26 Weeks

My pregnancy updates are definitely less frequent with this kiddo. Poor thing is already getting the shaft. Things are going well. I am officially 26 weeks with 12.5 more to go. I had the two days on bedrest this week and they have seemed to stop the contractions or at least the frequency and severity. I feel good. In fact with the news that Chris' returning early, I am full of energy and working hard to complete the projects I said I'd do while he was away. For example, yesterday I made 6 cute little monogrammed burp cloths for the babe, painted a few spots on our ceilings that have been bugging me, touched up some spots on our walls and painted the rise on the stairs going up to our bedrooms, which I've been meaning to do for nearly 2 years. Pretty good. I am on vacation this week. Claire is going to go to daycare at least one day so I can finish painting in the basement. I had thoughts of organizing the Claire's bedroom, clearing out some of my clothes from the dresser and moving in some of the baby's. We had initially thought of moving Claire into the other bedroom, but because our length of time in this house/area is up in the air, I don't really want to go there. I think Claire will stay in her room and the new babe will stay in our room for awhile as we did when Claire was little. My weight gain is a bit less this time around, although it happened a bit more rapidly than with Claire. I still have 20 pounds to go to get to my ending weight with Claire. I think I'll be fine since I've only been gaining a pound or so per week--sometimes less. I put in my request for maternity leave this week and began arranging things for my substitute. I will officially be done with school on May 9th. Yahoo! I scheduled the c-section for May 15th, which will give me a week before she arrives to relax and get things together. Although Chris is going to be here, my Mom is also coming. I am very excited to have her here. It will be nice to spend some time together and have the extra set of hands to help. My sister, Jessica is coming with Nate, but after much debate, we decided they should wait until July, so I can be more entertaining. Chris and I finally decided on a name, but I am keeping it under wraps for the most part until she arrives. With Claire we were an open book, telling everyone, everything. I had planned to do things differently this time around, which hasn't exactly worked out given Chris' deployment, so we are going to stick to this little secret. All in all, things are going well. I am simply counting the days until I can see this new little gift. Oooo, speaking of gifts, I ordered shirts this week for my two girls! I am so excited. They will be absolutely adorable in them. The plan is to wear them at the hospital. Cute clothes are definitely a perk about girls.