34 weeks (almost)

How far along?: Almost 34 Weeks
How big is baby?: 17.75 Inches, 4.75 lbs
Food cravings?: Still peanut butter a lot. But it's giving me heartburn a lot too, so not as much as I used to want it. Right now I'm having a weird craving for the smell of wet dirt, kind of like the smell right after it rains. I never had weird cravings with Sam. No, I don't want to eat dirt or anything like that so don't think I'm super weird, just when the sprinklers come on in the garden or when I'm watering the flowers outside, that smell is just wonderful to me. I've always loved the smell, but I find myself going out and watering the flowers more often just so I can smell that. Apparently it's common in pregnancy (especially the dirt thing) and more common in those with an iron deficiency, which I have. Could be worse, at least I'm not like those other pregnant people that like the smell of white-out or markers, smelling wet dirt isn't going to harm me or Ella. 
What I'm looking forward to: Baby shower is this Sunday!! I'm so excited, getting things ready for that right now, I'm starting to think about pulling up stuff from the basement and getting things set up for her... Only sixish more weeks till my due date. 
Milestone: Not much going on still. She's maturing her lungs and just getting fat for delivery day. (Though we're going to hope not too fat and that she doesn't have her Daddy or Brother's fat head, that was hard enough on me with Sam, ha ha.) 
Best moment this week?: Playing outside with Sam. He is my little outdoors man! He's already getting a tan.  
Feelings this week?: This week has been better than last in terms of work. It is overwhelming sometimes when you have a billion things to focus on and your next shift depends on the way you manage those things. I am trying to focus on one thing at a time right now and hoping that everything else falls into place along the way. I really only have this month and next month to get things straightened out before I go on leave so it is hard not to stress about that since these last months are going to count as more than one month. The center is hopefully going to start opening even earlier than it was so as much as I don't want to have to wake up and work at 3am, if that's what's available, that's what I'll do. Same thing about working nights, as much as I don't want to have to do it, if I have to do it, I will. I'm not giving up on the hope that I can get a decent shift when bid times come around, I am just mentally preparing myself for the possibility of not getting the shift I want, and hoping my daycare situation isn't affected too much by it. 


As much as work stresses me out, I am happy that I have a job and a well paying one at that. I'm happy that I get to spend as much time with my family as I do. It could be much worse, which is why going back to days isn't something that I want to do, either nights or early mornings is better for all of us in the long run. (Though I really wish I could work like 8am to 2pm, that'd be pretty sweet.) 


Other than work stresses, things are going great at home. Sam is just wonderful, he's so smart and picks up on things so quickly. I can't believe how much he knows now. He's also a monkey and can climb up the big slide in the backyard, so we have to watch him like a hawk when he's out there. He loves spending time outside and can sit in the sandbox for at least an hour playing in the dirt.... all in all home life is pretty amazing! 

32 Weeks

How far along?: 32 Weeks
How big is baby?: 16.7 Inches, 3.75 lbs!!
Food cravings?: Peanut butter, we have literally gone through a double jar of peanut butter in 3 weeks. That's how much of it I am eating!
What I'm looking forward to: My baby shower is coming up soon, only a few more weeks!
Milestone: Pretty much from now till she's born it's mostly fattening up! She's starting to lose the fur that's covering her whole body. 
Sleep?: Well in between bathroom trips I'm sleeping pretty good. I've almost been late to work a few days this week cause I'm so knocked out. 
Best moment this week?: This has been a rough week to say the least. My Facebook post reflect how stressful it was. The best part of this last week was putting up Sam's swing set and watching him play on it for the first time... He's getting so big now, I can't believe that he's going to be two soon!! It's crazy. 
Feelings this week?: My son is so smart. He is at this wonderful stage right now where he is my little parrot. (Which mean's I really have to watch what I say, lol.) If I ask him to say a word, he will try pretty much any word I give him. He is starting to say a lot of animal sounds, and we have a lot of first word books, he can recognize about 90% of the pictures in those books. He's also a little smarty pants too and his favorite phrase right now is: "I don't want to," he likes to say this pretty much to anything we ask of him. 


I am also feeling very pregnant lately too. Kind of apprehensive about the fact that we are only a few weeks out from delivery. (I'll technically be full term in only a month.) I'm also a lot more emotional with her than when I was pregnant with Sam. She's got me crying at the drop of a hat. I don't remember being weepy with Sam... I know I was quick to get mad, but I was never weepy. 


Other than that, just a stressful week all around. Mostly with work, but it's going to be my weekend soon so I'll get to breathe a sigh of relief when that day comes around, lol. 

31 Weeks

How far along?: 31Weeks
How big is baby?: 16.25 Inches, 3.3 lbs!!
Food cravings?: Ice Cream Sandwhiches
What I'm looking forward to: Putting the finishing touches on Ella's Room, my baby shower is coming up soon!
Milestone: Pretty much from now till she's born it's mostly fattening up!
Sleep?: Well in between bathroom trips I'm sleeping pretty good. Though I am still extremely tired all the time.
Best moment this week?: Yesterday was a pretty good day, watching my boys play outside the kitchen window while I cooked, love them so much. That and sitting in AJ's lap last night while we watched TV that was nice too... basically just being together with my beautiful family makes me really happy!
Feelings this week?: A few things I've realized this week:

#1 I am more scared of the delivery this time than I was with Sam. I think this is partly due to the fact that I was in SO MUCH pain, and it really hasn't been long enough since Sam was born for me to forget what that pain felt like. But mainly it is because I had to experience the terror of something being wrong with my baby and not being able to do anything about it, not being able to see him or hear about how he was doing for hours after he was born. I had a dream the other night that Ella was born and they kept me from her and it brought back all those terrible emotions, and the anxiety of it all. I am terrified of that happening again, the more I think about Sam's birth the more thankful I am that AJ was there with him the whole time, I honestly don't think I realized how scared I was about Sam until we had come home from the hospital. It's like I couldn't let myself feel it or it would've been too much for me to handle after giving birth. (I was also drugged up so that could have been part of it.) I'm just praying that everything goes right this time, but I am definitly more scared and nervous about it this time.

#2 I am anxious about having a second baby when my first is so young. I am confident that it will be fine and we will all get used to one another, but I am nervous about how Sam is going to do. I remember when I was pregnant with sam how anxious I was to have him and with this one, I am not even close to ready to have her yet!

29 weeks + some 3D pictures

How far along?: 29 Weeks, 4 days
How big is baby?: 15.25 inches, 2.5 lbs
Food cravings?: Oatmeal raisen cookies.
What I'm looking forward to: Finishing Ella's room, 3D ultrasound
Milestone: Ella can hear outside the womb now, sense light changes, and her brain and lungs are continuing to develop nicely.
Sleep?: Well in between bathroom trips I'm sleeping pretty good. Though I am still extremely tired all the time.
Best moment this week?: Getting to see Ella's pretty face on the ultrasound. My hubby finished the floors in our living room, love it so much. I couldn't stand the carpets in there before, so it is really nice to have good floors in there. Also Sam was sitting on my lap the other day and poking me in the belly button, (he's obsessed with that right now.) Then he smacked my tummy and Ella kicked him back, it was cute.
Feelings this week?: I know I haven't updated the blog in a few weeks. To be honest I just haven't had the energy to. I've been really, really tired the last few weeks. I sleep really hard but wake up tired still. It seems like no matter how much sleep I'm getting it's not enough. I had my Dr's appointment last Wednesday and I'm moving right along, Ella's heartbeat was 138 BPM, and I'm measuring right on, I also gained some weight finally which is good too. I had my Glucose test and passed that (yay!) but they did find out I'm anemic, which I think explains a little bit about why I'm so tired lately. I'm taking iron pills so hopefully my energy will pick up a little soon.

We had the 3D ultrasound today, I found out that I have an anterior placenta (which means the placenta is on the front of my uterus instead of the back,) so we weren't able to get good enough pictures since I wasn't hydrated enough, I got a few good ones, it looks like she's got some chubby cheeks. We're going back next Wednesday and I have to drink a lot of water for a few days before we go. So hopefully the pictures will be clearer.

25 weeks

How far along?: 25 Weeks, 15 weeks left!
How big is baby?: 13.5 Inches, 1.5 lbs
Food cravings?: Cinnamon pop tarts, ice cream. Apple pies from McDonalds.
What I'm looking forward to: Spring! It's starting to get a little warmer and the sun is going down a little later.
Milestone: Ella is fattening up and her limbs are getting a little more proportional.
Sleep?: Depends on how much my back hurts.
Best moment this week?: It was a pretty uneventful week, I'm just having fun cuddling with my Sam.
Feelings this week?: Really not much happened this last week. Sam has been great and he's speaking a TON now... I'm just waiting for him to repeat a work he shouldn't say... he's my little parrot right now. We also got new floor for our living room (HALLELUJAH!) I have hated the carpet in there for years but we're able to replace it now with laminate hardwoods, should be done in a few weeks. I'm really excited about this! AJ also got me a new faucet and garbage disposal since ours hasn't been working.... still haven't started the nursery, but we'll get to it soon I hope!

24 Weeks

How far along?: 24 weeks!

How big is baby?: 12.5 inches, 1.25 lbs.

Food cravings?: Apple Pies from McDonalds!

What I'm looking forward to: The 3-D ultrasound! (Which I really need to schedule, lol.)
Milestone: Baby is basically at the point now where the rest of this pregnancy she is going to just continue fattening up and developing her systems.

Sleep?: Sort of. I'm struggling with having to pee in the middle of the night (like every 2 hours) and when I have to wake up a 3:45 am to get up for work it's kind of frustrating, but I'm making it work.

Best moment this week?: Getting our new puppy Gizmo and watching Sam play with him and love on him, it's too cute!

Feelings this week?: This week has been pretty good. We got our new puppy and it was one of the best decisions I've made in a while, Sam absolutely loves him, and I didn't realize this, but I'm hoping it will help me for when Ella comes along since I'm having to teach Sam about how to be gentle with the puppy. He's not understanding yet that Gizmo isn't a stuffed animal, so that poor puppy has sustained his fair amount of little kicks and smacks so far. I'm also seeing a little bit of jealousy from Sam too, sometimes when I'm holding Gizmo, Sam will come up and love on me and try to push the puppy out of my lap.  I'm hoping we can curb that before Ella comes along. I didn't realize he would be jealous... I wish I could take him around a newborn to see how he acts... Whatever happens I know it's going to be a rough few weeks of adjustment once she's here!

Sam is also maturing so fast! We put him into his new bed and at first I was having to spend 45 minutes to rock him to sleep. Now we read a few books and he doesn't want me to rock him anymore. We read our books, but as soon as the lights go out where I usually rock and sing to him, he says: "bed" at first I was thinking that I would put him in bed and he'd get out of the bed and start playing as soon as I shut the door.. nope, he went right to sleep. The last 3 nights he's done this. It just surprises me how well he's adjusted to being in the big boy bed!

23 weeks

How far along?: 23 Weeks

How big is baby?: 11.5 in 1.1 lbs
Food cravings?: Not really anything in particular right now. Maybe ice cream, and I am thirsty a lot. I'm also eating like a 15 year old boy right now with how hungry I am.
What I'm looking forward to: Dr's appointment on Wednesday, those are always nice.
Milestone: This milestone makes me breathe a teeny tiny sigh of relief. Ella is far enough along in her development that she could have a chance at survival outside the womb. Basically all of her organs are developed and functioning, we now just need the next 17 weeks for those systems to mature.
Sleep?: Doing okay, just thave to pee all the time.
Best moment this week?: This week has been pretty lazy, not a lot going on. AJ and I were able to squeeze in some time for us over my weekend, so that has been nice.
Feelings this week?: I'm feeling pretty big this week, but I think the growing has slowed a little bit. I think I'm about the same size this week as I was during week 25 with Sam. So I'm not that much bigger. We're also thinking about middle names, I was really set on Jane for the longest time, no matter what the first name was... but since we decided on Gabriella, I've been thinking Rose might sound better as her middle name. We're still not sure, they both sound great so we haven't made any decisions yet.

I'm a little disappointed that we aren't farther along in her nursery, but it's a lot harder to find the time when we have another little one to manage. We were done with the nursery for Sam by this time when I was pregnant with him. I guess this Wednesday we'll have to just get on it. I need to clean out the rest of the furniture in that room and vacuum and carpet clean before we paint or anything. Hopefully we can get that taken care of this weekend.

Other than that, not much else going on. Sam amazes me every day, he's talking really well lately and says 3-4 word sentences now!