Third Trimester, Here We Go

I am officially entering the third trimester of my pregnancy and I am so excited. I know this is the time when I am supposed to start feeling some aches and pains and I expect to eventually get really uncomfortable, BUT, it also means I am three-ish months away from meeting my sweet baby girl. AHHH...I can't wait!

I think one of the things I am most excited about it seeing what Quinn looks like. I am sure most parents say that, but I feel like she is such a mystery since Jeremy and I are so opposite in terms of genes. Will she be dark skinned? Will any of my super-strong recessive genes win out? :) Will she be tall? Will she have lot of hair? I can't wait to meet her!

So, here's the 28-week update. I will stick w/ the format from the 24-week update.

Amazing:

-I love Quinn's nursery. Jeremy painted it and put all the furniture together all in one weekend. Almost every time I walk up the stairs I walk in there just for fun. It's fun to think about the times we will spend in there (even if a lot of those are in the middle of the night).

 Before (painting)

Before (furniture)

 After (kind of messy from all the shower gifts)

-Prenatal yoga. I highly recommend this for preggos! It has been so good for my body, and the community of pregnant women has been so encouraging. The first 10 minutes or so of each class we talk about how far along we are and how we are feeling. It's so nice to know I am not the only woman who is feeling some of these emotions and some of these weird aches. Who knew my most annoying pain would be my tailbone?! It's been nice to take some of the stretches and moves home for the evenings when I am feeling a little stiff.

-Embracing the chubby. I hate to sound vain, but seeing pictures of myself lately has been a little shocking! BUT, it's kind of cool to think what comes out of this whole body transformation...a precious little baby! I am totally embracing my new body for now. I mean, when else in a woman's life is it beautiful for her to gain weight and glow like this.

 The belly and glow :)

-On a similar note, I kind of like the guilt-free feeling of eating ice cream, doughnuts and other yummy sweets. Don't get me wrong, I am not gorging myself, but honestly I eat a dessert every day. I might as well while I can...this won't last forever! I crave sweets more than anything. Luckily, one of the biggest cravings is still watermelon, so at least it's kind of healthy.

-I hesitate to say this because I don't want to jinx myself. I am still sleeping pretty well. KNOCK ON WOOD! I like to think it's our sweet Tempurpedic that has helped this! I have had a couple of nights where I tossed and turned a little, but for the most part, I sleep really well. I have started to get a little tired mid-afternoon, but powering through the day helps me sleep better at night. Plus, I am not much of a napper. Even on the weekends, I have a hard time falling asleep. I guess we will see if that changes when I am getting very little sleep at night with a little one.

-I think Jeremy and I are both nesting. It doesn't help that we moved into a new house about a month and a half ago so we still aren't completely settled. Quinn's room is pretty much ready except for the wall hangings. It's been fun to see Jeremy's Daddy side come out when he gets on a roll with house projects and doesn't stop. Then, sometimes he randomly decides something needs to be done. For example, this morning at about 6:15, he randomly decided to open and assemble the stroller system we got last weekend. It was pretty loud so of course I woke up, but I guess I don't want to stop him when he gets going. I think nesting for me has been more in the way of cleaning. I have been using my handheld Dyson a lot, and I am starting to realize I will have to get over a little dog hair in our house when Quinn gets here. I don't think I will have time to pick up every single one.

-I have been walking a lot more in our neighborhood. I usually go early in the morning when it's not too hot yet, and I take a lot of pride in the fact that I can walk (usually about two-ish miles) up and down hills. Our neighborhood has some surprising hills and I truck up and down those things. Don't worry...I always take water and I make sure to focus on my breathing. I hope I can keep this up for a while even if it eventually becomes a waddle!

-The Quinn river dancing continues. She has even started to respond to Jeremy's voice! It's bizarre and it makes me so excited to see how she will react to him when she's born. Can you say "wrapped around her finger"? :)

Not So Amazing:

-I can't move! This is going to sound so tacky, but it must be miserable to be a great big fat person. You can't move, when you do you grunt and it takes forever to change positions. Plus, I get really mad when I drop something because picking it up takes an act of God. This will only get worse, so I just need to get over it, I know. I do have a sense of humor about it. The other night, I was trying to turn over in bed and Jeremy told me I looked like a turtle that had been flipped on its back! I laughed really hard...good thing I can make fun of myself!

-Chub rub. That's what my friend, Jen, affectionately calls it when fat legs rub together. That's what I feel like I am experiencing right now. I am seriously considering maternity Spanx to wear under dresses and skirts, because it's really uncomfortable especially in this freakin' hot summer. Sexy, right?

-Speaking of the freakin' hot summer, this is miserable. There are really no words to describe it, but for the sake of posterity and having this pregnancy documented, I will include a little graphic to show how awesome (insert eye roll) this summer has been. I think Austin is about to break the record for consecutive days over 100 degrees. Awesome. Way to go Austin. Congratulations.

-I don't like having to depend on Jeremy for so much. I am a pretty independent person, so this has been pretty hard. But, I am so lucky my husband is so supportive, hard-working and excited about Baby Quinn. He does so many things that I just can't help with right now. Even getting the clothes out of the washer to put in the dryer is hard (the whole being fat/bending over thing). I am glad I have had a very healthy pregnancy so that I can still do some things...counting my blessings for that!

So, here we go third trimester. Bring it. We are ready and we can do this. In three months I will not be pregnant anymore (that's weird to think) and I will have a beautiful blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby in my arms. HAHA...or the most beautiful mocha-latte (as my friend Adelle says) black-haired, brown-eyed girl. I guess we will see. :)