almost 35

tomorrow i will be 35 weeks pregnant.

hendrix was born at 35w1d pregnant.

that would be this sunday.

woah

here are a couple belly shots from earlier in the week, though i am just getting around to posting them...

baby girl seems more perfectly rounded than hendrix was.  i remember my tummy with him looking quite a bit more lumpy.  and i don't think she has really dropped yet, so i don't have any plans to deliver a baby this weekend.....but you just never know what these lil' babes have in mind.

i did have my first dose of braxton hicks contractions on wednesday night, which was an entirely difference experience than i have ever had.  (with hendrix the only thing i experienced was the real deal, and i didn't even know that was what it was at first.....) bud was working late, so i was at home alone working on some photo edits, and i experienced a crazy tummy tightening of muscles that lasted for a minute or two and then relaxed.  it didn't really hurt, but it was a little uncomfortable.  

i pretty much ignored it thinking it was gas, cramps, or maybe strong kicks - who knew.  until it happened again, and again.  after the fifth one in an hour, i decided to go soak in the bathtub and head to bed so i could stretch out and hopefully stop whatever was going on.  doc had told me that at this point, if i have anything resembling contractions more frequently than 5 times in a hour to call her.......

luckily the bath worked magic and i was ready to snuggle in bed for the night.

hopefully that was just a sneak peek of labor, but not a sign that my body is getting ready to do it soon.

i really want to want another two weeks.  

that is my goal.

37 weeks

we can do it, blaire!

there are a bunch of people out here waiting to meet you and love on you, but you will be so much better off when you come out if you can just be a lil' bit patient.......

in the meantime, this mama has been nesting like crazy and all the baby preparations are ready.

really.

i think everything is in order (i guess i do still have intentions of getting my pump out and cleaned up and ready to go, it is sitting in an accessible place, i just haven't done it yet).

blaire's closet is full of sweet little clothes.  i have a couple little pumpkin and halloween things sitting in front, and the rest seems to be more along the pink and purple hues.  

i even managed to get daddy to work on building shelves in the closet, so now i have a toddler boy side which is full of all hendrix's clothes (man, those jeans and tops seems huge after folding up little newborn onesies), and a hanging side that has both her stuff on the top, and his hanging clothes on the bottom.

this freed up the dresser drawers for all her little sleepers and outfits.  i can't get over how little and sweet they all are!  i can't wait to play dress-up with my real live dollie ;)

got out all the little sized cloth diapers.....

packed up the diaper bag with a few cute outfits (for going home from the hospital) and some accessories.....you know, cute booties and hats.  i am optimistic that we will get to have our photos taken in the hospital this time, since the whole NICU trip sort of put a damper on that for hendrix.

at the very least i imagine i will bring my camera and can catch some of those precious first newborn days.  

our car seat is here, and though not installed in the vehicles yet, it is sitting out and ready for daddy to do. 

i ended up not getting too girly of a seat, though i love how it matches our diaper bag, and i think that it will look adorable with pink blankets and a sweet head of flower clipped hair ;)

looking forward to meeting you, sweet blaire.

but remember, two more weeks would be perfect!

the dino-mite birthday boy

i had a terribly difficult time picking a theme for hendrix's birthday party this year as his interests seem to change so quickly and i could hardly develop an idea before he was moving on to the next thing.  :)  my original plan was to go cowboy and maybe even have the party at a farm.  then i wanted to do dr. seuss as he loves the cat in the hat and i adore the turquoise and red color-theme. 

but our final decision was to go dinosaur, as he took a recent interest, bordering on obsession with them, and loves to watch the dinosaur train!  he knows more different dinosaur names than me, and likes to pretend he is one. 

also his big birthday present from mom and dad this year was a sandbox, and i saw some fun ideas about how we could incorporate that into his party activites by doing a "dinosaur dig" with his friends ;)

  

the food was pretty low key, as i just served some of his favorite snacks and cupcakes.

i really LOVE how this personalized shirt i ordered turned out, and he has worn it at least a dozen times already.  i bought it a size too big on purpose and imagine that it will be a favorite for a while ;)

we prepped a craft project of dino mask making for his friends to work on as they arrived, and hoped that they would want to have a dino dance party later with their fun masks on!  

we buried a couple dozen little dinosaurs inside easter eggs, so the kids could dig for them, and let them hatch.  hendrix was a big helper here, and i think that he dug and re-dug for the same dinos at least 7 or 8 times during the party!  lol

he was really excited to share with his friends!

the sandbox is something that daddy built for hendrix, and it has handy built-in benches for kiddos to sit on, that also close up to be a cover to protect the sandbox.  it looks real nifty and is super functional.  daddy did a great job!

surprisingly hendrix spent a ton of time helping daddy create a cool mask, and was even willing to wear it for a while!  he loves craft projects, but i didn't think he would sit still enough to do it with all the kids at his house!

because he had already had a few birthday celebrations, he sang along to the birthday song, and blew out his candles like a pro!  he was very proud of himself ;)

then we had a little dino storytime, which didn't keep the kids' attention for very long; but hendrix does love this book about the ten little dinosaurs.

present opening kind of went by in a blur, as hendrix opened his first present and then just wanted to play with it.  then all the other kids took turns helping him, and i tried to just keep straight what he got from whom ;)  he got tons of fun new games, dinos, and books.  we have had lots of fun putting things away in his playroom!

this is hendrix's favorite gal pal, flora.  he goes to play at her house when mommy has to work, and it has been fun to watch these two grow up together.  they are really close in age (only about 6 weeks apart), and their mommy's are very good friends too!

we had a fabulous party, and now mommy is ready to shift the focus off making her big boy feel special and onto getting ready for her little girl to arrive ;)

the family party

better late than never, huh?  

hendrix got to drag out the fun festivities of his second birthday as we split the celebrations up into two separate weekends this year.  we celebrated with all our family the weekend before (labor day weekend), and all his friends the weekend after; and then of course we did some special things ON his birthday which fell in the middle of the week ;)

while it was fun to have a huge backyard party for him last year, this prego mama was really thankful that nana offered to host and prepare for the family party this year, which took a good deal of stress and planning off my plate.  

while dinosaurs was the theme to his party and a huge passion of his right now, he was equally interested in every kind of art that he could work on.  he likes to 'practice his letters' and is becoming very adequate with a pencil.  he was happy to show off his skills to his great-grandma ;)

he loves all of us uncles (he has four of them, the lucky lil' guy), and pretty much jumps around to each one trying to act big and keep up with them.  fortunately they all seem to like him just as much, and are willing to follow him around and do whatever he wants.....

one of the first presents he opened had some colors in it, and became a huge distraction for him to want to open anymore presents.  his aunts and mom had to take over for a while, while he enjoyed his new dino coloring books!

he does really like opening presents though, and he did a pretty good job telling each person thank-you (with a little prompting from mom and dad).  i think christmas is going to be a blast this year!

he got some dino slippers that he has enjoyed wearing these last couple days since it has gotten chilly.....

and one of his favorite gifts was this umbrella.  he has used it at least a dozen times since he got it (and i think we have only had one rainy day........so yes, we do like to use it even when it is sunny!)

and it was perfect, as it started to drizzle towards the end of the present opening, and he got to try it out right then and there!  

he was a very happy little boy (which is surprising since he didn't take a nap. at all.  all day.)

he had dino shaped rosettes, and while he was a pro at blowing out his own candles, he was more interested in the m & m's that were to be a topping for the ice cream than he was in any of the other parts of the dessert. 

he has a serious sweet tooth like mama.....

it was fun to see the newlyweds, back from their honeymoon and looking as adorable as ever!

he got this little pillow/bed from his nana and he loved it so much he had to try it out with a movie that afternoon.  it has since been a bed, a sleeping bag, a chair, and even a climbing tower.  what a cool gift!

here he is hamming it up with the big boys, after a nice big game of climb on everyone's backs.

oh, and hannah and i got a few 'bump' pics together.  gotta make sure the cousins get photographed together right from the start!  can't wait for blaire and annalise to meet, and bond and have girl time ;)

  

the day was wrapped up with a bath, jammies, and a little family game time before we headed home.  what a perfect day!

hendrix is a very independent, fiesty, energetic, and well-loved little two-year-old. ;)