More Buddha Belly pics

This may the last pregnant picture I allow for public viewing. Each day, I wonder how it's possible for my stomach to grow any bigger?? Seriously, how big is this kid going to be? This was a few days ago at 38 1/2 weeks.

Here's Wade at 38 1/2 weeks. His complaint these days is swollen ankles. He's not getting much sympathy from me. :)

Tick Tock Tick Tock

Now the real waiting game begins. I'm officially on maternity leave until February 20. So now, I get to get lots of rest (which I need) and wait.

It's funny to me how anytime I call someone, they answer the phone with that sheepish "Helloooo???" So I now start every conversation, with "I'm not in labor."

I'm very curious about what my dr. says tomorrow at my final weekly visit. The waiting game continues.

A weekend of contractions, turkey, hospitals, and memories

**Note that this is a long post, sorry, but I'm running out of time and want to be sure to capture this last week.

Thanksgiving weekend was eventful. Tate's not here, yet, but I did have to make a quick trip to the hospital on Thanksgiving morning.

For about 2 hours on Wednesday evening, I had pretty strong and painful contractions. Halfway through dinner they stopped, but I didn't feel him move after that at all. In fact, by 7:00 a.m. on Thursday, I was a wreck with worry. After trying all of the usual tricks that will get him to move, nothing was working. So we called, and the L&D staff said to come on in. Of course as soon as I'm hooked up to the monitor, he moves around and his heart rate sounds great.

I was relieved that he was OK, but then embarrassed of my rookie-mom worrying. But, thank goodness for nurse Lynn. She was incredible. I was dreading that I would have some nurse that was bitter she was working on Thanksgiving and would stop short at laughing at me for going to the hospital. But Lynn was so sweet, even through my crying that I couldn't stop (these hormones have seriously got to slow down!). So with discharge papers in hand and a baby that started moving around again, I started my Thanksgiving being very thankful for a very sweet nurse.

The next few days were a combination of several Thanksgiving dinners with family, cleaning and nesting around the house, and lots of resting and sleep. Here is the Strzinek family picture on Thanksgiving, followed by the star of the Enright Thanksgiving, my niece, Mallory:

The turkey headdress is compliments of Aunt Kelly. :)

One of the highlights of the weekend was definitely our quick getaway. We ventured out to downtown Fort Worth for our babymoon. All of the pregnancy books suggest having a weekend away at 6-7 months. We didn't quite plan ahead enough for that, but figured we'd still get away for a night even with just over a week to go. So we headed to a very cool, old, renovated hotel in downtown. The "Christmas Parade of Lights" even went right by the hotel, so we got to watch from the room for a little bit.

At dinner, we reminisced about our 7 1/2 years of marriage pre-baby. I think it's so important to be able to reflect back on the good, the bad, and the ugly of your relationship. We've all had them all. It makes you realize how far you've come in your marriage and that it does take work.

We laughed at some of our newlywed moments, both being thankful for how much we've relaxed...and matured. We remembered back to the vacations, the first one-bedroom apartment, the funny stories, the sicknesses, the fights (which are a little funnier now), the sad stories, and all of the in between that have formed us into "Kelly & Wade."

It sounds so sappy and cheesy I know. But since we're about to start this new chapter of our family and our relationship, it's such a good reminder to see how much better we got at just being married. I'm sure it will be the same for parenthood as well. It will probably take some time (and funny stories to share along the way) for us to get the hang of it. Good thing we can laugh at ourselves. But, it's all part of it. One day soon, we'll have a new set of remember-when memories with our little baby boy.

How Do You Feel?

I think I've heard the question, "How do you feel?" more in the last month than probably all 30 years of my life. My response has been pretty much the same throughout most of the pregnancy...great!

It was a little rough the first 3 months, but come week 14, the switch flipped. I felt great. I have been fortunate to really have had a good pregnancy. No major problems, and I've even been able to sleep really well.

As of week 38, I guess the switch flipped back. I'm feeling very big and very pregnant. No complaining, because I'm realizing this is all bound to happen. This baby does need to come out at some point in time, right? Well, I guess things are slowly starting.

I went for another weekly visit to the doctor yesterday, and I've made a little more progress. Lots of contractions lately, and I'm feeling much more run down and tired. The good news is that I can still sleep at night. So, I'm doing lots of that these last few days.

So crazy that he could come any day now. Every time I see a little blonde boy, I wonder if that's what Tate will look like one day. I can't wait to meet him and know that everything that still has to happen to get him here will be well worth it!

Nesting?

I'm not sure if I've been nesting or not? Most people describe it as a burst of energy. I haven't had that, but over the last few days, I've still gotten a ton done.

Over the weekend, I finally made the big step of cutting the tags off and washing Tate's newborn-sized clothes. I'm not really sure what was keeping me from it, but the nursery finally has that Dreft smell. Everyone looks at the newborn clothes and says "how cute and small"...I still look at them and say, "how cute, but how is there a person that big inside me???"

So tonight's task is finally packing the hospital bag and creating the who to call list for Wade. As a habitual over-packer, I'm trying really hard to just bring what I need. But how in the world do you anticipate what you need after giving birth to your first child? I'm guessing there may be some trips back to the house for Wade to get that one thing I forgot.

2 week countdown

The 2-week-countdown has begun. Such a strange thing. I'm disappointed with myself for not keeping up with blogging more and documenting these last few months of the pregnancy better. So, I'm trying to stay at it these next 2 weeks for sure.

I've always been the type of person that is very aware of timeframes. When on vacation, I know the exact point that the last half of the trip begins. I do that not to be a pessimist, but to make sure that I relish and savor it all.

I've felt that same way this past week. Don't get me wrong, because I can't wait for Tate to get here. But, I also want to soak in these last few days of "life before baby." From sleep to ice cream to movies. Guilty pleasures to enjoy freely for a little longer. :)

Hollywood Couple News

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I'm sure you all heard the news about Brittany and K-Fed's divorce. Wasn't too surprising. But, did you hear a couple of weeks ago about Reese and Ryan's split?

I have to say, I was really surprised and actually a little sad when I heard the news. I've always loved her movies and thought they were such a cute family. Plus, she turned 30 this year and they've been married 7 years. Wow, it's like she and I are the same person...ha-ha!

But I do have to say that whenever she did interviews and talked about marriage, I was pretty impressed. She seemed to discuss the topic with a little more reality than most celebrities. She said it's something they have to work at, that they've been in counseling, and that the relationship changes over time. That could sound like many marriages of us non-celebrities. Wish it would've worked out.

30 days and counting

I'm officially in a constant state of being weirded out. It's so bizarre to think that in less than a month, I'll be a parent. It's not a bad feeling by any means. I've wanted this for years and can't wait to meet this little guy. It's just weird to think how different our lives will soon be.

I've felt like the last month or two have been on fast forward, and I need the pause button just to catch my breath. There just seems to be so many things to still do. I know that I'll never feel 100% ready, but I need at least enough time to finish the nursery. And it just dawned on me this weekend, I should probably do some Christmas shopping...like now! Something tells me I won't be quite up for that mid-December??

Wade has been a good help. We figured the best strategy to help me stay sane is to make a list...a very therapeutic process. :) Now I just need to start crossing some things off the list.

The other strange phenomenon is that I'm beginning to get a little sad at the thought of not being pregnant. I've heard people say this but never understood it.

I've been very fortunate to have had a really good pregnancy so far and have felt pretty decent for the majority of it. It's the coolest thing ever to feel him moving around so much and to see my stomach lunge from side to side. I really think I'll miss that.

I head to the doctor this morning for what is starting my weekly visits. And so begins the 30-day countdown!