I love my compression hose... and other tidbits from the final month of pregnancy

I thought it might be time to do a little "Baby Boy Whisler" update. What? I hadn't actually even posted that the baby is a boy on the blog? Oh dear, I really am behind.

I'll be 37 weeks tomorrow. That means I am officially "full term" and the final countdown has begun. I have to admit though, I'm still having a hard time really imagining that very, very soon we will have three children! I'm trying to envision myself taking Gabriella to school wearing my pajamas and not brushing my teeth for a couple days at a time. I think its good to try to be mentally prepared for such things.

This is probably the easiest pregnancy I have had. Zofran helped me survive the first 18 weeks and although it wasn't super fun, I barely even lost weight this time. Since then, it has been pretty much smooth sailing. I move a little slower and I get tired a whole lot quicker, but for the most part I feel pretty good. I'm even sleeping great... which is a huge blessing for an extremely pregnant mama.

I do have one lovely little gift that this pregnancy has given me... varicose veins. I noticed my first little varicose vein at 23 weeks and since then, things on my right calf have just not been pretty. I finally broke down and bought some knee high compression socks a couple weeks ago. I was amazed at how much better my legs feel since I started wearing the compression socks. They pretty much eliminate all the achey, burning pain that I was having in my legs. It has also greatly improved how they look, giving me hope that I might still actually be able to wear shorts again someday.

The girls are both still extremely excited. They love to feel the baby bump and roll in my tummy. They ask questions about him all the time and are just so in awe of the whole process. Juliana often crawls in bed with us at about 6am for some morning snuggles. One morning she sleepily curled up around my tummy. The baby shifted positions and I wondered if Juliana would even notice it. Without opening her eyes she laid her hand right on the spot on my tummy where the baby had moved and patted it gently. Moments like that are amazing and priceless.

So much of the last month has been about preparing for Christmas. Now we need to get ready for this little guy. We've crossed off a few of our big to do list items in getting a mini van and in moving the girls into the same room. The move actually went much better than I thought it would. I thought Juliana would pester Gabriella to death because she tends to be a little bit harder to get to sleep, but most nights they do pretty well (although I won't say there is never any pestering.) Now we need to do all those little things... house cleaning, baby clothes washing, hospital bag packing, getting some final baby items, etc...

I'm trying to slow down and remember to enjoy these final weeks with this little guy on the inside. This will be my last pregnancy and I want to be sure to record little details as I can and savor little baby rolls and kicks... and maybe savor a little bit of that sleeping thing that I mentioned earlier.

Pumpkin Patch

Just a few favorite photos from our October trip to the pumpkin patch...

Three skeletons, a doctor and a peacock.

Where have I been? Oh you know, making kindergarten lunches, helping with classroom parties, working, making a small human being from scratch, reading "Mama Rex and T" over and over and over to a toddler, negotiating toy disputes, going to work, running a photography business... the usual.

This year Gabriella decided to dress as a doctor for Halloween. I tried to suggest she dress as a doctor last year (knowing that she would get hours and hours of play time out of the doctor costume as she loves to play doctor.) However, if I remember correctly, I was shot down and told something along the lines of, "Thats not my cutest." This year I threw out several cutesy girly suggestions and Gabriella bounced around several of those ideas, but when we came across some cheap scrubs at Target she finally decided that it would indeed be very fun to go as "Doctor Gabriella." Add a white lab coat from the dress up box (a second hand find Aunt Amy made last year) and a photoshopped doctor ID badge and she made a pretty convincing MD. I have to admit, I was a little annoyed that we heard several, "Oh what a cute nurse!" comments while we were out and about. Nurses don't wear lab coats and I'm pretty sure that if she was a little boy in the same costume not one person would've assumed she was a nurse.

This face cracks me up. Clearly she is still not into having her picture taken... yet I have to admit that it is a very "Gabriella" expression.

At least she is smiling on her badge.

Juliana had a bit less say in her costume. Fortunately, her only real desire was to dress up as something... anything really and that made her pretty easy to please. She doesn't remember Gabriella's stint as a peacock two years ago and she was delighted with her costume. A good thing, because I really love the peacock costume. Do you think I can get away with putting their little brother in it? (Just kidding!)

I could just eat those blonde spiral pony tails for breakfast. Deliciously cute.

My costume was truly pulled together at the last minute. I needed something appropriate to wear for the kids at work on Friday so I googled for maternity costume ideas. Thursday night I took a black shirt and some cheap felt I had on hand and pulled together a darn cute "Pregnant Skeleton" in about an hour and a half. I used fabric glue to secure the tiny pieces of the baby skeleton to a piece of black felt and then very loosely basted the adult skeleton parts and the black felt square containing the baby skeleton to the black maternity tee shirt. Unfortunately, I ran out of felt and didn't get a chance to make arm bones and the adult rib cage was done very hastily (and the very loose basting started to fail me before long). Nonetheless, it was a really fun "costume" to wear.

(Yep, thats my belly in the vanity mirror of the van. You should always be sure to properly restrain your children in the car.)

And now... a whole ton more pictures...

16 weeks

Really its more like 16.5 weeks... but who is counting? (Other than me. I am totally counting.)

I finally drug Jonathan outside this evening to take a couple baby bump pictures. They are the first we've taken for this baby and I was starting to feel guilty that this poor third child was already suffering from a lack of pictures/ general documentation. Jonathan hates to be forced to take pictures and to be honest, I'm MUCH more comfortable on the other side of that lens. We both managed to make it through a few frames and I'm at least willing to post these two on the internet....

After Jonathan was finished with his official documentation he turned around and snapped this picture of the girls. They had followed us out of the house. Gabriella was brandishing a stick, and Juliana was clothed in a shirt, undies and a play silk. I love this picture. It is such a "partners in crime" picture. I'm so jealous that when Daddy is holding the camera they are evidently willing to ham it up. I guess I'll have to hand it over more often.

Summer Visits

My dad and Barb came and visited us two weeks ago. We hadn't seen them since we were last in Iowa. Miss. Juliana was just taking her first step then... the girls have changed so much. It was a good visit and the girls basked in all of the grandparental attention. Gabriella ate her body weight in spaghetti and Juliana gave away lots of free hugs. Also, Gabriella got a wedding dress, but that thing deserves its own post.


This is my favorite picture of my Dad with Juliana.

Farmers Market

Juliana: I'm off to work!

Me: "Where do you work?

Juliana: The Farmers Market

Me: Oh. What do you grow on your farm to sell at the market?

Juliana: Peaches, rice and chicken.

Me: I would like to buy some of your peaches. How much do they cost?

Juliana: All of your cents.

S'mores

Now that is my kind of summer grilling.