkey baby is once she finds her feet and holds on to them in a constant yoga pose? HOLY CRAP. I pretty much die every time she does it, and I shower her with praise and kisses. Well I do that anyway, but can you even stand how adorable those chubby little cheeks are?!

Last, but not least, she's started vocalizing much more than she used to. Before she was fully of grunts and coos, and now she's full of squeaks and shrieks. Mostly shrieks.

As for Momma Monkey, I'm currently still holding onto 5-10 lbs of baby weight. I'm willing to let it slide because I'm basically back into all of my clothes and I'm worried that any kind of exercise or dieting of any kind will cause a dip in my milk supply. I'm already supplementing with formula on occasions (usually 1-2 bottles a week) because she eats so much, so my weight isn't really a concern for me. It's all about getting the monkey all the food she needs!Unfortunately this equates to me pumping for around 5 hours a day in addition to nursing her, but seeing her grow so well makes the 3AM pumping session worth it!

I should have measurements next month from Emily's 6 month checkup, which is crazy because I can't believe my little love bug is already going to be half a year old. I'm already planning the most adorable birthday party ever, which I hope to celebrate back home in North Dakota with family and friends. Stay tuned for the next update!

Three and Four Month Update!

Again with the lateness. Seriously, guys... Having a four month old and being a working mom is a ton of stuff! I wake up at 6:15 AM and it's basically go go go until 8:30 PM when she falls asleep. By that point I'm ready to grab a bowl of ice cream (one great thing about breastfeeding is that you can basically eat ice cream every night.. haha) and my pump, head to the bedroom and turn on PBS. So pardon my tardiness. I'll make up for it with tons of pictures of the chunky monkey, starting with month three!

This month baby E didn't have any checkups, but we did take her to the doctor for a cough. I know, I know.. paranoid much? But she just had this cough that would not go away! Anyhow, turns out she was fine. They weighed her at that appointment (which was around 12 weeks) and she was a 11 lbs! I couldn't even believe this kid was that big! Well, I guess I can. She guzzles 16-20 oz at daycare, nurses twice at home, and then has at least one more 4 oz bottle.

As far as milestones go, E started giggling this month. Holy cuteness. It's more of a grunt, but she's getting there. :) She also moved to her crib, which was way less hard that I thought it would be. She had a rough time for the first few nights because she was used to her rock and play sleeper, but she adapted pretty fast and was right back to sleeping through the night. The monitor I mentioned in the previous post has been a life saver. If I didn't have something alerting me that she was still alive I think I'd lose my mind. This kid sleeps like a rock. A chunky, red-headed rock. I kind of love it.

Now on to four months!!!!

We had her four month checkup on 5/20, and baby E is definitely growing. She's up to 13 lbs 4 oz and 23.5" long. She's jumped from the 10th percentile in height and weight all the way to the 75th for height and 90th for weight. Even the nurse was shocked, she had to measure twice to make sure we didn't just get it wrong. I swear if she wasn't the spitting image of her father I wouldn't think that this was my baby at all. She's still eating like a horse, so that probably explains it. She eats anywhere from 28-35 oz a day. Not even kidding. She was sick twice (UTI and bronchiolitis) and I had a panic attack because she wasn't eating very much. Keep in mind that not eating much for Em is 20-24oz a day, which is TOTALLY NORMAL for any other child.

Milestones this month were kind of big. At the end of the month she started to roll over from her back to her tummy (according to daycare)! At home she still gets stuck on her chunky little arm, but she's about 99% of the way there. She also started to sit better with assistance. She's been standing with help, AKA locking her knees while your holding her, but she typically leaned against us when she was sitting. Now she hates to lean on us, and wants to sit on her own with very little help. She can't totally sit up on her own, but I think she'll get the hang of that this month!

Again, I appologize for being absent friends and family, but now that we're over the house hill we were working on I hope I can be more present. See you next month!

Big news in our house!

No no no, I'm not pregnant. But if you haven't already heard, we're moving! That's right, we're moving. We decided to build a new house closer in to town and sell our beloved first home. The traffic is just getting way too bad out where we live. Actually, it might have always been bad and I just didn't notice it before I wanted to spend every waking minute with our little family.

We decided to move closer and buy a bigger house at the end of March, but we just couldn't find a place. That sounds odd, but houses are flying off the market here. It seemed like every open house we went to was already pending, and we couldn't even look at houses unless they were pre-market. In the area we wanted to be in we would end up spending $200K or more on a house that needed massive updating, and we'd have to put in an offer before the house was even listed. We decided that wasn't what we wanted to do, and ended up taking our realtor with us to a new development that was close to where I work and ended up picking a lot and building.

The next big step was selling our house. I'm going to be honest, we bought our house for $125K in 2009 and I thought we might get $132K out of it best case scenario. Apparently the housing boom has crept its way out to where we live, because we listed on a Friday afternoon, had seven showings through Monday night, and five offers all for over what we asked. So we signed a contract to build a new house and sold our house all in less than a month. It just so happened that this happened to fall right between my month three and four postings about Emily, so that's why I'm so late on those! I'll post them right after this, but I wanted to justify myself.. haha

In other news, since we're buying a new house, Emily gets a whole new nursery! One of the constant feedback points we got about our house was that everyone loved the nursery. Seriously, people would write nothing else anywhere and then finish up with "I love the kids room!" It's a pretty proud moment for me, because I worked really hard on pulling that room together. I've already got a new pinterest board up and running with a ton of turquoise and pink ideas for my little chunky monkey, so expect a post about that soon. :)

Two Month Update!

Looks like I've once again dropped the ball. Little Emily is 2.5 months old and I'm just now posting this, plus the last post was her late one month update. *Bad blogger alert*

In my defense, I had no idea how busy I would be! I knew we'd be busy, but the lack of free time is pretty incredible. Plus I went back to work when she was a little over 6 weeks old, so I've got even less free time. The free time I have is spent cuddling with Emily, Jesse, and Sammy. I can't think of a better way to spend it! But since people actually read this, I'm going to take time out of my busy pumping break to catch everyone up on how our little pumpkin is doing.

At her two month appointment (which was actually at 6 weeks) she was 10 lbs  oz and 20" long. She was in the 10th percentile for height, 40th for weight, and 75th for head. That's why we call her pumpkin. Lovingly, of course.. :) They gave her all of her vaccinations for two months at that appointment because she was starting daycare, and I have to admit it was really hard on me. She really wailed when she got those, but thankfully she took them like a champ and didn't even break a fever. I was so proud of my little gal!

I kind of love that face.

Like I said, she's also started going to daycare. This was surprisingly OK for me and a little harder on the hubby than I thought. She seems to be just fine with it, though. I've noticed a huge change in her mood since she's started going. I can actually lay her down in her pack and play while I'm doing something (like, getting ready for work) and she just kind of coos and looks around. It's pretty stinking adorable. She doesn't need to be walked around or rocked to bed anymore, either. We used to have to put her to sleep before we got anywhere near her sleeper or she'd absolutely lose it. Now I can put her in it wide awake after her bath and late night snack (aka, her bottle) and she'll fall right asleep without any problem. Next stop: Crib town!

It's like they're high fiving!

Speaking of sleep, Baby E is sleeping through the night, in both the technical sense and the literal sense. She zonks out around 8:45 PM and doesn't wake up until 7:30AM. I guess sleeping through the night is defined as a 5-6 hour stretch of sleep, so she was doing that around one month. Whoops!Hopefully she sleeps like that once we start her in her own room. I bought an Angelcare Movement Monitor to use when she migrates so I don't freak out about SIDS.

One last thing before we go.... My little pumpkin has started to smile! We had been having a particularly bad Saturday filled with lots of crying because the little Miss was overtired. I finally got her to go down for a nap (and take a shower!!), but when I got out Jesse was lying on the bed next to her sleeper because she had started to wake up. All of a sudden I hear this giggle come out of my manly husband, and I asked him what was going on, and he responded that she smiled at him. SO JEALOUS. But I did manage to catch a little their flirt-fest on camera. She's so stinking cute when she smiles!

One Month Update!

I know I'm slightly delinquent on the posts (especially since she's actually one month and 5 days old now...) but I assure you, the pictures were taken when she was one month. We had a mini photoshoot in the nursery, and she was surprisingly cooperative!

She's grown so much this month, and way more since I took these pictures, if you can believe it! Our little girl weighs around 9 lbs (at least we think) and is about 20.5" long. Again, not exact since we're weighing her ourselves and measuring her with my sewing tape. We're amazing parents.

And just because she's adorable, here's a picture of her in her Valentine's day dress, too.

It's been a great month, and I look forward to many more. I also look forward to showing embarrassing pictures of our adorable little teenager to future boyfriends while Jesse cleans his gun. OK, so he doesn't have a gun. It's a metaphorical gun. But he'll be scaring them, and I'll be embarrassing her.

Four Week Update!

Four weeks! Little baby E is almost a month old! I seriously can't wait to dress her in her Valentine's Day outfit and take her one month pictures for her baby book. Look at all the progress the cupcake has made in the four weeks!

Not much changed this week. She's still eating 3.5 oz at each bottle feeding and on almost exactly the same schedule for feedings. I also used my fail proof method of weighing her again, and it looks like shes about 8.4 lbs even though she's still in her newborn clothes. As far as milestones go, she's still rolling over like a champ and she's more aware of her surroundings every day. I noticed this week that she can tell when Jesse or I are in the room. It really makes a difference in whether or not she naps. :)

A big step for us as a family was our first meal out of the house! My bestie came through town with her brother's family and we all met up to have lunch. I'm so glad she got to meet Emily, and I'm even more  glad that Emily was so good. She hardly fussed! Well... until we got in the car. She threw a holy fit almost the entire 20 minute drive home. Oh well, babies will be babies sometimes.

Three Week Update!

Three weeks down! I can't even fathom that our little pumpkin is three weeks old, or that I'm halfway through my maternity leave. Yikes, time moves fast! I can't believe how big the cupcake is compared to when she was born. She's still small enough to fit into her newborn clothes, which makes me wish we had bought more of them. We have one outfit (her going home outfit) and a handful of onesies and pants. She can sort of fit into 0-3 month onesies depending on where it's from, but the pants are WAY too long. She'll be in the newborn pants for a while. Jesse says she has his legs, which means she has super short legs and a long torso. Granted, we both have short legs, but I'm 5' with a 28.5" inseam and he's 5'11" with a 30" inseam. So yeah, he has short legs. haha

Our little chunk is also guzzling down milk at every meal. I weighed her in the most scientific way possible (I weighed myself, then I weighed myself holding her...) and she now weighs around 8 lbs. She's up to 3.5 oz per bottle, but she's only taking 2-3 a day. We tend to give her bottles for her middle of the night feeds because she can be really fussy and cry (OK, more like wail!) for 15-20 minutes before she latches properly at night. During the day we nurse because it's less work. If I gave her bottles I'd have to feed her, get her to sleep, pump, and then clean all the parts. By the time I finished all that she'd be ready to eat again! So Jesse and I both get up twice a night, change her diaper, and while he gives her a bottle I go to the nursery and pump. After that we'll put her back in her back in her swaddle sack and set her in her Rock and Play sleeper. She's usually out in about 10 minutes after that. It takes about 45 minutes total, but like I said it's only twice a night at this point so it's not too bad.

She's also pretty predictable as far as times go. She almost always wakes up at 12-1 AM and then again at 4-5AM. When she wakes up around 8:30 AM I'll nurse her in the living room and then we're up for the day. She finishes nursing around 9:15 AM and then fusses for about...... 90 minutes. Yes. She'll through a holy fit for an hour and a half unless I'm carrying her or holding her. Usually I'll hang out on the couch with her or put her in her sling so I can get things done, like eating breakfast. Then she'll fall back asleep around 10:30-11 AM and wake up around 12:30 PM to nurse again. After that her schedule is slightly less predictable until around 7 PM. We nurse at 6 PM and again around 9 PM and then she's down for the night. Every other night we try to get a bath in between 6 and 9, and usually sometime during the day I'll either put her in the stroller or the sling and take her for a walk.

As far as milestones go, we're still doing tummy time a few days a week, and my baby girl surprised me at 17 days old by doing this....

Yeah. This little cupcake rolled over. She did it twice before I got out my cell phone, and I couldn't believe she did it again! Sorry for the shakiness and the baby talk. I can't really help it.. haha

See you next week!!

Our Birth Story

I woke up at 6:42 AM on January 16th, 2013 to what felt like a really strong cramp. I wasn't super concerned about it because I'd had braxton hicks a few times before and I just figured that I was having another episode of that. I got up and grabbed a glass of water and laid back down. When Jesse got up to get ready for work at around 7:30 AM I had already had 3 or 4 more (I decided to time them after the second one just to be safe), and when he got out of the shower I told him he might want to call his boss and tell him he could be a little late for work. So we hung out at home until 10 AM, at which point my contractions were averaging out to around every 4-5 minutes. I decided to call the hospital, and they told me to come on in and they'd check me out.

When we got to the hospital it was around 10:30 AM. They hooked me up to the monitors for the baby and for my contractions and ran a few tests while they waited on my Doctor's decision. The nurse made it seem like they were going to send me home because I was only 75% effaced and 3CM dialated, but my Doctor said to keep me because my contractions were close enough together and he was sure I'd just have to come back. So they moved Jesse and I into a labor and delivery room and started a pitocin drip to regulate my contractions. By the time they got the IV in and started the fluids and pitocin it was about noon and the Doctor said he'd be back in about an hour to check how dilated I was and discuss breaking my water.

Around 1:00 PM he popped back in and checked my cervix. It turned out that I was dialted to 5 CM already, and my water broke as he was checking me. Now, up to this point I wasn't in a huge amount of pain. The contractions were strong, but not unmanageable. I was actually thinking to myself, "I don't need an epidural. I can totes magotes do this!" Then my water broke, and I can only describe my body's reaction as shock. haha I was literally shivering and chattering, and it got way worse when I had a contraction. So of course I said, "Where's this epidural we've been talking about?" and in popped my savior the anesthesiologist. By 1:30 PM I had the most amazing epidural that anyone has ever had in history.

The nurse came back in at about 2:30 PM to check me and put in my catheter, and I was only about 6 CM dilated. As soon as she put the catheter in my contractions intensified again and I told Jesse I felt like I had to push about 30 minutes later. She came back to check me again about 3:45 PM and I had dilated to 10 CM so she called the Doctor and got me ready to push. After about an hour I was ready for the Doctor to come in and deliver, and he showed up around 5 PM. At 5:34 PM little miss Emily Caroline Hillius was born, and the first words her Daddy said to me were "She has huge feet!"

A few minutes later, my baby girl was in my arm and I was the happiest (and most tired) Momma who ever lived. :) Plus, thanks to my awesome epidural the birth was a snap. I told the nurse who wheeled me into recovery that I would do it again, and she looked at me funny, so I explained that the anesthesiologist was amazing and I had basically felt slight pressure, and no pain. She said I was the only person who ever told her immediately following labor that I would do it again. haha Go figure.
 

And that's how our little cupcake made her arrival into our lives. :)

Two Week Update!

I can't believe it's already been (over)  two weeks since my little munchkin made her appearance! She's already grown so much. I seriously can't believe how different she looks! Or at least bigger.. :) She even outgrew her first outfit right at two weeks! I was kind of excited but sad at the same time because that means my little baby is growing! She's also starting to be awake more often, and more alert when she's awake which is amazing. Her eyes get really big when she's interested in something and it's always fun to watch her react to new sounds.

Leaving the hospital, at one week, and at two weeks!

Since we left the hospital we've had two Doctor's appointments and 4 weigh-ins. We were kind of freaking out about her weight (she had lost 8 ounces when we left), but by her two week appointment she had gained it all back and was up to 7 lbs 4 oz. I can't believe she's gaining almost 6 ounces a week, but she's already eating 3 oz at every feeding so it's not that crazy. She eats about 21 ounces of expressed milk a day (3 oz 6-7 times a day) and she also nurses once or twice. When she gets really fussy we let her nurse, and it seems to calm her down quite a bit.

We started her on bottles right before she turned two weeks old I think it actually helped her latch. You hear all this hubbub about "nipple confusion" and almost every lactation consultant will tell you not to introduce pacifiers or bottles until at least a month, but we were having major latch issues. She has a good latch and a good suck reflex, she just got really upset when it was time to feed. It would take us 30 minutes just to get her calmed down enough to eat! Now when it's time to nurse she pops right on. So I'm calling BS on nipple confusion. Some babies might have it, but not Emily.

Our pediatrician also suggested we start her on tummy time because her neck and arms are so strong already. It seems so early to start, but she assured us that it's never too early to start tummy time and suggested we start with 5-10 minutes a day (or however long she'll tolerate it) and see how she develops.

As for Mommy, I'm doing great! I'm moving around way better this week and not feeling pain anymore, and I've also lost more of that water I was retaining from the hospital stay. I'm down to 126 lbs and measuring at 28" in the waist and 34" in the belly. I look much less pregnant and more like I'm just carrying a few pounds around.. haha But I've only got 10-15 lbs to lose since I've got to retain some of the weight for healthy breastfeeding, and at 2 weeks post partum I can't complain about that. Jesse goes back to work next week so Emily, Sammy and I are going to try to get in lots of walks in the fresh air!

Bump Watch: Pregnancy Recap!

Baby E has arrived, and if you haven't heard by now... The E stands for Emily! Since we're all done being pregnant (for now) I thought I'd do a quick pregnancy recap. Some of the questions don't apply, so I'll just skip them. Consider this my 39 week and 4 day update. :)

I plan on doing a labor and delivery post (complete with pictures!) later this week, so be on the lookout!

How far along? 39 weeks and 4 days.

Total weight gain? Last I checked it was 146. So I gained 40 lbs. Yikes! I did lose quite a bit in the first week, and as of 8 days post partum I was down to 130. I just need to shed some of this remaining water! According to the doctor, that might be a few weeks. 

Waist/Belly Measurement? 31”/41”. My belly was really expanding towards the end. I guess my body was retaining water in preparation for labor! The awesome thing is that I started using my belly  bandit when we got home and I'm now around 29"/34". That's about where I was at 20 weeks pregnant, and I was still pretty tiny at that point. I'm happy with where I am, especially considering that it's only been a week!

Stretch marks? Most definitely. I have a few on my stomach below my belly button on either side. They're not horrible, and I've been putting Bio-Oil on them while they're fresh to try and get them to heal. They actually don't bother me as much as I thought they would, though. 

Best moment this week? Totally Emily's arrival! The fact that she came on her own was so amazing.

Cravings? I have to say that the biggest cravings were cheeseburgers and ice cream/custard. After delivery I didn't even think about them. It's crazy!

Belly Button in or out? It stayed in!

Happy or Moody most of the time? I was definitely happy most of the time, with a few moments of moodiness.

Looking forward to?  Emily's first year and all of the amazing things that are going to happen to our little family in 2013!

Bump Watch: Week 39!

And she feels like a watermelon, too!

How far along? 39 Weeks

Total weight gain? I made up for last week in spades, I’m up 3 lbs to 144lbs.

Waist/Belly Measurement? 31”/40”. I went up ½” in waist which is officially 5” there!

Stretch marks? Ah yes. Those are stretch marks. The good news is that they’re already really faint, and they’re not very big. I’d say an inch vertically and really skinny. Plus there are only 3-5, and they’re pretty low. For now I’ll just keep layering the lotions and oils and hope they don’t get worse. :)

Sleep? I’ve finally been able to get some sleep this week. I was only using two pillows for a while, and I bumped it back up to 3 recently which seems to have helped. I’m back to only waking up 2-3 times a night!

Best moment this week? Sadly, it was the sleep. :) I hadn’t slept well for a few weeks, so getting so much needed shut eye during the last week was amazing.

Miss Anything? Wearing clothes. Like, real clothes and shoes. Soon!

Movement? She’s still moving, but it’s less often. I’m not concerned, because she’s reaaaaaaally mobile when she’s awake. Plus she gets hiccups at least twice a day.

Cravings? Nothing this week. I just wanted food. haha

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nope!

Labor Signs? I had a few contractions, but nothing serious or predictable. At my 39 week appointment the Doc said that I was fully effaced and 3 CM dilated. I’ve gone up 1 CM each week!

Symptoms? I’ve still got swollen joints, and I’ve also noticed more back pain. It’s more like nerve pain, though.

Belly Button in or out? It’s still at like 95% in.

Wedding rings on or off? Still off. I asked the doctor if I’d ever wear it again.. haha

Happy or Moody most of the time? Still very cheerful. :)

Looking forward to?  Baby E’s arrival! My Mom and Stepdad are getting in on Saturday, so we decided to be induced on Friday morning. Please don’t judge me for evicting Baby E two days before her due date.

Bump Watch: Week 38!

Looks like little Miss E has dropped!

How far along? 38 Weeks

Total weight gain? Only gained 1 lb this week, so I’m officially up 35 lbs to 141lbs!

Waist/Belly Measurement? 30.5”/40”. I went up ½” in the belly so now I’m 40”! That’s kind of exciting! I can also tell that I’ve dropped. It’s not as apparent when I’m wearing clothes, but you can tell with the bare belly.

Stretch marks? I’m actually not sure? I looked at the underside of my belly and I saw what looked like stretch marks, but upon further investigation they looked more like faint blueish veins than purple stretch marks. I guess we’ll find out with E arrives and I can look at my whole belly! Even if they are stretch marks, I think there were like 2 or 3. I’ll take that.

Sleep? Still really bad! I wake up every few hours to pee, and I’m also really uncomfortable laying in most positions. Plus our little cupcake has developed a new nighttime routine which involves trying to claw her way out via my bladder for about 2 hours starting at 9:30 PM on the dot.

Best moment this week? The nursery is DONE. Like, done done. The changing pad is installed, the cover is on it, all of the surfaces are cleaned, and things are organized and where they should be! Well, until I decide to reorganize them while I’m waiting for her to arrive. I also got a pedicure on Saturday, because I can’t reach my toes anymore, and I made little gifts for the nurses. Nurses need love, too!

Miss Anything? Being comfortable and fashionable. I’ve definitely moved passed the maternity jeans phase and into the maternity leggings phase. I have 4 pairs of those and 2 pairs of regular leggings that fit. I’m pretty much strictly wearing those under dresses/tunics at this point with my black or brown boots. I just want to use my closet again!!!

Movement? She’s still doing a ton of wriggling, but it’s more predictable now. I know about what times she wakes up and shifts, but unfortunately it’s mostly between the hours of 6PM and 12PM. She moves around for the other 18 hours, too, but she’s really active in that 6 hour span. Mostly on my bladder.

Cravings? I actually had a really weird shift this week. Even though I still wanted ice cream (custard to be exact) I also wanted cucumbers and pineapple.

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nope!

Labor Signs? I had some bodily signs this week, which I can only describe as everything BUT contractions. I was dialated to 1 cm and 75% effaced on January 2^nd, which the doctor was really excited about. Then my body started down the “I think we’re going to go into labor” path a few times, but it never fully kicked off. You always here people say that they’re baby is just too comfortable to move, but I seriously think this is my body. She obviously wants to come out as she keeps trying to claw her way through my bladder, but my body just keeps telling her that she needs to hang out a while longer. Jesse and I discussed that I could just be having contractions that I’m not noticing that are dialating me. We’ll find out tomorrow I guess!

Symptoms? Very swollen. Very tired. Very pregnant.

Belly Button in or out?  It was in all week. I don’t think this thing is coming out.

Wedding rings on or off? Still off. I noticed that it’s because my knuckles are swollen, not my fingers. Don’t get me wrong, those are swollen too. But it’s the knuckle that’s stopping my ring right now.

Happy or Moody most of the time? For being a tired, large, pregnant lady….. I think I’m pretty cheerful.

Looking forward to? Wearing my old clothes (please, dear lord let this happen) and cuddling with E. Seriously, body, let her come out already!!

Bump Watch: Week 37!

You hear that baby? You can come out. Seriously.

How far along? 37 Weeks, we’re full term!!

Total weight gain? Up 2 lbs again to 140 lbs. I read somewhere that weight gain slows after 36 weeks. I read some blatant lies. haha

Waist/Belly Measurement? 30.5”/39.5”. I went up ½” in the belly. I’m almost to 40”, I can’t believe it!

Stretch marks? Still none of these… Although my thoughtful cousin (cough cough SARAH!!!!!!) pointed out that she didn’t get any until 37 weeks.

Sleep? I’ve been sleeping so horrible lately! My hips are getting sore at night (along with whichever shoulder/arm I’m laying on) and I have to pee like crazy! I keep telling myself it’s only 3 more weeks, and I can totally do this. I do end up being really tired and falling asleep sitting up on the couch most nights, though.

Best moment this week? Honestly this week was pretty slow. Jesse took me to Ikea on Saturday after he got off work, which was amazing as always. He wanted to get an expedit book case for the nursery. I have no idea why he thinks we need more storage, we have 4 dressers and a closet. What we lack is floor space.. haha He did decide to let me repurpose it as a changing table, so I need to pick up a changing pad for the top.

Miss Anything? I kind of miss the New Years Eve celebrations. I don’t even get a glass of champagne at midnight! Not that I would be awake at midnight anyway. Jesse said he’s going to buy me a bottle of sparkling grape drink, instead. Such a sweetheart. :)

Movement? She still moves around quite a bit, but I’ve noticed that it’s a different motion and it doesn’t happen as often. It’s more like rolling and pushing. She also can’t wind up and really wail on me anymore since it’s getting cramped in there, so that’s enjoyable.

Cravings? More of the same but with the addition of pizza. I think it’s less cravings and more like I’m just hungry all the time.

Anything making you queasy or sick? No. In fact I could eat everything in sight.

Labor Signs? I thought I was going into labor on Saturday again, and I was up most of the night because I was so uncomfortable. Turns out she just pushes on my bladder/intestines/bowels sometimes more than others, which causes a cramping sensation. I didn’t think they were contractions because there weren’t defined start/stop points. Once I got up and walked around the house a little bit they went away.

Symptoms? I’m still a little swollen in the extremities, but I didn’t have any acid reflux! I’m pretty tired, too.

Belly Button in or out?  Well sometimes it’s in, but it looks like it really wants to pop out. I got kind of excited after I ate one day because I thought it popped out, but it went back in.. haha

Wedding rings on or off? I’m still keeping these off since I don’t want them to get stuck. I’m wearing a ring my parents bought me in highschool which actually fits pretty well right now instead. This doesn’t stop everyone in history from looking at me like “Damn teen mom’s are ruining this country.” It doesn’t help that I’m short, look like I’m 18, and drive a Kia Soul.

Happy or Moody most of the time? Jesse says my temperament hasn’t changed at all during the pregnancy. “You were always pretty easily annoyed”. He’s correct.

Looking forward to? Still meeting the baby! Seriously, baby. You’re full term. Anytime now is fine.