34 Weeks

My belly is starting to look more torpedo like, especially during the Braxton Hicks contractions!

We added some stuffed animals to the "reading buddies" basket because I have had a lot of questions about what that thing was for!

How far along? 34 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 21.2 lbs.

Maternity clothes? Yes.

Stretch marks? No. Keeping my fingers crossed!  Still love using my Mama Belly Oil.

Sleep: Sleeping great!
 Other symptoms: Varicose veins are not my friend.  However, they have not gotten any worse in the last 4 weeks so that is a blessing. 

Best moment this week:  I had a baby shower on Saturday and it was sensational!  I knew that my mom was coming up for the baby shower on Thursday and I was hoping that my big sister was going to be with her, but I didn't know for sure.  I got home from school and they were both in the van.  I was so excited!  Kristen told me she brought me something special in the van and to come over by the car and MY AUNT JUDY WAS IN THE CAR!!!!!  I had NO idea that she was coming.  She kept messaging me each week when I would send her a weekly chalkboard picture how sad she was about not being able to see me pregnant.  TRICKSTER!!!! It was so much fun having so many people at my house.  My little sister, Lindsay, came up on Friday night so she could baby at the baby shower too!  My older sister, Kristen, also took some maternity photos of me and being one of the most impatient people in the world I am dying to see some of them edited!   The baby shower was sensational.  As promised in my week 33 post, I will do a whole blog post on baby showers!  They have been so wonderful that they need their own personal post!  Also, my mom bought me the most comfortable pajamas on the planet from Pea in the Pod.  I got a nursing tank top and black pajama pants, a beautiful and comfortable robe that I will wear forever, a sexy lil' nursing nightgown, and a "Let Me Out" shirt to wear to the hospital as well!!  Getting items of clothing that you feel good in when you're pregnant is such a wonderful feeling!

 (If it looks like I am holding myself in the pic to the left, you're right!  I peed in my pants and started crying when I saw Aunt Judy!)

(These are just pics from my iPhone with an Instagram filter added to them - I can not WAIT for the real pics to be edited and sent to me!)

Movement: Yes! Lots. 

Food cravings:  Sweets. Rootbeer floats!

Anything making you queasy or sick: nothing right now! 

Have you started to show yet: Yes.Nate and I think that my stomach is getting larger and larger each day!  It is definitely becoming more torpedo-like.

Gender: BOY!

Labor Signs: Braxton Hicks contractions are becoming more frequent and intense (not painful) and I often do the pregnancy waddle!

Belly Button in or out?  Still IN but totally FLAT!

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody: Happy!

  Looking forward to: We have our 35 week appointment with the midwife on Thursday, February 7th at 3:00pm.  I'm so excited.  I love hearing his heartbeat (it sounds a lot more "normal" than it did early on which I like) and having the midwife tell us what position he is in so I can visualize what he is doing in there when he is moving! Our primary midwife moved to Arkansas so we get to have a new midwife, and I am hoping to meet a new one at each of our future appointments.  Whoever is on call when we go into labor will be the one who helps with delivery so we want to meet all 5 of the midwives.    

31 & 32 Weeks

not feeling sensational during our photo shoot.  blah. 

we added a lil' basket for stuffed animals underneath the chalkboard! our puppy baby thinks that they are for him!

my face is looking a little swollen in this pic.  i guess i should get used to it!

feeling MUCH better this week than last! 

How far along? 31 & 32 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 18.4 lbs.I lost a little bit last weekend when I wasn't feeling well.

Maternity clothes? Yes.  I live in my black maternity leggings!

Stretch marks? No. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Sleep: Sleeping great.  I fear the day when I can no longer sleep at night.  Everyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE going to sleep at night and how much I LOVE my nap-a-roonies during the day!  I am a morning person and Nate enjoys the night time so hopefully that will help up tag team baby Leland when he gets here! 
 Other symptoms: The varicose veins are still a problem, but when I ice them they feel so much better! If you thought when you looked at the 31 week picture that I looked a lil' sick, you were right.  During our photo shoot I had a 100.9* fever.  Gross.  I was sick that whole day but felt much better on Saturday.  Now I just have  gross cough and drainage.  My voice sounds super sexy too!

Best moment this week:  One of the best moments this week was the BEAUTIFUL baby shower that I had on Saturday, January 12th.  Three of my mom's friends and my two sisters hosted.  It was sensational!  SO many people came and Leland and I felt so loved.  This was the first time that I got to see Leland's name spelled out on a little backpack and written as a monogram.  It was very weird.  I just kept staring at the gifts with his name on them! I love them.  While I was home in Atlanta for the baby shower, sweet husband painted our living room and stairwell!  It looks so beautiful.  Nate hates painting and spend about 7 hours doing so while I was gone so I didn't breath in the gross paint fumes for me and baby!  How precious is he.  The only room we have left to paint in the whole house is our guest room.  It is still a work in progress so we are not in a rush to get that finished.  I also haven't figured out how I am going to decorate the guest bathroom/Leland's bathroom so that is still a pale blue from the previous owners.  We will see.  Too bad this precious whale wallpaper is  so expensive! 

I'm totally in LOVE with this wallpaper! 

Movement: Yes! Lots. 

Food cravings:  Sweets. Rootbeer floats!

Anything making you queasy or sick: The drainage from my cold is not helping with the nausea.  

Have you started to show yet: Yes.

Gender: BOY!

Labor Signs: I guess that I can add Braxton Hicks contractions to this section now!  I haven't had any that hurt but my stomach gets VERY TIGHT! Yesterday in Target I had to stop walking while pushing the cart to breath through one.  Pretty crazy! 

Belly Button in or out?  It is still in but getting A LOT flatter! 

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody: Happy!

  Looking forward to: I am so looking forward to a relaxing long weekend at the house with my puppy baby and hubby!  This is a very happy weekend because the NHL lockout is over and WE GET TO WATCH THE 1ST SABRES GAME OF THE SEASON ON SUNDAY!!!! Nate is thrilled beyond measure, and now Leland will finally get to hear Rick Jeanneret announce a Sabres game!  Also, I am going to Joann's with Jill to purchase a few fabric items so that she can make the curtains, crib skirt, and a few pillows for the nursery!  How exciting!  I can not wait until it all comes to fruition (the nursery & having a baby boy!).

nursery sneak peak - it's turning more nautical which is normally not my thing!  we will see when it's finished how it all looks! my nana made the quilt at the bottom of the bed!

29 Weeks

Leland is getting WAY bigger...and so is mommy's belly!

frontal view...you can see a faint view of "the line!"

this is my go to "dance move" when I'm not pregnant and even MORE fun to do when I am pregnant! Nate LOVES it!

How far along? 29 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 19.2 lbs. I only gained a pound this past week and I'm very proud since we were in Buffalo, New York celebrating Christmas and eating delicious and unhealthy food for 10 solid days!

Maternity clothes? Yes.

Stretch marks? No. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Sleep: Sleeping great. We got to sleep on a brand new FIRM mattress in Buffalo at Nate's parent's house.  Linus, our puppy baby, was such a good boy sleeping with us and slept in until anout 7:30am every morning.   I slept great while I was there...something I had been stressing about for about 3 months! 
 Other symptoms: The varicose veins are still a problem but when I ice them they feel so much better! 

Best moment this week: We had our first baby shower at Nate's parent's house.  It was so nice.  All 4 of his sisters were there and about 8 people that I had never even met before!  Like I said when we were getting married, people are SO GENEROUS!  I couldn't believe how sweet all of these people were coming to a baby shower for me when I had never met them before.  It was wonderful.  We got so much stuff!  We even got our first CLOTH DIAPER & WET BAG!!

Movement: Yes! Lots. 

Food cravings:  Sweets. Rootbeer floats!

Anything making you queasy or sick: These past 4 days, Leland has been moving so much that sometimes I get a little nauseous!  

Have you started to show yet: Yes.

Gender: BOY!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out?  It is still in but getting A LOT flatter!

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody: Happy!

  Looking forward to: We are looking forward to 2013!  This past year has been sensational!  We bought a house, got our puppy baby, and made baby Leland!  We can not wait until he arrives sometime in March!  Very exciting! I am also looking forward to having my baby shower in Snellville, Ga that is being hosted by my mom's friends and my two sisters on January 12th!

      The baby shower was so great.  We received so many things!  I think that bath items are my most favorite!  They are so cute!  

     My sister in law, Jill , made me some adorable items as well; I got a whale onesie and an anchor bib and burp cloth!  She also loaned me a precious knitted sweater that Addison, her son, and my other nephew, Emmaus, wore that she made.  

     Nate's brother and parents found the cutest handmade Noah's Ark shelf and animals at a local craft show.  The animals are perfectly painted and the wooden look of the whole thing is so perfect! 

     One item I am very excited about is our first cloth diaper & wet bag!  Nathan and I are planning on cloth diapering once Leland is about 2 or 3 months old.  I have a parent of one of my students who mentioned that she would donate all of her cloth diapers to us.  I can't wait.  We also registered for a bunch of cloth diapers and a sprayer attachment that you attach to the water pipe on your toilet that hopefully makes it easier to get rid of poopie! There is an adorable cloth diaper store right next to Nate's parent's house in the Village of Hamburg where they live.  It is FULL of all of these patterned cloth diapers and accessories.  The owner was so helpful.  I may or may not have spent 45 minutes asking her every question I could think of about cloth diapering!  This is the website for her store! Fresh & Fluffy!  You should check it out.  I bought an adorable wet bag to hang next to our toilet to put dirty diapers in.  We also registered for a couple of them from Buy Buy Baby so that we have a spare while one is in the wash.  She also recommended that we get two small ones to keep in each of our diaper bags! The prints that they have are so precious so we can be super stylish, environmentally friendly, cloth diapering parents!  hahaha!   

Here are a few of the Baby Shower goodies:  

is this not the most adorable handmade toy you have ever seen?!

 

Look how sweet this sweater is!  Leland will be such a gentleman when he has this on!

We HAD to buy a few Buffalo Sabres items while in Buffalo! 

Our first cloth diaper!  Oh yeah!!!!

Monster print wet bag!  How great is this pattern