My life as I know it

Week: 37 Baby length: 19.25 inches Baby weight: 6.3 lbs. - the weight of a mini-watermelon Bump size: 42.5 inches (down half an inch from last week) Weight: +34 pounds (+.5 lbs. from last week) Cravings: Pumpkin spice cookies - yum! I'm glad this isn't a full length picture so you can pretend that I didn't wear high water pants and flip flops to work on the day this picture was taken. But the truth is, I did. Oh, and my hair looked exactly like that, too. Obviously, I have completely stopped caring about my appearance. Maternity Lessons Something you should never tell an emotional pregnant woman is that they are emotional. Completely disregard the fact that it may be true, no hormonal pregnant woman wants to hear you say this. Instead, please let me pretend that even though I have no control over anything happening to my body anymore, I at least have control over my emotions (even though we both know that I don't). I'm not on...

I'm so excited to finally be able to say that we are 100% finished with Baby R's nursery. It's been a long time coming but the beauty of starting these projects early is that then it's not stressful. And I can honestly say, this was a pretty stress-free project. Of course, no project which requires a husband and wife to assemble furniture, hang artwork and paint together is without it's stressful moments, and we did have a few. Broken glass, chipped furniture, etc. But we made it through. So here is how the room all started... A bright yellow guest bedroom, painted in Sherwin William's Daffodil yellow. I selected this color over four years ago when we first bought our house. As soon as it was up on the walls, I knew it was much brighter than I had planned and I wanted to change it. But Pat, who had just spent hours painting the room, wouldn't let me. Four years later when we decided the guest bedroom would become the baby's nursery, I knew the...

Week: 36 Baby length: 18.75 inches Baby weight: 5.75 lbs. - the weight of a gallon of apple cider (or a crenshaw melon, depending on who you ask) Bump size: 43 inches (up almost 3 inches from last week!) Weight: +33.5 pounds (+3 lbs. from last week) Cravings: Chips and cake (not at the same time - chips for dinner and cake for dessert) So yes, week 36 is technically supposed to be a crenshaw melon. I had never heard of such a melon but after a little research, discovered it is a cross between a cassaba melon and a cantaloupe. Supposed to be very tasty, too. So I was excited to have an excuse to buy (and eat) one. But as it turns out, I don't think such a melon actually exists - not at my grocery store, anyway. After a brief panic attack and a near meltdown in the fruit department at Giant Eagle (and a threat of giving up on the weekly fruit pictures all together), I spotted the gallon of apple cider and thought it looked mighty tasty (and it is) s...

Week: 35 Baby length: 18 inches Baby weight: 5.25 lbs. - the weight of a honeydew melon Bump size: 40.75 inches Weight: +30.5 pounds (+.5 lbs. from last week) Cravings: Salt & Sweets Have you ever held a honeydew melon long enough to have your picture taken with it? The thing is not light. I can't believe I'm carrying that weight around in my stomach. I had a doctor appointment this week and all is well with me and the baby. Although I will start to see him weekly now, the doctor will not start checking me for "progress" in two weeks. Since everyone around me seems to think I will be having this baby early, it will be really interesting to see if anything is happening down there in the way of getting my body ready for delivery. Speaking of having this baby early, I would not be opposed to that whatsoever (as long as baby is healthy). I have to be honest with you - I am about done with being pregnant. Don't get me wrong, I...

Week: 34 Baby length: 17.75 inches Baby weight: 4.75 lbs. - the weight of a cantaloupe Bump size: 40.75 inches Weight: +30 pounds (+1.5 lbs. from last week) Cravings: Powdered donuts I've been doing such a good job of not buying "crap" that I should be eating. Until this week... I had a moment of weakness when I passed the bag of the mini powdered donuts at the grocery store. I happened to be on the phone with my BFF who is 39 weeks pregnant and asked her advice. I've been craving them, should I give in and get them? Yes, she said. And since I always do what she says (including dying my hair extremely dark brown/almost black my senior year of college), I did. And I've been enjoying them ever since. I'm happy to say they aren't gone yet and that whenever I eat them, I do stick to the serving size. Does that count for anything? Baby Movements The baby is putting pressure on some sort of nerve down by my bladder. Somet...

Week: 33 Baby length: 17 inches Baby weight: 4.25 lbs. - the weight of a butternut squash Bump size: 40.75 inches Weight: +28.5 pounds (+1.5 lbs. from last week) Cravings: Chips and salt Another exciting and busy week! Let's start with my doctor's appointment. It was my first time seeing the doctor in 5 weeks so I was eager to hear what he had to say. Unfortunately, he was running really late and kept me waiting for an hour. I was up against a tight deadline at work so by the time he did come to see me, I was in a rush to get out of there and get to work so I didn't ask a lot of questions that I should have. He did a lot of poking and prodding to my belly and determined that the baby is in the head down position and he acted surprised and happy with how low the baby's head already was. Here is where I should have asked a question - what exactly if anything does that mean that the baby's head is so low already? He took my measurem...