Sunday, September 11, 2016

34 Week Update

Sunday night again, another fun but tiring weekend in the books. This time I started my weekend with a little girls' night with Heidi and Katie; we saw Bad Moms (funny but way more vulgar than I expected) and then chatted over Starbucks until way too late. It felt awesome to go out, catch up with friends, and talk (mostly about our kids and husbands, of course). We had a great time! 

Of course, that late night meant way too little sleep, so after swim lessons on Saturday morning I gladly took advantage of Marshall's nap time with a nap of my own. I'd say I slept about 90 minutes, and it was wonderful. Then we headed out for our little adventure. Originally, we planned to take the Metro to Santa Monica for dinner, but there were some delays with the westbound train. Instead, we headed eastbound and enjoyed dinner in Culver City (the highlight for me was chasing Marshall around a tree after our meal) before heading back to the train station and panicking because the earlier delays still appeared to be an issue. 



Thankfully, we made it home around 8:15, way past Marshall's bedtime, and I promptly fell asleep on the couch. 

(Scout didn't mind)


This morning we watched some of the 9/11 coverage on the news, hit up the grocery store, and walked to our local bakery for our weekend treat, assorted French cookies. Marshall played by himself a while, we got some chores done around the house, and then for lunch we tried "butter sandwiches," which are apparently a thing in France. I had read an article about them, and basically you use really good bread, really good butter, a little salt, and whatever (single) topping you want to make the world's simplest sandwich. We chose cheese today, but you can use fancy meat, tomato, avocado, whatever sounds good to you. They were indeed simple but also totally delicious! 

In other food news, we made this quick shrimp pasta with jumbo shrimp (found wild-caught shrimp at TJ's in the freezer section!), roasted cherry tomatoes, and Costco pesto. 


I asked Marshall if he wanted to watch a video this weekend. He said, "Uncle Chris," which means the videos that Uncle Chris (my brother) has sent Marshall of the construction sites where he works as a project manager. This kid can't get enough.

Speaking of this kid, some funny recent developments and Marshall-isms:

Asking questions instead of making observations. He used to announce his observations, like, "Daddy has a brace on his leg." But now he asks questions, and his inflection is priceless. "Daddy, you got a brace on your leg?" "Mommy, you're in the driver's seat?"

He's learning a little bit of Spanish at school, and today he asked us how to say a few words in Spanish. His little accent is pretty great! Our downstairs neighbor is working on his Ph.D. in Spanish at UCLA, so he offered tutoring. :-)

He's interacting with Scout more, for better or worse. The other day he walked by Scout sitting on the table, and Scout swiped at him (no claws), which scared Marshall. But he also has started talking to Scout like a little friend: "Scout, I'm playing with my garbage truck. You want to play with me?" "Scout, you want some food?" "Scout, you want to read a book?"


Random side note: One of the greatest joys of my life has been stealing glimpses of Marshall and Terry together. I don't know how my heart will be able to handle watching Terry become a father of two, but I'm excited for the challenge!


Speaking of which, a quick update on where we are in preparing for baby number two:

I'm 34 weeks along! I feel totally huge (I'm not, I know, but I still feel huge). I'm pretty uncomfortable most of the time; my hips hurt a lot, especially at night. My back hurts anytime I stand up. The baby is kicking wildly, and I'm thrilled for a healthy, active baby but a little nervous about how active he or she will be on the outside! I have had some trouble sleeping lately, which I know is quite normal for the third trimester. Overall, it's been an uneventful, healthy pregnancy, so I am very grateful and so happy to be where I am.

Workouts are down to a few a week. I am mostly active throughout my days, but I could definitely stand to walk around more at work. I squeeze in short strength training workouts at home a few nights a week, but I'm also focusing more energy on stretching and relaxing when I feel tired, so I'm not overdoing it.

As far as prep for baby, we got a little more serious this week about getting things ready. I sorted through all of Marshall's old clothes to determine which ones would be appropriate for boy or girl, and which ones will only work if we have another boy. I washed a whole bunch of baby stuff, started packing my hospital bag, and added to our lists of stuff to do before baby arrives. 

A few weeks ago, a new sensation hit me that I hadn't yet experienced in pregnancy: excitement! I'm sure it sounds terrible to say, but in complete honesty I don't remember feeling a lot of excitement before Marshall's birth. I felt scared and anxious, and even though I felt very blessed and lucky to be having a baby, I did not feel ready for his arrival. This time, I was thrilled when we learned I was pregnant but also focused a lot on the present. But now, as we near baby's due date and I think about meeting this sweet new addition, I feel absolute joy! I know we will face obstacles, but I also know our little family is strong and that we have support outside the three (four!) of us to help if something big comes our way. Of course, it helps that even after feeling so nervous and stressed about Marshall, we made it through and fell in love with our little boy the instant we met him. I can't wait to meet this little one, too!

Here's the 34 week photo this time around:


And 32 weeks and 33 weeks with Marshall:

I actually think I looked bigger last time!

It's been a great weekend. We're hoping Marshall will fend off what looks like the beginning of a cold. My parents are visiting this weekend, and I'm just hoping for some good sleep before then. Hope your week goes wonderfully!

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