Baby White Week 37

Hi guys!

Sorry I am late in posting. We got back from our trip yesterday around 5 and I spent most of today doing errands and getting ready for my work "week" which starts again tomorrow.

Thursday afternoon we set out for the outskirts of Birmingham (Childersburg to be exact) to spend time with friends of ours and just get away and relax. It's so pretty there- the colors are starting to change, and everything is not flat :) In fact, it's pretty much mountains by my standards. Nothing like the Rockies or anything, but very hilly. I think I could possibly trade the beach for that nice scenery. Except it still gets just as hot there as it does here :( And the traffic, I could definitely skip.

We enjoyed lots of lazing around, dining out and browsing. Combined with just a tiny bit of shopping. I also got treated to a lovely pedicure. We stayed with John's best man and his parents. We are equally good friends with both :) It just so happens John's friend is a manager at the movie theater, so we also got to see "Here Comes the Boom" for free! It was super funny. We laughed a lot.

A peanut butter shake with banana foam and "lacquered" bacon at FLIP Burger Boutique. I was not so much a fan of the bacon.

View from The Summit outdoor shopping mall

Getting ready for another delicious fattening dinner :)

Church of the Highlands. Part Sunday morning church, part worship concert. :)

Lunch Sunday at Cheesecake Factory. So so good!

After lunch at FLIP Burger at The Summit. With my new hat from Charming Charlies.

We had a doctor appointment today. I don't like going in the afternoon. We had to wait a stinkin' hour! In the last 3 weeks, I've gained 7 pounds. Yikes! Four of those were just in the last week! But I figured it would be high with all the rich food we ate on our trip. That makes my total weight gain 22 pounds. So I'm 2 over my goal with 3.5 weeks to go. Boo. But I plan to watch it while at home and back in our routine. The midwife was not concerned. What she was concerned with- I had ketones in my urine. In fact, I got a stern talking to about my water intake. She said if the ketons were any higher she would send me to the hospital for IV fluids. I don't want that! So I'm chugging away today. Here's to sleeping in 2 hour increments.

Otherwise everything else looks great. My belly measurement is right on track. Sophia is head down. We did one last quick ultrasound to make sure, since if we needed to turn her now would be the time. We got a quick peak at her profile and her back and ribs. The midwife was very happy to see that she was doing breathing motions with her chest/ribs. She said babies that are really well oxygenated do this. It's weird since that's not how she actually breathes. But good practice for her! I've started Evening Primrose oil and Red Raspberry Leaf capsules as of yesterday. The midwife suggested it at my last appointment. The oil (capsules) are supposed to help soften the cervix and the leaf is supposed to help tone the uterus.

We also got our maternity photos back last night. I was so pleased with them. A few are really just of us and don't feature the belly, and I love those! I love belly ones too of course.

 And to think these photos are not from a "professional" per se. Just from my great friend/fellow blogger Lauren, who loves to take pictures. And is quite good at it. I'm trying to convince her to start a side business :)

I got a lot of errands done today. My last round of baby returns to Target, along with purchasing a few items off the registry. Not that there are many unpurchaseds left! I took the car and carseat to the fire department for inspection. It was pretty funny to see 5 firemen all surrounding a baby seat :) But they showed me how to get it just right. I also voted! I was taking some donations to the library, and it happens to be an early voting location. Since I work next Tuesday and I could technically have a baby any day now, I figured I'd go ahead and check that off the list.

Oh, on  the way home from our trip we stopped at a local pecan company. It's like a Cracker Barrel store too. They serve a lunch buffet but other than that there's just pecans, sweets and coffee. And a ton of Alabama football flair and lots of other really neat (and mostly overpriced) items. But I just loved the socks and had to have them. Even at $7.

Here's this weeks' belly photo. Taken on the road :)