Misc. Monday, 10 Week Countdown Begins!

I am happy to say that I am finally feeling rested on this Monday morning, after a good night's sleep....something that has evaded me for the last week.  I have been so tired lately because I am now finding it so difficult to sleep.  But, last night I managed to get a great stretch of really good sleep and it's amazing how much better I feel.  So, on to to a list of misc. things on my mind this Monday...

#1- Well it's official, I'm now 30 weeks along and Ava is about the size of this squash below or a head of cabbage.  She's over 15 inches long and between 2.5-3.5 lbs.  30 weeks means that actually I only have 6-7 weeks left until I'm considered full term!!  However, because she's my first, I'm expecting her to stay in there until at least 40 weeks, if not more, so I'm counting down the next 10 weeks until she makes her long anticipated debut :)  Isn't this crazy how quickly this is happening??

#2- I mentioned earlier how hard sleep is coming these days...that is mostly due to the unbelievable pain I'm experiencing while my body keeps "stretching" to prepare for labor and delivery.  Awesome.  I've never felt such a deep ache in my bones before, but I'm here to tell you that I have a whole new respect for every woman who has lived through the horror of rolling over while feeling as if your pelvis might just break at any moment!  Let me just say that I told Travis a few nights ago, that I would give ANYTHING to deal with back pain (which is apparently gone now) over this pain.  I basically get in bed at night and then begin my 8 hours of moaning until the sun comes up.  I LONG for the day when I can sleep in any position that I want and when I can toss and turn with the best of them!!!  Someone tell me that's possible again??  Pillows, wedges, and mattress toppers are doing nothing for me right now.  I've just had to realize that I've got 2 months to stick this out and with the help of a magic pill called Unisom, I just might make it!  

The good news is, because of my discomfort (along with raging heartburn and indigestion) I've turned a corner in my mind.  No longer am I trying to slow this train down out of fear of delivery, now I'm looking forward to it!  Well, that might be overstating it a bit, but I'm so ready for some relief that I'm anxious for the end to be in sight!!  

Meanwhile, that baby bump keeps getting bigger and my clothes keep stretching too!  Please don't get me wrong, I am truly grateful for every thing I feel, good and bad, because I know it's all a sign of this gift God has given us in sweet little Ava.  But, as much as I'm enjoying the privilege of carrying her on the inside, I'm ready to be carrying my baby on the outside soon!  

#3- We've made some big strides this week in our two baby registries...which I apparently need to devote part-time hours to, just to "manage"!  I seriously don't know what I would do if I'd not had these last 5 years of nannying to draw from.  The sheer size of Babies R Us and the LIMITLESS choice of products for every thing you can imagine, is EXHAUSTING!  And I even know what I want and what I like!  I think I would cry if I'd never been in that store before and I had to choose between thousands of products I'd never seen.  This was our second trip (and hopefully final trip) to Babies R Us and we spent and hour and a half "editing" and selecting.  I knew it was time to go when I found myself standing in the "pack and play" aisle for over 20 minutes, physically sweating over which one to choose!!  Time to get out and breathe again!  

Travis was so great about it, happily using the "gun" to scan things while I marched through the aisles like a drill sergant, barking out orders that sounded something like: "gerber spoons- 3 packs" and "disposable nursing pads- 10 packs."  The poor thing, his whole world is being transformed and he's doing his best not to react in pure shock at everything I say and every graphic topic that now comes up regularly!!   He also happily accompanied me to Target this week to set up another registry there.  That one was a little less painful, until we got to the diaper aisle and the prices started sinking in :)  Then I knew he was starting to sweat!!  We made it quickly out of there before either one of us had a meltdown!  For all of our family members, I put the links on the side bar of the blog so you can find them easier :)  I seriously think it was easier to register for our wedding than for the birth of our first child!!  

#4- Although I dug these pictures up from our first trip in October, I'm happy to report that the weather this weekend was much like the conditions pictured here!  We actually hit 44 degrees on Saturday and we both thought we'd died and gone to Heaven!!  We were out all day with no coats (what a treat) and I was suddenly digging for my flip flops!  It was downright tropical here :) God is good to occasionally throw these days of reprieve our way, otherwise I think we might all sink into deep depression!  Saturday was the first day we were above freezing since November!!!  You should have seen the lines at every car wash in the twin cities....
#4- Finally, in an effort to wrap this up, I'm going to only say that my heart was racing and broken over the Cardinals loss last night.  I wanted to cry/swear at the way the game turned out in the final seconds.  I'm just going to say it...I hated the Steelers for a few minutes afterwards.  I don't hate them today, but I do wish the Cardinals could have held them off!!  It was a great game though and a fun one to watch until the bitter end.  At least it wasn't a blowout.  And there were some great commercials this year, don't you think?   

Well, Happy Monday friends!  I'm signing off to pay some bills and get my house in shape....Thrilling isn't it??