THIRD TRIMESTER!

Welcome to week 27, the official beginning of the 3rd trimester. Actually, there are so many different variations as to when the trimesters begin & end - it's a good indication that really, we just have very little idea how this is all supposed to work... But, since '40 weeks' is the expected pregnancy length, and at 27 weeks that leaves about 13 weeks which is about 1/3 of the total 40, I'll stick with this one. Did you follow that? Don't worry, neither did I and I am the one who wrote it...

I've been saying for a couple of weeks that my lovely, glorious 2nd trimester energy has been waning. Yet another indication that, as I am fond of saying, my body never read the textbooks that outline how this is supposed to be done. I'm much more tired, I feel like if my belly swells another millimeter it will explode, and I'm getting up 3-5 times a night instead of once. On the positive side, baby's movements are still constant but are rarely painful now - s/he loves to have hiccup parties, and dance to some celestial music that only s/he can hear. I imagine it sounds something like angel wings fluttering, or bells ringing, but being 41+ years this side of that particular veil, it's just a guess. Whatever it is, it has a pretty cool rhythm, if the dancing is any indication.

I have so many things I still want to do before baby gets here - mostly getting every inch of the house clean, getting all of the holiday shopping complete, securing the Sego Lily School grant (still crossing fingers on that one), and making a few more things for baby. I have been having fun making these adorable little newborn gowns (complete with the little hand flaps!) out of old t-shirts:

In fact, Gabe made the one on the left - he was bored on Saturday, and so I taught him how to use the sewing machine & walked him through the steps. It's a simple project, but not necessarily one I would turn over to a beginner. He did very well, and I only had to make two minor corrections when he was finished. I'm working on a few more of them - seriously, these are super easy to make if you know how to do a few basic things, I think with cutting time I'm at about 20-25 minutes each. Cost-wise, I bought a few pieces of knit ribbing for the neck edges, plus thread & a tiny piece of elastic. Combine that with the cost of a free old t-shirt, they are probably somewhere around the $1.25 range, max. I can't wait to see baby in some of them (but will happily wait another 12-14 weeks!) :)

Speaking of things I want to see baby in! A few weeks back I posted that I was having all 12 of the kids create a square for a quilt, using plain white fabric & sharpie markers. I finally took some time to piece it all together and it is pretty darn cute:

Unfortunately I CANNOT get this photo to rotate, but if you turn your head right you can see all of the cute drawings... anyway I'm pretty happy with it, it needs a good washing to get rid of the fabric sizing, but other than that it is complete. Lots of love for the baby when s/he gets here!

Other than the emotional roller-coaster I seem to be on for the last week, that is the extent of what is happening here in the pregnancy realm. We are having a HUGE Harvest party here this weekend (locals, get on over here, 2-10!), so I'm trying to get a bit of the house in order today, which is my only real free day before Saturday. I alternate between wanting to do 'my part' and thinking, screw it, no one else is pregnant, they can get the house ready... at least after today I will feel like I have contributed a bit. Now, off for a bit more sewing, and the much needed daily nap!