34, 35 Weeks

I asked Matt to stand in the designated photo spot for a second so I could adjust the camera settings, and he tried out a maternity pose of his own. Cute.

Baby: Babins is estimated to weigh around 5.5 pounds now. At my appointment a little over a week ago, I asked the doctor to point out to me where all her body parts were so I could know which movements were from which limb. It felt really funny when he used enough pressure with his hands to feel exactly where her  head, back, and bum are. She is about where I had guessed: head down, facing left, with her back curled up on my right side, most of the movement is from her knees and back squirming around, and the painful jabs on my far left side are her heels digging into my side. At my next appointment in about 2 weeks babins will be close to full term and the doctor said she's fine to come after that! I just hope she gets the memo: not too early, not too late, please :)

Feeling: Large and in charge. I guess I've reached that stage where my belly has become fair game for conversation from strangers. For the most part, I don't mind at all and think it's nice when waitresses and cashiers take the time to ask me when the baby is coming, and then show me pictures of their own kids. My least favorite comment was from an old man at a luau: "Hahah- looks like you had a little too much to eat!" because I didn't know how much of that was a joke about the prego belly and how much of it was a comment on how high my plate was piled with food. 

Also, nesting has become a serious issue. After an embarrassing number of trips to various stores at all hours of the day and night over the last couple weeks, I have next to nothing to show for it since I had a minor meltdown/identity crisis and returned everything. But I'm hoping to get myself (and the baby's room) together this week. Pictures will follow if all goes well.

Foodsies: I love water and bananas. Sweet tooth is demanding satisfaction and it forced me to make mini berry pies. 

Baby Shower!

A little backyard soiree

 Oh hey Mom!

Guests each filled out a sheet of "Wishes for Baby" they were so sweet to read!

I have a habit of doing this with every new baby outfit- just warming up for the real thing!

The lovely hostess Andrea

31, 32, 33.5 Weeks

About a month and a half until the due date! The weeks go by quickly, and I find myself getting very emotional when I think about not being pregnant anymore. I know this is really annoying for some pregnant people to hear, but I have really been feeling pretty good these last few weeks and most of the time I love being pregnant. Like a lot of women, I haven't always had the best body-esteem and have often been overly critical and unkind to myself, so it's surprised me that being pregnant has made me love and appreciate my body more than ever- weight gain, hormones and all. I can grow a baby! I love this 8 year old's description of some awesome things about being female.

After tonight, we'll be halfway done with our HypnoBirthing classes- I have been loving it! It's fun taking a class together and learning new things, and I actually look forward to doing the homework, reading the textbook, and practicing the techniques. As part of our preparation, we listen to a "Rainbow Relaxations" and "Birth Affirmations" recording every night before bed. I don't even care how weird it sounds- it's been really helpful so far! A lot of our friends had warned us about all the weird people in their childbirth classes. We think all the couples in our class are pretty nice and normal, which makes me think maybe we're the weird ones.

I had a really lovely baby shower on Saturday. I felt very loved and SO appreciate everyone who was there (in person and in spirit!). Major thanks to Andrea and Jenna for putting together such a beautiful, fun, and delicious morning! I'll post those pictures later this week.

Also, quick shout out to my belly button: thanks a ton for staying in and not poking out, I really appreciate it, keep hanging in there for these final weeks, k? 

Adventures with Mom

My mom has been in town quite a bit this summer, so I've been able to see her a lot more than usual. Yesterday we went on some site-seeing expeditions. First stop: Bear River Bird Refuge. What exactly is a bird refuge? I'm still not really sure, but basically I guess it is just a lot of land with some birds on it. And the word "refuge" is used very loosely because we found out swan hunting is still allowed there sometimes. Sad. The refuge is HUGE so we drove the loop around it, and we saw a lot of cool birds! It was really beautiful, and neat being on the other side of the Salt Lake looking back over to the mountains.

Next stop: Spiral Jetty! I was most excited about this one, because it was always in my art history textbooks and it's just one of those things that seems a shame to NOT see it when it's just a couple hours away. It was partially covered with water, but you could still see the shape of it.

"Love, Robert Smithson. 1970"

The water was pinkish.

Babins liked it too (she's getting big in there!)

Oh yeah, also the jetty is pretty much in the middle of NOWHERE, like dead-cow-on-the-side-of-the-dirt-road-nowhere.

If you're familiar with this historical area, you might be thinking, "Wait, isn't the Golden Spike National Monument on the way to the jetty?" Why yes it is, but about 12 years ago my parents dragged us all there on a little detour that was later to be remembered as the worst stop ever, and that day I vowed never to go again. Luckily for me it was closed yesterday anyways, but I was happy to drive right by it and speed up without looking back.

The last stop of the day was the ATK Rocket Garden, where I guess they plant rocket parts in gravel and see if they'll grow. Rockets are cool, but we wished my dad was there to explain rocket stuff to us! I don't know what any of the big parts are.

Fun adventure times.