34 Weeks: Feelin' the Love!

Yes, yes, I realize I've been gone a while. It's been almost two weeks since my last post, which sucks for those of you who check for new ones regularly (which, apparently, is a lot of you...haha).

I'm six days late with this post, but here's my 34-week bump pic, taken from my baby shower at home this past weekend:

I did my photo a little bit different this week because I found a bunch of cool chalkboard fonts online that I wanted to try out, so I made a virtual chalkboard instead of my usual one and put it with the photo. Looks okay I guess, but it ended up being a lot more trouble than it was worth, so I think I'll stick to my normal chalkboard. Only five more to go!

I'm feeling particularly pregnant these days, and certainly noticing some of the discomfort of pregnancy, although I try not to complain too much. I know there are a lot of women out there who contend with a lot more than the discomfort I feel, so I should be grateful I've got it as (relatively) easy as I do.

I had my Oregon baby shower this past weekend - what a great time! It was so nice to see some of my friends from childhood, girls I've worked with at Oregon State, and other friends and family who traveled to visit with me and celebrate our little Peanut girl. She certainly is WELL LOVED!! Thank you to those of you who came (or wanted to!) I very sincerely appreciate it. And a HUGE thank you to my Auntie and Mom for putting on such a wonderful little party. The food was delicious, the punch was tasty and the atmosphere festive. It really was a great time.

Baby showers are funny. You hear your friends and family talk about how excited they are for your child, and you know that they are, but then to see their generosity with their time and their gifts, and watch their faces when they tell you how much they're looking forward to meeting your little one, it's amazing. I really cannot believe how loved this little girl already is by so many people. She is beyond blessed to come into such a huge network of love and support, and Jeff and I are beyond grateful for each of you. You don't have to love our daughter as much as we do, but it seems as though you do anyway. Incredible.

I had a visit with my doc last Wednesday, and everything went pretty much as expected. It seems she's no longer very concerned with the preeclampsia, given that I'm not "spilling proteins" (Google that if you need more explanation...) but she did say she still believes that Peanut will arrive around 37 or 38 weeks. I didn't do a great job of asking for clarification on why she thinks Peanut will come early, but that is my main mission at my next appointment (a week from tomorrow for those of you who are curious). If she truly does arrive around week 37 or 38, that's only 2-3 weeks from tomorrow, which means Jeff and I need to kick our prep into high gear. We are mostly ready, but do still need to pack our hospital bag, install her car seat, and generally make sure we and our  home are ready for our daughter.

No doc appointments this week, but this is my last "week off" from visits. Starting next week, I'll see the doc every week until Peanut arrives to check my progress and just generally asses how things are moving along. This means I'll have even more to update you about! Hopefully...

After a fun few days at home in Corvallis visiting friends and family, I'm glad to be back in Klamath Falls for a while. It feels like I've done quite a bit of traveling in the last few months, and I'm looking forward to taking it easy until Peanut arrives. Undoubtedly once she's here, there'll be few relaxing moments.

I suppose that's about it for this week. I'm technically 35 weeks tomorrow, so I'll try and post another photo maybe Thursday (although at this rate, they probably won't look much different).

It's 89 degrees outside as I write this - at 8:30 at night - so I'll be spending the evening in front of the window hoping for a breeze. Air conditioning is a rare thing in Oregon, so we're stuck with fans and wind. Not that I'm complaining...

Toodles!

26 Weeks: The End in Texas

Good Morning from the West Coast, friends!!

This is a very, very delayed post, but last week was quite hectic for us, and although I intended to take one more photo with our chalkboard in our house at Sheppard, that didn't happen. However, we did take one upon vacating our home there for the final time, so this is our official 26-week bump picture:

We weren't able to do a chalkboard photo last week because our house was completely packed up on Monday, including chalk and chalkboard. We lived bare-bones on Tuesday and the moving company came and collected all of our things on Wednesday. About now, our stuff is probably traveling west, if it hasn't already made it's way to Idaho (the main hub for the moving company). 

The driver thought he might arrive earlier than our move-in date of the 15th, but we've still not heard anything final, about that or our house. We mailed a deposit and are hoping to hold the house we wanted, but I won't feel 100% about it being "ours" until we actually sign lease papers. 

So we're in a little bit of a limbo for a few weeks. I'm back in Oregon now, spending time with friends and family while Jeff makes the drive to Oregon (with a stop in Vegas to visit his family and spend time with his brothers). We're hoping to begin our lease in K Falls on the 15th and move our things in on the 16th, but like I said-we're in limbo, so we'll just have to wait and see. 

In terms of Peanut, everything seems to be going well. She's adopted the same attitude as my friend Kristin's son-practicing for her teenage years by partying all night and sleeping all day. I don't mind terribly, although she's active enough to wake me up some nights. 

Not much else is new with baby, although by now the book tells us her eyes are open, and she's starting to form very basic memories that she may carry with her through her birth. We're encouraged to read her the same story and play the same songs, in the theory that these familiar things will comfort her outside the womb. We'll see.

Hoping to take another photo on Wednesday of this week, and match it with my ready-made chalkboard photo. So stay tuned!!