Who wants some pictures?! No belly pictures though.

You'll have to wait until Thursday for a belly photo ;)

But I do have these.
Den and 3rd bedroom reno is done, minus a few touch ups here and there.. But otherwise it's done. It's still not done being put back together since as you'll notice in the photos we have a changing table in the den which obviously belongs in the nursery, but we are making progress :) Here is the 3rd (spare) bedroom. We are planning to take apart a few wooden pallets apart and nail the slats on the face of the soffit above the bed which is why is looks unfinished right now. Below those are photos of the [once]den, [now] office.

This is the nursery!! We put the first coat of grey on last night!

 Here is is what I made for breakfast on Christmas morning. Cinnabon French Toast Casserole. The easiest and [easily] most loved breakfast I've ever made! 'Barry tested and approved' ;)

This s what my sister got for Christmas!! A shiny new puppy!!!!!!!!

And just for fun:

 Me now:

Me 9 months ago:

When someone asks "how are you feeling?"

This is the number 1 question I get asked.
How are you feeling.

Every time I'm asked, I reply "great" or "good" and keep walking because lets be real, the list is getting pretty long these days.
But if you'd like a true and honest answer here it is.

My feet hurt. Always. The new Nikes Barry bought me are awesome and for the most part take away the discomfort but the instant I take them off and walk around barefoot or in a different pair of shoes, know that my feet are killing me.

My back hurts.

Sleep? What's that? This one I'm growing partial to only because I know it's preparing me for what's to come. Plus I find it pretty miraculous that the human body is capable of getting only a few solid hours of sleep a night and can still function relatively well given the current shape her body is in.

My "practice" contractions are steadily becoming more uncomfortable with each passing week. In fact, as I type this blog I'm using the app on my phone to keep track of them because they are actually lasting about a minute or two long in some cases but are still all over the place in both frequency and intensity. But because they are lasting so long, I thought it might be good to track them and make sure they don't develop a timeable pattern

Increased discharge.. we'll leave it at that.

Every time I laugh, sneeze, cough, or sometimes when I'm just standing there picking my nose, I pee my pants a little.  I have to wear a pantyliner now just because of everything on down there.

I read online that "loose stools could be a sign that labor is near, and it can occur right before labor or a couple of weeks before labor. If it is a couple of weeks before your due date, a premature birth should not be expected. If you are experiencing diarrhea during your third trimester, it does not mean your baby is coming right now, so you should not be alarmed.   This is just a way some women’s bodies prepare for the labor that is going to start at some point." Again, we'll just leave it at that.

Feeling the urge to nest and not only not having the energy to do so, but also not having the time because of renovations. This one began yesterday and sent me into a momentary crying fit on the bed.

The point of all of these being...


I don't know even remember now...

Lets talk symptoms and gross stuff, shall we? ;)

TMI disclosure. There will be bodily fluids mentioned in this post at some point.

So, let me just start by saying that I still find it unbelievable at times, that I went from googling "signs of ovulation," to "early signs of pregnancy," to "first [second, and third] trimester symptoms." And now I find myself googling signs of labor. I can't believe the time is nearing. I know I'm only 33 weeks and we will have a month before she's even full term, but I want to be prepared as possible. At least for this aspect of pregnancy. For week 33, my phone app tells me I should prepare a hospital bag. "Sure, okay. I can't wait!! But all of everything I would put in there is packed away in a tight corner of my dining room while we finish up the remaining details of the den and 3rd bedroom renovations." It's absolutely KILLING me!! I even went out and bought a cute, brown leather, overnight bag for the occasion. I got a hell of a steal on it too! It was a $60 bag from H&M and  snagged it for $25! boo-ya! So anyways.. I've been doing as much research as possible so I can at least be MENTALLY prepared since I don't feel that we're even remotely PHYSICALLY prepared for her arrival. One of the things I remember reading about a long time ago was loose stools/ diarrhea being a sign that labor will start within a few days or possibly weeks. So naturally, since I've have this little problem for the last 3 days, on top of what feels like a return of [mild] morning sickness, I went on a did some more digging and learned that both are pretty common complaints in the last trimester. For a lot women, the bowel complaint will even pick up and get worse right before labor begins as the body's way of cleaning itself out in preparation for whats to come. I'm sure, and I hope labor is still several weeks away, but I'm glad to see my body seems to be following the general guidelines of common symptoms felt by other women at 33 weeks.
Another  thing I read was that it's common for women to slowly loose their mucous plug versus loosing the whole in one fell swoop. If you're loosing it slowly (over the course of a few days/weeks) one should notice a loss of thicker white, pale green, or lite yellow mucous, possibly even red/pink-tinged. As long as it remains white/green/yellow, there is no need for immediate action, however if it's red or pink, one should call their OB to inform them so that they can be more closely watch for impending signs of labor. For the last few days I have noticed mine has gone from watery and clear, to thick and white. So maybe I'm beginning to loose
mine (?)  I suppose time will tell. It's also possible for it to re-seal on it's own if you're loosing it slowly enough, so even if  I was loosing some of it, it doesn't really mean the rest will follow. But it's definitely something I'll be watching out for more closely now.
Other than the signs-of-labor-type-symptoms, I've noticed increasing problems of swelling. I use to only get swollen at night after being on my feet for a long time and it would only occur in my ankles, and on occasion very mildly in my fingers. Now I wake up every morning will swollen fingers, feet (both bottoms and tops), ankles, and even some puffyness in my face and neck. Twice now, I've had to go to work without my wedding rings because I couldn't get them on and once, I could hardly get them off. I had to run my hand under cold water before finally coaxing it off of my finger! And if that's not bad enough, ALL of my shoes are too tight most of the time with the exception of the new Nikes that Barry just bought me in a whole size bigger than the rest of the shoes I own. My feet are so swollen on the bottoms now that it hurts to walk on them and most of the time, when I get up to pee in the middle of the night, (which by the way is about 4 times now), I have to walk waddle on the sides of my feet to and from the bathroom.
Another thing I had to recently go up a size in was my underwear. All my adult life, I've worn a size small. About 6 weeks ago, I had to go up to a medium, and just last weekend was forced to go up to a large because my mediums were so tight they were leaving indentations in my belly and the top part of my butt crack would peak over them! I can't even believe how big my ass is getting! HAHAHA!
Oh and the X-LARGE bras that I bought about 6 weeks ago as well...... already too tight. The doctor said I need to go up a side again because she noticed the deep indentations it was leaving on my chest at my last appointment. Holy Moly... I don't have money for all of this 'going up a size every quarter' thing!! LOL!
What in the world am I going to do with all of this maternity wear when it no longer fits me?! I will have invested so much by the end of this pregnancy! Such is life. :)

IS IT BAD?

Is it bad that some days I wish I could just hide in my room/office all day to escape the attention. Every single person that passes me in the hall says something EVERY SINGLE TIME they see me. Which is okay. Everyone is just excited. So am I. I guess when you hear things like, "it won't be long now" and "it's almost time" at least 5 times a day every day and you have to pretend like it's your first time hearing it ever, every time, it becomes a little exhausting. Especially from the European that tries to get little belly rubs in every chance she can even though I throw out pretty clear clues that it's NOT okay to touch me and then also refers to my child as "it."  "It's getting bigger."

I don't know
Maybe some days I can handle the extra attention better than others.


I'm really looking forward maternity leave.

(ALMOST) 33 WEEKS!

RENOVATIONS:
 Great news!! Lowes is stupid.. They called and told us our carpet is being installed this Thursday (in two days!) Not in two weeks! The race is on to finish all of the trim work and possibly the baseboards before then. Here is what Barry looks like working at night.

I'm so glad he knows what he's doing. haha! Belle, your daddy is the shit! Or as he would say, "jack of all trades, master of none." Even though I beg to differ and have photos to prove it!

Lets transition to bullets for the rest.

• I have a doctors appointment today.
• After today, my appointments will  move to every other week. :)
• Today I am stressed.. about money, credit card bills, Belle's healthcare, money, maternity leave, my whole work-force future, money, and money.... 
• Barry says we have enough other things right now going on and to not let those things bother me right now. Especially when we're making such excellent progress on the house.  I think he's right. Everything will work out. It always does. 
• I got me car washed for the first time since March. Which means I get to buy reindeer antlers and a red nose for it on account of the holidays! AND I made myself a deal, once I get it washed, I get to install the car seat! So I guess that'll be happening soon. 

Without further adieu:
Here is a side by side of October 14th - December 14th

Renovating.

I'm not even sure where to begin. I want this to be informative and  memorable without sounding too much like ranting.

Lets start with the progress that's been made. We got the walls and ceiling in the west wing primed and painted. They look fantastic!! We got all of the baseboards, window trim, and door trim, cleaned, sanded, cleaned again, primed and painted. We have all of the pre-primed crown moulding bought, it just has to be measured and cut, then hung, nail holes spackled, painted, and caulked. The window and door trim is a bit more tricky. Because the drywall is much thicker than the previous wood paneling, Barry has to cut thin pieces of wood to slide in between the framing and trim when hanging it. This wouldn't be as big of a deal if we had a table saw at home, but we don't. So he will just have to take as good of measurements as he can, pick up the wood and take it to work to cut, and then bring home and install it. Then we can hang the window and door trim up, spackle the nail holes, paint, and caulk the seams.

The carpet is finally paid for after a huge ordeal and two trips to Lowes to sign the MFing contract. The only other time I've dealt with such horrible customer service was when we bought phones through sprint and cancelled them after 1 week of dealing with horrible reception issues. I spent almost every day on the phone with those nitwits for TWO MONTHS trying to get things cancelled, refunded and out of paying a $2000 bill that they said we owed them that it finally took me having a nervous breakdown on the phone and literally crying and begging someone to help me for someone to finally feel bad enough for what they had put us through and to get everything straightened out for us. This Lowes carpet ordeal is literally coming close to being as bad as the sprint situation got. I've reached my limit with these idiots.
But back to the point.... after paying for the carpet and finally getting the contract signed, they called us 3 or 4 days later to inform us that the carpet we picked out is on back order until the 21st and they'll call us when it becomes available to schedule the installation. That's two weeks away! Now we will have to move everything out of the nursery and put it....I don't even know where... so we can paint her room. The word "Stress" does not even begin to describe my current emotion. It's so beyond that point. I literally come home and cry almost every day looking around my house wondering how in the hell we are going to finish this.
And I pray that she doesn't come early...

We've missed quite a few gatherings with friends and/or family due to these renovations that I feel absolutley awful about. It doesn't help that we've been using the "we're working on the house" excuse for over a month now. Thankfully almost everyone is empathetic to our situation but I think a few might be beginning to undermine the seriousness of the approaching deadline that haunts nearly every waking thought Barry and I have. Let me clarify that we don't have until my due date of Feb 4th to finish all of this. I might, if I'm lucky, have a couple more weeks left in me before my extremely exhausted, sore, and tired body is no longer capable of doing the this kind of work. I know Barry can and will finish on his own whatever still needs to be done at that point, but I can't leave him with the amount of work that still has to done to so all alone. Not only is unfair to him, but it's a lot more productive for two people to be doing it than it is for just one person. I'm just really glad that for the most part, when we tell people "sorry we can't... we have to get our house finished.." they are pretty understanding of the time constraint we are looking at.
This isn't fun for us. We'd much rather be lounging around and hanging out with friends and family. Afterall, it's the holidays... and I'm 32 weeks pregnant!! But we NEED to finish this. ASAP.

Anyways. Here are some (grainy, obnoxious, low-lite photos) for you :)

 Primed

Gray!!

Window trim and base boards. (not including the door trim and crown moundling)

Aside from my lovely husband, these are the other two things keeping me sane after a long night's work.

Oh, and does this count for a belly shot?