30 Weeks 6 days

How far along?: 30 weeks 6 days
Total weight gain: 19 lbs
How big is baby?: Should be over 3 lbs now!
Maternity clothes?: Oh yes.  Last week I put on a non-maternity shirt that I had been wearing while pregnant, and it was skin tight and only covered down to my belly button.  I guess I got bigger....imagine that.
Stretch marks?: Nope
Sleep?:  Ugh, I think preg-somnia has hit.  I toss and turn a lot, am up in the middle of the night, and wake up pretty early on my own.  Which is good, because Gabrielle has been waking up before 7:00am too.
Best moment this week?: Feeling prepared.  The room is pretty much done.  I have new bottle nipples, pacifiers, clothes for his first year [ :) ], diapers, pretty much everything. 
Movement?: Whew....this boy is strong.  I can feel a distinct foot or elbow or something on the outside of my stomach now....he'll stick his foot out and leave it stretched out for 10-15 seconds and I can pretty much grab it on the outside of my stomach.  And I can start to see him do giant rolls across my stomach from the outside too.
Food cravings?: Nothing in particular.  Big appetite has slowed a little bit...probably because baby has squished my stomach.  But still eating every 2-3 hours.
Labor signs?: Not much
Belly button in or out?: Half and half
What I miss: I'm feeling pretty pregnant these days....so I miss being comfortable and doing everything without it being difficult/awkward.
What I'm looking forward to: The cooler weather :)

Little boy's heartbeat was chill at 128 bpm, the belly measured 30cm, and my BP 80/60.  Ha, I'm still upright so I guess it is fine. 

Fall of Firsts

So so just in time for baby boy to arrive, my baby girl is turning into such a big girl!  Last week she went over to a friends house to play.....by herself....for the first time.  The six year old neighbor girl (and her dad) knocked on our door and asked if Gabi wanted to play dolls.  Gabs yelled "yes!!" and I said "yes?!" and I walked her across the street, pushed her inside, and went home.  Very weird.  Nick got home and was like "where's the kid.......?" and I told him "playing at a friend's house".......very weird.  Once you have a kid it is the strangest feeling to be at your house when your kid is not.  So she played for about 45 minutes over there until dinner time and had a blast. 

And then next week Gabrielle will be starting preschool.  She is only two so she can't go to "real" preschool through the school system, but with the baby coming and everything we thought that going to something structured would be very good/fun for her since this winter will be hard for us to get out as much.  She'll be going to a daycare preschool program in town - it isn't the most awesome place, but it's only for a year and only two mornings a week, 8:30am-11:30.  Yep, a grand six hours a week!  But that's exactly what I wanted.  Not a humongous time away but something she go to and give me a bit of time with the new baby.  So she will go there for a year, go to preschool in the school system for two years, then start kindergarten when she is five, almost six.  Gabrielle doesn't want to go to preschool which is hard, but I know she will have fun there and it will be best for her overall.  And when I registered her they told me she needed a big paint shirt, and that is the only thing she is excited about.  Picking out a paint shirt.  Oh well, I'm going with it.   

And then dance.  Gabrielle will be starting her first big girl class without me in September as well.  She will be in the 3-4 year old dance class at a studio in Holt.  We bought her ballet shoes - she was in the smallest size they had, but I bumped it up a half size to give her a bit of growing room.  We also got her leotard (and skirt by request from the ballerina).  So exciting!


She found her old bear with all the baby toys downstairs, so she quickly stole her back.

She requested a picnic with Bear for lunch.  Sure why not!

Her ballet shoes

 
And I got my old slippers out to show her too

Who, What, Where

But no "why" yet.  That one still draws a blank most of the time when I ask Gabi why.  Gabrielle has been really into places, cities, and where everything is.  She is also into time, though not very good at it yet.  She always tries to use all sorts of time references (tonight, tomorrow, this weekend) like I went to the zoo last year when she really went last week.  She is also trying to get used to "we are leaving in 15 minutes" or "we will go at 11:00" and gauging her patience on that. 

She likes to know everyones parent's names....we had some new friends over for dinner and in the middle of it Gabs yells across the table "Michelle, what your mommy called??" haha.  She is also very into girls....older girls.  There was a 1.5 year old in the waiting room at my OB appointment and she came over to show Gabrielle a picture.  I said oh isn't that pretty Gabs, and Gabi stared blankly at it and said "no" and then kept on what she was doing.  Any older girls, from kids to teenagers to women she likes a lot.  She'll get all excited and say "she a girl like us mom". 

I was annoyed with Nick and all of a sudden Gabi yells at him "you're makin us nuts!!"

And she told Nick to "shut up" the other day.  But he kind of deserved it.  Her bottom was itching her.....she was obviously having an issue and wasn't very happy about Nick.  Instead of trying to help her Nick thought it would be better to make fun of her and saying she has warts on her butt.  Gabs was getting pretty annoyed with him and finally told him to shut up!!  My my.....Nick really wasn't being very nice so we had a quick talk about even if someone isn't being very nice to you, it isn't ok to tell them to shut up....say be quiet please.  Haven't heard it since so hopefully she got it ;)

"Mommy you have your swimsuit on for your yogurt class?" Nope....I have my sports bra on [under a tank] for my yoga class.  But close.


My back was really sore the other day and I was laying on the couch (gasp) and Gabi was worried what was wrong.  I told her my back hurt and she jumped up and ran upstairs saying "I can help!  Yellow B make it feel better!!".  She came back down with her beloved yellow B and put it on my back.  So sweet.  I told her she was such a good doctor, but then she had to to "check my ears" too....so the blanket got shoved in my ears to see if they were healthy.  They were.  Thank goodness.  But now anytime someone asks how I'm feeling Gabs pipes up, rubs my back, and says mommy's back hurts. 

Gabrielle is really stuck on the fact that cousin Isaiah's arms were all "twisted" and loves to tell people "Isaiah's arms not twisted anymore".  That's pretty much her main interested in him.  And she tells me "Isaiah was fussin' in his car seat at the zoo".

She really wanted to dress up in hats the other day......

Her first smiley face!  Tilt your head to the right.....Blogger must think my kid's smiley face is crooked  because it insists on uploading this way....

28 Weeks....3rd Tri & Nursery Preview!

Wow, I can't believe I'm in my last trimester.  My belly is definitely getting bigger and things are getting a little bit more difficult to do. 
I've been taking prenatal yoga yoga for the past few weeks.  It's ok.....I've never really done yoga before and I'm not the biggest fan, but I enjoy my classes right now.  It's nice to get out and do something new....especially at a time when I can't do much at all.  I passed my gestational diabetes test, and now I start going to the doctor every two weeks. 

How far along?: 28 weeks 4 days
Total weight gain: 17 lbs
How big is baby?: About 2.5 lbs and 17 inches long from head to toe
Maternity clothes?: Yes
Stretch marks?: No.  I didn't get them with Gabrielle so it would be great if this little boy left me scar-free as well......or else Gabrielle might have to be my favorite.  Just kidding :)
Sleep?: Good.  Starting half waking up each time I need to roll over though. 
Best moment this week?: Getting the nursery painted, wall art up, and the furniture all in place!  Now there are just a bunch of little things to get before it's complete.
Movement?: Random movement.  Some days he's pretty quiet, sometimes I get some random pokes, and then sometimes he goes nuts.
Food cravings?: Nothing in particular.  Still like cereal though!
Labor signs?:  A few braxton hicks. 
Belly button in or out?: In, but one side is starting to pop out a bit
What I miss: I've been having pretty bad heartburn already and I've had some [I think] random sciatic nerve pain in my back/hip in the few days after we painted so that hasn't been too fun.  Overall still feeling good though.
What I'm looking forward to: Getting the finishing touches done on the nursery.  We have it painted, the furniture in place, and the art up, minus his name letters which I'll do after he's born.  Now we just have to do all the little things. 

And here is preview of baby boy's nursery :)

The Fair!

Gabrielle went to the fair and had a great time.  Ron and Billie went with us again, and Gabs was able to ride more than just the carousel this year.  She really wanted to do this huge jumpy thing that she always sees at the mall and we never let her do.  We let her try it at the fair and she loved it!  We had to help her a bit to bounce since she was so little but over all it was good.  She also went on rides by herself for the first time.  We were a little nervous - she was either going to freak out hard core or love it.  She loved it.  Billie ran and bought her an unlimited ride bracelet so I'm glad she got some use out of it!  We had deep fried oreos for the first time and they were super delicious....I was impressed!  And Gabs got cotton candy for the first time and thought it was the best thing ever!

Grandpa Oliver's 90th Birthday Trip

We returned home from our last road trip of the year (my last, at least).  Gabrielle went up to the UP for the second time in her life, though the first was when she was only four or five months old.  We left Monday after Nick got home from work and drove until a little ways after the bridge and got a hotel.  Then we went the rest of the way the next day.  It worked out really well.  We only stopped once the first day for potty/dinner and once the second day for potty/lunch so Gabs did great.  As soon as we got to our cabin in Crystal Gabi got out of the car, looked around, and said "I no bring my fishing pole!".  Haha. 

Our two little cabins.  Perfect!

We were right on a lake, though at our beach there was no good place to swim. That's ok though, Gabs gets to swim all the time so we took her the first day and didn't have chance to after that. My parents got there that night and we had a hot dog and brat cookout that night. Gabi managed to get a giant bruise on her head in the first 15 minutes there. There was an older swing set in our yard with wooden swings.....well some Gabi got off the swing and was on her hands and knees in front of it when the swing swung back and cracked her right in the forehead.....LOUD. Nick and I both heard the crack from where we were unloading the car. Then after she calmed down Gabs proceeded to swing on her stomach and fall over the front on the swing. She was done.

We had raspberry bushes in our back yard.  Gabi loved them!

We went to my Aunt Kathy's one afternoon and Gabs got to feed the horses and play in the gardens there. Aunt Kathy had her grandson Ian over for the week and Gabi thought he was pretty cool....though he has two sisters and wasn't thrilled about this little girl invading his time at Grandmas :)
Gabrielle eagerly asked Ian "Do you like Beauty and the Beast??"
Ian "No"
Gabi "Do you like castles??"
Ian "No"
At that point I rescued Ian and redirected Gabs haha


Feeding the horses hay and "cereal" as Gabs called it.

Enjoying the fruit from Aunt Kathy's garden too!

Grandpa Oliver!

Gabrielle loved Olivia who is one year older

At my Grandpa's birthday party there were a million people there, and Gabi took it upon herself to introduce Nick to my Aunt.  She said "Hi I Gabrielle.  This is Nick, but we call him Daddy".  Yeah, pretty much the funniest thing ever and I wasn't there...I heard this second hand.

Beth and Christina due the beginning of October and I'm due the beginning of November!

On the way home we made quite the day of it.  In the morning we packed the car and met everyone at breakfast.  We didn't leave town until about 12:30 EST, drove four hours to Mackinaw City and spent about 3-4 hours walking around there.  After dinner Nick decided he was good to just drive home that night instead of getting a hotel so that's what we did and made it home about 11:30.  It was a good trip.  Our cottage was very nice and perfect for what we needed.  Every single person in my family except one was there for my Grandpa's party and I think he had so much fun seeing everyone.

First Mackinaw Fudge :)  When she was asked what was her favorite part of Mack City she said playing in the ice cream truck.  The highlight for her was us letting her play in this stupid toy ice cream truck.  Haha.