30+ Weeks

These pics were taken on Tuesday night--I was 30 weeks and 2 days pregnant. Yeah, there's definitely a baby in there. I get constant kicks, punches and wielding limbs to remind me which I love. So here's the rest of my list of preggo tidbits for now:

*I love that this baby moves so much but man oh man sometimes I just feel like a punching bag.

*I don't remember being this uncomfortable with Luke at this point (keep in mind that he was born at 34 weeks so the last 6 weeks of this one are all new territory for me).

*Leg cramps are not my friends. I'm really trying to be proactive and drink tons of water, stretch and walk more but I am still occasionally having cramps in the middle of the night. It scares Troy half to death when I sit bolt upright in pain. Hopefully I don't have 10 more weeks of cramps.

*I think I'm starting to get tired again. I find that between 3 and 4 I can hardly keep my eyes open. I know I should probably take a short nap while Luke does but I also think that I don't sleep as well when I do. And on top of not sleeping great anyways I don't want to add another reason for less sleep at night.

*Can I just say that getting out of breath from walking up the stairs is really annoying?!?! It drives me crazy especially when I've already been upstairs once and realize I forgot something. Having everything all squished up to your lungs isn't too great. Eating has also become more challenging because I don't have as much room in my tummy.

*Forgetting something isn't too uncommon these days either. I am usually very good about remembering things but definitely not right.

*My clumsiness factor has also greatly increased the last few weeks. Almost anything I touch has a 50-50 chance of being dropped. Thankfully I haven't broken anything yet. My balance is also off and I have to be more careful on the stairs.

Okay, so that just sounded like all I did was complain. Please don't interpret that as me not enjoying pregnancy because I do love being pregnant. Writing about it all helps me feel better though and everything I listed above is normal for being in your 3rd trimester. I am very anxious to meet this little one and adjust to being a family of four.

Oh, our final decision is to try to do a VBAC. Troy and I are both a bit nervous about this but know it is the right decision for me and the baby. We had our last appointment with my former OB on Tuesday and she took the news much better than we thought. We also had an ultrasound then and the tech estimated the baby to be 3 1/2 pounds and I only gained 1 pound the last 3 weeks which puts me at 18 pounds total. My first appointment with my midwife is this coming Wednesday. I am anxious to talk to her more and start creating the ideal plan for the birth of this baby.

Other Weekend Pics

Troy also took some other good pics of his and Luke's weekend together. Enjoy :)

Not sure how Troy took this while driving but I like it nonetheless.

Who doesn't love to play in the rain?!?

Luke will regret letting Dad take this one--definitely blackmail worthy!

On the Farm

Over the weekend while I was at my scrapbook retreat Troy took Luke to Topeka to visit Grandma and Grandpa. On Saturday afternoon while they went to the K-State game Troy and Luke went to Grandma's family farm. Luke loves to go to the farm and see the cows and chickens. This time though not only did he do that but he also got to ride in the tractor and the combine. Troy took video during each ride and I'll hopefully get that posted here soon but in the mean time here are a few pictures. Troy said Arlo, Neil and Marcene enjoyed having Luke there as much as Luke enjoyed his rides.

Tidbits from the Week

I have a bunch of random things floating around in my head from this week. I'm going to share them. Some are much longer than others but they are all worth sharing (from my perspective anyway).

**We've been potty training this week. I wanted to start on Sunday but it didn't happen until Monday. Luke has cried every morning this week except today when I told him we were going to put on underwear after taking off his diaper in the morning. Today he woke up with a dry diaper and saying, "Mom, I need to go potty." Hooray for progress!!! But back to the beginning.

Monday went really well. He only had one accident. The problem was he refused to poop on the potty and waited until he had his diaper on at nap time to do that. I figured with only 1 accident we were at least getting somewhere. We didn't leave the house all day and had a timer go off about every 25 minutes to remind us to go.

Tuesday was better. We still did the timer but Luke would tell me sometimes when it went off if he needed to go or not--more progress. He also waited until nap time to again go poop but we tried for over 10 minutes before he went down. Close to dinner time Luke had 2 accidents right in a row--the first of the day. I was a bit frustrated because I was trying to make dinner and he'd been doing so well. He told me he wouldn't have another accident so when the timer went off the next time I told him to sit on the potty until he went while I worked a bit on dinner. All the sudden he says, "Mom I pooped!" I was so excited that I scared him because I yelled so loud. He was proud of himself and he finally got his cars that we've had on the counter for over a month for this momentous occasion. What a great milestone!!!

Yesterday he went to school in underwear. I was concerned about this but didn't want to put him back in diapers. He only had 2 accidents at school which I thought was really good and none the rest of the day at home. I know that his teachers can't take him as often as if he were at home so I told him he did a good job and to try not to have any accidents today. I'm not holding my breath though because the firemen are bringing their fire engine today for all the kids to see; that equals major distraction.

**We had our appointment with the midwife yesterday to discuss having a VBAC. It went really, really well. It was very refreshing to have a positive reaction and encouraging answers to all of our questions. We both really liked the midwife and feel comfortable moving forward with doing a VBAC rather than another c-section. I'm still hesitant only because my pain tolerance is low and labor scares me a bit but I know it's the right thing to do for me and the baby.

So, the question is are we going to open the sealed envelope and find out if this baby is a boy or a girl? At this point I think we will. We have talked about making it a special event and we're debating between two options. Our anniversary is next week so that's one choice. The other is waiting until the weekend of the baby shower which is October 22 and opening it with most of our family here. We'll see :)

**Unfortunately Troy had to work late last night so Luke and I ate dinner without him. I absolutely love the conversation Luke started:

Luke: "Mom, how was the doctor today?"

Me: "It went really well Luke. Thanks for remembering."

Luke: "Did you have a busy day today?"

Me: "I did. I went to the doctor and Target. I had lunch and printed some pictures and I then I came to get you. Did you have a busy day?"

Luke: "I did Mom but I'll tell you about it tomorrow."

Me: "Why not today?"

Luke: "Because I'll tell you tomorrow."

I had told Luke yesterday morning that I was going to the doctor while he was at school. I'm super impressed that he remembered to ask me about it after his busy day at school and being very tired and a bit cranky because of his allergies.

**Luke asked yesterday afternoon to watch the baby movie. This is the 4D video we have from our ultrasound last week. It truly touches my heart that he is showing such an interest and concern for this baby already. While we were watching the video he pointed out the baby's nose, eyes, mouth, tongue and hands. He also asked me if that was the baby in my tummy several times. He even rested his hand on my tummy for part of the time we were watching. I can not wait to see his reaction when he meets this little one for the first time.

**This morning while waiting outside Luke's classroom for the teachers to open the door I was squatting in front of him reminding him about paying attention to his body and going potty when he needed to. He just randomly leaned over and gave me a big kiss and then a super big hug and said he loved me. I almost started crying. What a sweet, wonderful boy I have :)

Sunday in the Sandbox

Sunday morning Luke and I spent almost entirely outside. I would say for at least 45 minutes Luke played very contentedly in his sandbox. I've mentioned before how expressive Luke is but you'll see several different expressions in the pictures below; my favorites are the ones with real serious concentration looks.

Random Thoughts

Just a few random thoughts I wanted to share:

1. The following conversation occurred on Tuesday night when Troy and I showed Luke the DVD of the 4D ultrasound.

Luke: I'm very excited for the baby to come out.

Troy: I'm excited too Luke.

Luke: Mom, you're excited too, right?

Me: Absolutely!

Luke has been happy and/or excited about this baby from the beginning. I truly hope he still feels that way after the baby is born.

2. At MDO yesterday Luke got a huge goose egg on his forehead and I mean it's big. Unfortunately his teachers didn't see what happened and he didn't cry when it happened so they didn't know he was hurt. Luke's a tough kid which is a bit scary for me. We all told him how important it is to let his teachers know if he gets hurt. I managed to figure out from Luke that he hit his head while on the slide and another child said he went down the slide on his tummy. Not until bed time last night when Luke was talking to Troy about it did we learn that another little boy pushed Luke down the slide. This is a hard situation for me. I want to let his teachers know what Luke said but I don't want to "tattle" on the other child. How would you handle this one?

3. Luke and I had a picnic lunch at the park today. It was some great Mom and Luke time. The weather was great; we had fun watching the squirrels; and Luke got to run off some energy. I love when spontaneous events happen and it makes your whole day that much brighter.

4. There are only 79 days left until my due date! Um, that's going to go by SO fast. I'm slowing ticking items off my to-do list but I need to get moving. Any volunteers for a swift kick to get me motivated would be appreciated (only figuratively of course).

5. I'm very excited for next weekend. My neighbor and I are going on a scrapbooking/quilting retreat from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon. I would really like to finish several projects before the baby arrives and I'm hoping to be in super go mode all weekend. I know this will be my last chance to do this for quite a while so I plan on enjoying it to the fullest.

6. I have a goal to be finished with my Christmas shopping at the beginning of November. That's a tall order because I find it very hard to shop for Christmas when Halloween hasn't even happened yet. I know that I will thank myself later for accomplishing this but if you receive a gift from me this year and it's a tad uninspired please understand.

Okay, that's all for now. Enjoy the weekend :)

4D Ultrasound

Today I had a 4D ultrasound. Troy and I were very excited to see this little one again. We got a CD with a ton of pictures and also about a 15 minute DVD which shows the baby moving (that's what the 4D allows). There are only hand and face pictures because the technician didn't want to risk us seeing what the gender of the baby was by getting pictures of the feet. The baby cooperated wonderfully and even brought one foot up by it's face at one point. Troy and I definitely agreed that this little one looks like Luke and without question has the same button nose as Luke. We also both thought that this little one has a more round face. After having a similar ultrasound with Luke I had a strong feeling that he was a boy but with this one I feel like the features could go either way.

I'll also let you in on a little secret. Troy and I have decided that if we go with having a VBAC we'll most likely find out the gender of this baby. We currently have a sealed envelope with two pictures in it telling us if it's a boy or a girl. We have an appointment with a midwife next Wednesday to discuss the risks and benefits of a VBAC and a repeat c-section. I'll keep you posted. Enjoy the cuteness below :)

Notice the eyes are open in the pic below

The next two you can see the tongue

Here's the foot along with both hands