35 weeks

I cannot believe we have made it this far! It has gone by so quickly!

Baby Evelyn dropped sometime last week. I can feel her much lower in my abdomen. Positives - I can breathe more easily, especially when I lay down to sleep. Negatives - I waddle more often, have to go to the bathroom almost every hour, and bending over is just ugly. :)

Our doctor says she is probably still several weeks from birth, so we are sticking to the March 26th due date.

I also came down with a cold over the weekend. I thought I was tired before, but now I'm really tired. I told Drew it has taken my mind off of the pregnancy symptoms I had been complaining about. I guess its true that you never really value being healthy until your sick. I think I'll be feeling better in a day or two.

We had a really great baby shower in Dallas this past weekend (pictures and short post to come). We were definitely showered with love. I feel alot better about bringing a baby into the world now. We have most of the items we really need and so many things that are really fun and cute extras. We are very privileged.

Drew is working on building the dresser as I type tonight and plans to go buy & set up the car seat later this week. He has been amazingly supportive and helpful. I am so thankful to have him around and more available these next few months. God definitely knew what he was doing in timing all of this!

Things I still have left to do:
1. Wash and organize baby clothes
2. Set up changing area (after dresser is assembled)
3. Pack hospital bag
4. Write out birth plan
5. Make freezer meal kits (for us) & cookies (for hospital staff)

31 Weeks

Belly is still growing...

I had another doctor's appointment this week and she said everything looks great. Evelyn has a nice strong heartbeat and my weight gain in on schedule. I passed my gestational diabetes test! Yippee! I was really worried about drinking the nasty syrupy sweet drink they make you chug, but it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be. And now its over!

I am definitely starting to feel a bit more fragile and heavy these days. I can't work as hard or as much as I could a few weeks ago. I'm backing off on my workouts a bit - still trying to go at least 4 times a week, but doing more walking and moderate cycling. I think I locked my knees standing up today and got a little nauseous and light headed. I felt better as soon as I laid down, drank some water, and ate a little something. I'm trying to get plenty of sleep and eat at regular intervals too.

My New Pizza Stone

My mom got me a pizza stone for Christmas and I got to use it for the first time tonight! She also bought us pizza sauce and Parmesan cheese to go with it. :)

I made a Margherita and a BBQ Chicken & Pineapple. These are probably my favorite flavors and apart from some fresh mozzarella I can use ingredients I usually have on hand anyway. The pizza stone is awesome! My pizzas cooked evenly, were still chewy, but nice and crisp on the edges and bottom, without having to burn them or cook too long. We will definitely be using this often.

 BBQ Chicken & Pineapple (BBQ sauce, chicken, pineapple, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro, and shredded mozzarella)

Margherita (pizza sauce, tomato, fresh mozzarella, and basil)

I did not make the dough myself...I bought it from the freezer section. I have plans to one day make my own. My aunt makes the most amazing homemade pizza dough with whole wheat flour. I need to get the recipe from her sometime. Her family used to make their own pizza once a week for a fun family meal night. I really like this idea...maybe its something Drew and I can do with our kiddos.

Thanks for the pizza night, Mommy! 

30 weeks

We are only 10 weeks away from our due date! I can't believe it.

One of my dearest friends just delivered her first, a daughter also, last week. Seeing and holding her made me realize...they really do come out of that belly eventually!

I'm starting to feel anxious...not about labor or delivery (though I guess I should be at least a little), but more about how little I have done. Part of it is not having a set aside space for baby stuff. I'm starting to accrue more items and our little one bedroom apartment (that was very comfortable for the two of us) now feels like its shrinking in size. Clutter puts me in a funk. My nesting drive has kicked in and we have nowhere to put things. So I am purging our closets and trying to find space as much as I can. I find myself cleaning incessantly and I still don't feel organized or prepared!

I keep telling myself the main thing is getting my desk organized, cleaned out, and out of the apartment (hopefully sold on craigslist). Once it is gone we can move in the chest/changing table with all its lovely drawers and I can put her items away in there.

We find out where Drew will match for orthopedic residency March 16th, our lease is up June 30th, and we will have to be moved in wherever he is placed well before his start date of July 1st. So we decided it made more sense just to stay in our apartment rather than break our lease, only to move again in May. So for now the plan is to use a "pack and play"/bassinet in our room for Evie to sleep in and a dresser/changing table in the living room where my desk is now. I think that will cover the basics for those first two months. Oh, and a glider in the living room too. :)

As for the rest of my panic, we have two baby showers in mid-February and I am hopeful that means we will have all the most vital items ready to go by early March. Even if we don't receive them from other people at least we will know what items we have left to get ourselves.

Side note, part of the "clutter" is not really clutter. You can see it behind me in these pictures (the large boards leaning against the bookshelf). Its an interactive evangelism station for my InterVarsity students focused on New Year's resolutions and life change. You can pray for us as we reach out to the Baylor campus 11am-3pm January 24-26!!!

29 Weeks

We got to see Evelyn Grace on the sonogram last week! So cool to see how much she has grow in there since October.

The tech got us a few really great shots of her face. Something about seeing her facial features that close up really hit us. There really is this other person growing and developing inside of me. Drew and I keep wondering and talking about who she will be, what personality she will have, her likes and dislikes, etc. We can't wait to meet her.

We did get a little picture of her current temperament right now just watching her on the sonogram. She did not want to move or wake up. Even when I feel her move its just to adjust her arms and legs a little bit, she is very comfortable in the position she is in - burrowed into my pelvis. :) The technician could not get her to move for anything, and when she finally did wake up and she only shifted a little bit. LOL.
I hope she continues to be a good sleeper that likes to cuddle up close even after she comes out and meets us. :)

Her heart is healthy, with all four chambers in place. Her heart beat was beats per minute, which is perfectly normal. :) They estimated her weight at 2lbs. 12oz. this week.

28 Weeks

We had a great time over Christmas break - lots of time with family and friends. Hopefully I will put up some pics of all that soon.

Over New Year's we were in Branson, MO with my extended family from Michigan. We all stayed in a rental home together - slept late, watched movies, made and ate lots of tasty food, went for walks, played Xbox (Skyrim and Just Dance), and enjoyed each others company. We had a great time. For not being at home, it had all the comforts - the beds were all very comfortable and we had plenty of bathrooms to accommodate everyone.

Here is a shot of my growing belly at 28 weeks.

I'm starting to feel like I'm in my third trimester, although its still hard to believe! Evelyn is definitely growing and I had two nights where I couldn't find a comfortable sleeping position because my pelvis hurt too much. I took a small Tylenol and that really helped. It also reminded me to keep stretching so I have been trying to stretch and do light yoga 2-3 times a week before I go to bed. So far that has definitely helped.

Our Christmas Tree

Drew and I set up and decorated our Christmas tree on Christmas Day. I know this seems super late, and ideally we would have put it up a while ago. We had one Sunday after Thanksgiving that we could have done it, but ended up being too tired. Every weekend after that Drew was out of town and there was no way I was hauling the tree out of the closet and putting it together by myself.

So we did things the old fashioned, traditional way. Christmas is actually a serious of 12 feast days, starting on Christmas Day and extending to January 6th, Epiphany (when we celebrate the Visit of the Magi or Wise Men).

I also had taken all of our Christmas decorations back to my parent's house last year in an effort to declutter our small apartment. I had forgotten this until we got the tree up and had no ornaments to decorate with, but we made do.

This year our tree is decorated with peppermint candy canes, stuffed animals we received for baby Evie, and a paper angel that Drew made. I have to say the angel is pretty awesome! He did a really good job with some paper, scissors, and a bit of tape.

Merry Christmas and Peace to all men!