37 weeks, almost there!!!

I cannot believe that we are 3 weeks or less away from meeting our sweet baby boy! Here are some thoughts about 37 weeks:

1. I remember people warning me when I was pregnant with Kennedy that the last couple of weeks of pregnancy are "miserable." I never really felt that way with Kennedy. I was excited to meet her but I wasn't like "get this baby out of me right now!" I still don't feel quite that extreme with Mark but I do admit, I am more uncomfortable than I was at this stage with Kennedy. It's so odd because I know he's only a little bit bigger than Kennedy was but I feel HUGE and it's a lot harder to get comfortable when I am sitting down. I have also been having a lot more pressure and Braxton Hicks contractions than with Kennedy. So, needless to say, I am ready for him to be here.

2. It's looking like our induction date will be Monday, May 18th. I would love to go into labor naturally on my own but I highly doubt that will happen. I was never dilated at any of my appointments with Kennedy. I was absolutely ecstatic when I went in at 40 weeks 3 days to be induced and they told me I was 1 cm dilated, lol. I was not dilated at my 36 week appointment last week. My 37 week appointment is Wednesday.

3. I am hungry all the time! I can't get enough food!!!! Weight gain is now up to 35 pounds so it's looking like I will actually gain more this pregnancy than I did with Kennedy despite the fact that I was so sick the first trimester.

4. Last weekend we got the rock and play sleeper set up in our room and got out all the bottles, my breast pump and nursing supplies. We still need to install the car seat and I need to pack my bag for the hospital, that's on our "to do" list for this week.

5. Mark is still moving constantly, lots of big kicks and some rolls that can be painful at times but I am savoring every last one of them since this will probably be my last pregnancy.

6. Kennedy talks about Mark all the time! She is really excited. I really hope she stays this excited when he gets here!

7. We had another shower at work last week. We got so many cute clothes for him, he is going to be a very well dressed baby! We also got some things off our registry, swaddles, bottles, accessories for his crib and changing table etc...Oh and diapers, galore! Although I think we are going to end up exchanging some of them because we got a TON of size 1's.

Things are getting real........enjoying this time as a family of 3 but ready for him to get here!

Baby Shower for Mark and Family Pictures!

My sister in laws Gretchen and Rachael and my best friend Megan threw us a small baby shower for Mark this past weekend. We didn't need much since we have a lot of gender neutral items from Kennedy but it was great to get some baby boy clothes, diapers and a few other odds and ends that we had registered for. I love Mexican food, so the food was Mexican themed. We had a mini taco bar, homemade chips and queso, corn dip,  guacamole deviled eggs, and virgin margarita punch, yum. My mother in law made a fabulous strawberry cake, which is my all time favorite! Kennedy had a blast helping me open presents and hanging out with everyone at the shower!

 

 

 

 

We played this hilarious game that Megan found online. It was a relay race game and everyone on your team had to blow up a balloon one by one and put it under their shirts like a baby bump. Then after everyone on your team had their balloon blown up, you had to pop them one by one. We found out my SIL Gretchen and I suck at blowing up balloons, lol, it took us both forever to get our balloons blown up! Gretchen's team still managed to win though!

 

 I think Megan looks adorable with a "baby bump!" Totally ready for her and Brent to have a baby!

 

We are so blessed to have such an amazing group of friends and family!

 

 

My friend Valerie took some maternity/family pictures for us this weekend. She posted a sneak peak on Facebook and I am in love with them!  Kennedy was being such a ham and loved saying "cheese!" I can't wait to see the rest. A lot of people have given me grief about the fact that I let Nick keep his hat on, but that's my hubby for you. You rarely see him without a hat on so it just seemed natural to let him wear it.

 

 

I am 35 weeks today! Wow! My feet are officially fat and swollen so I have special permission from my principal to wear flip flops (against dress code) to school. I am also soooooo tired all the time, very similar to 1st trimester. I can't get enough sleep! Still getting bad heartburn and indigestion at night no matter what I eat. But guess what? It's all worth it! Unless God has a different plan for us this will be my last pregnancy so I am trying to savor the feeling of all the kicks and flips in my tummy as much as possible!

 

Have a great week everyone!

 

 

 

 



34 week appointment, zoo trip and an epic toddler meltdown

Happy Friday!

 

 

Monday we had our 34 week doctor's appointment with ultrasound. We were surprised to find out that Mark is only a little bigger than Kennedy was at this stage. At our 34 week appointment with Kennedy, they estimated that she was 4 pounds 2 oz. They estimated 4 pounds 7 oz for Mark. So, it looks like I may be induced on my due date instead of a week early which is fine with me. The tech did mention that he was super long and that his butt was up in my ribs, so that explains a lot of the pressure I have been having and why I feel so much bigger this time. Kennedy was tall and skinny too. She weighed 6 pounds 6 oz and was 20 and a half inches at birth. I am really relieved that it sounds like he will be similar in size to Kennedy so I should be able to avoid having a C-section. I am also really relieved that my parents are flying in from Oregon on May 9th, so if for some reason I go into labor on my own earlier, they will be here to take care of Kennedy. My in laws both work full time so it's a little harder for them to watch her.

 

On Tuesday, we had a fabulous trip to the zoo. We got there right when it opened and it wasn't too hot. Kennedy is at a really fun age for the zoo. She was sooooo excited to see all the animals and even though we brought the stroller, most of the time she wanted to walk around and see everything. She is STILL telling everyone she sees about all the animals she saw. Here are some pictures from our trip:

 

 

Wednesday was not such a good day. I feel like sometimes when I read other people's blogs, it's all sunshine and rainbows so I try to be real as often as I can. Let me tell you, Wednesday, I felt like a total failure of a mom. Kennedy woke up in a rotten mood and was very sassy to me all morning but for some reason I still thought it would be a great idea to take her to the public library for a story time. Wrong. Well, she did okay during the story time despite being grouchy. She listened to the books but every time the lady doing the story time would say something like  "now let's sing a song" or "do you think the doggy's going to eat the cake?" Kennedy would scream out "NOOO"! *Face palm*

 

After the story time I told her she could pick out 3 books to take home, which she did. Then, we went up to the checkout desk so I could sign her up for her own library card. Well, the lady at the checkout desk was obviously either someone who hates her job or just doesn't like kids because she was slow as Christmas getting all my information and had zero sympathy for the fact that I was trying to keep a 2 year old entertained while doing all this. She asked me to repeat my phone number THREE times and then the third time she asked me to repeat my email address I finally grabbed a pen and paper and just wrote it down for her. At one point, Kennedy ran away and began to bang on the computer keyboard so I ran after her. While I was doing this, a couple came up to check out books and the lady started checking out their books for them so I had to wait once again for her to finish checking out their books. Kennedy started to run off again and at that point, I grabbed her arm and told her firmly "no, if you run away again, we are going home." She proceeds to hit me and scream "no!"  Yay. So I pick her up kicking and screaming and walk out of the library intentionally leaving the books and unintentionally leaving my drivers license which the lady decided not to come after me with. Nice. Carry her to the car continuing to kick and scream where she proceeds to become limp when I try to put her in her carseat so I just let her sit on the floorboard of my backseat and have a meltdown. I sit in the front seat and ignore her. She finally calms down and I buckle her in and we go home. The whole way she keeps asking about her books and I tell her that since she couldn't behave in the library and because she hit me, she doesn't get to have her books.

 

We go home and eat lunch and then I lay her down for her nap. During naptime, I called my mom in tears because I felt like such a bad mom. It's the worst feeling in the world when your child is "that kid" that just can't behave in public and even worse, that kid who hits her own mother! We have only had a problem with her hitting at school one time, same for biting and both times were done in defense so I was so embarrassed that she hit me and thinking "how in the world does she think this is okay?" She has her moments but she is usually very well behaved. My mom listens and then says "yeah there was a woman in Starbucks this morning who's child was having a meltdown. I felt so bad for her because she had a new baby with her too." Gee thanks Mom, way to make me feel better, lol. She went on to say that I would get through the phase though and that I handled it the right way by just leaving and not letting her have the books. However, I am starting to get really stressed out about Kennedy acting out and the changes that will happen when her new brother gets here. All I can do is love on her and spend as much time as I can making her feel special.

 

And of course, pray!

As my mom also likes to say "this too shall pass..."

 

Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

 



We are still here.....

The past few weeks have been just plain crazy. Kennedy has had a stomach virus THREE times and I had it twice. Nick never got it. I am praying that we are done with it. It was awful. I hated seeing Kennedy so sick.

 

On a good note, we are on spring break right now! The weather has been beautiful aaaand I am 34 weeks pregnant so not much longer until baby Mark gets here!

 

We have a doctors appointment in a few hours with a 34 week ultrasound that will give us an estimate of how big he is. However, my doctor and I already discussed that we may induce a few days before my due date just to try to avoid what happened last time. Not only did I have to get cut but I tore very badly. My doctor says my pelvis is very narrow and my body is just not made to birth a baby bigger than about Kennedy's size. Kennedy was pretty small, 6 pounds 6 oz, so we shall see what happens. Nick is convinced that  we have a big boy in there and I am probably going to have to have a C-section. Honestly, I just want to do whatever is safest for my son so whatever happens, happens, but I would prefer not to have a C-section.  I know a lot of people have bad feelings about induction but we had a great experience when I was induced with Kennedy at 40 weeks 3 days. I know so many people that waited too long because they were set on not having to be induced and then the baby grew so big they had to have a C-section. 

 

I have been feeling good, but very tired and the swelling of the feet and ankles started last week, yuck. I haven't really been craving anything in particular, just hungry all the time! We have gotten really slack on the bump pictures so this picture of us on Easter yesterday is about the best I can do for a bump picture.

 

 

Backing up to other recent events....the consignment sale at Kennedy's daycare was a huge success. We raised 1600 dollars for the daycare and I made 360 dollars selling Kennedy's old clothes. It was hard to part with these beautiful smocked dresses but I am glad other little girls are getting good use out of them. Jessica and I are already starting to plan on how we can make the fall sale even better!

 

 

I surprised Nick for his birthday (early) by buying him tickets to the bacon festival in Columbia. He had no idea where we were going until we pulled up at the festival. He said he thought we were going to see Kenny Chesney play a concert because he was coming to town that night. He was very excited that it wasn't that, lol. We had lots of great food but I was a total slacker and didn't get hardly any pictures. Our favorites though were the bacon donut, barbeque bacon on a stick and the bacon sliders, yum! My best friend Ashley and her husband Kevin came with us and Ashley had a huge pickle that was wrapped entirely in bacon. She said it was the most delicious thing she had ever tasted!

 

 

Kennedy and I went up to my alma mater, USC-Aiken, for an alumna/collegiate brunch with the Phi Mu girls. The food was so yummy and it was good to visit with other sisters I hadn't seen in a while. Kennedy had a blast playing with fellow Phi Mu legacy, Laurel. She also made Mommy very proud because she is already perfecting the infamous "sorority squat" for pictures, love it!

 

 

I was especially excited to get to spend some time with this girl! Rachael is the former vice president of the collegiate chapter. She is graduating in May. I have been the advisor for the vice president for the past couple of years. I hate to pick favorites but she and I got very close when I was her advisor and she was by far the most hard working out of all the VP's I have worked with thus far. I am excited for her to join us "old girls" in the alumna chapter. She is also getting married in September, so excited for her!

 

 

I am loving this warm weather and sunshine we have been having. We had Good Friday off so we spent the afternoon hanging out at our neighborhood park. Kennedy loves to be outside! We met some doggy friends there including a small black dog named Abby, who swung in a swing beside Kennedy, which Kennedy got such a kick out of!

 

 

We had a fabulous Easter which started off Thursday with Kennedy's Easter egg hunt and party at school, which she was so excited for. Her teacher Ms. Stephanie was nice enough to text me some pictures from it. It's hard being a working momma and not being able to go to those special events so I am thankful for great teachers like Ms. Stephanie!

 

 

That night we took Kennedy to see the Easter Bunny, which she loved and kept talking about the Easter Bunny's "house" which was the backdrop for the picture.

 

 

On Saturday night, we read the Easter story in Kennedy's children's bible and when we got to the park about the stone being rolled away and the tomb being empty, Kennedy kept saying "WOW!" over and over again. I was laughing but inside I was thinking "that's pretty accurate thinking, wow, how lucky are we that Christ is alive?!?!"

 

The next morning Kennedy opened her Easter basket which I forgot to take a picture of but we never really go overboard with the Easter basket. Her Grandma Kaune always gets her a basket with a lot of candy so we didn't put any candy in it, just a few Dollar Tree dress up necklaces/bracelets and a few figurines to go with her Sofia the First talking castle that she loves playing with. I am honestly kind of confused as to why all of a sudden Easter has become "Christmas." Some of the Easter baskets I saw on my Facebook feed were insane. One person I saw had so much for her kids it was spread out all over their kitchen table, Lego sets, brand new baseball helmet, UnderArmour clothes etc...good grief! I am okay with doing the Easter Bunny in addition to teaching Kennedy about the real meaning of Easter but I think when you go that overboard on the gifts it really takes away from the real reason we celebrate Easter. Just my opinion....

 

Left the house and went to the early service at church. Kennedy had a blast as always in Sunday school and came out with her hands covered in dried Elmers Glue from making a tissue paper cross, which turned out so cute and will be going in her memory box.

 



 

We went to the early service with the hope that we could get Kennedy down for her nap a bit earlier so we could get over to Grandma and Paw-Paw's to hunt eggs with her cousin Lexie before she had to go to her dad's house. However, Miss Priss must have been waayyy too excited about the Easter egg hunt because she wouldn't nap for us which hardly ever happens. So, we headed over to Grandma and Paw-Paw's to hunt eggs and eat Easter dinner. Kennedy had fun playing with her cousins Lexie and Tristan and was surprisingly in a great mood for not having a nap.

 

Lots to look forward to this week! Our doctor's appointment, a prenatal massage, taking Kennedy to the zoo, maternity/family pictures and my baby shower on Saturday! Also looking forward to just resting and relaxing! Yay for spring break!