Great with Child

The Bump at 38 weeks

Even though we've got 10 days until my due date...the wait for this baby girl is almost enough to drive me crazy!  We've got our bedroom ready for her pack'n'play (right next to my side of the bed), the baby swing set up in the living room, teeny tiny diapers on the changing table, and a closet full of the sweetest little girl wardrobe.  At least once daily I nearly (or completely) burst into tears because I'm still pregnant.  I'm so very, very pregnant.  Please come soon, Baby!

Don't worry.  I am fully aware that it is good for my little girl to have enough time in the womb.  I know that she's growing and preparing for life on the outside...and I definitely believe that God's timing is perfect.  But there are moments (such as when she's kicking my ribs and squeezing my bladder simultaneously) that I'm so very impatient.  I see moms in the grocery store with their babies in a front pack, and I am so jealous!  Ugh...that Baby Bjorn looks so much more comfortable than my huge stomach!

I know.  You don't have to tell me that there are a lot of other things that come with having the baby...and the end of pregnancy...and they're not all that glamorous.  And I just might want to enjoy these last few days (weeks?) when I can go somewhere without the diaper bag or sleep whenever I want...

But I want to see my little girl so badly.  I want to hold her in my arms, and see her in her daddy's arms, and smell her head and pat her tiny little diapered bum.  I want to show her how much we have anticipated her arrival and somehow try to express the love that I have for her.

Waiting for it isn't easy.  But I'm trying.

34 weeks

Here's the bump at 34 weeks.

I definitely feel like I've hit the last stage of pregnancy.  My body is awkward and swollen, my emotions are all over the place, and even a peanut butter sandwich gives me heartburn!  Some moments I'm overwhelmed with the thought of surviving the next 40 days...and the next I'll feel a tiny little extremity (hand? foot?) poking up an inch from the rest of my stomach and I'm struck with the amazing reality that an actual human being is inside of me!  I just think I'd like to fast forward a bit until she's here in my arms instead!

Random pregnancy trivia:
1. Multiple coworkers have complimented my "cute" waddle
2. I find myself needing to catch my breath after "simple" tasks...like getting into bed
3. I downloaded a contraction counter app for my phone
4. We start our birthing class tomorrow night

Less than six weeks until Emerson should be here!

32 weeks and My Little Gray Kitty

Here's the bump at 32 weeks.  I'm thinking "bump" doesn't describe it so well anymore...

And this is the newest member of our family.  My husband brought home this sweet little gray kitty on Sunday.  And before you condemn him for being insane...read on.  You would have done the very same thing!

To give some background...we recently relocated my beloved dog to live with Scott's parents.  The sweet pup is a little too neurotic (the best way to describe her) and needy for two people that work full time and are preparing for a brand new baby.  Plus the darn dog barks at anything under the age of 4.  Luckily, she's a whole different dog up at "the farm" and is not only more happy and relaxed, but she's loved as a part of the family.  The other dogs include her in the pack, the kitten shares a bed with her, and my in-laws treat her like a little doggie princess.

The only problem with the dog moving was that our cat, Gideon, became lonely.  He was getting a little grouchy.  Scott and I had discussed getting another cat so that the pair of them would be more self sufficient when the baby comes and takes up all our attention.  But we would always conclude that, no, it was probably better to stick with one pet.  Until...

On Sunday Scott went out to "pick up a pizza."  As the story goes, he swung by the pet store to look into a new cat litter we've been considering.  While in the pet store, he noticed a small gray cat all by herself in the cat cage.  The poor thing was less than a year old and had already mothered a batch of kittens.  All her kittens had been sold, she was lonely, and the pet store worker explained that people don't ever buy cats from the pet store because they want kittens.  She opened the cage to pull out the cat, but the little kitty ran away from her, over to the far corner of the cage.  Scott at this point walked over to that side of the cage, and the kitty reached her arm out through the bars to grab him by the pant leg.  When he knelt down and opened that side of the cage, she went right to him.  *Imagine Scott's wide-eyed explanation..."I just COULDN'T leave her there."*

So we are now the proud owners of a tiny, skinny, and otherwise healthy pretty little gray kitty.  She is already super comfortable with us, is super playful, chatty, and purrs all the time.  In short, I love her.  Officially, her name is Lydia Fancy.  But so far we call her Little Gray Kitty.

Don't worry, Gid, you'll always be my kitten-child.  Even if you're too huge to hold in my arms with this belly of mine...

Update: The Bump

This was the bump at 29 weeks.  I can't look at this picture without cracking up.

Sweater party + cheesy pictures = Christmas memories to last a lifetime

And here we are now.  31 weeks and counting. 

Only 9 weeks to go!

Picture update

Here's the bump at 26 weeks.  Sorry for the blury picture...I'll try harder next week.  :-)

21 Weeks

(Can you tell I'm totally uncomfortable posing for these pictures?  But it seems to be a right of passage when you have a pregnancy blog and your sisters/mother/grandmother live too far away to keep an eye on the bump.)

When you're counting the weeks of pregnancy, they seem to creep along slowly.  It took absolutely FOREVER to get to week twelve when the first trimester was over and we could breathe a little easier.  Then the trek to 18-20 weeks crawled along as we waited to have our ultrasound to see our little love bug and find out she was a girl!  I was hoping that at my 20 week appointment last week the doctor would change my due date since Emerson has continually measured a week bigger that my due date.  It would have been so nice to magically skip ahead a week--kind of like daylight savings in the spring only without the sleep loss!  But unfortunately for this pregnant mama, the doctor says if the measurements are within two weeks of your due date everything is good.

So here I am at 21 weeks trying to be patient!  It's not because I'm tired of being pregnant already...I'm just so excited to share the world with this little girl!  And in all seriousness, I will happily walk, shuffle, trudge, and even waddle through every single week of this pregnancy to do everything I can to give my child the best start in life.  I know it is such a gift to do so.

Plus, if my experience as a kindergarten teacher means anything, patience seems like a good virtue to have with a little one in your house.

Baby Likes...

These cookies!  Pumpkindoodles are a delicious take on the old Snickerdoodle, but with a little more spice and, well, pumpkin!  They're not overly sweet and have a nice, spicy, fall kind of flavor!

And in case you're interested, here's the bump at 20 weeks.