Baby Wisely #2: Week 38

How far along? 38 weeks-- holy cats! (Hitting me that Norah was born a week early!)  

Best moment this week: Finally getting to tell the rest of my coworkers my exciting post-baby plans-- After tree months, (which is a whole month longer than I had with Norah), I'm going to be working part time from home on a project basis (not with set hours). My boss/boss's boss have been amazing. I needed to keep part of my income, but didn't feel like I could be a good mom if I had to be strapped to a desk for set hours-- so they worked with me so I could truck through a list of things, while working early mornings/nights things like that, for 20 hours a week. It will be tough, but I'm so excited to take on this challenge-- and spend more time with my girls!!

Confusing pregnancy symptom of the week? Heat waves!! Whoda thought-- with Norah, in the middle of the summer, I was hot as usual-- but not unbearable. This time around-- in the middle of winter-- I'm in a tank dress with the fan on me, and I still am sweaty and swollen. What the heck?! Hormones, man.

Movement: Much more subdued, but nevertheless happy, spins. And an ever prominent foot, in my right front side. I believe her little bum is sticking up right above my belly button?? Who knows!

Food cravings:  Still loving me some juice...

Anything sounding disgusting? Hot drinks! Could possibly have to do with being in the middle of a heat wave myself... 

Sleep? Still only topping at one tinkle break a night-- and baby isn't suffocating me wen I lie down anymore, which is an improvement! (Oh yeah. She's dropped alright.)

Clothing situation? Loose dresses and no bras. Yes ma'am. 

I'm generally feeling: A little weirded out-- now that work knows my plan, and I will be cleaning out my desk and setting up a home office-- it feels a little 'officially unofficial?' When you leave your job to stay at home, you say goodbye, have a potluck and don't come back-- I will technically still be 'here, but not here;' coming in for an hour meeting every Monday, but not around anymore.... ghost designer perhaps? It's a bit strange, for sure! (Trying to wrap up my projects and predict baby is getting more and more interesting as well!)

Notable sibling moments: Norah's been having some fantastic days and some frustrating ones back to back...And the past few nights has been rough. She's been so incredibly sweet and clingy at night, which breaks my heart... and hers too. She won't let Bryan or I leave her bedroom. I think she knows life is about to be different, and is sucking up all the snuggles she can... (I can totally see how parents sleep on the floor by the crib... unfortunately, not a very comfortable or helpful option for me at the moment these days :(

House update?: Nursery is pretty much finished! We still have quite a few things that needs to find a home, but we're working on it. Now if I could only find the first newborn diaper stash I purchased?!?!? It's driving me crazy!!!

Looking forward to: Meeting our newest little lady! She can show up whenever she likes now, we're feeling a lot more ready these days. Although I'm not rushing it... I'm actually enjoying these last few weeks of pregnancy (ever), and it's been more intense, but still lots of fun. We've both been so lucky... it's always fun thinking about what the next chapter in your life will be like!

Baby Wisely #2: Week 37

How far along? 37 weeks-- full term! My swiss chard sprout. 

Best moment this week: Had a big, 'uh-oh, that felt definitely like a spin,' (woke me up, this one's a pushy baby!) then thinking her head was where her little tush was... then finding out that she's still head down!! Woohoo! Had a great midwife appointment today and talked about our birth plan. Having all this be a bit more real is super exciting. 

Confusing pregnancy symptom of the week? Nesting. Grime hiding anywhere? Who knew you could organize that? I can. Watch out house... I'm coming. Unless I take a nap. Then I will just be dreaming about cleaning you.

Movement: Still belly-shaking, happy head-down mover.

Food cravings:  Juuuuuuuice. Yes!

Anything sounding disgusting? Nope!

Sleep? Sleeping like a rock (although I don't get much these days, I'm averaging about five hours a night between trying to get the house in order and going in to work early...) I will wake up randomly at 3am wide awake, but then tinkle and won't move until my next alarm goes off. It could be worse!

Clothing situation? Tight and short! Oh well. Only a few weeks left-- world, welcome to the bottom half of my belly. (Unless I wear a maxi dress--which have gotten much shorter, or the above new t-shirt-- my belly is hanging out.)

I'm generally feeling: Incredibly happy, tired, and ready for work to slow down. But very happy about life!

Notable sibling moments: Another big milestone tonight-- Norah played well with her dolls. As in, they got to eat dinner with them, she shared her milk, then she made them a bed. This is a stark change from "I DON'T WANT TO PLAY WITH BABY." So I'll take it!

House update?: Slowly trucking away!! The nursery is on its way to being... um... decent? Once we get the stormtrooper outfit out of there (massive box that needs to go in the garage), we will have more room to spread out and decorate. Got the glider (first part of our Target order) today, will hopefully get everything else by next week, then put everything together! Which is great, because'we're officially running out of time, haha!

Looking forward to: Being more relaxed. Right now I'm happy and busy, but really, really looking forward to being happy and relaxed... because I know our house is going to get a heck of a lot busier really, really soon :)

Baby Wisely #2: Week 36

How far along? 36 weeks. I swear, all the apps online change their mind about how big fruit is. Oh well! Round and heavy? Sure! why not honeydew!

Best moment this week: Having my wonderful co-workers throw me a baby shower at work!! It was absolutely perfect. I was a bit nervous about having another shower (there's a weird stigma sometimes about doing it again; but Becky and Anne wanted to throw a party for baby regardless-- they are pretty dang wonderful); but everything was wonderful! Great food, and much spoiling from my oh-so-sweet coworkers! (We didn't need hardly anything, but was still spoiled with a bundle of cute clothes for our new gal, some neat handmade gifts and some gift cards to get additional things we need). We are so spoiled!! 

Confusing pregnancy symptom of the week? Baby is playing me like a freakin' bongo. I don't remember Norah being this violent?! She shakes my stomach from side to side. Goodness lord!

Movement: See above!

Food cravings:  Still on a juice fix! And even though there's been tons of food available this week... I'm not really hungry these days. Pretty sure my stomach has been replaced by baby. Which isn't to say I didn't totally enjoy the scones Anne made for us this morning :)

Anything sounding disgusting? Nope!

Sleep? Up to one tinkle a night or less. Win!

Clothing situation? Uncomfortable, but happy!

I'm generally feeling: Quite overwhelmed at work, so very much trying to relax and enjoy these last few weeks before baby comes at home!

Notable sibling moments: My official answer to, 'how do you think Norah is going to react to new baby?' is, 'as good as we can expect I think, she's two and a half!' Nora is equal parts curious, snugly and inclusive of baby Sprout-- but I can tell she's getting a lot more clingy to us, and also has been changing how she responds to people lately. I think this is going to be a good period of learning time for all of us!

House update?: We have a dryer-- woohoo!! Going on a super romantic trip to Ikea on Valentines' Day (woohoo!) to get her a dresser, then we are going to head to Target once our post-registry coupon comes in to grab the rest-- then it's just decorating, folding and waiting left to do! (Oh yes, and cleaning...)

Looking forward to: Purchasing all of the last minute things!! It's so close! One and a half more weeks I expect before we're 'ready'.... although if she came tonight, we'd still be good. So nice having the piece of mind of, 'we've done this before' to quell (at least a little bit) that crazy nesting instinct of, 'I can't deliver a baby until the curtains are pressed.' Aaaaah, hormones.

Baby Wisely #2: Week 35

How far along? 35 weeks, a crenshaw melon?! Not sure what that is. All I know is this week I had the ultrasound tech show me that her head is in my hip, and her bum and legs are up in my ribs. A much better visual.

Best moment this week: Finding out yesterday that our girl is head down!! YEAH!! (Norah was frank breech and was the reason I needed a c-section-- I've been approved for VBAC, and now just crossing our fingers that everything goes well!) It was wonderful seeing our little sprout again, too-- they were finally able to get a nice profile picture of her, which was amazing! I can't believe we are approaching the home stretch! 

Confusing pregnancy symptom of the week? Is being as wide as you are tall a symptom? I feel like I'm approaching being as wide as I am tall. Especially while sitting.

Movement: We had a great anatomy lesson yesterday with, 'here's where her back is, here's where her bum is,' which was great... all those crazy thumps and whatnot on my right side have been her pushing her back, shoulders and bum out against my tum-- so I get all sorts of octopus-y feelings inside (where her hands and feet are flailing around) and huge thumps where she is just straight up pushing. Nuts!

Food cravings:  Juuuuuuuuuuuuice. Apple juice, in particular. Watered down, actually. That's an odd one.

Anything sounding disgusting? Nope!

Sleep? Sleeping more! And sleeping a bit more comfortably, which is odd considering my size. Not to say flipping over is any easier, though.

Clothing situation? Still hating anything that touches my upper ribs, but I feel like I'm finally figuring out a small piece of my wardrobe that makes me comfortable. Mainly, my four or so maxi dresses. Considering just taping my boobs rather than wearing a bra...

I'm generally feeling: Nesty, excited, and happy all over.

Notable sibling moments: Norah has been in full on, adorable story telling mode. She will tell me long stories about her day, mixed with whatever she's looking at, or seen on tv throughout the day. I am going to attempt to get this on video (although some of her best stories are on our way home from Nana's house... she played outside and blew bubbles, but then Ursula from the Little Mermaid showed up; who is a stinker; she took her bubbles, but then it was okay because Lily--my parent's cat--came in and took a nap with her, which made it all better.)  

House update?: Crib is assembled, and room is cleaned out-- on to decorating! We still need to find a dresser, but other than that, this is the fun part. I've made it my goal of the week to have things put together. (On a side note, it's hard to clean and nest when your dryer is broken... got a new one from CraigsList, but need to find an adapter to the gas line which apparently isn't available at hardware stores...?!?! still looking. Fingers crossed. Laundry is starting to become an epidemic.

Looking forward to: Even more nesting! Today I tackled the junk drawer and my baking cabinets. And fixed our cabinets (which have forever loosey-goosey joints that like to sag). Next, on to the bathroom cabinets and pantry.... oooooh, the pantry...