Bébé Week 36 Update

Today's date: November 12, 2011

How far along: 36 weeks

Total weight gain: Between 15, 15 1/2 pounds total.

Size and growth of the baby: Jill is now the size of a crenshaw melon (about 20" long)  and weighs nearly 6 pounds! Even though her lungs still need a little more time to mature, all of her other organ systems are basically ready to go! She is also starting to shed her lanugo and vernix coating.  {per}

Sex: Baby Girl!

Maternity clothes: Only a few shirts and 1 dress are not maternity. If I try to wear a non-maternity shirt out, you can usually see the seam in my maternity pants.

Sleep: Overall I haven't had trouble sleeping. I was very tired this entire week. However, the last 2 nights I have woken up every 2 hours or so. I don't always switch positions or pee so I'm curious as to why I'm waking up.

Best moment(s) of the week: Crossing off items on my to-do list, receiving our swing from my parents and getting it set up and hearing that baby girl is still doing great at the doctor appointment.

Movement: She squirms quite a lot and I love it :)

Food cravings/aversions: No major aversions, aside from no desire to be near seafood. My main craving this week was a root beer float from Sonic.

Morning sickness: I have to take Zofran once a day to keep food down. I may get a little queasy throughout the day, but it's nowhere near where it was in the first trimester.

Symptoms: Obvious baby bump, peeing constantly, lots of stretch marks, lower abdomen pressure, baby kicks, some pelvic pain, heartburn/acid, light Braxton Hicks, a little queasiness, and gassy.

Labor signs: I'll feel some Braxton Hicks from time to time, but nothing major and no cramping.

Belly button in or out: In, but Phil and I are betting if it will or not by the end.

What I miss: Not a whole heck of a lot :)

What I'm looking forward to: My parents coming for Thanksgiving, and my baby coming into the world!

Weeks 16, 26, and 36!

This past week was my last week of working. Not only was that occupying my mind, but I was exhausted by 7:30 every night so I would basically go to bed around 8. Now that I'm no longer employed, I bet you'll be hearing from me a bit more often ;) Plus, I need to catch you up on my 30 day Photo Challenge, (yes, I'm still doing it - promise!).

Hope y'all have had a wonderful Saturday!

Bébé Week 35 Update

Today's date: November 5, 2011

How far along: 35 weeks

Total weight gain: About 14 pounds total.

Size and growth of the baby: Jill is now the size of a honeydew melon (about 20" long)  and weighs a little over 5 pounds! Her kidneys are fully developed and her liver can process waste products. She will be spending most of the next few weeks putting on some weight.  {per}

Sex: Baby Girl!

Maternity clothes: Only a few shirts and 1 dress are not maternity. I usually only wear non-maternity at home.

Sleep: Sleep comes easy for me. I'm tired faster than I used to be, though it's not the complete exhaustion I felt in my first trimester. I do wake up once a night to pee.

Best moment(s) of the week: Having my last baby shower today, seeing my BFF Annette, and getting more accomplished on my baby to-do list.

Movement: She wiggles several times during the day, though she's not really kicking anymore. I think she's just running out of room ;)

Food cravings/aversions: No major aversions, aside from no desire to be near seafood. My main craving is Trix and Fruity Pebble cereal, but I haven't given in just yet.

Morning sickness: I have to take Zofran once a day to keep food down. I may get a little queasy throughout the day, but it's nowhere near where it was in the first trimester.

Symptoms: Obvious baby bump, peeing constantly, lots of stretch marks, lower abdomen pressure, baby kicks, some pelvic pain, heartburn/acid, light Braxton Hicks, a little queasiness, and gassy.

Labor signs: I'll feel some Braxton Hicks from time to time, but nothing major and no cramping.

Belly button in or out: In, but we'll see how long that lasts.

What I miss: Not a whole heck of a lot :)

What I'm looking forward to: My parents coming for Thanksgiving, my final work day (November 11th!), and my baby coming into the world!

Weeks 15, 25, and 35!

I couldn't do my Day 3 picture for the photo challenge because we didn't have a single cloud in the sky the past two days! Also, the photos were taken with Phil's phone because my camera's battery died, (just my luck). So here's my make-up for it:

Day 3: Clouds

Day 4: Something Green

Day 5: From A High Angle

We woke up this morning to a 4.7 earthquake. The epicenter was closer to OKC than Tulsa, but we still felt it. In fact, as I was typing this up, we had another aftershock that knocked over a photo at the in-laws'. I feel like I'm in California! {Just overheard that the aftershock was a 5.2. Geez!} I don't know about earthquakes, but I may still prefer them to tornadoes personally. 

Today was not only my last baby shower, but it was also my brother's birthday! I only got to see him for a little bit, but I was able to give him his gift and a funny card :) I really love my big bro!

Hope everyone had a great Saturday!

Photo Challenge, Day 2

Day Two: What I Wore Today

{I feel like I'm looking pretty huge today and I do have two feet btw. It took about 5 tries to get this picture so I gave up when I figured this one would work HAHA}

I won't lie, I was very tempted to dress up today just because I knew the picture would be about what I wore. However, I did my best to dress nicely in things I usually wear. Today the weather was wacky because we were supposed to hit 67 degrees before a fast cold front came through and lowered the temperature to the lower 40's. Since I'm already having issues keeping a good temperature at work, I figured jeans, a tank top, then my sweater thing would help me :) That way if I was hot, I could have just the tank top with my fan on and if I was cold, the sweater thing would keep me warm. The necklace was thrown on just to bring a little something to my very neutral colored tops.

Tank: Old Navy Maternity

Sweater: Gap

Jeans: Old Navy Maternity

Necklace: Claire's

Sneakers: really old ;)

Bébé Week 34 Update

Thank you everyone for the sweet words of encouragement on my last post! I know I'm feeling all kinds of things about 20 times more dramatically than I would normally. However, I need to give myself a break and feel what I need to right now, as long as I don't hurt anyone else in the process :)

I had a good weekend, but I got dehydrated after the TU game on Saturday, which is why I didn't do the bebe update. Sorry it's so late!

{34 weeks and 3 days}

{The post-it notes on the wall are my countdown for working days =P}

Today's date: November 1, 2011

How far along: 34 weeks and 3 days

Total weight gain: About 12-13 pounds total.

Size and growth of the baby: Jill is now the size of a cantaloupe (about 20" long)  and weighs close to 5 pounds! She can now recognize songs and will react to them once she's born. Her fingernails have now reached the tips of her fingers. Skin is very smooth thanks to the fat she's accumulating and she'll have little to no complications if born right now.  {per}

Sex: Baby Girl!

Maternity clothes: Only a few shirts and 1 dress are not maternity. I usually only wear non-maternity at home.

Sleep: Sleep comes easy for me. I'm tired faster than I used to be, though it's not the complete exhaustion I felt in my first trimester. If I wake up to pee in the middle of the night, I feel some pressure in my abs and it takes a moment to feel good enough to walk to the bathroom.

Best moment(s) of the week: Mostly having a good doctor's appointment and watching her move during the day.

Movement: She is moving all the time and I love it! Jill did do her first somersault when Phil was telling her goodnight last week. His head was on my belly and I felt something that went from my back to the front and it made me slightly queasy & dizzy. It was pretty awesome to see Phil's face light up when it happened though :)

Food cravings/aversions: No major aversions, aside from no desire to be near seafood. No real cravings this week, but I think having Halloween candy helped with that HAHA!

Morning sickness: I have to take Zofran once a day to keep food down. I may get a little queasy throughout the day, but it's nowhere near where it was in the first trimester.

Symptoms: Obvious baby bump, peeing constantly, lots of stretch marks, lower abdomen pressure, baby kicks, some pelvic pain, heartburn/acid, light Braxton Hicks, a little queasiness, and gassy.

Labor signs: None

Belly button in or out: In, but we'll see how long that lasts.

What I miss: Not a whole heck of a lot :)

What I'm looking forward to: My parents coming for Thanksgiving, my final work day (November 11th!), and my baby coming into the world!

Weeks 14, 24 and 34 for fun!

I realized today that we are now in my favorite month of the year, and I have less than 40 days before my daughter should get here. Even though I love November and would love to see Jill early, having a December baby has really grown on me. So whether she's on time or early, I think it's a win-win situation for this girl :)

To celebrate my last month as a non-parent, I am doing the 30 Day Photo Challenge! I've seen other Bloggers do this and thought it'd be fun :) I found the details here.

Day 1: Self-Portrait 

{My parents can attest to the fact that I'm pretty good at these ;) Excuse the no make-up though!}

Happy Tuesday!

Emotions All Around

First of all, I'm so glad the awards I gave yesterday made the recipients so happy :) I love spreading happiness!

If you follow me on Twitter, I want to apologize for my attitude yesterday. Despite my happy blog, it was a really rough day for me. I tried to keep my cool and not have 1987439675103876937412 emo tweets. Lucky for me, long conversations with my mom always calm me down. That woman certainly knows exactly what I need to hear to get me off the "woe is me" train. Though, surprise flowers from Phil definitely helped perk me up at the end of my long day :)

I understand I have several hormones just racing around like mad right now. However, the past few days I've been overwhelmed to the point of tears. I have sobbed uncontrollably cried once on Saturday, once on Sunday, and twice yesterday. Some of it is baby related while the rest is just handling everything else. For example, yesterday was mostly about Phil finishing grad school. I'm still pretty ticked about the conversation he had with his advisor, (the first meeting in 2 weeks mind you), but I know that it's nothing I can control. Essentially Phil will be finishing soon, just not as soon as we were expecting. The only good point to this scenario for me is knowing Phil will no longer have to worry about me going into labor in the middle of his dissertation defense because Jill will already be around. Add a hectic work morning when you're alone in the office and you're just asking for an emotional day.

The main problem for me? I realized that I just don't have the emotional capacity to handle much more than getting ready for Jill right now. I cried on Sunday when I was clipping coupons for the big grocery trips we need to go on next month. With Jill coming in December, I'm preparing for baby AND another snow/ice storm. {Let's look at the history of our winters in Oklahoma lately: 2007 - 1 really bad ice storm. 2009 - 1 big Christmas snowstorm. 2010 - 1 snowstorm in Jan and another in March. 2011 - Two really big snowstorms in February, 10 days apart from each other.} Knowing how the past few winters have gone, I'm expecting at least 1 storm at some point in Jill's early life. I have two check lists I'm trying to fulfill - 1 is for frozen meals and dry goods we'll need when Jill first arrives and 1 in case of snow or ice. Now, the snow/ice checklist is now down to a flashlight, rock salt and firewood which makes me feel a little better. However, sometimes seeing my list of dry goods makes me a little nervous. I feel like I have more month at the end of my money. This is why I'm checking circulars, clipping coupons, etc. However, when I think it's a good deal, Phil will point out that it's ok, but not real great. I spent about 1 hour trying to prepare a list and just got so frustrated that I started to cry. I told Phil because I'm preparing for both situations, I'm starting to feel like this is babypocalypse! Phil was kind enough to calm me down than help me figure out what was really a good deal and it all worked out.

I'm just starting to feel like everything left to do to prepare for Jill's arrival costs money. This isn't true, but it certainly feels that way when you're waiting for your next paycheck and have nothing else to do until then. Luckily, I am receiving my large baby shower gift today via UPS - the changing table! Phil will get it assembled and then I can start to organize it! That'll keep me occupied for awhile. I think I also need a new project, so I'm thinking about converting all my printed/torn out recipes to recipe cards. This could take quite awhile and keep my hands busy.

Also, I don't know exactly what happened, but I really hurt an area of my lower back as I tried to climb into bed last night. It was probably one of the most painful things I've ever felt in my life, (so far). I was literally immobile for about 10 minutes. I'm glad Phil is as strong as he is because he had to hoist me up into bed after that. I did wake up around 1 a.m. to pee and it still hurt pretty badly. When I went back to bed, I switched from sleeping on my left side to sleeping on my back with my head and feet slightly elevated. My back felt better this morning, but I am definitely taking it easy today.

So far, this morning has gone much smoother than yesterday and I don't foresee any sobbing fits :) I hope y'all have a great Wednesday!

An Award

I'm a few days behind in doing this, but I am still thankful none the less :)

I got an award from the lovely Jessica at you are my color! She is my newest bloggy friend & I just love her! She is expecting her first baby, (a girl!), in February, she's from Texas and just the best. I love getting to know more about her! She's also doing a fall swap if you're interested!

The Liebster Blog award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. Liebster is a German word meaning dear, sweet, kind, nice, good, beloved, lovely, kindly, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome. 

The rules for the Liebster Award are:
1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love too!

My 5 Bloggers are:

1. Laura at Between The Lines. I met Laura back on Livejournal when we were both planning our 2008 weddings. I just love this sweetheart and she & her husband have the most adorable son!

2. Ashley at Be Love. Ashley is a talented crafter, fellow hypochondriac, and overall has the kindest demeanor of anyone I've met through Blogger. She's a dear and you will love reading her posts :)

3. Kelly at The Startup Wife. Kelly is not only very kind and loving, but she writes so very beautifully. Most of her posts also include gorgeous photos as well. If you want to check out a lovely blog, this is definitely it!

4. Sarah at This Girl's Life. I love reading Sarah's updates about her beautiful twin baby girls! Sarah is very sweet and she was very supportive to me when I went through my ectopic pregnancy last summer.

5. Jessica at Stress Baker. Jessica is my sister-in-law on Phil's side of the family. She's a hard-working law student who loves to make crafts and always has an awesome recipe to share! Plus, she and her husband have a cute dog named Kora who will make several appearances.

Bébé Week 33 Update

Today's date: October 22, 2011

How far along: 33 weeks!

Total weight gain: I gained 4ish this week (whoops!), but that brings me to about 10 pounds total.

Size and growth of the baby: Jill is now the size of a pineapple (nearly 19" long)  and weighs about 4 1/2 pounds! Her bones are starting to harden and she is losing those wrinkles as she continues to gain weight. Jill is also keeping her eyes open when she is awake. She is learning to coordinate breathing with sucking and swallowing, which is a good thing for her to know. She is functioning like a newborn in the womb so she is just practicing for her big debut.  {per}

Sex: Girl!

Maternity clothes: Only a few shirts and 1 dress are not maternity.

Sleep: Sleeping pretty good right now. I either sleep through the night or wake up 2 times to use the bathroom - no inbetween. I have been getting cramps in my calves more frequently starting this week. I can usually stretch it out ok, but it's painful at first.

Best moment(s) of the week: Having my sweet baby shower at church this afternoon and Phil bonding with Jill a little more by resting his head on my belly before bed :)

Movement: She is moving all the time and I love it! Though the few times I've tried to catch it on video, she immediately stops. What a little booger ;)

Food cravings/aversions: No major aversions, aside from no desire to be near seafood. As far as cravings go, Trix cereal, the volcano taco at Taco Bell, and Mediterranean food (specifically a lamb meatball recipe we've had a few times that's super yummy and tabouli salad).

Morning sickness: I have to take Zofran once a day to keep food down. I may get a little queasy throughout the day, but it's nowhere near where it was in the first trimester.

Symptoms: Obvious baby bump, peeing constantly, lots of stretch marks, lower abdomen pressure, baby kicks, some pelvic pain, heartburn/acid, light Braxton Hicks, a little queasiness, and gassy.

Labor signs: None

Belly button in or out: In, but it just might pop out by the end of this journey

What I miss: Not a whole heck of a lot :)

What I'm looking forward to: My parents coming for Thanksgiving, my final work day (November 11th!), and my baby coming into the world!

Here are weeks 13, 23, and this week.

I am very spoiled. I essentially had two baby showers today.

The first one was a baby shower by mail! My mama's sisters live pretty far apart, so they all chipped in money and sent a few packages for a baby shower by mail. I actually received one item early, and it was our Pack N' Play! It was delivered on Tuesday to our apartment office, but I was told about it by my mom yesterday. After work, Phil and I picked it up and took the time to assemble and break it down so we could figure it all out. It was a lot wider than I thought it would be so we don't really have a place for it to be set up all the time. Thankfully, with the bassinet, Jill will have a place to sleep. Then I got the other packages this morning. It contained all kinds of goodies!

{Item via}

 I'm very thankful to my aunts and grandma for my special baby shower :) I also got something in the mail that I ordered myself. 

{Outfit via}

This will be Jill's Christmas Day outfit and I can't wait to dress her up!

I had a small shower at church this afternoon. The women are just very sweet and I felt very blessed. I don't have pictures of the shower itself, but I do have a photo of one of the sweet outfits Jill got. 

We don't have many bottles after today, so we may end up buying those later. However, we got some many useful items and cute clothes that I can't help but be thankful :)

Oh and my Pokes and Razorbacks both won today! Today has definitely been an awesome day. Hope you're having a great weekend too.