28 weeks

• juliet now measures about 10 inches and weighs approximately 2.3 lbs.
• her head is more in proportion with her body
• her skin is still wrinkly but fat continues to develop underneath
• she is developing the ability to orientate herself within her space
• she responds to stimuli: pain, light & sound
• her lungs are now capable of breathing air
• her eyes are capable of opening this week

yesterday i enjoyed a last-minute babysitter! angela came and played with jackson while i met with a friend for lunch - mmm...mexican food with a pina colada! i also enjoyed some shopping. i gotta tell you...trying on clothes sans children is heavenly!!

i can scarcely believe i'm already 28 weeks along. time is starting to fly! there is still much to be done! my sweetheart has quite the "honey-do" list.... *giggle*

here is a view of what our four-year-old sees when i am resting on my bed in the afternoon. my legs are really starting to ache!!

27 weeks

• juliet now measures at around 9.5 inches from crown to rump and is about 2 pounds.
• she resembles a thinner, smaller, redder version of what she will look like at birth.
• lungs, liver and immune system are not fully developed yet. if born now, survival is 80-85%.
• she is starting to distinguish my voice from the rest, although it's difficult to hear clearly through the thick vermix covering her ears and through the amniotic fluid.
• this begins the most active stage for babies in their mommy's tummies!

i just realized i never scheduled my next appointment. OOPS! i better go do that right now....

zumba love

i don't know how much longer i can do zumba, but MAN...i love it!! i feel the most free and alive when i am dancing with my friends. however....it's getting painful. it's totally normal and okay, but working out does bring on more braxton hicks contractions. when those babies hit while i'm shakin' my money maker, yowza! i power through it, but still. also, my hips and basically the entire pelvic region are killin' me! feels like someone took an ax to it. surprisingly, it feels worse walking than dancing - kinda funny. it's a sensation like my pelvic bones are splitting in several places and my legs are about to detach from my body, like in the 80's when i used to snap my barbie doll's legs off. yeah, not so comfy....

still, this mama just can't stay away from her beloved zumba. i don't go as much as i used to, so maybe that's a good thing? i dunno. i feel like i get a mental/emotional cleanse every time i go. with four kids and one on the way, i need that! part of the reason i haven't been going lately is because my hubby wubby is away and i have a daughter involved in sports afterschool, so i can't make it out to the evening classes very easily. the gym is also cutting back on zumba classes which is SO NOT COOL. i just learned they are getting rid the one class that is easiest for me to attend - the wednesday morning one. the kids are in school and jackson comes with me - it's perfect! he plays in the kid area, which is like a miniature chuck e. cheese's, i get my groove on, and we hit subway afterwards for lunch. it's pure bliss. but now they're taking it away. mama ain't happy!! heck, lots of people are pretty irritated by this.

anyhoo....zumba was wonderful today. even more exciting, a friend was there that hasn't come to class in a long time, so it was really fun to dance with her again. i don't like change. i miss the old days with all the familiar faces - ALL of them, dancing in our usual spots at the usual class times. i'm going to allow myself to boo-hoo for awhile. there are some great zumba things on the horizon but i still miss how it used to be.

after zumba, i went home and got ready for the day. made jackson and myself some lunch then plopped him in front of a movie while i prepped my camera. i am trying to take more pics of myself while pregnant. i keep saying it, but this is my last baby and i want to make sure i am documenting enough. so i finally get everything ready, go out into my backyard and....it starts raining. yeah. so here is a quick self-portrait belly shot as the rain came down. grrr... oh well, at least it's something! 26.5 weeks prego, baby!!

sicko

jim was gone for the week of spring break and i had a feverish, puking daughter, a coughing son, and another son that was feverish, lethargic and had the runs. what a long week that was! now, jim is gone again - this time, for two weeks. day one? i had to drive him (and the kids) to the airport..and i was throwing up. greaaaat. and it wasn't pregnancy-related. nope, just caught some nasty bug i guess.

that was sunday. it's now tuesday and although the puking is over, i feel like my stomach has been churning broken glass for the past few days. M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E. i also had the worst heartburn i've ever experienced. i felt like i was having a heart attack....or like a brick was engulfed in flames inside my chest and trying to push it's way out. i took the maximum of tums i could and it did nothing. my friend suggested raw almonds...so i snacked on those. it seemed to work for the heartburn, but my tummy protested and i threw it up. lovely!

i'm just glad i'm no longer bent over a bucket, breaking the blood vessels below my eyes. but now i have new problems...and i'm certainly not feeling better yet. ugh. i've been sick a lot this pregnancy! i understand the immune system gets weak during pregnancy but i've never been sick this much with any of my other babies. what the dealio?!

on a positive note, juliet has been SUPER active today. that's fun. i took a little video of her moving about. of course, she gets less active when the camera is on her (how does she know?!), but i was able to capture a few good bumps.

i'm feeling blue. no zumba for me. heck, not much of anything for me. i'm lucky if i can eat something small without it bothering me, or if i can get a sliver of sleep. *sigh*

nesting.

crazy nester in the houuuse!!

my soldier is away for training, it's spring break with the kids and most of them have been sick, i'm missing my man, haven't been able to get any exercise this week...and feeling like a pregnant mess!! along with this comes...the nesting. oh yes. it has hit.

today i was feeling especially hormonal...sad, lonely, blahhh....and eating everything in sight. i ended up in the spare bedroom which will be juliet's room. it's not horrendous, but it's definitely not baby-ready yet. really the only thing bad about it are the boxes of random stuff i've needed to (put off) going through. so today i dove right in! my bedroom has also been a nightmare, so i was going back and forth between the two rooms all afternoon. i made substantial progress - hallelujah!!

i wonder...does anyone else have boxes, bags, piles of random stuff? i stack papers and tell myself i will go through them later. months go by. when i finally DO sort through the stack, i end up throwing 90% of it away! what the heck?! why can't i take care of the paper mess as it comes, rather than continue doing this? i also end up with some kind of container...a bag, a box....filled with miscellaneous stuff. game pieces, paper clips, screws, buttons, tiny toys, business cards, scraps of paper with numbers scribbled on them....and on and on... UGH!!! i tend to be busy and when i "quick clean" there are always these random things that don't quite have a place to go at the moment...or i'm just too busy/lazy to put it away that very second. and so where does it end up? in the junk box. i guess one could call it an organized mess...at least it's all in one place? *sigh*

anyway...i feel better after having spent a good chunk of my day throwing stuff out and organizing. i tell ya, the state of my home is often a reflection of how i feel inside. so, i am mentally/emotionally feeling less cluttered. accomplishing something always does wonders. i'm thrilled to be another step closer to being ready for juliet's arrival. and when my sweetheart comes home this weekend, the crib is going up. happy, happy!

next week i have a date with my sis. we're going to the fabric store!! gonna create some baby bedding just for juliet. yay!

what's up?!

okay, NOW I'm 25 weeks along! and boy, can i feel it. seems like suddenly juliet is more active than ever, aaaand i am having horrible lower back pains....i'm talking the kind that are so low it feels like the top of the butt cheek! yeee-ouch!! 

juliet is the size of an eggplant, according to my ticker. and here's a lil' sumpin' sumpin' i snatched off a website...

From crown to rump your baby measures at 9 inches, and weighs about 1 and 1/4 lbs.    Your baby can touch and hold her feet. Her nostrils which have been plugged open up now. Baby is beginning to explore her environment and structures inside the uterus

and this...

You are now in your third trimester - with this comes fatigue, dizziness and trips to the washroom. Your uterus is now the size of a soccer ball with your ribs and diaphragm and stomach all compressed. This compression causes you to feel full after eating just a little food. With the weight gain chances for developing hemorrhoids rises. You may have cramps in your calves, back and tailbone as your ligaments softens. Your lung capacity is continuing to increase this month - this change allows your blood to carry oxygen in and carbon dioxide out at an increased rate. Breathing slightly faster and experiencing some shortness of breath can be expected

jim left the night before Easter for some military training. i miss him sorely. it's bittersweet, having such a best friend for a husband. when he is away, i get by just fine....it's just that there is an achey longing for him that never dissipates. i'm so glad we were able to get away this past weekend to celebrate our 5th anniversary. with the help of my sister (watching all four kiddos!), we escaped to our favorite getaway - the chinaberry hill inn B&B. we stayed in the same room we enjoyed our honeymoon night, 5 years ago. we had such a wonderful time. sadly, they are looking to sell....so it may have been our final stay. who knows, maybe we can squeeze in one more getaway before that happens? i hope so...