36 Weeks

How far along?: 36 Weeks (and one day - oops!)
Total weight gain: Around 60507 lbs. Or like 36ish. I think it stops around now though, right? RIGHT?!
How big is baby?: A medium-sized turkey. Haha actually at today's u/s the estimate was 6lbs 14oz! She's now measuring in the 75th percentile, which is a bit of a relief for this mama.
Maternity clothes?: The mat shirts I have are too short so I have to layer with some long camis or wear dresses now. All I wanted to wear Tuesday to work was my Juicy velour sweats, and at the encouragement of my friend ("just call them velvet slacks") I did, and it was excellent.
Stretch marks?: Yeah I actually had a mild breakdown last week a day after my 35 week post. I discovered a mini crop of them on the underside of my belly. I cried. What are ya gonna do? I'd turn into a giant stretch mark for my little princess so it's ok. Stupid $35 belly cream that I had to run out of last week... I swear that's why they showed up!
Sleep?: Depends. I've actually had a couple nights in the last week where I didn't even wake up once to pee! But I did have a major Austin Powers pee in the morning afterwards :-P
Best moment this week?: Surprising hubby with a grill for his birthday. :-) He's been wanting one for so long and he got straight to barbecuing right away.
Movement?: Definitely not as often but when there is, it's intense!
Food cravings?: I've regressed back to sweets this week, so I'm noming on otter pops and leftover birthday cake!
Gender? Girly
Labor signs?: Well, my pelvis aches with the pain of a mother, so I can only imagine she's dropping?
Belly button in or out?: Hubby is pleased to announce it's been popped out for a little while now. 
What I miss: Laying on my stomach, not needing help to get up off the couch, NOT working (from many moons ago).
What I'm looking forward to: I'm going to drive you crazy with this one... naming her!!! HELLLLLLLLLLP!
Milestone: 1 more week until "full term"!

I totally forgot to take a pic last night of the belly so I'll post one later on today (since I know you're all on the edge of your seats! haha).

Madwoman Cleaning of '10

Oh yes. The time has come. My cleaning products are in. A little while ago I won a contest on another blog, Design Mom (I recommend you check it out, it's fab). $50 worth of Martha Stewart cleaning products! I was overjoyed, and knew I would utilize my winnings to make my house spotless. I not-so patiently waited for my goods to arrive, and today they did! I can now begin the deep clean of 2010. I'm really psyched to try these out because not only do they bear the name of the domestic diva herself, but they're also eco-friendly green products, comprised of more than 99% plants and minerals. I don't think I've ever been so excited about cleaning. It's really quite sickening.

I'll let y'all know how they work out! Now if only I could get the hubby to be as excited about cleaning as I am...

35/35!!

That's right boys and girls, one more milestone achieved! 35 weeks pregnant and 35 days left to go! Am I seriously to believe that my baby girl will be here in one month?! My to do list is so long, you'd sneer at the sight of it. And I not so secretly believe that she is going to come early. Could it be wishful thinking, considering she's measuring 38 weeks as of Monday? Anyways, I just talked to my boss, and my last day is going to be June 11! I had planned on working up until my due date, but I'm already starting to get uncomfortable with the commute home in traffic, and I think working up until 38.5 weeks is still a valiant effort on my part. I'm already in major nesting mode so even if she's a bit late, it gives me time to scrub the house from top to bottom with a toothbrush if I so desire.

Right now I'm in the process of laundering anything I can get my hands on. I washed and ironed (yes, ironed!) her crib bedding and have it all set up nicely. I was very concerned about this part getting done. In fact, I'm very concerned with the entire house being model-home perfect for when she gets here. It's like I'm expecting a very picky houseguest or something. One that will be staying for oh, 18 or so years? ;-) What's really funny is she'll discover we're slobs in due time. I know! Maybe she'll be a neat freak and keep the house clean?!? OK, now what am I expecting, a baby or a maid?

I've seen some bloggers do this and I feel really inspired to do the same... a tour of the home. If I set a deadline to have it done by, and I have to stick to it, it will really help me finally finish it up. I mean, I'm not so self-absorbed that I'm certain people are dying to see what my home looks like, but if y'all are anything like me (nosey) then I'm sure you can appreciate snooping around in my house! Along those lines, I really should finish up the nursery and post pictures. It's pretty much complete, though I do have a bunch of clothes and blankets laying around, and it still needs these adorable wall letters that I'm dying to order. Only problem is we have no name, thus no idea what letters we need. And they take like a month, so I don't think we'll have them before she gets here. :-( We really need a name already...

Oh and I think I've started getting Braxton Hicks contractions, and some uncomfortable ones too. And lightening crotch is here for real. Walking for extended periods of time is getting really hard to do. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a shitton of laundry to do. :-)

Cash for shopping online?

Too good to be true is what I thought a year and a half ago when I first heard about ebates.com. You get a certain percentage of cash back via check 4 times a year - just for *get this* shopping online! Retailers pay ebates a fee every time you shop, and ebates in turn pays you for shopping. Sure, a lot of the time it's only 3% cash back, but hey, that's 3% more than you would have otherwise. Pennies can add up over time ya know. And they have crazy double cash back promotions all the time, not to mention other deals and coupons as well. Right now they're offering 11% cash back from a ton of fab retailers in celebration of their 11th anniversary (think Old Navy, Sephora, Barnes and Noble, Macy's...). In this economic climate, it really helps to save where you can (or if you're like me, you can rationalize buying 11% more loot in this case).

Refer friends and you get $5 when they sign up and start shopping. Oh and YOU also get $5 for signing up now too. Here, I'll help you. Just click my link here and you can be one of my referrals :-)

And honestly, this is not one of those creepy scam sites. It's totally legit (trust me, I'm the most paranoid person EVER). Check them out for yourself! While yes, I do have a vested interest in you going and signing up via my link, you don't have to - I just really like passing on a great money saving tip (I've been meaning to write this up for a while now!).

Closet Dividers

I took it upon myself to make little clothes dividers for her closet. They came out pretty cute! I just added the sizes (0-3, 3-6, etc) in puff paint above the animals afterwards. I'm in such a mood to get crafty and DIY more things for her. I just wish I had the time... perhaps one or two more hours in the day? Can we work that out? Who am I kidding, I'd probably use it on sleep! ;-P

34 Weeks

How far along?: 34 Weeks
Total weight gain: Weigh in is next Monday. I'd rather not know *sigh*
How big is baby?: Very!
Maternity clothes?: Yup.
Stretch marks?: Same couple ones on my lovehandles. Yum.
Sleep?: Ugh it's getting difficult.
Best moment this week?: Taking inventory of all her outfits and realizing we have so many! I think for a while I feared my child would have to go naked, but this is so not the case.
Movement?: Yes, there is some shoving going on some days.
Food cravings?: My love for cheese is unyielding.
Gender? Girl
Labor signs?: None.
Belly button in or out?: Slightly popping out now.
What I miss: Bending over.
What I'm looking forward to: Eating raw brownie batter. Oh and losing baby weight. Those don't really go hand in hand, do they?
Milestone: Does peeing twice a night count?

Based on my survey I'm starting to sound a little apathetic! My crotch now feels bruised or something - it's freaking hard to lift my legs. Ugh and the heartburn! And my feet are officially swelling like crazy at night (and sometimes during the day). I'd post a picture of them, but I'm embarrassed. Seriously. It's cankle city going on right here. BUT I still really love feeling her move, despite the occasional pressure on the ribs. I think about all the women with babies who say they miss feeling their little ones move inside them and I want to treasure this while I still have it! I can't believe that in 3 weeks she could just totally come and dr's wouldn't do anything about it (well, uh, other than help deliver her lol). This is craziness!

I really need to stop taking my weekly belly pic at 11:50 p.m. on Wednesday nights just as I'm about to fall asleep. You'd think I'd prepare for Wednesdays by trying to look particularly cute, but of course I always forget. Take me as I am, no makeup, sweats and all! :-)

Maternity Pictures!

So I'm finally getting around to posting these! Not because I don't love them, but because, well, I have 7034570268702 other things to do too. Apparently, there's going to be a baby in my house in a month (or a bit more)! A while ago I found this great deal on this site called Groupon, which allows you to buy into a great deal on a different item daily. $59 for a photography session, AND all the images on disc! I immediately thought, OK, why not do mat pics?! Our photographer, Eddie, was so cool to work with, and she had never even done maternity pictures before. They were taken when I was just a day shy of 32 weeks. We have nearly 300 pics, so here is just a sampling of the goods (and *GULP* my bare belly up close... eep!)...

33 Weeks

I can't believe it's getting to be that time... The shower is over, maternity pictures have been done (post with those coming soon!), dr's appointments are more and more frequent... It's time to start washing things, and packing the hospital bag, and oh my god I do believe we are going to have a baby next month! Crap! SO MUCH TO DO! I still wanted to make baby girl something! I still need to NAME HER! ::deep breathing commences::

My feet have started to swell in the evenings, which is always a treat. I have had really skinny feet to begin with, so I figured a little swelling would be no biggie, but man, these puppies are turning into monsters!

Ugh ok here's this week's pic. I took all of one picture before giving up. If it looks like I just woke up from a nap, it's because I did - I wasn't feeling well so DH put me to bed for a little nap before dinner. It lasted until 9:30. And it looks like I've grown even more. Remind me to nosh on celery and not pasta...

Baby Shower!

My shower was last Saturday and it was wonderful! It was a good sized shower, about 30 people, and it was absolutely lovely. I feel so honored by everyone's generosity! We got TONS of stuff from our registry and awesome surprises as well. Baby girl now has outfits galore! Here are some pics from the festivities...

Note the lone beer...

And my amazing husband booked a prenatal massage for me for Sunday, which was totally divine. I want one every week, and I wish there was some way I could talk hubby into taking massage training classes. Wouldn't that be genius?