Birthday Season is Upon Us & I Can't See My Belly Button Anymore

Just a quick baby update. She is not here yet... but if I were to take a guess, it would be next week when we get to meet our new little girl. Technically, tomorrow marks week 38 and that is when I had both Nathan and Hannah. I had my 38 week check up today and we decided to forego the internal check just to keep anything from breaking. 

I met the last midwife that I have yet to meet today and I really like her. She's totally relaxed and as Bohemian as you can get. In her introduction she told me today that she has had 4 kids, all delivered by midwives, and the last one she delivered herself. What?  She is also from Africa (or has lived in Africa for awhile) and she learned this trick to tell how far dilated you are without actually checking. Apparently as your cervix thins out towards the bottom, it thickens up top, so by feeling the thickness, she can have a pretty good idea how far things are coming along. Based on this method, she thinks I am about 2cm dilated. 

I'm starting to get slightly uncomfortable contractions that start towards my back and radiate towards the front. It occurs sporadically, so we can be safe that labor is not starting yet. 

And this week, I officially can't see my belly button anymore (unless I'm looking in a mirror). No matter how I try to lift the belly, bend my body forwards, I can't see my belly button. This has not happened with Nathan or Hannah so it's kind of weird to me. I've been trying to take a picture a week to document the bump growth. I think it'll be neat to put them all together afterwards to show the overall growth. 

Baby is kicking a lot more than normal. Her bottom shifts from being on my right side to being on my left. The midwife told me that while having the body on the left side is more optimal in birth, having her be on the right may not be a bad thing because it may slow down my labor, giving me extra time to get to the birthing center. In the meantime, I have puppy pads, paper towels and wet wipes in the back of the car. 

Last week I was able to attend Body Pump without a problem, but when I tried Zumba, I felt very restricted in my movements. It was starting to get a bit uncomfortable, so I called it quits early and went next door to get a bagel. 

Dear Nathan and Hannah, 

We started to use the gift cards that you guys had received for your birthdays. Nathan, you pretty much think you are the coolest kid when you strutted up to the chick-fil-a counter, ordered your meal, and swiped your card. You are starting to kind of understand the concept of a gift card and you have connected that concept to credit cards (which is what I usually use to buy things at the store). The idea of "putting money in a card" was just too abstract for you to understand, but somehow, with the gift card, you are starting to get it. 

Hannah, you wanted your own lego set, so we picked out a lego Jrs. set. You started to put the bricks together, but when you saw the little things that came with the Legos, you were completely distracted and started to play with those things, leaving Nathan to put your Legos together (which he gladly did without complaining.) 

This past weekend we got to attend 2 birthday parties! Here are 2 of the best pictures that I took of just both of you. This was at Locomotion, the same place where Nathan, you had your 3rd birthday party (although it was at a different location).

 On Labor Day, our neighborhood had a BBQ lunch fundraiser to help with the people affected by hurricane Harvey. We arrived at the pool early in the morning to get some cool pool time in and then had a delicious lunch by the pool. Hannah and Daddy were doing some tricks...(I can see a cheerleader in the works)

 And Nathan, you splashed around with your new end of season clearance aisle find friend.

Hannah, I am finding that your taste buds are becoming closer and closer to mine. Nathan, you turn your nose up at a lot of the more uncommon ingredients like scallops, shrimp, salmon skin, etc. while Hannah has learned to love them and will quickly say, "Well, I'll take it!" when you announce that you don't like something.

On Sunday, we attended another birthday party. This time it was a joint birthday party for all of Nathan's birthing center buddies.

 There was a pinata involved...

 And with so many siblings and friends now a days, getting a group picture was quite the impossible feat.

 We gave up, and just had everyone help blow out the candles on the cupcakes.

Tomorrow, you two start preschool at Bethany. This year it will be Nathan's last year and there's all sorts of feelings that go with that thought. I'll have lots of pictures to post next week.

Nathan, you may have your very first crush on a girl! When I went to go pick you up today, your teacher told me how you just kept going on about how this new girl, Hazel, is just so pretty. On the car ride home, you told me about her and you expressed that you wish she could join our family. After the incident that happened with your last fiance, (you broke it off because you found out that she likes to eat dog food) I ended up stop to explain to you the whole courting, dating, engagement and marriage process. And when you found out that you have to be 18 (16 in some states) to get married, you exclaimed, "Oh man, that's a long time to wait!" Don't worry son, it takes time and I encouraged you to be friends with Hazel and just enjoy spending time with her each Wednesday.

I thought it was so cute how you remembered what she was wearing (blue hello kitty shirt and pink skirt) and you tried to imitate the sound of her "pretty voice." I think this is just so adorable and I need to remind myself not to make too big of a deal out of it. I think this is a major milestone.

Hannah has had a runny nose for the past 2 days so we decided not to let you go to school today. I proclaimed it to be mommy and Hannah day and while we didn't do too many special things, the 1-on-1 attention was enough to convince you that it is way more fun to hang out with me than to go to school. Hmm... hopefully your mind will change soon.

Well, that's about it for the week. We have a busy next few days, but afterwards, it's smooth sailing until baby arrives. (Which you guys are so excited about and Nathan prays every night for the baby to come the next day)

Love,
Mommy