3rd Trimester!!

As I type, I'm in total disbelief that I've actually entered into my 3rd trimester of this pregnancy! But indeed, at 29 weeks (and a few days at this point), that's the reality.

I am SUCH a mess of emotions as of late. Earlier this month marked the year anniversary of finding out I was pregnant with the baby we ended up losing. In just a week or so it will be the anniversary of finding that out, going through the D&C, etc. We've come so far in this year, but those emotions are still fresh and affect me.

I also find myself a little sad. As silly as it sounds, I'm mourning a bit the loss of our little family of three. We've been this way for almost four years, and it seems odd (albeit super exciting) to add another person to the mix. I also am sad recognizing that this may be my last pregnancy. At this point, I would still like another baby, but Jeromy is pretty set on two - and this process and pregnancy has been very hard on me...on us...so I'm not sure that we'll take it on again.

And of course there's excitement and anticipation! It's hard to believe that in less than 3 months we'll have another baby - start over with all those firsts, and learn to love another little being, and become a family of four. Man, oh, man!

So here's a little glimpse of where things are at since my last update.

Maternity Clothes: Yup, definitely. Pretty much all my pants are maternity. There's one pair that I managed to wear recently that isn't, but the button was undone, and it wasn't the most comfortable. I'm wearing regular, non-maternity leggings, and I have some dresses and skirts that aren't maternity, but that's about it.

For tops, it's a bit of a mixed bag. I don't have a ton of maternity shirts. I did start pulling out some more in the last few weeks, but for the most part, my tops are non-maternity. When I'm not pregnant I wear my tops loose enough, or in a style that lends itself well to wearing when pregnant. I keep meaning to go out and get a couple new tops and maybe a new pair of jeans, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Sleep: Ahhh...sleep. I have been having some major pregnancy insomnia. I'll wake up in the middle of the night (sometimes because Linnea makes noise or is up, sometimes for apparently no reason), and I CANNOT get back to sleep. I'm exhausted, and want to sleep, but can't get there. It's not even that my mind is racing (which is weird because my mind does that a lot). I just lay there. It's been as long as an hour and half at times. I know it's probably just preparing me for less sleep when the baby comes, but I would really like to sleep well when I can!

Like I mentioned in my last post, I'm usually a stomach sleeper, so it's been hard on my body to not be able to do that. Using the body pillow helps, but a lot of times I wake up pretty sore, and I think that's why.

Best Moment of the Week: Again, I'm covering several weeks here... however, we've gotten into the stage where there are not as many firsts. I appreciate continuing to feel better. Jeromy has gotten to feel a lot more movement out of baby. It's fun to have those big, regular movements again - it's one of my favorite parts of pregnancy. It makes things feel a lot more real. I've enjoyed continuing to feel more like myself - having more energy and appetite. I (knock on wood) haven't had any bad waves of nausea recently. I'm also glad that the weather has been improving (with the exception of a good portion of last week) so I can be out and active more.

Movement: Yup, this baby is quite a mover. Lots of big movements. She's a little shy, in that I've had a bit of a hard time getting others to feel her. Linnea likes to try a lot, but I don't think she's really felt any big movements. I've had a couple other friends try without any luck. And a lot of times when I have Jeromy feel her, she'll stop (though he has caught several good kicks).

I've been surprised at how high she feels already. I'm getting some ribcage pain and kicks, which I definitely remember with Linnea - I just thought they came a bit later.

Food Cravings: Lately, not as many. Thankfully, my appetite has come back for the most part, so the peaks and valleys of cravings and aversions have leveled off.

I still have a bit of a sweet tooth. I was seriously concerned that this would cause me to fail the infamous glucose test, but I passed with flying colors this past Friday! Woot! Now pass me that bag of Skittles!

I'm loving lemonade - specifically of the pink, strawberry/raspberry variety. Jeromy bought some Simply Lemonade on sale last week and I had to stop myself from drinking the jug of mango lemonade in one sitting.

Confession. One day recently (after a doctor's appointment no less) I wanted McDonald's french fries so bad that I couldn't resist a trip through the drive thru to get some. I usually have WAY more willpower than that.

Another confession is that I haven't been great about resisting the temptation of pop. I guess there are worse things, and I don't go crazy with it, but I have a few pops within the week.

Other than that, nothing super strong...

Food Aversions: As alluded to above, this has been much better. Overall, I don't quite have the appetite that I usually do. Foods rarely "sound good" to me, though at least they don't "sound bad." Mostly, everything is fair game, though meats and seafood are sometimes touchy.

I'm really glad to be past the point of being nauseated by anything and everything!

Morning Sickness: Glad to have this behind me! Occasionally when I get up I'll just have a teeny tiny level of quesiness in my stomach. Maybe this sounds gross or odd, but a little scoop of peanut butter usually does the trick to get it to go away. I can definitely deal with that - so much better than what it was.

 

Gender: Another girl. I'm a little sad we don't have a fun nickname for her like we did for Linnea (Sweet Pea). She is most commonly referred to as simply "baby sister."

Symptoms: Like I said in my last post, I've been a little surprised by how early some of the other symptoms of pregnancy have presented themselves. I've been a lot more tired and sore this time around at this point. I try to cut myself a break because I know it's hard work growing a person (and chasing a 3-year-old), but it's frustrating. I'm not used to feeling so tired and sore.

I also have a numb spot right along my bra line, under my boobs. It's so weird. I thought it was caused by my bras, so I switched to nursing bras (no underwire). It's gotten a little better, but is still a bit bothersome. I feel like baby sister is sitting quite a bit higher than Linnea did, as most of her movement and my soreness is in the rib area.

Also the sleep issues I referenced above.

What I miss: I still am really missing running. I didn't help that I totally geeked out over Boston Marathon a week or so ago. Between my 2nd pregnancy, my miscarriage, and this pregnancy, I haven't been running regularly in a very long time. Running (and generally being active) is an important part of my health and well-being for me, so it's really hard to feel SO far behind from where I usually I am.

I'm not much of a drinker, but I found myself missing cold beverages this past week or so. We had our neighbors over for a BBQ last week, and I was wishing I could have a beer too. Oh well.

I miss sleeping on my stomach.

I miss having clothes fit right. I don't have a lot of maternity clothes, and nothing that fits great, so it just kinda feels like nothing fits right/looks good. I'm such a cheapskate, that I really resist buying new clothes, especially ones that I'll just wear for a couple months.

What I'm looking forward to: When I started writing this post, I wrote that Jeromy and I were going on a little babymoon. I didn't get a chance to post this before we left, so that's behind us already. We had a great time - post to come (I hope!).

I'm looking forward to taking steps towards getting things ready room-wise (we have hardly done ANYTHING yet - poor second baby). And just generally feeling more prepared. I'm SUCH a planner, that it's quite alarming that I have hardly done anything in terms of getting things ready for this little one!

Here are some bumps pictures recently. I am just not good with weekly bump shots - I wasn't with Linnea either, so I can't even say that's just a second baby thing.

26 1/2 weeks

27 1/2 weeks

A collage of bumps at 28 1/2 weeks (apparently I'm not on top of it enough to take pictures at the week mark, and hit the 1/2 week mark?)

July is coming fast!! Eeeeee!!!

 

Spring Blogger Exchange

 

I readily admit that I'm not really what I consider a "real" blogger. I have never had a sponsored post (I don't even know how one would go about doing that). I've never done a "link up" (nor do I really understand what that is). No one designed my blog (it's the best I could manage with my limited computer skills). Despite my best efforts, my plans to blog regularly with interesting and insightful posts have failed miserably.

But never the less, I try. I was initially motivated to try by some friends whose blogs I enjoyed reading. I wanted to blog to keep a record of my life. I like taking pictures, and I like remembering the big and little milestones. In my mind, it would be a bonus if I made some new friends or connections.

Although I haven't managed to be a "real" blogger with regular posts, I have managed to make some new friends and establish new connections. Woo hoo! WIN!

Two new connections I've made through blogging are Amy and Jess, whose blogs I started following thanks to the suggestion of other blogging friends. It's been especially fun to connect with people like them -  young mamas who are in a very similar stage as me.

So when I got an e-mail from Amy saying that she and Jess were organizing a Spring Blogger Exchange, I was instantly intrigued. But then the doubt creeped in... compared to these awesome bloggers, my blog seemed totally amateur. I have actually worried about writing this post because I wanted it to be "just right."

But after a couple e-mails back and forth with Amy I was convinced that I should put those feelings behind me, and go for it! I'm so glad I did.

Amy and Jess had invited a few other young mama bloggers to participate. The basic gist is that each blogger would be matched with someone, and exchange a fun little Spring care package for their kids. Once Amy gathered the names, we were all paired up - and set out to create our care packages!

I was assigned to send a package to Sara, and her kiddos Mac and Mim. As much as I love buying gifts for people I know, it's almost more fun to buy gifts for people I don't know. I suppose to me it's less pressure... I'm less hindered by what I know about them, and just excited about finding things I think they might like. It's like a little puzzle.

Sara's blog wasn't one that I followed at the start of the exchange, so I did a little bit of reading to get a feel of things they might like. Sara's cutie pie Mac is a little younger than my Linnea, and Mim is an adorable little 7 month old.

Armed with a little insight I got from her blog, I set off to Target to put my care package together. It was super fun! I had no problem finding lots of things to include - if anything it was hard to narrow it down!

I brought home the gifts, and talked with Linnea about the exchange. Though she was a bit bummed that she didn't get to keep the things I bought, she was excited that she was going to get gifts in the mail!

We wrapped up the gifts, and tucked them carefully in a box to be mailed. I added a little note to each one to help Sara know what I was thinking with each gift. It looked like this...

Linnea LOVES coloring (all the rainbows, all the time) lately, so I enlisted her to make a couple colorful notes to include in our package.

Once it was all wrapped up and set to go, off to the post office we went to mail it off. I was down right giddy (is that weird?) thinking about them receiving it...hoping they liked what we chose...hoping that they got as much joy in getting it as we did giving it. Linnea seemed pretty excited too.

A few days later, we received our package in the mail from our partner Amy. Her and her son Cash put our package together, and we were both super excited to see what they sent.

Yup. Linnea was just a bit excited... :-)

Opening the package, it was hard to believe that we've never met Amy or Cash - they made such good and fun choices for us!

We ooed and ahhed over all of things inside. Full disclosure: one of my downfalls as a blogger is that I don't have a fantastic camera, and I often forget to take pictures in the moment, so we don't have pictures of opening the package. You'll have to take my word for it - lots of excitement!

Here's a shot of what we got... a cute little book (a feel and read - with soft down for the chick), a fun spring-y note pad, chocolate, an adorable onesie for baby sister, a pair of sunglasses for Linnea, spring window cling/gels, a coloring book, some cute paper straws, and a nice note from Amy (I'm hoping I'm not forgetting anything - the package got opened and scattered by my dear Linnea).

We got the package in the still-gloomy days of March, so even the brightness and sunshiny-ness of the presents made it feel like spring!

I love this shot with a little handsy Linnea...you can tell what one of her favorite items is! :-)

Like I said, Linnea was probably most excited for the coloring book. Girlfriend is SO into coloring right now (heard at least once a day in our house: "Mama, I'm going to color this RAINBOW colors!"
She didn't hesistate a bit to dig in!

So excited for her new bunny coloring book!

Another Linnea favorite was the sunglasses (or sunnies as we call them in our house). She loves sunnies, and we always have to have a pair nearby in case she needs 'em.

3 going on 13 much? She was giving me a little attitude with this one...

Ready for some spring-time SUN!!

Linnea also liked the book...she is SUCH a bookworm. This one earned the trifecta ultimate compliment from Linnea... A) she wanted to read it right away, B) she wanted to read it at bed time and C) she wanted to take it to bed with her (while other kids fill their beds with stuffed animals, Linnea fills hers with books - she is allowed to take 3 books to sleep with her, and it's the ultimate compliment for a book when it's chosen as one of the three!).

I think this will also be a great book to have when baby sister comes. I couldn't help by smile imagining Linnea reading it to her come July!

One of my favorite items was the onesie. Amy, how did you know that I LOVE owls?! It's still such a shock to see teeny baby clothes again. I can't imagine Linnea was once small enough to fit into clothes that small, but I know she was...and our new Little Miss will look SO cute in this little owl onesie.

(Funny side story, as I was taking the picture below Linnea said, "Uhhhh, mama? I don't think this will fit me!" I had to remind her that it's for baby sister, which made it very excited.) :-)

A mutual favorite item of ours was the chocolate. Again, Amy, how did you know that me and Linnea's ultimate love language is "chocolate?" :-) Needless to say, we didn't hesitate to tackle this bar together.

Amy, thank you so much for inviting us to take part, and for encouraging me to give it a go. And a HUGE thank you for putting together such an awesome spring package for us.

In case you are curious, here's a full list of the mamas who participated in this exchange:

Jamie from Cocktails and Carseats
Jessica from The Newly
Sara from Running from the Law
Alisha from Simple Luxury
Jessica from Kessler Kraziness
Amy from Keepin' Up with the Smiths
Becky (me) from B Happy in Today

 

 

Thanks, Amy and Jess, for organizing such a fun exchange!!