36 Weeks

How far along? 36 Weeks

Size of Baby:   

Your baby's the size of a honeydew!

She's still in the 17.2- to 18.7-inch and 4.2- to 5.8-pound range and continues to beef up.

your baby at 36 weeks

• She's getting closer and closer to being able to breathe on her own.
• Her skin is getting smooth and soft and her gums are rigid.
• Her liver and kidneys are in working order.
• Circulation and immune systems are basically good to go, too.

Maternity Clothes:  Lets just face it. I look pretty atrocious at this point. Don't stop by my house unannounced... you'll probably be frightened out of your skin. I make an attempt during the day to wear normal clothes, but not much is covering this belly. Around dinner time I usually give up and go pantless, or a pair of shorts and a sports bra it is. I am hitting up the dollar store this week for a couple of cheap dresses I saw that will be more comfortable and hopefully help get me through the next few weeks without someone calling the police on me for indecent exposure. I went outside a couple of days ago in a sports bra and a pair of shorts and Jared was laughing at how all the little boys next door that were playing hockey had to stop and stare at me. Poor kids. 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +26 lbs a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure I'll be up to +30 at my appointment tomorrow.

Gender: sweet baby girl! Briar Elizabeth Story! 

Belly Button In/Out: Oh it's so out. Even multiple layers of clothes don't hide that sucker!

Stretch Marks:  It's hard to say. My stretch marks are weird because I can only really see them if I turn in the light a certain way. But I'm pretty sure i have a lot more across the bottom of my belly and coming off the top of my old belly button piercing scar. 

I also forgot to mention it, but around 33/34 weeks my linea nigra decided to make an appearance. It's super light but it's there. How weird is it that I got one so late in the game??

Labor Signs:  Who freaking knows. 

Movement:  Oh Lord. 

Sleep: Not good. Having to pee wakes me up super early in the morning and then I can't fall back asleep. Last night a cat fight woke me up (and Rowan) and then I was so hungry I couldn't go back to sleep. I woke up a few more times too. Gah. It's so bad at the end.  Some nights I am up ALL night long.

Cravings/Aversions: 

Same. 

Symptoms: 

All the same. 

Feeling:   

I've had a rough start to the week. Besides just getting really impatient to have my baby, all of the body changes have been catching up to me. I had a little ugly cry sesh when I was talking with Jared after R was in bed for the night a few nights ago. It's mostly the face swelling that gets to me. Yeah, it's hard to be so uncomfortable, to not fit into any clothes, to have a gigantic belly.... but my face blowing up and making me not even look like myself on top of that all is just hard to deal with. I feel embarrassed by it, even though I know it's not my fault. This is just how my body handles pregnancy. I'm a tiny person so it's just a lot of strain. My belly gets so darn big because there is hardly any room between the bottom of my ribs and my hip bones (what my OB told me). 

All of that aside, Jared reminded me to keep remembering what a privilege it is to be pregnant. Just a few years ago we were struggling so much with the thought that we might never get to experience this, and there are still so many women who are longing to. Growing this baby is a gift, and having this temporary pain/discomfort/and swelling is SO WORTH IT. He thanked me for going through all of this so that we could have our beautiful family. 

Needless to say I felt a lot better after that. He's so right. And ya know what? i'm just going to embrace the 'I'm-SO-incredibly-pregnant-I-could-pop' look. Cause... I am! And I should be proud of it, proud of what my body is doing, and happy to carry my girl. And I am. 

Best Moment this Week:  Having a good weekend with my boys.  

What I Miss: Bending down, sleeping on my belly, having energy. 

What I am Looking Forward To:   My dr's appointment tomorrow. Weekly appts now! I can't wait to see if they think she's dropped at all, make sure she's head-down... all that good stuff :) 

Milestones:  officially in the 2-4 week away zone. That's craziness to me. 

Next Appointment:  Tomorrow! :)

- my nesting this time around has been significantly less. I remember cleaning out our laundry baskets with Lysol last time, and obsessively scrubbing the floor every couple of days. Rowan's room was completely washed and Lysoled every.week. 

This time? Not so much. I have some cleaning things to do on my list before she comes, and I SO don't feel like doing it. I'm really sick of thinking about the freaking list. I just want to get to the part where we're living normal life together after she's here. 

I don't even really feel like packing my hospital bags, which I should probably have done by next week. What the heck. 

And I have all of two meals in my freezer right now. 

Also- a little Rowan update:

He has been SUCH a good boy for the past week. Jared's been working with him in the tantrum department, and he has made so much progress! I am so thankful. It could just be a temporary phase that he's being better, but I really think that daddy being strict in the discipline department has made the difference. We haven't had to put him in time out for over a week. 

Now when he starts to have a tantrum we say, "No fits. You use your words or you will go in time out." And he stops crying. Sometimes he will still lay on the floor and cry, but it's only for a few seconds (until we remind him that he needs to use his words), and it's nothing like the screaming bloody murder- kicking and hitting stuff he was doing before. Praising God for this improvement!

He's also been an excellent listener, sweet and helpful. I've been very thankful for a good week & praying for it to continue! 

Saturday

I didn't have any high hopes for this weekend being great. Jared had to work and there was a rainy forecast. BUT it turned out to be pretty great.

My nieces, Sadie and Baylee are in town for the weekend so my mother in law wanted us all to go to the carousel park and let the kids go on the rides. It didn't open until noon, so instead of an afternoon nap, I put Rowan down in the morning. I cleaned up the house a little and got myself ready. Jared came home from work at 12, we ate a quick lunch, packed up the double stroller and left!
(I hadn't used it before so I was pretty excited to try it out. And thankfully it fits in our trunk just fine. We have a little car, so I wasn't even sure it would!)

The day turned out to be sunny and warm!!

When Papa's around, Rowan doesn't care about anyone else! Jared 

originally was holding him up there...but R only wanted Papa.

He LOVED this ride. I think that he thought he was actually driving, hehe.

I've never seen someone steer with such enthusiasm! 

Sadie riding solo! 

It turns out that Rowan would only ride the rides that had a steering wheel.

Two steering wheels at once?! He loved it. 

Baylee cheering everyone on from the sidelines! 

Little girl is turning 1 tomorrow! 

After a couple of hours at the rides, we stopped home quick to change R into swim trunks,

and then went back to the splash park. 

Rowan LOVED it. I knew he would, he was crazy about it last year when he couldn't even walk yet!

Poor bug has quite a few scrapes on his knees though because we just couldn't get him to slow down. Almost as soon as we got there he had a collision with another little boy and they both went sprawling on the pavement- boys! The mom of the other little boy couldn't believe that Rowan was only 1.5- he was the same size as her 3 year old! I think I don't realize how much older he seems until he's around other kids his age. It's really funny seeing him next to Sadie and Baylee too. Sadie is 1.5 years older than him, and Baylee is only 6 months younger, and Rowan is pretty close to Sadie's size.

Anyways- a couple of the other moms at the park ended up talking to me, and it was really neat. Jared and I talked all the way home about how its a great opportunity for ministry. It will be cool to see what opportunities the Lord presents as we go this summer! 

We decided that ice cream after dinner was the best way to finish off the day. 

It turned out to be a wonderful day. I can't wait for the rest of our Father's Day weekend plans today!

Friday Phone Dump

Rainy day meant getting our fluffiest stuffed animals 

and some popcorn, and watching a movie on the couch together. 

Making a garland for Briar's room. I'm thinking it will go across the top of the window. 

Lots more flowers to make still! 

Is there anything more fun than baby clothes??? 

Package from Grama full of sweet little things.

A small break from the rain, and we enjoyed the sun. 

Also- someone decided that he does in fact like popsicles. 

That's some belly huh? 

Rainy day again... so I made some bubble bath paint,

turned on some music, and R had a blast! 

                       

Reading with Daddy :) 

He thought it was pretty funny hiding in there.

Raindrop mobile for above the crib 

Starting to plan out what stuff to bring to the hospital for baby girl <3

More adorable things from friends and family. So sweet!

Briar is so loved already.

This cracks me up. I love how he always has to put his feet up and get comfy.

Thank goodness for the forecast being wrong today! Instead of thunderstorms we enjoyed the sun. 

Lunch time. This kid is so goofy. When he saw that I had put cheese on his sandwich he said,

"YAY!!! Cheese! Cheese, cheese, cheese. Thank you!!! MMMM!!" 

I adore him. 

Now it's nap time for me, and hopefully the weekend will stay nice and sunny!

So...When Are You Going to Have Another?

Or...

So now that you'll have one of each, you're going to be done right?

Ahhh the questions that come before I've even had a chance to finish baking the baby I'm currently pregnant with!

Let me just throw this disclaimer up too before I get into this.... Every family is different. You do what works for you. You make decisions that are between God, you, and your spouse. Just because Jared and I feel a certain way about decisions that pertain to this is no reflection on anyone else- and if our convictions on this are different than yours... that's okay.

Some of the factors that play a part in our choices are touchy subjects. And I hope that by sharing my convictions on the subject that it doesn't hurt anyone who's chosen differently for their family. So I'll say it again- every family is different. We are all responsible for our own choices. It's okay that we're not all the same.

SO... Are we done on the baby-making train? Yes and no. We are done for now. We've decided to wait until Jared is done with school, and then we'll see if we'd like a third child at that point.

There are several reasons for why we decided this, the first one if I can pick a broad enough word...is TIME.

1.) Deeply investing in our children's lives is very, very important to us. We don't take parenting lightly, it involves a lot of serious decisions and a lot of time and effort and prayer. Jared and I want to be able to be invested in our kids spiritually, emotionally, and be physically present. This means spending individual time with them, time as a family. Praying together and spending time in the Word, and time in ministry together. We want to be apart of their school activities, sports, and church events. We want to do fun things at home, be a part of their education and creativity.

That's a lot. It's a lot just for one kid, and even more so for two. And who can really say at this point in the game how much you are able to handle..and handle well. ?? I don't think you really can. At least for us, at this point, we've come to the conclusion that two will be more than enough for us. We'd rather have less kids and do well, and invest in them the way we'd like than to have more kids and be struggling to give them all the time and attention they need. This means thinking ahead to ALL of the stages of parenting. Because toddlers and babies have pretty basic needs right now, but as middle schoolers and teenagers and young adults they'll have much more complicated issues and require a different depth of parenting. And maybe later down the road, when Rowan and Briar are grown a little more and we have more parenting experience under our belts - then maybe we'll feel that we're ready and wanting to take on more and have more. Or adopt. (something we've always wanted to do!) And maybe we won't. We will follow the Lord's leading no matter what and strive to honor Him with this responsibility He's given us. It's a huge privilege!

So, Jared's schooling plays a part in the time aspect because at this point in his work and school schedule he is gone a lot. He is working so hard for our family, and continuing school in order to have a job he loves and that provides for us better. Which is an awesome thing, and a choice that puts whats best for our family in the long run first. I'm so proud of him! I know that he struggles with being away from us, but that he perseveres out of love for us. Right now, he does an amazing job balancing all of the responsibilities he has. Even after a long day of work he completely throws himself into playing with Rowan as soon as he gets home. He takes over diaper changes, feeding, and bathing whenever he's home. We do a lot of it together, but if I'm tired and don't feel like joining in -Jared is totally fine taking over caring for Rowan when he's home. And he doesn't do it half-heartedly, he REALLY plays with him, is a silly daddy, reads books, and teaches him things. I am blessed just watching them together. We will have to adjust to his school schedule again in the fall once classes start, but I'm confident that he will continue to be a great daddy to our babies. BUT, adding a third at this point while he is so busy and still has quite a long time of schooling left just wouldn't be so great for our family.

The second big deciding factor is MONEY.

2.) Long-term financial responsibility in raising our family is another very important thing to us for many reasons. We have really strong convictions about what it means to be responsible adults and how that affects family planning.

The first part is affording what you have. At our current stage in life, we own a home, have two cars (no car payments), student loans, tuition, regular bills, and (almost) two children to provide for. At times, money is tight. Some months we are blessed and have much, much more than we need. Other times, we pay our bills and have little left over, sometimes nothing. All in all though- we always have enough. We eat well, and are blessed with many more things than we actually need. We've been blessed to afford vacations every year, doing small fun outings as a family, being able to buy special outfits for holidays and enjoying holiday traditions, and many extras for Rowan that just make life fun.
Sometimes we won't be able to afford all of that. And that's okay because thats not where our contentment is. We're happy even when we have months that we can afford no extras. BUT we don't want to stretch ourselves so thin that we have to sacrifice all of that, always. It's important to Jared and I that we can do special things sometimes. So the main point here is- if we couldn't afford what we currently have on our own, then it would be financially irresponsible to bring more children into that situation. We're not at that point, but we don't want to get there either. We are also blessed with family that are so generous to us, and often help us. But we don't depend on that, and are able to afford our living circumstance without help as well, even if that means that sometimes we forgo the extras.

This is part of adulthood. Sometimes people don't learn those lessons, and end up in serious debt or depending on government assistance to get them by. We are so thankful to have (by the grace of God), avoided those mistakes and learned to live within our means. Here, I am not talking about emergency or unforeseen situations that can arise and make that type of assistance necessary. Life happens. Sometimes, people lose their jobs, or get into accidents and have medical bills, ect. I'm talking about not being able to afford what you have, and then choosing to continue adding to your family while you're in that situation. This is something we want to avoid. And a big part of that reason is that parenting is raising your children to be responsible adults, right? So how can we do that if we aren't doing it ourselves? I cannot teach Rowan to be a financially responsible adult if, by my example, he sees us unable to afford our bills or health insurance, or racking up credit card debt for extras we can't afford on our own. Things like that.

Also, planning for the future comes into play as well. So- right now we don't have a ton of money. As much as this can sound like it's about having stuff... it's not. I'll explain why in a minute.

We're planning for the future in several ways. First of all, just being aware that while babies and toddlers don't cost a whole heck of a lot, they get more expensive with time. We want our kids to enjoy sports (and I don't just mean school sports. If Rowan wants to play ice hockey, and Briar want to do gymnastics someday, then we'd like to be able to support them doing that) or creative pursuits, or to go away to summer camp, to help them with first cars and college... ect. You get the idea. Providing for a family now on a certain salary will look a lot different in 5-10 years. So, Jared is in school. We don't plan on continuing to stay where we are now financially. Even if he gets the lowest paying job possible in his career field, once he graduates, he'll make more than double what he does now.
        We also bought a house. Which, right now makes money tighter, but in the long run is a HUGE benefit to us. We bought our house for half of what it's worth, so even if we didn't make ANY extra money from the improvements we've made on it, we will make double what we paid for it. If we end up moving south, and then buying a house there after we sell ours- we could be mortgage free before we're 30. So, we plan, we know the Lord leads us, and we do our best to be responsible. That doesn't mean that once we DO have more money that our kids will have everything. Our kids will still work for their things, and learn how to have strong work ethics. Even if we can afford to give them stuff that they want, they may not get it.

Sooooo... how do we feel about all this?? We're excited. I'm excited. It's nice to know that I can throw everything I have into being a good mama to these two, and not always be looking ahead to the next thing (or next baby). It feels great to know what I'll have to concentrate on over the next few years as Jared finishes school, we continue to work on our house, and raise our babies. It feels great to know that after I have Briar, I can really concentrate on getting back into shape and not just think, "why bother if I'm just going to get pregnant again?" I'm excited to watch them grow together, and grow older, and for our family to grow together. I'm excited for (hopefully) a long season of contentment, and growth within myself.

Will it be hard sometimes? Undoubtably! I'm sure that a few short months after Briar is born I'll start missing being pregnant and getting the itch again. But I can't just keep having babies every time that happens...where would it end?? Maybe the Lord will change our circumstances, and call us to have a bigger family. But right now he's not. Right now we're really content with the children he's blessed us with, and we're okay with waiting a while to see if there's a possibility for any more.

35/35!

How far along? 35 Weeks. 5 weeks to go (or less?!) ! 

Size of Baby:   

17.2 to 18.7 inches. From here on out, she won't get much longer, but she's plumping up. She's now about 4.2 to 5.8 pounds, and she'll put on a pound or more of baby fat before birth.

your baby at 35 weeks

• Now, her hearing is fully developed, and she responds best to high-pitched noises.

Maternity Clothes:  Verrrrry few outfits left that fit. At home I've been wearing some of Jared's tshirts. 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +26 lbs

Gender: sweet baby girl! Briar Elizabeth Story! 

Belly Button In/Out: Oh it's so out. Even multiple layers of clothes don't hide that sucker!

Stretch Marks:  Same.

Labor Signs:  Nada. 

Movement:  This girl is crazy active. It makes me laugh now to think how I thought Rowan was because she is 10x more than he was! And somehow, little girl is intent on me not being able to pay attention in church. Every week without fail she is a WILDWOMAN for the entire.service. 

Sleep: Not so great. It is really hard to get comfortable and fall asleep now, tired as I am. I wake up sore most days.

Cravings/Aversions: 

Same. The cleaning supplies thing has definitely faded to almost gone, but the mint craving is definitely worse. I'm trying to not have them so much, but it is truly maddening how they are ALL I want, and it's only a matter of time once I run out that I am running to the store for more because I can't stop thinking about MINTS. Ugh! I'm all out right now, and trying to last more than a day! 

Symptoms: 

Same. Feet in my ribs, knees sticking straight out, crotch punches... out of breath, super tired, back pain, rib pain, some swelling. 

Feeling:   Excited. I'm really excited for her to get here, excited to go into labor, excited to pack my bags in a few weeks. I hope the time goes by fast, but at the same time I don't. 

I don't know what it is, but preparing for a baby is really just so joyful and exciting. I love it. 

Best Moment this Week:  Hmm... probably just spending some great quality time with Jared the past few days. We've really been making more of an effort not to just space out after Rowan goes to sleep, but to talk a lot and spend time in the Word together, before we turn on the tv or start falling asleep on the couch. 

Also, I got a surprise package from my Grama in the mail, full of adorable new outfits for Briar, so that was fun :) I also finished her mobile and got it hung above the crib, and I'm working on a garland to hang across the window. 

Annnnd I need to get a new lamp since Jared broke my 50's vintage lamp that was in there :( He broke one of the shades, and we got some glue to fix it, but before we could he knocked it over again and completely shattered both shades. Oh well. 

What I Miss: Bending down, sleeping on my belly, having energy. 

What I am Looking Forward To:   Friends coming over for a play date today, and my sister stopping over later after that. 

Also looking forward for it to actually start feeling like summer...umm sometime? 

Milestones:  35/35! 

Next Appointment:  This is my last appointment-free week. (although I do have to go get my blood drawn sometime today, ugh.) Next week I start going every week- eep! And I think I'll start getting internals to check progress too? I can't remember for sure if that starts at 36 or 37 weeks. Either way, I know it doesn't mean anything.