35 Weeks, 34 Days (or less)

The Countdown is ON!!!

Here I am today at 35 weeks. If you were to see me in person you would immediately notice the red, bloodshot eyes, the dark circles under my eyes which I "attempt" to cover up, and the puffiness around my eyes...as well as in the whole region of my face...in my feet...and in my plump little sausage fingers!

Ahh....life is good!

I am fast running out of clothes that I find acceptable and comfortable under my certain conditions, and if I could, I would choose to just wander around half naked instead. At least I wouldn't have to worry about the seam of my pants digging into my lower abdomen, which is protruding out a great distance from where it should be!

Yesterday afternoon, I tried to play blocks with Carter....which calls for all participants to sit on the floor. Great! I was wearing some maternity capris that fit under my belly. Upon my slow and grunt-filled arrival down to the floor, a tight squeezing came upon me as I struggled to shove my swollen legs into a "said" very easy cross-legged position. (Obviously, pregnant women were not in mind) The seam of my capris, which is quite expandable, was unmercifully trying to cut my lower extremities away from my upper body. I kid you not! While my legs started to throb and swell from the lack of circulation, the mean squeezing capris left my belly and everything contained within it no other option but to shift upwards, diminishing what was left of my lung's capacity to function. I think that certain unknown organs were being shoved up into my throat too, for I felt the need to gag. The baby rebelled every time I reached forward to grab a block by pounding my ribs with her delicate little legs, causing her head to force great pressure within my pelvis, creating shooting pains in that general area where pubic bone and cervix are located. Hey, at least I knew my nerves were working...despite the tingling in my bum that was slowly going numb...and the muscle spasms radiating up and down my back...

BUT I PREVAILED.

We built lots of really cool block tunnels for Carter's cars to drive through.
Then he destroyed them!
And wanted to do it all over AGAIN...

Maybe in 34 days...or less, kido.

Then I patted him on his blond little head, wiped his nose, and resigned myself to the recliner...
AFTER....I freed my body from the awful maternity capris...and put on some of Russ's fleece pajama pants!

Ah! Now THAT is what I am talkin about...

And life is still...pretty good.

Sometimes...it is okay to lie...

33 weeks.
34 lbs gained.

and...

Dr. C asks me, "Sooo...how do you feel about that?" with a deep, questioning gaze...

Hmmm...hold on a minute while I retreive another Reese's peanut butter cup from the freezer...

(*crinkle, crackle...riiiiip...crinkly-crinkle*)

Give me a moment....it's still a bit too frozen to bite yet...

little bit longer....
little bit longer....

Ah!

Now....um, let's see here...Any more questions?

That's what I thought.


And onto more very interesting things that have to do with 33 weeks and 34 lbs:

Walking. I can no longer do it. Waddling? Yes. And might I add that I waddle like a gimp....a very slow gimp. Everyone understand?

Okay then...next on the list:

It has come to my understanding that we have a hobbit in the family.
Who? Click HERE! and scroll down to the last picture.

I like hobbits. I have teased Russ for years now about his hobbit-looking feet, which I don't really like. Well, hobbit-itis is spreading. 33 weeks and 34 lbs has changed my feet too, minus the extra hair. My feet now need some mud flaps that read, "Wide load". Christmas wish-list now includes: shoes...double wide width, please.

Hmm, what else? Oh, yes...

Back to the dad-gum 34lbs gained. How? I really don't know. Let me just entertain you for a minute with a few bits of information.

Cravings have been mostly nutritional. For example: Greek yogurt with granola, celery, apples, & bananas with peanut butter, carrots dipped in ranch, Kashi whole grain crackers with cheddar cheese, whole grain toast topped with steaming hot oatmeal, strawberries, grapes, watermelon, tomatoes fresh from the garden sprinkled with salt and pepper...and at least 64 fl. oz. of water a day...yeah....I can drink almost a whole liter just at bedtime...easy-peasy.

I have indulged too, on the occasional rootbeer float, snickers ice cream bar, licorice, Oreos dipped in milk, chocolate zucchini cake....but honestly....no more than your average person.

And might I add that we hardly EVER eat out! Maybe once a month, sometimes twice, often not at all!

It doesn't quite add up. Though, I am referred to as a jersey cow when I nurse my babies. Straight cream. So....34 lbs gained...it is greatly needed....and gets used up fast!

Until then, I will keep waddling and enduring all the gawking stares from WalMart shoppers and the always occasional comments like,

"WOW! You look like you're about to POP!"

"Congrats! I looked like that 5 months ago and I am SO GLAD I don't look like that anymore!" (keep in mind this woman was smoking a cigarette and was missing her two front teeth...and possibly more.)

Patting my hand with a look of pity, "How are you feeling dear?" Fine, thanks. "Now tell me, how much longer?" Oh, 7 weeks still. "Oh my! I thought you were due this month! Hang on, we'll hope for 4 or 5 weeks!"

"Oh, I saw you come into church earlier and thought, 'Oh the poor thing!'"


So, I am beginning to think that it would just be better to start telling lies.
An example: "Oh, when is your baby due?" and instead of giving the real answer and then watching the curious look go from inquiring to horrified, lie and say, "Oh just a few more weeks."

Then hope I don't run into them for two more months...

(input big sigh)

I think I will waddle downstairs now and get myself another Reese's peanut butter cup.
Shhhhhhhhh! Don't tell Dr. C! Afterall, we did establish that sometimes it is okay to lie...

Right?

Oh...quite alot of days ago...

This little man turned THREE years old!

Woot woot!

Instead of the usual cute and perfect birthday pictures you should post, I opted out and decided to go with the whole candid thing this year....no posing or perfect hair or clothes set with the right lighting near brightly bouncing birthday balloons....just keeping it real, folks, keeping it real.

Also, might I add that this little lady turned FIVE!

It is known as common courtesy in the Meredith household to completely block out all family members as they sing to you most wholeheartedly the "Happy Birthday" song.

Thank goodness for Anna, or we would've never known the rules.

Oh...and you have to change out of your cute birthday outfit and put on pajamas instead.

Yeah, my kids like to keep it real too.

So many, many rules....

As part of our birthday celebrating, we took a trip to Temple Square.

It was very, very hot.

But we very much enjoyed it.

Especially touching almost every single body of water held within the confines of the Temple Square walls.

Then we went to Hogle Zoo the next day.

We got to smell lots of poop, and lots of stinky animal cages, and Russ was VERY disappointed to not get to see any monkeys flinging poop.

Here, the birthday kids are showing us the sibling love that runs rampant in our home!

*wink, wink*

With so much love....gotta spread some around...

I think I can recall, on several occasions, that Russ seemed to look almost exactly like this before I kissed him! Hmmm.....

We had lots of fun, rode the carousel, which was AWESOME, bought souveniers, in which Anna lost hers the day we got home, ooohed and awed at all the right moments, and curiosity couldn't keep us from exploring the depths of the rhino nostrils.

Sadly, nothing was found.

Anyhoo...now that my kids are so much older and wiser too, they get to teach me over this next year how much I have yet to learn. Yes, more rules. I guess I just haven't gotten the whole parenting thing down...you know, according to the wise and noble three and five year olds!

Lots more to post...

hope you all are very patient and don't mind waiting...