Happy St. Patty's Day at 38 Weeks

How Far Along? 

This may be the only hand on belly picture that I have of Kyle.  I am truly the luckiest girl there is!  

Size? 

Suzanna Grace is:

Maternity Clothes? Again, it's the same rotation of maternity jeans, black leggings with the belly band, and piko tops.  Geoff wanted to know if I had sewn long sleeves onto a short sleeve shirt.  HAHA. 

Weight Gain?  At my appointment last Thursday I weighed 144 pounds.  That's about 22-25 pounds.   

Stretch Marks? Nope,  Burt's Bees Momma Tummy Lotion twice a day.  

Gender? A precious baby GIRL, Suzanna Grace!     

Sleep?  I have slept better in the past 2 weeks that I have in probably the past 2 months.  What a blessing.  Sleeping on my left side does the trick...I am not sure how I didn't discover this before considering I have read over and over that your left side is the way to go when your pregnant.  A few nights I haven't even had to get up to go to the bathroom which left me really confused (and well rested) when I woke up for the first time at 6:30 instead of 3:30. 

Movement?  ALL.THE.TIME.  She has her days and nights super confused and really gets going around 7-8 pm.  I feel her jabs, tickles, and such throughout the day and at night she stretches out and flips and flops.  I will miss this!

Food Cravings? Peanut butter and hard sweet candy

     

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nope, thank goodness. 

Labor signs? Nope.  Walking, spicy food, pineapple, and all other "put you into labor" tricks will begin on Thursday after Kyle's last final exam.  Prayers appreciated for a healthy early arrival so that Kyle can have a whole week off to enjoy being at home with us.  (If she comes on her due date then he has to begin classed again the following Monday...if she comes early that just means more time with Daddy at home!)

Belly button in or out?  Out!

  

Wedding rings, on or off? ON! Still think the freezing temps are keeping the swelling down.

What I Miss? Nothing.  

Symptoms? Aching hips. 

Happy or Moody? Happy, happy, happy.  I could cry at just about every mention of babies, friends, family, and all sweet things but, as my Momma would say, that are always happy tears.  

Dr. Visit Update:  Kyle and I met with Dr. Heraty on Thursday and were happy to receive another good report.  I was, of course, measuring small but SG's HB was 140 and everything else looked good.  Sweet Dr. Heraty gave me her on-call schedule (every Monday and March 29--one day after SG's due date) but offered to come in when I go into labor as long as she is in town.  This lady was put in our lives for a reason and we count her as one of our many blessings each day.  Monitoring with Nurse Barb went well that afternoon too. :)  We'll do it all again this Thursday.     

Best Moment of the Week: 
-First and foremost, our healthy check up and monitoring session on Thursday.  SG's HB is great, she's a movin' and a groovin', and she has plenty of fluid to swim around in.  When they did the sonogram I was able to see her little nose and eyes though her arms were covering the rest of her face.  Loved being able to take a peek at our precious girl!

-On Friday night Kyle, Clarkie, Dave, and I went to the John Prine concert downtown.  Oh how I love some John Prine and the memories of sitting around with my Daddy playing the guitar and all of the little Rays singing, "We blew up our TV, threw away our paper... went to the country, built us a home, had a lot of children...fed 'em on peaches...they all found Jesus...on their own..."

Looking forward to... 

At this point we are just counting down the days until Kyle is finished with the winter quarter (3 days) and until we get to meet our little girl (HOPEFULLY 1 week, 4 days...or LESS!)

Sweet things and Life in General:  

We had a lot of friend time this weekend which was just fabulous.    

I mean...how precious is this picture.  As you know, I just adore our group of friends.  We are truly blessed.  The boys, especially since SG is showing SO much now, love to try to fill her. Kev gives her a poke and if she doesn't respond he'll say, "RUDE Suzanna Grace...RUDE." and then go in for another feel.  Our sweet friend Patrick, who is in med school and was visiting for the weekend, was a great help in calming any anxieties and answering lots of questions.  It's always good to know doctors personally...I always offer out that I will be happy to teach their children to read one day in exchange for their words of wisdom. 

Sweet girlfriends, Clark, and my Belly Button in front of the green Chicago River

Ole Kyle.

Suzanna Grace's Nursery

Y'all, when I say that this is my absolute FAVORITE room, I say it with tears in my eyes thinking about how perfect it is for our little girl.  It is literally more beautiful than I could have ever imagined and I spend countless hours just sitting in it an admiring.  I know that it will be the most perfect little room for our Suzanna Grace.


This beauty will hang on our door at the hospital with all of her stats filled in and we will bring it home to go in her room too!  Here's to hoping that she comes in March!

Walking in to the room:

 View from the door

If this doesn't scream "precious little girl room" then I don't know what does.  This labor of love was nearly thrown out the window by Suzanna Grace's Daddy and [Grand] Daddy B.  Kyle would now tell you that it was worth the time and sweat...but that he'd never do it again as it came in no less than 1000000 pieces and required many man hours of labor.

 Suzanna Grace LOVES her room...I love it too...especially that oversized monogram!!

Oh how I LOVE our Best Chair glider and recliner.  My Daddy made the open front shadow box for the Ashford Collection dress that I wore when I was a little girl.  Suzanna Grace will have her own Ashford Collection handmade heirloom dress too.  

 Suzanna Grace PINK ribbons made with LOVE by her Mommy, SuSu, and Auntie MA.

My Daddy made the headboard for our daybed and MA, of course, made all of the linens.

We are planning on using the all white bed as the changing table too...I joke that we will just put plastic down everywhere to protect all the white..."joke."

 Ahhhh!  I LOVE this!  We took it down to just two big pink pillows and added a smaller white monogrammed pillow.  Look at that sweet lamb from Sissy too!

Book end/mini-shadow box of Suzanna Grace's SuSu.  A barrette that says "Suzanne," SuSu's little girl picture, and baby pearls...love!  We are hoping to make one with some Grandmother Grace items too!

Bonnet collection, a southern belle must:

We took the folding doors off of the first closet so that we could more easily access everything that we needed.  I found this refurbished dresser on Craigslist and it fits perfectly!

Onsies and play clothes for 0-3 months:

Updated room picture with crib mobile and little girl chair with sMg monogram!

Picture/card holders:

Sweet framed print:

Suzanna Grace's growing library of baby-friendly hard books:

Little girl chair and mini-chandelier night light:

Sweet little monogrammed mug and other goodies on her dresser: 

Well y'all, now all we need is a little girl to go in this beautiful room.  Countdown = 2 weeks!  We love you Suzanna Grace!

Week 32 Update

How Far Along? 

32 weeks!  Hey GGUUURRRLLL!

Size? 

Suzanna Grace is:

My word.  So many things about this picture...nearly 5 pounds? WOW!  Only 8 weeks until she comes...double WOW!  

Maternity Clothes? Still mixing it up.  Two new maternity tops as I realized, to my disappointment in terms of wanting to not buy any new clothes for myself, that even the normal flowy shirts were getting a little tight.  The jean shirt that I attempted to wear last week was literally only held on by two buttons by the end of the day.  What was I thinking?  Have no fear, the pleather maternity pants were still in full force for date night Friday. 

Weight Gain?  Going to the DR on Friday so we will find out then.  I am guess between 20-25ish pounds.    

Stretch Marks? Nope,  Burt's Bees Momma Tummy Lotion twice a day.  

Gender? A precious baby GIRL, Suzanna Grace!     

Sleep?  Same ole, same ole.  3 am seems to be my wake up time each morning.  So far I can always fall right back to sleep.

Movement? All.the.time. I LOVE it.  She is most active with BIG movements, rolls, and jerks at night.  

Food Cravings? Candy bars...specifically any with almonds.  And...we go through a 6 pound bag of lil' cutie oranges in about 5 days.  Yum!

     

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nope, thank goodness. 

Labor signs? No!  Still have 8 weeks (a little less) to go!  I was born 5.5 weeks early (very healthy at 7 pounds and strong lungs though) and all of my siblings were between 2-3 weeks early...Kyle, of course, was TWO weeks LATE!  I cannot wait to see how/when Suzanna Grace makes her debut!       

Belly button in or out?  Out and flat.  I will spare you the picture that my Momma demanded that I take of it showing through my shirt.  Hehe. 

  

Wedding rings, on or off? On.  I will be really sad when/if the answer to this changes... thank goodness for freezing temps which equal less swelling.  I have noticed it being a little more tight this week though. 

What I Miss? Nothing.  In fact I am at the point where my hair is fuller and more thick than it's been since I was a teenager and my nails are so long and strong.  Ah to enjoy for the next 8 weeks before, as I hear, it all goes back to normal...and sometimes worse. 

Symptoms? Aching hips.  I feel like I do lots of grunting as I move around throughout the day.  I still sit on the ground with my kids when I teach and usually need one of them to help me up...which they think is funny.  I tried to explain my "pregnancy brain" to them and now they think it's hilarious to point out when the baby has "stolen my smarts."  One little guy exclaimed, "You're baby is going to be REALLY smart!"  Thanks kiddo.   

Happy or Moody? Happy, happy, happy.  I could cry at just about every mention of babies, friends, family, and all sweet things but, as my Momma would say, that are always happy tears.  

Best Moment of the Week: 

1.  Restaurant Week was this week in Chicago and we enjoyed a late supper downtown after Kyle's class on Friday night.  Nothing makes this 8 month pregnant lady more happy than pleather, Samantha Wills jewels, and, especially, a date night downtown with that ole Kyle.

2.  We started the week with freezing temps and two days of schools being closed.  Renee and I made quite the dent in my "Baby Needs" list.  As of now, all I need to buy is the stroller and a diaper bag., both things that I plan on waiting until February to buy.  I started packing our things, too...matching Mommy and SG PJs = check, coming home outfits...including hand smocked daygown and bonnet, plus white stockings...if needed = check.   

I cannot get over the fact that a human's feet will be able to fit into these socks.  Will her feet be square?  I also found out that the washing machine eats baby socks just like grown up socks and then spits them out in the most unexpected places...like your jeans pocket. 

Looking forward to... 

-Babymoon to San Fran in a few weeks.  Any suggestions on things to do, places to see, or restaurants to visit? 

-Visit from my sweet Momma at the end of the month and from MA the first week of March.  Looking forward to just enjoying each other before SG arrives.  

Sweet things and Life in General:  

-A fabulous SnapChat from little sister.

-Ottero...Just watch.  I laughed hysterically and then texted the video to everyone I knew when I first saw this on a blog....then, after watching it a few times, started thinking it looked like fun.  I mean, the baby seems happy.... 

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