36w3d - Happy Father's Day!

Hi everyone! Happy Father's Day to all of the dads, stepdads, and soon-to-be dads! To my Dad, you're an amazing father and you taught me so much. I love you! To my DS, you're an awesome daddy to Lily and I love you! And to my wonderful DH, I can't wait to see you in action as Daddy when Maribel arrives! Babe, I love you more every day. xoxo

Here we're chugging away towards 37 weeks and it's been a mixed couple of days. Thanks for the comments and emails on the bikini shot! When I had my first two children, I was so young and self-conscious I would have never stepped foot in a bikini much less take a picture in a bikini at 36 weeks. It's nice this time around to "honor the bump" with all of the pictures we've taken during this pregnancy.

So Friday morning I went swimming with a fellow prego Army wife and oh my god did that feel WONDERFUL!! That feeling of weightlessness was terrific and I can't wait to go again. I'll either head over to the base Monday or Tuesday for another swim. I'd like to go 2-3 times a week these next couple of weeks since I know when I'm post-partum I'll have a good 6 weeks or so out of the water while I heal.

Yesterday, I was just a miserable old crumb. Grumpy, itchy (I'd tried to taper down my prednisone and had gone a couple days without it - not great results, UGH), sore, and tired. Those familiar gripes you've had to hear me complain about the last few weeks. I seriously hate to complain - after all, we worked so hard to get to this point I feel like I should be thankful for every pregnancy symptom 100% of the time. I know that's completely unrealistic when you're 9 months pregnant, but I also know women who are TTC'ing would probably tell me to shut up, quit complaining, and that they'd do anything to have the aches and pains I'm having right now. So it's hard to balance the complaining and being thankful for the pain, contractions, etc in my mind. Why oh why do I always feel the need to make myself feel guilty about something?

What made me feel better last night was something so simple and silly - a jigsaw puzzle. Yep, a jigsaw puzzle, weird huh? My mom's been getting jigsaw puzzles and at Thanksgiving we were doing some at her house. Since then I've borrowed some when I go to visit or she sends me some in the mail to do to keep me occupied and on my tush so I don't have too much "on my feet" time. Why doing this activity made me feel better, I'm not sure. Maybe it's because finding a home for 300 pieces takes my mind off of my gripes? Maybe it's because it reminds me of doing puzzles as a kid? I don't know, but I highly recommend them if you just need to take your mind off things for a few hours. DH joined me too in the puzzling for awhile before his x-box started calling his name. It just ended up being a really nice family evening after my grump-fest of a day. Thank god!!

So Tuesday brings another NST and prenatal visit. These weekly visits seem to make time go a little faster. As of today, we have roughly 2w4d to go until we hit 39 weeks so we're nearing the end. I'll be sure to report in on how that appointment goes. Until then, enjoy your Father's Day!