33 Weeks

I can hardly believe that today I'm officially 33 weeks pregnant - crazy!  For Brian, I'm also going to say that I have 7 weeks to go.  The other weekend when I told someone how many weeks I was, he told me I shouldn't do that because it was too confusing.  :) 

 

 

I had an appointment this last Monday, and all is looking just as it should.  I'm measuring on track and have put on a fine amount of weight - more than at this point with Grace but less than with Olivia...that doesn't really mean much overall because Grace ended up being bigger than Liv by nearly a pound and a half.  My blood pressure continues to be very low which is good, and I haven't had any issues with swelling at all even with some of the warm weather.  Baby's heartbeat was 140, and Dr. Menke is 99% sure he'll stay head down as I'm carrying very low into my pelvis already.  Maybe that explains the Braxton Hicks contractions that make rather regular appearances!  Otherwise, I've got a very active little one who likes to prevent me from going to sleep at night with some rather forceful acrobatics; he likes to keep me one my toes at my desk at work with these, and, occasionally, he likes to wake me up at night too.  Overall, I feel pretty well.  I can tell I'm slowing down a bit, but I enjoy being pregnant, and nothing about this pregnancy so far has changed that.

School has been going well.  My students have gotten to see my tummy jump with his hiccups and a few were shocked to actually see my stomach "roll" as a leg/foot stretched itself out.  I had to chuckle when a flabbergasted senior boy said to me, "It moves!?! But it's barely alive!"  I'm definitely tired out at the end of the day, and I'm concerned about getting enough sleep as more and more grading comes in as I get farther into my writing class, but I'm managing okay so far, so hopefully that will continue.

The girls continue to be very excited about the baby.  We regularly get asked when the baby will be born, and if it's getting really close.   Olivia's excited because she seems to understand that it's almost October and that Halloween is in October which means the baby will arrive soon.  I didn't tell her that Halloween was at the end of October.  I love the way Olivia cuddles and hugs my belly, and Grace has taken great joy in "scolding" the baby for kicking her while we read books at night!  :)

A Fun Weekend!

We had a VERY busy weekend at our house!  Both men's tennis alumni and the Luther Invite (cross-country race) were going on, so we had many visitors and tons of activities on the agenda.  Thankfully we were blessed with a beautiful Friday evening and Saturday so were able to enjoy everything to the fullest.

Friday evening I came home to find a number of men's alumni already hanging out at our house.  They'd been golfing all day and were setting up the grill for dinner.  Pat and Roger took the girls at their house which was very helpful and, I think, for the best as it was much quieter up there for sleeping.  Around 9, my mom and Mark's brother in law and his family arrived from Northfield.  Overall, we had about 12 people staying at the house - and we all fit!  :)

Saturday morning, the girls were surprised at Grandma and Grandpa Huinker's house to find Grandma Linda sleeping downstairs!  Needless to say, they were pretty pleased.  Mark arrived around 8, and all the Thornton/Huinker family members (excluding Grace who had ballet class) headed off to watch Thyme run in the middle school race.  I admit I got tears in my eyes watching Thyme run - darn pregnancy hormones!  How is Thyme a 7th grader already!?!  After a kid switch (Olivia's turn for dance), we watched Marissa run in the varsity race too.  Special thanks to Pat and Roger for helping so much with transportation and being a great host and hostess!  Around noon we headed to the Luther tennis courts for eating pizza, visiting, and watching Brian play some doubles.  After that it was nap time - for me too!  In the evening, my mom and Mark went with Pat and Roger to watch the Iowa game at Oneota, and Thyme came with us to dinner with some alums.  Then, the two of us got the girls in bed before working on some garage sale finalities.  I think I was asleep minutes after my head hit the pillow.

Sunday morning was a bit more laid back.  We had a tasty breakfast and came home to find the tennis alums packing up.  My parents and Thyme headed home mid-morning, and the rest of the day was all about doing laundry and relaxing as much as possible! 

Enjoy a few weekend pics!  (And the frog, by the way, is Olivia's classroom mascot.  She got to have him this weekend to take on adventures.  We filled a couple of pages in froggy's journal yesterday and are adding a few pictures tonight - besides the one's that Olivia already drew- before returning him tomorrow.  Olivia loved carrying him around!)