37 weeks

I am in just total awe that I am now considered 'full term'. Some consider 39 weeks to be full term but a lot consider 37 weeks. Its just crazy to think I am almost done with this pregnancy. We will meet our baby boy in three weeks or less. How amazing to just think about. I never knew you could love someone that you have never met so much. This time next month, I will be busy with new mom stuff.. diaper changes, feedings, cuddles, late nights, kisses, hugs, and everything in between. We can't wait.

Everything is ready for him except those little items we still have to get like diapers and such. Just everyday necessities. I am planing to cloth diaper but since I still have not had the time to make them.. (well, energy more like) we will use disposable ones until I get my diaper stash done. Plus using disposable will help with adjusting to mommy-hood so I don't have a pile of diapers piling up to clean when I am exhausted from lack of sleep so it just makes sense.

We decided not to get him permanent furniture like a crib and changing station. Those type of things are such a hassle to take apart and we move two months after he is due so we are using a pack and play for his crib that now sits by my side of the bed. It has a bassinet and changing station in it so I thought that was perfect. I always thought pack and plays was for toddlers so I was really impressed. It will be perfect for the hotels and things during our move too. I wish we could have a nursery for him but once we get in to our new home, I plan to really make his room special and look forward to decorating.

Centering Pregnancy is over now.  We had our last session this week and now I am doing weekly visits to the office for normal prenatal checkups until baby boy decides to make an appearance.

37 Weeks

 

Some highlights I don't want to forget-

• I have gained 9 pounds in total so far (no gain or loss since 30 weeks)
• Baby seems to always get the hiccups after I eat a big meal.
• I have started to get those weird cravings that I would never eat otherwise. I actually like peas.. for now.
• Baby's heart beat is 146 bpm
• Craving both salty and sweet.. depends on the day. I could go for potato chips one day and a can of peaches the next.

Rag Quilt

I really wanted to make baby boy his first blanket. I searched and searched for a good tutorial on how to make one online but didn't find anything that jumped out at me. Then I looked on Pinterest and found one for a rag quilt. I feel in love and had to make it asap. I didn't know how long this quilt was going to take me since I have never made one so I wanted to get started right away. I must say I am really impressed with myself. I did not mess up once. There was no sewing the wrong sides together or cutting anything to the wrong size. Plus it only took me three days. I am pretty happy with the results. Hubby saw it and is now begging for me to make us one to cuddle up in for movie nights and things. I may have to surprise him once I have everything else made for baby and have the time to put in to another quilt.

Maternity photos

Just doing a quick post to share our photos from our maternity shoot. I am 35 weeks pregnant here. Enjoy!

Making plans for 2014

I had a few 2013 resolutions that did not happen the way I had planned them.. but that's just life and I got something even better. I wanted to lose weight and excel at working from home (as well as a few others which you can read at the link above) but then I was finally blessed with this pregnancy so no weight loss for me and I am now a full time Homemaker which is where I will stay. My dream is to be a stay at home Mom so yes, I got the better end of the deal. I made plans and God had something better in mind. I couldn't be happier.
2014 is going to be such a busy year. We will become Mommy and Daddy next month. Steve started school after a month long Winter break and this will be his last semester at Delaware Tech. Days to maybe a week or so after this semester is over, we take a u-haul from Delaware to Washington state. We are MOVING! We really hope to buy a bigger car (maybe an SUV or van) before the big move since it will be Daddy, Mommy, baby boy, Tubbles, Bunker and Gunyr all cramped into a car for a week long road trip across country. We really don't know the logistics yet on if we will drive the u-haul and tow the car or drive the car and ship our stuff over via boat like we did from Germany but this all happens in FOUR MONTHS! We have four months to plan this and get everything done because once he is done with this semester, we pack up and will be gone for good. Our lease ends the same month as his semester ends so its like it was meant to be. I can not wait. I really am done with this living in a new place every few years. My heart yearns for home. I can't wait to move back, buy a house, and know that if I paint the walls, I wont have to paint them white in a couple years because it will be ours. I dream of decorating and painting baby boy's room and having a Nursery for our next baby. I dream of making lasting relationships with other women and have the town we live in (wherever we end of settling) be our home. I can get more involved in the church and everything that entails. We will be staying with family in WA until we find a house. No more Holidays of just us. I hope to be in our new house by the Holidays next year and host Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner and invite everyone.

For this years resolution, I am not going to give myself a list of things to try to accomplish. I just have one goal. That is to keep learning and becoming the best mom and wife I can. I want to be that Homemaker that knows how to do everything and can get a stain out of anything. I am now learning to can foods (with my awesome new pressure canner) and getting my home and life more organized (I think my nesting instincts is helping with that as well). I have a vision of the wife I want to be so I am just going to focus on that and keep doing what I have been doing.

34 weeks

32 Weeks 

34 Weeks

I am starting to experience all those discomforts that those late in pregnancy talk about. When I lay on my side at night, I have to have something, like a pillow, to prop my tummy or else it hurts so much as well as horrible pain from sneezing or coughing from round ligaments. I have started to get full quickly and my belly button is nearly all the way stretched out and gone. Its super weird to see. It will be interesting to see what it looks like in a few weeks.
We can officially say we will meet our baby boy NEXT MONTH! Woah! Some have said we could be meeting him in March if he decides to stay in longer but I have a feeling he will be early rather than late. So far my intuition has been right on most things so I am eager to see what happens. I am considered "full term" at 37 weeks and that's at the end of January. Won't be long now and I feel so unprepared. I have not even started making his diapers.. or anything I planned on sewing for him. I really need to get my butt in gear on getting the house ready and everything bought and made. So much to still be done.

Dogtopia

Gunyr had his first day of doggie day care. It was so hard to leave him but we needed a place for him to be able to stay for when I go in to labor and need to stay a few days at the hospital.We decided Dogtopia was best since they have a webcam we can watch and be able to play all day instead of the traditional boarding of being in a cage the majority of the time. I could only bear to leave him for half the day but we are slowly going to get him used to the day care so it wont be too big of a deal when he has to stay the night. I think I had a harder time with separation anxiety than he did. Being able to watch him online helped a lot.

Watching my baby play

Merry Christmas

A few photos of our Christmas.

Stockings and Christmas cards from family and friends.

I think he enjoyed his gift.

Picking out some toys at Petco.

This years Christmas card.

Freezer Cooking

Being in my seventh month of pregnancy, trying to keep up with it all has not been the easiest task. Cooking meals every night has been a drag when I don't feel well or am dog tired. I recently learned about freezer cooking and got pretty excited to do it. I know I will want to do this for when baby boy comes so I wont be in the kitchen slaving away days after delivery. I was so excited to start and thought it would be fun to record how it goes.

I read so many different blogs who all had different methods of freezer cooking planning and prep, so I got the basic idea from them and did my own spin on things. So this is how I did it.

1) Decide what we will eat for the next month. Planned it all out in my meal planner and then looked up recipes for dinners I didn't have a clue on how to make, made recipe cards for them, and set aside all recipe cards that will be added in to this months freezer cooking day.

2) Make a list of all the foods I will need and how much for each to buy.

3) Go through coupons and store ads to see what savings I can get for Shopping day. Spent seven hours shopping just to get all the deals by going multiple stores.

4) Cooking Day! Do all the prep first. Cut up all veggies and things to measure out for each meal later. Saves so much time then doing each prep before the meal. This way you can relax while you wait for pots and pans to become available.

By the end of the day, my feet and back were killing me. And I was still trying to get all the dishes done by the end of the next day. But meals are done and I only really have to worry about breakfast and lunch for the next month. Dinners always take the longest and keep me on my feet since I cook from scratch (most of the time) so its so nice to just thaw and reheat nutritious meals instead of just going for takeout when I don't feel up to cooking. I think I could get used to cooking dinners once a month. I also made waffles and froze them so breakfast can be on the fly too for those busy mornings.

What I made:
Peppered Shrimp Alfredo Sauce (just mix with whole grain Penne noodles and garlic bread)
Spinach Lasagna
Corn and Potato Chowder
Teriyaki Chicken
Cheesy Vegetable Chowder
Vegetable Chili
Chicken noodle soup
Frozen Waffles
..and a few other things that I can't remember since I this is last months meals and I am just now getting around to blogging. Thanks preggie brain.

Sort of late on taking a photo so a lot has already been eaten but here is whats left. Its almost time for another day of cooking.