I'm still hoping to make it to 40 or even 41 weeks, but we'll see! I feel a bit on edge since I never really went into labor with August, so I'm not sure what to expect! I hope it's not quite yet, but more so, I just hope she gets here safely. Feeling very blessed.
No actual pool pictures, but he LOVED it. That was Friday and he's still telling us occasionally: "I splashed in the water!", "Mama liked it?", "Daddy liked it?", "August liked it!" the same 4 sentences every time. Lol. So it's got me wondering if we can squeeze in another night there?? Or if I should just look for a pool around here, all I keep finding is just pools for swim lessons :/ He didn't even go to the squirting parts, just the shallow water, so at least the pool requirements are not that much. This summer I'll definitely be taking him to the splash pad, last summer I spent mostly on the couch with my throw-up bucket, so hopefully we can make it out - even though we'll have a new baby.
Anyway, so we came home and got our maternity photos done. Was supposed to do that a couple days ago, but was so cloudy and cold. It was still cold, but at least it was sunny, I was glad he could reschedule. So waiting to see those, hope to get some good ones!
Another thing I'd been looking forward to was the meeting of my cousin's fiance.
Another cousin hosted a dinner/get together yesterday and it was so nice. Catching up with family and meeting him. He was entertaining all the kids and just seemed like such a nice, happy, genuine guy. I could not be happier for her.
A couple family pics:
My cousin's kids are the sweetest
Sisters!
Anyway, it was a very nice weekend, I'm thankful.
I wish I'd never been introduced to these pretzels. THEY ARE SO GOOD AND ADDICTING!!!
Other news, August has peed on the potty twice now!! I thought for sure poop would be easier since it's such a 'clear feeling' when you have to go and he always tells us, "August pooping". But both times we get his little potty, (usually when mama is going potty), and I help him get on. Then he gets on and off several times to look in it and fake grunts, which is adorable. And then I always think he's just playing around so I go do a bit of laundry or whatever and both times a couple minutes later I get back and there is pee in there! I will say he is very motivated by the M&M he gets if he goes. But hey, whatever works. We really haven't been pushing potty training too much at all. With the new baby coming they say a regression is super likely, our doctor also said boys are more ready closer to 3, and honestly it's almost more work getting out the potty and taking his pants/diaper off multiple extra times. But it's nice to be able to kind of get started.
Haha, mother/son bonding.
Today we are also getting some maternity/family pictures taken. It's not very nice outside, cloudy, but hopefully we can still get some good ones!
This was 1.5 tubs and several bags of Salvation Army clothes that I cut tags off and sorted into newborn, 0-3, 3-6, 6-9, and 12 months. It was sweet to unpack things that I had bought, yes in my early 20s for my "hope chest" of being a mother someday and wanting a little girl. I can't believe poor college student Anne spent her money like that (mostly clearance from Target and Kohls) but still I was spending money on a baby that wouldn't end up existing for another 15 years!! Guess it shows that desire was there for a long time.
And I washed all the newborn and size 0-3.
So I've been stressed about where to store it all since August's dressers are full of his stuff. But there is a little space in his closet for some of her stuff to hang (especially when spring comes and I can pack away a good couple inches wide of his snowpants/winter coats!). And I'm going to buy one of those underbed storage drawers and just keep her clothes under the crib. Not ideal to bend down, but hey, better than cluttered over-stuffed drawers.
Another thing I did was make some freezer meals.
We did some grocery shopping
I know you can't read these, but had printed out 6 recipes and then had 6 labeled gallon bags and went through one by one cutting and putting in the ingredients.
Big pile of peelings/scraps
An hour and a half later I had 6 recipes to freeze and be ready for the crockpot. BBQ chicken, no-fuss potato soup, coconut curry chicken, tuscan white bean soup, salsa chicken, and one more I guess I'm forgetting. I also bought a couple packs of ready to bake yeast rolls to go with some of them. And at least I'll have 6 meals for when baby is here.
I also started a hospital packing list and started getting stuff together for that too.
And we did have some fun too. We had his 3 little boy friends over Friday night to play while their parents went out and then Saturday we went over to Liz's for dinner and for another boy play date.
Boys in stripes!
I kept laughing because we have the kid sized car that August loves, and Liz has this little grocery cart version for a doll, and August kept trying to get it. "Help it!!" I just was imagining him like, "hey, who shrunk my car?!?"
The next day was waffles, blueberries, and church.
And pretty soon after we got home and were sitting down to lunch, Daddy was home!
The new car seems pretty low-rust and we are thankful to have Doug back home safe. Hopefully it will be a good vehicle for our family. It's always stressful spending a big chunk of money all in one blow, but I know Doug did a ton of research so that makes it better. No more accidents!
yowza!
Pounds gained: about 19, looking at my last tracker I'm 3lbs heavier and about 1.5 inches wider than I was with August at this same stage.
Cravings: Fruit! And when I'm at work I constantly have a cup of that hospital ice in my hands to crunch on, much to the annoyance of my co-workers unfortunately. But thankfully they let me do it without banning me to the back hall computer, haha.
Sleep: Pretty ok. I do notice instead of just rolling over I have to pretty much wake up and heave myself over, but go right back to sleep. And either one night-time potty break, or sometimes none!
Exercise: Still doing good. I'm pretty much still doing my same exact strength videos or walking on the incline treadmill as I work my way through Blacklist. I've not been doing my videos with a lot of jumping around. But still occasionally doing Barre videos too.
At work the other day I was taking care of an OB/GYN patient and a doctor came to take care of her. After we were talking about her plan of care, he started chatting with me about my pregnancy and offered me a free 4d ultrasound. I hadn't planned on doing one, but then I thought, well this might be my last baby, and hey it's free, so yesterday we went and got to see baby girl.
She's already head down and was sleeping with her hands over her face.... awwwwww....
So they rolled me around and then she was waking up and gave us some good pics
The tech said she thought she looked like August :) and is guessing around 5# 6 ounces so far. Yikes, if babies gain 0.5lbs a week that could put her at almost 9lbs total. Which August was 8# 10 ounces, but it'd be nicer to have a tad smaller baby!
That precious little face. I'm so thankful for this blessing of a healthy baby, healthy pregnancy, and praying for a smooth and safe delivery!
So for August's 2nd birthday my mother-in-law got him 2 little kid sized plastic chairs. No table, just the chairs. I had wanted to eventually get a little kid sized craft table, but was holding off because I didn't want my house more cluttered. Anyway, the chairs arrived.
And he loved them. He would drag them around, and up to my coffee table, 'mama, sit down!' 'dadda, sit down!' Very cute.
However, my dad made me this coffee table and I've already been so depressed about how easily it has become covered in scratches so quickly. (What the heck- I thought walnut was supposed to be one of the strongest woods?!?) So I did not want it to become any more scratched. And also I hate gaudy bright colored plastic furniture, so I sold those couple chairs on facebook and bought a nice wood kids table with 2 matching chairs.
Helping daddy put it together.
I don't really have a "before" picture, but that little shelf that has junk baskets (tape and batteries, etc) was where the table is now and there was just that blanket crate and lamp where it is now. So it actually fits in pretty well.
Doug's been getting weekly books from the library near his work and was just having them everywhere in the house, so I got a little $6 bin from TJ Maxx and made a stencil.
And now here's his little nook.
Maybe eventually I'll put up a couple little floating corner shelves, but no rush now.
Doug's parents have been on vacation so I'm sure they'll notice their chairs are gone. I feel kinda bad, but I also feel like I should be allowed to have things I like in my house and not things I don't. And this just works better. I like that this living room area is kind of a 'play area' and the other living room can stay more toy-free/grown up space. When you have a small house these things are important!
As much as I want passport stamps, the time in which we could still fly (before 34 wks) was a limiting factor, as was Doug's Zika fear. My mom agreed to watch August, but for a max of 4 days, so we needed to stay somewhere close too. So a co-worker of his had recommended Gulf Shores, Alabama. We did a little research, it looked nice on the gulf of Mexico, would be warmer than it is here, and places to walk, explore, without being super touristy. So we booked it!
First stop was lunch in Pensacola after we landed, to my joy, they had a Tijuana Flats there so I was able to get these DELICIOUS cookie dough flautas. Mmmm.
Then we drove the hour down to the Gulf Shores. This first day was the sunniest and warmest and we spent the rest of the day outside walking a long the beach and on this boardwalk through a nature preserve.
Our airbnb was so cute, and I love love loved that it was right on the water.
these built-in bunk beds made me wish August was with us!
We had dinner somewhere and watched the sunset.
The next day was overcast and actually a little on the cold side. We went to the little zoo in the city and paid a couple extra bucks for the kangaroo and lemur encounters.
This zoo also made me wish August was with us! The city was super family-friendly.
Doug ate a bacon cheeseburger on donut buns. Then we went to this other place so I could eat something non-donut, haha
We got smoothies a couple times from this place, and liked the fresh ingredients. The floor in this place was astro turf and it had games and just a fun, laid-back feel with good food.
Took another walk on another little nature loop, checked out an arcade Doug had read about, talked with August and mom & dad on the phone, and spent the night in relaxing with some HGTV and other cable shows that we never get to see as we don't have cable.
Our last day was just partly cloudy and warmer so that was good luck for us!
Did my BSF homework to the sound of crashing waves.
Then we headed to Bon Secour Wildlife Preserve and went on a long dune walk that eventually led out to the gulf.
We went to Lulu's for lunch (the daughter of Jimmy Buffet) and while we were there we noticed all these people dressed up and they were having a 'vow renewal' event outside! Doug is always talking about wanting to renew our vows, and since it was happening right outside, we did it! So that was kinda fun.
After that we had read about a place where you can design your own ice-cream and then they blast it with liquid nitrogen to freeze it. Anyone who knows me can pretty much guess designing my own ice cream is like a dream come true, so we had to go there.
Anyway, turns out the flavors and mix-ins were not really what I was hoping, so it was a let-down.
Of course I still ate it, but my dream of creating my own icecream continues...
Another long walk on the beach.
One last sunset.
We had a nicer dinner, then home, relaxing, packed up our things, and in the morning headed home. We were happy to see our boy (who didn't even miss us at all) but it was good to see him and be home. I really loved the Gulf Shores and hope to be back someday!
