Baby P#3: 39 weeks

{Visiting Kai's classroom}

How far along:  39 weeks 

How big is baby: we shall see soon I hope!

What have you been up to: "nesting" and waiting...

Maternity clothes: all day, every day

  

Sleep: I wake up at about 2-3am every morning and don't get back to sleep til 5-6am. It's so much fun!

Milestones:  reaching the point in pregnancy I was when I went into labor with Desmond nearly 3 years ago. 

Best Moments: snuggling with my boys and enjoying our last moments just the 4 of us before school and baby change everything, in really good ways. 

Worst Moment: anxiety over her arrival colliding with Malakai's first day of school.

Food cravings: chinese food, brownies

Food aversions: none

Symptoms: increased heartburn, breathlessness, contractions all the time

Movement: a little slower, she's running out of room!

Gender: girl

What I’m looking forward to: Meeting our girl, and Malakai's first day of school

What I’m nervous about/praying for: That I don't miss Kai's first day!

What I miss: being able to move at a regular speed, I feel so slow these days.

Next appointment: 39 week appointment was yesterday, I'm hoping not to make it to my due date appointment!

Weekly Wisdom: "Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life."  -Philippians 4:6-7, The Message.

Little Sister's Nursery

We've finally put the finishing touches on our little girl's nursery. I had so much fun putting together a girlie room! We painted a few months ago, which included painting our main living area as well. It took a couple days and the nursery stayed empty for a long time afterward, but we are thrilled with the result. Ben + my brother Cody also scraped the popcorn ceiling off in the nursery. It's something we'd love to do to the entire house but would be quite the undertaking. So we started with that room since it's small and would be empty for painting anyway. I love the way it makes the room look instantly brighter and bigger.

Here are a few pictures of the room before it's transformation. It started out as Malakai's nursery when we moved here, he was 9 months old. We have 3 bedrooms in our teeny house, and the 3rd was a guest room until we transformed it into a play room and then a nursery for Desmond. Nearly a year ago we moved Malakai into that room with Desmond so we could remove all toys (distractions) from where they would be sleeping and have a dedicated "play room" in Malakai's previous room. When we found out we were expecting, naturally the playroom would become baby #3's nursery.

{just after we moved in, March 2010}

{after we moved the boys to share the 3rd bedroom and turned this one into a playroom}

When we found out we'd be welcoming a baby girl I thought we would leave it green and add dark pink accents. I loved this green in our previous home, but it was a much bigger room with 2 windows and wood floors. I didn't love it as much in this house; with less lighting it didn't look as cool and light. The more I looked around for inspiration I started to change my mind. I fell in love with the idea of a light grey nursery with coral and peach accents. Somewhere along the way I decided to include arrows to represent their meaning in Psalm 127. 

Once we got the crib and started putting some pieces together I got more and more excited about the color scheme. I had a hard time finding both coral and peach pieces but was able to acquire several things through our baby shower, gifts, and DIY projects.

The teething rail guard is a must right off the bat because of all the horrendous teething marks the boys left on the crib. I made this simple no-sew version from some peachy fleece Ben's mom bought for me. It matches the peach on the quilt she made as well. I wanted to make a crib skirt but couldn't find the perfect fabric, or the time. I ran into a queen sized bed skirt we had on our guest bed years ago tucked away in the linen closet and made it work by clipping it to the crib support underneath the mattress, making it adjustable as well! It's not perfect, but it works to make a nice hidden storage area under the crib for sheets and other things.

Much of the decor came from the decorations at my baby shower. The pom poms above the crib, the bunting and scripture above the changing table, the letter P on the floating shelf, even the curtains which my mom sewed up from the table runners. The basket that I have the diapers in held a gift from my friend Carina. 

Liz also painted the gorgeous peonies (which were on the invites she had made for my shower) and made the wooden arrow sign above the shelves.  Malakai made the decorations underneath. 

I love the simplicity of our little nursery and the way the bright coral and peach colors really pop in contrast to the neutral grey walls and dark espresso furniture. I'd still like to add some softer peach accents, and I may in the future or as our needs in this room change.

Our crib and changing table/dresser have lasted us since Malakai was born 5 years ago. They've got some cosmetic wear and tear but we still love them. The glider is new and was a gift from my parents, we love it so far and I can't wait to rock sweet little sister in it soon! 

Baby P #3: 38 weeks...

How far along:  38 weeks. The point where I always look tired and am never thrilled with photos taken of me. This may be the last update that includes a picture! 

How big is baby: heavy. at least that's how she feels these days!

What have you been up to: I'm still going crazy getting things ready over here. We've reached the point where we are ready, now it's just maintenance and other side projects that aren't "musts" but would be nice to have done sooner rather than later. I have the hardest time sitting down because I keep thinking of things to do, Ben mandated some rest time for me today and Amy took the kids for a couple hours making it possible. Thanks for taking care of me!

Maternity clothes: not in this picture actually, which is odd because there are very few non-maternity things that I can get to fit this growing belly. 

  

Sleep: has been surprisingly better the last few nights. 

Milestones: the nursery is done! I will post about that soon. 

Best Moments: Having an impromptu date night last night thanks to my in-laws!

Worst Moment: false labor last weekend. Sunday morning I was up at 3am with contractions and never got back to sleep. That was a rough day and made me more ready than ever to meet our little girl. 

Food cravings: fruit and salads.

Food aversions: none.

Symptoms: lots of contractions and cramping, but nothing consistent or painful. 

Movement: same as usual, lot of big movements. 

Gender: girlie

What I’m looking forward to: I'm just ready to meet my daughter, to be done wondering when she'll be born.

What I’m nervous about/praying for: I'm constantly worrying over (and praying about) her arrival date. I really don't want to miss Malakai's first day of school which is in less than 2 weeks. I'm hoping that she will arrive this weekend or some time this next week.

What I miss: being able to move with ease. Getting up from the floor or sometimes the bed/couch is quite the effort.  

Next appointment: tomorrow morning. 

Weekly Wisdom: everything to God in prayer. 

family + maternity photo shoot

We haven't been great about documenting this pregnancy in photos, especially consistently posed and timed ones. Also, in an ideal world we would have done some updated family photos at least a year ago, and then some maternity photos much earlier in this pregnancy when I wasn't feeling so swollen...but all those things aside I really love the photos we got today.

My mom came out to our place to take photos this afternoon. We simply went down the street a few blocks to an orchard right next to our favorite park. The lighting was perfect, the weather was comfortable and the boys were cooperative. It was some kind of blessed event!

So here are pictures of my sweet family; Malakai at 5 years old, Desmond at nearly 3 (in October), and baby sister at 37 weeks 2 days. 

Baby P #3: 37 weeks

{9pm is not the best time to get a good photo...}

How far along:  37 weeks

How big is baby: approximately 18.-9-20.9 inches and 6.2-9.2lbs (quite the range!)

What have you been up to: nesting like crazy. Today alone I cleaned up the boys' toy storage in the garage, added a bedskirt to the crib, made a carseat canopy, had a play date and made a Target run, organized my entire craft cart, rearranged some storage in the garage and the baby's room, set up all her headbands + clips, Ben + I arranged the poms in the photo above and did some other decor brainstorming, plus the usual chores of dishes and laundry and kid wrangling. Ben is currently setting up the co-sleeper in our room. 

Maternity clothes: maternity tanks and maxi skirts during the heat, but thankfully we've had a reprieve and I've been able to wear T's and jeans a couple days. 

  

Sleep: lots of tossing and turning. 

Milestones: full term!

Best Moments: watching my boys play with dolls and stuffed animals, pretending to take care of baby sister. They are so excited to meet her!

Worst Moment: injuring my back last weekend. I was out for a few days and it was super stiff and painful. I can't exactly pinpoint what I did but it was different and worse than my previous injury...and I was JUST discharged from PT for that one! Thankfully I'm doing better, I was so worried I'd go into labor with my back messed up!

Food cravings: chocolate.

Food aversions: none.

Symptoms: aches and pains. 

Movement: lots of kicks and bumps to the ribs. 

Gender: sweet little sister.

What I’m looking forward to: finishing up projects so we can relax and wait for baby girl's arrival.

What I’m nervous about/praying for: I can't help but constantly wonder when she'll be here!

What I miss: being able to bend down without involuntarily holding my breath. 

Next appointment: Last week started weekly visits, so I'll see my doc again end of next week. 

Weekly Wisdom: listen to your body and slow down before you overdo it...I've NOT been doing this!