Preggers V: 39 Weeks

Disclaimer -- this is a very realistic 39 weeks pregnancy post... not my most upbeat or positive post about pregnancy.

How far along?  

39 weeks, 2 days

Comparisons:

39 Weeks with Addallee 

 

 38 Weeks with Tracey

 
35 Weeks with the Twins... because they were born at 36 weeks 1 day, and I never took a 36 week picture.

How I am feeling?  

Well... physically I'm feeling really well.  The rest of me is just annoyed.  It is hard to have plans in place for going into labor with four small kids and a working husband and parents 2 hours away.  I'm annoyed that I haven't had the baby when I've been ready to have the baby for several weeks now.  We're getting closer and closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas and I'd like a few weeks with the baby prior to those Holidays, but so far... its still cooking.

How big is the baby?  

The size of a pumpkin (hopefully a small pumpkin) -- 19.9 inches long, 7.23 pounds

 

Sleep:  

I'm still sleeping really well for which I am very grateful.

Boy/Girl Predictions:  

Nope.  I just want to know.

Baby Nicknames: 

"Baby" 

  Best moment this week:  

Hubby and I had a babymoon getaway this past weekend, and that was wonderful.  It was very relaxing and we had a great time.

 

Food cravings:  

Chocolate chip cookies and Starbucks peppermint mocha!  Yum!

 
 

Missing:  

I feel like I've been in a bad mood lately.  I like to plan out the week, I like to know how things are going to go... and I'd like to know when I'm going to have the baby.  It is annoying not to know.  But I don't want to just plan for another week of being pregnant because that's getting annoying too and I'm ready to be done working.  I miss when I enjoyed being pregnant.  I am not enjoying it at the moment.

Exercising:  

I've been trying and I really enjoy it when I do exercise, but the workouts before school/work have been less and less.  My time in the morning just seems to be filled with getting everyone out the door.  I'm not sure if I'm moving more slowly or sleeping later or what, but workouts before work/school just have not been happening.  I should try to make them happen every day this week knowing that I will have to give my body a little break after I have the baby.

Movements:  

Yes, and I really enjoy them... except every time I feel the little feet moving around, I just want to cuddle the actual little feet of a newborn.  

Labor Signs:  

Yes... but not enough to be in labor yet.  I've been having signs of labor for WEEKS which adds to the frustration at this point

 

General Attitude:   

Well, as you can tell... a little frustrated by this point.  I am trying to enjoy the last days with our four little ones, and sharing my room with just Hubby and not a newborn.  Sunday night was really fun with Howard and Tracey playing indoor basketball with Hubby, and Lee Lee and Caroline helping each other feed the animals and then play at our writing desk.  

But I just want to be able to plan the week and plan the Holidays and know when the baby is going to come.  Tracey has to take snack to school on Tuesday and has a Field Trip on Thursday... and I'd like to know if I will be in the hospital on either of those days and who will be in charge if I am.  I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that it is best for the baby to come on his own in his or her own time... but I also see how much more convenient it is for a mother to plan a C-Section or induction and mark it on her calendar weeks in advance.

 

 What I am looking forward to this week:  

Umm... having the baby... if I have the baby.  Other than that, I don't know.  Maybe hanging some Christmas lights so that's done before the baby comes.  I wish I could say I was looking forward to my last day of work... but I just want to be done seeing students.  I want to finish this pregnancy strong, just like I would a workout program or running race, but its so hard when I don't know when the end is.
The truth is, this is very normal for me at the end of pregnancy.  I don't remember it so much with Tracey, but the the twins, I was very uncomfortable and just getting through every day waiting for them to arrive.  And I know with Addallee I was ready and frustrated because I carried her longer than anyone else.  So, I am par for the course -- I just want to know when the baby's coming so I can plan and reserve my strength accordingly.

 

 

Milestones: 

Hubby and I had our babymoon, and I've now carried this baby longer than I carried Tracey or the twins.

Chris' - The Streak is Broken

Every great run comes to an end.  This is a reality.  However, it wasn't supposed to happen until years down the road when we surpassed the total World Series wins of the overpaid Yankees.

Yes, last night the Cardinals lost to the Giants. They didn't just loose, they were stomped.
They had some hits, but failed to score a single run.  In fact, they only scored one run in the last three games!

They only had to win one of the last 3 games, but they choked.  They started the series off winning 3 of 4 games, then they couldn't pull it together.

Going back to the amazing World Series win of last year, we had won 6 straight elimination games.  Yesterday that streak was broken.

We were excited for a St. Louis/Detroit World Series, but we will just have to hold on to the memory of beating Detroit in 2006.

The Cardinals are mourning.
St. Louis is mourning.
Half of the Miller house is mourning.

Some kid came up to me this morning to give me a box of Kleenex.
Brat.

But she was right, we'll get them next year.
At least we haven't had to wait over a hundred years like Cub fans.

Sometimes and Always

Sometimes and Always -- a little angry
I'm sorry, but we all have those days.



Sometimes: I have really bad days
Always: I consume more junk food on those days than the average day

Sometimes:  I get really angry (at any number of things) and stay fuming for hours
Always: It takes a couple of stupid jokes, but my hubby can always, eventually, get me to laugh

Sometimes: I feel like my hubby and I have no money
Always: We have a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, and happy, healthy animals, so things really are not too bad

Sometimes: I disagree with the political posts people put on facebook
Always: I "Hide this post"

Sometimes: I get tired of driving half of my work day
Always: Anne of Green Gables and other characters make the drive go by more quickly

Sometimes:  I get incredibly frustrated with the public education system
Always: I am grateful for the paycheck.

Sometimes: I crave a really specific meal or snack
Always: Once that craving gets into my system, I will likely continue to crave it for the next 3-5 days -- my hubby doesn't understand, he doesn't even like leftovers  :-D

Sometimes: After a full day of work, I continue to work long into the evening at home
Always: I eventually have a day when I just CAN'T keep working and I need an 10-12 hour break!

Out of Sorts

Yesterday, I was just out of sorts.  Do you ever have a day when you're just out of sorts?  I do and yesterday was one.

I told myself all day how fortunate I was and how the things that were irritating me were blessings and NOT IRRITATING at all in the big scheme of life, and when I consider the REAL problems in this world, and I prayed that the Lord would change my heart to one of gratitude instead of cantankerous... unfortunately, I remained moody and irritable.

I was simply out of sorts.  The below book could be called "Brookie and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" today...

via

I went to PINTEREST and searched "Bad Mood" and "Bad Day" and didn't get any matches that actually fit Bad Mood or Bad Day -- I got matches with picture captions like "Mood Boards" and "I want this so bad", but nothing regarding a bad mood or bad day... or even to get out of a bad mood or bad day.  I think the answer here is that people don't come to Pinterest in a bad mood... 

On Pinterest, this picture had me laughing pretty hard...

via

In an effort to put mind over matter and kick this crabby attitude, I didn't what any modern 20-something would do: I GOOGLED "How to get out of a bad mood"  The results were relatively useful and definitely amusing...

Women's Day Magazine had some fun suggestions

• Start a Blog (this suggestion made me laugh out loud as I had already begun this post when I did the Google search... guess I'm ahead of the game already)
• Put yourself in the movies (I wasn't quite sure what to do with this... they suggested that you imagine what a movie character would do... I don't know that my bad mood imagination is that good)
• Touch your toes (Dr. Oz says this relieves stress)
• Tune Up The Tunes and Show off your moves (I think these go together... guess its time to sing and dance... Good thing my hubby isn't home at the moment)
• Put photos on the fridge (Evidently, people are happier with many family photos in their home... I actually have a lot of family photos in our home, so I hate to think how moody I would be if they weren't there...)
• Create a new code (Their suggestion is to change a password on email or something to something fun... I'm pretty sure I would promptly forget that I changed the password, which would not make my day better)
• Send out good vibes (They suggest that you text three friends and tell them what you like about them... well, I did write three letters today -- you remember, the old fashioned text message/email)

All in all, some fun, if not funny suggestions... I was having fun by this point sharing suggestions and my thoughts on the suggestions, so I checked out a few more sites including Dumb Little Man -- this should be interesting:

• Fight the urge to mope (This is good advice and something I do need to fight when I'm in a bad mood...)
• Laugh (my hubby would love this advice... I just have a hard time laughing when I'm in a bad mood.  Things I usually find funny suddenly become annoying and patronizing... the Dumb Little Man did have a link to a laughing yoga video, so I felt I should try his laughing yoga technique in order to appropriately judge the suggestion -- I think I scared my cat with my crazy laughing, but I think my mood was a little better afterwards...)

• Take an Action Toward a Goal (I think this is good advice... even when I'm in my worst moods, if I can talk myself into starting just a small step of a project, I know I'm going to feel better -- just start one load of laundry, just vacuum one room -- just unload the dishwasher, I know I'm going to feel better and I'll probably be on a role and I'll keep cleaning)
• Exercise (This is great advice as well, although, I confess exercise is one of the toughest things for me to do when I'm in a bad mood)
• Treat Yourself (He suggests maybe chocolate cake or a movie... well, when I eat junk food when I'm in a bad mood, I don't really think of it as "Treating Myself" so much as I think of my trying to find comfort in food -- which is a bad habit, so I don't agree with this advice -- I don't think I should reward myself for being in a bad mood)

Well, that's the skinny for today... my opinion on a few suggestions to change your mood.  But I have to say, I think the very first suggestion "Start a Blog" may be one of the best... because, at the end of this blog post, I'm feeling better.

I think the bottom line of the entire post, and the entire point of getting out of a bad mood is well summed in this picture from PINTEREST

via

Thanks, y'all.  :-D

My Week In Review May 15

This week has certainly had its highs and lows for me... in fact, just the weekend itself have had highs and lows for me.

LOW

Last weekend, I did not get to see Chris at all. Its official, if I don't get to see Chris on the weekends, for me, it might as well be another work day.

My roommates and I had some pretty serious prayer requests this week (we pray together every night) and this week was just such a reminds of the EVIL that we fight and how helpless humans are without the Lord.

Lastly, my wedding dress was a low of this week. My mom brought it out to Colorado for what we thought was going to be the FINAL try-on... and found... the dress still needs work. MAJOR WORK. The trouble has been the seamstress is in Michigan and I live in Colorado so fittings have been limited. Mom and I realized in no uncertain terms that we needed to find a different seamstress in Denver to help us with the dress IMMEDIATELY.

The whole thing was incredibly stressful and we won't be able to meet with her until today. As of late, I am exhausted and emotional and easily overwhelmed and so the situation has been a big low of the week.

HIGHS

My highs this week have been numerous as well (Praise God!). It has been wonderful to pray with my roommates every night about these HUGE and life threatening situations and trust that these requests are best kept in our Father's hands.

Friday evening, my roommates and I were blessed to host a Mary Kay pampering party that I won at a bridal show. We had friends over and sampled products and had a lot of fun!

All our beautiful faces after the pampering

Not only did I get to see Chris this weekend, but I got to see my mom this weekend too!

There was a bridal shower for me in Eagle on Saturday and it was a BLAST. It was so much fun, but I think it was made even MORE fun given that Mom and I spent Saturday morning rushing too and from Denver (4 hours round trip) to deal with dress drama... by 2:00, a relaxing, fun celebration with friends and family was EXACTLY what I needed. A huge thank you to Chelsea from Adventures In Colorado for hosting this beautiful and enjoyable event.

Here is the beautiful Chelsea and me
She went on to facebook and printed all sorts of pictures of Chris and me and created this beautiful bouquet of "Chris and Brooke"

We are now the proud owners of an Iron Skillet!

Jon and Chris drove around in the mountains during the shower and Chelsea specifically had a gift for Chris -- a baseball serving tray!
This was the gift bow from my colleague in the vision department -- a bow made of protective safety glasses!
My roommate, Maggie, even found this awesome University of Michigan tumbler glasses for us (in Colorado, no less). Chris and I were REALLY excited to get these! Thanks, Maggie!

LESSON of the Week

I think my lesson of the week was the reminder that God is the keeper of my emotions, keeper of my time, keeper of my sleep... and faithful in all of these things. He is trustworthy in all things large and small and He is keeper of all the tears of an exhausted and emotional bride. There were as many tears of joy as tears of frustration.

For more weeks in review, visit Amy.

Breathe and Reboot

Do you ever have one of those days that you are SO glad to bid farewell in anticipation that tomorrow HAS to be better than today? The type of day when you tell yourself forty times that "His mercies are new every morning, new every morning, great is Your faithfulness, Oh Lord, great is Your faithfulness." If only you can get to that NEW MORNING, things will look up.

Today... it wasn't even the whole day... more like, this afternoon and this evening was One of THOSE days. I was in a lousy mood -- for really no reason that I could identify... and then as the evening progressed, it gave me a few reasons. Thank you for letting me vent as I let the sun set on this day and WELCOME tomorrow with open arms:

• I was the only one to show up to my exercise group tonight
• While waiting to see if anyone would show up for the group, a kid walked up to where I was sitting on the floor and stepped on my phone... and stood on it until I called to his attention that he was standing on my phone and could he please move
  
• When I left the exercise group, I discovered a flat tire on my car
• *** Now I have to admit here, that the Lord really did have my back on this one, because if I hadn't left exercise class early because no one was there, I wouldn't have made it to Costco before it closed and I wouldn't have been able to have my tire fixed before I got home. I feel very fortunate -- but I am still happy to see this day retire.
• I was supposed to head to the store to pick up groceries, but instead I hung out at Costco while they fixed my tire -- and yes, I know Costco sells groceries, but I didn't need Costco bulk groceries, I needed City Market groceries
• By the time I got home I was HUNGRY and I hadn't gotten groceries so I settled for frozen pizza
• While I was making my dinner, my roommate informed me that Lexie ate the pineapple off her pizza when she wasn't looking and she wanted to know if pineapple is bad for cats... the fact that Lexie got sick in my room indicates, in case you were wondering, pineapple is bad for cats
  
• And with my reserve weakened after my rough evening, I then helped myself to Ben and Jerry's ice cream -- not great for the bride-to-be diet

The day certainly had redeeming qualities, not the least of which was that my wonderful husband-to-be contacted friends of ours in Eagle about my tire issues and they were ready and willing to loan me their spare car tomorrow if I wasn't able to get my tire fixed tonight. I am VERY grateful for Chris' provision and our friends' generosity... but I am glad I did not have to take them up on their offer.

Even with the redeeming parts of the day, I am happy to bid this day farewell and anticipate the new resolve and new mercies of tomorrow morning!

Breathe and Reboot. Great is His faithfulness. Thank you for good friends.

Blog Fonts

So, the fonts of my blog are driving me CRAZY -- because they are not staying! This is not the third day in a row when I look at the fonts on the blog and they are different from what they were yesterday... so I work with a friend to help me fix them... then the next morning I wake up and the fonts are different again.

Blogger seems to be in love with Times New Roman because every font on the blog (other than my post) seems to INSIST - EVERYDAY on being Times New Roman. I HATE TIMES NEW ROMAN FONT!!!! Pretty much any font I would take over Times New Roman.

Does anyone have ANY IDEA why my fonts have a mind of their own?

Thanks for the feedback...

P.S. The MINUTE I posted this post, half of the fonts on my blog changed from Times New Roman back to the fonts I prefer. I'm beginning to think I'm going CRAZY!