This is such a long overdue update, I don’t even know where to begin!

Everything is good, I’ve just been so busy with family visiting and work and then on top of it all, I caught a nasty cold from my niece and nephew. It was totally worth it though. I just love them so much and don’t get to see them very often so couldn’t resist cuddling with them. I’m so thankful for their visit and sad they’re gone already. It was the shortest 2 weeks ever! Fortunately, my Mom and MIL are staying on for a bit still. We’re lucky they are able to come and spend time with us. They have been amazing cooking and cleaning for us. It has made it so much easier to just relax in the evenings and not have to worry about a messy house or what to make for dinner. And the added bonus of all the yummy Indian food my MIL has been cooking is my constipation issue which was just being managed before, is completely gone now 🙂 We’ll be sad to see them go next month, but they will both be back in December so it will also be good to have a little time to ourselves before little man arrives.

On a side note, I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but my brother is also expecting a baby, a little girl on November 25th, so my Mom will be leaving here to go be with them in British Columbia, Canada for the arrival of my newest niece and then she’ll go home to Alberta, Canada for couple of weeks and then turn around and come back here to be with us for our baby’s arrival. I’m so thankful she’s retired and can make all these trips happen!

Another happy surprise was a quick visit from my husband’s cousin from San Antonio. We sent out 2 separate invites for the baby shower. One on Facebook for friends here who we knew would most likely be able to attend, and an Evite invitation for family and friends from out of town who we didn’t expect to attend but wanted to include in the invite anyway, and to our surprise she rsvp’d that she would be coming. It was a lovely surprise and so wonderful to see her.

Here are a few pictures of my SIL and the two of her three kids and who came with her. Her oldest started school this year so he stayed home with his dad. The first 2 pics were taken before leaving to see the Edmonton Oilers play the Kings at the Staples Center. The Kings killed my poor Oilers. It was rough being one of about 30 Oilers fans at the game, but a friend of mine had tickets for a luxury suite and minus the horrible ass kicking, it was a great night 🙂 The ongoing joke from all our friends at the game was my husband is a die hard Black Hawks fan, and I’m a die hard Oilers fan, and if we stay in LA, little man will probably become a Kings fan. Ha! Not if we have anything to say about it!

Baby Shower

Last Saturday, two of my good friends out here, along with my SIL and my Mom and MIL, hosted the best baby shower for me ever! We held it at my house so it would be easier for my SIL to take care of the kids and it was absolutely magical the way they transformed my backyard. My mom and MIL made the cookies and my SIL and I decorated them, and my friend Christine made the cupcakes. They also had food catered in from an amazing Italian restaurant and we had lots of pregnancy safe punch and champagne on the side for everyone else. It was such a wonderful day of celebration for little man. All of our friends out here know of the long journey we had to get here and of all our losses and I felt so much love for our little guy, it was overwhelming.

Some of the things we did at the shower included a scrapbooking table where we had all the girls take a polaroid picture with me and then they created their own half page for my pregnancy scrapbook that included sweet messages to our little man. There was also a onsie decorating table and night owl diaper table where my friends wrote funny messages on diapers to make me laugh during those late night diaper changes We also had few fun games and a diaper raffle. The diaper raffle was the best idea ever. I am now fully stocked on diapers!

Little man was completely spoiled and now, along with the nursery furniture that my mom bought us when Holdon was born and the car seat and stroller that my MIL is buying us, we have almost everything we need. I think we just need the baby monitor and a few little things left on our list. We also got some adorable Chicago Bears, Black Hawks and Edmonton Oilers onises and clothes, including a Bears, Mike Ditka onsie jersey that is the best thing ever! My hubby was so happy when he saw it. So with all those and several other adorable outfits and shoes we got at the shower, along with all the hand me down clothes I got from my SIL and another good friend out here, I think we are set on clothes for a really long time 🙂

All in all, I couldn’t ask for a better shower.

Here are some pics 🙂

 

30 Week Progress Report

How far along?  30 Weeks!

Total weight gain? 18 lbs!

Maternity clothes? Yep, pretty much all maternity clothes now.

Stretch marks? Nothing so far. I really believe this has more to do with skin elasticity than any amount of cream you slather on, but I have been using a home-made belly butter that is pretty amazing. I have been meaning to write a guest post on my friend Judith’s green living blog with the ingredients and instructions for how to make it. I will be sure to link it here for anyone who is interested. I promise to post this soon!

Sleep: Eh, not great. I’m feeling more uncomfortable these days and with this head cold, it has been really hard to sleep. My bladder has started working on overdrive again too so even when I finally do sleep I wake up a lot to pee. I guess this is the prep stage for when baby comes 🙂 I’ll have to start trying to have naps. I’ve never been a napper, but I think I need to start giving it a try.

Best moment this week: My baby shower last week and feeling little man move constantly!

Miss anything? Sleeping on my back.

Movement: Yes! Lots of movement all the time! It’s amazing and also a little painful at times now. Little man is getting stronger 🙂

Food cravings/Aversions: Nothing new. I’m pretty much okay with everything now and I want to eat all the time!

Anything making you feel queasy or sick: Everything is so much better. The constipation was the biggest issue, but any residual issues I was having have been totally cured by my MIL’s amazing cooking. Gotta love all those Indian spices 🙂

Showing? Yes! There’s a big bump going on there now 🙂

Gender: A boy!

Labor signs: No! and none are welcome here! Hoping little man makes it to our c-section day on December 30th. It would be pretty special if he decided to come at Christmas, but no sooner then that!

Symptoms: Nothing new. I still have the weird muscle pain in my upper abdomen, but my doctor said that probably won’t go away at this point so I’m dealing with it.

Belly button in or out? Out!

Wedding ring on or off? Still 50/50. I haven’t had any swelling yet, but I keep them off when my eczema flares up.

Happy or moody most of the time: I’m so happy! I still have the odd emotional moment, but for the most part, I just feel so blessed and happy all the time.

Looking forward to: Our next OB appointment on Monday

 

What’s Going on with Baby:

• According to the Bump app, baby is the size of a cucumber and around 16.5 inches long and between 2.5 – 3.8 lbs. Little man was already about 3 lbs 4 oz at our last appointment almost 2 weeks ago so I’m thinking he’s pushed past this range, but we’ll find out on Monday for sure 🙂
• His brain is becoming more wrinkly and making way for all that essential brain tissue and development.
• He’s now strong enough to grasp a finger

That’s it for today. Sorry for the REALLY long post! I’m hoping things will slow down this week and I’ll have more time to update more frequently again. I will definitely post an update after Monday’s appointment. Sending lots of thoughts and prayers to all my fellow bloggers. I have been keeping up with all of you and so happy for all the BFPs I have been seeing, but also heartbroken by quite a bit of sad news in our community lately. My heart goes out to each of you and I’m sending so much love and light that things get better soon!