Week 32

32 weeks!
8 months!
Wow!

     This week was crazy hectic!
     My baby shower was on Saturday, and the week leading up to it was Spring Break, so I had plenty of time to get everything done... but does that ever happen?! no, of course not. Not living in Bakersfield when all you need to do is go to all the stores in Bako definitely has it's disadvantages. But thankfully, I was able to get everything done with the help of my lovely family and friends and it turned out great.

     We had a wonderful time at the shower, and I hope all those that came had a great time as well. So many people that I love were able to come! It was great to see people that I haven't seen in quite some time: friends from old jobs, from previous churches, from high school! I loved it! I wish I was able to spend more time with everyone individually, but I tried to make the rounds and visit everyone as much as possible! It was quite overwhelming to see so many people come out that love me, it was just heart warming. Thank you very much to all those that came to the shower, and to those that tried to come, but regrettably had emergencies to attend to.

     Sunday morning was quite hectic too: G preached the sunrise service out on the lake at 6:30, so we were up ridiculously early. Then we went home to change and finish getting ready, and we ran out for a quite bite to eat at the Cracked Egg, it was such a nice quiet time to sit down and chat together amidst a busy day! Then we ran to church and began preparing for the day. I had praise team practice at 9:15, choir practice at 9:45 and then church started at 10:45. So for that short 30 minute time span in between choir and church starting, I was running around with my head cut off trying to make last minute changes to the worship program, go to the bathroom, get the room set up for the potluck after church.
  
     The choir did amazing! I was so proud of them! Everyone was commenting about how wonderful they did! The singing portion of the worship service was also great, we tried to keep it really upbeat the whole time and have some fun, and it seemed like people were really getting into it and having a great time, we sang: Christ Arose, Christ the Lord is Risen Today, and The Old Rugged Cross. We showed some hilarious video about the story of Easter as told by two little sisters, and everyone was dying of laughter, and isn't that the way church should be? Filled with joy and laughter! Then G preached a wonderful message, and we had 10 decisions for the Lord! What could be better!?

     After church, we rushed over to the fellowship hall for the potluck; which was a success! It was my first time in charge of one of the potlucks, and I made a few changes, so we were unsure how it would turn out, but everyone's feedback has been really positive. And during the potluck, the sweet sweet ladies of the church surprised me with an impromptu baby shower! They, including G, were able to keep a secret from me for several weeks as they all pitched in to buy us the stroller that we wanted. How wonderful! It was SUPER overwhelming, I didn't know quite what to say, I think I turned beat red, and just sat there with an open mouth in shock! For someone that loves attention, I sure don't know how to handle it, and get quite nervous when that many people are giving me attention. I feel very awkward in those moments. Several ladies also gave me little dresses and bibs, and a few even made handmade quilts for Abby. It was just so wonderful, surprising, and thoughtful!

Things I've Noticed this Week:
     Well, so much for the swelling going away. It seems here to stay. My fat feet are having the worst time fitting into any shoe, I have to wear flip flops. Darn feet! My belly was quite itchy all week, that was loads of fun! It's getting more difficult to get out of bed, rolling over and trying to prop myself up it so frustrating. And then getting back into bed after racing to the bathroom is just as frustrating. I get so uncomfortable. I don't know exactly what it is, maybe my body is just achy, it might also be a little heartburn returning as I lie flat again. Whatever it is, I hate it. It's not welcome; please go away! Sleep is supposed to be a wonderful time, not an irritant. Speaking of sleep, I am still able to sleep well, which from what I hear from others, is quite unusual. I don't know exactly at what point sleep begins to be nonexistent for pregnant women, but I'm sure it's right around this time, if not soon. And thankfully, it hasn't hit me yet.


Progress:

  

Week 31

Week 31, wow!
The Bump says that my baby girl is going through brain and nerve development now, that her irises are beginning to react to light now, and that her five senses are in working order!

     I'm starting to get slightly freaked out now.
     The time has come where it's really getting closer now, and the reality is starting to sink in... we are taking a child home after this. At my doctor's appt on Thursday, the nurse said that my appt.s will all be 2 weeks apart now, instead of a month, then they'll be one week apart, and then, I'll be a mommy.... this freaked me out... my eyes got really big and I smiled really big, trying to overcompensate for the freak-out party my insides were having!
     This sting of reality is probably also due to the fact that G's cousin, J, just had her baby last Saturday. I've been looking at all of her precious pictures of baby A, he's so adorable! But he's so tiny, usually I don't end up seeing babies until they're several weeks old, and they've gained some weight and length. But I'm seeing him right after birth, and how teensy he is, wow! Seeing pictures and updates of them after returning home and settling back into normal life is really starting to trigger the reality in my mind of just how much our lives are about to change.
  

     This Thursday was my doctor's appt. It went well. The nurse told me that my stomach was measuring right on target, she found Abby's heartbeat right away and it sounded great, she said that Abby was one active girl based on the kick counts I've been tracking (always either 10 or 20 minutes). I gained 4 pounds this month, which puts my total at 11 pounds. The nurse seems to be okay with this (I know it's not much compared to others, but she said she wanted my total weight gain to be from 11-15 pounds). I have 4 more alloted pounds to gain within the next 9 weeks. Ha! I better stop giving in to the yummy food around me... like the delicious McNally burger and fries I had for lunch today at their burger shack! O dear was it good! Anyways, based on my 3rd trimester tests, I do NOT have gestational diabetes, but I am a little anemic, so she is having me take iron pills every day now.


     My shower is this weekend: I am so excited! Some fun things I ordered for it came in this week, and I can't wait to use them at the shower.... for those of you coming, here's a sneak peak!

Sweet Lulu

     The first picture is what I saw upon opening the box... not just plain peanuts for these folks, no way! Cutesy little crimped paper... adorable! I got some fun striped straws, fun goody bags for the dessert/candy table, and of course some cute cupcake papers for the delicious cupcakes to come! Can't wait!

  
This week:
     Well, things are starting to get a bit more uncomfortable now. Getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night is just down right frustrating! My body is not used to walking and bending after being straight and resting for so long. If I sit for too long and get up, the area underneath my belly is SO not happy about it! I've been trying to chug the water like crazy, and I think that the swelling in my foot has gone down slightly, I think they're still a little swollen, but it's not as noticeable as before. I still get heartburn pretty regularly every night, and sometimes throughout the day. It's pretty mild though, so it's nothing that is really upsetting. One thing that has been pretty noticeable now: when I have to pee... I HAVE to pee! If I wait too long b/c I'm out and about, or in the middle of subbing a class, the walk to the bathroom is pretty painful. I'm huffing and puffing my way there! I'm sure it's an attractive sight!


Progress:

Side note: Thank you husband for snapping the side shot while my mouth was in the midst of talking to you. It made for a very attractive picture!

ps. I'm wearing my $10 steal Jean Leggings from Old Navy that I got this week! Score! I refuse to call them Jeggings though... I'll stick with Jean Leggings, it makes me feel better about myself!

Nursery Update

     I haven't really had the opportunity to begin cleaning out the spare room, which will be Baby Girl's room here pretty soon. And it just hit me this morning how SOON soon really is! The long-term sub job I took in January pretty much exhausted me, and pretty much labeled me good-for-nothing in every other area. Thankfully, The Husband, has been gracious enough to slowly pick away at it. Every weekend he takes one of the numerous boxes we have lying around (The Husband is addicted to Amazon and buying EV-E-RY-THING through them, so needless to say, the box pile gets huge pretty quickly), and begins to pack little parts of the room away.

     He hasn't said anything about me NOT helping yet, I'm sure it's b/c he's super thrilled that I've been subbing like crazy the last two months. And while I have been enjoying subbing, and hope it continues, since I won't be able to sub like this next year, I do hope that every once in a while I get a couple days off so I can start really making some headway in that room.

     The responsibilities of being the Worship Leader at our church, and of just being a pastor's wife in general, means that many weekends and weeknights are full of practices, church events, visitation, etc. With Baby Girl coming at the end of June-ish, this means that I also am trying to fit in shopping days (in which I must drive to Bako b/c let's be real, this town ain't got much in the way of stores, ie: Target, Walmart, Michael's, etc), to get things for the shower and nursery, time to make any of the DIY projects I've decided I really want to do, the actual shower, I want to make an Ikea trip to get some little things for the nursery, repainting the crib, refinishing the dresser, and somehow I need to find time to clean up and haul everything currently in the room and find some place for it that does not exist, and then paint, and decorate Baby Girl's room... all in time for June. And ideally, it would be mostly done by the beginning of June b/c who knows when Baby Girl could come, and if she comes early for some reason, I def won't be spending a lot of time finishing her nursery.

     Holy cow, I don't think even I realized how much there really is to do to get everything ready for Baby Girl's arrival. Now that I am more aware, I better get on the ball here! I am not a really crafty person by any means, so I'm really excited to try to use this time to expand my own abilities and craftiness and make a little room for my girl that she will love. Not that she'll even know what's going on for a very long time, but hey, I gotta spend a lot of time in there, so I want to like it until she can appreciate it herself!

     The Husband and I have been given many items so far for Baby Girl, and we've purchased a couple as well. Check in later to see what we have so generously been given or lent when I post pictures of everything.

     On a lighter note:
     Here is an adorable nursery. I am doing gray and yellow as well, so I was really drawn to how this mom used the gray and yellow in her son's nursery. I really want to find that cover for the changing table pad, it's so cute! The pop of color from the one yellow wall really mixes things up! Enjoy!

Click here to see more of Baby Cragg's nursery.

Have a great week!
Much love, Meg

Kids These Days!

Today was utterly exhausting.
Yesterday, I took a much needed trip to Bako to visit friends and go baby shower invitation shopping, thank you H for helping me pick out the paper for the invitations! Now, I just need to get to work and make them all!

Then, I got to have dinner with my gal, S, and ended up staying out until 10:30, so therefore I didn't get home until quite late. It was so worth it to have great talk with the besty though!

This morning came WAY too early! And I subbed for a set of classes that makes me want to rip my hair out and shove it in the kids mouths! The freshman classes are SO LOUD! It's crazy! I was called names this morning, specifically "Fat" being one of them... I was not having any of that... I made sure to let the kid know that this belly was all pregnancy, not fat... which is not entirely true, but he doesn't need to know that. Because I didn't actually hear the kid say this (another student told me, but I totally believe her, I've heard this other kid talking crap before), I didn't send him to the dean, but I sure gave him a stern talking to, which felt great. It's amazing how pissed off students get these days when you ask them to get the assignment their teacher left done. They feel so entitled that they should be able to to whatever they want, and I should just sit by and let them. gah!

I really hope that The Husband and I are able to raise our children in such a way that they have respect for adults and for others. That even when they really don't want to do whatever the assignment is, or chore, etc, instead of complaining, they'll just do it without arguing (believe it or not, there are some students that don't complain and just get the work done, it's so lovely). Many students today seem to think that by telling me that they don't want to do the assignment, that I'll magically tell them they don't have to do it. As if they're the ONLY ONE that doesn't want to complete the work. No, no one wants to do it turd, you're just the one complaining about it, thinking it will change things. Gah, again!


On a lighter note:

I was reading Spearmint Baby today and she featured these oh so adorable baby hats! I can't handle how much I love the little owl hats, and the sock monkey set, that little tail is too cute! Check them out Sweet Love Creates.

And lastly, yesterday I also got to visit my friend L, and her sweet mother couldn't help but take a few pics of my pregnant belly. Thank you so much J, b/c I can't get The Husband to take a good one. It seems impossible!



Progress:

Week 21

Week 21

Week 19

As of Saturday, I am 19 weeks along.

Baby Bennett is the size of a mango, and an average of 8.5oz.

Grant and I decided many months ago to wait to choose a name for Baby Bennett until we knew for sure what the sex is. Since finding out last week that it's a girl, we haven't really had too much time to sit down and think of names, what with me in the midst of a long-term sub job, and many of our church members in the hospital. We have a name on the table that we both like, and Grant really likes it and would be fine with it; I, however, would like to explore some other names before we make a definite decision. However, I am super thrilled that this is the second name that we have been able to agree upon; the previous name being for a boy, which is now moot.