31 Weeks (October 20 - 27)

After the baby shower over the weekend, I still feel like I'm putting stuff away from that and from my shopping trip to Target...yikes. Baby's need a lot of things.

There have been many weeks lately where I feel like having a three day weekend would be really helpful.  Now if only I could get work to agree with that...

I'm still feeling really good; I'm quite a bit more tired than normal...it's not unusual that I'll be watching a show on TV and fall asleep on the couch around 8:30.  Luckily, the tiredness really only hits about that time and I'm fine throughout the day. Unfortunately for Lincoln, when he tries waking me up to go to bed, I'm usually not the most pleasant person...

On Friday of this week my coworkers and I went to see Wicked, in Kansas City.  This was the second time that I had seen it and it didn't disappoint! We decided to have an early Christmas celebration since my status could be up in the air in December!

With Wicked being in KC, we didn't get home until realllllly late Friday. Well, really late for me; it was after 12:30. I was pretty worthless Saturday morning!  Lincoln and I decided to have a date night on Saturday since our days as it just being the two of us are numbered!  We went out to dinner and to the movie, Captain Phillips. The movie was really good, but really suspenseful! I was pretty jumpy through most of the movie! I would definitely recommend it though if you're looking for a good one!

The baby has been moving around pretty frequently and lately I feel like I'm getting kicked in the ribs--mostly just on my right side though. He seems to kick up a storm after I eat breakfast and around 10pm.  I feel a few jabs throughout the day, but nothing like what I feel at night!

 

This week the baby is the size of a pineapple! This week the baby is about 15.2 -16.7 inches long and weighs about 2.5 - 3.8 pounds.  He's also going through major brain, nerve, and eye development.  His irises even react to light.  All five of his senses are now in working order, plus, baby's body temperature is now partially being regulated by parts of her brain.  His bones, with the exception of the skull, are hardening too.

29 and 30 Weeks (October 6-20)

I didn't have much to write about for week 29, so I'm combining it with week 30, which is still just as equally as boring.

One piece of fun news is that I had two baby showers within these two weeks!

The first one we had was at my mom and dad's house that my sister, cousin, and sister in laws helped host.  A lot of family and family friends attended this shower.  It was so fun to see everyone and we came away with a bunch of great gifts for the baby!

The following week two friends from Hiawatha hosted a shower for us.  It was such a nice morning and great to get a few more gifts for the little babe.  We played one game where my friend, Kindra, tried to instruct me on how to use a Moby wrap.  Needless to say, I had no idea what I was doing and I'm sure it was pretty funny to everyone there!

On top of both showers, we also got the crib and a book shelf put together for the baby's room.  Things are slowly starting to come together!  It's fun to put everything in it's place after we get home from the baby showers!

 

After the last baby shower, I decided to take back any duplicate gifts to Target and to finish getting a few things that we'll absolutely need before the baby arrives.  I came home and just dumped it all in the living room:

 

It took me awhile to put it all away! There's still stuff that I'm sure we need, but I feel a little better now having a few more diapers and wipes on hand just in case he decides to grace us with his presence a little earlier than planned.

Lately he's been moving around a lot more and his punches and kicks are definitely a lot stronger than before.  Lincoln can easily feel them now and just the other night he got kicked or punched in the face.

 

Week 29 update: The baby is the size of an acorn squash!  He's getting plumper and should be measuring about 15.2-16.7" long and weighing about 2.5-3.8 pounds.  He still has a long way to go and will be TRIPLING his weight before birth.  Oy.  My belly is growing bigger and apparently is getting to about the max it might stretch, so things are a little tight in there for the baby.  He's been extra squirmy and occasionally I can feel him get the hiccups!

 

Week 30 update: The baby is the size of a cucumber!  He's still measuring about the same as week 29, but his skin is continuing to get smoother while his brain is getting wrinklier--to make way for all that essential brain tissue.  He is strong enough now to grasp a finger.

28 Weeks (September 29 - October 6)

Things are pretty uneventful around here lately. I'm getting larger, that's for sure.

 

For some reason, multiple people have said to me this week that I am finally looking pregnant.  Maybe they've had poor eyesight for the past few weeks? But I'm pretty sure that bump growing on my stomach has been pretty evident for awhile!

 

My cousin and his wife had a little boy on the 3rd and he's adorable (from the pictures I've seen!).

 

The weather has definitely cooled down a lot in the past week.  On Saturday, my mom, sister, Mason and I went to the Maple Leaf Festival in Hiawatha and it was chilly! I don't think we bundled up enough!

 

Lincoln and I did a walk for breast cancer that morning before going to the Maple Leaf Festival and after the walk bought some homemade cinnamon rolls from a vendor set up at the festival. We walked, so we deserved it, right?!

 

Most weekends lately, Lincoln has been helping some friends in the field driving the grain cart or combine, so I'm left at home to do stuff around the house.  I figured it would be a good time to wrap Christmas presents so no one could really make fun of me!

 

I can't believe there are only 12 weeks left! Eek!



 

 

 

The baby is the size of an eggplant this week!  At week 28, the baby is putting on layers of fat and weighs in around 1.5-2.5 pounds, measuring about 13.6-14.8 inches.  His skin is smoother and less wrinkled; his lungs are mature enough that he could probably breathe on his own if he was born prematurely.  His eyes can open and close now and can sense changes to light as well.  The baby's sight will continue to develop during infancy after he's born, however.

27 Weeks (September 22 - 29)

I have been all kinds of screwed up on what day of the week it is or what I have going on this week.  I went to my hair salon on Monday to get my hair done and my appointment wasn't until the following week.  Ugh.

I also have a love/hate relationship with Nebraska Furniture Mart.  I love them because they have everything in one store. I hate them because they're huge, they have the worst time guaranteeing ship dates, and their customer service is kind of lacking.

We ordered our crib from NFM in August and were told that it would be in in two weeks, or the beginning of September.  Every other week I would get an automated phone call from NFM saying the ship date was being pushed out another two weeks. I finally called and spoke to a real live human and all they could tell me was that it was something to do with the manufacturer.  I realize that this has nothing to do with NFM, but I wasn't happy...

Instead of just waiting it out and hoping that it would eventually arrive before the baby arrives (I also realize that I probably won't need the crib until a few weeks or so after the baby is born, but I really want to get the room arranged!), I found a few other places in KC that had similar priced and similar looking cribs.  I found one at Pottery Barn kids and it will be here by the end of the week!

The little dude has been extra active lately and I swear he's doing somersaults in my belly. That or just practicing some kick-boxing.  Every time that I try to get Lincoln to come and feel all of the movement, though, he seems to stop!  He did get to feel a few pretty big kicks this week though!

I've been feeling extra tired lately and I seem to doze off on the couch around 8:30.  My energy is still pretty good throughout the day, but after dinner, I'm ready for a nap!

 

The baby now is around 13.6-14.8" long and 1.5-2.5 pounds!  Not only is he getting larger, but he's becoming a complex little human being.  This is the earliest that he could survive outside if delivered prematurely.

 

His brainstem, which controls most of his vital functions (such as heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure) is nearly fully developed by this point, and his cerebral cortext (which forms consciousness and allows us to think, feel, and perform voluntary actions) is growing more and more, maturing and becoming more complex during the last trimester.  It's more common now for the baby to do karate kicks in my belly.  He can stretch and make grasping motions now too!

26 Weeks (September 15-22)

Oooh, Lord, I was in a MOOD this week. My poor husband and coworkers. Gah.

The worst thing is that I knew that I was in a bad mood or moody, at the very least, and the only reasonable thing to do, apparently, was cry. Luckily, the crying was kept to a minimum and only around Lincoln, but still...not a fun week, this week.

On the positive side, the weather has been fantastic! Fall is in the air!  It's perfect timing because we are getting new windows installed in our house and we can finally open windows and enjoy the fall breeze.

With the window installation, we have pretty much had to clean the entire house and places that probably have not been cleaned in years!  While it sucked seeing all of the dust and dirt all over EVERYTHING, it was a good feeling to get everything clean. Here's a before and after--you can't really tell in this picture, but the windows on the right side are the new ones.  We can already tell a difference in how much sound is kept out and how less drafty the windows are!

I decided that since the baby is due around Christmas, that I should probably get a jump start on Christmas shopping.  I didn't really think that I'd finish so soon...but I'm pretty much done. And it's only September!  Oops.  I'll probably really start freaking Lincoln out when I bust out the Christmas wrapping paper and start wrapping all of the gifts up! 

Most of the gifts started arriving a day or two after I ordered them, so I'm pretty sure that our window guys think that I have a shopping problem....

I also got these cute little Tom's from one of my good high school friends, aren't they adorable!? I can't wait for our little guy to be able to wear them!

We didn't have much of anything going on this weekend and since I felt like I had a bunch of energy, I decided to do some freezer meals for after the baby is born (or for nights when I don't feel like cooking before the baby is born...). I made around 15 differnt meals! Needless to say, my feet were killing me Saturday night when I finished up!

 

 

This week the baby is the size of a head of lettuce!  He's around 13.6-14.8" and around 1.5-2.5 pounds.  His eyes are still forming and they'll open soon.  His eyelashes have grown in and he's getting his immune system ready for the outside world by getting antibodies from me.  His lungs are starting to produce surfactant, the fatty substance that coats the inside lining of the lungs' tiny air sacs, helping them to expand during breathing.  His skin has developed color because is body is making melanin.

25 Weeks (September 8-15)

The beginning of this week started out rather toasty for the month of September, but by the end of the week, the temps were in the low 60's in the morning and the afternoons were in the 70's.  Pretty perfect if you ask me!

I realized one morning while laying in bed as I was moving my hand around on my belly that as soon as I would stop, baby boy would move all around.  I tried it again, thinking that maybe it was a fluke, but every single time that I'd touch my stomach and stop, he would kick around.  Lincoln was able to feel it too.  It was pretty cool! I must have found a ticklish spot or something!

Lincoln and I did some yard work over the weekend and we had a good family friend's wedding that Saturday night.  My sister, parents, and I all helped with the wedding--they had perfect weather for their wedding and everything went great!

On Sunday, we celebrated Mason's 2nd birthday! I can't believe he's already two! He got a new car and a tractor to drive around the yard in (among many other toys!).

I've been feeling great! I feel like I'm quite a bit more moody or cranky than before I got pregnant though...which is not great. I'm hoping that that little side effect of pregnancy disappears soon...I've also been hungrier, sleepier, and I've been breaking out more, but overall I feel really good.

I've still been able to wear most of my pre-pregnancy clothes (pants with the help of a belly band), but I've been noticing that my boobs are kind of getting out of control. It might just be time to purchase a new bra or two...yikes.

I've also noticed that I really like things spicy when it comes to food.  I've been adding red pepper flakes and jalapenos on pretty much whatever I can.  Hopefully this doesn't backfire and give me heartburn down the road.

The baby now measures around 13 1/2 inches in length and weighs about 1.5 to 2.5 pounds and is the size of a cauliflower.  During week 25, the baby's nervous system is rapidly developing and he's enjoying knowing which was is up and which way is down.  He's also growing more hair!  The baby is beginning to exchange the long lean look for some baby fat--as this happens, wrinkled skin will smooth out and the baby will start to look more and more like a newborn.

24 Weeks (September 1 - 8)

I was SO thankful to have Monday off for Labor Day this week.  After not sleeping much after going to the KSU game on Friday night, sleeping like poo on Saturday night, and having the baby shower on Sunday, I was exhausted.

The most productive thing I did on Monday was write thank you notes!  It was nice to not have to worry about doing much of anything on a day off!

The shower on Sunday was given by some of my good college friends in Kansas City.  One of my friends was back from TX for the long weekend, so we moved the shower up so that she could participate.  It was so fun getting to see everyone!

At they shower they did an ice cream sundae bar, which worked out perfectly since it was SO hot that weekend.  And since I can't seem to get through a day without at least a bite of ice cream...

The hostesses and I!

 

 

Colleen and I are due about 2 weeks apart, however she's measuring 3 weeks ahead of when she thought she was due.  And I didn't realize how much shorter I am than her!

 

Lincoln's mom, my mom, and my sister and I:

 

 

Not sure what's so funny, but I love both of their faces in this picture:

 

 

Friday we went to the high school football game with friends and the metal bleachers are not comfortable.  Luckily the home team won!  After the game my friend Chelsea, who is a nurse came over to remove the stitches I had from getting a mole removed the week before.  I am the biggest weenie.  Seriously. I was freaked out it would hurt or bleed or something....  Unfortunately one of the stiches was done really tight and she didn't have the best equipment, so we were only able to get one of them out.  My mom was able to get the other one out later in the weekend.  Luckily, removing them didn't hurt me one bit. :)

This week the baby is the size of a cantaloupe!  The baby's see-through skin is gradually becoming less translucent and is starting to look more opaque, like ours, but with the a pinkish glow, thanks to the small capillaries that have recently formed.  He's getting heavier now and weighs 12.7 - 20.8 ounces and is 10.5 - 11.8" long.  There's a lot happening inside the baby as well, and while his lungs have developed, they can't work outside of the womb yet--but he's getting closer to being ready to survive in the outside world.