35 Weeks

Week 35

How far along:

35 weeks.

Best moments so far:

Does nap time count? As I near the end of this pregnancy, my overall patience level with the boys...in particular, one specific 3.5 year old who is constantly causing trouble towards his brother (think pushing, tackling, touching when not wanting to be touched, stealing whatever toy he is playing with, encouraging bad manners at the dinner table, and overall just using an extra loud and aggressive tone and attitude towards him)...has been next to ZERO. I'll be honest, I'm completely fed up, and have a serious love-hate relationship right now. I am so thankful when T gets home in the evening, or when I can take him to school for a few hours just to be able to recenter and have a chance to play with our little G without him running and hiding between my legs because his big brother is scaring him. We definitely need of a new form of discipline around here, because so far, nothing we have been doing has any staying power, and only seems to make things worse. If his act doesn't clean up in the next couple of weeks, I'm strongly considering sending him to daycare. Adding a new...and very fragile baby...while functioning on very little sleep...to the already super stressful days with our oldest, is most likely a huge recipe for disaster in the coming weeks. So...best moment? No. But at this point, it can hopefully only get better.

In a true 'best moment', I did get a dress to wear for maternity photos (assuming my photographer gets back to me before baby arrives!), and I also settled on family picture outfits for newborn photos. This had been stressing me out BIG time, so I'm hopeful that when everything arrives in the mail, it will all look GREAT together, and I won't have to worry about it again until next fall when we do family pics for Christmas cards!

Other highlights from the week include attending registration and open house for C's new preschool next fall. It seems waaaaaaay too early to even be thinking about this, but that's the way of the world! He loved meeting his potential teachers and exploring around the preschool rooms to see what 'school' is all about at the elementary level! He later told me that he was going to teach his little brother all about how to do it, and also teach him how to use the potty like a big boy. #thinkshesallgrownup #moretalkthanactions #onecanonlyhope

Maternity clothes:

Most. 

Sleep: 

Ok, but as baby continues to grow, the space for my bladder is getting smaller and smaller, and I have found myself having to get up more in the last week during the night to use the restroom.

Miss Anything:

Peace. See above 'best moment'.

Baby Movement:

LOTS. I do feel like baby's movements have maybe slowed down a little during the daytime hours, but when I finally sit down at the end of the evening, the kicking, rolling, and flipping is nonstop until after I fall asleep. I was convinced last night that the baby was going to kick itself right out of the womb!

Cravings and Aversions:

Fruit this week. Fresh pineapple, raspberries, and orange juice. Yum yum. Don't worry though, my daily craving for chocolate or sweets remains unchanged.

Queasy or sick:

Nope.

Symptoms: 

I've had more fatigue this week than I had the past few weeks, and have needed an afternoon siesta on several occasions to get caught up. I haven't had a crazy amount of Braxton Hicks at all, so I think it's safe to say that baby is not thinking of an early arrival this coming week! 

Looking forward to:

My 36 week checkup is next week, and after some discussion, T has decided he may actually make an effort to join me. He came to most of my appointments with C, and a handful with G, but has yet to come to a single appointment (aside from ultrasounds) with baby 3. If nothing else, maybe it will keep G a little more content to have dad there so he doesn't have to crawl on top of me while my doctor is trying to check baby out! After this next appointment, I'll be starting weekly checkups until baby's arrival, and it all becomes much more real!

On my mind:
I've been thinking about finding a baby book lately, but am not sure what direction to take. I did get a childhood history journal from Promptly Journals (same as the ones C & G have) that goes from pregnancy-18 years old, but I think it might be fun to have a more traditional 'baby' book with more room for pictures to document baby's first year. (The Promptly Journal is amazing, but only allows room for one picture at each month of the first year, and focuses more on the writing). G has this one, which is cute, but I'm not convinced I would buy again as many of the photos it requires are a super inconvenient 3x3 size which I have yet to find someone who prints, and some of the milestones it picks out are not necessarily things I took pictures of. I'm thinking maybe something more clean and simple like this one from Artifact Uprising might be just the ticket.

Speaking of 'clean and simple', I've been contemplating investing in a new play gym for baby that isn't quite so wild and crazy to have on our main floor. I've read several articles lately about many of the playmats on the market being overstimulating for babies, and this one from Lovevery was designed by a group of child development experts with specific milestones in mind. It doesn't hurt that it is a 2018 National Parenting product award winner, comes with play suggestions for the first year, is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and has great reviews. Not to mention, it would be nice to have a play gym on each level of our home so that there is an obvious 'safe zone' for baby to play that is impossible to miss for the other two wild & crazy kids in this household...eh hemmm....I'm looking at you C & G. You can read more about the Lovevery play gym HERE.

In other unrelated baby news, I've been thinking about getting C's birthday party planning underway. I won't likely have too much extra time on my hands after baby's arrival to do much party planning, so anything I can get done ahead of time might be great. He's been telling me he wants a 'taco party' lately, so maybe we'll have a Four Year Old Fiesta! Taco House anyone?!