31 Weeks

Apparently I alternate between weeks of a lot of pictures and weeks of practically no pictures.  Maybe one of these days I'll get my act together.

How far along? 31 Weeks! Baby is as big as a pineapple!

Total weight gain/loss: 21 pounds. Lost two pounds this week. Wah! I haven't been craving as much this week and actually had a little stomach flu for a few days so that is what probably led to the weight loss.  It's not that drastic of a loss but I'm determined to eat my way to gaining poundage for next week.

Maternity clothes? I sent my maternity dresses back because they came too late and didn't look like I thought they would on me.  I really hate shopping for clothes.  I would much rather shop for food or kitchen products than for clothes for me.  Women are either lying or freaks of nature if they say they love clothes shopping.  It takes so much time that I could be spending cooking delicious food and 95% of the time I can't find anything that actually fits my awkward body.  It sucks.  I have a lot more to say on how much I despise clothes shopping but I'll keep my rant to just a few sentences.

I wore my "maternity" capris a couple times this week and the other days I wore leggings or left my pants unbuttoned and wore my bella band.  My belly is continuing to round out and get bigger but it's not quite to the "adorable pregnant belly" yet so I'm trying my best to wear clothes that show that I have a pregnant belly and it's not because I just put on a few pounds.

Stretch marks? No.  But gosh I'm so pale.  I need a tan.  The spray tan is really starting to look like a real idea for me.  Too bad they don't last that long.  

Sleep: I didn't sleep very well when I had the stomach flu.  Sorry Dan. But I'm glad that didn't take over my entire week.  I did have a weird weird dream that I gave birth to a 7 pound cow.  It was perfectly normal in my dream that I gave birth to a cow...everyone did it.  Dan was just happy that the cow was healthy.  The cow was perfect and he was our perfect cow.  So weird!  My prenatal vitamins must be laced with something that makes me dream weird things.  Dan got a good kick out of my cow dream.

Best moment this week: Spending time with my Dad.  He came down for an Unofficial Daddy's Weekend and we went to the Illini football game and tailgated before and after the game.  It was so much fun to get to see him and spend time with him.  I'm so blessed to have him as my Dad.  He really set the bar high for any guy in my life and it makes me so happy to see him and my husband get along so well.  Sometimes too well.  Sometimes I think my Dad only calls me or comes down to see me just to visit with Daniel.  But when I can wiggle time away from their budding bromance, there's nothing that makes me more happy than to spend time with my Dad.  He's the hardest working man I know and he's also the most laid back person I know.  I can talk to him about anything and he always makes me laugh.  People who know my dad will tell you that there is no doubt that I am my father's daughter.  I love our weekends together and our lunch dates we occasionally get when he swings through town.  How did I get so lucky to have such awesome parents?

In short, my best moment of this week was my weekend with my dad.  The Illini won (yeah!) 44-0 but it really wasn't much of a game.  I cheered a lot but I didn't get to heckle as much as I wanted to.  I'll save my heckling spirit for Illini hockey games.  This game did mark Baby Koch's first Illini football game! (well first football game in my womb)  He's going to be an Illini fan for sure! In true Illini fashion, we made sure to tailgate before the game (momma Jackie didn't get to full-on tailgate due to baby...next year), test out the new bag boards Dan made me, and eat cheese brats for breakfast!  mmmm!  cheddar brats!  After the game we continued to tailgate.  (I felt like I was back in my undergrad)  Then before we took our ceremonial post-game naps, we stopped at Curtis Apple Orchard to grab some apple doughnuts to compare them to famed Edward's Apple Orchard doughnuts.  (verdict, the doughnuts were okay...but could not compare to Edward's.  Edward's are on another level of amazing so there really was no contest.  I still enjoyed my apple doughnuts though.  It's really hard not to enjoy an apple doughnut).  So after a day of being out in the sun (yes my albino skin got fried), we took naps then watched more football, ate pizza, and called it a night.  I'm really boring now that I've gotten pregnant but I'm okay with that. Just chowing down on food and hanging out with great people makes me happy.

Sadly, here's the only picture I took that day and it resulted in being scowled at.  Why do these men hate pictures?

For old times sake, here's a flashback to Dad and my first Official Dad's Weekend my Freshman year of college (thank God my hair grew back!)

Miss Anything? Obviously I missed being able to drink beer at the tailgate.  As much fun as tailgating is, it's not the same without my woodchucks and beer. So yes, I miss alcohol. 

Movement: Oh my gosh!  Little Baby Koch took kicking to an entirely new level this week.  There was one time (Tuesday evening to be exact) I honestly thought that he was determined to kick his way out of my belly.  I have never seen his kicks on the outside of my stomach to that magnitude before.  It was completely insane!  I literally saw either his elbows or feet protrude from my abdomen a good inch and a half.  I was amazed and terrified at the same time.  How could one little nugget have such force behind his movements?   He also hiccuped practically every day.  It usually came right after breakfast when I would be putting my face on for the day.  Crazy!

Food cravings: To be honest, I didn't crave much this week.  Food just wasn't as appealing as it normally is.  A good throw-up will do that to a girl though.  I did enjoy my cheddar brats tailgating (I was insistent on them being at the tailgate) and my apple doughnuts but that was already noted.  I still chugged my milk like a champ.  Nothing new on the craving front though.  I also think it has to do with my expanding uterus which causes there to be less room for my stomach and my bladder, causing me to pee all the time and not be able to eat full meals.

Anything making you queasy or sick:  I'm going to blame my stomach flu on the fact that I got a flu shot at our last baby appt (Friday afternoon).  I'm not one to advocate flu shots normally but I figured that since I have a nugget inside of me who is not quite able to fight his own battles at this moment, I thought that maybe I should get one.  My doctor recommended one to me and said it was safe for baby so I reluctantly said, "Fine....give me the dumb shot." (literally, I think I said it just like that)  Well besides from having a sore arm from the shot (after I winced and cried like a child), I didn't have any other symptoms from the shot.  Then a few days later (after the shot juices set in), my stomach hurt, I had a blaring headache that lasted for days, my body ached, and then began the other un-fun symptoms of nausea and other things that brought me back to my Morning Sickness phase.  UGH!  I spent the next few days recovering.

Have you started to show yet:  There's a baby in there! And he likes to move!

Gender: Boy! (he's not a cow)

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: I burp....all the time!  I don't even know I'm doing it.  I'm just so gassy (in the burp way...not the other way...well maybe sometimes in the other way too.  sorry for the tmi).  I'll be laying down in bed and gasses will come up from my belly and out of my mouth and before you know it, I'm a burping machine!  I've always prided myself on my amazing ability to burp well, but this takes my burping abilities to an entirely new level.  Burp, Burp, Burp!  

As I mentioned earlier, I had the stomach flu this past week.  But besides the stomach flu, I also got to enjoy heartburn yet again.  I'm really not enjoying this thing called heartburn.  I started my first prenatal yoga class this past week and during the middle of class with all the stretching and such, I just got a chest full of acid and gross'ness.  Ugh!  Teacher said it was normal and just to take it easy.  Well after class, this pregnant lady stopped by the grocery store to pick up some Tums finally.  Now I won't have an excuse to complain about my heartburn.  Also, I mentioned about the intensity of the kicks/jabs little man was doing to my stomach.  He's a strong bugger.  Still have the side and lower back pain but I'm told those aren't going away anytime soon.  Good grief!

Belly Button in or out? I finally saw the bottom of my belly button (or at least what I think is the end of it) but it still has a long way to go before it pops out...which I don't think it will ever do.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time:  I wasn't as happy this week mainly because of the stomach flu.  When a girl is crying because of the intensity of her upchuck, that usually means she's not happy.  Gosh I hate throwing up....so much. So it took me a few days to be able to recover from that.  I was extremely happy when my daddy was here and was also happy that Dan and I started our next set of baby classes.  I loved going to class and feeling more prepared for our little man.  These classes were more about birthing and labor and preparing for that so they definitely helped this expectant mom feel better about that impending adventure.  Baby Koch continues to get hooked up with amazing swag so his little room is coming together which makes me so happy!  Pretty soon all we're going to need is our little man!  So my stress level is down (at the current moment) and I feel more prepared and I'm no longer sick. All this makes me happy!

Looking forward to: Seeing my mommy this next weekend and the Champaign baby shower that my good friend is throwing for Baby Koch!  Dan and my son just keeps getting more and more love from our friends and family and we couldn't be more grateful for all of this outpouring of love.  Just wow!  I'm also 99% sure that my mom will be making ham balls for the shower and I've been wanting those for months now!  I really hope there's going to be leftovers so I can chow down on them for the week after.   I'm also excited for Stef's mom's turtles that she is making for the shower.  I might just shove about 15 in my mouth at once.   Also, my favorite newlywed couple is coming to visit Dan and me this weekend (David and Meggie) and that makes me so happy!  I haven't seen these two cats since their big day!  I love being able to have another sister and David isn't too bad as a brother.  Dan's other brother is coming too so we're going to have a full house!  We will also probably tailgate before the Illini game...let's hope they win!  So basically I'm pretty excited for some amazing food, friends, and family this next weekend!  

Anything Else: 4 newbies just got added to my prenatal aqua aerobics class and I'm no longer the smallest girl in there!  One of the newbies is due in March so she's not showing at all.  The other 3 newbies are due after me and they all have adorable bellies.  Grrrr!  I'm also about a foot taller than them so that might have something to do with it.  I'm just glad I'm showing more and more each day.  I want that cute belly so bad!  I'm trying hard to make lots of room for little man.  He doesn't like how cramped it is in my belly; he makes this known to me all the time.  Overall I'm absolutely loving my aqua aerobic class.  The feeling of the warm water against my body while moving in it is amazing!  The water is extra warm to work out in because the class before us is the Persistent Pain class so they always keep it warm for them which means it stays nice and warm for the prego class!  It feels like a warm bath and I love warm baths!