Heart Photo 3/17/12

1 Heart

2 Hands

3 Armstrongs

I woke up this morning at 7:00 and couldn't sleep in anymore no matter how hard I tried. I decided to get up and start the day by doing something I've been putting off. So I set up the tripod and starting shooting belly pictures. 

 I saw a picture similar to this on Pinterest and really liked it. The picture online had the mom's hands making a heart around her belly button, then dad's hands on top of hers. I decided I liked having one of each of mine and Anthony's hands making the heart. It felt symbolic to me that little Cannon is 1/2 mom, 1/2 dad and 100% loved. :)

Thanks again to Mom & Dad Armstrong for the awesome camera you got us for Christmas that made taking a cute picture like this possible.

Starting the Paper Chain

 Week 36!

 

Well, here we are at 28 days until due date. Peanut hasn't dropped anymore yet, just sittin' steady. I've been feeling pretty good for the most part. My back is doing much better lately and I haven't had to go to the chiropractor for 2 weeks. I'm still loving my rocker/recliner chair and have seriously considered starting to sleep in it at night. More good things include no more cramping, just the occasional braxton contractions. Doctor appointments are going smoother and I'm much happier now that I'm scheduling all my appointments soley with the one doctor in that office that I like.

The heartburn is holding strong, but I've figured out some better ways to stay on top of it so even that isn't too bad. Sadly though, I have some returning "friends." My feet have started swelling again like they used to....I mean like puff pastery, can't fit in any shoes. That went away for several weeks, but apparently was just on vacation and now back to stay. I'm also back to being nauseous in the mornings like I was in the first trimester. My toothbrush and I are in somewhat of a love-hate relationship. At least it's just in the mornings and not all day long.

New developments in the ever-changing circus of pregnancy: My contacts bother my eyes lately so I've had to switch over to wearing my glasses all day, something I haven't done since like the 8th grade when I first got contacts. Also new...as things are starting to loosen up my hips pop a lot. And there's the weird new sensation when I stand up that the bottom half of my body is going to fall off and stay sitting in the chair where I just was. Ha ha! 

And....oh...what's that last one.....I don't really remember....oh yeah, I am super forgetful! Women don't lie when they talk about pregnancy brain. Poor Anthony has become my designate Siri. He tells me where I am, where I was going, where my phone is, what time it is, and all the other stuff I keep asking him on what seems like an hourly basis. Ha ha!

Here's the paper chain I put up in my office today. My sister, Kelly, had one in her office when she was pregnant with Ramona, so it inspired me to do one myself. It's really crazy to think there's only 28 days until Peanut's due date. And yeah, for all you parade-rainers, I know....he might come later than that. That's okay. As long as he just doesn't decide to come the first week in April, otherwise known as Final's Week. Yikes! Poor Anthony will be right in the middle of finals and has already been told that if he misses the test he gets a zero on the final. Lame!

What might really be perfect is if Peanut comes on Easter Sunday. That way finals would be done and over and Anthony would get a full week at home before Spring semester starts up. And....we would get to put the darling bunny ear hat that Kelly made on Peanut while he's in the hospital. Can we say cute?! :) I guess we'll just have to see what happens. 

Just one month left!!

 35 Weeks!!

Tuesday the 13th is my 29th birthday and the one month countdown to Peanut's due date!!!

 So I posted two pictures because I noticed some interesting changes in just the last 2 days.  The picture on the left (in the black shirt) is my traditional Friday picture. The picture on the right (in the green shirt) I took Sunday night. After going swimming Saturday night I noticed that lil' Cannon started migrating downward a bit. 

You may not be able to tell from the pictures as much as I can, but there's definitely a difference. The whole pregnancy this baby has been hanging out way high in my ribs. Now he is bit farther down (finally I can breathe!!!) and my belly is more round. Still more moving to go though.

This weekend was so fun! My baby shower was on Saturday and I also got to go swimming for the first time during this pregnancy...heaven. :) 

A special thank you to a few people: my friend Macie for throwing me an awesome baby shower, and Lisa & Gram, and Brittany & Andrew for traveling to Idaho to come to the shower and spend time with Anthony and me. And a big thank you to Andrew for helping Anthony move all of our extra totes into the attic to make more space in our home. I was just explaining to Anthony that this weekend was so great it's put me on a high for the next coming weeks and was the perfect transition into prepping for Cannon's arrival!

Brittany was kind enough to take some pictures for me at the shower. Macie came up with some really fun games for us to play. And people were so generous with their gifts.

Ashley and Madi made this cute card and mailed it with some fun gifts since they couldn't be with us Idaho.  My friend, Paige, got us this cute onesie that says "I'm not chubby, it's all muscle."

  

My sis-in-law Brittany made this beautiful carseat cover. 

 

 My mom sent us some cute gifts, including a little baby tie!

 Here are some recent additions we've made to prep for baby. We put together the stroller and got the carseat in the car. And Anthony add a vinyl Superman logo to the closet doors in Cannon's room. You can also see a little corner of the box to the crib that my Dad & Nancy got us! Yay!! Getting so excited for lil' Peanut to get here! 

Happy March!

 34 weeks!

Cannon is still sitting high and up in my ribs. I'm very curious about how I will look once he drops.

 

This is the dilation chart from my doctor's office. I was looking at it during my last visit and feeling very intimidated. As of my appointment on Wednesday I am already dialated to 2cm. My doctor told me that after 34 weeks if their patients go into labor they won't stop them. I however, do not want to go into labor yet. This bambino still has 6 more weeks of growing to do. 

The other thing interesting about this chart is the visual size comparison of the ovarian cyst I had to have surgery for during my 2nd trimester. My doctor had talked about it with Anthony and I, but this was the first time I was actually visualizing how large the cyst was. The circle closest to my hand is 10cm. The cyst I had removed....the cyst I couldn't feel and that my doctor's missed until I was 19 weeks pregnant....was 10cm in diameter. The size of a large grapefruit! At the time of my surgery the cyst was as big as my baby. Holy Moley!! How did I survive that?!?

This is Anthony and I hanging out in Cannon's room one day. We were admiring how Anthony's shirt matched the walls and wondered if he stood up against the wall if he would look like a floating head.

I was also enjoying him rubbing my swollen feet. In this first picture Anthony is pushing his thumb into the top of my foot. The next picture shows the awesome indention that was left over. Anthony is obviously in awe of the magical powers of my swollen foot. He even asked me if he could spit on my foot to see how much liquid the dent would hold. LOL!

Amongst the ever so stimulating entertainment my swollen feet provide at home we've also been enjoying attending a variety of Fine Arts performances on campus. Okay, well I've been enjoying the events...Anthony goes because he's required to for a class. :) Dance performances and jazz concerts aren't really his cup of tea. But it's been nice to break from our usual weekend routine and go on some different dates.

It's amazing how quickly time is flying by. Anthony's semester midterms have already come and gone. Our 29th birthday's will be coming up within the next couple weeks. And it won't be much longer until our lil' Peanut makes his debut. It's coming down to the last of it and yet I still feel so unprepared. I'm sure it will all come together. And we are so excited to meet out little guy!

Trienta y Tres

 

33 Weeks!

 Today is actually my Mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Mother Dearest! 

I'm not really sure what to write about for this week, just feeling big and pregnant. I've had a lot of pelvic cramping and braxton hicks contractions today, so I'm just taking it easy.



I'm noticing more pattern in when Peanut is awaking and when he is asleep (or just holding still). He's pretty consistent about getting wiggly around 1:00am and again at 6:00am. I'm usually waking up for a trip to the bathroom around these times, then when I go back to bed he gets rowdy.

Anthony put an app on his phone to do a countdown to his due date...1 month, 17 days, 4 hours and 46 minutes until 12:00am on April 13th. Anyone care to start making bets on whether he will be early or late? Anthony was born on his due date and I was born a week late. We were both under 8 lbs, I was 7.8 and he was 7.13. So I'm hoping the stars align and he is 7.8 and born on his due date. One can hope, right? :)

We're getting ready for his big arrival. I got a chest freezer as an early birthday present. The goal is to start working on building up a stock of freezer meals to have when Cannon is born so I won't have to cook. Let's be honest, I don't really cook very often anyway. :) But I'm excited to do freezer meals. I will also be purchasing paper plates and plasticware so that I won't have to do dishes. Thank you Kelly for the good suggestions.

I've also been keeping a journal for Peanut. My mom did this for me and my sisters and it really meant a lot to us. So in addition to the blog I write in Peanut's journal. His entries are a little different. Rather than just being weekly updates I write to him whenever I feel moved to. They are more like letters addressed specifically to him and about what I'm thinking and feeling as he grows and we get ready for him to join our little family. Even some life lessons or notes on how he is a child of God and how loved he is. I hope it's something he will appreciate when he gets older.

Only 8 weeks left. Woot, woot!

32 weeks and closing in fast! I can hardly believe it! Little Peanut baby is going to be here so soon. He's getting big and still likes to hang out high on my torso, way up in my ribs. :)

I've started feeling a little better. The last couple days my back has still been a little achy, but definitely feeling better. And my legs and feet aren't swelling like how they used to. The heartburn is still holding out strong, but I've found some new meds that work pretty good. So things are on the up & up.

New symptoms these days include being short of breath....like walking from the car into the house makes me winded. Ha ha!! It's a little sad.

I did my glucose test a week and a half ago. My blood sugar was high on the first test so I had to go back and do the 3 hour test. Lame. Everything turned out fine, so no worries about diabetes. I had Burger King to celebrate. :)

We went to childbirth class last Saturday. It was a 9am-5pm class but ended up going until about 5:30pm. Anthony was a trooper and stayed through the whole class. He didn't even

complain....well...just a tiny bit. :) We had some good laughs while practicing some of the relaxation techniques! Apparently we aren't coordinated enough for some of the fancy moves the kids are doing these days. :)

We've made progress on Peanut's room. It took 4

coats of paint on the navy wall and 2 coats on the aqua wall. So....6 coats of paint and almost

3 weeks later we finally have 2 walls done. Ha ha! At least the hard part is done. Now we just need to get curtains and pictures on the walls.

The day was so beautiful today we decided to go out and take some pictures. We went up on the hill above the temple then to Porter Park.

Anthony was pushing out pretty far so we would look the same size. My belly definitely has him beat. :)

30 "Weaks"

Here we are at 30 weeks (almost 31, since I waited to do this post). I'm still hearing that I "don't look that big," but I feel big. I'm tall so my belly isn't sticking out very far, but this little man likes to hang out on my spine and stretch out to take up as much length space as possible. I feel pretty validated by the fact that the nurse who measured me at last appointment said, "Wow! He's all the way up in your ribs, isn't he?" Uh-huh.

The last couple years I've been going to a chiropractor for my lower back pain. So I guess it isn't much surprise that the pain is getting worse as Peanut gets bigger. I recently discovered that I have what's called sacralization of the lumbar spine, which means my lower lumbar vertebra formed wrong and has fused and/or formed additional joints with the sacrum. This, unfortunately, limits some back mobility and is causing some pretty bad pain. I'm working on stretching and strengthening as well as just trying to stay comfortable.


I have to say how grateful I am for family and friends who have been so supportive and generous in helping us get ready to be first-time parents. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I'm a bit surprised at how hard this pregnancy has been. I heard a quote tonight that struck a chord with me and seems very appropriate for any mommy. 

"To get you from where you are to where 

He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching. 

And that generally entails discomfort and pain."

- Elder Richard G. Scott. 

My Mother keeps reminding me that what is "bought with coin of sacrifice" is loved most dearly. I don't know what I would do without the kind words from my Mom and Kelly. It's been more than once this last week that I've called them in tears and frustration and they have known just what to say. I wish we lived closer to each other.

Lucky for me I have an AMAZING husband to take care of me. After some painful, sleepless nights my honey took me to the furniture store and without any hesitation whatsoever, bought me the most comfortable recliner chair!! Every time I sit in it I remember how much I love him. And I sit in it a lot. :) Now...if I could just find a way to fit this chair in my office so I can recline all day. :)

We had the opportunity to go down to Utah last weekend and visit Andrew and Brittany and have some fun with them. Brittany and I had a fun time laying in their living room watching my belly jump around when Peanut got crazy from the root beer I drank.

We also got to do some shopping and bought some stuff for Peanut's room. We have part of his room painted and are deciding whether or not to add more colors on the wall. With a few more weekends hopefully we can get it put together a little more so I can post pictures. This weekend is spoken for though....time for childbirth class!