created especially for us: We made it!

We made it. 37 weeks today. Full-term. And still surreal. I think baby has a couple more weeks of driving me insane (from the inside) based on my check at the doctor on Friday. Can I just add a quick side note here: why the heck does everyone talk about being checked like it's no big deal? Seriously one of the most physically uncomfortable things I've been through with a doctor. She told me that I have not started dilating yet and my cervix is still pretty thick. Not exactly the news I was hoping for but it's still early so my hopes are still high that he will come before d-day. I will now have weekly appointments at which point they can check me if I so choose. I think I'm going to skip a check at the next appointment because it's just not worth the discomfort for them to tell me that I haven't changed much.

36 weeks - I think Baby S is finally starting to drop!

37 weeks! FULL TERM!

Other than that, there really isn't a whole lot going down around the Steffens household. Just continued preparations for baby and getting some more cleaning done. You know you're nesting when you deep clean the laundry room. Can't you just picture a big pregnant lady moving a washer and dryer around by herself in a relatively small room? Yep, that happened. I also made some meals to freeze to make life easier after baby is here. We got the fancy monitor we registered for all set up and ready to play with and will be putting in the car seat today. Callie loves it when we do these kinds of things that don't involve her.

"Thank you for providing this convenient pillow"

Clearly I need to be more diligent about cleaning. Or just let her do it from now on.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the things I'm looking forward to about not being pregnant anymore and surprising myself with a few things I will miss about being pregnant.

Things I will miss:
- Him giving me funny pokes and movement while I'm not in a setting to share it with others. It's like enjoying our own private conversation.
- Not having to worry as much about him being safe. Right now it's pretty easy, just making sure he's moving well and I'm not having any adverse symptoms like lower abdominal pain or bleeding. Soon I'm going to be that mom who has trouble sleeping for fear that her child might stop breathing. I'm hoping the monitor will help with that.
- Not having to be concerned about my calorie intake. I've basically eaten what I've wanted/what I can tolerate this entire time. And I haven't gained a pound in over 3 weeks (which is totally normal at this stage and also awesome!) =)
- Being okay with letting people do things for me. I don't feel bad asking Brian for massages right now or asking him to grab me something that's just across the room.

Things I'm looking forward to:
- Seeing what my son looks like!
- Holding him and learning about his personality outside of the womb
- Sharing the name we've chosen for him with all our friends and family
- Wearing regular jeans(!!!)
- Having my body back. I will soon be free of rib pain, be able to workout how I want, eat without getting heartburn, sleep on my stomach, stand, bend or roll over without it becoming a ridiculous ordeal, stand up without feeling like I have to pee, shave without feeling like an overweight gymnast, hug people without having to stick my butt out, and sleep without waking up to constant jabs or irritating baby hiccups. CAN. NOT. WAIT.
- Not being stared at by random strangers, it happens constantly and I already dislike the state I'm in.
- Being able to really play with Callie. It's been harder and harder lately so we've been taking a lot of trips to the dog park (which she LOVES) but I want to be able to run around with her.

Pregnancy is definitely a whole new experience. I'm already not looking forward to going through this again but I know that very shortly I will realize how much it was worth it.

Some other photos from the last week or so:

Remember all those tomatoes? We made pizza sauce from the Romas - so yummy!

Beautiful storm front moving in, sadly it wasn't exciting as expected for us but the grass is happy.

Wanting to be outside during the storm. She is truly her mama's little girl.

This morning I asked Brian what I/we should have for breakfast. He said muffins. I proceeded to get slightly upset because we didn't have stuff for muffins but they now sounded very appealing. Then pinterest came to the rescue and I had all the ingredients to make these delicious berry muffins. I shamelessly buttered and ate three of them.

And lastly, some more maternity pictures from the second mini-shoot we did with my mom: