Falling behind again!! It's been a very eventful couple weeks. The home projects are starting to slow down now as we get ready for little guy to get here. We have been busy, busy, busy. Between Mark being one for work in Minnesota, Adie and I just having a busy summer schedule and then getting projects done...I'm tired! Oh wait...I'm always tired now!
Anyways, the latest project completed is Adie is officially in her big girl bed. The crib is in baby brother's room and she is doing great. I'd been so nervous about how this would go - she loves her crib so much and we never had to deal with the whole problem I hear about where the kid gets up and out of bed umpteen times. But...a couple months ago I purposely started the talks with her about brother getting the crib and her getting her big girl bed. We had conflicting thoughts on how to handle it all because for me, there's sentimental value in the crib for her one day- that was her bed, and it does convert to a full. But...it's also expensive to go and buy a whole new crib setup. So, I ended up feeling like it could be equally sentimental for her to one day know that she has my old bed. She's been so sweet thinking it all through though. The other night she wasn't tired, but it was bedtime so she was in her crib. Well she called me in and she said, "mommy, is baby brother going to take all of my sheets and all of my clothes too??" So innocent and you could just tell she was just laying there with her wheels turning! Now she is all setup with her "princess bed" and she absolutely loves it all. I've had a bit of a hard time with this whole transition, but she's so darn cute and the big bed actually just makes her look that much smaller again :)
Baby boy's room is definitely starting to look like a nursery. We have no decorating done, but the crib, changing table and a couple other things are in the room...we're getting there. I keep seeing all of these signs and things for sale for Halloween and Adie has already been noticing the costumes for sale and I just can't believe it - by the time Halloween is here, he's practically here!
Beginning stages of the nursery:
Moving furniture in from Adie's room:
Our Bradley classes have started up again. Unfortunately, not many seem to see the importance of #1, a class, and #2, the intensity of the Bradley classes. Well, we had such an incredible experience with the classes the first time around that it was a no brainer for us. The unfortunate part, is that the lady we did our classes with offered a "refresher course" for babies 2, 3, etc. but now no longer teaches the classes...so we're out of luck and had to start with an entirely different instructor and will have to do the entire class again. We've gotten some reactions from people hearing about us doing the class like, "did you forget how to have a baby?!?" and "is it really that hard!? Don't you just breathe and push?!" I know people mess around, but I do really feel like there's a lack of understanding in why the class is so beneficial. Our experience with labor and delivery with Adie was incredible and exactly what I went into it wanting. First and foremost, to God be the glory for the fact that we were able to get through it the way we wanted and the way we believe he designed it to be. But truly, these classes armed us with so much knowledge and confidence that not only did it help us to have the power in ourselves to go through with it, but also to gain the respect of the nurses and midwives on staff. When pressured to be hooked up to monitors and lay on the bed the whole time, we were confident enough to say no and know why we felt that way and feel at ease doing it our way. At one point with Adie the midwife actually had come in, the nurse explained what we weren't wanting to comply with. Well the midwife had read through our birth plan, knew the classes we had done and what we wanted our experience to be and ended up telling the nurse to just let us be that we had things under control. That's HUGE when you're in the midst of it all. I truly believe that had we not had the confidence in our abilities and in our communication with the nurse, the experience would have ended far differently. Anyways....so now we are in class again. Mark unfortunately missed the first class since he was away for work but now he'll be able to join in again.
He has been moving a ton which has been so great. I love it. Adie is so cute, I've tried to have her feel a couple times and she'll put her hand on my stomach and say "oh there's one!" and get excited, and really nothing happened! I'm still not sure that she's actually felt a kick yet.
I've been dealing with aches and pains a lot- hip pain primarily. Sleep has gotten somewhat better I guess, but I am still just struggling with feeling so lethargic. I want to have energy to do things, I just feel so incredibly exhausted though. It takes me no time at all to fall asleep when I'm taking a break. I keep hoping that once pregnancy is done I'll get over the exhaustion- I'm aware that it will be replaced with a new type of exhaustion, but hopefully one that doesn't make everything just seem so impossible.
I'm ironically grateful for how God is giving me this pregnancy. I'm of course loving the experience of it all and am extremely aware of how blessed I am to go through this when so many women don't have this chance. That said, this has been a much harder pregnancy than with Adie and I'm grateful for that because I feel like it's God's way of letting me move on from this knowing that I don't want to do it again! I said to Mark the other day, "ya know - I know little guy is moving and rolling and kicking, and the newsletter does say that with a lot of medical help he can make it on his own now, so how about we just call it a day with this whole pregnancy thing and get him out!?" Just kidding...I will patiently wait...but I am definitely ready :)
We messed up on pictures....missing a week 26.
