35 Weeks

How far along? 35 weeks

Baby is the size of? A honeydew melon
Baby's Heart Rate? 151 bpm

Sleep? Lots of tossing and turning lately. Mostly because one minute I'm too hot then I'm too cold...

Movement? Pretty sure I'm feeling all of them. Ugh. 

Symptoms? I have my heartburn under control :) And depression is getting better since I started taking Zoloft. And I've been nesting.... a lot!

Food cravings? Maybe ice cream? 

Anything make you queasy or sick? My prenatal pills are making me nauseous again.
Moment of the week? Camping with the in-laws!

Looking forward to? Seeing my good friend Mandy who's visiting from Germany!

Side note...I've wore my glasses for *over* a week straight. I haven't done that since maybe the 7th grade! And Hunter wants to name the baby "Baby Aunt Bobby" despite the fact it would be confusing. :)

Camping at Lolo Hot Springs

On a some what spontaneous whim, we decided to go camping this weekend with Perry's parents at Lolo Hot Springs on Friday night.  Lucky for us, its only about 30 miles from home. The boys were eagerly awaiting dad to get home from work all day long so we could leave. We've never been camping with them before, but they've been a couple time prior with Grandma & Grandpa. If I recall correctly, each Memorial Day weekend or Labor Day weekend they've taken the boys, they've had horrible weather! We lucked out this weekend though!

Growing up, camping was a huge part of Perry's childhood. His family used to go camping and backpacking every summer. (Correct me if I'm wrong!) So needless to say, this camping trip was very special for Perry.

 As soon as we arrived, Hunter and JP were anxious to check the river out. For kicks and giggles, Grandpa John brought out his pans and they looked to see what they could find.

 Perry tried his hand at it, and clearly didn't know what he was doing :)

 But of course, the boys' attention span was limited and they were off running around in no time. Within minutes they had each claimed their favorite sticks, which they carried around for the rest of the evening. 

 After dinner, I warmed up my *white* legs by the fire while making S'mores. Yum! Although the boys tried, they needed help roasting their marshmallows.

 I'm pretty sure it took him about 20 minutes to each his S'more. He likes to just "save things for later."

 I believe Hunter may have gotten in trouble for something, so he took his stick down to the river to poke around. Here he is pouting because he threw the stick in the river and lost it. Hind sight is 20/20...

 He was fairly resilient and eager to join in the fun Perry and JP were having playing baseball. More like "Let's see how many pine cones Perry can throw at JP before he hits one." Pretty fun to watch!

Bedtime was a little bit of a struggle for me and took about an hour or so to get the boys to calm down and lay still. Very frustrating! And then of course it didn't help that at the main office, there was a techno party going on. We arrived at our camp spot at about 5:30p and it was already blaring. It continued to disrupt the sound of nature until 8AM. That's right...all stinking night! I'm not sure anyone slept very well... 

 So after a long night, Perry and I took the boys for a short lived hike up the mountain. JP was terrified when the trail narrow and insisted he be carried. Hunter was a trooper though.

 My favorite boys!

 And we've got a little boy that still likes to pee on trees...

 Montana....20 Miles from home.

 Perry had the bright idea to show the boys what he used to do when he was a kid - pick up sticks and break them on trees. Initially I didn't think this was one of his best ideas, but the boys loved it, and surprisingly no one was injured with all the sticks flying around. It was quite fun to watch them! 

 Sometimes Hunter likes to just go sit by himself for a little rest. He just makes my heart smile when he does this - sitting nicely and all. 

 I made sure we had a family picture taken while on our camping trip. Mostly because we *never* get family pictures, but also because this was our first family camping trip. It might also be the last time we get a picture of the four of us before baby arrives in a few weeks.

 Grandpa John and JP finishing up the hike. JP was a trooper! We did a lot of walking for his little legs. 

 The trail we were walking on had a lot of granite and rocks with mica (?) on them. Basically lots of shiny rocks. JP was pretty fascinated by them. Not as much as Hunter though. He impressed me by filling up his pockets full of rocks, 13 in total, and finishing the last 200 yards or so of the hike, uphill. I knew he had a couple...but 13?! 

Once we arrived home, the first thing Hunter did with all of his rocks was plant them. I know, who plants rocks, right? Hunter does. In his sandbox. I tried to talk him out of it, but you know kids... At least now he has something to dig for since they are no where to be found...

Packing Our Bags - Part 1 Baby Bag

Now that I'm registered for Labor & Delivery, I figured I should probably start packing my bag and the baby's bag for the hospital. I didn't pack soon enough with JP. He surprised us and came two weeks early and left me packing for both of us, while tending to Hunter, while breathing through contractions. Not exactly the most fun I've had... 

Needless to say, by baby #3 I know what I need, and what I can leave at home. So if you can stand it, here's a tour of what I'm bringing to the hospital...Hope this helps all you new moms-to-be!

First of all, I'll start with the baby bag itself. Shortly after we had Hunter, Aunt Mary and Uncle Peter gave us this handy bag (that we *still* use all the time). Its the perfect size for over night trips to pack the boys' stuff in, or to carry their toys on car trips, etc. I used this bag when I quickly packed Baby #2's stuff together, and is now also Baby #3's hospital bag.

I'm not sure where they got it, but should you be interested, its made by L.L.Bean. Pockets galore! I just love it!

 Here's what I've packed. Doesn't seem like enough, does it?

 Most of this stuff is pretty self explanatory, but I'l go over it anyways. Hand sanitizer for after diaper changes, and for visitors. No need to give a new born baby all your germs if you can help it! I didn't pack them with the other two, but this time I'm packing nail clippers as well. You'd be surprised as to how long those finger nails can be when they are first born! With all the heartburn I've had, I'm assuming this babe is going to have some hair. The boys ran off with all the baby combs over the last few years, so instead of buying a new one, I'm packing one of mine. And the Vaseline is for babe's bottom. The merconium poop they have the first few days is icky enough, but the Vaseline will help prevent it from sticking too much. Lesson learned!

 I'm not really an undershirt momma, but you never know what the room temperature, or outside temperature will be when you bring baby home. Plus, if they have a blow out at the hospital, I'd rather it get all over their onesie and not their cute little outfit!

 I'm pretty sure the hospital provides wipes, but I like to bring my own regardless. Notice how I'm not packing diapers? They'll give you a pack of them there so no need to bring your own, unless you're in love with a certain kind. At our hospital they give the baby a hat to wear that usually an elderly person made, but I'm also bringing one that the boys wore too.

I'm also packing a couple burp cloths, and yes these are the ones I made. I'm only bringing three outfits, and yes, I know there is only two pictured. Make sure you have one for newborn pictures and one to go home in. In my case, its the same outfit. Neutral since baby might be a boy, or might be a girl! And lastly, I've packed two receiving blankets. One is yellow, the other is the one everything is laying on. Both boys used them, so I plan on using them this time too. 

And that's it! That's all I'm bring to the hospital for the baby. Am I crazy? Do you think I should be packing more? 

 Before I forget... here's where the third outfit was. We were practicing stuff again with "Baby Huffington" who is a monkey that was given to JP by Aunt Emilienne. JP insists we name the baby in my tummy Huffington, so we compromised and named his babies Huffington. He has two. I was super surprised that this monkey fit nicely into newborn clothes! Now I just need to remember to undress and pack this outfit!

Okay...I guess I'm "packing" something else too... two more receiving blankets. But these ones are just for the car seat to keep baby's head up and prevent it from wobbling around...but they are packed in the car seat so it doesn't really count...

Comparison Photos

As my due date approaches, I've had a lot of people comment on my size... bigger, smaller etc. I thought I'd share a few pictures from Hunter's pregnancy, and a couple from JP's (since apparently I only took a couple!) and then some from this go round. So far I'm still, for the most part, following the same weight gain pattern as I did with both boys.

I was SO much smaller with JP than I was with Hunter and am with this little one. 

34 Weeks

I am nearly overdue for another update. Each week seems to fly by lately! 

 This might be the last belly picture with Kile that I'll get. Bummer. But this was over Easter. She's about 29 weeks and I'm 31 weeks. 

How far along? 34 weeks

Baby is the size of? A Cantalope - At my *last* ultrasound on April 8th, baby weighed in at 4.7 lbs and was measuring in the 67th percentile! I've got a big baby on my hands!
Baby's Heart Rate? 147 bpm...same as my weight...

Maternity clothes? Suck. I can't seem to find any pants that will stay up! And my tummy is starting to hang out the bottom of my shirts, but I don't want to buy a bigger size if I'm only going to have it for a couple more weeks...oh the dilemma..

Sleep? I've been actually getting a lot of rest. If I wake up at night, it's not because I have to go to the bathroom, it's usually just to roll over and then I'm out again. 

Movement? All the time. And since baby is learning to swallow, baby has been getting hiccups. More lately I've been finding them to be completely annoying, but at least they aren't as bad as Hunter's were! He had them all the time and for what felt like forever! That's a long time for that "twitch" feeling!

Symptoms? My boss was so nice to get me in for a back massage the other week and it did wonders, but I think I'm going to have to go back for another one. It still feels much better than it did! Other symptoms I've been dealing with are depression, and the dreaded heart burn. This baby better come out with hair! I ate a chocolate chip cookie and got heart burn for the rest of the night....not cool.

Food cravings? Still surprisingly haven't had any cravings

Anything make you queasy or sick? My prenatal pills are making me nauseous again.
SCH News? The reason for my ultrasound on the 8th was to check up on the hemorrhage and to make sure baby was growing normally despite it. I received nothing but good news - the hemorrhage resolved itself. It either bled itself out in January or my body absorbed it. Either way its gone! 

Moment of the week? I was able to spend some quality time with my sewing machine :)

Looking forward to? Planting my garden soon!

At my ultrasound, I brought JP along. He's been so excited about this baby. "When is your tummy going to crack open so the baby can come out?" "And you'll have to go to the doctor so she can fix all the cracks on your tummy from the baby" Those are stretch marks bud...from Hunter. :) But I thought he might enjoy seeing the baby on the screen. He did. For about 10 seconds. Normally he's pretty shy around other people. Not this time. If there was a button to push, he probably pushed it. Thank goodness he was distracted by my Kindle for most of it. The other part was spent messing with the bed I was laying on. What started out flat ended up at about a 60 degree angle by the end of the ultrasound, and I was just trying not to slip off the bed. Lesson learned. But the tech didn't seem to mind. And she said the baby was measuring to be due on May 22, which is 8 days sooner that my due date. And if baby come early like JP did... I could be holding my baby in... 3 or 4 weeks! I need to get my bags packed...

So I Been Sewing...

The last few weeks This month has been a real struggle for me mentally. Normally I can get a handle on my depression, but it has recently just flat out kicked my butt. I'm usually pretty good at putting on a good face for people, but even my doctor could see through it this time. I'm a little surprised no one else could... But between struggles with the boys and working but not wanting to and anxiety about becoming at stay-at-home mom, I've just been in poor spirits.

Needless to say, I've been getting a bad case of nesting going on too so I've been focusing on getting ready for baby to arrive. (We're only 6 weeks away from my due date!) The nursery, which I'm so anxious to show everyone, will have to wait until after baby arrives. But I will say it's almost done. It has a subtle owl theme to it. I've completed painting the walls and ceiling, but I'll be painting a tree in one of the corners with a couple owls sitting on the branches. That project is scheduled to start....tomorrow? 

To fill the rest of my time, I've been sewing non-stop. It seems to have helped me to think of things other than what is getting me down. For now its a nice little outlet to have. 

My first project was to "update" the mobile that was given to us when I had Hunter, and also used with JP.

There is nothing wrong with it, but by baby #3, I am tired of watching these stars go round and round. But mostly they didn't go with my nursery theme :)

 I sewed (and glued) these little cuties together in an afternoon. Not too bad for just wingin' it?!

My next project was these burp clothes. Semi-neutral, but regardless if baby is a boy or a girl, it's not going to remember them anyways, but might find the colors interesting? My mom had made me some for when I had Hunter, but I could have used a few extra. I never had one when I needed it! Typical. So those will be in circulation too.

 Capes for my little superheros. I felt bad that everything I had been doing lately was for the baby. Whether it was washing the car seat liner, or swing liner, or painting, or sewing stuff, it was all for the baby. I had planned on making these a while ago, but never had the chance to just sit down and do it. 

 Last week we finally made a trip to JoAnn's to pick out fabric for their capes. JP *loves* the Hulk, but unfortunately he's not too popular outside of the Avengers. But he loves his Hulk cape (which is actually an Avengers cape). I made his first and after I finished sewing and ironing it, I held it up to see how I did, only to realize all of the Avengers are upside down...oops. I made a point not to make the same mistake with Hunter's Superman cape.  

 To match my burp cloths, I made this cute car seat cover. With the boys we just used a blanket to cover the car seat in the winter months, but I was always nervous about the blanket falling off and suffocating them. Problem solved with this one!

I should have made it opposite so the colors were on the inside so baby would have something to look at. I guess he/she will get to study the words "Faith Love Hope" in various colors. Overall it was a very simple project, but it seemed to take forever since the boys were trying to "help" with various stuff.

Other projects I've completed in the last couple weeks include two crib sheets and a window valence. I'm sure Perry is getting tired of listening to the sewing machine in the kitchen while he watches movies in the living room...good thing I'm almost done with all of my projects!

And here's a few photos of the boys since they've been off the blogging radar lately.

 My pajama boys 

 Here we go again practicing with Eeyore. 

 He's going to be a good big brother!

One of my superheros - The Hulk. I was surprised he knew exactly where his Hulk mask was! Hunter's cape wasn't done yet, but he insisted on being in the picture :)

My Boys Are Gross!

Reason #937 why I hope this baby is a girl: My boys are gross! And I'm hoping they don't teach her their ways, but inevitably kids will be kids I guess. Let me just describe to you what led me to this decision today. It's not that I couldn't have decided this on another day, but I think I just caught them in the act more times today.

Gross #1 This morning, the boys decided on cereal for breakfast and as a treat, I let them eat in the living room at the coffee table. Because this wasn't my first rodeo, I didn't put milk in their cereal because, obviously, as I'm sure many moms will agree, kids and couches don't mix. So should they have spilled their cereal, I didn't want to chance it and get it on the couch. And I called it. Hunter spill his bowl of dry cereal all over the floor, and I instructed him to start cleaning it up. How did he go about it? Licking it off the floor! We have hard wood floors throughout most of our house, and I'm pretty good about keeping them clean, but honestly, I wouldn't ever eat off of them...let alone lick them!? "But mom, I'm eating like a dog!"

Gross #2 After a busy morning/afternoon playing outside, we came in to have some quiet time while watching a movie. Today I snuggled by JP on the couch. Halfway through the movie he started picking his nose, which is a pretty common thing with him. This time, however, he actually got one out. A big hard but slimy one. As I struggled to get off the couch to retrieve a tissue for him, he proclaims "Look mom! It's a big one! I'm going to put it in my ear!" And then he did. But if that wasn't gross enough, by the time I got back with the tissue to get it out of his ear, instead of his finger, he proudly proclaimed "I ate it! And it was good!" Eww.... talk about saving it for later!

Gross #3 While I was cooking dinner, I let the boys play outside in the backyard so they'd stay out of the kitchen. Plus it was just a super nice day out. I kept my eye on them from the kitchen window, and left it open so I could hear them just in case. During one of my checks, I caught JP with his pants down in the garden peeing. From the window I shouted "Jim! What are you doing?! Pull up your pants - if you have to go potty, you need to come inside!" And he clearly heard me because he retorted "But I wanted to make some mud to play in!" Yeah...let's think about that again...

Gross #4 We had a side of corn with our meal tonight. I don't know why, but it seems to take *forever* for the boys to eat their dinner. I'm talking 45 minutes. Needless to say, after twenty minutes, I was done, so I took my plate to the sink. When I sat back down, Hunter murmured something about Jimmy's nose, and just as I turned to look at Jim, two pieces of corn came literally shooting out of his nose. I probably should have explained why we don't put things in our noses, but the sight I saw was quite comical and I was just trying to keep from laughing. Not exactly what I was expecting. But a bit later at dinner as he was eating his corn, he declared in excitement "OH! This one has a booger on it! It's going to be good!... Mmmmm It WAS good!" Jim. Seriously. Stop with the boogers in the mouth thing.

By that point, I was glad dad came home so I could go to yoga and cleanse my mind of those icky gross things.... Your kids do these things too right?

Missoula Phoenix Easter Egg Hunt

This year I thought taking the boys to a big Easter egg hunt would be a lot of fun for them. In past years, we've hidden eggs in the backyard, but with my family in town, I figured this might be more fun. Although I wanted to take them to the hunt on the oval at the university, I knew there was no way I'd be able to make it because I had to work. Luckily there was one before the Missoula Phoenix football game started that was later in the afternoon. I barely made it. I had about 5 minutes to spare. Thankfully Perry brought the boys earlier. From what I hear, they were pretty excited!

 I always enjoy looking at Perry walking with the boys!

While I was finishing up at work, the boys waited patiently for the festivities to begin.

 Those silly boys...

 Still waiting...

Yeah...I know...the sign says 0-3 and Hunter is pushing 4 1/2. But this was his first hunt, and honestly, he got destroyed in this group, so I can only imagine how he would have fared in the 4-5 age group. Plus, we wanted to watch them both.

 Once the buzzer sounded for the hunt to begin, the boys just stood there in awe. I ended up having to help JP out quite a bit since he was....a picky hunter.

 Aunt Bobby helped Hunter, and scored a bunch of Tootie Rolls herself. They didn't do too bad. 

 Hunter managed to get quite a few.

JP did alright. He's a funny kid. Insisted on *only* collecting the green eggs. He even went as far as putting the other ones back that I grabbed for him because they weren't green. It made collecting eggs quite challenging. We'd run to a big patch of eggs and as soon as he go to grab one, another kid would scoop them all up.

 Turns out all the green eggs had toys in them, at least all of JP's. He collected quite a few bracelets and a pair of stick on earrings and a couple stickers.

Hunter and Aunt Bobby opened his eggs together. I believe in this photo, Hunter won some free fudge. Guess who was pretty excited about that?! 

After the hunt, the field cleared and we took our seats in the stands to watch my cousin play on the Missoula Phoenix football team. There were 4 teams in total playing football so it made watching the game/games kind of hard. Two teams would play on one half of the field and the other two on the other end and they played for 40 minutes and then switched opponents. We only stayed for the first set of games because the boys were getting a little rambunctious in the stands, probably because they were hungry...!