Third Trimester Post

As of a week ago, we have officially entered into the third and final trimester of this pregnancy. This is WONDERFUL news as far as I am concerned but I am savoring my final days of freedom(and sleep) as we prepare for Caroline's arrival. In honor of making it to the third trimester I am going to acknowledge the top 10 most wonderful and less than wonderful things about pregnancy, as far as I am concerned!

Positives:

* I love, Love, LOVE feeling Caroline growing bigger and stronger every day. I feel so lucky that I get to enjoy this sweet little miracle every day and wish that Chris could feel just how amazing this truly is! She is getting much stronger, and sometimes it is a bit painful if she kicks in certain places, but most of the time I just smile and dream about how she is preparing for her life with us. Amazing!
* I am so excited to be having a Baby Girl! I am really looking forward to "girl time"(and we will have plenty of it!) once our little one gets here. Neither of our families have had many baby girls, so hair bows and dresses will be new and exciting around here for quite some time!
* Watching the joy that the hope of this little girl brings to our families! I feel so grateful that we have been given this gift to share with the people that mean the most to us. My family and Chris' family are both so excited about their new family member... it's been quite a while since either has had a new baby in the family!
* I have had a blast preparing for our little girl! This is of course a work in progress at this point, but for the most part I have picked out all of our "baby gear", nursery furniture and bedding, and have been given some of the sweetest baby girl things I have ever seen! Just a hint, Lots of pink!;-) I can't help but get a bit giddy every time we get something new. I am loving preparing to bring Caroline home for her to start her life with us!
* I am really enjoying the final months of Chris and I being "just the two of us". I think just knowing that we will soon become a family of 3 has made Chris and I appreciate each other and the precious time that we have together more. While we cannot wait to be a family, I think these last few months of memories and precious sleep will serve us well once the girlie-girl arrives!

Negatives:

* Morning Sickness- need I say more?! Unfortunately I am one of the unlucky few that has horrible morning sickness and it sticks around! The first 4 months were completely debilitating, but I have experienced steady improvement over the past 2-3 months. I am STILL sick everyday, but I have learned to live with it! I just get up, am sick for a few hours, and then I force myself to get dressed and go have lunch with Chris. After I eat, I feel much better so that keeps me going! I am finally gaining weight, yay!!
* I am so grateful to have this baby, but I don't necessarily love that my body has been taken over by this foreign person and is being morphed into something that barely reminds me of it's previous state. I am looking forward to having her in my arms so that I can have MY body back!
* I have many of the common pregnancy problems that other women experience, but consider them par for the course. Heartburn has become something that I deal with on an hourly basis. However, I just remind myself that it will go away when she's born and she is so worth it. I eat Tum's like they are candy! But, maybe she will have a head full of hair and then I will be grateful for the heartburn!
* With the change in my body came a change in my posture and with THAT comes a backache! I have a hard time getting comfortable in chairs or in the bed. Once again, par for the course and I'm fine with that!
* Finally, I am somewhat disappointed that I may not be able to go to many Alabama Football games this year... Boooo! I look forward to football season all year long and love that we have season tickets to see the team first hand in t-town. I hope to make it to a few home games, but if it is as hot as it was last year, it may not be in our(mine and Caroline's) best interest to go to all of the games. I am sending Chris to all of the games, unless I think Caroline might be coming that day, so he won't miss much. I, however, will have to put myself on a game to game basis and decide on game day if I'm up for it... so unfortunate!!! ROLL TIDE!=) On the upside, a lot of the big SEC games are away this year so we will be able to watch them together here at the house with some friends. I AM looking forward to this!

On a side note, The Baby's Room called today and said that our furniture is already in! Wow!!! This throws my schedule off a bit as we are yet to clean out the baby's room or paint the walls. I've picked out bedding, but assumed that I would have another two weeks(weekends) to get her bedding in, her room and bathroom painted, and get ready for furniture. This is an adjustment that I am willing to make, it just pushed my plans up a bit! I am happy that we should be able to get the room situated(aside from minor decor) before football season.

I hope everyone is having a great week!!!