34 Weeks- Sending Off Our 2nd Missionary

I never really had that much of a reason to look forward to Mondays, until recently when we have been awaiting letters from Sean's sister Jenna who is serving a mission in Peru.  I was hoping to get one from my sister Kassidy today, but I realize that her P Day might be on a different day than Mondays in the MTC, and we still have a whole rest of a Monday to go!  It has been an emotional week for me, sending her off into the world.  I really really wanted to be there in Idaho to see her off, but decided it best not to travel so far into my pregnancy.  None the less, it's been difficult saying goodbye for a while, even though I haven't been living near her in general, communicating with her daily has been a big part of my life, whether it is through Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, or phone calls.  When a LDS missionary serves a mission the only form of communication they have with their family is through letters or email.  A missionary gets one phone call home on Christmas and on Mother's Day.   I cried like a baby when we hung up from our Skype Call last Tuesday night, I know what she is doing will bring her and our family many blessings, I know Heavenly Father is looking out for her, I'm just going to miss her, and I'm a little sad she won't be here when her niece is born.

I am grateful my grandma, aunt, and mother in law were there to see her off.   After she left we all waited and waited to hear from her. I started getting nervous, she didn't have a phone or any form of communication if something went wrong.  I knew she had a long layover in Tokyo, I'm curious to know how that went for her, and then she was to report to Manila.  We got a short, but sweet email from her saying she made it, that the driving is crazy, and that she loves it there!  I hope to hear from her soon, hopefully with a little bit more detail.

Week 33

When I put my time and energy into something, sometimes I over obsess and that is the only thing I focus on for a certain duration of time in my life.  Nothing else has the possibility of making it's way in.  So when I got pregnant, naturally this little bit of my personality took over.  It's my daughter, and like many other new mommies I want everything to be perfect for her arrival.  When I first got pregnant, I knew immediately that if I didn't blog about being pregnant and preparing for a baby, I would annoy the heck out of friends and family with text messages, phone calls, and blow up my Facebook news feed with all of the over shares about what my body is going through and post only pregnant belly photos on my Instagram.  I know it is important to be multifaceted, and well rounded.  Being a mother is the most important thing I will ever do, it will take up most of my time, but I would be doing myself, my family, and friends a huge disservice if I didn't acknowledge that I am a diverse human being with loves and likes that are not necessarily all related to being a mommy.  The past few weeks, I unhealthily have been forgetting this.  I've been freaking out about all the things we were lacking and not acknowledging how prepared we actually were.  Sean thinks this is why I keep getting sick, that the stress is making my immune system a big wimp.  So I decided that this weekend, I wasn't going to stress about the baby stuff, I was going to give myself a pat on the back for all that we did have and how prepared we actually were.  I was going to  show some gratitude for all of our blessings and not worry about all that we were lacking in.  This was the kicker, I was going to stay off of our registry, I was going to stay off of google, I wasn't going to read any baby blogs, I wasn't going to open any baby apps or look for any good sales for baby related items, and I wasn't going to re read a chapter in What To Expect When You Are Expecting.  We were just going to focus on spending time together, resting, and maybe having some fun.  Let me just say that the research aspect of it has been so crazy hard for me!  I didn't realize how often I open a baby app in my day, today I went to go open " The Bump" or the "What to Expect" app probably 20 times, along with the temptation to read up on "How to Care for Your Newborn" on some random mommy blog.  It's been good, and rather healthy for me/us just to relax and put things on the back burner until Monday.  It was a good reminder that I actually have a great passion for dance, a good pair of high heels, jungle animals, and a good series on Netflix.  I once had a mother that I look up to dearly tell me that caring for your child is your greatest priority, but she also emphasized that it is important that you do things for yourself, that doing this for yourself will make you a better mommy.  I think this has been an important lesson I've learned before her arrival.  I can't loose who I am just because I'm becoming  a mother, I'm just gaining a little bit more than what I already was.

Sean and I went to the zoo this Saturday and it was an absolutely splendid.  We went the last two hours before closing so everyone was going home. It was sunny and warm.  We took advantage of another aspect of our zoo pass and watched one of the films at the IMAX about baby elephants and orangutans.  I know, I am a huge nerd, but I love baby elephants and I really enjoyed doing the most simple things together this weekend.  On Sunday we had the missionaries over for dinner, I have graduated to eating meals again since being sick, this one was pretty good!  I love it when Sean helps with dinner, he made dessert, which was home made peanut butter cups.   They were so yummy!  I got a skype call from some of my family in Chile.  We (may) have a name picked out for our daughter, and a big thing for me in picking a name was for my family in Chile to be able to understand it and have them be able to say it.  It was very satisfying for me to hear them say it, which is giving me reassurance that we picked a good one.  We also watched the movie Mountain of the Lord.  It is about the construction of the Salt Lake City LDS temple.  The history behind this temple is so overwhelming.  So much dedication, hard work, and sacrifice went into this temple by individuals who loved their Heavenly Father and had a testimony of eternal families.  It took 40 years to build, I'm so grateful Sean and I were able to become an eternal family in this temple.

Week 32

So I read recently that at this stage of development, babies dream when they sleep, even when they are developing inside of their mommies.  I think that is so incredible and amazing.  It makes me wonder what her world is like and what she has been exposed to and how she perceives it. Most of her senses are developed as well.   I know I'm always talking about how neat it is, but I'm learning as I go and never knew several of the things I'm learning about.  

Speaking of dreams, we have been so focused on making progress on her nursery, and we are getting there.  I found the greatest score on a beautiful, soft white rug at Target along with a curtain rod.  We spent this weekend practically in Babies R Us the whole time.  We got our glider ordered!  I'm so pleased with the one we picked out.  Sometimes the things that feel like the biggest let down end up being a blessing in disguise.  When we opened her mattress, there was a rip in the side and I was so bummed because I wanted to get it in her crib with the crib sheet on it so bad!  After we took it back to Babies R Us, they returned it without any problems.  They were having a sale on mattresses so we ended up being able to get a nicer mattress for less money, plus they gave us 20% off for our hassle.  If you are expecting a baby, and have a Babies R Us close by, just register there even if it isn't your main source for the products on your registry. They have been so incredibly good to us.  If you join their rewards program, you periodically receive rewards from your previous purchases and coupons,  When we purchased our glider, I was able to use one of my rewards coupons for 20% off of a glider I received the coupon only because I was a rewards member, I didn't have to spend a certain amount of money or anything.  I'm going to have to wait on this one to see if it is true, but if it is it will be pretty neat, they give you up to 10% back of the items purchased off of your registry, 10 weeks after your due date you receive a gift card. You as the parents can buy items off of your own registry.  We haven't necessarily been loyal to Babies R Us solely for this reason, but for products we were going to buy anyways that they happen to have, we have taken our business there, they have treated us so well I don't have a problem doing so.  Because we went in on a day that a part of their "Big Giveaway",  we received a free baby monitor that came with a camera when we purchased our glider, all you had to do was ask!  I'm not in any way affiliated with promoting Babies R Us, I've just been really pleased with their services!  

So I've been recovering from being sick from some sort of tummy bug.  I was hoping that illness was over and done with in our home but it has revisited us again!  Sean and I had sore throats this week and minor colds, and I've still been feeling really yucky!  I'm wishing my Dr. would give me some answers or remedies other than, "Just Let it Pass."  This week the majority of my diet has been crackers, water, soups, and hydrating beverages.  I'm not sure if it is because the baby is getting so big and cramping space in there, but I don't get hungry the way I used to, I don't really have an appetite at all.  I don't know if it is attributed to being sick, the lack of space, or a little bit of both.  I thought these last two months were all about growth spurts and pregnant women eating a whole bunch!  I don't really care for food right now, and it is kind of a bummer because a little over two weeks ago I really liked the stuff.  I've been saying that perhaps all the illness is a blessing in disguise, that Heavenly Father is throwing all the illness our way now, so that when we have a newborn, we won't be sick with her here!  Fingers crossed that this is what that is!  I would rather be sick now than with a newborn.  I'm getting my flu shot ASAP once my immune system is strong again!  

Week 31

60 days!  I asked Sean if someone came to the door and said, "in 60 days you get a baby!" would you be ready?  Because we are getting one in 60 days or so!  Just the other day we were in Target and saw all of these cute baby clothes for Halloween.  Sean sort of disappointingly said, "She is going to miss Halloween.  Next year she will almost be a year old", there was a short pause..... and then he said "She is almost here!"  The change is in the air, there is a brisk chill in the wind now, it's starting to get darker a little bit earlier, and the leaves although still green are starting to look dull.  I usually don't get excited for summer to leave, but the first night I had to wear a big over sized sweater when we took our pets for a walk and was like 

"Yes, we are in the season my baby will be born in!"  That was a very crazy thought for me! Technically the calendar might not say "fall", but it's here, at least for me.  I'm so looking forward to scarves, new wardrobe colors, boots, cider, Halloween candy, the beautiful leaves Nebraska has to offer, and my baby!  She comes with all of this fun stuff. 

So it seems that the magical pregnancy fairy realized she missed me on her list the past 7 months and has come back with a vengeance.  My pregnancy has been fairly easy until this third trimester! I have heart burn all the time and get it from things you wouldn't even guess, like ice cream?!   I got a stomach bug that was floating around the area.  I got sick, in my car, on the way to work.  It freaked me out so much I went into the ER, that is twice now within the past 4 weeks!  I was mostly concerned with the cramps (thinking I might be experiencing preterm labor!), and  I was having and fear that my baby hadn't received enough nutrients because I had been mildly sick the days before that. They reassured me she was fine and it was a stomach bug that would pass.  I feel much better now, and maybe should be grateful I received it when I did vs. when the baby actually gets here.  I've been on the BRAT diet since, bread, rice apples and toast, and even though I feel like I'm not eating as much, she is moving more than ever!  I'm so thankful for the visiting teaching program, my visiting teacher took me to the hospital that day and let me borrow some of her essential oils.  Let me say that the doTerra essential oil Digest-Zen is AMAZING!  It has helped me keep food down, and the smell of it helps me come out of the nasty feeling.  I definitely am getting some for the house along with the On-guard essential oil.  Hopefully this is the last of the problems.  This one wasn't really even baby related.  Time to get a flu shot and stock up on a bunch of citrus!

We got our pets into the vet!  This might not seem like a big deal, but for me it is one more check off of the list.  I wanted to get them all caught up on vaccinations and medications before the baby arrives.  The vet suggested that we turn Converse into an inside cat, it is easier for him to get worms when he is constantly outside eating rodents.  We are going through that adventure right now, of keeping him inside at night.  He isn't very happy with me, but I don't want a wormy cat around my baby, plus he has gone missing in snow storms before and has given me anxiety.  It's been a long time coming, better now before she gets here than later.  

One fun thing I found this week was using pillow cases on the changing  pad on the changing table.  I'm all for saving money and not giving into the consumerism aspect of things now, this was another one of those "Thank you Pinterest!" moments, so now I don't have to buy a changing pad cover so that's cool.  This aside, it feels like it is taking forever getting our nursery ready!  I know slow and steady wins the race, but right now it feels like we are behind! We have slowly been collecting items for it since we find out about her, we have more items than we are in need of, but it still feels like we have a long way to go!  We unwrapped her mattress, I didn't see a point in taking it out of the plastic until we were really close, and we found a tare in it!  Babies R Us is more than 30 minutes away from our house, I'm hoping they make it right because we certainly bought it more than 30 days ago!  I'm certainly grateful for the items we do have, and I know it will come together, I just want to be ready, which is something I'm sure every mommy wants when their baby is coming.  I'm hoping by the time we have a big pile of leaves on the ground, we have a nursery ready to go.  

Week 30

I was so glad to come home to my husband and fur babies!  My flight was not nearly as big of  a pain as the one going to Idaho.  There is something about coming back to your own home that makes you realize the little beauties that you can find in your own space.  I love my home and the people/creatures in it!  Sometimes I go through phases where I greatly lack in gratitude, and I'm disappointed I can't make my space look like the way I want it to due to my expensive taste and small budget.  After being away from my home for so long it makes me realize that it really isn't all that bad and quite an awesome place to be able to reside.  I just wanted to stay in it all weekend long, because of the glorious, rainy, labor day weekend we were able to do just that.  Sean was given a four day weekend and it was the last weekend I had before returning to work at the dance studio.  We stayed in and it was amazing.  I was also able to unpack my overstuffed suitcases and show Sean all the adorable clothes we received at the baby shower.  It was so great to be back home and it was fun to return to work.  I absolutely love my job, I really missed the routine of being able to have that be a part of my day and I also missed the children I worked with.  I definitely wished I would have stretched more over our break, I did fine dancing before I left and didn't really notice the inconveniences of being a little bit bigger, but because I stopped and didn't continue with it, I was really sore my first day after leading a stretch.  It was nice to get back into regular activity again, my baby moves a whole bunch whenever we change a song, I think that is really interesting that she acknowledges the changes.  She also has come accustomed to stretching!  I definitely feels like we do not have any more space in there, at this point I can't imagine her getting bigger!  I had a lot of people tell me I totally popped while I was away.  I've been rubbing belly oil in copious amounts because if stretch marks are going to happen now is definitely the time, I can't imagine my skin taking any more!  We are getting so close to having her here!  Once we officially have everything we need, I think I will be really excited and anxious to have her here, for right now, I'm fine with her taking up as much room as she needs.

Week 29

I spent a large portion of my summer break from work in Idaho.  I was preparing to go home and stressing about how I was going to fit all of my baby shower gifts in suitcases to come home.  While we were there we did have a little scare with this pregnancy, nothing that was too crazy and since we have had it I've been to my doctor here and heard everything is OK with the baby and myself.   I did want to be double safe and get a few things checked out while we were there, so I did go to seek medical attention.  It's been a few weeks since then (technically I'm 31 weeks now) and I've since flown on an airplane, exercised, worked and done a few other things so we really are fine!  I received an ultra sound while we were checking on a few things and the tech said she was weighing in at 3.5 pounds.    All of my pregnancy apps ( I'm not sure how medically accurate they are) said she should have been weighing at about 2.9 pounds so that kind of freaked me out a bit as well, but after talking to my doctors here they told me at this point babies are a variety of sizes.  I was kind of amazed she was that big already!  I was having contractions that I couldn't feel and was given medication to make them stop so I could fly safely, my doctor here didn't seem to concerned with them and told me that they were fairly normal, so far no issues so that is good!   

I was able to enjoy the company of two pretty amazing women while on this trip. my original ride to get me from Idaho to Utah let me down, but my mother in law being the incredible lady she is, compensated for this let down.  On Sunday she drove me down to Utah 2 hours, turned around and headed back up to Idaho.  I was able to have a really good ride with her, to just visit, and talk about several topics such as being a wife, parent, and a decent human being in this world.  I feel incredibly blessed having her as a mother in law, I feel so comfortable with her now she is like another mom to me.  

My last two days I spent at my grandmas in Utah. I'm not very crafty but wanted cute headbands for the baby, to say my grandma "helped" me make some is very loosely stated, I mostly told her what I wanted and she made it for me.  It was nice shopping for the items to make them with her.  I'm grateful she is so gifted in areas such as this because I'm not.  My grandma is a pretty neat lady, I'm grateful that my daughter will have a few items made from her and for all she did for me on this trip.  She is so excited to have a first great grandchild, and it was fun to be around her and her enthusiasm.  She makes me feel so loved and special.  I didn't realize how important it is to be around family while pregnant, but I now think it is, they help you bring excitement to it in new ways.  I'm grateful for skype and phone calls now that I'm home in Nebraska, because love and support from extended family is important.