memorial day weekend and 37 weeks

I don't have much energy to blog, but I did want to post a few pictures from the weekend. Will's sister and husband came in for memorial day and we had a lot of fun spending time with them. We live pretty non exciting lives, sot he only real adventure we could think to go on was the zoo. It was a great day, but my 37 week body was struggling to walk.

Yesterday, I got the house all cleaned up again and even rented a carpet cleaner to clean the rugs. My sweet husband kindly did that for me. He did a bit of research a discovered that other pregnant women suffer from something called, "nesting," so I think he was able to realize I am not totally crazy in my desire to get everything clean.

I had another appointment today, baby is still doing great. I have moments where I think I can not go on anymore, then moments where it feels like I am hardly pregnant.

I am sure there will be nothing too exciting going on in the next few weeks. Just more cleaning and sitting. Less than three weeks now and I know how fast it will go. We will be a complete little family of four soon.

 

36 weeks

After looking at this picture, it is pretty clear that my exhaustion is all over my face. I started hurting really bad again today. Those silly abs just do not seem strong enough to support this pregnancy. 

I had another appointment today and everything still seems to be going well. My midwife's only response to my pain is that it sounds just like all the normal discomforts of late pregnancy. I am not ready to have another baby yet, but I also do not enjoy hurting, so I am torn.

I am just really thankful the warm weather seems to finally be here. I am also thankful for a porch swing that is finally installed. We sat on our porch quite a bit with my dad. I am looking forward to warm evenings sitting on the swing with Will and sipping sangria in a couple of weeks. 

I still can not believe we are so close to my due date. I tried to recount where exactly my pregnancy has gone and I am pretty sure Mr. Winter took it all.

one month to go (actually less...)

I did not get around to taking a picture today for my 36th week of pregnancy. Mostly because it rained all day today and my lil munckin has yet another runny nose and cough, so we did not leave the house. I am also being hit with extreme exhaustion. I tell Will its not sleepy tired, but just like every part of me is too fatigue to move. I know that four weeks will go by incredibly fast and I will hardly remember the discomforts that come with the end of pregnancy. I just hope I can get some sort of wave of energy. 

These are all pictures from last week. It was really pretty all week and we spent most of our time sitting outside. 

My dad came in this past weekend. It was a great trip and I think he really enjoyed getting to spend some quality time with Madison. I am pretty sure she wore him out. 

Will's sister and husband are coming in this weekend for Memorial day. They are driving from Montana and, unfortunately, it will be a quick trip. After their visit, we will just be waiting until my mom comes in for the birth. 

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and then one every week until my due date, eek. I am slowly gathering things for our hospital bag. And getting to the place where I do a mental check to make sure everything is some what orderly, "just in case." 

35 weeks

 

Being 35 weeks pregnant, means I have roughly 35 days left in this pregnancy. 

I feel I am getting a bit antsy for my due date, but know I need to reign that in. I sat outside yesterday knowing that we only have 35 days left of just us three. I remember with Madison, knowing that our lives would forever be changed, and I should make the most of just our time, but I had no idea how to really do that. I feel that same way again. I know that in a short period of time, we will have another child to love and know.  We will always remember our time of just us three, but from the point of this child's birth on, we will always be a family of four and never be able to go back to just the three of us. It is just strange to know we are on the brink of a huge change. Knowing that we do not know this child growing inside of me at all, but sometime, very soon, we will love it  just as well as we do Madison.

So I am getting anxious to start our new chapter, but I know that the hear and now will soon be our past.

This weekend I had a lot of the symptoms I had when I was in my last two weeks with Madison. Just overall really achy and slow. I am all for fully cooked babies, so I get a bit nervous that this baby might come early. However, I think the better way to look at it is my body is just getting a head start on the prep work for labor.

I have also completed everything on our baby to do list, except for last minute cleaning. It leaves my days wide open to do nothing but just be. I think this is a good thing, but the part of me that must keep busy, is sort of freaking out. But, once again, I have to remind myself, this time is fleeting. I will never have just one child to worry about again, so I should enjoy my one, independent, child now.

So we are pretty much just coasting until June 17th. We have two weekends of visitors in a row, but then its just a waiting game for us. I will try my hardest to enjoy the waiting game this time around.

mother's day

My little lady was in quite the photo taking mood today. She knew that when Will got out the camera we were going to take pictures of my belly, and she stood right where I usually stand. So I decided to take a few pictures together. I absolutely love the bottom right picture, I love the way she is looking up at me, so tickled to be doing what "mama" is doing. 

We all spent the entire weekend together, "helping" Will finish all his projects outside. We walked to a breakfast place this morning, napped, and then spent the rest of the day outside. I am really thankful the sun has been shining. 

 It seems we have finally found our groove as a family, only to have it all be turned upside down in five weeks. 

I am really thankful for Madison and all that she has taught me and stretched me. She continually shows me that the Lord truly knows me better than I knew possible. I am thankful that Madison is not the child I had envisioned when I was anticipating her arrival, but so much more than I could have ever imagined.

I have already started guessing what sort of personality this new little baby will have. Whether or not this baby sleeps or has a strong-will, it will surely be used to grow us even more. 

this post is too long for a title

Let's play a little catch up and start off with last Friday. 

Will's parents came in early last Friday morning and we seemd to have hit the ground running. 

The day before we discovered that our roof was leaking from all the snow melting off. We immediately became quite overwhelmed with our long list of to-dos and the fact that things keep getting added to it. This has been an ongoing struggle for us, trying to figure out how to get everything done when it is just the two of us. So I made sure that Will did not hesitate to ask his parents for help when they came into town. They joked that all we did was work them on their vacation, but I think it was a really good time for Will and his dad to bond over house projects.

So Friday we mostly took it easy. We tried to get Madison to nap, but she was too excited about having visitors to adore her. We went to brunch, played at the park, grilled burgers, took our first trip to a quilt store, all fun things. Then on Saturday, we started off the day by going to a sort of upscale flea market I have been wanting to go to since last summer. It was just me and Beverly and our mission was to find a dresser to put in our room. I had been on the look out for a free one I could paint myself, but I had not had any luck. So the frugal side of me fought hard, but decided it would be better for me to just buy one. 

 All it needs now is an orange changing pad to go on top. I already washed the few gender neutral clothes we have and put them away. I may be driving myself crazy trying to make sure everything is perfect before baby comes, even though I had told myself non of that matters....

Then we all ate a late breakfast at a place that Will's sister works at. All the while, Will and his dad spent all morning repairing our gutters so the water would drain more effectively. After breakfast we headed back out to the quilt store so Beverly could look at the fabric again. During this time Will and his dad replaced our back window that we cracked when we locked our keys inside of the house a couple of weeks ago. We then all ate dinner together and Madison was stealing the show by giving everyone kisses, I think she loved the attention.

Sunday, was our find a twin mattress for Madison day. Beverly thought it would be a good idea if we went ahead and set up a "big girl" bed for her, so she could get used to the idea before baby comes. We decided upon ikea. We got there shortly after it opened and made it out two hours later. Not only did she buy her a bed, but also a play kitchen for her upcoming birthday/we still love you present when the new baby comes.

Sunday was also their last day here, and we were sad to see them leave. We felt so blessed with all their help, I feel much less overwhelmed with all our to-dos. We love where we live, but I still have this huge tug in my heart to have family close by.

This week started off with me determined to get everything even more perfect for baby. Madison's big girl room assembled. Everything organized. Everything cleaned. Well, I had to take a few moments and realize what I was doing. I just get so focused on something, I forget what is really important. I think Will would probably agree I had lost my mind when I was demanding he assemble her bed at 7 pm Tuesday night and rearrange her room at 7 am the next morning. I still have a few more things I want to make sure are just perfect for baby, but the issue is not the items on my to-do list, but why do I feel I have t get them done. I think the answer is that I am getting pretty nervous about welcoming another child and if I can get everything perfect before their arrival, then maybe we can handle having two kids. But the reality is, nothing is perfect, I can not control everything. Whether or not we can handle two kids is not based on if our house is organized and Madison is sleeping through the night. Anyway, thats a bit of a tangent, but I get so crazy sometimes.

Like i said, I am crazy. So all day on Tuesday I painted her bed frame white and planted some plants in our yard. Here is Madison helping me plant...

 When I woke up on Wednesday, I was hurting. I knew I had done too much, but couldn't seem to stop myself. Now I am still taking it easy because my abs feel like they might bust.

Back to the bed... On wednesday the bed was totally set up, and we brought Madison into to see it. She ran away crying and would not even get on it. To say, I was a bit discouraged, would be an under statement. I really did not have expectations she would sleep in the bed now, but I thought she would at least want to play on it. Well, as the day progressed she warmed up to it. We took a long nap together on the bed and I could tell she was beginning to feel comfortable with it. When bed time rolled around, she wanted to sleep in the bed. So I let her. She slept pretty soundly until 7 this morning. I decided to try it out for nap time today and she got out once, but then passed out shortly after I put her back in bed. I still can not believe she is sleeping in a twin bed and who knows how she will handle sleeping in it in the future, but I am thankful she is warming up to the idea of it.

I am beginning to get really emotional, silly last few weeks of pregnancy, and the thought of her world being rocked makes me sad. I just can not stand the thought that she thinks we love her less or that she is being replaced when the baby comes. I know that these are silly fears, but the reality of another kid is hitting hard, especially with the big bed.

 That is about all our week has consisted of. Me being an emotional, nesting, pregnant person. Will trying not to call me out on my craziness. And our first baby growing up much too fast. I am entering into the world that is totally foggy by my hormones and past experience shows it doesn't really lift until baby is about 3 months old. I hope I can make it through with out being totally overcome by them. Here is to six (almost five) more weeks of baking a baby.

 Its been raining here (which I realized, I like a lot more than snow), so this has been my outfit of choice, leggings, with a too-short shirt.

 

Pushing my two babies for a quick stroll. Everyone stares at the empty seat next to Madison.