22 weeks

Holy moses I almost forgot it was Friday.  I have SO much going on this weekend that being pregnant just isn't something I have time to think about.  Sorry Cookie.  I was about to hit the sack and it hit me that I turned 22 weeks today.  Well, Cookie did.

I do not have much to report this week.  With so much going on in life besides my pregnancy, I am extremely tired and pretty exhausted by the end of the day.  Thankfully Cookie is letting me sleep through the night now so I am getting more rest than I was last week. 

We did very well on our trip up to Grand Marais this past weekend.  We hiked and climbed and walked all day and I surprisingly didn't get sore at all.  Cookie was a champ and didn't let pregnancy slow me down.  Obviously we were much more careful about the trails we picked to climb on and my friends played the role of "Mom" and didn't let me get too adventurous but we had a great time.  Cookie's first get-away :)

We got the seatbelt fixed in my car so we were finally able to make sure all 3 car seats fit in the back of my Camry.  Yes, it is possible.  All fit perfectly fine and while we will be squished, everyone is buckled in safely and fit.  Now that I have the infant seat in the car (which I did only to test it), I am feeling really lazy and don't want to reinstall it later.  Maybe I will be like a first time Momma and have my seat set up crazy early.  Then I don't have to do it again when I am huge!  Sadly, my husband can't figure out how to belt them in properly.  I'm not lying.

Cookie has most definitely got his/her nights and days mixed up.  Baby has been very quiet during the day but as soon as, well right now (9 pm) hits there seems to be a little dance party happening in my belly.  Too bad I'm too tired to participate.  This will be incredibly fun to fix once Cookie is out of my belly (NOTE SARCASM).  I can't remember which of the boys were switched around but we got lucky and it only took a week to get him on the right schedule. 

Ok.  I have to go to bed now.  I honestly have a super busy weekend ahead of me and you will be lucky if I am even able to recover enough for week 23's post. 

21 weeks

I am brain fried.  I think we all should be happy I'm even capable of writing this today.  I have had major insomnia these last couple nights.  If even the slightest thing wakes me up at night, I have no ability to go back to sleep.  The combination of no sleep and running a daycare has me a bit frazzled and, well, brain fried.  I don't recall this particular thing happening when pregnant with the boys.  It's really annoying.  Granted, I am getting some reading done at night and have found Facebook really is completely dead at 3 in the morning but I really would prefer sleep.

Oh my ultrasound!  We saw our precious baby this past Monday.  It was amazing.  Cookie is growing directly on track for his/her due date.  They guessed he was about 12 ounces right now and everything is developing normally.  We got especially good pictures of his/her face and the facial features were so clear.  We definitely know there is no cleft lip, both lips were formed perfectly.  Cookie was asleep all morning until we walked into the room and then s/he was crazy!  It was fun not only feeling what Cookie was doing but seeing exactly what was causing those feelings on the screen.  The heartbeat was at 146 beats per minute.  My weight seems to be much better for this appointment.  Much easier to handle.  No.  I'm not telling you what it is.  I wrote it down in Cookie's journal so that I could track it there.  Then it's a secret.  Nosy peeps you are.

My belly is going to get so much bigger, this I know but holding two daycare kids at a time is getting a big excessive.  Going up the stairs 18 times to put everyone down for a nap is getting a little more tiring too.  My belly is definitely growing and starting to get in the way.  When Simon hangs on to my legs he really has to tip his head back to see my face.  It's pretty comical.  Soon he will just fall backwards if he isn't careful!

I gave up sleeping on my stomach a while ago but now I have to admit I shouldn't sleep on my back anymore.  I get a weird feeling in my lower back when I do and I know it's because the baby is too heavy to be laying on that nerve behind the uterus.  Bummer.  Just another reason why I can't sleep.  I take up way too much of the bed now because I try to get as close to sleeping on my stomach as possible but I have to jut out my leg so it hoists up my belly and it results in 2/3 of the bed being mine.  Technically, as I am 2 people, I should get 2/3 of the bed, right? 

Chocolate is amazing this week.  I have gotten to stuff my face with chocolate cupcakes, brownies and we always have butterfingers in the fridge now.  Yum-o.  I better watch this particular craving.  It could bit me in the butt... or just plain stay in my butt. 

20 weeks

20 weeks.  Let's see. 

I was/am sick this week so that is always fun while pregnant.  Being unable to sleep has shown me that my Cookie is extremely active in the middle of the night.  Much more active at night than during the day.  My baby must have his/her days and nights mixed around. 

I think my lack of appetite this week has made my stomach not grow at all... which is a good thing I suppose.  My baby belly is slightly larger than I prefer.  I don't want to be a beached whale at the end of this. 

We can feel the baby from the outside now.  Baby is getting stronger and stronger.  Max always doubts when he feels it.  He says he always thinks its just his heartbeat or something making it pound but its the baby. 

I am enjoying having the bump there because it makes a nice resting place for the little kiddos butts.  I hold little kids all day long and my arms get tired so the bump makes a nice seat for them.  I'm sure Cookie doesn't completely approve but I'm mom so s/he's got to deal with it.

We have our ultrasound on Monday!  So excited to see this little baby.  We aren't finding out the sex remember so don't ask me.  I won't know anymore than you will.

I heart books!

I am an avid reader.  Always have been.  I would have to say it is my favorite hobby.  My mind is one of those that just doesn't stop.  I'm always thinking of something and the only way to just shut everything off and take a break is to dive headfirst into a book. 

One problem with my love of reading is that I have no self control.  There is no way I can stop reading a book.  Most of the time I will read a book straight through or if it's a long one, it MIGHT take me 2 days.  Three at the most.  I read the Twilight series in 3 days.  I read the entire Harry Potter series in a week.  I read the Hunger Games while up at the cabin for a weekend.  You get the picture.  I especially try to stay away from series since they take up more of my time. 

Either way, I have many people asking me for book ideas to read or what I have recently read.  I go in spurts with my reading.  I try to stay away from my Kindle when I have stuff I need to do.  Then I'll miss it too much and pick it up and read, read, read. 

So this week, since I've been so sick and unable to do anything more than tend to the kids during the day and collapse on the couch once all the daycare kids have been picked up, I have read two books.  I won't lie... both I read straight through.

I prefer fiction over anything else and I tend to find period books.  If that isn't your style then you won't like what I read.  I'm just saying.

The first is called A Different Blue by Amy Harmon.  Let me tell you, this gal can write.  I read another of hers called Running Barefoot and it was honestly an instant favorite.  This one was no different.  I loved every bit of this book.  I plan on reading her other books and have already pre-ordered her next book Making Faces which comes out on October 20.  She will definitely be an author to watch for me.  I don't plan on doing a book review... not my style.  Here is the link to the amazon page for this book.  You can read the review from there.

Last night, in my misery, I read In the Field by Willow Aster.  Another good one.  Not quite as good as Harmon's books but still a good read.  I enjoyed it and would probably try another one out by the same author.  Again, here is the Amazon link.

I'll try to keep up with this.  I like to have a "back-up" of the books I've read.  I tend to own all the books I read because I often like to go back and re-read them or just read my favorite parts.  Hard to do when you don't own the book.  I am the biggest cheapo (next to my husband) and tried to harness in my one spending habit and went to the library.  It was great.  Free books and all I had to do was return them on time.  Problem was, I couldn't remember what books I had read and when I got a certain part of a book stuck in my  head or got the urge to re-read one, I didn't know the title or the author.  This was before that fancy new library program that keeps track of all the books you read.  There is one particular book that I would love to re-read and I have tried so many times to figure out what book it is but haven't had any luck so far.  It drives me nuts.  Needless to say, this is why I try to own all my books and why I enjoy a "back up".

 I search for freebies off the Amazon hot 100 free list.  Most of the time those are trashy romance novels but once in a while I find a good enough one.  One to get me by.  Only once have I found a very good read.  I don't remember which one that was.  Either way, both these books were $3.99.  I spend my "play money" on books.  I think it's worth every penny!  Cheap, smeap.  We all have our vices!

I remembered!  My good freebie book was The Midwife's Here by Linda Fairley.  It's a true story about how Linda started school for nursing and found her calling to become a midwife.  She is the longest standing midwife in Britain.  She's actually written a second book (uh oh, a series!) and I can't wait to read it!  Amazon link...

14 weeks through 19 weeks

I've had quite a few people mention comparisons between my weekly photos.  This was what was on my desktop.  Enjoy seeing a beer belly grow.

19 weeks

Oh my gosh.  This is my halfway point.  19 weeks is my halfway point.  I haven't made it to 40 weeks yet so this is my halfway point.  Holy crap.  How is this pregnancy half done already?  I'm not ready.  I'm not ready to be a mom of 3.  I will be, don't get me wrong, but I'm not ready right now.  This halfway business freaks me out. 

Next week is my ultrasound and I can't WAIT to see my baby.  I can't wait to see him/her moving around and see his/her little face and hands and feet.  To see that little heartbeat bomp, bomp, bomping and see the 4 chambers.  I can't wait to NOT see the sex of the baby.  Well, hopefully.  I'm always scared baby will be legs spread right when the doc puts the sonar thing on my belly and that would ruin it.  So far we have been lucky.  In my opinion, there just isn't anything like the moment where not only do you get to meet your baby for the first time but you also get to finally see if it's a boy or a girl.  I think it gives you a little extra push to help get through labor.  I plan on laboring naturally this time so I'm sure that will help keep me going.

This week has been relatively normal.  My hormones have been much more tamed down and a result my mood swings much more manageable.  I think everyone in the family appreciates that. 

Cookie is very active.  S/he is either doing nothing, or in high gear kicking and swirling around in there.  S/he better enjoy the room now because it will only get more crowded.  The little stubborn bugger though won't move when a hand in on my belly.  I'm pretty sure the kicks are strong enough to feel from the outside now but every time baby is in a kicking mood, the second I put my hand or Max's hand on my belly the baby stops.  S/he will not move at all until the hand is removed.  This could be 5 minutes or I have been still like that for 20.  Right when the hand moves though it's back to party time.

We knocked one big "to-do" off the list this week which lifts a big weight off my shoulders.  We still need to get a bunk bed and another twin mattress before Cookie comes.  Simon can't be sleeping in the crib with the baby now can he!  Dexter will get kicked out of his bed into the top bunk, Simon will get kicked out of his crib into the bottom bunk (well secured though with bed rails) and then baby will have the crib.  I'm not worried at all about how Dex will do on the top bunk.  He climbs the ladders on the swing set just fine.  I am worried at how Simon will do with the freedom to get on and off his bed.  Dex switched over like a champion at 18 months when I was 7 months pregnant with Simon.  Didn't even change his sleeping habits.  I hope it's the same for Simon.  How lucky can two parents get though?

Ridiculous

So last night we ended up having an impromptu birthday party for Max.  His mom came over and his sister Ken with her other half David and the kiddos.  They brought b-day cake for us all to enjoy.

Max and I got into a debate on whether the icing was whipped or not.  I don't like sugar frosting so I knew it wasn't that so I said it was whipped.  Max said it wasn't.  On the argument.  Not argument, that's not correct.  More like bickering.  Our bickering continued until my hormones couldn't take it and I said "who the heck cares".  Over freaking icing.  Max always has to win though.

Either way, I woke up to this:

I don't know where he got it but he found the missing label that clearly said "buttercream frosting". 

I text Max.

J: A. You are ridiculous.  B.  I guess neither of us were right since it's not whipped or sugar frosting.
M:  A. I know.  B.  I was not wrong, I said it was NOT whipped.
J: Remind me why I married you?
M: No need.

Oy vey.  I don't know what I'll do if my kiddos inherit this stubborn gene of Mr. Max!