A bulleted update:

• I'm 34 weeks today.  The swelling of my feet and ankles has officially begun and there's no stopping labor once it starts.
• We cleaned out Camden's room yesterday.  Now it's just a matter of figuring out furniture arrangement and painting a border and baseball wall.
• Camden's shower is on Saturday.  I'm excited!
• Sarah's coming to town this coming weekend too!
• Someone mowed our yard while we were at church.  Thank you, whoever you are.
• Maddie loves to sing "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah."  This isn't the best video seeing as how she's running around and congested, but it's all I've got right now:

Have you ever sold anything on a consignment page or Craigslist?  Oh my gosh, it is too much fun!  I've posted several items to these sites in the last few days.  Here's what I like about it:

• Taking pictures of the item.  Seriously.  I really believe that a good quality picture of the product makes it more sell-able, even on one of these kinds of sites.  Plus the objects sit still, much unlike Maddie, so it's not too hard to get a good shot, which in turn makes me feel pretty good about my picture taking abilities. :)

• Coming up with the briefest possible description that has enough detail to catch one's eye, but not so much that they get tired of reading.
• Sitting back and waiting for a response.  It's particularly fun when the response is within a few minutes of posting.
• Making money.  Eric and I have decided to keep the money we make in a jar to put towards something.  We could use some help figuring out what that something should be, if you want to contribute your ideas.  I think it'll be better for us to purposely set the money aside, otherwise it will go in my wallet, a little will be spent here and there, and before we know it it will be gone.
• Clearing our house of unwanted items.  Less to dust, less to organize.

I suppose all of this makes me a really big nerd, but at least I'm having fun doing it!

33 Week Update

Size of baby:  Camden is approximately 17.5 inches and weighs about 4.5 pounds, about as much as a grownup duck. . . or a pineapple, but a duck's more interesting, right?

Total weight gain/loss:  +21 pounds, not bad!  :)  I don't have horribly swollen feet and legs like I did with Maddie, so I think that is helping keep my weight down.

Maternity clothes:  Yes

Gender:  Boy

Movement:  He still moves quite a bit, but I can definitely tell he's starting to run out of space.

Sleep:  Uncomfortable, but at least I don't have to get up to go to the bathroom multiple times. . . yet.

What I miss:  Being comfortable.  I think this will be my staple answer for the remainder of the pregnancy.

Cravings:  Fruit and vegetables.  Not!

How I'm feeling:  Like I have a bowling ball very low in my belly.

Highlight of the week:  Getting the remainder of my doctor's appointments scheduled.  Camden will be here before we know it!

33 weeks, 2 days

Baby Boy has had a name for a while now and I was perfectly fine keeping it a secret until I realized Maddie was saying his name more and more regularly when we asked her.  So on August 25th Eric and I were ready to reveal his name, but since several family members couldn't make it over to our house we just told my sister, Rachel, and waited for a more convenient time to tell everyone else.

That time finally came on September 7th.  My mom and Aunt Carol decided to play things up and decorated our house with balloons, a cake, and baby boy plates and napkins.  Once everyone made it over, we gave them a stack of index cards, each of which had a letter from Baby Boy's name written on it.  With a little help from Maddie, they were able to figure out the first name.  Shortly thereafter, they determined the middle name as well.

I suppose this is where I should tell YOU what Baby Boy's name is, but I'll let Maddie do the honors instead:

There you have it!  We can finally refer to Baby Boy by his name!  He does have a middle name as well, but I don't want to reveal it on here for privacy's sake.  Just ask and we'll be happy to share.  :)

P.S.  Am I the only one who can't get her child to look at the camera and smile on cue?

I really wish I was one of those people who cleaned house when stressed out. . . instead I eat.  :/  After half a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, I just feel sick.  I really should find a new stress reducer.

What do you do when stressed?  Bake, clean, sleep, exercise?

Just one of the sweetest things ever:

As for the lyric change, Mrs. Bobbi is one of her Sunday School teachers.  :)

31 Week Update

Size of baby:  Baby Boy is over 16 inches long and weighs 3.3 pounds, about the weight of four navel oranges.

Total weight gain/loss:  +22.5 pounds.  I didn't keep a record of my weight gain with Maddie, but I know I gained over 40 pounds.  So unless I pack on a lot of pounds in these last nine weeks, I don't anticipate breaking the 40 pound mark.  Yay!

Maternity clothes:  Same as the last 8 weeks, but now I can add that I have a dress to wear for Baby Boy's shower.  :)

Gender:  Boy

Movement:  He loves to hang out on my right side.  I can feel him dragging body parts (hands, feet, elbows, knees?) along my side and that can be painful.  I really wish I could see inside my tummy so I would know exactly what he's doing in there.

Sleep:  Not good.  I still have a hard time getting comfortable and rolling over is horrible.  It also doesn't help that Maddie has been waking up around 2 or 3 AM for the last few nights.

What I miss:  Being comfortable.

Cravings:  Like I've written before, I'm eating a lot of sweets, but I don't think it's really a craving.  I think it's lack of self-control.  :/

How I'm feeling:  Shocked that we're in the single-digit countdown!  Nine more weeks!

Highlight of the week:  See above.  I still can't believe it.  If he's early like Maddie, it will be more like a 7.5 week countdown!  Eek!

31 weeks