Goodbye second tri! {28+ weeks}

The second trimester was really good to me.

My acne completely cleared up, I started sleeping through the night again without having to get up to pee, I had lots of energy, felt great and eventually gained a lot of weight (maybe not so good...).

We announced the pregnancy, found out the gender, and started feeling her move a lot.

I have mixed feelings about moving on to the third trimester...

I am sad to be leaving such a great trimester for one that I hear is not as awesome,

but I am excited to keep moving forward and getting closer to meeting our baby girl!

This next trimester also brings a lot of craziness with it:

my final term of school
attempting to finish 10 weeks of school work in 6 weeks

planning our move

packing for our move

cleaning for our move

moving home--12 hour drive

downsizing to live in 1 room

Chris starting rotations aka being gone full time

and finally preparing for our baby!

I am excited but really overwhelmed at the same time. 

I haven't blogged about my pregnancy lately because I wanted my belly to be (more of) a surprise to my family, who I am visiting in Utah right now for spring break!
So here's what's up:

The most recent belly shot.

Movement:

Looooove feeling her move. My favorite movements are when something glides across my belly.

She is a little mover and groover and gets the hiccups a lot.

Every night when we get in bed she puts on a show for Chris and gets really active.
And she is just starting to reach my ribs...not so much fun when she kicks up there!

Maternity clothes:
I am still wearing my pants but can no longer button them comfortably, so belly band it is.
I still refuse to pay $100 for maternity pants without trying them on (online is the only place to find them long enough) so I will most likely hold out and just deal with the belly band and maybe get some cheap maternity capris when the weather warms up!

Symptoms:
Tired, tired, tired and emotional.
When I am tired I get extra emotional.
I have mild anemia and never get 8 hours of sleep at night (night owl here) which adds up to being tired.
Plus there was a lot of stress going on with my finals and Chris' boards.
Now that those are over I am soaking up time with family and the sun in Utah and I feel SO much better emotionally.

Sleep:

Besides getting to bed too late, I sleep great!

I hardly ever have to get up to pee which is so nice.

And when I roll over in the middle of the night I always feel baby girl kicking.

Appointments:
Took the glucose test (yuck), found out I have mild anemia and was told to cool it on the weight gain.
It's frustrating because for so long I wasn't gaining weight and kept getting told to gain and now I am gaining too much!

This week I am going to my doctor in Utah that I will be switching to and I am excited.

My sister and sister-in-law both go to her and LOVE her but she wasn't accepting new patients so I was planning to go to someone else. 

On leap day my sister-in-law had her baby boy (coolest birthday ever?!) and talked Dr. Ponder into seeing me! I feel pretty lucky!

Cravings:

Currently obsessed with PB&J sandwiches with freezer jam!

And I still love junk food--which is why I am getting chubby!

I have really been packing on the pounds...but I can't help it, all I want to do is eat.

And I used to have this amazing metabolism where I could eat whatever I wanted...come back!

I still have 12 weeks to go, so I am trying to pretend that losing the baby weight will be a fun challenge.

Nesting:
What's that?

In other news:
CHRIS IS DONE WITH BOARDS!
This is some of the happiest news ever!
It was 2 days of testing, 3 1/2 hours each morning and afternoon, and 500 questions total.
It took months of preparation and studying + dealing with an emotional, needy wife.
During his testing we (me and baby) sent Chris this silly picture...he loved it!

I am SO excited to finally spend some time together again!
It has been really hard for me to handle his constant studying, especially when I feel like our time alone is ending so soon.


Things are definitely feeling really real now that I am in the third trimester.
We are so excited to meet this girl!

Visitors!

3 weeks ago some of my favorite people, Amy and Sarah, came up to visit!

Amy and I went to elementary through high school together and became good friends in high school.

In elementary school when I broke my arm and had a cast on for 3 months she was the nicest person who suggested that whenever I was "in" for 4-square everyone else had to play with just one arm too, to make it fair. I've loved her ever since!

Sarah and I became good friends our senior year through punching wars in seminary--seeing who could get the other to bruise bigger. We're so nice. And I've loved her ever since!

They got a nice taste of our winters here = rainy and gray!

 After picking them up at the airport our first stop was Multnomah Falls.

Me, Amy and Sarah

We hiked to the top through the drizzling rain.

 Once we reached the top it really started to pour!

We were soaked by the time we made it back down to the car.

We stopped at the Pittock Mansion on our way to Forest Grove.

My personal fave...portrait of a cat. Wth?

The next day we drove through rain and a little bit of snow to the coast and went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

 So entertaining to watch the workers cut the cheese.

We also had some of their delicious ice cream.

 Then we went to Cape Mears.

  And Cannon Beach.

Brrrr... it was so windy and cold!

 

On Monday we went to the Portland Japanese Gardens,

Powell's City of Books,

and Voodoo Doughnuts.

Portland's Motto.

 Voodoo Doughnuts =Yum!

Half eaten maple bar, triple chocolate donut and a dirt donut.

They have the craziest donuts ever but they are so delicious!

And after a weekend of donuts, peanutbutter m&ms, chocolate chip cookies, gummy worms, cheetos, fruit snacks, crackers, and ice cream....this is what I look like.

Such a nice pregnancy glow wouldn't you say?

Not pictured:

Sarah using her missionary tactics on Amy to commit her to doing something.

"Have you guys seen {insert movie title here}?" being added to every conversation by Sarah, movie extraordinaire. 

Amy and Sarah solving my cookie baking woes.

Introducing Amy and Sarah to Finding Bigfoot (more on this in another post).

Lots and lots of laughing.

Did I miss anything?

We had such a good time while they were here and I was sad to see them go!

Thanks for coming to visit guys, it was a blast!

Love these girls!

*all pictures were provided by Amy and Sarah (except the fat face)--thanks guys!

**If you're wondering where Chris was in all these pictures...he had to miss out on a lot of fun to study for boards!