Pregnancy Weeks 34-35

I am 36 weeks and 2 days pregnant today, so I think it's time I do another update!  I actually had an ultrasound and a doctor's appointment this week, but I will share more about that in my 36 week update which will hopefully be posted later today!  For now, I'll recap weeks 34-35!

First off, thank you so much for all of your kind and caring words after my last post.  I had so many people coming up to me at church, commenting on my facebook and blog, and giving me words of encouragement as well as lots of hugs.  That meant so much to me.  The past several weeks have been really hard.  I know some of you may be thinking, how could it be hard?  You are so close to the end of pregnancy and meeting your child!  And ya know what?  I'm trying to look at it that way!  The physical stress on my body and the hormones are just  A LOT though.  I am just ready to feel like myself, look like myself, and act like myself.  But things have definitely gotten SO much better.  I am all caught up at school.  All of my progress monitoring, grades, filing, meetings, everything is all caught up.  I have everything sitting out with specific directions (for the sub) in case I go into labor.  It feels amazing to have this done.  I can finally focus on getting things ready at home.

Sub plans ready to go!

 We had our baby shower at church the day before I turned 35 weeks.  It was amazing!  My parents' camera actually has all of the pictures from that day, so as soon as they transfer them to the computer and e-mail them to me, I will post pictures of that.  My friends Summer, Susie, and Kimberly made everything SO nice.  The theme was "vintage books".  Everything was decorated with vintage decor, and there were books everywhere.  They also had everyone bring us their favorite book in addition to whatever gift they were bringing.  I LOVED it!  What a great idea.  Now our baby is starting out with so many wonderful books, and pretty much all of them are classics!  I am so excited!  Adam and I have already been reading to him. :)  Adam read him Green Eggs and Ham, and I read him Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog (one of the funniest books ever).  It was a lot of fun. I can't wait to show you the pictures.  I have some really talented friends! :)

As far as symptoms go, heartburn, pelvic pain, and swelling have to be my main complaints.  I have been getting really bad heartburn at night.  I know for sure that tomatoes cause it with me, so I have been trying to cut those out.  My feet swell daily, even if I stay off of them.  I wake up in the morning, and they are already swollen.  So I have started sleeping with my feet propped up on 3 pillows.  It's pretty uncomfortable.  My pelvis feels like I have been riding a bike for days straight.  I think that must be him pressing down.

I am trying to think about what else to update you on, but I think most of it I will save for my 36 week blog.  I have a few blog posts coming up that I'm really excited about.  I will have my nursery blog post up soon!  I am hoping to possibly do a video tour of the nursery, so we will see if that works out.  All of the decor, bedding, and everything is done.  I'm just getting all of his things put away!  I'm also working on getting our hospital bags packed, and I will do a blog post about the things we are taking.  That may sound boring to some people, but I have found myself doing research about what to take, haha.  So if you are going to have a baby in the near future, maybe it will help you out.  Also, all you non-rookie mamas can tell me if I'm forgetting anything.  (I can go ahead and tell you that I'll probably be somewhat overpacked.  But that's ok!)  I will also update you on the nesting that has been going on around here.  I am on spring break right now, so I'm trying to soak that up and rest as much as possible, but there are still things that need to be done.  I promise I just saw Heidi's dog hair blow across the floor like a tumble weed.  Floors are still on my to-do list.  But I have been letting myself sleep in, which has been wonderful! 

I think I'm done with this update, so I will leave you with some belly pictures!  Make sure you look for my 36 week update!  I will have it posted today!  Thanks for reading. :)

34 weeks pregnant

35 weeks pregnant

Pregnancy Weeks 31, 32, and 33

I know, I know.  Epic fail.  I haven't blogged in like a month!  I am 34 weeks today.  If you don't want to read about my pregnancy woes and my emotional meltdowns, don't read this post.  If you want to read them but aren't going to feel sorry for me, don't read this post.  

These past few weeks have honestly been the hardest weeks of my life.  There is pretty much no exaggeration to that.  I have basically lived at school.  (I teach EIP/Special ed in an elementary school, for my new readers.)  I get there before 8, and I stay until 6ish, and I STILL don't get everything done.  It's insane.  I'm exhausted.  I come home every day and cry.....and cry....and cry.  I'm just so tired.  My back has been killing me, and my legs and hands swell to where I don't even recognize them.  It's a little scary.  My wedding rings don't fit anymore, so I wear them on a chain around my neck.  When I come home, I'm so overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done.  Here is the short list of things I need to do: 

1. Finish putting the crib together- we had no instructions since it was given to us by Adam's family (thank you!), so we are still trying to figure it out. 
2. Hang nursery artwork
3. Wash baby's clothes and put them in the dresser
4. Sweep the floors
5. Mop the floors
6. Clean both bathrooms
7. Change/wash the sheets
8.  Catch up on the mounds of laundry that multiply in my sleep
9. Cook supper for once
10. Clean out entry way storage drawers
11. Patch up dry wall in master bathroom and repaint (we got water behind the sheetrock)
12. Rent an upholstery cleaning machine to clean the couches (they smell like dog, not gonna lie)
13. Find our budget breakdown sheet or make a new one
14. File our taxes
15. Clean out the garage so I can park in there again
16. Dust everything

I won't even give you the short list of the things I do at school.  That too is crazy.  (Progress monitoring, anyone?)  I just don't see how I'll make it to April 30.  There is no way.  Surely, surely he will come before then. 

I was originally going to work until Friday, April 27.  He is due Monday, April 30.  I figured out pretty quickly in the past couple weeks that that date was not going to work anymore.  So now I am working until Friday, April 13th.  I will be 37 weeks and 4 days pregnant.  It's still longer than I probably should work, but I am really wanting to make sure that I get my 5th graders as ready for the CRCT as I possibly can.  So I have this week and next week left of work, then a week of spring break (where I will be buzzing around my house like crazy trying to get things finished!), and then I will have one last week of work. I will really miss my kiddos at school so much.  They brighten my day when I'm feeling overwhelmed with everything I have to keep up with.  They are such sweet kids.

The weekends have been full.  Very full.  Adam was really sick one weekend and ran a high fever.  He played an all day hockey tournament this weekend.  He plays in the adult league in our town.

Adam is the goalie.  Be jealous.



The other weekends we spend working on the nursery.  Sundays are always full because we have Sunday school, church service, then on Sunday nights we teach the middle school youth.  So we are booked solid. 

Yesterday I had a pretty good meltdown for most of the day.  We pulled in the church parking lot for Sunday school, and I immediately started boo-hooing.  I was just so overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done around our house.  I couldn't stop the tears before Sunday school, so Adam suggested we go get some breakfast, drive around, and come back for the morning church service.  We went to McDonald's and got some breakfast.  I was driving, and I know the guy at the window probably thought I was a freak because I was still crying.  After we drove around and talked, I felt a lot better.  After the morning church service, we decided to pick up some lunch.  I had a bad smoothie craving, and the only place in town with smoothies is....McDonald's.  As we were pulling into the McDonald's parking lot, some dude was riding my tail, and I was afraid he was going to hit us.  So, I cut the turn short and clipped the curb with my back tire.  That was just enough to turn on the waterworks.....again.  Poor Adam, you see what he has to deal with?  So we went and ordered our smoothies, pulled up to the drive thru window, and there waiting for our money is the same guy...again.  I am in the driver's seat, crying.....again.  He probably thought Adam was beating me.  We had a good laugh about that, with tears streaming down my face, of course.  Then we went to Subway and picked up our sandwiches.  I had a sandwich craving too.  :) We came home after church, and I knew I needed a nap.  I hadn't had a lot of good sleep lately.  We took a 2 hour nap together, and it was amazing.  I felt refreshed afterward.  So now you know just one of my crazy days. :)

With the warm weather and extra weight, my body is swelling like crazy.  I took this picture when I got home from work today.

Yeah....check out those cankles!  It's horrible.  I have always had the skinniest little wrists and ankles, inherited from my grandfather.  I can gain weight, but they always remain tiny.  Not anymore.  I can't believe the way the skin is just bulging.  It's awful. 

I know many of you are wanting to see some belly pictures.  Get ready to be shocked and amazed.

31 weeks

32 weeks

33 weeks

Yep, I'm a big girl.  If you made it this far, thank you for listening.  If you quit a long time ago, you didn't get to see how fat I am getting, but I understand.  I apologize for my venting.  I do feel better now, though. :)  I hope y'all have a good week.  I am hoping things will chill out a little bit since I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Thanks for reading!

Our Dresser Was Featured!

Our dresser redo for our son's nursery, found HERE, was featured on the Power of Paint blog!  Check out the feature HERE. 

You might remember when our countertops were also featured on the Power of Paint.  Click HERE for the countertop feature, or go HERE to see how we dabbed in a little countertop paint and transformed our kitchen! 

If you haven't already checked out the Power of Paint blog, you should!  There are lots of great "how to" projects on there all using the power of paint.  Thanks for reading!

30 Weeks Pregnant! Ahhhhh!

Last Monday, I turned 30 weeks pregnant.  I am still in shock!  I really can't believe I'm entering the last part of this pregnancy!  It is so crazy!  I will say that weeks 1-10 took forever, weeks 10-20 were the fastest 10 weeks of my life, weeks 20-25 were average, and the weeks have come to a CRAWL since then. Time is starting to slow down even though I'm staying insanely busy.  I am SO ready to meet our little baby boy; time just really can't go fast enough for me right now.  I want him to be here soooo bad! 

This week I have started having what I think are contractions!  Braxton Hicks of course, no labor yet.  It has happened twice during the night.  I wake up with what I think is a stomach ache (I never get stomach aches for some reason), and then as I really wake up, I realize it's more of a cramping feeling, and then I remember I'm pregnant, and I shouldn't be cramping.  Haha.  But it comes in waves.  It will get a little intense and then it will ease up, and then get a little more intense again, and then ease up, and eventually I go back to sleep.  Nothing steady or insanely painful, just something going on for sure.  But when I'm having them, the baby is going crazy.  He moves around a lot and my stomach shakes the whole bed.  I guess things are getting ready!  It's exciting!

My belly button is officially non-existent.  I have always had a deep innie, which is kind of gross to me, so I never thought it would even get close to popping out.  Well now it's completely flat, and one edge is slightly raised.  I think it may pop out before this baby comes!  We will see.  Adam thinks it's funny looking, and he likes to mess with it.  My brother thinks it's gross, and he won't even look at it, haha.

I get out of breath all the time.  Walking around my classroom gets me out of breath. Walking down the hallway gets me out of breath and is always something I dread, but something I have to do at least every hour for a bathroom break.  Standing in church to sing gets me light headed.  I guess a combination of extra weight and sharing my oxygen supply might have something to do with it. :)

I feel him moving constantly now.  It's really fun.  Adam feels him all the time now too, which is really neat.  Adam can't believe how strong he is.  Last night Adam was trying to get to sleep, and I was already snoozing away.  Adam's arm was somehow resting on my stomach a little bit, and the baby started kicking his arm to where it would actually make Adam's arm move.  It didn't even wake me up, haha.  I guess I'm getting used to him moving all the time. 

We are going to take our first (and only) hospital tour next Saturday.  We have an appointment set up, which feels so official!  The other hospital we are considering doesn't do physical tours.  They just have some info on their website.  The one we are touring is actually where we were both born, which is cool. We will see which one is the best fit for us.  I'm just looking for somewhere where I feel comfortable.  I guess I'll know what that means when I see it. 

My main issue the past several weeks has been forgetfulness.  I have so much on my plate right now at school, and I am constantly forgetting things.  So I have to leave myself a million reminders.  This is what my desk looks like right now. 

The 2 bigger sheets of colored paper are lists of things I need to do, and the little sticky notes are all little individual things I need to get done.  Ahhh.  So much to do.  I have been really stressed out, and I'm trying really hard to take everything 1 step at a time.  It's really overwhelming though.  It's hard to keep up with 3 different grade levels, 2 different jobs, and lots and lots of meetings.  It's a lot to take on right now. 

Well, hopefully I haven't complained your ear off.  Looking back, I may have complained too much in this post.  I'm sorry about that!  I really am extremely happy to be carrying our baby; I am just really ready for him to be here already!  I have enjoyed pregnancy, but now I'm ready to move on.  I'm ready to have our baby here, my body back, and I'm ready to be able to get off the couch and out of the bed without my husband's help.  Haha.  But I'm trying to soak up these last few weeks, because I know I'll look back on them and think of them as bittersweet memories. 

Here is what 30 weeks looks like on me!  Yes, I know stripes make you look bigger.  When you are 30 weeks pregnant, you already look big.  Do stripes really make a difference at this point?  No. :)

Here is what my body was up to at 30 weeks.

You may be feeling a little tired these days, especially if you're having trouble sleeping. You might also feel clumsier than normal, which is perfectly understandable. Not only are you heavier, but the concentration of weight in your pregnant belly causes a shift in your center of gravity. Plus, thanks to hormonal changes, your ligaments are more lax, so your joints are looser, which may also contribute to your balance being a bit off.
Also, this relaxation of your ligaments can actually cause your feet to spread permanently, so you may have to invest in some new shoes in a bigger size. Remember those mood swings you had earlier in pregnancy? The combination of uncomfortable symptoms and hormonal changes can result in a return of those emotional ups and downs. It's normal to worry about what your labor will be like or whether you'll be a good parent. But if you can't shake the blues or feel increasingly irritable or agitated, talk to your doctor or midwife. You may be among the 1 in 10 expectant women who battle depression during pregnancy. Also let your caregiver know if you're frequently nervous or anxious.

Here is what the baby is up to!

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

Thanks Babycenter!

I will be 31 weeks tomorrow!  Woo hoo!  I have my sights on week 36.  I feel like things could happen anytime at that point!  But we will take it one week at a time until then.  Congratulations to my friends who announced their pregnancies this week!  I'm so happy for you, Rachel, and my other friend who shall remain nameless til it's officially on facebook!  :)  I'm excited for y'all!  You both better be blogging about it!  Have a good week everyone. :)



Nursery Dresser Redo!

I have definitely been freaking out that we don't have much done as far as the nursery goes.  Well, over the weekend, we started chipping away at our to do list.  We finally finished the dresser, and I can't wait to share it with you! 

We actually did a good bit of dresser shopping in the beginning.  I was stalking Craigslist everyday, and I had looked at dressers on several different websites.  One day, my mom sent me a picture of a dresser from a local furniture store that I absolutely fell in love with.  It was exactly what I was looking for.  Adam and I went down to the store to check it out.  It was GORGEOUS!  Only one problem.....

Hubby for size/scale :)

Did you catch the problem?  Yeah.......$635....on sale!!!!!!  Ahhhhh!!!  So, so sad.  They actually ended up giving me a better deal since I was so interested, but I couldn't do it.  I couldn't spend that much on a dresser.  It just didn't make sense to spend that much on nursery furniture.  So sadly, we had to part ways. 

However, I had my childhood dresser at my parents' house, and they told me that I could have it.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it!

I wanted to transform it to make it look like the long lost dresser of my dreams. 

My honey bun and I headed to Home Depot to check out their stock of dresser pulls.  We looked at some that reminded us of our lost love.  Ok, it was my long lost love.  Adam didn't care much either way.  He just didn't want to fork out $635.  Can't blame him!

We ended up choosing the smaller silver pulls.  I was stuck between the silver pulls and the darker oil rubbed bronze ones, but Adam like the silver ones better, so silver it was!  We bought 7 of them for the 7 drawers.  (Note:  We ended up taking 4 of them back since they didn't fit the holes on the bigger drawers.  If you don't want to have to fit your hardware to match the old holes, then fill in the holes with wood filler and sand it before you begin painting.  Lucky for us, we took the 4 small silver pulls back and exchanged them for the 4 bigger silver pulls.  They fit perfectly!)

I used paint I had from some leftover projects found HERE and HERE.  This is the primer I used:



I like this primer because it acts as a bonding/sealing agent.  You don't have to do any sanding at all....which is priceless in my eyes.  You just need 1 coat.  It doesn't have to be opaque.



This is the paint I used.  2 coats.

So once we got home and got busy, we pulled all of the drawers out, removed all of the hardware and got busy.  Adam mostly painted the frame, and I mostly painted the drawer fronts.  I didn't paint the sides or insides of the drawers.  Didn't want to worry about the inside getting scuffed up.  No worries, I wore my mask!

Primer!

Passing the time in between coats. :)

We let the primer dry for an hour before starting with the paint.  We waited about 3-4 hours in between paint coats. 

We actually didn't get the dresser moved in that same day.  Life got busy, and a week later, it finally got moved from our garage to the nursery.  Are you ready for the final product?  Here it is!!!!!!!

I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!!!  I love it!!!! 

Here is the cost breakdown:

Primer- left over from a previous project $0

Paint- left over from a previous project $0

Brushes- left over from a previous project $0

Dresser- free from my parents

Hardware- About $35 including tax

Total Cost.........$35.00!

That's a savings of $600 since we didn't go with our first love.  Sweet! 

What do you think?  I can't wait to get it filled with clothes and diaper changing supplies!  Thanks for reading!

I Was Featured on the Power of Paint!

I was featured on a new blog called "The Power of Paint."  It's a blog dedicated to transforming furniture and just about anything you can think of using paint.  My "How to Paint Your Countertops" post was the feature!  You may remember HERE when I was featured on Domestically Speaking's blog.  The 2 blogs are actually run by the same person, but The Power of Paint blog is new and is dedicated to all things paint.  You should check it out!  Thank you so much, Maryann!

27, 28, and 29 Weeks Pregnant!

Wow.....so I haven't updated in a while.  I have excuses.  1.)  I've been extremely busy at school and at home trying to get the nursery ready and the house cleaned up.  2.)  I pretty much go to sleep as soon as I walk in the door in the afternoons.  3.)  My computer was in our living room storage ottoman, and I'm too lazy to get it out. 

Yep, those are my excuses.  I apologize for my absence.  It should be easier to blog now with my computer out of the ottoman. :)  I am officially in the 3rd trimester now.  I have no idea when that became official (every website says something different as to when the 3rd trimester begins) but now that I am 29 1/2 weeks, I'd say I qualify.  Boy, did the 3rd trimester come with some changes. 

27 weeks pregnant

Week 27 was a busy bee week for me.  I really got into exercise and eating healthy.  Adam and I took nightly walks, and I clocked in 11 miles that week.  Which is....about 11 more than I have walked in this entire pregnancy.  Ok, I've walked a couple times, but I definitely haven't been that dedicated.  It felt really good, and that week I had the best sleep I have had in a long time.  I wish I could say I'm still walking like that now, but I have gotten more uncomfortable and a lot busier since then. :(

Look at that belly!  Walking the neighborhood with Heidi.  Yep, we make her carry her own poop bag. :)

 I also started to freak out that we hadn't done anything to the nursery.  It was a blank canvas.  So that week we picked up my childhood dresser from my parents' house so we could paint it and get it moved into the nursery.  It will double as a changing table.  Here is a before picture.

We got it painted, but we still need to buy new hardware.  No worries, I wore a creepy mask so I didn't breathe in the fumes.  It's pink!

I will show you the final result in a separate post!  We also got the glider rocker in that my nannie bought for us.  It's really nice.  We still have the crib left to paint.  That night, after we painted the dresser most of the day, I got in an extreme nesting mode.  I dunno what came over me, but it was crazy.  I cleaned from 8:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m..  Straight.  My back started to hurt, so I sat down on the couch.  Then my back went out.  I mean out.  I couldn't stand, I couldn't sit up, and I couldn't even raise my hand without severe pain.  I was in tears, and I knew I had overdone it.  It was probably the worst pain I have ever felt in my life.  I told Adam I needed to take something.  I took some Tylenol.  I NEVER take medicine.  Ever.  But this time I had to have something.  So Adam knew something was definitely wrong.  I took Tylenol, and Adam carried me to bed.  I couldn't walk.  He got the heating pad for me, and I slept with it on my lower back.  I didn't go to church the next morning because I knew I needed to stay off of my feet.  It was miserable.  I have definitely been pacing myself since then. 

Then week 28 came along.  I can't really remember anything that happened during week 28.  But here's a picture to say I was there!

Week 28

Now I'm in week 29, and this has been the longest week EVER. I am EXHAUSTED all the time.  It's crazy. 

Week 29

I feel like I'm in the 1st trimester again, but worse.  I'm a zombie basically.  I'm always yawning, and I can even fall asleep sitting up.....make that standing up.  Yep, it's already happened once.  I'm so tired.  I just can't say it enough.  I'm also having a lot of body aches.  My lower back has been killing me, my legs hurt really bad too, and my bad hip has been giving me a lot of trouble.  I'm very "complainy" if you can't tell. :)  I really am just getting to where I'm ready for our baby to be here.  I have enjoyed pregnancy, but now it's getting uncomfortable, and I am so tired.  I know, all you mommies out there are saying, "Sleep now, you'll only be more tired after he comes!"  I hear that a lot, and I'm sure it's true.  Although I'm hoping I won't have all these body aches to deal with. 

One good thing about week 29 was Valentine's Day.  :)  Adam had flowers delivered to my school.  They were beautiful.  He picked out tulips, which is the type of flower we had in our wedding. :)

He also got me these lights, which I have been wanting for a while now.  He knows me.  I always want "practical" gifts.  These will look great on our back porch in the warmer months!  They are from Target, found HERE.

I got Adam a bracelet off of Amazon.  Well, it's actually several bracelets in one.  He likes to wear a lot of bracelets, and I thought this one looked pretty cool.  He seems to really like it.

We went out to Macaroni Grill for dinner.  It was fun, and we enjoyed each other's company.  We talked about the baby and lots of different things.  I really enjoy spending time with him.  The table was covered with paper, and they give you crayons to doodle with.  Here are some of our masterpieces we drew during dinner!

I'm in the tower and Adam is riding on Heidi to come and rescue me.  The spot on the paper is Heidi's accident.
 By: Adam



I'm not as creative.  But I did trace his hand and then my hand inside his.  Awwww.  Yeah, the first time we held hands, it felt like I was holding hands with my dad because his hands were so big.  Lol.



I didn't get a picture of us together.  Sad.  After dinner we went to TJ Maxx and Homegoods to look at their rugs for the nursery.  We didn't find anything, but we had fun together walking around and laughing at some of the funny things they can have in those stores.  It was a really fun night. 

I go Friday for another doctor's visit.  I will start seeing her every 2 weeks now.  Then when I hit 36 weeks, I will start seeing her every week.  It's coming up!  I can't wait to meet our little boy!  I better go get some sleep.  Y'all have a great night! :)