Baby Ilbery: The (early) Third Trimester

First of all, can I just say: GEEZ! Where did April go? Like seriously, I feel like last week it was February and now it's the beginning/almost middle of May. I guess time really does fly when you're busy nearly night during the week and have various events every weekend.  Spring is a busy time for our family, though- let's be honest- EVERY season is a busy one for us.

Plus, we had to replace our water heater two weeks ago and now our basement flooded last week with all the rain we have gotten. So, there's that too.

This week I am rounding out week 28 of my pregnancy and I am finally starting to feel more like myself! (well... this week anyway)

We've been trying to take these photos since December to document the changes taking place as baby grows, and I would like to say we have been diligent and there are 29 of these, BUT... well...I've gotten better the past 5 weeks about doing them weekly. I haven't shared any of them publicly because I haven't liked how I look in most of them (and, I mean, Micah or I neither one wants to be one of those people that live their lives on social media- but it truly IS the easiest way to update everyone at once. )

In the past two/two-and-a-half, I have had:

• a return of energy - (some. but hey, I was operating on almost zero before, now I feel like a solid 50% most days)
• a lift in mood/attitude (I was kinda cranky and tired all the time before)
• I actually WANT to cook again
• I actually WANT to go do random things again
• I'm still very overwhelmed, but I am handling "life" much better now, more like how I did before I was pregnant
• I've started making it a point to walk a few nights a week, get some low-impact exercise (weather permitting, of course)
• I've started talking to people a little bit again (I sort of went MIA for awhile, had no desire to make small talk with people outside of my immediate family that saw me or talked to me on a regular basis) 

I've also had the fun pregnancy symptoms of:

• Lower back/tailbone pain
• Trouble sleeping at night (which probably has something to do with my energy levels)
• Feet/Hands swelling
• NOTHING sounds good to eat- I've been eating on auto-pilot with the exception of a few days here and there where something actually sounds delicious, but other than those few days- pretty much the entire pregnancy so far I haven't felt hungry.
• I've not really had what I would call mood swings, but I have noticed that whatever feeling I happen to be feeling at any certain time- is an intense feeling. 
• If I'm tired- I'm exhausted
• If I'm upset, either- I want to cry/do cry (usually briefly) OR am ANGRY and you should stay away from me for about 10 minutes
• On the rare occasion that I'm actually hungry- I'm starving
• If I am in "go" mode- I clean EVERYTHING I can get my hands on (laundry, dishes, sweeping floors, picking up the house, organizing closets, anything)

Since I haven't really had any desire to really open up about the pregnancy so far, here are a few answers to the questions I get asked all the time...

-*-

Have you been having any cravings?

No, I haven't had any stereotypical cravings. No pickles on ice cream, no tacos at 2 am, no "I ate an entire pan of brownies this afternoon" - the only real thing that I have noticed is different than usual is that now, when we go out to eat at a restaurant, if my meal is served with french fries- I want to dip them in ranch dressing, not ketchup. I have never really liked ranch dressing, so this was a surprise to me that now, I prefer that over ketchup or bbq sauce or anything else for french fries. Oh, and Red Robin's fries/ranch combo is my FAVORITE. 

You don't look very big, when are you due? 

First of all, THANK YOU! I'm taking that as a compliment! 

When I get this question, I usually give the vague answer of "late July". I have been given 3 different dates as my "due date" but in reality, this baby will come when it is ready, regardless of what the doctor guesses. My "official" date that was written in my chart, and what they're using to measure me on, is July 26th. 

And trust me, while I might not look "all that big yet", I assure you: I have one pair of pants that is still comfortable to wear, my feet and hands have started swelling a little bit in the evenings and I have started having trouble with my right knee swelling too (it's my bad knee that flares up sometimes).
Exhibit A: my foot after attempting to wear "real shoes" to work one day two weeks ago. See where my shoes were laced up?

I probably am not very big yet because I haven't been hungry. I'm sure that if I kept junk food around the house, I'd have probably gained more weight than I have.. 

Is it a boy or a girl?!

...YES. :) About 85% of what we have asked for is gender-neutral (which, I planned on doing anyway because if we have another baby a few years on down, hand-me-downs are the best thing ever!)  

Are you guys ready?

Like, to be parents? - Sure! We're looking forward to it!

Like, nursery, supplies, game-plan -wise? - HA! We still have 10-11 weeks to get everything together. Don't underestimate me! 

..but really. As of right now, we have three newborn outfits (that's enough, right?) and we don't even have the room we are going to use as the nursery cleared out yet. It's currently Micah's office space and we can't move him and his computer, guitars, video game consoles and games, and other electronics down to an unfinished basement that floods.. we've been working on it, but again, we've had several setbacks and a budget that I've been stretching as best I can.

The setbacks being: having to buy a new hot water heater that was leaking and having water come up through our cement floor and depositing a quarter-inch of water into our basement when we got all that rain a week and a half ago. We haven't gotten the floor fixed yet- but we will have to do something with it before we put the nice flooring down. I don't want to be down in the basement trying to sop up water with towels again. Luckily- very few things got ruined in that mess. Most of what we have down there currently is on storage risers or plastic storage tubs. We don't have the budget to actually have our basement finished, but we are trying to make it more... nice.