37 Weeks: Moving Right Along!

My doctors appointment Thursday went really well.  I've started progressing toward labor which is good.  Her head is in the right place and she is low. They expect our girl to be right on time, which is in less than 3 weeks.  Yikes.  She is moving a lot still, depending on the time of day.  She has started to have more "rest times" recently.  Her movements are definitely different now as well.  I am now being poked and prodded more than kicked and punched. 
I've started to have little bouts of anxiousness that I'm not fond of at all.  They don't seem to be triggered by anything in particular but I guess the pressure of everything does weigh on my subconscious.  Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited to meet this girl and I'm really not that freaked out about labor and delivery.  It's one day of my life.  I could do pretty much anything for one day, right?  Especially when the reward is a sweet, cuddly baby!  If I'm being delusional here, please don't spoil it for me.  I guess it is really just the nesting instinct to have everything "ready" that is driving me insane.  I keep making list of things to stockpile like shampoo, paper towels, toilet paper, ect.  And I want ridiculous amounts of it.  I'm not sure if I think I'm having a baby or being trapped in my house for a year.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to be prepared for both circumstances. :)
We got a ton done in the nursery over the long holiday weekend and hope to finish up with most things this coming Monday.  We will see how it goes though.  I'm not going to freak out if she arrives and all the decorations aren't up yet.
In the midst of all my practicality and cleaning, I managed to make Cory a totally unpractical and mostly silly "Daddy Kit"  as part of his Christmas present.  It was small but cute I thought and he seemed to really like it. Here's what I put in it:

Baby books about dads for bedtime stories. 

New underwear for sports playing with passes for an extra night of basketball for "when living with two girls is a little too much" and he needs some extra "man time." 

A book of useless information to share with her/keep him entertained during the early parts of labor, which he LOVES.  He is always looking up websites with random facts on them and sharing them with me.  This is only annoying sometimes. :) 

Some reeses for a snack while he is waiting for our girl to arrive.

My favorite:  oreos for them to share a midnight snack.  She gets the milk.  He gets the cookies. :)

36 Weeks: Brain? What Brain?

I am pretty sure I no longer have a functioning brain or at least one that can only function on baby related tasks.  Sitting at work trying to focus on anything is a basically an exercise in futility.  I am working at about 10% of my normal right now.  I keep stopping what I'm doing to make yet another list.  I have about a million at this point.  I start thinking of things I need to do, then start freaking out a little, then make a list.  Making lists is comforting to me.  It tricks me into thinking I have control when really, I don't.  Hopefully with my days off I can actually being crossing more things off than adding them!
After Lydia Jane is born, I will have 6 weeks off and then I'm going back to work.  Right now it is what is best for our family, even though the thought of leaving her already stinks.  The good thing is that my mom will be the one keeping her so at least she will not be in daycare and will get a lot of one on one attention.  I struggled a lot with the idea of being a working mom.  Is my baby going to be well taken care of?  Will she still know I'm her mother?  And on and on.  What really helped me was seeing my sister in law, Jennifer, handle it so well.  We kept the boys one night for her and Mike to go on a date when Carson was about 8 months old.  I was holding him when Jenn walked in the house and he literally lit up the second he saw her, started kicking his little feet, and reaching for her.  Even though my nephew was doing everything possible to escape from me, it made me super happy because I was able to stop worrying my baby wouldn't love me as much if I wasn't the one caring for her 24/7.  Of course that is the ideal situation but it doesn't work out for everyone to do that right away and that's okay too.  You can still make it work.  I actually have a great job that I like with wonderful benefits.  I really couldn't have a better job than this one for being a working mom so I'm very grateful for that. 
I had my 36 weeks appointment today.  Everything still looks really good.  My blood pressure is normal, I didn't gain any weight and LJ's heartbeat is going strong.  I haven't dialated at all which doesn't bother me because I didn't really expect that I would have.  I'm content to let this girl grow in there for as long as she likes.  The doctor told me today that they would let me go up to 2 weeks late which means that she will be here February 1st at the absolute latest.  I'm super against being induced so I'm trying to start early having a patient attitude about it.  I know the bigger she gets, the harder that is going to be to do.  I actually feel really good right now though so hopefully that will continue.

Christmas Craftiness!

This year I have been a pretty big Scrooge.  I haven't put up a Christmas tree, nativity, stocking, anything.  I have been so focused on baby everything that I just decided I would be satisfied with my mom's decorations in Bishopville, which is where we spend Christmas eve and day, anyway.  I'm just stocking up on Christmas cheer for Lydia Jane's first Christmas next year!  That is what I tell myself to not feel so badly about it, at least.  I did put up a little Christmas flag outside and yesterday I finally finished the wreath for the front door.  Do not even mention that it is less than a week until Christmas.  I do not care.  I simply want to bask in the glory of this accomplishment.  I finished a wreath.  Hooray me!
This is the one I saw on Etsy and Pinterest.  I like it, but it is a little over the top for my taste.

This is the toned down version I made for our door.  I think next year I may add more ribbon to it, but I'm satisfied with it for this year.

At least now our visitors will get a nice warm Christmasy welcome before entering the Scrooge den! :)

35 Weeks: The Beginning of the End

As of today, there is less than a month until my due date.  I feel like I am now officially in the home stretch! Even though I'm not kidding myself into thinking she will definitely be here by then, it is still exciting.  From now on I will have a doctors appointment every week.  My appointment last Thursday was completely typical.  Everything looks good and I was in and out in less than 30 minutes.  I asked about her hiccups and the doctor said that was totally normal.  He asked if I was feeling them on the right side of my pelvis, which is exactly where I do feel them, and said that was good because it means she is already in the right position for birth.  So hooray for that! 
After feeling her little foot the other day, I have had to move it a few other times.  It is very strange to feel someone stretching out inside your belly and when it hurts, be able to push them back in.  I can't decide if Cory thinks it is more cool or freaky.  I don't think he can decide either. :) 
I am definitely looking forward to my 3 days off around Christmas!  We are staying in Columbia for the most part because Cory is on call next week so I'm hoping we can get the nursery close to finished.  We have definitely been working hard to get the rest of the house organized and I'm pretty proud of our progress!

Spartanburg Weekend

About a month ago Cory and I spent a weekend in Spartanburg running/walking a race and visiting some friends.  I left my camera at home and of course just got around to figuring out how to transfer pictures from my iphone to the computer.  So here are some pictures from our super fun weekend.

Last summer, my cousin Karl passed away from congestive heart failure at the age of 19.  There is now a scholarship in his memory at Wofford College where he was a rising Sophomore at the time of his death.  To raise money for the scholarship, his fraternity puts on the 5K for Karl in the fall.  This was the 2nd annual race and it was a wonderful success.  Notice one of the sponsors:  Baby Girl Watts. :)

 Cory and my brother Gilliam.  I didn't get a picture of them running across the finish line because Cory was running across it as I was getting back from walking a mile and Gilliam was already finished.  Oh well, I will pull the pregnancy card to explain why my husband can run a 5k faster than I can walk a mile.

 My dad and brother after the race.  Gilliam had the fastest time for his age division!  He definitely takes after my dad in the running department!  In his younger days, my dad ran a couple marathons a year.

 Cory and me at the Travis home.  We may or may not have been tormenting Joel the whole night with these photos.  He was still at school in Utah and extremely jealous we were visiting with his sister and parents.

 Cory and Zach the dog who is super awesome.  Also, another picture for Joel.

 Joel really misses Zaxby's so of course we went there for dinner and took some photos.

 Adriane and Micah who we had such a fun time hanging out with!  We ate Mexican, went bowling, hung out watching football, ate Zaxby's and watched a movie.  The movie part was really just Cory and Micah.  Adriane is in her 1st trimester while I'm in my 3rd so we didn't make it much past the opening credits before falling asleep.

No trip is complete without a stoney face Sunday school shot! :)  Despite the looks on our faces, we had a wonderful weekend with fabulous family and friends! 

Maternity Photos!

My amazing friend/photographer Naomi took some maternity photos for me a few weeks ago. I love how they turned out even though towards the end I was getting pretty tired. I may or may not have resembled a grumpy two year old. Regardless, Naomi handled it like a champ. :) I suppose she is used to dealing with me in all my moods at this point. Anyway, here are some of my favorites. I'm 33 weeks in these.



 I love both our hands making the heart.  I'm going to frame this one in LJ's room.

 The old blue paint on these windows looks so cool.

I just like this one. 

And then there were three...

 The looking down shot so popular in maternity photos...

Me smiling: because in not too much longer that girl will be here!

34 Weeks: Under Pressure

The fact that I have made it to 34 weeks does not seem quite as monumental as that fact that I only have 6 weeks left.  6 weeks!  I feel like I have just come to terms with the idea of being pregnant and now it is time to start coming to terms with the idea of no longer being pregnant and being a real live mother instead.   Sometimes I feel that is the way my life works.  I work so hard to become comfortable with a situation I am in, go through all the tears and prayers and craziness, and then bam!  I finally realize I've come to accept and be comfortable with where I am because I see it changing and start to freak out a little.  I will definitely be glad once our girl is here and I'm holding her in my arms instead of feeling her kicks and punches from the inside, but I think I'm going to miss this a little too.  I'm also starting to get a little nervous about the whole birthing thing, which I know is ridiculous because it is what my body was made to do, but I still can't help it.  I ordered my first birthing book from Barnes & Noble, which was sort of a mistake.  Literally every person they show giving birth is completely naked.  Seriously, this book has more boobs than a National Geographic tribal special.  So lesson learned:  do not buy birthing books without looking through them in the store first.  I still have not decided what kind of birth I want to have.  The more I think about it, the more conflicted I feel.  How am I supposed to make a decision about an experience I've never been through before?  I can't say if I will be able to handle the pain or not because I have never felt anything like it.  So my plan is to basically do what feels right in the moment and listen to my body.  Maybe that sounds crazy, but oh well!  Women did this thing with no plan for thousands of years.  Certainly I can do it now in a hospital surrounded by doctors and nurses.
The good news is that I've been so busy that I haven't really had much time to worry about it.  In the last week and a half, I've had maternity pictures taken, two baby showers, done some Christmas shopping, had jury duty, chaperoned a youth dance and begun organizing the nursery, which is now covered in presents once again.  Oh well!  I will catch up with my to do list eventually, I hope! I'm going to try and do individual posts about some of those things but who knows when.  Tonight we have the youth Christmas party, Thursday we are cleaning the church, Friday is the ward Christmas party and Saturday is Thompson Family Christmas!  Don't you just love the holidays?!
Health wise, I'm doing really well which is a blessing for sure.  Lydia Jane is a super squirmer these days and the other day I even felt her foot or hand!  It was so cool but also weird.  I have felt her movements for a couple of months and my belly is in constant motion from her some days but that was the first time I actually felt her.  The best thing was that Cory was able to feel it too.  His response was "There is definitely an alien in there!" ha! Also, I've started to feel a little cramped.  I guess it is about time.  I can't bend over without feeling like my lungs are being flattened so I've started asking Cory to do a lot more for me.  Luckily, he is super awesome about helping me!  This girl definitely loves her personal space.  I can't even rest my arms on my belly without getting a nudge like "Excuse me, but this space belongs to me!"  AND she has started getting hiccups which is so weird.  My stomach will give a little shake every few seconds for five minutes or so and I get so distracted by it.  I try and shake my belly to scare her, but as far as I can tell, that doesn't work. :)

Two Years!

Today is our two year anniversary and I really can't believe it.  I simultaneously feel like it has been longer and shorter than that.  One thing I do know, it was the best decision I ever made.  I'm so grateful to be married to such a wonderful man for eternity!  Tonight we will be celebrating two years of awesome adventures and the many many more to come! :)

33 Weeks: Amazing Things

I had my "34 weeks" check up on Wednesday, again a week early. Maybe this will be a trend for everything pregnancy related from now on?!  *fingers crossed* :)  I was the very first appointment for the day and actually got there first so I was in and out in less than 30 minutes.  Everything looks good still and I only gained 2 pounds in the two weeks around Thanksgiving which I was super proud of! I've started taking salads for my lunches this week to be healthier and to hopefully keep my weight gain down to no more than a pound a week for the rest of the pregnancy.  I've done pretty well weight wise so hopefully I can do it.  I still have to make it through Christmas though...
Also, I've heard about 20 times in the past few weeks that I MUST be having a boy.  Ummm..no, it's a girl.  I don't really understand the need to even guess.  I realize there are good odds with 50/50, but still.  There is absolutely no way to tell from looking at me the gender of my unborn child. There also is no prize for guessing correctly, yet many people insist on trying. Someone asked my due date today and when I said January 18th she replied with "I thought you were going to say any day now!"  My response "I wish!" complete with a forced smile and laugh.  Pregnancy sure gives you lessons in holding your tongue!  I just wish all these inconsiderate people had the same ones.  I've learned to deal with it, it just never ceases to amaze me.  It reminds me of riding to church with my mom as a kid and passing the same man cutting his grass every week and my mom saying "I can't believe that man is out cutting his grass on Sunday!" every week.  Some things are just too amazing not to comment on no matter how frequently they occur, apparently. :)
The good thing is that even though there are people like that, there are also people like my best friend.  She read about the horrible week I was having and instead of leaving me a comment she brings me homemade blondies, which were super yummy.  Not that I do not appreciate the comments.  I definitely do, I just can't eat those. :)  She also brought along a super cute red head I was able to bribe into showing me her new walking skills with M&Ms.  There are people like my fellow counselor in YW who, after hearing me say how I was totally disappointed that the stake presidency had cancelled their weekly interview session, pulls out her phone, in which is programed Pres. Mayo's number, and calls him to find out what is going on.  First of all, the fact that she has a member of the stake presidency's number in her phone would surprise no one who knows her.  She is just that kind of girl, an awesome one.  Secondly, how great is it that she just does stuff like that without you having to ask her to do it?!  Turns out they were there and we were able to go and have our temple recommends renewed.  This was really important to me because they expired the next day and I wanted to be able to tell our children that we were never without a current temple recommend. And lastly, there are people like my husband who not only puts up with my ramblings about crazy hair brained schemes but has them completed as a surprise by the time I get home.   No matter how he feels about the state of my sanity these days, he is willing to do whatever he thinks will make me happy.  Or maybe he just doesn't want a crazy AND angry pregnant woman in the same house as him. :)  Either way, I'll take it.  I'm so very grateful to have so many people in my life who allow me to feel the love of my Heavenly Father through their love and service to me.  It is times like this that I am so thankful that there are so many people in my life who love the Lord because really, that's what it's all about.