Full Term and the nesting instinct hits HARD.

Week 37-

I honestly feel as if these last few weeks have flown by rather than dragged on as I had anticipated.  I guess that happens when your to-do list reaches a mile long and it doesn’t seem like there is ever enough time in each day to sleep, eat, pee (100X), work and then accomplish all that we want to get done before Autumn’s arrival! 

Grow, baby, Grow!

Full term and still going strong.  I’m excited that we hit this milestone as realistically Autumn could be born and be 100% on her own at this point in terms of breathing.  Her lungs have fully developed and all that she will literally be doing from here on out is packing on the baby fat and I am definitely OK with that!  With most babies loosing up to a pound after birth, I want her to be as plump as possible since she’s only measuring at about 6.5 lbs at our last appointment (just an external estimate given to us by our midwife).  After this week it is estimated that she will put on about ½ lb. every week and I am definitely already feeling the added gain in her weight, my belly seems to be getting huge these last few days! And yes, in just DAYS.  Autumn is measuring in close to 20 inches and is roughly the size of a watermelon, YES, a watermelon.  She is head down officially but moving from side to side as I can see her little butt protruding from the left on occasion and then swiftly moving to the right~it’s really quite the sight.  She’s busy practicing skills that she will need in the outside world like sucking, blinking, exhaling and inhaling.  

Exercising for two.

She is still letting me get in those 400 meters of running in spurts over the course of 3 miles and I am quite amazed I must say.  Although this week I did far more squats than I have done my entire pregnancy (due to the story to follow about replacing our floors) nothing feels better than to get out on my run/walks with her.  The chill in the air feels remarkable and has been a wonderful reminder of my long runs in Kansas come fall and winter time.  I know I have said it before but I have such fond memories of running during those two seasons in Kansas.  What I wouldn’t give for a snowy run down here in Florida.  Instead I live vicariously through several of my adventure racing buddies up north as they trek through the snow in their gators and spikes just to get in the miles.  I am still working on laying out my plan for my post-partum training, perhaps this weekend I will finally have a moment to focus on what my workout goals will be.  Realistically I know to not set my expectations to high, but I am the type of person that likes to see a plan ahead of me and make every effort to GET THERE.  Plus, there are several adventure races around the corner in the spring near Chris and I’s neck of the woods and since we missed them this past year, we’d love to put them on the calendar for this year. 

The Nesting Instinct.

I found it amusing that my resources were saying how I might be getting bit by the nesting bug this week.  Oh how I longed for it weeks ago and then it hit me upside the head like a ton of bricks.  And thank goodness it did.    And then, on top of that, what does Chris decide to spearhead?  Ripping up the last 3 rooms of carpet and laying down new flooring!  I joke with him that he has now had every form of sympathy for me: sympathy cravings, sympathy pains and now sympathy nesting instinct.  It was quite the task to begin but I was sure that Autumn wasn’t coming early (my midwife even scheduled my next appt. for week 39 rather than 38 because she was sure that she was sticking around) so I thought what better of a time than to just get it all out of here before Autumn comes and begins crawling on that awful carpet. 

Here’s a visual run-through of the progress.  I have to make a special note that these floors would NOT have been possible without the guidance and hard work of Chris’s grandparents and my mama! They truly have been amazing in teaching us homeownership 101. Grandma and Grandpa have been working diligently every day towards the official completion of the project and we couldn't be more grateful!

 ~The living room BEFORE~

 ~Carpet gone and Lola scoping it out~

 ~the Helpers/brains!~

 ~Chris laying down the tile in the living room.  We LOVE the earth tones.~

 ~Chris getting guidance from Grandpa~

 ~Autumn and I contributing where we could~

 ~Lauren and Chris 'ninja-ing' the hallway debacle~

 ~the guest bedroom BEFORE (finished pictures to come!)~

 ~One of my many energy bursts to clean windows, walls and baseboards.~

 ~The transformation of the master bedroom is AMAZING.~

The baseboards are on their way to being nailed in and then after a good mop and sweeping of each room, we will be able to put our house back together by this weekend.  It already feels like a completely different space.  It’s open, clean, and we even feel like we can breathe easier.  We have this sense of ‘completion’ that we haven’t felt in awhile about our house that is an amazing feeling.  

 Oh and how could I forget that this week, we in Northern Florida had our first frost.  It's the closest to snow that we will get so of course I ran outside to capture it before taking a brisk walk in the crisp air.  The dogs absolutely loved it and I'm pretty sure were outside for a good hour just wrestling and frolicking in it.

 

 Next up, FINALLY getting the nursery completed, hospital bags packed, and getting Christmas decorations put up so we can stop feeling like The Grinch on our block!