Pregnancy Highlights 34 weeks

34 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 34 Weeks

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com : Baby weighs as much as a cantaloupe about 4 3/4 pounds. (Length: almost 18 inches, head to heel.)

Weight Gain: 20lbs

Maternity Clothes: Yes although some of maxi dresses and workout clothes aren't maternity

Gender: Girl! It is still a struggle for me to use female pronouns when talking about "her"!

Movement: So Much! Her awake time is right around 11 and it is an impressive show. I have NO idea what the heck she is doing in there but I imagine its a synchronized swimming routine. There are so many heels, elbows and butts that just protrude outward and move across my belly. It is insane.

What I miss: Getting up from sitting without needing a minute for my back to catch up to me. I have made it my entire pregnancy without needed my maternity support belt for my back ( which is a first) but my back is starting to get a little sore now from time to time.

Sleep: Not really, I can't even blame Brandon. I wake up around 4 or 5 and more days then not can't fall back asleep. I get a lot of stuff done in the wee quiet hours of the morning though!

Symptoms: Insomnia and some nesting. I have time to sleep, just can't manage more then 4 hours. No heartburn and no intense back pain yet. I don't have much to complain about.

Cravings: calmness and order. Our lives are so busy in the summer with activities and fun, I can't wait for an excuse to slow life down a bit. We are also in the stages of getting out baby gear so things are a bit cluttered around here while we set up, which is not working for me. 

Best Moment this week: hanging out with baby girl twice this week during my non stress tests. I sit for 20 minuets, knit and listen to her heartbeat. Nothing like a guaranteed 20 min break twice a week:)

What I am looking forward to: I am having another ultrasound at 35 weeks. I am excited to see baby!

Happy 4th of July

I say this every year..but.... I started this blog on the 4th of July 2010. It has now been 7 years! Sometimes for funsies sake, I will pick a random year and month and go back and read everything I wrote about. It is absolutely baffling to me all the day to day happenings we do that I completely forget about. This is for sure not the best written blog out there but it continues to serve as a perfect yearbook to our lives and I am so happy I have stuck with it.
So, now on to the 4th festivities!

This year we wasted no time in getting the fun started on the 4th! Grandma and Rob swung by to pick up the kids and take them to castle park! It was hot but early enough that the kids had a great time and got out some much needed excitement energy! After the park, they went back to Grandmas house for a bit which gave me a chance to prep our super delicious dinner!
Since we started our plant base diet, Brandon has( or had) been dragging his feet. His absolute favorite food group is grilling and I told him to brace himself because we were doing a totally plant based 4th. On the menu was: Vegan burgers, fruit salad, roasted potatoes, macaroni salad and baked beans. I took a picture of my plate( without the burger patty,oops) and it tasted as delicious as it looked. I devoured it! The potatoes are hands down my favorite and I make them...a LOT. The macaroni salad and baked beans were good but not amazing. When I make them again I have already noted a couple improvements to make. Brandon ate until he was full then ate some more so while it wasn't his usual, it must not have been too terrible!

 After lunch, the kids had mandatory rest time. It was HOT and they had been going non stop for hours. Sameul and Nicholas both passed out and I am pretty sure I snuck a nap in there too! After nap, Brandon had to go to work but the kids and I headed to University splash park. It was hot and the water felt nice. We stayed for about an hour and headed back home. The sky was looking a little cloudy and I didn't want to get stuck loading kids up in a downpour.

 We came home, changed and ate. I called it quits for the night. I was SO hot, tired and just done. Its not hard to emotionally take 5 kids to the splash park but physically this pregnant in this heat....uffda! Uncle Jordan felt pretty strongly that the kids get to see the fireworks. Because he is worlds best Uncle he took the minivan downtown with the 4 older kids, bought ice cream and enjoyed the show. The kids are so lucky to have him in their lives!

Happy 4th of July, and happy 7th blog anniversary!

June Cell Phone Pics

June Cell Phone Pic

This is the way my lovely husband goes to work

Nicholas has decided he wants to sit at the table like a big guy. Shortly after this picture, he moved to the smaller booster seat. He just has to keep up with the big kids!

Samuel and Benjamin spend ALOT of time outside in the dirt...it is tiring, and dirty!

Elias learned how to mow the lawn this summer!

Spaghetti squash, a hit with these guys!

Benjamin LOVES to feel his baby sister move. He likes to talk to my belly too. 

Summer is sooooooooooo exhausting

Nicholas got stung in the face by a bee, ouch!

Neighborhood kids had a brownie war. I don't know who won but the judges sure are lucky 

Quick trip up to Fargo to see Michelle!

Annie painting my toes because while I can still reach, it is easier for her

Visiting Grandpa Bruce's tree

June was busy and full of fun, onto July!

New Rooms!

It seems no June is complete without some sort of indoor painting project! This summer, in addition to a couple of painting project, we decided to throw in some room rearranging as well!

When we found out we were pregnant again, I suggested moving all three of the little boys into Nicholas room, moving Elias downstairs to the little boy room and turning Elias' old room into the nursery. The thought behind that was having all the younger kids upstairs with us. Brandon LOVED the idea and wanted to get to work right away, however I changed my mind before he had a chance to set up help to move the beds. I didn't like the idea of Elias getting the biggest bedroom to himself, I didn't like the idea of Benjamin and Elias sharing a room( BIG personality differences) Samuel wasn't ready to share a room with Elias( maybe in a few years) and I didn't like the idea of moving Nicholas downstairs. This left one option, leave everything as is and have Nicholas and the baby share a room. I was pretty happy with this decision mainly because it required no work and if it didn't work out, we could always rearrange rooms later. 

Around week 28, I had a nesting attack! I was not happy with the room situation after all and it was giving me anxiety! I suggested moving rooms again and within an hour he had help lined up to move beds and a painting plan in place with his mom. He wasted NO time this time around, smart man because I probably would have changed my mind again!

We didn't paint the little boys room but I like the color so its all good. We brought up the bunk beds, moved Nicholas crib to the other wall, brought in the night stand and a small toy shelf and redid the closet system to make room for 3 boys worth of clothes. 

In progress photo

FInished....for now!

 Once Nicholas is done with the crib, he will be getting Annie's bed because it matches. It will be a very bed-y room but there is still going to be some play space. My biggest concern with this set up was the closet situation. Thankfully Samuel and Benjamin are sharing clothes as they are the same size, and there is still lots of room to spare! Plus, their clothes are small for now!

Next up, Elias's room! Grandma got to painting his new room the same color as his old room. We moved some of the furniture down but kept his room pretty open. He has plenty of room for friends, a big open space for his therapy swing...which we still need to set up and its out of the way so no more little brothers sneaking in to destroy it all the time. Elias used to be up with the sun but since the room switch, he is sleeping in past 7 every day whoop whoop! I love the way his room turned out!

 Lastly, the nursery! When I found out I was pregnant with Nicholas, I knew I wanted to do an  actual nursery. I didn't want it to be gender specific so I picked a color scheme and was going to accent with different colors based on gender. The main colors were lime, light blue and white. More navy and light blue for a boy, more pink for a girl. In hind sight this was a fabulous plan since I loved Nicholas' boy nursery and now I love baby girl's pink nursery! It was a no brainer for what color to paint the room and it matches so perfectly with all of the nursery decor that I had in Nicholas's room. I literally just moved it all over after room was painted and boom, instant nursery! The mini crib will eventually be moved in here followed by the full size crib in due time, for now it is finished thought!

In the span of a short week we( Grandma) painted 2 rooms, moved three rooms around and redid 3 closets! It was utter disaster and chaos for a few of those days but we survived and I LOVE the end results.