Pregnancy Survey- 35 Weeks

How Far Along: 35 weeks 

Size of baby: Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

Total Weight Gain: 23 lbs

Sleep: Still up to pee a few times a night, but sleeping pretty good with my pillows 

Symptoms: Feeling pretty good still.  My back starts hurting when I sit down or on the couch at night for long periods of time. I am still doing my yoga to help and trying more comfortable positions.

Cravings: nothing crazy. I have heard that there shouldn't be a lot of room and that you might not be as hungry, but that's not the case with me. I am still loving food and now am getting interested in desserts after dinner. I am trying to behave until after the photo shoot next weekend before going nuts on desserts.

Gender- Max David 

Movement: We find out tomorrow what his position is with another ultrasound (we are so spoiled getting to see Max so much during this pregnancy). I will be really surprised if he is head down. I am not feeling the pelvic pressure that much that they say you get towards the end because he is head down. I still feel lots of movement in my upper right side, by my rib so we'll see. Let's hope Max cooperates and does what he is suppose to do soon! I have already looked up yoga/excercies positions and little tricks people say to do to make him get in position, but don't want to try any until I am sure where he is.

Maternity Clothes: I bought a few things from Motherhood maternity for the photo shoot coming up, they were having great sales last weekend. FYI- I went to Macys to look at their maternity stuff, because they had pea in a pod and motherhood maternity stuff and some of the same stuff I bought way on sale was still full price there so I wouldn't recommend shopping at Macys for that. 

Best Moments this week: Taking our breastfeeding class, we have 1 more class (on infant cpr) to take and then we're done. The breastfeeding class was very informative and we really liked our instructor as she is one of the lactation consultants at Northside. We also watched some of our Happiest Baby on the Block DVD  by Dr. Harvey Karp that we got in our Baby Essentials Class. He is the baby whisperer for real, I am not totally sold on his techniques, but man do they seem to work. It is amazing to watch (Ashley, I have to let you borrow this DVD).

What I'm looking forward to: Ultra sound and DR appointment tomorrow

Milestones: So, the ottoman is apparently delivered to the store, but the glider is not. We will pick up the ottoman and hope the glider follows shortly after. I wish it was the other way around, but what can ya do. Update: Just got an email saying the glider was also here! Horray!! I am pumped, pictures coming soon, let's just pray that I love it (which I know I will- do you like my positivity). We are debating some Where the Wild Things Are vinyl decals for the room, we have someone on etsy drawing a few things up for us, so I'll keep ya posted.

To Do List: I have an ongoing list that I wanted to just jot down here. Thank you notes, finish hospital bag, nurse goody bags, freezer meals for after baby, finalizing and getting props for maternity shoot (check out these cute booties I ordered to use in the pics), pick out a DSLR camera.

I forgot to show you guys these pics, but Michelle and Marla sorted through all of Max's clothes and shower goodies getting them ready for the wash.

I know it doesn't look like we have a ton of clothes in the closet shots, but look at all those clothes! They are all in the dresser. Thanks to Marla, Shell and Mom for washing, folding, sorting and putting everything away.

35 week belly shot

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes & Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

Over Christmas I tried out a few recipes that I saw on Pinterest. Lacey and Leah had both made one of these before so I knew they were good. They were both not very hard and tasted delicious.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes by Recipe Girl-

PANCAKES:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten

CINNAMON FILLING:
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

CREAM CHEESE GLAZE: (since I don't like cream cheese I substituted for a plain vanilla glaze)
4 Tablespoons butter
2 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Prepare pancake batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk in milk, oil and egg, just until batter is moistened.
2. In a medium bowl, mix butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Scoop the filling into a small zip baggie and set aside. You don't want this to remain super-liquidy. It's best if it becomes a consistency similar to toothpaste.

3. Heat large skillet or griddle over medium-low heat (I set my griddle to 350). Spray with nonstick spray. Scoop about 3/4 cup batter onto the skillet. Let the batter sit for a bout a minute. Snip the corner of your baggie of filling and squeeze a spiral of the filling onto the top of the pancake. When bubbles begin to appear on the surface, flip carefully with a thin spatula, and cook until browned on the underside, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a baking sheet or platter and keep in a warm oven until ready to serve.

As you can see my pancakes weren't perfect spirals, but they still taste good.

4. In a medium, microwave-safe bowl- heat butter and cream cheese until melted. Whisk together until smooth; whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla extract and top your pancakes.

I don't have a photo of my icing because we probably ate these so fast. We made them a second time and had no leftovers each time.

The 2nd recipe I tried was Cinnamon Sugar Donuts that I found via pinterest as well.

Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
Ingredients-
-Canned biscuits (anything BUT the flakey layer kind).
-Melted butter in a shallow bowl (4 tbls per 8 biscuits give or take) 
-Sugar & Cinnamon in a shallow bowl (mixed together in your favorite proportions...I like a nice medium brown mixture.)
-Veggie oil to fill your pan up to about 1/2in or so. 

Heat up oil for a few minutes on medium heat. While it is heating up, cut holes in the donuts with a cookie cutter or some other circular object. Save the holes, I just made donut holes. 

When one side is golden brown, flip with tongs.  When that side is golden remove from oil and place on a paper towel lined pan or plate. When the donuts have cooled enough to handle...using your fingers dip one side in the melted butter, let the excess drip off, dip in cinnamon and sugar mixture.  Get it nice and coated.  Flip over and repeat for the other side.  

As you can tell I made a double batch and we ate for 2 breakfast meals. The donut holes would be great with a strawberry or raspberry filling. These were so simple and so delicious so give it a try!

Max's Custom Lime Green Nursery Closet

There was a few things I knew I wanted in a nursery. A few of those was the colors (lime green and aqua) and another was a customized closet to hold everything. I went to pinterest and picked my favorite.

 This is the plan that David designed for me to envision what he was thinking of doing. Once family got in town, we put it into action!

James and Chris puttied the holes from the old clothes rack and then painted. As we all know, David is not a painter and didn't want me to do it so we were very thankful they could help out. What a fine job they did!

Unfortunately I did not capture any shots of how this came to be, I probably don't really want to know. David and the boys worked on it while the gals were out shopping. Like I said yesterday the middle shelving is the expedit series from IKEA (they have a bunch of sizes). We purchased 2 of them and David cut the 2nd one up to be the shelves that you see right above the clothing rods. At $59 each you really couldn't beat the price since plywood costs $25 a sheet (we would have needed about 4) and all that work cutting and painting and all that.

I love how it ties in with the crib bedding that you can see in the corner. 

The closet goes pretty far back creating a ton of extra storage and space we are going to use for diapers, toys and all the other baby items we accumulate. The little drawers have socks and bibs.

Filling up pretty quick. I was amazed that most everything from the baby shower fit in the closet and the drawers (with the exception of some bigger items that are stored in the attic until he's bigger).

Baby Max's Nursery Reveal!

Our nursery is almost ready. There are a few things we are adding, but I am ready to show you! A lot of hard work and planning was put in by me and David. It was executed by the help of my family (shout outs to Michelle, Mom, Marla, Chris and James).   

Here is the view as you walk into the room. The room color is painted Iced slate byBenjamin Moore (we used the Natura paint with zero VOC). The Crib is BabiItalia Eastside Lifestyle Classic in White, sold at Babies R Us. Mom created grommet curtains with the same fabric that was used in the crib bedding. I like it since we’ll have to take out the bumper (safety issues) so we’ll still have that pretty fabric in the room. The grommets and curtain rod are from Joann Fabrics. I purchased the fabric via amazon.

The crib bedding was customized and made by a talented Etsy shop owner, Cottage Belles.  The fabric choices were chosen by me (and shell) going through all the fabric swatches on her etsy store and making mock-up drawings. She was super helpful in suggesting a fabric when I knew what I wanted, but couldn’t find it. I am very satisfied with how it came out. My favorite part is the piping on the crib bumper. The Max letters were created by my sister and James and use scenes from Where the Wild Things Are books in the background. David and Mom used some extra fabric to hang them with.

The giraffe and elephant were purchased from Amazon (thanks Dad and Gma). The lime green circles were purchased at IKEA. The book holders are actually picture frame ledges that we bought at IKEA. The Max name books were thought of by my talented sister and purchased via Amazon (I think).

This is the unfinished side of the room. I ordered this Little Castle Glider and Ottoman from walmart.com (it should be in by the weekend). David made that pillow cover with 2 of the coordinating fabrics to go in the chair. Cross your fingers it will all fit nice in that corner! The dresser/changing table is a coordinating piece in the Babi Italia Eastside Lifestyle Collection. David made an elastic changing pad cover in the polka dot fabric to go on the changing table. We want to put some vinyl on that wall. I was thinking something like this  above the changing table or this by the chair area to tie the jungle theme in. 

Here are some close ups of the crib bedding.

Finally, we have the closet! This is one of my favorite parts of the room. I love the lime green and how it looks next to the blue wall and bedding.  David devised a plan and had the help of James and Chris (separate post on this) to put the plan in motion. I love how it came out. I really want to take the doors off for a while, but Molly tries to get on the shelves for the lovies and toys so maybe it's not a good idea. The shelves, drawers and baskets came from IKEA. The paint is Valspar’s Can’t Miss Lime from Lowes. The clothes hanging rods came from Lowes. We have a majority of the onesies and pj’s in the dresser drawers, but kept nicer outfits and supplies in the closet for now. I hope you enjoyed the tour of the nursery. I will be adding things and hopefully will be completely finished soon!

Pregnancy Survey- 34 Weeks

Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law, Marla today!! 

How Far Along: 34 weeks (I can't believe we have only 6 more weeks to go)

Size of baby: Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. His fat layers — which will help regulate his body temperature once he's born — are filling his out, making his rounder. His skin is also smoother than ever. His central nervous system is maturing and his lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine.

Total Weight Gain: 23 lbs

Sleep: Still up to pee a few times a night, but sleeping pretty good with my pillows 

Symptoms: Feeling pretty good still.  My back starts hurting when I sit down on the couch at night for long periods of time. I am still doing my yoga to help and trying more comfortable positions.

Cravings: Still loving cereal, I eat prob. atleast 2 bowls a day. Kroger was having this great sale on Kellogs cereal last week so I stocked up on a lot of boxes.

Gender- Max David 

Movement: He's trying out for soccer soon lol . I was having some discomforts last weekend as it felt like he was trying to push out my belly button.  I was nicely explaining that it was not the proper exit and to head on down, but not sure he got it. I am almost positive that he hasn't turned yet although he might be trying a good bit. We have a position ultra sound to see next Friday. Come on Max, you can do it!

Maternity Clothes: I have my maternity photo shoot that my mom and sister purchased for me in 2 weeks and I need help finding cute clothes to wear! I started pinning some things on pinterest that I liked, but will start shopping around this weekend. I am nervous that all the spring stuff is coming out although I need warmer clothes as it will be outside. I am thinking jeans and cute boots with a longer cardigan over a tighter shirt for 1 outfit. Any suggestions?

Best Moments this week: Learning that Max is growing just fine at the last ultrasound

What I'm looking forward to: A nice weekend and we have our breastfeeding class tomorrow morning

Milestones: I finally ordered a glider and matching ottoman for the nursery! I have been all over trying to find a chair with the right "look" I was going for. I just wanted something that wasn't over sized (not too plushy/cushiony) but not too small either. I wanted a khaki/neutral color so I could use it anywhere. I did a lot of research and found that the brand Little Castle (which is a high end nice glider manufacture) sells gliders through walmart.com at half the cost of their other gliders at bigger boutique type stores. It has great reviews so let's hope for the best. We have a few things left in the nursery, but it's pretty much done. Pics next week, I promise. David put the stroller and car seat in the car because we really have no other space for it than where it will reside. We have already also packed an initial "go" bag as David likes to call it.  I am also going to be starting some freezer meals to keep us going after the baby is born. I need to sign us up for an infant cpr class soon as well.