36 weeks

{Photo credit: Amber Privett}

How far along: 36 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: Haven't weighed myself this week...it has been fluctuating a lot with the fluid I have been retaining. I am avoiding the scale in general these days!
Maternity clothes: 100%
Sleep: Getting more difficult. Once I am situated I sleep great, it's just getting into a good position that is the hard part.
Best moment this week: Having family pictures taken on Sunday (see above). Thanks Amber and Jonathan for putting up with the heat!
Movement: Less kicks and more rolls and jabs. Lots of hiccups still.
Cravings: None this week.
Gender: BOY!
Labor Signs: Having more and more frequent contractions, some are actually uncomfortable. Still none of the real deal though.
Belly Button in our out? Out
What I miss: Being able to keep up with Madison. I feel badly when I am not as energetic as usual.
What am I looking forward to? Snuggling my sweet baby boy and introducing him to his awesome big sister.
Weekly Wisdom: Can't think of any.
Milestones: Almost full term...and it's officially less than 1 month away from the big day! 27 days and counting. Just ask Madison, she keeps up with it daily!

{The final touch to the nursery! Ordered this decal from Etsy...I could spend hours on that site}

Preparations

So, with just about 1 month left we have busily been making preparations for baby boy gray. I was not feeling so great this week after a few long days at work and was worried labor was coming. I even started to get my hospital bag ready! Needless to say, I was a little over prepared that night.

We finally found a nice bookshelf for the nursery, and I love it! I went to Ikea Saturday with my mom and sister on a whim and found it. Harrison put it together that night and I have already organized some books and toys on its shelves.

I think the nursery is officially finished. Here are the pictures of the final product!

{Ta Dah! I looove the new bookshelf.}

{Quilt hanging on the wall. Thanks, Mom, for hunting down those clips!}


{Finally found a lampshade I liked!}

{Puppy wrapped up in our new Miracle Blanket that arrived in the mail this week}

Madison wanted me to take a picture of her under her new canopy. (Also an Ikea purchase)

{The princess sleeps here}

I also thought it would be helpful to have some frozen meals put away for the first few weeks after the baby comes. The past few weeks whenever I have made an easy to freeze casserole, I just doubled the recipe and stuck the extra in the freezer. So far we have a broccoli casserole and poppyseed chicken casserole.

{Yum!}

Holey Moley Fat Feet

This is slightly embarrassing, but hey we're all about honesty over here. This is what my feet look like at the end of a full day of work. I am currently on a rotation with all men and they NEVER sit down, so I don't really either and then I pay for it at the end of the day! Sometimes I feel like I am carrying around about 5 pounds of fluid weight in each foot.

Harrison's thumbprint in my foot. And yes, that's Madison in the background pretending to eat my foot!

This is the indentation left from me pushing in three of my fingers. Can we say, "pitting edema"??!?! Those are some serious cankles! Haha, one of the less glamorous aspects of being nearly 8 months pregnant! Not very attractive, but such a small price to pay.

34 weeks

{Yowza!! Looking huge!}

{Madison took this one}

34 weeks...41 days and counting!!

Total weight gain/loss: +25 pounds
Maternity clothes: Definitely, and even outgrowing some of my tops. They are starting to get short in the front.
Sleep: Alright. Between bathroom breaks and position changes, I usually wake up pretty tired.
Best moment this week: Working on the nursery.
Movement: Tons and tons. During Sunday school this week he jumped and it was my belly bounced noticeably enough for Harrison and the other person sitting next to me to notice. We all got a kick out of it.
Cravings: Ice and water (literally like 10 glasses a day) and candy corn. Not so sure if the candy corn is actually a craving or just the annual tradition of candy corn eating once September rolls around.
Gender: Boy.
Labor Signs: Having stronger and stronger Braxton Hicks contractions, but no real labor signs yet.
Belly Button in our out? Out.
What I miss: Being able to work a full day on my feet without having incredibly swollen ankles and feet.
What am I looking forward to? Holding this little wiggle worm!
Weekly Wisdom: Any free time should be spent with my feet propped up. This is the ONLY way they get close to becoming normal sized again.
Milestones: Taking Madison to big sister class. It was such a special moment we got to share together.

Big Sister 101

I took Madison to a big sibling class last week at Palmetto Health Children's Hospital. Madison had a great time learning about becoming a big sister. There were so many precious children there excited to become siblings. We watched a video about babies, practiced changing a baby's diaper, and got to dress up in some hospital gear. Madison LOVED every minute of it. I am confident that she is going to be a wonderful big sister. This baby boy is going to be so blessed to have such a loving big sister looking out for him!

{Future career choice?? I'm okay with that. :) }

{The weird claw hand is Madison pretending she's holding a bottle.}

{So silly!}

Man I love that pumpkin! I cannot wait to see her in her new role as big sister.

Nursery Pictures...Finally!

We labored away this weekend in the baby's room and I am excited to say we are finally making some progress! We decided on a jungle theme and have been having fun finding little things to make it special in there. I got hit with a major case of nesting and just wanted to get things accomplished. I also washed and put away all of baby's clothes, blankets, towels, sheets, etc. I hope this is not a prediction of anything happening soon. I think I was just excited to finally have some free time and energy to work on his room. Enjoy the pics!

{Roxy sure does enjoy lounging around in the nursery}

{The new dresser from Ikea. I absolutely love it! So sturdy with huge drawers!}

{The reading corner. Basket of books and rocking chair. Leaf on the wall also from Ikea.}

{The sweet diaper wreath from our baby shower}

{Baby boy's jungle friends hanging out in his crib}

{This is Harrison's rocking chair from when he was little.}

We still have a good many odds and ends to finish up:
1. Touch up the paint (you can see the splotches in some of the pics above).
2.We are getting a monogram decal from Etsy for above the dresser.
3. The lamp by the dresser needs a lamp shade.
4. We are looking for a bookshelf for beside the big rocking chair.
5. I would like a rug for the center of the room.
6. We need to get quilt clips to hang the quilt on the wall.

...that's all for now! I am sure I will think of some more things that need to be done.

Hiccups

Oh my goodness, this little boy has had a serious case of the hiccups over the past week. Everyday for the past 7 days I have felt him hiccuping along at least 3 times daily. I feel so bad for him because I know it has to be driving him crazy! I just want to hold him and rub his sweet back until his hiccups go away. It makes me smile every time as I look down and see my belly bouncing away. We are so in awe of this incredible little miracle that will be arriving before we know it!

Random trivia fact: Did you know some people actually spell the word hiccup like "hiccough". I came across this spelling during rotations last year and had to Google what it meant!

...a little over 6 weeks to go!!!!