31 Weeks

Almost 8 months, 9 weeks max (hopefully!!) left--it's just unreal how quickly the time is going! Elle is over 3 pounds, about 3.3 to be exact, and about 16 inches long. She can turn her head from side to side and still has room to do sumersaults and I can definitely tell. This baby is so active! She's all about being up in my ribs and stretching out from time-to-time. I love looking down at my stomach and all of a sudden seeing a limb bulge out from my belly and watching the shape of it change. These last months are all about growing, and I am going to venture a guess and say she's got at least 5 more pounds to gain, we shall see!

I'm still feeling well, but definitely slowing down a bit compared to before. Tired, I'm just all-around tired, but Aila and work keep me on the move. I definitely know this is a good thing, it's so easy to just lay around and I swear I could sleep all day every day away, so I'm grateful to have Aila to keep me busy and occupied, and work to keep me on my toes and have somewhere to be, passing the time away so quickly. I can't express how much I look forward to meeting Elle and seeing Aila interact with her and having some time to just be home with my girls, it's the motivation that keeps me going each day. I'm up to the bi-weekly doctor appointments and each appointment is still "quick" and easy, and all is well. Her heartbeat is consistently in the 140s and I am measuring right on, with very little to no weight gain each week. Aila has come to a few appointments with me and she is showing some interest in my growing belly. She is mainly interested in my strange looking belly button though! She listened to Elle's heartbeat very intently, looking a little confused at Tuesday's appointment. She can't comprehend what's going on, but it's definitely great to see her interest peaking a little, and I definitely think by the time she's 18 months and Elle is born, Aila is going to have a descent grasp as to what's going on. I think she's going to be a wonderful big sister and will be a great helper. :)

I am super excited, I finally have all of the furniture for the room picked out and found a great deal. I have had the bedding picked out for a while, and Cheri bought us a great crib at a garage sale a while ago and I've been searching for matching furniture. It is a beautiful crib and I was so grateful that she got it for us, as we really have started with nothing for this nursery! However, there are only 2 matching pieces that exist and they have been sold out everywhere. I think the collection may be discontinued. So we started considering buying used furniture and refinishing, or just buying pieces that didn't match. After looking at many different places though, we began to realize that for the price of something used, we may as well just buy new. So I've just been looking and looking at different websites on-line, watching out for garage sales, checking Craigslist, but I really hadn't found anything. Then yesterday I found exactly what I've been looking for: Nursery in a box! It's a 3 piece set--crib, changing table and dresser--that are in cherry, which is the color I had wanted to do from the beginning. It's 3, brand new, matching pieces all for $230! Here is a picture:

Here's a picture of the bedding again:

And here is a picture of the rocker I have picked out:

I know exactly how I'm going to set up the furniture and I am definitely going to paint the walls light blue with the matching border around like in the picture above. I am really excited, we finally have Aila's room all settled, so now we are starting to prepare Elle's nursery. Yay!

By the way, I did set up a registry on babiesrus.com. It's consists pretty much of the coordinating decorations and such that go with the bedding set, some storage/organization items, stuff for feeding/breastfeeding, and some other random stuff. The only things not on there are a crib mattress and a changing pad for the changing table, because I didn't find any reasonable ones on their website. I found that Walmart has GREAT prices on baby stuff. I just thought I'd put a registry together just in case. If anyone wants to get us something and they don't see anything on the registry, something as simple as diapers or wipes would be so appreciated, as we will have 2 in diapers very shortly! Anyway, the Registry Number is: 46008638 or you can find it by searching for Ashley Meyer as the registrant or Ross Meyer as the co-registrant at the babies r us website or store. :)

30 weeks

Baby Elle is nearly 3 pounds now and is about 15.7 inches long. She still has a fair amount of room to move around compared to the coming weeks as she gains another 4 to 6 or so pounds (what I am estimating, hopefully she'll be around 7, no more than 9!) Her eyesight is still developing although her eyes are closed much of the time. She can see some light that may filter through my belly. Her vision right now is 20/400!

I am feeling large and pregnant at this point! People aren't telling me that I'm small anymore either...I still have 10 weeks or so to go and I already have people asking me if I'm ready to pop soon! People really can be kind of annoying, the worst comment is, "Oh, you still have the WHOLE summer left." I donno, it's just kind of annoying. I actually enjoy being pregnant in the summer, Aila and I have been going for as many walks and trips to the park as possible and trying to enjoy the weather. I'm still able to do my 3 mile walk a few times a week, so until I can't do that I don't have much to complain about. Getting comfortable at night is getting increasingly harder, and my back is starting to hurt after being at work for a few hours. It was especially brutal this week, as I had to work 9 days in a row. I'm just generally tired all of the time, but I can still push through it and do everything I need to do. Every now and then I get indigestion and heart burn, but it's not too bad (yet). Elle continues to be very active and as always, I enjoy that! I really feel good about being at 30 weeks. Chances of survival at any time after this point are very high, and just being in the 30s we're really in that final stretch! I can't believe I've been pregnant for over half a year!

28 Weeks-3rd Trimester Begins!

Reaching the third trimester, I really feel like we're hitting the home stretch, although there is a fair amount of time left. Hopefully a maximum of 12 weeks, we definitely don't want to be over-due! I am so curious to see how big she actually gets because I still feel pretty small for how far along we are. Aila grew a couple pounds in the last like 2 weeks though, I'm sure, so you never know!
By this week she weighs around 2 and a quarter pounds and measures 14.8 inches long. Her blinking eyelids now sport eyelashes. She may now be able to see some of the light that filters through my belly. Her brain continues rapid neuron development and she is adding more and more body fat.
She sure is a strong little thing, and I continue to enjoy her continuous movements. Rather than moving away when you poke her like Aila did, Elle likes to push right on back. She squirms around in protest if my bladder gets too full or if I lay on my side and put pressure on her, she likes her space and I don't blame her! It's only going to continue to get more and more cramped! I was realizing today that I have yet to develop the linea negra that most women get when they are pregnant. I did get it with Aila's pregnancy, I wonder if it will still happen. Anyway, I'm feeling great, Aila and I even went for a 3 mile walk the other day. The worst part for me is the restless leg syndrome. Sometimes it is unbearable at night when I am trying to get to sleep and I toss and turn over and over. There's not much you can do for it either, except try to stretch or walk it out, but it is so hard when you're tired and just trying to get to sleep. I definitely won't miss those horrible sensations! Tuesday I have my 28 week appointment, and until 36 weeks I'll now be going bi-weekly. I have hopefully a maximum of 9 check-up appointments left, but who's counting?