35 Weeks and a birthday coming up!

How Far Along: 35 weeks

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (about the size of a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight. www.babycenter.com

Bun's all cooked and ready to go--now we're just getting fat...and that's the biggest honeydew I've ever seen!

Total Weight Gain: From the day I found out I was pregnant to yesterday at the doctor's office: 36 pounds.  wowza!

Maternity Clothes: The world is running out of elastic

Stretch Marks: Still lathering on the coconut oil, but it's still looking good- from what I can tell.

Sleep: Sleep?  Not too bad Comfortable? Not a chance

Best moment of this week: This week was crazy busy!  I didn't really have much of a chance to do anything besides school stuff!  I also missed Grace's swimming & gymnastics this week due to busy-ness.  Best moment of this week was probably having a delicious wings dinner at Hooters while watching Tech beat TCU!  That was a very enjoyable moment for me! :)

An annoying moment of the week:  We got a notice on our door yesterday from the city griping about how long our grass is.  Now, let me preface by saying that it has been almost two weeks since we've had any chance to do yard work- BUT- it annoyed me highly because it's not like we live in some fancy, HOA, gated community.  I totally understand that there are standards and I am more than willing to do whatever I can to make sure we've met these 'standards'.  I think that our yard and house are always more than presentable, and I think I am so annoyed by this because we are a house of two working adults with a 2 year old and a practically worthless pregnant woman being one of them.  On one end of our street, we have hoarders anonymous, and at the other we have a bunch of college kids (whom I am convinced are dealing some sort of drugs) who have the most disgusting, run down car making a huge eye sore for the entire block.  BTW..this car has never moved in the four years we've lived here.  Ok, I'm off my soap box and done being an unreasonable baby.  Needless to say, we'll be doing yard work this weekend!

Miss Anything?: Just the same ole same ole.  

Movement: According to babycenter, the baby 'should be' big enough now that the movement is less frequent due to lack of space.  HA HA.  Apparently, Clark will just find a way to make room so he can make himself nice and cozy!

Food Craving: NOTHING is sounding good.  Every now and then, I'll get a craving (hence the wings), but I generally am still sticking with oatmeal and light snacking.

Anything making you queasy or sick? Thankfully, nothing is making me sick. :)  Just heartburn from everything- even with my daily medication!

Labor Signs: Not really lately.  I do have to say that I had THREE different teachers approach me on Thursday (one being the nurse) and comment on how much I've 'dropped'.  I never really did that with Grace.  People always asked if I could feel her drop and get ready for labor, and I didn't know what they were talking about.  Well, NOW I do.  Just when you think you can't get any more uncomfortable...it's unpleasant to sit upright because there's just so much pressure.  It almost feels like I have a bladder infection because I constantly feel like I need to pee- even if I don't.  um- TMI? Sorry!  Would it be weird to teach from a recliner??  

Symptoms: Nothing new really.  Just adjusting to the itchy stomach and extra pounds of baby laying directly on my bladder.

Happy or Moody most of the time: The moodiness has subsided, and I'm feeling pretty good!  (Just don't insult my yard!)  At the doctor yesterday, she said I was looking right on track and the baby's heartbeat was nice and strong.  

*I've been having a lot of anxiety lately thinking about breast feeding this go around.  I've been hounding a few of my friends who seem to be pros in this department and taking notes of what I should do differently this time.  It was such a stressful and painful experience for me last time, and I felt like such a failure/quitter when I couldn't make it work.  Even though I was able to mostly breast feed the first 10 weeks last time, I still felt frustrated that I couldn't make it work.  However, I also learned that it's not worth the anxiety and stress for me either.  It was making me so tired and upset that I felt like I was lacking in other 'mommy' & 'wifey' areas, so I decided to cut my losses.  Even though I still regret some of my decisions, I was so much happier and Grace is the healthiest child ever. (knock on wood)  I will definitely be trying again this time, but I am going to hold strong to my support system.  A mistake I made the first time was to hold onto my pride and try to figure it all out on my own.  Well, I figured out I had no idea what I was doing!  I'm also not going to let it run my entire life either- especially since I have another little girl to worry about.  I'll try my best, but won't let myself be devastated if it doesn't work out.  If anybody has some amazing advice that worked for you, please feel free to share!

Looking forward to: Grace's birthday week!! That's right-week.  Today, I got all of her birthday present shopping done!  Her birthday is on Thursday, and we're sad that Mike is going to be out of town Wed.-Fri.  He seriously asked me to hold all birthday celebrations until he got back.  I compromised and told him I would film them. ;)  He'll have plenty to experience when he gets back Friday and Saturday when the rest of the family joins in the festivities.  A little look at our week ahead:

Her week of gifts.  They're just little things, but something to make it 'fun' everyday!  

The little silver cups are party gifts for her friends at the babysitter...gotta share the wealth!

Something weird:  Grace randomly has started singing the birthday song this week.  We have NEVER heard her do that before.  Must be something she does at Emma's? What a coincidence! 

Her big gift is an art easel, and this wasn't the one I originally picked out but it was a little cheaper and I like how it doubles as a desk!

One of her daily presents is her FIRST Barbie!  Look out!

For the other gifts, I got her some Barbie dress up shoes and for the actual day of her birthday, she is getting a crown with matching earrings.  Princess for a day- duh!

Now, I didn't get her this gift--but she would LOVE this!  If I'm still thinking about it at the end of the week, I may need to splurge out of the budget a bit.  We shall see.

IN OTHER NEWS!

I got another one of Clark's shower gifts in the mail this week (from Patsy and Jess) and assembled it nice and easy.  Very excited about this lightweight, easy to move baby bed.  Now, if only I could find a way to make it rock without me having to do it! Even Grace has enjoyed rocking her babies in it already!

While shopping for Grace today, I also think I found some diaper bag options.  They are boyish and very practical.  I'm trying to hold out until next weekend though, because I have a 20% off coupon at Babies R Us that doesn't start until next weekend!  I think we like the second one better..what do you think?

After my last labor & delivery, I have learned my lesson and I am making my hospital bag EARLY this time!  I got all my necessities organized today.  I also bought myself a new, comfy robe and nightgown for lounging!  I've got it all packed up and even made a note for Mike to add my blow dryer and makeup bag- and grabbing the boppy- before heading out the door.  Last time, I had NOTHING packed and had to rely on Mike to get me everything I needed for two days away from home.  He really did a great job, but now we also have a two year old to keep up with and I know a lot better this go around what I want at the hospital!

SOMETHING FUNNY...

So, Grace has started this new thing where every time she -um- passes gas, she say 'toot' and can't quit giggling.  She also likes to immediately point at Mike and say, 'Daddy- toot!'.  When he says he can't, she then moves on to me and says, 'Mommy- toot!'   I don't know where she learns this stuff, but she is one funny girl!

She also has made every single thing in our house some sort of gymnastics equipment! She climbs on everything and yells: 'Ready...go!' right before she launches her body somewhere!

Here she is on the coffee table about to pounce to the couch!

AND- I've also discovered that she loves the Old Navy people.  It was not fun peeling her away from them, and we had our first scare of her running into the street trying to escape back into the store with her 'friends'.  Luckily, it was late, and we were practically the only people in the parking lot.  Lesson learned!

  

Ready for a good weekend of football...I'll keep who I'm rooting for a secret ;)  Patsy has got Grace for the evening, so we'll be able to 'hit the town'...which probably means making a trip to Target and Babies R Us? Sad, I know.  I'm sure we'll watch some football and catch a movie too.  We can't possibly be that boring.  We got up early this morning and did Grace's hair for the day-- another cute turnout and she hasn't messed with it all day!

Three half french braids...she sat so well while I did them.  

I think she's getting used to it and knows what she needs to do.  Exciting!

Today, we will be converting Grace's bed into her full sized mattress-- so updates and pictures to come! Could be interesting... especially since we love jumping off things so much right now!

Have a great weekend and Roll Tide (wait..did I say that out loud? Just for today ;)  )
AND everyone please say a prayer for the Rangers.  This losing crap is unacceptable and NOT fun to watch!