Countdown to Eliza: 36 Weeks

Blogging fail: I’ve only posted once since my last biweekly update! Goodness! I miss it so much. I just wrote down a bunch of ideas for posts.

Size of baby: Gigantic. On average, 36-weekers are almost 6 pounds… the size of a crenshaw melon. Hmm, that comparison sounds familiar…

Total weight gain: 27 pounds, give or take. I actually lost a few at the end last time, so maybe that’ll happen again. Or maybe it’s just wishful thinking.

Maternity clothes: It is with much reluctance that I put on anything denim, let me tell you. The weather is still lingering around 100 most days and I am loving the A/C and my box fan.

Movement: Still quite constant and again, I’m so thankful for this. I’ve taken to a small midday caffeine fix and that really gets her going.

Sleep: I’ve had some really bad nights since my last update, including one where Christian kept me up till 3 am, but had a few recent nights that have have been 7-8 hours each. So nice.

What I miss: Feeling physically capable of normal activities like grocery shopping and picking up toys.

Cravings: Still sweets!

Symptoms: I think it’s sciatic nerve pain. I’ve gotten through almost two pregnancies with minimal back pain and now I’m limping around everywhere. I get what people were saying about pain now.

What I am looking forward to: My sister’s visiting tomorrow!

Milestone(s): One week from today I’ll be full-term. Granted, at the full-term mark in my first pregnancy I still had four weeks to go, but I enjoy knowing I can no longer give birth to a preemie. Eliza is so close to being ready!

Best moment this week: Any moment I was spared from lifting, bending, or standing.

Only 1-2 more updates to go… can’t believe it!

Summer and Sweet Waiting

(via)

Blog problems…

Oh, blog issues are so fun. My host has apparently been having trouble keeping up with server demands. Then I tried to install a theme and my whole site crashed. Now that it’s back up, my feed count shows that I’ve lost about 150 subscribers. That’s a common Feedburner issue, though, so I hope you all can still see my post!

Baby prep…

Aside from a lack of sleep, things have been good around here lately. I’m 35 weeks today and really excited. I feel like I’ve turned the corner. Only two more weeks till I’m full term!

I’ve been sorting baby clothes this week. A family from our church gave us a huge stash of newborn to 9 month clothes. I’m so thankful and they’re so cute! I’m not setting up a room for Eliza; just a little corner in our room with her clothes, diaper caddy, and bassinet.

We might move her into a corner in the office when she’s a little older, and eventually I’d like her to share a room with Christian, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

I’m definitely nesting. I’ve been so productive considering I’m 8 months pregnant and really tired. I love checking things off my to-do list and have been highly motivated to do so. I hope this lasts awhile longer because it’s a lot more fun than forcing myself.

Books…

I’m reading An American Childhood by Annie Dillard and Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled by Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I’m trying to balance fiction/memoir with nonfiction. I own plenty of great nonfiction books to read in the future, but I’m trying to find good classics that aren’t too dry and dull to read – think Chronicles of Narnia, not Moby Dick.

I just read Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen for the first time last week and loved it! I still haven’t read Mansfield Park. I’ll take any suggestions on good classics to get from the library!

The big brother…

Christian is getting so old… he is moving up into 24-month clothes and is already too tall for some of them. He has his 18-month appointment tomorrow. I can’t believe how much he changed between 12 and 18 months. He really went from baby to toddler. I miss him being a baby but I know he’s still little and this is a fun age too.

I think that about sums up life for your absentee blogger. Thanks for sticking around!

Baby Cantaloupe: 34 Weeks

Now I’m starting to wish I hadn’t started the biweekly pictures. I’m not a fan of watching myself get progressively larger, not to mention my face getting puffier (a third trimester side effect I’d totally forgotten about).

But things are going well overall.

Size of baby: The average size for a baby this age is almost 5 pounds, like a cantaloupe. That seriously puts it into perspective. No wonder I don’t enjoy bending over to pick up Christian’s toys.

Total weight gain: 23 lbs. This is why I like to gain slowly until the third trimester.

Maternity clothes: All right, I’m starting to get tired of them and they just don’t fit as well as they did in the second trimester.

Movement: I really don’t remember Christian being this active. I love it. She moves all the time and kicks me in the ribs constantly. It’s nice and reassuring.

Sleep: I’m still having some insomnia, but not quite as badly as I was before my last update. Last week I got three full nights in a row. That was amazing.

What I miss: I have to admit, the main things I miss right now are my normal stomach and not continually gaining weight.

Cravings: Twizzlers and sweets in general. Not good.

Symptoms: Ever-increasing nausea.

What I am looking forward to: My sister coming to visit in two weeks!

Milestone(s): 34 weeks is a great “early term” milestone. The vast majority of babies born between 34 and 37 weeks survive, and most go on to have no long-term problems. That encourages me so much thinking that if she was born right now, she’d probably be just fine.

Best moment this week: Being given three big bags of 0-9-month baby girl clothes by a family from our church. They are all so cute and I am so blessed by them!

Quotable.

Three very different sources, but all worth sharing:

“The claim of the gospel is not only that it can give us a quiet heart, but that nothing else can do it.” (Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

I’ve been slowly making my way through this post-World War II era collection of sermons, and really enjoying teaching like the quote above.

Meanwhile, last night I flipped through my copy of Girls Gone Wise, which I read and reviewed about a year ago, and was reminded of why I liked it so much:

“The way a woman relates to men has a lot to do with the state of her heart for God” (29).

“The world teaches us that sexuality is a woman’s primary tool and/or weapon. She uses it to get the man she wants and then uses it to get what she wants from him.” (51)

“The tendency to manipulate men is a sin to which all women are particularly susceptible.” (54)

“Gentleness means we wholly rely on God rather than our own strength to defend ourselves against inconvenience, hardship, or injustice. It stems from trust in God’s goodness and control over the situation.” (65)

“Just because a woman stays at home physically does not necessarily mean that she is attending to her household. She could be procrastinating, self-indulging, and living an undisciplined life just as much as the woman who is always out and about.” (76)

And completely randomly, I reread A Little Princess this weekend. It’s one of my favorite children’s books, and I was reminded of how vivid well-chosen words can be. Simple writing is the best kind:

“A deep, rich yellow light filled the air; the birds flying across the tops of the houses showed quite black against it.” (171)

“She is always sitting with her little nose burrowing into books. She doesn’t read them, Miss Minchin; she gobbles them up as if she were a little wolf instead of a little girl.” (9)

That was possibly the most haphazard list of quotes, ever, but I wanted to share them!

Being Tired Is Part of Parenting

That’s my conclusion this sleepy Tuesday morning.

Confession #1: Christian is watching Baby MacDonald while I type this post.

Confession #2: I haven’t washed the breakfast dishes yet.

And in reference to confession #1, seeing shots of tractors, fields, and harvests makes me miss Ohio!

{via}

I’ve been struggling with insomnia the past several weeks, so last night I decided to just stay up late and hopefully fall asleep right away, rather than lying in bed for hours, but it backfired and I still couldn’t fall asleep after I finally tried – and then Christian decided to wake me up at 2:30.

So I’m getting a little preview of the newborn days!

I’m learning how to survive the tired days little by little, which is good, because there are a lot of them still to come.

The Lord gives strength, even when I feel guilty for not having everything just so.

This is my letter to the world…

…that never wrote to me. (Emily Dickinson)

or, how to get more written in less time.

(source)

I think my writing has gotten lazier and sloppier than it used to be. I have limited time, a lack of patience to write well, and I’m not an English minor in college anymore.

But I don’t want to give up on this (written) scrapbook of life, though it’s always challenging walking the line between transparency and overshare.

I don’t want to give up the friendships I’ve made this way either, for although flesh-and-blood friendships are more real in a sense, these have been a gift too.

What I do want is for my writing to be a reflection of what’s important – ultimately pointing to Christ and reflecting my walk with Him, even though each post isn’t a theological treatise.

So if that means I’m writing more frequently but in smaller tidbits, that might be a good thing. Or if I’m writing less often but more authentically, that’s good too. The former is where I’m leaning now – not letting a lack of big ideas deter me from sharing the small ones.

Just a few thoughts on this stormy Sunday afternoon…

just an ordinary day.

It’s been an interesting week. I could give you the rundown but it involved a lot of sickness and tiredness in the first three days, and that’s just not too fun to describe in detail.

Yesterday I decided to let go of my perfectionistic tendencies a bit, even though the house was a little messy, and let Christian get some of his energy out since we’d been cooped up a lot earlier in the week. When he woke up from his nap, out into the 100 degree weather we went for about half an hour.

We drank a bunch of water while wandering around the driveway and watching the electric truck working on our street. We don’t have a backyard so it’s kind of challenging to keep Christian occupied outside.

We like to walk up and down our little road but it was all I could do to be outside in the weather right then, I didn’t feel like walking up and down, so we played with the hose and random objects until we were able to go back into the refreshing A/C.

After I did pilates and Christian ate a snack, we went to the play area at the mall. Christian was the smallest child there – and in spite of the clear height limit there were older kids running around, which is so annoying. One mom brought a boy who was clearly almost a teenager and let him climb and walk around the small children.

In spite of the annoyance though, we had fun and after observing the running and screaming that was going on, Christian tried it himself. He’s still a little timid and made lots of Mommy pit stops.

Transferring in and out of the stifling car is definitely not fun right now, but in spite of my car’s lack of style it has great A/C!

So that was our day yesterday. I was a bit rebellious last night and didn’t follow my usual evening routine, so this morning the house was a lot messier than usual. Christian had a major meltdown while I did the dishes, but I realized his tooth is cutting through his gum.

He felt better after an indulgent snack of a blueberry muffin and chocolate milk, and followed me around the house with plastic bowls, a cup, and a tube of toothpaste, acting very busy and businesslike opening and shutting doors and moving toys while I was cleaning up and starting laundry.

Now the house is tidy (but I still need to do some cleaning), Christian is napping, and I need to go check the laundry. I’m hoping it’s a nice, long nap day. Happy Friday, everyone!

Still Cooking: 32 Weeks + 1 Day

I’m reaching a mentally challenging point. Being in the “thirties” makes birth seem so much closer, yet I still have such a long way to go. Almost two months is quite a bit of time. I’m trying to settle in and enjoy pregnancy without getting antsy, because at this point in my pregnancy with Christian I still had nine weeks to go!

I have been sick this week, so my update is a day late.

Size of baby: I had an ultrasound a week ago Monday, and she was measuring 3 lbs. 14 oz., which the tech said was right on track.

Total weight gain: 20 lbs. In case you’re keeping track, that’s 5 lbs. in two weeks. I’m just so thrilled…

Maternity clothes: I’m wishing I had left this question out… what is there to say about maternity clothes every week? Except that yes, they all still fit.

Movement: She’s been a little on the sleepy side today, but she’s still consistent. I started to wonder if she’s moved from being head down. I have been feeling kicks in a different spot. I hope not.

Sleep: I’ve had a lot of insomnia the past two weeks. I always think losing sleep with a newborn is better than losing sleep while pregnant, because at least then you’re not pregnant. I don’t have stamina to begin with when I’m pregnant and losing sleep makes it worse.

What I miss: Being able to snuggle Christian without his little sister in the way.

Cravings: Hmm… I’m currently craving chocolate, but that hasn’t been a consistent thing.

Symptoms: Nausea, unfortunately.

What I am looking forward to: The month of August. It’s looking like it will be pretty busy and I’m hoping it keeps my mind off the constant countdown.

Milestone(s): I read that babies have a big growth spurt between 32 and 36 weeks. I’m excited to think about all the important growing and developing going on in there.

Best moment this week: There have been two babies born since my last update, one in my church and one to a blog friend. They’re both adorable and it’s been so fun seeing their Facebook updates and looking forward to my own little one’s arrival!