34 Weeks!

Here are the progression pics leading up to now! It's so fun to have these to look back on and compare. Sometimes I don't realize how much my belly has grown since I see it every day. How are we already at 34 weeks!??

8 weeks!

12 weeks!

16 weeks!

20 weeks!

26 weeks!

30 weeks!

34 weeks!

34 weeks... wow, how have we already made it this far?? I am shocked every time I think about it. This baby is going to be here SO SOON. In like 6 (or less) weeks! Boy has my body started to feel it these past few weeks. My lower back is killing me from the weight of my belly. Especially when I'm up moving around a lot at school. 

This month, I, unfortunately, developed pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel. It has been awful. I shouldn't even be typing this right now. But I figure it's better to keep using my hands than not. About six weeks ago, I started dealing with my hands falling asleep really bad at night. It just kept getting worse and worse. Then a few weeks ago, my right hand start to feel numb and tingly during the day too. Now, both hands are numb and tingly 24/7. My right is worse than my left, which has been hard since that's my dominant hand. Teaching has been so hard, to say the least. So I've decided to be done on March 4th. That will officially be my last day and I could not be more excited. I have 8 DAYS LEFT. You better believe I am counting down the seconds. I cannot wait to just be home with Dan and nest and relax. That's all I want to be doing right now. I'm chipping away at my sub plans slowly but surely. I've started wearing wrist braces at night, which is helping my hands with not falling asleep so bad, so that has been great! I'm just getting so uncomfortable though that sleep is not the same. 

I've started my 6 dates a day, which is supposed to help with easier labor somehow? I've also officially started my stool softeners. Yay! Haha. We also bought some depends at the store for postpartum. That really made things feel real. It's getting glamorous around here. I had my baby showers too and we got so much awesome stuff! We're so grateful. I am feeling very ready. Dan's been working on thank you cards since my hands are so bad. What a sweetie. 

Besides all that, I've been loving feeling the baby move so much. Their little butt/back likes to get real cozy up in my right ribs. It gets a little uncomfortable sometimes, but I don't care. It just reminds me that they're there. 

We're ready for you, little baby! Cook just a little longer though!

mama

I've been thinking a lot about how I cannot picture this baby of mine that is inside of me. Maybe it's because we don't know the gender? Maybe it's because I still have walls up? Who knows. But I can't seem to wrap my head around having a baby and becoming a mom. 

That's something I've wanted to be called for so long and now it's here and it just feels so foreign. 

Mama. 

But... we're literally 52 days away from our due date (hopefully less, if little one decides to come early). And I cannot wait to be called mama. It feels like a title I've waited my whole life to hold. I've wanted to be a mom since I was little. I made my siblings play house with me all the time and I was always the mom. It's just always felt like me. I feel like I even played a mom role to all my siblings in a way as I cared for them and watched out for them. 

Maybe once this little nugget comes earthside, it will all feel a little more real. Maybe I'll finally be able to accept that I'm actually a mom. Maybe I can let some walls down. Maybe I can just.feel.complete. 

I cannot wait to meet you, little one. I've waited so long to have you here.

Your daddy is a good one. He can't wait to meet you either.

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I also thought I'd include some pictures of our ultrasound. Baby is measuring well and looking amazing!! This was at 31 weeks and 5 days... but I'm measuring 33 weeks 2 days... hopefully this means baby will make their debut a tad early!

Look how squishy. Scroll to the last picture... HAIR!

30 WEEKS

Here are the progression pics, with 30 weeks at the end! 

8 weeks

12 weeks

16 weeks

20 weeks

26 weeks

30 weeks!!!

We've made it to 30 weeks, which seems absolutely insane! Everyone says that I've really popped lately. I'd have to agree looking at this last picture. I'm so glad I've been taking these pictures to be able to compare them because sometimes I feel like I haven't gotten bigger. Although... my body tells me otherwise. 

We had another midwife appointment. Nothing too exciting happened. She said my belly is measuring right on and the baby is head down, which is great! We've been learning a lot doing our birth class and I'm feeling really ready to give birth... sort of. Some days I feel really nervous, but mostly I feel at peace about it. With all the Covid Omicron stuff happening, we're just crossing our fingers the U doesn't try to change any of their visitor policies. Right now, I can have Dan and my mom. It better stay that way!! I need their support. 

I've been feeling pretty good. I'm doing well with keeping up on my stretches to prepare for labor and walking on the treadmill. My lower back is starting to kill me and I'm dealing with my hands and arms falling asleep at night. But besides that, I'd say I'm feeling pretty good! I'm looking forward to my baby showers coming up this next month and knocking some more stuff off of my to-do list. It's also time to get my sub plans ready! So crazy. In the last month, I also got the paint touched up in the nursery. So all we really need to still do in there is just add the bins to the shelves so we can get things organized! 

OH - and we also bought a used Snoo with Tay and Kyle. We figured our kids will be spaced out in a way that we can share it. I'm SO glad to have that figured out. I've been so back and forth about going with the Snoo or not this whole pregnancy. 

I'll end with some more fun bump pictures. Can't believe that I'll be 34 weeks for the next bumpdate!

We CAN'T WAIT to meet you, little baby!! 

It's the Holiday Season!

I love our Christmas tree! We've been getting our real trees at Costco for the last couple of years and they are always so fresh and beautiful. We of course (because of me) had to get out the decoration a couple of days after Thanksgiving! 

We've both been in nesting mode this last month. Dan got some shelves hung in the baby room, we got a crib, and we decorated with some prints! We got this watercolor painting done of our embryo. I'll do an updated post once the nursery is all the way complete. It's been so fun to work on together! 

A fun drawing from a student. She was pretty spot on. I've been wearing that sweater a lot lately haha! 

Marissa is a childhood friend of mine. We got to go and celebrate her baby coming in January! It's crazy we're pregnant at the same time. 

We had the annual Chapman Christison Dunbar Christmas party at Madi and Josh's this year. It was so great to see everyone! I can't believe how big our group has gotten over the years. 

Mom came to hang out and see the nursery progress. She got lucky and felt her first kick too! The baby must have been saying, "Hi, Grams!"

More fun food places with our Grub Club passport. This was actually the night of our first birthing class! Dan didn't want his picture taken... clearly. 

The glory of driving to work in the snow. 

We had a fun weekend at Josh's cabin for Madi's birthday. It was so fun celebrating her! We just relaxed, had yummy food and caught up. I loved being able to have some good deep chats with Glade and Jessi. Unfortunately, Dan went down to the valley to play hockey Saturday night and called me after saying he blew out his knee. So he's been pretty hurt the last few weeks. I'm not sure when he'll get to play again and may need surgery. 

We had the annual Christison party at grandpa's. It was so good to see everyone and eat some yummy food! He got all of the little babies these socks. Can't wait to put them on our baby! They are hand-made by the Native Americans. 

I got a SNOW DAY. This is realllllly rare in Utah. I woke up to a voicemail with the best news ever on December 15th. It was amazing to go back to bed and just relax all day. Dan had some fun shoveling! 

I wish I would have gotten more pictures this day, but here's this cute one of Daws. We had breakfast at mom and dad's in memory of Grandma Linda. We got to go visit her grave as well. It was really special. That morning, I had to have my SECOND glucose test (since I failed the first) and so I was really ready to eat by the time I got to mom and dad's. 

Since we went to California for Christmas this year, we had an early celebration with my family. It was so fun getting to open pajamas with everyone still and exchange some gifts. Mom and dad sure do make the holidays special every year. 

We didn't take a lot of pictures in Cali. We did get a few though. We celebrated Christmas Eve at Sarah's with the cousins and then Christmas day at his parent's house. It was so great to see everyone during the week while we were there! 

Had to facetime the fam on Christmas! Sure did miss them! 

We had a nice visit with both of Dan's grandma's while we were in Cali. I thought this was a sweet view at Grandma Joyce's house. Dan was helping her put her grocery delivery away. We had quite the sketchy drive back to Utah! It was pretty snowy in some parts. But we made it home at 2:30 am. 

There were some things this month that we didn't get pictures of. I had a fun girls night sleepover with some friends at Regan's. We exchanged favorite things gifts and ornaments. It was the best time! My family had a fun baking night one night. My divinity didn't quite turn out that great this year. Last year it was amazing! We also had fun helping gramps get his Christmas decorations up at the beginning of the month. I just love this time of the year and I'm sad it's coming to an end! But we've got some pretty exciting things coming up. These next few months are going to fly! 

Dan suggested we start doing a family picture in front of our tree each year. So here is our first one! It was such a special holiday season this year with our sweet baby in my belly. It made it that much more special. We can hardly wait to celebrate with a new member of our family next year!