34 weeks

I know it's been a couple weeks since I posted a bump picture so here it goes again:

I really do feel as big as I look. I tried to hide around the corner from Penny (with Chris looking on) and he said that I needed to step back further- that there was an area still sticking out. I guess I don't realize how big this bump is until I hear something like that. A couple weeks ago, a couple of the men at church asked me if I was due any time now and I just smiled and said "Nope. I've got about 6-7 weeks left." Penny is understanding a little bit more that I can't pick her up like she wants me to (her phrase is "mommy holding" when she wants up). Chris has been a great dad and stepped up to fill her cuddling needs when he's home.

We have an ultrasound appointment set for this coming Tuesday so I'll keep the blog informed after that appointment. I'll be sending an email out by the end of the month to see who can help watch Penny for these last sets of appointments every week (especially as the appointments get a little more involved than just question sessions).

Smiles!

Well, to prove it to myself and my husband, here are some cute smiles from our (mostly) sweet Penelope:

Hopefully, some of these smiles come out in the family photos we did today. 

The photo session was great today. Our wonderful photographer was really sweet and worked with Penny to try to get some good shots. Ironically, Penny fell asleep on the way up to the park where we had the photos taken but thankfully woke up happy. We got a sneak peek at a few of the wonderful smiles caught on camera. I hope I look as good as I feel. I was looking back at pictures taken at the end of the pregnancy with Penny and I just thought to myself how out of shape I was. It's something I don't ever want to look like again. I'm about 25lbs lighter than I was with Penny. That is crazy to think about. I feel like I can see a difference in my face when I compare photos. It gives me goals to think about for after this little guy joins us and I've got a handle on everything. 

Well, as soon as we've selected some of the photos we'll be one step closer to having our pictures!! I've got the Christmas card selected from shutterfly and have it all ready to just put a picture or three in. I want to be on top of Christmas cards this year because not only of the baby coming but also because we're not going "home" to Ohio for Christmas this year.

I had my doctor's appointment this past Thursday. I have gained another 2 pounds making it a grand total of 3 pounds gained for the pregnancy. The doctor isn't worried at all because I'm gaining like I should now and it's not abnormally low or high so she thinks the baby will be around 8 pounds (knowing that Penny was 7lb 14oz). We have an ultrasound/appointment in 10 days to see what this little guy is measuring and that all looks good. We set up my appointments for the rest of the pregnancy on Thursday. It means the end is near! I'm excited and anxious about all the things we still need to do in the house (cleaning and moving things around). I'm excited though to have one of my good friends come for a visit for Thanksgiving to help a bit and to enjoy her company.

Ideas for our Family Photo

So, I have some awesome friends who told me to pick a place before I pick a person to take the photos (which I've done both now) and to pick my outfit and then coordinate Chris' and Penny's outfit to mine. Here's the problem: I've now picked Chris' outfit and have a really good idea about what Penny will wear but I have a few options on what I could wear. I'm torn if I should wear my new boots or not. I think part of me is trying to wait to see what the weather will be like first but I know I should really pick my outfit and then have a back up if the weather doesn't cooperate.

Let me start by describing Chris and Penny's outfits: Pretty sure Chris will wear a dark grey t-shirt with some really nice jeans that (trust me) he looks GREAT in (I would use another word but for the sake of family reading I'll say "great"). Penny will be wearing (I think) this cute number with some pink tennis shoes:

My first outfit idea is this:

Cute boots, denim skirt, white shirt with a greenish tank over it. My second idea is this:

which is actually this shirt (in better lighting) with a dark denim but no idea on what shoes to go with it:

I am willing to take any and all advice about what I should wear. I feel really comfortable in both outfits and am also willing to try other combinations. If you want to see an idea of my closet, feel free to check out my other blog with my sister called http://2sisters2fashion.blogspot.com

I will also be getting a haircut in the next couple days in anticipation of family photos but also for the baby coming. I'll post before and after photos once it's done. Well, got to run (an almost 2 year old wants my attention).

31 Weeks 2 Days Photos

I look and feel pretty pregnant. Yesterday, I wore makeup for the first time in a while (who's got time when you're chasing an almost 2 year old and being pregnant) and after I took it off that night Chris says to me "You looked like a mature woman instead of a tired pregnant one".... That's his way of trying to give a compliment right now so I'll take it. Here's a front and side view of me today rocking a green shirt, jeans, and a sweater:

If you look closely at my face in the side view picture, you can see how shocked and amazed I am at how far out I stick out. Not something I would recommend doing first thing in the morning. Well, Enjoy!

Pregnancy Update

Yesterday, I had a checkup with the OB. Nothing alarming or anything, just another checkup. I have gone from losing 16lbs from my starting weight to being up 1 lb from where I started. What's significant about this 1lb you ask? Well, that's how much I gained between my two appointments that were 3 weeks apart. At this point in the pregnancy (as most of you know), I'm allowed to gain a pound a week. Thankfully, my doctor has a great outlook because she said that as long as my weight is going up or as long as I'm not loosing than we're fine.

When I was pregnant with Penelope, I was a high risk pregnancy (because I was so sick) and had an ultrasound in the third trimester. This is not typical of most pregnancies for most people. Most insurance companies want a reason to have it done or they won't approve the cost. I had asked her if we were going to have an ultrasound done this time around and she said we didn't need to but if I wanted one she could tell the insurance company that I've had a low weight gain and that she wants to check on the baby to make sure everything is looking good. In all honesty, she's not worried because the baby is actually measuring big at this point so in my mind having the ultrasound will give us a better idea of how big this little guy is going to be. People have been asking how big Penny measured when I was pregnant with her and she measured right on every time as well as she was born on time. I'm not so sure I'm actually going to make it to my due date with this one. Call it a mother's intuition if you want.

I told my doctor of my new pains (I've started having some sharp, lower back pain- which is typical because of all the weight it's carrying- and some hip pain when I sleep). She said the back pain is just something that comes with the territory of being pregnant but gave me a couple exercises I can do to help relieve it before thinking of taking tylenol, As for the hip pain, she said what I'm doing right now (I constantly flip from side to side during the night based on the pain) is exactly what I should be doing. She said that research has found that it's no better to lay on your left side than your right and that some pregnant women are even able to sleep on their back with a slight angle (although she doesn't recommend trying that for me right now to be safe).

So I see the doctor again in 2 weeks (CRAZY that it's been going fast) and an ultrasound in a month.

Just 9-10 short more weeks (or even less if you're hopeful like me that this little guy is going to come early) left! I'll be sure to keep posting bump pictures and cute outfits that I (and my sister) come up with.

A Functional Playroom for Penny!

This is so exciting for us. We've been talking about moving things around for Penny's playroom for a couple months (or so it feels like) so that we can have the living room back as a living room (without TONS of toys laying around to pick up). We have moved things around enough that she now has a functional playroom as of this past Saturday. She learned the word "playroom" very fast and was so excited to see her toys in there. We also were given a ball pit from my sister that we could now set up in there for her to enjoy. And believe me, she enjoys it SO much. That also gives us the freedom to have her bedroom door open as well as the playroom door open during the day. When she starts getting a little cranky, we tell her "go to your playroom" and she goes and then has a ball. Here's a quick picture of her enjoying her playroom on Saturday:

This was also a big weekend for Penny because I got a chance to clean the inside of the car and flip her seat around. She now just sits there and reads a book while I drive. At first, she was a little irritated when the car would stop at a stop light but we're explaining to her that the light is red so we have to stop. She's since stop complaining. She isn't asking for snacks while we're in the car as much because she's just so caught up in her books. We put "Brown Bear" and "At the Zoo" (a baby Sesame Street book) in the car and she's a happy camper. Chris is teaching Penny how to climb up into her seat now that it's forward facing. This is going to be a great thing once she's got it down so I don't have to lift her as much. Here's Penny enjoying her first car ride (just before we left) forward facing with her "Brown Bear" book:

Also, a great thing about Penny's playroom is we think we've solved her sleep problem and hope it's resolved for a while. We have cut out movie time to only one but she doesn't seem to have the attention span for even that after this weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, she didn't watch anything. We just let her play in her playroom, play outside, and then in the evening go for a walk (about 0.3 miles) around the block with her walking instead of her giving up and being carried part of the way. Here's hoping this continue to get better.

My sister and I are starting a blog to help each other with fashion. I feel limited right now with my wardrobe and am constantly asking for advice about what to wear. I'm set up on an app called "Stylebook" that has you take pictures of your clothes and then you can mix and match them into outfits and see what they'll look like instead of putting them on and deciding. I have to keep in mind that it's more about the colors/style than how they hang on the hanger because the baby fills them out just fine.

Well, I'm off to check on my quite daughter in her playroom!

Life keeps going on

Well, Penny is learning and growing like a weed. We're trying to sleep train her again (this is the third time in this house) so she'll sleep in until at least 6am. She is loving letters and numbers and playing all around. I'm slowly preparing things around the house for the new one to join us. Slow and steady wins the race, right? I hope it all turns out well in the end.

I swear, Penny is getting so big lately. I can't believe that she can look at the dining room table and see everything that is on it and can almost get to it (unless it's on the edge and then she will get to it). She's still climbing on and up everything including furniture. Thankfully, she still doesn't know how to climb out of her crib. Part of me is hoping that her toddler bed will be set up in the next couple of weeks. I'm trying to not lift her as much as possible but I can only do so much. She can climb into her high chair, which is a BIG life saver for me to not have to pick her up to put her in. Penny is very verbal and has 3 voice levels: happy, whispering, and angry. Her angry voice makes us grin but we deal with her so that she calms down. She's still at the age where she needs supervised coloring time. I don't know that we'll get out of that phase for a long while.

Well, Penny, these last couple weeks, has been getting up around 3-4 am which is not very fun for anyone of us involved. When we first moved into the house, we had to sleep train her because she was in our room before and it worked out wonderfully. The second time, we had to sleep train her out of having a sippy cup in bed to soothe her. Now, we don't know if it's that she's not eating enough during the day or not getting worn out enough during the day to sleep through the night. Yesterday, we went to the park and then later had a couple kids over and she slept just fine. We've tried cutting her one nap that was 3-4 hours long to a 2 hour nap to see if then she would be still a little tired and use that for bed time. Our neighbors also have their lights on that shine into her room until 2 or 3am so we think that's not helping. We hope to get this all fixed before daylight savings next month.

We have now finished cleaning up what was the exercise room and are now trying to finish up the office. As soon as the office is cleared enough, we can move the bookcases from the exercise room there and put all the toys in the new play room. I am looking forward to that so much. Penny has so many toys it's not funny. Then, I'll have better reigns over the living room and not be in a panic when company comes over.

Well, here are some bump pictures from this past weekend (28 weeks and 6 days on this past Friday). Some still are figuring out that I'm pregnant, which baffles me. Also, here are pictures of my new boots with cute outfits to coordinate with them!