Belly Shots: 38 Weeks

Get this baby out of me!

Just kidding.

Well, kind of.

Being 38 weeks pregnant is not easy when you have two energetic girls under the age of 3 1/2. But, other people have done this before, so I will survive! At the end of the day I am just so beat though-counting down the minutes until Jonathan calls to let me know he is on his way home and freaking out if he is only a few minutes late.

Night time is definitely not fun. In the "olden days" if I were to wake up at 12:30, 2:30, or 3:30 in the morning I would look at my clock and think, "Yes! I still have x number of hours to sleep!" Now I look at the clock and think, "Ugh, it's only x:xx, I have to make it through x more hours tonight." Sleep does not come easy at night, but I could easily fall asleep in the afternoon.

I am ready.

Lily is pretty patient though, I think she'll be arriving pretty close to her due date. Only 14ish days to go!!!

Belly Shots: 37 Weeks

It has been a rough week this week! I have very little energy, very little motivation, and very little patience. I feel like I am climbing an uphill battle when it comes to keeping up with house chores. I'll get one room clean, then my little munchkins undo my work. I often find myself saying to Jonathan when he gets home, "The living room WAS clean today, I promise."

I would really like the apartment to be in half way decent shape before I have to go to the hospital when I have Lily. The last thing I want to see when the two of us come home is a mess. I think I need to face reality though.

Other than the state of our house, we are all set for our girl's arrival. Though, we do need to figure out logistics when it comes to having the girls looked after when things start to happen.

I know I'll be very tired when Lily comes. But a big part of me (namely, my belly) is ready for her to be born. I'll still be exhausted, but at least I should be more mobile.

Ready when you are Lily!

Belly Shots: 36 Weeks

We are in the home stretch now. We're down 36 weeks with 4 weeks to go. You know you're close to having another baby when your Doctor's appointments go from every four weeks or so to every two weeks and then every week (which is where we are now).

So, are we ready? Well, if the baby needs changing we have the changing table all set (though we still need to pick up diapers). If she needs to sleep, no problem! Sarah is in the bottom bunk so the crib has been vacated. If Lily needs to be lulled in the swing we've got that covered too.

There was just one little thing we still needed to do-buy a car seat! My friend Jennifer (who Abigail insists is not my friend, but hers) came over tonight so Jonathan and I could go out on a date. We took advantage and went out to buy Lily her car seat. Now we can take her home from the hospital! We also went to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert, so our date was fun and productive.

Here's a picture Jennifer took of us before we headed out:

Belly Shots: 34 Weeks

Six weeks left! And I am feeling it. Tonight got pretty chilly and I had to put socks on (gasp). That was no easy task.

Things are getting a bit uncomfortable, but we're hanging in there. I'm able to keep up with the girls at home, but when we're out it is a different story. Last week we were shopping with Nonna and the girls were not contained in carts. Abigail decided to run off, but soon came back when I called her. Sarah, on the other hand, ran off but chose to not listen to me. I had the hardest time running after her and her speedy little legs!

Sleep is hard to come by also. I just don't get why super pregnant women have a hard time sleeping. I don't need practice waking up during the night, believe me.

There's our little update! Before we know it Lily will be here. Just a month and a half to go!

Belly Shots: 30 Weeks!

We are 75 percent done with this pregnancy! In 10 short weeks (or so) we will be welcoming Lily into the world.

My Doctor apparently likes "boring" pregnancies. My pregnancies with Abigail and Sarah were boring and my pregnancy with Lily is no different. My Doctor actually told me once that I was one of his best "customers" (not sure if this was because of the boring pregnancies or the fact that I am on number 3).

I don't have much new to report about little Lily's activity. I can say that she is very active though, especially at night. You can literally see her move sometimes.

Just for fun, here's a little top 10 list. I'll call it The Top 10 Things that are NOT My Friend.

10. My Stuffy Nose - I've been congested since the beginning of this pregnancy. Thankfully it gets better as the day goes on.

9. Cinnamon - One of the few "foods" that bother me, which is unfortunate because I really like cinnamon.

8. Maternity Pants - They just never seem to fit right. I do have one good pair of pants that I LOVE, but I can't get away with wearing them every day (plus, see #1).

7. Sitting up Straight - This at least isn't Lily's friend. When I try to sit up straight she will protest. She just doesn't get all that much room when I try to have a nice posture while sitting.

6. 1:30/2:00/2:30 PM - Every day without fail I hit a huge invisible wall. I lose all my energy and motivation.

5. Mornings - A few weeks ago I resolved to get up before the girls so I could get a head start on the day. This lasted exactly two days. Abigail then started getting up earlier than she had been. Jonathan gets up before the sun (around 5:15 or so) so he can have his quiet time and get freelance work done. Then the girls wake up and he gently wakes me up to tell me it's 6:45 or 7:00. I really should start getting to bed sooner.

4. Dropping Things - It is so frustrating to grab the diaper bag, my purse, and Sarah from the van, then go to our front door, keys in hand when OOPS there they go! So, I have to put Sarah down and bend over to grab the keys. Sometimes when I'm inside and drop something I just leave it to pick it up later.

3. Shoes with Laces - Ok, I'll be honest, I haven't put sneakers on in a very long time. I love being able to simply slip on my beloved flip flops. But, with the fall fast approaching I fear I will not be able to get away with it much longer. The more time passes, the more my belly will grow, making it more difficult to put on and tie my shoes. Note to self: maybe I should start teaching Abigail how to tie shoes.

2. The Animal Game - This one is my fault. Remember, way back when, when I invented a fun thing for the girls to do while I cleaned their room? Well, they love this game and they play it all. the. time. Sometimes a few times a day (also my fault, because I keep putting the animals away so they can keep tossing them in the crib). I really need to work on getting them to clean up after the dreaded animal game.

1. Stairs and Laundry - Our laundry room is downstairs. We have four people in our family and we all go through a decent amount of clothes. I'm not a fan of going up and down, up and down, just so my family can wear clean clothes ;-) Also, if I want to go anywhere, I have to use the stairs. And, if I want to come back, I have to use the stairs AGAIN (and going up)! Really, they aren't all that bad, it just takes a lot of time and energy.

And now for a belly shot:

Belly Shots: 24 Weeks

So here we are at 24 weeks with Baby #3. Not much has changed. I've felt plenty of kicks. Now that our little girl is bigger Jonathan and even Abigail have had the chance to feel her move.

Sleeping is starting to get more uncomfortable. I'm at that point where I have to sit up straight if I want to turn over.

Here's another belly shot, just because:

Belly Shots: 22 Weeks

Another quick update on the happenings with Baby #3. We are at 22 weeks now. This little girl is starting to take up more and more space. She does plenty of moving and kicking during the quiet evening hours when her sisters are sleeping. These updates are sounding an awful lot alike.

Thanks to you who voted on our little girl's potential name. Keep voting! So far the top voted-for names are Lily Grace, Leah Rebekah, and Naomi Grace. We still haven't made a decision, but when we do we'll let you know!

We've been talking to Abigail lately about names for her baby sister. Abigail isn't the greatest with names. When at Build-A-Bear we ask her what she wants to name her bear/kitty/etc. More often than not she will want to call it bear/kitty/etc. The fish she got for her birthday still doesn't really have a name. We just call it "fish". I was surprised, though, when Abigail actually had an opinion about her baby sister's name. I've given her the top three names and she always prefers Naomi. The funny thing is that she can't quite say it right though and says it different every time :-)

Stay tuned, hopefully I won't have to keep referring to her as Baby #3.

Belly Shots: 20 Weeks

Today marks the halfway point in my pregnancy. Twenty weeks down, twenty weeks to go!

There isn't a whole lot to report beyond our finding out we are having another girl. I will tell you though that I am feeling a lot more movement and kicking than I did last week. I notice our little girl moving around whenever I get a chance to take a little break, and especially at night once things settle down. I can't wait until Jonathan and the girls can feel her kicks too!

Belly Shots: 18 Weeks

I had another check-up last week. It was quick and easy. The nurse practitioner looked for the heart beat right away. She caught it pretty fast and just long enough to record a heart rate of 155. As soon as she got the reading our little baby moved right out of the way. The nurse tried to catch it again, but he/she kept moving. Suddenly POW, the little rascal gave me and the nurse a swift kick.

This was a pleasant feeling for me as I've been so busy and distracted by the girls that I often don't take the time to sit around and see if I can feel the baby move. Here and there I've felt a few things, but nothing during the day that I notice. I'm sure once the baby gets bigger I won't be able to ignore the kicks and elbows anymore!

Here we are at 18 weeks!

Next Friday is our big ultrasound, when we (hopefully) find out if we are having a boy or a girl. I want to find out so bad because I think we'll need all the time we can get to pick out a name.

Belly Shots: 16 Weeks

I thought it would be fun to track progress with Baby #3 with belly shots. So, now that I'm sort of showing I thought I'd start sharing.