You know that phrase "Fat and Happy?" I don't think it applies to women in the last weeks of their pregnancy. I mean, definitely the fat part but probably not so much the happy part. It's not that I'm unhappy, cause I'm not really that either. It's more like I'm uncomfortable. And tired and sore and kinda itching to get out of my own skin. Sometimes I wish I could just take my giant belly off for an hour so that I could get a few really good deep breaths in and relax.

All that's to say I'm a little over being pregnant at this point. I have been trying to remind myself that this is a terrific blessing and that there are people who would love to be in my shoes, er maternity pants. I need to remember to be grateful that my body not only is physically able to carry a baby to full term but that it also does pregnancy pretty well. But sometimes I find myself unable to look past the other things, like how I can't really bend down long enough to tie my tennis shoes or that washing dishes in the sink will inevitably soak the entire front of my shirt from my belly getting in the way.

Ok, no more Debbie Downer for the rest of this post. Like the title above says, we only have TWO weeks left! That seems so close and so far away all at the same time. Physically, I'm ready for this little dude to come on out! However, I have LOTS of people (my mom, especially) insisting that I hold him in until after Memorial Day weekend. No pressure, I guess. Realistically, I know it's best if we make it the whole way so having him stay put a little longer is ok with me too.

As of my last doctor's appointment, I had not begun to make any progress yet. My doctor is traveling all this upcoming week, so that's even more incentive for him to stay where he is! She estimates that he's already between 6 and 7 pounds and his heart rate was 140.
The best part of my last doctor's visit is that we set a date! June 1st is the official induction date unless he decides to come on his own before then.
I have not been taking weekly pictures but I did take one a couple weeks ago for comparison's sake. Go figure that when I went back to find the corresponding picture from Katie Wynn's pregnancy, it must've been a week that I skipped (probably because we were moving into our current house that week). So here are two somewhat-close pictures from both pregnancies. The one on the left is 37 weeks pregnant with KW. The {really terrible] one on the right is 35.5 weeks with little boy. I feel much, much bigger with him but the pictures don't really show it that way (at least, not in the belly).

Katie Wynn is a little bit obsessed with my belly. When she sees it, she says "Hi Baby!" and loves to pull up my shirt to give it kisses. Recently, she learned how to blow raspberries on it which I have a hilarious video of, but I just don't think I can bring myself to post my bare belly here for everyone to see. You'll have to take my word, it's pretty funny.
My lap keeps getting smaller but that hasn't stopped Katie Wynn and Lolli from always wanting to be in it. I like to text Matt pictures like these below and say something like, "Hey, can you see if anyone else wants to come sit in my lap too?" I have a feeling the lap-fullness won't end in two weeks either; I just hope baby brother doesn't get as squished when he's on the outside.

No need for a plate when your mama has a giant belly. You can just eat your string cheese right off of it! It can also hold a sippy cup and is a handy spot to rest your crayons during church.

We have made big strides in the nursery over the last couple of weeks. All of baby brother's clothes have been washed and put away in the new built-in wardrobe. Mom, Anna, and I completed one craft project last night, and we still have one left to wrap up. It's been painted and is currently in the woodshop drying. Hopefully it will get hung up this week...except that's gonna be the hardest part of the whole project! I have something I'm still waiting to get back from the framer too, but hopefully that will come soon and I can take pictures of the completed room. Fingers crossed that happens before he arrives.
We have also started pulling down all the baby stuff from the attic so Katie Wynn can get used to seeing it around the house. We had less furniture in our room when she was born so it was really easy to fit the bassinet in for her. This time, it barely squeaked in between two pieces with about an inch to spare. Talk about wall-to-wall furniture! We could technically do some rearranging but I've decided it's not worth it for just a few months of him sleeping in our room. I did at least take the pictures off the wall so it'd look a little less cluttered. :)

Somehow, even without us prompting her or telling her, she knew this is where the baby would sleep as soon as she saw it. She immediately stood on her tiptoes to look inside and then asked, "Baby?"

Still on the agenda for this week is to pull out all the bottles, drying racks, and other kitchen paraphernalia and get them cleaned up. I have enjoyed having clutter-free counter tops for the last year, but it's time to fill them back up!
My biggest accomplishment this weekend was getting my rings off! They really have not bothered me at all until I realized one day last week that my fingers were too swollen to take them off, and then it's all I could think about. It's like they were choking my finger! I decided I would wait and try early Friday morning in hopes that my fingers wouldn't be as swollen right after waking up. Bad idea, they weren't budging at all. The picture below on the left is after I had soaked my hand in ice and cold water, and lathered it in both soap and lotion. I had even threaded a piece of floss underneath it to help pull it off. It hurt BAD! Thank goodness for the cold snap we got on Saturday. I wasn't even thinking about it but I washed my hands and felt my ring turn on its own. I realized the swelling was down, gave it a good yank, and off it came! It's been off for almost 24 hours now and there's still an indention on my finger from where it was.

Here are some other random tidbits from this point in my pregnancy: restless legs are still in full force; I eat a lot of baby carrots + ranch and applesauce; I constantly feel out of breath; I'm to the point where I can't eat as much at one time because there's no room for it; I'm still drinking gatorade like it's my job.

Hopefully the next pregnancy-related update will be that I'm NOT pregnant anymore and that our baby boy has arrived! Let's just all pray that we make it to June 1st!