35 Weeks

Click here to see my other weekly pregnancy update posts.

Click here to see my step-by-step chalk art tutorial.

I got this week's chalkboard idea from here.

How Far Along: 35 weeks and 1 day

Size of Baby: According to BabyCenter, the baby is the size of a honeydew melon. She's over 18 inches long now and weighs about 5.25 pounds. It says that most of her physical development is done and she'll just spend the next few weeks gaining weight {along with me}.

Total Weight Gain: Plenty!

Gender: It's a girl!!

Maternity Clothes: Definitely!! I'm looking forward to wearing some of my normal clothes...if they ever fit again. But, I'm *sure* I will miss maternity pants quite a bit at times, like on Thanksgiving every day!!

Wedding Rings On/Off: I can still wear my rings just fine since I haven't had much swelling at all in my hands. My legs and feet, though? That's another story.

Stretch Marks: Still just the same ones I've had for a little while now. I'm thankful no new ones have popped up yet.

Sleep: I've been sleeping pretty well this week! I still wake up a few times every night, but I've been able to go back to sleep a little easier than before. I've also gotten to sleep late the last two days because we've had *two* glorious snow days!!!

Cravings/Aversions: Once again, I really can't think of anything specific that I've just had to have right that second. Last night around 10:00, I mentioned Chick-fil-a, but they were closed so I was out of luck. It still didn't feel like a super strong craving, though. It just sounded really good, and let's face it, Chick-fil-a pretty much always sounds really good.

Symptoms: The back pain has been *so* much better this past week! I'm so thankful for that! I still get twinges when I get up and lean over, but it's nothing like before. The heartburn is still pretty bad, especially on days I'm at work. Seriously, I was home yesterday and didn't get heartburn at all. Is it stress related sometimes? The biggest symptom I'm having right now is crazy swelling in my legs and feet. My feet were *so* puffy the other night that it kind of freaked me out. I'm talking serious balloon feet, people. I've been drinking lots of water and keeping them elevated as much as I can.

Movement: She's still moving a ton! I've been getting several kicks in the ribs. We're also able to see lots of kicks from the outside, too. :)

Mood: Happy, excited, and nervous!

What I Miss: Just little things {old clothes, putting on socks myself...}, nothing big. I'm trying to soak in every last moment of being pregnant.

Looking Forward To: Valentine's Day weekend...our last one without a baby! Daniel's coming to eat lunch with me at school, and then we're going out to dinner and a movie on Friday night.

Best Moment This Week: My mom and sister threw me a beautiful baby shower on Sunday! Everything was just so pretty, sweet, and perfect. They are just the best! I was so thankful for the sweet friends and family that came to celebrate with me. We got so many wonderful things and Daniel and I had so much fun going through everything in the nursery that night. Everything is really starting to come together! We have so much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to!

  

#richlyblesseddaily2014 {Week 5}

Week 5 of #richlyblesseddaily2014! You can follow along every day on Instagram @richlyblessedblog. :)

Click here to see previous weeks.

 Day 32: Daddy shopping for our baby girl, tired mommy trying out the massage chairs at the mall for the first time, and a Cinnabon.

Day 33: Feeling the baby.

 Day 34: Playing with the baby monitor that came in today!

Day 35: Oops.

 Day 36: 34 weeks! Can't believe we only have 6 weeks left to go!

 Day 37: Left the doctor's office this afternoon and it was snowing again!

Day 38: We got our maternity pictures back today!

  

34 Weeks

Click here to see my other weekly pregnancy update posts.

Click here to see my step-by-step chalk art tutorial.

How Far Along: 34 weeks and 1 day

Size of Baby: According to BabyCenter, the baby is the size of a cantaloupe. She's almost 18 inches long and weighs about 4.75 pounds.

Total Weight Gain: Around 25 pounds according to my last doctor's visit, but it's been two weeks, so I'm sure it's more by now. Not planning to find out how much, though. :)

Gender: It's a girl!!

Maternity Clothes: Yep, I have a few favorites that are really comfy...and some other things that are not so comfy anymore.

Wedding Rings On/Off: On

Stretch Marks: Still just the few I spotted a few weeks ago.

Sleep: Sleep is just hit or miss. Sometimes I sleep fine, other times it takes me forever to go to sleep, and then some mornings I wake up really early and can't go back to sleep. I'm really not having a hard time getting comfortable, so it's not that. It's just weird.

Cravings/Aversions: Still nothing specific. I'm hungry pretty much all the time. I get full really fast, so I eat several small meals {and snacks...and treats} a day. I'm not complaining. This phase of not feeling guilty about it is quickly coming to an end.

Symptoms: I'm still having back pain and I also noticed a little swelling in my feet this past weekend. I thought it was probably just because we did a lot of walking while we were in Nashville, but the swelling is definitely hanging around. My ankles are pretty much nonexistent and I'm moving pretty slow these days.

Movement: This little girl has been moving like crazy! She's kicked me in the ribs a few times and it actually kind of hurt! I'm sure she's going to be running out of room here soon and won't be moving quite as much, so I'm loving the constant movement right now.

Mood: I'm still very happy and excited, but I'm getting a little nervous. It's crazy to think about how one day soon we're going to leave this house as a family of two and come back as a family of three! I just want everything to be perfect and go so smoothly, but I probably need to let go of that.

What I Miss: Being able to move around somewhat gracefully. I am dropping stuff all the time, bumping into things and people {my poor students get bumped in the head with the baby all the time!}...I've just been super clumsy.

Looking Forward To: My mom and sister are throwing a baby shower for me this weekend! I don't really know a whole lot about the plans, so I'm excited to see everything and celebrate with friends and family!

Best Moment This Week: I ended up coming down with a cold over the weekend, but even though I was sick, we had a great time on our weekend getaway to Nashville. I'm planning to do a post about it soon!

  

#richlyblesseddaily2014 {Week 4}

Week 4 of #richlyblesseddaily2014! You can follow along every day on Instagram @richlyblessedblog. :)

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Day 25: My sweet husband is cleaning while I lay on the couch.

 Day 26: Just finished folding my first load of precious tiny baby clothes. We can't wait to meet our baby girl!

 Day 27: The sweet teachers I work with blessed me with a baby shower today!

Day 28: The day we got stranded at school because of snow... :-\
I talked about this more in this post.

 Day 29: Best thing I've seen all day! My sweetheart is home!

Day 30: School is closed for the third day in a row!!! This makes me so, so happy!!

Day 31: We made it to Opryland for our babymoon!

  

Five on Friday {January 31, 2014}

Happy Friday!! Linking up with Darci again today for Five on Friday!

One.
Winter Gridlock 2014. Wow. We have had such a crazy week here in Alabama. There was a light dusting of snow forecasted for Tuesday afternoon. As I was getting ready for work that morning, I told Daniel how I hoped we would get out of school early and maybe even have a snow day on Wednesday. My goodness, be careful what you wish for. It started snowing around 9:45 on Tuesday morning and my students and I all excitedly gathered around the windows to watch.

Everything was covered with snow and school was scheduled to dismiss at 11:30. About the time we had called all the parents and had all the kids on the buses, we got the news that the buses were grounded and all parents would have to come to the school to pick their kids up. The roads turned to sheets of ice immediately, people were abandoning their cars and walking, pretty much all the roads were at a complete standstill. So...we had to call parents again and tell them they had to come and get their children. This led to more reports from parents telling us how terrible the roads were.

This pregnant lady was getting pretty anxious at the thought of possibly being stranded overnight at school and the Braxton Hicks were kicking up. Daniel had already tried to leave his office, but couldn't even get out of the parking deck because there were so many cars that were already stuck and in the way. He ended up having to spend the night there. I was so thankful {and now realize even more how incredibly blessed I was} that my dad was able to come and get me at school in his four wheel drive truck. It took us four hours to get home {about 8 miles} and the only reason we made it was because he drove in the grassy median for the last couple of miles. The roads were solid ice and at a complete standstill. Here are just a few pictures of what the roads looked like. There were areas that were much worse.

Several teachers stayed at school over night with the kids whose parents weren't able to get there. Bless their hearts! There are so many amazing stories! All in all, I feel so, so blessed that I was one of the few that actually got to be in my own home that night. Daniel finally made it home on Wednesday night, and even though I missed him like crazy, I'm so thankful he was only away for one night. Many people were separated from their families much longer. I'm also *incredibly* thankful that I wasn't closer to my due date! Many women had babies at home or in their cars. I can only imagine how terrifying that would be!

Two.
Because of all the snow and ice, we didn't have school Wednesday, Thursday, or today. Of course, I would never wish for these weather situations, but the days off and extra rest have been wonderful! And now, I only have five more weeks of work before my maternity leave starts!! Unless the baby gets ornery and decides to come earlier...

Three.
We're leaving this afternoon for our babymoon in Nashville!! I'm so ready for a weekend away with my sweetheart in a beautiful place. Lots of relaxing, eating, and probably some shopping for the baby.

Our last trip to Opryland ~ April 2013

Four.
I have come to terms with the fact that the nursery will probably not be done by the time the baby is born. I just don't have a final vision of what I want it to look like which makes it very challenging to find things. I wish I wasn't so darn indecisive! :-\ The thought of having it completely done was just becoming overwhelming to me, and it was starting to be not so fun. I definitely want the whole process to be fun, so I'm just going to chill out and do a little bit at a time. It will be okay. :) I have ordered a few more things that I'm super excited about.

{via}

I pray that we are able to teach our daughter the true meaning of these words and that they will be forever in her heart.

{via}

Five.
One thing I do know for sure is that I want hair bows for the baby! Lots of hair bows. I haven't ordered any yet, but I found an online shops that is very reasonably priced. I didn't see anything more than $4.00!! I'm planning to place an order soon. Does anyone else have any hair bow secrets you're willing to share? ;)

Polka Dot Posies

Enjoy your weekend, everyone! :)

  

33 Weeks

Click here to see my other weekly pregnancy update posts.

Click here to see my step-by-step chalk art tutorial.

How Far Along: 33 weeks and 2 days

Size of Baby: According to BabyCenter and The Bump, the baby is the size of a durian {Isn't that the terrible smelling fruit?! Couldn't they have found a different comparison??} She's a little over 17 inches long and weighs just over 4 pounds.

Total Weight Gain: My doctor told me {without my permission!!!} last week that I had gained about 25 pounds. I did not ask, she just volunteered it. She did say that it was totally fine, though, so that made me forgive her a little bit.

Gender: It's a girl!!

Maternity Clothes: Oh my goodness, yes. I'm running out of shirts that fit. I refuse to buy more clothes that I'm only going to wear for less than 7 weeks, so my friends and family are just going to see the same outfits over and over again! :)

Wedding Rings On/Off: On

Stretch Marks: A few, but I haven't found any new ones {yet}. I am being extremely faithful with the cocoa tummy butter.

Sleep: I'm still not sleeping great. I'm waking up really early and can't usually go back to sleep. It's getting me ready for the baby!!

Cravings/Aversions: Nothing really specific. I'm still on the brownie kick and even made some homemade ones yesterday since I didn't have a mix. We were in the middle of *Winter Gridlock 2014* and I couldn't go out to get one.

Symptoms: The worst right now is still the back pain. It makes leaning over even just a tiny bit almost impossible. And of course, it seems like now more than ever I'm dropping things all. the. time. The heartburn hasn't been as bad and the labored breathing has eased up, too. I did have some Braxton Hicks on the day it looked like I might get stranded overnight at school because of snow...more on that in another post.

Movement: Yes! I can tell she's getting stronger! I love, love, love it! :)

Mood: Very happy most of the time!! I'm crying *very* easily these days, though. It's not because I'm upset, but anything even remotely emotional gets me.

What I Miss: Being able to put shoes and socks on myself. I'm thankful for a sweet husband who is happy to help me. :)

Looking Forward To: We're planning to leave tomorrow afternoon for our babymoon in Nashville! We're going to the Opryland Hotel and I can't wait!! It is so beautiful there!

Best Moment This Week: Seeing Daniel drive up the driveway after we'd been apart nearly two days because of the snow and ice in Alabama. I was so, so thankful to have him home!

  

#richlyblesseddaily2014 {Week 3}

Week 3 of #richlyblesseddaily2014! You can follow along every day on Instagram @richlyblessedblog. :)

Click here to see previous weeks.

 Day 18: Day two of the women's retreat. Such a beautiful place!

Day 19: Back with my sweet love today!

Day 20: Working on this week's chalkboard and having a little treat. The baby wanted it! ;)

 Day 21: Doing a little nursery and baby shopping. I'm trying to decide on some letters for the baby's name and some cute hair accessories. Pretty sure she's going to be a girly girl!

 Day 22: 32 weeks pregnant!

 Day 23: After doctor dinner date. These will be sweet memories...except for the part when the server told me my belly was huge. :-\

Day 24: Had a girls night with my sister and niece tonight and totally forgot to take a picture of us. :-\ Vanna got crafty and made me these sweet pictures!