30 Weeks

Ugh - the photo is blurry, and I tried a few spots to do the picture, but there's too much glare from all the windows... I'll have to find a better spot for next week.

How far along: 30 weeks and GLAD TO BE HOME!

Size of baby: (from whattoexpect.com) 18 inches - head of lettuce.

Total weight gain/loss: I'm only up 0.8 pound from last weigh in. We have a scale at home here, so I'll be able to do weekly weigh ins again. I'm 165 here on this scale - and I think the original scale was pretty acurate so we'll say I'm up 10 pounds altogether so far.

Maternity Clothes: I went to my moms yesterday and got my maternity clothes out of storage - I wore some yesterday and it was GLORIOUS!! Especially the pants - it's going to be so nice to wear proper maternity pants now.

Gender: IT'S A GIRL!!!

Movement: Yes, usually when I want to sleep she starts doing somersaults!

Sleep: Well this week has obviously been disrupted by moving, flying and jetlag. I was having difficulty sleeping the two nights before we flew home, but that was more just my brain not shutting now - not pregnancy related.

What I miss: Being able to pick up Finn. It's going to be difficult around this big house to get Finn downstairs to bed and such, because there's so much going on to distract him and I can't just pick him up and drag him away. But we'll figure something out!

Cravings: No cravings, but the intense hunger pangs are coming back - especially about an hour after dinner, and then in the mornings I'm starving!

Symptoms: I really hate answering this one - I never know what to say... expanding belly? is that a symptom. How about seeing my belly move with the baby? is that a symptom.

Best moment of the week: Coming home - see our friends and family, see Finn with everyone. Actually the best moment was when we got to Conor's house his parents had been at an auction, so they got home after us, and as soon as Finn saw Conor's dad he pointed at him and said "grandpa". I was so excited because he only JUST learned how to say it a day before and I thought we would have to prompt him to say hi grandpa - but he did it all on his own.

Hello Canada!

I meant to write a post yesterday saying goodbye to Italy - but blogger wasn't working!

Anyways, we are home safe and sounds... and so happy to be here (even though we're freezing cold!)

All of our flights and connections went smoothly... we had to pay for an extra bag, but we figured we would, especially since we've never had to pay before, out luck had to run out at some point!

The first flight, Rome to Toronto, was 10 hours - very long. Finn was really good for the most part. Other than a few issues with him jumping on his seat (therefore probably really annoying the girl behind him), and throwing a few things (DEFINITELY annoying the poor girl behind him!), he was well behaved. He pretty much just watched shows on the screens (he really liked Calliou), ate, drew a bit, drove his cars... and then about 20 minutes before we landed he FINALLY fell asleep!

We were able to get him into his stroller still sleeping, and in Toronto we had to collect our bags, so he slept through all of that, we had to take him out to go through security but he went right back to sleep again in his stroller. We woke up just as we were getting to our gate, so I changed his clothes and he was NOT happy, a very very tired boy.

On the first flights the seats went XX XXX XX so we had the three middle seats. But the second flight was set up XX XXXX XX, and I didn't want to get stuck in the four seater so we had the window, aisle and then the next aisle (XX Xxxx xx). Conor took "first shift", and got Finn to sleep pretty fast, and then he ended up sleeping the entire flight. Poor Conor wasn't very comfortable, but I was glad to have that time to myself... unfortunately I only got may 45 minutes sleep.

Finn woke up just as we were landing, he was excited to see the water. Conor's older brother was picking us up from the airport, and my mom surprised us by coming as well, so Finn and I drove back with her.

We got home and Finn didn't play shy with anyone... he even took one look at Conor's dad, pointed and said "grandpa". Which really surprised me, because we only JUST taught him grandpa a day or two ago, and I thought he would need more prompting, but he said it all by himself.

Conor has himself signed up for a roller hockey tournament this weekend, and the first game was last night!! So I got Finn and myself to bed around 12:30 am (Conor ended up not having to play last night because the other team forfeit) and Finn woke us up at 5am :(

I was so exhausted last night - hopefully we have a good nap and night tonight!

9 years ago.

9 years ago a young man of 21 asked a young woman of 19 to go out with him. Since then they have lived in Australia and Italy, had a son, and are soon to have a daughter. Time flies!

----------------------------------

Last day in Italy.

Agenda?

• last load of laundry
• final cleaning (under sink, rest of dusting, major sweep upstairs)
• grocery shop for lunch
• lunch with neighbor and his friend
• naps
• mop floors
• final inspection with landlord
• some packing
• grocery shop at a different store for our flight snacks and to say goodbye to our grocery store friends
• beach if there is time (and if it doesn't got all wet and stormy in the afternoon like it has the past few days)
• dinner
• bath for Finn
• bed for Finn
• Finish packing
• relax with hubby
• bedtime!

2 more sleeps

Well things are going pretty smoothly on this end. Today I did major dusting and window washing (although I'll have to do touch ups again because Finn cannot resist putting his hands and face all over the french doors - which are the only windows we have!)

A lady with a 6 month old is coming over today to pick up a whole bunch of stuff from us - toys, carpets, some kitchen stuff... so I'll be glad when that is out of the way. One less thing to think about.

Conor went in to Rome for two meetings today, and then he has a class early tomorrow morning. I still don't know when our landlord is coming to do final inspection, which is a little frustrating - but I should be home all morning tomorrow, and then if I go out in the afternoon I can always pop back to meet them and Conor can stay out with Finn.

OH! And Cristina had her baby - Elizabeth Therese born 6:26pm Rome time, weighing 8.8 pounds. I really really hope she is back home tomorrow evening sometime so I can say goodbye to Cristina and give the baby a little cuddle!

3 more sleeps

We had a really good, relaxing day in Rome yesterday - which was just what I wanted. I didn't plan on rushing from sight to sight. We got into termini - took a bus to the "wedding cake" and walked to the "ghetto" from there.

We basically just wandered around, went into a church in the ghetto, not sure of it's name, but it was really nice. And a great reprieve from the sun! After that we kept on walking to the Isola Tiberina, and then we met up with our Australian friend, Matt, for lunch. He knew of a cheap place to eat there, so that was nice!

Afterwards we wandered through Trastevere a bit, went into Santa Maria and then it started to look stormy! So we said our gooddbyes to Matt and hopped on a tram to our bus, back to the train station, and back home :)

---------------------------------------------------

On another note: our friend here, Cristina, is in labor! She was due on the 19th, and has actually been on bedrest since 28ish weeks when she started having early contractions. She helped me out immensely at the beginning of my pregnancy, by setting up our doctors appointments at the same time so she could translate.

Anyways, she went into labor last week or the week before one day, but then no baby... so I'm praying for her for a safe and quick labor. PLUS I need her to have the baby RIGHT NOW otherwise I won't get to meet the baby before we leave as they stay in hospital for 2 days after birth)... and I won't even be able to say goodbye to Cristina either.

So everyone else pray too!

The plan?

Well today we're going to head into Rome. We haven't seen any of the "ghetto" area, or Trastevere. So we're going to head there, and just wander around. No real plan, but just to see a little sightseeing. We won't stay late, so that we can be home for dinner. Lately if we have a late night Finn takes longer to fall asleep that night, and won't nap the next day (which is what happened after we went to our friends BBQ on Sat night - no Sunday nap)

I did a lot of packing yesterday. Pretty much all of mine and Finn's stuff (minus what we will be using in the next few days) is packed. We get 3 suitcases, and are pretty sure we will be needing a 4th... if that is the case, I have a big "maybe pile". Some winter clothes that I wouldn't mind keeping if we have room to take it but wouldn't be the end of the world if I couldn't take it. Also we have a whole bunch of Finn's sleepers, I think 18-24 months, that I wouldn't mind bringing back, baby girl can wear them (pink by day, blue by night?)... but again, not the end of the world if they don't fit.

Conor has to go into Rome on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. Otherwise we just do laundry, clean and pack - and then we head home!!!

29 Weeks

How far along: 29 weeks - we go home on Friday!!!

Size of baby: (from whattoexpect.com) 17 inches still - but suddenly a butternut squash instead of a head of cauliflower.

Total weight gain/loss: Didn't weigh myself - I will weigh myself when we weigh our luggage, so I'll have an update for next week.

Maternity Clothes: Same as the last few weeks.

Gender: IT'S A GIRL!!!

Movement: Still kicking up a storm. While I sometimes feel her on the bottom left of my belly, I usually feel her on my right side, and usually somewhere right of the belly button and up.

Sleep: Going well - I don't even have to get up to pee every night, which is nice!

What I miss: Being able to take allergy medicine! It's been a rough week for allergies.

Cravings: No cravings.

Symptoms: Ugh, bleeding gums! Seriously, I brush and floss everyday, yet the other day I flossed between two teeth and it just would NOT stop bleeding. Next day? No bleeding. It's weird.

Best moment of the week: The beginning of the week was tough - my allergies were making me miserable. But then yesterday we went to our friends house and had a great BBQ and great conversation and Finn had a lot of fun playing with the kids - it's just brightened my spirit a lot!

Counting down

I would love to say that I'm making the most of our final days in Italy, but that would be a lie.

My allergies are killing me, Conor is busy getting school stuff finalized, there's no one to see (that's close enough for me to walk by myself to), and Finn was an absolute monster yesterday.

He wouldn't nap, and after a mini-break down, Conor said he would take him to the park so I could nap.

Now today Conor is in Rome all day, so it's just Finn and I. He woke up at 6:30am. Not a good start. Then I get out of a bed and start walking and my ankle hurts, a lot. I can't handle a whole day cooped up inside.

Ugh. Actually if there was stuff I could actually do to get ready for the move, that would help with the whole staying inside thing... but we use everything we have, so I can't really do any packing.

-------------------------

I wrote that this morning, and didn't post, because really I don't like posting negative stuff.

My ankle is feeling okay now, just bad when I walk downstairs. Finn and I went to the market and then to the cafe and sat there people/car watching for awhile and then came home for lunch. He's been a good boy all morning - even playing upstairs with puzzles by himself for a good 20 minutes :)

He napped VERY well, and now we're just waiting for our friend Paola to come over so we can have our afternoon smoothies with her!

Our going away party

On Saturday we invited all of our friends that we've made here in Italy to a going away party for us.

It turned out really well (other than the flooded bathroom because a little rascal turned on the bidet, and some red wine spilled outside, which Conor was able to get out before it stained). We had it as an open house from 3-8, so some people came early and left early, and others came later and stayed later.... all in all there were 23 adults and 7 kids.

The weather was perfect, the food all turned out well, and the conversation was nice.

It's hard to say goodbye, but I know that even if we were to stay, or come back next year, it wouldn't be the same. Two of the other families are also finished in Italy this year. So I am ready, to move on to the next stage, and to see our friends and family back home!

Hot cookie

The other day I was making cookies for our party, and I had them out on the counter to harden (they are no bake cookies) - to dissuade Finn from touching them, I told him they were hot cookies... ever since then keeps saying "hot cookie"... ALL.THE.TIME!

He doesn't actually even want a cookie all the time when he says it though, last night he said it instead of saying "night night momma" (another new favorite of mine).

Now he keeps calling those specific cookies "hot cookies"... after we eat them though I tell him to say yummy cookie and he says "nummy cookie".

I love this talking boy!

28 Weeks

How far along: 28 weeks

Size of baby: (from whattoexpect.com) 17 inches - small cabbage.

Total weight gain/loss: Didn't weight myself... I probably will just weigh myself once more before we go, when we borrow a scale to weigh our suitcases :)

Maternity Clothes: Yep, same as before... no pants yet just because they are at home... mat shirts or loose/long shirts

Gender: IT'S A GIRL!!!

Movement: Baby girl is definately moving up in my belly. I feel her a lot under my right rib cage. Not kicking or anything, but just feel something nudged under there.

Sleep: Well we had three very difficult sleep nights due to cold/teething/spider bite. But last night was GREAT! We had a going away party so Finn went to bed VERY late, but then he only woke once in the night and we all slept in!

What I miss: Nothing that I can think of right now.

Cravings: Haven't been having any cravings actually... I was just thinking about how much I was craving breadsticks early on, and now I just can't be bothered to make them (although I'm sure I would eat them if they were in front of me!)

Symptoms: The usual

Best moment of the week: Our going away party - a little bittersweet! But I'm happy with the time we've had here, and I'm excited to go home and move forward with our future. Also, Eleonora gave me my first baby present... cute little baby girl shoes!!!

Friday Finn Facts

I meant to post this earlier, but blogger has been out of commission all day.

Finn is still suffering from a stuffed nose today, but he didn't look as exhausted as he did yesterday (which is surprising since he was awake almost every hour last night AND wouldn't nap today)... he also has a swollen foot from what appears to be a bug bite. It was bothering him a lot, we couldn't even put shoes on him, hopefully it's gone tomorrow.

But on top of everything (and this has probably added to the bad nights) he FINALLY has his third back mollar!!! Yay, that just means one more tooth to go! I seriously thought these teeth were never going to make an appearance.

-------------------------------

You would not BELIEVE how fast this kid is picking up words now! The most exciting thing for me though, is not that he can just repeat a word that I say, but that in the same day he will use the word in it's proper context all by himself.

The other day I had a cup of hot chocolate, and he kept wanting it, but I kept telling him it was hot. Then later on he found the empty cup and yelled "all done hot"... he hadn't even repeated the word hot when I'd said it earlier!

On Thursday Conor went into Rome (lately he only goes in once a week, if that) so when Finn woke up and saw his blanket ascew on the bed he said "uh oh, uh oh daddy"... then when he realized daddy was gone, and that wasn't normal he asked "more daddy??" It was adorable! Also, I am LOVING 'uh oh'! I've always loved it when other kids do it (especially around a year old), but I love it even more now that Finn is doing it!

Other new and/or favorite words:

• paper
• cookie (I think he knew this one a few weeks ago, but lately he says it a lot more... unfortunately!)
• cracker
• duck
• kitty

-------------------------------------------------------------

The below pictures are for size comparison. I bought these pant/short things last year here, so the first picture is from the summer in Canada, and the pants almost touched the ground... his torso hasn't grown as much, so he can still wear the shirt (not for much longer though), and you can see how long his legs have grown though!

---------------------------------------------

We have a very "religious" child. Last year when he was going through a really fussy dinner stage where he wouldn't eat anything, Conor and I started a little tradition of praying one decade of the rosary after dinner. We found it distracted him and while we prayed he would eat most of his food! So we've been continuing it this year, and he really likes it. we give him a rosary and he will just play with it while we pray. When we are done he always said "more?" hehe.

The most "religious" thing though is when he does the sign of the cross. He started off just taping his head to mimic us. Then he would tap his head and his chest. Then for some reason he incorporated spanking himself on the bum (penance or something?? who knows!) Now he does it almost properly doing both shoulders, but the second shoulder sometimes migrates to the bum!

Conor picks him up when we get to church so that he can do the sign of the cross with holy water. Since then there's a bucket outside to water the plants and he likes to take that water and do the sign of the cross (no matter how many times I tell him not to touch the yucky water!)

The other day he was even playing with his winnie the pooh and he used his hand to do the sign of the cross on winnie!

-----------------------------------------------

Oh! another new word from dinner time tonight. "yummy" pronounced "nummy!". SOOOO cute!!

Cold, allergies, or both??

Finn is "sick" now too. He was up on and off all night with a very stuffed nose, and this morning he's pretty much been sneezing since the moment he woke up. His eyes are looking watery and a bit puffy. Poor kid.

It looks so much like allergies. But the way I was feeling the other day I was sure it was a cold. I guess only time will tell.

I'm PRAYING it's a cold, and it will run it's course quickly, because I do NOT look forward to flying with a congested toddler and a congested pregnant self.

Blah! And we are getting ready for our going away party that we are having here on Saturday. Conor has a big day in Rome today finishing up some school stuff (although he will still have a couple more classes, but his work will be done), so of course Finn has to be sick like this the one day of the week that Conor is away.

Long Day

I wanted to write a post today about all of Finnians new words, but that will wait.

It's been a long day! I woke up feeling unwell (either a cold, or allergies, or a combo) - not fun! Finn had taken a long time to fall asleep last night, so we didn't wake up until after 8am.

He was pretty good all morning considering I was doing as little as possible, but sitting on the couch. We ate lunch and headed up for naps as usual, but after half an hour he decided that was enough and he didn't want to nap. The ONE day I really really needed him to. Conor was going to take him to the grocery store after lunch anyways, so they went a little earlier than scheduled. But I was too frustrated after an hour of all the "trying" that I couldn't sleep.

Then he played nicely until Conor made dinner, but decided he wasn't going to eat. I think he had three bites. Which is fine, whatever, he sat at the table, he ate a bit. But when he wanted a cookie about 15 minutes later we were adamant that he couldn't until he have at least 5 more bites.

We laid 5 pieces of food on the table, moved the plate, and told him he could have a cookie after he ate those. For the next hour he would see the food, throw a fit, get distracted a play for awhile, see the cookie bag and ask for another cookie, we would tell him to eat his dinner first, he would walk over there take one look at the food and it would start all over again.

I finally just got him ready for bed, and brushed his teeth... and then it started all over again - "cookie" take one look at his dinner on the table, freak out.

Bah! Conor is upstairs reading to him, hopefully he goes to sleep alright, I'm tired and just want to eat some gelati to sooth my sore throat!

Weekend Recap

Saturday evening we went to a great BBQ at Kevin and Eleonora's - once again Kevin cooked up quite the feast :) It was a good mix of people. There were a few new people - and other than us, everyone could speak at least 2 languages! So there was quite the mix of conversations going on. It was a really nice evening. One of our friends is pregnant with her 4th child - over 38 weeks pregnant. Conor said that he hoped she didn't go into labor during the BBQ....

At about 9pm Conor walked Finn and I home and then headed back to play poker. When I woke up in the morning my friends facebook status said that she was on her way to the hospital to deliver!!

Sunday morning Conor made me breakfast (Conor and I alternate doing breakfast, but I usually do Sunday with a bit of his help) - he make the usual scrambled eggs and bacon, as well as scones for me! We went to church and went to a cafe afterwards and had a coffee and ice cream.

After that we just had a lunch and a nap and then Kevin and Eleonora came and took us to Santa Severa to walk around there and get more gelati.

Unfortunately my friends contractions stopped while in hospital but she wasn't feeling well so they kept her overnight... we'll see how she goes today.

27 Weeks

How far along: 27 weeks - THIRD TRIMESTER!!!!!!

Size of baby: (from whattoexpect.com) 16 inches - head of a cauliflower

Total weight gain/loss: In the middle of the week I used our neighbors scale to weigh myself. It said 163 pounds... so not that far off from what the other original scale had been saying. I'm guessing I was between 150 and 155 pre-pregnancy, so I'm up about 10 pounds.

Maternity Clothes: No maternity pants - and that's not going to change in the next 3 weeks because I won't be buying any here. Mostly maternity shirts - except a couple t-shirts I can still pull off, and thankfully, most of my tank tops were long and loose so those will be great as the weather warms up.

Gender: IT'S A GIRL!!!

Movement: Still feeling her lots, and low... but the higher kicks are getting higher and higher. After Finn goes to bed I go right to the couch and just veg with Conor for the rest of the night there... and baby girl pretty much does NOT stop moving that whole time... which is nice because then when I go up to bed she's usually calmed down.

Sleep: No many complaints - the extra pillow is my best friend. But Saturday I woke up at 5:30 very uncomfortable, no matter what side I lay on I couldn't get to sleep. I was about to give up and go downstairs, but I guess I eventually fell asleep.

What I miss: Being able to shave my legs comfortably... that was one (of quite a few) of the nice things about being pregnant in the winter. I'll tell you right now that I will not being shaving my legs and regularily this summer as I normally would - and you will just have to live with it! hehe

Cravings: Nothing really different than I would be wanting non-pregnant... although I do use pregnancy as an excuse :) "baby girl needs some gelati"

Symptoms: I've been feeling the possibility of foot and leg cramps coming, but hadn't actually had any until the other day. Thursday night I got a foot cramp before bed, and a minor leg cramp in the night. NOT a good sign.

Best moment of the week: When I ask Finn where the baby is he will point to my belly. Sometimes he will lift up my shirt and say "hi baby" and then put my shirt back down and say "bye baby". I can't wait to see him get to actually hold her and touch her. Should be interesting!

Update: We taught Finn the babies name, all morning he was saying "Hi baby ___" or "bye baby ___" - I almost cried it was so cute!!!

Friday Finn Facts

3 weeks until we go home - 3 months until baby Girl is due!!

This post is going to be random

---------------------------------------

Kids have a way of making you eat your words.

After telling you last week about Finn sleeping great, in his own bed, until at least 7:15 every morning, he proceeded to wake up at 7am the next morning just to prove that he was in charge. He didn't stop there though. The next night he ended up in our bed for part of the night because I was tired of getting up. The next morning he woke up at 6:40am!!! I'm going to have to stop talking about any good things on her, lest he sense what I've written and do everything he can to make me a hypocrite.

-------------------------------------------

Talking: He's really starting to use "mommy" and "daddy" a lot more - and without one of us telling him to say it. If I ask him to get me something and then I'm not paying attention he'll say 'mommy' while holding it out to me. When we went out yesterday, Conor wasn't home but Finn is used to Conor being upstairs when we leave to house, so he yelled "bye daddy". He's also started copying me saying 'red', 'kitty', we'll see how long it is before we will just say the words with the proper association. Also 'cookie' is a favorite word (and snack!)

Signing: So there were a couple of things that I was pretty sure he was trying to sign, but I wasn't sure exactly what they were. One of them was him bringing his hands together but just letting each of the tips of his fingers touch the other hand... at first I thought he was just doing a weird clapping or something. But usually when he signs one word, he will go through his whole list of words that he can sign, so when he started doing this one with all of his others I figured it must mean something. Another was that he would make a big square shape with his index fingers and then start wiggling his fingers, which I though was making the 'piano' sign, but he would wiggle the fingers without using his hands, where with piana you wiggle your fingers while moving your hands left and right.

Anyways, I thought that one was computer, or TV, because he would do it sometimes after I had just opened up the laptop, but when I looked online for the sign for computer I saw a few different things, but not that. Finally the other day I woke up early at naptime and was on my iPod upstairs so I decided to watch his baby einstein that has all the signing (on fastforward!) and it was' computer' that he was signing! The other one, with his finger tips coming together was 'ball' - so those are his two new sign words. Oh, make that three, I just remembered "book".

For along time Finn has been copying when Conor does his exercises, the squats to be exact. Then the other day he got down on his hands and knees and then put his chest to the floor - pushups!! haha - well baby pushups I guess.

He likes to sit on the couch with me and put one cushion on my lap and one on his, and then we throw it to the ground. He thinks it's a lot of fun - but then the other day after he did it he put his hand up to his forhead and said "ohf" - so dramatic, like 'what a hard life it is'. Don't know what it came from or what it means, but it's cute!

Sometimes when he has my iPod and he isn't watching a show, he will change my wallpaper picture (how he figured it out I have no idea!)... anyways, I think it used to be random just random pictures, but now changes it to pics he likes - most recently pictures of him with his friends or me or Conor.

Here's a video of the "ohf" and a few sign words

Lovely Day!!

This week is supposed to be beautiful, and today certainly was no exception.

Conor had to go into Rome for class, so Finn and I went into Civitavecchia this morning. I can't believe how hot and sunny it is! I planned to go to the boardwalk with him, after the market, but then I got worried I would just roast there (no shade)... but we went anyways and there was a lovely breeze coming from the sea that made the temperature absolutely perfect.

There's a very small playground at the boardwalk there, as well as a little amusment park with rides (mainly for kids Finn's age to, I don't know, 7 or 8? Not really for much older than that). I don't like to pay for rides for him at places like that, because I know I would have to everytime or else face his wrath, so he just watched other kids and the trains and cars and had fun that way which was nice. Then we moved on to the little park.

He's really not an adventurous kid. He's never been in to climbing things, under or over... but he has been getting used to slides. Well this slide has nice steps up to it with hand railings and everything (not just those round rungs), so he went right on up, sat his little bum down and went down the slide all by himself. I love to see how proud he is when he does stuff like this!

He's so funny with other kids though. Whenever a little kid tried to follow him up, if he was close to the bottom of the stairs he would just get right off and let them go ahead, and then maybe go after them, or just stand there watching. There was one quick little boy, a bit older than him, that would run up and then go down the slide.. Finn started to go up the stairs twice, but the little boy was so fast he would get there and Finn would just get off the stairs. Finally the little boy went to the swings so Finn started up the stairs again, but the boy came back when Finn was half way and Finn pushes himself right up against the side and puts out his arms to me saying "all done"! He wanted me to take him down! Poor guy... the little boy slipped past him and this happened about 4 times, each time after the boy slipped past Finn would go up one more step... so after the 4th time I nudged him up so he would just go down already!

---------------------------------------

We bought strawberries at the market... I'm willing myself not to eat them all before Conor gets home!

---------------------------------------

Today was the third day in a row that a friend told me she was pregnant! So I decided to go through my facebook friends and count how many (that I knew) were pregnant and there are 13 women, not including myself! Not to mention a few who have had babies in the last few months.

It's so exciting!

26 Weeks

Different outfit this time... I usually do the picture on Saturday to post on Sunday, but I forgot... and this morning I didn't feel like putting on my jeans and black shirt just to have to change into my church clothes.

How far along: 26 weeks

Size of baby: (from whattoexpect.com) What?!?! From 9.2 inches last week to a whopping 15 inches?? She's a cucumber now :) Oh, and now whattoexpect is claiming the baby is LONGER than babycenter... whateves... they both say she's a cucumber at least.

Total weight gain/loss: The scale I usually use was broken so I used a different one. The last time I weighed myself I was 164... the new scale says 157! So I really have no clue. I'm assuming I'm gaining the proper pound a week or so.

Maternity Clothes: Yep, so most of my non-mat shirts are just getting too short. If they aren't long and/or loose/stretchy they just don't work anymore. I can still wear my skinny jeans with the belly band, but not very comfortably, and I have to adjust the belly band a lot... only a few more weeks until I can pull our out mat jeans that are in storage at home.

Gender: IT'S A GIRL!!!

Movement: I still feel her in the weirdest positions sometimes... and sooo low! The most regular kicks I feel are right on or above my pelvic bone.... the highest I've felt are a couple centimeters above my bellybutton - but she definately prefers to stay low.

Sleep: This is actually becoming more difficult - either because I'm getting on in the pregnancy, or because we have less than 4 week before we fly home and it's just my brain working to process everything.. but it takes me FOREVER to fall asleep sometimes. Thankfully it's not everynight, and it's not all night, and I'm still getting naps, so I can't really complain at this point.

What I miss: Sleeping on my tummy! Also my back - I'm not really a back sleeper, but I do find myself in that position sometimes and wish I could do it now.

Cravings: Chocolate milk.... *drool!*

Symptoms: Big kicking thing in my belly!

Best moment of the week: Purely pregnancy related, I'm happy everytime she kicks. When she twists and turns it's a bit more uncomfortable, but I love just feeling that she's alive in there.