2014 - Week 16

This week started off pretty normal. My new usual morning conversation with Amelia at drop off has become her telling me how she’s not going to get in trouble, she’s not going to hit anybody and she’s not going to the toddler room. Seriously, she is quite a character. Too bad she doesn’t actually follow through with this plan most days. And, can I just say, it cracks me up that her punishment is going to the toddler room…or, according to her, being with the babies. Ha. Speaking of babies, this baby seems to be developing some serious opinions on food these days – I’ve been having some major reactions to different foods all of a sudden…apparently s/he is developing quite the palate suddenly. Outside of that, it was a pretty standard Monday.

Tuesday started of pretty busy. Christian was off to work, the girls were off to school, and I started the day working from home. After a couple hours, I dropped Chuy of at the vet for his 6 month check-up, then I was off to my appointments. First up, a biophysical ultrasound. Baby got a perfect score again, which is great. They took measurements again, and baby is still measuring big, but not AS big, so I’m feeling a little better. The femur bone still measures exactly on point with 36 weeks; his/her head is now only 2 weeks ahead, 66% which is better; but the abdomen is still measuring 3+ weeks ahead, 97%. Baby must just be packing on the pounds in there! They estimated his/her weight to be 7lbs3ozs right now, which is 1-2 pounds over where s/he should be. But, the fact that the measurements are different than the last scan makes me feel a little more comfortable, and makes me trust the scans less and less. Other than that, my fluid levels still look great, baby continues to move down, baby is breathing great and his/her heart rate was around 150. I met with my midwife for my usual appointment after the ultrasound. She is still very supportive of everything, but doesn’t seem overly optimistic, which worries me a little. I’ve seen Ann for all three of my pregnancies, and I really trust her, but I will admit it’s a little disheartening to feel like she’s not 100% on board with everything. She did however reaffirm that regardless of what the scan says, we can’t know for sure how big baby is, until baby gets here. And, that’s what I’m trying to focus on. After my appointment, I was finally off to work for the rest of the day. But, I was met with some more frustration. This weekend is supposed to be the big mini-van purchase weekend, but it’s shaping up to be a very difficult thing to coordinate. My uncle works for Dodge, so we can get a discount through him. He goes through a specific dealership for his discount because he feels like he gets the best deal there, which is quite a drive from our house. On top of that, my stepmom has to co-sign on the purchase because she is the immediate relative. And, of course, Christian has to be there because we’re trading in his truck for the purchase. So, trying to coordinate so many schedules has proved to be pretty stressful. On top of that, loan applications and getting all of the paperwork together – my brain is going to explode! By the time I got home tonight with those crazy girls, I was EXHAUSTED!

First time in 3 pregnancies I resorted to using one of these parking spots! It was lovely...

Well, all of the stress from yesterday somehow turned into the best night of sleep I’ve had in a LONG time. It just made Wednesday come way too fast though. How can you be so tired when you actually get a good nights’ sleep for a change?!? The day went by very slow. The slow day turned into a stressful night. These girls of ours will NOT stop fighting with each other. It’s constant…over everything, and anything. I feel like we already live in a house with teenagers, and they’re only 3 & 5! And, it’s not just arguing and a little slap here and there, they literally beat the crap out of each other if you let them. Honestly, I think “moms of boys” would be pretty shocked to find out what a couple of little girls are really like! Trust me, it’s not all sugar and spice over here!

Thursday was a pretty typical day. I’m still feeling completely overwhelmed by all of the unknowns in our live right now, and all of the planning as these final weeks tick by. Car buying, maternity leave planning, FMLA, Short Term Disability and insurance paperwork, and of course, all of the final preparations before baby gets here. It feels like so much more than with either of the other girls. The planning and to-do lists just keep growing and growing, I don’t feel like I ever actually check anything off of my lists! This is pretty much what consumes me now.

Friday was my Friday off and THANK GOD, it could not have come soon enough. I needed a day to myself, some quiet. I had a list of things I wanted to do today, but I sat around watching my shows instead. Not very productive, but much needed, so whatever. I did get the girls’ latest school pictures, and they were pretty disappointing. Olivia had her first filling done the morning of their pictures, so her mouth was a little numb still. Her pictures still turned out pretty good though. I don’t know what was going on with Amelia, but she was apparently not cooperating AT ALL. She must have just not been in the mood for pictures that day. And, I have a feeling in their sibling photos, Olivia was driving her nuts. Oh well, they do crack me up. The girls and I spent the night inside, watching some movies and hanging out, while Christian cleaned out the last of the truck. I know he’s having a tough time accepting it, but I’m hoping the moping doesn’t last too long!

Always in my face...

Saturday started off pretty normal…Christian was off to work for a while, and the girls and I hung out around the house. I put them down for a nap, Christian arrived home and we both got ready. My mom arrived to watch the girls, and we were finally off for the big event…it was finally mini-van purchasing day. Everything had finally come together, everybody who needed to be there, showed up. We were nervous but very excited (well, I think Christian was holding back tears all day, but I could tell he was still excited.  We chatted with the salesman for a bit, then settled on a van to test drive. We took it around town for a bit and it was pretty dang awesome! We were sold (though, we had pretty much already decided anyway). The van has pretty much everything, except heated seats and an auto start. It’s a light gray/silver with black interior, and it’s their “sports” series. It has two DVD players (which, we don’t actually plan on using, but they’re standard), navigation and electric everything. Seriously, I’m in love. My dad and stepmom surprised us with a little cash gift, to use towards the car or towards baby stuff, which was a pretty amazing surprise. We’re going to save that for some baby clothes! We ended up getting $11,500 for the truck, which was about what we were hoping for, put down our down-payment, and just have to take out a small loan through our credit union for the rest. In the end, we should have the van paid off by the end of 2015, then we’ll be on to getting Christian a new car. It was quite a process, but I’m glad it’s finally done. It started raining on our way home, and my mom was on her way as soon as we arrived. We had a pretty quiet night at home…dinner, some TV and play time. Once the girls were down, Christian was off with a friend to have a couple beers and mourn the loss of his truck. What a day!!

Forced morning cuddles for Rico

The new van!!!

Amelia, listening to baby

Sunday was Easter Day, and we were looking forward to a pretty quiet day. The girls were up pretty early. We didn’t do Easter baskets this year…their ponies from the mall last year were their “Easter gifts”, and there has just been too much going on for me to worry about baskets. Luckily, the girls didn’t even realize they were missing anything. They don’t even remember they usually get baskets. I started laundry and did some cleaning up. We had breakfast and took the girls outside to do their egg hunt. Man do they have a blast with that every year. I think we just may skip the baskets from now on and just focus on the egg hunt, they just love it! Next up, we got ourselves ready and we were off to my in-laws for Easter dinner. The girls played with their cousins for a while, but they left shortly after dinner, and the girls started acting up big time. So, we had to cut our visit pretty short a well and head home. The girls watched some videos and relaxed for a while, while Christian took down the Christmas lights on the house and I finished up laundry. A busy weekend comes to an end!

Easter Pictures

Today also marks 37 Weeks for me…that means I’m officially FULL TERM!!!! I can’t believe it, I seriously feel like I JUST found out I was pregnant, and now here I am, full term and ready to go any time now. I’m definitely reaching that point of being ready to go, especially with all of these threats of a giant baby. Baby’s movements have become much more compact, but boy do they have a lot of power! I get more uncomfortable with each passing day, but nothing too miserable yet. We just getting very anxious to meet this little one and welcome him/her into our crazy little family!