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38 weeks pregnant today! (Please ignore the fact that only one of my fingernails is painted. Oops!) Despite some common 3rd trimester aches and pains, I'm still feeling mostly great. My pubic bone hurts. It hurts when I try to roll over in bed. It sometimes hurts when I walk. It hurts when I get up from certain sitting positions. Annoying, but I know it's a sign that my pelvis is getting ready for baby. I'm getting up sometimes two or three times a night to pee. Mostly, I can fall back asleep. It stinks when I can't though! Despite baby dropping, heartburn is still an issue. I feel like I had a few days respite, but it is still bothering me. I think I get more stretch marks everyday! I was feeling like crap for a few days. Sore throat, coughing, runny nose, even a low fever! That was not fun. I was paranoid about going into labor when I was so tired and not feeling well. Happily, that's passed and I'm on the up and up. Still coughing a bit, but not ...

Thirty-five weeks! Strangers were nice this week. Instead of saying, "You're huge!" (which I feel), they say, "Congrats!" or "You look great!" (which is much appreciated). I found a few stretch marks. I say I found them, because they are on the underside of my belly. I'm actually not sure how long they have been there! And you know what? They bother me a lot less they I thought the would. As it gets colder, my clothing options become more and more limited. I basically live in this sweater. Its warm and cozy. Though, I can't wait until I can wrap it all the way around. :) (It's from  from Target , in case anyone is curious. I know Stargirl wanted to steal it from me.) I really need to work on my portion control. Sometimes, I get hungry and I eat way too much. Then, my tiny squished up little stomach is like, "NOPE!" and acid acid acid. No fun.  Looking in the mirror, when I'm not wearing any clothes is pretty weird....

29 weeks down! Somewhere between 8 and 13 weeks left to go! Still feeling fabulous! After too much time on my feet, I definitely develop a waddle swagger. But I'm pretty sure I walk normally most of the time! Shot my last wedding of the year this past Saturday. I was second shooting for a fabulous local photographer and it was a wonderfully casual backyard wedding with the yummiest selection of cakes! Bonus: did not feel like dying after the wedding was over. I was getting burger buns from the bakery at Publix when the sweetest woman (with the most adorable toddler) told me, "Oh my gosh! You're so cute! I couldn't even tell you were pregnant from behind!" Made. My. Day. Speaking of burger buns, this week has been the week of the cheeseburger! I ate a cheeseburger at FIVE different meals last week. Guess my body was trying to build up it's protein and iron! I'm sure it's the pregnancy helping me out here, but I really am embracing my natur...

Mossimo dress \\ Cynthia Rowley scarf \\ Kate Spade necklace \\ Xhilaration earrings \\ Aersoles shoes So, I know, last Saturday came and went with no bumpdate. Then Sunday, Monday and Tuesday wooshed by. And suddenly, it's Thursday. With my 28 week photos due the day after tomorrow, I decided to just skip week 27. As far as I can remember there isn't a whole lot of interesting to report about last week. Since I got a lot of compliments on my outfit today, I decided to do a quick SMP post. :) I got this dress from Target pretty soon after I found out I was pregnant. It didn't look very good on me, but it was $6 and I was pretty sure it would be useful in the coming months. I tried it on maybe around 20 weeks, and it still looked frumpy. Well, last night, as I'm trying to decide what to wear to my OB appointment (their scale always says I'm a few lbs heavier than mine does, so I wanted to dress as lightweight as possible, lol), I decided to try it ...

Holy moly! Twenty-five weeks already? This means we are 5/8ths of the way there. Mike and I have got somewhere between 12 and 17 weeks left until we get to meet Charlemagne. Isn't that crazy? Speaking of Charlemagne, I know those of you who come just for the photos and don't read any of the text. Because you ask me if Charlemagne is really what I'm going to name my baby . ;) I had a great prenatal appointment last week. I really liked my doctor and he even wrote "Charlemagne" down as the baby's name. He called him my "little leader" and said he could make no promises about the rest of the doctors pronouncing his name correctly. Haha! I feel the baby move all the time and it's still super cool. I also like watching for movement. Sometimes, if I feel a particularly prominent movement, I'll stop what I'm doing and just stare at my belly waiting to see it move again. One of my favorite things is when Mike and I are in bed and I m...

Happy 24 weeks! The big new this week is that we have reached viability . This is the point where the baby has a 50% chance of surviving outside my body. And it only gets better from here on out. Charlemagne is active as ever. And we are both loving it too. Sometimes, he can really be going to town in there. Maybe he'll be a spaz like his mommy. Charlemagne is the size of a cantaloupe. That seems so huge to me! He is 10.5-to-11.8-inch and weighs about 12.7 to 20.8 ounces. According to TheBump.com, my symptoms are supposed to be: swollen ankles and feet: nope leg cramps: nope back aches: only when I sit with bad posture for too long linea nigra: yep. from the top to the bottom. stretch marks: nope. We registered! We went to buybuy BABY to register together and then I also registered at Target. I've now got a lot of samples, several pacifiers, a bottle, and even a can of formula. Oh and coupons. Lots of coupons. We started our Bradley childbirth classes last M...

I never really thought I'd have maternity portraits done, but I had this idea brewing. One day, when I was chatting with my dear friend Amanda, I casually mentioned my idea. It involved things like a floral crown and a flowy dress. I think her response was something like "OMGYES!"  We agreed to start looking for a good flowy dress for the shoot and we'd go from there. By some miracle, I found this dress--a dress I had been hoping to find for ages--that same afternoon. We planned the shoot for five days later and we invited the rest of the  Shutterbuds . I know women rarely do maternity portraits this early in their pregnancy (21w3d), but with the flowy dress and some belly huggin', I think they turned out quite nicely. One of the neat things about playing model to so many photographers is that you have photos that were taken at the same time from different angles. It's neat to see how different people can see the same thing differently. But...

Yay! 21 weeks! This has been a wonderfully exciting week for us: Finally had our anatomy scan yesterday! I have a lot of friends who found out the gender much sooner than we were able to. But, surprisingly, I haven't minded the wait. Everything looked great at our scan. It was awesome to see our baby and all it's amazing baby parts. Mike and I were talking afterwards and how this verse had popped in both of our heads: For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. Psalm 139:13. I'm apparently measuring one week ahead. Not sure what the implications of that are and I didn't really think to ask. From my Googling, though, one week doesn't seem to be a huge deal. Mike felt the baby move for the first time this week! That was super thrilling for me.  I'm off to a wedding in a bit, which is why I'm all gussied up. Grateful, once more, for clothing that has been lent to me. Maternity dresses are still very tent...

xhilaration dress [borrowing] // belt from Target // Merona brown tights from // Mossimo Kylin ankle boot I didn't realize quite how much I was Targeting it up until I wore this dress. (Even my undies are from Target!) What can I say? I really love that store. This is one of the dresses that my very sweet sister has lent me. I wasn't even sure I'd like it when she came in toting TWO of these (the other is in pink), but I added a belt and some booties and I was in LOVE. I kind of feel like I'm rocking the hippie vibe just a little. Not my usual thing, but I'm a fan today! The skirt is a little shorter on me than I'd like, so I was happy it was cool enough to pair it with tights. Also, can I just say that I can't believe I've already worn long sleeves, tights, and boots! It's only August. However, we had a few days of record-breaking cool temperatures. Just like I find myself dreaming of summer in early spring, I cannot wait for fal...

We have finally made it to the halfway mark. Yay! I told Mike we were halfway and he started singing Bon Jovi.  In fact, he's been doing that every time I mention that we are halfway and it always makes me laugh. Charlemagne has been more active lately and it has been so wonderful. I love feeling him move inside of me! Got to hear Charlemagne heartbeat this week. It was magical. Have yet to cry at hearing the heartbeat or seeing an ultrasound, though. I'm basically in awe that something is growing inside my body. This is crazy stuff! We have our anatomy scan next week! So excited to see our little baby! Somedays, I feel like I am ALWAYS hungry and trying to eat healthy has not always been my status quo. I love junk food...but I also don't want to gain too much weight. No buying Oreos, powdered doughnuts or Doritos for this gal, no matter how tempting they may look. So, I've been making sure I have lots of healthy but yummy snacks to help me avoid temptation....