32 Weeks

Y'all.

There's less than two months left of this shenanigans. Ridiculous. I still can't decide whether to be grateful and excited that we're almost done. Or intensely freaked out and stressed because we have done essentially nothing to get ready for this child. If I'm honest, I definitely lean more toward just being done with this crazy summer pregnancy. If I had a dollar for every time in the last month or so that I've said (or thought) something to the effect of, "I will never ever be pregnant in the summer again," I'd be rich enough to vacation for the rest of the summer in Canada.

I wish I could tell you that's all the complaining for this post. But I'd be lying. And the least I can do for whining and complaining to you is to at least be up front and honest about it.

So, anyway...

How Far Along: 32 weeks, 8 months, 56 days left. 

Size of Baby:  The weight of a jicama.
 
Gender: Little Girly-Girl. I'm starting to warm up a little more to the idea of having a girl. And if I'm honest, the clothes are starting to kill me...in the best possible way. I got a load of adorable, little girl clothes from a friend and they weren't all PINK! Score! (Seriously...I feel like we'd be totally set for the first couple months with just this one pile, but that's not even all that's coming. What a major blessing!) And if you know me, you know I'm not huge on giant bows and ridiculous tutus. I definitely enjoy a sweet little matching bow and the occasional tame tutu, but nothing that's gonna take away from the natural beauty of my child. But I've kind of fallen in love with the little outfit below. She may already be too big for it once it's Christmas time, but I think it's just too cute and is definitely getting my girly gears going.

Movement: So much moving. All the time. Little hiccups way down in my pelvis and a booty or something almost always sticking out of the top of my belly. She's to the point where she's kind of distracting in situations where I'm supposed to be listening, like church.

Maternity Clothes: My mom did the sweetest thing and took me shopping last week for some new clothes to help me through these last two months...and most of it should even work beyond that too! We got several new dresses and tops that are mostly appropriate to wear in public. Can't even say how much it helps my outlook to not be so stressed about getting dressed.

Sleep: Well...whatever. I'm learning that ya just can't have it all. We've been traveling quite a bit lately and will continue to travel the rest of the month and into August. And I can either be cool or comfortable. But never both at the same time. Bummer.

Cravings: Ice cream and ice top the list. But with all this traveling, what I'm really craving is a good, cold smoothie or salad full of veggies.

What I'm Missing: Not sweating. Constantly. Even if my upper half is cooled off, my lower half refuses to ever not be sweaty. This may borderline on TMI, but let's just say...there are certain items of clothing that get changed several times in a day. Never felt so perpetually gross in my life.

Symptoms: I've had some pretty bad lower back pain this last week that has made it really difficult to get around.  And I'll try to do all the normal stretches I usually do when I have back problems, but a giant belly seems to get in the way. I've also been so thirsty that I simply cannot drink enough water to stay quenched. I'm gonna really have to watch that the further along I get. Not that you want to know, but I've never had chafing this intense before in my entire life. Or heat rash in places you'd rather not hear about.

Best Moment This Week: My wonderful extended family in Dallas threw me a baby shower this last weekend. It was so great to see everyone, even if for a brief time, and watch as they loved and honored my little girl and our family. Matt's family also had a small, sweet celebration for Lydia too when we were out in the Hill Country a couple weeks ago. They all chipped in to get her crib! Yay! Can't wait to get it all set up.

Looking Forward To: Getting to spend some quality time with my besties later this week. We're headed to Austin for a quick overnight trip just to be together, just us girls. We've been wanting to do something like this for a few years now, but one of us was either having a baby or moving across the world or getting married, etc. Two of the three of us are very pregnant this time around, but it seemed like a good time to finally just do it. Kayla is bringing her little girl this year, and next year, we'll all three have daughters with us. I hope it becomes a summer tradition...A Mother- Daughter Retreat.

Daddy's Involvement: Matt has been the champion of The Great Financial Debacle of this pregnancy. Without going into all the dirty details, we had some pretty crazy, stressful financial issues when I was getting ready to deliver Josiah and there was a situation the last couple weeks threatening to cause all the same stresses and chaos. But my awesome husband kicked into "oh no, you didn't" mode and took care of it all. It totally wasn't easy and definitely caused a few sleepless nights and I'm so, so, so grateful he chose to fight for me and for our family to have the best delivery experience possible. Thank you, Love! You're the best!

Big Brother's Involvement: I randomly saw this book (in the picture below) at Ross when I was trying to find something to give to Josiah to keep him occupied while I shopped. I had really had no intention of actually buying it, because I had no time to read it to him first, but then I saw that it was only $3. And it turns out it's his new favorite book (of the week, anyway). It's actually even sparked some great questions from him and some good conversations to help us all get ready. The premise of the book is that a little boy gets a new baby and has to wait for what seems like forever until he can play with the baby. So, in the meantime, he learns how he can still be a helpful big brother while waiting. Josiah has been asking what big brothers do and how can he help with Lydia and so on. It makes me grateful for the age gap of 3.5 years. It's not quite how we would have planned it, but the Lord knows what He's doing, right?

He thought Lydia might like to hear some lullabies so he put this bunny in my lap.