36 Weeks

 

Oh yeah. I'm actually posting my 36 week picture in my pajama pants and stretchy exercise shirt.

 

And I even decided to post the picture I wasn't prepared for that shows my sexy pink socks. :)

 

 

 

Things are rough. What can I say? My belly feels huge, I'm swollen, my back and ribs hurt and my hands get worse with every passing day. It also feels like little Blake is just trying to bust right out of my skin! I don't have my bag for the hospital packed yet but I did all my shopping and have everything I need to put it together. I was going to wait longer but some very wise women who had large healthy babies at 36 weeks suggested I be prepared now! Just in case.

 

I'm at a point where making dinner is so difficult (standing for an extended period of time) that I end up on the couch in pain the rest of the night. Thank goodness there are so many people in my ward that are generous and have brought over some meals.

 

I'm still not sure if I've felt any Braxton Hicks contractions. My belly has gotten all tight a few times on it's own but it feels the same when Blake stretches really hard. I haven't actually had my 36 weeks checkup yet because my doctor is out of town. I go in on Tuesday so we'll see if there are any new developments. I doubt it though. I assume I'll go the full 40 weeks of pain and agony before my sweet little baby decides to come! I'm just trying to mentally prepare for the actual labor and delivery now. Is that really even possible?! 

Fire Pit

Last October we decided to put a nice fire pit in our backyard. We picked up the materials from Lowe's and did it all ourselves. We pretty much got it done in one weekend. We love it! We've used it several times and the girls have a good time throwing things in. :) Here is the evolution of our fire pit:

 

First, we measured and roped it off for a perfect square.

 

 

Second, we had to get rid of the grass. That was hard work rolling that thing back while pregnant!

 

 

Third, we dug a bit of the dirt out, dug a hole in the middle, filled it with small rocks (for a drain) and leveled everything with sand. This picture doesn't actually show that though. I was too tired and ornery by that point to take a picture of it.

 

 

Fourth, we laid the paverstones and grouted them.

 

 

 Then Jaren laid and mortared the stones for the fire ring. It's all black on the inside in this final picture because we had already used it several times. Jaren even gets a good workout by going out and chopping wood.

 

 

All in all it cost us about $300. We looked at getting the kit for basically the same thing at Lowe's and just the ring (without the paverstones underneath) was $300. We have a nicer setup for the same price by doing it ourselves! Hooray for DIY projects! Now we just need to move onto better landscaping in the front yard.

32 and 34 weeks

32 weeks...

 

34 weeks...



 

 

Busy, exhausted and in pain doesn't seem to truly describe how I've felt lately.  As you can see, my pregnant belly sticks out more and more each week. I feel huge and I still have 6 weeks to go! I also started swelling at week 33 so that's awesome. I almost want to stop posting pictures at this point because I'm afraid of what I'm going to look like!

 

For my own record, my body is experiencing extreme back pain, numb, tingly, and stiff hands and arms, and some pain with the severe swelling in my feet and ankles.  My doctor says I'm progressing well. My blood pressure is normal and baby seems to be doing fine. I have not experienced any contractions yet but I sure have felt baby Blake stretching and moving about A LOT! Poor guy must be getting squished!

 

Chasing after 3 little girls is getting more and more difficult. They are all doing well though. I finally have #2 potty trained! Little one # 3 is acting more like a true 2 year old every day. She's talking a lot more and she understands a lot more than she did just 2 short months ago. She loves to get into everything and takes every opportunity that the bathroom door is accidentally left open to pull as much toilet paper off the roll as she can. They all love "their Jaren" and ask where he is every morning that he's gone to work. They even fight over him when he's home. We do have a lot of fun with them but we haven't had any time without them in 2 months and we are both burned out. I understand why people always say "make sure to go on a date once a week" when you have kids. It's because you need it for your sanity! Unfortunately, only being able to have babysitters that are at least 21 yrs old who are approved by the foster agency with a background check makes it extremely difficult to get ANYONE to babysit. One day...

 

Not much else is new. Just taking life one day at a time! Time to go make lunch. :)

 

Kitchen Remodel

I know I promised some house project updates awhile back and I'm finally giving you one. We put in granite counter tops and a tile back splash for Christmas. Wahoo! This was the last of our house projects (on the inside).  It took us from May until January to get the entire house done and it looks much better now. Anyway, here are some pictures of before.

 

 

This is a light beige/pink Formica counter top and back splash. Yuck. It was so ugly and dated looking. We also didn't like the drop-in oven either so we got rid of that.

 

 

Here are the after pictures...

 

 

  The granite is just so shiny!!

 

The cabinets are the same but I think they look a ton better now. We upgraded the stove to stainless steel. We obviously didn't install the granite ourselves but we did do the tile back splash!

 

 

It was a serious pain. My sweet and patient hubby did it the way I want because he loves me so much. He kept telling me that it was going to be A LOT of work but I didn't believe him. We had over 100 tiles and only 11 did NOT get cut. That's a lot of tedious time in front of a tile saw. We had some major setbacks and it took us more than twice as long as planned but it is DONE!!! Also, Jaren installed new under and over-cabinet lighting (see pictures above) . It just looks great!

 

 

The worst parts of doing a big kitchen project are living with the mess, not having a usable sink or oven for a few days (which means lots of eating out), and cleaning up the mess. But it was worth it! So glad I have a very handy husband who can do projects and save us money. Thanks honey!

 

P.S. I did help too! A lot! Even though Jaren might have thought I was just watching over his shoulder to make sure he did it perfect. :)