This week, I started to feel pregnant. I mean, uncomfortable pregnant.  On Sunday I got so hot I thought I might pass out.  Mind you, it wasn’t super hot, but my body has lost all ability to control its own temperature. Then I must have gotten an awful leg cramp at some point because on Saturday and Sunday I limped around looking pathetic because it hurt so bad.  Yesterday I got up and when I tried to lay back down, the baby had wedged himself into the most uncomfortable position possible. I just sat in bed at 5am debating on whether to just get up or try to poke him enough to get him to move.  I could go into more details of uncomfortable pregnancy woes, but I will spare you and leave it with these days, pregnancy is getting tougher.

On top of feeling pregnant, my doctor told us last visit he has conveniently planned a trip to Greece the two weeks before my due date. I am still hoping he changes his mind given the current crisis, but I have also given baby Schmitt strict orders to stay inside until August 11.  (and of course, he will listen to me because I am his mom:))  In all reality though, I am super thankful Jordan and I have done so much preparation for birth. As sad I will be if I deliver while my doctor is overseas, I know we will be just fine. Plus, my doctor already gave me permission to tick off another doctor just in case he doesn’t make it.

Perhaps the craziest thing to me  is how close we are to meeting our little guy. 35 days is just barely over a month away. The nursery is mostly done and I think I have almost everything we need. My dear friend took some maternity pictures this weekend which makes me feel better about the fact I have failed on the whole “take-a-bump-picture” each week trend. We have been good every 5 weeks or so, but it usually takes about 10 tries to get one I like and even then they aren’t anywhere close to high quality.  I mostly do it for my mom and grandmas who live far away. I have returned most of my birthing books-at this point, I have read and researched enough. The next 5 weeks are going to be all about relaxing, yoga, and deep breathing.  My brain is so crammed full of information about labor and delivery, I need to just let it rest. At the end of the day, we have done a lot to get ready for this and I just need to enjoy the last couple of weeks. Soon enough I will miss the kicks and punches in my belly and have a tiny baby for which I am responsible.  Not to mention, the next five weeks include finishing up work, the county fair, transitioning some ministry responsibilities, and cleaning.  That’s a plenty long to-do list!!

So baby Schmitt, we love you and we can’t wait to meet you, but please please don’t come too early. Greece isn’t close to the hospital.

..left that is:)

Yes, this week, I hit the 30 week mark! Hard to believe there are only 10 (!) weeks or so left in this journey.  I have a feeling it might be ten long weeks if we get a typical Southern IN summer, but thank goodness for air conditioning, fans, and maxi dresses. Here a few thoughts running through my head these days.. well, aside from trying to remember the milk goes in the fridge, not the pantry! Also, that’s the best picture you are going to get this blog post. After way too many tries, we quit.  I love this dress-I got it on a super clearance sale at Gap, but it doesn’t do such a great job of showing off my belly so you can just imagine I am bigger than I was in my last post. 🙂

10- I finally cannot hide being pregnant. Last week, the girls in the club finally caught on and were SO excited. It was kinda fun to see them all excited about it and I am glad I can stop trying to find black shirts that hide my belly. Strangers stop me and comment about my belly.. it’s weird, but I suppose comes with the territory.

9- Baby Schmitt is CRAZY active. I am convinced he is doing flips in there and constantly trying to figure out where he can poke me today.  I would say it’s annoying, but really, it is the coolest thing ever. Even when it hurts. My favorite part is when I can pick out a hand or a foot pressing against my belly. Some days I am impressed I actually get work done because I would rather just sit and stare at my belly.

8- The nursery is almost done. Jordan is going to make some shelves and I am going to finish a crib skirt and we will be all ready for the little guy. (apparently having a baby has turned both of us into crafters:)) It is coming together quite nicely and one of these days I will actually take some pictures and post them.

7- So far the third trimester has been the best. I finally seem to have gotten some of my energy back and am slowly learning the masterful art of the word “no.” I just want to soak up every minute I can with my husband before our family expands by one and I have a list a mile long of cleaning and projects I want to finish.

6- Everyone asks about the cravings.. the only one I can probably say is an actual craving is watermelon. I was never a huge fan of it because I didn’t see the point in eating something that is mostly water, but these days I can’t get enough of it. And one of the couples from our small group gave us a giant watermelon brought back from Florida-I cannot wait to eat it!! Other than watermelon, my aversion for vegetables continues. I am forcing them into my diet in creative ways, but alas, it is still a challenge. The other weird thing, cold water. I used to drink only room temperature water and now I cannot drink water if it isn’t ice cold.

5- My amazing mother-in-law and mother threw me a baby shower a few weeks ago. It was so much fun and we were sure spoiled. I washed and hung up all his clothes already and have been putting away the rest of the things we got, side note, babies take up a lot of room. Hard to believe something so small needs so much!!

4- We are almost finished with our birthing classes and I am dragging my lovely husband to a breast-feeding class this weekend. He has been the best support throughout the past 30 weeks. I could not be more proud of him.  And I am very thankful he has a God-given ability to stay calm because we all know calm is  not among my strong characteristics.

3- My belly button has officially popped. And being summer, I have given up on trying to wear multiple layers to hide it..it just is what it is.

2- I am hungry all the time. I could eat and two minutes later be hungry again. Also, heartburn. At least I assume the feeling of fire in my throat and chest is heartburn.

1- Only 10 weeks until we get to meet our little guy.  I already love him so much, I cannot imagine what I will be like when he arrives.

Did I just write that? THIRD TRIMESTER. I am so not ready for this. The countdown is on until we get to finally meet our little guy who seems to enjoy head butting and kicking me. I am not sure if I am excited or nervous or scared. I think at times I am all of those feelings and sometimes I am still sitting here staring at my belly in disbelief.  My brain is not working quite right these days, I am blaming it on this lovely term “pregnancy brain” which I am not sure actually exists, but I will use it as my excuse.  As such, eloquent thoughts just aren’t flowing through my fingers, so instead you get a few musings on my current state of affairs.

Welcome to week 27!

First off, I would like to know where all of my “thick, beautiful hair” is because apparently my body took pregnancy to mean “oily, not-growing hair.” Haven’t cut my bangs in months and they have stayed in the exact same spot. Wonderful when I am trying to go them out. Also, I seriously could wash my hair every two hours and it probably still wouldn’t look clean. Hello cute bun-you are my new favorite friend!

The nursery is almost finished. Which is good because I am about to start nesting in overdrive. I have already made a mental list of the cabinets I want to clean out and have bought fabric for some projects I have wonderful intentions of completing.  We finished painting and put the dresser and rocker in the baby’s room and holy.cow. this little guy takes up a lot of room. But I LOVE it. The shopaholic side of me is in heaven. (don’t worry, our Dave Ramsey budget is mostly in tact and I have found a new love for garage sales) And my husband keeps me in line which I need because otherwise, every cute outfit I see screams “buy me.” I am practicing a lot of self-control and am pretty proud of myself.

I still hate vegetables. I have resorted to masking kale with as much other stuff as I can in my morning smoothies and forcing down something green at dinner. But really, I just want chocolate or pie or ice cream.  I have done enough research on nutrition and baby development to know those are really not helpful in growing a baby, but why oh why do they sound so good??   I wouldn’t even say I have had any super major cravings at this point, just a general desire for things unhealthy. A desire I mostly ignore unless it Mother’s Day and then I make two pies and take home the leftovers because I can. And because it’s Mother’s Day. (also because I passed my glucose test:))

Through work, I got an activity tracker and it beeps at you every hour if you haven’t moved. Thankfully, I rarely have this problem as my current bladder capacity is resting at about 45 minutes. The tracker has been helpful to keep me moving, taking the stairs, and walking the dog.  It also tracks my sleep which is becoming less like a flat line and more like a roller coaster.  Up, Down, Up, Down. I can’t roll over without waking up. I can’t wake up without my bladder reminding me it is well past it’s 45 minutes capacity limit. So goes our nightly fun! I just keep reminding myself this is good preparation for what is about to happen.

We starting taking birth classes and I made my pre-admission appointment at the hospital. I feel like life is spinning by 100 miles an hour and I am trying to keep up.  In this area of life, this pregnancy has been a blessing. It is helping me to slow down. I skipped a meeting last week because I was tired and my feet hurt and I just wanted to go home and sit on the couch.  So I did. 6 months ago I would have forced myself to go, but today I am allowing myself some grace. I am giving myself the space I need to rest, to relax, and to adjust to the changes about to take place in our lives.  I am savoring every minute I can with my dear husband and learning to be ok with the fact I just can’t do it all (I never could, but I liked to entertain that thought).

As I enter the last trimester, my goal is simple-enjoy it. All too soon, our little guy will be here and we will be parents managing diaper changes and late-night feedings. But he isn’t here yet. And this time will be gone before I even realize it.  So if I am MIA from a meeting or a social event, know I still love you and care about your cause, but for right now, I may just need to prop my feet up and snuggle next to my husband in front of some lame TV show.

Earlier in 2015, I had every intention of blogging more often. And in all reality, I have countless half-written or completely written blogs saved in my drafts folder. I just never seem to feel confident enough about them to actually getting around to hitting the publish button. Ironically, given the sad number of readers I have, I probably should not worry about this so much.  (I love you all by the way and when you do comment or e-mail it makes my day!)  So as a feeble attempt to make up for lost time, I am going to try to blog a little more often about the remainder of my pregnancy and perhaps sprinkle in a few thoughts about life here and there.

A few days ago, I printed off a week-by-week by trimester guide from a blog I like to read.  I clicked on the one for second trimester and as I looked at the table of contents, I realized I actually only needed the last few pages of the document. In an instant, I froze. How is it even possible I am almost in my third trimester? I feel like just yesterday I was walking around with this enormous secret.  And now, I finally get random strangers stopping to say congrats and ask when am I due. Score for not looking fat anymore:)

The second trimester has brought on all types of new changes. An insatiable appetite being one of them. I seriously can.not.stop.eating.  Thankfully, I keep mostly healthy food around so it’s not all bad. And if my co-workers ever get hungry, I basically have a grocery store at my desk. I just figure this little guy needs some extra calories. Given the flips he turns and the way he seems to be trying to bust out of my stomach with his feet, it’s no wonder I am hungry all the time.  Also fun, he seems to be sitting exactly on top of my bladder.  Thus, not only am I trying to drink extra water, I am also getting lots of extra steps in due my constant walks to and from the bathroom. And I have been told this only gets worse, I think by the third trimester I  may just move my computer into the stall. lol.  🙂

Officially I have outgrown almost all of my clothes. Logically, this should make getting dressed in the morning quick, but alas, I still stand there debating between the  few outfits I have.  Thankfully I can just blame pregnancy brain on the fact I may or may not have already worn that shirt this week.  Maternity clothes are sold to a captive audience thus they don’t ever have to go on sale, even if they are twenty-three seasons out of style. I am thankful I have amazing friends who have loaned my clothes and I am still determined to bargain shop so the few clothes I have purchased have been sorta on sale.

Perhaps I will include some more serious thoughts later, but for now, the water I drank ten minutes ago has already hit my bladder.  Love to you all!

We hit the illustrious half-way mark!  Yes folks, we are 20 weeks pregnant. Forgive my less-than-Pinterest worthy photo,  but there is a small baby bump there! According to my pregnancy apps, we have a mango or a small cantaloupe in there this week.  I think I have a tiny boxer in there considering the extent to which this little thing kicks and hits me.

It’s hard to believe its been 20 weeks since we found out. And I will admit, it has taken 20 weeks for me to finally be excited.  I told my friend the other day, this is the first week I am actually really getting excited and I am so so ready to find out whether this baby is a he or she.  There are baby clothes out there begging me to buy them! 🙂

Feeling the baby move has got to rank up there with coolest things ever. And maybe weirdest. There is a small child inside of me. Don’t think too long about that thought.  But seriously, God is incredible in the way He created us.  And I already love this little person more than I could ever imagine.  God’s ways are truly higher than mine and I am so very thankful He is in control.

Everyone asks about the cravings. Mostly I want sugar. Which is really hard to my health-conscious self. I have been trying to eat fruit and make healthy sweet things, but sometimes a Blizzard is just the answer.  I also bought 5 boxes of mac and cheese at the grocery store last week. I could eat it three meals a day if I let myself. The most repulsive thing-vegetables. Of any kind. This is not a good thing.  I force myself to eat them because I know they are essential, but yuck.

Now, give me a moment to talk about some of the tough parts of pregnancy.  Like the acne. Seriously, my face looks worse than it did in junior high. I am just thankful my belly is starting to grow so people don’t just think I am fat and have teenage skin.:) I hope it settles back down in 20 weeks. How about the having-to-pee every hour. I think the baby is sitting right on my bladder. No luck with that waiting until the 3rd trimester. Perhaps the hardest part, though, has been taming my anxious thoughts. I am not usually a person who worries much. I plan and I read and I just generally figure things will happen as they are supposed to, but since about week 17, I keep imagining all these things that could go wrong or be wrong.  And perhaps the not knowing is what makes it the hardest. As we hit week 20, I woke up this morning and prayed God would give me peace.  I am clinging to 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you” and Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

While 20 weeks seems to have come so quickly, I am working on enjoying this time to prepare and spend time with my husband.  The baby will come soon enough and until then, I am going to work on simply being in this moment.

Drumroll please….

…motherhood! 

Yes, you read that right. My newest adventure in this crazy life is transitioning from wife to mom.  For the record, this was totally God’s plan and not mine, so I have had to spend a lot of time praying and trusting His plans are higher than my plans.  After a 12 week battle with constant nausea and exhaustion, I am finally starting to feel like a normal person again. Oh, except for the small fact there is another person inside of me.  I am convinced you never get used to that idea.

Also, the not-sleeping-through-the-night, peeing every hour, mood swings, and having weird cravings starts from day one. So far I am 100% convinced this baby did not come from my genes as the only thing it craves is greasy, fried food and all things sweet.  Oh and bubblegum. I have not chewed gum in 4 years, but I bought some all-natural bubble gum from the health food store and I. can’t. stop.  I chewed almost the entire package (28 gum balls) in a week.

Beyond the craziness of there being a baby inside of me (seriously, still can’t used to that), there are a million decisions you have to make and a million opinions on how you should make them.  Oh and trying to ask people about it gets you a lot of weird looks. I think this is why there are so many mommy bloggers out there because in real life we don’t do a great job supporting each other in our individual paths to motherhood. But on the internet, well, sure you may get some not-so-nice mail, but that’s why they have the delete button.

So I apologize in advance if the theme of my posts over the next 6 months transitions a little…life is changing quickly!!!