36 Weeks

Another shot with my not-so-cooperative daughter :) Oh well, at least she was IN the picture, in her adorable birthday dress, at her party! The fact that she WOULD. NOT. put that dumb cup down or look at the camera is just representative of her 2-ness :)

Compare to 36 weeks, 4 days pregnant with Annie.

Due Date: February 27, 2012. However, Ben and I have both totally fixated on February 24th (a Friday - will be my last day in the office) as our "goal date" :) Ha! It really would be QUITE ideal to start feeling contractions at, say, 4pm as I am leaving work, and have a nice quick labor and deliver later that night - take advantage of the weekend so we could have his full week off at home instead of the first half in the hospital like last time :) Ah yes. Because life so often works out exactly according to plan, right?? That also was the same gestation (?) that I was when I delivered Annie - 39 weeks, 4 days... and obviously everything will go exactly the same way it did last time :)

Weight Gain: right around 30lbs

Symptoms: Just general aches and pains - nothing else. My back hurts a lot, and I just feel really, really huge. I know I am very lucky to not experience many of the typical 3rd trimester symptoms... but I am still getting to the point of being ready to be done already because I'm uncomfortable and sore pretty much all the time.

What's different this time: Uhh.... nothing really in terms of symptoms. I feel WAY huger this time but looking back, I guess I was huge last time too. I do take comfort in looking at my belly pics from last time and seeing that in looks at least, it didn't seem like my belly got that much bigger after this point.... we'll see if that holds true this time too.

Cravings/Aversions: Still sweets, and it is still gross how much of them I eat, and how much sugar I need in things like coffee to like it. I need to cleanse myself at some point, but..... uh, not now :)

Sleep: Ugh - frustrating and really not happening. Plus, the last few nights Annie has cried quite a few times, and fallen out of her bed a few times (very sad when that happens!), so that makes it even harder. I now typically need to pee 2x a night, which involves going downstairs. If I don't time my bathroom trips well, the 2nd time is often so close to when I actually need to get up that it's almost not worth it so I just lay there for 45 minutes to an hour needing to go but not wanting to actually get up yet. Dumb.

I am loving: being fairly busy - January is usually a boring month, but it's been good to have a lot of things going on - and fun things at that! Lots of hanging out with friends - including last minute plans with my 2 "still pregnant" friends who should be having their babies ANY DAY NOW :) (Especially Molly... due last Wednesday... come on, child, time to come out! Oh well - at least we got in a photoshoot with the neighbor women because of his tardiness) And of course, lots of birthday activities for my baby girl this weekend!

Allison, 13 weeks; me, 35 weeks, 4 days; Molly, 40 weeks, 2 days

I miss: being comfortable... ever.

I am looking forward to: lots more fun this week - Annie's 2 year well child visit tonight (always fun to see how much she HASN'T grown ;), her birthday tomorrow and unveiling our present to her (a kitchen! I think she will love it), and then prep for a baby shower for Kate this next weekend.


I'm spazzing about: I think there was something... but now it's gone. So I guess it must not have been that big of a deal, huh? I have been feeling more positive this week, so that's good.

Best thing about this week: Celebrating Annie's birthday with our families yesterday! It was so much fun - Annie had a blast, and it was the perfect size gathering to not be TOO overwhelming (but was still mega exhausting for Ben and I for some reason - mostly having to pack all the stuff we needed to go to my parent's house - since we can't even fit just our families in our house). I wasn't really stressed about it, and actually had fun baking 3 cakes on Saturday, thanks to Ben removing Annie from the house for awhile to go swimming - I will post a few pics of that here because they are adorable and need to be on the blog for posterity.

Seriously. How cute is this?!

Simon and Mia were there to share in the fun

Only slightly blue from being cold :) But still wanted to get back in, of course!

Milestones: Last week before I'm full-term? Is that a milestone?

Movement: Still a crazy boy. My family got to see some insane alien movements in the belly yesterday. Becca (my labor & delivery nurse sister-in-law) felt my belly to determine his position and remarked "What is he DOING in there?" Yes. My thoughts EXACTLY. We surmise that he is currently sunny-side up with his back to my back, giving his legs and arms full range to punch OUT of my belly, thus the alien-like appearance. I will be looking up some things I can do to get him to spin around since I'd like to NOT push out another sunny-side up baby... if at all possible. It wasn't so fun the first time around.

It's a...: boy. Hopefully, at least. Several people have commented this week - "wouldn't it be hilarious if it was a girl?" Eh, this time around especially I really wouldn't care as much, but I think it would especially annoy my mom and sister who have bought him many outfits already :)

Exercise/Diet: I went to prenatal yoga again! Way to go, me! It felt really good and tired me out BIG TIME. I also tried to do a longer skyway walk every day at work, which I'll hopefully be able to continue - it does make a big difference with how I feel at the end of the day.