35 weeks

This week our baby girl is approximately 20 inches long and 5.5lbs according to the experts who write books on such things.

Any cravings?  Foods I'm currently loving:  Cereal, broccoli, apples, cereal (sometimes with apples on top), crunchy peanut butter on my apples, Cereal

Maternity clothes?  Um, yes please.  I still have a couple pairs of pre-maternity pants that I can wear with a belly band, but maternity clothes are really the way to go.

Still running/walking/exercising?  After not running at all for a week due to pelvic pain, I finally got a good jog in on the treadmill yesterday- 30 minutes (with 3 walk breaks).  Still walking at the park at least a few days a week too.

Current symptoms?  heartburn, itchy belly

Baby Moving?  Yes, a lot, but she's running out of room, so I'm feeling knees, elbows, arms, and legs pushing and stretching.

Stretch marks?  Not yet.  Now excuse me a moment while I go knock on wood.

Any contractions or other signs of labor?  Braxton Hicks

What is exciting right now?  Looking forward to maternity pictures this weekend, finishing the nursery, and realizing we only have 5 weeks until we meet our baby girl!

I'm baaack....

 

So...It's been a while...

 

Nearly a year to be exact.

 

But I can catch you up fairly quickly.  We are all settled in Jonesboro.  We are really loving it overall.  Ryan is still in school and also working part-time.  I am still working at the hospital and now also in the clinic setting some as well. 

 

We've had some changes occur in our family.  We unexpectedly and very sadly lost our dog, Duke.  We were devastated, and Aspen was (and still is) depressed (he doesn't do well being alone).  So, fast-forward a couple months, and we find ourselves with this little guy.



 



Unfortunately, Aspen doesn't like him.  It may have something to do with his needle-like baby teeth and his insatiable need to bite everything, hoping he will find something or someone to play with him...including Aspen's ankles and belly and ears.  Maybe they'll like each other when we get past this phase.

 



The most life-changing event, however, that has taken place in the past year, has had more to do with the girth of my waistline....

(please excuse the phone-in-the-dirty-mirror picture, but you get the idea)

 

Yep, that's our baby girl in there!  (and yes, that is my slipper getting eaten by Copper...refer back to the whole biting issue above)  She will be here before we know it.  I'm due October 30th...that's only about 5 weeks away if you're counting.  I know I am. 

 

I had really hoped to blog all the way through my pregnancy...sharing weekly belly updates, my adventures with running and eventually wogging (walk/jog) while pregnant, my cravings, and petty little insights into my pregnancy journey, but frustrations came with the amount of time it was taking to add photos to my computer, edit them, and ultimately post them.  So it just hasn't happened.  I am now typing this on a new computer with much more storage space and none of Ryan's school text books or crazy huge Auto CAD files taking up my picture space.  I hope to be able to keep you updated on the remainder of my pregnancy journey and, more importantly, the life we will have with our little girl when she gets here in a few short weeks...

 

So, ready or not, here we go!