I normally take pregnancy photos monthly, but this week marks quite a milestone for me, and I wanted to document it.
It's the 34 week mark.
The time during my last pregnancy that rocked our world and our little bundle of joy decided to surprise us and come into this world not only 6 weeks early, but with a pretty severe congenital heart defect. We were scared to death.
I thought there was no way he could survive outside of me at this point in the pregnancy, especially with his special heart. But I was wrong. God was in charge and has allowed Andrew to grow into an amazing four year old little boy who brings us more joy every day than we ever imagined possible.
And so far, his baby sister is surprising us (pleasantly!) by being completely different. She is already bigger than Andrew was when he was born. She is growing. My ultrasounds have been showing that everything that went wrong last time, is not happening again. My little girl is healthy. And it is just such a surreal feeling, I don't even know what to think.
I think this week I have been entering the "nesting" phase! I think in many ways my last experience, while very different, is still weighing heavily on my mind. I feel overwhelmed and rushed. Unprepared. In no way ready to welcome our daughter into the world just yet. Yet, a part of me is thinking... she could come any day now. Her brother did!
So, the past few days I've been driving Craig crazy scrambling to get things done! And of course, I need his help for most things, so his list of jobs has increased! Ha! He has been a pretty good sport about it, though. Last weekend I spent a whole day going through all of Andrew's old clothes. I hadn't planned on doing this, thinking I wasn't ready to get rid of anything yet. But, with our garage sale coming up, I realized I needed to condense the 15 tubs of clothes taking over the basement! I also finally feel pretty confident after 3 ultrasounds that this baby is a girl, so I can let myself sell some boy things!
And hey, Andrew found a few things he wanted to keep! Ha! He grabbed these jammies that are about 3 sizes too small and insisted on wearing them. He wouldn't let me take them off. I just had to laugh. I ended up finding a few things for a couple of my friends who have recently had babies, and also was able to condense the tubs in half! I was so proud of myself! I still kept a lot of his most special clothes, all the things I could remember him wearing and how sweet he was in them! I found myself getting all emotional and reminiscing about him as a baby. He was just the sweetest and cuddliest baby ever. I just see what a big boy he is now and I cannot get over how much time flies. At the same time, I am so grateful that in a few short weeks, I'll get to snuggle another baby again! I can hardly wait. Although I'm guessing she's going to grow up just as fast! :(
In addition to nesting, I've been wanting to get long awaited projects done. I had a vision for this wall for the longest time and could never carry it out. It is the long wall in the hallway upstairs between our bedroom and the playroom/office. I walk by it about a hundred times a day. I have had different things hanging here, but have never liked it until now. My mom came over and helped me tie it together- she has the eye for hanging things and I just love how it turned out!
This is a view of the whole thing, it was hard to get it all in one picture! I finally figured out that the wording was what I needed to make it complete. So I found this saying, which I LOVE, and we hung the pictures all around it. The photos are all snapshots of special memories like our Disney trip, the Heartwalk, the lake, etc. I am going to trade several out when baby comes of course!
I also have a couple more items to add to my list of random pregnancy thoughts...
1. I am so clumsy these days! I remember this from the last pregnancy, but oh my goodness, it is ridiculous how many times a day I drop something. And not a day goes by that I don't come home with a nice stain on my shirt and/or pants from something I spilled at lunch! One day I dropped an entire 6oz container of yogurt all over myself during lunch time at school. Nice. Still had a half a day to get through with big wet spots all over my shirt and pants! Ha!
2. I can't stop cleaning. Seriously. I am constantly looking for things to clean. Especially things that haven't been cleaned in a while. Take for example the other night when Andrew rolled a marble under the fridge. He flipped out because he wanted it back, so we rolled the fridge out and cleaned under the whole thing! Craig was thrilled. He knew there was no arguing with me though! Ha! Now I'm looking for excuses to get under the oven, and the washer/dryer!
3. I have officially mastered the pregnancy "waddle." I can't seem to walk normally because I'll have some pain in my side, or my legs, or wherever. I finally resorted to wearing flip flops full time, because my feet are starting to swell.
4. I constantly bump into things with my belly. It's pretty funny when I can't even hold the door open for my students to come in the room because they all bump into it! Ha!
5. I cannot sleep without my body pillow. I have no idea how anyone pregnant can sleep without it. It is a perfect place to rest the belly, except it takes up half of the bed (Something else Craig just loves... Ha!) We both about died laughing the other night when we came upstairs to bed and found this...
Somehow, he managed to sneak in our room without us noticing, and fell asleep with mommy's body pillow, his leg swung over it just like mommy does! I seriously could not stop laughing. I think it was partly because of Craig's reaction, since he hates the darn pillow so much!
While we are on the topic of Andrew... he has been so cute lately about his baby sister. I think he really is getting excited and wondering when she's going to get here. Craig was home with him a couple days last week because his school was done, and he told me this funny story. Andrew was going back and forth with armfuls of his stuffed animals. Craig said after a while when he got quiet he thought he'd better check on him, so when he did, Andrew was by baby's door and held his hand out and told Craig to "Go away!" So Craig stepped aside for a few minutes, and when he went to check on him again, this is what he had been doing...
He had practically every stuffed animal he owned in sister's crib, AND himself! Ha! I about died laughing. He apparently wanted to share with her! He didn't want me to take them out! I hope he learns that when she comes he can't climb in here to lay with her, or smother her with stuffed animals! Now I have that to add to my list of things to worry about! Ha! (I know, I am giving away a peek at the crib bedding here... it is probably my favorite part of the room so far! I LOVE how it turned out! Obviously, I'll post more pictures when the nursery is more finished. I have a few more things to add).
Andrew has a new girlfriend. And he's seriously in love with her. This is our neighbor, Reese. She has lived one house away from us pretty much since the kids were babies. However, just this summer Andrew has shown an interest in her!
They go to the same day care, which is nice. She is about 9 months younger than him, so they aren't always in the same class. But she does move up to his room for a few months before he moves out. And they get to play together outside at day care. But the second we pull in the driveway, he wants to play with her again.
If she's not outside, then he stands by the window and waits for her to come out and then he'll race out the door and grab some toy to show her and go flying down the driveway on his scooter. Our neighborhood is full of kids, and it is so nice for them. They have been up late playing outside and riding their bikes up and down the sidewalk since the weather has been so nice. Andrew just loves it. And for the first time ever, I can actually sit down with the neighbors in a lawn chair and visit and not have to chase Andrew all over! It is so nice. He is learning his boundaries and to not go into the street. It helps so much for him to have other kids to play with.
We also have gone to a couple of Daddy's games at school when it hasn't been too hot. Andrew can't go visit without a gator ride from daddy! So I always check to make sure Craig will be able to give him a ride before we go, so we don't have any meltdowns! Ha! Sometimes his schedule is so full that he can't do it. That never goes over very well with the little prince!
Last night daddy was taking tickets at the softball game so Andrew decided he wanted to work a little bit too! Ha! He climbed up into the chair and thought he was really helping daddy!
**As a side note, I keep wanting to do a whole post about the upcoming Heartwalk, but I just haven't had a chance yet. I am not doing so well with my fundraising this year and there are only 2 weeks left! But I wanted to include the link because I do have Andrew's donation page all set up. The walk is on June 18th, if anyone would like to join us (and yes, I'll be there, but I'll be waddling!)
This year I am going back to the online donations, but if you would prefer to write a check, that is great too. Just email me at jenandcraig@q.com if you don't have my address. If you plan to walk with us, please sign up on our team page (just follow the link) so I know who is planning on attending! Thanks for your support for the fifth year in a row! "Act for Andrew" has raised almost $9,000 total over the years! I think that is just simply amazing. Let's keep adding to that total!
We are also getting new shirts this year, in honor of Andrew's successful third open heart surgery! Please email me or comment here if you'd like a shirt! They are between $10 and $12. I need to place the order by June 8th.
I just love how the design turned out! My heart mom friend, Heidi Schmidt did most of the design.
The back of the shirt says "Walking in honor of Andrew, heart survivor!"
Thanks again for supporting our team!
