Becoming Mommy: 31,32, 33,& 34

We are nearing the end of this pregnancy thing! These weeks have been some of my favorites, by far. We have had two wonderful baby showers and had our maternity pictures done. We have, as always, been blessed by people around us pouring into us knowledge and love.

Cravings: Celery with peanut butter, ice water (LOTS of ice: but no, my iron isn't low), slurpees, *shamefully* still hotdogs

Aversions: None!

Baby size: Pineapple- Squash- Durian Fruit (huh...)- Butternut Squash

Recent Emotional Feelings: I have been feeling very content. It has surprised me to not feel much anxiety with the upcoming changes. I am sure I will get to a very antsy point here soon, but I am thankful that God has given me and Andrew a peace about all the upcoming transitions.

Recent Physical Feelings: I have been feeling pretty good physically. I am still tired a lot of the time, but it hasn't been horrible. I have days where I feel super heavy and days where I can barely feel the extra weight. I still get charlie horses in my calves almost every morning (bananas and water haven't changed that a bit). For the most part, I feel great considering the extra 23 pounds I've put on!

Things I’m most looking forward to in pregnancy: I can't wait to finish our nursery! I go on maternity leave soon, and those days will be dedicated to completing the nursery until it's EXACTLY how we want. I also can NOT wait to deep clean all those little drawers and cabinets that have collected whozits and whatzits galore ;)

Things I’m most looking forward to when baby arrives: I am so excited about family days! I am so anticipating some really fun days when Andrew and I both have a day together that we get to take our little girl to the beach or our favorite parks. I know these days won't go as planned, and there will probably be silly mishaps or arguments, but that's life. I am elated to be able to show Janey girl where her daddy proposed, where we got married, and where we carved our names in a bench in 2008.

Best moment of the week: I have two best moments: baby shower and baby shower! We had two showers back-to-back! You can read and see pictures about the first shower here . We received so many blessings and words of encouragement at both of our showers, and I am so thankful for all of them!

Andrew’s Shining Moment: I had been avoiding packing Capri's hospital bag because I couldn't pick out her outfits. I finally asked Andrew his opinion and figured he probably wouldn't really care. He took a good thirty minutes with me going through all her freshly washed clothes and carefully picked outfits (complete with matching mittens, booties, hairbands, and hats) for the days we anticipate spending in the hospital! It was so fun, and I have a lot of confidence in his future abilities to dress his baby girl :)

Here are baby's items for the hospital!

I thought I would upload some pictures of what's recently been going on: baby and non-baby-related!
 

We got to watch Capri's sissy, Rory :)

Chip sneaking up on Beary Boy

A not-so-traditional pregnancy picture... but I am pretty sure this more accurately portrays 99% of pregnant women's feelings

 

 

 

And look at this stud catching fishies!

Becoming Mommy: 28,29,& 30

Wow! I am behind!! These weeks have really flown by for us and have been super busy! While I am currently over 33 weeks, I thought I would fill you in on these three weeks and save some goodies for the next blog. Week 28 started out with the fun glucose tolerance test! It was NOT BAD! People make this thing out to be a nightmare, and I had worked it up that way in my brain. The juice didn't taste terrible (I had orange), and it didn't make me a bit nauseous. My testing came back normal, so there was no need to do the three hour test, praise the Lord! Our Life Group threw us a surprise baby shower, which completely shocked both of us, as we were supposed to be "celebrating Easter"! It was a TON of fun, and I think all the men who participated in the bottle chugging contest (and didn't cheat) have a new found respect for newborns. We celebrated Easter, which is my favorite holiday! I spent a lot of the day picturing what the next year would look like when we have a little nine month old to celebrate with! I just can't wait to put that drooly girl in a pretty little dress with frills! Overall, the weeks have flown by, and we are getting so close to meeting lil miss Jane Capri.

Cravings: Slurpees, cucumbers, and celery with peanut butter.

Aversions: None!

Baby size: Eggplant- Acorn Squash- Cucumber

Recent Emotional Feelings: I have been feeling ready! I have not necessarily felt ready for baby girl to arrive because there are so many things that need to be done. However, I have felt ready to be ready. I am not super anxious about her arrival. I know it will be quite the transition, but we are right where we need to be I believe. We have prepared a lot for this baby and have been tremendously blessed by friends and family walking alongside us to help support our shortcomings. We know that parenthood will be an enormous struggle in a lot of ways, but we are choosing to focus on the blessings that come through the struggles!

Recent Physical Feelings: I have felt really good still. I am always hungry (for the most part). Sleeping has become rather difficult because I love sleeping on my tummy and obviously that ain't workin'! Every time I adjust in the middle of the night, I actually wake up and have to consciously move my belly to the other side; it is the weirdest thing. I have become increasingly tired in these past few weeks because of the third trimester fatigue setting in and probably the weird new sleeping habits.

Things I’m most looking forward to in pregnancy: BABY SHOWERS!!! I have two more showers coming up, and I can't wait for them! They are going to be a blast! My friends and family have put so much effort into them, and I can't wait to share the time with some super special people.

Things I’m most looking forward to when baby arrives: I can't wait to use her to brighten Andrew's days! He comes home from work stressed a lot (rightfully so), and he is able to change his frame of mind so quickly; it's impressive. I know that when he walks through the door and sees that chinky-eyed, chunk smiling at him, he's gonna lose every frustration that plagued him all day. I know not every day will be like that, but let's face it: I married an amazing guy and seeing how he treats me and the ladies in his life so well assures me that his little girl will become his world, in the most beautiful of ways.

Best moment of the week: I think the best moment of the week was walking in on our surprise shower. We walked into our friends' house and saw this cute sign that said "Capri", and I immediately thought "That's odd that they would want to decorate their new home with our baby's name..." Really, Danielle....... That was dense. Then we heard "SURPRISE!!", and I started to catch on! The whole night was such a blast. We had just come from celebrating my mom's birthday at my parents' house, so we were running late. We had so much fun as we played games, opened gifts, and grilled out! It was such an amazing thing to think about how many awesome Christian examples our children will be surrounded by! I love knowing that our church family will teach ALL of our children so much more about Christ's love than we could on our own!

Andrew’s Shining Moment: This is an easy one. Andrew is a champ. He is always a sweetheart, and he has the BIGGEST heart for people. So the day of my glucose tolerance test, I was so nervous. I didn't want to do it for anything. I kept assuring myself that it wouldn't be THAT bad, but then I would get freaked out again. Well, Andrew went with me to the doctor (like he always does when he can). As soon as we arrived, they gave us this timer/stopwatch like they use for track meets. The thing constantly clicked for the remainder of the hour that they set it for. So Andrew puts this "ticker" around his neck, zips up his hoodie, puts his hood on and sketchily reads magazines in the waiting room. He looked ridiculous. Of course it doesn't stop there... When we get into the exam room, he continues his goofiness and plays with every instrument in the room. He pretends to be a stand-up comedian with gloves on his ears. He put gloves on his jacket that was hanging in the corner of the room (scared the doctor). All in all, he made the time pass so quickly that I couldn't be more thankful for his goofy ways. The whole appointment was over before I knew it! My sugar came back low, so I wouldn't be surprised if I burned a little extra of it just from laughing so much!