My 36-Week Internal Exam & a Lot of Catch Up

Posted on May 29, 2014 by playinghousewi

Today was my 36-week appointment, which meant the drawers were dropped and I was assaulted. At this point, my cervix isn’t dilated a bit, but is thinning. Also, our sweet little girl is still very high. Obviously, I’m not over-the-moon about that part. What’s she doing way up there? It’s time to come down and “engage” as they say.

I’ve decided to help her make her way down, I will be adding in a few practices into my daily routine…

1) Walks – Maybe a quick, 30-minute walk will help. I feel like I could pretty easily add this into my morning or evening… or even a mid-day walk over lunch?

2) Sitting/Bouncing/Rocking/Squatting on my exercise/birthing ball. This is supposed to help loosen up the hips/pelvis and permit baby a bit more room to squeeze on down.

3) Squats – I feel like I do a lot of squats… at least on my workout days… but I think it’s time to maybe add in 20 in the am and 20 in the pm, just for good measure.

4) Pelvic Tilts – I do these sometimes… but not regularly and not enough. It’s simple, get on all fours and move the pelvis forward, into neutral, then back.

5) To my momma/momma-in-laws… please skip this one. That thing that got me pregnant in the first place. Supposedly this helps her get into position? Whatever. I won’t question it. I’m always happy to give love making some purpose other than the obvious.

Other than that, I had to get my Strep B test. That wasn’t too pleasant either. A nice swab to the Va-hoo-hoo and the butt. Lovely. I’m hoping and praying this comes back negative. I really do not want to be a) hooked to an IV during labor or b) on antibiotics.

In the weight department, I LOST .6 LBS! Such joy. I should also mention that last appointment, I had gained 5 lbs in 2 weeks. So a .6 lb loss was only fair.

In other news, here are some photos I’ve been hoarding.

This weekend, I went to my little friend Erica’s Wine Bottling Party. How cute is she? Also, why is my face so puffy? I should probably make sure she gains 30 lbs before we take another photo together.

I officially took my rings off (just to be safe) and replaced them with this GAUDY (fake) rock. I’m already regretting buying such a huge ring. It kind of… attracts attention. It’s created quite a few blushing/sweaty moments explaining that it’s fake and my fingers are just a little fat for my real ring.

Thoughts on this diaper bag? I bought it at Nordstrom Rack and think I really like it. Decisions…

Baby/Puppy Baby/Mommy snuggles. Best thing ever.

He’s so cute.

Mom/Dad/Pup hammock snuggles. My favorite activity ever.

My boys.

Silly face.

The hubs setting up show in the dining room. Toby trying to make work a little less painful.

The hubs setting up shop in the dining room. Toby trying to make work a little less painful.

The boys snoozing.

I've started filling the frames for the nursery gallery wall with DIY creations. Thought this turned out well. Just hearts cut out of scrap book paper.

I’ve started filling the frames for the nursery gallery wall with DIY creations. Thought this one turned out well. Just hearts cut out of scrap book paper.

Almond Butter, All-Natural Berry Fruit Spread & Banana Sandwich… the only thing I want to eat for the rest of my life. MMmmmmm!

35 Weeks (May 23, 2014)

Posted on May 23, 2014 by playinghousewi

35 Weeks (May 23, 2014). Another week has gone by and now there is literally only 5 left… that feels absolutely crazy. Baby is a giant, mommy is a giant… everything is big now. My belly button is working hard to stay an inny, but definitely pokes out… it’s not on outy, but it looks like a volcano.

Symptoms

So, I didn’t post yesterday. I had a crabby day and didn’t feel like sharing my crabby. Pretty much the gist of it is that I had a crappy doctor’s appointment. Everything is good with baby and I, but I was just not happy with my doc. More on that later. For now, a few cute things to set the tone for a great (and long) weekend!

TINY bun bun that was hanging in the front yard. Hi bun bun!

Toby, Baby and I crashing over lunch one of those rough days this week… can’t remember which.

Letting Go of the Physical & Mental Stress

Posted on May 21, 2014 by playinghousewi

As I mentioned (AKA: severely complained about) yesterday, my back has not been my friend lately. In my attempt to heal, I’ve decided I need to not only focus on the physical remedies (chiropractor, stretching, massage, crying, etc), but also, the mental stresses that might be causing physical tension.

With that said, I’ve been avoiding thinking about and/or talking about my gramps. Grandpa is 87 and has been living in Florida alone, with the memory of my grams who passed over 10 years ago. Grandpa has prostate cancer, which has been managed for years now. Recently, Grandpa’s been running into health issues… mainly dementia and his cancer metastasizing. About a month ago, Grandpa fell at his condo in FL and spent 6 hours on the floor, unable to get up. The next day, my dad and uncle were on a plane to bring grandpa here to Wisconsin where we could take care of him. Since he’s been back, it’s been one thing after the next.

We got him into assisted living and after three falls, he was finally hospitalized for dehydration. When he was released, he went to a rehab facility. After a few days there, he was sent back to the hospital for slurred speech. Everyone was thinking he had a stroke, but if he did, it was small enough that it didn’t show up on the MRI. Grandpa has since been released and has been sent to a different rehab facility, as the first one did not meet the family’s standards.

So now, poor Grandpa is in yet another new home for up to 90 days, with the next stop being unknown. Grandpa is severely confused due to his dementia, which causes him to experience moments of panic and fear daily. He calls my parents every day, freaking out because he doesn’t know where he is.

His cancer has spread to his liver and to his ribs. While no one really knows how long Grandpa has, it is clear that his mind and body are failing him. The doctor and my parents seem to think it will be a matter of months. Poor grandpa has lost over 14 lbs since he’s been here.

My grandma died very suddenly, so this whole watching someone go is very new to me. I’m trying to stay positive and appreciate the fact that he has today, but it’s hard to do… especially knowing he’s so miserable.

But, with our little girl only a month out, I can’t help but selfishly hope that Grandpa will stick around to meet her. My grandpa has said he’s ready to see my grandma, but I also know it would mean a lot to him to meet our little lady. He talks about how exciting it is to be here now as we get ready to welcome her.

I don’t know what happens to people when they die, but if Grandpa really does get to go see Grandma, I think she’d really love to know a little bit about our girl. My grandma and I were very close. She called me her “heart of hearts”… a term of endearment that means more to me than any. She was a tough, no bull-shit woman. I really hope Grandpa gets to bring a little bit of us with him wherever he goes.

After reading all this, it still feels like I’m holding onto my feelings about the whole thing and focusing on the facts. Let me say this, I am not ready to lose my grandpa. It suddenly feels like things are spiraling a bit and before I know it, all of my grandparents will be gone. I guess that is just another reminder to cherish the time we still have and carve out time to see them as often as possible.

My Back Took a Sick Day

Posted on May 20, 2014 by playinghousewi

Okay, my back has taken this whole painful and uncomfortable third trimester thing to a whole new level today. Last night I made it to the gym, but ended up taking a tylenol beforehand. I’m guessing that was stupid. I have been so good about not taking medicine, but I was so uncomfortable and really thought a workout would help. Anyway, when I got home, the hubs helped me do 1 minute ice, 1 minute hot on my back for 10 minutes or so. However, when I woke up this morning, I wasn’t feeling any better. And, by the time I got into work, I was seriously uncomfortable. My back pain has gotten to a point where it almost takes my breath away and today, was making me pretty nauseous. I literally sat at work staring blankly trying to figure out what the heck I was going to do. I had my hot and ice packs with me, but nothing was working.

Finally, at around noon, I decided to call it quits and try working from home. Unfortunately, the only position that seems to relieve the pain is of the horizontal nature… not a real powerful working position. Needless to say, I haven’t gotten anything done today, my back still feels terrible, and I’m not sure what to do.

I have an appointment with my chiropractor tomorrow at 5 pm and just got a referral for an acupuncturist. It’s time to get creative. This pain is definitely NOT sustainable for 5.5+ more weeks.

If anyone has other suggestions, please share… I’m struggling.

Pregnancy Meltdown & Birthday Celebrations

Posted on May 19, 2014 by playinghousewi

On Friday morning, I woke up with my right hand much more swollen than my left. I thought it was a little weird, but attributed it to the fact that I woke up on my side, meaning my hands were in different positions, bearing different amounts of pressure.

As the day went on, my back was progressively more achy, to the point where the pain seemed to wrap around to the front / top of my belly. At this point, I started to get a little worried about preeclampsia… not that I actually thought I had it, becuase my BP has been perfectly low, but my symptoms were starting to add up. Then, around 3:30, my vision became very weird. It was almost as if I was getting a migraine, with a line of flashing lights in my left eye. This sent me into a panic.

I was working at my parents’ company that afternoon, so I went in and asked my mom if she had a portable BP machine. She said no, but told me to run over to my general practitioner who is literally 2 minutes away. She said they would take my blood pressure for me, no problem. My brother – who was in town for wedding stuff – offered to take me, and so fighting back tears, I headed to the doc. Of course, my blood pressure was fine. My doctor was nice enough to see me for a few minutes and tell me there was nothing to worry about. She did, however, advise me to tell my doctor about the swelling AND suggested I stop wearing heels. Urgh. I don’t know if I’m ready for that… although, I think my back is.

Anyway, that night, my Milly took me on a birthday date to the Milwaukee Ballet to see Mirror, Mirror, a rendition of Snow White. The show was perfect! Beautiful dancing, compelling story… just a wonderful performance! AND, our seats were great. Couldn’t have asked for a better end to such a weird day.

Saturday was my birthday celebration day with the hubs! But, before we got started, I met my mom and sis for manis. I decided to go outside my comfort zone for something a little crazy…

A HOT PINK kinda day…

When I got home, the hubs and I jumped in the car to head to the first stop on our birthday celebration… Wellspring. Wellspring is the farm where we will get our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares. The farm was hosting tours and gardening classes, so Marky and I had a visit.

Gardening Class… Let me tell you, we were out of our league. These people were talking about food forests… Mark and I were looking for simple planting bed instructions. Regardless, it was interesting and enjoyable!

Checking out the seedlings and plant grafts.

Silly rooster rolling in the dirt.

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE roosters? Such weird and beautiful little creatures.

His name is Frank. Or at least it should be…

Tomato plants and other delicious things!

Our source for produce this summer! I think that’s lettuce coming up! We get our first share in 2 weeks!

After the farm, we went back to the house for a little rest. Thankfully my hubs recognizes that although I’d like to be on the go-go-go, my body can’t really handle that these days. So, we took a nap, loved on the puppy, and got ready for the next stop… PRENATAL MASSAGE!

This was like music to my ears. My back has been excruciating. I can’t even explain the pain, but it’s sharp and it’s constant and it creates this reaction in my body that leaves me constantly feeling like I’m fighting back tears. Anyway, I went to Massage Envy for a prenatal massage and let this guy literally abuse my back. There were moments where I was practicing my labor techniques for pain because the dude was pushing so hard on my back. But, no pain, no gain, right? I figured, attack the back and I’ll feel better later. Now, it wasn’t all painful, it was pretty enjoyable and I left feeling really good. I also felt justified in my complaining because Brian the massage man said my back was horrific.

Anyway, after dinner, my guy took me to a delicious and very nice dinner. We had soft-shelled crab, which was shockingly delicious, and fish and just yum. Then, we went to Baskin Robbins for dessert… After way too many samples, I decided on Cookies & Cream… the flavor I ALWAYS get.

Then Sunday, we had brunch with my sweet friend Marci and her hubs, Jesse. It was really fun to catch up and chitter chatter with them. Once we parted ways, Marky and I ran a few errands and went back to the house to do some chores. For me, that meant excessive amounts of laundry and folding. By the end of the night, we decided that I overdid it. My back was killing me. AND, due to my very hard-pressure massage, it hurts to the touch, so I’m not really able to receive more massages until it’s less sore. Oy. Third trimester problems for sure.

All-in-all, it was a REALLY great weekend. Too bad it’s Monday.

Symptoms

All I can think about is my back. It’s killing me. I’m starting to wonder how the heck I’m going to survive the next 5.5 weeks if this continues at this rate. I’m planning to go to the gym tonight in hopes that it will help stretch out my muscles and offer a little relief. We’ll see. If not, I’ll just continue icing/heating my back.

Toby keeping me company as I heated my back. He always climbs all over the baby…

34 Weeks (May 16, 2014)

Posted on May 16, 2014 by playinghousewi

34 Weeks (May 16, 2014). Well, it’s somehow been 8.5 months already, which just seems like SO long. This week I feel like my belly has really “popped” so to speak. I feel giant-sized. It’s getting difficult to put shoes and socks on, my back is aching like crazy and I just feel VERY pregnant. With that said, I also feel like we’re in the home stretch now. Only 6 more weeks… and 2 more weeks until I’m 9 months pregnant. It’s just crazy. According to my phone app, she is weighing in at around 5 lbs (no wonder my back hurts) and measuring at nearly 18 inches. So crazy…

Symptoms

Besides it being hard to put my socks and shoes on and my back feeling pretty terrible, I’ve also been noticing some swelling (mostly in the morning or late at night) in my hands and feet… sometimes face, too. My wrists are also really sore, too. I read something on Babycenter I believe that said this was normal and to try to stop to do wrist and hand stretches throughout the day. Also, my doula advised eating lots of protein and drinking TONS of water. She said to factor how much water you need to drink, you take your weight, divide by 2 and that’s how many ounces you should drink. For example, let’s say that I weighed 130 lbs, then I should be drinking 65 oz of water per day. This includes water that goes into your tea/coffee/etc. I’m REALLY going to try to drink more. I can feel that I’m not getting enough water. It’s just such a pain. If I’m actually drinking enough water, I have to pee every 30-45 minutes instead of the normal 1-1.5 hours.

Wow. That was a very whiny post, huh? I’ve been feeling a little off this week. I have spurts of chipperness, but as a whole, I feel pretty worn out. I could really go for a mental health day to just sleep all day. In theory, I should do this on the weekend, but our weekends are SO packed with activity and events. Not that I don’t love that… again, I just feel a little drained mentally and physically.

To end on a more positive note, I am a very lucky gal. Our baby is growing like a little champ and my husband is amazing. Every night, after he reads our girl her bedtime story, he’s been reading The Birth Partner. He really is the best birth (and life) partner I could ever ask for.

Working on Your Birthday Should be Illegal

Posted on May 15, 2014 by playinghousewi

Today is my 29th birthday! Now, I should mention, I’m a total birthday person. I’m not sure why exactly, because as a child… or really, through being an adult (up until the time I started dating my husband), they were always a day that led to a lot of let down. But regardless, I still love birthdays. I love other peoples’ birthdays, I love my own birthday, and actually have been trying to get my husband to celebrate “Maylissa”… a month dedicated to me… for at least 3 years now. He’s still not convinced. Maybe one day…

Anyway, being that I’ve been at work for what feels like 12 hours (I’ve actually only been here about 5 hours… got a late start and took a long lunch), it hasn’t been anything spectacular, but I can’t complain. My poor hubs woke up at 3:30 this morning to go to work (woof!), which had me up for a short time, but nothing too crazy. I finally dragged my butt out of bed at around 6:30 and started my morning routine… but just a slower version. I was hoping to get out of the house early so I could pick up a little birthday treat to share with my coworkers, but somehow didn’t get out of the house until 8 (the time I’m supposed to start work).

I stopped at an Outpost Natural Foods that just opened up near our house. I’ve been looking for an excuse to go there. And I totally indulged. I got muffins and bagels to share and a decaf latte (I love their coffee – it’s Anodyne Coffee – THE BEST) AND a Green Juice. As I slowly strolled out of there and started making my way to work, I realized that the route I was taking was kind of close (only 15 ish minutes out of my way) to my husband’s office. So, I called him up to see if he needed a little pick-me-up. Seeing that he had eaten breakfast at 4 am, he was a bit hungry, so I stopped by and dropped off a few goodies for him and picked up some birthday kisses for me (the real reason I stopped by).

Then, it was on my way to work… only 45 minutes late. Thankfully, no one cared or noticed or something. From around 9-11, it was slow, but by 11:45, I was on my way to lunch with my ex-work wife (she recently switched jobs and left me). We had a great lunch catching up and I was able to return a few items to Macy’s afterwards. BUT, then I had to come back to work. I’ve been decently productive this afternoon, but literally am one big struggle fest. I don’t want to work today. Or tomorrow for that matter. But I REALLY don’t want to work today. A few jobs ago, it was company policy to have off on your birthday. I miss that.

Anyway, tonight my hubs and I will have dinner with my parents and then the celebration continues through the weekend… Friday night I’m going to the ballet with my Milly and then Saturday morning nails with my mom and sis and the rest of the day I’ll be celebrating (with a mystery date) with my amazing husband. Such fun!

By the way, this is the year I become a momma 🙂

Symptoms

I have had such discomfort in my middle back on the right side. I almost feel it in the front, too. Sometimes I kind of feel a touch of numbness on the top of my belly in that same spot. What a pain. Literally, but I meant that figuratively. Besides the soreness, everything is pretty much business as usual… although, I think my belly had a HUGE growth spurt this week. It seems REALLY big.

That’s one hell of a belly!

On a more positive note, my sweet girl performed a cute little (45 minute) song and dance for me this afternoon. She had the belly bouncing around like crazy.

Toby, on the other hand, was not so peppy this morning.

What’s a birthday? Don’t make me get outta bed!!

Birthday Celebration with my Ladies

Posted on May 14, 2014 by playinghousewi

As I mentioned earlier this week, my birthday is tomorrow… the big 2-9. And while this number is getting a little high for my comfort, I have to admit, I feel pretty good being able to say I’m still in my twenties. It sounds so youthful, right?

Plus, besides being pregnant, I pretty much look 18, so that works!

Anyway, I digress. Last night I celebrated my birthday with two very special little ladies… my very close friends, Erica and Carrie. We went to this Southern Italian restaurant and ate some good (and some okay) food. The restaurant is new to my area… Salotto Zarletti. What I can say is that they make a VERY good pizza. My favorite was the prosciutto con rucola. It had arugula and a delish tomato sauce… very tasty. The salad – an asparagus salad – was tasty, but tiny. All-in-all, dinner was good, but not amazing!

So the ladies crowd this year was a little small, as my sweet friend Kate is officially moved away and living in Seattle <TEAR> and our other friend, Ashley, was unable to make it. Regardless, we had a great time. After dinner, the ladies took me to go see “The Other Woman,” which was perfectly stupid and entertaining. Definitely a movie you can wait to watch on TV, but it was $5 movie night (with free popcorn) at the theater, so who could resist? It was really fun! I haven’t been to a movie with my girlfriends since I was… I don’t even know? Back in high school? Middle School?

Either way, it was a great little date night with my gals and felt like an evening that would be harder to pull off once baby girl comes. I’m lucky to have such great friends.

In other news, poor little Toby got his first tick… and it was nasty. He was licking his paw a ton last night, so we thought he had some sort of allergic reaction to something (we didn’t see anything on him). We gave him half a children’s Benadryl (a secret remedy our vet clued us in on) and went to bed. This morning, he was still licking, so I checked out his paw again and found this…

Honestly, at first, I didn’t know what it was. My instinct was to grab a kleenex and pull the thing out… then I thought, hmmm… might want to wait on that.

Close-up of the NASTY, giant tick.

That’s his, “Mommy, I have an owie” face.

I decided to take Tobers to the vet so he could make sure the entire tick was removed and didn’t do any damage to our little guy. I love our vet. He’s really awesome. He removed the tick, which was dead, and suggested a monthly flea and tick treatment that works better than Frontline. While Frontline kills fleas and ticks once they bite your pet, this other drug – Vectra – repels them and burns the sh*t out of them if they land on your pup. Anyway, we’ll bring Tobers back in three weeks for his regularly scheduled heartworm blood test, at which point they’ll test for any tick-related illness that could have been transferred.

Until then, hopefully Toby stays tick-free.

Symptoms

My back is not comfortable. Some moments are better than others, but it’s really not great. Especially if I have to pee or am feeling bloated… which is probably about 50% of my day. I swear, I literally pee every 45-60 minutes. It’s insane. And for some reason, I’m SO bloated. My diet hasn’t changed, so it shouldn’t be that, but oofta. Not fun.

While I recognize that was a lot of bitching, I must say this, even on my worst of days (in terms of symptoms), I think I’ve had a pretty dang easy pregnancy. I’ve heard some pretty crazy stories. Plus, relatively speaking, I’ve managed to keep the vast majority of my pregnancy weight gain in my belly (and some in the boobs), which helps me to miss my old body a LITTLE less. Although, I really do miss it.

Okay, I’m done complaining. It’s a good day! My baby is playing around as I type and we’re both happy as can be!

DIY Weekly / Monthly Baby Picture Prop

Posted on May 13, 2014 by playinghousewi

As I mentioned in this blog post, I plan to take either weekly or monthly pics of our little lady for at least the first year of her life (and then maybe just annually after that… or maybe I’ll continue – who knows?) Anyway, yesterday my favorite crafting partner and good friend, Jenna, came over to help me make the Month/Week sign prop for the photos.

I had originally planned to do blocks like these…

Month blocks from Etsy…

But didn’t like what I saw in terms of options at Michael’s. SO, I went a different direction, and here’s what we did…

We took these wooden letters from Michael’s and spelled out “weeks” and “months” (we’ll do “years” during our Crafting Day – Part 2) and used acrylic paint to beautify them.

The paint selection… we used Martha Stewart paint, but any acrylic works.

Then, we took these wooden doily looking things and painted them a cream/off-white color.

And then took glue dots and fastened the letters to these cute little chalkboard tags I found (at Michael’s).

Adorable Jenna finishing the “Weeks” tag…

Voila!

And my favorite, the “Months” tag…

And now all together…

Craft Day – Part 2 will also include painting the numbers, which will go in the doily circle. However, I have not been able to find 1.5″ wooden numbers that will work… yet!

Cute stuff!

Once we finish, I’ll post more!

Symptoms

I’ve definitely been feeling pretty pregnant lately. Lots of weird body changes including hot flashes… a lot of them. And the obvious achy discomforts. I’ll hold off on the complaints today… because it’s my birth week! AND, in honor of my last birthday in my twenties (holy shit – when did that happen??), I’m headed to dinner at this new Italian restaurant and a movie (The Other Woman) with my amazing lady friends tonight.

On a sillier note, after dealing with this yesterday…

Apparently Toby likes my new size… boobs for a seat, belly for a boost.

Toby and I made a deal that he needed to stay on his half of the car today…

Good little monkey sitting like a good little man.

Also, how cute is my husband? After he finished doing some work last night, Marky sat in the nursery (in our borrowed glider until ours gets delivered – thanks again, Jenna!!!) reading, “The Birth Partner.” The only thing he shared with me was to make sure he had good breath during the labor 🙂

See him in there?? So sweet.

Lots of Celebrations & Fun – Weekend Recap

Posted on May 12, 2014 by playinghousewi

On Friday, the weather was starting to heat up and everything was feeling great. Work was a little slow, but I had the pup with me, so that made it sillier.

My pup, the contortionist.

After work, we headed over to our friend Mike & Kari’s for a little BBQ get together. Mike and Kari had a wee little one, Madison, just about a year ago and she’s perfectly adorable and behaved and so sweet. Anyway, our friend Tricia and her boyfriend joined too, and we had a little “pre-birthday” celebration for Tricia and I (Tricia’s bday was yesterday, mine is Thursday).

Birthday shenanigans.

Make a wish!!

The gang hanging out!

Saturday morning we got up early for our first labor & delivery class with our doula! She had tons of helpful information to share with us (some of it a repeat from our hospital class), and it really went well! I’ll share more about this in a separate post.

The remainder of Saturday was spent running errands and doing chores around the house. Your standard grocery shopping, meal prep, yard work, vacuuming, etc. Then, Saturday night, the hubs and I just relaxed and got to bed early.

Then Sunday was the big Mother’s Day brunch at our house. We had my sister and her family over and my Milly (mother-in-law) and Pop (Mark’s grandfather) over. Unfortunately, my parents did not come, as they went to a baseball game instead. While this is something my mother and I fought about and have since “resolved,” the feelings of disappointment and frustration definitely reemerged yesterday. I know the baby hasn’t arrived yet, but it was technically my first mother’s day… it would have been nice to share the day with my own mother.

Anyway, we did a waffle bar that really turned out wonderfully! We had different spreads for the waffles (butter, nutella, fudge, jam) and then tons of toppings (syrup, whipped cream, honey, berries, bananas, chocolate chips, powdered sugar, yogurt… that might have been all).

The table set for 8!

Yummy parfait compliments of Milly.

Wheat & Original Waffles… both delish!

The spreads!

Mmmm toppings!

Delicious egg bake!

That’s a tasty plate!

The waffle bar in action!

Pop & Gabs laughing it up!

That’s a spoonful of chocolate chips!

Heyyyyy!!

What are you looking at?

Where’d I go?

Here I am!!

Third helping??

Have I mentioned I suck at quantities? These are all leftovers!

Here are the recipes I used…

Whole Grain Waffles (I thought these were pretty darn good!)

Waffles of Insane Greatness (These are the original waffles and I’m not gonna lie, they were pretty damn good)

Sausage & Egg Casserole with Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Mozzarella (This REALLY hit the spot. So light and fluffy and awesome)

After everyone left, Marky and I totally just took advantage of the day. First the boys crashed…

Food coma.

Then, we snuggled up on the couch and took a nice nap. All the windows were open, allowing for a nice warm breeze. It was wonderful. Once we woke up, we moved to the hammock for some more R&R.

Ahhh heaven. But I’m not going to lie. As we laid there, I couldn’t help but think, “holy shit, I’m going to miss this.” It was so quiet and peaceful and just us. I know that when baby comes, she will offer us new and different perfect experiences like these, but regardless, the thought made me feel a little guilty.

After nap & hammock time, we went to the store to put a little icing on our unhealthy day. In honor of Mom’s Day, we bought all of my cravings for dinner. Now, this is something we haven’t really done more than a couple times. But, I figured, might as well enjoy satisfying these little cravings before the pregnancy is over, right? So this was our dinner…

Frozen pizza (yes, I have a total weakness for the stuff)

Caesar Salad Kit

And here’s the kicker….

Jalepeno cheetos! My favorite chip!

The boys’ couch!

We watched Delivery Man with the windows open and just enjoyed the night. The movie wasn’t great, but the day and evening were perfection. I couldn’t have asked for more from my amazing hubs. I should also mention that he wrote the sweetest card EVER and got me a gift certificate for Nordstrom Rack (one just opened and I’ve been dying to go check it out)!

Symptoms

I’m definitely at a much less comfortable place than I’ve been for the rest of the pregnancy. It’s still manageable, but I’m achy all over, my back doesn’t feel great, and my hands and wrists are quite sore. Thankfully I read on BabyCenter that this was normal. I’m trying to do wrist stretches periodically throughout the day, but it doesn’t seem to help. Oh well, right?