35 Weeks!!

 

Only FIVE weeks left until our little one is set to arrive.  I am definitely excited to not be pregnant anymore!  While I do want him to stay in until his due date so that he is fully developed, it'll be nice to have my body back.

I remember being pregnant with Spencer and definitely getting to the point where it's just hard to do anything, and I'm there now.  It's hard to manuever around people at work or in crowded spaces, it's hard to put on tennis shoes, it's hard to sleep, it's hard to breathe, it's hard to get comfortable, and this time around, add to all that, it's really hard to pick up a 30 lb toddler.  I've had a few people ask me if I should really be picking Spencer up anymore.  As if I have a choice??  He's still little and still definitely needs to be held by his mommy.  I can't just ignore that!  At the end of a long day, it can be hard to walk up the steps with him, but you do what you have to do, right?  Plus, it's so normal to hold him and love on him and his world is so NOT going to be normal in a month! 

My biggest "problem" right now is that my hemaglobin (read: iron level) is low at 9.2 (normal during childbearing years is above 12 but often only above 10.5 or 11 during a pregnancy).  I was at 9.5 at 28 weeks so I was started on Slow Iron (a well absorbed iron supplement) along with my prenatal vitamin, and even after taking that for a month, my levels still went down.  I eat spinach a few times a week (in my Green Monster smoothies) and love red meat, so my diet isn't lacking for iron either.  Since I went down instead of up, I was placed on two iron supplements per day and told to take them on an empty stomach with some kind of vitamin C.  Well, let me tell you that a pregnant woman gets incredibly nauseous with only a vitamin in her stomach!!  I threw up the other morning because of it.  Yuck.  So now I'm taking them an hour before lunch and dinner which still makes me nauseous but at least I'm not throwing up!  If I continue to go lower, I may need a blood transfusion, but I don't think that will happen, thank goodness!!

My blood pressure is great, my weight is almost exactly where it was with Spencer at this time, I'm not swollen at all, and I'm having standard Braxtons Hicks contractions just like I'm supposed to.  I carried Spencer really, really high- he lived in my ribs.  This babe is a lot lower- I can definitely feel him sweeping by my bladder at times- WEIRD!!  He is sitting very round and very upfront, just like a basketball.  There isn't any part of him that is wide or across. 

I am tossing and turning a lot at night and am requiring a lot of early bedtimes.  I definitely can't stay up past 9:30 anymore, and sometimes that's even 9:00.  The yucky part about that is that I don't have daytime to get anything accomplished and then I'm so exhausted at night, I'm not getting anything done either.  Grrrrr......  I also am waking up now around 5 and am ready to go for the day rather than sleeping until my alam goes off at 5:35.  I don't remember having a hard time staying awake with my first pregnancy, but I definitely remember being uncomfortable throughout the night and needing to change positions more often.  It's just the way it is towards the end.

Still not one single food craving this pregnancy.  So funny!  B and I gave up candy and ice cream for Lent, so I am looking forward to a BIG frickin bowl of ice cream next Sunday after church while watching The Masters, but I'm not even really craving that.  I just miss it!  There are nights when I definitely don't eat much and don't think that what we have made for dinner tastes good, but I don't have other things that I'm wanting instead.

I'm definitely getting nervous about going into labor.  Not because of the labor (hopefully I can VBAC) or the possibility of a csection, but more because if anything happens quickly and it's in the middle of the night, I'm not exactly sure what we would do with Spencer.  During a weekday, he'll be at daycare anyway, so that is no big deal.  On a weekend, we have a few people that we could call to help in the 3 hours it takes my mom to arrive.  But at 2 in the morning?  That's a little tougher.  I'm sure we'll figure it out when the time comes, or hopefully it will all happen when daycare is open!!  That would be the biggest blessing of all.  I just am going to have to pray that it all works out and that we have an answer when it does happen.

Still no name yet.  This may be a baby where we walk into the hospital with 3 or 4 options and decide right before we leave.  Who knows.  I do have a few things I'm dying to monogram, so I really to just decide already, but it has not been easy this time around at all.  What's annoying is that both of us STILL love both of the girl names that we talked about at week 10!  It would have been much easier if he were a she!  At least in the naming department. 

All in all, I'm very lucky when it comes to being pregnant.  I'm getting really excited to hold this little guy and start to develop a relationship with him and make him part of our family. 

Baby blankets

When I was pregnant, I won a giveaway on Project Nursery for a Little Giraffe blanket.  I was able to pick any color and since we didn't know what we were having, I got it in white.

I have loved this blanket for the last two years.  It has held up through thousands of washings (that's what happens when you get white!!), is soooo soft and cuddly, and I love that the satin side stays cool even in the summer heat.  If you are looking for a baby gift for a shower, I would always recommend this blanket.  It's just fabulous.

However, with the new baby, I have decided to go in another direction.  I don't have any rationale for it except that I would prefer that Spencer's blankie and the baby's blankie look and feel different so that Spencer doesn't get confused between the two.  I've looked at a few options and I've decided to go with this blanket from PBK.  Our nephew received this as a gift and it's soooo soft, it's a great size (bigger than my Little Giraffe one), and I love that it still has the satin trim.

I'm going to do it in blue (I don't want another white blanket to get confused with Spencer's and am not really sold on the green) with a white monogram. I may call to see if I could get the name done in navy instead but am unsure if that is even an option.  I'm excited that he'll have his own fabulous blanket- I hope he likes it as much as Spencer likes his.

Does anyone else have a favorite baby blanket they want to share?  I'd love to know if I'm missing out on something that I need to consider instead in the next few weeks!!

Toddler discipline

Yowzers, toddlers are tough!!  I've seen a ton of moments of bad behavior throughout my time as a pediatric nurse, but it's WAY different when it's your own kid. 

My fabulous friends came to my house for an overnight stay this weekend which included 2 twin 4 year old boys and one boy 10 weeks younger than Spence.  For the most part, the kids all did great together.  They played together with minimal squabbling over toys and all had a blast when we took them to an indoor playplace here in GR. 

It was definitely hard for Spencer to share "his" toys as we don't have a lot of friends with kids his age who come visit frequently.  At daycare, they all fight over toys but since none of them are theirs, it's easier to move on and get over stuff.  This weekend, Spencer and PWK were outside playing on the tricycle, and when PWK was riding it, Spencer pushed PWK off the bike.  P was not hurt (Spence really couldn't even push him off), but B immediately told him no and brought him into the house where he threw a HUGE fit in the foyer.  He just kept saying "no" and "night night" as he was lying face first on the ground screaming and crying.  Next thing I know, he is going up the steps by himself, climbing into bed, and reading stories by himself.  Apparently, he decided to put himself into timeout!!

Last night he totally lost it before bed.  He wouldn't brush his teeth, wouldn't put on his pajamas, wouldn't pick out books to read, wouldn't do ANYTHING that we asked of him.  He was overtired, crabby and a complete mess.  Nothing went well and B and I were soooooo frustrated.  I ended up lying down with him for him to fall asleep b/c we just couldn't get him to calm down any other way.  And, yes, I know that lying down with him to get him to sleep is like the worst think I could do- SUCH a bad habit (which we will NOT be making a habit).  I was just so frustrated and tired myself, and I just wanted him to sleep.  It was such a bad night and I felt like a horrid mom with a completely uncooperative kid. 

He has definitely started saying "night night" more often when he is really upset or mad or crying. I think he knows that he needs some down time to calm down. He has never left the room that we are in though, so Sunday's self removal was quite interesting. We hadn't really started with time-outs yet, even though I knew he was close to the age where we needed to start (P's mom is utilitzing them pretty well so far). I just need to figure out how to incorporate Spencer's willingness to "self" timeout into the moments when we feel he needs a timeout.  

It's really hard to discipline your own kid because 90% of the time they are great and cute and fun. But you also know that they have to become kind, responsible, smart, thoughtful children, teenagers, and adults. It's not just the "now" that I am/we are disciplining for. It's for the future. It's for the person I want him to be.  I just feel like I need to read more books on discipline so that I have a little more of a handle on techniques to use.  I know it's only going to get worse before it gets better.  He's not even two yet, and I've heard that two is worse than three!! 

If anyone out there has book recs for toddler discipline or any other words of advice on toddlerhood, I would love to hear it!!  I'm pryaing that a sibling will be a big help to us in the sharing department even though I know that will take lots of time and patience too!

God Pause for Sunday

We are all created EQUAL......

Tuesday, March 20

Read Galatians 3:19-29
There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (v 28)

GOD EQUALIZES

Back in the days of Camelot, young King Arthur had an idea. He would gather up all the strongest, bravest men in the kingdom and he would band them together in a special brotherhood. He would call them knights. They would slay dragons for him, and they would advise him in matters of war and peace.

Arthur planned to convene the group for meetings in the castle from time to time, but he was bothered by the fact that all large tables built in the kingdom were rectangular. This, he realized, would lead to friction among the knights, since each would expect to be seated near the head of the table, on the right (or at least on the left) hand of the king. What to do?

Arthur solved the problem by making his table round, so that everyone seated at the table would be equal - none sitting higher or lower than the king. In fact, Arthur himself never sat at the table. Not only was there no head of the table, but no one sat at either the right hand or the left hand of the king.

And so it became a table of peers. Everyone seated at the table was exactly equal in rank. No one was greater or lesser at the round table.  (I love this analogy!!)

Tables were apparently rectangular in Jesus' time, too. People were always tsk-tsking him for socializing with tax collectors, women of ill repute, lepers, paralytics and other social misfits. Critics of Jesus were usually members of the temple elite - the scribes and Pharisees who ran the religious hierarchy - but even Jesus' own close friends got into the dispute from time to time, questioning his attention to the misfits and arguing among themselves about which of them would have the best seat at the table.

What they all missed in their self-aggrandizement is that the Table of Grace is round. There is no head other than God. There are no higher or lower places at the table. No seat is better or more prestigious than any other. There is room at the table for people of all colors, for rich and for poor, for women and men, for young and for old, for everyone born. And no one has the right to treat anyone else at the table as if they don't matter.  (A great lesson for all of us to remember!!)

Dallas Cronk

Exhaustion

Let me preface this post by telling you that I am now on day 18 of work straight.  I have worked the last two weekends (in order to not work a weekend in April at the end of my pregnancy) and have been quite busy at work during the regular work week.  Now that you know that (and can imagine how tiring it is to work 18 days straight with regular life stuff fit in all around my work schedule), here is last night......

1.  B has been sick.  Body aches, sore throat, cough.  He did not get a flu shot, so this is my most current guess.  It's a non-productive cough and he hasn't had fevers, so it very well could be just viral.  He's feeling better today though he is staying home from work to try to completely feel better by the weekend as we have company coming.

2.  We've been in bed no later than 9:30 this week due to my exhausted pregnant body that just isn't sleeping well in general and him not feeling up to par.

3.  It was 86 degrees here yesterday and we are refusing to turn on the air conditioning in March.  We also do not have our screens in our upper windows as we had our windows washed in November and just haven't put the screens back on the upper floors yet.  We have opened the windows upstairs some, but I hate it when the flies get in.  Yuck.  So I'm trying to keep them closed as much as possible. 

4.  It is easily 10 degrees hotter in our upstairs than on our main floor.  EASILY. 

5.  We crawl into bed at 9:30 and I'm not sleeping well due to the heat and just not finding a comfortable position.  Around 10:30 Spencer is crying out.  I check on him but he is still asleep.  Due to the heat in his room, I decide to open the windows to let some cool air in.  At that point I also open the windows in our room.

6.  At midnight he is up for real and crying for mommy.  I crawl into bed with him to get him to go back to bed and then realize it's so hot, even with the windows open and the fan on, he's probably so uncomfortable so I take him to our room which is a little cooler. 

7.  He starts begging for "wawer" once he is in our room and downs my glass that I have at the bedside.  After about 15 min of B coughing and shifting, Spencer asking for more to drink and his constant movement, and my crazy pregnancy and 86 degree induced hot flashes, I decided that SYT and I are going to sleep on the couch.  I get down there, give SYT a sippy full of water which he promptly drinks 3/4s of, and settle us in on the couch.

8.  MUCH cooler and with a kiddo who can finally rest without sweating out all his intake, Spencer and I sleep on the couch together.  B is able to sleep in the heat upstairs with the whole bed to himself.  I wake up multiple times overnight to find SYT kicking me in various spots (including my stomach, poor baby #2!!) and having to readjust him and one time because I was freezing and had to cover up completely with a blanket.  SYT sleeps through the rest of the night until 7:20 (normal wake up time of 6:30).

9.  Change SYT's diaper this a.m. to find it almost completely dry.  And that's after a ton of water overnight.  Whoops!  Apparently I'm the mom who lets her kiddo get dehydrated in March!  Good lesson to learn now prior to the constant heat of the summer.

10.  It's going to be in the high 80s again today. 

11.  Moral of this very long story........don't be cheap, peeps.  If the house is above 80 degrees upstairs, it's time for air conditioning, even if the calendar goes against that.  I'm not sleeping on the couch again tonight (though it wasn't too bad last night overall!), we're just turning on the air for sleep.  And I'm also glad it is cooling off a bit for this weekend and next week.  I apparently would be a horrible summertime pregnant woman!!

Hope you all slept better last night.  I have tomorrow off and am beyond thrilled to have a day to rest and relax (or at least sleep til 7 a.m!!).  Plus, the besties are coming in for the weekend.  That's the best thing of all.  I cannot wait!!!!!

First signs of spring

Spring is officially here and it currently feels like summer in Michigan!  We were in the 80s today and are going to be again tomorrow.  Next week it's going to be back to the high 60s which is fine with me.  I don't have summer maternity clothes :)  It's sooooo nice to enjoy this splash of summer. 

Our first daffodil- it's now bloomed in the last day and a half.

We have a ton of yard work to do in the next few weeks to prep before the baby comes.  Leaves that fell after our last raking job, prepping the gardens for planting season, getting our raspberry bushes off the ground (new stakes and twine), and planning what and where we want to plant this year. 

At the end of last year we planted a new rosebush and two azalea bushes.  I'm excited to see how they blossom this year!! 

I've been searching pinterest for gardening ideas as I'm certainly NO expert gardener.  But I'm working on it and I love doing it, so I'll just keep experimenting.  I'll taken any ideas anyone has though!!

Pre/post big boy haircut!! And a 22 month update.

On the steps last weekend, cute as a bug with a head full of hair.  Seriously, this kid can grow hair like no other.  I'm not surprised as B and I both have very thick hair, but his grows faster than either of ours does!!

Another mop top image.  In this one you can see that all his side hair is longer than his ears!!

And......here's the after!  He went from 22 months to 4 years old in the wink of an eye!!  I love the cut but kind of want it all glued back on b/c he looks TOO old!!

Sitting at his new table and chairs in the (not quite finished) playroom.  (Can't wait to finish it and show you- it's turning out super cute!!)  I just think it is amazing how a haircut can take him from toddler to big boy so fast!

As for his 22 month update, his vocab continues to grow in leaps and bounds.  His favorite letter is W and he can recognize it even in adult books.  It's so cute to hear him say W.  I love it.  He also is saying "okay, mommy" or "okay daddy" all the time.  Screwdriver is his first 3 syllable word- he talks about tools all the time lately with all the work we're doing in his room and the playroom.  His favorite thing to do is "make" (bake) and he recognizes flour, sugar, eggs, and oil.  He loves to watch the Kitchen-Aid go "wound and wound" and loves helping to pour the ingrediants in.  He also loves to sing.  Wheels on the bus, twinkle twinkle, if you're happy and you know it, ABCs, Bibidi Bobbidi Boo, etc.

He has the occasional toddler tantrum and HATES putting on his shoes in the morning.  There are definitely frustrating parts to raising a toddler, but I know we are a lot luckier, so far, than other toddler parents, so I can't complain too much.  He still cries for a few minutes every night when we leave him in his bed, but he sleeps through the night very well and can settle himself in the middle of the night if he wakes up.  He is doing GREAT in his big boy bed and knows that that is his bedroom now instead of the nursery.  I'm so glad we've moved him early to help him adjust to well before the baby comes. 

Here he is running outside in the yard yesterday.  It was in the high 70s and gorgeous.  Amazing for March 18th in Michigan!!  He loves to run, especially since B has been going outside to run more and more.  He wants to be just like daddy, I tell you!  He also got a little toy "dolf" set from my parents a few weeks ago and loves that it's just like dad.  He can't use both hands, nor can he hit the ball correctly, but it is darn cute!!  He can't jump yet, though he's getting better at it.  I feel like ALL his energy in the past few months has gone into his verbal skills (and a lot of fine motor skills too).

Favorite foods include cheese, fruit of any kind, milk, smoothies, noodles, frozen peas (yep, straight out of the freezer- talk about an easy snack!), carrots, cereal out of mommy and daddy's bowls, pork, crackers and pretzels.  He has snuck into the lazy susan in the kitchen to get out handfuls of pretzels and then will take them into the family room to eat them.  It's funny.  He also loves any kind of "dip it"- ketchup, hummus, syrup, etc.

LOVE this picture.  The light is great.  I also love that he has Bear with him.  He just loves his bear and it is such a cute thing to see him try to kiss him and hug him and push him on the bike.  He definitely is showing bits of compassion for people and toys which is great.  I just wish our mailbox weren't in the background of this picture!!  Sweet baby boy!!  Can you believe I'll have two of them in two months?!?!?!  Praying for one just as sweet!

Getting excited....

The past 4 days I have gotten to hold lots and lots of babies.  Babies at work, friend's babies, babies at a party, babies, babies, babies.  I'm not going to lie when I tell you that I am now just itching to hold the little guy that is taking up real estate in my tummy.  All these little ones are just so snuggly and cute and fit so perfectly in my arms.  They just look at you with those big eyes and smile and coo and are SO sweet. 

Right now I can't decide if 7 1/2 weeks is too long or too short before his arrival time.  Part of me wants it to be longer to get more done and to love on SYT just a bit longer before his world is changed and the other part of me is just crazy to get him out and have him with us in our family.  I want him fully developed and big and healthy, so 7-8 weeks would be perfect.  And I know that the time between now and then is just going to fly by. 

It's funny, two weeks ago I had no thoughts whatsoever about holding him, loving him, newborns, burp clothes, sleepers, nothing.  Now I'm like a crazy woman who cannot fathom life without this sweet boy that I haven't even met yet.  Just less than two months and I'm going to be a mom of TWO!  I just feel so blessed, blissful, and excited.  My heart is filled with joyful expectation.  Ahhhhh.............

Oh, and BTW, still no name.............

Spring is here????

It was an absolutely gorgeous day here.  Sunny AND warm (it was over 60 degrees!!), this is so not  typical of early March in Michigan.  I didn't even have to wear a coat from work to my car! 

The rest of the week is supposed to be just as nice.  They're even predicting a 70 degree day this week.  I'm just astonished.  Usually we still have snow, ice, winter jackets, and turtlenecks in March.  Instead I have green shoots peeking up in my gardens.  Wow.  I'm not sure if I should just enjoy it and be happy, if I should be anticipating a huge crazy snow storm in the next few weeks, or if I should be crazy worried about global warming. 

For now, I'm just going to enjoy it and put Spencer in his first short sleeved shirt of 2012!!  I hope all of you are also enjoying some nice spring weather this week.  Here's to a long family walk one night after work!!

Philippians 4:6

Be anxious about nothing,

But in everything by prayer and petition,

with thanksgiving,

let your requests be known to God

Philippians 4:6

Pregnancy can cause your mind to do crazy things.  Weird dreams at night, pregnancy related forgetfulness, crazy emotions due to hormones, etc.  I definitely have experienced all of the above symptoms while pregnant.  My biggest "pregnancy symptom" however is worry.  Now, I know this has everything to do with my job and the children I see every day in the hospital and in the clinic.  It's amazing how many terrible things happen during normal pregnancies and knowing too much is always scary.  There are so many things that could go wrong while in uetero, and, trust me, I have envisioned all of them.  The baby kicks or jerks too much?  For sure it has a seizure disorder.  The baby doesn't kick enough?  Something terrible is going wrong.  I worry about autism, cerebal palsy, tumors, an abnormal newborn screen.  It's absolutely ridiculous how many scary things I can come up with.  (I was this way with prenancy #1 too)

NONE of these things are things I have control over.  Being a healthy pregnant mom cannot stop weird things from happening, which is why I worry about them.  And, as everyone can understand, it's hard to not have control over things. 

I saw the above verse the other day and realized that this is EXACTLY what I need to remember.  Anxiety and worry are going to get me nowhere.  All they lead to is stress and mental discomfort during a time of excitement and preparation.  God knows this baby, God knows our family, and God knows that no matter what we are blessed with, it's not more than we can handle.  Instead of worry, He is asking me to pray to him for emotional/mental comfort and to let Him take care of this pregnancy and my sweet baby boy. 

I do have to say that since I have done this, my anxiety level has decreased significantly.  I'm not going to say that there aren't moments of worry ever, but I can say that this pregnancy is very healthy and until something bad happens, worrying about the things that COULD happen is a waste of my time and must be incredibly frustrating to God that I am not putting enough faith in him.  So, I've let him take over my worries and I just pray to him.  I do this for all of my friends (who have had SO many prayers answered), so why would I think that He would ignore my petitions? 

I hope that the above verse will give at least one of you comfort today as it has me.  Thank God for God!

Brain Dump....

1.  B was gone for 4 days last week in AZ for a conference.  He was able to play golf which he was so excited about and he thought the conference was very good from a work perspective.  He also was able to get a few hours (split up over a few days) of beautiful, sunny vitamin D which all of us Northerners cherish. 

2.  It's HARD to be a single parent.  One night it took Spence over an hour to fall asleep, he was crying, I was crying, I burnt my dinner, I broke a pyrex baking dish all over my kitchen floor which took me forever to clean up, I was frustrated being on different time zones than my husband whose days were packed with meetings, seminars, cocktails, and dinner, I was way behind on my to do list, work was (and is still) insane (thank you winter viral season), and I wasn't sleeping well in general.  I definitely cried myself to sleep that night, those big gulping cries that make you not be able to breathe from all the snot you're producing and make you have a red, blotchy, ugly face.  Yep, that was me.  It was not pretty.

3.  I woke up the next day feeling much better and realized that sometimes we just have days when we need to let it all out.  It was one of those days for me.  And that is totally okay!

4.  We really didn't get to celebrate B's 33rd bday b/c of the craziness of that week though I did make him some downright delicious whoopie pies to take to work when he got back.  They were a hit!! 

5.  My mom and Ralph are coming down this weekend to visit.  It was my mom's birthday this week, B's last week, and Ralph's in two weeks, so I am in the process of making a Boston Cream Pie for dinner tonight and I'm taking them all to dinner tomorrow.  I feel bad about the totally joint celebrations, but sometimes you just have to roll with what works best.

6.  The painter finished up our family room (all pebble white), our basement (tan with pebble white trim), and Spencer's big boy room (3 walls of pebble white with one wall of blue).  It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint, even if it is white, can do for a house.  Worth every penny, I swear!

7.  The carpenter is installing the built-in in Spencer's new room tomorrow.  We've been waiting for a month for this and it's finally here!!  We've got most of the rest of the room done and should be well on our way to finishing this weekend.  I will definitely take pics and post them once we're satisfied.  I still am on the hunt for a bedside lamp. 

8.  We have a crazy busy March ahead.  Including 19 days straight of work for me (working two weekends in a row plus my normal full time schedule).  There is lots of good in the month too with visits from friends and a trip to Columbus at the end of the month.  I'm just praying we can get our long "must get done before the baby comes" list done on top of everything else.  It's going to be tricky.

9.  B and I are already counting down the days til Easter weekend.  Not because we gave up ice cream and candy (it's really not too bad, though I woud love a black jelly bean or a piece of licorice right now) but because that means it's also MASTER'S weekend.  I'm already wondering what Ian Poulter will wear, if Luke Donald will play well, what Tiger will do, and if my "husband" (aka Lefty, aka Phil) will win.  Spencer is starting to really get "dolf" right now and will cheer if we cheer for good shots, wants us to turn on the tv to watch it, and plays with daddy's clubs in the family room.  It's fabulous.  We'd love to have a Master's party this year, but with our crazy busy March and a 36 week pregnant momma, I don't think we can pull it off.  There's always next year, right?

10.  It's supposed to be 50 degrees here today.  Rainy and 50, but still.....  I guess I'm ready for spring, but I really felt like we got gypped this winter with lack of snowfall, warmer temps than normal, and more mild days than ever.  It's weird to think that spring is coming b/c I don't feel like we went through winter at all.  It's just not as refreshing to have spring come since we didn't "suffer" enough this year.  I know so many people are happy about this winter, and I know there is still a chance that March will be a snowy, wet, cold month so I shouldn't talk too much about this for fear of people thinking I'm truly crazy :) 

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!!!  I hope it's as wonderful as you all are!

31 weeks

Apparently, I will NOT win blogger of the year.  I haven't posted in weeks and really have little excuse besides trying our best to get our house ready for this new little one to arrive.  We've been working on projects most nights and every weekend in hopes that all will be done and organized prior to May.  We're definitely getting there but with work, dinner, normal coming home at night stuff, playing with Spence, etc it leaves us little time in the evenings to get much done, so our weekends are jam packed!

As for this little guy, he is doing well and I am growing to prove it!!  He is currently measuring about a week and a half ahead of schedule.  I'm not shocked with how big Spencer was.  I'm guessing he will be a big guy too (which is GREAT!).  He is much busier than I remember Spencer being with his kicks, jumps, twitches and punches.  B says that occasionally in the middle of the night, he can feel him moving around like crazy while I'm sleeping!  I have no doubt he'll be an active one once outside the womb too!

I am having a really hard time sleeping right now due to constant dreams.  Very weird dreams, I might add.  Never the same one over and over, always totally new and weird enough to wake me up and having very vivid recollections.  I would say that I wake up 2-5 times a night from dreams right now.  I never have to go to the bathroom (which is nice to not have to get out of bed) but I do often have to haul my belly to my other side and switch positions in order to fall back asleep.  It's definitely frustrating but apparently not uncommon in pregnancy.

I passed my 2 hour glucose test a few weeks ago but also found out that I'm pretty dang anemic.  My hemoglobin is 9.4 (supposed to be above 11).  It was low with Spencer too but only got as low as 9.6.  I'm on an iron supplement on top of my daily prenatal which is fine.  I do one in the morning and one at night.  I'll get my hemoglobin checked at all my visits from here on out and, if it's not improving, then I'll have to have IV iron therapy.  I didn't have to have this with Spence and I can't imagine I'll have to do it this time around either.  They're slightly more worried this time in case I have to have another c-section but I don't have any symptoms (maybe a slight bit of fatigue, but I'm pregnant, working full time and chasing after a toddler, so no more than anyone else in my shoes!), so I'm not as worried.  Plus after I gave birth last time I didn't have problems, so I'm sure I'll be fine this time around again!!  What I think is funny is that I am a true lover of red meat and eat spinach a few times a week, so I would be the last person one would expect to have such bad iron levels :)

We still have not decided on a name but we've been using one more than any of the others, so it's a strong contender.  I'm not having anything monogrammed yet though (and I do have a list of things to monogram already!!).  Simon and Oliver are the names that over and over people are suggesting to us.  I wonder how popular they really are since I don't know any little ones with those names but apparently people think they would go well with Spencer and with our last name.  It's odd how different people from our lives keep popping up with the same names.  Neither are currently our favorites, but maybe they should be?? 

So that's what's going on in the past few weeks with this pregnancy.  I'm glad it's only 9 weeks left but am also wondering how we'll adjust to having two little ones to attend to.  It's definitely going to be an adjustment for all of us!!