36 Weeks

Things are definitely getting more cramped in there for baby boy and my body isn't liking being pregnant. I can't believe how painful the end of this pregnancy is when I was fine (for the most part) with the other two. I have aches and pains all over. I can't even laugh or sneeze without it hurting. Gregory laughs at me. I feel like an old woman.

I had my weekly doctor's appointment today. Weight gain is still good. Because of all the weight I lost in the beginning and had to make up, I've only gained 21 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. But, I've been anemic for weeks now and been trying to get away with not taking a supplement but apparently my iron is continuing to drop even with me trying to be conscious of the iron I'm consuming in what I eat. So I finally started taking my supplement today. The anemia is probably a good part of my current fatigue and I really should get my iron under control so I don't have more fatigue than what's normal after baby boy comes and I have to learn how to be a mother of three. So I'm trying to get it at a good level.

She checked me for the first time today also. She said I'm a definite centimeter but it's still long and thick and baby is still high. She said she was hoping for more. So that, needless to say, was a bit disappointing. I was hoping for more too! But the Lord already knows the exact moment our sweet baby boy will be born. There's no need to stress over it. And just as time sped up when each of my other two were born, I know it'll happen with this one. I have 4 weeks until my due date and I know before I know it, baby boy is going to be 4 weeks old! So no need to rush anything. I'm just trying to enjoy the end as much as possible.

We got a dresser for him! I had been looking on Craigslist and stuff for one to buy and then it occurred to me to ask if anyone had on from FreeCycle. Someone did and we got it last week! It needed a bit of TLC. Greg fixed one of the drawers and I painted the knobs a baby blue. It is now (almost) full with all his clothes. I'm so excited! Here's the finished product:

I think I'm nesting but it's manifesting itself in a different way than with the other two. With Hunter and Kylee's pregnancies, I was wiping down doors and scrubbing light switches with a toothbrush. With this one, I've just been extremely motivated to keep up with the daily messes...making sure everything is straight, the dishes are done, the laundry is caught up, etc. and I've been sweeping my floor multiple times a day too! I'm not sure if the crazy nesting will come, or if this is it. We'll just have to see!

35 Weeks

I think it's finally hit me just how close I am! I can't believe that we'll have another sweet baby boy in just a few short weeks!

I want so badly to have Greg bring the clothes down from the attic to start washing but we don't have a dresser for him so I'd have no where to put them if I did that. :( I'm currently on the hunt for a dresser.

I had a dr's appointment today and she said everything looks perfect! My blood pressure, weight gain, measurements, etc. are all great! I'm now going for weekly appointments and next week I'll start getting checked for dilation! The pressure from baby boy has gotten worse this week. I talked to the midwife about it and she said the best thing for that is to rest. And with the very strong Braxton Hicks contractions I also told her I'm having, she told me to rest as much as possible. Hah! I'll get right on that.

This boy is SO painful sometimes with his movements. He kicks me so hard, or even just rolls sometimes and I have to stop what I'm doing to bear the pain. I wouldn't mind getting him out of there sooner than my due date!
Here's this week's pic:

 

My shirt doesn't help, but my belly is such a funny shape!

Our New Truck!

About a month ago, we sold our Pontiac. We'd been trying to sell it for over a year...pretty much since we took Financial Peace University and realized we could really use a cheaper car payment. However, when we realized that 3 car seats weren't going to fit in the back, we knew we HAD to sell it. 

We've been actively looking for a replacement since we sold it, and last week we found the winner!

Here's Hunter in front of our new Suburban! (New to us, that is. It's an '04.)

 

It seats 9 people so we won't be maxed out in seating once baby boy comes...and I told Greg we're good for another 4 kids even after him!

We got a great deal on it too. Our car payment has dropped over $200/month and our insurance went down too. Yes, we'll be using more gas, but at least we'll all fit in one vehicle AND we'll still make it out ahead with the money we'll save from the payment and insurance.

Greg loves that we have two Chevy trucks. Mine is bigger and prettier though. :)

Greg and I were talking about how we would differentiate between the two trucks. I thought of the awesome idea to call them the Mr. and Mrs. and we could even get matching license plates!!!

I'm still trying to get him to agree to the idea...

February Goals Recap and March Goals

 Wow, are we seriously a week into March already?! Sorry I'm late on these!

February Goals Recap
 *Do at least 2 loads of laundry 5 days a week. Success! I think I've gotten the laundry thing down pat. I haven't let it pile up in baskets waiting to be folded in quite a while. I've got it under control just in time to throw another family member into the laundry mix!
*Stop over-eating. Total fail. I gained wayyy more than I should have this month. :( Being pregnant with boys makes me lose the inability to say no to delicious foods!
*Memorize 2 more verses, and still remember the last 8. Total fail. February flew by and got away from me. :(
*Organize the kids' closets. Success! I may not have finished it all in the month of February, but thanks to the help of Gregory's muscles tonight, we finished the last closet and they're ready to be reorganized with baby boy's stuff.
*Organize my walk-in closet. Success! It looks so much better!  And Jenny and I had a garage sale too so I tried selling stuff I haven't used in forever and donated what I didn't sell, so I have so much more room in there.  
*Organize shelf in bathroom. Success!

It's not magazine-worthy or anything, but it's better than it was and Gregory is happier with it too. It ended up not taking too much to do it. I basically just bought another basket to put stuff in so it's not just thrown on the shelf. I also changed the way I keep my makeup brushes and I love it!

*Throw a totally-awesome 1st birthday party for Ms. Kylee. Success! Read about it here. I also had thank you notes out 4 days after the party. I think that's a record!
*Have an amazing time with Gregory on the couple's retreat with our church. Success! It was absolutely wonderful. We had an amazing time and are still constantly using the tools we learned while on the retreat. Thank you to the Goodfellow's for keeping the kids. They had a wonderful time!

March Goals 
March's theme is Baby Preparation!!!
*Wash all newborn linens for baby boy. This includes sheets, blankets, clothes, diapers, etc. I can't wait to start pulling out all the newborn cloth diapers again! Is that weird?
*Get dresser to put clothes in. I think I may try to get one from a garage sale...or some second hand place. I want a good deal on one.
*Clean out our new truck. (We got a new truck! I'll blog about it soon...I promise!)
*Memorize 2 more verses, and still remember the last 8.
*Read Proverbs 31 every day.
*Nest! Yes, I'm making this a goal. I've felt like I've wanted to the past couple days but I've had two sick babies so I was taking care of them instead of deep cleaning.
*Make at least 4 meals to freeze for after baby boy comes. I never did this with either of the other two...but I know it will be a big help to do it and I'll be glad I did! 

That's all I can think of for now...

Pregnancy Comparison #4

 (click on the picture for a larger view)

Yay, another comparison!!! I must say that doing this comparison actually made me feel a bit better. I don't think I look much different from my size with Kylee...do you? I definitely look older though, wow!

And yowza, I canNOT believe how big I was with Hunter!!! Glad I don't have to go through that again!

34 Weeks

I'm a little behind on this post. Sorry! It's been a crazy week. However, the picture was taken on the correct day. 

Every time I go to church, someone tells me I took bigger than when they saw me last week. It's a bit discouraging, considering we have large babies as it is! I know they don't mean anything by it. I think hormones just get to me. 

I'm still really tired and our busy week just added to that. I'm also starting to feel more pressure from baby boy and it's getting pretty painful. 

Still no nesting. Hoping it comes soon though!!!

My Walking Girl!

My baby girl is so big! I was putting stuff in a box tonight, and Kylee was holding onto it standing up. All of the sudden, she just let go and took two steps! Then all night tonight, she has just been taking a few steps here and a few steps there. I guess she just had to decide she could do it!