36 weeks.

FULL TERM.  wow!!!

with only four weeks to go, i am starting to finally feel some burden with pregnancy.  so far everything has been more than easy - never vomited, morning/all-day sickness only lasted from weeks 5-11 (whew!), tons of energy, feeling good about my body changing.  i've been one LUCKY girl & i know it.  i know not every prego girl feels as good as i have.  however, with week 36 has come my constant companion of puffy fingers & cankles :)  i wake up with them in the morning and my wedding rings are an accessory of the past!  by the end of the day the pitting edema in my ankles has set in and i can do nothing but put my feet up to relieve it.  other tidbits of these last few weeks...eating ice like a FIEND.  i had my hematocrit checked at the doctor to make sure my anemia (which i was sure i had since i've never been a huge ice-cruncher before) wasn't too out of whack...sure enough, it was low, but not bad and so she said "keep crunching!" :)  well, not really - but i don't need to treat it.  i'm so glad because the iron in my previous prenatals made me super constipated (TMI?) so i was hoping not to go back to those.  i feel baby move constantly, he's an active little guy, and i know already how much i will miss having him rolling around in my tummy.  there is no cooler feeling in the whole world.  i'm so grateful to get to experience pregnancy & to be loving it.  cankles & all.

the last few weeks i have been nesting like crazy.  planting flowers, cleaning out closets, organizing random spots like the tupperware drawer, working on long forgotten photo projects like making a book out of my photo-a-day blog from 2010!  we've also been working on bubba's nursery a lot & i love how it's coming together!  julie helped me finalize some choices while they were out a couple weeks ago & it's been really fun to see everything start piecing together.  here are a few pictures so far.  once everything is done, i'll do an entire nursery post from start to finish :)

ikea came through for me with the shelves, mirror, red locker & adorable rocking moose!  his crib is from pottery barn kids (thank you HUGE sale!).  the rug is crate & barrel.  his bedding was made for him by grandma trish, and the bunting by his aunt yaya for my missouri shower.  i love it hanging on his crib!

view from the corner by the crib...i found the gray chair & ottoman at AFW, a local furniture store.  it's sooo comfy.  it doesn't rock, but i think we will like snuggling and nursing in it anyway.  i wanted something neutral that i could use in a different room someday if i wanted to switch up the furnishings.  the lamp was a $15 end cap sale find from target, which julie lovingly spray painted red for me :)  the dresser is also ikea.  i'll put his changing pad on the right side.

view from the door.  i LOVE the "B for books" bookends i found at ikea.  and the shelves with little details on them like the toy thing on top that reminds me of doctor's offices as a kid:)  the wooden stump table next to the chair is from west elm, with a gift card i got from jen for my birthday.  LOVE it.  will be perfect for my cup of coffee or water when i'm nursing....the edge of the dresser was a little high when i'm sunk down into the chair so i think i'll like having something else close by to set my phone or drink on.  oh!  and the wall color is a super light gray that mike painted a few weeks ago.  i love how it turned out & love the natural light we get in that room.  i think it's a pretty cute nursery so far!  still have the changing pad covers coming, which i ordered from etsy.  and i have tissue pom-poms to hang over his crib, and frames to put up over the dresser.  but it's coming along nicely so far!

this week starts my weekly OB visits, which i'm kind of excited about strangely.  i am eager to see if there's any "action" with baby coming soon...dilating, etc.  i am hoping he comes a bit early - isn't every pregnant woman ready by this point?!  but not too early.  ideally, 2-3 more weeks but please not FIVE! :)  i have tons of braxton hicks, but he's still riding pretty high so i don't think we're anywhere near getting close.  sometimes i feel like i can't breathe, he's so high under my ribs.  i don't have much of a torso to start with and by the end of the day my belly is so huge i can't take a deep breath!  i'm still working 12's at work and by the end of those i'm totally whipped.  doesn't help that i toss & turn a lot at night now and get up to pee at least once in the middle of the night.  so 12 hours is a really long day for me.  in the next week or so, i'm cutting my hours back at work.  my last scheduled day is june 10, but i'm not planning on continuing full time until then at this point.  i kind of had a meltdown this week about not having enough time at home, with sarge, and with mike before baby comes...so i think cutting back will help me feel like i get the downtime i need NOW before my life is upside down.  we'll see.  speaking of sarge, we will probably have to put him down in the next couple weeks which is terrifying to me emotionally...but i don't want him to hurt, and he gets worse every week.  i also don't want to wait til baby comes and have to deal with the emotions of it then while trying to adjust to a new baby in our lives.  ugh.  there is no good time to make this decision, so your prayers for us in the next couple weeks are GREATLY appreciated.

think that's it for this update!!  i'll keep you posted as i move into my last few weeks!  so grateful for this journey that we're on...we are so excited to meet our little man soon & start this new chapter of life as team apostle.