Baby Yeah- 36 weeks

I asked if he wanted to be in the picture this morning and he said "yes..." still sleepy, and more interested in his morning cartoons than the camera!

Better shot of how big I am!

Size of baby: 

A papaya- 6lbs and 19" long

My total weight gain: 

I'll get weighed at my appointment tomorrow morning.. but I'm sure 31-32lbs-ish. I feel much bigger this week than I did last week, mostly in the belly region. So maybe he had a growth spurt??

Stretch marks: 

Not yet.. my skin is still holding out..   

Movement: 

He still pushes and stretches with his whole body and my tummy contorts in crazy ways it never did with Austin. I feel like I'm more "all baby" than I was with him.. maybe because I had quite a bit of extra weight on me with Austin or something, but with Owen my tummy feels rock hard all the time, very "full" and I feel movement and limbs up into my ribs, way down low.. it's weird. 

Sleep: 

It's been a bit better. *Knock on wood* my heartburn went away on Sunday and hasn't returned yet.... "yet" being the key word here.... but I haven't had a Tums in days, and I haven't had acid waking me up at night. I'm still exhausted all day though. I think I'm just "done."

What I miss: 

Normal body movements. I can't get up from a seated position without heaving myself up using my arms, leg totally spread wide. Usually accompanied by some grunts. Sitting down is usually more of a partial squat then just falling into the seat with a thump.

Getting down and up off the floor? Tricky maneuvers... possible. But not easy to pull off or attractive to witness.

Food cravings: 

Pancakes.
Give. Me. Pancakes.
All day, all night... pancakes sound AMAZING.
Again, what is up with the carb craving??? On Sunday I had some girls over for breakfast and made blueberry pancakes... then later that night.. guess what I made again? Yep.


Symptoms: 

Well, the heartburn has gone away for now.. and I suspect it's because Owen dropped a bit. He's LOW. I can feel him in my pelvis and I can't sit certain ways because it hurts and my body won't let me bend that way. Sitting in the car, for example. It's awful unless I can be really reclined.

I have a feeling he's going to come before his August 25th due date.. just because he seems to be getting "locked and loaded" in there and securely stuck in my pelvis.

So because of his shift... my lower back now aches all the time. And my hips are starting to hurt. And bending over? Ha. Ha. Hahahaha. Literally almost impossible.

I'm Excited About:
Being done! I think we are getting close... maybe 3 more weeks???? Hopefully...  And let's be honest here... being off work for 4 months!!!

Austin is: 

The proud owner of a fish.
So Neal and I had talked about getting Austin a fish because we thought it would be fun for him to have a little pet.
Lo and behold... my work has been doing "Fun Friday's" all summer long, and last Friday was a carnival theme. Games were set up with prizes.. and guess what one of the prizes was?
Yep, real actual goldfish.
So thankfully the fish stayed alive through the weekend and is now a member of our family.
Welcome, Mr. Grouper.
Austin wants to feed him every 5 mins, "go see him" every 6 mins, and "hold him" every 10 mins.
Needless to say, he likes his little friend!

Project 857- July 12 & 13

This is more of a little recap of our weekend, not just Saturday...

And I really didn't get exciting pictures... so sorry about that!

Saturday started with the two men of the house dragging out some power tools (of the play and real variety) and putting together our new kitchen table!

We love it!

We had a square bistro table and got tired of having our legs dangle.. plus we weren't going to have any room once we needed to scoot a high chair around it too... so time for a bigger family table!

Austin still hasn't gotten the concept of sitting still and eating and not playing and rolling around on the bench (it's too much fun, I guess) but we'll get there.

Later that day Austy went with Neal to help run a Cornhole Tournament and I went to a friend's baby shower and we all melted in the 90-degree heat.

The next day, I had my own little shower "sprinkle" in honor of Owen's arrival!

My best Monique (as always) went above and beyond to help me celebrate an exciting life event. I tell ya... between birthdays, my wedding, and now 2 babies, this lady has shown my more love.... I don't know how I will ever be able to repay her, other than give her an organ someday if she needs it. For real.

Like I said Mo.. if you ever need a kidney or something... I'm here for you!

We were both bad at getting any pics of the ladies who attended, but the decor and food spread was so cute!

My friends were so generous and Owen was sprinkled with as much love as Austin was before his arrival!

And then there is this kid... who knows what weekends are all about.

Comfy clothes.

Lounging.

Cartoons.

Just livin' the life...

Baby Yeah- 35 weeks

Large and looking done!!!

Size of baby: 

A bunch of carrots... another weird, vague reference. How big is a bunch? About 18-19" long, and 5-6lbs!

My total weight gain: 

29lbs. Just got weighed at the Doctor's this morning. He isn't one to guess the size of babies, but he did say Owen feels small-ish and will probably be in the 7lb range. Of course that is no guarantee... but sigh of relief that I probably won't have to push out a huge-ass baby.

Stretch marks: 

Not yet.. my skin is still holding out..   

Movement: 

He's running out of room. He still pushes and stretches, but the movement has calmed down a lot, and I can go hours now without feeling anything, or something very slight. Fantastic for when I want to rest!!

But...  he is a major hiccuper. Major. Like 8-10 times a day he has the hiccups, sometimes very strong ones, and sometimes soft ones.

Oh! And get this... I felt his heartbeat the other day!!! I was standing in a store, with my left hand cupped under my belly and I thought "that's a weird twitch he's doing, what is he doing??" then I realized that twitch was his heartbeat! It was pretty distinct. I never felt Austin's heartbeat from the outside, so that was a pretty awesome moment. 

Sleep: 

It's hit or miss. It's still been pretty hot here so some nights I'm just hot and can't get comfortable. The heartburn still plagues me.... it's just not great restful sleep by any means. Some nights are just awful and some are less awful.

What I miss: 

Not eating up to 8 Tums a day. Ugh. If I never eat a Tums again in my life, it will be too soon. Just the thought of them grosses me out now. That chalky texture.... <shudder>. I know the heartburn will go away when he's born, and it was bad with Austin too, so I just have to deal with it.

With Austin, the Old Wives Tale was true and the heartburn meant he had a head of hair when he was born! I hope it's the same this time.. I LOVE baby hair!!!

Food cravings: 

Carbs still... cereal, mostly. On Friday last week I ate cereal 3 times a day. And on Saturday night I had a bowl at 10pm (not smart, I know...) because it sounded so good.

I told Neal I'm a little curious why my body wants carbs so bad all of a sudden... I'm afraid my body is either really wanting to pack on some last minute weight, or it's gearing up because it knows I'm going to have a long hard labor or something and it's trying to carbo-load.

Hopefully it is neither of those reasons and it's just a random craving for cereal.

Symptoms: 

Nothing too bad other than heartburn and indigestion. I'm getting some Braxton-Hicks, and they are painful this time! They never were with Austin, but these are definitely cramp-like feelings. Crazy.

I've had several people (strangers mostly) tell me I look "done." Since I am almost done the comments don't really bother me. I am big. I am almost done. I am also the Queen of the Vague response when they ask me how much longer... "oh a few weeks." Not a lie, but not exactly the truth... but how are they to know?? At least I'm not getting the "OH MY GAWD...... you have HOW much longer to go???? Honey, aren't going to EVER MAKE IT THAT MUCH LONGER!!!" comments I got constantly in the last several weeks with Austin. 

I'm Excited About:
Little things... I found Owen's going home outfit. I wanted to buy him something new so he'd have his own special little outfit.

I didn't plan it this way.. but Austin's room is baseball themed and he came home in a baseball outfit. Owen's room is woodland animal themed, and I found this little fox outfit and knew it was the perfect "coming home" outfit!

I also got the cutest artwork for his room off Etsy.. I love it! Now we just need to actually paint and get his room together so we can hang them...

Austin is: 

Still being pretty sweet... and is being more cuddly with me than usual. I know things will be fine, and that every kid adjusts to having a sibling (eventually) but I still hope the transition is smooth for us. I hope that my connection to Austin doesn't get severed or altered forever. I've heard stories from people of "once I had my 2nd kid... the 1st kid was never the same" and those stories scare me a bit.

So for now, I'm trying to savor.

Baby Yeah- 34 weeks

Not the best pic of the belly... sorry!! But can we all appreciate that it's a good hair day??? those are rare, people!!! ha. 

Size of baby: 

A cantaloupe... right about 5lbs (Henry's size! he's so fierce, seriously...) and almost 18" long

My total weight gain: 

Probably 27 or 28lbs... I don't feel any different than I did last week, so I'm going with "I'm gaining about a pound a week"

Stretch marks: 

Nope, but not sure that will last.. I'm growing straight out with Owen.  

Movement: 

He's still a big pusher and stretcher. Maybe he'll be really into yoga or something? Ha.
Most importantly.... he's calming down at night!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!! he still doesn't like me being on my left side and it's weirdest feeling when he protests, because I can feel limbs up almost in my ribcage! Austin was always so low I never felt him that high... it's the strangest feeling... he's just totally taken up my whole mid-section. Literally.

Sleep: 

Slightly better. I am exhausted all day though. Yawning all the time, eyes burning by 3pm... just tired. So I don't think I'm sleeping deeply... I'm still waking up often and tossing and turning.

Coffee doesn't help, and I can't drink it much or often since it triggers heartburn.

Since Owen is calming down more at night, that hasn't kept me up much... but I still get bad heartburn at night, and it's been hot, and I'm just getting plain uncomfortable in pretty much every position. 

What I miss: 

Sitting comfortably at work. Since my belly sticks so far out, I can't get that close to my desk and that makes my arms stretch out to type and it's not the most ideal position to be in for a day of work.

And I miss my belly button being normal. It's starting to get sensitive... if it rubs against something it feels weird and I'm just creeped out by it, knowing it's a hernia and that's my bowel sticking through. Eeeeeyyyuuuccck. I'm ready for it to go down.

I even tried the ol' "put Band Aids over it" trick to get it to go back in.. and no dice. It's sticking out too far and is too prominent. I couldn't get enough Band Aids on there to make any difference.

Food cravings: 

Fruit of course! And strangely... carbs: cereal, crackers, pancakes.... Something about veggies is not sounding good lately at all. I have absolutely no desire to eat salad, which is weird for me. I want fruit, but no veggies. But pancakes...mmmmm.

One night recently I didn't feel all that well and nothing sounded good for dinner, but pancakes. So I made blueberry pancakes and told Neal he wasn't allowed to eat one, they were MINE!!! But naturally, the toddler was all into them, so I did share with him, even though it was almost his bedtime. Austin and I had quite the late-night blueberry pancake party. :-)

Note to future pancake makers... I used a mix, but instead of water I used coconut milk. Fluffy, cake-like AMAZING pancakes!!!

Symptoms: 

Just Herman the Hernia, and some achy discomfort.

Oh, and acid shooting up my throat at all times in the day and night. Tums help, but I've eaten so many of them at this point, I feel ill after taking some.. I think I'm just sick of them.

I'm Excited About:
We are getting paint for Owen's room this week, so soon his room should be done! One more thing to check off the list... as time is winding down.

6 weeks to go... and who knows? Since this is baby #2 for my body, maybe he will come early.. so really, we could be as close as 4 weeks away from a baby. I don't feel as panicked and 'unready' as I did with Austin. I know there are things I want "done" (Owen's room, our house deep-cleaned, a big grocery trip to stock the freezer and pantry), but if it doesn't end up happening, I know things will be fine. Our summer continues to be busy as more things come up to fill our nights and weekends, so time is limited!

Austin is: 

Just living the life of a toddler.

We've had pool parties on the hot evenings, complete with his new obsession- Popsicles. "Mommy, I wan a paw-sicle. An I don wanna SHARE it." (I made him share with me one night and ever since then, he makes a point of not wanting to share!!)

We had a family date last week and went out for Mexican food.. he is our child for sure. Rice, beans, chips... all just shoveled in to his mouth! Boy likes his Mexican food, just like Mom and Dad!

And we had an exciting evening last Friday.. Austin and I broke down on the way home from work. We had an "emergency" and had to call Daddy and AAA to come save us.

Sitting in the A/C while Daddy tries to figure out what's wrong with the Mazda...

We always seem to have one major car repair when I'm pregnant. It's the weirdest thing. The Jeep we used to have broke down when I was pregnant with Austin and cost us $1,000 to fix... this time.. $800 to get the Mazda repaired. Sigh. What's up with the timing, cars???? At least we own the Mazda and will get a few more years out of it now, but seriously. Let's stop with the big issues coming up, ok universe? First the house repairs, then my car getting broken into, now the Mazda needing repaired. Not the best to deal with when a baby is coming.. so I think we've paid our dues, ok? Smooth sailing from now on?

Project 857- July 5

If you are friends with me on Facebook, you know the adventurous way my Saturday ended... but here is how it began.

We all woke up at the amazing time of 5:15am.

Despite not going to bed until 10:30pm the night before (and we think not falling asleep until the booming fireworks that shook our house-literally- ended until after midnight) darling Austin woke up at the butt crack of dawn.

Ugh. Child... let's have a discussion called "sleeping in when you go to bed late the night before..." because, really.

So needless to say we were all tired as heck this Saturday.

And when we are tired in the morning, we start playing with toys, stop playing with toys, don't put them away, and then crash amongst them while holding a spatula.

This is how my house looks. All the time

The plan for the day was for Neal to go to a family friend's funeral with his parents at 11am, then go over to his Dad's house. I would run errands with toodle-butt, get him a good nap in, then join them at Neal's Dad's around 4pm-ish for a little post-holiday BBQ.

Neal left, and Austin and I started our running around.

We got letters to spell out Owen's name in his room at Jo-Ann Fabrics (and a sweet-ass visor for Austin... he loved that thing!)

We went to Home Depot for paint samples for Owen's room, and got some popcorn and forgot where we parked..

"Dis our car, Mommy??"

"Hey Mommy, hey. I got paw-corn!!!"

Then we went to Old Navy for some more stretchy tank tops for me to wear post-baby, and Austin got to pick out a new outfit. He found a hat (just like Daddy wears!!) and looked so cute in it!

So now it was noon. Definitely naptime. I headed home and Austy fell asleep in the car because shocker! He was SO TIRED.

I get home, click the garage opener... and nothing.

What the heck?

Click, click click... point it straight at the garage door and click really hard like you do with a remote.. click click click.

Nothing.

Shit.

I put the car on park and leave it running because it was a cool 90 degrees that day.. and walk around the house to the back. Maybe we left the patio door unlocked. No such luck.

Crap.

Our neighbor, Carl, was out on his back porch and saw me and informed me the power went out at 11am that morning.

Random. A power outage on a hot day at 11am. When does that happen??

It was about 12:45 at this point and I start calling Neal. I'm thinking the funeral has got to be over by this time.. it started at 11am. He's probably at the reception.

I called..... oh.... 15 times I think?

Nothing.

WHY THE HECK DOESN'T HE FEEL HIS PHONE VIBRATE??? THAT THING IS ALWAYS IN HIS POCKET. HE IS CONSTANTLY ANSWERING IT WHEN IT RINGS ANY OTHER TIME!!!!! ACKKKKK!!!

I needed to get a hold of him to see if he could either get home ASAP to let us in with our one and only house key that was on his keychain, or if he could skip out of the funeral reception early and meet us at his Dad's.

So we wouldn't be stuck in a car, locked out.

And we waiting. And I clicked the garage opener. Over and over and over and over... thinking "the power has got to come back on. Any moment. Any moment." The car was running, the A/C was blasting..

None of our neighbors were home (Carl left soon after he told me about the outage). Kenzie wasn't home. I had nowhere to go. I had to pee. I didn't want to drive to Neal's Dad's without getting a hold of them.. or I'd just be sitting outside their locked house as well.

Finally, an hour and a half later... Neal called!!!! He had his phone on silent. No vibrating.. so he had no idea I was frantically calling him.... darn him!!

And as I was talking to him, the garage door opened!!!!

Hallelujah!!!!

Now the trick was to get the very tired, snoring toddler inside and not disrupt his much needed nap. Thankfully, I was met with success!!

Neal came home soon after that and we canceled the BBQ plans at his Dad's. Austin napped for a really long time. I was cranky and just not in the best mood, so we just laid low for the rest of the evening.

And talked about how we are making like a bajillion copies of our house key now. And putting them everywhere.

Project 857- June 28

So this recap really encompasses the whole weekend, not just Saturday.

I've been with Neal for almost 7 years now (ok, wow.. 7 years... sheesh) and every year he and a group of his buddies go on a long golf weekend in Central Oregon.

They've been doing it since college, and it's one of those "come hell or high water, we are going on the golf trip" type things. The boys have met with some slightly annoyed wives in certain years as they leave right before, or right after babies are born.... or right in the middle of wedding planning.... etc.

Like I said. Hell or high water. Those boys are golfing and nothing gets in their way.

So for the last several years the wives of those boys have grumbled a bit about the golf trip and have said "we should do something. We should start a girl's weekend."

Well, after many years of talking about it.... we finally did it!!

9 ladies

Our friend's vacation rental in Black Butte

No kids (well, other than Owen, but he wasn't too much of a pain.. ha)

No husbands

And what happens in BB stays in BB. :-)

I took very little pictures because I was just enjoying my time. Relaxing. And I don't regret not capturing every moment.

I did get a few pics that sum up the weekend though:

Delicious coffee and pastries in cute coffee shops in Sisters

Walks through the amazing beauty of Oregon.. the state that I just love so much!!!

And a little Vitamin D therapy... the pool at the Black Butte ranch was so cool! I absolutely cannot wait to go back with Neal and Austin (and Owen) someday! the kids will LOVE it!!

The ladies had a blast... :-)

Meanwhile, back at home.... Neal had a good weekend with Austin too!

They stayed up late Friday night, had some play-dates, wore crazy spiked hair..

Since the boys did so well on their own.. maybe Mommy should go away for the weekend more often???

Project 857- June 21

I am behind on my Project posts!!

Time is going by more quickly than I anticipated and suddenly I'm almost a month behind.

Anyway... this Saturday was a bit uneventful, so this will be short.

Neal was a gem and took Austin to a playground for a bit because I wanted to go through all the baby clothes and wash and get ready all the sizes I think I'll need for my maternity leave.

Yes, I know.. I'm a planner and I like to have things "prepped" and done ahead of time as much as I can. It's just how I operate. Clothes could easily be found and washed after Owen is here, but it gives me a sense of calm to have them all ready beforehand.

So our room turned into this as I went through 2 big under-bed boxes, 5 diaper boxes, and 2 bags of clothes that were stashed around the house.

This isn't even a fourth of what I went through!!!

I got all the little sizes washed and put away in Owen's room and re-organized the bigger sizes better so they weren't scattered everywhere.

So. Many. Baby. Clothes!!!

Once the boys were back we just played around the house. Neal had to leave for most of the afternoon to help with another Cornhole tournament, and when it was time to nap... Austin had a very tough time.

Tears, tantrums, jumping out of his bed and running to the door....

Sigh.

So I tried a new tactic.

I asked him if he wanted to come downstairs with me, and he said yes.

So I settled him on the loveseat with a blanket and a stuffed toy and told him this was "rest time" and that if he got up and tried to play with his toys, he was going back in his room. I turned off the lights, turned off the TV and sat on the other couch with the Kindle to occupy myself.

Within 5 mins...

He got a 2 1/2 hour nap in!

And he's napped on the couch every weekend since.

The Pro's- he sleeps great and there is no struggle anymore to get him to lay down.

The Con's- I can no longer do anything downstairs while he naps... cook, clean, pick up.

But it does force me to stop and relax myself, which won't be a bad thing once Owen is here. Maybe we'll just start one big Glynn family nap time on the couches.

Baby Yeah- 33 weeks

If I look tired.. there is a reason... 

Size of baby: 

A cauliflower. Almost at birth length.. about 19" and could be anywhere from 4-6lbs.

My total weight gain: 

26lbs at my Dr. appt last Wednesday. I got a high-five from him and was told I should be proud of my weight. I'm still done with weighing myself, so next week will just be a guess since I don't have another appt until the 19th.
If I don't swell (knock on wood) I'll probably end up with a 35lb weight gain, which is such a world away from the swollen elephant-legged, 60lbs+ gain with Austin.

Stretch marks: 

I don't think so. What I saw last week was a scratch I think. 

Movement: 

Push it... push it real good... (a la the Salt-n-Pepa song, in case you were wondering...) he's a pusher. It's always a full body push, so I feel a lump on my lower left side, then upper right side and my stomach gets distorted.
Its the weirdest thing when I lay on my left side because he'll push and push and push and squirm and I can feel it all the way up into my ribs. Kiddo does not like me being on my left side.
My Dr. said he is head down. Not completely vertical head-down, but not in a weird sideways position like I was fearing.. the kind that would be treated like a breech position with a C-section delivery.
Dr. B told me he was fine in there and will be in the spot he needs to be for birth.

Sleep: 

Terrible. I never had trouble sleeping with Austin, other than the occasional heart-burn wake-ups. I really didn't have to use the bathroom much in the middle of the night with him either.
First lesson... each kid is SO DIFFERENT. Even from the very beginning.
My sleep goes one of two ways:
1. I fall asleep fine at a normal hour and then proceed to wake up 5-6 times a night to either pee, fumble for Tums because acid is shooting up my throat, or Owen is squirming and wakes me up
2. Owen won't calm down and it takes hours for me to fall asleep, but when I do, I don't really wake up. Last night was Option #2. I didn't fall asleep until midnight, but didn't get up once for anything. I just didn't end up with much sleep since we get up at 5:30am.

Sleep sucks. 

What I miss: 

The usual- not having terrible heartburn, full range of motion. Lately I'm missing playing with Austin. It's just harder. He's and active kid and wants to wrestle, be chased, play baseball... and those things are getting hard to do, if not impossible. I also can't put him to bed anymore because sitting on the floor next to his bed to read him stories is uncomfortable. The bedtime stories are now all on Neal's shoulders.
I'm trying to give him extra affection, and play where and when I can with him.. but let's face it. I can't move well, I can't lift him up easily, and I tire quickly.. It's been emotionally hard on me. 

Food cravings: 

Not much. I still love seltzer water. Fruit for sure. I could eat it all day. Also those real fruit popsicles... I love those things!  

Symptoms: 

Get this... so my insane belly button? Yeah, that's not just an over-excited belly button. It's a hernia.

I was getting a bit suspicious because it seems to just stick out more and more, and someone (I don't remember who) mentioned something about a herniated belly button, so of course I Google it and I asked my Dr. last week. He looked at it for one second and said "yep, it's herniated." Then pushed and poked it a bit and was like "oh, yeah, definitely"

It does this really creepy thing where it waves in and out, and I thought that was Owen moving around in there, but it's my digestion!!! My abs have separated (or torn) and my intestines are sticking thru the hole (thus the hernia) so the in and out movement of my belly button is my intestines waving as they digest.

CREEPY!!!!!!! So I can sit there and watch my digestion work. ACKKKKK!!!

There is nothing to do about the hernia now. It's not hurting me, so we just wait until Owen is born. If it doesn't go back and heal itself, or it starts hurting me, I'll need hernia surgery to push everything back in how it should be. 

I'm Excited About:
We finally got all the non-baby stuff out of Owen's room! Yeah!!! I got some paint samples, and the letters to spell out his name above his crib and we are making progress! With almost all of our weekends until my due date taken up with events or family in town, it's a slower process.
A friend of mine on Facebook posted pics of her baby's completed nursery... and she's still almost 4 months away from her due date. Ahh... the time we had to spare when we were pregnant with our 1st kid, huh?? 

Austin is: 

Still being sweet about the impending huge change in his life. We ran errands on Saturday and he told every clerk at every store that "Bay Owen in Mommy's tummy!!!". Still keeping my fingers crossed that this excitement continues after Owen is here!!
He loves to talk about him, so we do a lot.. and I'm trying to always remind him that Owen will cry and need me and that he'll have to help me care for him. I hope he's comprehending.
But for now, I'll take the sweetness.