33 Weeks Pregnant

Best Moment of the week: Well, the week started out ok! My friend Amanda came over on Sunday with her sweet 7 month old, Ethan. Carter loved "baby Efan" and not only doted on him, but also didn't freak out when Mama held him. This is the third baby we've successfully avoided a meltdown with, phew! Let's just hope he does this well with his brother! We had a fun day on Tuesday, going to the aquarium with the Wesley Chapel Moms' Group, then having the Hansard family over to our/their house for a trip to the pool and pizza dinner. But then....

Epiphany of the week: I am officially not Superwoman. I think it was a combination of a lot of variables, but Wednesday my body rebelled against me, and as much as I've tried not to let my pregnancy slow me down, it turns out that I really need to slow down. From lifting Carter up and down a million times at the aquarium and carrying him halfway to the parking lot when he refused to walk, to catching him 50 times when he kept jumping in the pool, to just plain 'ole third trimester aches, pains and expanding joints, my body has never hurt so badly (with the exception of the week after Carter was born). My arms pretty much stopped working to the point that I couldn't even pick Carter up to put him on the potty/changing table/etc. and my lower back was just aching so badly I was miserable. There were lots of tears involved, but thankfully my mom was able to come over and help with Carter for a few days in a row so I wasn't alone with him in my poor, pitiful state.

Entertaining question/comment/story of the week: Here are a few of Carter's brilliant quotes:

"The shape of a stop sign is an octagon."

"I just sang the ABC song." (Well, not totally, but we're getting there!)

"Back to the Carter house to see Dada."

Watching Myna Mo, they were making pottery into shapes, and we were supposed to find the cylinder. Mickey: "Is that a cylinder?" Carter: "No, that's a square, that's a cube!" (And he can no correctly identify cylinders by name, too!)

Obsessions: Feeling better!

What I am most looking forward to this week: Hopefully I will be feeling like a human being again this week! If so, we're supposed to head over to a playdate at Maria's house to meet her new baby girl Soraya and play with Carter's friends. We'll see! We had to cancel a lot of plans this week because I was in too much pain to leave the house. I'm thinking that for the next few weeks, we will try to have friends come to our house more often so Carter is still getting to see his friends but I won't have to chase him around public places.

What I miss the most: I would really just like to be able to be myself again. It was really hard on me this week not being able to be a good mom to Carter, but I think I need to find a happy medium between where we've been and where we were this week. (My doctor told me I'm not allowed to carry him around anymore, so that will be adjustment #1!)

Symptoms: I think the only official pregnancy symptoms out of all of this week's aches and pains were the ones in my lower back. And at my doctor's visit this week, I made her check me and sure enough, I'm already dilated to 1 cm, which is EARLY! They hooked me up to the monitor to make sure I wasn't contracting (I'm not) so I got to hear Collin's perfect little heartbeat for about 30 minutes. Every time he would move (often these days!) you would hear a bit SWOOSH sound on the monitor. The moral of this week is SLOW DOWN.

Milestones:

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. Baby may grow up to a full inch this week alone, and his brain is developing like crazy. Pretty soon, he'll be able to coordinate breathing with sucking and swallowing. Also, his bones are hardening, and he's started to keep his eyes open when he's awake.

Weight: 152

31/32 Weeks Pregnant

Best Moment of the week:

31: We had a fun trip up to Brooksville to "Clare's house" (which Carter repeated all the way up there!) where my friend (and soon-to-be-tenant) Jen's family is currently staying. Her daughter Clare and Carter have already gotten to be good buddies, and we also played with her son Jackson and the other Jen and her kiddos Noah and Jack. We also had a fun trip down to Bradenton to see my friends Lisa and Kori and the gaggle of kids between them, Celine, Donovan, Brendan, Charlotte and Holden. Carter, Brendan and Holden are within a few weeks of each other, and they're finally at the point that they can all play "together," kind of, at least!

Best of all was Thursday, when we had our sonogram! When we first got there, Collin was flipped around backwards and we couldn't get a good look at his face (though the reason for having the sonogram...my low-lying placenta...was looking fine!) but the sonogram tech told us to come back after we saw the doctor and she would take another quick look for us! Next I went to see the nurse for all of my usual checks, and my blood pressure was a bit high for the first time. She let me sit for a minute since I was excited about the sonogram and had just walked from the waiting room, and it went down to normal, phew! (That was the first time it has ever been high!) Then I went to see Dr. Fallieras. I asked him about the Braxton Hicks I've been having lately, and it earned me my first internal check to make sure nothing was happening yet. Thankfully my cervix is still sealed up tight, but he told me to really keep an eye on the contractions to make sure nothing regular starts happening with them yet. Then we got to go back for another sonogram, woo hoo! Collin had flipped around so we got to see his cute little face, and he even stuck his tongue out at us! He also already has some hair, which is adorable! He's measuring at around 3.5 pounds and was about the 60th growth percentile...which of course you have to take with a grain of salt because ultrasound measurements aren't the most accurate, but good to know he's doing well in there. There's nothing like a sonogram...it really is like crack for a pregnant lady! :)

32: This week was pretty low-key after our big week last week. Carter and I mostly just chilled out, and I was busy with work, which has been pretty bonkers lately!

Epiphany of the week:

31: Carter started showing signs that potty training might be on the horizon. Previously, if you asked him if he went poo poo in his diaper, he would say no, even if he had. Starting last weekend, he came to me and said, "Poo poo diaper, let's change it!" then walked over to his changing table so I could change him. Now he tells me every time he goes, and he also kind of waddles, which is really funny!

32: I told my mom yesterday that I'd forgotten how hard the last few weeks of pregnancy can be on my body, as Collin has really started beating me up this week and I'm pretty darn uncomfortable. Her response? "Don't you have 8 weeks left?" As quickly as I'm sure it's going to go, 8 weeks is still a very long time when you're huge and pregnant! :)

Entertaining question/comment/story of the week:

31: Happy memory of the last space shuttle launch...Carter sitting on my lap excitedly whispering "space shuttle, space shuttle, space shuttle," as Atlantis blasted into outer space for the last time.

32: Me: "If you want a cookie, you have to say please first." Carter: (in complete seriousness) "Please first."

Obsessions: Still focused on moving. Work is starting on the "new" house today, and while we're still waiting to get the permit so most of the work can be done, at least we're out of the holding pattern we've been stuck in! I'm still really nervous about this whole situation though!

What I am most looking forward to this week: Aquarium with my moms' group and pool and dinner with the Hansards on Tuesday, Future Flipz with Auntie LeShayne, Tori and Tristan on Wednesday, and another doctor's appointment on Thursday.

What I miss the most: Being comfortable in my own skin. It's hard to find a comfortable position these days!

Symptoms: Collin is still so active! My boobs have also started getting bigger, which didn't happen with my last pregnancy. It's almost like they know what they're doing this time and are getting ready early. Sounds funny, but it's probably pretty true!

Milestones:

By now, baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama...funny, this was one of my Millionaire answers!) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. I'm gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to baby. In fact, he'll gain a third to half of his birth weight during the next 7 weeks as he fattens up for survival outside the womb. He now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). His skin is becoming soft and smooth as he plumps up in preparation for birth.

Weight: 151.5

30 Weeks Pregnant

Best Moment of the week: We had a great week! We made more new friends on Monday with a "Jen and Kids" get together on Monday (there were three of us!), had a great time at the aquarium with Meg and Hunter on Wednesday, got to hang out with Auntie LeShayne and Carter's "cousins" Tori and Tristan on Friday, then met the adorable Baby Fischer afterward...what a cutie pie, great job, Auntie Erin!! I think the best moment, and quite possibly the most scary one, was deciding to rent our house out yesterday. I think I mentioned Jen from California in my last post...she and her family decided after looking at some other places to rent ours instead. We had to take a bit of a "pay cut" to make it work, but I think it will be worth it to avoid dealing with a property manager and to have nice, normal (and really, wonderful!) people living in our house taking good care of it. So we're MOVING IN 6 WEEKS. Gulp.

Epiphany of the week: Having a family is so much more wonderful than I ever imagined it could be. I had a picture in my head of how it would be, but really, nothing can prepare you for how wonderful children are and just how much you will love them. As we're about to welcome our second, I've been focusing so much on being nervous and worried about how we will all deal with it, but I need to keep in mind that it will also be more wonderful than I can even imagine, and I'm going to love Collin just as much as I love his big brother.

Entertaining question/comment/story of the week: Carter totally pooped in the bathtub this week! I think this has happened to all of my friends, and I thought I was just really lucky to have avoided it, but sure enough, my turn arrived on Friday! YUCK!! But we did survive, and the bathtub has been bleached to death. :)

Carter also started singing along to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song and trying to spell along with his name. Up until recently, Mickey Mouse was "Myna Mo" and that's still what he calls him most of the time, but he now calls him Mickey Mouse, too. He's getting so big!

Obsessions: Moving, moving, moving. I'm getting quotes for movers, putting together our rental agreement, and I'm going to start "purging" this week...getting stuff ready for Goodwill and tossing a lot of junk we don't need. We're also making a lot of decisions on the new house. We went to IKEA to figure out what we're doing for the new kitchen and partially new bathroom, and we picked out the kitchen backsplash and countertops yesterday at Home Depot. We have a plan for paint, and Glenn is picking the actual colors today.

What I am most looking forward to this week: SONOGRAM on Thursday!!!!!

What I miss the most: Sleeping comfortably, still. I think I will be in this holding pattern until I can roll onto my back again!

Symptoms: I have a very active baby now! He's visibly moving several times a day and getting vicious with those little feet. It's getting HARD to hold Carter now since my belly is massive, and my lap is almost gone! Otherwise, still tired and sore, but generally just feeling great and enjoying being pregnant.

Milestones:

Baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and he weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage).

Weight: 149ish