34 Weeks

Our First Egg!

Look! We have an egg!


Our Rhode Island Red, Dora, is our first layer. Here she is coming into the coop. We were in the middle of cleaning it, so there aren't any nice shavings on the floor in this picture.

Samantha & Alison

Sam's First Week of School

Sam has finished her first week of school. She loved it, but told me today that it's kind of boring because all she gets to do is trace stuff, color, and do crafts. She loves crafts, but says it's all baby stuff. She doesn't know why she doesn't get to write more and do big kid stuff. I think she's way ahead in the smarts department, but still struggles with the stuff like listening, following directions, etc. The Week-at-a-Glance letter sent home explained that they're "previewing the letters of the alphabet, working on recognizing, reading, and writing our names, and recognizing and naming shapes." Yeah.....all that stuff is totally easy for her. She's in a K-1 combo class and the first graders are doing stuff that she really wants to do. I guess I'll just have to work with her at home so she doesn't get too bored.

Sam thinks these funky shaped bracelets are so cool, so to celebrate her first week of school, I bought her a little bag of them. She and Ali love them!

Dear Baby Boy,

Please be nice to me. I mean, do you really have to cause me such grief? My ribs are hurting! You kick them so much...they hurt even when you don't! And let's lay off the braxton hicks contractions a bit. They're starting to hurt quite a bit now too! I promise you that it's just a few more weeks until you can have all the stretching room you need. I love you and I can't wait to see you!

Love,
Your Mom

Samantha Loved using the Beepy Thing

I let Samantha register for baby stuff today at Target. She clicked on so much stuff....lots of it pretty random. She kept saying, "Oooo Mom, this would be perfect for the brother boy!" So I'd turn and look at it and it would be something like nursing pads. Haha! It was so fun! She also registered for two different shower curtains and an ice cream maker. Oh yeah, and lots of shoes and clothes. When she went to bed, I had to get online and delete a ton of stuff off the registry.

Lunch with Melisa & Rosie...and of course, Danny too!

Restless Leg Syndrome

I'm having a weird pregnancy thing. Well, it's been going on for months now. It feels like something is crawling on my feet, ankles, and lower half of my legs....almost all the time! It's really annoying!

I'm so over this!

When I was pregnant with my first and kind of complaining at the end of the pregnancy, my mother-in-law reminded me that I shouldn't hurry things along because the baby is easier on the inside than it is on the outside. That was really good advice and after I had Sam I learned just how true it was! That being said, I'm so over this! Yes, the baby is easier now than he will be on the outside, but I'm tired of hurting. Now, in addition to everything else, I'm having really bad back pain. My lower back is out of alignment and making my SI Joint compressed/inflammed/misaligned...whatever happens to it, thus causing really bad sciatic pain. I went to the chiropractor this morning and he said it happens to a lot pregnant women at the end of their pregnancy because of the relaxin hormone, growing belly, and poor posture. He tried to adjust me, but wasn't able to do much. My muscles are too tight and spasmed. Luckily, it's naptime for Alison soon, so I'll just put Sam in front of a movie and then I can lie down too.

Does This Pregnancy Make Me Look Fat?

My Hair is SOOO Clean Today!

Sometimes I black-out in the shower, so I have to make sure that I eat before I shower in the morning. But this morning, I knew that if I was going to get a shower it had to be in the four minutes before Sam was about to wake up for school. So I hopped in the shower without having eaten and feeling a bit groggy. I didn't black-out, but I did shampoo and condition my hair twice. I shampooed, soaped, rinsed, conidtioned, rinsed, then started all over again. It wasn't until I was putting the conditioner in for the second time that I realzed what I had just done. So I didn't black-out, but I must have been a little out of it!

Sisters

They love to sit together and cuddle!

33 Weeks

I took a few other bare belly pictures, but this one hides my stretch marks best. If I get brave enough, then maybe I'll post the other ones too....later.




From my babycenter.com weekly email:

Pregnancy survival skill: How to get out of a soft chair

Put your feet flat on the floor and bend from the hips. Push on the armrests with your hands! Use your stomach muscles. If upward motion is still elusive, pick up your magazine and yell for more mint-chip ice cream. (Standing up is totally overrated anyway.)

Samantha's First Day of Kindergarten

Eating breakfast. My girls want dried blueberries at almost every meal. They wanted waffles, but there was no way I was giving my child syrup on the first day of school. Around here, the kids don't just eat syrup, somehow they always end of wearing it too.


Samantha was so excited to start school today! But sometimes she gives weird smiles. Today was one of those days.



Here is her backpack. She also has a matching lunchbox.


Enjoying her after-school treat with Alison.


P.S. Alison missed her SO much!

My Little Helpers

Samantha loves to help in the kitchen!

We've found that if we give the girls chores together, they usually do a better job and have a little more fun while doing them. They had to clean all the smudges off the bathroom drawers and cupboards.

Cuddling

Alison is really ready for a big girl bed and climbs into Sam's bed every night before bedtime. Soon kiddo...we'll get you a big girl bed soon. But in the meantime...they're so cute cuddling together!

Fingerpainting with Pudding

Who wants to fingerpaint with actual paint when you can use pudding instead? So yummy!!

Prenatal Appt Update

I spent a few hours at my prenatal appt this morning. Aside from the appointment, I also needed to do some bloodwork and then go back upstairs to get my RhoGAM shot.

I've only gained 10 pounds total! The nurse Midwife I saw during my last appointment was kind of giving me a hard time for gaining weight. What!?!? This time I saw a different person and she was super proud of me for keeping my weight in check and for only gaining 10 pounds! I LIKE HER!

Speaking of 10 pounds, after measuring my belly, looking at the growth percentile charts, and feeling the baby, the doctor guesstimated that this little guy will probably be in the 10 to 11 pound range at birth. I have an ultrasound coming up and they'll try to better determine how big he'll be. If he's measuring really big, they'll either offer me a c-section or if around 38 weeks I'm "ripe", meaning dialated to at least a 3 or 4 and starting to efface, then they'll induce me at 38 or 39 weeks, depending on the baby's projected size.

32 Weeks

I said to Jason, "I'm 32 weeks. Can you take a picture so I have a belly shot for the blog?" This is what he took.



Then he took a better one.



Actually, I've had some requests for an actual belly shot like I've done with past pregnancies, so maybe I'll do that for next week.

Stout Family Reunion

I had a wonderful time at the Stout Family Reunion this past week in Utah! Here is a LINK to see some pictures from our trip.

When it was all said and done, I had had lots of fun and good times, but ohhhhh my back and feet hurt! My ankles were swollen so big, and puffy and discolored too. Pregnant women are soooo not meant for traveling.

31 Weeks

I'm 31 weeks today. It's kind of weird to think that in less than 10 weeks, we'll have another baby in the house. WE'RE SO NOT READY! We still need to get the girls into bunkbeds, buy some boy crib bedding and other cute boy stuff, buy another dresser (I can't fit clothing for 3 kids into 1 dresser.), buy a bigger bookshelf, find a bassinet, etc!

But all of that being said.....HOLY MOLY....this baby never stops moving! He is an active little guy! What's he going to be like as a little boy?? Yikes!

All the literature says this baby is in the 3 pound range right about now. But knowing my history, I'd be willing to bet he's in the 4 or maybe even 5 pound range. How much weight per week do babies usually gain toward the end?