37 weeks

So I took these when I was 36 1/2 weeks. And now I'm passed the 37 week mark.

But who's counting. :)

I thought I would take a minute to write about how the pregnancy's been going.

I started off the third trimester with nausea, acid reflux, and constant sleepiness. It only lasted a few weeks though. Once the baby dropped I felt SO much better. My back pain has even improved...relatively. She is a big mover. Seriously...almost all the time but mostly at night. She is the wiggliest baby to date...at least that I can remember. She also gets the hiccups almost daily. Owen got the hiccups a lot too. :)

It has been a huge blessing to be feeling so well, because we had a lot of things we needed to get accomplished before the baby came...like making room for her.

After Reid moved into Owen's room, the third bedroom became an office/craft room/gigantic junk drawer.

It took several weekends, a trip to IKEA, and a shameful amount of purging of stuff but we did it!

The baby has the third bedroom now, and all my craft stuff is in our bedroom. Jared still has boxes of stuff from his graduate office to go through and our garage is kind of a mess, but we at least have the house mostly in order.

We raised our bed to have a place for more storage. Seriously...WHY have we never done that until now?

In other news...

Jared was waiting to hear about a job he interviewed for in West Virginia. He flew out for a second interview and everything. Well...there's a hiring freeze for that job and that department. So...we're here for a while longer. We have faith it will all work out and I have to admit that I'm glad we're not in the middle of a move right this minute.

Reid dropped his nap....I know, I know he hung onto that nap for a long time which I kind of loved. The transition was tough at first, but we've made the adjustment pretty well. It seems like he's matured a lot recently as well so that has helped.

He is now the first person to get dressed every morning. At least a few times a week he wakes me up a few minutes before my alarm goes off, fully dressed and with a fresh pair of underwear on. Now if I could train him to wrap up his overnight diaper for me too... or drop the diaper all together... :) I'll worry about that later.

Just this week he has also taken an interest in drawing. It seems like overnight he could suddenly draw a circle. I've started working on a preschool workbook with him while Owen does his homework...because he wants to do what Owen's doing. He surprised me by being able to do a basic picture matching worksheet, drawing lines where they are supposed to go. I'm excited to start do more learning time with him now that he has shown interest.

It seriously amazes me that kids change and grow overnight sometimes like that. It makes me grateful that I can be home with them to witness it all and not miss a beat. 

Owen has been working on a science fair project.

He at first wanted to do an electric pickle or potato battery. The instructions state that he has to do most of it by himself, so we brain stormed for a week and we decided on a popcorn experiment instead. Now, I know this year he's going to need a lot more help than he will in future years, but we really wanted him to do as much as he could by himself.

He tested four brands, recorded data, and now we are halfway done with his board. He has been really patient with the whole process and has really done a lot of the work himself. I am proud of him.

We've been prepping the boys for their sister to come. We made some onsies for her.

The boys drew her pictures. I simplified the pictures and freezer paper stenciled them onto onsies.

Then we hung their pictures on her door. This was before Reid really showed an interest in drawing. For this one, he probably made it in 5 seconds flat. :)
Kind of made transferring it to a onsie a trick.


We've also been talking about what it means to have a new baby in the house. Mom will be "sick" for a while. The baby will cry a lot...but she'll be really cute! Stuff like that.

I mentioned that the baby will be fragile. Owen responded with, "Oh, so like we shouldn't throw her and stuff." ...ha ha what? Like we normally throw people? I love the funny things they say and to get a glimpse into how their minds work.

Reid loves to hug my belly and lift up my shirt to look at it...at home, in public - yikes! He has been really affectionate and loving lately. I was having a bad day and telling Jared about it. Reid came right up in my face, squished my cheeks and said, "You are awesome Mom! I love you! Let me help you. Watch my cool jump! It's so awesome huh?"

It was so so sweet. We have such good boys.

I haven't felt ready for this baby to come for the longest time. I have been getting a lot of comments like, "Can't wait huh?" and "Getting anxious yet?" My response has always been that I can definitely wait. It is MUCH easier to have her in my belly than out right now.

But as we've gotten ready for the baby and crossed all the things off our list that we've been needing to get done, I am starting to feel more and more ready.

Taxes are done, I cut the boys' hair (with no pee accident and slightly less crying this time! - yay!), the baby bag is packed,

the car seat is ready,

our freezer is stocked with two weeks worth of meals,

Owen's about done with his science fair stuff...

and Jared is done with his thesis! He has been editing while working full time and applying for jobs. No small feat. He turns in his final edits this week. There may be some tweaks but I seriously hope not! Starting yesterday he has been home which is nice.

There have been many days and nights when he has gotten up for work at 4:30, worked, come home for a quick lunch, and then gone off to work on his thesis and job hunting, come home for dinner, and then been off again until 9 or 10 at night just so he could get ready for bed...then start all over again. It's been kind of hard on both of us. So to have him home home is so nice I can't even tell you.

Now I can finally say, that I'm ready for her to come. And yes...I'm starting to feel that anxious itch for her to get here soon. I'm in no rush yet, but I might feel differently next week.

For the last couple of weeks I've been a 2 and 70% effaced. Her head is down and she is dropped and ready to go. I could be here for a while though. Who knows?

At least now we're ready!

Oh except for a name. The jury is still out on that one. It's getting kind of ridiculous.

Can't wait to meet you little one...whatever your name is. :)