Tomorrow!

Mom and Julie get here tomorrow! Yay! Today I get to hang out at home all day while the sheetrock guy works. He got a lot done yesterday, so hopefully he'll be done hanging sheets today and the taping and mudding can start on Thursday.

The ticker says 35 weeks and only 34 days to go. I have to admit, I am counting down the days! My braxton-hicks contractions are coming more often, and are more uncomfortable, and waking me up at night. They don't hurt, they are just tight and awkward.

I have lots to do around the house today to get ready for visitors, and then we have an appointment with the midwife at 2pm. We get to see our original midwife again, who is back at work after having a new baby of her own, so we're looking forward to that.

See you guys SOON!

Baby shower countdown!

I don't have any pictures to post for you guys today, mostly because I'm lazy. Julie and Mom get here in less than a week, and then Ali and Sherry and Mary and Krystal on Saturday… we're so excited! Hopefully it won't rain the entire time.

We're getting so close now, the Bloob is getting big and taking up so much room, it's amazingly uncomfortable. A friend of mine suggested I take magnesium to help with my restless leg problem at night, which has been keeping me from sleeping. I've been taking it for 4 days now, and it's amazing. No more restless legs, and it also makes you sleepy and relaxes your muscles, so if I take it an hour before bed I am out cold. The full night's sleep is helping my outlook so much, I am feeling way less grumpy and have more energy during the day.

The bloob is definitely head down, and hiccuping all the time. He/she kind of seems to move from head all the way down, to slightly sideways sometimes, which is fine with me, because the head down birthing position makes me feel like there is a baby head wedged between my pelvic bones and pressing on my cervix, which, oh wait, there IS! I can do with putting that feeling off a little bit longer, it's not the most comfortable. We've been able to feel lots of little arms and legs and elbows and even the spine a few times. Everytime Josh feels something he says "that's the butt!", so I know there is definitely a butt in there somewhere. The other day I got a big push on my right side and I'm pretty sure I could feel a foot and little bumpy toes.

We have a midwife appointment next week, and then I think we start going every week after that, since there are only 5 weeks left at that point. 5 weeks!!

Josh has been reading the Dr. Sears baby book that I bought a few weeks ago, so he's feeling up to speed on all things baby now. I finished "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth" which was SO GOOD and really helped me feel more relaxed about the actual birth and what to expect. I'm working on a guide to breast feeding book now, which is surprisingly long. There is a lot to know!

In other news, the basement will be getting sheetrock starting on Tuesday, which is great, but may also still be happening while everyone is here. We're not sure how many days it will take them. After that we put in the floor and it will be so close to done! We may actually have extra bedrooms by the time the baby comes, which will be a big relief. That way when the baby and I need to sleep, Josh can have his own room downstairs. ha!

Also, I'm still mostly convinced the baby is a boy, but I sure am looking forward to the surprise of finding out. I'm really glad we decided not to find out early, it's actually been really fun to wonder all this time. I have to admit that sewing girl clothes seems like way more fun than boy clothes though.

Boredom photo shoot

I didn't sleep at all last night. Not a wink. Until 7am, when Josh left for work, I got back in the bed and got about 4 hours or so of rest. So today I was pretty much worthless and accomplished very little. After Josh got home we went to target, and I thought I was going to collapse in the car on the way home. Seriously!

I did manage to take a shower today, and then took some belly pictures. This one is my favorite, because Richard likes to sneak into photos.

In this one you can see how tired I am. 

Then I started wondering what the inside of my belly button looks like. I just don't think it's going to pop out! I took a close up, but it's too creepy, so here is a slightly less creepy far away shot. That tiny dot above my belly button is from a navel piercing I had many years ago, and it is usually right at the top of my belly button opening. It has migrated up as my stomach has stretched. All of that skin below it used to be INSIDE my belly button! How weird.

Josh just saw me uploading these pictures and said "Is this what you do all day when you don't go to work?" Actually, yes.

Back to normal.

Well, back to 8 months pregnant normal anyway. I slept for 12 solid wonderful hours last night, after two miserable nights of almost no sleep, and woke up today feeling great! I feel like my lingering sickness is finally gone, except for some minor congestion, and I have energy again. Whew. I was worried I was going to feel that crappy for the next 6 weeks.

Now I can move on to be excited about our upcoming baby shower and everyone's visit!

33 Weeks

That's right. I'm officially calling this the final countdown. I see the end in sight, and plus, it's just a great song (and video). Those guys have the best hair, and they are just so excited to be cranking out the rock on stage. With pyrotechnics! Maybe I can convince Josh to have pyrotechnics at the Bloob's birth.

I had a miserable week last week, and my birthday was mostly uneventful (except for the cards and gifts, which were awesome, thanks everyone!) so I'm happy to be moving on and looking toward the next 6 weeks. The baby ticker says some awesome stuff today - the Bloob is 5 lbs (which I can definitely feel, heavy) head down (whew, but also, ugh), and also only 49 days to go! I'm still feeling mostly really good, aside from the lingering congestion from the cold I had last week, and extreme tiredness. The most frustrating things at this point are difficulty sleeping (see: bloob = 5 lbs) and the bigger the baby gets, the more he/she is pushing on my stomach. I really can't believe how uncomfortable it makes me, and how very little food I can fit in there before I either have raging heartburn, or the food just wants to come back up. And it only gets worse if I sit down! Trying to take in 70 grams of protein a day, but only being able to eat about a cup of food at a time is really just impossible.
I'm not being ungrateful at all, because I know I have had a very easy and worry free pregnancy, but I cannot wait to go back to having normal relationship with food, and my body and comfortable sleep again.

I'm excited to get back on the sewing wagon this week. While I have been almost completely unproductive, Josh as done a serious amount of work! He put the legs on my ottoman, and it came out SO CUTE!

He also has finished framing the basement, the electrician finished running all the wiring, and then Josh put up the insulation/vapor barrier foil stuff. We went and bought the flooring, which is cork, and we're super excited about it. I think this is the one we picked, but it may be a shade lighter, I can't remember.

Cork is warm, and soft, but really durable and waterproof, so we think it's a great choice for the basement. It's also pretty eco-friendly, and not made with all of the bad chemicals that carpet is.

Here is the framing, now we just need sheetrock! This first one is the tv room and the first bedroom, which is getting french doors, so the light from the window can come through.

This is the short hallway, which leads to the bathroom and second room.

This is the second room, which the door is sleeping in right now, so shhh.

I did work on a couple of projects at some point in the last 2 weeks which I haven't posted yet. I've made a bunch of baby hats, mostly out of old t-shirts, and they are so easy and take like 5 minutes.

I also cranked out a bunch more nursing pads, diaper doublers and baby wipes.

We also went to the Deseret Industries thrift store the other day and acquired some cheap used baby clothes, and a bunch of coffee mugs for the bakery. We now have one drawer with clothes in it, which is fun to look at, because the clothes are so tiny. It looks like a lot, but I don't think it is - only 2 stacks are newborn size, then there is a stack of 3-6 mos and then larger than that. We also have a few blue items in there, but no pink! It's probably easier for girls to wear some blue than boys to wear pink I guess.

It's only 2 weeks until the baby shower, and we are so looking forward to everyone visiting. You know who is the most excited? STELLA! She can't wait for you all to throw her toy for her.

32 weeks, or the week of sickness

Sorry for no blog posts this week, I have been on my death bed. Or the death couch really. I was so proud of myself for not getting this cold that was going around, and then it crept up on me soooo slooowwwwly, and now, hooray, 3 days of serious couch time. And of course it's my birthday week, and we're pet sitting Josh and Michelle's dog Sassy, and Josh is out of town for 3 days, and work is in all kinds of upheaval (employee-wise), and someone shattered our glass front door at work too. And all I can do is lie on the couch! Ugh.

So, maybe some basement pictures and sewing projects soon, but for now, just sniffles!

Baby Monitor

Also, can someone who is interested in electronics find me a baby monitor with internet capabilities with decent reviews for under $150 on Amazon or something? I look at them and my mind gets all boggled.

Books

I've decided it's time I start reading about babies. Being such an avid reader, I'm a little surprised it has taken me this long, but I just realized I know nothing about how all of this  baby stuff is supposed to go. Some friends have recommended books, including a lot of Dr. Sears. I put quite a few on hold at the library, but I think I definitely want to own a few of them, such as this one:

and this one:

There are so many others, it's hard to know which ones will have valuable info and which are just overkill. I like the Dr. Sears philosophy in general, but it can be a little too hippie at times. I think taking what I can can from it and adapting the general principles to our lifestyle is the best approach.

You guys have any book suggestions?

whoa

I was feeling like I haven't really gotten that much bigger, but then I went and looked back at 20 weeks:

 Man! I miss those smaller days!

31 weeks (9 more to go!)

The baby ticker says we've graduated to watermelon size! I'm assuming that's one of those "personal size" watermelons, not a traditional "american size" one. Here is a belly picture for this milestone.

As you can see here, I have outgrown my maternity tank tops. Also, I borrowed one of Josh's belts today, because I really like this pair of maternity pants, but they just won't stay up. The belt sort of makes it look like I have a beer gut though, which is why I think pregnant ladies don't wear belts. I threw a sweater on over it all and no one was the wiser. How do you feel about the gold curtain backdrop? Very "theatre dramatic" I thought. I still feel like I haven't gained much weight elsewhere on my person, which I'm pretty happy about. My face and legs feel a little chubby, but I'm pretty sure it's just water retention and that I will lose that pretty quickly after the baby is born. I have never spent much time worrying about my weight, but I would like to not tote around 30 extra pounds of baby weight after the birth if possible.

Today I came home to find Richard standing in the hallway just outside of the Bloob's room, looking very sleepy. He was smart enough to get out of the crib when I opened the front door, but not smart enough to walk to the other doorway and pretend he had been sleeping in another room. I went and felt around in the crib, and just as I suspected, a warm spot! And cat hair. So I lined it with foil, as the internet suggested (cats hate walking on foil) and now we have a space age crib.

I can't wait to hear the sound of him jumping in there on the foil. I hope it happens when I'm home! He's gonna be so bummed. He's been pretty needy lately, and wants to spend every moment that I am sitting down laying on my belly. I think he is trying to assert his dominance early, so we don't forget about him after the baby comes. He's also been eating a lot of food, which is weird for him. Josh is too, now that I think about it. We are all gaining baby weight in solidarity.

I worked on sewing some changing table covers this past week. They were pretty easy, and way cheaper than the $20 store ones! Apparently changing table pads are high tech safety devices now, so they come with a safety strap, and two tabs under the pad that you screw down to the table to keep it from sliding off.

Can you see one of the tabs sticking out (picture below)? This seemed smart to me until I was putting on the cover and I thought, how do you change the cover with the pad screwed down to the table? I have to figure that out I guess. I also don't plan on leaving the baby unattended on the changing table, so I'm not sure how necessary it all really is. Let's be honest here Moms - how many times did we (your kids) fall off changing tables or other furniture and were fine? I turned out okay without a safety harness!

Josh is feeling very impatient for the Bloob to be out of my belly. Even more than me I think. Almost every night when we get in bed he talks about how he wishes the Bloob was out for snuggling. I get such an intimate relationship with the baby now, since I can feel every movement, it must be frustrating as a Dad to want that too, and not get to have the same connection. On the other hand, he doesn't have to get up 5 times a night to pee. He's also been putting my shoes on for me most days, which he says is good toddler training. I think I'm worse than a toddler though, since I say "no, too tight!" and then "now too loose!" "can you make the bow smaller?" "double knot!" etc. etc.

Baby shower invitations are going out in the mail tomorrow, so keep an eye out! We are so excited to have all of you guys here. Ali, I think you're the only one who doesn't have a plane ticket yet…

We can pick everyone up from the airport, and between my car and Josh's car, no one should need to rent one. There are a couple of hotels really close to us (Econolodge is two blocks away, takes 5 minutes, tops, to walk there!) If anyone need info on that, let me know.