Full Term

We are officially full term!

Little girl: consider this your eviction notice! It's been by far my most enjoyable pregnancy but I'm ready to meet you. Sleep on my stomach and not pee every 10 minutes!

I'm still able to do pretty much everything I need to and have gotten all of the baby stuff out, organized and washed. Her diaper bag is ready to go to the hospital, my bag is planned out, car seat ready and big sisters are over not fitting on my lap any more.

My Parents came two weeks ago and painted the nursery. They've helped with all dozen of their grandchildren's nurseries and I think it's so sweet. I offered to do the trim work along the ceiling and they had none of it, so 18 foot ceilings and all, they painted the whole room and even let Addiston help a bit.

she was pretty proud!!

I'll post more pictures when we finish it (hopefully next week) But the crib is now re-assembled and important things in place so if she comes (which she's welcome to) We're ready.

Jared also remodeled the laundry room for me for a Valentines present.  We've done homemade presents for each other on valentines our whole relationship. When we were in college and had first started dating we both only worked part time and agreed we'd rather spend the money on a nice meal and make gifts than eat in the school cafeteria and buy gifts. That still rings true for us, so the tradition continues. 

Before:

After:

More functional, appealing and a fun automatic light that turns on when you walk in the room! 

Yay for capable husbands! 

We also had our last big family outing before the baby comes, on Valentines day. Disney Live came to Nashville and Jared was able to get a great deal on tickets so we took the girls, who loved every minute.

They dressed up, swung glow stick wands around the whole show and enjoyed cheesy fries during intermission. 

We had "spring break" mid winter from our homeschool group last week which I didn't realize but I really needed. It gave me a chance to focus on some stuff around the house and get all the little things in order for me to feel ready to have the baby. We also had a cleaning crew start last week which makes nesting A LOT easier. :) They'll come once a month and deep clean the whole house for at least a year. We'll reassess from there to see what life with three kids is like. It was perfect timing though because we hosted a baby shower for my friend Kari saturday (she's due a month after me) and it was so nice to not have to have half the party prep done!  

This week is back to life as normal, school, playdates, meetings, and then a few fun things this weekend for my birthday, but more than anything it's a waiting game. I'm trying to be the calm pregnant lady who is cool with the kid staying in until I'm 42 weeks and miserable she's finally ready to come out but lets face facts: I have a 3 & 5 year old asking every day if she's ready to come out, I'm short and she's pretty much out of room and I've commenced all the old wives tales of walking, drinking special tea, eating spicy foods and hanging out on my yoga ball to try to help the process along! We're ready for you little one. 

Balance

Balance y'all...I'm not finding it!

I have been so blessed this pregnancy. Save a little scare early on with a short stint on bed rest, this pregnancy has been great. I've felt wonderful, been able to eat whatever I want, (and more) and genuinely my only pregnancy symptom minus the shrinking wasteline is that I'm tired.

Life has finally started to slow down after the roller coaster that was summer! We feel settled into the house, most of the unpacking is done, we're calling a hiatus on all things house until after the new year when we plan to tackle the nursery and a few organizational things we'd like done before baby.

We're figuring out (slowly) a new house schedule (wood floors need to be cleaned A LOT), gifting the girls' swiffer dusters has been major help and letting the dogs enjoy the huge back yard! Homeschooling is going well. I've loved tutoring Addiston's Kindergarten class this semester and we're doing well with staying on track at home. Addiston is starting to read which for me is a double edged sword. The girl is a bookworm and would happily sit and let me read to her for HOURS every single day, which I love. So I'm thrilled that she is picking up some more on her own especially after we had a small stint of stubbornness and she decided she didn't want to read, but now that it's clicking I'm a little sad to see her grow up just a little more.

Jared's new job schedule still has us all confused. He works mostly 9:30-6:30 which is hard on the girls. By the time he gets home we have dinner and then start getting ready for bed. We do get to eat breakfast and dinner everyday as a family and I'm really enjoying this season of sitting and just chatting with the girls over meals before the new one arrives and we're distracted by crying and nursing schedules and lack of sleep. The girls miss having more play time with their dad, so we're trying to be intentional about carving out more weekend time as opposed to doing chores and running errands.

For the most part thats it in life right now. I'm in bed shortly after the girls every night, so Jared's getting in some reading, video games, and helping with dishes or laundry that I have left over from the day. But we're lucky to get in a run down of the day, much less a long talk. Luckily we have 2 date nights scheduled this month so we should get to catch up there, and we're taking a birthing class on saturdays, so long drives are anticipated!  I've text a few friends here and there but pretty much unless I see people at church or our homeschool community day I've been MIA to just about every relationship I have :(

Last Month our college friends came to stay for a long weekend and oh my word the sweetness of 5 little girls playing!

(Praise the Lord for having someone who REALLY gets it!)

Jared and Jesse were college roommates, Amber and I hit it off first semester of Freshman year. We were married within months of each other and had our first 2 (4?) children in the same seasons, we are now embarking on homeschooling together and are all food hippies. A decade of friendship in and we laugh at how much life we've done together and how in a few short months we will have 6 daughters between us!


Last week we went to dinner with dear friends to find out that they are having a girl less than 1 month after we are. I'm so glad for a friend to do pregnancy with and a built in friend for our little girl!

I know there are seasons in life and I'm glad things are running smoothly for our family and household but being an pregnancy-exhausted extrovert is hard. When you yearn to go to dinner with friends, or sit and catch up over coffee but really all you want to do is sleep, your mind and body are at odds with each other! I'm hoping I get a small spurt of energy before this third little girl arrives to catch up with some friends and family over the holidays. In the mean time I'm clinging to forced outings and pop-in visitors!