baby bump: 36 weeks

How far along:  36 weeks.

Size of baby:  Honeydew.   

Maternity clothes:   I feel like all I do is Ehren's laundry because I only wear his clothes when I'm lounging.  I hope he doesn't think he's getting them back after I deliver.  

Weight gain:  Yes, and right on track.  I never thought I would weigh this much but that's okay.  It's only temporary.  Right?

Sleep:  Sleep is a wonderful thing.  Rolling over in bed makes me short of breath and my hips get a little sore from always sleeping on my side.  Other than that, the nights are pretty restful.  

Exercise:  There's no energy left over from the day for any formal exercise.  However, Cozy did bully us into taking him for a walk.  We taught him to say "please" when he wants something; he does this by going into the downward dog pose or like he's bowing.  Lately he's been going to the closet where we keep his food and says "please".  The other morning, he acted like he wanted to tell me something, so I told him to show me.  He walked to the front door and said "please".  He has never done this.  At the same time, Ehren was just getting out of bed.  I told him, "get some layers on, we're going for a walk!".  It was bitterly cold but made for a great start to the day.  How can you tell your furchild "no, we are not exercising today!"

Best moment of the week:  The week overall was very busy at work and exhausting.  However, I can always rely on patients to say funny things to make it better.  I had a patient I had been working with for over a week; he was very sick and has Parkinson's.  People with Parkinson's tend to have a flat affect, meaning they could tell a joke or be upset about something but you could never tell by the expression on their face or the tone of their voice.  Usually when I walked in the room to work with him, he was groggy, asleep, or flat out not looking too whoopee.  I came and he was sitting up in a chair, bright-eyed and alert.  I said to him, with enthusiasm, "Wow!  You look perky!" and he said (with no expression on his face) "You look……. big".  His wife quickly corrected him and told him I looked pregnant, not big.  I should start a blog or tumblr called "patients say the darndest things". 

Movement:  She likes to throw 'bows and kick me.  I can feel her little feet and it's hard to believe they are less than an inch away from being visible.  I can't believe there is a baby in there.  If it weren't for the two ultrasounds that I've had (one medical, one 3D) I still wouldn't believe there's a baby in there.  It's absolutely mind boggling.    

Cravings:  Anything with lots of flavor - spicy Asian or Mexican.  Big salads and lots of fruit.  I'm getting excited for all the meals that I've frozen.  I looked in our new deep freeze to see how much food we've hoarded made and I counted 30 meals with 4-8 servings each.  Meaning, at MINIMUM, we have 60 consecutive days worth of dinners.  That's a really good feeling. 

Belly button in or out:  I wish it were really like a turkey thermometer - then she would be "done"!

Wedding ring on or off:   On. 

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Nope. 

What I miss:  Laying on my stomach.  There's something so comforting about it.  That and being able to shave my legs.  (Not that I did that very regularly in the first place)

What I am looking forward to:  A hopefully very relaxing month of March.  

What I am not looking forward to:  The last 4-ish weeks dragging along.  

Labor signs:  Contractions quite frequently when I'm at work.  I started counting contractions per hour and I'm having 2-4 an hour throughout the day.  Nothing that takes my breath away but it does slow me down a little bit.  Plus, I can feel when she nestles her little head way down in my pelvis.  It feels like she's trying to claw her way out.  Ouch!

Symptoms:  See above.     

Nursery:  Lots of the fine details have been wrapped up.  Still can't call it done though.  I hope to start blogging about the nursery soon. 

Emotions:  I just can't believe she's going to be here in a matter of weeks.  I'm starting to get nervous about everything - the wait, the labor, the delivery, the dramatic change to our lives, the responsibility, everything.  However, I trust God has equipped me with everything I will need to be successful at this whole parenting thing - of course with many failures along the way.  At least I've got my main man by my side.  And my dog, too, of course. 

Week in review:

Cozy is enjoying his time as an only child with lots of belly rubs and kisses.  Poor little guy's life is going to change.  Good thing I have endless love to give!

Here, Cozy pretty much fell asleep and melted into a little puppy fur puddle.

Possible "coming home" outfit for the little miss?  Win or lose during tournament time, she will still rock out with her hawk out. 

Nothing better than coming home and seeing the new stroller and new blender on the front porch!  I love ordering things online.

On our first "free" weekend in a long time, we ran errands, did some shopping, went to the dentist and then stopped by Free State Brewery for lunch.  It's so busy and loud there all the time, we could bring our screaming newborn and no one would notice!  Score.

I like to plan meals based on the weather forecast.  Hot?  A light fish with veggies and white wine.  Burgers on the grill with roasted potatoes and watermelon on the side.  Cold and a chance of snow?  Clam chowder and crusty bread.  Roasted tomato soup with grilled cheese.  

This Sunday, there was a chance of snow so I decided to make loaded baked potato soup in the crock pot out from this cookbook (the slow cooker version of my all time favorite cookbook.)  It was delicious and I had an excuse to use my late grandma's kitchen scale to measure out the potatoes.  Who knows how old this scale is. 

I know pictures of food can be annoying but I don't care.

Part of our blender, which we use everyday, started breaking recently.  Ehren got excited because that meant it was time to shop for one with a little more power.  We ordered this Ninja blender online.  It's expensive but for something we use everyday, it was worth it to us.  We make smoothies every morning for breakfast before work and they do a great job of keeping us full all morning - partly because of the fiber from the fruit and the protein from the Greek yogurt.  We haven't gotten sick of them yet!

  Here's the recipe:

• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of cranberry pomegranate juice (100% juice)
• 2 cups of mixed berries (we buy 2 bags of frozen raspberries, 1 bag of blueberries, and 1 bag of blackberries and mix them all together in a large zip lock bag which equates to about 10 cups)
• 1 single serving container of plain Greek yogurt
• (sometimes we add a banana if we're feeling crazy or if they are getting too ripe)

My dad is very witty.  He always has a plan or reason for giving gifts, usually requiring us to figure out a riddle.  He gave Ehren and me and a gift, the handwriting on the wrapping paper was horrible and in no way resembled his.  It looked as if he wrote it with his left hand.  I opened it up and it was a Dr. Spock book.  Random.

Of course my dad just sits there smiling at me like I'm supposed to "get it".  I opened up the front cover and saw this:

I finally realized what he was getting at.  The very strange but very funny movie "Raising Arizona".  In the movie, H.I. McDonnaugh (played by Nicolas Cage) kidnaps a baby (Nathan Arizona) from a very wealthy man and while he's fleeing the nursery with his new bundle of joy, he grabs Dr. Spock's book.  And inside this version of Dr. Spock's book was some baby money we have already put to use!  Thanks dad!