To say that the last two weeks flew by for me would be a complete understatement! Between my mom being in town, a surprise baby shower, and the fast forward button that someone seems to have pressed on this pregnancy, I ran out of time to even think of drawing a chalkboard or throwing together a blog post until now! So let's catch up a little, shall we?
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| Do I look as tired as I feel?? Messy hair + hubby's oversized tees = end of pregnancy must haves. |
Total weight gain: About 25 lbs.
Maternity clothes? With just three weeks left, there truly is no point in buying anything new, so for the next couple of weeks I'll just be squeezing into anything that will actually contain the belly! Luckily that only really matters if I want to leave the house :)
Stretch marks? One little sucker right above my belly button! But honestly, to grow a tiny human and escape with only one little stretch mark? I can't complain.
Sleep: Comes in 2-3 hour increments and WOW do I sleep hard during those little windows of time. I'm also getting in all the naps I possibly can.
Best moment this week: If I HAD to pick just one... Probably my baby shower :)
Miss Anything? Sleeping more than 2-3 hours at a time! I keep telling Mike that I wish I could take the belly off over night a couple times a week so I could get some much needed rest.
Movement: Yes! Last week she decided to stick her foot straight out to the right and give me this funny little golf ball shaped lump. This week she's been a little calmer, but that's probably only because she's running out of room! She also gets the hiccups at least once a day and they still crack me up every time.
Food cravings: Not so much.. I've been turned off a lot of foods simply because EVERYthing gives me heartburn. Luckily, those milkshakes I've been loving so much really seem to help :) On top of the heartburn, I don't seem to have as much of an appetite, but I'm guessing that may have something to do with my stomach being squished up into my ribcage.
Labor Signs: I'm about 90% sure that baby girl has dropped (at least a little bit) so that's kind of exciting! I'm also finally experiencing some Braxton Hicks so it looks like we're starting to gear up for the big day.
Symptoms: Last week: H E A R T B U R N. Swollen hands and feet. Achey back, knees, shoulders, fingers, and hips. Complete and utter exhaustion. A super cool gangster lean waddle. This week pretty much looks the same but with a lot less heartburn and a lot more Braxton Hicks.
Belly Button in or out? The bottom half is still pretty flat, but the top is OUT.
Wedding ring on or off? Sadly, off :(
Happy or Moody most of the time: Kind of all over the place. Definitely happy and excited, but also pretty irritable. If I let myself get too tired/hungry then I get really cranky. Shout out to my incredibly patient husband for rolling with the preggo punches!
Looking forward to: We are finally getting a new car!! We've been searching for an upgrade over the last couple months because as much as we love my bright orange, hand-me-down Murano, it was time for something newer/safer/in better shape to put baby girl in when the time comes. About a month ago we found, test drove, and fell in love with a Nissan Armada but because of some issues with the owner's paperwork we haven't been able to bring it home yet. Luckily, they figured it all out and early next week we'll be heading to Wake Forest to pick up our shiny new car! Once we get the carseat installed and checked we'll be one HUGE step closer to being "ready" for this baby :) I'm also looking forward to a forecast of gorgeous warmer weather next week! I have some planters to fill with flowers for the front of the house and a planter to fill with tomato and pepper plants for the back!
I'm still in total disbelief that last week (especially Saturday) was even real life. My mom arrived on Monday afternoon and we kicked off our week with some lunch and shopping in Wilmington where we scored BIG on baby stuff at Home Goods and TJ Maxx. Over the course of a few days we also completely stocked one of my freezers (and about half of the other one) with delicious freezer meals and easy dinners galore for when baby girl arrives. After all was said and done we ended up with:
- Two servings of Cilantro Lime Chicken *The recipe for the Crockpot Chicken Fajitas is also included in this post, you just have to scroll a bit further down*
- Two servings of Crockpot Chicken Fajitas *See link above*
- Two servings of Savory Pepper Steak
- One serving of Fiesta Chicken Pasta *For this recipe we just made the chicken mixture and froze it flat in a gallon size bag. When we are ready to eat it we'll add the cooked pasta, salsa, & sour cream*
- One large pan of Chicken Enchiladas *I modified this one a bit too since I'm not a huge cottage cheese fan.. Really I just got the idea to freeze enchiladas when I saw this recipe and went from there!*
- One large pan of Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo Stuffed Shells
- Two pans of Chicken Tetrazzini *I modified this one a bit since I didn't have any leftover Thanksgiving turkey lying around. I also split this recipe between two 10x10 pans to freeze - it makes a TON*
And on top of all of that I also have an insane amount of boneless, skinless chicken breasts that are cleaned and ready to cook, a 3 pound roast - also ready to cook, and bags of shredded chicken, grilled chicken strips, and seasoned, browned ground beef/turkey. All frozen and waiting for us during those first few weeks with our baby girl! I'm still blown away by the sheer amount of food in my house right now!! As excited as I am about all that food it doesn't even compare to the best part of the week which was my surprise baby shower! I was never planning on having a baby shower, especially after my in-laws threw a little one for us in Austin while we were visiting over the holidays, but Mike decided that I needed another one and took matters into his own hands ;)
Saturday started like any other day - Mike and I slept in, then the three of us (me, Mike, my mom) took Mike for a haircut and then drove over to the air station so Lou could play at his favorite dog park. When we were almost back to the house, Mike made me close my eyes as we were turning into the neighborhood so I knew there was something going on, but I honestly had no idea what it was! We pulled into the garage and I opened my eyes and everything looked normal except that the dog crate was in there instead of in the front room like usual... Weird. We walked inside and I immediately saw candles, flowers, and pink and white decorations everywhere and when I rounded the corner I found some of my best friends Shannon and Carol hiding in our front room with their hubbies and babies! I was totally in shock and then when it hit me what was happening you'd better believe I cried some happy tears!
Mike got the ball rolling on this a couple months ago and EVERY one was in on it, even some of my girlfriends from out of state! We played some games, ate a ton of food including a delicious donut "cake", and opened presents, but mostly we all just hung out, talked, and laughed for a few hours and I couldn't have dreamt up a more perfect baby shower :) I don't have any pictures from it, but luckily my dear friend Shannon also happens to be an extremely talented photographer and she took a bunch and I can't wait to see them!
So as if all of that wasn't enough... I am three weeks away from my due date and starting to freak out!! Freak out in a good way of course, but seriously I have about a million things on my to do list and not enough hours (or energy) in the day to do them all! I'm about 99% sure that we have everything we need, at least for the first couple of weeks, but now its just a matter of getting it all organized. My hospital bags are about halfway packed, the nursery is ALMOST where I want it to be, and we are waiting on getting the new car before we install carseats and have them checked. Really my biggest struggle right now is trying to balance my motivation to get stuff done with the amount of energy I actually have... Most of the time my daily to-do list is a little unrealistic! I'm also trying to make sure that I squeeze in as much time with Mike as I can - we're really focusing on just relaxing together and enjoying each other while it's still just the two of us!
So on that note, we are ready to head out and enjoy our weekend! Hopefully everybody else is doing the same! :)
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