Hello 3rd Trimester

28 weeks!!! Wow! Only 10-14 more weeks before Ben arrives! I am so looking forward to him getting here. Things really have started to feel different the last few weeks. I'm starting to feel more and more ready for his birth. By that I mean, I'm not feeling so scared about it but more excited. I really think that by the time February is here I won't be nervous about it, I'll just be so ready to have him that I'll do anything.

We are 28 weeks people!!! Only 10-14 more to go! WHOA!
I feel like this belly is really starting to pop out. Just in the last few days I've noticed it is starting to get in the way of things. I run into stuff thinking I can slip by like I used to, and at the dinner table I have to stick my neck out way far to  be able to eat over my plate. I guess I can just start using my belly as a table pretty soon!

I've slowed down a little. The insomnia has set in and I'm awake in the middle of the night. What gets me is how hungry I am. I wake up at 2 am starving. And I dont want to eat anything really, but I feel like I have to or I will never be able to fall back asleep. I used to judge a little, the pregnant women that would share stories of sending their husbands out to Taco Bell or Burger King at 1am. I just thought how ridiculous... but I think I sort of get it now. I doubt I will ever ask Noel to do that. I normally just go spoon some yogurt or cottage cheese into my mouth to get my tummy to stop rumbling. But I can see where these women are coming from. If you don't really have anything to munch on in the house I guess sending your husband out is your best option.

This appetite of mine is no joke sometimes. When I do the grocery shopping, I come home with twice as much stuff as Noel does when he goes. It's dangerous.

So what's happened these past few weeks?

We had a nice family trip to Mount Vernon, George Washington's house, a few weekends back. It was really neat! I am glad we went out there. It's beautiful there. Lina seemed to not care so much about seeing the house and the farm. Her favorite parts of the tour were rolling down the hill in the back yard and the gift shop. Haha, reminds me of when I was a kid and my Granny would take Evan and I on tours of historical homes. I think I spent most of the time whining that the house smelled funny. I can really appreciate historic stuff like this now though.

Ben is 26 weeks at Mount Vernon. Look at my 28 week picture. Do you see a difference?

In George's backyard with a beautiful view of the Potomac River

I have been having some interesting dreams the past few weeks. My favorite is the one where I open up my belly and take Ben out to hold him, dress him in his newborn clothes, and then I put him back in.

We threw Lina her 8th birthday party last weekend at Chuck E. Cheese.  It was pretty awesome. She had a blast. We left exhausted, but feeling good that we were able to give her such a happy and memorable party.

I had my sugar test recently. Noel was so great. He came and held my hand while they drew my blood. I was afraid, because the last 2 times I've had my blood drawn the nurse has had trouble getting my vein (apparently because our veins constrict and hide when we are scared) and I had to get stuck in both arms til they could get it. And one time I fainted. I have fainted several times around needles. So, I get a little nervous every time. But this time it was surprisingly easy and not as painful as the other times. So that was a relief! I haven't heard anything about the results yet. I'm hoping that means everything is good.

Noel and I went to a out to lunch recently and the hostess asked if we wanted a table or a booth. I said booth. We got to the booth and the hostess says to me, "Do you think you're going to fit?" I look at her with a scowl, "Are you kidding me!?" The booth was huge! There was plenty of space. A 400 lb person could fit in that booth! I just couldn't believe how stupidly rude this girl was to say that to me. She said it was because recently a pregnant lady came in and didn't fit in the booth because of her belly. But still.... you don't say that! You let me get in and if I'm not comfortable I say so myself and we move. And she could at least have said something more politely like, "Are you going to be comfortable here?"

Our waitress at IHOP yesterday was so sweet. She told me "You look so beautiful." That made me so happy. I wish more people would say nice things to me like that instead of pointing out how huge I am.  Yes, I know I have a big belly. I can't believe I have 2 and a hald more months and it's going to getting even bigger. Probably will even double. I'm just not one of those tiny petite pregnant ladies, and I know that. But please don't tell me what I already know. Pregnant ladies really do not enjoy you telling them how big they are!

Our Thanksgiving was quiet and simple. Just me and Noel at our apartment. But it was still really nice. Noel cooked me a huge special Thanksgiving dinner, even though I told him I thought it was ridiculous to make all that food for just us. But I am so glad he did. It was delicious and really nice to have a special meal on Thanksgiving, especially since we couldn't go spend the holiday with family like we had hoped. I probably should have skipped getting the pumpkin pie. Since it's here I can't help but eat it... I've almost finished the whole pie by myself since Thursday. Buttery fatty Thanksgiving food did not help my "Don't tell me I'm huge" cause. Noel even made his own cranberry sauce, even though I told him it would be ok to just by the can. Well he was right not to listen to me. It was amazing. Way better than that canned stuff! Apparently it's super easy to make. Anyway, thanks honey for giving me a special Thanksgiving meal. Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. It's even more special to me now, because it marks the anniversary of when I met Noel for the first time because he signed up to host scrubby Peace Corps Volunteers.

My yummy meal! Complete with baked mac n' cheese!
To me, it just ain't Thanksgiving without baked mac n cheese!

SO HUNGRY!!!

27 weeks, 2 days at Kasey's house. The little bump in the middle of my belly is because I was wearing an undershirt that was too small and squeezing me there.

I took Lina to the movie theater across the street from our apartment to see Wreck it Ralph and discovered  that they have really comfy leather recliners for seats. Fancy! I wish all movie theaters were that comfy!

Mr. Jefferson cannot stand being separate from us. He sticks his paws under the doors, reaching for us longingly.
He is the cutest, sweetest cat!

Lina lost a tooth this week! Now she has two holes in her head on both sides of her front teeth.
The tooth fairy brought her $1.

After taking it pretty easy for the last few weeks recovering from my nasty cold, I am going back to work tomorrow subbing for a pre-school class. Hopefully I won't get sick again!

Libby says "Whats up?"

Lina loves to offer to rub lotion on my itchy tummy.

Lina hugging her baby brother.

Hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving! Off to the movies with my boyfriend. Lincoln! Adios!

Paz y amor.

We have a name!

Mabuhay y'all! That's Tagalog for "hello y'all!" That's about the only word I have picked up from Noel and his Tagalog learning. Well, let's see I can say Hello (mabuhay), how are you? (kamustaka), and husband (asawa)... That's pretty good if you ask me! Noel is doing great in his language learning, by the way. He can form sentences now and sort of hold conversations- after only a little over 2 months. So proud of him!

25 weeks

26 weeks

So tomorrow Little Bubba is 26 weeks! Whoa baby! I wasn't feeling him kick much in the last few weeks, maybe because he moved? I, being one of those worry-wart first time moms, was like Baby are you ok in there?? Something must be wrong! But the last few days the kicks, or are they punches?, have returned! They get stronger everyday. I don't freak out and gasp every time I feel them like I used to. I just think they are pretty cool. I especially love when I can see them a little from the outside! It's like, "Oh my god! He's really in there! I can see the proof with my own eyes!" I can't believe in just a few short month we will be holding him in our arms.

We were watching videos of laboring women in our childbirth class last weekend and two things came to my mind. 1) Look how big their bellies are! My belly is gonna get so big! How on earth is my stomach going to stretch out that much?! and 2) What on earth is that like, to go from being very pregnant one minute to not being pregnant at all the next after you push your baby out? I mean, how does that feel, after 9 months of having this baby inside of you, and then all of a sudden it's not. I just can't imagine how that will feel. But how could it be anything but joyous and wonderful? I imagine that by the time we get to 9 months, I will be so ready to just have him here already. I will not mind at all not being hugely pregnant anymore. I will get to be like a normal person again! Well, except I will be a milk machine breastaurant. LoL.

Good thing is we actually had a good Bradley Class last week. Finally, we left feeling like we actually took something useful away from it. Previous classes were all so unfocused, and the teacher would spent time talking about stuff that didn't feel important. Like the good things about bananas and eggs. Or her own experiences with her babies. Well this time we got to practice different laboring positions that we can use, and it really helped me feel a little more confident about things. It was nice. 

Wonderful news! I can't keep it in and wait for it to be a surprise. We have a name! And I'm spillin' the beans... I'm doing it. Why not!? I fell in love with this name when I heard it and just started saying it and it felt good. I felt like, Yea! Amy & Noel totally would have a kid with that name. I could really imagine it. It felt right. And it's nothing fancy or super duper unique and original... but I love it. I feel like it's a good, strong, name. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it. Soooo... from here on Little Bubba shall be referred to as.....

<3!!!!

I recently saw a black squirrel. Did you know there are black squirrels!? It was so cute! Oh northern Virginia, you are full of beauty. I am also really enjoying the beautiful fall colors that paint the trees. It is getting colder though, something I was not prepared for, since my tiny winter pea coat no longer fits my pregnant self. Until I got the maternity coat I ordered online, I had to walk around in Noel's coat, lookin like this....

Uf... not cute! I felt like a pregnant football player with those huge shoulder pads.

The last few weeks have been rough. Whatever sickness I picked up a few weeks ago just isn't going away. I feel fine now for the most part, but I have this sore throat everyday... and keep losing my voice.  I wake up in the morning and have my voice and my throat feels ok but by the afternoon it's all scratchy again and I sound like Marge Simpson, until the night when it's so bad and my throat is so sore I just have to whisper. It's so weird. I've never had a sore throat this long in my life. What the heck is this? So I haven't worked all week after Monday. I can't go to sub a class if I don't have a voice. I think my body just needs to rest... I worked myself pretty hard there for a while. I can't wait to see what my paycheck is like on the 15th though!!!

Noel looked at me the other night and said, "Your belly is so BIG!" and you know what... I didn't get upset because I know it's true. He said this as I was making my banana froyo- a delicious dessert that my friend Gaby introduced to me. It is AWESOME! It's really saving me, and my ass, from my Ben & Jerry's problem. You just put freeze bananas, then throw them in the blender with some peanut butter or fruit. I added a little honey and milk to mine. But man oh man, what a good idea! I highly recommend this.

Making my banana froyo for the first time... Don't make the same mistake  I did though- Peel your bananas before you freeze them, or you will be cutting the peel off and numbing your hands like I did.

The finished product. So YUMMY!

This big belly makes for a great table to rest my phone on

Lina had a great American Halloween! "The best Halloween ever!" as she put it. Her school took all it's students trick or treating in the morning to the businesses in the neighborhood. She wore a spider princess costume that she made with her mom. Then at night she decided she wanted to be something else. She decided she wanted to be a vampire doctor and used her Doctor jacket she had in her closet already and I painted her face all scary.

Spooky!!!

Last weekend I was pretty tired in the afternoon after running around all morning. One of my favorite things to do when I want to rest is turn on the Relaxation radio station on Pandora on my iPod and hang out in my bed. Lina and the cars decided to join me for a little relaxation time, and she loved it. Something about the music maybe, but I've never seen her be so quiet or still while still being awake.

Relaxin!

Liberty is our weird cat. I thought cats don't like to get wet, but Liberty seems to love it. When we take showers, she waits outside the door and as soon as we are done she runs in to roll around in the tub. Little freak! I don't really mind her doing this, but it also means that squirting her with the water bottle when she's doing something bad does not at all phase her. She seems to enjoy it, unlike Mr. Jefferson that freaks out and runs when he gets squirted.

Libby in her favorite place. Don't worry Libby, I get shy and hide behind the curtain when I'm in the shower too.

Me and Libby practicing our pigeon yoga pose together

Lastly, if you know me well, you know I love spicy food. But these days I just don't quite have the tolerance for it that I used to. Maybe it's because baby Ben doesn't like spicy. I know that when I eat it he sure does dance around a lot. Noel brought me home some Korean food from a food truck this week, and this is what I looked like...

SOOOO HOTTTTT!!!!!
I still love spicy just as much as before, it just hurts more than it used to.
Sometimes it's not worth the pain.

Haha, and I leave you with that lovely picture of myself. Hope everyone is having a wonderful November so far! Until next time, folks.

Paz y Amor.... or in Tagalog (because I just asked...)
Kapayapaan at pagmamahal!!!